                             GALACTIC  CONQUEST
                                  v 4.90
                             by Jason Sinclair
                              & Joshua Shelton
                             J Computing, Inc.
                             ******************

                * * * Release date: December 1st, 1994 * * * 

    NOTE!! This version is NOT COMPATIBLE WITH VERSIONS PRIOR TO v4.80!!

To run this game, type START at the drive prompt.

                        ---REQUIREMENTS TO PLAY---
                
                 Color display (EGA minimum)
                 Fast processor (at least 386-20mhz)
                 Following files:
                        START.BAT
                        GALCON.TXT
                        GALCON.EXE
                        GCFONT.COM
                 Plenty of caffeinated drinks and
                  high-sugar content snacks  (OPTIONAL but recommended)


      Welcome to Galactic Conquest.  If you've ever wanted to be what
every super-villain worth his salt has wanted for millenia, then you've
hit the right button.  This program gives you the chance to conquer the
entire galaxy, without leaving your chair.  It is up to you to out-smart
the opponent, whether computer or human.  Send forth immense armadas to
squash the enemy like the bugs they are, or do nothing and hope to God
that mother nature hates them worse then she hates you (Face it, weathermen
normally couldn't predict a 100% chance of photon-storms...).  You start
out with one planet, some production (# ships made per each year), and
a one-year head-start against the computer.

      Program Specs, Info, and Useless Trivia:

      # Players: 1 to 4                Graphics: Text (for now...)
      Language : Turbo Pascal V7.0     Sound   : Speaker only
      Length   : 3341 lines            Colors  : 16

      Average Playing Time: 2 to 40 hours
      Load/Save Games?    : Yes (infinite)
      Sound Toggle?       : Yes


                        -------INSTRUCTIONS--------

      This game is simple, but not so simple.  It is easy to play, but
harder to master.

      When you start, you are asked for a name, preferably your LAST name.
However, fictional names are also good, such as "DARKLORD" and "DEATHBRINGER".
You are then asked for a rank, which suggests military rank.  Make up one, or
use a true military rank (i.e.  General, Admiral, Ensign, Commander, Rogue,
and Super-God are good ones...).  You will then meet your computer opponent
and then tell the computer how many years long the war will last.  The last
question, Minimum production, refers to the total production of ALL the
planets in the galaxy.  The lower the number, the easier the game in some
respects, but also the more boring (personal opinion).  The higher, the
harder but the more interesting the war.  Some estimations of playing times
and difficulty ranges are as follows:

        Production Range      Skill Level        Est'd Time to Finish
        -------------------------------------------------------------
            Below 75          Boring                 2 to 3 hours
           75 to 100          Easy                   3 to 5 hours    
          101 to 130          Normal                 4 to 9 hours     
          131 to 150          Challenging            6 to 16 hours
          151 to 175          Very Hard              15 to 35 hours     
          176 and up          NEAR Impossible        Depends on how   
                                                     long you play 
                                                     before you decide
                                                     to give it up...

      The computer will then generate a random map of the galaxy, color-
coding your home planet (you start with one).  Choose the map you want and
continue.  The war will then begin...

      You are shown the status screen, which shows rows of information:

      PLNT  OWNR  PROD  SHPS
      A     1    14    237

      The PLNT is the planet name (letters A-Z).  The OWNR is the owner of
the planet, in which you will only see YOUR planets.  PROD is the production 
of the planet.  Generally, the number is between 0 and 9 but every now and 
then you will see numbers as high as 30.  SHPS are the total amount of ships 
you have on the planet at the start of the year.  THEY DO NOT CHANGE AS YOU 
GIVE ORDERS, you must look at your ship logs (explained later) to watch the 
decrease in your fleet, or press F2 and view your current inventory.

      Underneath, you will see the TOTALS of your fleets.  The total #
of planets, production, average production per planet, and total ships of 
all planets (not including ones in transit).

      You then see the main menu.  You have 10 commands that are generally
used throughout the war.  These are described in detail below:

      f1 (ATTACK)  -  Use to send ships from a planet you own to any planet
                      in the galaxy.  If the destination is an enemy planet
                      then the ships will be treated as fighters.  If you
                      send them to another one of your planets, they are
                      considered reinforcements to that planet.  YOU DO
                      NOT NEED TO PRESS ENTER AFTER THE NAME OF THE PLANET
                      THAT YOU ENTER!  New in v4.8 is the ability to
                      type A or ALL to send all of that planets ships to
                      another planet.  You may also hit ESC without
                      typing anything to abort.
f2 (FUNCTION MENU) -  All other commands on the main screen have been moved
                      to this seperate menu to aid in cleaning up the
                      display.  
                      The following commands are in the function menu:

                        *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

   > TACTICAL DISPLAY - Simply displays the player's planets in the
                        galaxy, without all the mumbo-jumbo.  

   > STARSCAN DISPLAY - The most important command aside from attacking.  
                        This brings up a report of your planets and if 
                        they are being attacked any time soon.  
                        If so, you will see:
                                 K ----->  9 (2) 

                        The K is the name of the planet.  The 9 is the
                        TOTAL amount of ships attacking.  The 2 in ()'s
                        is the total # of enemy fleets attacking.  They
                        normally do not attack in the same year, but the
                        possibility exists.  These readings are color-coded
                        with the legend at the top of the readout.  If it
                        blinks, you're in DEEP trouble, and should consider
                        major reinforcements...CHECK OFTEN!
   > COMMAND SUMMARY  - Brings up a log of all fleets sent out, what their
                        destinations are, how many ships in each fleet, 
                        and how long until they reach their destination.
                        In this mode, you may also change the destinations
                        of fleets by entering the number of the order you
                        wish to change at the prompt.  When changing order
                        destinations, time is added to the flight plan of
                        the fleet, so in essence, the fleet flies to the
                        old planet, then the new destination.

   > LATEST SHIP LOGS-  Brings up a log of all the planets in the galaxy.
                        If explored or contacted (other than probe), will
                        tell last reading of number of ships on the surface
                        of the planet.  If it novaed, it will say so.  This
                        log also keeps track and automatically adds on any
                        and all enemy reinforcements to planets, so some of
                        the numbers displayed may be reinforcements only!!

   > CURR. INVENTORY -  Prints an updated list of the number of ships you
                        have REMAINING on each planet AFTER the orders you 
                        have made for the current year.


   > PROBE HISTORY   -  Reprints the map as a history of all the probes to
                        planets.  If the planets has been scanned by a probe,
                        will come up as the atmosphere class.

   > DISTANCES/RANGES-  Use to find the distances of ANY 2 planets in the
                        galaxy.  New to v4.8 is the ability to enter in the
                        distance away you wish to highlight instead of the
                        planet you wish to label your destination.
                        To use the new feature, simply enter in any planet
                        and at the next prompt, enter in the range in years
                        you wish to display (ex. 5).  The computer will then
                        draw a shaded-yellow circle around the planet you
                        entered in.  This circle represents the distance
                        (in this case...5 years) around the planet.  Any 
                        planets in that range are highlighted yellow.  This
                        circle will be thick, and any area shaded yellow is
                        equal to the distance you stated...

   >CHANGE NAME/RANK -  This feature is new to v4.8.  It simply allows you
                        to enter a new name and/or rank.  Hit <ENTER> 
                        without typing anything at the NEW NAME prompt to
                        exit.  Hit <ENTER> at the NEW RANK prompt to keep
                        the rank the same.

   >SOUND TOGGLE     -  Toggles sound effects on or off.

                        *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  

(continued commands from MAIN menu...)

 f10(END TURN) - Ends your turn for that year of the war.

altS(SAVE GAME)- Type in the NAME of the game ONLY, NO EXTENSION.
                 If you wish to use the name of a game already in
                 existance (or save the current game over itself),
                 you may.

altQ(QUIT GAME)- Completely ends the game, and displays all information
                 about all the planets.

        There is no set strategy for winning the game, for there are endless
possibilities for winning....OR losing...


                        ---MOTHER NATURE'S WEAPONS---

        As I mentioned earlier, mother nature is fighting as well.  There
are 3 major ways it hurts, or helps, your side of the war:

        1.) PHOTON STORM - Destroys 1-100% (at least one ship unless
                           planet is barren) of ships on ground.

        2.) BLACK HOLE   - Destroys some of your fleet while in transit
                           to a planet.  Most of the time it only takes
                           a few of 'em, but every now and then...BOOM!!

        3.) NOVA         - Not exactly a nice way to end your existance,
                           this is mother nature's way of saying
                           "I don't like you."  This destroys ALL ships 
                           AND PRODUCTION on the planet, as well as the
                           planet itself.  Like I said, not nice...
                           The only good things about them are that they
                           help immensely if the enemy gets hit by one, and
                           that they rarely occur, averaging about 2 per
                           100 years.  But, sometimes there aren't ANY
                           during a war, but I've seen 10 during a 200 year
                           war... most unpredictable...  If you have any
                           orders to a planet that novas, you are given a
                           chance to reroute them, so if more than 1 person
                           is playing, tell the other players to turn
                           around before you re-route them...

        Remember to keep an eye on your starscan, and may the best side cream
the other one!!

                     
                     ---CHANGES SINCE LAST VERSION---

        The last released version of Galactic Conquest was v4.80.
        The new AI's in v4.80 proved to be a little more of a challenge
than was first thought, so in v4.90 they have been fine tuned and a little
more easier to handle...
        Display formats have been improved as well, mainly centering of
informaton, and longer delays during catastrophe screens.


                       ---UPCOMING HOPEFUL CHANGES---
        Josh and I are always finding SOMETHING to toy around with...that's
what makes this game so fun...
        I hope to enter a countdown timer so that every player has only 
a certain amount of time in which to enter commands, and to encourage the
player to hurry up instead of taking their sweet 'ole time doing whatever.
I am also working on a way to make it possible to change orders WITHOUT
adding time onto the ETA.  Josh continues to tinker with all of the AI
algorithms (after I create them, he re-writes them and says "Here...NOW
try to beat it..." and grins evilly EVERY single time...).  I hope to
invent another strategy or two for the computer to make the game even MORE
interesting...

        
                        ---ABOUT THE PROGRAMMER---

        I am continuing to revise this game, adding things here and
there, changing colors, etc, and if you have any constructive comments, 
ideas for changing or adding to the program, or ideas about a NEW 
program, send me a letter and I'll get in touch A.S.A.P.  My address for
mail is:

              Jason Sinclair
              (J Computing, Inc.)
              612 West 8th Street
              Marysville, Ohio 43040-1427
        
        or E-Mail me at the following: 

              Compuserve at address 70006,422

              Monolith BBS in conference J Computing 
              (open 24 hours...call (513)-644-1219...2400 to 14.4)



        You may also contact Joshua Shelton via Internet using the
        following address:

                        jshelton@desire.wright.edu


                   ***SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING***

                    Beta Testers-   William C. Bard
                                     Wayne Honaker
                                     "Agent" Rausch
                                     Jamey Sinclair
                                     Jason Sinclair
                                     Joshua Shelton

                    Monolith BBS
                    Charles Mechenbier and CompuServe
                    Borland International
                    My parents for putting up with me being up until
                     5am every morning to test this...
                    YOU for playing this game and sampling all
                     our hard work and effort.
                    Anyone else I forgot

        This game is FREEWARE!!   Any contributions are welcome.

        Thank you for your time, and I hope to keep up the good
        work!  You make this the game that it is!!



          J Computing:  Redefining the boundaries of imagination!
