German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

My English is far from perfect, but I didn't notice any error or strange sentence. You did an excellent job, it was fun playing this adventure on my VIC. Thanks again :).
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Ghost Manor

Post by Perseus »

Necro bump: Was anyone able to get Ghost Manor working? It loads then comes to a full stop in the latest WinVICE emulator. Thanks for the help.
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Post by tokra »

You need to press O (the letter) or Fire on your joystick to start. Since nothing happens after RUN this might fool you ;-)
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Post by Witzo »

64'er was the best computer magazine I have ever read!
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Post by Perseus »

:oops: Thanks, tokra *feels shame* lol
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Mayhem
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mayhem »

Big bump here... but if anyone has English language instructions for Imperium Romanum, I might give it a proper whirl (and add them to GB20) so I know what I'm doing :p
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Mike
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mike »

Mayhem wrote:Big bump here... but if anyone has English language instructions for Imperium Romanum, I might give it a proper whirl (and add them to GB20) so I know what I'm doing :p
The instructions of Imperium Romanum span a full A4 page in the special issue of 64'er. Here's a rough translation.

Cheers,

Michael

P.S. Victoria Gold Edition got an update (small bug-fixes, etc.) one year ago. I'd be glad if you'd update it in GB20 as well. :)
64'er wrote:BATTLE FOR ROME

Imperium Romanum is a strategy game for two players, which has an outstanding screen design. It shows that on the VIC-20 the jury is still out regarding graphics.

The game shows a map of Europe (see picture), 20 Roman legions, 15 Germanic hordes and a hair cross to move the units. Each of those units can move two steps in any direction each round/year, as long as the square is unoccupied and not in the sea.

Aim of the Game

First both players draw a lot, who takes the Germanic people and who takes the Romans. The Teutons must capture at least four of the five Roman capitals to win the game. It is the task of the Romans to prevent this for 25 years.

However, the Romans should not undertake ill-advised actions just because of their majority. At first the combat power of the Teutons is significantly higher than that of the Romans. For this reason, the Roman should adapt a policy of orderly retreat, but not go into a panic-stricken flight.

In the year 405 A.D. the side is turning. Then, all remaining units get a reinforcement, but this time it puts the Romans to advantage.

If one of the player has lost all the units, the game also is over.

Battles

When two or more enemy units occupy neighboring squares, they commence a fight. The combat power of each participating unit decreases. When the combat power reaches zero, the unit vanishes.

As the battling units swing at each other twice a year unless they're taken out of the battle line, you should be prepared that several units will disappear over the time.

Strategy

If you embark on a battle, you should encircle an enemy unit with several own units to be sure to leave the encounter victorious. It is advisible to rotate units with frequent contact with the enemy, so these are only weakened, but not worn down. In the year 405 they're then reinforced.

The Romans should concentrate to guard only two or three capitals, so they are not overrunned by the Teutons who want to partake at Odin's table.

Controls

The player for Rome starts the game. He can move the hair cross with the joystick. The hair cross can neither be moved outside the screen nor through the sea and thus moves exactly like the units he wants to move. For this reason, one should first move the hair cross around to see where units can go, and where not.

When the player has decided upon the direction, he sets the hair cross over an own unit and presses the fire button. With a short beep, the cross changes into the unit. Now this unit can be moved up to two steps in the intended direction, if the path is free. The unit cannot "jump" over other units, regardless whether they're own ones, or the enemies'. When the move is complete, press the fire button again to free the hair cross. This way, you can move all your units around as long as they're not blocked.

When you have moved all the units you wanted to move, press a key. Then the enemy units go into battle, and you "hear" how half a year passes by: after the melody has ended, the other player gets the joystick and now it's his turn.


Important!

The start of BASIC programs must be moved with POKE 44,28:POKE7168,0:NEW before running part 1 of the game.
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mayhem »

Cheers. Just so I'm not going mad here, what do the units look like on the map? I'm sure I tried pressing fire and moving them but nothing appeared to happen.

I'll also update Victoria Gold, but the link isn't working currently...
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mike »

Mayhem wrote:Cheers. Just so I'm not going mad here, what do the units look like on the map? I'm sure I tried pressing fire and moving them but nothing appeared to happen.
The Roman unit look like small castles and are strewn across the map, and the units of the Teutons look like small huts, and concentrate in Germania. And yes, the joystick control of the game *is* somehow stiff, and could need a overhaul.
I'll also update Victoria Gold, but the link isn't working currently...
Looks like Microsoft managed to break the self.aspx URLs for SkyDrive. :evil: All my files are still there, and you can access the game over the root URL of my SkyDrive folder: [...]

Edit: removed outdated link

Edit 2: VICtoria has moved to: victoria.zip
Last edited by Mike on Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Mayhem
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mayhem »

And the cities look like circles with crosses on, correct? How are you supposed to get across the water and capture the one in north Africa as the Teutons? :P

I'll grab the updated Vic Gold when I'm on my laptop next...
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mike »

Mayhem wrote:And the cities look like circles with crosses on, correct?
Yep.
How are you supposed to get across the water and capture the one in north Africa as the Teutons? :P
You can reach Carthago either over Sicilia or (impractical though) Gibraltar.
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mayhem »

Ah okay, so it does allow some sea travel then...
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by orion70 »

Shorter sea routes are more realistic - that's why Carthago is reachable via Sicily or Gibraltar in Victoria, too. Of course, in ancient times they could navigate wherever they wanted in Mare Nostrum (see also St. Paul's travels), but allowing to go from (any coast) to (any coast) would have made the game a total mess :)
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orion70
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by orion70 »

Oh, and thank you so much Mike for translating the instructions. Now ain't a complete English version (i.e., also in-game written parts) with a revised joystick control be a huge gift to your VIC friends? :mrgreen:
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Re: German Magazine - Type-Ins - 64er

Post by Mike »

:lol:

There's already quite a big queue of WIPs for the VIC-20 on my HD, so Imperium Romanum would have to wait in line. :P

Anyway, what makes the reaction to the presses of the fire buttons so slow are the lines 365 to 367, where the position of the hair cross is compared for equality with one of the legions or huts, by looping over all 35 units. [1] Keeping the indizes in an off-screen array and fetching the correct index from there would be much faster. Maybe that information is helpful enough so someone else can pick up the baton.

Michael

[1] actually, 40 units. But 5 units of the Teutons are already 'missing'.
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