********* The Project 64 etext of the ~North South manual~, converted to etext by Martin Brunner . NORSOU10.TXT, April 1997, etext #229# Readapted for the Spectrum in 2001 AD by Alessandro Grussu http://www.ag-online.da.ru ********* With the famous comic strip heroes from 'LES TUNIQUES BLEUES' (The Blue Jackets), imagined by LAMBIL, designed by CAUVIN and published by EDITIONS DUPUIS, re-live the American Civil War with a little bit of historical realism and a lot of humour! Your objective is ensure victory for your side (North or South) by eliminating all the enemy armies. You will be controlling armies across all the combat zones of the Civil War. You may respect history or not, as you like. ******************** * LOADING THE GAME * ******************** [C64 loading instructions omitted] GLOSSARY OF GAME TERMS ====================== - SIDE:.......The SOUTH (Confederacy) or the NORTH (Union). - TERRITORY:..Geographical representation of States on the strategic map. - CLICK:......Press the space bar or the fire button. This action is used to confirm according to cursor position. - CURSOR:.....This is a screen pointer which you can move around on the strategic map using joystick or P,L,Z,X keys on the keyboard. - FIRE:.......Press the space bar or fire button. - ARMY:.......A force made up of a number of units represented by a soldier on the strategic map. - UNIT:...... The basic element of an army. There are three types of units: Cavalry, Infantry and Artillery. JOYSTICK OR KEYBOARD ==================== JOYSTICK/KEYBOARD: UP/P LEFT/Z RIGHT/X DOWN/L Other keys: Press H to pause the game. [Spectrum: Choose Keyboard, Kempston, Sinclair 1, Sinclair 2 or Cursor. Keyboard is fully redefinable] ************ * THE MENU * ************ lf you want to start playing immediately, use your cursor and click on the case marked "GO". - You are playing at CAPTAIN level. You play Captain STARK against a Confederate Corporal played by the computer. The start year is 1861 and no catastrophe is activated. North plays first. lf you want to alter the current configuration, you may act on the following parameters: - 1 or 2 players. - Change difficulty level. - Change start year. - Activate (or not) all or some of the catastrophes and events. - Play (or not) in strategic mode (no arcade) only. The order given here is only an example; you need not respect it. 1. SELECTING 1 OR 2 PLAYERS =========================== Click on the Window flag behind the character; a computer will appear, signalling that your computer will play that side. Reclick on the computer to switch to human mode. 2. DIFFICULTY LEVEL =================== Click on the character head in the window. CORPORALS: BLUTCH for the Union, MATHIAS for the Confederacy. SERGEANTS: CHESTERFIELD for the Union and CANCRELAT for the Confederacy. CAPTAINS: STARK for the North and PHILIP for the South. CORPORAL is the most difficult, CAPTAIN the easiest game level. 3. CHANGE START YEAR ==================== To choose the year when your game begins, click on the calendar to scroll the years from 1861 to 1864. 1865 is not available, since the situation was too unfavourable for the South. Each year corresponds to a certain number of armies and territories owned by each side; the situation reflects actual historical conditions for that year. 4. DISASTERS ============ These options are available in order to allow you to create some of the elements that fans of the comic book series know very well. These disasters will modify the strategic situation. To activate a disaster, just click on it. When in play, you will not be able to cancel the disaster. a) - Indians: They occasionally attack armies in neighbouring territories. When the Indians have spotted their prey, they send smoke signals before launching their attack. The army thus attacked may lose only some of its units or could be completely wiped out. - Mexicans: If you have activated the Indian mode, the Mexican will also be present. Irritated at being so unceremoniously torn from a much needed snooze following a refreshing siesta, he will throw a bomb on the State of Texas, just to calm down whatever army happens to be there at the time. The poor army will lose some or all its units. b) Storms: A storm cloud travels around above the map. Any army under the cloud is unable to move until the cloud leaves the territory. c) European Reinforcements: Both sides in the Civil War were diplomatically very active in Europe. The side who owns South Virginia will receive a ship containing reinforcements. Once on dry land, they will constitute an army (1 Cannon unit, 3 Cavalry units and 6 Infantry units) if there is no army currently in that territory; if there is already an army, then the newcomers from over the ocean will reinforce that army up to maximum limits (3 Cannon, 9 Cavairy and 18 Infantry). Any extras are lost. 5. STRATEGIC OR ARCADE MODE =========================== Click on the Arcade icon to disactivate the Strategic mode and vice-versa. In the Arcade mode there are three challenges to face: the battle, the train and the fort. In the Strategic mode, these three arcade challenges are replaced by an automatic system for determining the outcome of each challenge, using a random decision based on the respective strength of the opposing forces. This option caters for those players who prefer to concentrate on the purely strategic aspects of the simulation. When you have decided on all the parameters above, in whatever order suits you, you can click on 'GO' to start play. ************ * THE GAME * ************ STRATEGIC MAP AND GAME ====================== According to the start year chosen, the number and positions of armies vary. Here is a map of the States over which your armies will move. What is an ARMY in the game? An army is made up of a number of units of Infantry, Cavalry and Cannon. According to the number of units in an army, the soldier who represents that army or the screen map has a greater or lesser number of cannon balls at his feet. ARMY MOVEMENT ============= Play is organized into Game Turns. Players play one after the other. When each has played his turn, the Game Turn is then completed. During each of his turns a player may move some or all his armies; he may move each army from its current territory to a neighbouring territory (a territory sharing a border with it). Here are a few examples: 1. Moving to another territory - Click on the unit you want to move - The possible territories where your chosen unit may move will flash. - Click on the territory you wish the unit to move to. The unit moves to the selected territory. That unit may not move again until the next Game Turn. 2. Cancel a move so that another unit may first be moved - Click on a non-flashing territory. - The army will stay on its territory and may still be moved this Turn. - You may also click on the original territory. 3. You decide not to move one, or several particular units This operation may ONLY be done when ALL movement has been played. When one or more armies remain which you don't want to move, to finish your turn, click on the Months and Years band at the bottom of the screen. lt is now your opponent's turn to play. 4. lt you have moved all your units, your turn ends automatically. CONQUERING A TERRITORY ====================== 6 cases are possible when a unit moves into a territory 1. The territory is VIRGIN. - The territory is owned by the first player to move an army onto it. - If the army moves away from the territory, then the player's flag will appear in it. 2. The territory is enemy-owned but currently unoccupied by an enemy army. - The new army conquers the territory and the enemy flag disappears. - When the new army leaves, the owning side's flag appears. 3. The territory is already occupied by an enemy unit. - In this case there will be a battle. lf the attacker wins, then the territory will change sides. 4. The territory is already owned by the player. Nothing changes. 5. The territory has a town and is occupied by an enemy army. - The enemy army must then be defeated in the battle or forced to retreat. - You must then win the fight in the fort. - If you win in the fort, your army may stay in the territory. If not, it will stay in its original territory. 6. The territory has a town and is enemy-owned but no enemy army is prosent. - You must win the fort game to conquer the territory. - If you fail, your attacking army will remain in its original territory. FUSING TWO ARMIES TOGETHER ========================== It can sometimes be a good idea to fuse two or more armies into one big force. This is done during movernent: - Click on an army. - Move that army to an adjacent territory containing an allied army in order to be fused with. - You now have a new reinforced army which you'll be able to move next turn. NOTE: The same system of maximum possible force as with European Reinforcement is used here. You cannot have an army greater in strength than 18 Infantry, 9 Cavalary and 3 Cannon. ATTACKING AN ENEMY ARMY ======================= - Click on the army you want to use. - Click on the territory containing the enemy unit you wish to attack. - The two opposing armies will now switch to the arcade 'Battle' mode, unless the players are in strategic mode only. ATTACKING AN ENEMY ARMY WITH SEVERAL ARMIES =========================================== If several allied neighbour units can move onto the same enemy- occupied territory, then they may attack that enemy at the same time. - Click on one of your attacking armies. - Click on the enemy territory. - All allied armies which can attack that enemy will automatically move to the enemy territory. NOTE : Remember that the sum of attacking armies may not exceed the maximum of 18 Infantry, 9 Cavalry and 3 Cannon. lf, after this fusion, there are extra units, they will remain as an army in one of the original territories. The computer is supreme judge in tricky cases! RETREATS ======== If the battle situation seems grave enough to suggest an orderly retreat, in arcade mode, the joystick/keyboard 1 player should press the E key; the joystick 2 player should press  [arrow pointing up]. If you have taken the decision to retreat, there are two possible cases: - You are the attacker: your army moves to its territory of origin. - You are the defender and the computer moves your army back from the front line to one of your territories. In both cases the retreating army loses an artillery unit. - If none of your territories are available to move back to, then the retreat won't be possible and the retreat keys (E and ) will be inactive. THE SUPPLY PHASE OR GETTING NEW ARMIES ====================================== At the end of each Game Turn, according to the number of territories you possess, you should receive a certain number of bags of gold. You will only receive the gold, however, if two of your towns are connected by a railroad crossing only territories of your own. Getting the gold ---------------- If two towns are correctly connected, a train will travel at the end of your turn from one to the other. The bags of gold will then be deposited in the players central Bank. Getting new armies ------------------ When a player has 5 bags of gold in his bank, a new army is created in exchange for the 5 bags. The new army will flash at the bottom left of the map. To move the new army into play, click on a flashing territory. The new army (6 Infantry, 3 Cavalry and 1 Cannon) can only move to a territory containing no other army and which lies on a railroad line that belongs entirely to the new army's player. The available territories will flash. What happens lf you cannot move a new army into play. ----------------------------------------------------- lf no appropriate territory is available, the bags of gold will remain in your Bank until you are able to move a new army onto the playing map. How to collect your enemy's taxes. ---------------------------------- -You must block the line between the two enemy towns by capturing one of the territories along the line. -No link between another two enemy towns must be possible (otherwise the train will always take the safest route, the one with no hostile army present). -Once and once only, the enemy train will try to get through (if no other possible line exists). You will then switch to the Train arcade sequence. lf you win the arcade (or strategic) sequence, the enemy's taxes will arrive in your Bank. THE TRAIN SEQUENCE: ARCADE MODE =============================== The character you control is on the ground. First you must climb up the back end ofthe passing wagons onto the roof of the train. lf you fail to climb on, then your interception attempt is over. Keyboard Joystick How to climb ontd a wagon, P UP How to move on the wagon Z X LEFT RIGHT How to jump trom one wagon to the next P UP Your objective is to reach the front of the train in order to stop it and overcome the driver. To defeat your enemies: ----------------------- - Space bar or Fire button: you throw a knife at your enemy, unless you are in hand to hand combat. - Space bar or Fire button: you punch your enemy in hand to hand combat. NOTE : The number of knives available is limited by the difficulty level. The race against time: ---------------------- The amount of time availabie varies according to the difficulty level. Time is symbolized by a clock and your progress towards the locomotive is represented by a boot. You must get there before your time runs out; your boot must reach the right edge before the clock. lt an enemy pushes you off the train, you must climb back on as fast as you can before the train gets away! 2-Player version: ----------------- The player who owns the train, and who detends it against the attacking player, can send men onto the roof to fight off the attack. - To send a man up to the roof: Direction UP or DOWN. - To throw a knife or give a punch (in hand to hand combat), press the Fire button. NOTE : The man moves by himself from right to left. The defending player controls the moment when the soldier appears and fires. THE FORT SEQUENCE ================= Possession of at least two towns connected by a railroad link is vital for both players. These towns are protected by forts. To capture an enemy territory containing a fort, the player must defeat any enemy army present in the territory (in Battle mode) and also win the fort game. If no enemy army currently occupies the territory, the attacking player will still have to take the fort in order to capture the territory. lf the attack fails, then the attacking army stays where it was at the start of the turn. A failure has no other consequences. The arcade game: ---------------- Time is limited; the more difficult the level, the less time you have. Once again, a boot symbolizes your progross in the fort. Your objective is the enemy flag situated at the far end of the fort. lf you get there in time, the enemy flag will come down, to be replaced by yours. You have captured the town. You move and fight according to the same principle as in the Train sequence. Some of the obstacles can only be got over by climbing a ladder. Guard-dogs will appear from time to time and try to stop the attacker. lf the attacker steps on a box of explosives, he will be stunned for several seconds. 2-Player version: ----------------- The same commands are used as in the Train sequence. NOTE : lf the defender uses DOWN direction to bring on a soldier, he will arrive at ground level. Using UP direction will bring the soldier into play on the ramparts. THE PITCHED BATTLE ================== A battle is fought when two opposing armies occupy the same territory. The aim is to eliminate the enemy force or force it to retreat. The winner keeps the territory where the battle is fought. Battle play: ------------ 1. Choose the unit which is to move or fire: Player 1: ........ press RUN/STOP, Player 2: ........ press F5. [Spectrum: press the SELECT key] The selected unit is represented by its symbol. It is displayed at top left screen for the Union player and top right screen for the Confederate player. 2. Moving the unit Use the directions provided by Keyboard or joystick to move your units. - Artillery moves only UP or DOWN. - Cavalry begins facing the enemy, either RIGHT or LEFT. Backward movement is impossible for horses; the most they can do is stay where they are. - Infantry can move in any directon. 3. Firing and Charging - Artillery 1 player : Press Fire or Space bar. 2 players Fire button. Keep the Space bar or Fire button pressed; a gauge will display at the top of the screen. The fuller the gauge, the greater the range. When the gauge reaches the bottom, you reach the end of the enemy screen. To fire, release the Space bar or Fire button, The cannon balls will land at a distance corresponding to the gauge level. NOTE : The cannons possess only 9 cannon balls. When the artillery has exhausted its ammunition, it will automatically leave the field of battie. - Cavalry: The same principie applies to commands. The first FIRE-press positions the charge, facing the enemy. Further FIRE pressing is used for sabre-slashing the enemy troops. When the Cavalry reaches the opposite screen edge, it will go round the battle field and return to its original position, assuming of course that there are survivors! Changing formation: To switch Cavalrymen to normal or to single-file formation, direct them once in the opposite direction to the direction of their charge (RIGHT or LEFT). This particular manoeuvre is vital for crossing bridges and canyons! - Infantry: The same command principle applies. The first press places the footsoldiers into firing position. Further pressing will make the firers shoot straight ahead. Changing formation: To return to the original formation, just direct them once in the direction opposite to their marching direction (LEFT or RIGHT). lf you continue taking that direction, the formation will move back. SURROUNDING THE ENEMY ===================== To capture a territory without fighting a battle, you can encircle it. When enemy territories with no armies stationed in them are encircled by several of your armies, those territories change sides. You cannot 'surround' a territory which has a town. GENTLEMEN, DRAW SABRES! ********* End of the Project 64 etext of the (North South) manual. *********