[net.sources.games] VMS Empire: Documentation

edjames@ic.Berkeley.EDU (Ed James) (12/21/86)

Oops.  Forgot the doc.  Sorry, post-nroffed is the only way I have it. --ed

------ Snip Here ---------------------

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)





          NAME
               empire - the wargame of the century


          SYNOPSIS
               empire


          DESCRIPTION
               Empire  is  a  simulation of a full-scale war between two
               emperors, the computer and you. Naturally, there is  only
               room  for  one,  so  the object of the game is to destroy
               the other. the computer plays by the same rules that  you
               do.


               1  Introduction               1. Introduction               _. ____________               1. Introduction

               The  map  is  a  rectangle  600*1000 miles on a side. The
               resolution is 10, so the map you see is 60*100.  The  map
               consists  of  sea='.', land='+', Uncontrolled cities='*',
               Computer-controlled  cities='X',   and   Your   dominated
               cities='O'.  Each  emperor  gets  1  move  per  round  (1
               round=1 day), moves are done sequentially.

               The map  is  displayed  on  the  player's  screen  during
               movement.   Each   piece   is  represented  by  a  unique
               character on the map. With  a  few  exceptions,  you  can
               only  have ONE piece on a given location. On the map, you
               are shown only the 8  squares  adjacent  to  your  units.
               This  information is updated before and after every move.
               The map displays the most recent information known.

               The game  starts  by  assigning  you  one  city  and  the
               computer  one  city. Cities can produce new units.  Every
               city that you own produces more pieces for you  according
               to  the cost of the desired unit. The typical play of the
               game is to issue the Automove command  until  you  decide
               to  do  something special. During movement in each round,
               the player is prompted to move each piece that  does  not
               otherwise have an assigned function.

               Map  coordinates  are  4-digit  numbers.  the  first  two
               digits are  the  row,  the  second  two  digits  are  the
               column.

               The pieces are as follows:

                   Piece            Yours Enemy Moves Hits Cost   Maximum
                                                                  Number

                   Army             A     a     1     1     5(6)  500



                                      - 1 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)



                   Fighter          F     f     4     1    10(12) 200
                   Destroyer        D     d     2     3    20(24) 200
                   Submarine        S     s     2     2    25(30) 200
                   Troop transport  T     t     2     3    30(36) 100
                   Cruiser          R     r     2     8    50(60) 100
                   Aircraft carrier C     c     2     8    60(72) 100
                   Battleship       B     b     2     12   75(90) 100


               The  second  column shows the map representation for your
               units.

               The third shows the representations of enemy units.

               Moves is the number of squares that unit can  move  in  a
               single round.

               Hits  is  the  amount of damage a unit can take before it
               is destroyed.

               Cost is the number of rounds needed  to  produce  another
               of the same unit.

               The  number  in  parenthesis  is  the  cost for a city to
               produce the 1st unit.

               The last column is the maximum number of that  unit  that
               you can have.


               2  Description of the pieces               2. Description of the pieces               _. ___________ __ ___ ______               2. Description of the pieces

               Army:  Armies  move only on land. ONLY ARMIES CAN CAPTURE
               CITIES.  They  have  a  50%  probability  of  doing   so.
               Attacking   one's   own  cities  results  in  the  army's
               destruction. Armies can be carried by  troop  transports.
               Just  move  the  army  on  the  transport  and  when  the
               transport moves  the  army  moves  with  it.  You  cannot
               attack  any  ships while on board a transport. YOU CANNOT
               MOVE BACK ON A CITY WITH AN ARMY.

               Fighter: Fighters move over sea  or  land.  They  move  4
               times  per  round. They are refueled at controlled cities
               and  carriers.  They  are  shot  down  over  uncontrolled
               cities. They have a max range of 20 spaces.

               Ships,  general:  All  ships  can  move  only on the sea.
               They move two times per round.  Ships can also dock in  a
               controlled  city.  Docked  ships  have damage repaired at
               rate of 1 hit per day. If a ship is hit  badly,  it  will
               slow to 1 move per round.

               Destroyer: Typical ship, quickest to produce.




                                      - 2 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)




               Submarine:  When  a  submarine  scores  a hit, 3 hits are
               exacted instead of the usual 1 from the enemy unit.  This
               is the only unit having this property.

               Troop  Transport:  Troop  Transports  are  the only units
               that can carry armies. They can carry a maximum  of  2  *
               (the  number  of hits left) of armies. Armies that cannot
               be carried will drown.

               Cruisers: Typical ship.

               Aircraft Carriers: Carriers are the only ships  that  can
               carry  fighters.  Carriers  carry a maximum of the number
               of hits left of fighters.

               Battleship: Typical ship.


               3  Functions to which you can assign  your  pieces               3. Functions to which you can assign  your  pieces               _. _________ __ _____ ___ ___ ______  ____  ______               3. Functions to which you can assign  your  pieces  Other
               than  just  moving  your  pieces  you can assign them the
               following automatic functions:

                awake: Cancel current automatic function and  return  to
                       manual moves.

               sentry: Stay  put,  do  not  ask  the  player to move the
                       piece, wake up if an  enemy  piece  comes  within
                       sensor range.

               direction:  Move  in  specified  direction, wake up if an
                       enemy piece, enemy city, or  unoccupied  city  is
                       encountered.  Temporary wake up if an obstacle is
                       in path of movement, after getting a manual  move
                       from   you,   THE   UNIT   IS  STILL  ASSIGNED  A
                       DIRECTION. A direction assignment is  represented
                       by  the  key  which  sets that direction (e.g.: D
                       means east).

                 move: Move towards location assigned to the  piece  (in
                       editing   mode).   Wake  up  if  enemy  piece  is
                       encountered. Wake up temporarily if  obstacle  is
                       in   path   of   movement.   Represented  by  the
                       coordinate the piece is moving toward.

                 fill: (Troop transports and aircraft carriers only)  go
                       on  sentry  duty until full to capacity of armies
                       or fighters.

               random: (Armies only)  move  at  random  subject  to  the
                       following conditions:
                       If an uncontrolled city is adjacent, attack it.
                       If  an enemy unit is adjacent, attack it (even if
                       it is a ship).



                                      - 3 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)



                       If  an  unfilled  troop  transport  of  yours  is
                       adjacent, get on it and wake up.
                       Move  if  possible  without attacking any of your
                       own units.
                       It will not destroy itself  unless  it  is  in  a
                       city surrounded by your units.


               4  Orders mode               4. Orders mode               _. ______ ____               4. Orders mode The top level prompt is:

                   Your Orders?

               This  is asked between each round (if you are not in Auto
               move mode). The following  commands  are  valid  at  this
               time:

                    A: Auto  move.  Begin movement, stay there until "O"
                       in move mode cancels the auto move.

                    C: Give the computer a free move.

                    H: Display  the  Help  screen.   Contains  a   brief
                       description of all the commands.

                    J: Puts  you  into  Editing  Mode (explained later),
                       where  you  can   examine   and/or   change   the
                       functions   associated   with   your  pieces  and
                       cities.

                    M: Move. Cause a round to be played by you  and  the
                       computer.

                    N: Give  the  computer  the number of free moves you
                       specify.  The game gets more interesting  if  you
                       give  the  computer  10  to  30 free moves at the
                       start.

                    P: Re-display current sector on screen.

                    R: Display the round number.

                    S: Clears the screen.

                    T: Request a printout of the entire  map.  You  must
                       supply  a  file  spec  for where you want the map
                       put.

                    Q: Quit the game.  Be sure to save  first.  ip  V:,8
                       Save game.








                                      - 4 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)





               5   Movement mode               5.  Movement mode               _.  ________ ____               5.  Movement mode To simply move a piece, type one of the
               following keys;

                    Q W E
                     \|/
                   A--+--D
                     /|\
                    Z X C

               These keys move in the direction of the key from S.   The
               characters  are  not  echoed  and  only  1  character  is
               accepted, so no need for a <Return>. Hit  the  SPACE  BAR
               if you want the piece to stay put.

               Other commands are:

                    H: Display  Help text (hit any character to continue
                       moving)

                    J: Enter Editing Mode

                    G: Fill:   put  the  troop  transport  (or  aircraft
                       carrier)  to  sleep until it accumulates 6 armies
                       (or 8 fighters), then wake it up.   If  the  ship
                       is  damaged,  the  ship  will wake up when it has
                       all it can take.

                    I: Set unit to moving in a  direction  specified  by
                       the next character typed in

                    K: Wake  up  piece. If piece is a troop transport or
                       carrier, all armies  or  fighters  on  board  are
                       also woken up.

                    L: Set  fighter  path  for  city to be the direction
                       following the "L".

                    O: Cancel auto  move.  At  the  end  of  the  round,
                       Orders  Mode  will prompt. Doesn't affect current
                       piece.

                    P: Refresh the screen

                    R: If it's an army, set it to moving at random.

                    S: Put on sentry duty.

                    ?: Display information about the  piece.  Shows  the
                       function,  hits  left, range and number of armies
                       or fighters aboard.





                                      - 5 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)




               ATTACKING something is accomplished by  moving  onto  the
               square  of  the  unit you wish to attack. Hits are traded
               off at 50% probability of a hit landing  on  one  or  the
               other  units  until  one unit is totally destroyed. There
               is only 1 possible winner.

               If you give a piece a direction or  move  function,  they
               will  wake  TEMPORARILY  if they run into an obstacle (or
               enemy).  You must explicitly wake  the  piece  to  regain
               complete control or assign it a new function.

               Fighters  moving  under  the  command  of a function will
               wake up when they have 10 rounds of fuel left.   This  is
               to  enable  you  to  decide  whether  you want to make it
               kamikaze or send it back to a  city  for  refueling.   Be
               careful  to cancel any currently assigned function before
               trying to bring the fighter back.

               You are "allowed" to do FATAL things  like,  attack  your
               own  cities or other pieces.  If you try to do fatal move
               that involve  terrain  restrictions,  like,  drive  armys
               into  the sea and ships into land, you are given a chance
               to reconsider. Answer with an "n" if you want  to  commit
               suicide. You cannot move onto the edge of the world.


               6   Editing  mode               6.  Editing  mode               _.  _______  ____               6.  Editing  mode  Editing mode allows you to move around
               the ``world'' and check on  things. You  can  assign  and
               deassign  movements  and  inquire  on  the  production of
               cities.  Movements assigned during editing  mode  do  not
               take effect until the next round.

               To  move  the  cursor  around, use the standard direction
               keys.

               Other commands are:

                    H: Display Help text (hit any character to  continue
                       editing).

                    O: Exit from editing mode.

                    I: Give  piece  (or  city) the function 'direction',
                       enter the key specifying the direction  following
                       the 'I'.

                    K: Wake up piece (or cancel city fighter path).

                    M: Put  piece  (or  city) in 'move' function. Type M
                       over piece (or city), then  move  the  cursor  to
                       where  you want it to go, and type 'N'. Assigning
                       a 'move' to a city,  effects  any  fighters  that
                       land there.



                                      - 6 -

          empire(tool)               27Sep84                empire(tool)



                    N: Specify the end point of a move (see M command).

                    P: Display  new  sector.  Each  sector  represents a
                       20*70 area of the map, arranged as follows:

                           0 5
                           1 6
                           2 7
                           3 8
                           4 9

                       The sectors  overlap  by  8  vertically,  and  40
                       horizontally.

                    R: Put army in 'random'.

                    S: Put piece in Sentry mode.

                    Y: Change  phase  of  city that cursor is on top of.
                       When program asks for production demands, key  in
                       the   letter   corresponding  to  what  you  want
                       produced.

                    ?: Display information  about  piece  or  city.  For
                       pieces,  displays function, range, hits left, any
                       pieces   aboard.   Cities   display   production,
                       fighter paths, and any pieces in the city.

               You  can  give  cities functions. This doesn't affect the
               city any, but any fighter landing in that city will  pick
               up  the specified function. This is useful for setting up
               automatic fighter movements.

               Note that you cannot affect anything inside a  city  with
               the editor.


          AUTHOR(S)
               Mario DeNobili and Thomas N. Paulson.
               Support for different terminal types added by Craig Leres.

















                                      - 7 -