W O R L D E M P I R E II D E L U X E Viable Software Alternatives is a member of STAR, The Shareware Trade Association and Resources IMPORTANT: - The Computer Strategy Game World Empire II, AND this manual, are protected under United States Copyright laws. Any unauthorized use or sale of this program will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. - If you are a ShareWare Vendor, please see the UnderWare declarations at the end of this manual and in the file VENDOR.DOC. Thanks. _________________________________________________________________ NOTE: World Empire II is ShareWare. Please register your copy soon! Registration benefits include: 1. A registered version of the game, which gives you the ability to play up to seven computer players at once (three new, fascinating ideologies!) starting in the country of your choice, will be sent to you immediately. All functions on the NEW GAME MENU will be active! 2. Your name will be put on our update list, enabling you to receive notification of updates to World Empire II Deluxe. 3. Your name will be entered on my personal registree database, which will forever (or until my hard drive crashes) record you as one of the most cool people IN THE WHOLE WORLD! The Registration fee for World Empire II Deluxe is $25.00 ($20.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling). To print an order form, load the file "ORDERFRM.TXT" into Windows NotePad and select PRINT from the FILE MENU. Send Check or Money Order to: Viable Software Alternatives RT 10, Box 360 Carbondale, IL 62901 Or Phone: (800)-854-4902 OR (618) 549-5227 with your MasterCard or VISA number. Canadian residents please send U.S. funds. We'll get on it right away! Technical Support: (618) 549-5227 (Please don't call collect!) Hail and Thanks! Welcome to World Empire II Deluxe: There you stand: alone, confident. The building whose baroque balcony rails you are gripping is a massive structure - actually the capital building of your country. You gaze up at the clear, azure sky, then downwards to the skyline of your beautiful capital city. A humbling aura of history clouds your thoughts - but not your vision - as you further lower your gaze to the city streets below. There is a noise rising there. Rather, there is a thunder rising! Incredibly, as far as your eyes can see, the streets, boulevards, byways, and even alleyways of your city are packed with the people responsible for your rise to power as their supreme leader. Masses of loyal, idealistic faces return your gaze as they voice their approval of your mission with long, loud, appreciative cheers! Your mission? Nothing less than to conquer the entire planet and institute a worldwide government under the auspices of your beloved ideology. World Empire is a strategy game based on a time in the not too distant future when nationalism is on the decline... the people of the world are tired of the weakened nationalist governments that are constantly bickering with one another over trade restrictions and border disagreements. The beliefs of the world population have polarized into two to four ideologies (depending on the number of players in the game!). Each ideology has a strong, determined leader who considers himself to be militarily capable of uniting the world under one government. Here is a brief summary of the four major ideologies and their leaders: The Populist Movement It has been 10 years since the Populist movement swept like wildfire around the world. Growing out of the democratic movement that sprang up in Europe during the late 1980's, it was carried by enthusiastic students, artists, and intellectuals who organized rallies, protests, and marches. Their enthusiasm led to the overthrow of a number of governments. Local populations joined them and the populist flag became synonymous with youth. They have a dynamic leader who has promised that one day they will cover the whole world. He has raised a number of armies of his own and rumor has it that he plans to take over leadership of other populist countries as well as defeat the three other world parties. The Militarist Ideology Disgruntled army leaders executed rapid coups in a number of African countries during the last years of the 20th century. The subsequent success of the economies of those countries led to growing support for military leadership in other nations. A fiery young army officer in Morocco rose rapidly to the rank of general and his charismatic personality has generated a great deal of followers who regard him as a potential world leader. The Militarist ideology bears close watching in future years. The Socialist Ideology Socialists owe their beginnings to a group of Central American countries who amalgamated in 2004 and formed a coalition promoting world unity as a means for better distribution of national resources. Opposition in their home territory has, at times, tipped the balance of power and ousted them. However, their ideology has aroused a lot of support among some countries. At present the most powerful exponent of it, both militarily and philosophically is a highly educated young general noted for his military campaigns and his best selling book "Share The Wealth or Lose It". Some critics feel that his world unity plans call for one leader, himself! The Realists Many people don't remember the obscure beginnings of the Realist ideology. Apparently, it started in a small village in eastern Canada, known as Pugwash Junction, by a frustrated smoker who felt that cigarette taxes were too high. He organized thousands of disgruntled smokers who overthrew the government and dropped cigarette prices from $6.46 a pack to 25 cents. Gradually, the push for realistic prices spread to other things. The present head of the Realist Party can't remember what happened next; but it must have been quite a bit since the Realists are determined to take over the world with their leader, a grandchild of the original Pugwash Junction revolutionary (and a non-smoker!). T H E C H A L L E N G E ! ====================== Can you do it? Can you defeat the other ideological leaders and create your own empire? Or, if you haven't anyone else to conquer, can you defeat the evil General - 'Chip' Silicon - in Computer Play Mode? What are REVOLUTIONS? World Empire II Deluxe will provide the answers to these questions and give you hours of enjoyable hegemony! Enjoy! "May you always occupy fully". I N S T R U C T I O N S ==================== World Empire II Deluxe is a game that blends strategy and luck to achieve world conquest. The object of the game is simple: defeat the other players (human or computer) and conquer the world! You begin the game with 56 Armies (actually divisions) in normal mode or 30 Armies in expert mode, all placed in a randomly selected country. Your strategy will likely be heavily influenced by this initial positioning. You can only attack countries that border a country that you already own. Also, attacking one continent from another can only be done from certain countries. For example, an attack launched at Asia from Europe can only be accomplished through the Ukraine - an attack launched at Africa can only be accomplished through Spain. Also at the beginning of the game, each player is assigned an IDEOLOGY, or set of beliefs, for which he will fight for the duration of the game. A randomly selected number of countries around the world are also assigned that player's ideology. These ideologically "friendly" countries are easier to conquer than those who are friendly to another player. They also require only ONE army of occupation. The winner of individual attacks is determined randomly by electronically throwing dice (though you don't see this). If you get the highest result, you win. If these "dice" come up doubles and the country you are attacking shares your ideology, then you win the battle. If, however, that country shares someone else's ideology you lose the tie. Unfriendly countries require two to four armies to occupy them, while the maximum amount of armies any country can accomodate is 99. If you occupy these unfriendly countries with less than the specified amount, or if an opposing player whittles your armies down to less than that amount, you are in danger of losing that country to a REVOLUTION. A revolution takes place when the amount of occupation armies is too low. After a revolution, ownership of the country reverts to the player who shares that country's ORIGINAL ideology and the populace will raise five armies for that player to use. Conquering countries is important, for at the beginning of each turn you are awarded new recruits based on the number of countries you currently own (the ones that you've successfully attacked). You will receive ONE new army for every TWO countries you own. In addition, when you have conquered an entire continent, you receive bonus armies based on the size of that continent. R E A L W O R L D S I M U L A T I O N M O D E ============== (Registered Version Only) When you select "Real World Simulation" from the New Game Dialog Box (described below under 'NEW Button') things are a bit different, however. The differences are: 1. New Armies are assigned according to population. For example, if you own the United States, you will receive 22 armies for it alone at the beginning of each turn. If you own Haiti, you'll get one army and if you own China, you'll get 100 (the most of any country). 2. Occupation armies (the number of armies needed in a country to prevent a revolution) are also calculated by population. Countrys friendly to your beloved ideology still require only 1 army of occupation, and the minimum number of armies required in an unfriendly country is 2. The maximum is 25, if you own China and it is unfriendly. 3. Armies are given STRENGTH depending on the total industrial capability, agricultural output, *and* the gasoline production capacity of *all* of a players conquered countries combined. The more industrialized countries you own, the stronger your armies are because infantry is now augmented by mechanized forces and tactical air forces. 4. Players start out in a medium industrialised nation (unless they select their own home country in the New Game Dialog Box), with each player placed as equally as possible. Your strategy will depend initially on attacking only those countries whose economic potential will not dilute the strength of your armies. Your goal will be to stay stronger than your opponent. For example, if you start your crusade for empire in the United States, you would not want attack Cuba immediately. Attacking Cuba would effectively cut the STRENGTH of your forces in HALF! So go north and take Canada, which will actually raise your overall strength. 5. Winners of individual battles are determined far less randomly, although there is still a large random element involved, as in the real world. The STRENGTH of a player's armies is the major determining factor, however. If you have fifty armies and they are facing fifty hostile armies but your strength is twice that of your opponent, you will win - regardless of whose ideology the country originally 'believed' in. 6. You'll find that armies in the Real World Simulation mode are abundant, but you'll need to watch their quality! Hints for Real World Simulation Mode: The computer players are okay in this this mode, but, ideally, another human makes the best opponent. Suggestions are encouraged. If you do not select Base Countries for each player, the computer will place each player in a randomly selected country of medium industrial/gas production capacity. If you do select Base Countries try to keep each players strengh balanced. Unless you just wanna smash those guys! Choose your attacks carefully, so that your strength is not drained supporting countries with poor resources. This will be difficult at times but engrossing. Some scenarios may not be winnable in Real World Simulation, so don't get frustrated. On the other hand, some games will be too easy! There are two way to go: Attack only industrialised nations to keep your strength at maximum, or concentrate on countries with large populations and use numbers to overpower your opponents. Remember the real world isn't fair, neither is this mode! I hope you enjoy this addition to World Empire II For Windows. I N S T R U C T I O N S ==================== ...Continued There are two Screens in World Empire II Deluxe - the World Map Screen and the Continent Map Screen. Computer play takes place entirely on the World Map Screen whereas human players first must select a continent to view, then do their conquering from the Continent Map Screen. THE WORLD MAP SCREEN ==================== The Controls on this Screen are (Starting from the bottom left corner going clockwise): The ABOUT Button: Displays program credits and this manual. The NEW Button: Displays the New Game window. Follow the prompts to enter the information for the type of game you want to play. There are five components to the World Empire II Deluxe New Game Window. They are: -Player Configuration: Here you choose which players will be computer players and which will be human. Once a player is turned on, his BASE Button becomes active. Click on this to position that player in a custom location. When you click on the BASE Button, a scrolling window appears from which you'll select first the continent, then the country from which you want this player to start the game. -Initial Victim Status: Use this box to select whether you want your game to begin with all countries randomly distributed among the players, or whether you want all countries to be unconquered when play begins. NOTE: This box has no effect when playing in Real World Simulation mode. All countries will be neutral. -Game Mode (Registered Version Only): Use this box to select the Real World Simulation feature of World Empire II Deluxe. -Options (Registered Version Only): Due to popular demand, you can now turn off Revolutions entirely - or just have the number of armies it takes to occupy a country displayed with that country's information. Not as much fun, though . -Difficulty (Registered Version Only): If you are NOT playing in Real World Simulation Mode, you can play using the new "EXPERT" level. This level starts everyone out with 30 armies rather than 56, and causes occupation forces to be raised to between 2 to 7 in unfriendly countries. It's neat. The LOAD Button: Displays the Load Window listing games that you have saved. Click on the game you wish to load, then click on "Okay". The SAVE Button: Displays the Save Window. To save a game, Click the SAVE Button, enter a name for the current game, and click the "Okay" Button. The GIVE UP Button: When there is no hope and all is lost, click on this button to surrender. After confirming your decision, the program will display a list of players to whom you may surrender. Click on your choice, then click on "Okay". The player you surrender to will take over any countries you may still have remaining. Also, your ideology will be erased from all countries who share it, and will be replaced that player's ideology. The PICTURE WINDOW: When a game is in progress this window displays a "picture" of the current player. The FLAG WINDOW: When a game is in progress this window displays Ideological Flag of the current player. The PASS Button: This button ENDS YOUR TURN, allowing the next player to do his thing. The COMPUTER DIALOG WINDOW: When a computer player is conquering, his progress and strategic decisions are displayed here. The BLITZ Button: This button allows computer player to player without constantly displaying their progress. It speeds things up considerably. The EXIT Button: Use this button to Exit the game. The CONTINENT Buttons: There are six of these, one for each continent used in the game. To attack or view the status of a country, click on the Continent Button below the name of the continent where that country is. This will display the Continent Map Screen for that continent. THE CONTINENT MAP SCREEN ==================== Here's where you'll fight your individual battles. At the bottom of the Continent Map Screen is the BACK TO WORLD MAP Button. Click on this to return control to the World Map Screen. Above the BACK TO WORLD MAP Button is the map of the continent you selected from the World Map Screen. Each country on the map is identified by a small line running from the country itself to the country's name. Beside the country's name is the Country Button. When you click on a Country Button: 1. Information on that country will be displayed in the ATTACKER'S BOX, in the upper right hand corner of the screen. 2. A list of countries that BORDER the selected country drops down below the Attacker's Box. This is the BORDER BOX. Each item in the Border Box consists of three parts: - The border country's name. - A small box indicating the country's owner by color. - A small box indicating the country's ideology by color. (If a country has not been conquered by any of the players yet its owner box will be grey.) 3. Real World Simulation Only: A graph will appear below the ATTACKER'S BOX and above the BORDER BOX. This graph shows the current STRENGTH of the armies residing in the selected country. The graph consists of a bar with three colors which represent: Yellow - The relative amount of MECHANISED STRENGTH that the armies possess. Yellow is power! Green - The relative amount of INFANTRY STRENGTH that the armies possess. Blue - The relative amount of TACTICAL AIR SUPPORT available to those armies. Air support strengthens both mechanized and infantry armys. When you conquer a country, that country's STRENGTH GRAPH will immediately reflect the change in strength caused by adding that country to your growing empire. To ATTACK a country: When the bordering countries are displayed, select a country from the BORDERS BOX that doesn't yet belong to you, and click anywhere on its name IN THE LIST BOX. Information on the country you are attacking will then be displayed directly below the Attacker's Box in the ATTACKEE'S BOX. If you have more than one army in the country you are attacking from, the ATTACK BUTTON will appear. Press the Attack Button to attack the country displayed in the Attackee's Box. When the Attack Button is pressed it changes to a RETREAT BUTTON. Retreat (press the Retreat Button) when an attack is going bad and you need to preserve armies. To TRANSFER armies from one country to another: Click on the Country Button of the country you want to transfer armies FROM, and a list of countries bordering that country will drop down under the Attacker's Box. Click a friendly country that you want to transfer armies to. That country will be displayed in the Attackee's Box and the TRANSFER BUTTON will appear. Click the Transfer Button and use the scroll bar that appears to move the armies from one country to another. To ASSIGN newly recruited armies: If there are new armies to distribute, the ASSIGN BUTTON will appear after clicking on the Country Button of a friendly country. Click the Assign Button, then use the scroll bar to assign new armies to that country. That's how easy it is! THE EMPERORS HALL OF FAME ===================== The player who conquers the world suffering the least army casualties will be entered into the Emperors Hall of Fame for posterity. P R O G R A M N O T E S ====================== Geography: We included as many countries as we perceived were practical. Some were left out because of their small size (smaller than a pixel), while some were left out because they would have overloaded a particular continent with countries. For instance, including ALL of the Pacific island states would have made Asia a bit top heavy army-wise. Sorry Taiwan! There are other oddities - for example, Iceland, which is technically part of Europe, for display convenience and balance is placed on the North American Continent Map. The maps are hand-drawn so should not be used for serious navigational purposes (hee hee). Ain't pixelated hegemony great? ANY Bugs: PLEASE report any wacky behavior by this program. Don't assume a problem is just YOUR system or just YOUR computer. Write or Call: Casey Butler Rt 10, Box 360 Carbondale, IL 62901 (618) 549-5227 HAIL! The UnderWare Constitution ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Vendor. Thank you for considering World Empire II For Windows for distribution. The programmer of World Empire II, Casey Butler, reserves all rights to this program and the accomanying documentation. It may be distributed for a fee *only* with the programmer's permission. This policy affects the following shareware distribution method's: Shareware Retail Rack Vendors Shareware Catalog Vendors Online Services that charge a per-file download premium. Any other distribution method *excepting user-to-user sharing and Annual/Monthly fee Electronic Bulletin Boards*. Besides permission, there may be a one-time distribution license fee or a per-unit royalty fee required from shareware vendors, either or any to be negotiated between the programmer and each interested vendor on an individual basis. Interested vendors, please contact: Casey Butler Viable Software Alternatives Rt 10, Box 360 Carbondale, IL 62901 (618) 549-5227 CIS: 72043,46 The UnderWare Early Warning System ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you are a beginning shareware author, you are entering into an exciting an unique method of software creation, compensation, and distribution. It is a truly enjoyable way to share your hard work with people around the world. It can even offer a monetary return! You should be aware, however, that releasing your programs without stipulation as to *who* can freely distribute them leaves your program vulnerable to certain near-unethical business methods practiced by a only few shareware vendors. A simple remedy to this is to include a VENDOR.DOC file with every program you release, specifying the requirements *you* have to protect your rights in having a say in how your program is distributed, even if all you require is your permission. A FILE_ID.DIZ file containing your own description of your program is also helpful. Feel free to utilize the UnderWare constitution in your documentation. Alter it to suit your needs as necessary (you may even remove the UnderWare Logo, if you wish!) Please also include this note to new shareware authors in your program documentation. Good luck with your new SHAREWARE program! Casey Butler