~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/vivid/empire/vivid-proposed : revision 6

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"

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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">

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<!-- See the file COPYING, distributed with empire, for restriction

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and warranty information. -->

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<refentrytitle>Empire</refentrytitle>

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<refmiscinfo class='date'>March 29, 1990</refmiscinfo>

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<refmiscinfo class='productname'>empire</refmiscinfo>

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<refmiscinfo class='source'>empire</refmiscinfo>

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<refmiscinfo class='manual'>Games</refmiscinfo>

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</refmeta>

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<refname>empire</refname>

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<refpurpose>the wargame of the century</refpurpose>

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</refnamediv>

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<command>empire</command>

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<arg choice='opt'>-w <replaceable>water</replaceable></arg>

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<arg choice='opt'>-s <replaceable>smooth</replaceable></arg>

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<arg choice='opt'>-d <replaceable>delay</replaceable></arg>

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<arg choice='opt'>-S <replaceable>save-interval</replaceable></arg>

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<arg choice='opt'>-f <replaceable>savefile</replaceable></arg>

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</cmdsynopsis>

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</refsynopsisdiv>

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<refsect1 id='description'><title>DESCRIPTION</title>

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<para>Empire is a simulation of a full-scale war between two

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emperors, the computer and you. Naturally, there is only

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room for one, so the object of the game is to destroy

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the other. The computer plays by the same rules that you

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do.</para>

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<term><option>-w</option><replaceable>water</replaceable></term>

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<para>This option controls the amount of water on the map.

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This is given as the percentage of the map which should

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be water. The default is 70% water. <emphasis remap='I'>water</emphasis>

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must be an integer in the between 10 and 90 inclusive.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><option>-s</option><replaceable>smooth</replaceable></term>

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<para>This controls the smoothness of the map. A low value

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will produce a highly chaotic map with lots of small

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islands or lakes. A high value will produce a map

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with a few scattered continents. Be forewarned that

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a high value will cause the program to take a long

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time to start up. The default value is 5.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><option>-d</option><replaceable>delay</replaceable></term>

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<para>This option controls the length of time the computer will

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delay after printing informational messages at the top of

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the screen. <emphasis remap='I'>delay</emphasis> is specified in milliseconds. The

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default value is 2000 which allows the user two seconds to

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read a message.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='examples'><title>EXAMPLES</title>

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<para>empire -w90 -s2</para>

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<para>This produces a map with many islands.</para>

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<para>empire -w50 -s0</para>

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<para>This produces a really strange map. These values

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are not recommended for the faint at heart.</para>

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<para>empire -w10</para>

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<para>This produces a map with lots of land and a few lakes.

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The computer will have a hard time on this sort of map

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as it will try and produce lots of troop transports,

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which are fairly useless.</para>

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<para>There are two other option.</para>

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<term><option>-S</option><replaceable>interval</replaceable></term>

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<para>sets the <emphasis remap='I'>save interval</emphasis> for the

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game (default is 10). Once per <emphasis remap='I'>interval</emphasis>

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turns the game state will be automatically saved after your move. It

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will be saved in any case when you change modes or do various special

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things from command mode, such as `M' or `N'.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><option>-f</option><replaceable>savefile</replaceable></term>

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<para>Set the save file name (normally empsave.dat).</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='introduction'><title>INTRODUCTION</title>

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<para>Empire is a war game played between you and the computer. The world

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on which the game takes place is a square rectangle containing cities,

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land, and water. Cities are used to build armies, planes, and ships

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which can move across the world destroying enemy pieces, exploring,

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and capturing more cities. The objective of the game is to destroy

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all the enemy pieces, and capture all the cities.</para>

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<para>The world is a rectangle 60 by 100 squares on a side. The world

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consists of sea (.), land (+), uncontrolled cities (*),

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computer-controlled cities (X), and cities that you control

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(O).</para>

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<para>The world is displayed on the player's screen during movement.

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(On terminals with small screens, only a portion of the world is shown

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at any one time.) Each piece is represented by a unique character on

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the map. With a few exceptions, you can only have one piece on a

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given location. On the map, you are shown only the 8 squares adjacent

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to your units. This information is updated before and during each of

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your moves. The map displays the most recent information

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known.</para>

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<para>The game starts by assigning you one city and the

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computer one city. Cities can produce new pieces. Every

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city that you own produces more pieces for you according

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to the cost of the desired piece. The typical play of the

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game is to issue the Automove command until you decide

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to do something special. During movement in each round,

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the player is prompted to move each piece that does not

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otherwise have an assigned function.</para>

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<para>Map coordinates are 4-digit numbers. The first two

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digits are the row, the second two digits are the

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column.</para>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='pieces'><title>PIECES</title>

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<para>The pieces are as follows:</para>

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<tbody>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Piece</entry>

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<entry align='center' colsep='1'>Enemy</entry>

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<entry align='right' colsep='1'>Moves</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Fighter</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Patrol Boat</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Destroyer</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Submarine</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Troop Transport</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Aircraft Carrier</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Battleship</entry>

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</row>

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<row>

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<entry align='left' colsep='1'>Satellite</entry>

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</row>

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</tbody>

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</tgroup>

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</informaltable>

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<para>The second column shows the map representation for your

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units.</para>

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<para>The third shows the representations of enemy units.</para>

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<para>Moves is the number of squares that the unit can move in a

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single round.</para>

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<para>Hits is the amount of damage a unit can take before it

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is destroyed.</para>

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<para>Strength is the amount of damage a unit can inflict upon an

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enemy during each round of an attack.</para>

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<para>Cost is the number of rounds needed for a city to produce

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the piece.</para>

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<para>The number in parenthesis is the cost for a city to

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produce the first unit.</para>

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<para>Each piece has certain advantages associated with it that

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can make it useful. One of the primary strategic aspects

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of this game is deciding which pieces will be produced

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and in what quantities.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Armies</emphasis> can only move on land, and

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are the only piece that can move on land. Only armies can capture

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cities. This means that you must produce armies in order to win the

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game. Armies have a 50% chance of capturing a city when they attack.

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(Attacking one's own city results in the army's destruction. Armies

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that move onto the sea will drown. Armies can attack objects at sea,

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but even if they win, they will drown.) Armies can be carried by

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troop transports. If an army is moved onto a troop transport, then

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whenever the transport is moved, the army will be moved with the

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transport. You cannot attack any piece at sea while on a

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transport.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Fighters</emphasis> move over both land and

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sea, and they move 8 squares per round. Their high speed and great

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mobility make fighters ideal for exploring. However, fighters must

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periodically land at user-owned cities for refueling. A fighter can

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travel 32 squares without refueling. Fighters are also shot down if

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they attempt to fly over a city which is not owned by the user.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Patrol boats</emphasis> are fast but lightly

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armored. Therefore they are useful for patrolling ocean waters and

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exploring. In an attack against a stronger boat, however, patrol

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boats will suffer heavy casualties.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Destroyers</emphasis> are fairly heavily

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armored and reasonably quick to produce. Thus they are useful for

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destroying enemy transports which may be trying to spread the enemy

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across the face of the world.</para>

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<para>When a <emphasis remap='B'>submarine</emphasis> scores a hit, 3

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hits are exacted instead of 1. Thus submarines can inflict heavy

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damage in a fight against heavily armored boats. Notice that healthy

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submarines will typically defeat healthy destroyers two-thirds of the

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time. However, a submarine will defeat a fighter about two-thirds of

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the time, while a destroyer will defeat a fighter three-fourths of the

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time.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Troop transports</emphasis> are the only

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pieces that can carry armies. A maximum of six armies can be carried

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by a transport. On any world containing a reasonable amount of water,

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transports will be a critical resource in winning the game. Notice

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that the weakness of transports implies they need protection from

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stronger ships.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Aircraft carriers</emphasis> are the only

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ships that can carry fighters. Carriers carry a maximum of the number

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of hits left of fighters. Fighters are refueled when they land on a

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carrier.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Battleships</emphasis> are similar to

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destroyers except that they are much stronger.</para>

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<para><emphasis remap='B'>Satellites</emphasis> are only useful for reconnaissance. They can not

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be attacked. They are launched in a random diagonal orbit, and

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stay up for 50 turns. They can see one square farther than other

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objects.</para>

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<para>All ships can move only on the sea. Ships can also dock in a

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user-owned city. Docked ships have damage repaired at the

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rate of 1 hit per turn. Ships which have suffered a lot

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of damage will move more slowly.</para>

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<para>Because of their ability to be repaired, ships with lots of hits

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such as Carriers and Battleships have an additional advantage. After

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suffering minor damage while destroying enemy shipping, these ships

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can sail back to port and be quickly repaired before the enemy has

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time to replenish her destroyed shipping.</para>

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<para>The following table gives the probability that the piece listed

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on the side will defeat the piece listed at the top in a battle.

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(The table assumes that both pieces are undamaged.)</para>

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<tbody>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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<row>

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</row>

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</tbody>

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</tgroup>

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</informaltable>

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<para>Notice, however, that when a ship has been damaged, the odds of

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being defeated can go up quite a bit. For example, a healthy

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submarine has a 25% chance of defeating a battleship that has

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had one hit of damage done to it, and a healthy submarine has

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a 50% chance of defeating a carrier which has suffered two hits

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of damage.</para>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='movement_functions'><title>MOVEMENT FUNCTIONS</title>

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<para>There are a variety of movement functions. The movement functions

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of pieces can be specified in user mode and edit mode.

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Cities can have movement functions set for each type of piece.

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When a movement function for a type of pieces is set for a city,

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then every time that type of piece appears in the city, the piece

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will acquire that movement function. Be forewarned that moving

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loaded transports or loaded carriers into a city can have undesirable

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side effects.</para>

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<para>Normally, when a movement

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function has been specified, the piece will continue moving according to

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that function until one of the following happen:</para>

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<para>An enemy piece or unowned city appears next to the piece. In this case

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the piece will be completely awoken, unless its movement function has

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been set to a specific destination.

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Armies on ships and pieces inside

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cities will not be awoken if the enemy piece is gone by the time it is

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their turn to move.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para>You explicitly awaken the piece.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para>The piece can no longer move in accordance with its programmed function.

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In this case, the piece will awaken <emphasis remap='I'>temporarily</emphasis>. You will be asked

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to move the piece at which time you may awaken it.</para>

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</listitem>

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<para>The piece is a fighter which has just enough fuel (plus a small reserve)

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to get to the nearest city.

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In this case,

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the piece will awaken completely, unless its movement function has

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been set to a specific destination, or its movement function has been

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set to <emphasis remap='I'>land</emphasis>.</para>

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</listitem>

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</itemizedlist>

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<para>The rationale behind this complexity is that fighters must be awoken

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completely before they are out of range of a city

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to prevent one from accidentally forgetting to waken the

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fighter and then watching it fly off to its doom. However, it is presumed

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that when a path is set for the fighter, the fighter is not in danger of

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running out of fuel.</para>

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<para>Pieces do not completely awaken when their function has been set to a

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destination because it is slightly time consuming to reset the destination,

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but very simple (one keystroke) to wake the piece.</para>

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<para>The movement functions are:</para>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Attack</emphasis></term>

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<para>This function applies only to armies. When this function is set,

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the army will move toward the nearest enemy city, unowned city, or

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enemy army. This is useful when fighting off an invading enemy or

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taking over a new continent. When an army is set to this mode,

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it will also explore nearby territory. This tends to make

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the "grope" movement mode pretty useless.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Awake</emphasis></term>

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<para>When pieces are awake, you will be asked for the direction in which

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the piece should move on each turn.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>This function applies to carriers and transports. When this function is

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specified, these ships sleep until they have been filled with fighters or

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armies respectively.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Grope</emphasis></term>

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<para>This function causes a piece to explore. The piece heads toward

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the nearest unseen square of the map on each of its moves. Some

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attempt is made to explore in an optimal fashion.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>This function applies to fighters and causes the fighter to head toward

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the nearest transport or carrier.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Random</emphasis></term>

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<para>This movement function causes a piece to move at random to an adjacent

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empty square.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Sentry</emphasis></term>

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<para>This movement function puts a piece to sleep.

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The function of a city cannot be set to 'sleep'.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Transport</emphasis></term>

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<para>This movement function only works on armies. The army sleeps until

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an unfull transport passes by, at which point the army wakes up and

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boards the transport.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Upgrade</emphasis></term>

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<para>This movement function only works with ships. The ship will move

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to the nearest owned city and remain there until it is repaired.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Pieces can be set to move in a specified direction.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Pieces can be set to move toward a specified square. In this movement

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mode, pieces take a shortest path toward the destination. Pieces moving

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in accordance with this function prefer diagonal moves that explore

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territory. Because of this, the movement of the piece may be

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non-intuitive.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</variablelist>

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<para>As examples of how to use these movement functions, typically

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when I have a new city on a continent, I set the Army function of the

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city to <emphasis remap='I'>attack</emphasis>. Whenever an army is

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produced, it merrily goes off on its way exploring the continent and

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moving towards unowned cities or enemy armies or cities.</para>

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<para>I frequently set the ship functions for cities that are far from the

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front to automatically move ships towards the front.</para>

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<para>When I have armies on a continent, but there is nothing to

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explore or attack, I move the army to the shore and use the <emphasis

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remap='I'>transport</emphasis> function to have that army hop aboard

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the first passing transport.</para>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='commands'><title>COMMANDS</title>

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<para>There are three command modes. The first of these is "command mode".

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In this mode, you give commands that affect the game as a whole.

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In the second mode, "move mode", you give commands to move your

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pieces. The third mode is "edit mode", and in this mode you can

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edit the functions of your pieces and examine various portions of

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the map.</para>

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<para>All commands are one character long. The full mnemonic names

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are listed below as a memorization aid. The mnemonics are somewhat

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contrived because there are so few characters in the English language.

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Too bad this program isn't written in Japanese, neh?</para>

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<para>In all command modes, typing "H" will print out a screen of help

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information, and typing <ctrl-L> will redraw the screen.</para>

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</refsect1>

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<refsect1 id='command_mode'><title>COMMAND MODE</title>

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<para>In command mode, the computer will prompt you for your orders.

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The following commands can be given at this time:</para>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Automove</emphasis></term>

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<para>Enter automove mode. This command begins a new round of movement.

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You will remain in move mode after each of the computer's turns.

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(In move mode, the "O" command will return you to command mode

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after the computer finishes its next turn.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Give the computer a random unowned city. This command is useful if you

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find that the computer is getting too easy to beat.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>The current round is displayed.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Examine</emphasis></term>

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<para>Examine the enemy's map. This command is only valid after the computer

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has resigned.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Print a copy of the map to the specified file.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>This command gives the computer a free move.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Enter edit mode where you can examine and change the functions

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associated with your pieces and cities.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Enter move mode for a single round.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Give the computer the number of free moves you specify.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Print</emphasis></term>

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<para>Display a sector on the screen.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Restore</emphasis></term>

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<para>Restore the game from empsave.dat.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Save the game in empsave.dat.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Trace</emphasis></term>

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<para>This command toggles a flag. When the flag is set,

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after each move, either yours or the computer's,

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a picture of the world is written out to the file

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'empmovie.dat'. <emphasis remap='B'>Watch out! This command produces lots of

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output.</emphasis></para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<term><emphasis remap='B'>Watch</emphasis></term>

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<para>This command allows you to watch a saved movie.

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The movie is displayed in a condensed version so that

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it will fit on a single screen, so the output may be

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a little confusing. This command is only legal if the

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computer resigns. If you lose the game, you cannot replay

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a movie to learn the secrets of how the computer beat you.

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Nor can you replay a movie to find out the current positions

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of the computer's pieces. When replaying a movie, it is

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recommended that you use the <option>-d</option> option to set the delay

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to around 2000 milliseconds or so. Otherwise the screen will be

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updated too quickly for you to really grasp what is going on.</para>

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</listitem>

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</varlistentry>

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<para>Display a condensed version of the map on the screen. The user map is

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divided into small rectangles. Each rectangle is displayed as one square

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on the screen. If there is a city in a rectangle, then it

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is displayed. Otherwise enemy pieces are displayed, then user pieces,

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then land, then water, and then unexplored territory. When pieces are

710

displayed, ships are preferred to fighters and armies.</para>

711

</listitem>

712

</varlistentry>

713

</variablelist>

714

</refsect1>

715

716

717

718

<para>In move mode, the cursor will appear on the screen at the position

719

of each piece that needs to be moved. You can then give commands

720

to move the piece. Directions to move are specified by the

721

following keys:</para>

722

723

724

725

QWE

726

A D

727

ZXC

728

</emphasis>

729

</literallayout>

730

731

<para>The arrow and keypad keys on your terminal, if any, should also

732

work.</para>

733

734

<para>These keys move in the direction of the key from S. The

735

characters are not echoed and only 1 character is

736

accepted, so there is no need for a <Return>. Hit the <Space>

737

bar if you want the piece to stay put.</para>

738

739

<para>Other commands are:</para>

740

741

742

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Build</emphasis></term>

743

744

<para>Change the production of a city.</para>

745

</listitem>

746

</varlistentry>

747

748

749

750

<para>Set the function of a troop transport or aircraft carrier to

751

752

</listitem>

753

</varlistentry>

754

755

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Grope</emphasis></term>

756

757

<para>Set the function of a piece to <emphasis remap='I'>grope</emphasis>.</para>

758

</listitem>

759

</varlistentry>

760

761

762

763

<para>Set the direction for a piece to move.</para>

764

</listitem>

765

</varlistentry>

766

767

768

769

<para>Enter edit mode.</para>

770

</listitem>

771

</varlistentry>

772

773

774

775

<para>Wake up the piece. If the piece is a transport or carrier,

776

pieces on board will not be awoken.</para>

777

</listitem>

778

</varlistentry>

779

780

781

782

<para>Set a fighter's function to <emphasis remap='I'>land</emphasis>.</para>

783

</listitem>

784

</varlistentry>

785

786

787

788

<para>Cancel automove mode. At the end of the round, you will

789

be placed in command mode.</para>

790

</listitem>

791

</varlistentry>

792

793

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Print</emphasis></term>

794

795

<para>Redraw the screen.</para>

796

</listitem>

797

</varlistentry>

798

799

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Random</emphasis></term>

800

801

<para>Set a piece's function to <emphasis remap='I'>random</emphasis>.</para>

802

</listitem>

803

</varlistentry>

804

805

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Sentry</emphasis></term>

806

807

<para>Set a piece's function to <emphasis remap='I'>sentry</emphasis>.</para>

808

</listitem>

809

</varlistentry>

810

811

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Transport</emphasis></term>

812

813

<para>Set an army's function to <emphasis remap='I'>transport</emphasis>.</para>

814

</listitem>

815

</varlistentry>

816

817

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Upgrade</emphasis></term>

818

819

<para>Set a ship's function to <emphasis remap='I'>upgrade</emphasis>.</para>

820

</listitem>

821

</varlistentry>

822

823

<term><emphasis remap='B'>V</emphasis><emphasis remap='I'>piece func</emphasis></term>

824

825

<para>Set the city movement function for the specified piece

826

to the specified function. For example, typing "VAY" would

827

set the city movement function for armies to <emphasis remap='I'>attack</emphasis>. Whenever

828

an army is produced in the city (or whenever a loaded transport

829

enters the city), the army's movement function

830

would be set to <emphasis remap='I'>attack</emphasis>.</para>

831

</listitem>

832

</varlistentry>

833

834

835

836

<para>Set an army's function to <emphasis remap='I'>attack</emphasis>.</para>

837

</listitem>

838

</varlistentry>

839

840

841

842

<para>Display information about the piece. The

843

function, hits left, range, and number of items on board are

844

displayed.</para>

845

</listitem>

846

</varlistentry>

847

</variablelist>

848

849

<para>Attacking something is accomplished by moving onto the

850

square of the unit you wish to attack. Hits are traded

851

off at 50% probability of a hit landing on one or the

852

other units until one unit is totally destroyed. There

853

is only 1 possible winner.</para>

854

855

<para>You are "allowed" to do <emphasis remap='B'>fatal</emphasis>

856

things like attack your own cities or other pieces. If you try to

857

make a fatal move, the computer will warn you and give you a chance to

858

change your mind.</para>

859

860

<para>You cannot move onto the edge of the world.</para>

861

</refsect1>

862

863

864

865

<para>In edit mode, you can move around the world and examine pieces

866

or assign them new functions.

867

To move the cursor around, use the standard direction

868

keys.

869

Other commands are:</para>

870

871

872

873

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Build</emphasis></term>

874

875

<para>Change the production of the city under the cursor.

876

The program will prompt for the new production, and you

877

should respond with the key corresponding to the letter of the piece

878

that you want produced.</para>

879

</listitem>

880

</varlistentry>

881

882

883

884

<para>Set a transport's or carrier's function to <emphasis remap='I'>fill</emphasis>.</para>

885

</listitem>

886

</varlistentry>

887

888

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Grope</emphasis></term>

889

890

<para>Set a piece's function to <emphasis remap='I'>grope</emphasis>.</para>

891

</listitem>

892

</varlistentry>

893

894

895

896

<para>Set the function of a piece (or city) to the specified direction.</para>

897

</listitem>

898

</varlistentry>

899

900

901

902

<para>Wake all pieces at the current location. If the location is a city,

903

the fighter path will also be canceled.</para>

904

</listitem>

905

</varlistentry>

906

907

908

909

<para>Select the piece or city at the current location. This command

910

is used with the "N" command.</para>

911

</listitem>

912

</varlistentry>

913

914

915

916

<para>Set the destination of the piece previously selected with the "M"

917

command to the current square.</para>

918

</listitem>

919

</varlistentry>

920

921

922

923

924

</listitem>

925

</varlistentry>

926

927

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Print</emphasis><emphasis remap='I'>sector</emphasis></term>

928

929

<para>Display a new sector of the map. The map is divided into

930

ten sectors of size 20 by 70. Sector zero is in the upper-left

931

corner of the map. Sector four is in the lower-left corner of

932

the map. Sector five is in the upper-right corner, and sector

933

nine is in the lower-right corner.</para>

934

</listitem>

935

</varlistentry>

936

937

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Random</emphasis></term>

938

939

<para>Set a piece to move randomly.</para>

940

</listitem>

941

</varlistentry>

942

943

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Sentry</emphasis></term>

944

945

<para>Put a piece to sleep.</para>

946

</listitem>

947

</varlistentry>

948

949

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Transport</emphasis></term>

950

951

<para>Set an army's function to <emphasis remap='I'>transport</emphasis>.</para>

952

</listitem>

953

</varlistentry>

954

955

<term><emphasis remap='B'>Upgrade</emphasis></term>

956

957

<para>Set a ship's function to <emphasis remap='I'>upgrade</emphasis>.</para>

958

</listitem>

959

</varlistentry>

960

961

<term><emphasis remap='B'>V</emphasis><emphasis remap='I'>piece func</emphasis></term>

962

963

<para>Set the city movement function for a piece.</para>

964

</listitem>

965

</varlistentry>

966

967

968

969

<para>Set an army's function to <emphasis remap='I'>attack</emphasis>.</para>

970

</listitem>

971

</varlistentry>

972

973

974

975

<para>Display information about a piece or city.

976

For a city, the production, time of completion of

977

the next piece, movement functions, and the number of fighters and ships

978

in the city are displayed.</para>

979

</listitem>

980

</varlistentry>

981

</variablelist>

982

983

<para>Note that you cannot directly affect anything inside a city with

984

the editor.</para>

985

986

</refsect1>

987

988

<refsect1 id='hints'><title>HINTS</title>

989

<para>After you have played this game for a while, you will probably

990

find that the computer is immensely easy to beat. Here are some

991

ideas you can try that may make the game more interesting.</para>

992

993

994

995

<para>Give the computer one or more extra cities before starting

996

the game.</para>

997

</listitem>

998

999

<para>Try playing the game with a low smoothness value (try using the

1000

-s2 or even -s0 option).</para>

1001

</listitem>

1002

1003

<para>When starting the game, the program will ask you what difficulty

1004

level you want. Here "difficulty level" is a misnomer. To compute

1005

a difficulty level, the program looks at each continent and counts

1006

the number of cities on the continents. A high "difficulty level"

1007

gives the computer a large continent with many cities, while the

1008

user gets a small continent with few cities. A low "difficulty level"

1009

has the opposite effect. It may be the case that the computer will

1010

play better when the "difficulty level" is low. The reason for this

1011

is that the computer is forced to move armies to multiple continents

1012

early in the game.</para>

1013

</listitem>

1014

</itemizedlist>

1015

</refsect1>

1016

1017

<refsect1 id='history'><title>HISTORY</title>

1018

1019

<para>According to

1020

1021

A Brief History of Empire </ulink>, the ancestral game was written by

1022

Walter Bright sometime in the early 1970s while he was a student at

1023

Caltech. A copy leaked out of Caltech and was ported to DEC's VAX/VMS

1024

from the TOPS-10/20 FORTRAN sources available sometime around fall

1025

1979. Craig Leres found the source code on a DECUS tape in 1983 and

1026

added support for different terminal types.</para>

1027

1028

<para>Ed James got hold of the sources at Berkeley and converted

1029

portions of the code to C, mostly to use curses for the screen

1030

handling. He published his modified sources on the net in December

1031

1986. Because this game ran on VMS machines for so long, it has been

1032

known as VMS Empire.</para>

1033

1034

<para>In 1987 Chuck Simmons at Amdahl reverse-engineered the program

1035

and wrote a version completely in C. In doing so, he modified the

1036

computer strategy, the commands, the piece types, many of the piece

1037

attributes, and the algorithm for creating maps.</para>

1038

1039

<para>The various versions of this game were ancestral to later and

1040

better-known 4X (expand/explore/exploit/exterminate) games, including

1041

Civilization (1990) and Master of Orion (1993).</para>

1042

1043

<para>In 1994 Eric Raymond colorized the game.</para>

1044

</refsect1>

1045

1046

<refsect1 id='files'><title>FILES</title>

1047

1048

1049

<term><emphasis remap='I'>empsave.dat</emphasis></term>

1050

1051

<para>holds a backup of the game. Whenever empire is run,

1052

it will reload any game in this file.</para>

1053

</listitem>

1054

</varlistentry>

1055

1056

<term><emphasis remap='I'>empmovie.dat</emphasis></term>

1057

1058

<para>holds a history of the game so that the game can be replayed as

1059

a "movie".</para>

1060

</listitem>

1061

</varlistentry>

1062

</variablelist>

1063

</refsect1>

1064

1065

1066

1067

<para>No doubt numerous.</para>

1068

1069

<para>Satellites are not completely implemented. You should be able to

1070

move to a square that contains a satellite, but the program won't

1071

let you. Enemy satellites should not cause your pieces to awaken.</para>

1072

</refsect1>

1073

1074

<refsect1 id='authors'><title>AUTHORS</title>

1075

<para>Original game by Walter Bright. Support for different terminal

1076

types added by Craig Leres. Curses support added by Ed James. C/Unix

1077

version written by Chuck Simmons. Colorization by Eric S. Raymond.

1078

Probability table corrected by Michael Self.</para>

1079

</refsect1>

1080

1081

<refsect1 id='copyleft'><title>COPYLEFT</title>

1082

1083

<para>See the file COPYING, distributed with empire, for restriction

1084

and warranty information.</para>

1085

</refsect1>

1086

</refentry>

1087