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SantaParavia and Fiumaccio Manual

Welcome to SantaParavia 2003!

     In SP, you rule one of eight 15th century Italian citystates. Besides
Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio, there are also Torricella, Molinetto, Lanciano,
Ravenna, Podesta, and Bellomonte.

     SP is for 2-8 players. Your aim is to guide your state to greater
prosperity and, in the process, advance in rank from Squire/Lady through
Prince/Princess to Pretender. The player who is most successful in building up
his/her Lands, Buildings, Population, and Treasury becomes King (or Queen) and
declared the winner.
 
 

System Requirements

     The program can run on any 64k or larger Apple II series computer. Under
DOS 3.3, it can run on a 48k Apple II. It should run fine on Apple II clones
and most modern Apple II emulators.

     SP runs under DOS 3.3 or ProDOS. So, it can run from a DOS 3.3 or ProDOS
diskette or .dsk image. On a ProDOS or GSOS system with a hard disk, it can be
placed in a ProDOS folder and run there-- move the files from the ProDOS disk
to the desired folder (you do not need to move PRODOS or BASIC.SYSTEM).

     SP looks best on a IIgs because you will get colored backgrounds and
Text.  During the first part of a turn (when buying/selling Land and Grain),
you can select one of 21 pre-set text/background color schemes by pressing the
<- or -> arrow key.  Unless changed, the color scheme you pick remains in
effect for the rest of the game.

     On a IIgs, you also have better speed. The program will automatically
switch to low speed while playing music and other sounds and for some displays.
 
 

Running SP on an Apple II Emulator

     SP uses the standard sound for 8-bit Apple II games, sometimes called
"old Apple II sound". (Sound is produced by toggling a bit at address $C030
which goes to a small amplifier and is output by the Apple II's speaker.)

     Any Apple II computer or decent clone will reproduce SP sound without a
hitch. But, so far, none of the current Apple II emulators tried has been
completely successful. For sure, all of the for-PC emulators tried bomb on the
two-voice sound used for the game's music and some of the prompts.

     For running on emulators, SP can switch to single-voiced sound and make
other changes to try to get the best sound. When the game program starts you
will have an option to select sound for emulators. If the game is being run on
an emulator, you should probably select this option.

     Except, perhaps, on an Apple IIgs emulator, the program has no way to
detect emulator speed. So, setting an emulator above 1 MHz (e.g. "authentic
Apple II speed") will speed up everything, including music and tones. Up to
about 2MHz seems to work and sound okay.
 
 

Ratings

     Every game of SP 'counts' because game results are "rated". This means
that each player's score (based upon Land, Treasury, etc.) determines order of
finish; and, how you finish determines points added-to or subtracted-from your
rating. Ratings are maintained on-disk. They are updated and displayed after
each game.

     The program uses the initials each player enters at the start of a game
to keep track of who is who for purposes of rating. As a game begins, you may
enter any Name you wish; but, if you want to get proper credit for game
results, your three Initials must be the same every time you play.

     Ratings are updated and displayed after each game.

Note: Be sure the game disk is not write-protected. SP will not be able save
ratings if the diskette or disk image is write-protected. (At least one
emulator automatically sets the "Read Only" property for disk images. You will
need to change that setting to save ratings.)

     At present, 100 is the maximum number of players which an SP.RATINGS
file accommodates. If you want to play experimental games, it's best to stick
with a few 'dummy' initials-- such as SXX for the Santa Paravia player, FXX
for the Fiumaccio player, etc.. For ~Real~ games, use your real initials.

     If you have an SP.RATINGS file full of fake players and want to scrap it
before playing for-real games, you can. The program automatically creates the
SP.RATINGS file if it is not present.
 
 

Playing SP

     Once player names and initials are entered, the program randomly selects
the year's weather and calculates Harvests plus prices for Grain and Land. At
the start of the first year, these are identical for each player. (Weather is
always the same for all players.)

     Next, the program displays Citystate Status information for all players.
This shows numbers of Nobles, Soldiers, Clerics, Merchants, and Serfs, plus
Land held and Treasury. The program then randomly determines who is to move.

     Each player gets a turn during which he or she buys/sells Grain and
Land, dispenses Grain, gets an income, invests in Market Squares, Woolen
Mills, etc., and may win advancement (you are awarded a new title).  Advancing
in rank is important because it increases your credit-- i.e. how negative your
treasury can go when making purchases.

     After the last player's turn, the program again displays status
information for all players and you move on to a new cycle of turns.

     As year two (and every subsequent year) begins, weather is again
randomly selected. However, due to differences in Land available for crops,
Grain reserves, Serfs to work the land, losses to Rats, and many other
factors, Harvests will differ. The Emperor awards the Harvest Prize (at least
1000 gold Florins) to the player with the best Harvest at the beginning of
each round of turns.

     Your actions affect other rulers. For instance, maintaining a large
Grain reserve will, to some extent, depress Grain prices because the price
depends heavily upon total Grain available from all players.  On the other
hand, selling or dispensing all of your Grain is likely to send your Land
price up in the next year AND produce a major Grain price surge for all players!

     Similarly, other players can not ignore one player who regularly
dispenses large quantities of Grain to obtain big jumps in population.
Population is the major limiting factor on number of Soldiers you can equip.
If one player starts an arms race, other players must adjust their plans to
keep up or face invasion.

     In general, the better the weather, the more rapidly players advance.
After seven to ten years-- roughly, 30 minutes to an hour of play-- it is very
likely that one or more players will advance to Pretender. This means that,
after the last player's turn, a winner will be declared. The Pretender with
the best score will become King or Queen.

     There is only one 'rule': use of paper & pencil for notes, figuring,
etc. is verbotten! They are not needed and can bog down the flow of play.
 
 

Buy/Sell Land and Grain

     As your turn begins, the first order of business is to manage your
citystate's Land and Grain. You can see your harvest results, Grain and Land
holdings, and treasury, plus Grain and Land prices for the current year. Also
shown is the loss to Rats and the current weather (i.e. the weather which
prevailed during the last growing season).

Land: You need Land to grow Grain and to have space for the Markets, Woolen
Mills, Palaces, and Cathedrals which develop your citystate, increase your
income, and boost your rank.

Grain: You need Grain to feed your people and to have a reserve of seed grain
for the next harvest.

     To speed-up and simplify Grain/Land buys, SP allows over-buy (or over-
sell) entries like "9999999" in response to "Buy how much Land?", "Sell how
much Grain?", etc.  prompts. It will figure out how much Grain (or Land) you
can actually buy or sell and automatically update your Treasury and Grain/Land
holdings.

     Since there is no limit on number of buys or sells, you can experiment
... e.g. see how much Land you can buy, then sell off Land and see how much
Grain you can get.

     For most choices-- like you say you are finished with Buy/Sell and
change your mind-- ESC is the general purpose 'cancel' key.

     You end the Buy/Sell part of your turn by deciding how much Grain to
dispense to feed your people.
 
 

Rats

     Rats eat Grain, thus reducing reserves and harvests. More buildings,
very large Grain reserves, and smaller Serf populations are all factors which
increase losses to Rats.
 
 

Weather

     Ranging from "Drought" through "Bad", "Fair", "Good", and up to
"Excellent", weather has a major impact on your Harvest and, thus, on Grain
and Land prices.  In general ...

o- You get way above average (Fair Weather) Grain production with Excellent
Weather and way below average with Drought.

o- The better the weather, the lower Grain and Land prices will be.

o- The more moderate the weather, the higher the production from your Woolen
Mills will be.

     Naturally, dealing with the weather is mostly a matter of speculation.
You find out what weather prevailed during the last growing season and after
last year's development projects.

     The one exception is dispensing Grain. The harvest has just come in and
you know what the current weather is.

o- The worse the weather, the more move-ins you get for a given Grain feed.
You get the most impact per stere of Grain dispensed during a Drought year
because times are hard and food is precious.

Of course, Grain is a lot more expensive in bad weather years. A large feed
means passing on a chance to sell the extra Grain which translates into less
money for building later on in your turn.

     Weather is set at the beginning of each cycle of turns using a 'random'
selection routine which tends to slightly favor non-extreme conditions. The
same routine also keeps track of past weather and makes a stab at avoiding
repetitions. Still, there are no guarantees against runs of very good or very
bad weather.
 
 

The Seer

     An option during the first part of your turn is to consult the Seer to
obtain a prediction of next year's weather. The Seer offers a choice of one-
shot and multiple samplings.  So long as you have the cash-- seers do not
extend credit-- the Seer is IN.
 
 

Dispensing Grain

     After you buy/sell Grain and Land, you tell SP how much Grain to release
to feed your people. Feeding "Demand" will avoid riots and maintain modest
population growth. Feeding the "Request" amount or more produces better
population growth and (VERY important) attracts move-ins.

     The more Grain you dispense, the more your population expands from
births, the more move-ins you attract, and the better your income. However,
the more Grain you dispense, the less is in reserve for planting next year.
(Even if you dispense all of the reserve, your serfs will glean enough for
some kind of harvest; but, it won't be very large.)
 
 

Move-ins

     Serfs and Merchants will move to your lands if you feed the people well.
Market Places help to attract Merchants. Once you begin building a Palace,
Nobles will be attracted. Once you begin building a Cathedral, Clerics will be
attracted.

     After you dispense Grain, a display will show births and deaths for
Serfs and move-ins of Serfs and others.

Serfs: Produce Grain and help keep down losses to Rats. More Serfs always
equates to a larger harvest, although the increase will diminish when Land
holdings are too small and your Serfs are crowded or when there is not enough
seed grain in reserve. If well-fed, Serfs are a factor in reducing the odds of
an invasion.

Merchants: Engage in small manufacturing, trade, etc. and produce major
revenues.

Nobles: Add to the effectiveness of your Soldiers.

Clerics: Encourage Serfs to produce larger harvests.

     All of the above, especially Merchants, improve your income. And, all of
the above improve your status (and rank) as the citystate ruler.
 
 

Invasion

     If some player has significantly more soldiers than you do (usually, at
least a 2:1 advantage), he or she may Invade and seize some of your Land
during your turn. (This would happen just after the display showing population
changes following your Grain dispersal.)

     If several players can invade, the one with the most available troops
invades. (Note: the program, not any player, decides whether or not and who
invades.)

     Invasions tend to be rare because the required advantage is, usually,
too great. Even so, a ruler who has neglected adding Soldiers and just
purchased a large block of Land could be in trouble. No invasions can occur
during the first year.
 
 

Citystate Account: Getting Your Income

     Your State Income is calculated, collected, and displayed following
Grain release and move-ins (and invasion, if there is one).

     Income consists of revenues from taxes on sales by Merchants +  Market
Square rentals + output from Woolen Mills - Cost of maintaining your Soldiers.
To this is added (or subtracted) the Interest on your last end-of-turn
treasury balance.
 
 

Map

     The map, chiefly, supplies useful information about buildings. It shows
Market Squares (alternating Red and White roofs) and  Woolen Mills (Black and
White roofs).  The Palace shows as a blue building and the Cathedral is
yellow. The latter structures each require ten pieces to be complete.
(Additional Palace or Cathedral pieces 'count' but do not show on the map.)

Note: Beyond the first complete building, additional Palace or Cathedral
pieces have relatively minor impact. (Additional building does immediately
attract more Nobles or Clergy. Counts of these are shown in other displays.)

     Map size depends upon Land holdings. If your Markets or Woolen Mills are
too numerous to fit a map, then, only the number that fit are displayed.  The
Guard Tower indicates state of your defenses in terms of Soldiers per hectare--
example: a small Tower means you are 'spread thin'. The Horse icon indicates
Land utilization in terms of Serfs per hectare to grow crops. The lower the
Horse, the less intensively your Land is being utilized.
 
 

Citystate Development

     The final part of your turn is building Market Places, Woolen Mills, and
other structures which improve citystate income and boost your rank. This is
also the time for beefing up your army.

     Here's a summary of what you can buy:

Market Squares (1000 FL): A good 'bang for the buck' investment which has the
least negative impact on Grain production. Each Market Square you build
increases income and adds a few Merchants.

Woolen Mills (2000 FL): Supply solid, moderately high income which peaks
during non-extreme weather periods. A disadvantage is that your Harvest is
impacted because workers are drawn from the pool of Serfs devoted to working
your Land.
 
Palace pieces (3000 FL): Each addition to a palace immediately attracts one
or two Nobles and increases Noble move-ins in future years. Palaces harbor
more rats than other places.

Cathedral pieces (5000 FL): Each addition immediately attracts one to three
Clerics and increases future clergy move-ins. Cathedrals harbor more rats than
other places except Palaces.

Soldiers (500 FL/platoon): These are Serfs you arm & train.  Soldiers protect
against invasion. If you achieve a large advantage in numbers, they may become
invaders unless they are tied down defending your Lands. (A player with large
Land holdings is less likely to have many troops available for invading
others.) Soldiers help to keep down rats, too. Soldiers represent an annual
expense; and, of course, serfs turned into soldiers no longer produce Grain.
 
 

Development Buy Limits

     When buying buildings or soldiers, you will be 'beeped' whenever no
further buys of the item are permitted. Usually, this means you do not have
enough Land to support more Market Squares, Woolen Mills, etc.. Buys may also
be limited by population and rank. (Princes do not have to worry about rank
limits.) Since Soldiers and Woolen Mill workers come from your Serfs,
population is the chief limit on these purchases.
 
 

Status Summary

     During Citystate Development you can view a current map as well as check
your citystate's status summary. The status summary shows the same information-
- counts of Nobles, Clergy, ..., Land, Treasury--  included in the end-of-year
players' summary mentioned earlier except that only your status is displayed.
Plus, you get a count of Markets, Woolen Mills, etc. purchased so far during
the current turn.
 
 

Bankruptcy

     As when buying/selling Grain and Land (at the start of your turn), you
may engage in deficit spending during the Development part of your turn. A
major difference is that in the latter case your creditors find it harder to
set a clear limit-- that is, you CAN go bankrupt!

     You will, always, receive one Warning notice the first time some
purchase MAY push you over the edge. After this you are free to continue on or
cease further buys. For the rest of the current turn, there will be no more
warnings.

     If you go Bankrupt, the program does an automatic sell-off of selected
assets to correct your treasury balance. It then displays any change in rank,
and ends your turn.
 
 

Score

     Throughout game play the program maintains a score for each player based
upon many factors including ...

o- numbers of Serfs, Merchants, Nobles, Clergy, Soldiers
o- numbers of Market Squares, Woolen Mills, Palaces, Cathedrals
o- frequency of generous feeds
o- Land holdings
o- Treasury*

*Note: Since the objective is to develop and expand your citystate, holding a
Treasury much in excess of 50,000 Florins at game's end is a waste.

     Scores are checked whenever the program needs to determine a player's
rank-- i.e. at the end of each player's turn and after invasions. The program
does not show scores during the game. Once someone wins, the program lists
player names and scores in order of finish.
 
 

Rank

     From Squire/Lady through Prince/Princess there are seven titles before
Pretender. Your rank depends upon current status as determined via your score.
It is possible to skip ranks (e.g. advance from Marquise to Grand Duke) and,
even, to lose rank.

     Major advantages of a higher rank include higher limits on number of
buildings one may buy and more credit. A disadvantage of higher rank is that
one is expected to hold more Land, etc.-- e.g. your Land price will be higher
if your holdings fall below the usual expectations.
 
 

Winning

     Once any player advances to Pretender, it is the last year of the game.
The round of turns will continue and any players who have yet to move may also
advance to Pretender. When the round is completed the Pretender with the
highest score is declared King or Queen, wins, and gets to enjoy the victory
song!
 
 

More about Ratings

     Each player begins with a rating of 100. Rating gains and losses depend
upon number of players and how a player finishes. For instance, in a four-
person game the raw changes for 1st through 4th will be +6, +2, -2, -6.  One
or more points may be added or subtracted depending upon level of competition
as reflected by the average of ratings for those playing. So, like ratings
maintained for players of chess, bridge, etc., your SP rating will tend to
increase more for wins against high-rated players and drop further for losses
to lower-rated players.

     Ratings are displayed after each game. First, the display shows previous
and new ratings for players in the just finished game along with numbers for
Game Mean (average of participant ratings) and a count of total games rated so
far. Next, SP scrolls through all player ratings on record. Pressing SPACE
stops and restarts scrolling. Finally, SP updates the SP.RATINGS file.

     In case you wish to delete a player or add an already rated player (e.g.
from some other group of SP players), you can use any Text editor program to
make the changes. An SP.RATINGS file looks like this:

350   <Number of Games Played is first- 350 games have been played>
22    <Number of Players is second- this file has info for 22 players>
SPO   <Player Initials- e.g. "SPO">
115   <SPO's rating-- SPO's current rating is 115>
FIU   <Player Initials- e.g. "FIU">
120   <FIU's rating-- FIU's current rating is 120>
etc. ...

     To delete a player, delete his/her initials and rating and decrease the
Number of Players. To add a player, add his/her initials (all caps) and rating
and increment the Number of Players. (Note: The initials used for the new
player must not be the same as the initials used by another player in the
list.) Finally, save SP.RATINGS as a Text file.
 
 

Contacts

     Let me know if you have any comments, suggestions, bug reports, or
questions.
 

Have fun!

Rubywand
rubywand@swbell.net

Credits

Play Testers (who offered many valuable suggestions): John Rhoades,
Richard Gray, John Lowe, Jim Bruton, Mike McLellan, Peter Rokitski

Original Inspiration: "Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio" by George Blank

Intro Tune: adapted from "The Institute"

Music adaptations and editing: H.Z. Hurlburt

Programming: Jeff Hurlburt & H.Z. Hurlburt
 

Version 9.77.37GS
February 2003
release date: June 30, 2003
 

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