THE DECLINE OF THE MORENORIAN KINGDOM Suddenly, the group of riders came to a halt at the top of the hill. The voyagers were treated to an incredible view of Palm Village, the Capital, in the evening sun. The towers of the palace were mirrored in the waters of the bay. One had a feeling as if the water had a magical reflection, shimmering like a golden shield to protect the town from all dangers. This vision enchanted the prince as well as his guard. For a moment all problems during the voyage had been forgotten. "Home again," Cirion, Crown Prince of Morenor, thought. In his mind he once again saw the events of the weeks before... He had been on an extensive voyage through the neighbouring islands when his father's message had reached him. He begged Cirion to come back home in order to help him with government affairs. Aldor, King of Morenor, wrote: "Your years of adventure are over. It is time for you to accept your responsibility as a crown prince, and you should slowly prepare for reigning alone. As our magicians still haven't discovered the secret to eternal life, some day your time will come."Furthermore, Alder told his son about current unrest in the kingdom and that he was in need of a strong helping hand. In addition to that, Dalrin, the court magician, discovered that the balance between good and bad had shifted towards the latter. "The presence of a mighty demon shifts its influence to the material level," were Dalrin's words. Reluctantly, but obediently and completely aware of the situation, Cirion started his voyage home. Meanwhile he was thinking about how easy life would be if his older brother, Logan, was still alive. Logan had died during the last union war, trying to save the queen from the rebels who had entered the palace. Since then Aldor and Cirion had been alone, but the painful loss of his wife had turned the king into an embittered man. He and Cirion separated after heavy disputes. Cirion, nevertheless, felt that the situation required the abandonment of all personal grudges. During the long voyage home he had heard lots of rumors about hordes of monsters and gangs of robbers marching around Morenor, dead people rising from their graves and the old tribes quarreling like in former times. Cirion did not give too much belief to these stories. But when he finally reached Cliffport, he had to concede that thousands of people were escaping from the kingdom by ship and that their number was increasing daily. It had cost him much time (and a lot of gold) to convince a ship-broker to bring him and his escort to Morenor. Arriving in Porttown (there were no more ships sailing to the capital itself), the horrifying reality was far worse than all rumors: Gigantic tracks of refugees were moving all over the country. Thieves and plunderers were everywhere. He was faced with a picture of terror... Suddenly he was disturbed in his thoughts, as his horse uneasily shook its head. He wanted to calm it down, when he realized what the animal had detected. A few seconds later a group of Orcs came out of the surrounding brushwood and encircled the riders. When the Orcs drew their short swords, the soldiers realized that they were hopelessly inferior to the enemy. "We are going to beat them without you", said Dorian, the captain of the escort to the prince. "Rubbish, I will stay with you", protested Cirion. The officer desperately tried to explain the seriousness of the situation to the crown prince: "My Lord, the kingdom needs you!!! The country needs a strong man. My lord, you could ride to the town and search for help! " "Any other soldier can do that. I don't want to leave you alone." "Sir, you have got the fastest horse, please ride. If not for you, then at least for me." Cirion accepted reluctantly: "All right, but take care that you all remain in good shape." "Of course, My lord.", said Dorian and rushed towards the Orcs with a fighting scream. His men followed him. The experienced soldiers soon had torn a gap into the row of monsters, from which Cirion's horse galloped towards the saving valley. When the prince turned around, he could clearly see that all members of his escort had been killed. He thought about returning but then he realized the necessity of his action. He was still occupied with these thoughts when a long, black-feathered Orc arrow drilled into his left shoulder with incredible power, smashing the armor on his back. Dazed with pain, Cirion desperately tried to stay in the saddle. Somehow he managed not to fall off the horse. Finally he saw the gates of the town in front of him. He got off his horse with- the intention to call the guard, but the pain overpowered him. He sank down to the ground. A tower guard noticed the bent figure and sent out an alarm. After a short time, some of the men from the guard crew took care of the prince. As soon as they recognized him, they proceeded to escort him to the palace. On the way there, Cirion awoke from his unconsciousness and demanded they let him walk alone. When Dalrin appeared in the entrance of the palace, the soldiers followed his instructions. The eyes of the court magician widened with horror as he saw the prince's wound. "My Lord, you must lie down at once, so that I can dress your wound!" demanded Dalrin (quite a young man for a magician of his quality). "I can wait until I have seen my father," Cirion replied. His voice was weak, hut his will was like iron. "I see that you are still a stubborn man. All right, follow me to the king's bedroom!", Dalrin said and turned to the stairs. The prince laboriously climbed the steps. Finally he reached the king's bedroom and sat down in an armchair hastily fetched by a servant. Suddenly, Dalrin stepped behind him and tore the arrow out of his shoulder with a very fast move. Again he was flooded by a wave of pain, which died down as the magician let his powers work on the wound. When Cirion was able to think clearly again his look fell on his father. Instantly, the prince recognized his father's physical condition. His skin was as white as a sheet, the face small and thee hands trembling. "Father", the successor to the throne stuttered, "I did not know that you were in such a had state of health. If I had known about your illness I would certainly have...", but the king replied with a trembling voice: "You could not have done anything for me. But it is good that you are back again, because the country needs you." Alder wanted to start again, but he was too exhausted to speak. "It is the demon. He wants to poison the king.", Cirion heard the magician whisper. "Why don't you do anything against it?" said the prince as he jumped from his armchair. But a movement from his father made him calm down at once. "Dalrin does his best, but even nine more great magicians would not be enough to fight against a demon," Alder explained. "Probably I would be of better use for you if I were a zombie," the magician remarked sharply. But the king shook his head vigorously thought that this problem had been solved." When he saw Cirion's unappreciative look, he added: "Dalrin had consented to reach the state of undeath by magic, to fight against the demon. Yet as long as I am alive none of my citizens will be allowed to take such a fate voluntarily." When he heard these words, Cirion realized how much the magician tried to use his powers in favor of the king and how much he had done Dalrin wrong. He wanted to apologize, but the magician was too busy arguing with the king: "That's exactly the point: as long as you live. I am afraid that it will not be long before you die." "Dalrin, I beg you to stop this. You should better take care of my son. From now on he will be the leader of this country, until I am able to reign again," Aldor said. "1...," he started again, but was interrupted by a soldier from the palace guard who rushed into the room, gasping. "Sioux City is fallen! The rebels have stormed it with a gigantic army. Now they are on the way down here!" With these words, the guard fell into an armchair. For a long while his heavy breath was the only sound that could be heard in the room. Finally, the king said, "Palm Village is all that remains for us. Let's get ready." He wanted to get out of his bed. "Cirion, my boy, come and help me up." Dalrin protested, but Aldor could not be dissuaded from the idea of passing the following difficult hours on his legs. The whole town prepared for the decisive battle. Neither moon nor stars were visible. Cirion, who walked on the walls around the town, could not see anything apart from the torches on the watchtowers . "The darkness is not natural. They try to hide their forward movements with magic powers," said Dalrin, who had stepped behind the prince. "How many magicians might they need to darken such a big area?", asked Cirion. "A demon's ways of power are nearly inexhaustible," explained the magician, "It is hopeless. If we gave up, we could save many people's lives." "Better be dead than the servant of a demon!" , the prince exclaimed. "Yes, you can make this decision for you, but can you also do it for all the others who are your citizens?" Dalrin mumbled. "What's the matter with you, Dalrin? I remember you as a brave man. The stories about you sound more adventurous than the ones about other heroes of the country, my father included. Suddenly you are attached to your life?", Cirion challenged him. "Until now, I have always seen a chance. But today...', the magician replied and turned to walk away. He had not gone very far, when the sound of wings filled the night. It sounded as if the whole sky was full of gigantic birds. Cirion was paralyzed with dismay, his head filled with the sound. He knew that only one animal flies in this way. He wanted to go undercover, to hide his body from the cruel eyes which now appeared in the night, but he was stiffened like a board. Dalrin recognized the situation immediately. After he had got over the initial horror, his call spread across the whole town: "DRAGONS ! ! !" Suddenly the unnatural darkness disappeared. The moon came forward and uncovered the huge army of the opponents. Everywhere soldiers rushed over the walls. Everybody was ready to defend the town against evil forces... After several hours of fighting, the defender ' defeat slowly became inevitable. During a short combat break in which Cirion relaxed from the heavy fighting, Dalrin came up to him, covered with blood, and shouted: "Prince, we give up the town and try to flee the country. It makes no more sense." Cirion nodded tiredly as he too recognized the hopeless situation. As he got up from the stone, he heard the signal for the escape. Chaos broke out everywhere and he had difficulties in keeping an eye on the magician. Finally, he reached his father. "We never could have made it. The demon queen Medusa herself is the leader of the army," said the king bitterly. "Medusa...," began Cirion, who broke off when he remembered the horrible stories about Medusa. Really, it could hardly have been worse. "We have got to leave at once or they will catch us," urged Dalrin, and when the king nodded the group of survivors sneaked out of the town and tried to get away unrecognized in the dark. They had already ridden for a long time when suddenly Cirion's horse jolted and slung its rider to the ground. The prince tried to rouse himself in order to stay behind the group. Then he saw a huge red dragon rush down from the sky towards the riders. He wanted to give a warning call when he noticed Dalrin stretch out his arms. Moments later, a mighty fireball left Dalrin's hands. The dragon cried in pain when the fireball struck him. Yet he still came closer to the group. It looked as if the dragon wanted to fly right through the riders, but before he collided he opened his gigantic throat and let the men feel his fire. Once again a mighty flash came out of Dalrin's hands. Then everything was on fire. The dragon, heavily wounded, dug a channel into the ground where he landed. Cirion rode towards the inferno. Suddenly a human figure tumbled out of the fire. It waved its right hand, and the flames were extinguished. The prince got off his horse and recognized the figure as Dalrin, who fell to the ground covered with soot. A quick look at the remainders of the group was enough for him to realize that any possible help had come too late. It was already a miracle that Dalrin had survived the burning. "My Lord, there is a possibility of defeating Medusa. You have to...", said Dalrin who was interrupted by some heavy coughing. "Dalrin, tell me about that later. First we must get away from here", said the prince as he tried to calmed him down. "No, No," Dalrin croaked energetically, "I will be gone very soon. You've got to take care of restoring the kingdom. Promise me that!" "Yes, yes, I promise. For my father, for you and for me." "Then listen!" Dalrin's voice was hardly audible. "There once was a magician who fought against Medusa successfully. He did this with the help of five rings which were distributed all over the country after his death. If you manage to find these five rings, you could beat Medusa with the help of a huge army. So, remain incognito, find a new group of men, and search for the rings. That is the last chance for the people of this country. I hope you are not angry about the fact that I will not be with you during this task. You are now King of Morenor. "After these words Dalrin moved upwards again, but then every spark of life left his body. Cirion tried in vain to bring the magician's corpse back to life. "King? King of what? Dalrin, you make it very easy for yourself leaving me here alone. But nevertheless, I will do what you have said. I will search for the rings and, if it is possible, I will take revenge for all of you..."God shall bless me !!!" Loading Instructions: Installation Instructions: To install place the diskette in your A: (or B:) drive. Type A: (or B:) and press the ENTER key. Type INSTALL and press the ENTER key. Follow the on-screen directions. 1. Aim of the game The player, who takes the role of the young prince is forced to stop Medusa's advance and to reunite the split kingdom. To reach that, he must fight against the goddess Medusa and defeat her. As the opponent is a goddess, the player is not able to find her anywhere in the country. He can only call her when he finds 5 rings, puts them together in a temple and forces Medusa to face a fight. The basic task is, therefore, the search for the 5 rings. Unfortunately the prince only has very little energy, so the starting conditions do not look very good. First, he has to earn some money to afford an army which he needs to find the rings. This causes more problems which the player incurs in the course of the game. 2. Point of entry The player has severe financial problems which means that he must first collect some money. There are several possibilities: - Trade - Attack caravans - Search for raw materials, find and exploit them - Conquer towns and plunder the treasuries - Find kings' treasures - Gamble in the casino 3. Description of the program's function On each screen, there is an information box and an options menu. The information box tells you about the position and the subsoil on which the player is standing (e.g. swamp, forest...). Furthermore, the information box comprises a calendar. The player is therefore always able to see how much time is left until he has to pay the next wages. The options menu comprises many function fields and a revolving information field in the middle of the menu. It is not always possible to click on all functions. Depending on the situation, there are always a few which are available. The hatched fields are temporarily not selectable. First, the description of the single functions: (from left to right) SAVING: Can only be clicked on in a town and can be used to save a game. NOTICE PAD: Also only in a town, player can write notices, (e.g. the coordinates of an island). BUYING: Serves to buy selected things. MAXIMUM: A switch in combination with buying or selling, i.e. all possible 'articles are bought or sold. Position of the switch is visible on the mouse pointer. Switch off by clicking on MAXIMUM again. DOOR: Serves in most cases to leave special situations or places. OK: To answer a question, player clicks on here, if the question shall be answered with a "yes" (e.g. Enter Town XYZ ?). RETREAT: Serves to call back the selected unit in the fighting screen. ATTACK: Make unit attack in the fighting screen. Otherwise attack in general (e.g. of a town, bank or a castle). INCREASE: Serves to adjust the speed in the fighting screen, in which the fight takes place. Also a possibility while adjusting the money value during NEGOTIATIONS (see below). SEARCH: Send out scouts to search for raw materials or treasure. RESTORE: Serves to restore a saved game. Only possible in a town. TOWN INFORMATION: Gives you information about the town you are in. SELL: With this function, the player can sell his goods. Also in connection with MAXIMUM. MORE GOODS: Helps you to search inside the WAREHOUSE. TREASURE: Shows you the known coordinates of a treasure. NOT OKAY: Like OKAY, helps you to answer questions. NEGOTIATIONS: During the fighting you can make negotiations to avoid an armed conflict whenever possible. DECREASE: Opposite of INCREASE. MINE: You can open a mine Furthermore, there is an information field in the centre of the option menu, in which you can adjust or read special things. There is also a green button in the upper left corner of the field, which makes the field rotate. Synchronization and effects can be switched on and off here. Program Parts The program can be divided up into three parts: Landscape, Town and Fight 4.1 Landscape In the landscape, the player can ride from one town to the other, open mines and find treasures. You have to pay attention to the fact that the player cannot ride over mountains. If the player is accompanied by an army, he has to make sure his soldiers receive their money on the first day of each month. The player therefore should always have enough money with him, so that he can pay for his army. The money which the player has on his account cannot be used for paying the soldiers' wages. Furthermore, there are two dangerous places for the army: a) On the one hand, the swamp, in which the player's army sinks when he does not have enough magicians with him to protect his army. Each magician is able to protect about 100 soldiers in the swamp. b) The same goes for the enchanted forest, except for the fact that each magician can only protect 50 soldiers. When he crosses the landscape, the player must further consider the fact that there are also some caravans of bandits traveling around and that he could possibly bump into them. The player has the possibility of finding the enemy armies. This depends on the number of scouts the player takes with him. The more scouts he has, the bigger is the radius in which he can see his enemies. During the search for treasures and raw materials, the search radius decreases as the search for these goods is much more difficult than the search for armies. But look out! During the search for raw materials or treasures the player can no longer move his army as he has to wait for the scouts. Moreover, he is not able to see his enemies as the scouts are being used elsewhere and can no longer enlighten the enemy's territory. If it should come to a fight during a phase of searching, the scouts are also not at the player's disposal. The player should nevertheless keep in mind that the scout's wages must be paid. If the player is lucky enough to find treasure or raw materials, he must open a mine. To do that, he needs a capital of 30,000 and a transport system which can be bought in any town. The transport system can be bought in the warehouse under the designation "machine". With the money and the machine, the player can open a mine (by going to the place chosen by the scouts and selecting the function "MINES"). If he has not exactly hit the place named by the scouts, it is possible that he will miss the raw material reserves. In this case the mine reveals soil and waste. If the player should now get the idea of filling his wagons with soil and waste, he will lose the corresponding number of wagons as nobody will be ready to buy the waste from him. But if he has found a raw material the mine will reveal this material until the space in the storehouse is filled or the reserves are exhausted. Each storehouse has room for 300 units of any raw material. The player has the possibility of building more storehouses, which would of course result in further costs. But the mine would be ready to reveal raw materials for a longer time. Moreover, the player does not need to fetch the raw materials so often, as the production will not have to cease because of overfilled storehouses. It is also possible for the player, if he has more machines with him, to build up to 3 conveyor towers per mine. This has the advantage of increasing the amount of the haul. As the player is only allowed to own a maximum of 20 mines at one time (because of the danger of a monopoly), he must always close exhausted mines when he wants to open new ones. If the player finds a treasure and wants to take it, he again needs, 30,000 capital and a transport system. In the case of treasure, there can be a ring but also a certain amount of money. Both are helpful to complete the game. On the big continent, 2 of the rings are hidden in the treasures. 2 more rings are in the treasures on the islands and another ring is hidden among an army which is to be defeated. 4.2 The Town In town every player can buy or sell goods, gamble in the casino, buy armies, go to the bank and so on. All player options are placed in separate houses. If you want to enter a house, you just have to click on the appropriate house. A player can compare prices and make decisions because the clock is stopped. The Harbor: The harbor can only be found in towns situated by the sea or rivers. Here the player can do everything concerning the ships of his fleet he can buy new ships, enlist sailors, and order them to go to sea. There's also information on the loading capacity of the three different transport options. You can choose between wagons, cargo or battleships. The adequate mark informs you of the loading capacity of each means of conveyance if the chosen goods are loaded on to it. If each wagon has a loading capacity of 80 goods, the score would indicate 50 p.c. if the player has 40 goods at this time. If he has a loading capacity of 800 goods on his cargo ship, the score of the cargo ships would indicate 5 percent at the same quantity of goods. The distinction of cargo and battleships is very important. Cargo ships carry goods and perhaps wagons; battleships carry soldiers only. If the player wants to put out to sea, there are two possibilities: a) If he just sets sail with his cargo ships, then he can't enter other harbors and continue the game on land, because he has left his army behind. This situation is only good for trading. b) He carries his armies on his battleships, so he can go ashore at every town. This is important so you can find the treasures on the islands. If the player puts to sea he has to keep an eye on the wages of the sailors; they want to be paid punctually on the first of the month. He can also give an order to build new ships. The construction of a ship takes 3 months so the player should order it early enough. He can choose between different ships, each of which has advantages. When the ship is finished, the player gets a message that he can pick it up in the town where it has been built. Before he can go to sea with this ship he has to enlist sailors to form a crew. The player has to enter the pub and enlist the sailors by offering money. The more money he offers the more sailors will be interested in the job. "Wages/month" are found on the left hand of the screen. By clicking the mouse pointer to the top or bottom the given value can be changed. Underneath, the player can see how many people are interested in the bid. If the player offers 20 per month for example, there might be five people who are interested. If he enlists these five people, he has to pay 100 per month. If he offers again 20 per month there will be no one interested, because everyone who wanted to work for 20 per month is already enlisted. The wages have to be raised, for example, to 25 per month Then there might be a new sailor who is interested in the job. If the player had not enlisted the sailors for 20 per month, these sailors would be interested in the jobs further on. It is important that the player only enlists 3 of 7 interested sailors for a wage and then raises or lowers the wage, or even leaves the pub, so that the remaining sailors are disappointed and leave the pub themselves. This means that they are not to be enlisted anymore. On the right side of the printed form you can see how many sailors are needed. "NEEDED" From "wages" you know how much you have to pay for the chosen ship per month. The Store: Here the player can buy or sell goods. On the left hand side of the screen you can see the price and quantity. On the right you can see your own cargo. The player can adjust the quantity of the goods in the middle of the screen so you can buy or sell the articles. The prices of the articles are calculated on the numbers of citizens, which is variable. If there is a huge population in this town at the moment, the prices are very high because the demand is according to the population. At the same time the production of goods in this town is at its maximum. You're able to look at the present population in the city information. There are differences in prices from town to town. If city X produces apples, this is the city where apples are cheaper than in any other town. In city Y, which could be far away, apples are expensive (the further away the city, the more expensive). In the store, as in the harbor, there is also a chart of the loading capacity of each means of transportation. The Bank: In the bank the player can make his money transactions. There's just one bank system in the whole kingdom; one office in every town. If the player pays in money to a bank of Town X, he can withdraw it in any other town. The player can pay in or withdraw money on his account and he can take a credit. In the beginning, the bank offers an initial starting loan of 3000. If the player takes just a part of the loan he has no claim to rest of the credit. The player has to pay the interest, of course. He'll see the amount of interest in every bank's business rates and conditions. He has to pay interest on his bank account and loans. Caution: The local traders at the store support the bank. The player won't get his goods from the traders if he doesn't pay the loans (but he can buy on credit for 3 months until the traders stop business with him). He should go to the bank immediately and pay the loan. The bank decides if he is worthy of credit. He has to have the appropriate security in goods; money is not an equivalent in this case. He can look at the respective credit margin in "credit scope." The Park: The player can buy soldiers for his army in the park but he has to observe several things. The army is subdivided into 7 parts: Infantry, cavalry, artillery, scouts, dragonriders, wizards and archers. Each unit has advantages and disadvantages which depend upon the fighting ground. For example, the dragonriders are very good in the swamp because they are able to fly; the other units would sink. On the other hand, the dragonriders are bad in the forest. They can't reach and fight the infantry on the ground because of the dense forest. The selection of races in also very important for the strength of the army. If the player takes the huge and clumsy giants as his scouts, they won't achieve as much as the little, agile elves. There are 10 races and each one has different levels of the 5 qualities: 100 means maximum, 0 minimum Strength Courage Endurance Agility Intelligence Human 50 50 50 50 50 ELF 40 37 28 75 70 Dwarf 64 67 81 22 17 Halfling 34 24 42 92 58 Orc 79 33 75 44 19 Gnome 16 33 26 89 86 Giant 99 27 91 19 14 Troll 92 32 87 21 18 Ogre 85 39 79 31 16 Zwark 18 40 32 81 79 This next chart shows which qualities are important for each unit (e.g. Scouts don't have to be strong, but they have to be clever): 1 is not important, and 5 is very important Strength Courage Endurance Agility Intelligence Infantry 5 5 5 1 1 Cavalry 1 5 1 5 3 Artillery 1 5 1 3 5 Scout 1 1 5 5 5 Dragonriders 3 5 3 3 3 Magicians 1 1 1 5 5 Archers 1 5 3 5 3 The following chart clarifies which unit is best for different scenarios (the higher the value the better the unit): Plain Forest Magic Forest Hill Swamp Infantry 10 10 5 8 8 Cavalry 20 5 3 15 3 Artillery 10 3 1 15 1 Scouts 8 20 8 15 15 Dragonrider 20 3 1 20 20 Magicians 8 10 20 15 20 Archers 20 3 1 10 8 The player should attempt to put the correct race with the correct unit; otherwise, the strength of the army decreases. There is a limited number of people available in every town. The young must grow up before they are able to fight, so it is possible that the people of one race are not available yet. In the "TOWN INFORMATION" you can see how many people are available. In the park the player gets to know how much money he has to pay for his armies and sailors in a month (total wages). He can see the salary of a unit for each month. Underneath that he finds the chart of the composition of his army. On the right hand side he sees the training condition of the army which consists of the respective races. This training condition determines the power of the army. The training conditions can be improved by training in the castles. TRAINING: The training happens only in castles. Here every part of the army can be trained for different uses. The training costs money, but it's worth it. The user functions are the same as in the score. WEAPONS: Here the player is able to equip his army with additional weapons, in order to increase the fighting strength of the units. He can purchase armors, weapons and extras. It should he clear that an army without armors, weapons and other equipment is much weaker than a perfectly equipped one. PALACE: The player is only able to enter the palace when he has attacked and conquered the surrounding town. Then he can plunder the treasury, i.e. collect the people's taxes. The taxes depend upon the total city population. BARRACKS: The player is only allowed to enter the barracks when he possesses a town. If he has taken a town, the other caravans strive for the recovery of this town. Therefore, the player should leave a part of his army in the barracks as a reinforcement for his newly conquered town. The screen is again separated into two halves. On the left there is your own army, on the right the town army. Now you can transfer parts of your army to and from. On the right edge of the screen there are several beams which describe the time delay after which the corresponding unit joins the fighting when the town gets attacked. In this way, the player can order his people in a defense plan of the town by setting up a strategy for the people's actions. It is, for example, wise for the artillery to start shooting at once after an attack by the enemy. The dragonriders should probably start a little bit later to reach the enemy lines together with the infantry. The more left the line on the display, the earlier the corresponding units start the fighting. When the beam is on the far right side, the player's army waits for the enemy attack. To develop a good fighting strategy it is useful to analyze the computer opponent and go ahead in a similar way whenever possible (very difficult). STABLE: In the stable, the player can purchase transportation for his goods. A complete set consists of two horses and a wagon. Each provides room for a maximum of 80 goods. The user's control is the same as in the "STORE" . PUB: Inside the pub, the player has a possibility of playing a card game similar to "Black Jack". The rules are as follows: Ace(A) = 11 Dame (O) = 3 Ten= 10 Eight = 8 King (K) = 4 Jack (8) = 2 Nine = 9 Seven = 7 Double Aces always wins. Before taking a card, the player must place his bet. The player has won when he has more points than the computer, but not more than 21. (the only exception is two Aces, which always win). To reach that he can take as many cards as he likes. Should there be a draw, the computer wins. The player always begins. He takes a card by selecting from the stack of cards. If he thinks he has enough points, he must select the canceled deck of cards. He can decide the amount of his bet by clicking on coins of different values. In case of a victory, the player gets back twice the amount of his bet. If he loses, his money goes to the bank. If he wants to leave the pub, he must click on the door in the lower right corner. TEMPLE: In the temple you receive information about the treasure which is situated in the corresponding part of the country. Unfortunately, the priests inside each temple do not know exact location of the treasure. Therefore, you will only hear rumors about the possible location. The actual place can sometimes differ considerably from the named one. You will also just receive just one geographical coordinate. You can get two more coordinates by conquering another town inside the same part of the screen. You will get to know about this town in the connected temple. Another possibility of finding a treasure is to find a big area with one coordinate and to search through this area carefully. If you have received all three coordinates, they will form a triangle with the treasure lying in the inner field. The more coordinates you receive the smaller the vicinity search. You can also get player information in the temple, i.e. how many rings and how many mines, ships etc. you own. You must set the found rings in a five pointed star inside the temple of your choice (simply click on an empty space). With every ring you set in the temple, you will receive magic skills: 1st ring: The player gets a display of his own strength and the strength of the opponent's army during a fight. Therefore, it is easier to choose a strategy, as the player can now see which unit is currently strong. 2nd ring: The player gets to know which goods are produced in which town. Therefore he also knows where to get which product at the cheapest prices. This information is displayed in the corresponding "TOWN INFORMATION". With that, his trading becomes much more efficient. 3rd ring: The player does not need any more scouts to explore the surrounding country, i.e. he can see all enemies, not depending on the distance and the number of the scouts he has around him. Therefore traveling from town to town is not as dangerous. 4th ring: The strength of the player's army is increased by 50%. This is very useful for the final fight against Medusa. 5th ring: As soon as he sets in the fifth ring, the player calls the Medusa, who now accepts a challenge to the final duel. JEWELER: Here the player can sell the precious raw materials which he has excavated in his mines, There are very considerable price differences. It is not useful to sell right beside the mine, as the prices will be very low. The player should instead transport the raw materials to a place where it is not possible to find them. He cannot trade with raw materials, i.e. they cannot be bought, just sold. Once again, all adjustments are taken in the "STORE" . 4.3 CASTLE Besides the towns there are also a few castles, which all have the same purpose of educating a player's army and to improve his state of training. To get inside a castle, it must be attacked and conquered. 5.0 The player's army can fight against opposing armies, ships, castles or towns. Therefore, the following configurations are possible: 5.1 Fight Army. < - > Army If you, bump into an opponent's figure with your own figure, it comes, to a fight between the two parties. The player's army is on the left side, the opponent's on the right side, Unfortunately, the number of soldiers the opponent has is not known. Because of that you will be asked at the beginning whether you want to send out your scouts to learn about your opponent's strength. This costs a lot of money, but it is well worth it. If you do not have any scouts, this is, of course, not possible. To learn about the exact calculation of the fighting, strength, refer to the section "PARK". When the fighting starts, the player has two possibilities: 1) He can send single units into the fight (select unit and click on attack) or he can call them back (select unit and click on retreat). During an attack the armies start moving forward, which the players can follow on the upper edge of the screen. Only when units of his own army meet units of the opponent's army can a proper fight proceed; The units involved in the fight are shown in red. The number of casualties depends on the player's own strength and his opponent's strength, as well as the number of soldiers. One exception is the artillery unit. If it gets the order for an attack, it opens fire at once, which directly results in casualties for the opponent. The same goes for the opponent's artillery unit. The fighting continues until one army has lost, i.e. has no more people. If the player should lose the fight he loses everything he has with him, except his wagons. Nevertheless, the bank is willing to hand out the starting loan of 3000 again. An already existing bank account will not be touched. If the player wins the fight he will receive all the money which the opponent's caravan possesses. 2) The player avoids a fight. This happens by clicking on "Negotiations'. But, he has only one chance. Failed negotiations cannot be started again. One possibility: Either he uses a bluff and boasts that he is the strongest, or he bribes the opponent with money (adjust with ''lncrease' or Decrease"). The opponent sometimes falls for the bluff, but not always. This depends on the opponent's own superiority. During the bribery, the player should not be too cautious with his money. When he loses a fight all the money will go to the enemy. The amount of the bribe also depends on the number of the player's army compared to the opponent's army. If the player has attacked a caravan more than five times he is no longer able to enter the caravan's home town. As it will no longer trade with him. The same goes for the situation in which a player has attacked a town directly. 5.2 Fight Army <-> Town or Town <-> Army If the player attacks a town or a castle. the same rules apply as in 5.1 Fight Army <-> Army. Should the player win, he takes over the town/ castle. Naturally, not every castle or town is the same size. The size of a town or a castle can be seen in the screen graphics, and also in the "TOWN INFORMATION". Big towns have more soldiers to defend themselves than smaller towns. If a player's town is attacked by an opponent's army, the player does not have any influence on the outcome. He can only rely on his strategy (see BARRACKS) and hope that he will win. 5.3 Fight Ship <-> Ship If two ships bump into each other on the map. a sea battle begins. In this case, the outcome is dependent upon how many cannons are at the player's disposal. The battleships, of course have an advantage over the merchant ships. The player now faces one ship representing the opponent's fleet. His task is to hit this ship as often as possible. This can be influenced by two things: the shooting angle and the powder amount. The shooting angle can be changed by clicking on the cannon in the centre of the screen. On the right center of the screen, you can see a section of the cannon. First you must fill the cannon with powder by clicking on the powder barrel on the left side. The powder now must be visible inside the section. The powder must be stuffed, by clicking on the stuffer on the far left side. This action must also be visible in the cross-section. If you want to increase the shooting distance, the cannon must be filled with more powder. If you have used enough powder, the cannon-ball will be loaded by clicking on it. Now the cannon should be ready for shooting, which is made possible by a fuse. If no fuse is visible, something has been done wrong (e.g. not enough powder etc.). But if everything has been performed properly, you can now fire the cannon by clicking on the flame and firing the slow match. Unfortunately, the player has to act in a limited space of time in which he should try to score as many hits as possible. When the time is over, the final results will appear on the screen. As the player has shot with one cannon that represents all cannons, the number of hits is multiplied with the number of cannons. This results in the total number of hits received to the opponent's fleet. Each ship needs 10 hits to sink. Therefore, one can ascertain in this way how many of one's own and how many of the opponent's ships have been sunk. If all of the player's own ships have been sunk by the opponent, his game is over because he drowns. If the player has destroyed all of the opponent's ships, he receives some money or maybe even a ring! Example of a possible start for "Rings of Medusa" 1. If one moves the mouse pointer into the options menu, the game will be stopped until one leaves the options menu again. This is very useful to reach negotiations during a fight, for example. The game's score should be saved on a special disk as often as possible. You prepare this by formatting an empty disk. Example of a successful start for the game: 1. Go to a bank and take a credit. 2. Purchase a wagon with horse in the stable. Example of a successful start for the game: 1. Go to a bank and take a credit. 2. Purchase a wagon with horse in the stable. 3. Trade with towns which are far apart from each other. 4. Always negotiate with the opponent in case of an attack. 5. Purchase scouts early in the game. 6. Write down coordinates and other important things in the Notice Pad.