Readme:Ata: Extracts from the American Civil War v1.0
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| File: Ata_v100.zip |
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Ata - Extracts from the American Civil War
v1.00
FINAL (Ata - EftACW)
An extremely great game involving tactics
and action. Beautiful artwork, skillful
programming, enjoyable playability,
everything a good game needs.
Requirements for smooth playability: at
least AMD K-6 200 MHz computer or
corresponding, enough memory, DOS/Windows
9x, VESA 2.0. By Badgers
README
Ata
-
Extracts from the American Civil War
v1.00
Copyright (c) 1998-2000
Badgers
PLEASE READ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE STARTING THE GAME! IF YOU START THE
GAME WITHOUT READING THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FIRST, YOU AUTOMATICALLY AGREE
THE WHOLE CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENT.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[ 1.0 ][ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT ]
[ 2.0 ][ INFO ]
[ 3.0 ][ MENU ]
|
|-- [ 3.1 ][ NEW CAMPAIGN ]
|-- [ 3.2 ][ HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ]
|-- [ 3.3 ][ LOADING CAMPAIGNS ]
-- [ 3.4 ][ CONFIGURATION ]
[ 4.0 ][ MAP ]
|
|-- [ 4.1 ][ IN CASE OF A NEW CAMPAIGN ]
|-- [ 4.2 ][ IN CASE OF HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ]
|-- [ 4.3 ][ TAX ]
|-- [ 4.4 ][ OBSERVATION ]
|-- [ 4.5 ][ TRADE ]
-- [ 4.6 ][ BATTLE ON THE MAP ]
[ 5.0 ][ BATTLE ]
[ 6.0 ][ CONTACTING ]
[ 1.0 ][ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT ]
THE AUTHORS (BADGERS) ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE
USE OF THIS PRODUCT. WE CAN'T BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANYTHING. THIS PRODUCT
IS FREEWARE, WHICH MEANS YOU CAN DISTRIBUTE THIS PRODUCT FREELY AS LONG
AS NO MONEY IS INVOLVED AND THE PRODUCTS REMAINS UNMODIFIED. IF YOU
WANT TO RENT, SELL OR USE THIS PRODUCT TO OTHER FINANCIAL PURPOSES, YOU
ARE GOING TO NEED A SIGNED PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHORS (BADGERS).
EVERYTHING THAT IS RELATED TO THIS GAME IS COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY
OF THE AUTHORS (BADGERS).
[ 2.0 ][ INFO ]
Thank you, you have chosen wisely. You're (probably) about to begin
playing Ata - Extracts from the American Civil War. There are a
few things you should know before you begin.
* Ata can be played under both DOS and Windows 9x. So
you're playing under Windows, you can a shortcut located
in the same directory as Ata.exe to disable annoying
key-combinations such as Alt-Enter, Alt-Space, etc.
that may affect to playability.
* If Ata crashes in some point of loading (either while
loading menus & coredata in the very beginning or
while loading the map), it's a probably sign of lacking
memory (or maybe, just maybe, a bug...).
* Ata has been tested on four different computers successfully.
Thus, it should work on your computer, too. =) Report us,
if it doesn't.
Let's move on.
[ 3.0 ][ MENU ]
Use keys up and down (+ left & right in historical menu) to browse
around. Use Enter or Space to access to a submenu. Backspace and
Esc are the keys to go back.
[ 3.1 ][ NEW CAMPAIGN ]
Under "Begin -> Campaigns" you can find the "New Campaign"
option. It contains imaginary starting positions and
more arcade-alike rules than in "Historical Situations".
[ 3.2 ][ HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ]
There's "Historical Situations" right under the "New Campaign"
option. Behind the submenu, there's an option for every year
of the American Civil War. Practically it means that the
starting positions and the troop amounts are realistic.
[ 3.3 ][ LOADING CAMPAIGNS ]
Ata automatically saves your campaign after every travelling
sequence. Each campaign type has its own savefile, fe.
"free" campaign has CAMPAIGN.SAV. If you start a new
campaign, you are being warned, because your old savefile
(if there's one) will be replaced with new.
[ 3.4 ][ CONFIGURATION ]
"Configure" is the word. Escape cancels everything, Enter
accepts. You can change the global mouse sensitivity, the
speed of keys in the menu by using arrows left and right.
The battle keys can also be changed and the default keys
are:
North South
Up W Key Up
Down S Key Down
Left A Key Left
Right D Key Right
Shoot Left Ctrl Right Ctrl
Reload Left Alt Right Alt
Change Unit Left Shift Right Shift
Change Mode Tab Enter
Escape ~ (next to 1) Backspace
Notice! You can return the default settings simply by removing
the file Ata.cfg which can be found from the same directory as
Ata.exe
[ 4.0 ][ MAP ]
The map in a nutshell: realistic map, some basic info in the lower
right-hand corner, "end turn"-button in the upper right-hand corner
and a mode bar at the bottom.
The turns go like this: North turn, South turn, Travel, South turn,
North turn, Travel, North turn, ...
While North & South turns, the players do the actions they want to,
such as moving/hiring the troops. The Travel shows you what actually
happens (at this point you can't do anything).
The left mouse button is for accepting things, the right one for
cancelling (except when you press the button while the cursor is
over your army -> the Trade-screen is on).
After pressing the left button over your army, the appearing foot
icons show the states you are able to move to. Please notice
that you can move through several states at once if they are in
your control.
If you're conquering previously unconquered states, enemy's states
or as an "after battle", a message window appears showing the results
of your actions.
PLEASE NOTICE! This game is a lot more enjoyable if you don't
watch while your friend's moving his/her troops. Also known as
the Turn-My-Head -game.
[ 4.1 ][ IN CASE OF A NEW CAMPAIGN ]
If you chose the "New Campaign" option, you have three armies
and three main states (per side) which are marked with crossed
flags. Normal states are marked with a single flag.
Every state contains the maximum count of applicants in the
beginning (8 footmen, 3 horsemen, 2 cannonmen).
[ 4.2 ][ IN CASE OF HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ]
Choosing alternative "Historical Situation" results in
hyper-realistic positions of the armies and conquered
states. The other difference to the "free" campaign is that
the amount applicants and employed troops is a constant, and
therefore you can't hire more men. What you see is what you get.
[ 4.3 ][ TAX ]
Using the tax button you can deside the amount of tax:
0, 10, 20, 30 or 40. The smaller the tax is the faster you'll
get new applicants to your conquered states. And vice versa.
[ 4.4 ][ OBSERVATION ]
This is simple. An easy way to observe the states and the armies.
Also the amount of applicants is shown. No detailed information
is available on the enemy states (this is especially handy
when your playing the Turn-My-Head- game).
[ 4.5 ][ TRADE ]
[primary side] [secondary side]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[armies]--|
|_______ TRADE
| | |
--------------- ---------------
|_S_|_A_|_A_|_A_| |_S_|_A_|_A_|_A_|
|
|
[state]
|--------[total amounts]---------|
| |
____ _ _ ___ ____ ___
|_F__| |_|_| |___| <-[RECRUIT] |_F__| |___|
[footmen]
____ _ _ ___ ____ ___
|_H__| |_|_| |___| <-[DISMISS] |_H__| |___|
[horsemen]
____ _ _ ___ ____ ___
|_C__| |_|_| |___| -> [GIVE TO] -> |_C__| |___|
[cannonmen]
| |
[change amounts --| |--|
with up & down |
arrow] |
|--[prizes]
DONE CANCEL (all changes)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the left is so called "primary" side. This means that every
action affects this selection.
* Let's pretend you have chosen the state-icon to be the
selection on the left.
* Change the amounts from the arrows.
* The buttons (RECRUIT, DISMISS, GIVE) may become disabled.
This means you cannot perform some of the possible
operations.
* If you don't have enough money, moneyline will turn red
and the RECRUIT-button become disabled. All other buttons
and options correspondingly.
If this seems dizzy to you, we recommend the "try & learn" -
method. It's late already, so we'll write a better documentary on
this issue later (if needed).
[ 4.6 ][ BATTLE ON THE MAP ]
If an army attacks a fortress (a state), this will occur.
There's absolutely nothing you can do, so sit back and enjoy (?).
[ 5.0 ][ BATTLE ]
Drums, please... and the winner is...
Yes, two or more armies meet means just one thing -- battle.
The icons show which one of the troops is selected. You can change
the selection with the Change Unit -key (Shift).
You are also able to escape with the escape key (~ or Tab) if your
army is numbering over one in men.
[ 5.1 ][ FOOTMEN ]
Moving the footmen is simple. Up, down, left, right and everything
between. Shoot with Ctrl, reload with Alt (bullets left are shown
in the uppers corners). Enter is a special key. It changes
between running and walking. Running spends stamina which
restores slowly.
[ 5.2 ][ HORSEMEN ]
Key to one side to make them move. Key to the opposite side
to make them stop temporarily. Up and down. Ctrl keeps on
hitting. The horsemen come back after riding out of the screen.
[ 5.3 ][ CANNONMEN ]
Up and down. Ctrl to shoot. The longer time you keep the button
down the longer will be the distance of the shot.
[ 6.0 ][ CONTACTING ]
Badgers is (at the moment, but we might be looking for new members):
Artwork
Timo Vihola
Programming
Kimmo Vihola
Design
Kimmo Vihola
Timo Vihola
You're are able to contact Badgers by e-mail: badgers@*****.fi
If you have found a bug you are forced to contact. :)
Also visit: http://www.mbnet.fi/~badgers/
