A General View of Conquer

Conquer General Description

The basic play of Conquer is very similar to that of many board war games: players make their moves for a turn, all of the moves are summarized and conflicts resolved, and then counters are reset for the next turn. Except, with Conquer, all of the moves are entered using a full screen computer interface, and the computer is used to compute the results of combat and movement. A nation is added using the "conqrun" program, specifying "conqrun -a" in your shell. Once created, a nation is accessed using the "conquer" program, where "conquer -n NAME" may be used to specify a nation to log into.

Conquer can best be summarized as a multi-player fantasy wargame. The game is set on a world with the technological base approximating that of the Roman civilization. Roman numerals and dates are used to emphasize this feeling. But, in addition to normal human troops and warfare, there is the element of magic. Spells can be cast to heal troops or damage enemies. Magical beasts and creatures roam the world wreaking havoc. And, nations made up of Dwarves, Elves and Orcs compete with Humans for control of the world.

Each player controls a nation composed of civilians from one of these races. Skill in the management of economic, magical, and military factors is needed for the survival of the nation. The economic base revolves around the cities, or supply centers, within the nation. These supply centers must take in materials, such as gold talons and food, from surrounding lands and redistribute them so that get where they are needed. Magical "powers" are used to determine the development level of a nation. They are used to determine things such as what army units are available and how well a nation may survive in a certain type of vegetation. Finally, the military army, navies and caravans can be used to brutally conquer neighboring lands, providing growth through conquest.

Conquer Time

To keep perspective focused on the Roman era upon which much of Conquer's "feel" is based, a calendar was chosen using Roman numerals and months.

Each turn in Conquer represents a month of game play. The calendar used by Conquer is a modified Julian calendar, which is related to the modern calendar as on the chart below:

        Modern Western      Conquer (Julian)        Seasons
        ===============     =================       ==========
        March               Martius                 Spring
        April               Aprillis                Spring
        May                 Maius                   Spring
        June                Junius                  Summer
        July                Quintilis               Summer
        August              Sextilis                Summer
        September           Septembre               Fall
        October             Octobre                 Fall
        November            Novembre                Fall
        December            Decembre                Winter
        January           * Januarius               Winter
        February          * Februarius              Winter

* While on the real Julian calendar, the "months" of Januarius and Februarius did not really exist [as far as the Empire tax collectors were concerned], they have been added for completeness. Note that the year begins in the spring, and that production, consumption and other world happenings will vary on a seasonal basis.

Sectors

The world of Conquer is composed of individual pieces of land called "sectors". A sector is defined by various traits: elevation, vegetation, raw materials, designation, constructions, population, and ownership.

The elevation and vegetation of a sector will determine how much food and wood potential a sector will possess. There are six types of elevations: water, valley, flat, hill, mountain, and peak. There are twelve types of vegetations: none, volcano, desert, tundra, barren, light vegetation, good, wood, forest, jungle, swamp, and ice.

Raw materials in a sector determine possible specialized uses for a sector. For example, only sectors with metallic ores can be used as Metal Mines.

This brings up the concept of "designations". When a sector is given a designation, this indicates what the job of any civilians within the sector will be, as well as what sort of raw materials the sector will produce. The are sixteen designations in all: None, Farm, Fertile, Fruitful, Metal Mine, Jewel Mine, Lumberyard, Shrine, Bridge, Canal, Wall, Cache, Stockade, Town, City, and Capital.

A sector may also had additional traits, or "constructions" to indicate its function or status. There are twelve "constructions": devastated, for sale, sieged, trading post, roads, blacksmith, university, church, mill, granary, fortified, and harbor.

The Shape of the World

The shape of the world is that of a cylinder. A good way to visualize it is as a globe, where the poles are inaccessible. Continuous motion towards the east or the west will result in returning to the point at which the journey began, while motion to the south or the north will eventually be halted when the top or bottom edge of the world is reached.

The default sector numbering scheme is based on a relative central position for each nation. The numbers are [x,y], where x indicates a general east-west direction and y indicates a north-south direction. At the beginning of the game, the capital is numbered as [0,0] and a sector directly north would be [0,1]. This "relative coordinate system" may be replaced with a scheme where [0,0] is the lower left corner of the map.

The entire map is formed by joining multiple sectors together to form a MxN rectangular surface. The sectors may be either square, or hexagonal, depending on the choice made when the world was created. The default hexagonal system, while more complex, and somewhat harder to get used to, is much more realistic and is the system which I recommend.

Getting Details

The skill most needed to master Conquer is that of efficient information gathering. When you first begin playing Conquer, you will see a screen filled with ASCII characters which, to many people, will seem a purely random jumble. It will appear something like this:

                         __/ -\__                          *Empr 1 x=110 p=0
                      __/ v\__/ %\__                         m:100 sp:= st:Dfd
                   __/ %\__/ -\__/ %\__                    >Prnc 2 x=60 p=0
                __/ %\__/ -\__/ -\__/ %\                     m:100 sp:= st:Dfd
               / ^\__/ ^\__/ ^\__/ -\__/                   >Prnc 3 x=59 p=0
               \__/ ^\__/ ^\__/ ^\__/ %\                     m:100 sp:= st:Dfd
               / %\__/ %\__/ %\__/~~\__/                   >Prnc 4 x=63 p=0
               \__/ ^\__/ %\__/ %\~~/~~\                     m:100 sp:= st:Dfd
               / %\__/ %\F_/ %\F_/~~\~~/                   >Prnc 5 x=56 p=0
               \__/ %\__/~~\C_/ %\~~/~~\                     m:100 sp:= st:Dfd
               /~~\__/ %\__/ ^\__/~~\~~/                     --- more ---
               \~~/~~\__/ %\F_/~~\~~/~~\                    sector [0,0]
               /~~\~~/~~\__/ %\__/~~\~~/                    owner: Khazadum
               \~~/~~\~~/ %\__/ ^\~~/                       Capital    Dwarf
                  \~~/~~\__/ -\__/~~\                       Lt Veg     Hill
                     \~~/ ^\__/ %\~~/                       pop: 15000 move:  1
                        \__/ ^\__/                          food:    6 wood:  1
                           \__/                             item: law (c)


Conquer: Version 5.0 Turn CVIII                             nation...Khazadum
  Type 'q' to save & exit                                   treasury.1773523
  Type 'Q' to end turn           There is Conquer News      Februarius (Winter)
  Type '?' for help                                         Year IX

What many people will think of as a blob of characters in the middle of the screen is what I interpret as the visual representation of a small Dwarven nation called Khazadum. This nation has a central Capital surrounded by three Farming sectors. A number of national leaders are within the Capital located at position [0,0], where there are also 15,000 civilians, and the nation has a treasury of 1,773,523 talons.

The map is hexagonal, and there are water sectors towards both the southeast and southwest of the national capital. Most of the land surrounding the capital is hills or mountains, but there is a small strip of five flat sectors and a valley to the north. The current "date" is Febrarius of the Year IX, and the current turn is 108, as indicated by the Roman numeral CVIII.

There are numerous commands available for displaying the information available to a player, and mastering those commands is very important for a beginning player.

Racial Distinctions

When chosing what sort of nation you will control, you are asked to choose from one of the four possible races: Orcish, Dwarven, Elvish, or Human. Each of these races has different traits, some of which are detrimental and some of which beneficial. Choosing a race with abilities favorable to the tactics that will be used is probably the best approach. Some distinctions include: reproductive ability, magical ability, general hardiness and initial starting powers.

Immediately after racial selection, a decision about nation "class" will have to be made. A nation class determines what style of government the nation will possess. The selection of the class is even more important than the selection of the race, as it directly controls the beginning powers and leader types that a nation will possess.

Interaction between nations and races will be varied based on the these selections. Diplomatic relations between two nations of the same race will be much easier to manage than with nations of two distinct races. So, with diplomatic statuses ranging from Allied to Jihad, it is important to know what races you may more easily interact with.

Economic Hardships

As Conquer has developed, the importance of economic management has grown. When Conquer first came out, nations would consist almost entirely of armies and navies, with the winner being the nation that could generate the most armies the fastest. Now, it is still possible to control the world by purely military means, but even the biggest military buff will have to keep an eye on unit supplying and civilian food distribution.

As of version 5.0 of Conquer, the economic basis has shifted from a vague concept of a "National Resource Pool" to an economy where the materials are stored within the cities and towns. Goods no longer travel instantly from one end of a nation to the other; they must be transported using navies and caravans or be relayed between neighboring supply centers.

There are five raw materials within Conquer: gold talons, jewels, metals, food, and wood. Each of these materials is produced in sectors of different designations, and each is used in performing different tasks. Most of the materials are consumed in the building and maintainance of various items, such as bridges, fortifications, farms, armies, caravans and navies. Being able to distribute these materials from where they are produced to where they are needed can be a tricky task.

Getting from Here to There

Getting from Sector A to Sector B is one of the most basic concepts of Conquer. It is often necessary to move your armies or navies from one end of your nation to another, either to claim land not owned by you, or to respond to encroaching enemy armies. Transporting raw materials between supply centers via caravans and navies, or using caravans or navies as remote supply centers is also a crucial part of game play.

Thus, the need to relocate units or even civilians is given careful attention in the documentation. In exploration, it is probably best to move in straight lines or zig-zags, visually covering more territory than otherwise. In going between already established points, it is best to find the quickest, least treacherous path.

Military Conflicts

A major part of the game of Conquer revolves around conflict between military units, usually armies. The army units, along with supporting naval and caravan units, are used in the capturing of sectors and in aggressive engagements with similar enemy forces.

There are a large number of different army unit types, ranging from individual leader units and spies to grouped monsters or specially organized legionnaires. In all, there are over eighty possible army types, each different from any of the others. This variety will allow for selection of specialized units for specific purposes. Just be sure to protect leader units, since they act as rallying points for your troops and also enable various forms of spell casting depending on their abilities.

There are four different classes and three different sizes of ships available within Conquer. The classes include warships, galleys, merchants, and barges and the sizes include small, medium and large. A naval fleet may consist of any combination of these vessels as long as no more than 31 of one specific type is present. The size of the vessel determines the capacity for the ship and the class determines what sort of cargo may be carried.

Finally, there are caravans, which are weak in combat but are essential for transporting raw materials over land.

When nations which are at war both have units a sector, it is possible for a battle to take place. This battle will usually result in the death of soldiers from the one, or the other, or both units. And if other nations have troops within the sector, it is possible for the battles to get even more complex as a general free for all may result.

Hocus Pocus

Magic plays an important role within the world of Conquer. The most important factor being that the "technological advancement" of a nation is governed by how many "magic powers" a nation possesses.

There are three classes of magical powers: military, civilian, and wizardry. Military powers determine what army unit types are available to a nation, and also how much it costs to support them. Civilian powers reflect the abilities of the civilians in the nation, such as improved mineral mining better. Finally, wizardry powers govern the spell casting abilities of the nation.

There are a number of spells available to a nation, from healing to weather manipulation. Leaders and specialized leaders, known as spellcasters, must be used to cast these spells. Each spell drains a certain amount of health and magical strength from a caster and will not necessarily succeed every time.

Communicating with Others

There are a few tools available to allow communication between player nations, the most important of which is the electronic mail (or email) system built within Conquer. This mechanism allows one nation to send messages to other nations and thereby to engage in negotiations.

The mail system is also used by the Conquer program itself to relay information to a nation during the updates. This information will range from combat results to economic reports. Some of these reports will prove invaluable in determining what unexpected events have taken place in your nation over the update period.

To Start from the Beginning

I realize that Conquer is a complex and somewhat daunting game for beginners, but it is well worth learning. If you don't believe me, just ask others who have tried! I still find Conquer a fun and challenging game to play, and that is after I have been working at it for many years now.

So, I have a number of tips that I give to beginners to get them started, from how to focus on economics to how to respond to enemy attacks. I can't be sure that I have given information to cover every circumstance, but I hope there is enough so that players will not get bogged down when new situations develop.

Anyway, just be sure to read through at least the Display and Beginners sections, so that you can understand all of the information which Conquer makes available to you.

The Power of God

In order to manage all that must go on in the world, there must be one individual designated as a "god" for Conquer. This person is responsible for creating worlds, and managing updates. If anything goes wrong with a nation, it is possible for the god to go in and fix it. And, it is even possible for a god to grant boons or banes to any of the nations of the world. Of course, if a god abuses the power of management, it will be hard for that god to find enough mortals to continue playing, so be fair and just, etc. ;-)

Also, if a your site is so large (or addicted), that many campaigns are running at once, it would be in the best interests of god to share the labor with others. To accomplish this, each campaign may be assigned a demi-god, who may or may not have all of the powers of god, but only for that one world.

Tayloring Conquer to Your Tastes

Even though I would like to think that the keybindings I selected for Conquer are the best ones possible, I am sure there will be others who will disagree with them. With this in mind, I have assigned a name to each of the functions within Conquer. By assigning a string of characters to a function, it is possible to reallign the default keybindings.

Summarization

Conquer is a complex and detailed game, which, once mastered, can become rather addictive and very enjoyable. So, to make it easier for players to find information within the documentation, I have created a series of tables and summaries which are near the end of the documentation. These tables will make it easier to determine what army units are best for what use, and should also help you determine which magical powers are best to try for.