[ian-reeds-games] Time of conflict
- From: Vojtěch Polášek <krecoun@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ian-reeds-games@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 22:34:59 +0200
Hi,
You probably know this game from GMA games. It is a very interesting
game which is a bit complex, but basically you fight with several types
of units, conquer cities which produce units for you and you try to
destroy your enemy. You fight with land units, ships and planes.
I am attaching an user manual for you to get a good overview of the game.
You can find more info here:
http://gmagames.com/ourgames.shtml
But now, why do I write this. This game looked promising, but there
weren't any big development for several years.
And I think that with current capabilities of TB engine, we can simply
create our own Time of conflict clone, we can even improve it and we can
add a multiplayer capability to it.
I had a brief look at map making and provided scripts and I think that
most things should work in TB.
I think I will start working on it as soon as possible if people are
interested.
The main reason why I was interested in this game was its ability to
generate random maps and its promised but never completed multiplayer
functionality.
However, I have one question. Is it possible with current TB to create
random maps through scripting? or is it planed?
If not, I might try to write some random map generator which would have
to be ran before you wanted to start playing a random map.
What do you think about this?
Vojta
GMA Time of Conflict
+1 Introduction
++1.1 What is Time of Conflict?
Time of Conflict is a war game where the goal is to control the entire map.
This is done by capturing cities and destroying enemy units. Each city you
capture allows you to produce additional units. You start with one city and you
are prompted to build one of the following: Infantry, Armour, Fighter aircraft,
destroyer, Submarine, Troop Transport, Aircraft Carrier, or Battleship.
At the moment you can only play against the computer, but we plan to make Time
of Conflict a multi-player game in the near future.
++1.2 Getting Started
When you start the game you are asked to select one of the five difficulty
Levels from the easiest, "Is it my turn Daddy?" to the most difficult, "It's a
good day to die".
You are also asked for the type of map you wish to play. You can select from
four sizes of computer generated maps with campaign is the largest having a
size of 90 by 72 and the Practice map is the smallest with a size of 24 by 24.
There are also premade maps to choose from. The Custom maps are provided with
the game,, and you can also build your own maps. See "The Basics" in The Map
Builder section for more information on creating maps. The premade maps rely
on a good grasp of Time of Conflict and so we did not provide access to them in
demo mode and recommend that you leave these until you have played several of
the computer generated games.
If you select a computer generated map, you are then asked for the type of
battle. This varies from a land battle with over 85% of the map consisting of
land to a sea battle with up to 85% of the map consisting of water. The
combination land and sea battle produces something closer to an even mix of
land and sea. You can also select a random battle type if you like surprises.
Land-based maps are simpler, but not nearly as interesting as a land and sea
mix. . As well, larger maps are usually more interesting than smaller ones.
Normally you and the enemy are placed reasonably far apart with probably very
different terrain and advantages. Alternatively, when starting a new computer
generated game you are asked if you would like to mirror the map. If so, the
east and west sides of the map are mirrored in such a way that no side has any
advantage. Matter of fact, you and the computer are placed on mirrored land
masses to provide even more fairness. If you select a land map, this option is
not available.
++1.3 Quick Start
The game uses the concept of Fog of War. You only know what is happening
directly adjacent to your units. In addition, when playing computer-generated
maps, you do not know the geography of the world until you explore. Although
you might see the enemy on the map at any distance, other than for enemy cities
and enemies located in adjacent cells, this is old information, and reality may
be quite different.
The map is a coordinate system with the first coordinate indicating the
east-west position. The second coordinate indicates the north-south position.
The value 1, 1 is in the south-west corner of the map.
To expand your forces and increase production you must attack free cities and
enemy cities with your Infantry. You and the enemy can defend your cities by
leaving infantry, armour and battleships in the city. Without these units to
defend the city, the opposing infantry can march into the city without
resistance. if a city is taken which contains other units such as fighters and
other ships, these units will be captured and will join the other side. Free
cities are not defended and may be easily taken with infantry.
Once conquered, you will decide on what you would like the city to produce.
When an infantry conquers a city, it may stay to defend the city or move on to
carry out other objectives.
In most cases, to attack an enemy, you must move into the enemies position. You
will then trade hit points off with a fifty percent chance for each hit point.
Hit points are lost until one unit has zero hit pointss--only one unit will
survive a battle. The units have the following hit points.
Infantry 1.
Armour 3.
Fighter aircraft 1.
destroyer 3.
Submarine 2.
Troop Transport 3.
Carrier 8.
Battleship 10.
Undefended and free Cities 0.
See the "Coordinated Attacks and Bombarding" section for more information on
attacks.
The only way to regain hit points is to return to a city for repairs where hit
points are returned at one per move time unit. Infantry and Fighters only have
one hit and so they will have either full hit points, or they are dead.
Use the K or the 5 key on the Num Pad to bring up the next unit to command.
Then use the context-sensitive menu by pressing F10 or the Applications key
which is usually located between your control and alt keys to the right of the
spacebar. . This will give you a list of actions the unit can perform plus
other functions that may be required. Press F1 for help or Control-F1 for key
preview mode. In key preview mode, every key you press will speak its
function. Press Control-F1 again to exit key preview mode.
Refer to "The Only Keystrokes You may Need" section for the minimum number of
keystrokes you will need to play a game.
Depending on the unit type, units may move from one to six cells per turn. The
computer will make its turn once all your units have been managed by either
moving them, assigning an operator, or skipping them for this turn, or the
computer will move once a set time has elapsed. The time is based on the
difficulty level and how many units you own.
Note, you must be connected to the Internet during registration.
++1.4 Tutorial
If you would like to try an already generated small practise game, go into the
Load Game selection from the Main Menu and select "tutorial.sf". This game was
created to illustrate many of the features of Time of Conflict. You can play
and follow along while listening to the MP3 tutorial provided on the Time of
Conflict web page.
The tutorial map includes two small islands, one west containing your city and
four unoccupied cities, and one island east with one city occupied by the enemy
and another four unoccupied cities.
Once you have completed the tutorial, you can go into the Load Game dialog and
delete the game by selecting it and pressing the delete key. The next time you
start Time of Conflict, a fresh copy of tutorial.sf will be generated again in
case you or someone else with access to your computer would like to try working
through the tutorial again.
+2 The Game
+2.1 Unit Types
++2.1.1 Infantry.
Infantry are the only type of unit that can conquer enemy and free cities. They
can not be captured. They are usually your most plentiful piece on the map.
Infantry moves at one cell per move time unit. Infantry can move freely on
land, but must be loaded onto a Troop Transport to be able to cross bodies of
water. To load an Infantry on to a transport, simply move the Infantry unit to
the cell containing the Troop Transport, and when the Troop Transport moves, so
will the Infantry unit.
++2.1.2 Armoured Units
Armour can move on land at 2 cells per time unit. Like Infantry, they can be
moved across water in a Troop Transport, but they take up twice as much space
as infantry. They also have three hit points. When damaged, they can be
repaired at one hit point per turn.
They can be used to bombard cities and subdue its defense, but they can not
enter a citie until it has been conquered by infantry. Armoured units can not
be captured. They also have the ability to bombard ships and fighters in
adjacent waters. See "Coordinated Attacks and Bombarding" for more details.
++2.1.3 Fighters
A Fighter can move over water or land and it moves at six cells per turn.
Fighters can travel up to 24 cells before needing to be refueled. This can be
done by landing in a friendly city or carrier.
When your Fighter has only 12 units of fuel left, you will be warned so that
you can return for refueling. You can use the H key to return your fighter home
to your closest aircraft carrier or city. Unlike most other units, fighters
can share a cell with any other unit, as long as it belongs to the same player.
Fighters can attack cities and can deliver up to one hit of damage to
battleships, infantry, and armour located in the city. Fighters may not enter
an enemy city, but they may loop back and attack the city until they run out of
fuel, return home, or are shot down by one of these units. It is best to time
attacks on cities so that at the end of the time interval the fighter is not
adjacent to the enemy city and thus exposed to defensive fire. If the defending
units are not present, a fighter can destroy whatever is being produced at the
time. When a fighter bombards a city, it uses two of its moves: one to attack
and a second move to return to the cell outside the city where they initiated
the attack.
Any fighters parked in a city at the time the city is captured will also be
captured and will become the property of the conquerers.
++2.1.4 Ships
Ships include Destroyers, Submarines, Troop Transports, Carriers, and
Battleships. All ships except Troop Transports move at 3 cells per turn, while
Troop Transports move at 2. The speed of all ships is reduced when they are
severely damaged. Ships can be repaired at one hit per move by docking in a
friendly city. Other than Battleships, ships may only attack Fighters and other
ships. Of course, ships may only travel on water, but they can dock in cities.
Other than battleships, any ships docked in a city at the time the city is
captured will also be captured and will become the property of the conquerers.
++2.1.5 Submarines
When Submarines initiate the attack they hit with triple the hit points, but
when they are attacked and win, they only do a normal one HP of damage.
Submarines are the weakest ship in regards to defense with just two hit points,
but even the mighty battleships and carriers should avoid encounters with
submarines.
++2.1.6 Troop Transports
Troop Transports can carry up to six Infantry or three armoured units or a
combination of the two at a time. When damaged, they will lose a portion of the
units on board at a rate of two infantry or 1 armour per hit point lost. They
may not load any additional units until the damage is repaired. To load
Infantry or Armour, dock beside land or near or in a city and move the units on
to the Transport. To unload, move your Troop Transport to a land mass or city
and then move your units on to the land. You can also unload by moving into a
city with your transport, and then move your transport out minus armour and
infantry.
++2.1.7 Carriers
Carriers can carry up to 8 Fighters. When they sustain damage, they will lose
the ability to hold Fighters at the rate of one fighter for each hit point
lost. Any fighters in excess of the new maximum are lost. Additional Fighters
may not land until the damage is repaired. Carriers will refuel any Fighters
landing on them. You may set a Carrier with a flight path. This means that any
fighters on the Carrier or landing on the carrier will immediately follow this
flight path to a predefined destination. See the "Setting Paths" and "Flight
Paths" section for more details.
++2.1.8 Battleships
Battleships have the unique ability to attack shore-based Infantry, Armour, and
fighters when they are in an adjacent cell. A bombardment is considered one of
the Battleships moves, and so it may attack up to three units per turn, or any
combination of attacks, bombardments, or moves which total to three.
Battleships may also bombard enemy cities, or when docked in cities, they can
be the cities defense. See the "Coordinated Attacks and Bombarding" section for
more details.
++2.1.9 Cities
There are conquered cities, which belong to you, enemy cities, which do not,
and free cities which belong to neither you nor the enemy. When playing a
computer generated map, each side starts with one city and may only expand by
conquering free and enemy cities. Cities produce units at the following rates:
Infantry 5,6.
Armour 15,18.
Fighter aircraft 10, 12.
destroyers 20,24.
Submarines 25,30.
Troop Transports 30,36.
Carriers 60,72.
Battleships 75,90.
The second number listed is the number of moves it takes to build the first
unit in a newly conquered city, or the number of moves if you change
production. You may change production at any time, but remember that any
unfinished units will be lost, and that the first unit will take longer to
build then the next units produced. When all the city's defense has been
destroyed by bombardment, what ever unit which was being built is lost as well.
Any of your units may be held in your cities, and as well, there is no limit.
Do this with care though since fighters and ships located in a city when it is
taken by an infantry unit are captured and will become the property of the
conquerors. Battleships, infantry and armoured units can be used to defend your
city from within and can not be captured.
Cities can provide one hit of damage repair per turn. If there are two damaged
units within one city, repairs are only carried out on one of the units.
You can set a path on a city so that it will automatically send a newly
produced unit to where you need it. You can also set "flight paths" so that
when fighters land in a city, they will be redirected to a new destination.
+2.2 Game Play
++2.2.1 The Essentials
One of the easiest ways to play Time of Conflict is in Auto Move mode. Any unit
which has not been assigned an operator will be presented to you one at a time
so that you may issue commands. Note that you only have so much time per turn
and so it is best to assign operators to the majority of your units. This also
has the added benefit of speeding up the game and keeping your mind free to
develop strategies. Units are presented to you one at a time. The order
presented is designed so that you can address your most urgent or important
situations first. The order is:
- Fighters are processed first since they have limited fuel and need constant
monitoring.
- Any units in direct contact with the enemy will then be displayed for your
command.
- The units with operators are then moved, and then any having problems
completing their move will be displayed for your intervention.
- Any idle units will be displayed so that you can assign operators or manage
them manually.
- Lastly, If for some reason there are still units with operators which have
not moved this turn, they are moved, and the next time period starts.
Within each of the above orders, the most costly units are processed first.
Also, to make it easier on the gamer, the game attempts to group them by
proximity so you only deal with one part of the map at a time.
You do not necessarily need to command your units in the order they are
presented. You can move the cursor to the unit of interest and then issue your
command, or select it from the Unit Select Lists. When you are ready to command
your next unit, press the K or Keypad-5 key and you will be presented with a
unit which requires your attention. In Auto Move mode, as soon as you have
commanded a unit you will be automatically presented with the next unit. To
toggle Auto Move mode on and off, press Control-k or Control-Keypad5. Since
Cities are not units, they will not be presented to you automatically. To
command one of your cities, move the cursor over the city and then execute the
desired command. If the focus is on a unit within a city or other unit, press
Shift-K to set the focus on the unit or city which contains the unit. An
example of when this might be useful is when the focus is on a fighter in the
city, but you want to quickly set the flight path for the city, and then return
to the fighter.
To survey the surrounding terrain, you can use the many cursor control keys, or
use the dozens of commands which provide information on what is around. This
will be discussed in detail in later sections. Note that there are a very large
number of keystrokes, but only a small number are necessary. You may find
that some of the keystrokes are not useful to you since you may have
found another way to perform the same task. On the other hand you may find some
of the optional keystrokes invaluable.
In addition, you do not necessarily need to remember all the keystrokes. If you
need a reminder of which options are available at any point in the game, press
the Applications or F10 key. This is context-sensitive which means that
depending on the unit or cell you are on, it will change the contents of the
menu. Treat the variety of keystrokes as a large buffet--try everything, but
later concentrate on what you like best.
Lastly, you can customize many aspects of how the game works for you. Refer to
the "Options" section for more details.
++2.2.2 Coordinated Attacks and Bombarding
In most cases, the way an enemy unit is challenged is to move into the cell of
that unit. Once this happens, there is only one victor. Either the unit which
moved into the cell is destroyed, or the unit
defending the cell is destroyed. Even though there is only one victor, the
surviving unit may receive some damage. The first time a unit is attacked, hit
points are exchanged with a 50% probability of success for each hit. If the
same unit is hit by another unit in the same turn, it is assumed a coordinated
attack and the second attacker has a higher probability of success. The success
sequence is as follows: 50%, 66.6%, 75%, 80%, 83.3%, 85.7%, 87.5%, 88.9%, 90%,
90.9%, and so on. For example, a destroyer first hits a battleship and each of
its three hits have a 50% chance of success. Let us say the destroyer was sunk,
and a fighter next attacked the battleship. The fighter would have a 66%
chance of making a hit. If its first attack is successful, all subsequent hits
would each have a 66% chance of success until either the battleship is sunk or
the fighter is shot down. Say another destroyer attacks the battleship. Each
of its three hits has a 75% chance of success. You can see that there is a
real advantage in attacking an enemy unit with more than one unit within a
turn.
Bombarding is quite different. Armour and battleships may bombard other units
in adjacent cells. When a unit such as a battleship bombards another unit, it
does not move, nor is there always a unit destroyed. Armour can bombard twice
per turn, with a 50% chance of inflicting one hit of damage per bombardment,
while a battleship can bombard up to three times with a 25% chance of
inflicting one hit of damage and a 25% chance of inflicting two hits. Both
battleships and armour have a 50% chance of missing entirely. At first glance,
bombardment seems complicated, but In practice, bombardment simply occurs when
an attempt is made to move an armoured unit or a battleship to attack a unit in
an adjacent cell where the armour or battleship is not allowed to move. For
example, attempting to move armour into a cell containing a destroyer located
in water will initiate a bombardment, but moving a battleship into a cell
containing a destroyer will cause a normal attack.
Battleships can bombard armour, infantry, and fighters on land from adjacent
water. While armour can bombard all ships and fighters located in water from
adjacent land. Fighters, armour and battleships can bombard the defense of a
city which includes infantry, armour, and battleships. When defending armour
or a battleship attempts to bombard enemy units from within a city, the normal
rules for bombardment still hold. Since you can not defend yourself from a
bombardment, that is, it either hits or misses, there is no advantage other
than sheer fire power in coordinating bombardments.
+2.3 Commanding Your Units
+2.3.1 Operator commands
++2.3.1.1 What are Operators?
Operators are commands which work over many moves. Due to the large number of
units you must command you should use operators for almost all of your units,
and you should only use the other keystrokes when there are exceptions you must
deal with on an individual basis.
++2.3.1.2 Sentry
Default Keystrokes: S, Shift-S, Control-S.
Putting a unit on Sentry tells Time of Conflict to ignore that unit until one
of the following occurs:
- an enemy moves to an adjacent cell,
- a troop transport has been filled with armour and infantry,
- a carrier has been filled with fighters,
- a damaged unit has been repaired, or
- it is awakened.
If you put a city on sentry, all units entering the city will be automatically
set to sentry.
A related key is Shift-S which can put all units on Sentry within a carrier,
Troop Transport, or City, but this key does not affect the Carrier, Troop
Transport or City itself. The current focus can be on the city, carrier or
transport, or any of the units you wish to put on sentry.
Use the Control-S keystroke to put a unit on sentry for a period of time. You
will be prompted to enter the number of turns the unit should wait before it is
awakened. This is a useful command to prevent forgetting about a unit.
++2.3.1.3 Wake up
Default Keystrokes: W, Shift-W
The W key will wake up and individual unit or city that is on sentry or remove
any operators assigned to it. If you wake-up a city or carrier, its flight path
is removed. If you wake up a city, it will remove the production path if set
and also the auto sentry setting.
You can wake-up just the contents of a city, carrier, or Troop Transport by
pressing Shift-W on the city, carrier, or troop transport, or on any unit
contained within.
++2.3.1.4 Roaming Operator
Default Keystroke: R
This command instructs the unit to search out and explore uncharted land or
sea. It will awaken temporarily when it either finds an enemy unit or city, or
totally awaken when there is no uncharted land or sea accessible to the unit.
This is a very useful command, but you may want to intercede from time to time
to redeploy or to focus the unit's search on a more promising or strategic area.
When fighters are set to roam, they will return to the closest city or carrier
once their tank is half empty. When roaming and they stop in a city or carrier
to refuel, they ignore any flight path and auto sleep operators which may be
set for that city or carrier
++2.3.1.5 Move Randomly
Default Keystroke: Control-R
This keystroke commands the unit to move randomly on the map. When in random
mode, the unit will tend to want to continue in the direction it is going, but
it will change directions from time to time, and it will definitely change
directions when it encounters an obstacle. This command is useful when a land
mass or body of water is totally charted and you want to patrol it.
Fighters that are set to moving randomly from a carrier, tend to patrol ahead
of the movement of the ship. This is for two reasons. Firstly, they act as
scouts for the carrier and they can also can do some exploring at the same
time. Secondly,if they don't move ahead of the ship, they may not have enough
fuel to catch the ship and will crash. You may need to be careful in any
event, since carriers which have been set on a From-To path often make sharp
turns around land masses. This may leave fightters beyond their ability to
catch the carrier. It may be prudent to only use the random operator when the
carrier is traveling a straight course.
When fighters are set to move randomly, they will return to the closest city or
carrier once their tank is half empty. When moving randomly and they stop in a
city or carrier to refuel, they ignore any flight path and auto sleep operators
which may be set for that city or carrier
++2.3.1.6 Set Direction
Default Keystroke: Shift + direction key
This operator will command a unit to move in a given direction until it reaches
an obstacle, or it discovers an enemy unit in an adjacent cell. See "Move Unit"
for details on direction keys.
++2.3.1.7 Setting Paths
Default Keystrokes: F, T, H
Also known as the From-To keys, this is one of the most powerful operator sets
in your command inventory. It allows you to select a unit with the F key and
then move your cursor to a cell where you want your unit to move. You would
then press T. The operator is smart enough to map any path as long as it is
possible. This includes moving around lakes, bays, cities and your other units.
Control of the unit will return to you once you either wake-up the unit, the
unit has reached its destination, encountered an enemy, or there is no possible
path to the destination. You can also use this operator to load Infantry onto
Troop Transports, Fighters onto Carriers, or move any unit to a city. The
keystrokes F and T were selected to indicate the From location, and the To
location.
To reduce the number of keystrokes required, the F key is not always needed. It
is assumed an F has been pressed for the current unit being moved. That is,
after Time of Conflict has presented you with a unit, move the cursor to where
you would like the unit to move and lastly press the T key.
You can also automatically send units as they are produced to a specific
destination. Press F on the city producing the units you wish to direct, and
then move to the destination and press T. This is a good way to automatically
stream units to where you need them.
A related keystroke is the H key. This will return a fighter home to its
closest city or carrier for refueling.
++2.3.1.8 Flight Paths
Default Keystrokes: Shift-F, T
This operator is used to set a flight path for a city or carrier. After this
has been set, any fighter landing on the Carrier or city will be immediately
refueled, and on the next move will be sent off on the flight path set. This is
a useful tool to chain the flight paths of Fighters from one city to the next
so you can easily move Fighters from far behind the lines to where they are
needed.
+2.3.2 Non-Operator Commands
++2.3.2.1 Skip Move
Default Keystroke: space, Control-Space, Shift-Space
Skips all the moves for the current unit for this turn. When working with units
from within a list, You would want to use control-s since while in lists, the
space key has a different function. Lists will be discussed in later sections.
If you have several active units in a city, troop transport, or carrier and you
don't want to put them on sentry, you can skip the moves this turn for all
units located within this city, troop transport, or carrier with a shift-Space
command. Note that the troop transport or carrier is not skipped and can still
move this turn.
++2.3.2.2 Move Unit
Default Keystrokes: Control + directional keystroke
Move the unit one cell in any of eight directions. Some units may be moved more
than once in a move time unit. Direction keys are initially set to:
U I O
J K L
M comma period
or on the Keypad
7 8 9
4 6
1 2 3
These are the keys that surround the K or Keypad 5 key, and there position in
respect to this key indicates the direction the unit will be moved on the map.
As well, the arrow keys may be used. Since the arrow keys are used when moving
through lists and menus, and there are no northeast, northwest, southeast, and
southwest corresponding keys, you may want to use the other movement keys
instead.
If the directional keys are used without the control key, only the cursor is
moved around the map.
+2.3.3 Working with Lists
++2.3.3.1 What are Lists
Lists are used in the game to review and control numbers of units, cities and
regions of geography at one time.
Although you could play an entire game without using lists, you may find that
once you become more familiar with the game play you will be spending most of
your time manipulating your units and reviewing your map through Lists.
++2.3.3.2 Unit Lists
Default Keystroke: F12 (Unit List Menu), Alt-P, Alt-G, Alt-I, Alt-A, Alt-F,
Alt-D, Alt-S, Alt-T, Alt-C, Alt-B, Alt-Y, Alt-E, Alt-W, Alt-R, Alt-F7 through
Alt-F12.
Unit Lists make it easy for you to deploy dozens of Infantry in a few quick
keystrokes, or easily review what each unit is doing on a certain land mass. If
you forget the Unit List keystrokes, the F12 key will display a menu which can
be used also as a reference. You may also press the Applications or F10 key to
bring up the context sensitive menu.
A Unit List usually displays units in order of distance with closest first.
This is based on the point the list command was issued. The following sets of
keys will get us started:
Alt-W - View all units in the entire world map.
Alt-R Only display units in the current region which could be an island,
continent, or body of water.
You would select one or the other of these keys.
You may also want to select one of the following three keys to determine which
units you would like in the list.
Alt-F9 - View all units regardless of who they belong to.
Alt-F10 View only your own units.
Alt-F11 View enemy units.
Another keystroke that you may find useful is the Alt-L, which displays only
units and cities in the local cell. This is useful to view and manage the
contents of cities, transports, and carriers.
The following nine keystrokes will also customize what is displayed in the list.
Alt-I Display only Infantry.
Alt-A Display only Armoured Units.
Alt-F Display only Fighters.
Alt-D Display only Destroyers.
Alt-S Display only submarines.
Alt-T Display only Troop Transports.
Alt-C Display only Carriers.
Alt-B Display only Battleships.
Alt-Y Display only Cities.
Alt-E Display the entire set of unit types.
Here are some things to know about Unit Lists:
- By default, Unit lists are displayed with closest first.
- by default, For each unit listed, its location, status, distance and
direction from the current cell are displayed.
- Commands entered while in a list are applied to every unit selected. If no
unit is selected, the current unit is treated as if it was selected.
- When Enter is pressed on a selected unit, the Unit List is exited, and the
unit is made the current focus for commands.
- Sounds are played for each unit or city as you move through the list. Each
sound is a piece of information describing something about the unit.
- You may optionally summarize units into one line if they are within a city,
carrier, or troop transport. Press space on the list item to expand that item.
- Depending on the command, the list may be exited. This is always true when
multiple units are selected. To ensure the list does not disappear, use the
Alt-O command to keep it open.
the Alt-W and the Alt-R and the Alt-F7 through to Alt-F11 keys are remembered
when bringing up a new Unit List. All other list commands are forgotten once
the list is exited.
++2.3.3.3 Selecting Multiple Items within Unit Lists
The process in selecting units is slightly different than the way you make
selections in most lists in Windows. To select a unit, press the space key. You
can move up and down the list selecting as many as you want this way. In
addition, you can select from the current unit to the top of the list by
pressing Shift-Home, or from the current unit to the last unit in the list by
pressing Shift-End. You may also select a group of units by holding the shift
key down while using the up and down arrows. The Control-A key can be used to
select all units within a list. You may use any one or a combination of these
methods since the only way to unselect an item is to again press the space key
on the desired unit. If there are a large number to unselect, you may want to
press escape to exit the list, and then recreate it.
The Windows method to select list items where you hold down the control key and
press the space on specific units does not work in Unit Lists since this
keystroke has been reassigned. That is, Control-Space skips the remainder of
moves for a unit for the current time period.
Note that the context sensitive menu does not work in lists when more than one
unit is selected since there may be different units listed and therefore,
different valid keys.
++2.3.3.4 Creating a Unit List with a Search
Default Keystroke: N
By pressing the N key, you will be prompted to enter a name or part of a name
of the city or unit you would like to find. All matching units, cities, and
named geographic areas will be listed in a unit list. As an example, if you
enter "or" in the search prompt, it might find the following North Dakota, HMS
Condor, Oregon, and Orillia.
If there is only one match, the item found will be highlighted and no list will
be created.
++2.3.3.5 Regional Lists
Default Keystroke: F2
Regional lists are lists which display all known land masses and bodies of
water. By known we mean that the land or water has been charted in part or in
full. Until fully charted, an actual body of water or land mass may appear as
more than one region until all of its area is discovered to be contiguous. That
is, the land and water is connected. This knowledge is gained by exploring the
map.
The Regional List will also display how much of the region has been explored
and whether it is fully charted. It will also tell you as well in what part of
the map it can be found. The list is displayed from west to east, and then
north to south. This is achieved by dividing the map into nine parts:
Northwest, North Central, Northeast, West Central, Central, East central,
Southwest, South central, and Southeast.
When you first press F2, the region which contains the currently highlighted
unit will be displayed. You can move up and down through the regions from
there.
There are some differences between how the Unit and Regional lists work.
Firstly, selecting more than one Region List item has no effect. Also, the only
commands which work on a regional list item are the Enter key to exit the list
and place the cursor within that region, the Tab key to receive detailed
information on the region, and any of the Alt Unit List commands. Note that
other than the Alt-W command, when executing an Alt List command on a region,
it will display units only for that region.
By pressing the Tab key in the Regional List you will be given a summary of
the region. It gives you all the information you are allowed to know about your
current land mass or body of water. It tells you the name, the known size and
whether there are still uncharted cells, a summary of player's units, where the
land mass or water body is in the map, its most northerly, southerly, westerly,
and easterly points, where your cursor is located in respect to the land mass.
This is the same information you would receive in the map if you press the
Shift-Tab key.
++2.3.3.6 Examples Using Lists
The first example uses Regional Lists. Let's say that we would like to move all
Infantry located on our island of Booga Booga to the transport located on its
shore. We will first display the summary of regions by pressing the F2 key.
Moving through the list using the down arrow we find BoogaBooga and press Alt-I
to bring up the infantry on that island. Let us say that 12 Infantry are
displayed on the list, but we only need six. We can then select the six we want
and then press F to set the units to move. We are now dropped out of the lists,
but that's okay since we now need to find the Troop Transport. We press Alt-T
and using the up and down arrows, we locate the Troop Transport of interest. We
then press T on the Troop Transport and the game notifies you that six Infantry
units have been directed to move towards and load on to the selected Troop
Transport.
Another way we could have done this which might be faster and provide us with a
more efficient solution is to first find the Troop Transport by pressing Alt-T.
All Troop Transports will be displayed. We select the one we know is in
BoogaBooga or is adjacent to it. We will now press enter to set the cursor to
the location of the Troop Transport and it will then drop us out of the list.
We might then press Alt-I which will display the Infantry in a list in order of
closest to the Troop Transport first. We Would select the top six and then
press the F key to select the infantry to move. The list will be exited leaving
the cursor on the troop transport. We would press T to send the previously
selected infantry to the transport. In summary, find the troop transport with
Alt-T, press Enter and then Alt-I to display nearby infantry. Select the
infantry and press F, and then press T to send the infantry on their way.
It may sound complicated, but after doing this a few times, it will become much
more natural.
A few more examples might be useful.
Example 1:
You have a fighter stationed on a carrier and you would like to see which
cities it might reach. First position your cursor on the Carrier or Fighter,
and then press Alt-Y. By default, the cities listed first are the closest, and
any with a distance of 24 or less can be reached.
Example 2:
Changing the previous example slightly, you want to send one fighter from your
carrier to a nearby city. First position the cursor on your Fighter. This could
be done in several ways, but in this example we will move the cursor to the
carrier, and press Alt-L to obtain only units for that cell. The carrier plus
all of its fighters will be listed. Press the F key on any of the listed
Fighters to set the "From" position in the path. Then press Alt-Y to display a
list of nearby cities, the ones listed first are the closest. Select one with a
distance of 24 or less and then set the destination by pressing the T Key.
Example 3:
You have found a Free City which you would like to capture. Position your
cursor on the City, press Alt-I, then select the Infantry units you would like
to send against the city. Then press F. The list will disappear and you will be
back at the free city. Press T to send the infantry units to the city.
Example 4:
You have an Infantry Unit sitting in the middle of a land mass and you would
like to learn more about the units and cities which surround it. Press the
Alt-R to obtain units just for this land mass, and then press the Alt-E key and
a list of all units, enemies, and cities will be displayed. by default, the
closest are listed first showing their distance and their relative direction
from your Infantry Unit. If you prefer, you could press Alt-F7 and the cities
and units would be displayed in order of direction, starting at the northerly
units and moving clockwise.
Example 5:
You would like to unload a Troop Transport. First you would find the ship. This
time we will press Alt-T. Move the cursor to the transport of interest and
press Enter, then Alt-I for Infantry and Alt-L to list units located only in
that cell. Select all units by pressing Control-A and then press R to set them
to Roaming. They can't Roam off the ship themselves and so you need to move
them. Press the Control plus directional keys to move each of them on to land.
You will probably need to move the troop transport after unloading the first
few to position your transport on an empty piece of shore. Then move the
remaining infantry off the transport
on to the empty shore. On the next turn, they will roam and explore the new
land on their own.
Example 6.
You would like to move your transport called HMS Lollypop to the city of
Portsmouth. First press N to bring up the name search and enter "lollypop".
Press F on the unit. Then press N again and enter "port". A list of all units,
cities, and geographic names are displayed with the word "port" in their names.
Using the up and down arrows, move to the City of Portsmouth and press T.
+2.4 Working with the Map
++2.4.1 Memory Shortcuts
Default Keystrokes: F11 (menu)
1 through 0, Shift plus 1 through 0, Control plus 1 through zero, and Alt plus
1 through 0. Also `, Shift-`, Alt-`, and Control-`.
Alt-H is also included here.
The game has ten fixed memory locations, and an unlimited number of named
memory locations where you may store and retrieve a geographic position, or use
to track one of your units.
You may memorize a geographic spot by moving your cursor to the desired cell
and then pressing Shift plus the numbers 1 through 0 on your keyboard's top
row. You can return to the cell at any time by pressing the corresponding 1
through 0.
To track one of your units, press Alt plus 1 through 0, and by pressing the
numbers 1 through 0 later, you will be positioned at that unit, even if it has
moved.
You may also set the path for a unit with one keystroke. An example may be the
best way to explain this. Say in memory location 2 you have the memory position
of your dock Troop Transport. Position the cursor on an Infantry and press
Control-2. This will send the infantry to the current position of the troop
transport. This shortcut is convenient in the case where you have many units
which you would like to send to one location. It is equivalent to pressing F on
the unit, pressing 2, and then pressing T to set the path. Note that this
command is not actually sending the infantry to the troop transport, but rather
to its location. This means that if the troop transport moves, any infantry on
its way will continue moving to the transport's old location.
If you would like to assign names to your memory locations, use the grauv keys
such as `, Shift-`, Alt-`, and Control-`. They work much like the numeric
memory positions, but instead you will be prompted to enter a name, or select a
name from a list. For example, position your cursor on a location, press
Shift-`. You will be then prompted for a name. If the name is already being
used, it will move the location to that name. To recall that location from
memory, press grauv and a list of all memory locations will be displayed.
Simply select from the list by using the arrow keys and Enter or by using the
first letter of the name.
You can use the F11 key to obtain a menu of all the memory features.
Another memory feature is the Alt-H key. This will move the cursor home to
where the cursor was last after doing one of the following:
- After pressing Alt-X to - anchor a position.
- Moving a unit.
- Having a unit presented to you for an action.
- The unit last selected from a Unit List.
- The position where you opened a Unit List if you exited the list without -
selecting a unit.
This keystroke is very useful to return you to your focus of interest after
using other commands to explore the surrounding area. By pressing Alt-H
repeatedly, focus will move to previously highlighted units, cities, or cells.
The last ten items of focus are remembered.
++2.4.2 Exploring the Map
Default Keystrokes: Directional Keys, A, G, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down,
Shift-Home, Shift-End, Shift-PageUp, Shift-PageDown
Tab, Shift-Tab, Tab-Tab
When moving the cursor around the map, you will be informed of land, water, and
a brief description of units. By pressing the Tab key you will be provided with
more information regarding the visible unit. The visible unit is the sole unit
in the cell, or if it exist, the containing unit. Cities can contain any unit,
troop transports can contain infantry and armour, and carriers can contain
fighters. In turn, Cities can contain carriers and troop transports.
When the game prompts you to move a unit, you may press Tab as well, but now
the main information spoken will be in regards to the prompting unit. At this
point though, you can press Tab twice quickly to obtain information about the
city or containing unit. As mentioned in a previous section, you can use lists
to obtain information about a unit within a city, troop transport or carrier.
For example, pressing Alt-I when the cursor is located over a city will produce
a list of infantry within that city. You may then press tab on each unit you
wish to obtain information.
Another useful command is the Shift-Tab keystroke. You can obtain detailed
information about the land mass your cursor is located on.
It is important that you know where a unit is in reference to its surroundings.
One of the simplest and most often used is the Adjacent Area command (the A
key). It presents information in a clear and summarized fashion. It lists all
adjacent friendly or enemy units and describes where any geographic points of
interest are located. For example, if you are managing an Infantry unit, you
will be interested in land not bodies of water, and interesting enough, this is
true for ships as well. The exception is that ships within a city and cities
themselves will be informed of water. The short-coming is that it only informs
you of the cells immediately adjacent to your unit.
The Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys will jump 5 to 10 cells to the West,
East, North, and South respectively. The size of the jump is based on the size
of the game map. By combining the above keys with the Shift key, you will be
moved to the edge of the map. That is, Home moves you to the west edge, End to
the east, Page Up to the north, and Page Down to the south.
You can go directly to any coordinate on the mab by use of the G key. After
the key is pressed you will be prompted to enter the X and Y coordinates of the
cell to which you would like to go. If you would like to go to 23, 40, any of
the following are valid entries:
23,40
2340
23-40
23 40
23/40
Note that if you do not have a separating character between the X and Y
coordinates, you must enter four digits. For example if you had entered 117,
the game would not know if you wanted 11,7 or 1,17.
+2.5 Other Commands
++2.5.1 Quitting the Game.
This can be done with the standard Window's Alt-F4 key or by entering the Q
key. The game will ask you if you would like to complete your turn first, and
warn you that you may lose some planned unit moves if you don't.
++2.5.2 Naming Units, Cities, and Geographic Areas
Default Keystroke: Shift-N
It is a good idea to name geographic areas and your units so that they are more
easily identified. You may name land masses, bodies of water, your cities, your
units, and specific cells. Although it may be quite tedious naming every unit,
you may at least want to name your cities, ships, and specific strategic units.
Another reason you may want to name your units is to be able to search for
them. Naming is entirely personal, but some ideas are listed here:
1. Select names that either describe the task of the unit, or a name that will
help you easily identify the unit. For example, you may want to name an
Infantry to "Infantry heading for transport" so you know immediately what it is
doing. You may want to use famous battleship, carrier or destroyer names for
these ships, or name them after leaders, states or provinces, or famous
individuals.
2. When naming cities and land masses, you may want to use a mnemonic to help
you identify them. For example, you may want to name northern land masses as
Greenland, Britain, Canada, and then name the cities after cities from that
land. As another idea, you may also want to name cities after what they produce
such as "Submarine shipyard". You may also want to name bodies of water based
on the above same ideas.
3. Naming specific cells may be helpful as well. For example, a cell or group
of cells that are a destination for your Infantry to wait to load a troop
transport might be simply call "Loading Area".
You have the ability to name enemy held cities and units. This helps in a
couple of ways. Firstly, when you come across an enemy unit, you will
recognize it as one you have previously seen. If nothing else, you will get an
idea of the enemy's strength in the area. Next, by naming enemy cities, it is
easy to identify them in a list, and be able to send units to attack.
There are obvious advantages in naming land masses, but this may be confusing
since one of the features of the game is that one land mass or body of water
may end up having more than one name. This happens if not connected by charted
land or water, you may not know if a body of water or land mass is the same as
you discovered elsewhere. You or the game may have given it multiple names, but
once they are connected, the game will ask you to select between the two names,
or create a new name. The reason for allowing multiple names on one land mass
or body of water is to ensure that you cannot determine that two land masses
are the same just by their names.
++2.5.3 Adding and Reviewing Notes on Units and Cities
Default Syntax: Control-N
Another method you can use to keep track of specific units and cities is by
attaching notes. You can do this by pressing control-N. A dialog box will be
displayed where you can enter or edit a note. Pressing Escape on this dialog
removes the note, while pressing Enter will leave it unchanged if no other
keystrokes are pressed first. Along with other information, notes are spoken
when you press the Tab key.
+2.6 Additional Commands and Advanced Concepts
++2.6.1 The Special Search Command
Default Keystroke: Alt-M, Alt-N.
This powerful command allows you to create a unit list based on attributes of
the unit or city. Press Alt-M to find units or cities with matching criteria,
and Alt-N to find non-matching criteria.
You can search units for the following attributes:
- Idle Units
- Roaming Units
- Units moving Randomly
- Units on Sentry
- Units In Convoy
- Units With direction set
- Units With moves remaining
- Damaged Units
- Units Holding other units
- Units Within other units
- Units With path set
- Units With path set to a certain location *
- Carriers with Flight path set"
- Carriers with Flight path set to a certain location *
You can search for cities:
- Producing a certain unit type
- Holding other units
- located on water
- With production path set
- With production path set to a certain location *
- With Flight path set
- With Flight path set to a certain location *
- with auto sentry
* Note. For these searches you must locate the point of interest and then press
Alt-M or Alt-N again.
Here is an example. Say we would like to find all cities which are not on the
water so that we can switch their production to fighters, since we want to
reserve all the port cities to produce ships.
1. Make sure that the geographical scope is set properly. That is you have
selected whether you are looking for the region or the entire map.
2. Press Alt-Y to bring up the cities.
3. Press Alt-N to select non-matching.
4. Press W to select "Cities on water " from the menu.
This will create a list showing all cities which are not on the water.
If you have performed a select matching query on units and have a list which
contains a mixture of unit types, you can just list the unit of interest which
has the matching attributes of your search by pressing the unit's Alt key
combination. For example, if the select query lists all idle units. You can
then press Alt-D to display just idle destroyers.
If you press Alt-M or Alt-N with no list displayed, you are prompted to select
cities or units. Press U or C for immediate selection. You will be then given
the appropriate list of search attributes. They all have unique first letter
hot keys for quick selection.
++2.6.2 Alternate List Display Keystrokes
Default keys: Alt-F7, Alt-F8
You can change the default sort order of a list with the Alt-F7 key. In most
cases you will probably want the lists to be displayed in the order of closest
first, but another option is to sort the lists in order of direction starting
at the north, and circling clockwise. This is very useful to understand the
geography and unit movements around a certain point. For example, say the enemy
has landed masses of infantry. You could center your position somewhere in the
middle of the land mass, press Alt-F7 to toggle the direction sort order, and
then press Alt-I. If you notice all the enemy infantry is located in the
south-east, you will have more of an understanding where the enemy is landing
and where they will probably hit next.
The sort order keystroke can be nicely combined with the Alt-F8 key. This
reduces the information listed to just name, direction and distance.
++2.6.3 Evading the Enemy and Ignoring Enemy Wake Ups
Default keystroke: E, Shift-S
You may find that your units are awakened by encounters with enemies which you
don't care to know about. For example, you may not care to know that your
sub-chasing destroyer is awakened by land-based infantry. To evade or ignore
this enemy unit and continue on your way, press the E key.
For units you wish to keep on sentry, you would use the Sentry command (S key)
again. If all units have been awakened from Sentry mode, within a city,
carrier, or troop transport, you can press the Shift-S key to put all units
back to sleep within this city or unit.
++2.6.4 Putting Units Automatically to Sleep
Default keystrokes: S, W
Often you will set a flight path or production path from one city to another.
When the unit enters the destination city, you may want it put on sentry until
some other event happens, say the arrival of a troop transport or carrier. To
do this, press S on the city. This will put everything to sleep in the city,
and it will put any infantry, armour, or fighters to sleep when they arrive.
This will save time since you will not need to press S for every unit which
enters the city.
Only armour, infantry, and fighters are affected since the command was
primarily designed to put these units to sleep while they wait for transport.
This city attribute can be removed with the W command.
++2.6.5 Finding Path Distances
Default Keystrokes: Alt-V, Control-V, Alt-X
Often you may want to find the distance between two points. The easiest way to
do this is to move to one point and then find the other point with a list
command. This will give the distance in the list description. Unfortunately
this isn't always possible or convenient. Another way to do this is to find one
point, press Alt-X, and then find the other point and press Alt-V.
The Alt-X is known as the anchor command and is equivalent to performing
actions such as highlighting a unit or city. the Alt-V or Vector command gives
the distance and the direction. The direction is given in the number of cells
to the north or south, and the number east and west.
The Control-V performs almost the same task as the Alt-V, but it gives the
actual distance a unit must travel from the anchor to the current position.
Note that no direction information is provided due to the sometimes round about
path it may need to travel.
++2.6.6 More on Exploring the Map
Default keystrokes: X, B, and C
By pressing Examine ( the X key) followed by a direction key, all units are
listed in order of distance in the direction specified. The search is
terminated when it reaches a change in terrain, that is land becomes water or
water becomes land, or when it reaches the edge of the map or an uncharted
area. The brief version of this command is the B followed by a direction. Along
with speaking the first terrain change for the direction specified as just
explained, it only lists counts by player and unit type rather than listing
each unit.
Both the X and B commands can be followed by the k key. This provides the above
information for the direction the current unit is travelling. It also informs
you of the current direction of travel. This would include roaming, travelling
a path, and moving in a direction set with the Shift-direction keys.
The C key allows you to check and move around the map jumping from terrain type
change to terrain type change. For example, pressing C followed by L key will
move the cursor to the first terrain change to the east on the map. You could
then press C again followed by another direction to find a terrain change in
that direction. The name of each land and body of water is spoken as you move
through the map.
++2.6.7 Changing the Order Units are Presented to You
Default Keystroke: D, Shift-D
Time of Conflict presents units to you one at a time based on a priority
discussed in "The Essentials" section. Occasionally you will be presented with
a unit which you are not exactly sure what to do with at the moment. By
pressing the D key, it delays the presentation of this unit to you until the
end of the turn. A couple of examples where it might be useful is when the game
is presenting multiple fighters to you, but you are not sure at the moment if
you may need them to attack a nearby battleship. You may want to see if the
destroyers can deal with it first. If you delay deployment and the destroyers
are not successful, you can send the fighters against the battleship at the end
of the turn.
Another example is when you are jockeying around ships in a crowded harbour.
You may want to delay deployment of a few ships until you move a few other
ships out of the way.
The counterpart of this command is the Shift-D command. This command is useful
for moving a group of units to the top of the list to be commanded. For
example, you wish to handle every fighter on your carrier before you do
anything else. One way to do this is to press Alt-L on the carrier, select all
the fighters, and then press Shift-D. Time of Conflict will now present each of
these fighters to you one at a time before presenting any other unit. Other
ideas of units that you may want to use this command on are:
- all units located in an island,
- all units of a certain type,
- all units within a city,
- all units within a carrier or troop transport, and
- all units close to a certain map coordinate.
The Shift-D command is very useful when being used in lists, but has marginal
to no use when used on individual units.
++2.6.8 Some Special Keyboard Command Uses
You may press the Control-K key to interrupt the automatic turn progression.
For example, when you first start a game and your city is producing an infantry
unit, you could press Control-K and it would stop on the current turn and not
wait until the infantry is totally built. Pressing K or Control-K would cause
the automatic turn execution to continue.
We only briefly touched on the use of the double Tab key sequence. As
discussed, you can obtain detailed information on a unit by pressing Tab. If
you press Tab twice quickly, you can receive information on the containing
unit. This is especially useful in determining the attributes of a city where
the current unit resides.
++2.6.9 Examples using the T and F Commands in Lists
The real value of lists are obvious when using the T and F commands. Quite a
Bit of flexibility has been built-in to make them useful in many situations.
Here we are going to present one problem, and solve it in several ways using
these commands.
There is an enemy city located near some of your infantry. You want to move
several units towards the city and conquer it.
Example 1.
1. Move to the enemy city.
2. Press Alt-E to bring up the list with all units.
3. Select several infantry from near the top of the list.
4. Press T on the list item which contains the city.
Example 2.
1. Move to the enemy city.
2. Press Alt-I for the infantry list and select several infantry.
3. Press F. The list will be exited.
4. You should still be located at the enemy city and so press T.
Example 3.
1. Press Alt-I to bring up a list of nearby infantry.
2. Select the infantry you wish to use to attack and press F. the list will be
exited.
3. Press Alt-Y to bring up a list of nearby cities, select the enemy city of
interest, and press T.
The next two examples show how to send a single infantry to a city.
Example 4.
1. Highlight an infantry and Press F.
2. Press Alt-Y to bring up a list of cities.
3. Press T on the city where you would like the infantry sent.
Note that in the above example, pressing F was optional since the current unit
is always assumed.
Example 5.
1. Move to the land mass of interest and press Alt-E.
2. Press Alt-O to keep the list open.
3. Press F on the infantry unit you wish to move.
4. Press T on the city you wish to send the infantry to.
5. Press Escape to exit the list.
Don't worry if you think you will not use all of these methods. After all, all
you really need is one method, but knowing more than one may help in some
situations.
++2.6.10 Follow - Creating Patrols or Convoys
Default keystrokes: Control-F, T
Occasionally you will want to group ships or land-based units together and
control them as a group. The Control-F keystroke can be used to command a unit
to follow another unit. This works much like the way you would set a path for
units. First press Control-F on the unit which will follow and then move to the
leading unit and press T. You can either have units daisy-chained such as unit
C follows unit B which follows unit A, or you can have them positioned so that
units B and C follow unit A, and then have units E and F following unit B, and
units G and H following unit C. Since the following unit tries to keep two
cells away from whoever they follow, a daisy-chain may stretch too far or not
have the strategic or defensive configuration that you might need. The speed of
the entire patrol or convoy is adjusted down to the slowest unit in the group.
The exception is for the units you may choose to occasionally move manually.
Note though, damaged units who have reduced speeds will not slow down a
group-they will be left behind if they are slower than the slowest unit. When
assigning a unit to follow, it must be within twenty cells of the unit to
follow.
Note that group, patrol, and convoy may be used interchangeably in the
documentation and from within the game.
++2.6.11 Unsummarizing Units in a List
Default Keystroke: space
The options menu allows you to specify that you would like units of the same
type in the same cell to be summarized on one line. For example, if you have
one hundred infantry in a city, you can have these summarized into one line
stating the number, type, and location. To obtain the details, press space on
the summarized line in the list.
++2.6.12 Group or Convoy Lists
Default keystroke: Alt-G
The Alt-G keystroke will provide a list of every unit in a group, that is,
units indirectly or directly following or being followed by the current unit.
The current unit is used as the starting point and will be used only to
identify the group. When the list is displayed, the leader will be first, then
all the units following the leader will be listed, and then all units following
these units will be listed, and so on. The cursor will be positioned on the
unit in the list found at the current cell.
The Group lists are similar to the Unit list once the list is displayed. You
can use the selection keystrokes to select units, and as well, you can execute
keystroke commands on one or all of the selected units, but the Alt keystrokes
which control the contents of the Unit list will actually exit the Group List
and display a Unit list. Another difference is that the Group list is ordered
by their position in the patrol, not in order of distance from the current cell.
+2.7 More Information
++2.7.1 Help
Help may be obtained from either the main menu before game play or from the
Applications menu while playing. Press F10 or the Applications key to obtain
the help menu. Help is available in HTML format or in a text file.
You can obtain another form of help using Key Preview mode. Press Control-F1
while in the game to access this mode. Any key combination you press after
this will be briefly described. To turn off Key Preview mode, press Control-F1
again. You may also access this function through the help menus.
++2.7.2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. I've put a unit on roaming, but it has stopped at a free city and won't
attack it. Why?
A. The game will not automatically attack an enemy's unit or city. You must
manually attack an enemy city or unit by using the control-direction keys.
Q. It seems as if the enemy has an unfair advantage. Once a single enemy
destroyer sunk my battleship, or sometimes it will take seven or eight infantry
to take one of the enemy's infantry. This should be impossible.
A. It all comes down to luck. Just remember, luck goes both ways, and maybe
the next time the enemy will lose its battleship to one of your destroyers.
Q. I have trouble working with maps Will this be a problem?
A. If you are good with maps, it might help, but in most cases this skill is
not needed. If you think of the game as working with train and boat schedules,
this may make it easier since you are more interested in getting your units
from point to Point. You don't really care if the units need to navigate
around a body of water since the game does this thinking for you, but you are
still interested in how long the trip is going to take. Also, if you are
transferring to a ship, you want to make sure you can get there in a timely
manner. Lists make it easy to ignore the actual layout of the map. To obtain
a better idea of the map, try playing with the Shift-Tab, F2, X, B, and C
commands.
Q.How do I turn an operator off on a unit? These operators include convoying,
flight paths, and production paths and auto sentry for cities.
A. The Wake-up command (W) will remove all operators from cities and units.
Q. Why is it that I have been playing for a while and I still have not
encountered the enemy.
A. Depending on the size of the map, you may not encounter the enemy for
twenty-five to two hundred time periods. You should spend this initial period
exploring, building up your defense and offensive capabilities, and positioning
your units base on your strategy.
Q. I've done everything I want, but the game just sits there for five minutes
or more before the next turn begins. What is happening?
A. The computer won't make its move until either of the following is true:
1. You have run out of time for this turn, which is why it takes five minutes
or more for the computer to move.
2. One or more of your units have moves left. You can finish your turn more
quickly by moving or assigning an operator to every one of your units. If you
do not want to move a unit this turn, press space on the unit. The turn will
immediately end once every one of your units have been given its orders.
3. Alternatively if you are sure you are happy with the way your troops are
deployed, select "Give the computer 1 immediate free turn" from the "Controls
and Options" menu which you can obtain by pressing F10 or the Applications key.
Q. What exactly does the K key do?
A. The game decides at the beginning of a turn the order it will present each
unit to you for commanding. The K key goes through this list and finds the
first one that has moves left this turn. That is why pressing the K key will
keep returning you to the same unit until the unit has been given its orders or
assigned an operator.
Q. What exactly is an operator and why are they so important?
A. An operator can be thought of as giving your units orders which may last
many turns. Such things as telling them to stay on sentry until further notice,
follow some other unit, go to a certain destination and so on. The game would
stretch on considerably if you do not use operators since you will need to
command every unit every turn.
Q. I used the From-To keystrokes (F and T) on a unit to set its destination but
it didn't move, instead focus just moved to another unit. Did I do something
wrong?
A. The unit has been assigned its operator and will be moved by the game
sometime before the end of the turn.
Q. The enemy does not seem to be limited in its knowledge of the map's
geography and where my units are located. Is this true?
A. Absolutely not. The game's artificial intelligence does not have access to
any more information about the map than you do. It also only knows where you
are once it encounters your units. It does make some guesses, but no more than
you might make.
Q. I'd like to delay moving a unit until another unit is moved out of its way,
but the game has its own thoughts on which unit should move first. What can I
do?
A. Either Press the delay key (D) on the unit you wish to delay moving, or
Shift-D on the unit you would like to move first.
Q. My unit was awakened by an adjacent enemy, but I'd like to ignore the enemy
and let the operator controlled unit continue on its way. Can this be done?
A. As long as the enemy units are not blocking all possible routes to the
destination, just press the Evade command (E key) and your unit will continue
on its way.
Q. I have several units in a city which I do not want to move this turn, nor do
I want to put them to sleep. Instead of pressing space as the game presents
each one to me, what can I do?
A. You can select them from within a list, and then press either Shift-space to
skip all of the units moves, or press Control-S and enter 1 when prompted for
how long they should sleep. In either case, the units will be awake the next
turn.
Q. Can a path be set which forces a land or sea unit to travel through a city?
A. Yes, no problem, as long as you own the city. The exception are fighters
which always ent their operator's function when landing in a city.
Q. Sometimes the turns keep preceding automatically, but I'd like to interrupt
the marching so that I can either change production or wake-up a unit. Is this
possible?
A. Press Control-K to turn off auto move mode. The marching will end and you
can make your change.
Q. I would like to assign a patrol that moves a unit from one point to another
and back again. Is this possible?
A. Only fighters can do this. This can be done by assigning flight paths to
cities and creating a chain from city to city ending up at the starting point.
Q. Why would you ever need fighters? They don't seem to be very useful?
A. Fighters are excellent against enemy battleships, subs, and troop
transports. They are also useful in scouting water approaches to your
territory. They also have the advantage of quickly concentrating defensive or
offensive power from large distances. Fighters also can attack cities and when
they attack units first, they have a higher probability of delivering their one
hit point of damage. Fighters have their biggest advantage when attacking in
groups of three to ten.
Q. Why are there some restrictions on some operators which work with fighters,
such as the Follow operator? Also sentry does not seem to work for fighters
unless they are on a carrier or in a city.
A. It all comes down to the limited amount of fuel fighters have. The game
warns you when your fighter is half out of fuel or when it can't make it to a
distant destination, but the above functions make it difficult for the game to
know when to tell you your fighter is in danger of crashing.
Q. I have some sounds which I prefer to the ones provided. Can I use these?
A. Yes. The sound files should be in wave format and should be relatively
short. You should be able to identify which files to change by their names.
Q. How can I tell how protected an enemy city is?
A. It may be wise to fly by the city or send a low valued unit up to the city
and then take a look at it. You can get a list of the contents of cities if
one of your units is adjacent to it.
Q. I keep trying to send armour into an enemy city, but it just stays where it
is.
A. Only infantry may enter an unconquered city. If you try to manually move
armour into an enemy city, it will bombard the city, but it can never enter it.
Q. When are games saved? How can I pick my own name for a saved game?
A. Your game is saved every turn. By default, the game creates a name based on
date and the type of map being created. You are not asked to name it. If you
wish to name all new games, go to options, and change the option of "No prompt
for save file" to false. You will then always be prompted for your own file
name.
Q. Are there cheat codes for Time of Conflict?
A. No. And the chances are low that there ever will be since Time of Conflict
has been designed as a multi-player game. Mind you, if you pay GMA large
amounts of cash, they may change their minds...who knows.
Q. Why do I need to have a link to the internet during registration of the game?
A. During registration, the game checks to ensure that the registration name
and user code is valid. It also simplifies registration. You need only go to
the registration screen and enter your name and the game will be registered.
Once registered though, you will not need an internet connection again.
+3 Keystrokes
+3.1 The Basic Keystrokes
++3.1.1 The Only Keystrokes You may Need
This listwas compiled to get first time users playing Time of Conflict as
quickly as possible. These thirteen keystrokes plus direction keys will allow
you to play a game from beginning to end, but after a game or two you will
probably want to look at some of the other keystrokes which are described after
this section.
Control-"Direction Keys" - Move one cell in the specified direction.
Space - Skip moves for the unit for this turn.
R - Set the unit to roaming.
S - Set the unit on sentry
W - Wake up the unit by removing all operators.
F - Select the unit at the "From" location.
T- Set the "To" location you would like the unit to move to. (used with the F
key).
"Direction Keys" - move one cell in the specified direction.
A - Describe the adjacent cells.
Q - Quit the game.
K - Highlight the next unit to command.
P - Change the city's production.
Tab - Full information for current unit.
F1 - This help.
Control-F1 - Key Review.
Applications key - Context-sensitive menu.
+3.2 The Full Set
++3.2.1 Movement and Operator Keystrokes
Control-"Direction Keys" - Move one cell in the specified direction.
Control-Space or Space - Skip moves for the unit for this turn.
Shift-"Direction Keys" - Start the unit moving automatically in the specified
direction.
R - Set the unit to roaming.
Control-R - Set the unit to move randomly.
S - Set the unit on sentry
Control-S - Set the unit on sentry for a certain amount of time.
Shift-S - Set all units within the city or unit to sentry.
W - Wake up the unit by removing all operators.
Shift-W - Wake up all units within the unit or city.
Shift-Space - Skip moves for all units within current unit for this turn.
F - Select the unit at the "From" location.
Shift-F- Select the city or carrier to assign a flight path.
Control-F - Select the unit that should follow.
T- Set the "To" location you would like the unit to move to. (used with F,
Control-F, andShift-F).
Escape - Escape from the F, Control-F, and Shift-F commands.
H - Send a fighter home to the closest city or carrier.
E - Evade or Ignore the adjacent enemy and send your unit on its current route.
++3.2.2 Exploring and Moving around the map
"Direction Keys" - move one cell in the specified direction.
Page Up - Move 5 to 10 cells north.
Page Down - Move 5 to 10 cells south.
Home - Move 5 to 10 cells west.
End - Move 5 to 10 cells east.
Shift-Page Up - Go to the top of the map.
Shift-Page down - Move to the bottom of the map.
Shift-Home - Move to the far left of the map.
Shift-End - Move to the far right of the map.
A - Describe the adjacent cells.
F4 - Describe the adjacent cells with sounds (Sound Scape).
F2 - Display a list of charted land masses and bodies of water.
G - Go to entered coordinates.
X "direction keys" - Examine units and terrain in specified direction.
B "direction keys" - Brief description of units and terrain in specified
direction.
C "direction keys" - move to the next terrain boundary in specified direction.
Keystrokes that work in most Lists
Up or Left Arrow - Go up one list item.
Down or Right Arrow - Go down one item.
Home - Move to the top of the list.
End - Move to the end of the list.
Space - Mark the current item as selected.
Shift-Home - Select all items from the current to the top of the list.
Shift-End - Select all items from the current to the bottom of the list.
Shift-Up - Select the current item and the item above. (Note 1)
Shift-Down - Select the current item and the item below.(Note 1)
Control-A - Select all items.
Enter - Exit the list and go to the current city, unit, or geographic location.
Escape - Exit the list and do nothing.
Note that some list may not support all of the above keystrokes such as the
selection keystrokes. As well, the Space key toggles through possible
configuration attributes in the Options List.
Note 1 - Hold down the shift and use the up and down arrows to select several
consecutive units.
++3.2.3 General Keystrokes
F1 - Help.
Control-F1 - Key Review mode.
Q - Quit the game.
K - Highlight the next unit to command.
Control-K - Automatically present units to command (auto-move mode).
D - Delay the use of the current unit until the end of the turn.
Shift-D - Use the selected units immediately.
P - Change the city's production.
Control-P - Pause the game.
F3 - Display previous messages. Escape to exit.
[F12] Access Unit List functions.
[f11] Access memory functions.
[F10] [Applications] Context Sensitive Game Menu.
++3.2.4 List Commands
Alt-W - Display units for entire map (world).
Alt-R - Display units for current land mass or body of water (region).
Alt-F9 - Display enemy and friendly units.
Alt-F10 - Display only friendly units.
Alt-F11 - Display only enemy units.
alt-I - Display only infantry.
Alt-A - Display only armoured units.
Alt-F - Display only fighters.
Alt-D - Display only destroyers.
Alt-S - Display only submarines.
alt-T - Display only troop transports.
Alt-C - Display only carriers.
Alt-B - Display only battleships.
Alt-E - Display all unit types (entire list).
Alt-N - Display units based on specified attributes.
Alt-L - Display only units in the current cell.
Alt-O - Keep the list open until escape is pressed.
Alt-F7 - Change sort order between using distance athe next sound
nd using direction.
Alt-F8 - Change between brief and standard list descriptions.
Alt-G - Display units in current convoy.
++3.2.5 Unit Information and selection.
Tab - Full information for current unit.
Shift-Tab - Full information for current region.
f5 - Speaks moves left and fuel remaining for unit.
f6 - Speaks the units within this unit, and the unit this unit is within.
f7 - Speaks movement status of unit.
f8 - Speaks damage for current unit.
f9 - Speaks the land mass or body of water for the current unit.
Shift-K - Switch to city, carrier, or transport from contained unit.
Shift-N Assign name to unit or geographic area.
Control-N - Assign note to unit.
Alt-H - Move through most recent current units.
Alt-X - Set current unit as anchor.
Alt-V - Display distance unit is from anchor.
Control-V - Display distance unit is from target.
++3.2.6 Memory Keystrokes
0 to 9 - Recall saved location or tracked unit from specified memory position.
Shift-0 to 9 - Save current location to specified memory position.
Alt-0 to 9 - Start tracking current unit to specified memory position.
Control-0 to 9 - Send current unit to location in specified memory position.
` - Recall saved location or tracked unit from named memory.
Shift-` - Save current location to named memory.
Alt-` - Start tracking current unit to named memory.
Control-` - Send current unit to location in named memory.
++3.2.7 Direction Keys
There are three sets of direction keys.
- The Numeric Keypad with 5 in the center,
- The arrow keys, and
- the keyboard with K at the center.
For example, the letter I, the up arrow, and keypad 8 are all equivalent, but
only the arrow keys can be used to move through lists and menus. The arrow keys
do not have the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest directions as do
the numeric keypad and keyboard direction keys.
+4 Wrapping Things Up
++4.1 Sounds
The game uses sounds to provide information quickly to help speed through your
turn. When an explosion is heard with human yells, this indicates that one of
your units or cities has been destroyed. If the yells are not heard with the
explosion, this indicates an enemy unit, or enemy city or free city was
defeated. A ricochet sound indicates that your current unit to move is adjacent
to an enemy city or unit.
Occasionally you will hear a string of clicks. Each click indicates that one of
your units has moved one cell. As the game continues, this may become quite
lengthy.
When using your cursors to move through the map, when moving through a unit
list, or when you are prompted to move a unit, up to six sounds may be played.
The first sound you may hear is the ricochet sound. This was described above.
The next sound you may hear is one or more short pops. This is played in your
left ear and indicates the number of moves remaining this turn for the unit.
For example, a fighter could have up to six short pops played. The next sound
you may hear is played left of center and will be a short arcade-type sound.
This is played when the unit is within another unit, such as infantry within
troop transports. The next sound you may hear is played right of center and is
a two pitch sound going from low to high indicating that the current unit has
units within itself, such as troop transports containing infantry. The next
sound is played to the far right and it is played if the unit has any damage.
The sound is of breaking glass. The last sound played is a tiny bell sound
which indicates that there is a note for this unit.
If the unit is an enemy unit, a low ominous sound is played.
Press the F10 key, select Help, and select "Review Sounds" if you would like to
hear a description of each sound followed by the actual sound.
++4.2 SoundScape
Default keystroke: F4
The F4 key presents a SoundScape of the cells immediately surrounding your
current unit. The sound circles your unit clockwise providing information about
the cell to your immediate north, this continues northeast, east, and through
to northwest. When you hear ocean waves, this means there is water in that
direction. If you hear the sounds of a forest, this indicates land. For the
directions north, east, south, and west, a double click is sounded. For the
directions northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, a lower single pitch
sound is heard. When an enemy unit is located in an adjacent cell, a low
ominous sound is heard.
You may not want to use this command for every unit, but it can be useful when
trying to analyze a complex mixture of land and units.
++4.3 The Message Window
Default Key: F3, Escape
Most event messages spoken will also be written to the message window. This can
be accessed by pressing the F3 key. This moves the messages to a list where
they can be reviewed with Page Up, Page Down, and the up and down arrows. Press
Escape to return to the game.
++4.4 Defining Your Own Keystrokes
We have made a special effort to make keystrokes easy to remember and use, but
for many reasons, you may want to change one or more keystroke definitions. The
key definition file, named keys.ini, can be found in the Conflict folder in
either the "Documents" or "My Documents" folder. Do not change the
KeysDefault.ini in the program folder. KeysDefault is a backup of the original
key assignments. To return to the original assignments, simply delete the
keys.ini file in the My Document/Conflict folder.
Press f10, Select Help, and then select "Edit the Keys.ini file" to review or
change keystroke definitions. Each line is one function. The first one or more
keystrokes enclosed in square brackets is the key string. This is followed by a
description of the function, and then this is finally followed with a
identification number enclosed in square brackets. Ensure that the key
definition and the number enclosed in brackets remain on the same line,
The key string has the form: Alt-Control-Shift-keystroke where you can have as
many or none of the shift, alt, or control words. The order is not important,
but they must be separated by a hyphen. The last part must be the keystroke and
may be any of the following:
A to Z, 0 to 9, END, HOME, PageUp,
PageDown, Delete, Caps, F1 to F12, Enter, Space,
Applications, Insert Backspace, Tab, Escape, Up, Down, Right, and Left.
++4.5 Options
The options list can be started from the main menu when you enter the game, or
through the Options selection under the context-sensitive menu when you press
the Applications key or F10.
The categories are as follows:
when the announce creation options are set, the unit just created will be
announced at the beginning of the turn. By default, infantry, armour, and
fighters are not announced, while all other units will be announced.
Land masses, bodies of water, cities and units may be named. Naming control
allows you to specify how they are named. There are four options. These are:
when a unit is created, a city is just taken, or a land mass or body of water
is referenced, if the option for the item is set to prompted, you will be asked
to give the unit, city, or geographic area a name. Generic indicates that a
standard name will be assigned such as City, Infantry, and so on. You will need
to rely on its location to uniquely identify the items. When Naming Control is
set to "Auto", a name will be generated randomly. If the Naming Control is set
to "numeric", names such as "City 23" or "Submarine 5" will be generated. This
is not available for Land and water.
There are many sounds which are played to provide information during a game.
Most of these sounds may be turned off if you prefer. You can also choose to
hear battle sounds. These sounds are marginally useful, but they do add some
colour to the game.
The SoundScape speed option will allow you to adjust the speed the sounds
circle the unit. The faster the sounds play, the more difficult it may be to
understand the information provided. You can also change the volume of the
games theme song. Setting it to zero turns off the sound completely.
There are several pieces of information which are displayed for each unit or
city in a list. These options allow you to turn off the ones you are not
interested in hearing.
Time of Conflict provides some information before each unit's move, before each
actual move, and when the unit finishes its turn. These options allow you to
control what information is given.
The Display can be set to Video, Braille, or none. If you can not use the
Video display nor the Braille Display, set this option to none to increase
performance and to remove some of the chatter that screen readers may cause.
The "Announce Battle Details" option allows you to have a blow by blow
description of a battle when one multi-hit point unit meets another.
The "summarize Units by Type in List" option will group units of the same type
in the same location. For example, if you have six infantry on a Troop
transport, it will only display one line giving the unit type and count.
Speech. You can adjust the screen reader that the game will work with, or
select Microsoft SAPI. If the latter is selected, you will also be able to
choose the voice, speed, and volume.
Do not delete the OptionsDefault.ini file in the program folder. This is a
backup of the default option assignments. To return to the original
assignments, simply delete the Options.ini file in the Conflict folder which is
found either in the "Documents" or "My Documents" folder.
++4.6 Video and Braille Display
Time of Conflict was designed from the outset to be a multi-player game which
will allow blind, visually impaired, and totally sighted people to play
together.
Through the Options menu you can choose between displaying the map on your
monitor, displaying characters on your Braille display, or neither of these.
If you can not see the screen and you do not have a refreshable Braille
display, it is best to select none.
The game comes with a file which you can modify to change how the characters
are displayed on the monitor or on your Braille display. At the moment you can
not change the colours, but this will probably change shortly.
Do not delete the DisplayCharsDefault.ini file in the program folder. This is a
backup of the default display characters assignment. To return to the original
assignments, simply delete the DisplayChars.ini file in the Conflict folder
which is found either in the "Documents" or "My Documents" folder.
++4.7 Computer Strategy
It is important to know that the computer is given no advantage over human
players. It must discover lands, free cities, and your units as you do when
playing the computer. Matter of fact, sooner or later you may find the computer
not a strong advisary. In this case set the difficulty level at the beginning
of the game to a level that may provide a challenge. The difficulty level
allows the computer to take some free moves at the beginning of the game,
shorten the amount of time you have to move, and also use some more advanced
computer strategy.
Here are a few ideas on Strategy and Managing Your Units:
A game may last into hundreds of moves and involve hundreds of units. When you
are dealing with these large numbers, you must develop a method that works for
you. We have listed below some ideas, but by no means is this exhaustive. The
first list gives some general and defense strategies to consider:
- You might initially set all new Infantry to roaming. In this way you will
uncover any uncharted areas and most likely uncover new cities to conquer.
- If you are on a small land mass, your second city might be set to produce
Troop Transports. You might want to direct unoccupied Infantry to the new city
and keep them in the city or nearby to be ready to load the Transport once it
has been built. If the Infantry or in the city when the Transport has been
produced, the Infantry can be easily loaded when the troop transport leaves.
You may want to set the production path of the city to the city building the
Troop Transport. In this way, Infantry will automatically move to the new city
when they are created without any work on your part. The troop trans port can
be given a path when created which might have a destination deep in some
uncharted area where you suspect there may be land.
- Fighters are extremely useful at the front of a battle or when you are
looking for cities and land. They are also crucial when protecting a fleet.
After Infantry and Troop Transport, Fighters may be the next unit type to
create. By setting the flight path from city to city or stationary carrier,
they may be readily moved across a map without any work on your part. This is
called "chaining". Fighters are very good for patrolling to provide you with
early warning of attacks. By chaining from city to city you can easily create a
two way, three way, or many point patrol route. For example, a flight path may
be set from city A to City B and then from B to A. Or from City A to B to C to
D and then back to City A. This should be done over both water and land since
you normally do not know where or when the enemy will attack.
- Destroyers are good cheap units to build early in the game. They are useful
for discovering new land, protecting your port cities, and defending your troop
transports.
- Always name cities and land masses. This is the easiest way to understand the
map. Make the name so that they are memorable. Cities that are producing ships
or used for ship repairs or reloading of troops might be called something like
Portland, New York, or Portsmouth.
- When being attacked by enemy Infantry and armour, you must decide whether it
is crucial to defend the area. If it is important, move your armour and
infantry back into the cities. Bring your fighters forward. You may want to
also produce more Armour, and also keep this near or in the cities. When
damaged, they can quickly be repaired.
- You can't defend everything, and so concentrate on the coastal cities.
Leaving two armoured units in every coastal city is a good idea, have a few
infantry and armoured units moving around that are available to take back a
fallen city.
-You can move a large number of defenders back by finding the point where you
would like your Infantry and armour to stand and fight. Then press Alt-I for
the Infantry or Alt-A for the armour list. Select all the defending units you
require and then press F to commit the units. Then press Enter, and then T to
send them on their way.
- Consider producing battleships early. They take a long time to build, but are
very desirable when you start making your move against the enemy.
- Submarines are the preferred weapon against carriers and battleships, but
remember they only have an advantage when they strike first. It is sometimes
useful to keep a submarine or two in your key coastal cities to defend against
battleship bombardments.
- Carriers are very useful when there is a wide body of water between you and
the enemy. You can use carriers as a refueling point for fighters.
- If you have ships and fighters located in a city which looks like it will
fall, move them out and either use them against the attackers or take them out
of the area. You do not want your fighters and ships in a city at risk of
falling to be captured and used against you.
There are different but complimentary tactics you may want to use when you are
on the offensive.
- When attacking across water, defend your fleet. You may want to attack in
force. A minor attack may include a couple of defending destroyers and a couple
of troop transports, while a major attack may include five or six troop
transports, a battleship, a carrier with eight fighters, and several
destroyers. Keep the carrier, troop transports and maybe even the battleship
inside the convoy to protect them from attacking fighters and submarines.
-A battleship is handy to reduce the defense of a city through bombardment. If
the city is well defended with armour, you may want to use your armour instead
of the your battleship. You can probably determine this in the first turn by
the amount of resistance you receive.
- Remember that armour and battleships which are defending from within a city
will regain one hit point per turn, and so it is important to make any attack
major and quick. Having a straggling line of infantry attacking a city will
probably fail against a well defended city since they can repair damage at the
same speed as your attacks.
- Always try for a beachhead. Attacking at several points may split the enemy's
defense, but it will also water down the power of the attack. It is best to
fully take three cities than partially take six cities.
+5 The Map Builder
++5.1 The Basics
Time of Conflict can generate maps automatically for you, but if you want to
create interesting or historically-based maps, this is the utility to use. You
can create land and water masses using several tools from within Map Builder,
and then make fine modifications afterwards. You can create maps with already
allocated cities and units as if the map is several hundred turns into the
game, and you can optionally name the cities, units, land and water masses, as
well as name areas within these larger bodies. You also can just create land
and water masses, and let Time of Conflict create the cities. It is your
choice.
Although not totally necessary, if you have some sight or have a Braille
display, you will probably want to set the Display Type to Braille or Video
mode on in the Options menu.
++5.2 Things to Note
When creating maps, it is best to perform the following tasks in the order
listed. First create the land and water masses before doing anything else. The
rest of these steps are optional.
Next you can assign cities. You can create free cities, or assign them to the
computer and player, or do a combination of the two. You can name the
computer, player, and free cities.
The next step is to create units and assign them to the computer or player, and
place them on the map. You can name them as well.
The next step is to assign names to the land and water masses and to name areas
within these masses. For example, you may create a land mass called Britain,
and also create areas called England, Whales, and Scotland.
To use the game, you must finally compile the map by pressing F9. Actually what
it is doing is checking to make sure things make sense. For example, you don't
have cities in the middle of the sea, have two or three troop transports in one
place if not in a city, and so on. It will finally display a diailog asking
for some information it needs when the game is played. This includes:
- An optional password. If you plan to share this game, you may want to
prevent others from modifying your map.
- An description of the map. This message is displayed to the gamer when a
game is first started using your map. The description is optional but it could
contain a story, a description of the map, whether the map is completely
visible to you and the computer, what units are availabel if any,and what ever
you feel the gamer might need or find interesting.
- A checkbox indicating whether the computer should top up the number of cities
to the amount expected for this sized map. You may want to create just a few
key cities, and let the computer do the rest of the work.
- For each player, you are asked to give a name and whether that player can see
the entire map at the outset of the game. The default names are "Your" for your
cities and units, and "Enemy" for the computer's. To be fair, you may want to
have both check or both unchecked. Otherwise, you will want to provide
additional benefits the the player not given the knowledge of the layout of the
entire map.
From the above descriptions, you can probably see that you can do as little or
as much as you want to the map, or let the player and game do the rest. This
will all depend on what you are trying to achieve.
++5.3 Defining Land and Water masses
There are five ways to create a land or water mass. To create a round or
circular shape, use the R to create land, and Shift-R key to create water. You
will be asked for the radius. The current cell will be the center.
To create a square or rectangular shape, use the S for land, and the Shift-S
for water. You will be asked for the height and width. The current cell will
be the bottom left corner of the rectangle.
To create a fractile or amorphus shape, use the F key for land and the Shift-F
key for water. You will be asked for the maximum height and width. You will
also be asked for the density. A 100% fill will create a rectangulare shape,
while lesser densities will create shapes very similar to actual land or water
masses. The current cell will be the approximate center.
You can also create land one cell at a time by pressing the K key. Pressing
the space key produces water. When you first start a map, the entire map is
water. To create water, you must add land.
You can also draw an enclosure on the map and then fill it with land or water.
The enclosure must join up with the starting point or must start and end at the
land or water you wish to extend.
For example, to draw a three by three square of land on the map, first move to
the top left corner of where the square will be located. Next, press the F3
key, and then the down arrow twice, the right arrow twice, the up arrow twice,
and then the left arrow twice. Press F3 again and move inside the square, and
then press F8. A three by three area of water or land will be created. If the
cell you pressed F8 is land, water is created, and conversely, if the cell is
water, land is created. It is important to think of the F3 key as putting your
pen down to paper, and by pressing F3 again, lifting the pen. Therefore, the
direction arrows are the only valid keys. A sound will play every time a
direction key is pressed while the F3 key is in effect.
If you are using the Visual map or are comfortable using colour detection with
your screen reader (example, Jaws key+ 5 in Jaws), as you move the cursor, a
trail of yellow cells will be created. This is a trace of the outline which
will later be filled. You must be careful to ensure the enclosure is complete.
Any leakage may cause the entire map to be filled. Even though you can move
around a map diagonally, to make drawing enclosures easier, we have made it so
that leakages can not happen through a dagonal opening. That is, the fill will
only spread north, east, south, and west, not northeast, northwest,
southeast,and southwest.
Here is an example of adding a bulge of land to an island. First move to the
edge of the land mass where the bulge will start. Press F3 and then move the
cursor around the map using the direction keys, create an outline out into
the water, joining up with the land where the bulge will finish. Press the F3
key again and move the cursor within the enclosure you created, and then press
F8. The enclosure will be filled with land. Note that The outline will also
become land.
You can do the same thing with water. Start and end this process with F3 to
create outlines of lakes or cut off a piece of land from a land mass. From
where you pressed F8, the Map Builder will determine that you want to remove
land.
If you press F8 on a land mass without using F3 to create a cut or enclosure,
Map Builder assumes that the entire land mass will be transformed to water.
For example, if you press F8 on an inland sea or lake, this body of water will
be filled in with land.
If you make a mistake, by pressing Control-Z, your map will return to the same
configuration of land and water as before the change.
++5.4 Creating Cities
To create a single city, press the Y key. If the city is assigned to the
player or the computer, You will be asked for the name and what unit it will
produce. To remove a city, highlight the city and then press Shift-Y. This
will also remove any units assigned to the city as well.
To create many cities on a land mass, position the cursor on the land mass and
press Control-Y. You will be asked for the number of cities which you want
randomly placed on the land mass. You will be also asked for a unit which will
be set as the starting production for all cities created. Depending on your
options, you may be asked for the names of the cities as well.
By pressing the F5 key repeatedly, you will toggle through the players you
would like to assign to the cities or units. Cities can be set to Player 1 or
Player 2, where Player 2 is the computer. You can also select Free to create
Free cities. Set the player with the F5 key before the creation of units and
cities. If later you change your mind on who should own a city or unit, press
F5 repeatedly until you find the desired player, and then press Control-F5 on
the unit or city.
++5.5 Creating Units
Use the F5 key to first select which player you would like to assign to the
units you will be creating. You can not assign the free player to units.
Press the F6 key to create units. You will be asked for the unit type, and If
you are creating fighter aircraft or if you are creating units within cities,
you will be asked how many units you wish to create. Depending on the options
you have set, you may also be asked to name some or all of your units.
To create units that have a random placement when the map is played, use the
Control-F6 key. It will also allow you to create multiple units. The options
are the following:
The unit will be placed randomly in the current land or water mass.
The unit will be placed randomly in the current named area.
The unit will be placed randomly in any city in the current land mass.
The unit will be placed randomly in any city in the current named area.
The unit will be placed randomly in any city in the map.
The unit will be placed randomly in any place in the map.
You also have the choice of keeping the unit where you placed it. When the game
is deciding on where to put a unit, units will not be placed in cities which do
not belong to them. As well, units will be placed in appropriate land or water
masses based on their type. They also will not be place in cells with other
units that they are not allowed to share a cell with. In short, all placements
use the same rules which are in effect during game play which control whether
that unit may move into any given cell. Note though, when you create multiple
units in the Map Builder, they may temporarily be breaking the rules if they
have been assigned a random placement, but once the map is played, their
placement will be totally legal. If you wish to change the random placement
rule, use the Alt-F6 on the cell containing the units. Occasionally, when a
game is started using a map you have created, Time of Conflict realizes that it
can not fulfill your request. For example, you try to randomly place too many
units on a small island. If the game can not perform the task, it will use the
next less restrictive rule. In the example, it may place the unit on a nearby
island if there isn't enough room where it was intended.
Press Shift-F6 to delete all units for a cell.
++5.6 Assigning Names
If you wish to assign names to your land or water masses, press the Shift-N key
on an empty cell of land or water. To name cities and units, use the same key,
but place the cursor on that city or unit. To name a unit within a city,
carrier, or troop transport, use the list commands, and press Shift-N on the
unit you would like to name.
To name parts of land or water, you must first divide it from the rest of the
land or water mass. This can be done with the F3 key. you can either enclose
an area by pressing the F3 key and using the arrows to move around the map
creating an enclosure, or you can cut off a piece of land from the rest of the
land by starting at one side and moving the ccursor with the direction keys to
the other edge. Then press the F3 again to let the program know you are
finished. You will then be asked to move to the side of the cut-off or
enclosed area you wish named and then press Control-N. This can be done with
bodies of water as well.
Here is an example of assigning three named areas to a land mass. First, name
the entire land mass with one of the three area names you are thinking of by
positioning the cursor on the land, and pressing Control-N. You will then be
prompted for the name. Next, start on the edge of the land mass where you wish
to name the next area and press F3. Use the direction keys and move the cursor
to the other side of the land mass creating a border as you go, and press F3
again. Move to the side of this border where you want to assign the name and
press Control-N. You will be prompted for the next area name. now divide this
new named area into two parts using the same method, and then name the last
part.
To rename or name an area, position the cursor on the area you wish to name and
press Control-N. If there are more than one named areas, Map Builder will ask
you whether you want to rename the current area or name the entire land mass
one area name. Don't confuse area names with land and water mass names. These
are quite different. It may be initially confusing that an entire land mass
may be name with Shift-N, and the same land mass could be given one area name
with Control-N. Actually, Area names were created so that you can subdivide
large land or water masses, not to provide an alternate method for naming a
land or water mass.
++5.7 Keystrokes
Most keystrokes available during game play are available during map building.
In addition, the following are used exclusively to create maps.
Land and Water Commands
R - Create a round land mass.
Shift-R - Create a round water mass within land.
S - Create a square or rectangular shaped land mass.
Shift-S - Create a square or rectangular water mass within a land mass.
F - Create a Fractile or irregular shaped land mass.
Shift-F - Create a Fractile or irregular water mass within a land mass.
F8 - Remove part, or the entire land or water mass. (Note 9)
K - Create a cell of land.
Space - Create water by removing a cell of land.
Control-Z - Undo the last creation of water or land. (Note 2)
Creating Cities and Units
F5 - Change the player used for city and unit creation.
Control-F5 - Change the ownership of all units and cities in the current cell.
Use F5 to first select the player.
F6 - Create one or more units in the current cell.
Shift-F6 - Remove all units from the current cell.
Control-F6 - Create multiple units with random placement rules.
Alt-F6 - Change the random placement rule assigned to an already created unit.
Y - Create a city in the current cell.
Shift-Y - Remove the city in the current cell.
Control-Y - Create one or more ramdomly placed cities in the current land mass.
Control-X - Cut the city, and all of its contents from the current cell for
later pasteing. (Note 6)
Control-C - Copy the current city or unit for later pasteing.
Control-V - Paste the cut or copied city and units to the current cell.
Naming Commands
Shift-N - Name the city, unit, or land and water mass. (Note 7)
Control-N - Create and name areas within land or water masses. (Note 9)
General Map Commands
Applications or F10 - Menu of commands specific to the Map Builder.
F3 - Start/finish creating a partition or enclosure. (Note 1)
F9 - Check and compile the map for use in game play.
Semicolon(;) - Pass a non-building command to the rest of the program. (Note 8)
F4 - Save the map.
Q - Quit and optionally save the map.
Escape - Escape from F3, F7,, and many other commands.
Control-F8 - Mirror the map from left to right. (note 3)
Control-P - Name the players. (Note 5)
Initialization Commands
Control-F9 - Remove all cities from the map.
Control-F10 - Remove all the units from the map.
Control-F11 - Remove one or more naming types. (Note 4)
Control-F12 - Initialize the map to start from scratch.
Note 1 - Press the F3 key a second time to stop outlining an enclosure or cut,
and then press F8 to add land or water, or Control-N to name the just created
area.
Note 2 -You can undoup up to ten of the last land or water changes with the
Control-Z command.
Note 3 - The Control-F8 command is normally Used after you create all the land
and water masses and place the cities, but before you create the units and do
any naming. The mirrored city will automatically switch over from Player 1 if
set to Player 2, or to Player 2 if set to Player 1. Mirrored Free Cities will
remain Free Cities. Ownership of the mirrored cities can also be assigned using
Control-F5 after the mirroring. If you do not create any cities,
randomly-placed mirrored cities will be created when the game starts.
Note 4 - You can remove one or more of the following naming types: land and
water mass names, geographic area names, city names, and unit names.
Note 5 - Usually Control-P is just used to name the computer controlled player.
You normally just name your own cities and units "Your". This command is not
necessary if you use the F9 key since it provides an alternate naming method.
Note 6 - Control-X does not actually remove the city or units until the
control-V is pressed.
Note 7 - Although Shift-N is a key used in game play as well, it was included
here because of its importance for map building.
Note 8 - The semicolon pass through key allows you to enter keys that have
already been assigned to map building. For example, if you want a unit to
start up in Sentry mode, press semicolon followed by S on the unit. As a
shortcut, the pass through is automatically turned on for every key pressed
while in list mode.
Note 9 - The F8 and Control-N keys may be used on their own, or in conjunction
with the F3 outlining key.
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