V – Game Sequence And Turns

Transcript

1 RULES SUMMARY (Short) COLONIAL CONQUEST: Up to 6 Major countries vie for control of more than 130 Minor countries using diplomacy, espionage, armies, and fleets. OBJECTIVE: The player’s goal is to be the first to attain a preset number of victory points. Winning battles and acquiring control of regions increase a player’s victory point total, while losing battles and control of regions decrease his total. MAJOR COUNTRIES: In sequence of play, these are: 1) Britain, 2) Germany, 3) France, 4) USA, 5) Japan, and 6) Russia. Each Major country is controlled by a human player or the computer, or is designated neutral and then acts as a Minor country. In hotseat play, while one player is entering his moves at the computer, all of the other players should be seated elsewhere. There they can negotiate informal agreements. They are prohibited from watching the player at the computer, but anything else is acceptable. SCENARIOS: The 3 alternatives are an 1880 scenario, a 1914 scenario, and a standard scenario. GAME PHASES: Build Phases (Army, Navy, Fortification, Economic Aid, Espionage, Subversion), Movement Phases (Army, Navy), Combat. The Build Phases occur each Spring only. Build Phase: Create new armies and fleets in the Supply Centers located exclusively in your Major country’s home region. Fortification Phase: Fortify army units (except in Supply Centers). Economic Aid Phase: Lend money to other Major countries; these are added to their Treasury. Lend money to neutral Minor countries; these are used immediately to build armies. Espionage Phase: Learn the approximate army strength and the income of any region. Your current Treasury and the cost of spying will be displayed after you set the choice of the region to be spied on. Subversion Phase: Spend money to bribe a Minor country’s army, weakening the country’s defense or causing a coup (giving you control of the said country in return). Movement Phase: You have up to 20 moves each turn. Move armies to adjacent regions only. If region is controlled by you, troops become reinforcement. If region is neutral or controlled by another Major country, troops attack and a battle is fought there during the Combat Phase. Move navies alone or with armies from one port to another. If destination is a port you control, forces there are reinforced. If you do not control the port, then navy alone or navy and armies attack and battles are resolved in the Combat Phase. Combat Phase: up to twenty rounds of battle; each consists of naval vs. naval battle and army vs. army battle. SCORING: 1 point added for every battle won by armies. 1 point deducted for every battle lost by armies. Victory points are also added or subtracted for acquiring or losing control of regions. In the historical scenarios, Major countries control some regions at the beginning of the game, but they have no victory points. All scores are set at zero before play begins. However, if as a Major country, you lose control of a region that you held at the start, points will be deducted from your score. If you should gain control again, then you will be awarded the victory points just as you would be for gaining control of any other region. You can see your score from the main interface at any time (or by clicking on your opponent’s flags for their respective scores). 2 Warning Please Read Before Using This Game Or Allowing Your Children To Use It. Some people are susceptible to epileptic seizures or loss of consciousness when exposed to certain flashing lights or light patterns in everyday life. Such people may have a seizure while watching television images or playing certain video games. This may happen even if the person has no medical history of epilepsy or has never had any epileptic seizures. If you or anyone in your family has ever had symptoms related to epilepsy (seizures or loss of consciousness) when exposed to flashing lights, consult your doctor prior to playing. We advise that parents should monitor the use of video games by their children. If you or your child experience any of the following symptoms: dizziness, blurred vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of consciousness, disorientation, any involuntary movement or convulsion, while playing a video game, IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your doctor. • Do not stand too close to the screen. Sit a good distance away from the screen, as far away as the length of the cable allows. • Preferably play the game on a small screen. • Avoid playing if you are tired or have not had much sleep. • Make sure that the room in which you are playing is well lit. • Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game. Notice ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE is a trademark of Les Grenouilles Numeriques Inc., based in Montreal, Canada. LES GRENOUILLES NUMERIQUES INC. reserves the right to make improvements to this product described in this manual at any time and without notice. This manual, and the software described in this manual, is under copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this manual or the described software may be copied, reproduced, translated or reproduced to any electronic medium (unless for personal use) or machine-readable form without the prior written consent of LES GRENOUILLES NUMERIQUES INC.. LES GRENOUILLES NUMERIQUES INC. makes no warranties, conditions or representations express or implied, with respect to this manual, its quality, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. This manual is provided ‘as is’. LES GRENOUILLES NUMERIQUES INC. makes certain limited warranties with respect to the software and the media for the software. In no event shall LES GRENOUILLES NUMERIQUES INC. be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages. These terms and conditions do not affect or prejudice the statutory rights of a purchaser in any case where a purchaser is a consumer acquiring goods otherwise than in the course of a business. 3 COLONIAL CONQUEST MANUAL I – Introduction COLONIAL CONQUEST is based on the empire building of the late 1800’s, COLONIAL CONQUEST is a grand strategy game for 1-6 players. Using diplomacy, espionage, armies, and fleets, up to 6 Major countries vie for control of more than 130 Minor countries and each other. COLONIAL CONQUEST features diplomacy, loans between countries, espionage of Major and Minor countries, subversion of Minor countries, the building of army and navy forces, and combat. Each army may contain many regiments (of 1,000 men each), and the fleets many individual warships. At the start of each new STANDARD game, the army strength, the victory point and the revenue of each region are randomly set. In the 1880 and 1914 scenarios, the army strength and the revenue are preset. Each game is different, and the strategies are endless. In COLONIAL CONQUEST, the player is awarded victory points (VP) for winning battles and acquiring control of regions. The player who first attains a preset number of points is declared the winner. II – Main Menu Once the developper’s and publisher’s logs have been displayed, the game’s Home Page appears (see Illustration 2.1 below) and from there you can reach the game or its options. Illustration 2.1 A / Menu Once the developper’s and publisher’s logs have been displayed, the game’s Home Page appears (see Illustration 2.1 below) and from there you can reach the game or its options. 4 Illustration 2.2 The menu allows to select the scenario to be played, the overall difficulty level, the victory objective (socre to be reached) and to precise which of the nations are playable by the computer (if so, also to specifiy the AI advantages individually for the same, ranging from 1 to 5 – see AI below). B / Options The Option menu seen in Illustration 2.3 below can be reached from the main game home page. There, a few of the gaming options can be adjusted, such as language changes (see Illustration 2.4 – to validate a language change, the game must be restarted), scores, sounds and music. You can also reach from there the online rules of the game (at : www.colonialconquest.com ) and various information on the achievements. Illustration 2.3 5 Illustration 2.3bis C / Scenarios There are 3 in this version of the game. You can select from the scenario menu (Illustration 2.4), and for each of them you can see the details in a window pop-up by clicking on the “?” symbol on the right (Illustration 2.5). Illustration 2.4 The Standard Scenario The six Major countries control only their own home regions as the game begins. The 1880 Scenario A historical scenario in which, as the game begins, the six Major countries control the additional regions actually controlled by those countries in 1880. The 1914 Scenario A historical scenario in which, as the game begins, the six Major countries control the additional regions actually controlled by those countries in 1914. See the Scenario Data Card for the identity of the controlled regions. In addition, if the computer controls Russia, France, or Britain, the country is at war with Germany. Conversely, if Germany is controlled by the computer, it is at war with Russia, France, and Britain. 6 Illustration 2.5 D / Victory Score A button allows you to select which score you want to reach to win the game. For the moment, we offer 500 VP, 1500 VP or Infinite (game lasts till there is only one remaining player in the game). The score directly impacts the duration of the game, the lower the score, the shorter the game. E / Saving and Loading Illustration 2.6 This function allows you to save an ongoing game or load a previously saved game. Please note that the game automatically offers an autosave (a game is saved automatically at the start of every turn). You can rename your saves by double clicking on their names in the window. 7 Illustration 2.7 III – Players and Nations A / Major Nations Each one of the six major nations can be controlled by either a player, an AI, or be left as a ‘neutral’ power in a game. A major nation that is neutral behaves like a minor (see below), but with the difference that she has her starting forces on the map and that her industrial centers are not active. Major nations have land and sea military forces of different power (in attack and defense) and purchase cost, as shown in the Illustration 3.1 below. 8 Great-Britain National Regions Industrial Centers Germany France United-States Japan Russia 3 3 3 4 3 4 2 2 2 3 2 1 France United-States Japan Russia 7 5 ARMY Great-Britain Offensive Defensive Cost per Regiment Germany 2 2 2 3 5 3 3 3 3 5 60 000£ 40 000£ 30 000£ 30 000£ 30 000£ 20 000£ NAVY Offensive Defensive Cost per Ship 2 2 60 000£ 2 3 4 4 2 2 3 3 5 5 80 000£ 100 000£ 100 000£ 100 000£ 140 000£ 9 Game sequence is determined by major nations, which are always playing in the following order : 1- Great-Britain 2- Germany 3- France 4- United-States 5- Japan 6- Russia At the start of every new game, a small contextual presentation of the major nation you are playing is presented to you, as an event (see Illustration 3.2) : Illustration 3.2 10 B / Minors A minor nation (usually a light grey flag is displayed for it in this version of the game) has no specific influence on the game. It just « owns » a territory that will soooner or later be the target of one (or more of the) major power(s). Minor nations may possess armies and fleets, but they only use them for defense. They can receive the benefits from economic aid of major powers, which they use to immediately purchase extra armies. Army: the minor nations armies have a defensive value of 7 and a purchase cost of £ 10 000£ (useful information, as this cost is the one used by minors to purchase new forces with the funds you give them through economic help – see below) Navy: the minor nations ships have a defensive value of 7 and a purchase cost of £ 10 000£ On the opposite, subversion from major powers will reduce the military power of minor nations they target. C / Players and AI The AI (Artificial Intelligence) will make the major powers not represented by players active (if selected as computer-controlled) and give them the means to win the game according to the selected difficulty level of the currently played scenario Each power sis played independently, according to its own specific economic and strategic criteria. There are currently two AI difficulty settings: normal and difficult * In Normal level, AI plays exactly like a player would (no specific advantage) * In Difficult level, the AI has increased advantages that make it more competitive. IV – Map and Main Interface Once you have selected a scenario in the menu, just click on the big arrow (on the bottom right of the screen) to launch the game. After a brief loading screen (Illustration 4.0), you shall arrive on the main map and interface where the game is played. Hereafter are the necessary explanations about these. Illustration 4.0 11 A/ The Interface Illustration 4.1 Please refer to Illustration 4.1 above for the following description. Return to Main Menu 1: the ball-bearing symbol takes you back to the main menu, in particular the save procedure. Nations 2: the flag of the 6 great powers of the game are displayed, with the one of the currently active nation highlighted and slightly bigger. Years & Seasons 3 the current year in progress is indicated in the center, as a figure. On each side, the symbol tells you in which season you are currently playing (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter – See section V.A below). Number of Moves 4 : this indicator tells you how many land and naval moves the active nation can still execute this season. Maximum is 20. A nation is not forced to play all her moves. Score and Treasury 5 : the top right part of the panel visually display the nation’s current victory points score, as well as the funds (in £) at her disposal. Selected Land Region 6 : this panel pops-up only if a land region is currently selected. It displays a pictogram informing you about the type of terrain there (influences combats), the region’s name and, when know, the VP gain it brings upon conquest. Inside that panel pictograms (from top to bottom) give indications of the naval and land forces present in defense, as well as the annual £ income of the region (all this information is replaced by ? if the region is not yours and has not been spied upon). Regional Possible Action Buttons 7 according to the region, up to 4 order buttons may be displayed (from top left to bottom right). The Information (I) button is always present, opening a more detailed information window on the region (see below). If the region is neutral or nenmy, the Spying button comes next, followed by the Economic Aid and the Subversion ones. For your owned regions, buttons allowing Movement, Fortification or Construction are possible (the last two only in the Spring, and only in regions that can be fortified or where building is allowed – see next). End Phase/Turn Button 8: when you click on the arrow, you move to the next phase. In some cases, the game may send you a confirmation request (via a pop-up window). Also note that when an event occurs in the game (see below), a round shaped icon is displayed above this button, and you can click on it to see what event is concerned. 12 B / The Map (provinces, terrains, naval dominance, industrial centers, forts, etc…) Illustration 4.2 Please refer to Illustration 4.2 above for the following description. Currently Selected Region 1: it appears highlighted on the map and its information panel (1B) is active, giving access to the related information and action (see above, sections 6 & 7) Active Nation Region 2: those regions have a background colour of the owning nation and you can see there the silhouettes of your regiments and warships present (coastal regions only for the latter). If the region holds a fort, a pentagon pictogram is visible on the map and your armies are also represented inside a pentagon (whereas they are left alone in regions without fortifications). Also note that all your industrial center regions display a factory pictogram. Naval Dominance (or Superiority) 3 this is a flag-like pictogram displays on a sea, usually the navy flag of the major power that holds the most warships in regions bordering the said sea. More than one power may have warships adjacent to that sea (example North Sea in Illustration 4.2 above) but only the nation with the largest number of warships has its flag displayed (in the above example 4.2, the Royal Navy flag indicates that Britain holds the dominance there, i.e. has most ships adjacent to North Sea) Action in Progress Icon 4 : on some regions, a white or grey icon may be present, indicating that a specific action is currently taking place there (espionage, subversion, economic aid). This may concern any of the currently active major powers. Opponent Region 5 : this region has a coloured background corresponding to its owner (here, a French light blue). No other information but forts, ports and industrial centers icons is displayed. After a few seconds, an additional tooltip will appear over the said region under your mouse pointer (see below) to give you a few extra known information on the said region. 13 Illustration 4.3 Naval Dominance 3 same as above. See also Illustration 4.4 below. Opponent Region 5: this region has a coloured background corresponding to its owner (here, a French light blue). No other information but forts, ports and industrial centers icons is displayed. After a few seconds, an additional tooltip will appear over the said region under your mouse pointer (see below) to give you a few extra known information on the said region. Illustration 4.3b Unplayable Region 7 : some regions in this game (usually those with extremely poor climate or impossible terrains) are not playable. Their map background is slightly coloured and decorated, and they harbour stripes to show they cannot be entered. In game terms, those regions cannot be entered and thus conquered. They cannot be crossed as well. Minor Region 8 : no specific coloring for the minor nations regions (you only see the standard map tan background), only the name is displayed, and a small icon serving as a reminder of the terrain type. If relevant, additional icons for actions or battles (flames) are displayed Ports 9 : the anchor displayed next to the coastline tells you that the region holds a port. If you own the region, your fleets may be redeployed there. If the region is attack via naval and/or amphibious assault, the warships present in the harbor must be destroyed and/or defeated before the land part of the amphibious assault is resolved. Note that fleets will not provide defense if the region is attacked via land only. 14 Maritime Frontiers ,10 : a line is displayed on the map to separate the various sea zones. This is to better symbolize the Naval Dominance areas. But note that in this version of Colonial Conquest, sea zones are purely informative and have no impact on naval movement or combat (the latter taking place in coastal regions with ports only). Illustration 4.4 Theater: The world is divided into the eight theaters (see the list and content in the Appendix). At the start of a new year, if you control all of the Major and Minor countries of a theater, you receive an economic bonus in addition to the combined net-worth of all of the countries. This reward can be as high as 20 million £. Theaters are also important in and naval assaults (If a naval attack from one theater to another fails, all of the armies in the attacking force are lost – see Retreat below). 15 V – Game Sequence and Turns At the start of every season (i.e. game turn), a warning message is displayed (see Illustration 5.1), telling the Player what are the possible actions this turn. See A. Seasons below. A / Seasons Illustration 5.0 The various game turns are equivalent to seasons, so we have 4 game turns each year. The year is displayed in the middle of the top interface and the season symbols are on each side, as follows : – two flowers for Spring – two suns for Summer – two dead leaves for Fall – two snowflakes for winter Seasons in this version of the game have no impact on the conditions of combat. However they have an influence on gameplay, as this is only in the Spring that the region income is distributed. Spring is therefore a particular season where additional action will take place compared to the other three seasons. B / Turn Sequence At the start of the turn, the action pop-up is displayed (see illustration 5.3 hereafter) and reminds you of the possible actions. In the Spring, you can do : - Constructions (troops and ships) - Fortification of regions - Espionage - Economic Aid on Minor nations or Great Powers - Subversion of Minor nations Actions possible all along the year (Spring included) are: - Movements (naval, land, or combined) - and thus Combats 16 C / Chronology of Actions The actions taken in the spring have no special chronology or sequence, they can be undertaken as the player wishes. On the contrary, the Movement orders have some limitations and a specific sequence. The maximum movement limits per turn is indicated in the top interface section, by an arrow with a number next to it (see also IV.A.4 above). This number goes down by one for each move order given by the player. Once it reaches zero, you must wait the next season to give extra move orders. Movement orders sequence is quite important as it defines in which ‘order’ your troops will reach the destination region. Therefore, units moved during the 20th order of a player will reach a region after those moved through the 19th order of another (or same) player, whatever the type of movement (naval or land) or the distance required. It is therefore crucial to issue your move orders in the sequence that you want to see them resolved. Another example : en case of a ‘combined’ attack of a target region coming from two other source regions, this attack will use two orders, one for each source region launching an attack…and one will arrive at destination after the other (not simultaneously): during the round of arrival, the army that received the first of those two orders will fight alone, the second army arriving a battle round later. VI – Game Sequence Details A / Constructions (Spring only) Construction is allowed only inside a region with an Industrial Center. Only Major Powers have them, between 1 and 3, located in their original national territories. You can identify them on the map with their factory icon. Armies can be built in any of the Industrial Centers, but fleets can only be constructed in those which are also ports. To start construction, you must be in Spring and select one of your regions with an Industrial Center, then click on the construction button. A windows open, showing the unit cost of each unit (this is power specific, as shown in Illustration 3.1 above), as well as the available funds in the treasury. You just then need to select the quantity of regiments and warships you want to buy (using the sliders) and those will instantly appear inside the construction region after the construction window has been closed (i.e. validating the purchase of the units). Illustration 5.1 17 Illustration 5.2 Illustration 5.3 Illustration 5.4 18 B / Fortification (Spring only) Fortifications can be built in any region that the player owns, with the exception of those already with forts and the Industrial Center regions (which are de facto fortified themselves). To proceed, just select the target region and click on the fortification button. A window pops-up, showing the cost of the action and the available treasury. Just validate the action and the fort will be built instantly. Fortifications effects are double : - - Military effect which effectively doubles the quantity of defending troops on the first round of battle Spying effect to multiply by two the cost of enemy spying actions in the region. The default cost of fortification is £1,000,000 but this may change according to scenarios. Illustration 5.5 C / Espionage (Spring only) Espionage (i.e. Spying) allows the player to get information on a target region, about its defense, its income or victory point value. The said information is more or less accurate though. To spy, you only need to select the target region and then click on the Spying button (a magnifying glass). Illustration 5.6 A window appears, showing the cost of spying and the available treasury. You just need to validate the action and the Espionage Report will (Illustration 5.6bis) be displayed. 19 This report will update all information on the region also in the bottom left part of the interface (but this information will remain those receive at the time of spying, i.e. they will not update by themselves over the course of the game) The default cost of Spying is £200,000 for a non-fortified region and is £1,000,000 for a fortified one. Illustration 5.6bis The Espionage report gives also a reliability value to the military information supplied, as indicated by the succession of red (poor) or green (good) magnifying glasses displayed next to the values (see illustration 5.6ter). Obviously the espionage never takes into account troop and fleet movement underway at the time of the action, and thus strength of forces potentially leaving from or arriving into the region this turn are not shown. Illustration 5.6ter Reminder: spying results remain effective for one year, although the information may quickly become inaccurate as the report was made in the Spring. D / Economic Aid (Spring only) Economic Aid (sometimes called subsidies) is used to transfer money from the treasury of your Major Power to another major power, or to send money from your major power to a minor nation. The Economic Aid screen is also used to negotiate peace between Major Powers. 20 Illustration 5.7 To use this function, just select the target region (for a minor) or an Industrial center of a Major Power (to pay for peace), then click on the Economic aid button. A window opens and contains a slider which allows you to select the amount of money you want to transfer from your treasury, the total of which is also displayed in the window as a reminder (see Illustration 5.7). It also contain a button that allows to calculate the amount of war indemnities to be paid for peace talks with another major power. Just validate and the funds will be transferred. Illustration 5.8 Money given to a major power goes directly into the treasury of the latter, and it can spend it as it likes. Money transferred to a minor nation is immediately converted into land forces (army regiments) purchases and an icon is displayed on the map to show roughly how many regiments the minor bought with your funds (see Illustration 5.8). E / Subversion (Spring only) Subversion is only possible on a minor nation. The goal of the action is to weaken its military forces in the region. In some cases, if those forces fall below a certain (undisclosed to players) level, the whole minor capitulates and suffers a coup that makes it now a member of the major power (e.g. a protectorate). 21 Illustration 5.9 To subvert a region, select it then click on the subversion button. A window opens and shows a button to press, which will deduct £100,000 from your treasyr, the total of which is also displayed in the window as a reminder (see Illustration 5.9). Each click on the button inside the window will spend again those £100,000 and affect the power of the minor nation. A text showing “Failure” will be displayed after the press. It’s not a failure per se but only the failure of the coup attempt (see 5.10 below). Illustration 5.10 If a subversion action succeeds in triggering a coup within the minor nation, then the message “Success” will be displayed (see Illustration 5.10). This happens when the army strength of the minor falls below 1 regiment due to previous subverting of that said region. As a consequence, the region become owned by the acting major power, with 1 regiment in garrison. 22 Illustration 5.11 F / Movement (All Seasons) Movements are always effected between one region and another. One single unit may undertake one single movement each season. For the armies, only regions adjacent to their starting region are eligible target for a land movement. For fleets, the game engine considers that each port is connected to all the other ports of the map. Therefore the ships move from one coastal port region to another during one season If the arrival region (destination of the move) is already owned by the player or has some of its troops already there, the move is considered as a reinforcement of already present forces. Otherwise the move is considered as an attack (see Combat section next). - If the movement combines armies and fleets in an attack, that attack is an amphibious assault (or landing) - If the movement concerns only warships in an attack, then it is a naval raid The order in which the moves are resolved follows the following two sequences: first the sequence or order of play of nations (e.g. Britain first, Russia last, see III.A above), then the sequence in which the move orders have been issues (see V.C above) This, for instance, the order of resolution of moves will be: Movement #1 GBRn the movement #1 GER, then movement #1 FRA, then movement #1 USA then movement #1 JAP then movement #1 RUS then movement #2 GBR then movement #2 GER … etc 23 Illustration 6.1 When the starting region of forces is selected, the map display changes (see Illustration 6.1) : • regions that can be accessed are shown normally • regions that cannot be reached are shown covered by a dark grey-brown filter Illustration 6.2 When the destination region is selected, a window opens, showing your land and naval forces present there, as well as two sliders that allow you to choose how many regiments and warships you shall send to destination. Note that if you want to be very precise, you can also directly enter by typing those amounts in the small square located at the right end of the sliders. 24 Illustration 6.3 When your land movement are validated, red-coloured arrows will appear on the map between the starting region and the destination region on land (where they are adjacent).see Illustration 6.3. If your move is a naval move, the arrows are coloured in blue, with their base next to the starting coastal port region and the head pointing at the destination region. Figures inside the arrows tell you the amount of units which are moving. Clicking on the arrows allows cancellation of the movement (see below Illustrations 6.5 and 6.6 infra) Illustration 6.4 Naval Movement To move forces overseas (i.e. beyond the adjacent land region), you need ships. See 6.4 above. Each ship may only carry one regiment. 25 Illustration 6.5 Canceling Moves Illustration 6.6 Naval Raid Sending warships alone in a region (without land troops) is a naval raid. If your opponent has warships there, a naval battle will take place (your ships will inflict no damage on land units there, and vice versa), then your surviving ships will sail back to where they came from initially, as ships alone can’t take possession of a region. A message will be displayed to remind you about it (see 6.6). 26 Illustration 6.7 Maximum of Moves not reached If you do not use all your 20 seasonal moves, a pop-up window will remind you (see 6.7) before you move to the Combat phase. G / Combat (All Seasons) Combats are the consequence of movements, they occur when two nations (major or minor) have units in the same region. Definition of the combat roles Combat will start by establishing which side is the attacker and which is the defender. The rule is that the stack of units present in the region since the longer period of time (i.e. rounds) is the defender. In case of multiple attack, i.e. involving more than two nations, then all nations after the first two will wait their ‘turn’, being involved only when one of the first two nation present has been eliminated. Duration of combats Each combat lasts a maximum of 20 rounds, at the end of which the attacker must retreat if he has not won. Those 20 rounds follow directly the sequence of the orders of movements of the players, thus an army that makes its move during the 3rd order issue will arrive on the battlefield only during round #3, and an army sent moving during order #20 will arrive for the last (20th) round of battle. Bonus / malus in combats Many factors influence fighting : - The status of defender or attacker: defenders always shoot and apply their hits first - Terrain that brings bonus / malus to both the attacker and defender, those bonus / malus values are shown in the region information window - Fortifications (double the strength of the defenders on first round) - Industrial Centers (double the strength of defenders all the time) - The combat values of the units: the offensives and defensive values are different and specifi for each of the nations, while the minor nations all share the same (see Nation chart in 3.1 above) 27 Illustration 6.8 Resolution of combats During the 20 rounds of combat, the various stacks enter the battlefield according to their movement sequence order rank (see previous section). Once two stacks are present on the battlefield, one is the attacker, the other the defender. * If fleet are present on both sides, then a naval action battle is fought first, in order to define if the troops on board (if any) are allowed to land or not. If the attacker wins that part, its surviving troops land in the region. * Then the defender fires and try to inflict losses. To do so, he must roll for each unit a 10-sided dice (D10) and reach a value higher than its defensive value, modified by terrain bonus or malus. * Each unit of the defender that succeeds this will inflict one loss on the attacker. * Then the surviving attacker fires back and try to inflict losses. To do so, he must roll for each unit a 10-sided dice (D10) and reach a value higher than its offensive value, modified by terrain bonus or malus. * Each unit of the attacker that succeeds this will inflict one loss on the defender. * The round ends when each side applied its losses. * If one side is fully eliminated, then the battle is over. * If not, a moral loss is calculated, the side suffering the most losses (in percentage of its original total, not in numbers) receiving a 1 point of moral loss * When a side has a moral value that reaches zero (0), the nit must retreat (see next) and the battle is over. If none of the above happened, the following round starts, if there are stacks of units from two different nations present in the region. Those stacks may be the same as those from the previous round if none was eliminated or retreated. Otherwise, it may also be the stack of the winner of the previous round, who then will become the new ‘defender’ against a stack arriving freshly during that new upcoming round. Case of reinforcements moves If a new (third) stack arrives on the battlefield and it belongs to a nation already involved in the battle, this stack is considered as a reinforcement. It will join the side of the stack of its nation already there, but will suffer losses only when the previous same nationality stack has been eliminated. Case of amphibious landings If the land units arrive in the same move as the naval units, it means they are onboard the ships and must thus land in the region to fight. As indicated above, the naval defending units must first be eliminated (if present) before the amphibious attack may take place. All losses suffered on transporting ships will be inflicted on the transported units if necessary. Should the attacking fleet lose the naval battle, then no landing takes place and the whole attacking stack retreats. 28 Case of naval raids A combat that involves only naval units will be handled in the same way as a land battle, with one exception: at the end of the 20th combat round, region possession will be allocated to the only side that has land units there. As a rule, ships are quite useful to transport land units and raid enemy fleets, but are otherwise useless when it comes to possession of regions. Illustration 6.9 H / Retreat (All Seasons) Land Retreat The attacker must always retreat back to the region when it came from. If this region no longer belongs to him at the time of retreat, then the whole stack is eliminated. The defender will always retreat into a friendly adjacent region. If there are none, it is eliminated too. Naval Retreat Naval retreat of the attacker depends on two factors: first if the fleet is based in the same theater as the target region, and second if this is a naval raid or a landing. If this is a raid, the fleet retreats back to its port of origin, or is sunk if the latter no longer belongs to the attacker. If this is a landing, a check is made on where the units come from originally: * If they come from the same theater, then the land units (onboard) AND the naval units retreat back to the port of origin (unless the latter no longer belongs to them, in which case they are eliminated). * If they come from a different theater, then the land units are eliminated and the naval units retreat to their port of origin (unless the latter no longer belongs to them, in which case they are eliminated) 29 VII – Reports and Events A/ Reports Reports (movement and battle) will indicate at the beginning of a turn all the various movements and combats in which units of the player were implicated. Move Reports Illustration 7.1 Illustration 7.1 shows the move report of the player (here the German player, as shown by the telegram letterhead) and each move is indicating the point of origin and the destination, as well as the units moved (armies and fleets). Battle Reports Illustration 7.2 If there was a combat, losses suffered are indicated in brackets (right after the skull icon), as per Illustration 7.2 In case of victory, a star is associated to the location and displayed on the concerned line (which has a green background colour). In case of defeat, the icon shown is a flame and the report background is in red colour (see Illustration 7.3). 30 Illustration 7.3 B / War Table (War & Peace) The War Table displays which major power is at war with which other major power. This information is crucial in assisting you to devise the proper strategy and war and peace action. To access the War Table, click on any other major power flag (i.e. a currently inactive nation, in other words any flag but yours) in the top part of the interface. The War Table shows the victory points accumulated for each nation and the peace or war status of that nation with the other powers, and since when. Illustration 7.4 C/ Victory Points Each victorious battle brings 1 VP to the winner, and costs 1 VP to the loser. Otherwise, the victory points are related to conquest of regions. For each new region conquered, the nation earns VP as associated to the conquered region. Each time a nation loses a territory (even of given by scenario start), it loses the VP value of same, which is deducted from the nation’s score. A comparative total will be displayed at the end of the game (see 7.5) 31 Illustration 7.5 Illustration 7.6 - 7.7 NB : you may check the VP total of your competitor nation by clicking on their flags in the interface D / Events At more or less regular intervals, events will occur to spice up a bit the course of the game (see illustration 7.8). To read more on their details and effect, click on the small circle button located above the end turn arrow at the bottom right of the screen. Events usually provide minor local benefits, more rareluy negative ones, but sometimes there are a few rather drastic ones (like the loss of a region). See list and description in the Appendix 32 Illustration 7.8 VIII – Strategies and Hints Garrisons your Industrial Centers Garrison your Industrial Centers with a large number of troops. Industrial Centers are the only place you can build armies and navies, and you need armies and navies to score points. Theaters Choice Attack where the computer is not attacking. There are 8 regions and only 6 players. You can avoid a long and costly war and build up your economic base by attacking a region that has been left alone by other players. Theaters Control Take control of an entire theater if possible and then garrison it with a large number of troops. The economic bonus for controlling a theater is well worth the time and trouble it takes to control the theater. If the computer decides to enter a theater already under another player’s control, then the computer attacks and starts a war. Espionage Use the Espionage Phase to determine a weak spot in the region you wish to attack. Attack the weak country and use it as a base to attack the other surrounding neutral countries. Remember, if you launch a naval attack on an area from outside of the region and lose the attack, all your attacking armies are lost Stay at Peace Do not attack a country controlled by the computer unless you feel you are ready for a long bloody war. Check your Position Never forget about your position on the sequence of play. The players before you can spy on you and determine your approximate strength before you send armies on attacks. You can spy on the players following and possibly get an idea of their intentions. This information is especially important if you are playing a multiple player version and are using the diplomacy feature of the game. Any information you obtain can be used to make deals with other players. If you are at war with a computer controlled country that follows you in the sequence of play, you can end the war easily in the Economic Aid Phase. Know your Country Determine the weaknesses and strengths of your country and try to use them to your advantage. Example: Britain has the best trained, most effective armies of all the countries. Unfortunately, they cost more than any other and there are fewer of them. 33 IX – Appendices & Various A / List of Events Event Effects Economic Boom +10% revenue in region Economic Crisis -10% revenue in region New Source of Iron Discovered National Pride Low Birthrate Add £ 500,000 to region annual income -10% cost of Army and Fleet this build phase +10% cost of Army and Fleet this build phasee 34 Private Support A minor region receives Economic Help for £500,000 Enthusiasm for the Army A major nation get a free regiment Enthusiasm for the Navy A major nation get a free ship Imprved Civil Defense Fortifications in ruins Free fortification in region Fortification in region lost Free industrial center in region Industrial Development 35 Spy reveals Plans Naval Superiority Newspaper Leaks False Reports -1 on attack roll in target Region +1 on naval attack roll in target Region All information about one region is known to all players Wrong information about one region is known to all players (random information is published and presented as Newspaper leak) Desertions A major nation loses a Army on its main industrial center Accidental Explosion A major nation loses a ship on its main industrial center 36 Local Unrest Region loses 1 regiment (subject to minimum) Natives Revolt Region loses half of its regiments (subject to minimum) General Uprising Region loses all armies (not on industrial centers) Annexation Master Spy A minor region adjacent to one of yours becomes yours Total knowledge (= success spying): you get full accurate information on region 37 B / List of Theaters The eight theaters are the following : Theater Regions Africa North Cape Verde, Morocco, Mauritius, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Western Africa, Kamerun, Central Africa, Sudan, Abyssinia, Horn of Africa, Kenya, Congo Africa South South Georgia, Ascuncion, Saint Helena, Angola, Zambia, Southwest Africa, Boer Republics, Mozambica, Madagascar, Cape Province Southeast Asia & Oceania Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, Celebes, Amboina, New Zealand, New Guinea, Northwest Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, New Caledonia Europe Azores, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Low Countries, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Rumania, Greece, Ireland, Scotland, England, Central France, Northern France, Southern France, Northern Germany, Southern Germany Eastern Germany, Western Russia, Central Russia, Urals 38 India & Middle-East Ottoman Empire, Persia, Arabia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sindh, Kashmir, Western India, Dekkan, Southern India, Ceylan, North India, Nepal, Bengale, Burma Far East Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Sinkiang, Northwestern China, Southwestern China, Eastern China, Northern China, Korea, Indochina, Siam, Cambodia, Luzon, Mindanao, Midway, Guam, Formosa, Honshu,Hokaido, Kyushu Amercia North Alaska, Canadian Rockies, Canadian Plains, Manitoba, Ontario, Labrador, Quebec, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, West Indies, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, Hawai, Eastern USA, Southern USA, Central USA, Western USA America South Galapagos, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Falklands 39 X – Credits Game Designers: Bellerophon Development: Collectif Nemoïd : Gilles Desmoulins, Geoffrey Cerna Art Director: Sephora Schmidt Graphics: Sephora Schmidt Historical Research: Bellerophon, Argos Coordination de la Production: Argos Producteur Executif: Orpheus Assistance & Advising: Ecchion Sounds SFX: Nemoïd Documentation: Original documentation by Argos Proofreading & Localization: l’Oeil Pop Corporate Communications: Uberstrategist Administration: Argos Production: A game produced by Argonauts Interactive Inc. Software © 2015 ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE/Les Grenouilles Numeriques Inc. Documentation © 2015 ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE/Les Grenouilles Numeriques Inc.. All rights Reserved. COLONIAL CONQUEST and the ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE/Les Grenouilles Numeriques Inc. in Canada and other countries. All rights reserved. ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE and the ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARGONAUTS INTERACTIVE/Les Grenouilles Numeriques Inc. in Canada and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 40