::::: PROJECT: POWERBATTLE ::::: -- INTRODUCTION -- PowerBattle is a light multiplayer strategygame. Game is played on hex-based map that is linked from edges. Units are players' military force that is used to conquer & defence & finally eliminate the enemy. Cities produce more units. -- PRESENT FEATURES -- * 2-8 players (demo currently limited to 4) * Limited visibility; Vision & Visible-From ranges for all units * Air-, ground-, sea- & underwater units * Limited fuel (other than ground units) * Artillery strikes, damaging terrain * Tech-level development (currently automatic) * Transporters and Carriers * Stealthy submarine units; diving & surface states * Combat Report * Refuelling & repairing in cities & carriers * TerrainDamageThreatSystem: risky terrains * Message system * Multitasking * Mouse-keyboard interface; Optional Panel Buttons * Detail Map Editor * Type Editor for Units & TerrainHexs * LORES-LACED HIRES / DBL / OVERSCAN Screenmode Support * 3 extra map zoomlevels; showing units & production * Special abilities: building roads, bridges etc. * City size effects on production * Infantry unit features: hiding, anti-tank, engineers, parachute -- UNITS -- Each UnitType has properties that represent units' abilities, for example Moves (moving speed), HitPoints (general health) etc. UnitTypes can be divided to groups. Two most important groups are MoveTypeGroup and BattleTypeGroup. MoveTypeGroup tells where UnitType is allowed to move (and where NOT): ground units may NOT move in water, big ships are NOT allowed to move in low water etc. BattleTypeGroup is one of the following: AIR, GROUND, SEA or SUB. Each UnitType has ATTACK- and DEFENCE-values for all these 4. This adds versatility while keeping rules relatively simple. -- TIPS -- * Press h to view help-screen. * Panel Buttons can be set from preferences. * In start, produce TBoat / MechInf units; search new cities. -- SOME RULES CONCERNING START -- - Requested number of cities are automatically placed to map - Players are placed as far from each as possible - All players start with (requested) n nearest cities - First five turns are 'Protected'. No violence is allowed - During Protection players get multiple turns a time. Technology advance count all these turns. -- MOVES -- In order to move: -Target terrain must be of suitable MoveType -Unit must have sufficiently MovingPoints (Moves) -Unit must have Fuel (if it uses fuel) -Target terrain must not have any other unit of same battletype OR target terrain must be city -In city there may only be maximum 12 units TerrainHex's DamageThreat is constant representing how easily it may damage units moving there. Unit's ThreatDefence represents how much it can turn away this kind of damage. ThreatDefence may decrease if unit is damaged. IF ThreatDefence < DamageThreat: LET Damage = (0-100% of DamageThreat) - (0-100% of ThreatDefence) If Damage is positive, HitPoints is decreased by damage. -- CLOSECOMBAT & ARTILLERY STRIKES -- Move to the same hex with enemy to enter CloseCombat. Artillery Strikes are separate, see controls. In CloseCombat attacker's and defender's hex is active in turn. Active hex's all units in turn try to damage other hex's units. Then, active hex is switched. In Artillery Strikes only single attacker unit attempts to damage units in the target hex. There is a minimum distance of two hexes for artillery attacks. Here is an example of SINGLE damaging attempt. Note: 'attacker' doesn't have to be the one who started. Attacker: Panzer - GROUND unit Defender: Bomber - AIR unit LET Max_Attack = Panzer's AIR-Attack LET Max_Defence = Bomber's GROUND-Defence At this point, Max values are modified. Possible modifications: -Veteran Bonus * 1.0 - 1.5 -Defence Bonus * 0.1 - 2.0 (defence only) -Ranged Attack * 0.5 - 3.0 (attack value) -Light Ground Modifier * 0.1 - 2.0 (if defender is infantry) Modified values are Max_Mod_ -values. Next: LET Attack = 25-100% of Max_Mod_Attack LET Defence = 25-100% of Max_Mod_Defence LET Damage = Attack - Defence IF Damage is positive, defender's HitPoints is decreased by damage. -- SOME RULES CONCERNING CLOSECOMBAT -- Multiple players may have units in same hex. Units wonät automatically attack if they are not of same kind (battletype). use Force attack key, a, to force battle. -- TRANSPORTER UNITS -- Transporters and Carriers can be used to transport, refuel & repair units. Only AT-Fighters or AT-Bombers may use Carrier. During one turn only limited number of units can be (un)loaded. Loading: -Set 'Unit to be loaded nearby tranporter' to LoadPrep -Order Carrier to Load Unloading: -Select unit from CargoList, with right mouse button To cancel Unloading: -Select transporter with right mouse button on map (in the same hex) -- SOME RULES CONCERNING LOADING AND UNLOADING -- If carrier unit is AirTransport, only prachuted units can be unloaded outside cities. All infantry EXCLUDING basic infatry, are parachuted. Air Transporter units can load only in cities. -- REPAIRING & REFUELLING -- Units are automatically repaired & refuelled in cities and carriers. Cities repair themselves only if they are set not to produce anything. -- SPECIAL ABILITIES -- - With Level command units can achieve - better Defence - decreased Vision & Visible-From ranges - decreased Moving Points - modified Ranged Attack Modifier (Artillery/Torpedo Strikes) - modifies Ranged Attack Range This equals to Infantry units' hiding & Submarine units' diving. No other units currently have this feature. - Settler units can build road and plain. Instant. - Engineers units can build bridges. Takes 2 turns to finish. -- CONTROLS -- Game Keys: o Overview p Overview Production u Overview Units 1 Overview Toggle Air Units 2 Overview Toggle Ground Units 3 Overview Toggle Sea Units 4 Overview Toggle Sub Units g Select Grid c Cultivate Land r Build Road P Change to Plain b Build Bridge s Send Message / Capture City \ Rename City [ Select Prev. Active Unit + Set Temp. Sentry ] Select Next Active Unit + Set Temp. Sentry { Select Prev. Unit } Select Next Unit 7 Select Prev. Active Unit 8 Select Next Active Unit * End Turn - Select Production OR Level command: Dive / hide + Select Production OR Change Bottom Unit Info Level 4 Move 5 Move 6 Move 1 Move 2 Move 3 Move a Activate Attack for Next Move 0 Set Temp. Sentry . Set Sentry ~ Select Zoom (the key above TAB) K Suicide Kill this unit - no recovery! Q Quit, no save! Map Editor Keys: f Fill Map Using Left Brush q Quit to menu s Select Map Size t Select Editor type b Select Brush Size g Select Grid o Overview ~ Select Zoom End of Turn Menu Keys: Continue Any Menu Keys: First menu selection Definer Keys: [ Page Left ] Page Right - Page Up + Page Down ~ Swap Column/Row with neighour. select cursor key as direction Cursor keys or mouseclick to move. -- ADJUSTING DEFINITIONS -- Editors has accessories to edit maps and unit & hex definitions. There is also a CLI -only command 'grabber' that can be used to grab graphics from IFF files. By using these, it is possible to access all settings & graphics. Here's some useful docs: Grabber takes no parameters. It needs following files: PowerBattle:Data/Hex.Iff PowerBattle:Data/Unit.Iff PowerBattle:Data/Misc.Iff Palettes are specially arranged and changing them must be done carefully. Or must be left undone. Hex Defition Datas: Color - Not used in definer. MAllow - Movement Types allowed in this hex MCost - Movement Point Cost Threat - Threat Value. Greater means more risky & dangerous ADmg - Changes to what hex if damaged DBon - Defence bonus CSize - City Size. Affects building & production Damage - Hex 'Strength' agai against damaging. Greater means harder. Mult - Map Editor autofeature: Promote to which hex if surrounded by multihex. VChg - Which Move Types may activate Level in this hex Num - Multishape 'father' hex, where definitions are taken from Unit Definition Datas: MTyp - Movement Type Mov - Moving Points - non-leveled Mov2 - Moving Points - leveled TDef - Threat Defence Fuel - Fuel Tank Refu - Refuel Fuel Points Per Turn CTyp - May carry which Movement Types Crgo - Cargo space size (divided by three) Lods - How many (un)loadings allowed per Turn Tech - Required tech-level PTim - Production Time Cost - Reserved Hits - HitPoints Rep - Repair points Per Turn Lvls - Levels: 0 no leveling ability, 1 able to level Btp - BattleType: 1 air, 2 gnd, 3 sea, 4 sub AIRa - Attack points against Air units GNDa - Attack points against Ground units SEAa - Attack points against Sea units SUBa - Attack points against Submarine units AIRd etc- Defence points from relevant units LGM - Light Ground unit Modifier. Used if enemy is infantry. Rng - Ranged Attack Range, non-leveled Rng2 - Ranged Attack Range, leveled Amm - Ammunitation Storage Sts - Ranged Attack Shots Per Turn AMd - Leveled Attack Modifier DMd - Leveled Defence Modifier CAtt - City attack modifier Vsr - Vision Range, non-leveled Vsr3 - Vision Range, leveled VFrm - Visible-From Range, non-leveled VF2 - Visible-From Range, leveled LUI - Leveled Unit Icon Number fff etc.- Reserved Sfx - Sfx Number Freq - Sfx Frequence Spes - Special Abilities Undef - Reserved L - Reserved Movement Types: 1 - Air 2 - AT-Air. May use Carrier 4 - Ligth Ground 8 - Heavy Ground 16 - Light Ships 32 - Heavy Ships 64 - Submarine 128 - Reserved Battle Types: 1 - Air 2 - Ground 3 - Sea 4 - Sub 5 - City, Ground Special Abilities: 1 - Has parachute 2 - Change to Plain 4 - Change to Field 8 - Change to Road 16 - Build Bridge 32 - Build Fortress 64 - May NOT defence from city Fortress is allowed to be done on CSizes 5-9 Road CSizes: 4-9 Bridge CSizes: 2-2 Plain CSizes: 4-9 Field CSize: 4-9 -- WANTED -- The game needs BADLY 1) Automatic Map generator 2) Computer Opponents - Artificial intelligence If these can be achieved, there migth be a chance for commercial product. If You can offer me any kind of help or support or are interested in co-operation, please contact. For automatic map generator I have rough plans. For computer opponents' AI I have little more spesific plans, but it may take time to get them working, and it will most likely require assembly coding. Please note that 'PowerBattle' is only a project name, I've heard there exists another game with the same name. -- AUTHOR -- Code, graphics, sounds, design etc. so far by Timo Suoranta, written & compiled using Acid Software's Blitz Basic 2. Greetings to Kalle Lievejärvi. Timo Suoranta Urjalantie 34 31900 Punkalaidun FINLAND Phone in Finland: 921-7674201