H H OOO SSS TTTTT IIIII L EEEEE
H H O O S T I L E
HHHHH O O SSS T I L EEE
H H O O S T I L E
H H OOO SSS T IIIII LLLLL EEEEE
TTTTT A K K EEEEE OOO V V EEEEE RRRR
T A A K K E O O V V E R R
T A A K EEE O O V V EEE RRRR
T AAAAA K K E O O V V E R R
T A A K K EEEEE OOO V EEEEE R R
Welcome to Hostile Takeover; the game of discovery and
conquest. It is easy to learn, easy to play, and a lot of
fun.
About a year ago I became dissatisfied with the present
strategy games out on the market and decided to make my own.
They all had elements about them that I liked, but I also had
several gripes about them too. Here are some of the things
that I have found lacking or annoying in other strategy
games.
1. There is little variation in the playing field or map.
2. There is no variation in the way pieces attack.
3. To much time is spent maneuvering pieces instead of doing
battle.
4. There are several pieces but little variation between
them.
5. The user interface is difficult to use and it is hard to
tell where your pieces are and what they are doing.
Well now that I have vented my gripes let me tell you what I
have done in Hostile Takeover to correct this. First of all,
I created a random map generator that allows you to play a
different game every time. The terrain is coherent too, in
that High mountains will flow into low mountains which will
turn into brush which will change into grass lands. I have
also added the element of exploration in that you can only
see the areas that you have already explored. When you start
the game you can only see the small area of the map that you
control. It is up to you to see what the rest of the world
looks like. Another feature of visibility I have added is
that you can only see your opponents pieces when they are
within range of your own pieces. This makes spies and
sentries useful and necessary. I gave every piece the basic
attributes of movement, strength, range of visibility and
attack, cost to produce, cost of upkeep, and turns needed to
produce. I wanted each piece to be dynamic and different so
I only created nine pieces in Hostile 1 and eleven pieces in
Hostile 2. Most of the pieces also have special attributes
including flying, invisibility, and special attacks. This
game is very dynamic and action packed. Although it takes a
lot of strategy and luck to win, you won't have to look long
for a good battle. I have designed a very easy to use and
very informative user interface. All the commands can be
accessed with a key stroke. There is also a command line at
the bottom of the screen that tells you what your present
command choices are. I also created an overview window that
shows the parts of the map that you have discovered and the
location of your pieces. Beside the overview window is the
realview window. It shows an up close and personal view of
your pieces. This means you don't need to switch between
different zoom screens to view a battle or get a tactical
viewpoint. I also display the pieces and terrain with unique
shapes and colors in the overview window so that you can see
at a glance where your pieces are, whether or not they have
movement left, where all you castles are, and what they are
producing. I think you will find this game easy to learn,
easy to play, and filled with enough variety to keep you
playing again and again. It is probably a good idea to read
the rest of this manual before playing the game but you don't
have too. If you want to jump right into the game just
remember that anything in brackets () is a letter you can
press to execute a command. When you first start the game
press (P) to select what piece you want your castle to
produce and then end your turn (T) as many times as needed
until you get your first piece. To get a list of all the
commands press (H) for help. You also many have to end your
turn a few times before your first piece is produced. To
exit to DOS hit the ESC key. If you want to read on, the
outline for the manual is listed below.
Starting the game
Object of the game
Elements of the game
1. The map
2. Castles and playing pieces
3. Gold
4. Visibility
Screen layout
1. Realview window
2. Overview window
3. Text window
4. The pointer
Commands
1. (H)elp
2. (?) information
3. (P)roduce
4. (M)ove
5. (A)ttack
6. (D)efense
7. (S)ave
8. (L)oad
9. (C)enter
10. (R)eport
11. end (T)urn
12. (G)ive up
13. ESC
Tips, Hints, and Comments
Start up Demo
Registration information and about Hostile 2
Starting the game:
To start playing, put this disk into the A: drive and
type RUN. Once the introduction has finished, press
any key to continue. You will then be asked if you want to
(1) start a new game or (2) load a saved game. If you want
to load a game press '2' and then type in the name of the
previously saved game. The game will be restored and you can
start playing where you left off. If you wish to start a new
game then press '1'. You will then be asked if you want to
(1) play against the computer or (2) play against a human
opponent.
If you want to play against a human opponent press '2'
and the game will start at the beginning of player one's
turn. The game is designed so that only one player should be
able to see the screen at a time. When a player has finished
his turn, the screen will blank. A message will be displayed
telling the other player it is his turn. When the second
player is ready he can press 'c' to continue and his map will
be displayed.
If you want to play against the computer press '1' and
the game will then ask you what difficulty level you wish to
play. Once you have selected a difficulty level, play will
start at the beginning of your turn. When you are finished
with your turn a message will be displayed telling you the
computer is taking it's turn. When the computer is finished
your map will be redrawn and you can take your next turn.
Object of the game:
The object of the game is divided into two parts. The
first objective is to explore the map and take over neutral
castles. The second objective is to find your opponent and
take over all of his castles. When one player has taken over
all of his opponent's castles then he has won the game.
Elements of the game:
1. The Map
The map is composed of six basic types of terrain: grass,
brush, forest, swamp, low mountains, and high mountains.
Each type of terrain affects how easy it is for pieces to
move from one place to another. Each piece starts out with a
certain number of movement points at the beginning of each
turn. As the piece is moved across the map, the terrain
movement cost is subtracted from the number of movement
points the piece has left. When the number of movement
points a piece has left is less than the movement cost it
takes to move across a terrain, then that piece can no longer
move. For example, a soldier starts out with 12 movement
points. If the soldier moves through a square with grass in
it (movement cost of 2), then the soldier will only have 12 -
2 = 10 movement points left.
Table of Terrain:
Type Movement Cost
Grass 2
Brush 3
Forest 4
Swamp 4
Low Mountains 5
High Mountains Impassable
At the beginning of the game the map is randomly
created. This means that the map will be different with each
game. When the player starts out he can only see about one
percent of the map. He has to produce pieces in his castle
and go out exploring in order to see more of the map. Once a
player has discovered an area it will always be visible on
his map. The map will always contain thirty castles that are
randomly placed. Each player only starts with one castle and
he has to go out and find the rest.
2. Castles and Playing Pieces
The next element of the game is the castles and the
pieces they can produce. Each castle has a selection of
three possible pieces to produce. It can only produce one
piece at a time and it often takes multiple turns in order to
do so. The three pieces that the castle can produce are
randomly selected at the beginning of each game. The only
castle that has fixed pieces is the first castle each player
starts out with. It can always produce a soldier, wolf and
pegasus.
There are nine different pieces in the game: soldier,
archer, knight, wolf, pegasus, assassin, war beast, war
wizard, and phoenix. Each piece has it's own weaknesses and
strengths. The main attributes that distinguish between the
pieces are movement, turns to produce, cost, range, strength,
and special abilities. A chart of the pieces and their
attributes is shown below. The first column lists the
movements points for each piece. The movement points have
already been explained above in the section titled The Map.
The next column shows how many turns a player will have to
wait before a piece is produced. The Cost column shows how
many gold pieces it will cost a player to produce a piece.
This will be explained further in the next section. The
Range column displays how many squares away a piece can
attack. The last column shows the relative strength of each
of the pieces.
The special abilities of some of the pieces will be
explained here. The pegasus and the phoenix can both fly.
This means that it only costs them two movement points to fly
around the map regardless of what type of terrain they are
flying over. The assassin has the ability to be invisible.
The opponent can never see the assassin. He can only
discover it by running into it. The phoenix has the unique
ability to attack everything around it at the same time. The
phoenix can not be killed while it is attacking. This means
that the only way to kill a phoenix is for the other player
to attack it during his turn. The archer, assassin, and war
wizard are the only pieces that can attack at a distance.
Table of Pieces:
Name Movement Turns to produce Cost Range Strength
Soldier 14 1 4 1 3
Archer 12 2 4 4 3
Knight 8 2 4 1 6
Wolf 28 2 6 1 4
Pegasus 30 3 8 1 5
Assassin 18 7 20 2 5
War Beast 14 5 16 1 8
War Wizard 14 7 26 6 6
Phoenix 30 6 22 1 7
3. Gold
The third element of the game is the gold. Each castle
gives a player a certain number of gold pieces in taxes each
turn. The amount of the taxes for a castle depends upon what
that castle is capable of producing.
When a piece is produced by a castle it costs the player
a certain amount of gold. It also costs the player to
maintain the pieces he presently owns. The amount of gold it
takes to maintain a piece is half of what it cost to produce
it. For example: If it cost six gold pieces to produce a
wolf then it will cost a player (6 % 2 = 3) three gold pieces
each turn for upkeep.
Another way that a player can use his gold is to
increase the defenses of the castles he owns. The first
castle a player owns has a defense of seven. The neutral
castles in the game have a defense rating ranging from two to
four. The better the defense rating of the neutral castle,
the better the pieces the castle can produce.
Every time a castle is successfully attacked, the
defense rating goes down. To increase the defenses of a
castle use the (D)efense command. The higher you want to
increase a castle's defense value the more it cost. It costs
25 gold to increase a castle's defense from one to two. It
costs 350 gold to increase a castle's defense from eight to
nine.
4. Visibility
The last element of the game is visibility. A player
can only see an opponent's piece if it is within attacking
range of one of his own pieces. This means that an opponents
piece can be just a few squares away and you may never see
it. It is essential that a good network of archers or other
ranged pieces be set up so that you know where the opponents
pieces are.
Screen layout
The screen is divided up into three windows. The
windows are realview, overview, and text. Their functions
are listed below.
1. Realview window
The realview window is located in the upper right hand
part of the screen. This window shows a close up of the
pieces and the landscape. It can be scrolled around the map
by using the arrow keys.
2. Overview window
The overview window is located in the upper left hand
part of the screen. This window contains the entire map,
although only the part of the map that you have explored is
shown. The brown rectangle shows what part of the map the
realview is displaying. The four brown dots show where the
pointer is located.
Every type of terrain on the map is represented by
square set of nine colored pixels. If a pointer is on a type
of terrain and you don't know what it is then use the
information key (?). It is very easy to recognize the types
of terrain on the overview window.
Both players are assigned an active and passive color on
the overview window. For player one the active color is a
light purple and the passive color is a dark purple. For
player two the active color is a light orange and the passive
color is a dark orange. Each of the pieces is also displayed
on the overview. To display a piece, a pattern of the nine
pixels is highlighted in the players colors over the normal
terrain pattern. The patterns for each of the pieces is
shown below. If a piece is highlighted in your active color
then that piece has at least two movement points left. If
the piece is highlighted in your passive color then that
piece has less than two movement points left and it can not
move.
* * * *
* * Soldier * * Archer * * Knight
* * * * * *
* * * * *
* * * Wolf * * * Pegasus * War Beast
* * * * *
* * * * * *
* Assassin * * * Phoenix * * * War Wizard
* * * * *
The castles are also represented on the map. The castles
take up the full 3 x 3 set of pixels. Neutral castles are
gray and player castles are represented in the passive
colors. If a castle is producing a piece, then the pattern
of that piece is highlighted in the active color over the top
of the castle. This set up of the overview window allows a
player to determine at a glance where his pieces are,
whether or not they are capable of movement, where his
castles are, and what each castle is producing.
3. Text window
The text window is located in the bottom half of the
screen. It displays all of the written information for each
of the commands. A command line will usually be displayed
along the bottom of the window. The command line shows the
options that are available from the present command. Any
letter that is capitalized and in parentheses can be used to
access a command. For example, if the command line shows
"(E)xit" then a player can press E and exit out of whatever
command is active at the moment.
4. The pointer
The pointer is used in the game to show what square you
wish to work with. It looks like a square frame in the
realview window and it shows up as four brown dots in the
overview window. ALL THE COMMANDS IN THE GAME WORK WITH THE
SQUARE THAT THE POINTER IS ON. If you want to move a piece
you have to move the pointer on the piece first and then
press M. If you want to change a castles production then you
have to put the pointer on the castle first. To move the
pointer you use the arrow keys. Most numeric keypads have
the 5 in the middle surrounded by the rest of the numbers.
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
The direction a number moves the pointer is the direction it
is from the five. For example you would use the 8 key to
move the pointer northward because the 8 key is north of the
5 key. Unlike the arrow keys the numeric keypad allows you
to move diagonally. You also use the numeric keypad to move
the pieces around in the same way.
Commands
1. (H)elp
To access the help screen press H. The help screen
displays the names of all the commands and the letter needed
to access it. The only thing it does not show is that you
can use the ESC key to exit Hostile Takeover and return to
DOS.
2. (?) information
To get information about any of the squares, put the
pointer on that square and press '?'. This will display
information about the name of the terrain as well as the
movement cost for that terrain. If the pointer is on a
castle, then the information command will display the name of
the owner of that castle and it's defense rating. If the
pointer is on a piece, then information about that piece will
also be displayed. The information command is also useful in
finding assassins. If an assassin is within range of one of
your pieces and the pointer is on the square containing the
assassin, then the information command will tell you that an
assassin is there.
3. (P)roduce
The produce command is used to display what a castle can
produce and to start the castle producing a piece. To use
this command make sure that the pointer is on a castle YOU
OWN and press 'p'. The production screen displays a lot of
information about the piece and the castle. On the far left
hand part of the screen is a picture of what the piece looks
like. Next to the picture is the name of the piece. If
that piece is being produced then "NTL" and a number will
appear below the name. "NTL" stands for Number of Turns Left
and the number shows how many more turns it will take to
produce that piece. The middle and right hand part of the
text window shows information about the piece and the castle.
The abbreviations and what they stand for are listed below.
MO = Movement This shows how many movement points the
pieces has.
RA = Range This shows how many squares away a piece can
attack.
ST = Strength This is a measure of how strong the piece is.
Strength values will range from 3 to 8.
TU = Turns This is how many turns it will take to produce
the piece.
CO = Cost This shows how much it will cost to produce the
piece.
TA = Taxes This displays how much taxes the castle will give
the player each turn.
PG = Player Gold This shows how much gold the player
presently has.
UP = Upkeep This shows how much it costs the player each
turn to support his armies
DF = Defense This shows the present defense of the castle.
The command bar is displayed along the bottom of the screen.
This is what it shows: (N)ext (P)roduce (E)xit (S)top prod.
Press N to look at the next piece. A castle has a selection
of three pieces that it can produce. When it reaches the
last piece then it will start over again with the first
piece. Press P to start producing the piece that is
presently displayed. NTL and a number will appear below the
name of the piece. Press E to exit from the production
command. You MUST (E)xit from the production command before
you can move the pointer and continue with the game. Press S
to stop all production at that castle.
4. (M)ove
The movement command allows a player to move his pieces
once they are produced. To move a piece, place the pointer
on the piece you want to produce and press 'M'. The text
window will display the number of movement points remaining
for that piece and the command bar will show "(E)xit
(A)ttack". To move the piece use the numeric key pad.
If you attempt to move a piece into a square containing
a castle, another piece, or high mountains, then an error
message will be displayed. If an error message is displayed
and it looks like you should be able to move into a square,
then you should use the information key to check for an
assassin. If you run out of movement then you will
automatically exit from the movement command. If you wish to
exit from the movement command before you have used up all
the movement of a piece then press 'E'.
You can also attack another piece while in the movement
command. Make sure the piece you wish to attack is within
range of your piece and press "A" for attack. This will put
you into the attack menu. See the attack command in this
document for more information. Any movement points that are
left at the end of your turn can NOT be carried over to the
next turn.
5. (A)ttack
The attack command allows one piece to attack another
piece. To attack with a piece, put the pointer on the piece
you wish to attack with and press 'A'. If you are attacking
with a range one piece then the screen will display:
Direction
Movement XX
(E)xit
The XX stands for the number of movement points the piece has
left. It takes two movement points to attack with a range
one piece. Once you have pressed 'A', then use the numeric
key pad to show which direction you want the piece to attack.
If you are successful then the enemy piece will disappear.
If you loose, then your piece will disappear. If you attack
a castle and win, then two flags in your color will be
displayed with your castle.
If your piece has a range greater than one and you are
attacking a piece that is farther than one square away then
only the enemy piece has a chance of getting hit. If your
piece has a range greater than one but it is only attacking
one square away, then the rules are the same as a range one
piece. If a ranged piece is attacking a castle and it wins,
then the defense of that castle is decreased by one. This
means that you can set up a siege on the higher defense
castles to bring their defenses down. A ranged piece can
only take over a castle if it is one square away. To attack
with a ranged piece, put the pointer on the piece you want to
attack with and press A. The screen will display:
Space bar to attack
Movement XX Range Y
(E)xit
The XX stands for the amount of movement the piece has left
and the Y stands for the range of the piece. It takes three
movement points instead of two to attack with a ranged piece.
Once you have pressed 'A', move the pointer to the piece you
wish to attack and press the space bar. If you forget to
move the pointer and press the space bar right away, then
that is considered an attack on your own piece and your
ranged piece will DIE. If you are successful with your
attack then the enemy piece will die.
If you are not successful with your first attack and you
still have at least three movement left, then you will be
asked if you want to attack the enemy piece again. This will
continue until your piece runs out of movement, or you
indicate that you do not want to attack the piece again, or
the piece your are attacking dies.
The most unusual of all the pieces to attack with is the
phoenix. When the phoenix attacks, it attacks everything
around it regardless of whether or not it belongs to you or
your opponent. The phoenix will not die while it is
attacking. The ONLY way to kill a phoenix is for your
opponent to attack it during his turn. To attack with a
phoenix just press 'A'. It takes three movement points to
attack with a phoenix.
When two pieces with different strengths attack each
other, the piece with the higher strength does not always
win. Here is how the winner is determined. The first thing
the computer does is create two random numbers. The first
random number is for the defender and the second random
number is for the attacker. If the random number rolled is
less than or equal to the strength of the piece then it is
considered a win for that piece. If the random number is
greater than the strength of the piece then it is considered
a loss for that piece. If a random number is created for the
attacker and defender and both pieces have a lose then that
round is cancelled. If both pieces have a win then the round
is also cancelled. Only if one piece wins and one piece
looses is the round counted. The piece that wins the best
two out of three rounds wins.
Suppose a pegasus of strength 5 is attacking a wolf of
strength 4 and the computer generates a 6 for the attacker
and a 9 for the defender. The 6 is compared with the 5 and
pegasus has a loss. The 9 is compared with the 4 and the
wolf also has a loss. Since both players lost the round is
cancelled and the computer generates another set of numbers.
The pegasus gets a 2 and the wolf gets a 4. The 2 is
compared with the 5 and the pegasus has a win. The 4 is
compared with the 4 and the wolf also has a win. Since both
players won, the round is cancelled and the computer again
generates another set of numbers. The pegasus gets an 8 and
the wolf gets a 1. The pegasus looses and the wolf wins.
Since there is a difference between the two pieces this round
counts. The computer then generates a 6 for the pegasus and
a 7 for the wolf. The pegasus wins and the wolf looses.
Since this round also counts the pegasus and the wolf both
have one win and one loss. The computer now generates a 2
for the pegasus and a 5 for the wolf. The pegasus has now
won two out of three and is considered the winner.
6. (D)efense
The defense command allows a player to increase the
defenses of his castles. To use the defense command, put the
pointer on a castle you own and press 'D'. The screen will
look like this:
Castle Defense x Cost yy
Player Gold zzz
Increase castle defense (y/n)?
The 'x' stands for the present castle defense value. The
'yy' stands for how much it will cost to increase the defense
of the castle to the next higher value. The 'zzz' stands for
how much gold the player has. To increase the defense, press
'y'. If you do not have enough gold, an error message will
be displayed. The defense command will only raise the
defense of a city by one. If you want to raise the defense
by more than one then you will have to use the defense
command multiple times.
7. (S)ave
The save command will save a game that is presently
being played. To save the game press 's'. You will be asked
if you are sure you wish to save the game. To continue press
'y'. You will then be asked to provide the name of the file
to save it under. The name can only be eight characters long
with a three character extension. It is not necessary that
you end the name with '.gam' but it is recommended. Once you
have said that you wish to save the game you MUST enter a
name for it to be saved under. Do NOT hit ESC or try to exit
from this screen. If you hit ESC it will cause the entire
screen to scroll.
8. (L)oad
The load command is used to restore a game that was
previously saved. To load a game press 'l'. You will then
be asked if you are sure that you wish to load an old game.
If you want to continue, then press 'y'. You will then be
asked to provide the name of the file with the saved game.
If the name can not be found in the present directory, then
an error message will be displayed and the present game will
continue. Once you have said that you wish to load a game
you MUST enter the name of a game. If you want to cancel the
command just enter a dummy name. DO NOT hit ESC because it
will cause the screen to scroll.
9. (C)enter
The center command will center the realview window
around the pointer. To center the window, press 'c'. This
command is especially useful on slower computers. It is a
lot faster to move the pointer and then center the realview
window than it is to move the realview window with the arrow
keys. The realview window is automatically centered around
the pointer when you (M)ove a piece or (A)ttack with a piece.
10. (R)eport
The report command provides different information about
both players. This allows you to see how well your opponent
is doing. The abbreviations are explained below.
Pg = Player gold This shows how much gold the player
presently owns.
Tx = Taxes This shows how much taxes the player receives
each turn.
Up = Upkeep This shows how much it costs a player to
maintain his armies.
Ma = Map This shows how much percent of the map a player has
discovered.
#A = Number of Armies
#C = Number of Cities
11. End (T)urn
The end turn command will allow a player to end his
turn. If a player is playing against the computer then the
message 'The computer is taking it's turn' will be displayed.
After the computer has finished, the player's map will be
redrawn and his next turn will begin. In the beginning of a
game the computer's turn will be so short that the message
will barely blink on the screen.
If two players are playing against each other then only
one person should be able to see the screen at a time. When
a player finishes his turn the screen will blank. When the
next player is ready to play then he can press 'c' and start
his turn.
12. (G)ive up
The give up command will allow a player to surrender the
game. The player will be asked if he is sure he want to give
up. If the player answers yes then he will be asked again if
he is really sure he wants to give up. If the player really
wants to give up then a message will be displayed proclaiming
the winner. Player one's map will then be displayed. The
realview screen can be scrolled using the arrow keys but none
of the other keys will work. To continue the end game
sequence press 'c'. Player two's map will then be displayed.
After 'c' is pressed again then the full map will be
displayed. When 'c' is pressed again then the ending credits
are shown. Press any key from here to exit to DOS.
13. ESC
The ESC key will exit a player to DOS. It should only
be used when no other commands are active. DO NOT hit ESC
while saving or loading a game. Once a player presses the
ESC key from the main menu, he will then be asked if he wants
to exit to DOS. To exit to DOS press 'y'.
Tips, Hints, Comments
1. The ONLY thing you can do when the game first starts is
to select a piece to produce and end your turn. If the
piece you select takes more than one turn to produce
then you may need to end your turn one or two times
before you have a piece to work with. You can not do
any exploration or find any other castles until you
produce your first piece.
2. The more castles you can get at the beginning of the
game, the faster you win. In order to do this you need
to develop a search pattern that will let you discover a
large area of the map very quickly.
3. The only advantage that the computer has is that it
knows where almost everything is. This includes all the
castles and all the pieces except the assassin. Aside
from this the computer does not cheat. It has to move
the same way you do and attack with the same chances
that you have.
4. A strength five pegasus will occasionally loose to a
defense two city. It is very rare that an archer will
kill a war beast but it can happen.
5. Novice level is very easy. Good level has a more
aggressive search pattern and the computer starts out
with two cities. Expert level has a very aggressive
search pattern and the computer starts off with three
cities.
6. Use your archers to find out where the enemy pieces are
and then use your heavy pieces to take them out. Since
a successful attack by a ranged creature will decrease a
castle's defense by one, it is often useful to use
several archers to mount a siege on high defense
castles.
7. If you try to load a game and then you change your mind
when it asks you for a file name, DO NOT hit the ESC
key. This will cause the screen to scroll. The only
time you need to use the ESC key is when you want to
exit to DOS from the main menu.
8. Don't forget the NumLock key MUST BE ON for you to move
the pointer. If NumLock is off then all the numeric
keys will do is move the realview window.
9. All the messages in the game will be displayed until a
key is press. If you hit the key for a command and the
command doesn't respond until the second time you press
the key, you were probably just clearing a message
screen.
10. The report command is very useful for seeing how strong
your opponent is. Once you get used to the cost of
things, you can start to tell how good your opponents
pieces are and when he has just produced a major piece.
The upkeep and number of castles is an excellent way to
compare your present strength and growth potential.
11. To print this document type PRINT at the dos prompt.
12. To speed up the pointer, type MODE CON:RATE=29 DELAY=1
at the DOS prompt before playing the game or add it to
your autoexec.bat. What this command does is decrease
the delay between when a key is first pressed, and when
it starts repeating itself. It also speeds up how fast
the key repeats itself. On slower 8 Mhz systems this
may overload the buffer because the graphics can't keep
up and crash the game.
13. The symbols for the pieces in the overview window may be
confusing at first but it doesn't take long to start
recognizing them. If your not sure what piece a symbol
represents then put the pointer on the symbol and use
the (?) information key.
15. This game does not like to run on a network and I have
also had a few reports of it not working in a windows
environment.
START UP DEMO
This is a demo of what a possible game would be like. I
will tell you all the keys needed to start the game and
capture a castle. First put the HOSTILE TAKEOVER disk in the
drive and type HOSTILE at the prompt. When the screen
displays HOSTILE TAKEOVER in red, press any key to continue.
This demo assumes you are playing against the computer player
so press (1) when you are asked if you want to play against
the computer or another person. Since you are just starting
out, this demo will select the novice level. Press (1) when
you are asked what skill level you wish to play. The
computer will then think for a little bit and then part of
the map will be displayed on the screen. The first thing to
do is to start your first and only castle producing a piece.
The game starts out with the pointer on the castle. To get
into the castle's production menu press (P). You can look at
the pieces the castle can produce by pressing (N) for next.
For now, start out by producing the soldier. Make sure the
soldier is being displayed on the production screen and press
(P) for produce. Now that you have selected what you want
your castle to produce, press (E) to exit. This is all you
can do on your first turn so press (T) to end your turn. The
screen will blink and then your map will be displayed again.
At the start of a game, the computer player's turn is so
short it almost looks like it hasn't taken it's turn at all.
Since this is your second turn, and it only takes one turn to
produce a soldier, there should be a soldier one square north
of your starting castle. The pointer starts out on the
castle so use the numeric key pad to move it one square
north. Now that the pointer is on the soldier press (M) to
move it. Move the soldier around the map by using the
numeric key pad. When it runs out of movement press (E) to
exit the movement menu. Continue producing more soldiers and
exploring the area until you find another castle. This demo
assumes the second castle is directly north of a soldier and
the soldier has more than two movement points left. Make
sure the pointer is on the soldier and press (A) to attack
the castle. You will be asked which direction to attack so
press (8) to attack northward. If you are successful, the
castle will display your flag. If not, then your soldier
dies. If you are successful then move the pointer northward
and set the production (P) for your new castle. If the
soldier has any movement left then move him around to explore
more territory. Now that you have two castles, continue to
explore the territory and find more castles and your
opponent. Good luck.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
I have just graduated from the University of Evansville
as an Electrical Engineer. About half way through college I
decided that I liked software a lot more than hardware. All
of the graduating engineers have to do a senior project.
Since I liked software and I want to make a career of gaming,
I decided to create a game for my senior project. Hostile
Takeover has taken me about a year to create and it is
composed of over 14,000 lines of code. I would like to spend
the rest of my life creating exciting, high quality games and
I hope you will help my dream come true by registering with
me. The registration fee for Hostile Takeover 1 is $10. I
have also created Hostile Takeover 2. It has many new and
exciting features including:
- Neutral castles that fight back.
- New pieces with new special abilities.
- A map four times as big as the present one.
- A MUCH more intelligent computer player.
- A new and MUCH BETTER system of attack and defense.
- A Destination command where a piece will automatically
move to the destination you specify.
- Better graphics.
- Hidden specials in the game that you have to find .
When I created Hostile Takeover 1, I mostly played it with my
friends, so the game naturally evolved so it plays best
between two people. Since the computer takes such a short
time for its turn, I was able to add a lot of new things in
HT2 that would have drawn out the game too long between two
human opponents. As a result, HT2 plays best between a human
and a computer. I have still had some exceptional games with
my friends but it takes a lot longer to finish them. If you
liked HT1 I know you will like HT2. When I finished HT2 I
could not believe how well it turned out. HT1 is good but
HT2 is awesome. The registration fee for HT2 is $15. If you
register both HT1 and HT2 together then it is only $20 for
both.
If you liked this game and want to get Hostile Takeover 2
please send $20 to
Michael Taggart
606 Roma Ave
Jeffersonville, IN 47130 USA
Please include your name, address, telephone number, what
size disk you need (5 1/4 or 3 1/2), and where you got this
game. If you liked HT1 but you do not want HT2 I would
appreciate it if you would still register HT1 and the fee is
only $10. If you are registering from a foreign country
please include an extra $3 for shipping and handling. If you
live in Canada there is no extra charge. I would also
appreciate any comments about Hostile Takeover and any ideas
you would like to see implemented in Hostile Takeover 3. If
you would like to play test HT3, please tell me that too. In
the future I would like to create a role playing game but the
amount of time needed to create good graphics and a good plot
line is tremendous. If you would be interested in helping
create a game and you have skills in art, writing, music, or
programming please let me know. I now want to talk about
something that is totally different than Hostile Takeover and
has nothing to do with it. I am starting my own business and
I am looking for people that are self motivated and would be
willing to work about 5 to 15 hours a week on something that
has a lot of growth potential. If your interested write me a
letter even if you don't want to register HT.
To print this document just type PRINT at the DOS
prompt. If this does not work then use the DOS EDIT or any
other text editor and it will have a print option in there.
If your registering with me don't forget to include what
disk size you need and where you got this game from.
Thank you for playing Hostile Takeover and I hope you
enjoyed it.
