S O L A R L O R D S
By
Alistair Duncan
(C)1993 Alistair Duncan & Tiger Software
DISCLAIMER (IMPORTANT READ THIS FIRST BEFORE USING PROGRAM!!)
The author, ALISTAIR DUNCAN, accepts no responsibility for damage caused by
this software through correct or incorrect use and will therefore not be
liable to compensate for any such damage if caused. I do not know of any
other game bearing the same or similar title if, however, the name `SOLAR
LORDS' has been used before in a game please send me some form of proof
and I will gladly change it. The program code and documentation is
`(C)1993 ALISTAIR DUNCAN & TIGER SOFTWARE' and it was written on the AMOS
package which is `(C)1990 EUROPRESS PUBLICATIONS'.
Phew! now that's over and done with I can explain the game.
COMPATIBILITY
This game should work fine on any amiga with 1 megabyte of memory.
If you have any problems don't hesitate to contact me.
It is recommended, however, that you have 1 Meg Chip Ram in addition to
some fast ram to get the best performance out of this game.
SHAREWARE
This game has a shareware fee of £5. Paying the fee entitles you to free
updates for a year and discounts on my other games. I also make a point of
giving registered users regular updates on my progress with old and new
products alike.
Many shareware authors do things to their programs to attempt to force you
to pay their fee such as annoying requesters or crippled features. I have
not done this, everything is complete (I may be a fool for doing this,
please prove me wrong by registering).
Another habit many authors have is only listening to suggestions from
registered users. I appreciate that many users out there do not like having
to register a game first just in the off chance that a suggestion they make
may be used. Consequently I will listen to suggestions (providing they are
constructive) from users be they registered or not. If a user suggests an
idea and I use it they will be credited (Note : you will only be credited
if you have registered).
The address for shareware registrations, suggestions or queries is
Alistair Duncan
113 Brook Street
Soham
Cambridgeshire
CB7 5AE
I am currently at university so you can e-mail me at :
A.P.Duncan@herts.ac.uk
(This applies from 30/09/93 to 01/06/94)
Well then, now onto the game
BACKGROUND
None, I just came up with the idea out of thin air. However there were
influences (albeit vague) from the following games :-
Supremacy (The board game)
Imperium
Stratego (The board game)
THE GAME IN PROGRESS
To get past the title page press a mouse button. You will then be presented
with a screen from which you select the number of players. When this has
been done you will be allowed to continue.
The players are always assigned the following colours :
1-Red
2-Yellow
3-White (sometimes also represented as dull grey)
4-Green
After you have selected the number of players you will be presented with the
status screen for warlord 1 (the screen is basically the same layout for all
players).
THE STATUS SCREEN
It is here that all the most important information about your player is
found. Each element will now be explained.
PLANETS UNDER CONTROL
Quite simply tells you how many planets out of the six you have under your
control.
PERSONAL RATING
This is a measure of your warlord's personal charisma. The higher it is, the
more successful he/she will be at negotiating, fighting etc.
INCOME PER TURN
Starts at zero, but increases when planets are taken over. Each planet has a
maximum potential income of its own which is dependant on the planets tax
level and when they are taken over their income is added to their
conquerors income. For instance planet 1 (Aurana) has an income of 4000 CR
so if you were to take it over and tax at 100% you would get 4000 credits
added to your credits every turn until you lost control of the planet.
CREDITS
How many you have at the present time. Starts at 5000.
MILITARY POWER
Defines your attack and defence skill. For the purposes of attack every time
you fire a missile it will cost you 1 military point. These points can be
increased by buying weapons. You start with 1 point (i.e 1 missile).
LUCK RATING
Luck plays an important part in many game events. You begin with 100 points.
It is usually this combined with your personal rating that decides the
outcome of anything you do during the game.
STRATEGIC POWER
Starts at zero. This is increased each time you take over a planet.
SCIENCE RATING
One of the items of special equipment (see later) requires a certain amount
of technical knowledge. Your scientific rating is a reflection of your
technical knowledge on a scale of 0 to 10. Begins at 0 (zero).
CAPITAL SHIP STATUS
Starts at 50. This is the armour level of your capital ship. Your capital
ship is the single most important thing in the game as it is your only means
of carrying out your game plan. You can only perform actions at some planets
if you have a capital ship and losing it can be disasterous.
SPY RANKINGS
Each warlord has a spy representing his/her interests on each of the six
planets. These spies are ranked on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. If a
warlord gets his spy to rank 10 on a planet and then communicates with that
planet (see later) the planet will be taken over. Any other spies that reach
rank 10 on the same planet will not take it over until the first conqueror
is toppled. Basically it is a first come first serve system. A spy with a
ranking of zero can be considered dead. So a new one will have to be
hired in such cases (see later). If your spy for a planet has taken it over
you will see a 'C' written in addition to the rank number. The 'C' stands for
'Conquerer'.
EQUIPMENT
There are a number of items of special equipment that you can purchase
during the game. If you have any they will be listed here.
The status screen also shows how many moves you have been allocated (1-8).
Pressing a mouse button here will take you to the turn screen.
THE TURN SCREEN
This shows the basic options available to you each move of your turn. They
are :
Communications
Travel
Tactics
Attack & Defence
Give Up
Each will now be explained
COMMUNICATIONS
The communications menu is all the options that are controlled from your
warlord's space station.
Initially you will be offered the following :
1..Capital Ship
2..Planet
3..Others
CAPITAL SHIP
These are all the station to ship instructions.
1.. Repair
This instructs your ship to carry out repairs to any damage.
This will cost 2000 CR and will take you back up to 50 hits.
You can only repair your ship when you are in your station.
2.. Return to station
This will call the ship back to the station. In the station
the ship is safe from all forms of attack. It can also be
repaired here.
PLANET
These are all the station to planet instructions
You tell the computer which planet you wish to communicate with.
If you have access (i.e your spy on that planet is rank 3 or higher)
you will be shown information on the planet :
Planetary income
Strategic value
Level of unrest (as a percentage)
State of defences
Current tax level
Who rules the planet and who is the chief spy on the planet
As stated earlier communicating with a planet in this way is the only
way to confirm a takeover and gain the extra income. When a spy
reaches rank 10 communicate with the planet and the take over will
be complete assuming that no one else has control of the planet.
The current leadership is represented in pictorial form
The best rank spy will be shown in appropriate robes
The king will be shown in blue robes if he is still neutral, or in
the appropriate colour robes if the planet has been taken over.
If a spy who controls a planet is toppled from rank 10 the player
concerned will still receive the planetary income until another spy
takes over. This take over is not automatic, all takeovers must be
confirmed by communicating with the planet concerned.
OTHERS
These are miscellaneous actions
1.. Hire new spy
Spies are the only means by which you can take over a planet. It is
therefore vital that you keep them alive. If one should be killed it
will be necessary to hire a new one. They cost 15,000 CR to hire
and will be dispatched to the planet of your choice to begin at
rank 4.
2.. Hire Assassin
These cost 40,000 CR a go but can cause havoc. If you can afford it
and you name a planet you will be presented with an assassin. The
assassin's skill is rated 1-10 (10=best). If you get one with a
rating less than ten you can train him/her to make him/her better at
a cost. The assassin will then go to the stated planet and kill one
of the opposing spies which you define. The success is entirely
dependent on the assassin's skill but even one rated 10 can fail.
3.. Build new capital ship
This will cost 30,000 CR but is essential should your first one
be destroyed as it is impossible to win without one (unless of course
everyone else gives up).
4.. Use equipment
This will bring up a list of any techno equipment that your warlord
possesses. Selecting one will allow you to put that invention into
use. What each invention does is explained later.
5.. Destroy Orbital Guns
If you have orbital guns in position around any of the planets, you
may destroy them with this option. You may only destroy YOUR guns.
This option will only appear if you have orbital guns.
TRAVEL
Selecting this brings up a map of the solar system and shows the position of
all the space stations and your (only your) capital ship. You can then select
a planet to travel to. It will not allow you to proceed here if your ship is
destroyed or your shields are up (see attack & defence).
When you select a planet a warp sequence will initiate and one of two events
may befall you :
1..Lost in wormhole
This will be a familiar term to Star Trek fans, it simply results in a loss
of 1 point from your personal rating and a loss of hits from your ship
armour.
2..Hit by meteor shower
This will result in your ship taking 10 hits.
If you travel to a planet where hostile (upward) orbital guns are positioned,
expect to be shot at.
TACTICS
This menu controls all your ship to planet instructions and therefore cannot
be utilised if your ship is destroyed.
1..Gain trust
2..Extract funds
3..Damage Opposition
4..Sabotage defences
5..Cause unrest
6..Alter tax level
The seventh option is dependent on the planet and will be discussed later.
GAIN TRUST
If your spy on the planet is alive and less than rank 10 then his
/her rank will be incremented by one. Alternatively you can increment
a spy by more that one point at a time but each extra point you add
will take one move off of your current quota.
EXTRACT FUNDS
If your spy is of sufficient rank and your personal skill is high
you will succeed in stealing 10,000 CR from the planet's banks. If
you are unsuccessful you will have to pay 2000 CR compensation.
This compensation will be paid to the player that rules the planet
if one does.
Naturally you cannot steal money from a planet that you control.
DAMAGE OPPOSITION
Again if your spy is powerful enough selecting this option will
reduce all the other spies on the planet by one point in rank.
SABOTAGE DEFENCES
If your spy is powerful enough you can reduce the planetary
defences to make the planet vulnerable to alien invasion. However,
this is a double edged sword because a planet's defences can never be
increased when depleted except by terraforming. So once open to
attack, always open to attack. If the planet is attacked the current
ruler will be deposed.
CAUSE UNREST
If you want to shift a ruler from a planet then you can cause
unrest in the population by spreading damaging rumours. The current
unrest level of any planet can be found out by communicating with it.
When the unrest gets to a certain level it is possible that an
organised uprising will take place. In which case the current ruler
will be deposed. This has the effect of making the planet neutral
again. More importantly the unrest level will be reduced to zero
after an uprising.
ALTER TAX LEVEL
This can only be done if you control the planet in question. You will
have noticed that each planet has an income. This is the amount of
credits you will earn from the planet if you set the tax rate to 100%
At the start all tax rates are set at 50%. If you increase them for
a long period of time the population will get restless and may even
depose you. If you make the tax rate really low you can reduce the
planet's unrest level.
As stated earlier the seventh option is always dependent on the planet.
Planet 1 : Aurana
The option for this planet is to buy weapons as Aurana is the only
planet that produces weapons. The cost is usually 2000 CR but it is
dependent on your personal skill and luck. Each time you buy weapons
it will add 2 to your military value. If a player rules Aurana then
all weapons proceeds will go to that player.
Planet 2 : Minerayta
Here the option is to gain control of trade. In a sense this is the
stock market game. If you are successful you will add 5000 CR to
your credit level. If you fail you will have to pay compensation to
the planets' ruler.
Planet 3 : Orgaty
Orgaty is a pleasure planet so the option here is shoreleave for
your ships' crew. I leave the effect this has for you to find out.
If a player rules this planet it is up to them whether they allow
visitors to have shoreleave or not.
Planet 4 : Beta 12
Beta 12 is a prison planet. The option here therefore is to free
political prisoners. Again I leave the effect this has for you to
discover. If your attempt fails and the planet is ruled by a player
you will have to pay them compensation. You will also lose a large
amount of your personal rating which could be disasterous.
Planet 5 : Rowani
Rowani is the scientific research planet. The option here is to
increase your scientific knowledge. Your scientific knowledge level
is increased in the same manner as your trust levels (see earlier)
If a player rules this planet the laboratories will only be open to
him/her.
Planet 6 : Chrijoal
Chrijoal is the the techno equipment planet. It is here that all the
most powerful (and expensive) items are made. If you take over the
planet you can decide whether to allow other players to buy
equipment from here or not. In contrast to other planets, the
proceeds from any sales on this planet will not go to the planet's
ruler (as that would result in the player get very rich too quickly).
The equipment you can buy here is as follows :
Planet terraformer (20,000 CR)
This, when used on a planet, will completely wipe it clean. It will
knock all spies down to rank 2 and set tax levels back to 50%. It
will also re-boost a planets defence level.
Chemical weapons (30,000 CR)
When these are used on a planet the population of the planet get
severely poisoned and restless with it. Thusly use of chemicals on a
planet is likely to cause an instant planetary uprising.
Capital ship power armour (10,000 CR)
This is the cheapest of all the options and as soon as you buy it
it is active. This armour is the only way to prevent damage to your
ship when a solar system explosion occurs.
If your capital ship is destroyed you will lose the power armour.
Orbital guns (20,000 CR)
The most useful piece of technology that there is. When you elect
to use these on a planet you can make them point up or down. Once
your choice is made it cannot be reversed.
Guns that point down will bombard the planet that they orbit. This
will cause unrest in the population and may even cause an uprising.
Guns that point up will protect the planet that they are around by
shooting any capital ships that attempt to remain in the planets
orbit. They will not shoot the player that placed them there.
The guns are only experimental and if you are extremely unlucky they
can just burn up in orbit.
Energon Device (50,000 CR)
This expensive piece of equipment when bought and used is despatched
to the sun. Whenever a supernova occurs it will be charged with
energy. When it gets sufficiently charged it can do one of two
things :
a) It can and will unleash its energy, destroying all
orbital guns that are damaging planets ruled by its owner.
or
b) It will destroy one of the opposing players' capital
ships outright.
The reason that this is so expensive is that the device is
indestructable. And once bought and deployed can do you many a
service.
General note : You will always need a certain level of scientific knowledge
to purchase each of these devices.
ATTACK & DEFENCE
This option is very straight forward. Upon selection you will be asked if you
wish to attack or defend (i.e. press A or D and [RETURN]).
ATTACK
Selecting attack will bring up a list of all the people playing
(including yourself) and, assuming that you have a ship and the
necessary military power, you will then be requested to pick
someone to fire at. If you pick yourself you will have to re-select.
When you pick a target your choice will be hidden so that your
potential target does not expect your attack. Firing a missile will
cost you 1 military point.
Important to note : Missiles are very unreliable as they are prone
to malfunctioning and thus losing a fix on their target.
Further note : You may only fire one missile per turn. If you attempt
to fire more than one then any previous missile commands will be
ignored. However you will still lose military points each time you
launch a missile. Also missiles may not be fired when your shields
are raised. They will automatically be lowered if you attempt to do
so. Firing and then raising your shields is perfectly acceptable.
DEFENCE
This option does not cost you anything to activate. If your shields
are down this option will raise them and vice versa. Shields vary
in reliability but they are guaranteed to stop at least one missile.
You may find that they collapse after a direct hit but all you need
to do in that instance is to re-raise them. It is possible that you
may not get the chance and suffer damage but that boils down to all
your warlord's personal attributes.
One very important thing to note is that, due to the large amounts of
energy that shields consume, your ability to move will be stopped.
That will always mean that you have to lower your shields in order
to move.
GIVE UP
This is the fifth option available to you on the turn screen. It will display
a new screen of instructions :
PRESSING THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON will pass play to the next warlord
but leave you in the game.
PRESSING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON will remove you from play but the
amount of cash you had will be stored. This is important because,
should all the players decide to quit, the winner will then be
decided in terms of who has the most credits.
You will notice a countdown going on at the top of the screen, if you have
clicked on give up by mistake simply wait for this countdown to reach zero
and you will be returned to the turn screen with no loss of moves.
NEWS AND INFORMATION SECTION
After every player has finished their turn the news section will appear. This
is similar in purpose to the random event section on one of my other games
(Stewards' Enquiry, £5 to register). There is a selection of completely
random events and a number of events that are dictated by your actions. For
example the occurrences of planetary uprisings, assassinations, alien
invasions etc. This section will also inform each player of any urgent
occurrences such as the loss of a spy or capital ship and whether or not the
player can afford to replace them.
BEST AT THE MOMENT
After the news a small screen will pop up showing little trophies, one for
each player, the trophy belonging to the player who is winning will bounce
up and down.
WINNING THE GAME
If all players give up, the winner will be decided in terms of credits. If
some players remain in the game then the first to gain complete control of
all six planets will be declared the victor.
At this stage pressing a mouse button will begin a new game. To quit at any
time and return to AmigaDOS/Workbench press Ctrl-C.
HINTS AND TIPS SHEET
There are a number of excellent strategies that can assist you to win.
If you register I will send you the hint sheet. However, any reasonably
intelligent person should be able to work them out themselves.
OTHER INFORMATION
This game was written on the following configuration :
A4000/EC030 with 80 MEG HD and CBM 1960 Multisync monitor.
Software used
Dpaint IV
SID2
Textra by Mike Haas
AMOS Professional V2.00
AMOS Professional Compiler
PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRODUCTION OF
-=*SOLAR LORDS*=-
(Other than myself of course)
ASSISTANCE WITH GRAPHICS AND AUTHOR OF MUSIC
Anthony Vaughan Bartram
VOICES
Radha Bilimoria
HELP WITH BUG FINDING
Jon Lewis, Stuart Hannford, Lee Hodgkins.
IDEAS FOR GAME IMPROVEMENTS
Christopher Povey, Jon Lewis.
PLAYTESTING
Jon Lewis
Lee Hodgkins
Stuart Hannford
Christopher Povey
Sunil "Sunny" Patel
Thanks for reading and don't forget to register.
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