**************************CONQUEST**************************
By RALPH EFFEMEY
The object of CONQUEST is simply to survive for one year in the land of
your choice. To do this you will need to rule wisely, strongly and efficiently.
Start the game by pressing any key when requested and enter your name. If
you don't give a name you will be allocated one!
If you have played before and survived a whole year you will have been
given the name of the next land to conquer; if not, then just press return
when requested.
You will now be asked to choose the attribute you prefer for your
character:-
MILITARY: This choice will give you a larger army but at the expense of
food and gold.
AGRICULTURAL: This will give you more seed corn and extra food.
THRIFTY: This choice will give you more gold but a smaller army.
GENEROUS: This will give your subjects good health and a high morale but at
the expense of gold in your coffers.
************************* MENU CHOICES ***********************
MAIN MENU:..........
ACTION:
BUY: Here you can buy extra food-if you have the enough gold!
SELL: Here you can sell your food-if your subjects have enough
gold.
SOW SEEDS: If you have enough free land you can sow your seeds to
increase your food supply.
REAP CROP: If your crop is ripe then you can gather your crop, but
you will have to allocate a number of villagers to this
task-and it takes time! The more villagers the quicker
the harvest.
BUILD HOUSES: The health and morale of your people depends on
their comfort and their comfort depends on how many houses
you build for them. But be warned, too many houses and they
become too satisfied! This will mean a massive increase in
the birth rate!!!
BUILD DEFENCES: The stronger your defences, the greater the likely-
hood of surviving an attack. Defences are built from trees.
LIVESTOCK: Livestock fend for themselves and do not consume any of
your food but can be a life saver in times of hardship.
TREES: Trees are one of your most treasured possessions. From them
you can build boats, houses and defences. Use them wisely!
INVENTOR: You should try and visit your inventor at least once every
other day if you have time. The items your inventor will
invent from time to time include crossbows (these will double
your fighting ability), a telescope (gives early warning of
an attack) and a hot air balloon (gives even earlier warning
of an attack).
BOATS: The number of boats you build effect the number of fish you
may catch.
FISHING: This is determined by the number of boats you have built.
(See above). You can only fish once a day-if your boats are in
good repair.
DISTRIBUTE FOOD: This is one of your most important actions and
should be your first action when starting. Let's explain-the
food in your warehouses is not available to your subjects
unless you make it available by distributing it!
All food bought and sold is done via your warehouses, except
when you sell food direct to your subjects.
Why distribute food for free when you can sell it?
The answer is simple...you sell food when you need gold, but
your subjects might not agree to buy the food and even if they
do they might not be able to raise the asking price which is
set by the simple formula of supply and demand. Also, giving
food away raises your rating as a kind and loving ruler and
your subjects will fight all the harder for you if the need
arises.
PEOPLE:.......
BIRTHS: This will give you the latest number of births in your
Kingdom. This is based on a variety of factors including
your subjects health, their comfort and, of course, the
number of subjects.
DEATHS: As above. Deaths will increase in winter so make sure you
have enough food and a large population!
INJURIES: Injuries can and will happen. If a soldier is injured he
will leave the army to recuperate.
COMBAT:.......
This the most important section as you will probably spend a great
deal of time in combat.
RECRUITMENT: This is the most cost effective way to build your army
but beware! You will be extremely lucky to recruit all the
men you ask for!
CONSCRIPTION: Desperate times call for desperate measures and this
way is desperate because you have to BUY your army! Not enough
gold and NO army!
TRAINING: Training takes 20 days. No more and no less! You can
defend in an untrained state but your army's effectiveness
will be reduced according to how long they still have to be
trained. You cannot launch an attack until you army is
fully trained.
DEFEND: Click on here when you want to defend your subjects from
attack. Depending on the inventions available to you, you
will receive varying degrees of warning of this.
ATTACK: If you feel the need, you can attack your neighbours.
You will be asked for your target and your campaign army
will make its own way to the target, attack and(if successful)
make its own way home. If you attack a village your army will
always be successful but if you attack a castle then it all
depends on the strength and skill of your army. The
advantages of attacking a castle is that you will almost
always pillage more food and you will empty the coffers of
gold!!!
SKIRMISHERS: Sending out skirmishers is a good idea if you have a
large army with men to spare because if they stumble across
any patrols of your enemy then they will attack. This reduces
the attacking army and helps your defence.
INSTRUCT SPY: Sending your spys to various locations will inform
you of the wealth of your neighbours. It's no good sending
your campaign army to a poor village! You have 5 spys but
each spy will only make one trip. For security reasons your spy will
only carry one message and this is information on the last
place he visited. If he meets the main army of your enemy
he will fight to escape-he may or may not be lucky!
SPY MESSAGE: Click here to read the message of your chosen spy.
SPY TRAINING: As ARMY above but spy training only takes 10 days.
HEALTH:......
HEALTH(ARMY): This tells you the number and state of health of
your army.
HEALTH(VILLAGERS): This tells you the number and state of health
of your villagers.
STATUS:.......
The STATUS menu will give an update on the following:
GOLD,FOOD,WATER,INVENTIONS,LIVESTOCK,BOATS,POPULATION,ARMY
ACREAGE,TREES,FOOD(in store),HOUSES,DEFENCES and DATE.
AND FINALLY.........
SURRENDER!!!....
QUIT: Self explanitory!
RE-START: Also self-explanitory!
INFO: Copyright etc.
HINTS 'n' TIPS.....
Don't give your subjects too much food-they'll multiply at an
alarming rate!
Visit your inventor as often as possible (but don't make a
nuisance of yourself!).
Keep checking your status screen.
You will experience all four seasons in the course of one year
assuming you last that long. So ensure you have built up your
population's health and number and have a large amount of
food in store. Remember, you cannot gather crops in winter or
fish because the water freezes over!
Have as large an army as you can afford-yes, you have to pay your
army so make sure you have enough gold!
Choose to attack targets fairly close to you if you can. The
reason for this is because your campaign army can occasionally
come under attack from bandits who will steal half your returning
army's plunder! The risk is reduced the smaller distance you have
to travel and the larger your campaign army.
Your subjects continually pay tax to you in return for you
protecting them from agressors. However, they can not pay you if they
run out of gold so don't ask them to buy too much food just to line
your own coffers!
Incidentally, "P" pauses the game so that you can go for a "P"!
************************ GOOD LUCK!!! **********************