Instructions

This section of the Lords of Conquest site is devoted to introducing new users to the game. It describes in detail the rules and how to play the game. To the left, there are additional links to each "How to Play" page, if you want to jump to a certain point.

Getting Started

When the game has fully loaded, the title screen is displayed. Click "Next" or "Start a New Game" to get started.

Players

Decide how many players will play in the game by clicking the appropriate check boxes. A game must have at least two players and at most seven. For each player, there is a place to enter the player's name, which defaults to the color name. Below each player's name is a pull-down box indicating the player type. Players can be human, or three different computer-player traits: Passive, Defensive, and Aggressive. You can only change a player's name and player type when you have activated the player using the checkbox. Click "Next" to move on.

Game Parameters

Decide various game parameters. The top two rows of radio buttons indicate various resource options. There are five different resources in the game: Iron, Coal, Tree, Gold, and Horses (you'll see them later). You may choose only one of the eight available options. The first four options are based on the number of players:

The second four options are based on the number of territories. The more territories there are, the more resources there will be, regardless of the number of players. Resources are added in the following order, repeating itself until the percentage of territories with resources is met: Tree, Gold, Horses, Iron, Coal.

Next, choose the number of cities to win. This is the number of cities a player must build to win the game. If two or more players are tied for the lead in cities, and both have enough to win, the game continues until one player can break the tie. The winner is declared after the Conquest phase. A player can also win by conquering every territory.

Next, choose among three possible choices for "Element of Chance". Low, Medium, and High refer to how much the element of chance is figured into the results of territorial battles. Again, more on this in the Conquest phase.

Last on this page is a check box labeled "Randomize Player Order". If not checked, Red would always go first, and Yellow would always go last, according to the order given in the Players screen.

Click "Next" to continue.

Map Main Menu

There are two ways of creating a map in Lords of Conquest: Having the computer generate one for you, and loading a saved map.

For information on how to load and save maps, please visit "Load/Save Maps."

To have the computer generate a unique map, click "Define Your Own Unique Map". Clicking the checkbox labeled "Water Boundary" will ensure that the computer does not place any territories on the outside border of the map. For Water Area, you may choose one of three options, Small, Medium, and Large. Depending on how many players are in the game, and the existence of the water boundary, you may see only one or two options available. You may set the number of territories in the map by using the slider. The minimum and maximum number of territories possible in a map depend on the number of players in the game, the existence of the water boundary, and the choice of water area. Click "Next" to proceed to page two of two for Map Options.

For "Islands", you may choose "None", "Some" or "Lots". If there is a high number of territories or a low water area, you may get no islands despite choosing "Some" or "Lots". You may choose territory shapes to be "Regular" or "Irregular". Click on "Generate Map" at the bottom to have the computer generate a map. You can redo map generation as many times as you need, with the same options or different options, until you like the map generated. Click "Next" to accept the map and place resources.

Resource Placement

The computer will place resources onto the map, at most one per territory. Here are the icons for the resources:

Iron	Coal	Tree	Gold	Herd

At this time, you may choose to randomly redistribute the resources, or move an individual resource to an empty territory, by dragging and dropping. Click "Proceed" to start the game.

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Questions? E-mail me at gettmanr.AT.yahoo.DOT.com.