+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MEDIEVAL WAR DOOR v1.1 INSTRUCTIONS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTRODUCTION ============= Medieval War Door is a war/strategy game set in medieval times. The object of the game is to destroy or capture your opponents' pieces and cities until all of your opponents surrender or are eliminated from the game. The last player remaining in the game is the winner and receives leader points depending on the magnitude of victory. Medieval War Door is played on a map of up to 100 x 100 squares. The map is made up of cities and three types of terrain (land, sea, and mountain). There are also eight different types of pieces that can be built (infantry, pikemen, cavalry, archery, catapult, horse, light galleon, and heavy galleon). Players can control what each of their cities are building and can keep track of total cities, total pieces, and victory points. In addition, messages to other players may be sent and received. STARTING THE GAME ================== When you begin the Medieval War Door program, the "Game status" box will show which games are in progress, which games await players, and which games you are involved in. At this point you may take your turn in a game that you are already involved in, join a game that awaits more players, or begin an entirely new game. You may also remove yourself from any game awaiting players that you have previously signed up for. A game will begin when the proper number of players have signed up. Use the "Select game" command to take your turn in a game that is already under way or join a game awaiting players. The "Select game" command (press 'S') may also be used to extricate yourself from a game that is awaiting players. Use the "New game" command (press 'N') to create a new game. CREATING A NEW GAME ===================== Before a game may be played, a new game must be created and the correct number of players must sign up. To create a game, use the "New game" command and determine the values of the setup options. These setup options are: Map width (20-100) is the horizontal dimension of the game map in squares. Map height (20-100) is the vertical dimension of the game map in squares. Land density (40 - 80) is the percentage of the map covered by land (or mountain) squares. Players (2-6) is the number of players involved in the game. Starting pieces (0-15) is the number of pieces each player receives at the start of the game. Wrap around map is an option that enables pieces to move from one edge of the map to the opposite edge in one move. Command castles is an option that forces each player to have a command castle, which if captured, eliminates the owning player from the game. When a game has been created, it is listed in the "Games awaiting players" section. The new game will then require the correct number of players to sign up to begin. Once that has happened, the game will officially begin when one of the participating players selects the game. PLAYING THE GAME ================= Each turn each player may perform a variety of actions such as capturing cities, exploring the map, and attacking enemy pieces. I. CITIES A city is captured by moving an infantry or cavalry piece onto an unoccupied empty or enemy city. The capturing piece disappears, becoming a garrison force. The city menu (City list) will then be invoked, displaying the city's statistics. If the city was empty (white) when it was captured, a name must be chosen (pressing the enter key by itself will force the computer to choose a name). The city menu will show the city's name, its X,Y coordinate on the map, the type of piece that is being built, the number of turns left before that piece is built, the fortification level, the city's specialty piece, and the total number of cities owned by that player. City list Name: Turnside X,Y: 17,8 Type: INF Turns: 2 Fort: 0 Specialty: HGL Total = 2 Next Prev Done Cities are one of the keys to winning the game. They build the pieces necessary for destroying enemy pieces and capturing enemy cities. Each turn, the number of turns left to build a piece in every city is reduced by one. When the number of turns left is down to zero, a new piece is produced by that city (and the turns to build the next piece is reset). To change the type of piece being built in a city, from the city menu type 'T' then one of the following: 'I' for infantry, 'P' for pikemen, 'C' for Cavalry, 'A' for archery, 'T' for catapult, 'H' for horse, 'L' for light galleon, 'G' for heavy galleon, and 'F' for fortification. If a piece is changed, any turns that went into building the original piece are lost. Also, if the piece selected is the specialty piece of that city, the number of turns that the piece will take to build is reduced by a third. To look at other friendly cities press the 'N' or 'P' keys and they will be promptly displayed. II. MOVEMENT Each piece of the current player is eligible to move every turn and gets a specific number of movement points according to its type. Mountain squares have a movement cost of three, all other types of terrain have a movement cost of one. When a piece's movement points are exhausted, the piece ends its turn. There are some limitations and special circumstances depending on the type of piece moving. If an infantry or cavalry piece moves into a square containing an empty city (white) or a city owned by another player that is currently unoccupied, the city is captured and the capturing piece disappears, becoming a garrison force. If any piece (except horses and light galleons) moves onto a square containing an enemy pieces, a battle ensues. This battle may result in nothing, the attacking piece being damaged or destroyed, or the defending piece being damaged or destroyed. Sea pieces (light and heavy galleons) may only move on to sea squares, coastal squares, or friendly cities. Land pieces (all others) may move on to any type of square except sea squares. The current piece eligible to move is shown with the double letter symbol of its type on a black background. That piece can be moved in the desired direction by pressing the corresponding cursor (or numeric keypad) key. Home (7) Up (8) PgUp (9) Left (4) Right (6) End (1) Down (2) PgDn (3) III. COMBAT Each turn every piece (except horses and light galleons) is eligible to attack. Each piece gets a certain amount of attacks per turn and may attack up to that many times. Combat is performed in one of two fashions. The first, by moving onto an enemy piece. The second consists of using the "Attack" command (press 'A'). When the "Attack" command is invoked, a target square will be shown (two small 'x's on a black background). This target may be moved around using the cursor keys. When the target is on the square to be attacked, press either the 'A' or the Enter key. If the square is in range and there is a legitimate target an attack will be carried out. If the attacker is more than one square away from the defender, it may not be damaged or destroyed in that particular battle. Attack X,Y: 16,12 Range: 1 Attack Done The determination of which piece is hit and how much damage is done is fairly simple, but there are a lot of factors involved. First the attacker's and defender's basic strengths must be calculated. Then any modifiers must be applied. Next a random number determines who is hit. Finally damage must be determined, then applied. If the damage done is greater than or equal to the total hit-points, the piece is destroyed. A piece's total hit-points is equal to its original attack + defense. Basic Attack Strength (BAS) = Attack strength (including damage) + Experience / 2 (rounded down) + Number of squares occupied by friendly pieces surrounding the defender (not including attacker's square) + 8 if a pikemen piece is attacking a cavalry piece + 10 if a cavalry piece is attacking an archery piece Basic Defense Strength (BDS) = Defense strength (including damage) + Experience / 2 (rounded down) + Fortification level if defender is in a friendly city + 2 if defender is on a mountain square + 8 if a cavalry piece is attacking a pikemen piece To Hit Roll (THR) = BAS / (BAS + BDS) * 100 - 5 - random number between 0 and 99 If THR >= 5 then the defender is hit If THR < 0 and the range < 2 then the attacker is hit If THR >= 0 and THR < 5 then neither piece is hit The Damage Roll (TDR) = random number between 0 and 99 If TDR < 10 then the piece is destroyed If TDR >= 10 and TDR < 60 then the piece takes 2-6 points of damage If TDR >= 60 then the piece takes 1-2 points of damage If a horse or light galleon transporting pieces is destroyed, then all of the transported pieces are destroyed as well. IV. TRANSPORTS The horse and the light galleon are the only pieces that may transport other pieces. Any land piece may board a transport (except horses may not carry cavalry or other horses). To board a transport, move an eligible piece onto the square containing the transport and answer yes to "Board?". Another method is by using the "Board/disembark" command (press 'B') if the piece is already in the same square as the transport. When pieces are being transported, they move as the transport moves (without any movement cost), even over water. To disembark from a transport, simply move off the transport or use the "Board/disembark" command (press 'B' and answer yes to "Disembark?"). V. SWITCHING PIECES There are a few different ways to switch to another friendly piece. Use the "Next" command (press 'N') to switch to the next friendly piece without ending the current piece's turn. Use the "Skip" command (press 'S') to switch to the next friendly piece and end the current piece's turn. Use the "Guard" command (press 'G') to place the current piece into the guard mode. The guard mode may only be canceled by using the "Unautomate" command (press 'U'). The "Unautomate" command causes every friendly piece that is currently in guard mode to cease guarding. THE PIECES ========== There are seven different types of pieces in Medieval War Door. Each type of piece has its own strengths and weaknesses. The pieces are as follows: Type Symbols Turns Atk Def Mov Atks Rng Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------- Infantry (II/INF) 4 1 2 3 2 1 City Pikemen (PP/PIK) 4 1 3 1 1 1 Cavalry (CC/CAV) 6 4 2 6 2 1 City Archery (AA/ARC) 6 3 1 2 2 2 Catapult (TT/CAT) 8 6 1 1 2 3 Horse (HH/HRS) 2 0 1 6 0 0 Transport Light galleon (LL/LGL) 4 0 1 4 0 0 Transport Heavy galleon (GG/HGL) 6 4 2 4 2 2 INFORMATION ============ There are a variety of other administration commands that show total pieces, victory points, or send and receive messages. I. TOTAL PIECES The "Total pieces" command (press 'T') may be invoked from either the main menu or move menu. It displays friendly piece totals for each type and the grand total. Total pieces INF = 5 PIK = 0 CAV = 3 ARC = 2 CAT = 0 HRS = 0 LGL = 1 HGL = 0 TOT = 11 Done II. VICTORY POINTS The "Victory points" command (press 'V') may be invoked from either the main menu or move menu. It displays general game information and the victory points for each player (the names of players that have been eliminated will be grayed out). Victory points Map=50,50 Wrap=Yes Command=No PLAYER1=256 PLAYER2=302 PLAYER3=124 Done Points are awarded or deducted for a variety of reasons. 50 points are awarded for taking an empty or enemy city and 50 points are deducted for having a city captured from you. For building a combat piece, the piece's total hit-points (original attack+defense) are awarded, 5 points are awarded for building a horse, and 10 points are awarded for building a light galleon. For destroying an enemy combat piece, its total hit-points are awarded (5 for horses and 10 for light galleons), and deducted if one of your pieces is destroyed by the enemy. III. STATISTICS The "Statistics" command (press 'I') may be invoked from either the main menu or move menu. It displays combat statistics against each opponent, specifically how many pieces and cities of an opponent have been destroyed/ captured and how many friendly pieces and cities have been destroyed/captured by that opponent. Statistics 1=PLAYER1 2=PLAYER2 3=PLAYER3 Pieces for=5 against=10 Cities for=2 against=1 Done Each enemy piece that is destroyed will count as one FOR. Each friendly piece destroyed by the enemy will count as one AGAINST. Each enemy city that is captured will count as one FOR. Each friendly city captured by the enemy will count as one AGAINST. IV. MESSAGES The "Messages" command (press 'E') may only be invoked from the main menu. It will display the Messages menu: Messages Read new/read Old Send DElete 1=PLAYER1 2=PLAYER2 3=PLAYER3 Done To read new (unread) messages, use the "Read new" (press 'R') menu command. The message will be displayed on the bottom of the screen along with the number of the player that sent it and the date it was sent. Read old (already read) messages in the same manner, just use the "Read old" (press 'O') menu command instead. To delete messages, use the "Delete" (press 'D') menu command and answer 'yes' to each message that is to be deleted. To send a message, use the "Send" (press 'S') menu command and enter the correct number of the player to whom the message is to be sent and then enter the text of the message. WINNING THE GAME ================== The game is over when all but one player has been eliminated. Players are eliminated in one of two ways. One way is if they surrender, in which all of their pieces will be destroyed and all of their cities will be emptied. The other way is if all of their cities are captured and all of their city-capturing pieces (infantry and cavalry) have been destroyed. The last player left in the game will receive leader points depending on the margin of victory in the game: Victor has 2x the VPs of any other player . . . 4 leader points Victor has more VPs than any other player . . . 2 leader points Victor wins game . . . . . . . . . . . 1 leader points The "Leader board" displays the top fifteen players in total leader points.