SHIP OF THE LINE ---------------- by Robert A. Dalton VERSION 1.00 Copyright (c) 1994. SITUATION --------- Batten down the hatches and man the cannons for you are about to sail in harms way! Journey back in time to the period of 1778 to 1805 where you will experience what is considered by many to be the pinacle of the great wooden sailing ships of the line era. The opponents are the English Navy (ENG) and the French Navy (FRA). You are the Admiral of a fleet of up to five ships drawn at random from a deck of 54 historic naval vessels encompassing 64 and 74 Gun Ships of the Line. Your computer opponent also has up to five ships from a different deck of 54 ships drawn at random. Your goal is simple - utterly destroy or capture the other fleet while trying to keep that fate from happening to yours and make the Top Six List. Sound easy - think again! GAME PLAY --------- If the sysop has NOT registered the game you will be UNABLE to play the French Navy side (FRA) and there will be a small delay on start up of the game. If the sysop HAS registered the game you will be able to play either side in the game and the delay will be removed. Encourage your Sysop to register the game, or better yet do it for the sysop, so that you and everyone else may enjoy the additional fun of playing either side and not have to suffer the game delay. If you need an explanation for ANY of the abbreviated commands in the menu just hit the "shift-?-Enter" combination of keys to get a full help menu which explains the command options. General Flow Of The Game ------------------------ Both sides are initially dealt 5 ships cards at random from their nations Navy Deck of 52, and 5 play cards from a master play deck of 104 cards. The special event cards (Encounter Storms at Sea, Ship Joins Your Fleet, More Damage Occurs, Run Aground) will NOT be among the play cards initially dealt to either side. A franc is flipped to decide who makes the first play. The first menu offers 1 basic play choices; draw a card. Once you draw a card, and assuming it is not one of the special event cards, you now have to decide if you are going to play the card you drew, play another card, or discard a card. If the card you draw is a Special event card then you are subjected to that action immediately and it is then discarded and that is your play for this turn. The play alternates between each side until either the master play deck runs out of cards OR one side loses all their ships. At that point if you have won and you score is one of the top six that have played the game then your name will be posted to the Top Six List. Type of Play Cards ------------------ The following cards make up the master play deck: TYPE QUANTITY IN DECK ---- ---------------- Ship Refit Cards 3 Fire Ship Attack Cards 2 Boarding Action Cards 2 Wind Goes Against You Cards 2 Encounter Storm At Sea Cards 2 Ship Joins Your Fleet Cards 2 More Damage Occurs Cards 3 Run Aground Cards 2 Round of Double Shot Cards 3 Rake Cards 3 Broadside Cards 80 (Random amounts for 74 & 64 Gun Ships of the Line - but always totals 80) Total Cards: 104 Type of Ship Cards ------------------ HIT POINTS TYPE NAVAL ABBREVIATION QUANTITY IN DECK ------ ---- ------------------ ---------------- 14 74 Gun Ship of the Line 74 27 10 64 Gun Ship of the Line 64 25 Total Cards: 52 WHAT EACH PLAY CARD DOES ------------------------ 1. Ship Refit Card: This card allows you to refit one of your damaged ships at a friendly harbor and returns it to it's full normal hit point value. Cannot be used if you have no damaged ships. You can hold as one of your 5 play cards until needed or you can discard it. 2. Fire Ship Attack Card: This was a specially modified ship, usually obsolete, that was purposely set ablaze and rammed into an enemy ship to set that ship afire. When it worked, it was very devastating! There is a 40% chance you will be successful and set the enemy ship ablaze and sink it. Can only be used once then is discarded. May be held until needed or you can discard it. 3. Boarding Action Card: This card allows you to try to board and CAPTURE an enemy ship. You cannot use this card if you do not have a vacant position in your fleet. If you are successful (50% chance) the ship will be added to YOUR fleet and you can use it against the former owner. Can only be used once then is discarded. May be held until needed or you can discard it. Note that capturing a ship does NOT restore it's hit points back to what ever value they may have originally been! 4. Wind Goes Against You Card: If you draw this card then the winds have gone against your fleet making movement and manuever difficult if not impossible. As a result you LOOSE your turn. This is immediately played and is discarded and that is your play. 5. Encounter Storm At Sea Card: Any ship you have in your hand will have a percentage chance of foundering and sinking during the storm. Ships which are damaged have a greater chance of sinking, depending on the amount of damage which the ship has sustained. This card is immediately played, you take your licks, and it is discarded and that is your play. 6. Ship Joins Your Fleet Card: Receive one ship taken at random from the remaining ships of your national card deck. This is the only way you can exceed the initial 5 ships cards you were dealt. This card is immediately played, you receive your ship and the card is discarded and that is your play. 7. More Damage Occurs Card: Any ship you have in your hand that is damaged will have a percentage chance of being sunk OR receiving additional damage points depending on the amount of damage to the ship. The greater the damage the better the chances it will sink or receive more damage points. This card is immediately played, you take your licks, and it is discarded and that is your play. 8. Run Aground Card: Means your ships have gone into shallow or uncharted waters. If this happens then there is a chance that one of your ships will hit a reef and sink. This card is immediately played and it is discarded and that is your play. 9. Round of Double Shot Card: The cannons are primed and loaded with a double load of round shot for use at close range. Very devastating when it hits!! Can only be used once then is discarded. May be held until needed or you can discard it. 10. Rake Card: You have managed to manuever your ship into a position with the enemy ship whereby you are the top part of a "T" and the enemy ship is the bottom part and approaching you head on. Getting into this position was hard to manage as the enemy is trying NOT to allow you to do this. This is the best possible firing position to be in and the damage to the enemey ship can be extensive. Can only be used once then is discarded. May be held until needed or you can discard it. 11. Broadside Card: This card comes in 2 different flavors, 74 Gun Ship of the Line (74) and 64 Gun Ship of the Line (64). To use this card you must have a ship of the matching type. For example to fire a 74 Gun Broadside Card you must have at least one 74 Gun Ship of the Line (74) still in your hand. 74 Gun Broadsides can inflict from 2-6 hit points of damage and 64 Gun Broadsides can inflict 2-4 hits points of damage. Each broadside can only be used once then is discarded. May be held until needed or you can discard it. OTHER RULES ----------- 1. Ships are sunk only when their Hit Points (HP's) are reduced to 0 or below. 2. You can never have more then 5 playing cards in your hand at anyone time. It is possible to have up to 7 ships in your hand at anyone time though. WHEN THE GAME IS OVER --------------------- The game is over when the following occurs: 1. One side has sunk ALL the ships in the opponents hand. When that happens a score is tallied for the winning side. If the human player has won and his score is one of the ALL time 6 highest scores, then that player will be posted to the Top Six List. 2. All the cards in the master deck are used up. If that happens the strongest ship hand, assuming there is no tie, is declared the winner. Ties are possible and garner you NO points.