Celestial Caesars
V 3.19
Object:
To explore as much of the screen as possible.
To gain control of as many planets as possible.
Winner:
The player with the highest score.
To Begin:
Press the N or R when prompted to start a New game or Restore an
old one. If you select the restore game option you will return to your
game at the point it was saved.
Enter the number of players (1-4).
Enter the name of each player. Your name will be used to inform
you of your turn. If there are fewer than four players you have the
option of letting the ST play as an opponent.
Press the Y or N keys to determine whether enemy ships in your
territory will be visible on your map.
Press the Y or N keys to limit or not limit ship production on
neutral planets. If you limit ship production, no unowned planet will
be able to produce more than 30 ships. If production is not limited,
it will eventually become very difficult to take neutral planets,
forcing players to attack each other instead.
Press the Y or N keys to determine whether players' planets will
have defensive shields. If you select shields, all planets owned by
players will be much harder to capture. This puts a damper on
invasions and wild behind-the-lines commando tactics.
Press the Y or N keys to determine whether ship movement will be
hidden. Hidden movement means players will have less information about
each other, but will also have less feedback from their own orders.
Enter the number of turns you wish to play. This number must be
within the range from 5 to 30. A higher number will, of course, take
longer to play.
After all information is entered, a grid will be displayed with a
player's name at the top. All other players must leave the area.
To play:
1. To begin your turn, place the mouse finger within the name box
at the top of the screen and press the left mouse button. The grid
will open to display the area known to you. Planets are color-coded in
the following manner:
green - controlled by you
yellow - neutral planet
red - controlled by an opponent
If you have a fleet exploring a grid area, it is represented as a
small green triangle. If you selected yes to show enemy ships, they
are represented by a small red triangle.
At the top of the screen will be displayed the turn number, the
number of ships you have, the number of planets you control, and your
current score. Your score is determined as follows:
planets controlled - 500 points each
area of grid explored - 50 points each
ships you have - 10 points each
2. To explore or conquer an area, place the mouse cross-hair on
the square you wish to send ships from and press the left mouse button.
A message will be displayed in the lower bar, informing you of the
number of ships available in that area. If there are no ships
available or that area is not controlled by you, a message to that
effect will be displayed.
3. Assign a destination to the ships by pointing the mouse cross-
hair to a grid square and pressing the left mouse button. The number
of turns (ETA) required to reach that grid square will be displayed on
the right of the bar. If you choose the same destination square as the
source square, the move will be cancelled. This feature can be used to
find out how many ships you have in each area that is under your
control.
4. Once a destination square is chosen you must decide how many
ships to send. To increase the number of ships sent, point the finger
to the up arrow and press the left mouse button - to decrease the
number, point the finger to the down arrow and press the left mouse
button. Sending zero ships will cancel the move.
As an alternative to using the mouse, you may press the ALTERNATE
key and type in the number of ships on the numeric keypad. This method
is handier when dealing with large numbers of ships.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 as often as you wish or until all
possible ships have been sent. If you send all of the ships available
in an area, the ship symbol is still displayed until your next turn.
6. To end your turn press the right mouse button. You will be
asked to confirm that you wish to end your turn. You can do so by
pressing the right mouse button again. At the end of your turn the
next player's name will be displayed. Call for that player to return
and enter his own secret orders.
Movement-Battle Phase:
After all players have entered their orders the movement-battle
phase will begin. Call all players into the area and press the left
mouse button.
As each order is executed the player's name and an order message
is displayed. When a planet or enemy fleet is encountered the
attacking player's name is displayed along with the number of attacking
and defending ships. The efficiency rating of each fleet is also
displayed.
If the player wishes to proceed with the battle, he presses the
left mouse button and the battle begins. The results of each shot
hitting are displayed on the screen. The attacking player can retreat
at any time by PRESSING AND HOLDING the right mouse button. If the
attacker retreats he loses 10% of his forces and the ships disappear
from play for one to four turns. When they reappear it will be at the
point from which they were first sent.
After all movement and battle orders are completed you are allowed
to save the game in progress or continue play. If you continue, each
planet builds it allotted number of ships. Every player's home planet
builds 15 ships. Neutral and captured planets build 3 to 6 ships.
After the building phase, the players are again able to enter new
secret orders for the ships available.
At the end of each 5 turns a status report is displayed for all
players to see so they can compare their performances. This report is
also shown at the end of the game.
Hints - Tips:
Do not leave your home planet unprotected. Because of its high
ship production it would be a great prize for an opponent.
If you attack a fleet of an opponent it has a firepower of 1.5
times the number of ships in the fleet. (A fleet of 20 ships fires 30
times.) If you attack an opponent's planet, the firepower is twice the
number of ships currently on that planet. If a defensive shield is
present, two hits are required to destroy one ship. In this case you
would need a fleet twice the size of your opponent's to have a somewhat
even chance of success in conquering his planet.
Use one or two ship fleets to explore areas. Explore as much of
the grid as early in the game as possible. Find all of the planets
close to your home planet and send fleets to conquer them as soon as
possible. Neutral planets also build ships on each turn, making them
very hard to conquer later in the game.
Ships can travel up to 3 squares in any direction in one turn.
This will allow for exploration of a rather large area on each turn.
Try to avoid sending ships on long expeditions which require 3 or more
turns as this ties up your ships for long periods of time with no
assurance of the results.
Watch the grid carefully during the movement phases to get an idea
of the location of your opponents.
Some players set the number of turns to 30 and play until one
player gains an irrefutable advantage and forces the other to resign.
This method is good for beginners to get a feel for how long a game
will generally last.
Some of the options affect the length of the game. Defensive
shields tend to lengthen the game, and so does limited ship production.
Allocate more turns when using these options.
Beginners generally should not choose the USE HIDDEN MOVEMENT
option. This option leaves players "flying blind" and is more
difficult to play.
TAKE NO PRISONERS