CIRCE.docsY +PRG formatted GEOS file V1.0sRRb@xݻ}ݳmmmyymmmݛlWrite Image V1.1Red StormgeoWrite V1.1 This file was created with Wrong is Write. Written by Joe Buckley.ROx O-8 8888888W  CIRCE II:W W@CIRCEW is a single player stategy game that runs under W@GEOS 64W or W@GEOSW W@128W (40 columns only). All versions of W@CIRCEW are copyright 1987, 1989 by Francis G. Kostella. Versions prior to V1.3 were freely distributable shareware, users who registered by sending in a donation of at least $5 were sent V1.3. Versions higher than 1.2 are W@NOTW shareware, and I request that you do not distribute copies, Storm Systems is the only authorized distributor of W@CIRCEW. The object of the game is to capture all the countries on the planet W@CIRCEW. Game play is fairly straightforward, you and the computer alternate moves until one player has lost all of his armies and therefore cannot move. You always move first, then the computer moves. After the computer's move, the TURN counter is incremented and a number of armies are added to each country. Generally one army is added to each country, but in the W@ESCALATIONW scenario, the number of armies gained per turn increases as the game progresses. 8 8888888W During your part of the turn you can choose one of five possibilities represented by the five icons on the right side of the game's screen. The first icon, the W@PASSW icon simply passes control to the computer which will then make its move. On occasion, when the computer doesn't have a good move, it will also W@PASSW thus giving you control. The other four icons require that you first select an originating country, then one of four the icons, then the destination country. You select a country by pressing the mouse button when the pointer is over the country you want. You should position the pointer near the center of the country and not near its borders, otherwise the program won't recognize your choice. If you want to choose another country, simply select a new country. If the country you want isn't visible on the globe, use the left and right arrow icons located at the four corners of the globe to spin the globe until the country you want is available. You can hold the button down to continue spinning the globe instead of single clicks. 8 8888888W When you have selected an originating country, the country and it's neighbor's names and number of armies will be displayed in the box at the top of the screen. The neighboring countries are the ONLY destinations available to that origin country. When you select a country, if all of its neighbors are not visible, then the globe will be spun until all of them are visible. Although you can select any country, regardless of who controls that country, to make a valid move you must choose an origin country that you control. Countries controlled by the computer have a yellow flag with a square symbol. Countries that you control have a blue flag with a diamond symbol. The pair of icons under the W@ATTACKW heading are the W@ENTIREW and PARTIAL icons. W@ENTIREW allows you to attack with all the armies of a origin country. W@PARTIALW will put up a Dialog Box that allows you to choose a number less than the total number of armies in an origin country. The icons in the Dialog Box are W@CLEARW, W@MAXW, W@1W, W@5W, W@10W, W@50W, W@OKW, and W@CANCELW. At the top of the Dialog Box is displayed the number of armies in the chosen country, below this is the current total selected. As you click on the number icons (W@1W, W@5W, W@10W, W@50W) that amount is added to the current total. If you add more to the total than the number of armies available, the Dialog Box won't allow more to be added than the number available. Use the W@OKW icon when you've achieved the number you want. The W@MAXW icon places the maximum amount into the total. The W@CLEARW icon makes the total zero, and the W@CANCELW icon exits and cancels the attack. 8 X888888W Now that you have the amount to attack with, you choose the country to attack. It must be a computer held country and it must be on your border. If you make a mistake (or want to cancel at this point and select a wrong country) the nature of your error will be shown at the bottom of the screen and the attack will be cancelled. If you make a proper choice the names of the origin and destination countries along with the number of attacking armies is displayed at the bottom of the screen and a battle begins. The upper display box shows the names and number of armies of the countries involved. If either country has less than 600 armies, a set of horizontal bars are drawn to graphically display the relative strengths of each country. As each army on either side is destroyed, the bars become shorter. Countries with over 600 armies only show the "lower" 600 armies. In other words, the bars for that country don't begin decreasing until the number of armies falls below 600. When one side uses all of its armies, it loses the battle and the opponent takes control of that country, if it doesn't control it already. 8 X888888W The W@TRAVELW icons, W@ENTIREW and W@PARTIALW work in the same manner as the W@ATTACKW icons, except that here you're moving your armies to a neighboring country you already occupy. If you choose a country that you don't control or one that isn't on your border, you'll be alerted of your error and the move will be cancelled. 8 8888888W When you first start the game, or when you select "new game" from the option menu, you are given the chance to select one of four different scenarios. The first choice, W@BEGINNERW, is the easy game, you start with 200 armies and the computer gets 100. This game is for the first time W@CIRCEW player or the old player who wants to check out the new and improved computer move routines. Fifty turns to win is a good score in this mode, 150 turns is not. W@STANDARDW mode is the "regular" game. Pretty much of an even match for the intermediate player. You start with 125 armies and the computer gets 100. In the above two games and in the W@ESCALATIONW mode (described below) you are given the option of choosing your starting countries or having them chosen randomly. When you choose the starting countries you end up with a slight advantage because there are 31 countries and you choose first. You'll always end up with 16 to the computer's 15 countries. Select your starting countries by clicking on them just as you would during a game. Once a country is chosen, a flag is drawn on it. When all 31 have been chosen you'll be prompted to make your first move. When you choose the random option, the starting countries and the number of countries each side controls is random. Thus, this mode is usually harder but sometimes easier. When making either choice, please note that the number of armies each side starts with is evenly distributed across the entire planet. The W@PLANETARY ATTACKW game starts with one side controlling the entire planet while the other side "lands" a huge force in one country and tries to take over the whole planet. When choosing this mode, you are also given the choice to attack or defend. For those experienced, hard-core W@CIRCEW players there is the W@ESCALATIONW game. Both sides start with 100 armies. Every four turns the number of armies added at the end of each turn is increased. Thus, at the 64th turn, 8 armies are added to each country. Surviving 100 turns is quite a feat in this scenario! 8 8888888W The W@OPTIONSW menu allows you a few customizing "switches". The first, W@SEE NAMESW will draw the names of the countries on the globe map when it is on. W@SEE ARMIESW will do the same for the number of armies at each country. Turn off W@SEE SPINW to stop the globe from spinning while the computer is moving, instead it will go directly to the best view of the computer's move. These three "switches" are W@ONW when italicized and W@OFFW when in plain text. W@They all default to W@ONW. 8 8888888W A few hints and tips: * W@CIRCEW is a game about territory, take as many countries as you can hold. * The computer has a built in advantage, armies are added only after its move is finished, so it never ends up leaving zero armies in a country. If you take a country and the computer takes it back on the same move, the computer gains the army awarded at turns end. * Older versions of W@CIRCEW (before V2.0) had two simple computer move routines: 1) Build up the largest clump of armies. 2) Attack when you have more armies. V2.0 has a whole new set of different routines and may surprise players familiar with the older versions. I won't detail the newer routines, but will warn you that when one of your countries borders on two computer countries, don't depend on it not attacking until one of those two has the advantage. * Another important part of your strategy should be to form good "supply lines". Unless you have a great advantage, you'll need to bring armies from behind your borders up to the "front" quickly! So try to make the "front" at a place you can supply quicker than the computer can. Don't say I didn't warn you! --fgk july 89