PLAYING THE GAME
The Amiga version of PowerMonger uses no keyboard commands in the course of gameplay itself, and all commands and options are chosen through the mouse. Refer to your PowerMonger manual for command and options instructions and symbol definitions However, the keyboard is used to begin and end the two- player version of the game; please refer to your PowerMonger manual for specific two-player game instructions.
LOADING & SAVING
To save a game, you must have a formatted 3.5" inch write enabled disk. While loading and saving, the drive light will stay on when you are asked to swap disks. This is normal and does not mean that the disk drive is active and you have no cause to worry about removing the disk when it is in this state.
Note
If you have an external drive called df1: and want to leave it plugged in when playing PowerMonger, insert a write enabled disk into it or you may receive an error message Unable to write to DF0: when formatting or saving to a disk in DF0:
If an error message appears saying :-Unable to write to drive DF0:, your disk may not be write enabled. Remove it from DF0:, write enable it if it is not, and start the formatting procedure again. If the disk already was write enabled, or if the error message appears again, try using another disk.
If a message saying Are you sure you want to format the PowerMonger Disk? appears, make sure the PowerMonger game disk is not in the drive before clicking on the OK button.
If an Unable to write to drive DF0: error message appears, remove the disk from DF0 and write enable it. Then re-insert it and try the Save Game Procedure again.
If an Disk in Drive DF0: is not a Save Game disk error message appears, you may not have formatted the disk. Try formatting it using the Format Disk procedure described earlier.
You can save eight games on a properly formatted disk. If you want to save more than eight games, format more disks and label them Saved Game disk 2, Saved Game disk 3, etc.
NOTE ON TWO PLAYER MODE
When you are in two player mode, you can either use the Map Selection Chart to select a territory or use the random territory option. If you select the random territory option, you will often have at least one subordinate captain as well as a First Captain when you begin. However, when both players link-up in two player mode, any subordinate captains will revert to a neutral colour (that is, a colour that is not being used by either of the two players). This prevents either player from having an unfair advantage at the start of a game.
MODEM USERS
Always remember to use capital letters when typing instructions for the modem. Before connecting in two player modem mode, follow these steps to reset your modem:
Follow the instructions from point 4 on page 33 of your PowerMonger Manual on making contact via your modem.
At the end of your two player game session, turn your modem off or use the reset button to disconnect.
BULLFROG
The philosophy behind our games is that we only design what we want to play. If we don't enjoy them then how can we expect anyone else to? We wanted to play a game like PowerMonger and it didn't exits. So we had to make it in order to play it.
The idea for PowerMonger came while Populous was being developed. We wanted to design a game that was more than a game itself - a game that changed and played differently every time you played it. We wanted to create a game wherein you felt you are inside a world, and you are playing as part of that world.
One of the problems in producing a game which is a simulation of a real world is that you need to approximate everything. For example, in PowerMonger, as in the real world, you go out and make food. But, although you can see the farmers go out into the field ploughing you can't see them blowing their nose. In making a real world simulation everything has to be approximated and you imagination fills in the gaps.
To make the game more real we wanted to give everyone their own personality; all the people have their own names, characters, and professions. We want players to build up relationships with the characters, so if there is someone you particularly like in the game you can follow his life.
PowerMonger is essentially a war game, but is unlike traditional board or computer war games, i.e. you take four moves and then it is the next person's turn. We wanted to create something that existed in real time and where you could do anything. Real time action is an important feature in all our games. We think if the game ever stops the magic is broken and any relationship built up between you and the game destroyed. In PowerMonger, the game stops for nothing.
Another problem in designing such a deep game is keeping the operation as simple as possible. In PowerMonger, it is not complicated to initiate an action, but the result of that action may be complicated. For example, if you click on the Attack icon and then attack a sheep being herded by a shepherd, that won't necessarily be the only result. The shepherd, wanting to protect his sheep, may attack you. The game may react to your simple instructions in a complex way.
Another feature that is very important to us in all our games is a multi- player function. We feel that playing a computer game with someone else will give you maximum enjoyment.
Bullfrog have an idea of the ideal game they want to write. Populous was the first step to writing this game, and PowerMonger is further along. But our ideal game is yet to be written.
LOADING THE GAME
Follow the instructions in your Command Summary Card to load PowerMonger. After you have loaded the game, the introductory sequence will appear. You can either watch the sequence or click the left mouse button to go to the Name Screen.
NAME SCREEN
After the opening sequence, a screen will appear asking "What Is Thy Name, O Lord?" Type in the name you want to use in the game, either your own or one you make up and then press Return to begin the game. If you don't want to use a name. press Return when this screen appears.
OPTION SCREEN
Next, the Option Screen will appear. This lists the options you have at the beginning of the game.
Click on the option of your choice:
Start New Conquest
Start the conquest from the beginning. This will be the Standard game with a pre-set 195 territories to conquer.
Continue Conquest
Choose the next territory to conquer.
Play Random Land
Enter a random computer-generated territory. Using this option lets you go from territory to territory without the linear development found in the Standard game.
Load Data Disk
Load a new Data Disk. This option can be eventually used with data disks that will complement and add to the original Power- Monger world. These data disks will be released at a future date. This option will not work with the original PowerMonger disk or copies of it.
THE SITUATION
Your rule was fair and just. Your fate may not be...
Your kingdom of Miremer was destroyed by a devastating seismic upheaval. Collapsing mountains and fiery, poisonous ash spared few of your subjects and none of your lands. You have plied ambivalent seas for countless weeks seeking a new home for your remaining handful of followers (and a new realm for yourself). Finally, the fickle waves grew weary of toying with you and cast your frail craft onto the unfamiliar shores of a foreign land. This land is rich and fertile, as you have dreamed it would be; but like all bountiful places, it is populated. Petty warlords and captains reign over the larger settlements and send their armies sweeping across the countryside. You could debase yourself into vassalage to these backward nobles and submit your followers to their misrule. But you were a king not so long ago, and you have borne enough indignity. It is they who will pay homage to you. You will gain a crown once again...or die in the attempt.
As you venture across this new domain, you will have to win the fealty of those you encounter by words of diplomacy or dint of arms. The native tribes are laggards in the art of war, but are far from helpless. You are also not the only strangers here. Other invading tribes under ruddy or azure banners mourn lost kingdoms, or yearn after new ones. Like the natives, they must be persuaded to join your cause or be put to the sword. There is no other path to kingship.
As you campaign, you will reap the fields' fair bounty and probe the deep places of the world for hidden wealth. The powers of life and death, enrichment and impoverishment, plenty and starvation, can be yours in absolute measure. But you must manage your power, like any other resource, wisely. Constant warfare will deprive you of present followers and future recruits, and continual pillaging will fill your stores for the moment but will leave the land empty of anything to fill them in the future. You must learn to balance force with restraint, and the requirements of the day with the needs of days to come. Only then shall you be the ultimate
POWERMONGER
There are 195 territories to conquer in the world of PowerMonger in the Conquest mode. After the game loads, the Map Selection Chart will appear displaying the various territories you can conquer. At the beginning of the game, the only territory you can conquer is the island in the top left corner; if you cannot immediately find this island, move the On-Screen Pointer around in that corner of the Chart, and the red Selection Rectangle will appear when the pointer is over it. Click on this territory with the left mouse button to invade it, and then enter the correct copy protection number when prompted to begin playing the game.
To survive and prosper in a territory you will need to conquer settlements, get food and men, and invent both weapons and trading items. But keep in mind there are enemy armies prowling about who are after the same resources and doing the same things you are. These armies are as strong as yours, and some of their commanders are at least as aggressive and clever as you. When you have brought 2/3 the population of this territory under your control, you have effectively conquered it; the Conquest Balance directly beneath the Overview Map will tell you when you have reached this point. When you think you have conquered a territory, click on the Option Symbol, then on the Game box and then on the Retire box (explained under Option Symbol in the Symbol section of the manual). The computer will then tell you if you have won or lost. If you have lost, a screen will appear saying you have been defeated. Click with the left mouse button to go back to the Option Screen.
After you have conquered the first territory, you can move on to any adjacent territory. To enter a territory, place the On-Screen Pointer over its map; when the red Selection Rectangle appears around the territory, click with the left mouse button. (Note that you can only move into territories which are highlighted in red when the On-Screen Pointer is over them.) In the case of this first territory, you can move to territories to the right and below; in more centrally placed territories away from the corners, there will of course be more directions in which you can move and more territories to choose from. To help you keep track of where you've been, a dagger will appear in the map of each territory after you conquer and leave it, and a yellow Selection Rectangle will appear around them when the On-Screen Pointer is over them.
When you move to a new territory, you will effectively be starting all over again. The Captains you recruited will stay behind to administer your conquest. You may not have as many men or as much food as you had before; building up vast armies and enormous hoards of food may help you in the territory you were in, but not in the one you're going to. You can't take your spoils with you.
To scroll the Map Selection Chart downward, place the On-Screen Pointer on the white border at the edge of the screen, and press and hold down the left mouse button. Then, with the button held down, move the mouse upwards and the Map Selection Chart will scroll up along with it. And if you hold down the mouse button and move the mouse downward, the map will scroll down as well.
As you get farther from the first map, the going will get tougher and tougher; the armies you face will get more aggressive and better equipped, and resources will become increasingly difficult to find and secure, let alone manage. (You can move back to easier territories you haven't conquered yet if the going gets too tough.) The most formidable territory of all, and the one you must finally conquer to rule the world, is in the lower right corner of the Map Selection Chart.
THE WORLD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |MAP ICONS JOB SYMBOL STATUS BARS CAPTAINS | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Overview Map | | | Overview Map | FIRST | | Overview Map | CAPTAIN | | Overview Map | PICTURE | | Overview Map | HERE! -----------\ | | Overview Map | ---------/CLOSE UP MAP\ | | Overview Map | ----------/ \ | | Overview Map |-- ----------/ CLOSE UP MAP CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Overview Map |\ \ \ | | Overview Map | \ \ CLOSE UP MAP CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Overview Map |--- \ \ | | Overview Map | \ \ CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Overview Map | \ \ CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Overview Map |-----\ \ | |______________| \ \ CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Conquest | \ \ \ | | Balance! | \ \ CLOSE UP MAP \ | |______________|--------\ CLOSE UP MAP \ | | Map Controls | \ \ ------ | | Map Controls | \ \ CLOSE UP MAP ----- \ | | Map Controls | \ \ ------- \ \ | | Map Controls |-----------\ ------- \ \ ___\ | | Map Controls | \ \ ----- \ ___ \______\__\ \ | | Map Controls | \ \ -----__\_______\ \___\ \ \ | | Map Controls | \ \----- \ \ \ \ \ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ /|\ /|\ | | | | \------------- --------------/ \/ | COMMAND SYMBOLS
The map icons are: (from left to right!)
CONTOUR MAP ICON
SETTLEMENTS MAP ICON
OBJECTS MAP ICON
FOOD MAP ICON
The Overview Map shows the territory you are currently attempting to conquer. On this map you can see roads, bodies of water, forests, settlements, and their occupants.
OVERVIEW MAP CONTROLS
The White Cross on the Overview Map indicates the centre of the area currently shown in the Close-Up Map. By changing the position of the cross on the Overview Map, you change the view in the Close-Up Map. You can move the White Cross in two ways:
Click on the Compass: Use either mouse button to click on the Com- pass to indicate in which direction you want the White Cross to scroll. If you click with the left mouse button, the cross will move a short distance with each click; if you click and hold down the right mouse button, the cross will continue to scroll until you release the button. The Compass can move the White Cross in eight different directions: North, south, east, and west, as well as Northeast, north-west, Southeast, and Southwest. Note that the compass itself always points north; this is important to remember if you have rotated the map.
Click on the Overview Map: Click on the Overview Map with either mouse button to move the White Cross to whatever location you want to view.
CONTOUR, OBJECTS, SETTLEMENTS, AND FOOD Directly above the Overview Map are four map icons. Clicking on each of these icons will show you different map information on the Overview Map:
Contour Mode Map Hills, valleys, and plains. Dark green indicates the lowest-lying areas, while higher elevations are coloured lighter green, then yellow, then brown, and, at the highest elevations of all, white.
Objects Mode Map Trees, houses, workshops, men, and roads.
Trees appear as red dots, roads appear as grey lines, houses appear as light brown dots, your men as white dots, and workshops appear as yellow dots in settlements.
Settlements Mode Map Settlements and roads are shown in grey, and your men as white dots.
Food Mode Map Same as the Settlements Mode Map, with settlements colour-coded according to how much food is in each. Black settlements indicate no food and white settlements indicate comestibles in massive abundance. Dots in varying shades of grey indicate food supplies somewhere in between the two extremes; the lighter the shade of grey, the more food is present. Click on the Food Map Icon again to update this map.
CAPTAINS
The currently selected Captain will be visible on the Overview Map as a man in a red cloak. But if he is spying, he will wear a shirt of the same colour as the army on which he is spying. SETTLEMENTS
Settlements are important sources of men, food, and inventions. When you conquer one, you may want to strip it of all of the above. But if you take all the men, there will be no one to gather food or create invention; settlements repopulate (the stork brings them), but they do so slowly. And if you take all the food, the men will stop whatever they were doing and put all their efforts into agriculture. CLOSE UP MAP
______ /___ --ROTATION ARROWS / \/ \\ | /^ _ ^\ \|/ |\ |\ /| V COMPASS -- |/ ` \| AND THESE TWO SMALL ICONS WITH FOUR \^ ^/ -- ARROWS POINTING IN ALL DIAGONAL DIRECTIONS \__/\__/ THEY ARE ZOOM BUTTONS DUDE ! (TOO HARD TO DO IN ASCII!)
CLOSE-UP MAP CONTROLS
The Close-Up Map shows you details of the area where the White Cross is positioned on the Overview Map. CHANGING THE VIEW
There are several ways to change the Close-Up Map to view a different area:
Click on the Overview Map: Click on the area on the Overview map you want to view on the Close-Up map with either mouse button. Or press and hold down either mouse button on the Overview Map, and move the On-Screen Pointer around the map. The White Cross, and thus the Close-Up Map view, will follow the pointer.
Click on the Compass: Use either button to click on the Compass to indicate in which direction you want the Close-Up Map to scroll. If you click with the left mouse button, the map will scroll a short distance with each click; if you click and hold down the right mouse button, the map will continue to scroll until you release the button. The Compass can scroll in eight different directions: The cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west, as well as Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Note that the compass itself always point north; this is important to remember if you have rotated the map.
Click on any Captain: Click on the large figure of any Captain with the right mouse button. (Careful not to click on his medals, nor click with the left.) The Close-Up Map will immediately jump to that Captain's current location.
THE ROTATION ARROWS
The Rotation Arrows rotate the Close-Up Map left or right so you can improve or just change your view. Clicking on a Rotation Arrow with the left mouse button rotates the map to the next cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in the direction of the arrow, for a total of 4 different view positions. Clicking on a Rotation Arrow with the right mouse button rotates the map by much smaller increments, for a total of 64 view positions. Also, if you click and hold down the right mouse button on a Rotation Arrow, the map will continue to rotate until you release the mouse button.
THE ZOOM BUTTONS
You can zoom the Close-Up Map view in or out by using the Zoom Buttons. Clicking on a Zoom Button with the left mouse button zooms in or out by one step. Clicking a Zoom Button with the right mouse button zooms in or out to the maximum near and far settings. Note that as you zoom in closer and closer on the Overview Map, mobile figures (people, animals, etc.) seem to move faster and faster. They aren't, really; this is an illusion created by the fact that smaller and smaller areas are being viewed as you Zoom in.
THE CONQUEST BALANCE
A territory has been conquered when at least 2/3 of its population is under your control. The Conquest Balance indicates when this has happened. When you start conquering a territory, the scales will be tipped toward the left. As you gain control of more and more people, your half of the balance on the right will fill with gold. When the balance is tipped in favour of the white-and-blue shield on the right, it means 2/3 or more of the territory's population is under your control. Click on the Retire box in the Option Symbol (explained in the Symbol section of this manual) to move on to the next territory.
SEASONS AND WEATHER
Seasons pass in the world of PowerMonger as they do in any world. In spring, summer, and especially in the autumn, food will be plentiful; in winter, it will be scarce, as no more will be produced in the settlements. You will notice two weather effects, rain and snow, as the seasons run their cycle. These forms of precipitation will, of course, slow an army as it moves across the land.
There is little even the First Captain can do to change the weather, but there is one way his followers and the followers of his subordinate captains can change weather pattern. When townspeople or armies are ordered to Invent (see Invent section), they will often use wood to fashion their handicrafts if there is a forest near. But they can go too far, which leads to deforestation, which in turn can disturb weather patterns. Forests will grow back, but until they do, rain and snowfall will both be above normal.
SOUND
As you move about the world of PowerMonger, you will hear a lot of background noise: Sheep baaing, birds singing or taking flight, work sounds from neighbouring villages, men cheering, etc. These noises can provide important clues and can tell you what's going on nearby on the Close-Up Map. When you hear a sheep, it means one or more of them are close by, and they can be a plentiful source of food. Sounds of battle means combat is going on nearby. Birds taking flight means someone has disturbed them; that might mean there is an enemy in the forest. Hammering and sawing from a nearby settlement or wood means someone is inventing something; if this is going on in an enemy settlement, you might want to go in and put a stop to it, or at least start inventing something of your own to counter them. Birds singing means spring has returned, and wind blowing means winter is here. And when your men start cheering during a battle, it means they've won.
The First Captain and his subordinate Captains also express their level of enthusiasm concerning orders. If they like the order you give them, they will say an excited "Yeah!" If they don't like it, their "yeah" will be much more muted, (WINTER MUTED ?!? HAHAHA [RYGAR] ) or they might not be saying anything at all. This could be a clue that your order might not be such a good idea.
In the background, you will always hear the breathing of whichever Captain you have selected. If he is breathing evenly, everything is going well. If his breathing becomes laboured and ragged during a battle, it means that things aren't going well, and he may even be dying.
SYMBOLS
I cant do this in ascii!
OPTION, POSTURE, COMMAND, & QUERY
To activate a symbol, click on it with left mouse button.
THE OPTION SYMBOL
Use this multi-purpose symbol to set the game speed, initiate two player mode, save & load games to floppy disk, change maps, or retire from the game. (Two Player mode is described in a separate section near the end of this manual. Refer to you Command Summary Card for instructions on Saving and Loading games.)
GAME SPEED
To set the game speed, click on the game speed track. The closer you click to the +, the faster the game speed will be; the closer you click to the -, the slower it will be. (If you have a faster than normal computer, you might want to slow the game down.)
GAME BOX OPTIONS
Click on the Game Box to access these options, then click on the appropriate box to activate its option:
Retire Retire from the territory you're in. If you are ahead (see the Conquest Balance under the Overview Map) you win; if you are behind, you lose. Replay Map Restart conquering the current map from the beginning. Select Map Leave the current territory and go back to Map Selection Chart to choose another territory to conquer. Multi Play Begin two-player game. See separate section near the end of this manual. Random Map Call up a computer generated random map to conquer. Pause Pause the game; click on Pause again to unpause the game. Note: The Close-Up Map vanishes when the game is paused.
Send Message Send a message in two player mode.
(See Two Player Game section.)
FILE BOX OPTIONS
These options Save and Load PowerMonger games. See your Command Summary Card for instructions.
Posture determines the relative aggressiveness of a Captain, from the First Captain (you) down through all the Captains you recruit during your campaign of conquest. These icons only modify the innate aggression of any Captain; the First Captain is always the most aggressive, and the last Captain farthest to the right is always the least aggressive. A Captain's Posture effects not only his own behaviour, but the behaviour of his troops and of others nearby as well. The more aggressive a Captain is, the more food and men he will take from a village he has captured, and the more people his troops will kill in the course of battle. A Captain's aggressiveness will also affect what the people of a conquered village will invent (see Invent), and what sort of Trading deals can be made. Note that the First Captain set on Aggressive posture will take all the food and men and do his best to kill everyone when attacking a village.
To set a Captain's posture, click on the Captain (making sure the Selection Arrow is over his head), and then click on one of the three Posture Symbols:
(One Knife) Passive Posture
(Two Knifes) Normal Posture
(Three Knifes) Aggressive Posture
Note that one posture symbol will always be highlighted.
COMMAND SYMBOLS
The Command Symbols represent the different orders you can issue to yourself as First Captain, the other captains who have joined you, and indirectly the people who follow them.
TO ISSUE A COMMAND:
MILITARY SYMBOLS Attack the person, place, or thing at the head of the Direction Line. Possible targets include settlements, farms, towers, individual men, sheep, and trees; click with the left mouse button to attack a selected target. If you attack a sheep and kill it, it automatically becomes part of your food stock. If you attack a tree and chop it down, you can prevent enemies from using it to make their own inventions. If you attack a settlement or army and win, the people left alive will become your followers, and you will have access to all their resources; watch for souls going up to heaven during such combats, because it means that casualties are occurring. Keep in mind that if your target is ambulatory, it may very well have trudged, marched, or scampered away by the time you get to where it was when you targeted it. You will then track it down, but it might be faster than you. Note also that your active Captain is free to move around during a combat (see Send Captain below). If you click with the right mouse button after a target has been chosen using the Attack Symbol, and the rank is on its way to the chosen target, the Captain will scan the immediate area for men from that target. If he detects any, he will change direction and attack them. This could be used to take out people from the target area who are inventing, or a lone wanderer. You lose a combat when your Captain dies. If a sub- ordinate Captain dies, he disappears from the screen, and he drops his stock and equipped items, which will be visible on the screen. (Men killed in combat drop their equipped items as well, and these will also be visible.) Another Captain can be recruited to take his place later. But if the First Captain dies, the game is over and a You Have Been Defeated screen will appear. Click the left mouse button to return to the Game Option Screen. Get Men from one of your settlements. The number of men taken is determined by the aggression rating of the active Captain; a Passive Captain will attract only a few men to his banner, a Neutral Captain will be able to recruit a few more, and an Aggressive Captain will impress almost every able-bodied man available. Transfer Men reassigns men from one Captain to another. The number of men transferred will depend on the Posture of the Captain being transferred from: Passive posture will transfer 25%, Neutral posture will transfer 50%, and Aggressive posture will transfer 100%. Click with the left mouse button on the transferring from Captain, click on the icon, and then click on the Captain to whom the men are being transferred. Spy sends any Captain to gather intelligence. To enter into this intrigue, select the Captain to whom you want to assign the take by clicking on him with the left mouse button, then click on the Spy symbol. Now click on the neutral or enemy settlement you him to spy on. He will go there, and if he is accepted into the community, the location of the settlement's population will show up on the Overview Map as dots of the appropriate colour (red or blue for enemies, yellow for neutral). If he is recruited into an enemy army, then dots of the appropriate colour will appear on the Overview Map showing the locations of the soldiers in that army.
MOVEMENT SYMBOLS Send Captain anywhere you choose. Select the Captain you want to send, and then select a destination on the Overview Map using the Directional Line and click with the left mouse button, or click on the location on the Close-Up Map. Note that you can use Send Captain to get a Captain out of harm's way during combat without breaking off the battle by clicking on the Send Captain symbol and clicking on a destination a short distance away on either map; however, the Captain might get dragged right back into the battle. Note that an individual cannot get out of a battle while engaged in hand-to-hand combat. If you click on a location far away on the Overview Map, and the Captain is not dragged back into the battle, his men will follow him and the battle will be broken off. Go Home sends the Captain and his army back to the Captain's home. This command is a handy way of getting out of a losing battle while keeping an army intact. Derank is similar to Go Home but will send a fraction of an army home while the Captain involved will stay with the portion of his forces that remain in the field. If the Captain's Posture is Passive, 25% of his troops will leave; if it is Neutral, 50% will find their enlistment is up; and if it is Aggressive, 100% will re-enter civilian life. People with the worst weapons or no weapons, or no boats, will go first leaving the most useful soldiers to remain in the army.
FOOD SYMBOLS Get Food from a friendly settlement or cache (see Drop Food symbol below). The amount of available food a captain gets is determined by his Posture; if his posture is Passive he will get only a little food, if it is Neutral he will get more food, and if it is Aggressive he may take all the food there is present. So, the more gruff he grows, the more grub he grabs. Drop Food will cause the active Captain to drop a portion of his supply of food. The amount he drops depends on his Posture: 25% if his Posture is Passive, 50% if it is Neutral, and 100% if it is Aggressive. The Captain drops this food wherever he is standing and does not have to use the Directional Line. This food will appear on the Close Up Map as a small sack of grain. Animals, enemy armies, and passers by will not take this food since it is hidden from everyone except you and your followers. But if food is dropped in a settlement, it will be added to that settlement's food supply. Note: Don't drop your food into the sea! It will be unrecoverable, and would taste horrible in any case. Supply Food to anywhere that is an object. The selected Captain looks for a nearby settlement that is friendly. He will then go there, drop food (the amount he drops is determined by his Posture, just as described in the Get Food command above), go to the nearest friendly location that has food, and get more food (again, the amount he gets depends on his Posture), and return to the place to be supplied to drop more food. This process will be repeated until he gets different orders.
INVENT SYMBOLS Invent something new and wonderful in a workshop. Workshops are found only in settlements, but they are nevertheless easily spotted on the Overview Map in Object Mode as yellow dots, and on the Close-Up Map as structures with red signs. What can be invented in a particular village depends on what raw materials are available, the occupation of certain locals, and the Posture of the Captain involved. See separate Invent section for more details. Equip Invention equips either inventions you have ordered to be made or objects carelessly left behind by their previous owners. To equip an Invention you have ordered made, click the Equip Invention symbol and then on the settlement where the invention was created; to equip found objects, click on the object itself. Found objects and inventions are identical, i.e., boats, swords, bows etc. The Captain's posture determines how much is picked up: 25% if Passive, 50% if Neutral, and 100% if Aggressive. Note that picking up too much will slow down a Captain. Drop Invention drops any surplus stock. The Captain's Posture determines how much gets dropped: 25% if Passive, 50% if Neutral, and 100% if Aggressive. Surplus stock is shown as what the Captain is carrying when you click on his Medals, and is defined as unequipped weapons or pots, but never equipped weapons or boats. These may later be picked up by the Captain who dropped them, or by another Captain using the Equip Invention command (as long as you don't drop them in the sea, since they're gone forever if you do). They will not be picked up by passers or enemy armies. Or if you drop them in a settlement they will be added to that settlement's stock.
MISCELLANEOUS SYMBOLS Trade goods (weapons, pots, etc.) with a settlement in return for food, items or stock. Every item has a set food value that will be modified if your Captain is good at bartering, and bartering skill is in turn determined by innate aggression. The trading settlement will trade you items for food. The Captain's posture determines what he will trade for and which items he will want first. An Aggressive Captain will trade for a cannon before a Passive Captain will, while a Neutral Captain will fall somewhere in the middle; a Passive Captain will trade for a plough (for example) before he will trade for a cannon, while a Neutral Captain will prefer a boat to a cannon. Note that the weapons your army is using or carrying will not be traded. Make Alliance with another tribe. This requires the payment of tribute from your excess stock (similar to Trade above). Once an alliance has been made, you will have access to that tribe's settlements and resources, and they will likewise have access to yours. An alliance will be broken by a violent act taken against that ally. And if an offer of alliance is rejected, you lose the tribute you offered, and you may become the object of an attack. QUERY SYMBOL Query brings up information about any object, living or non- living, on the Close-Up Map by clicking on it with the left mouse button. This can bring up from 1 to 4 information windows at a time. When you click on an object, you will get information about every object in that square; for example, clicking on a house with two people in it will bring up three windows. All these windows will be stacked, one on top of the other. To separate them and make them readable, just place the on-screen pointer over the top bar of any Query window, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the window to any part of the screen. Repeat this process with every Query window until they're all separated. Click on the Query Symbol with the right mouse button to clear all Query Windows from the screen.
There are three small icons that appear in Query Windows; some windows include all three, while others contain only one or two, but the icons always work the same way in every window. Click with the left mouse button on the Tick Mark Icon in the upper right hand corner of all Query Windows to cancel the window. Click with the left mouse button on the Rectangle Icon to update information in the Query Window; this is a valuable icon to click on frequently if you have a Query Window up during a battle. And click with the left mouse button on the Eye Icon to centre the Close-Up Map on the subject of the Query Window. Different objects reveal different ranges of information when they are the subject of a Query command:
Buildings/Settlements Building type; settlement name; names of the building's two occupants (there are never more than two, husband and wife); to what ruler the settlement belongs, Harold II, Jayne III, or Jos XVIII; the nearest forest; how much food there is in the entire settlement; how many men there are in the settlement and what stock (if any) the settlement has. People Their name, the settlement where they live, their health, the building where they live, their spouse's name, how hard they work, their profession, what item they have equipped, who they follow, and their age. Sheep Those woolly things that bleat incessantly. Mighty good eating. Trees What forest it is in, what kind of tree it is, whether there are any birds in its branches, and the season. Birds Whether they're carrier pigeons and to whom they're going. (Watch out for birds carrying little bundles of joy.)
The Query Symbol will remain highlighted and active until you cancel it or until you click on another symbol.
THE CAPTAINS
The First Captain will encounter other Captains along the way; he can recruit them by conquering the settlements they rule. As they are recruited, they will appear by the First Captain's side, and they are his to command. When a Captain dies, he will disappear from the screen.
Status bars Three bars appear above the head of every Captain under your command, displaying his current food, men, and strength. The top blue line indicates food, the middle red line signifies men, and the bottom green line stands for strength. Keep an eye on the green strength line; when it is gone, so's the Captain. And when the First Captain's line comes to an end, so does the game. The Selection Arrow This arrow bobs up and down over the head of the currently selected Captain. Click on a Captain to select him; he will be the Captain who will receive the orders you give. The Medals Click on the medals hanging on a Captain's chest to display an information box about him even if he is not the currently selected Captain. Clicking on medals will tell you the Captain's name, current job, aggression level, loyalty level, Strength, Speed, the amount of food he has, how many men he has, and how much stock (if any) he is carrying. This information box functions just like a Query Box (see Query Symbol).
STRENGTH
Strength is the indication of how healthy people in the world of PowerMonger are. For Captains, strength is displayed in two ways. First, as the green line in the Status Bars. And second, in the following terms, from strongest to weakest, when you click on a Captain's medals: Fit, Well, Weak, Very Weak, Sickly, Very Sickly, Dead.
A Captain's normal Strength level is Fit. Being wounded in combat is the only thing that will reduce his Strength. If he is reduced below Fit, he will eventually heal back in camp. If his Strength is reduced to Dead, his stay on this planet is over (unless you Replay The Map or Start New Conquest).
MORE ABOUT POSTURE
A Captain's innate aggression is indicated by his position at the table. The Captains to the left are more aggressive than the Captains on the right, but any Captain's posture can be modified by using the Posture icons.
A Captain's actions, or even the actions of his troops, are not always predictable when his posture is set at the aggressive or passive extremes. If a Captain is camped near a battle, even a battle that does not immediately concern him, he may join in the fray if he is in an aggressive frame or mind, or he may run away if he is feeling passive. An aggressive Captain might kill someone who does no more than cross his path when that Captain is moving from place to place. Obviously, any of these actions can be avoided by changing the Captain's posture. But you might be too late unless you are paying close and careful attention.
INVENTIONS
You won't find everything you need just lying around on the ground or in the settlements you conquer. Sometimes it pays to use your head instead of your sword to get what you need. This is where inventions come in.
The Invent command tells a Captain to have his men or the citizens of a friendly settlement to invent something. You can only invent in a village with a workshop; as mentioned previously, these show up as yellow dots in settlements in the Overview Map when it is in Object Mode. What the settlement produces depends on four factors: The Posture of the Captain carrying out the order, the available resources, the presence of a merchant and the occupations of certain locals.
An aggressive posture generally produces heavy weapons like cannons or pikes. Neutral posture produces lighter weapons like bows or boats. Passive posture produces items like ploughs. Inventing any of these, of course, is dependent on having the correct raw materials at hand as well as the appropriate posture.
The results of the inventive urge are also dependent on the location. For example, inventing near a forest on low land near water will usually produce boats. Inventing in a town that is on high ground away from any forest usually produces swords or cannons.
Necessary resources include wood and steel. Forests are a good place to find wood; that's why they call them forests. But keep an eye on people if they take up lumbering; they can strip a forest clean, and forests take a long time to grow back. So don't leave the Invent command active without keeping track of what people are doing off in the woods. Wood can be used to make pikes, bows, ploughs, catapults, and, if you're near water, boats.
Steel is harder to come by. You have to construct a mine to extract the raw ore to forge into steel, and the mine will usually have to be situated at a high altitude. Mine construction is a time-consuming process, and any settlement that has a mine will be an inviting target; they're easy to spot since they're all marked by a tower. If you are not near any useful raw materials when you try to Invent, you'll produce pots from the local mud. Pots are valuable mainly for trade. They won't help you during battles, of course, but at least you'll have a handsome and sturdy receptacle to bleed into after you've had the stuff beaten out of you.
Note:
When people in a settlement are inventing, they can't get food or other supplies. And if they run out of food, they'll gradually stop inventing and take up producing food; i.e., they can still invent if enough people are producing food.
The table below lists what posture is needed to invent particular items plus other conditions that might be necessary:
ITEM POSTURE Catapult Aggressive posture & merchant in settlement Cannon Aggressive posture & merchant in settlement Sword Near a mine & no merchant in settlement Pikes Neutral posture Bows Aggressive posture Boats Passive posture & fisherman present Ploughs Passive posture Pots Can be made any time
EQUIP INVENTION
Once you've invented something, you probably want to pick it up and use it. Or, you might want a loyal Captain and his men to pick up the item. In either case, use the Equip Invention symbol and modify the Captain's posture appropriately, to pick up your invention by clicking on the building in the settlement where the invention was made.
You can also equip inventions you find. Often after a battle, weapons will be left on the battlefield. You can equip these the same way you equip things made in workshops, by clicking on the Equip Invention symbol and then on the weapons. You can also equip boats you find or that belong to your settlements. But since settlements on bodies of water or rivers depend on fishing for part of their food, if you take away their boats their production of food will go down.
If the invention you equip is a hand weapon, empty-handed troops are equipped first. The Captain is equipped first of all, next the First Captain's original followers, and finally the other troops.
If troops have more than one kind of hand weapon to select from when they equip, they will choose weapons in the following order: Bow first, then sword, then pike. In camp, holders of different weapons will sit in different concentric circles around the Captain and the campfire. Anything other than equipped weapons or boats is considered to be carried as stock by the Captain and to be used as trade or for making alliances. The more stock a Captain has, the slower he will travel, so be careful not to overload him. (The only excess items that won't weigh him down are pots.)
TWO PLAYER GAME
There are two ways to play against a human opponent: using a modem to connect to a remote player, or by using a null modem cable to connect the serial ports of two computers (this is datalink mode).
To play in two player mode, both players will need original copies of PowerMonger.
CONNECTING IN DATALINK MODE
CONNECTING MODEMS IN VOICE MODE
If you and your opponent can plug phones into your modem, then you can connect in voice mode.
CONNECTING IN NON-VOICE MODEM MODE
If you or your opponent can't plug a phone into the modem, then you will have to type in the dialling or answer command using the Modem Message box. See your modem manual for details on the commands it will accept. Normally, one player should set his modem to auto-answer by clicking on their Modem Message box and typing ATS0=1 and pressing Return. The other player would then originate the call by clicking on the Modem Message box and typing ATD[phone number] or ATDP[phone number] for pulse dialling. The modems have connected when the CD light on the modem (if it exists) lights up.
STARTING THE TWO PLAYER GAME
First decide who will play which colour tribe. Click in one of the boxes beside the four colours (White, Blue, Red, or Yellow) in the You Are: section and a green light will appear beside your choice. You can only play one side, so if you change your mind then click on another colour choice and the first green light will extinguish and the new one light up. All players will start on the landscape which the player with the highest priority colour is using. The priorities are White first, Blue, Red, and finally Yellow.
USING A SAVED GAME
If you play from a saved game, both players will start from the beginning of the territory that the saved game was being played on and not from the position that the game was saved at. (This is the same effect as loading in a game and ten pressing the Replay Map button.) The main use of using a saved game would be to play a specific random world or to give access to later territories in the conquest series. Only the highest priority player needs to load in a saved game. Put the disk containing the saved game you want to use into the boot drive, click on the options symbol and then on the FILE button. Then select which saved game you want to load in (A through H) and click on the Load button.
CONNECTING
To connect, both player should click on the Connect button on both computers. A window titles Trying For Connect, Looking For Player will appear and the Try Number section of the window will count up showing that the computer is trying to connect. When the machines are connected, the try number will freeze for a second and then a second window reading Sending Game Info will replace the first and the Try Number section indicates that the data transfer is proceeding correctly. Once the information has been sent, the window will disappear and the game will start. You can abort the connect sequence at any time by clicking on a cancel button.
DISABLED FEATURES
Two features are disabled in the two player game once you have connected: Loading a game and Saving a game.
COMPUTER OPPONENTS
If you want more of a challenge then you may wish to turn on computer operated tribes. To do this, bring up the Multi Player window and select one or two Computer opponents by clicking in one or two of the unused (by a human player) boxes beside each of the four colours under the Computer Is: section. The computer players cannot play alongside a human player, so if you had chosen to play the white tribe and your friend was playing the Blues then you could only have Red and/or Yellow computer controlled tribes. Also, there has to be a tribe of the desired colour on the map for the computer to take control of. If there is not such a tribe, then this command will be ignored.
CHANGING SIDES
You cannot change sides in the middle of a game.
PAUSING
Clicking the Pause button (in the GAME section of the options symbol) will cause both players' games to pause. This can be annoying for your opponent so be considerate!
COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR OPPONENT
You can send a message to your opponent by clicking on the Options Symbol, then the Game box, then Send Message button at any point during the game. This brings up the Send a Message window. Type your message up to a maximum of 120 characters and press Return to close the window. If you find that the keyboard is too unresponsive when typing a message, pause the game first.
You can also talk to your opponent on the phone after a game has begun. Click on the Options Symbol and then click on the Game button and then select the Multi Play button. This will bring up the Multiplayer Login window on both players' machines. Note: we suggest that before doing this you alert the other player by sending a message of +++ ATH. Both players should put their modems into command mode at this point by typing +++ into the Modem Message Box and pressing Return. Pick up the phone at this point and both players should type ATH in the Modem Message box and press Return.
This turns off the modem's carrier so if you have a phone connected to your modem you can talk freely with your opponent. (Note: If your opponent hasn't picked up the phone at this point, the phone connection will be lost.)
To re-establish the link after bringing up this window, one player must type ATD first and the other must type ATA into his Modem Message box. Now both players should press Cancel to continue. Note: If you press Connect, the game will start from the beginning again.
GAME OVER
After somebody leaves the game in any way (e.g. Retire, Replay Map, Select Map, Random Map, or by winning), you'll see the Game Lost or Game Won picture depending on your standing in the game. At this point, the line will be automatically cut. If your friend got taken out by a computer player, then you may continue the fight on your own. To start another game, both players should restart the two player sequence from the start.
POSSIBLE COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS
If you're playing in Modem Mode and you get the message You are both <colour> even after you have tried selecting different colour options several times, this means your modem has not established a connection to the remote modem and is merely echoing back to the computer whatever selection you have made. You can stop the echoing by typing ATE0 in the Modem Message box. To fix the problem, you will have to redial your opponent.
During communication, the program checks the data to see if it has been corrupted. If it corrupted, the computer will resend the data until it gets through. This can cause the game to pause momentarily. If the game pauses for more than 10 seconds for no apparent reason then both players should press Shift ESC to break out and continue their games independently.
If the line is lost, there is a serious communication problem or your opponent quits from the game by cutting his line, the game may freeze. Press Shift ESC to break out of two player mode and allow the players to continue their games independently
MESSAGES IN TWO PLAYER MODE
"Message From Opponent": As your opponent types in their message you will see it appear in this window. Once you opponent has finished typing, click on the Tick Icon at the top right of the window to close it.
"Error Try Again": The computer is unable to establish communications. Click on the Cancel button to try again.
SYMBOL SUMMARY
Impossible to do in ascii format.