Conquest of Japan Impressions Software, Inc. Technical Supplement and Tutorial Software Copyright 1992 Impressions All rights reserved worldwide This Manual Copyright 1992 Impressions All rights reserved worldwide. No portion of this manual may be copied, reproduced, translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form without the prior written consent of Impressions Software Inc. Technical Support Line If you any problems installing or running this game, call Technical Support Line at Impressions listed in The Definitive Wargame Collection data card, and a member of our Support staff will assist you. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. E.S.T., Monday through Friday. IBM PC - Installation and Loading Conquest of Japan cannot be run from a floppy drive - it must be installed to a hard disk. When fully installed, it will take up about one megabyte of hard drive space. Hard Drive Installation First, switch on the computer. If WINDOWS, DOSSHELL or other menu programs appear automatically when you turn on your computer, you should exit them now. In either case, you should now be at the DOS prompt, where you can enter commands. The prompt should look something like either "A:\>" or "C:\>". Insert the Game Disk (or Disk 1, if you are using the 5.25" disks) into a floppy drive, and type A: or B: -- to access whichever drive the disk is in. Then, type INSTALL and the installation program should begin. Follow the on- screen instructions -- the process is self-explanatory. When completed, the program should be ready to be run from the hard drive. Playing from the Hard Drive If you do not still have the computer on, do so now, and get to the DOS prompt as described above. From the DOS prompt, type C: or D: or even E:, if necessary, to access the hard drive where you installed Conquest of Japan. Then, type CD\CONQUEST to select the directory which contains Conquest of Japan. Then type CONQUEST to play Conquest of Japan The Configure Panel After loading the game, you will be presented with an options panel. You may select whether to use an AdLib or compatible sound card (if you have one or not), and whether or not to use the mouse. A mouse is recommended for playing Conquest of Japan. To use the panel, type the number of an option to toggle it; or move to an option with the up- and down-arrows, and use the left- and right-arrows to change it. Pressing or typing the number "3" for the Start Game command exits the options panel and begins the game. Amiga - Installation and Loading Conquest of Japan will load automatically from a floppy disk -- simply insert the disk into the floppy drive and switch on the machine. Hard Drive Installation Conquest of Japan can also be installed on a hard drive, if you have one. You will first have to copy the files from the floppy disk onto the hard drive, using the following commands: 1.Switch on the computer and get to the CLI prompt. 2.Create a drawer called CONQUEST: MAKEDIR DH0:CONQUEST 3.Insert disk 1 into your floppy drive (DF0:). 4.Copy all files from floppy to hard drive:COPY DF0:#? DH0:CONQUEST 5.Exchange disk 2 with disk 1, and repeat the last command. You should now be ready to play Conquest of Japan from the hard drive! Tutorial (You can feel the enemy's forces massing on the hillside. Your keen sense of military tactics tells you that they are moments away from attacking -- you must act now. So if you can't take the time to read the manual, we understand. This tutorial should help you build your first armies, and send them into their first battle. Happy conquering!) After you have loaded Conquest of Japan (See Installing and Loading Conquest of Japan, above), you are presented with the Start Options screen. Most of the settings are fine for your first game, but you may want to give yourself a slight advantage. You will play the blue Tsuyoi (two vertical bars, meaning "strong") -- use the mouse to change your city spread from Standard to Wide. This will make your largest cities larger than those of your opponent. If you own a 386 or 486 with local-bus graphics capability, you might want to enable Hi-Res graphics; they will slow down your troops while in combat, but will allow a wider view of the battlefield. This option is the located below the settings for each army. Finally, select Begin Game to continue. The Main Map You will soon see the map of Honshu. Your forces are located in the top-right corner of the screen, and those of your opponent are in the bottom left. Currently, only cities are displayed, represented by small pagodas; you will have to hire your armies. Before you end this turn, you should buy armies for all your cities, divide your forces between city defenses and mobile armies, and make your first moves with your mobile armies. Creating Armies With the settings outlined above, each city should have from 90 to 120 koku with which to purchase warriors. Select a city with the mouse, and click on the Hire Troops button (the top of two buttons in the bottom-left corner of the screen). Use the arrow icons to add or subtract each type of warrior for your City Defense army. Use the right mouse button to add or subtract warriors quickly. You must decide on a balance between hiring few, more adept warriors or many, less-powerful ones. Finding the best balance is a key challenge of the game. The next step is to split some of these forces off into a mobile army. First, select the Transfer Troops icon (below the Hire Troops icon). Then, use the arrow icons to move forces back and forth between the city defense army and the mobile army. The number you move to the mobile army depends on your strategy: do you think you need to keep the cities well-defended, or will you be able to keep all opposing forces from approaching them at all? Select Exit when completed. After creating mobile armies, there will be time during this first turn to move them once in any direction you choose. An army out in the field is represented by either two bars or a circle inside a square. To move an army, select it with the mouse -- and a Movement Icon will appear in the lower-right hand corner. Click on one of the diagonal arrows to move diagonally, or between them to move horizontally or vertically. For a few moments after moving an army, an "X" icon will appear in the place of the movement icon -- click here to undo the move, or anywhere else to continue. The "X" will disappear on its own if nothing is done. An army can only move one square in a given turn. The Cycle of Play When you have created all the armies you want, and moved as many of them as you want one square each, end the turn by selecting the arrow icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. Your opponent will then get a chance to create and move armies; the computer will signal you when it is your turn to move again. Continue to move armies until one of them either approaches a city or another army (this will take several turns of each army moving). At the end of the year, the screen will display the progress of both sides' cities. At this time, if they have not reached their maximum growth, they will raise additional koku. You can use this to hire additional warriors, using the instructions given above. The goal of the game is to capture your opponent's cities, while maintaining control of your own. If you lose a city, the armies based from there will dissolve; the same goes for your opponent. Remember this when planning your strategy. Approaching the Enemy A battle is joined when two armies meet in the field; this occurs when one army tries to move into the space occupied by the other. (Remember that "army" can also refer to a city, i.e. the defense army residing within it.) Eventually, one of your armies will come into contact with the enemy, and battle will be joined. Selecting a Formation When a battle is announced, you will be given a choice of formations to use. Select "Engetsu" (Half Moon) for your first battle. Its main features are: it puts most of your arquebusiers (riflemen) and archers in front of your forces, protecting your other warriors and picking off the enemy from a distance; and your mounted Samurai are formed perpendicular to the front line, allowing them to break rank and attack the enemy before the rest of your troops can meet them. Entering a Battle -- the Icon Panel Your troops will appear on the battlefield, already in formation. Visible in the bottom-right corner of the screen is the Icon Panel, from which all commands in Battle Mode are given. There are two rows of icons in the icon panel. They are: Top Row Bottom Row Overall Statistics (sack of Attack Strength (sword) rice) Defensive Strength (armor) Battle Options (floppy Firepower (bow and arrow) disk) Morale (smiling man) Retreat/Surrender (white Number ofMen Left in Unit flag) (man w/headband) Formation (black dots) Group Number (signal-flag) Move-To (direction arrows) Battle Mode (yellow arrow) Show Map (blue and red circles) Mode Selection Icon (leader, men or man) Note: Some of these icons have three functions, depending on which mode is currently selected. The multiple meanings are detailed in each icon's description in the manual. No action occurs while icon or window panels are displayed - - the Battle Mode icon unpauses the game and starts the action. But don't select that now -- you haven't given your first order yet! Viewing the Battlefield Now, while the game is still paused, is a good time to try the scrolling and view selection commands. First off, to scroll your view around the battlefield, use the grid of eight keys surrounding the "S" key. These are: Q - W - north E - northwest northeast A - west D - east Z - X - south C - southwest southeast Also, clicking on the Show Map icon (blue and red circles) displays a map of the entire battlefield, with warriors represented by red and blue circles. Clicking on any part of this map shifts your view there. This is the quickest way to check out your opponent's forces before they start marching. Moving your Entire Army There are three levels of control while in battle: General, Group and Single. You start the battle in General mode. Use this mode to move the entire army towards the enemy. Press the left mouse button to display the icon box, then select the Move-To icon (compass arrows). One of your warriors will be marked by a numbered arrowhead over his position -- you may need to scroll the view around to find him -- note his location in the formation. Use the scrolling keys to move your viewpoint to about midway between you and your opponent. Click where you want the highlighted soldier to be, keeping in mind that the entire army will move in formation, relative to him. Then, click on the Battle Mode (yellow arrow) icon to unpause the game and let your move take effect. The enemy should likewise be approaching your forces. Pausing and Unpausing the Game To pause the game and return to the icon panel, simply click the mouse. Hold the mouse button down for a moment, so that the computer can process the warriors' last moves before responding. As you already know, clicking on the Battle Mode (yellow arrow) icon unpauses the game and starts the action again. Moving One Group The next level of control is Group level, where commands given to the currently selected warrior are also carried out by the other men in his group. To access this, pause the game and click on the Mode Selection Icon (currently a Samurai Leader); it should change to a picture of two men, symbolizing group mode. Your mounted Samurai can move at twice the speed of your other troops, and are therefore a useful choice for group control. If you wish, select one of them with the mouse, making sure that the highlighted arrowhead appears over him. Then, select Move-To and send your horsemen (and their signalman) deep into enemy troops, using the same techniques that you used to control the entire army. To rearrange your horsemen parallel to the lines of battle, select the Formation icon (row of small black dots) while one of the horsemen is selected. Then choose the appropriate formation from the grid of choices. Note: A call to change formation negates any previous Move-To commands. (You entire formation is made up of Groups to be controlled in this fashion. However, sometimes a group is spread out across the formation, and moving the entire group might disrupt your army. The section of the manual on Advanced Combat (Formations) describes commands to reorganize your groups to your liking.) The Signalmen You may have noticed that in moving your horsemen, the Leader and a man carrying a flag broke formation to follow them. The man with the flag is the group's signalman. He is the communications link between your troops and the samurai leader, so if he dies, you cannot give commands to your horsemen. Luckily, the Leader is also in this group, and he can function as signalman. But if he dies as well, then you must find a new signalman. To assign a new signalman to the group, see the Assign Men to Groups command under Advanced Combat (Formations). The Leader functions as a signalman as well. Moving One Warrior You may have need to direct one warrior towards a particular target, or to lead him out of danger; that is when you use single control. Click on the Mode Control icon (either a samurai leader, if in General mode, or "two men", if in Group mode) until a picture of one man appears; this is Single mode. Selecting a particular man now will allow you to affect only his movements, while the battle rages around him. To direct him towards a target, select Move-To, and click where his target is, or where you think he shall be by the time your warrior crosses the field. To retreat a warrior, use Move-To, but select a destination away from the battle. Goals You are successful when you either eliminate all of your opponent's forces, or force them into retreat. If the only warriors remaining during a retreat are signalmen and the leader, consider the army eliminated. Any other retreating army will have to chased down, if you want them removed from the map. If you are losing too many of your men, you may signal a Retreat (the white flag icon). You may later move your men back to the city they came from, or combine them with another of your armies; they then regain tactical use. Otherwise, you may try the Regroup command (Formation icon while in General mode) -- the battle starts over with your remaining troops, but you lose success points (your score) for the battle. When the battle ends, you will be presented with a final tally of warriors for both side, surviving and lost. A warrior for the winning side is displayed to the left. Things to Remember in Combat Watch your signalmen. A group without a signalman cannot function. Remember that any previous commands are ignored by a soldier when he is given new orders, regardless of the level of the command. You can watch the overall progress of the battle by selecting the Statistics icon (sack of rice). See the Strategy -- Tips and Pointers section of the Manual. Back to the Main Map When the battle ends, you will return to the map of Honshu, with the army symbols reflecting the outcome of the battle. If you have any more armies to move in that turn, and they are adjacent to enemy armies, then you can engage in more battles during the same turn. As the game progresses, cities that you capture will change color to herald their new owners. When you control all ten cities, you win! Back to the Manual As clouds of dust settle over the bruised and broken bodies of your warriors, isn't it a good time to check out the rest of the manual? It's the honorable thing to do. Keyboard Commands Conquest of Japan can be controlled completely by the keyboard. To simplify keyboard use, the following system of "hot-keys" and cursor control keys has been created. However, we highly recommend the use of a 100% Microsoft- compatible mouse. Mouse users can use the hot-keys as shortcuts to mouse commands. Keyboard Commands - Main Map Battle Mode 2 Alter player types 1 Swap sides (player v. 4 Statistics player only) 5 Game options 2 Alter player types 6 Hire Troops 4 Overall statistics 7 Transfer Troops 5 Battle options P End turn 6 Retreat/surrender N Next army 7 Set formation B Previous army 8 Move-to (use marker controls) Army Movement Controls 9 Show map Q - nw W - north E - ne R Attack statistic A - west D - east T Defense statistic Z - sw X - south C - seY Fire power statistic U Morale statistic Hire Troops/Transfer Troops I Men in group statistic R Increase Samurai O Group number statistic Shift-RDecrease Samurai P Battle mode (unpause) T Increase mounted space Display icon Samurai panel (pause) Shift-TDecrease mounted B Previous warrior Samurai N Next warrior Y Increase M Center screen on arquebusiers selected warrior Shift-YDecrease # Adjust resolution arquebusiers = Adjust game speed U Increase archers Shift-UDecrease archers Keyboard Scrolling I Increase spearmen Q - nw W - north E - ne space Exit panel A - west D - east Z - sw X - south C - Game Options / Save and se Load E Load game A Marker Control D Load game B R - nw T - north Y - ne C Load game as... F - west H - east R Restart Game V - se B - south N - X Exit to DOS se space Continue campaign Battle Options / Save Q Save as Game A Save/Load Commands A Save as Game B F Filename Z Save as... M More X Exit to DOS C Cancel space Continue campaign D Do Save Game Commands Entering Combat F Filename 1...7 Select Ganko to M More Engetsu C Cancel D Do Retreat/Surrender Y Retreat N Do not retreat M See main map Formation Commands - General Y Regroup N Do not regroup Formation Commands - Group QWE etc. Scrolls through formation choices space Select formation Formation Commands - Single 1...9 Select groups 1...9 C Transfer (press 1...9 to select group to transfer to) B Previous warrior N Next warrior