I Galactic Empire Even in the distant future men are faced with the one seemingly immutable law of the universe: man cannot travel faster than light. Thus the genius of military leadership remains unchanged from pre-atomic times: it is not a matter of shooting straight nor of being able to maneuver a spaceship through the increasing complexities of microcomputer space. The test of true military genius, as always, lies in the facility for total planning. Military success is a matter of logistical coordination, of delivering ships and men to the right place at the proper time. GALACTIC EMPIRE challenges you to unite the Central Galactic System under a single flag, starting from an inferior position, by acquiring a military and manufacturing base from the planets you control. You are assisted by your officers, each with specific responsibilities for such tasks as scouting potential targets, levying taxes, recruiting new troops, and construction of new vessels for your navy Your onboard computer keeps track of your scouts and construction orders and stores star maps and a planetary directory to give you the tools you need to develop a comprehensive plan. A special save routine allows you to store up to 10 games in progress (TRS-80 version stores 1) if you wish. Single player game. APPLE Disk: 48K with APPLESOFT. GALACTIC EMPIRE by Douglas G. Carlston As commander of Galactica's Imperial Forces, your mission is to conquer and hold the 20 inhabited worlds of the Central Galactic System. Aboard the fleet flagship you are ably assisted by your senior officers and the ship's onboard computer. Computer Central contains star maps of the galaxy and a planetary directory. It also keeps track of all scout ships on missions and on the status of work orders for new star ships at your shipyards around the galaxy. Lieutenant Starbuck is your officer charged with responsibility for all scouting missions. Lieutenant Bayliss is the staff officer responsible for planetside activities. His duties range from enlisting new troops to collecting taxes to contracting for new ships for the fleet. Your navigator is Sergeant Kirman, and you also have aboard a medical doctor, Doctor Henderson, who is an expert in suspended animation techniques. This is important, for one immutable scientific fact stands between you and the empire you wish to carve Out-no one yet has discovered the secret to faster-than-light travel. Even the tiny Central Galactic System is sixty-odd light years wide. Logistics have always been an important facet of any military campaign, and that has not changed. Careful planning is essential if you are to keep your fleet replenished as it moves throughout the galaxy. Because cryonics and high speed space travel stretch the average life span, you will have 1000 years to complete your mission. Except during periods of travel or hibernation, you will actually have about 4 minutes for each year of your command. The ship and the men you control are a potentially deadly fighting force. Commanding all of the day to day activities aboard ship is a complicated task, however, and so the attached manual may give some initial guidance. Good luck, Commander May the stars long shine upon your head. SHIP'S MANUAL 1. THE COMMAND CONSOLE A) Viewport - permits visual orientation in space displays name of current location in upper left-hand corner B) Calendar - in upper right-hand corner of console displays current Stardate C) CRT - displays communications from Computer Central D) Resource Chart - keeps constant track of the number of fighters, transports (loaded and unloaded) and scouts with the fleet, as well as Comptroller's funds (in megacredits) to be used for ship construction. F) Command Controls: A Attack (see below) C Computer (see below) E Embark (see below) O Orders (see below) Non-visible Controls: R (Rescind, Return, Retreat) - returns you to command modes 0 (Quit) - to abandon your command and secure your final rating based upon your successes to date. (In order to save a game in progress you must first press Q ). 2. CONTROLS A) Attack - If pressed while the fleet is orbiting a hostile world, this signal will cause the fleet to attack. When attacking technologically sophisticated worlds, it will be necessary to establish air supremacy before landing the troop transports. Computer Central will display both sides' losses as the battle progresses, along with its assessment (based purely upon a non-dynamic view of the battle) of the probability of the fleet's success, an assessment which is revised constantly throughout the battle. You may break off your attack at any time by signalling Retreat. (Beware: If you lose all of your fighters, the Flagship herself may be attacked.) Once air supremacy is established, the planet must be secured by your land forces. Strength of the opposition in the air depends largely upon its technological sophistication; on the ground, upon the size of the population. One final warning-if you inadvertently call for an attack upon an empire world, you will lose half of your forces before you can straighten the mess out. This can be a very costly mistake. B) Computer - When activated, the Computer Central will offer a choice of the following categories: A Star Maps B Planetary Directory C Status Reports The purpose and function of each is as follows: A Star Maps: You are given a choice of local or galaxy map, as well as a range finder. Both maps display a view of the galaxy from above. (The galaxy is, of course, 3-dimensional, although it is only about half as deep as it is wide). A blinking control bit stands at the top of the display. There are 2 ways to identify star systems. First, if you know the name of the system, type in the first letter of the name. The full name and coordinates will be displayed at the bottom of the screen, and the appropriate star on the map will flash repeatedly. A second method is to move the blinking control bit by use of the keyboard arrows until it is superimposed upon one of the stars on the map. The system will then be identified at the bottom of the screen. (In the Applesoft version of the game, the "/" is used for a down arrow, and the Return button is used as the up arrow. The Repeat key may be used in combination with any of the above. Typing "?" will identify the name of the star system closest to the current position of the control dot.) The local map will always be centered on the fleet. To use the range finder, merely enter the first initials of 2 systems. Computer Central will then calculate the distance between them. B Planetary Directory: The first page of the directory lists all of the inhabited systems, divided into empire and independent groupings. Press any key to turn the page. Computer Central will then provide, at request, all information in its files concerning any system. Note, however, that detailed information is available only about Galactica at the beginning. Until a scout has visited a system and returned or until the fleet has traveled to a system, no detailed information will be available about that star system. Press any key to return to page one, R to return to Computer Central's initial list of programs. C Status Reports: The first page of the Reports gives the status of all scout ships on missions, their destination, point of return and return date. Press any key for page two, which lists all orders for future ship construction, and when and where the ships are to be delivered. C) Embark - Upon receipt of this order (provided you have properly instructed your navigator), the fleet will leave for the selected destination. D) Orders - This control is used to call one of your officers to the bridge. 3. THE OFFICERS A) Lieutenant Starbuck - If scout ships are available; he will send one to investigate any system you select. Computer Central will notify you when a scout has returned, but you will have to call up the Planetary Directory to study the information which he brought back. B) Lieutenant Bayliss - The Lieutenant is responsible for the following: 1 Ship Construction: Computer Central will give you the local prices for construction of fighters, transports, and scouts. Only high technology planets can construct ships. Orders can be placed for construction as far in the future as desired, although all orders must be paid for currently. Upon completion, each shipment will be sent to whatever system you designate. Warning: If the fleet does not reach the star system where a new ship is waiting within 5 years of the new ship's arrival, that ship will run out of rations and fuel and be lost. This is why advance planning of the fleet's movements is of vital importance! 2 Enlistments: Computer Central will give you all relevant statistics. Generally speaking, you cannot press into service more than 2% of the population of empire worlds, or 1% during the first 10 years after a world has been conquered (the garrison period). Sparta is a notable exception. Each transport holds 100,000 soldiers. Don't bother trying to enlist troops from an enemy system. 3 Taxation: Taxes are assessed at the rate of one (mega) credit per million population up to a maximum of 4000 credits. They may be assessed only once per visit to a system. C) Navigator Kirman - As the Navigator accepts your order to lay a course for whatever system you have selected, Computer Central will calculate and display the expected duration of the journey. You may change your mind as to destination at any time prior to embarkation merely by giving the Navigator new orders. D) Doctor Henderson - The cryonics specialist will take and execute your suspended animation order so swiftly and smoothly that you won't even notice the years rolling by until Computer Central wakes you. Note: You do not need to use cryonics while in transit; only when delaying at a single planet. You must use cryonics if you are attempting to stay and link up with scouts or construction orders )i.e., just waiting for the clock to advance will not cause a scan to be done). Warning: Scouts and other vessels cannot join up with a fleet in hibernation, so it is a good idea to come out of the deep freeze at least every 5 years during any period you are expecting new vessels or scouts to show up. 4. STRATEGY & TACTICS Galactica is not the largest or most powerful system in her galaxy, and it is well to remember that. She is not even the most militaristicDthat honor would certainly go to Sparta. Success, therefore, depends upon picking your targets carefully and not squandering your strength in contests where you are overmatched. Once you have 3 or 4 technologically advanced worlds building ships for you, your strength will grow rapidly. Remember: Primitive and technologically limited worlds are useful to raise money and manpower; but sophisticated worlds are the only ones that can build the transports to move your armies. Remember also that time is important. Populations are not static; they increase as time goes on, which means that their armies increase in size as well. If you start too slowly, you may never accumulate enough strength to conquer some of the heavily populated worlds. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ II GALACTIC TRADER by Douglas G. Cariston Originally (c) 1981 Broderbund Software Converted by Textbridge Pro Peace has finally come to the war-torn Central Galactic System, united into a single federation by the Imperial Forces of Galactica (see Galactic Empire - from BRODERBUND SOFTWARE). The end to the fighting has cost you your job as Commander of Galactica's Imperial Forces, but it has simultaneously opened up new opportunities in trade for the person with the vision and ambition to exploit them. You once commanded a fleet of hundreds of ships. Today you have only one. You led armies of millions a short year ago. Now you pilot your single ship alone, aided only by two loyal comrades who remember what you were and have faith in what you may become. Navigator Kirman of your old starship refused an opportunity to join Galaco, the interplanetary rocket fuels cartel, and elected to come with you. Even more surprising, Computer Central, the heart of your starship, stuck by you. Perhaps its judgment has been clouded by emotions after all, as Major Bayliss alleged. The principles of trade are not difficult. The farther a product is from its world of origin, the greater its value. All one has to do is buy or trade for cargo, take them farther from their home world, and trade them for other commodities. In practice it is not that simple, of course. You don't know the place of origin of the products, at least at first, nor is anyone likely to tell you. Until you develop experience on each planet, you don't know the rates of barter there, and the locals will try to exploit your ignorance by fleecing you if they can. All your experience can be worthless, too, if you are so incautious as to ply one route too often, for the largest trading firms keep their ears open, and they have the economic muscle to deal you out of any route that appears too attractive. There are other problems as well. You will find that no trader will accept the coin of the realm except on Galactica. On every other planet, barter is the medium of exchange. Your credits are only good at the fuel depot, and even the cartel will barter for commodities if you are short of cash (they are particularly extortionate when they feel they have you over a barrel, however, so it is generally better to buy fuel with cash). Local rates of barter can be hard to discern, too. If a local trader thinks you are asking too much for part of your cargo, he may refuse to discuss barter of that item any further. That can be expensive, when one considers the cost of bringing those goods to his doorstep. Your most important cost consideration is fuel. The ship is powered by microscopic fusion modules, sold across the galaxy at the fixed price of 2 credits per millit. The amount of fuel you need for a journey depends both upon the total mass of ship and cargo and upon the distance to be traveled. Fortunately, Computer Central is an old hand at these calculations and can be relied upon to do much of the brain work. The formula, for those interested in the precise details, is as follows: (LIFT OFF THRUST + DISTANCE/2) X (CARGO MASS + SHIP MASS) Lift off from most systems requires 3 millits/mkg, from Galactica 5 millits/mkg. The ship weighs 10 mkg and each item on the cargo manifest weighs 1 mkg. (As mentioned before, Computer Central will make these computations for you. For more details, see the ship's manual below.) Your goal, as always, is power. In time of peace, power is most easily gained through personal wealth, which enables you to buy the services of men whose abilities you can no longer demand as servant of the Imperial Purple. In your darker moments, you believe that in the near future you may need a personal army. The Emperor is a young man, full of passion and spit, and you are understandably uneasy over the future of the empire you worked so devotedly to create. Prince Tawala does not like or trust you, either. You were too popular among the enlisted men, too renowned for your military prowess. It is not inconceivable that Tawala might mask his own incompetence by claims of treason which, coincidentally, eliminated those most qualified to succeed him. So you are a trader. It gives you the freedom of outer space, whether to flee an Emperor's assassin or to maintain contacts throughout the galaxy. Without a power base of your own, however, the contacts will mean nothingDexcept another job under another ambitious peer, perhaps no more competent than the present one. You want more than that. A billion credits will give you the power you need to command attention to your vision of a nobler future. For those unfamiliar with GALACTIC EMPIRE, the following manual will guide you through the capabilities of your vessel. Read it carefully. You have many useful tools at your disposal. Your ability to use them to their fullest advantage will greatly improve your success at this new venture. Because space travel severely stretches the average life span, you will have 1000 Stardates to ply the skies with your wares. During this time you will age no more than 8 physical years. By the end of that time, developments on Galactica will certainly have progressed to a critical point. Your part in the inevitable GALACTIC REVOLUTION may depend upon your success during the next few years. Good luck, bwana. May you find your new profession an enriching and eye- opening experience. SHIP'S MANUAL 1. THE COMMAND CONSOLE A) Viewport - in upper left portion of console permits visual orientation in space displays name of current location B) Calendar - in upper right portion of console displays current Stardate C) CRT - in lower left part of console displays messages from Computer Central D) Cargo Manifest - on right side of console keeps track of all goods in the hold, as well as fuel and cash on hand. 2. CONTROLS A) C Computer Central When called, Computer Central will offer a choice of the following categories: A Star maps B Trading records C Fuel use computations The purpose and function of each is as follows: STAR MAPS: You are given a choice of Galaxy map or a range finder. The map displays a view of the galaxy from above. (The galaxy is 3-dimensional, of course, although it is only about half as deep as it is wide.) A blinking control bit may be found at the top of the display. There are 2 ways to identify star systems. First, if you know the name of the system, merely type in the first letter of the name. The full name and coordinates will be displayed at the bottom of the screen, and the appropriate star on the map will flash repeatedly. A second method is to move the blinking control bit by use of the keyboard arrows until it is superimposed upon one of the stars on the map. The system is then identified at the bottom of the screen. In the Applesoft version of Galactic Trader, the blinking cursor dot on the star maps is moved by means of four keys (the two arrows, plus the Return button to move up, and the "/" to move down). The Repeat key may be used in combination with any of the above. Typing"?" will identify the name of the star system closest to the current position of the cursor. To use the range finder, just enter the first initials of 2 systems. Computer Central will then calculate the distance between them. TRADING RECORDS: Computer Central keeps track of all your trade dealings on systems throughout the galaxy, as well as a list of current prices on Galactica. FUEL USE COMPUTATIONS: Computer Central will calculate the fuel requirements for any trip you plan. You enter your destination when requested and the cargo weight. CC shows you the entire computation and then allows you to try various alternatives by varying the destination and cargo weight figures. B) E Embark This command calls Navigator Kirman to the bridge. He will take your order as to destination and immediately execute it. It is vital that you assure your fuel requirements before setting destination or you may end up lost in space. C) T Invitation to Trade This command is generated automatically when you first land on any planet (and at the beginning of your trading career). Your negotiations with local traders can be accomplished by single letter responses (eg. Y for yes, N for no or nothing), except where responses involve numerical entries. Although you need never use the ENTER or RETURN button, its use will speed the computer's responses. At any point during the negotiations, you may call for assistance from Computer Central by pressing C . In this manner you may negotiate while keeping the current price lists of commodities on Galactica before you, for example, or review the course of your bargainings to date. You will find that it is possible to carry on a trading session and consult with CC simultaneously. D) F Fuel Cartel Offices You may buy fuel at the price of 2 credits per millit. If you do not have enough money for the amount of fuel you have requested, the cartel will accept in kind payments. However, the cartel gives only about 50% of the local value for such payments. E) Non-visible Controls You have two additional controls not mentioned elsewhere. R stands for "return" and is used to exit from any mode and return you to the previous mode. Q stands for "quit" and functions only when you are in the command mode (i.e., when your 4 major controls are listed on the CRT). Q is used to interrupt the game and determine your score, which is based upon the value of goods and credits you have accumulated to that time. 3. STRATEGY & TACTICS If you do not make a profit on your first few trade runs, you will almost certainly end up out of money, farming fungibles on some backworld system. It is vitally important, therefore, to get off on the right foot. Take a look at the commodities for sale on Galactica and purchase a variety of low cost items. Do not buy as many as you can afford, because you won't be able to pay the cost of transporting them any great distance-thirty or forty items are probably sufficient. Then turn to the galaxy map in Computer Central. Find Galactica and then find a region of the galaxy twenty to twenty-five light years away. Record the names of systems of varying distances from your current location and then turn to the fuel use program in the computer banks. Determine which system is near enough to enable you to reach it with the fuel and money you have (and to return) and far enough away to make the items you have purchased rare and valuable. (Do not cut your fuel needs too close, by the way. CC's computations are only approximate, and it is a terrible thing to be lost in the void of space, drifting helplessly, out of fuel.) When you reach the system you have selected, keep CC's chart of Galactica's prices before you and try to obtain the most valuable commodities in exchange for your wares. Often tremendous bargains are available which you will not be able to take advantage of because of the limitations of your fuel supply. You may have to dump much of your cargo at the fuel cartel offices, merely because you haven't the fuel to carry it all. Use your trading experience on various worlds to figure out which regions the eight commodities come from. Remember, the closer you are to its home world, the cheaper each will be. Two final caveats: Be careful to vary your routes to an area. Any route traveled more than once, in either direction, is likely to be taken away by one of the large trading firms. And finally, once you have a little money to work with, stay away from Galactica as much as you possibly can. Galactica is the Emperor's stronghold-even if he does not order you liquidated, there are many on that planet eager to ingratiate themselves with him, and it is well known there that he dislikes and fears you. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ III Galactic Revolution "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." A prominent Earth leader of the Atomic Age. In this realistic simulation players may choose to ignite or suppress the impending revolution by implementing social changes on worlds they control in order to sway the allegiances of various power groups throughout the galaxy and thereby acquire the resources and production capabilities to build a military force. Pursue the military advantage if you have it, but remember that good administration will win as many worlds as military success. A game for 1 to 3 players with quick pacing and many complex strategies which guarantee hours of pleasure. Advanced complexity but not difficult to play. Playing time 1 to 3 hours. Comes with 32 page book of rules, strategies, manipulated historical facts, and revolutionary theory. APPLE Disk, 48K with Applesoft. Boots directly on 13 or 16 sector systems. Introduction Early in the dawn of our age, when men were not so widely spread as now, on a small world in one of the smaller galactic systems of the nebula, there lived a people rumored to be among the direct descendants of the lost world of Earth. They were among the fiercest, most adventurous and most backward of all peoples, and for that reason travelers seldom ventured in that region. The galaxy, called RS232 (or the Central Galactic system by its ethnocentric denizens), comprised no more than twenty habitable worlds, some of then marginal. Few had any resources of great demand throughout the intergalactic community and no sore than two or three had the technological capability to be of any interest whatsoever to traders (who, as we have said, avoided the region for reasons of personal health). Yet from this insignificant region of the sky was to come a man who brought the universe of sentient beings a gift they themselves were unable to devise, a soul whose great simplicity and incredible complexity created the very fabric of which our society is now woven. Julian du Buque was, by degrees, a soldier, a merchant, a statesman, a mystic and a philosopher. He was an admixture of small qualities and grand vanities. He was capable of both painstaking planning and boundless vision. He taught us about ourselves even as he made us into something else. This is the story of his early years, first as a soldier in the army of a small local potentate, then as merchant prince and finally as a moving force in the revolution which catapulted hin to power. He was not always the giant we think of now, yet even in these formative years we may spy evidences of those qualities which made him later so formidable a foe, so valuable an ally. Du Buque was born and raised on the world of Sparta, named after a city on ancient Earth renowned for its military prowess (cities were independent political units on Earth, and each was responsible for its own govermental functions). Little is known of his early years. Apparently he was the son of a prominent local figure and was taken as a hostage by the ruler of a nearby realm in order to help ensure the loyalty of the Spartans. When next he appears in our records, he was an officer in the military forces of a self-styled emperor on a small world called Galactica (perhaps a new name - older records use the name Galacia or Galatia). His unusual ability must have been manifest even then, for he rapidly rose through the ranks until, at the tender age of 28, he was entrusted with the command of an expeditionary force under orders to put down a rebellion on one of the southern continents. His success in this venture brought him great acclaim, and when the Emperor was succeeded by his son Tawala Mundo (under not altogether natural circumstances), Du Buque was named to head the Emperor's s Imperial Forces. Tawala Mundo was by all accounts an ambitious man, and he saw du Buque as his instrument for uniting all of RS232 under his rule. The brazenness of this effort only is revealed if one understands that Galactica was one of the smaller worlds in the system, with no more than a barely adequate technological base. Nonetheless, starting from just such a base and with no more than a scant 200 vessels at his disposal, du Buque succeeded in uniting the system and returned home in triumph. What happened next has never been clear. Perhaps the Emperor's heart was turned against his young commander by the poisoned words of other counselors, jealous of du Buque' s success and popularity. For whatever reason, du Buque resigned his commission and immediately left Galactica, returning for a time to Sparta, his home planet. There are stories that there was an attempt on du Buque' s life and that the attempt was attributed to one of Tawala' s closest confidants, but du Buque would never confirm this. Du Buque became a wanderer, a familiar sight in all parts of the galaxy. He used his time to maintain the wide network of contacts he had developed through the galaxy. Perhaps as much to provide himself with a cover as for any other reason, he began carrying trade items with him and his natural aptitude for application to a task led him gradually to become one of the most successful of that special breed, the independent trader. Even as du Buque's commercial empire grew, voices of discord grew within Tawala's realm. The Prince's violent passions made him a difficult man to love or respect, and he had no patience whatever for administrative tasks. When crossed, he frequently ordered violent reprisals, including the utter destruction of all life on several of the planets of his Empire. He saw himself as the patron of the little people, but they too suffered from his violent rages. It was the aristocracy which formented the revolution, led by Jan Swart, head of the Broederbund, a secret guild of the traders, who saw their profits threatened by the increasingly insatiable demands of Tawala's burgeoning bureaucracy. But it was do Buque who finally led it and destroyed not only Tawala but the Broederbund as well. With neither the resources nor the base of support of the others, it was his skill at implementing social change which earned bin the loyalty and support of most of the galaxy. His story is a long one and still not fully told, but this is, in brief, the tale of the first three phases of his life. Of the love triangle with Lorato and Vyl-ourmani, of his quest for the lost planet of Earth and the reason behind it, of his struggles for happiness and universal purpose, we say nothing now. A personal history is a labyrinth of dead ends and digressions, and perhaps we err on the side of brevity. We hope and trust, however, that such an error is more easily remedied and more easily forgiven than verbosity. It was always his way to part with a benediction, and so we close with one he may well have used: May you never meet less than your heart desires. Procedures for Play Much of the information included in this booklet (and which you can keep on the worksheets which come with the game package) is also displayed for you on the computer screen. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the game menu by following along on your computer during the following discussion. If you are playing the TRS-80 version of the game, once you have loaded the game and typed RUN you will be asked by the computer, "Radio Shack Lowercase Mod Installed?" Answer with Y for yes or N for no and then press ENTER . This question is necessary because the lowercase modification involves the addition of a new chip to your computer with a partially different character set, and the program needs to know that. Note: Whenever the computer asks you a question or offers you a series of options, you need only type in the first letter of your answer, e.g. Y for yes, N for no, G for Galactica etc. Usually you will not be required to press the ENTER or RETURN button unless it is a question of such import that you are being given the opportunity to change your mind. However, when you have to enter large numbers, the program gives you lots of time, and you can speed play by pressing ENTER (or RETURN ) to show you are finished. Next the computer will ask you, "How many players (1 to 3)?" This question refers to human participants. There are up to three roles to be played in the game. (The computer will assume whatever roles are not taken by people but plays a pretty passive game.) There are three characters represented in GALACTIC REVOLUTION, Julian du Buque, Emperor Tawala Mundo, and Jan Swart. The order of play is always as they have just been listed. In the one player version, the computer plays for Tawala and Swart. With two players, the computer plays only Swart. The Main Menu A) Introduction to Computer Central Let's start by looking at the three player game so that we can be introduced to all of the participants. After you tell the computer how many people will be playing, it will display the ship consoles of the three characters, along with their own special "anthems" and emblems. The screen will then return to du Buque's console to indicate that it is his turn (this is known in the trade as a "visual cue"). His CRT will list the four options available to him to begin his turn (this is called the Main Menu): A Computer Central B Review Resources C Direct Action Options D End Turn Let's approach this systematically and begin with A Computer Central. Press A . The screen should now display: A Galaxy Directory B Status Reports To see how the Galaxy Directory works press A again. The computer should now be asking you: Which System? There are 18 habitable systems in the Central Galactic Empire. You have them listed on your worksheet, or you can look to the bottom of your computer screen where the entire list should be scrolling merrily along from right to left. During actual play you will most likely be interested in information pertaining to the planet which you are on at the moment, but since we are investigating our menu in alphabetical order during this practice run you don't yet have that information (it's under Status Reports if you're curious. Except for the first turn of the game, the computer starts each player's turn at Status Reports). Let's continue doing things alphabetically by asking for information on the first system in the alphabet, Alhambra, by typing in the first letter of the system name, A . A bar graph appears which looks something like this: ALHAMBRA RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXXXXXXX Military: XX Peasants: XXXXXXXXXXX Traders: XX Bureaucrats: XX 10 20 30 40 50 60 Figure *1-1 This bar graph shows you the relative influence on Alhambra of the five major power groups in the galaxy. These are the manufacturers, the military, the peasants, the traders, and the government bureaucracy. If you want to see what the relative influence of the five groups is on some of the other planets, just type in the first letter of the planet nane and the relative influence graph for that world will appear. The numbers along the bottom of the graph simply give you a relative indication of influence, with 0 the minimum and 60 the maximum. You can see that the manufacturers and the peasants are the most influential groups on Alhambra at this time, though all five groups are represented. You will see shortly that this configuration does represent a fairly even balance of power and for that reason Alhambra is one of 7 worlds which are independent (not controlled by any of our three characters) at the beginning of the game. The relative influence graphs will always begin each game in the sane configuration. Your mission, should you accept it, will be to meddle with the balance of power on Alhambra and other worlds in order to support or suppress the coming revolution. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. In order for you to know how to tamper with the balance of power you need to know how much support you and your opponents receive from these different power groups. It would do you little good, for example, to aid the peasants on a particular planet only to discover that, for historical reasons, the peasants were devout supporters of your opponents. To find out how much support you can expect from the five major power groups we need to look under Status Reports. In order to get there let's first return to the Main Menu by pressing R . Whenever you want to return to the Main Menu just press R . Whenever you're hopelessly lost just press R . Whenever your newspaper is delivered in the birdbath instead of on the front step just press R-. It won't do you any good but it's a habit we encourage. R stands for Return, Retreat, Rescind, Republicanism. Now we should be back at the Main menu. In order to get to Status Reports we will need to consult our Computer Central again, by pressing A , then look under Status Reports. (Item B on the Computer Menu, as you may recall). Your screen should display something like this: Location: Galactica Status: Tawala Stardate: 1 Alliances: None Your screen will probably tell you that you are somewhere other than Galactica and Status may list someone other than Tawala or simply say "No one." The starting location of each player is random. Thereafter, each player can go wherever he wants. This display (called Status Reports, Page 1) will automatically appear at the beginning of each turn from now on. "Location" tells you where you are. It is critically important to know where you are, as much so in the game of GALACTIC REVOLUTION as in life. "Status" lets you know who controls the world upon which you find yourself. "Stardate" lets you know if you missed your mother-in-law's birthday and how much time has passed. (There are no real time constraints in this game.) "Alliances" informs you what alliances are in existence at the moment. Alliances in GALACTIC REVOLUTION are formed between players, not between worlds. More about that later. Status Reports has more than one page to it. To continue to Page 2 and beyond, just press ENTER (or RETURN ). You should now see this table displayed: Degree of Support MFGR MIL PSNT TRDR GVT duBuque: 10 85 0 65 0 Tawala: 0 50 70 -40 90 Swart: 80 0 -10 99 -20 Figure #1?2 This chart indicates the degree of support the different characters receive from the five major power groups at the beginning of the game on a galaxy-wide basis. The ratings may range from -99 (active hostility) to 99 (strong support). It is essential that you be well acquainted with these figures before taking any action. Your support, and that given your opponents, will change throughout the game depending upon your actions, so you should refer to this table fairly often to keep up with the changes. Mote: This is not a closed system. Your overall support may increase or decrease across the board. You don't necessarily have to lose support f ran one sector to gain it in another, although this is often the case. It is these Degree of Support figures, when combined with the Relative Influence Graphs, which form the equation which determines which characters control which worlds. The reasons the three different characters receive the support they do from each of the major power groups are historical. You can catch up on your history by reading the synopsis of The Galactic Saga included with this booklet, or by participating in the simulations GALACTIC EMPIRE and GALACTIC TRADER (available from your local computer software dealer). The Degree of Support Table is Page 2 of Status Reports. To see Page 3 press ENTER (or RETURN ). You should see this: DU BUQUE'S WORLDS: SPARTA Pressing ENTER (or RE'IURN ) several more times will reveal the worlds controlled by Tawala, then Swart, and then the independent worlds. You will wish to refer to this section often. Each of the three combatants has effective control over any world where he has sufficient support from power groups with a major amount of relative influence there. At the onset of the Revolution the eighteen inhabited worlds of the Central Galactic System are controlled as follows: Du Buque Tawala Jan Swart Independent Sparta Galactica Yang-tzu Kgotla Bok Llythll Alhambra Ootsi Zoe Twyrx Utopia Eventide Farside Javiny Viejo Drassa 2 Moonsweep Novena Now before you spend too much tine thinking that this distribution of worlds is unfair, try to remember that Tawala is, after all, the Emperor, and that thousands of people around the world, perhaps even you, worked long and diligently to unite those worlds under him in GALACTIC EMPIRE. In addition, there are other strategic factors in the game that tend to offset Tawala's initial advantage in worlds. One of the most important is listed under B in the Main Menu - Review Resources. Do you remember how to get there? Just think of your newspaper in the birdbath and press R for Return, then B Review Resources. B) Review Resources: Money & Military Might Each of the three characters has different resources available to him at the outset, as follows: Credits Arms Troops Ships du Buque: 10,000 40 2,000 200 Tawala: 100 500 1,000 60 Jan Swart: 30,000 100 200 1,000 Figure #1-3 You will use the credits to buy arms and ships and to enlist troops in order to build a military force to deploy in the revolution. The strength of your military force is reckoned in Legions, with 1 piece of armament, 10 trcops, and 1 ship required per Legion. Looking at Figure 1-3 you can see that do Buque has 40 fully equipped Legions available to him at the beginning of the game. Although he has sufficient troops and ships for 200 Legions, his strength his limited by a lack of arms. Tawala has 60 Legions, with ships his limiting factor. Swart has only 20 Legions because he suffers from a paucity of troops. You will have an opportunity at the end of each turn to purchase additional arms and ships and to enlist new troops. The computer will show you how. Note: Neither the degree of support from the military as indicated in the Degree of Support Chart, Figure 1-2, nor the amount of relative influence which the military may have on planets you control has any bearing on your military strength. Referring again to the Resource Chart, Figure 1-3, you will notice a great disparity in the quantity of the various items available to each player. It is these differences which make alliances between players so powerful. Though individually do Buque can muster only 40 Legions and Swart 20, look what an alliance between them will produce: Credits Arms Troops Ships Legions du Buque: N/A 40 2,000 200 40 Swart: N/A 100 200 1,000 20 Alliance of the two: N/A 140 2,200 1,200 140!! Rather than merely adding their separate nunters of Legions to figure the total, remertier to look for the limiting factor, in this case, arms. Credits are, of course, never pooled. (I will lend you my life, but stay away from my money!) The actual mechanics of how an alliance is formed and how it works is explained in the next section. C) Direct Action Options: The Intricacies of Wheeling, Dealing and Bludgeoning Let's return to our Main Menu by pressing R , then proceed to alternative C , Direct Action Options. Your screen should now display the following: A Negotiations 8 Administrative Actions C Sanctions The Negotiations segment refers to the offering of Alliances. When we push A the computer should ask: With whom do you propose an Alliance? A Tawala B Jan Swart Naturally Tawala would be offered the option of proposing alliance with du Buque or Swart and Swart the option of Tawala or du Buque. Let's propose an alliance with Jan Swart (press B ) and see what happens. . . . Not much, really. The computer says "Press ENTER (or RETURN ) to continue". We press ENTER (or RETURN ) and we end up back at the Main Menu. What happened to our proposed alliance? The offer of alliance is conveyed to Swart at the beginning of his turn. The computer will show, "du Buque proposes an Alliance. Do you accept?" If Swart accepts, the alliance is immediately in effect. To check to see what alliances are active you should look under Status Reports. One tactical note here on alliances: Tawala can keep Swart from receiving du Buque's offer of alliance by proposing alliance to Swart hirmelf before Swart receives du Buque' s offer (remember that the order of play is du Buque, Tawala, Swart). If Swart wants the alliance with du Buque and not with Tawala he must reject Tawala's offer and propose an alliance himself with du Buque, who can accept it next turn. Likewise, du Buque can intercept offers of alliance from Swart to Tawala, and Swart intercept Tawala's offers to du Buque. The advantage gained by intercepting offers of alliance is an extra turn before the alliance can be put into effect. The disadvantage is that you may end up wedded to a loser (see "The Austro-Hungarian Dilemna," page 15). There are no alliances allowed in the one player game, although the mechanism for offering than remains intact. Alliances are allowed in the two player game, with the chances of acceptance from Swart (played by the computer) being random. Tawala can, by virtue of the order of play, intercept all offers of alliance from du Buque to Swart (the computer) with offers of his own. The computer will not propose alliances. For du Buque to get an alliance with Swart in the two player game he will have to sneak it by Tawala sometime when Tawala has left the room. Pressing ENTER (or RETURN ) or R will return us from Negotiations to the Main Menu. Press C and we are back at Direct Action Options. Skipping over alternative B , Administrative Actions, for the moment, go on to C , Sanctions. The military options which the computer will display for you are: A Blockade B Military Attack A blockade is used when you are on a planet controlled by one of your opponents, yet you do not wish to attack. The effect of a blockade is to deny your opponent access to the resources of his planet. If a planet under your control is blockaded, you cannot raise taxes from it, nor employ its manufacturing capabilities to build ships and arms or raise troops from its peasant population. This makes the blockade a strong tactical weapon, and you will find yourself going to other people's worlds specifically to blockade them. Note: If you blockade a world belonging to someone with whom you have made an alliance, your alliance is automatically severed. The mechanism for instituting a blockade is as follows. Once you have chosen the Blockade option the computer will tell you how many Legions you have, and ask how many you wish to commit to the blockade. Normally there is little reason to leave more than 1 Legion for a blockade. Your opponent, in order to break the blockade, will have to come to the same world, select the same options to get to the Blockade section, and then commit an equal number of Legions to break the blockade. Legions which are used to make or break blockades are irretrievable and cannot be reunited with your main force. When a world is blockaded an asterisk (*) will appear behind the name of the world whenever it appears. Special Note: Blockades are not allowed in the 1 player game. If you choose C Sanctions, the computer will assume you wish to attack, and you will have inadvertantly committed yourself to bloodshed. The other option we have under Sanctions is B , Military Attack. There are three reasons for launching a Military Attack. These are: 1. You are tired of life. 2. You are inexperienced and don't realize what you are doing. 3. You have played your cards masterfully up this point and are ready to stick it to the opposition. War is a very risky business. You risk loss of your ships, arms, and troops, and if you lose the battle, a serious loss of support from all power groups. If you win the battle, you are a hero, but you still haven't won the game. The purpose of engaging in military attack is to wrest control of a planet from your opposition. You have little chance of success with a military attack unless you have a superiority in numbers of Legions of at least 3:2. Once you press the Military Attack option the computer will clear your console from the screen and put up that of your opponent. It will then ask how many troops they wish to commit to defend themselves from your attack. This is a very important point. If the defender sees that he is seriously outnumbered by the attacking force, he may commit few or no Legions to the defense of his planet. By doing this he saves not only his Legions but also the loss of support which the loser of a battle suffers with the major power groups. IF THE DEFENDER COMMITS 9 OR FEWER TROOPS T0 DEFENSE OF THE PLANET, IT IS CONSIDERED A TACTICAL RETREAT AND HE LOSES NO SUPPORT FROM THE MAJOR POWER GROUPS IN THE GALAXY. The attacker still enjoys the increase in support which accompanies success in battle. In the event the defender does stand and fight, and as the battle is being fought it becomes clear that the attack is not going to be successful, the attacker may press R for retreat and the battle will cease. This counts as losing a battle and will hurt your popularity, but will save you your remaining Legions. Once you have won a battle you have temporary control of the world. The relative influence of the major power groups remains the same as when you arrived, so if you leave without changing the influence structure, control of the planet will revert to whoever had control over it when you got there. To take control of a planet you have conquered, or of an independent planet, you must alter the relative influence of the five major power groups in your favor. We shall examine how this is done after we have become acquainted with the last option on our Main Menu, the End Turn routine. D) End Turn Routine: Tax Collecting, Military Procurement and How Do I Get to Alhambra? Let's return to our Main Menu, for those of you who have not already done so, and press D End Turn. Your turn didn't end did it? Instead the computer says, "Press ENTER (or RETURN ) to Continue, R to Return." If you entered the end routine by accident, this is your chance to avoid disaster. If you really are finished with your turn, just press ENTER (or RETURN ) and the computer will then ask you if you want to collect taxes. "Why not?" you may ask yourself. There is only one reason not to collect taxes, and that reason is so very obscure I've hidden it in the Expanded Strategies section of this booklet. I, myself, have always collected taxes. It doesn't make anybody mad and sometimes when the computer business is slow I need the money. So let's press Y because we do want to collect taxes. At this point the computer will display the names of each of the planets in the Central Galactic System on the screen in turn. If you are entitled to collect taxes from the particular world on the screen there will be a pause, then the sound of geese passing gas, and then your taxes from that world will appear at the top of the screen. Taxes are set at 300 credits per world for all players at the beginning of the game. You may raise or lower the taxes to be collected from your worlds during any turn by taking Administrative Action (which we will cover in a minute, if you are still with us). Once the computer has collected your taxes for you you will be asked, "Do you want more ships or arms?" You will want to equip your army so that you have an equal number of ships and arms and ten times that number of troops. Your army is only as strong as its weakest link, so there is little point in building up one portion of it at the expense of the others. Ships will cost you 200 credits each, arms 100 credits each, and troops 20 credits each or 200 credits per Legion. If you have no money left the computer will skip over this section. If you respond Y (yes) to the question as to whether you want more ships or arms the computer will then ask you, "How many ships do you want?" You can't cheat and buy more ships than you can pay for, so don't bother. To speed up the computer you may press ENTER (or RETURN ) once you have indicated the number of ships, arms, or troops you want. DO NOT think about the numbers you want after you have already entered the first digit, or you may end up having typed in only the 1 in 15 or the 2 in 235 or whatever. The computer will give you about 5 seconds to answer once you have started to type in your numbers You can think about it all day as long as you don't start typing in your response. A slight mistake like this could leave you with an unnecessarily inferior military position. Don't try backspacing either. Life is full of silly little rules. You will notice that the computer tells you how many ships, arms, or troops your worlds can supply. These numbers are based on the amount of relative influence the manufacturers (in the case of ships and arms) and peasants (for troops) have on the worlds you control. You will see in the next section that although it may be difficult for you to permit manufacturers or peasants much influence on your planets because of their support for your opponents, you will have to curry a certain amount of favor with both these groups or you will have a hard time building an army. The computer will ask you one last question in the End Turn section: "What is your destination?" Answer whatever you like, and your turn will terminate and Tawala's ship console will appear on the screen. At the beginning of your next turn, you will be on whatever planet you selected as your destination. At this point, I would like you to get to Alhambra as quickly as possible. First, press B for Status Reports to see where you are. If you're already on Alhambra just sit tight and wait for the rest of the group. For the rest of us who are somewhere else, we are simply going to put ourselves on Alhambra without worrying about the other functions of the game. The quickest way to do this is to press D End Turn. When asked if we want to collect taxes respond N so that the lengthy tax collection routine is skipped over. Likewise respond negatively to questions regarding the procurement ships, arms and troops. Now, when the computer asks you, "What is your destination?", respond A for Alhambra. Do this for all three players until du Buque's turn comes around again. E) Administrative Action: The Intricacies of Wheeling, Dealing and Bludgeoning, part 2. Your screen should be displaying Status Reports. Status Reports should indicate your location as Alhambra. If it says New Jersey you've done something wrong, but we'd like to hear how you did it. I wanted us all to get together on Alhantra so that we could go through this crucial portion of the program step by step, looking at the same charts and figures and getting the same results. Let's all go check out the Administrative Actions section by going first to C Direct Action Options then to B Administrative Actions. (Don't forget to press R to get to the main menu first.) This is the section we use when we want to take control of an independent world or preserve control on a world which we have just conquered militarily. Your screen should now be displaying these four options: A Land Reform B Collectivize Farm & Factory C Reduce Tariffs D Increase Tariffs Down below it will say, "Press ENTER (or RETURN ) to see more options." Press away. E Universal Conscription F Abolish the Draft G Workers Health & Safety Laws H Cut Government Red Tape Try ENTER (or RETURN ) again: I Reduce Taxes J Increase Taxes R Take No Further Action `Press ENTER (or RETURN ) to Review Listings' Each of these options, when taken, will produce as many as three important consequences. First, every action you take will change the influence of the major power groups on the planet on which you take the action. Second, every action you take will change the degree of support you enjoy throughout the galaxy from the five major power groups. Third, if you take the wrong actions, or take the right actions in the wrong order, the planet on which you take these actions may throw its loyalty to one of the other players. The object, of course, is to get these worlds to become loyal to you. Let's go through the mechanics of taking control of an independent world. For reference, we're going to reprint Figure #1-2, the Degree of Support Chart (Page 2 of Status Reports), right here: DEGREE OF SUPPORT MFR NIL PSNT TRDR GVT duBuque: 10 85 0 65 0 Tawala: 0 50 70 -40 90 Jan Swart: 80 0 -10 99 -20 You'll recall that Figure #1-1, the Relative Influence Graph, looked like this for Alhambra: RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Military: XXXX Peasants: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Traders: XXXX Bureaucrats: XXXX 10 20 30 40 50 60 The problem is, simply stated, that you, Julian du Buque, find yourself on the independent world of Alhambra, which you wish to take control of by administrative action. From the Degree of Support Chart, Figure #1-2, you know that du Buque receives his strongest support from the military (85), and from the traders (65). You must also take into account Tawala's support with the military (50), and Swart's greater degree of support from the traders (99). In looking at the Relative Influence Graph for Alhambra we see that du Buque's strengths, the military and the traders, do not have more than 10 points of influence each. Our aim is to increase the influence of these two groups, both of which also support our opponents to a greater or lesser degree, so that we take control of the planet as a whole. We'll list all of our administrative options again here for reference: A Land Reform B Collectivize Farm & Factory C Reduce Tariffs D Increase Tariffs E Universal Conscription F Abolish the Draft G Workers Health & Safety Laws H Cut Government Red Tape I Reduce Taxes J Increase Taxes The first action I recommend that we take is E , Universal Conscription. This will increase the influence of the military, which may be risky because they also support Tawala, and the peasants (who support Tawala strongly) are already the most influential group on Alhambra. But instituting the draft has a second effect in addition to increasing the influence of the military - a decrease in the influence of the peasants. They all got drafted! If you press R for Main Menu and then A three times for Computer Central, then Galaxy Directory, then Alhambra, you'll see that the Relative Influence Graph has changed: ALHAMBRA RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXXXXXXXX Military: XXXXXX Peasants: XXXXXX Traders: Bureaucrats: XXX 10 20 30 40 50 60 You'll notice that the traders also suffered from the draft. With all their experience piloting spaceships around the universe they are naturally highly desired by the air force, and they got drafted. That's fortunate, if you think about it. The manufacturers are now the most influential group on the planet, and if the traders were also strong at this point you can bet your Skylab hardhat Alhambra would throw its support to Jan Swart. Now you'll recall that your behavior is closely monitored throughout the galaxy, not just here on Alhambra. Almost every action you take makes somebody mad and pleases someone else, so let's take a look at how instituting the draft on Alhambra has affected your popularity throughout the galaxy. Press R for Main Menu then A for Ccmnputer Central, B for Status Reports and ENTER for Page 2. DEGREE OF SUPPORT MFR MIL PSNT TRDR GVT du Buque (beginning): 10 85 0 65 0 du Buque (current): 10 90 -5 62 0 You can see that du Buque gained 5 points in support from the military, while losing 5 from the peasants and 3 from the traders. But Alhambra remains independent, or we would have heard about it. Let's mess with it some more. I suggest that we press C Reduce Tariffs. You can, if you wish, trundle back and forth to the Relative Influence Graph and Degree of Support Chart to see how this affects then, but I will also display the changes for you here: ALHAMBRA RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXXXXX Military: XXXXXX Peasants: XXXXXXXXX Traders: XXXXXX Bureaucrats: 10 20 30 40 50 60 Do you see why this happened? Compare the Degree of Support Chart: DEGREE OF SUPPORT MFR ME PSNT TRDR GVT de Buque (last move): 10 90 -5 62 0 duBuque (thismove): 7 90 -2 67 -3 It is good to point out at this juncture that you can make as many administrative changes as you want during your turn. You usually end your turn when you want to leave the planet and go elsewhere. Do you see what happened on Alhambra after we reduced tariffs? Reducing protective tariffs is something manufacturers do not like, because it allows foreign made products to enter the planet at a cheaper price. The military doesn't care one way or the other. The peasants like reduced tariffs because now they can buy Japanese cars more cheaply, or Utopian fungibles, or whatever. The traders are pleased, since lower tariffs encourage international trade. The government bureaucracy is dismayed, since the tariff is actually a tax which goes to the government, and now they've lost revenues. The balance of power on Alhambra renains too even for the planet to support any of our three protagonists. So why don't we institute Land Reform. Press A . Now Alhambra looks like this: ALHAMBRA RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXX Military: XXXXXX Peasants: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Traders: XXXXXX Bureaucrats: 10 20 30 40 50 60 The big winner when land reform is instituted is the peasantry. Why would du Buque want to build up the peasants? Probably because the peasants do not like Jan Swart! Remember that to take control, du Buque has to build up the influence of the military and the traders. The traders are even more supportive of Swart than of du Buque, so he needs to balance that support with an anti-Swart group such as the peasants. But Alhambra is still independent, so let's try one more thing. Let's Cut Government Red Tape H . Why should we do this, you may ask, the government doesn't have any influence any more anyway. But who benefits from cutting red tape? Let's see: ALHAMBRA RELATIVE INFLUENCE Manufacturers: XXXXXX Military: XXXXXX Peasants: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Traders: XXXXXXXXX Bureaucrats: 10 20 30 40 50 60 The manufacturers and the traders are always glad to see a reduction in the government bureaucracy. Business is easier to do when nobody's watching over your shoulder. So we built up the manufacturers and the traders, a move which would certainly have thrown the planet to Swart if we hadn't built up the peasants first. Let's look at our Degree of Support Chart again: DEGREE OF SUPPORT MFR ME PSNT TRDR GVT du Buque (beginning): 10 85 0 65 0 du Buque (this turn): 9 90 8 72 -8 Tawala: 0 50 70 -40 90 Jan Swart: 80 0 -10 99 20 As you probably know by now, since the computer should have told you, Alhambra is now loyal to du Buque. By combining his slight support from the manufacturers and the peasants with strong support from the traders and the military he comes out on top. Swart is handicapped on Alhambra by a lack of support from the peasants, the most influential group. Tawala does not receive the loyalty of the planet because he is very unpopular with the traders who are strong there. The order in which we took these four moves was essential to our success. Had we begun, for example, with our second move, reducing tariffs, the planet would immediately have swung to Jan Swart. Likewise if we had begun with our last move, cutting government red tape. If we had instituted land reform first Tawala would have gained control of the planet because the peasants would have become extremely influential without any counterbalancing force. If you make the wrong move it is too late! Control of the planet will swing to your opposition immediately (There will be a slight, though ominous, pause. Then the computer will announce that somebody else's people control the planet). Once the planet is controlled by the opposition you can't make any more administrative changes. Try it. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT," says the computer, which knows the rules. What can you do? Usually you will just blockade the planet and leave. Quite often you will throw things at the wall. Occasionally you will become irrational and attack. For more sophisticated methods of approach, you may read the next section of this booklet entitled, "EXPANDED STRATEGIES FOR PLAY". Expanded Strategies for Play A) General Considerations Find out your points of weakness and strength. Consult your REVIEW RESOURCES Chart and your DEGREE OF SUPPORT Chart (Page 2 of Status Reports). Pick up what is cheapest first. Go to the independent worlds and try to take control of them by administrative action. At the same time try to improve your overall support throughout the galaxy by making concessions wherever you can afford them. Example: Tawala enjoys 90 points of support from the government bureaucracy while his opponents have 0 and -20 points of support. Though Tawala will want to increase the relative influence of the bureaucrats on independent worlds so that they will throw control of the planet to him, he can afford to offend the bureaucracy occasionally by actions taken to curry favor with the other groups. There is little danger that the other two characters will pick up worlds where the bureaucracry is strong, even if Tawala's popularity with that group slides a little. Whenever you accidently throw control of a planet to another player by virtue of bad administration, remember to blockade it before you leave (except in the 1 player game). You can ill afford to recruit planets for your opposition, but when you do, make sure they can't tap its resources without having to go there and break your blockade. Find out on which planets your opponents have a poor grip. Since you can derive exact figures showing how near to control you are and how much control your opponent has (see The Numbers Game), with a little precise math you can nip some of his planets without even going there if he doesn't shore up his position. Be ruthless, especially in the 3 player game. Someone is always in need of an alliance when there are three players. Resist the temptation to knock one of the other players out of the game early unless you are also in a position to eliminate the other. Offer him an alliance instead - it may be more useful to you in the long run than having him out of the game. Make alliances work for you, accept them, break them, and become acquainted with the Austro-Hungarian Dilemna. B) Individual Considerations > Julian du Buque Du Buque is in extreme danger at the beginning of the game since he controls but a single world (you are not out of the game if you control no worlds, but you have no manufacturing base from which to procure arms) and is short on arms and a manufacturing base. He must increase his influence with the manufacturers or take over independent worlds which have some manufacturing. Du Buque' s points of strength include the fact that he has no enenies among the major power groups, he has an adequate supply of credits, and a good supply of troops and ships. He is vulnerable because of his initial lack of arms and manufacturing base, plus the fact that both groups from whom he receives his major support, the military and the traders, also support his opponents. This makes it very tricky for him to take control of independent worlds through administrative action. > Tawala Tawala has one overriding weakness - he has almost no money at the beginning of the game. The consequence of being short of credits is that his opponents can build up their military faster than Tawala can. It is not a bad idea for Tawala to attempt to squelch the Revolution early, before the others can build up their armies. Tawala' s strengths include the large number of worlds he has from which to collect taxes and build ships. In addition he has enough arms and troops to last him a long time. But most important, he is the only player who can raise taxes and simultaneously increase his support among his principal constituency. As a result, if Tawala's quick knock?out strategy fails, he has only to survive and retain control over at least part of his base until he is collecting dramatically higher taxes than the other two players can afford to do. At that point it is he who will have the capability of outdistancing his competitors in the arms race. > Swart Swart is desperately short of troops. Since troops are raised from the peasantry, Swart needs to increase his standing with this group and then increase their influence on worlds he controls in order to acquire an adequate peasant base from which to draft troops. Swart must be wary of an early military defeat (avoid battles). His strength is his money and the large number of ships he has. Be can afford to buy popularity with the peasants through such actions as lowering taxes. C) Popularity versus Influence There are certain elements in the game which you might think are interdependent but are not. These include: a) Your popularity with the military does not affect your military strength. b) The influence of the military on your planets does not affect your military strength. c) Establishing universal conscription does not increase the pool from which you can enlist troops, nor is the reverse true. d) Your popularity with the manufacturers does not directly affect how many ships or arms they will build for you. But if you are unpopular with then it is not likely they will have much influence on the planets you control (since if they prefer your opponents they would probably throw control to then if they did have much influence). It is the influence of the manufacturers on your worlds which determines your manufacturing base, as the influence of the peasantry affects your troop enlistment pool. D) The Numbers Game Although the author of this booklet finds GALACTIC REVOLUTION to be a contest of will and daring, it is possible, since we are dealing with a computer program, to reduce the whole thing to pure numbers. You can, after all, figure out the exact "score" for each character on each planet. By taking the numbers from the Relative Influence Chart and multiplying then by the Degree of Support from each power group you can derive each player `s score for the planet. For example, on Alhambra at the beginning of the game we have relative influence figures of: Manufacturers 30 Military 10 Peasants 40 Traders 10 Bureaucracy 10 We also know from the Degree of Support Chart the exact amount of support each character receives from these five groups. Look at what we get when we ccmbine this information. Do Buque gets 30 (from above) x 10 (his standing with the Manufacturers galaxy-wide) 10 x 85 points from the Military 40 x 0 points from the Peasants 10 x 65 points from the Traders 10 x 0 points from the Bureaucracy Total 2,450 points Tawala gets 30 x 0 points from the Manufacturers 10 x 50 points from the Military 40 x 70 points from the Peasants 10 x -40 points from the Traders 10 x 90 points from the Bureaucracy Total 3,800 points Swart gets 30 x 80 points from the Manufacturers 10 x 0 points from the Military 40 x -10 points from the Peasants 10 x 99 points from the Traders 10 x -20 points from the Bureaucracy Total 2,799 points You need 4,000 points to take control of a world. If no one has 4,000 points, the world is independent. If two people have 4,000 points or more the world is controlled by the character with the most points on that world. If you refer back to our example on Alhambra in the Administrative Actions Section, you'll see how the numbers had changed by the end of du Buque's turn on Alhambra and how this gave him control: Do Buque gets 20 (influence of manufacturers on Alhambra at end of du Buque's turn) x 9 (Do Buque's standing with manufacturers by end of du Buque's turn) 20 x 90 points from the Military 50 x 8 points from the Peasants 30 x 72 points from the Traders 0 x -8 points from the Bureaucracy Total 4,540 points on Alhambra CONTROL Now you can sit and figure this out for every planet, and plot the consequences of every single move you intend to make. If you like a game of numbers it's all there for you and the strategy can become exceedingly complex and precise, but your opponents may tire of waiting for you to figure these things out. If all of you are into numbers, you might want to keep collective statistics to speed things up. If you have a lot of impressive statistics, feel free to send then to us. Maybe we can do something with them. I still prefer contests of nerve and daring to an impersonal game of statistical trench warfare. You too may want to pretend you never read this section. E) The ELM Gambit Presuming you and your opponents are evenly matched militarily, you may be in a position of having to take control of your opponents' worlds without military conquest. The secret to doing that is to be very well acquainted with the Numbers Game. In addition, as you may have noticed during our exercise on Alhambra in the Rules Section, administrative action may increase or decrease your support with different groups by as much as ten points. However, the amount of gain is not necessarily equal to the amount of loss. So it is possible to increase your overall support with time by taking the right actions (ELM - Everybody Loves Me). If I reduce taxes and lose 3 points with group A and 5 points with group B, I may at the same time have gained 5 points with group C and 5 points with group D, for an overall increase in popularity of 2 points. I can also acquire across the board popularity with military success, but as we mentioned at the top of this paragraph, military success can sometimes be a little hard to come by (see the Straw Man Ending for hints later in this section). Part of the ELM Gambit is to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. If I have 99 points of influence from group A and my opponents have 0 and ?10 points, I can afford to trade away 40 or 50 points of support from group A to acquire support from other groups (those worlds predominantly controlled by group A aren't going to have anywhere else to turn). If I have some support from four or five of the groups, I should begin to pick up those worlds with a relatively even balance of power on then without ever going near then. F) The Tax Bracket Racket You can do a lot with taxes. You can't tax people to death, since the maximum tax allowed is 1,000 credits per world per turn, but you can be fairly ruthless about it if you want to be. If your angle is to get as much money as fast as possible to raise an army to fight as soon as possible, you can do it by raising taxes. You will lose some popularity with the peasants, manufacturers, and traders, and you may lose some worlds thereby, but you may raise more money. Similarly, you can court favor by lowering taxes. You will attract more new worlds by lowering taxes than by raising then, but you may run short of money. You can always lower taxes to steal worlds from your opponents and once you've got control of then jiggle some other things around so that you can raise taxes again without losing them. G) The Austro-Hungarian Dilemma Students of history, or in any case viewers of Public Television, may be familiar with the dilema faced by the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire near the end of World War I. The Hapsburgs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had allied themselves with Kaiser Wilhelm at the beginning of the war. It was felt at the time that the Germans got the short end of the stick in that deal since the Hapsburg military machine was rather antiquated and was generally held in low regard. Sho nuff, after a few rounds of modern military warfare, Austria-Hungary wanted out. The western allies would probably have let then off the hook, but their own allies wouldn't let them throw in the towel even though the A-H Empire was of no use to the Kaiser militarily. Why not? Because the Germans wanted to make sure that Austria-Hungary was destroyed in the war, recognizing that the latter's limited industrial capacity would prevent its re?emergence as a world power when the war was over (thereby leaving a power vacuum in Central Europe, which is conveniently located, even to this day, right next to Bavaria). You too can do this nasty thing. If you perceive that your capability to build an army far exceeds that of your opponents, although your current military forces are roughly equal or perhaps even inferior, you may wish to reduce everyone's armies to rubble, since you can rebuild from the ashes more quickly than the opposition. Let's look at an example where this might be a good tactic. Do Buque is allied with Swart. The three protagonists have control of the following worlds and resources: Do Buque 6 worlds, taxed at 300 credits per turn. Ample manufacturing base and peasant population. 7,950 credits 160 ships 58 arms 1,950 troops 58 Legions Swart 4 worlds, taxed at 200 credits per turn. Ample manufacturing base but worlds can supply only 50 troops per turn for enlistments. 17,500 credits 450 ships 55 arms 400 troops 40 Legions Tawala 8 worlds, three of which are blockaded, taxed at 600 credits per turn. Ample manufacturing and peasant base. 0 credits 75 ships 500 arms 2,000 troops 75 Legions Swart feels he needs the alliance with do Buque because Swart is threatened by Tawala's overwhelming military superiority. It is du Buque's turn. Do Buque sees that his ally, Swart, is having trouble finding enough troops for his army. He also takes into account Tawala's financial straits, which are unlikely to improve so long as so many of Tawala's worlds are blockaded. Knowing that the battle odds favor the defender roughly 3:2 and that according to those odds Tawala could successfully defend himself against the alliance, do Buque attacks anyway (remember too that there will be some loss of popularity for the loser). Tension is high, stressful noises emanate from the computer. . . The result of the battle is (this result is random, within the general confines of the aforementioned and pre-established battle odds): Allied Legions Remaining : 0 Tawala's Legions Remaining : 14 This is exactly the result du Buque hoped for. After the battle du Buque still has enough ships and troops to form about 100 Legions, and needs only arms. He has enough money and manufacturing to supply perhaps 50 or 60 arms to his military per turn for the next two or three turns . In other words, within two or three turns he will have rebuilt an army of 100 Legions. Swart survives the battle with only 15 arms and no troops, and furthermore, with no source of troops. Swart's worlds can supply only 1/2 Legion's worth of troops per turn, so Swart's army, in two or three turns, will still consist of only 1 or 2 Legions (unless he can find a source of troops). Tawala has a temporary military advantage after the above battle, and he may pick up a world or two as a result. But his supply of ships has been reduced to around 15, while his limited income will only allow him to purchase 9 ships per turn. In two to three turns therefore, Tawala's army will consist only of 25 to 35 Legions. The loss of popularity which du Buque suffers as a result of losing the battle can probably be recouped in future military confrontations. Do buque's military superiority within two or three turns will be so great that Tawala and Swart will logically have to consider an alliance to stay in the game. Alliances are almost never comfortable arrangements. Ask the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, next time you see him. Note: The losses incurred during battle by an alliance are apportioned in the following manner: Legions belonging to the initiator of the attack are reduced before those of his ally. Had du Buque and Swart beaten Tawala in the battle sequence we've just gone through, for example, any surviving Legions of the alliance would have been Swart's (unless more than 40 Allied Legions had survived, since Swart started with 40) H) The Straw Man Maneuver It often happens that one of our characters exits the game not with a bang but a whimper (in fact, they don't actually exit the game at all). You should do your best to capitalize on one of your opponent's demise. If, for example, du Buque has no worlds and is wandering about with no army and little hope, you, as Swart or Tawala, should take advantage of his weakness. Just plunk yourself down on one of your own worlds, if there are no independent ones left, and take a series of administrative actions which causes the allegiance of your world to be switched to the helpless du Buque. When the computer won't let you take any more administrative actions because the planet now belongs to du Buque, you'll just have to take it back by force. Du Buque has no army with which to defend it, so you win it back and become a war hero. Then you reverse the administrative actions you took to throw the planet in the first place, and you will end your turn more popular than ever with your new credentials as a war hero. This can be an especially valuable tactic in the end game, where evenly matched military forces cause the focus of the struggle to shift back from the military to the political arena. The Straw Man Maneuver may help you pick up some needed support to woo worlds away from your opponent which you cannot expect to win at this stage through military confrontation. Perhaps you think the general populace will see through such a transparent trick. Well, it won't. I know. I) Universal Tax Shelter Delay Game The only reason not to collect taxes is to delay computation of the equation which determines who controls which worlds. It is during the tax collecting routine that the computer takes the Degree of Support figures and mixes them up with the Relative Influence Chart to determine who controls what. If you've had a particularly disastrous turn and fear that you may lose control of a number of worlds when the figures are assessed, you can skip the tax collecting routine to get straight to the purchase of ships and arms section. You might wish to do this because you have a limited manufacturing or peasant base and you're afraid that when your standing is reassessed you will lose several worlds and have no base at all. When the next player collects taxes your standing will be re-evaluated and you will lose it (your manufacturing base or troop enlistment pool) anyway, but you can purchase arms and ships and enlist troops from your previous supply of worlds for at least one more turn by not triggering the re-evaluation mechanism during your tax collecting option. You will, of course, not collect any taxes if you do this. THE END Do you have any great strategies you want to see in print? Send them to us and we'll put them in our next edition if we think they are good, interesting, peculiar, or of redeeming social value. Oh yes. Some revolutionaries will want to know how to win this game. (In our view it's the process that's important, not the outcome, but it takes all kinds.) Well, you win if you get control of all 18 worlds. You'll even get a score, based on the amount of time it took you to take control and the resources you preserved at the end. No bells and whistles though. Winning isn't everything. Outline of Control Functions A Computer Central A Galaxy Directory - Relative Influence Graphs B Status Reports Page 1: Location & Date Page 2: Degree of Support Chart Page 3: du Buque's worlds Page 4: Prince Tawala's worlds Page 5: Jan Swart's worlds Page 6: Independent worlds B Review Resources Page 1: du Buque`s assets - cash, arms, troops & ships Page 2: Prince Tawala's assets Page 3: Jan Swart's assets C Direct Action Options A Negotiations (Alliances) B Administrative Actions Page 1: A Land Reform B Collectivize Farm & Factory C Reduce Tariffs D Increase Tariffs Page 2: E Universal Conscription F Abolish the Draft G Workers' Health & Safety Laws H Cut Government Red Tape Page 3: I Lower Taxes J Increases Taxes R No Further Action C Sanctions A Blockade (and Blockade Lifting) B Military Attack D End Turn Page 1: Last Chance to return to Main Menu Page 2: Tax Collecting Page 3: Purchase of Ships and Arms Page 4: Enlistment of Troops Page 5: Set Destination for next turn ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IV TAWALA'S LAST REDOUBT The cruel Emperor Tawala has been forced from his throne on the world of Galactica and has fled for his life to the planet of Farside, where he and a small bank of adherents prepare to make their last stand. Extreme solar conditions have isolated Farside from the rest of the galaxy, and so it remains to Benthi, leader of the local insurrectionists, to press the final assault on Tawala and his minions. TAWALA'S LAST REDOUBT puts you in the position of rebel leader. You must intercept and decipher Tawala's secret messages to his supporters, form alliances with local chiefs, detect Tawala's spies in your midst, separate hard intelligence from enemy disinformation, avoid Tawala's military forays against you and, finally, lead the assault against the Prince's stronghold. Minimum Configuration: APPLE Disk, 48K with APPLESOFT, Boots directly on either 13 or 16 sector systems. The Story This is the fourth tale of the Galactic Saga. The first three episodes traced the early life of Julian du Buque of Sparta, starting with his appointment as commander of the armed forces of Tawala Mundo, Emperor of the small world of Galactica. GALACTIC EMPIRE followed du Buque's efforts to conquer the 20 inhabited worlds of the Central Galactic System and join them all into a single empire under the rule of Prince Tawala. Upon successfully completing this assignment, du Buque was cashiered (for reasons which were never fully revealed), and in GALACTIC TRADER we participated in du Buque's effort to use his substantial planning and logistical skills in the world of trade. Prince Tawala had not been blessed with any such skills and so was hard put to keep together the empire which du Buque had gained him. GALACTIC REVOLUTION is the story of Tawala's overthrow in a revolt sparked by the discontented merchant class and ultimately led by Julian du Buque. Upon his defeat by du Buque's forces, Tawala fled Galactica and for a time disappeared from view. It is at this point that the fourth episode begins. She is known to most historians as Lorato, which means love. Her name is inextricably entwined with that of Julian du Buque, and in- deed their partnership is a fixture in any tapestry of the history of our people. But few know that this name was not the one given her. She took it for herself when she left Farside with du Buque. Before then she was Benthi, earth woman, fire and steel, the rebel leader who led her small band against the still-powerful forces of Prince Tawala on the remote planet of Farside. Her origins are known, for she wrote of them herself in a diary which she always referred to as "my confessions." Indeed, there is little in the life she led as Benthi which we would wish upon our own daughters - even the small excerpt from her diary which is appended hereto may not be suitable reading for the young. Benthi was by all accounts the coldest woman imaginable, except in the heat of battle. Although not one of them, she led her band of blue-eyed aborigines with a ferocity that seemed to elicit from them a loyalty based half on fear and half on respect. It would not seem that this was her battle to fight. Yet none doubts the depth of her animosity towards Tawala and his cohorts. She came to Farside with her young husband, Thloka, intending to become farmers. Farside was a newly opened planet, and land was cheap and plentiful. The aborigines, a lightskinned, blue-eyed people, were indentured to the farmers and performed the hardest tasks, essentially as slaves. Even the poorest outworlders had five or ten of the aborigines to serve them - this peculiar state of affairs often existed for a time on newly colonized worlds. Their foreman was a huge native called Rick. He fled the farm after committing a capital offense and joined a small band of guerrillas in the hills, who hoped to free their countrymen from the yoke of these star-flung oppressors by raids upon the farms and weaker outposts. When Benthi left her farm and attempted to join the rebels, she found Rick in charge. Although suspected at first, she was finally accepted into the cadre and when Rick was killed in an ambush, she took command of the group. The story is told that she taunted her nearest rival into a suicidally dangerous raid, but this seems out of character. And no one denies that she was an unparalleled leader, a brilliant tactician and an utterly ruthless opponent. She beat Tawala in the end of course, joined by the bandit Vyl- ourmani in the final battle of Mallard Pass, where Tawala was cornered and killed. It was only after the Redoubt had been seized that du Buque managed to break the barrier of isolation which Tawala had cast around Farside and to land his forces on the planet. Farside brought these three together, two fighting men and a fighting woman. And from Farside too came the discovery that broke them apart, taking one on a quest across the universe for a gift sought through all ages, and the other two on a journey into themselves, a journey taken by countless others for as long as man has loved. But these are other stories, to be told another time. This one has been too long in the telling as it is. The Game Place the program disk in your disk drive and turn the computer on. After a short pause the program name will appear and, underneath it, the question, "HOW QUICKLY DO YOU WISH TIME TO PASS ON TAWALA'S LAST REDOUBT? Your answer to this question will set the speed of the clock which controls all the activities of the game (although you can recalibrate the clock from within the game quite easily). The speed scale runs from 1 (very slow) to 9 (very fast). Three is suggested as a good starting speed for most games, although you may set it slower if you are just begin- ning. Once you have selected game speed, press RETURN , You will now see: 1) NEW GAME 2) RESTORE PREVIOUS GAME 1 2 Pressing 1 will continue immediately to game setup. If you have played previously and want to continue the same game from the point at which it was last saved, press 2 . You will then see: ENTER NUMBER OF GAME (OR PRESS FOR NEW GAME): R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Press R if you had intended to ask for a new game and made a mistake. Otherwise choose the number under which you saved your game previously, press that number and then RETURN . As you may imagine, the program can save up to nine games simultaneous- ly. After loading the first game module, the computer will prompt you to insert your data disk. When finished, it will ask you to replace the program disk. Now settle down for a fairly long wait. The disk will whir and clack for a while, stop to do some start up computations (and play you a little ditty, just so you know it hasn't gone to sleep), and then finally load up the game. If this is a new game, you will find yourself located at Benthi's Camp, with the mountains in the background and her tent off to the right. Your location (Camp) is displayed in the upper left- hand corner of the screen. The time and date appears in the upper right-hand corner, and three controls appear in the lower right part. These are M)essenger, I)ntelligence, and O)rders. The right paren- thesis indicates that each of these functions can be called by typing only the first letter of the word. This list of three functions is called the "Master Menu" from now on. Before settling into a discussion of the control functions, there are a few things you should know about the program. First, there are lots of things going on that you don't control. The fiendish usurper, also known as Prince Tawala, will soon start sending out raiding parties from his stronghold. If you leave the computer at this point and go have dinner, you are likely to find the game over by the time you return, your forces ambushed and decimated, with nothing left on the screen but a lone saluting sentinel standing under the stars. If this does happen to you, press any key on the computer and the words "PLAY AGAIN?" will appear on the screen. Pressing Y)es will restart the program from the beginning and save you the trouble of rebooting. Second, you can alter the speed of the clock on the screen. In real life, you are stuck with whatever time sense your metabolism gives you, and you may find that most events consist of nine parts unremitting boredom to one part terror, pleasure, or hope. The com- puter allows you to step outside these real life constraints. Typing any number while the Master Menu is on the screen will change the clock speed. For example, if you are very anxious to witness your own demise, press 9 and sit back. The hours will whirl away and in no time at all, Benthi will become a footnote in Farside history books. There aren't many sound effects in the game, but some people prefer to suppress the clock ticks, especially in the games played at high speeds. Pressing the CONTROL button and then the Q key (referred to hereafter as CNTRL Q ) will suppress them, at least for a time. CNTRL S will bring them back. If you would like to save the game configuration you have been given before you start play (or at any point during the game), press Q , for Q)uit. You will then be asked to choose a number from 1 to 9, and the game will be saved under that number. If you want to quit, but don't want to save your game, just turn the computer off. Works every time. Now we are ready to take you through a tour of the control keys. Rather than taking them in the order in which then appear on the screen, we will treat them in the order you might expect to use them in a game. The last page of this booklet has an outline of all the con- trol keys for quick reference. The Master-Menu: I)ntelligence You have little information at the beginning of the game, other than your location and the time of day. It would be a good idea to get oriented. The only place to start is with your intelligence officer, Chief Paoli. Press I . This invaluable man keeps on his person or in his head all sorts of vital information. He has the only map of the area. He has dossiers on every person and everything under the sun. And he even has a couple of assistants who can run out and get more information if what he has isn't enough! Let's start by taking a look at the map. Press M . Benthi's Camp is located at the bottom part of the screen. Underneath the word CAMP you should see three green symbols followed by numbers. The top symbol represents a rifle, the middle one a coin and the bot- tom one a soldier. As you can see, Benthi has one hundred troops at her disposal but only one hundred Credits and only enough weapons for fifteen of her men. Tawala is located in the upper left corner of the screen. If you had an agent in the Redoubt, Tawala's strength there would also be shown on the map. Tawala's assets are displayed with red symbols. Red and green are impossible to distinguish on most black and white television sets. However, when Tawala's resources are shown, the world AGENT will also appear next to the same location, indicating the presence of one of Chief Paoli's spies. (Incidentally, this map will not automatically up- date itself while you are watching it - it only reflects dispositions in effect at the moment it is called to the screen.) To get a feeling for distances on this map, press C for Camp and then H for Hollywood. Small arrows should appear next to both names and the words "7 hours" should appear in the lower left corner of the map, framed by a box. This is the amount of time it would take a messenger to run from Camp to Hollywood (it would take an armed force twice as long to cover the same distance). Try other combinations of letters. When you are satisfied that you have seen enough of the map for the time being, press R or RETURN to return to the list of Chief Paoli's functions. Use either of these two keys whenever you want to back out of a routine or to return to the previous menu of controls. For example, if you press R one more time, you will dismiss Chief Paoli and find yourself staring at the Master Menu once again. (If you actually did this, press I to get back to Chief Paoli. We aren't done with him yet.) One of the first things we need to do is to send Paoli's two agents where they can observe the movements of Tawala's troops and report these movements back to us. If we like, we can even try to in- filtrate an agent into the Redoubt to report to us on Tawala's overall strength. There are two drawbacks to this: one, the risk of exposure and capture is far greater inside the Redoubt itself; and two, there is no way to recall an agent who has been sent all the way into the lion's den. Sooner or later, he is bound to be exposed. We must weigh the value of his information against the certainty of his future loss. However, in our first game it would be advantageous to know Tawala's exact strength, even at the cost of one of Paoli's two agents. So press S for S)end agent. Paoli will then ask you where to send his spy. Press T for Tawala's Redoubt. Paoli will send the agent off immediately and with luck he should start re- porting back in about 16 hours (the length of time it takes to run be- tween Camp and the Redoubt). It would also be advisable to station an agent at Janus, the interior crossroads city through which all of Tawala's forces must march on their way to other destinations. Next we must concern ourselves with building up the strength of Benthi's tiny force. Obviously the first concern is to secure arms for the unarmed men in the cadre, then to increase the overall strength of the force. There are several ways to do this. Tawala is rumored to have buried an arms cache for use by his men if they should ever be cut off from the Redoubt. We will have to rely upon Chief Paoli's agent to uncover the location of this cache and the code word that unlocks it. Also, the brigand Vyl-ourmani has a substantial band of armed men. If he can be located and the password for entry into his camp discovered, he might be persuaded to join in the fight against Tawala, for whom he has no love. Again, we can do little until we receive additional intelligence from Paoli's spies. What we can do immediately is look for support among Farside's village chiefs. Four chiefs control the villages in this part of Farside: Anson, Beonj, Covoi, and Dumas. Paoli has a dossier on each one, and any approach should take into consideration the personal characteristics of the Chief whose favor is sought. Press D for D)ossiers and, when the word FILE appears, press the first letter of the name of the person whose dossier we want. Pressing any key will `page' through the dossier until it is finished and the Intelligence Menu reappears. If we desire specific information about any of the towns, pressing G and then the first letter of any of the village names will reveal current information on the local population and economy, as well as the identity of the village Chief. It is not the purpose of these rules to instruct the reader how to evaluate the information presented, nor to reveal the `correct' approach to be made in every case. Therefore, the following examples are intentionally vague. It is your responsibility to deter- mine the tactics which led Benthi to ultimate success. The Master Menu: M)essenger Press R or RETURN until you are returned to the Master Menu. Then press M . On the right side of the screen four names will appear. These are your four messengers. Press the letter L . The messenger Lanai will cross to the tent, salute, and prepare to receive your orders. First of all, you must tell him for whom the message is intended. Messengers may be sent with offers to the four village Chiefs. They also may be used to convey instructions to Benthi's forces stationed in various villages (for example, to tell one of Paoli's spies to return to Camp). Let's assume for the present that you wish to convey an offer to Chief Dumas. Press the letter D The following should then appear on the screen: Options: N)othing M)oney Offer him... If you press N , Lanai will carry no money to Dumas. If you press M , the bottom line will change to read: Offer him money, specifically: You will then be expected to enter a sum of money, less than the sum on hand (you may recall from viewing the map that you started with 100 CR), which sum Lanai will take with him for transfer to Chief Dumas. This sum can be viewed as payment for the goods you will request or as a bribe. There is little likelihood of the money being returned if your request is refused. In deciding whether or not to offer the Chief money in return for his assistance, please examine Dumas' personality profile carefully! One note about entering sums: type the numbers in slowly D there is a good deal of processing go- ing on during keyboard entry, and if you type too fast, some of the numerals can be lost. If you make a mistake, you can use the left arrow to backspace. When you are finished entering the number, press RETURN At this point the following screen should appear: Options: A)rms M)oney T)roops Tell him we require... You must select the type of goods you wish to have delivered. (Do not try to buy money. Your messengers have very deep-seated notions of propriety.) You must then enter the quantity of goods you would like. All three commodities have intrinsic values which do not change: rifles are worth 5 Credits each, soldiers 3 Credits, and Credits (not surprisingly) 1 Credit exactly. This information may or may not be of any value. You must then tell the messenger where to return with the goods, provided he is able to acquire them. If you plan on moving your base of operations to one of the villages, you might prefer to have the goods sent directly there. Or if one of your bases is understaffed, it might save time to reinforce it directly. Finally, you must instruct your messenger as to whether or not your offer should be accompanied by a threat of reprisals against the Chief if he should refuse to deal with you. There are several factors which you should take into the balance before making this instruc- tion: the strength and personality of the Chief, the proximity of his domicile to your nearest troops, and the size of his militia, to name a few. The size of the local militia varies from one half percent to one and a half percent of the village population, dependent largely upon the calibre of the Chief's leadership. If Benthi's messenger threatens reprisals and the Chief repulses the offer nevertheless, failure to take action within four or five days will cause a diminution in respect among all of the Chiefs. Yet, however desirable it might be, it is very hard to create a reliable supply source based entirely upon good will. After Benthi has told Lanai whether or not to threaten reprisals, Lanai will salute and leave on his mission. The screen will clear and then return to the Master Menu. If, instead of sending a message to Chief Dumas, we had wished to recall our spy in Janus, we would have proceeded a little differently. After selecting Lanai, we would have instructed him to take a message to our people (by pressing 0 ) in the town of ____ (by pressing the first letter of the town name). Messengers don't get union wages, however, and if there aren't any friendlies in the village you direct him to go to, you are going to find him somewhat recalcitrant about leaving. The Master Menu: O)rders The final control on the Master Menu is O)rders. Press 0 and the Master Menu will be replaced by: T)roop movement B)reak camp Press T . A soldier will appear and ask, "Where shall we go, Benthi?" Respond by indicating the name of the village to which you want to send troops. The soldier will then ask, "How many men will you send?" Enter the number of armed men you want to move. You cannot send out unarmed men. The screen will then clear and the following appear: Options: S)ecure town L)oot & pillage What are our orders? If you press S , your troops will go to the indicated town and fight only if the town is occupied by Tawala's forces. If you press D L , the troops will attack the local militia, sack the town, and take as much booty as possible. S)tay on station R)eturn to base M)ove to... And when finished? Again, choose the option you wish. If you press M , you will be asked to designate the cadre's final destination. The screen will then clear and return to Master Menu. The second option under O)rders was B)reak camp. Press 0 again, and this time press B next. "Where to?" will appear and as soon as you respond, your troops (and you) will set off. Unless, that is, you answer anything but L)em or H)ollywood, the only two towns connected directly to Camp by roads. If you answer with any other town, your subordinate will ask the name of the first town you will pass through on your way to your ultimate destination. There is one other option in the O)rders menu, but it appears only when Benthi's headquarters have been relocated to Janus. The third option is A)ttack redoubt. This command will cause the final, all-or- nothing battle to begin, from which there is no retreat, no second chance. All of your efforts in the game culminate in this, your final command, with which you order your legions to follow you to the very gates of Tawala's close, there to do final battle. It is perhaps ironic that in this, the final battle, you are essentially a bystander. You can watch, from a vantage point high above the defile in which the battle takes place, but once the fray has begun, you cannot alter or in any way further affect the outcome. For true leadership rests not upon the moment of conflict but in the hours and toils leading up to the crucial moment. There is no score at the end of Tawala's Last Redoubt. The situation permits of no partial victories, no salvaged defeats. Either Tawala is destroyed or Benthi. There is no middle ground. The Messages From time to time during the progress of the game, messages will scroll across the bottom of the screen. These messages include all reports based on the activities of your messengers, spies and troops while away from headquarters. If you find the messages hard to read while they are scrolling, you may stop their motion by pressing any key. A second keypress will start them up again. Occasionally, you may attempt to enter a command just as a message begins to scroll. If the keyboard does not seem responsive, check the lower right corner to see if a message has begun to scroll across the screen. Paoli's secret agents report to Benthi by one-way wireless, so they can often provide sufficient advance warning of Tawala's troop movements to allow Benthi to avoid unwanted confrontations or to reinforce beleaguered outposts. They also sometimes intercept coded messages between Tawala and his minions. Breaking Tawala's ciphers can greatly benefit the rebel cause, for these messages often contain valuable information. Sometimes they reveal Tawala's immediate plans. Sometimes they expose the loca- tion of hidden arms caches or of Vyl-ourmani's men. And sometimes they provide the code words that must be keyed in from the Master Menu in order to unlock hidden doors. Each new game will use a dif- ferent cipher, but all messages within a game will be coded using the same cipher. The coded messages are often quite long and use of the wireless is very dangerous, so it is imperative that these messages be copied down with the greatest possible speed. It is possible to break the wireless connection at any time by pressing any key during com- munication (and thus lowering the risk of exposing Benthi's agent), but the agent will also break the connection in an unreasonably short period of time, so be forewarned. Winning this game is not easy, especially if you make minimal use of the very slow pacing speeds. But then any effort to simplify the pro- cess by which Benthi overcame Tawala might cheapen her accomplishment, and that would never do. Appendix A: The Diary The following excerpt from the diary of Benthi covers a period of time substantially before Tawala's final defeat. Although it is not necessary to understand the source of the rebel leader's astounding power in order to replicate her actions on the battlefield, such com- prehension may help one to understand her choice of tactics and the fierce intensity of her will. Monothr 1 Three seasons ago this month they took away my baby. I see it all so fresh still in my mind, the picture sharp as desert moonlight. It had been hot and dry. The summer rains had not yet come, and Margit was sleeping badly. I called her Margit. Thloka never called her anything, never admitted that she even existed. It is just as well, I imagine. He could never have pretended to love her. I wish I could train my mind not to drift like this. It always ends up floating back to those barren days and sends shivers of remem- brance up my spine. Even now, when there is so much danger, if I shudder Rick knows that it is not fear that chills me, but memories. That is why he changed my name. Bambi Knoch I was once - the forest fawn wed to a stolid Teuton. Benthi, Rick renamed me, full woman, and commanded me to put aside my past. Oh how I wished upon him such a power to remake me! But when the air grows hot and dusty this time of year, those old images swell up before my eyes, so hard and stark I cannot shut them out. I remember. Margit, my child, pale skin, dark eyes, her hair just a fuzz of brown. And Thloka. The man I once loved more than I had ever loved, whom I followed to a world I never dreamed of, where he left me. Five years we had together, years of poverty, hope and sharing. I bore him no son, a terrible failing, and yet he never gave me reason to know it. He was good to be with, a strong man with a happy, rip- pling laugh. When he spoke of this new land and its promise, with opportunities for all with strong backs and strong wills, it sounded like the heaven of our dreams. On Farside, he said, we could homestead, start our own farm, build our own clan. No longer would he have to watch me age so young from menial labor in others' homes. Oh how he cared for my welfare and happiness!! Perhaps the dream was dying even then, but I failed to see it. The great clan he was to head was slow to spring from my reluctant womb and surely meant more to him than he ever allowed. Of his own large family, only his sister Lorato and he had survived the war, the two youngest. And then Lorato's death one April night - Thloka and I had been married only two months. We took the trader for Far- side on the next pass. Too many memories, too many failures on Zoe, Thloka had said, and I had agreed. I fight for freedom now. Once I scorned freedom, hated it and feared it, with a fear that would tighten about my heart like a kingsnake wrapped around a desert squirrel. I was too much a part of others then, too little a part of myself. I was the smallest knot in a web that crossed eons and worlds, that bound me to a duty and did not even acknowledge my existence in return. We take up arms for countless causes and against innumerable oppressions, but our struggle is at heart the same - for self-respect. This weapon in my hand is not a license. No, I am responsible for my own actions now. I hold myself strictly accountable. Four years ago one night I stopped by the kraal to speak with Rick. He was our foreman then, a man of immense energy and natural authority. I used to watch him drive the others, told Thloka that they worked harder under my eye. (Rick said - much later - that my fascination was not with his efficiency.) How it happened I cannot say even today, although I do not deny responsibility. He took me, there on the dusty sands, whether by force or otherwise does not matter any more. I told not a soul of that night, and Rick did not come to work the next day or thereafter. We had a hard time of it for a while, for Rick had virtually run the farm, but when Thloka noted my increase he bent his back to the task with extra vigor and a lightness of step that belied his pretended indifference to coming fatherhood. Margit broke his heart, a beautiful, shy earth-toned baby with nothing of Thloka about her. He continued as before, acting as though he lived only for his work, but Margit shamed him, and when one day the authorities came to take her away, Thloka would not meet my eye, and I knew that he had betrayed me. Rick came down from the mountains one night shortly thereafter and took the rest of our workers away. From the window in my bedroom, I watched them as they drifted silently westward under the brilliant moons, wraiths scudding before the cleansing broom. I too was seized with the urge to flee our desolate homestead, and gathering together a few things, I set out after them. (We fight together now, a single well-honed unit, but I know that each among us carries a personal pain we hope in some way to ex- tinguish. That our liberation is but a matter of time I have no doubt, but sometimes I wonder in my heart what will fill the emptiness within me when our struggle is over.) I am stationed on a butte overlooking the wastes of Char-al-Nee, standing watch for the column which Tawala must send to rescue his beleaguered outpost in the Kraal foothills. It is beneath my position perhaps, this tour of sentry duty, but it breeds respect among the cadre, and besides, I need the time alone. How strange to think of such considerations! When first I caught up with Rick, he ignored me and his people rebuffed me. Two weeks I followed the column, sleeping apart from the rest (but always with an eye open to see that they did not slip off), eating alone such nourishment as I was able to secure from the land and my rapidly depleting provisions, content (if they had known it!) merely to be in journey, each day's progress removing me one step from a life which had abandoned me. I would not have survived without Ketumetse's help. She brought me scraps of food from the camp to supplement the thin diet I was able to provide myself. A slight wisp of a girl, no more than fourteen I imagine, she had been our housegirl at the farm and didn't seem to fit in well with the others. Perhaps that was why she sympathized with my isolation. The others doubtless saw what she was doing but made no effort to interfere. The terrain was hard enough to occupy most of our attentions. The Karalan escarpment forms an austere wall marking the edge of the high savanna and the most fertile areas where the farms have sprung up. Beyond the escarpment the earth becomes grey dust, a fine soot that enters every pore and chokes the unmuffled throat. This is the Char-al-Nez, a hundred kis wide, a desolation inhabited only by the wind. It is said that men once lived there and that grass grew deep over that sterile land, but I do not believe it. Beyond the wastelands lie the foothills and then the snow-white peaks of the Maziwa Range. Streams still chuckle there, disappear- ing into the ground at the edge of the Char. Few people venture into these hills, as the terrain is difficult and not suited to farming. That may have been one of the reasons Rick chose them for his base. Early on the morning of the fifteenth day of our journey we reached the far edge of the Char and entered a narrow wadi leading into the highlands. Here the company stopped to enjoy the smells and sounds of living soil and to drink fresh water scooped from holes dug in the sand in low parts of the wadi. But no sooner had most laid down their packs than a band of marauders fell upon them from the high banks on each side. Many of Rick's people fell immediately, while the rest fled helter-skelter. I could hear Rick's bellow as he tried to pull his panicked flock together. I had trailed behind the main body half a ki or so, for even after a hardy farm life I was no match for the field hands in endurance. As a result I was not involved in the fray, although I saw it clearly from the edge of the wadi, which I climbed to avoid the raiders. Once the great part of Rick's people had been driven off, their assailants swooped down on the fallen and started to strip them of their possessions, killing the wounded as they came upon them. I watched as if at a film, frozen with the shock and horror of it all (how time changes one!). Then the nearest of the victims shifted so I could see her face. It was Ketumetse, her face distorted by pain and fear. She appeared unable to walk but tried instead to crawl away from the melee. One of the raiders saw her and ran over to stop her escape. And suddenly I saw before me the image of my own lost daughter, grown up in a strange and forbidding world without my protection, and in my mind Ketumetse and she became one. From some hidden wellspring within me then gushed such a fount of rage that I lost all sense of time or place. I have no recollection of what followed. Rick said that he saw me sweep down the side of the wadi and impale the bandit with my own small hunting knife, then turn on the remainder with so implacable an expression upon my face that they hesitated for a moment in indeci- sion. Rick seized that moment, with some few of the hands whom he had collected, to attack the raiders from the other side, and they, having largely gained their objective, withdrew. From that day my isolation was ended and if Ketumetse was still my most loyal supporter, my acceptance by the others did not appear grudging. It was as if, having decided now to trust me, they denied that they had ever failed to. It was not Rick's doing, of that I am cer- tain. If his people had not accepted me, he would have kept his distance. He could lead his cadre - he explained it so plainly to me - only if they were absolutely certain that he always placed their interests before his own. If they did not trust me, neither could he. I shared his tent for the rest of that long trek, until at last we reached his first redoubt, a small box-shaped valley backed up against Ghasialima, most northly of the Maziwa Range, where a full five hundred battle-proven men and women were already encamped. He was drawn away then by the responsibilities he must assume, but our small group must have spoken for me, for I was treated with courtesy by the entire camp. The cadre's position was in many ways less unsettling than Rick's. I was at least allowed to be one with them, if not one of them. I still did not know what Rick wanted of me. During the months of training which followed I stayed with the same group, until I could no longer see in any of them the faces of my former "hands." We all grew together during this time, for Rick blended us skillfully into a single unit. And when the time came for our first battle testing, Rick led us personally. We raided a farm, not unlike the one from which we had all originally come. We had been expertly prepared and thoroughly rehearsed in each phase of the operation. Some among us were designated to approach the farmhands and recruit as many as possible to our cause. Others were to lead the meat animals away. Still others were to secure communications, disarm the owner and his family and search for weapons. We were ready for our test, and yet we failed, for we were expected. Tawala's men were waiting for us and took us by surprise. Fully half the cadre was killed or left behind, and I would certainly have numbered among the casualties had not Ketumetse pulled me aside from the main body because of some dif- ficulty with her pack, so that we were at the very rear when the trap was sprung. Rick was wounded very slightly in the arm, but on the return trek he angrily refused my offer to bind it up. I was the more hurt then when he allowed Ketumetse to stanch the bleeding. And my hurt grew greater when he avoided me utterly on the return journey, as if my presence had somehow been the cause of our failure. I had not shared Rick's tent after we first reached Ghasialima, but he would frequently appear at mine late into the night and often not leave my arms until the morning light drove us into wakefulness. But after the raid these visits ceased. It was evident that Rick felt that I had failed him in some way, but I was unable to ask him directly. If I had needed any final proof of my fall from favor, however, I received it presently, when I woke one day to find most of the camp gone on another raid of which I had not even been aware. They were gone three days. As the sun was disappearing over the western rim of the valley, the remnants of the raiding party straggled into camp, no more than two thirds the size of the original band, and many of them wounded. I joined those easing the pain of the injured and was changing dressings when Rick sent for me. He apologized immediately. I had not been informed of this last raid, he told me, in order to clear me of certain charges which he had en- countered running with foul energy through the camp - that I had somehow communicated warning of the previous raid to the authorities and was therefore responsible for the ambush which had caught us by surprise, with such devastating consequences. Since I had not known of this second raid and since it too had been am- bushed, if there were a spy in the camp, as seemed likely, I was really the only person now above suspicion. I still can recall the crushing impact of this revelation. No, I was not overjoyed to learn of my own innocence. I had not realized that it was in question. But to have been suspected without cause before any others - that was cruel. And even worse, to have been ab- solved through being denied a piece of information all the camp knew... How could he know that no one in the entire camp had told me of this second raid, I challenged him. What kind of proof was that? I might indeed be his spy. What gave him such assurance that I could be kept ignorant of a secret shared even with the children! His bland certainty humiliated me more than I could tell. How did he know that Ketumetse, my devoted follower, had not revealed the raid to me? Because it was she who had suspected me in the first raid, Rick had answered. It was she who told him how I had dropped out of the advancing column so that I wasn't in my proper position when the trap which caught us was sprung. It was Ketumetse who pointed out that when we were attacked after leaving Thloka's farm, I stepped into the open and yet was not harmed. She is grateful that you saved her life, he said, but she is not a fool. No, not such a fool as men can be! His tone as he spoke told me what I had not known, and then the pieces began. to fit together at last. I understood then why I had seen so little of Ketumetse over the past two months, why Rick had come less often to my tent, even before the first raid, why the women in camp deferred to a wisp of a girl a fraction of their age. How can I separate the turmoil of my feelings at that time? - yet I do not believe that jealousy or spite colored what I then did. I have always had a facility for cutting off my emotions when they interfere with what must be done. It was as Rick himself said. The interest of the cadre must come first - and if our leader's judgment was im- paired by his male foolishness, then it was my responsibility to take steps to protect us. I am not hasty. I did not waste my knowledge on unyielding ears. In- stead I begged Rick to allow me to lead the next raid, to erase any lingering suspicions over my loyalty to the cadre. A little to my sur- prise, he agreed. He too realized that it was necessary. My skin tainted me yet. We studied the maps together and ultimately selected a brazen target, the huge Mani-kor estate, on the third night before the next conjunction of the moons. I occupied him until past the evening meal and the sun had already set when finally I left his tent. But I did not return to my own. There is a nook in the boulders nearby. I squatted there until I saw a lithe form slip through the tent folds. Then I wandered in the darkness for a time, for their private pleasures were no concern of mine. I returned only when I felt that Rick would be sleeping - he was not a great talker and slept quickly and deep. In the chill of the night I waited. Of what was to come I had no doubt. The dawn greyed about me presently. I was sore and cramped from the vigil. I rose and began to move about as if upon some little errands, so that my purpose would not be evident to the early camp risers. But Ketumetse did not emerge until the sun was full upon the tent and with such radiance in her face that I was at last pierced by doubt. Could this frail creature be our betrayer? Could anyone shine so with life and send her comrades to their deaths? She spied me then and greeted me with warmth, and had I not re- called her words denouncing me, I should have put my suspicions behind me. It is well that I did not. (I see a great stirring of dust on the far horizon. Tawala's unimaginative commander has reacted as anticipated. We shall prepare the ambush. but there is time yet. The column cannot march in the full heat of the day and will not reach the place where we shall destroy it before evening.) Three days I watched her, even as I put the cadre through final drill in preparation for the raid. Three nights I lay sleepless in the rocks by Rick's tent. And just as dawn began to lighten the valley tops on the fourth day, I was rewarded. She slipped out the back of the tent so silently I would surely have missed her had my attention not been attracted by a burst of song from a nightthrush. She climbed with sure feet toward the canyon headwall. I followed her with my eyes, and only when she dipped behind the short rhiolan growth did I rise to follow her. She was crouching behind the bushes in the middle of the path, speaking softly as if to herself, and in my haste I tripped over her. She would have scrambled away, but I held her by the ankle until I could pinion her to the ground with my body. She was strong but very light and no match for me in strength. I could hear her breath coming in quick little gasps beneath me. Why, I asked? Why do you do this, Ketumetse? presently she started to weep. She said nothing but sobbed as if her heart were torn asunder. After a time, I lifted her and carried her back to the camp. She lay limp as rags in my arms, not resisting, already a stranger to this world. At morning call, I showed my prize. They jeered me. Blinded by nar- row thoughts, they applauded my loudest skeptics. Ketumetse did not speak. Carefully, I laid the evidence before them, one point at a time. None would hear me out, particularly not Rick, who made as if to stop me. Then a rage took me, and I denounced them all for what they made me do. With my knife I cut open her throat to reveal the device I knew was there. The glint of wire and metal from within the bloody wound silenced them then. But anger and sorrow took my voice away, and it was left to Rick to come and inspect the body of the woman he had known, to separate the transmike from the shards of surrounding tissue and display it for all to view. He had the decency to weep for her, which is the reason I forgave him for being such a fool. Outline of Control Functions M Messenger H Haka J Juma K Keetse L Lanai 1) ... take this message to . 0 our people ...in ... (one of the villages) ...Tell them to move to ... (village name) A , B , C, OR D (one of the four chiefs) 2) Offer him... N Nothing M Money ... specifically ... (enter sum) 3) Tell him we require... A Arms M Money T Troops 4) ... specifically ... (enter sum) 5) To be sent to: (one of the villages) 6) Should I threaten reprisals for failure to comply? I Intelligence M Map D Dossiers G Geographical S Send Agent 0 Orders T Troop Movement 1) Where shall we go? (one of the villages) 2) How many men will you send? (enter sum) 3) What are our orders? S Secure town L Loot & pillage 4) And when finished? S Stay on station R Return to base M Move to... (one of the villages) B Break camp 1) where to? (one of the villages) Non-listed controls: Q Quit game CNTRL Q Turn sound off CNTRL S Turn sound on 1 - 9 Change tempo of game The names of the villages: A Anaxis D Delphi J Janus B BahI F Ffahr K Koku C Camp H Hollywood L Lem and sometimes: T Tawala's Last Redoubt The names of the Chiefs: A Anson B Beonj C Covoi D Dumas The names of the messengers: H Haka J Juma K Keetse L Lanai