There are 4 levels of game play: Beginners: only 2 resources available, gold and horses. Intermediate: Five resources: Gold,Horses,Iron,Coal,Timber. Advanced: Same 5 resources, but allows boat building. Expert: Same as Advanced, but allows you to move horses etc. during Shipment round Difficulty Scale for 1 player game Level 1 - you get 1st pick,1st attack and 4 extra countries 2 - same as 1,only no xtra countries 3 - computer gets 1st pick,you get 1st attack,you get 2 xtra countries 4 - same as 3,no xtra countries 5 - you get 1st pick,computer attacks first, no xtra countries 6 - same as 5,computer gets 2 xtra countries 7 - computer goes first,gets 1st pick,no xtra countries 8 - same as 7,computer gets 2 xtra 9 - same as 7,computer gets 4 xtra Game parameters Resources - can be set in all xcept beginner game. Sets quantity of resources. Higher number generally means a faster game. Cities to Win - How many cities the winner will have to build Chance - sets the chance factors Low - only new horse locations are random. Battles decided on strength, ties go to attacker. Medium - same as low, occurrences of production, trade hipping are random. Ties are decided randomly. In addition, if you lose the attack, then any horse, weapon or boat that you used in the attack is lost High - as above, except you can lose or win on any attack, with [garbled] fixed in proportion to the point totals. Music - turns idiot tunes off or on. Suggest turning off for faster play. Maps Map from disk- self explanatory Saved map - loaded from one of your map disks, as opposed to game disk Generate Map - computer will draw a random map using either: pre-set parms or you can set the parms. More on this later under using the map maker program After map made you can: Start again using NEW PARMS Redo it, using SAME PARMS that created the current map Save it. Proceed - play the game Resources Resources are the key to victory. They allow you to build weapons and more armies. He who has the most will probably win unless he's an idiot. Gold - square block with a diagonal line at each corner. Horse - looks like Pokey (u know, Gumby's buddy) Iron - Big Capital I Coal Mine - Three little black pixels Timber - looks like an upside down spade Moving Resource In all but the beginner game you can redistribute the resources. The options are: 1- random relocation 2 - you pick it. Move the cursor to a country with the resource you want to move press the fire button. Then move the cursor to where you want it to go press the fire button. You can exit this by placing the cursor over the water pressing the button. Proceed - starts game Game Start The game opens with you and your opponents picking your territories. The order of play is shown by the stacked shields on the bottom left of the screen. 1st player is on top, last is on bottom. This rotates each year of play. Place the cursor over the country you want and press your button. Press it again to verify that you really want the country. Players select till all are gone. Press Button to Save Game This gives you options to: Set the color of the water Save the game - needs a dos 2 disk pre-formatted Music - on/off Exit - back to game Turns Each turn is a game 'year'. The first phase is building goodies to blow the other players to hell. If you can build anything the menu will show you what you can build. To help you decide use the INFO to see what is around you. A weapon looks like a satellite dish on its side. A boat looks like, well, a boat. A city is shown by a striped pattern over the country. A city will double the production of gold, iron, coal timber in the city's territory and in the adjacent territories. Development Costs How much gold to build the goodies Level 1 game 2 gold = 1 weapon 4 gold = 1 city In a level 2 game add: 1 Iron + 1 Coal = 1 Weapon 1 Gold + 1 coal + 1 Timber = 1 City In levels 3 ON add: 3 Timber = 1 Boat 3 Gold = 1 Boat To build it, highlight it's name and press the trigger. You'll then be asked where you want to place it.You can't have 2 weapons, horses or cities in the same territory. If you change your mind, put the cursor over the water press the trigger. This will abort building/placing the goodie. If you build a boat you must place it in a territory adjacent to water. You can have several boats in 1 territory if there is enough coast room. Production Each producing territory does so, with totals flashing at the bottom of the screen. Note that Horses appear on the map directly in territories with pastures. Horses spread from their original territory to adjacent ones and then beyond. If you have moved a horse out of it's original pasture then a new one will appear there. Locate Stockpile Your stockpile is where your accumulated resources are held. It's your treasury, lose it and you've probably lost the game. If the territory holding a stockpile is conquered, the captured resources go to the attacker. Horses are not in the stockpile, but their number can be looked up there. Trading This is the part where you connive, cheat, bribe and outright lie to other players. End trade - Ends trading Make Trade - Once the players have agreed on a trade, then pick this option. The players colors will appear as b[garbled] "Who ?" Move the cursor to the colour of one of the trading player press der butten. Then pick the other player's colour and hit der buten.At this point, your shield is displayed and you select the resource you are trading away. If trading away a Horse you'll have to pick the territory it is coming from. Continue till you're done, then select END TRADE. Now it's the other guys turn. If you get a horse then you have to pick a place for it. After all players are finished trading,select END TRADE. Info - The Scout Report The scout report is available throughout the game. Selecting this displays a list of options: Forces - displays how much force a territory has how much is against it. An * means there is a boat Stockpile - shows all of the resources in a players stockpile. Terr. Info - gives info about bordering countries,weapons,cities, resource production and horsies. Exit - exits to previous menu Shipment This lets you prepare for expected attacks by moving your stockpile to another territory. At the xpert level you may also move horse,weapons or boats to new locations. Weapons may be moved 1 territory. Horses can move 2 territories and can pick up a weapon on the way. A boat can move to any territory as long as it's accessible by water. Boats can carry a horse and a weapon. Attack - The Good Part This is where you get to stab other players in the back. The table below shows how a defending territory's forces are counted. 1 point for the territory 1 for each adjacent territory of same colour 1 point for a horse in home territory 1 pt for each horse in adjacent country 2 pts if territory has a city 2 pts for each adjacent city 3 pts for a weapon in home territory 3 pts for weapon in adjacent countries 2 pts for each boat in home country Home country is the one under attack The attacking player's force count will include the forces of all the attacking player's countries which border the attacked country. Boats are not counted as they must be added to an attack. Each player gets 2 attack turns. If you lose the first, then you don't get the second. Chance Level Low - To attack, choose 'Plan Attack'. You then select the country you want to attack. After you pick, you'll be shown the forces on both sides. Ties go to the attacker. If there is no way you can win, 'Lose !' is displayed. The menu allows you to exit to the main menu, replan an attack elsewhere or continue with this attack if possible Medium Chance If forces are equal then the outcome is not certain as ties are random. If you lose, your attack round ends and you lose any horse, weapon or boat that you tried to move into that territory. High Chance Ties are random, with the odds fixed in favour of the force points. Example: force of 3 has 1/2 the chance of a force of 6. So, you can attempt attacks even if you're outnumbered and possibly win. By the sa[garbled] [garbled] you lose, then you lose any horse, weapon or boat that you tried to move into that territory. If you have a chance of winning, and a third party's forces are adjacent to the territory you're attacking, youl'll be given the option 'Allies'. You must select this if you wish to continue the attack. At this point the third parties decide whether they will throw their weight in with the defender or the attacker or stay neutral. The allies make their choice by positioning the cursor to the appropriate choice and pressing the trigger. Forces In most situations, you have the option of adding to your attacking force. If you have a horse, weapon or boat that you wish to add then choose the ADD FORCES option. A weapon can only move into an adjacent territory. Horses can move from 2 territories away and can pick up a weapon on the way. To do this, first move your horse into the territory with the weapon, pick it up, then move on. In advanced and expert games you can attack countries that don't touch yours by using boats (if the countries all touch water that is). Boats In level 3 ON games you can add forces to an attack by using boats. A boat can also ferry a Horse and/or a weapon into an attacked if the attacker has a horse and/or weapon in the boat's originating territory. The points of the boat, horse weapon will be added into the attack. They will be unloaded into the conquered territory if you win the attack. Boats are not included in an attack unless specifically added. Counting the Dead If you are able to win the attack, then you will have a menu choice of 'Attack'. If you brought a horse ored. Counting the Dead If you are able to win the attack, then you will have a menu choice of 'Attack'. If you brought a horse or weapon into the territory as part of your attack and the defenders country had one, then you lose yours. Each country can only have 1 horse or 1 weapon. If you win the attack, whatever was there is now yours If there is a stockpile there, it is looted and the contents are added to your stockpile. To Win The game goes on till one player has the number or cities to win. If 2 or more players have the winning number of cities, then play continues until 1 player has 1 more city than the others at the end of the year. Making the Maps tuff Changing Player colours is done by pressing the trigger for the Utilities and Save Game menu that appears between each phase. Pick the change player colour option. A display of the various colour will be shown. Put the cursor over the one you want and press the trigger. Select exit to return to the menu. Quitting - If you're being whipped you can quit the game from the utils menu. If you're whipping the computer it'll whine and you have the choice of letting it quit or not. Maps Choose a Lords of conquest map - these are on the backside of the game disk. Personal Map - this is on your formatted disk already To create a map, just follow the prompts, making your choices by putting the cursor over the option and pressing the ole trigger. If your moving resources, then you place the cursor over the resource, press the trigger and then move the cursor to where you want the resource to go and press the trigger again. Well thats it, it's not too hard to play.