Strego background story by Matthias Fink It is the year 1732. The murderous war between Ancalon and Evoria, the dominant powers on the three inhabited continents of planet Strego, has been raging for 120 years. The war of Ancalon against the dark kingdom Evoria has almost depleted the resources of the country. The victory of Evoria is in sight. Only new supply sources are able to avert catastrophic defeat of Ancalon. In desperation, King Chanoc of Anacalon decides to send his most loyal follower Prince Aran DiArnac to the final untapped fourth continent to search for the development of new land required to supply the kingdom and thus ensure victory. Before long, the fleet of the Empire has been be equipped. Hundreds of settlers go aboard. Prince Aran DiArnac embarks with his closest followers on the flagship Haven. Weeks of deprivation and the plague are ahead of these desperate people. Storms, pestilence on board, even pirates cannot stop the determined settlers. Finally, a storm grounds the ships at the coast of the fourth continent. Under the energetic leadership of the Prince the few survivors achieve almost superhuman feats. Within a few months, a city has been built in the wilderness of the continent. The first supplies for the beleaguered Ancalon are ready to ship. But in that night disaster strikes. A blood-curdling roar awakens the few guards on the walls of the city from their lethargy. It is already too late when black-armored hordes on dark horses break down the gates. Only a few moments have passed when the ghostly army begins to rage in the city streets. The weak resistance is quickly broken. A few courageous fighters flock around the Prince and his faithful. But when the Prince is killed under the blows of the Black Knight, it becomes clear that the minions of the Shadow King Evoria have entered the fourth continent. The leaderless settlers flee into the surrounding forests. Only days later they come back to the devastated city. The chances for successful completion of the expedition fall to zero as the surviving intimates of the Prince start to quarrel over the succession. Around each of the nobles there is a group of followers and the battle for supremacy on the fourth continent ensues. The objectives for each of the nobles are clear. Only the best will survive and can lead the Kingdom Ancalon to success. One of those stalwarts are you. Your goal is to be appointed successor of your former masters. Your goal is the title of Prince. But it will be inevitable to locate the domicile of the minions of the Shadow King on this continent and to destroy the Black Knight. Program description - STREGO The program is controlled with the joystick and it makes sense to play the game on a color monitor, otherwise different colors are barely discernible. Between two and four players may play the game. Objective of the game: The player must make as much as they can from their initial funds. For this it is important to either invest in production facilities or to found cities which bring taxes. The more expensive a facility is, the higher its yield. The sooner a player has a financial advantage over other players, the greater his chance of winning. At first, it is best to focus only on production facilities until your monthly income allows you to buy several city districts at once. Then you can start with the urban planning. If you have a city, you can train soldiers and knights, to guard your own possessions or take over those of other factions. Your buildings should be clustered together to allow effective defense by knights and soldiers. The city site should be chosen carefully so that distances to own buildings and those of other factions are small, as the soldiers and knights only have a limited range per round. On the way to the title of Prince, five other titles have to be awarded by the King first. Promotion depends on funds and number of cities owned. The order of titles is Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquess, Duke and Prince. The winner is the player who 1) is the first to be appointed Prince. - OR - 2) remains as the final one after all other players have been eliminated. Game preparation: The number of players must be entered. Each player gives his character a name. During each round, players move in the order in which the names are entered here. Start of the game: Each player starts with 5,000 gold coins which he can spend freely. At the beginning and end of each round a map of the continent is shown. The possessions of the individual players are shown color-coded, with the armed forces flashing. Here you also get an overview of how many possessions you have, e.g. how much gold you have and the title you hold. Of course you also get an idea of whether there is a military risk from any other players, from which direction and with what strength. Press SPACE to leave the map. Gameplay is divided into three parts: After leaving the overview map at the beginning of each round, there is 1. the status phase, in which you can get information about your character and where various buildings, roads, and city districts as well as knights and soldiers can be purchased. The tax rate can also be changed here. 2. the placement phase, in which all newly purchased goods, districts, and armed forces are placed on the map. 3. the movement phase, in which your armed forces (if you have any) can be moved and battles can be started. After the movement phase you will be shown the overview map again. In-depth descriptions of the different phases: (1) Status phase Get info: Using this menu, the player can see how much money he has earned and his total gross revenue. Workers' wages: Here you can see how much you have spent on workers this month, on royal tax, and your net income. Build and farm: Here you can purchase individual goods. These are mills, fisheries, sawmills, plantations, mines, crop fields, and fields. The number of newly purchased goods, your current funds, and market prices are displayed. Raise taxes: Use the joystick (UP/DOWN) to adjust the tax rate. Train and fortify: In this menu the player can purchase e.g. city districts, walls, roads or train knights and soldiers. The number of city components, knights, and soldiers acquired during previous rounds but not placed yet is added to your current purchases. Again, you can also see your current funds and market prices. Continue: By selecting this item you proceed to the placement phase. (2) Placement phase First, newly purchased goods need to be placed during this turn. The computer will automatically go through the list of your purchases. It also tells you how many buildings or units are left to position. There are some rules for placement: a) mills: on grass surfaces only b) fisheries: only on grass or wood on the coast or on rivers c) plantations: only on grass or wood d) sawmills: on wood only e) mines: in the mountains only f) crop fields and fields: only on grass After that, any remaining goods such as city districts, walls, roads, soldiers, and knights are placed. Again the computer determines the order in which placement proceeds. Roads can be placed on all surfaces except mountains. If you want to place a city district or wall you must level the area first. An area is leveled by placing a city district on top of it. It will then be replaced by a red tile. (Leveling can also be done where an existing building, such as a church, is already standing.) If you then put a city district or wall on a previously leveled tile, you may select one of three (district) or eight (wall) components with the keys 1-3 respectively 1-8. (The same 8-component selection also applies to roads.) The church and main building can also only be placed on a leveled tile. A city is completed by putting the main building in its center. This can only be done when the city is otherwise finished. City sketch: S S S S S S S S S (example) S S S S S S S S S S S D D D D D S S H = intended location of the main building S S D D D D D D S D = city district S S S D H D D S S C = church S S D D D C D S S S = good spots for knights or soldiers S S D D D D D S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S A city is complete if there are two rings with city districts (in 3 different versions) around the intended site for the main building as well as a church. Between a previously placed main building (regardless by which player) and the intended location there may be no more than 6 tiles horizontally or vertically. Soldiers and knights can be placed only when you have a city. They must be put around the city area where the distance between them and the main building may not exceed three tiles. They can only be put on leveled terrain. Up to 100 knights and soldiers can be owned by each player. If you cannot place a building or unit at this time, you can skip it by clicking on the main building of the capital city (the four-color cross-like house SW of the desert, shown as a red rectangle on the continent overview map). However, the skipped unit can then only be placed during the next round. When placing your other goods, you CANNOT skip any. The placement phase gets terminated automatically when the last component or the last soldier have been placed or skipped. Now the movement phase begins. (3) Movement phase If you select a knight or soldier, you can see his strength and movement points. Movement points get replenished in each round. In this phase you can move your knights and soldiers as far as their movement points permit. Depending on the terrain, they will move faster or slower, as the different terrains take more or fewer movement points per distance. If troops come in contact with possessions of a different faction, these automatically become your property. If two armies come into contact, one of them dies automatically while the other one loses strength points. Any cities they reach will be razed to the ground. City walls are an obstacle that is not be underestimated however. To quit the movement phase and let the next player take his turn, you click on the palace building of the capital city. End of the game If a player has too much debt, the game will be over for him. The higher the rank of the player, the higher the debt limit. To be appointed Prince, the following conditions must be met: a) Eight cities must be in possession of the player. b) The funds of the player must be at least 500,000 gold coins. c) The Black Knight (and his fortress) must have been destroyed. Important notes and tips - Armed forces cannot cross bodies of water. - Around the fourth continent, there are islands which are a particularly safe location for production facilities. - Depending on the terrain through which one leads one's armed forces, you can move more or fewer steps per turn. Moving your forces on roads will make them five times faster though. (This is true for other players too of course.) - Tax collection will only earn you anything when you have cities. The tax rate should not be set too high. - To destroy a city and thus harm another player you must use your units (knights or soldiers) against their city tiles. If you want to conquer a foreign city, a unit must be on the tile next to the main building. That gives you one more city and the other player one less. - In order to make your city safer, build a wall around it. This however means you can put fewer armed forces around the city (see city example map in the placement phase section). Soldiers and knights cannot be placed on walls! Your armed forces must be next to a wall to be able to tear it down. However, it is best to concentrate on ONE wall segment at a time until it has been destroyed, then move on to the next one. In order to kill the Black Knight, you have to destroy his castle in the desert. HERE it doesn't matter whether one component of his compound is attacked after the next until destruction. Nor does it matter which player defeats the Black Knight. Files on the disc: "strego.bas" : BASIC loader for the game "strego.bin" : main program start: 27200 length: 14745 "feld.bin" : tile graphics and the game field start: 5470 length: 21730 "strego.asm" : source code of the program (works with e.g. MAXAM)