"CHAOS" By Julian Gollop (1985) Instructions taken from "The Rebelstar Collection" Players' Manual by Julian Gollop (1991), with additions by Death and Ian Coates (OKTUP@MONO.CITY.AC.UK) COPYRIGHT Julian Gollop has kindly agreed to this game being made Public Domain. Anyone is freely allowed to duplicate and distribute this game for use in Spectrum emulators. It is requested that the identification of Julian Gollop as the author of this software is not removed and the code not altered. E-mail me (OKTUP@MONO.CITY.AC.UK) for further details. INTRODUCTION 'Chaos' is a battle between 2 to 8 wizards, and or all of which can be computer controlled. Most spells are used to summon creatures which are controlled by the casting wizard. Other spells have a variety of different effects. The popularity of this game resulted in 'Lords of Chaos', which adds many aspects to the basic concept of magical combat. STARTING THE GAME Select the number of wizards to participate and select the level of any computer controlled wizards (from 1 to 8). For each wizard enter a name, computer or human control, a character shape and a colour. 'Chaos' is played in a series of game turns. Each turn is played in three phases; the spell selection phase, the casting phase and the movement and combat phase. KEYS: QWE A D All move in the appropriate direction ZXC S Selects an creature/wizard K Cancel movement/ranged combat I Show Information/stats on creature 1-8 Highlights creations of wizard # (1-8) 0 End your turn MOVEMENT To move something, select it with and then press the direction keys to move it as desired. COMBAT In order to attack an enemy creature you must move into it. If your creature is able to fly then you can do a ranged attack by placing the cursor on top of the enemy creature (or you can move into it as before). Success depends on the attackers combat rating compared to the defenders defence rating with a random factor involved. Some creatures have ranged combat (ie if they carry weapons - see chart below) which occurs when the creature has finished moving. Move the cursor to the target and press to fire. The target must be in line of sight. MAIN MENU: 1. Examine spell Tells you creature/attack stats and chance of it working 2. Select spell Obvious really. On the select spell screen each creature has a symbol next to it: * = Chaos spell - = Neutral spell ^ = Law spell As more Law(Chaos) spells are cast, the % chance of a Law(Chaos) spell working in the future increases. Neutral spells have no effect either way. The lighter the colour the name of the spell is, the higher the chance of it working. The overall state of the world is indicated by the number of symbols on the main option menu. The more symbols, the more Chaos/Law the world is (ie if it was (*****) then the world would be very chaotic and it would be worth considering trying to cast a real red/green dragon). Real/Illusion Creatures can either be created as real creatures or illusion creatures. Illusions have 100% chance of working but are destroyed by the disbelieve spell. Real creatures have a chance of failing, but are unaffected by the disbelieve spell. Other than that the two work the same. 3. Look at board Use it to see what's in range of a spell/what's attacking you. Press "I" to examine a creature. Press "0" to return to menu. 4. Continue Goes to next player You get one round where everyone casts a spell then a round to move/attack in. If you are player one then you get to cast your spells and move first. The last player is at a disadvantage that he can be attacked before he has a chance to move, but has the advantage that illusion spells can be cast without the risk of being disbelieved for one turn (useful for dragons). Some spells need to be cast at a target - attack spells need an enemy creature, create spells need a square adjacent to your wizard. Press "S" to cast the spell. Undead creatures can only be attacked by undead, magic weapons or attack spells. When you've moved all you want to press "0" or "TAB" to end turn. SPELLS: CREATURES Undead Flying Rideable Armed Spell Bat X Chaos Bear Law Centaur X Bow Law Crocodile Neutral Dire Wolf Chaos Dragon, Red X Fire Chaos Dragon, Gold X Fire Law Dragon, Green X Fire Chaos Eagle X Law Elf Bow Law Faun Chaos Ghost X X Chaos Giant Law Giant Rat Neutral Goblin Chaos Gorilla Neutral Gryphon X X Law Harpy X Chaos Horse X Law Hydra Chaos King Cobra Law Lion Law Manticorn X X Bow Chaos Ogre Chaos Orc Chaos Pegasus X X Law Skeleton X Chaos Spectre X Chaos Unicorn X Law Vampire X X Chaos Wraith X Chaos Zombie X Chaos OBJECT SPELLS Magic Wood (Law) - Computer places approx 8 magic trees near your wizard. If you put your wizard in a magic wood tree and leave him there, he gets a new spell after a few turns. Shadow Wood (Chaos) - Allows you to manually place approx 8 shadow trees near your wizard. No two trees can be adjacent, and line of sight is needed in placing. Shadow wood can attack anything in contact with them (except undead) - select the tree to attack. Magic Fire (Chaos) - Attacks and kills enemy units it covers and randomly spreads across the map Gooey Blob (Chaos) - Attacks enemy units it covers and randomly spreads across the map. Any unit covered up by a gooey blob will be able to carry on once it is uncovered (except wizards who are killed by gooey blobs) Wall (Neutral) - Allows four wall blocks to be built near the wizard, which blocks creature's paths, but can be flown over. ATTACKING SPELLS Magic Bolt (Neutral)- Attacks creature it is cast at Lightning (Neutral) - Attacks creature it is cast at (more powerful than magic bolt) Vengeance (Chaos,x1)- Allows 1 attack on an enemy creature Justice (Law, x3) - When cast on a wizard it kills all that wizard's creations if successful. Allows 3 attacks Dark Power(Chaos,x3)- Allows 3 attacks on enemy creatures Decree (Law, x1) - Allows 1 attack on an enemy creature WIZARD'S SPELLS Magic Armour (Law) - Gives wizard increased protection from attack Magic Knife (Law) - Gives wizard increase attack power including undead creatures Magic Sword (Law) - Gives wizard increase attack power including undead creatures Magic Bow (Law) - Gives wizard ranged weapon including undead creatures Magic Wings(Neutral)- Gives wizard ability to fly long ranges Magic Castle (Law) - Gives wizard building to hide in Dark Citadel (Chaos)- Gives wizard building to hide in Shadow Form(Neutral)- Gives wizard increased protection and allows movement of 3 spaces per turn MISCELLANEOUS SPELLS Law (Law) - Makes the world more lawful Chaos (Chaos) - Makes the world more chaotic Raise Dead (Chaos) - Allows reanimation of dead bodies left on screen. Any creatures raised from the dead become undead creatures, able to attack other undeads Subversion (Neutral)- Realigns enemy creature to your side Turmoil (Chaos) - Randomly moves all objects onscreen to a different location. Only available from a magic wood Disbelieve (Neutral)- Allows illusion creatures to be destroyed. This spell has 100% casting chance, and is always available There are lots of little bugs/tricks in the game,e.g. 1. create an illusion of something wimpish that isn't much use. 2. put it on the body of something powerful,but now dead. 3. cast Justice/dark power/vengeance on the wimpish creature & see what happens. If you're locked in combat & want to move, press I then the direction you want to move in...works a lot of the time. If you don't like someone, be player 1, put them player 4, and lightning them on the first go if you have the spell!!! They die before they get a turn!