THE CROWN OF ARDANIA The Manual By Gary Yates Copyright (C) 1987 G.L.A.U.G. & Neale Computer Arts Original concept and design GARY YATES & G.L.A.U.G. The Greater Lafayette Amiga Users Group Programming Gary Yates Willian Johnson John Hoffman Steve Sinclair Tom Burns Gary Rantz Graphics & Sound Victor Lee Neale This program was created using the AC/Basic compiler. Copyright (C) 1987 Absoft Corporation INTRODUCTION The Crown of Ardania is a fantasy war game which combines the strategies of Risk and other such games with the completely new aspect of MAGIC! The game is played on a map which has 16 territories. The object is to be the sole ruler in the land, by conquering all other opponents, so that you occupy all territories. There can be up to four players. Each player takes on the role of a mage of great power who is battling to become the king of the magical land of Ardania. Each player commands troops in each of the territories he or she controls. These troops are made up of soldiers, knights and wizards. Soldiers are the main fighting force in Crown of Ardania (CA). They are average fighting men and have no special strengths except for their shear number. Knights are more powerful and skilled fighters and thus aid you in battle. The more knights you have in a territory the better that territory's fighting ability. Wizards benefit you in two ways. First, like knights, they help you in battle. Second, and much more important, they generate the power (in the form of spell points) that you use to cast your spells. The more wizards you have, the more spell points you will generate each turn. Each player is given the same number of troops to start the game: 20 soldiers, 4 knights, and 2 wizards. In addition to troops, there are two other components to the game which are very important: gold and spell points. As mentioned above, you acquire spell points from your wizards (5 per wizard) at the beginning of each turn. Each person starts the game with 10 spell points. You acquire gold from your territories in the form of taxes. The more territories you own, the more in taxes you will be able to demand from your peasants each day. However, the terrain of each territory also plays a part in how much gold you will be able to get, more on this later. Each Player is randomly given a territory at the start of the game. ABOUT THIS DEMO Currently there are three versions of CA, a demo which will run on any Amiga with 512K, a full game version which will run on a 512K machine, and a full game version which requires at least 1 MEG. The demo version is freely distributable and is supplied on a single disk. It has no sound and all graphics which are not essential to game play have been removed. Also, many of the game features have been disabled. The two full game versions ARE NOT FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE! Both full game versions (512K & 1MEG) are identical except that the 512K version does not have a computer player and some of the music which the 1MEG version has. If you like what you see in this demo version of CA, you can acquire the full game versions from The Greater Lafayette Amiga Users Group by sending a donation of $15 to: GLAUG - Ardania P.O. Box 246 Lafayette, IN. 47902 You will receive two disks containing BOTH the 512K and the 1MEG full game versions complete with full graphics and sound, plus the unabridged CA Manual. Your name will also be placed on our mailing list so that you will receive announcements of upgrades and revisions of CA and announcements of other software from GLAUG. GETTING STARTED If you have not done so already, please read the README file for information on installing your CA demo disk so that it will boot the demo version of Crown of Ardania. After installing the disk, to start a game simply reboot your machine (CTRL-AMIGA-AMIGA) and place the CA demo disk in the internal drive when your amiga asks you for a Workbench. Double-click on the disk icon when it appears, then double-click on the icon for the game. The Crown_of_Ardania demo should ALWAYS be started by booting with the demo disk. STARTING A GAME After a short delay while CA loads itself and all of its data files, you will be presented with the opening screen. After the opening screen, you will see the map of Ardania appear. The game begins by each player entering their name. Each person should note what color wizard they are, so that they know which territories they own. There can be up to four players. If there are less than four playing, simply press return when CA asks for the name of the next player. After the players have entered their names, they will RANDOMLY be given their first territory. TERRITORIES & TERRAIN The land of Ardania is divided into 16 territories. Territories are IMPORTANT! You should own as many as you can at all times! To own or occupy a territory, you need to have at least 1 soldier, knight or wizard in that territory. If you ever move all of your troops out of a territory (or they are all killed), that territory will become "free". Free territories are indicated by their brown color. Anyone can take a free territory by simply moving troops into it. It should be noted here that the term TROOPS refers to all three classes of men which you can control: soldiers, knights, and wizards. It does NOT simply refer to soldiers. The terrain of each territory plays a very big factor in the game. And should be kept in mind when playing CA. There are four types of terrain: Flatlands, Swamps, Forests & Mountains. Each has its own effects, advantages and disadvantages. FLATLANDS: There are only two territories in Ardania which are flatlands. They are both very large and have a large population. Therefore each of these territories will usually yield a large number of recruits each day. However, the people who live here are extremely poor, so you will not be able to get much in taxes from them. Also the flatlands are very hard to defend! SWAMPS: There are fewer people in the swamps, so you will not get as many recruits from here. But they are slightly richer people. The swamps are quite a bit easier to defend than the flatlands. FOREST: There are still fewer people in the forest territories. But they can make up for their lack of number with gold. Plus the forests are fairly easy to defend. MOUNTAINS: There are very few people in the mountains. But the few who are there are extremely rich due to the extensive mining. Also, mountain passes are very easy to defend! TURNS, PHASES & SEGMENTS The game of CA proceeds in a series of turns, with each person getting a chance to do several things. The Turns are divided into two Phases: The Movement Phase & The Action Phase. The Movement Phase is again divided into two segments. Each player gets to do one thing during each segment. The Action Phase has one single segment. Again, each player gets to do one thing during the Action Phase. There are two Movement Phase Segments, compared to only one Action Phase Segment, because the options during the Movement Phases need to be done more often than the Action Phase options. This should NOT, however, be taken to mean that the Movement Phase options are more important!! Both Segments of the Movement Phase occur first, then the Action Phase takes place. During the FIRST segment of each Movement Phase the players receive their taxes and recruits for that day. TAXES & RECRUITS During the first segment of each Movement Phase, each player receives his taxes & recruits for that day as his turn occurs. First, you are asked how much in taxes to demand from your peasants. Your advisors will suggest an amount which is consistent with the wealth of the peasants in the territories you own. You should choose wisely here. If you take more than your advisors suggest, your peasants will be upset because they are being over taxed and you will get little or NO recruits for that day. If you take less than what your advisors suggest, your peasants will be overly grateful and you get more recruits for that day. If you take exactly the suggested amount you will get a "fair" number of recruits. At the beginning of the segment, a scroll will appear over the map of Ardania asking you for the amount you demand. Type in the number of gold pieces you demand and press return. After you have taxed your peasants, you will be told how many spell points your wizards have generated for you this day. (CA will wait for you to click on continue). Then, you will be told how many recruits have joined your army and be asked to which territory you wish to assign them. You must assign your recruits to a territory WHICH YOU ALREADY OWN. You cannot assign them to an empty territory. To assign your troops, simply click on the territory you wish to place them in. MOVEMENT PHASE OPTIONS During the Movement Phase there are seven options which you can select to do. Most of these you can only do once during each segment of the Movement Phase. However, there are some which you can do repeatedly without ending your turn. These options are: MOVE TROOPS This option allows you to move any number of your troops from a territory you own to another territory you own OR to an empty territory in order to take that territory. First you must select one of your territories to move troops FROM then select a territory to move troops TO. The two territories you select MUST be adjacent. You can then move as many troops as you like FROM the first territory to the second territory. Note however, if you move all of your troops out of a territory that territory will become free for anyone else who wishes to take it. Moving Troops ends your turn. The Troops Allocation Requester: Whenever you need to move or allocate troops in CA you will be presented with the Troops Allocation Requester. This requester looks something like this: FROM -> TO << 100 soldiers 10 >> << 10 knights 0 >> << 5 wizards 1 >> CANCEL DONE To allocate the troops to be affected by whatever option you are currently in, you can click on the numbers to the right to move troops over ONE AT A TIME. Or you can click on the numbers to the left to move troops back one at a time. Note, you can not move back more troops than you have already moved over. Example, if the requester above had come up as shown you could not move the 10 soldiers on the right back to the left because you did not move them over to begin with, they were already there. You can click on the double arrows ">>" to move troops over or back TEN AT A TIME. When you are finished allocating your troops click on DONE. Also, most of the time (but not always) you can click on CANCEL to cancel the option you are in without ending your turn. Whenever you are presented with the Troops Allocation Requester, a second smaller scroll will always appear telling you what you are allocating troops for. You should read this scroll carefully! VISIT A TERRITORY Using this option you can find out how many troops you have on a territory. Using Visit Territory does not end your turn. ADVERTISE FOR TROOPS Using this option you can increase the number of recruits you will get the next day by paying advertisers to recruit for you. RESTING As each turn passes in CA, the troops you command will become more and more fatigued. You will begin receiving messages when your troops are starting to become overly fatigued and if you do not rest within a couple of turns your troops will become so fatigued they will begin to die! You can use this option to rest your troops. VISIT TREASURY If during the Movement Phase you need to find out how much gold or spell points you have, you can use this option. HIRE SPIES (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) Spies can be used to find out important things about your opponents. They are especially useful in combat where they will tell you what battle mode your opponent has selected. CAST A SPELL Magic is the one thing which gives CA its twist. Magic can be very important in the game and your strategy should include the CAREFUL use of it. Magic in Ardania exists as spells which you, as a great wizard can cast. Casting a spell costs spell points, which are generated by your wizards. The greater the power of the spell, the more spell points it costs. SPELL COST(sp pts) DURATION(turns) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Detection 1 * Magic Swords 5 2 Magic Shields 10 2 Fear 10 2 Magic Hammers 15 3 Magic Traps 15 - Teleport 20 * Dust to Gold 25 * Gold to Dust 35 * * = instantaneous - = special see text SPELL DETAILS DETECTION: The detection spell lets you find out what spells are currently active on the territory that you cast it upon. Detection is the only spell which does NOT end your turn when you cast it. MAGIC SWORDS: Magic Swords causes the weapons of whatever troops are in the affected territory to become enchanted. This allows the troops to attack better in combat. MAGIC SHIELDS: This spell enchants the armor of the troops in the affected territory helping them to defend. It has no effect during attacks. FEAR: This spell cause the troops in the affected territory to be afraid of whoever they are facing in combat and to fight poorly against them. MAGIC HAMMERS: Like Magic Swords, this spell enchants the weapons of the troops in the territory this spell is cast upon. MAGIC TRAPS: (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) This spell causes traps to be set in the territory it is cast upon. TELEPORT: (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) Using this spell you can teleport troops from one territory to another. This is the only spell which can not be cast on just any territory. DUST TO GOLD: (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) This spell allows you to create gold instantly from the dust of the earth. GOLD TO DUST: (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) When you cast this spell on a player, a significant amount of that players gold will be instantly turned to dust and be worthless. ACTION PHASE As in the Movement Phase there are seven options in the Action Phase. Some of which can be performed only once and some which can be performed repeatedly without ending your turn. The Action Phase options are: ATTACK A TERRITORY This is by far the most important option in CA since attacking and taking territories is how players overcome their opponents. While the mechanics involved in attacking a territory are fairly simple, the factors affecting combat are numerous and complex. COMBAT Combat in CA is based on the principle that there is an Attacker and a Defender in each battle. The attacker is the active player who selected the option and is threatening to take the Defending player's territory. The Attacker selects one of his territories to attack from (the attacking territory) and an opponent's territory to attack (the defending territory). These two territories must be adjacent. The attacking territory is the territory the attacker can draw his troops from to create an attacking army, which then moves into the defending territory and engages in battle. The defending army is made up of all of the troops on the defending territory. If the Attacker wins, he claims the defending territory as his own, and the troops which remain alive in the attacking army are place there as that territory's occupants. The Attacker can not move any more troops there until the next Movement Phase. If the attacker chooses to do so, he may place only a part of the attacking army in the newly acquired territory and attack a subsequent territory with the SAME attacking army. The members of the attacking army cannot be changed, other than leaving some behind in defeated territories. If at any time the attackers army is defeated, the defender remains owner of the defending territory and the attacker's turn ends. THE MECHANICS OF ATTACKING This section describes in detail how a battle is carried out. When a player selects Attack a Territory, CA first asks this player if he is sure that he wants to attack. This occurs in case the player accidentally selected this option. While not impossible, there is no direct way to cancel combat once the player selects YES at this prompt. The first thing the attacking player must do is select a territory to attack from, then a territory to attack. Then the attacker will select his ATTACK MODE and the defender will select his DEFENSE MODE. There are five attack modes and six defense modes. These attack and defense modes should be selected in secrecy! So, while the attacker is selecting his attack mode, the defender should turn away from the screen and visa-versa when the defender selects a defense mode. The attack and defense modes are discussed in detail below. After the battle modes have been selected, the outcome of the battle will be resolved. The winner is whoever has troops surviving at the end of the battle. ATTACK & DEFENSE MODES The first three attack modes and the first three defense modes are all simply battle strategies to use in actual fighting. All other battle modes are special actions that can also be done in a combat situation. BATTLE STRATEGIES The three attack strategies are: Sneak Attack: The attacking army is silently entering the defending territory in an attempt to surprise the defender. Normal Attack: The attacking army is marching in formation into the defending territory, hoping their number and battle skills will be sufficient to win. Ferocious Attack: The attacking army is rushing forward in a berzerking rage. The three defense strategies are: Ambush The defenders are in hiding, waiting to surprise the attacking army as it enters the territory. Stand Ground The defenders are in formation ready to take the attackers head on. Counter Attack The defenders in a wild burst, rush forward in hopes of catching the attackers off guard. Other Attack Modes: Spread Rumors (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) This is a total fake out. You can select this option if you want to only pretend you are attacking your opponent. Send Bandits (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) You may, if you have the money, choose to hire bandits and rogues to fight for you. This way, you do not have to endanger your own troops in combat. Other Defense Modes: Leave Traps (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) Leaving traps is a way of retreating, but at the same time take one last stab at the enemy. It's Only Rumors (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) If you are pretty sure that the attacker is only spreading rumors (such as when your spies tell you), you can select this option and turn the tables on them. Retreat If you are hopelessly outnumbered, you do not have enough gold for leaving traps, but you want to save your troops, you can retreat. When you retreat (or leave traps) the computer will ask which territory you wish to retreat to. If you do not own a territory adjacent to the defending territory, your troops will simply be killed in hostile enemy lands. CAST A SPELL (Action Phase) (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) There are five additional spells which can only be cast during the Action Phase. Four are defensive spells, the last is an offensive spell. Here is a list of their costs and durations. SPELL COST DURATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wall of Ice 20 3 Wall of Fire 20 1 Summon Army 30 - Anti-Magic Shield 50 3 FIRE STORM 200 * WALL OF ICE This spell creates an impenetrable wall of ice completely encircling the territory you cast it upon. No troops (yours or anyone elses) will be able to move in or out of this territory, except with a teleport spell. Nothing can destroy a wall of ice before its duration has expired except for a FIRE STORM spell! WALL OF FIRE Although this spell has a very short duration (the turn you cast it) it is a very good defensive spell. This spell creates a searing wall of flames surrounding the territory. ANYONE passing through these flames will be burnt! SUMMON AN ARMY This spell instantly creates 100-200 skeletal warriors (soldiers) on the territory in which you cast it. ANTI-MAGIC SHIELD This spell, when cast on a territory, will cancel any attempt by your opponent to cast a spell on that same territory. It does not affect any spells which you attempt to cast on that territory. Anti-Magic Shield, however, only has a 80% chance of stopping a FIRE STORM spell. This is due to the shear power of the FIRE STORM. FIRE STORM If all else fails, NUKE 'EM! This spell will instantly destroy everything on a single territory! It kills all troops, destroys any Wall of Ice spell, destroys any fortress and negates any other spells which are currently active on the affected territory! BE WARNED! The FIRE STORM spell is so powerful that it is very hard to control. There is a 10% chance that it will backfire! BUILD A FORTRESS (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) Building a fortress on a territory can greatly aid in defending that territory. REST THIS PHASE Resting during an Action Phase gives your troops a much better rest than resting during a Movement Phase segment. SUMMON THE DRAGON (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) Three times, and only three times during the course of an entire game, each player can summon The Great Dragon to aid in their struggle. The Dragon is extremely chaotic and unpredictable. So there is no way of knowing what type of aid he will give. It could be anything. He could give you more soldiers, knights, or wizards, or all three! He could give you more spell points, gold, or simply a good rest. He may even take an opponents territory away and give it to you with all the troops still there! But whether the dragon gives you something so-so or something great, it will always be good. The dragon will never harm the person who summons him. One thing about the dragon though, he is very mischievous. He likes to see the war go on for a long time. So, he tends to give the most help to players who are in trouble, but not always! VISIT A TERRITORY This option is identical to its Movement Phase counterpart. VISIT TREASURY This option is identical to its Movement Phase counterpart. SAVING & RESTORING GAMES (NOT AVAILABLE IN DEMO VERSION) It can take a very long time to finish a game of The Crown of Ardania (anywhere from four to six hours)! For this reason, a method of saving games so they can be restarted later has been included. ENDING A GAME If you wish to end a game before the conclusion of that game, either because you have saved the game or because you are simply tired of playing, hold down the Right-Amiga key and press the period '.' key. The game will terminate and return you to the WorkBench screen. THE END