xbattle 	concurrent multi-player battle strategy game

		Steve Lehar  (slehar@park.bu.edu)
		Greg  Lesher (lesher@park.bu.edu)

DESCRIPTION

  This is patch 3.1  to be applied to  version  3 of xbattle,  by Greg
  Lesher, based on the original  by Steve Lehar  released earlier this
  year and including certain enhancements, modifications and bug fixes
  suggested by a number of contributers from all  over the world.  The
  new changes are outlined below.

  xbattle  is  a  concurrent  multi-player battle strategy   game that
  captures the dynamics of a wide range  of military scenarios.  It is
  based on X windows, which you must have installed to  run this game.
  Players  play  from separate  displays,   and commands are  executed
  concurrently, i.e.  the players do  not take "turns", they all issue
  their commands simultaneously.  There can be  any number of players,
  and each player is assigned to a color team (or black,  white & gray
  for  monochrome monitors).  The  game  board is a matrix of  squares
  that can be occupied by  colored troops, and the aim  of the game is
  to eliminate the enemy from the board by  attacking squares occupied
  enemy troops.

  If you are interested in the philosophical and game design issues of
  xbattle, or want to get immediate notice of the latest changes bugs,
  and    bug     fixes,   send   email  to     slehar@park.bu.edu   or
  lesher@park.bu.edu and we will put you on the xbattle mailing list.

INSTALLATION

  Version  3.1  of  xbattle  may be obtained   by anonymous  ftp  from
  park.bu.edu, or by applying the patch to version 3.0 of the game.

  To  apply the patch,  cd to  the directory ABOVE  the one containing
  xbattle (called, presumably "xbattle"),  copy the patch file to that
  directory, called, say, "patchfile3.1".  Now type the command...

  patch xbattle < patchfile3.1

  This will apply  the   patch  to  the entire directory  of  xbattle,
  patching each file in that directory as necessary.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSION 3 AND VERSION 3.1

  Added new option "-repeat" whereby you can  repeat  the last command
  using the right mouse.  If for example your last command to a square
  consisted of a "move up"  command by  clicking near the  top edge of
  the square, you  can  now command other squares to  also move up  by
  clicking in  those squares with the right  mouse.   That way  you no
  longer  have to  aim  your click  exactly at the  top  side of those
  squares, but can  click the   right  mouse anywhere  in that square,
  which saves time.  This command is  supported in biased  games- i.e.
  it can be set for one team but not another.

  The  "-repeat"  option proved so  useful    that  the paratroop  and
  artillery  commands (formerly  done with the  right mouse)  have now
  been redefined so that paratroops  are  ALWAYS  launched with "shift
  right  mouse"  (with or without "-guns")  and that artillery is  now
  ALWAYS fired  with "control right mouse" (with  or without "-para").
  Alternatively, you can now command paratroops with the  'p' key, and
  guns with the 'g' key.

  Added new option "-bound", whereby commands can be  made to apply to
  more than one square.   This is   achieved by  defining   a bounding
  rectangle within which   the command is  valid.   For  instance,  to
  command a block of squares to  all move up simultaneously, you place
  your  mouse near the top  edge  of a square  (may be  unoccupied, or
  enemy occupied)  and press  the button  (setting the command  "march
  up", then you  drag the  mouse to  another   game square  where  you
  release the  button.  The start  and end squares of  the  mouse drag
  define the opposite corners of a rectangle within which all the game
  squares  occupied by   your troops receive   the command "march up".
  This command is also supported in biased games.

  Added a  new way to quit the  game activated by  "control-w" (stands
  for "watch") whereby you lose  all  command  of your troops  but may
  watch the other players play out the rest of the game.  When playing
  with any of the horizon options, all horizon restrictions disappear,
  and you can watch the dispositions of  all the  enemy  troops on the
  board.

  Added new option  "-march <n>" whereby  troops may be   commanded to
  march in a particular  direction  and to continue in  that direction
  without further commands.   March commands are  activated with shift
  left or shift middle mouse button.  For  example,  if you click near
  the top  edge of a  square with "shift  left mouse", the troops will
  begin to  march up, and on   arrival in the   next square  they will
  transfer the march command to that square so that they will continue
  marching upwards to the   next square, and so  forth.    To  prevent
  marching columns from travelling much faster than manually commanded
  troops,  the  march argument  <n> defines the number  of game update
  cycles that the troops must wait  in each new square before marching
  on  to the  next square, so that "-march  1" will   result in a fast
  march, whereas  "-march 10" will  be slow.  The  "march  command" is
  indicated on the game board by a  double  command vector (looks like
  an "=" sign) in the appropriate direction, and  the march command is
  always passed on to  the head of the  column.  March commands may be
  set in squares that are NOT occupied by your troops, (best done with
  "-grid") and  will  be activated when  a marching column  arrives in
  that square.  This allows  you  to define turns  in the  path of the
  marching column to avoid obstacles.  A "stop march" command may also
  be set to program the marching column to stop in that square.   This
  is  achieved by  clicking "shift left mouse" in  the center  of that
  square, and will be displayed as an empty box in that  square.  When
  set  with the left  mouse, the  march  vector is  overwritten  on to
  existing command vectors encountered in the march path, whereas when
  set  with  the middle mouse   the march vector removes and  replaces
  existing command vectors.  March commands  are cancelled by clicking
  on the square without the  shift key.  March commands may  be set in
  squares that are beyond the visible horizon in  the normal way , and
  will appear as a double vector in that square so long as that square
  is not a  "sea"  square.  If the   target  square contains invisible
  enemy troops, then the march command  vectors will appear initially,
  but disappear again as soon as the  enemy is approached close enough
  to be  visible.  March commands are specific  to  the team that sets
  them, and different march commands may  be set by different teams in
  the same game square.  The  double command vectors are  visible only
  to the team that sets them.

  Added option "erode <n>" which limits the  longevity of game squares
  that  belong to you but in  which there are  no troops.  Normally, a
  passing column of troops leaves behind it a "supply line" of command
  vectors that can be used  any  time  in  the  future to send further
  troops along  the same path, and  the game  board eventually becomes
  cluttered with  such supply  lines,  many of  which   are  no longer
  active.  With "-erode <n>"  such  disused supply lines will begin to
  erode away  stochastically with time 10*<n> update  cycles after the
  time of the last occupation.

  Changed color map loading to add the  xbattle colors to the existing
  color map,  rather than creating  a  new color map altogether.  With
  this change the other windows on your display do  not disappear when
  you move your mouse into the xbatle window.  For systems whose color
  maps  are pretty  much full,   this feature  can be  de-activated by
  setting NEWCOLORMAP to TRUE in global.h.

  Changed the text  line so that instead of  sharing   two text  lines
  between all the teams, each team is given a single text line.   This
  change  is also a  compile time option,   you can revert  to the old
  system by setting MULTITEXT to FALSE in global.h.

  Modified  the "-rbases" option (when used  with horizon) so that all
  randomly placed bases are placed out of view of other enemy bases.

  fixed bug in sea option  which caused sea  argument to be ignored at
  times.

  Fixed scuttle/build bug with towns.  (Used to always rebuild towns
  to full sized bases)

  Fixed font  initialization bug.

  Changed test for 8 bit plane displays- it now tests for "at least" 8
  planes, i.e. for displays with > 8 planes it uses 8, not 1.

COPYRIGHT

  Copied   from the GNU Emacs  'copyleft'  policy.  Basically, you are
  free to copy, modify and distribute this  program as long as  you do
  not sell it or use it in a product that you sell.

  			COPYING POLICIES

  1. You may copy and  distribute  verbatim  copies of  xbattle source
code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously
and  appropriately publish   on  each copy  a   valid copyright notice
"Copyright (C)    1991 Steve  Lehar"   (or   with  whatever   year  is
appropriate); keep intact the notices on all  files that refer to this
License Agreement  and to the  absence of  any warranty;  and give any
other recipients  of  the xbattle program   a  copy of  this   License
Agreement along with  the program.   You may charge a distribution fee
for the physical act of transferring a copy.

  2. You may modify your copy or copies of xbattle source  code or any
portion of it,  and copy and distribute  such  modifications under the
terms of Paragraph 1 above, provided that you also do the following:

    a) cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating
    that you changed the files and the date of any change; and

    b) cause the whole of any work that you distribute or publish,
    that in whole or in part contains or is a derivative of xbattle
    or any part thereof, to be licensed at no charge to all third
    parties on terms identical to those contained in this License
    Agreement (except that you may choose to grant more extensive
    warranty protection to some or all third parties, at your option).

    c) You may charge a distribution fee for the physical act of
    transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty
    protection in exchange for a fee.

Mere aggregation of another unrelated program with this program (or its
derivative) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring
the other program under the scope of these terms.

  3. You may copy and distribute xbattle (or a portion or derivative of it,
under Paragraph 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Paragraphs 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

    a) accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
    source code, which must be distributed under the terms of
    Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,

    b) accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
    years, to give any third party free (except for a nominal
    shipping charge) a complete machine-readable copy of the
    corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of
    Paragraphs 1 and 2 above; or,

    c) accompany it with the information you received as to where the
    corresponding source code may be obtained.  (This alternative is
    allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
    received the program in object code or executable form alone.)

For an executable file, complete source code means all the source code for
all modules it contains; but, as a special exception, it need not include
source code for modules which are standard libraries that accompany the
operating system on which the executable file runs.

  4. You may not copy, sublicense, distribute or transfer xbattle
except as expressly provided under this License Agreement.  Any attempt
otherwise to copy, sublicense, distribute or transfer xbattle is void and
your rights to use xbattle under this License agreement shall be
automatically terminated.  However, parties who have received computer
software programs from you with this License Agreement will not have
their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

			   NO WARRANTY

  BECAUSE XBATTLE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, WE PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO
WARRANTY, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE STATE LAW.  THE ENTIRE
RISK AS TO THE  QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE  OF THE PROGRAM IS  WITH  YOU.
SHOULD THE XBATTLE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL
NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

 IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW WILL STEVE LEHAR OR ANY
OTHER  PARTY  WHO MAY MODIFY AND   REDISTRIBUTE  XBATTLE  AS PERMITTED
ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,  INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST
MONIES, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL  OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE  (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS
OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD
PARTIES OR  A FAILURE  OF  THE  PROGRAM TO OPERATE  WITH  PROGRAMS NOT
DISTRIBUTED BY STEVE LEHAR) THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH  DAMAGES, OR FOR  ANY CLAIM   BY ANY  OTHER
PARTY.

