Nightfall by Foundation Two
NIGHTFALL
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Peace reigns throughout the galaxy. All numerous species of the universe
live together peacefully. Only on a small isolated planet on the edge of
the galaxy lives a race who doesn't know better than to fight each other
since the start of their existence. As this race, known as human, cannot
be convinced of their senseless doing, the Grand Council of the galaxy
has decided to leave the humans to their fate until they anihilate
themselves. The players mission is to accelerate this fate.
1. INTRODUCTION
---------------
Nightfall is a strategy game for one to eight players. Instead of a
human player the computer can simulate this role. The game is divided
in turns in which every player makes his move once. The objective of
the game is, by placing, attacking and moving armies, to fullfill a
mission.
2. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
------------------------
You will need an Atari ST/STE/Falcon with at least 1MB RAM and a colour
monitor (VGA/RGB) for Nightfall. The game is played via mouse but
shortcuts via keyboard are also possible.
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3. SEQUENCE OF PLAY
-------------------
3.1 GAME START
Start the game by a double click on NIGHTFAL.PRG. The monitor screen
will turn black for a while after the Solution logo. After that the
intro starts. It can be exited by pressing the left mouse button.
After the intro you are in the option menu (chapter 4) where you can
choose the players or computer players (chapter 5). Now the order of
the players will be selected and every player will be given his mission
(chapter 6).
After that you can configure an analysis file (chapter 7).
3.2 TURN SEQUENCE
Every turn is divided into placing armies, conquering countries and
distributing armies. Select a country by clicking on it on the map. The
possible countries for this action will be blinking.
During a turn the map can be shifted via keyboard (chapter 9) or by
using the arrow symbols on the right hand side. The countries on the
map are in the colour of the player to whom they belong. The amount of
armies are shown in the boxes next to the countries.
3.3 PLACING ARMIES
The amount of the armies to be placed are shown on the bottom of the
screen. Here you can also choose how many armies you want to place in
one go. Armies are placed by clicking on the country in which you want
them.
3.4 CONQUERING COUNTRIES
In this phase there's the opportunity to conquer other countries. First,
you choose the country from where you want to start the attack. This
country needs more than one army. The choice can be deleted by pressing
Undo. Choosing a country to start an attack is impossible if all
neighbouring countries are already in the possession of the player.
This choice is also shown at the bottom of the screen. The owner of the
attacked country now has the possibility to retreat depending on his
tactics. Should he choose a fight then this will be carried out
afterwards. If the attacker wins, he can then move armies into the
defeated country.
3.5 MOVING ARMIES
Armies can be rearranged in the last phase. First, select a country
from which to withdraw armies, then the destination country, finally
the number of armies to move. The two countries do not have to be
adjacent to each other as long as they are connected via other
countries owned by the player.
3.6 RECRUITS
Recruits are armies which can be used in the next turn. You get them
by owning countries, owning continents and winning battles against the
enemy.
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4. OPTION MENU
--------------
Here you can set up parameters which are valid throughout the entire
game. These parameters will not be saved when you save the game.
4.1 NEW ARMIES PER COUNTRY
This parameter dictates the amount of armies you get for each country
you own (except for the first turn). For example: If you select 0.2
and you own five countries you will get one army. (0.2 x 5 = 1)
4.2 NEW ARMIES IN THE FIRST TURN
Here you decide how many armies every player gets for his first turn.
4.3 COMPUTER PAUSES
Computer pauses are active when there are news messages from a computer
player. After every message there is a pause. You can set up the
length of the pauses via the arrow symbols. A pause will occure ie
between the message "xyz occupies Argentinia" and the message "xyz
recruits 2 Armies".
With the button at the beginning of this menu you decide whether the
relevant country should blink or not. The game runs faster with this
option deactivated.
4.4 BATTLE PAUSES
Pauses occur in battles in which at least one human player participates
and one or more armies are defeated.
4.5 SCROLLING NEWS, PLAY SAMPLES
These functions have the same meaning as the button for the computer
pauses. The game runs faster if the messages for the computer player
are not scrolled and the samples are not played.
4.6 HISCORE
The hiscore can be viewed here. Hiscore tables can be combined, ie if
you have a friend who also plays Nightfall you can combine both hiscores.
4.7 ANALYSIS FILE
Saved files can be analysed at a later date. (more in chapter 7.1)
4.8 LOAD GAME
A saved game can be called up. The game then starts at the point where
it was previously saved.
4.9 CONTINUE
With this you get into the player choice menu.
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5. PLAYER CHOICE MENU
---------------------
In this menu you can see the players head in the top left corner. It can
be altered with the arrow symbols next to the text "Face". Right of the
picture there is a block which either shows a computer or a note pad.
This block shows whether the player is operated by a human player or by
the computer. By clicking on the button "human" and "computer" this can
be changed. The chosen option is greyed-out. Beneath the block there is
a coloured bar. This colour symbolises the player on the map and can be
altered through the arrow symbols next to the text "Colour".
The players name can be entered into the red box under the colour bar.
Click on the box to edit the name. Adjacent to it is the box "Next".
With this box you conclude the choice of options for the current player.
The box "Continue" concludes the entire procedure and you go to the
selection of the order of the players.
5.1 PLAYER OPTIONS
------------------
5.1.1 LONG PLAYER NAMES
This option has influence on the analysis file only and you can enter
a name of a player which has more than 6 letters.
5.1.2 TACTICS
Click on one of the boxes 1 to 8 and the settings of the current
player are replaced by the settings of the chosen player. You can
only click on numbers which are white.
5.1.3 RETREATING IN BATTLES BETWEEN HUMANS
If this function is activated you can retreat from an attack by a
human player.
5.1.4 RECRUITING % - HUMAN V HUMAN
Here you can decide how many % of the armies which were defeated in
a battle human v human can be recruited afterwards.
5.1.5 NUMBER OF OCCUPYING ARMIES
This option decides how many armies can be moved from the attacking
country into the newly conquered country.
5.1.6 LENGTH OF ACTION IN DAYS
You decide how long an action will take and you have 360 days time
per turn. If the time runs out or the remaining time is too short to
fullfill the chosen option, the turn is finished.
5.2 COMPUTER OPTIONS
--------------------
5.2.1 TACTIC
There are preset tactics for all 8 faces. Each of the eight computer
players has their own prefered tactic. By clicking on the numbers
1 - 8, with the left mouse button, you can change the tactic that
that player will use. Clicking the right button activates the already
selected tactic. You can click on the white numbers only.
5.2.2 RECONQUER CONTINENTS
You have the choice between:
-Person
The computer will attempt to reconquer a continent if a human
player captures one of the countries in it.
-Person/computer
As above but the computer will also attempt to reconquer if a
computer player captures one of the countries.
-None
The computer will not neccessarily attempt to reconquer if one of
the countries is captured.
5.2.3 NUMBER OF OCCUPYING ARMIES
Dictates how many armies the computer player can move from an
attacking country into a conquered one.
5.2.4 COMPUTER RETREAT
If activated, the computer can retreat if attacked.
5.2.5 COMPUTER RECRUITS %
Dictates the percentage of armies the computer player recruits. Ie,
80% means the computer player recruits 8 of 10 armies he defeated in
the previous battle.
5.2.6 OPPONENT RETREATS
If activated, the opponent can retreat.
5.2.7 OPPONENT RECRUITS %
Dictates the percentage of armies the opponent recruits.
5.2.8 HUNT
With this very important option you decide whether the computer
deliberately attacks human players or not. There is a choice between:
-Countries + continents
The computer will attack countries of human players first. When he
has conquered a continent he will then choose a continent for the
next attack in which a human player owns a neighbouring country.
-Countries
As above but without the choice of the continent.
-None
The computer will not prefer attacks against human players.
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6. MISSION CHOICE
-----------------
Mission groups can be activated/deactivated. The mission will be
randomly selected from the active groups.
6.1 MISSION: DESTROY
The co-player (computer or human) who has been selected has to be
destroyed.
6.2 MISSION: CONQUER 2 CONTINENTS
Two continents will be selected which the player then has to conquer.
6.3 MISSION: CONQUER 3 CONTINENTS
As above but 3 continents this time.
6.4 MISSION: CONQUER *_* COUNTRIES
A number of countries, between the two chosen numbers, have to be
conquered.
6.5 MISSION: CONQUER THE WORLD
All countries have to be conquered.
6.6 MISSION: POINTS
You must achieve the displayed number of points.
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7. ANALYSIS CONFIGURATION
-------------------------
Content of the analysis file are changes which occur on the map. With
this the game sequence can be reviewed. In the menu are following
choices:
-File name
On clicking on the red box in the top right hand corner the file name
can be entered under which the file is saved.
-Date field
Enter day/month/year in which the game takes place.
-Save
If the button in front of this text says Yes an analysis file is
produced and the game sequence will be saved.
** ATTENTION: Make sure the drive you choose exists and there is
enough space on the disk ! **
-Drive
Selects the drive to be accessed.
7.1 VIEW ANALYSIS
By selecting analysis, you can view the statistics.
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8. EXTRA FUNCTIONS
------------------
If it is a human players turn, he can get into a menu by clicking the
right mouse button and decide between various options:
-Quit to Tos
Quit Nightfall and go to desktop.
-Undo
In most cases pressing Undo will cancel the previously selected
action.
-Save game
Attention: Pressing Cancel can cause the programm to crash.
-Extra player
An extra human player can join the game. He has the choice of taking
over a computer player or he can be randomly allocated countries. The
"No. of armies" decides how many armies start on each country.
-Less player
A player can leave the game. He can either be replaced by a computer
player or his countries can be randomly distributed among the
remaining players.
-Mission
Shows the allocated mission.
-New game
Ends the game and goes to the main menu screen.
-Hiscore
Shows the hiscore table.
-World map
Displays the world map with the choice of the following information:
Distribution of armies.
Number of times the country has been conquered.
Number of times the country has been successfully defended.
Number of armies 'killed' in each country.
All of the information for a country will be displayed if you click
on it.
-Quit phase
This finishes the phase.
Note- You cannot finish the allocation phase if you still have armies
to distribute.
(Sequence: Allocate, attack, redeploy.)
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9. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
---------------------
Instead of calling up the extra functions by the right mouse button,
you can reach them via keyboard. You can also move the map with the
cursors.
| KEY | FUNCTION |
|------------------|--------------------|
| t | Quit to TOS |
| Undo | Undo |
| s | Save game |
| m | Extra player |
| w | Less player |
| a | Mission |
| n | New game |
| h | Hiscore |
| k | World map |
| g | Quit phase |
| Cursor up | Map up |
| Cursor down | Map down |
| Cursor right | Map right |
| Cursor left | Map left |
10. VALUE OF CONTINENTS
-----------------------
| CONTINENT |EXTRA RESERVE ARMIES|
|------------------|--------------------|
| South America | 2 |
| North America | 4 |
| Africa | 4 |
| Europe | 6 |
| Asia | 6 |
| Australia | 2 |
11. CONNECTIONS
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A few countries have connections to other countries which are not
obvious on the map:
| CONTINENT | COUNTRY | CONNECTION TO |
|------------------|--------------------|-----------------|
| Australia | Philippines | Thailand |
| Australia | Indonesia | Thailand |
| North America | Alaska | Siberia |
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