1 GALAXY CONQUEST VERSION 2.3 BY AL FUNK COPYR. 1988,1992 BEFORE YOU BEGIN ================ To read this, you have Un-zipped GALAXY.ZIP. Hopefully, you have all the companion files. It is required that all of GALAXY's companion *.GXY files be in the ACTIVE DIRECTORY. This allows GALAXY to load the scenarios. If they are not, you will get a run- time dos error. STARTING GALAXY =============== You may begin playing GALAXY one of two ways: through the menus, or by command-line selection. To begin immediately, without passing through the menus, type "GALAXY" (w/out quotes) followed, after a space, by the number of the scenario menu selection you want. To see the menu options, type GALAXY followed by anything which is not a number from 1 to 11. THE GAME ======== Galaxy conquest is a two-player strategy game for any computer which will run Turbo Pascal version 4. It uses graphics icons to display the position of each of the pieces and obstacles on the game screen. The board is a 30x15 matrix. Each position on the matrix may contain a ship or an obstacle, or one ship and an obstacle. Never should there be more than one ship or more than one obstacle in any position. Positions are numbered from 1,1 in the upper left hand corner, although the numbers are not displayed around the playing board (because of the limited screen space). The only time the numbers are really relevant is for locating mines and ships, but because ships are usually located by their blinking, I did not think numbering a crucial addition. If necessary it will be included in future versions. There are four types of obstacles. They are generated and deleted randomly during the game by the computer. Obstacles may also be placed at the beginning of the game by using a pre-created scenario (more on scenarios coming up). These obstacles are fluxholes, stargates, black holes, and comets. In parentheses are abbreviations used by the game when displaying ship information: 2 Fluxholes (FH): Fluxholes add energy to a ship while a ship is located atop one. Only one ship may occupy a square with a fluxhole. Some ships also go above their normal maximum when in a fluxhole. Stargates (SG): Stargates transport a ship which is in the same square as they at the end of the game turn. The end location is random. Comets (CO): Comets destroy ships occupying their square at the end of the game turn. Black Hole (BH): These invisible vortexes destroy ships occupying them at the end of the game turn. Note that, at the setup menu, black hole generation can be set to "N". This will not affect scenarios, however. It is important to note the behavior of these obstacles. First, they will never be generated beneath a ship, nor will they ever appear doubled up, except in the case of an improperly made scenario. Secondly, a fluxhole can disappear while you are 'sitting' on it, so keep a watch. YOUR SHIPS: ---------- There are five classes of player ships: the cruiser, destroyer, battlestar, energyship, and minesweep. Each ship has a different purpose, although some are closer related than others. CRUISER: The cruiser may move two (2) squares per game turn. They may move over obstacles but may not move over other ships. Cruisers also fire two squares, giving them the ability to shoot around another ship, assuming the path is not blocked. They use up one (1) unit of energy to move and fire (i.e., 1 unit to more, 1 unit to fire). Each shot from a cruiser costs 3 units of energy to the enemy. The maximum energy for this ship is 30. DESTROYER: Destroyers move one (1) square per turn, and fire two (2) squares, like the cruiser. Destroyers use (1) energy unit to fire and (1) to move. Their damage varies, but is always greater than that of a cruiser and within the lower range of a battlestar. When shooting two spaces, however, their damage is fixed at 2 points. The maximum energy for this ship is 30. 3 BATTLESTAR: Battlestars fire (1) space and move the same distance as destroyers, but use up (2) energy units to fire and (2) units to move. Damage is greater than that of a destroyer. The maximum energy for this ship is 40. MINESWEEP: A minesweep picks up any enemy mines within a square of itself before any friendly ships within that range can be hit. This costs no energy. A minesweep may move 1 square per turn at a cost of 1 energy. For a cost of 2 energy they may lay a mine within one square of themselves. The maximum energy for this ship is 30. ENERGYSHIP: Energyships move at a rate of 1 square/turn but do not consume energy to do this. They cannot fire, but they may restore up to (3) units of energy to any friendly ship within one square. Energyships are unusual in that they are not destroyed when their energy is reduced below 0, just immobilized. Another unique ability of an energyship is its capability to restore its energy, at a rate of 2 units/turn. This is reduced to 1/turn if the ship is below 0 units. One crucial weakness of the energyship is its susceptibility to attack: it takes double damage from any attack except mines. The maximum energy for this ship depends on the energy ceiling (usually 50). See below for more information. PROPERTIES OF ALL SHIPS: ----------------------- Any ship except an energyship which is reduced below 0 energy is removed from the game screen permanently. Ships may only move if they have above 0 energy. At 0 energy, the ship is stalled. It may not move or fire until fueled by an energyship or fluxhole. MINELAYING ---------- Minelaying is done by minesweeps. A mine may be dropped anywhere on the game board (within one space of a minesweep). The mine will remain active until one of two things happens: an enemy minesweep destroys it, or an enemy ship detonates it (taking damage). Mines are usually invisible, although they may be listed at the statistics screen at the end of the turn if the mine display option is on or they can be represented by thicker squares on the game board (see setup menu). 4 Mines are detonated at the end of the game turn. Any ship on a mine will take damage. If reduced below zero, that ship will be destroyed (unless an energyship). Take careful note of the ships hit and their locations, as a careful plan could be jeopardized by the surprise weakening of an important ship. THE GAME TURN ------------- The game turn consists of three segments: moving, firing, and statistics. During the move and fire segments, each players' ships alternate moving and firing. The order of ship actions is determined by their number. These numbers may be changed by designing new scenarios or modifying those included. Fire segment includes minelaying and energizing, as minesweeps and energyships have no true firing capabilities. The statistics sequence includes information on the removal of ships (due to negative energy), the restoration of energyship energy units, the detonation and sweeping of mines, and effects of obstacles. There is also a summary of fleet strength and ship location. During this segment a check for victory is done. At the end of this segment, you are given the option to save the game or recall another. USE OF THE KEYBOARD ------------------- Movement is done using very few keys: the numeric keypad (where 7 is up-left, 3 down-right, 2 down, 4 left, etc.), and the Y and N keys, C (for continue). Unless the computer prompts for another key, entry from the number keypad is requested. If you choose not to make a move, at the first movement step (in the case of cruisers) you can type '5'. '5' also cancels firing during the fire turn. You should not use '5' if you change your mind about movement (during a cruiser move). At that point, you must either move back where you started (thus ending that piece's move) or bump into another ship (starting the piece's move over). There is no other way to change a cruiser's move once you have begun. ENDING THE GAME: There are three ways to exit a game in progress. You may wait until the end of the game turn, save, then exit, or you may wait until the victory conditions are reached. 5 VICTORY CONDITIONS ------------------ There are two ways to win the game: push any of an opponent's energyships below -99, or destroy all of the other player's offensive ships (all ships except energyships and minesweeps). When either or both of these is achieved, game play will continue until the end of the third sequence, when the victory will be announced, scores totalled, and game ended. Ties, where both players achieve one or more of the goals in the same game turn, will also be noted. "BUNDLED" GAMES --------------- I have included nine pre-made scenarios. I tried to make the scenarios so that they would exercise different strategies. I welcome comments on the scenarios, as well as possible modifications to them. I also welcome the writing of new and different scenarios. Be creative! You can load your own scenarios through the scenario menu. Be sure to include the .GXY extension. GENERATING SCENARIOS -------------------- To make your own scenarios, all you have to do is follow a simple pattern. The difficult part behind the scenarios is balancing off the forces to make both sides equally powerful, otherwise there is no point in playing. To make a scenario, follow these steps: I. Figure out the locations, types, and strengths of the opposing ships. II. Create a pure ASCII datafile using an editor or word processor (make sure your word processor can dump pure ASCII text). Use the extension .GXY for all scenario files. III. Enter the number of ships the player has on its own line. IV.Then, enter each of that player's ships (count correctly!) with one of the following on a LINE ALONE: 0 - cruiser 1- destroyer 2 - battlestar 3- minesweep 4 - energyship 6 Followed by the x and y coordinates (separated by a space) and the number of fuel units (up to maxfuel, but remember the appropriate limits of each ship) ALL ON ONE LINE. Therefore, you'll have two lines per ship, the first containing a digit from 0-4. All of the ships of one player should be typed in together. V. Do the same for the next player. VI. Type the number of obstacles you want, terminate the line. VII. Type each obstacle, including each's x, y coordinates and its type, a number as follows (separate each number with a space and terminate line with a ): 0 - stargate 1- fluxhole 2 - blackhole 3- comet VIII. Type the number of mines you want. Each mine should be specified with the x,y coordinate and a player number (1 or 2) on the same line. The only other rules to follow are those for the game: never overlap obstacles, obstacles + ships, ships + ships. EXAMPLE OF A SMALL SETUP (SEE TEST.GXY) --------------------------------------- 2 0 1 1 20 4 1 2 20 2 0 10 10 15 3 10 15 10 3 10 11 0 10 12 1 10 13 3 4 9 10 1 9 11 1 9 12 1 9 13 1 7 Scenario above puts player 1's ships at 1,1 and 1,2, with 20 energy respectively. They are a cruiser and energyship. Player 2 has a cruiser and a minesweep, with energies 15 and 10 located at 10,10 and 10,15. Obstacles are a stargate at 10,11, a fluxhole at 10,12, and a comet at 10,13. There are four mines, one at 9,10, one at 9,11, one at 9,12, and one at 9,13, all dropped by player 1. Of course, player 2 has the minesweep.... hmmm. MENU OPTIONS ------------ The options menu allows the user to set up the game to his/her specifications. You can customize some of the game's features to your tastes. Maximum energy is the maximum amount of energy an energy ship may have. Normal ships may exceed their maximums on a fluxhole, but this number is still their ceiling. It is originally set to 50. Do not set this number below 40, as it will upset the strategic balance between the ships, and perhaps upset the game's play. SCENARIO NOTES, STRATEGIES ========================== Note on the scenario "Victory at Muspell": there is a minefield at columns 20 and 21 (the minefield's columns are marked by comets at the top and bottom of the screen). This minefield is interspersed with mines from each player. The difficulty for the 2nd player is how to traverse the minefield. Note that the usefulness of destroyers has been altered since version 1, with the addition of a longer shooting range. It might be helpful for the 2nd player in the game "Barrier Challenge" to play with the notion that the battle in the upper left corner is already lost. Never underestimate the usefulness of cruisers. The experienced player will find many uses for them. In fact, they are possibly more powerful than battlestars. Of course, their value depends on how they are played. === 8 I welcome (in fact, appreciate) comments and questions about this program . Although I have tried to check thoroughly for bugs, there may be a few I have overlooked. If you find any, please leave a message in the WINADV forum to me, or to user ID 71505,1277 on EasyPlex. Also, scenario suggestions are appreciated. -Al Funk [71505,1277] UPDATE LOG ====== === (1.0) 1.1 Changes and additions made to the scenario library. Fixed a nasty little bug where ships killed on fluxholes rose from the dead. 9 2.0 (not released) This version implements the graphics using Turbo Pascal 4, dramatically increasing text and graphics display speed. This also fixes a bug whereby the destroyers sometimes did more than two points damage from two spaces. 2.1 (not released) Version 2.1 enables the user to type the # of the scenario menu selection he/she would like to run, rather than going through the title screens. 2.2 Version 2.2 makes it impossible for the player to shoot his/her own ships. Additionally, a directory will be displayed when loading other scenarios. Note that this version requires use of the .GXY extension for scenarios. 2.3 Now, mines may be represented by thicker grid lines of the appropriate player's color. See setup menu. These updates as of 1/30/88. This program written by Al Funk, with thanks to David Wolpaw for the scenario "Davidius' Victory".