Conquest - A Game of Galactic Domination ---------------------------------------- The original 4X (EXplore, EXpand, EXploit, EXterminate) game. Win32 Console version 1.2.0 NB: this manual blatantly plagarised from Amiga v1.0 'instructions.txt' file by Bob Shimbo. 1.0 Introduction In this game, you control an interstellar empire. You will decide which star systems to explore, which planets to colonize, whether to spend resources on technology, industrial development, or more combat ships. The relative sucess of your empire depends upon your decisions. The computer will be directing its own empire and will be competing with you for the best planets. Whichever of you has the greatest population at the end of the game, will be the winner. At any prompt, an 'H' command will list all possibilities for that context. 2.0 Starting out 2.1 Balanced Start By default, the game generates a balanced map. Each quadrant of the map, top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right, will have 6 stars and 200 population capacity worth of planets. Players will be placed at a star at least 6 ly from all other players. The star will have at least 1 planet with 60 pop capacity. A fleet of 1 cruiser, 2 scouts and 35 transports will be in orbit. 2.2 'Classic' Start If you start conquest with the '-c' parameter, you will get the 'classic' setup. 21 stars and an unknown number of planets will be distributed randomly across the map. You will be asked to select a starting star system. You start out with 35 transports (full of population) and 30 industrial units (IU's) to spend. You initially can only buy ships or invest in technology. 2.3 Ships There are 4 types of ships within this game. They are listed below along with their cost in IU's : Name Cost Special characteristics ---------------------------------------------------------------- Battlestar 75 Weapon factor 40 Cruiser 16 Weapon factor 7 Scout 6 Has unlimited range. Transport 1 Transport 1 unit of population. 2.4 Technology You can also invest in improving your technology. There are three different area which can be improved : Name Description ----------------------------------------------------------------- Velocity This determines the number of units any ship can move in a turn. Range This determines the number of units a ship may traverse without stopping at a star system. Weapon This determines the effectiveness of weapons on ships or missile bases. The total weapon factor of a taskforce or planetary defense system is added up and multiplied by this level. The amount of IU's necessary to advance to the next level varies and is displayed in the research summary. 3.0 Game turn The game is divided into 100 turns (maximum). Each turn, several things happen. These are as follows. 3.1 Movement Any task forces which have a destination are moved toward it by an amount determined by the level of velocity technology. 3.2 Exploration If any task forces arrive at a star system not previously explored by the player, it must be explored. Exploration involves some risk. Some ships may be destroyed during the exploration. The chance of this happening depends on the type of ships in the task force. The "best" ship will determine the exploration risk. (i.e. a task force with a crusier and transports is at lower risk than a task force with just transports). 3.3 Combat If any task force arrive at a star system where the computer has a task force, the forces fight till one or the other withdraws or is destroyed. The relative chances of each task force is determined by adding the weapons factor of all ships in the task force multiplied by the current level of weapons research. If any task force arrives at a star system where the computer has a colony, the task force may elect to try to conquer the colony. If the planet attacked has missile bases, the battle will be resolved in the same manner as task force combat. 3.4 Orders The commands possible at this point are as follows: 3.4.1 Blasting planets If a planet is in your control (either uninhabited, captured, or colonized) you may have the warships in the taskforce fire at the planet. This will eliminate some or all of the population of the planet and permanently reduce the population the planet can support. 3.4.2 Colony summary This will display a summary of the colonies currently under your control. The display has the following format. Example Description G4:60(46,/49) 1amb Star system G, planet 4, population limit 60, current population 46, current industrial production 49, one advanced missile base present. 3.4.3 Taskforce destination This will target the specified taskforce on a particular star. The star must be within the range limitation specified by the range research level. 3.4.4 Go on This will end this turn. All orders issued will take effect. 3.4.5 Join taskforces This command allows two or more taskforces to be combined into one. 3.4.6 Land transports If a taskforce contains any transports, and if it is in a star system with a planet which can support more population, the player can land transports on the planet and establish or enlarge a colony there. 3.4.7 Redraw maps This command causes the screen to be redrawn. 3.4.8 New taskforce This command allows a taskforce to be split in two. 3.4.9 Quit This command will terminate the game. 3.4.10 Research summary This command will update and display the current research levels. 3.4.11 Star summary This command will display a summary for the requested star systems. The display has the following format : Example Comments ----- star N ----- Star system designator TFa 1c Task force a - 1 crusier 1:10 No colony Planet 1 - no colony 4:60(46/49) 1amb Planet 4 60 population limit 46 population units 49 industrial units 1 advanced missile base 3.4.12 Taskforce summary This command will display a summary of the requested taskforces. This display has the following format. Example TFa:N( 1, 4) 1c TFb: ( 1, 5) 1s R7 TFc: ( 2, 4) 1s M1 Line# Description 1 Task force a, location star system N, coordinate (1, 4), contains one crusier. 2 Task force b, coordinate (1, 5), contains one scout, destination star system R, arrives in 7 turns. 3 Task force c, coordinate (2, 4), contains one scout, destination star system M, arrives in 1 turn. 4.0 Production turn Every four game turns, each planet delivers its industrial production. This production can be spent on a number of different things. The command line for this mode has the following format. Example Description 63? 63 IU's remain to be spent for this planet G4:60(60,/63) 1amb Star system G, planet 4, population limit 60, current population 60, industrial production 63, one advanced missile base present. As you spend IU's, the amount remaining will be reduced. If you buy missile bases or invest in industrial production, the colony line will reflect the change. If you purchase ships, a task force will be created and displayed below the colony line. If you spend IU's on research, those research categories will be updated. 5.0 Ending the game There are 3 different ways to end the game. 5.1 Quitting You can quit at any orders prompt. If you do, the current total populations will be displayed and the computer will declare itself the winner no matter which of you is ahead. (After all, it didn't quit). 5.2 Overwhelm an opponent If at any point during the game, you or the computer has greater than eight times the population that the other has, the game is ended and the larger population is declared as the winner. 5.3 100 turns At the end of 100 game turns, the larger population is declared the winner.