War

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Screenshots - War

War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot
War atari screenshot

Information - War

GenreStrategy - WargameYear1994
LanguageSTOS BASICPublisher[no publisher]
ControlsMouseDistributor-
Players1DeveloperSerious Software
ResolutionLowLicensed from-
Programmer(s)

McNaughton, Ross

CountryUnited Kingdom
Graphic Artist(s)

McNaughton, Ross

SoftwareEnglish
Game design

McNaughton, Ross

Box / InstructionsEnglish
Musician(s)

[unknown]

LicensePD / Freeware / Shareware
Sound FX

[unknown]

Serial
Cover Artist(s)ST TypeST, STe / 1MB
MIDIVersion2.0
Dumpdownload atari War Download / MSANumber of Disks1 / Double-Sided
Protection

Instructions - War

WAR V2.0
========


REQUIREMENTS
------------
War requires a 1Mb ST/STe and is mouse controlled. It should work on most 
TOS versions, including the Mega STe at 16MHz. Theoretically it should also 
work on the TT (I haven't been able to test this, but if you run it from ST 
Low it should be okay).

The program will run quite happily from hard disk. Note that the files 
TITLE.PI1, TERRAIN.PI1 and UNITS.PI1 are all necessary.


CREDITS
-------
Many thanks to Dom Morris and Dave Gamlin for playtesting and suggestions. 
Thanks also to Billy Allan and Colin Watt for MISTY and THE MISSING LINK, 
without which this program would have been SLOW!


SHAREWARE!
----------
WAR is shareware. The registration fee is œ5, for which you will receive a 
disk containing:
- The latest version of WAR (probably the same as this one but you never 
know...)
- New scenarios
- A fully interactive scenario editor
- Full instructions and example files for the editor
The DEMO folder on this disk contains a small slideshow of screen dumps from 
the editor program.

Send to:
     Ross McNaughton
     29a Vachel Road
     Reading
     Berkshire
     RG1 1NY

All rights reserved. This version of the program may be freely distributed 
provided that all files in this archive are included.

LOADING A SCENARIO
------------------
When the game has loaded, the title screen will be replaced by a file 
selector listing the scenarios available (in the demo version, they're all 
in the folder SCENARIO). Choose one, then go and make a cup of tea or 
something, the program has all kinds of things to set up during the loading 
process. 

OPTIONS
-------
When the scenario has loaded, a status screen will appear showing the name 
of the scenario, the name of each army, and which options have been set for 
this scenario. The options are:

PALETTE. There are three palettes, Normal, Desert and Winter. They do not 
affect the gameplay, only the screen colours.

VISIBILITY. With FULL visibility, all units are visible to the enemy at all 
times. With LIMITED visibility, all units start the game invisible. With 
PARTIAL visibility, units are hidden if they start the game in cover, and 
only stay invisible if they stay in cover. In all cases, any unit which 
fires, is hit by enemy fire, or is next to an enemy unit will become 
visible. Under PARTIAL or LIMITED visibility, visible units can hide again 
by moving into heavy cover (normally deep woods or buildings).

FIRING. With SIMPLE firing, the only difference between direct and indirect 
fire is that direct requires line of sight. With COMPLEX firing, short and 
long ranges are determined for each weapon (roughly the first and last 
quarter of the range). Direct fire has increased armour penetration at short 
range and decreased AP at long range. Indirect fire cannot target units 
within short range, and suffers an accuracy penalty at long range.

TERRAIN DAMAGE. When this is active, shots that do more than 60 damage have 
a chance of affecting the terrain. Buildings can be ruined, bridges broken 
and flat land turned into craters.


GAME PHASES
-----------
Each round of the game is divided into a number of phases which follow the 
order:

PLAYER 1 ORDERS PHASE (1st round only)
PLAYER 2 ORDERS PHASE
PLAYER 1 FIRE PHASE
PLAYER 1 MOVEMENT PHASE
PLAYER 2 FIRE PHASE
PLAYER 1 FIRE PHASE
PLAYER 1 ORDERS PHASE
PLAYER 2 FIRE PHASE
PLAYER 2 MOVEMENT PHASE
PLAYER 1 FIRE PHASE
PLAYER 2 FIRE PHASE
REPORT PHASE

The extra orders phase in the first round is just to make sure that player 
1's units don't get into combat without any orders.


ORDERS PHASE
------------
The orders phase starts with an overview of the battlefield. The overview 
map shows your units, your objectives (if any), all enemy units which are 
visible and any visible mines. Units and objects (objectives and mines) can 
be turned off to show the terrain underneath. 

When you exit the overview, you will step through each of your units in turn 
with the opportunity to change its orders. This is the first time you will 
see the main game screen. On the right is the close-up map, centred on the 
unit and showing 5 squares in each direction. All visible units are shown, 
with a small red arrow indicating which way they are facing. Top left are 
some of the unit's statistics, and bottom left are the controls. In this 
phase, the controls are buttons for the five types of orders. The other 
phases have similar displays but with different stats and controls.

The orders for a unit determine which actions it can perform during the 
turn, and how effective it will be in close combat. Some units can only be 
given certain orders. The orders are:
MANOEUVRE: Units on manoeuvre get their full movement and can fire normally 
but have no combat bonuses.
ADVANCE: Units on advance have their movement reduced by a third but have a 
small combat bonus.
DEFEND: Defending units cannot move, although they can fire normally. They 
get a large combat bonus.
RESERVE: Units in reserve will recover strength and morale. They cannot move 
or fire, and have no combat bonus.
SNAP FIRE: Units on snap fire get extra shots during the enemy movement 
phase. They will automatically fire at any unit which assaults them, and 
will also fire at one other enemy unit if it moves. The target unit is 
chosen by the computer according to its position and cover, the idea being 
to pin units so that they are fired upon if they emerge from cover. Units on 
snap fire cannot move and have no combat bonus.

Units with BROKEN morale are restricted to manoeuvre or reserve orders. When 
a unit's morale changes to BROKEN, it will automatically be placed on 
manoeuvre.

When you've selected the orders you want, click on NEXT to step to the next 
unit. If you've given all the orders you want to before reaching the last 
unit, click on EXIT.


FIRE PHASE
----------
During the fire phase, the game will step through each of the units which 
can fire. Different units have different rates of fire, so they won't all be 
available in the same phase. Those with a ROF of 1 fire in the phase before 
your movement phase, those with ROF 2 fire in the other two phases, and 
those with ROF 3 fire in all three.

Click on the direction arrows to scroll the map. The unit which is firing is 
marked with a red frame, so that if you scroll too far and get lost you can 
find it again.

When you move the pointer over the map, it will turn into a crosshair. Move 
it over the unit you want to shoot and press the left mouse button. WARNING: 
Friendly fire is possible! If you target one of your own units, the computer 
won't stop you. The message line at the bottom of the map will report the 
success of your shot: hit, miss or deflected by armour. If you hit, a second 
message will appear if the unit is destroyed.

Firing accuracy is affected by terrain; it is increased if your unit is on 
high elevation, and decreased if the target unit is in cover.

When the unit has fired, the game will automatically step to the next unit. 
If you want to skip a unit, click on the NEXT button. If you want to end the 
phase before all your units have fired, click on EXIT.


MOVEMENT PHASE
--------------

The movement phase control panel is similar to that for the fire phase, but 
with a few additions. Under the statistics list is a line which shows 
whether a unit is a transporter or transportable. If it is a transporter and 
is carrying another unit, the icon for that unit is also shown.

Similar to the fire phase, there are 8 direction arrows, but for the 
movement phase there are three other icons next to them. These are explained 
below. Also, a copy of the unit icon and its facing arrow are shown in the 
centre of the direction buttons.

The three icons on the left select the MODE: Observation (eye symbol), 
Change Facing (8 small arrows, like a chaos symbol) and Move (large arrow). 
The mode determines the effect of the direction buttons. Whenever you change 
mode, the map will be re-centred on the current unit. The mode setting 
remains as last set when you change to a new unit.

In Observation mode, the direction arrows scroll the map freely, without 
affecting the current unit. You can plan your route, check on the positions 
of supporting units and look for the enemy.

In Change Facing mode, clicking on a direction arrow will turn the unit to 
face in that direction. This costs points (one point for turning up to 90 
degrees and two points for more than 90 degress), and should only be used 
after the unit has finished moving, since facing changes automatically when 
a unit moves.

In Move mode, the direction arrows move the unit. Movement is points based 
and the number of points remaining is one of the stats shown in the top 
left. Provided the unit is able to move onto the target terrain type, and 
has enough points, the unit will move, otherwise a message will appear 
telling you why movement is impossible.

If the target square contains mines, they will react depending on the type 
of unit. Normal units set off the mines, taking damage and making the mines 
visible to both sides. Airborne units will spot the mines, making them 
visible only to the side which owns the unit. Engineers will remove the 
mines. Engineers will also repair damaged bridges or roads if moved onto 
them, but all of these actions require extra movement points.

You cannot move on top of one of your own units except to load a 
transportable unit into a transport. This will end its move, but it will 
appear in the next movement phase. Move the unit if you wish to unload it, 
leave it alone if you wish to leave it in the transport. Units in transport 
cannot fire, and do not appear in the orders phase; they are automatically 
on manoeuvre orders.

If you attempt to move onto an enemy unit, an assault will take place. If 
your unit loses, it will stay where it is. If it wins, the enemy unit will 
retreat and your unit will take its place. A unit that cannot retreat (all 
directions are blocked by units or impassable terrain) will be overrun and 
destroyed.

As well as the assault values of the two units, the following stats have an 
effect on assault: Morale, relative elevation (eg attacking from hillside to 
flat ground), and facing (rear attacks are most effective, frontal attacks 
least effective). A unit on less than 50% of its original strength will also 
have its assault reduced.

As well as both sides taking the appropriate damage, the winning unit will 
increase in morale and the losing unit will decrease in morale. One 
exception to this is that a unit on less than a quarter of its original 
strength cannot increase its morale, either by winning assaults or 
reserving. For the unit to increase in morale, it must be left in reserve 
until it is back above a quarter strength.

A NOTE ABOUT DIAGONAL MOVEMENT: If a wargame map has to be divided, most 
people prefer hexes to squares. Hexes offer six directions of equal distance 
whereas squares either give four equal directions, or eight directions with 
longer diagonals, which is more difficult to work with. However, the 
combination of points-based movement and the computer to do the calculations 
makes the latter option quite easy. A simple bit of trig shows that for a 
square with sides of 1, the diagonal is SQRT(2), about 1.42. So, for 
diagonal movement, the computer uses 1.5 times the movement cost, rounded 
down. This isn't perfect but it's close enough and tends to average out over 
a whole movement phase. Firing distances are calculated similarly, so if a 
unit fires at an enemy five squares up and five squares to the left, it 
needs a range of 7.

The movement phase will step through all units which still have movement 
points available. Unlike the other phases, the movement phase will 'wrap 
around', going back to the first unit after you click NEXT on the last unit. 
It will only exit automatically if all your units have used all their 
movement. Otherwise, it will keep going until you click on EXIT.


REPORT PHASE
------------
The report phase presents a screen of statistics on the two armies. The 
initial and current army sizes are given both in terms of number of units 
and total strength. If objectives are used, the number of objectives held by 
each side is also shown. The last column of each row gives the current value 
of each of these statistics as a percenage of the initial values.

The report phase is there to help the players decide whether victory 
conditions have been achieved. Victory conditions are not handled by the 
computer, but are left to the players to decide; the game itself will not 
stop even if both armies are totally destroyed.

There are three options along the bottom of the screen. SAVE saves the 
current position as a standard .WAR file, which can then be loaded into the 
program like any other scenario. Orders are not saved, but as when starting 
a new game, each player will have an orders phase at the beginning. CONTINUE 
begins the next round. Finally, QUIT terminates the game. There is no 
confirmation in the current version, as soon as you click on QUIT you will 
return to the desktop, so be careful not to click on it accidentally.


Ross McNaughton, July 1994
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