Wars of Napoleon Strategy Game

(c) 1997 W R Hutsell

Table of Contents

• 1      I N T R O D U C T I O N
  • 1.1   Introduction
  • 1.2   Requirements
  • 1.3   Running the Game
  • 1.4  Tactical Level Game
  • 1.5   Running from Windows
  • 1.6   How to Win
  • 1.7   Map Display
  • 1.8   Nationality
  • 1.9   Hot Keys
  • 1.10  Using the Menus
  • 1.11  Game Setup
  • 1.12  Sequence of Play
• 2      D E C I S I O N    P H A S E
  • 2.1   Land Movement
  • 2.2   Army Attributes
  • 2.3   Napoleon
• 3      M A I N    M E N U
  • 3.1   Main Menu
  • 3.2   Recruit
  • 3.3   Commanders
  • 3.4   Ships
  • 3.5   Fast Naval Combat
  • 3.6   Invasions – Marines
  • 3.7   Raid Commerce
  • 3.8   Move Order
  • 3.9   Movement Across the Sea
  • 3.10  Next Turn
  • 3.11  Inform (Reports)
  • 3.12  Commands
  • 3.13  Utility
  • 3.14  Files
  • 3.15  Autosave
• 4      O P T I O N S
  • 4.1   Options Submenu
  • 4.2   Cancel
  • 4.3   Fortify
  • 4.4   Join (Combine
  • 4.5   Supply
  • 4.6   Detach
  • 4.7   Drill
  • 4.8   Relieve
• 5      U T I L I T Y
  • 5.1   Utility Submenu
  • 5.2   Side
  • 5.3   1-Player/2-Player
  • 5.4   Noise
  • 5.5   Tactical
  • 5.6   Display
  • 5.7   Balance
  • 5.8   End Game Conditions
  • 5.9   Victory Condition Override
  • 5.10  Random Events
  • 5.11  Vary Start
  • 5.12  Enemy Aggression
  • 5.13  Save Configuration
• 6      M O V E    &    C O M B A T    P H A S E
  • 6.1   Computer Decisions
  • 6.2   Army Movement
  • 6.3  The Occupying Army
  • 6.4   Unit Cohesion
  • 6.5   Combat
  • 6.6   Income Update
• 7      D A T A    F I L E S
  • 7.1   Scenario Initialization File (NWSxxxx.INI)
  • 7.2   Commander File (LEADxxxx.DAT)
  • 7.3   Configuration File (NWS.CFG)
  • 7.4   City Matrix (EUROxxxx.MAP)
• 8      D E S I G N E R    N O T E S
  • 8.1   Combat Model Adjustment

 1   INTRODUCTION

 1.1   Introduction

“Wars of Napoleon Strategy Game” is a 1 or 2-player VGA graphic strategic level wargame of the Napoleonic era. The registered version of the game includes a tactical level module which permits individual battles to be fought.

The object of the game is to accumulate as many victory points as possible. The game is played in turns of 2 months during which both sides perform their actions. Decisions are made using menus which are described below.

1.2   Requirements

The program requires the following files:

• WON.EXE         – the main strategic level game program
• NAPOLEON.EXE    – tactical level game module
• NWS.CFG         – your customizable configuration file
• NWSxxxx.INI     – initialization data file for year xxxx
• LEADxxxx.DAT    – army leader data file for year xxxx
• EUROxxxx.MAP    – city data file for year xxxx
• WON.DOC         – this documentation file
• HISCORE.NWS     – high score file
• GAMESATA.INI    – initialization data file

In addition, the program requires several *.VGA and *.EGA files for graphical effects.

There are other optional files that may be produced as you customize and play the game.

1.3   Running the Game

Type ‘NWS’ at the command line prompt. The title screen display will appear while the game initializes.

The option to load a game or begin a new game is given at the beginning of the game, in addition to being available during the game.

1.4  Tactical Level Game

In addition to the main strategy level game of NWS.EXE, there is a tactical level game, NAPOLEON.EXE, which may be linked to the strategic game by setting the TACTICAL option in the Utility Menu of NWS.

1.5   Running from Windows

This is a DOS-based game, but it can be run under Windows* or Windows 95 using the RUN command (using the Start with Windows 95 or the File Manager in Windows). You will need to type both the path and file name to run the program. Typically this will be:

C:\NWS\NWS.EXE

Both Windows and Windows 95 carry overhead that may slow the game. If this is a problem, you should exit Windows or Windows 95, then change to the NWS directory and run the program under DOS.

(*Windows and Windows 95 are trademarks of Microsoft).

 1.6   How to Win

You are awarded victory points for (1) capturing cities, (2) capturing armies, (3) winning battles, and (4) special events. Each city you control gives you a certain number of victory points (and a like amount of income). This varies depending on the city. For instance, a large city such as Paris is worth more than a smaller city such as Metz. To see the number of victory points each city is worth, use the “Inform” option to access the “Cities” report.

Objective cities are worth an additional bonus of 100 victory points in addition to the normal victory points. If you lose your objective, you permanently lose the bonus income. Additionally, the game will end unless the “Objective” end game condition is de-selected.

If your army defeats an enemy that has no route for retreat or causes enough casualties to crush the enemy, you capture the army and receive a bonus of 25 victory points. Eliminating the enemy fleet also results in bonus victory points.

For each battle you win, you receive 1 victory point. Certain special events result in extra victory points for one side or the other.

The game continues until one side achieves an end game condition. (See End Game Conditions under the “Utility” submenu). The side that triggers the end of the game receives an additional bonus of 100 victory points.

If your score is one of the top 5 scores for the side played, your name and score are entered into the high score file.

When the game is over, you are returned to the opening screen, with the option to quit, load or begin a new game.

 1.7   Map Display

The title screen will clear and a map of western Europe will appear along with a menu entitled ‘Main’. This is the Main Menu from which you choose most of your options. Above the menu is a box showing which side is currently selected, French or Allies and the number of victory points for that side.

The small colored circles on the map display are cities or other key locations. There are a total of 67 such locations. Blue circles are French controlled; red ones are Allied controlled. Gray circles are true neutral cities (e.g. Bern, Switzerland). Green circles are Allied cities at peace: they belong to a potentially Allied country, but the country has not yet gone to war.

Two of the cities are OBJECTIVE cities, and their circle is marked with a small yellow cross. Connections between the cities will be shown by dashed lines.

If the circle representing the city is surrounded by a HOLLOW BLACK box, it is a FORTIFIED (FORT+) location; if surrounded by a SOLID BLACK box, the location is HEAVILY FORTIFIED (FORT++). Any level of fortification tends to improve resistance to enemy attacks.

Small flag icons appear next to some cities. Each flag represents an army.

 1.8   Nationality

Each city on the display is related to a country. Each army raised has the nationality of the country associated with the city where it was first formed. Each commander also has a nationality. If the commander happens to lead an army of different nationality from his own, the entire unit will suffer a cohesion penalty in combat.

The following countries are potentially ALLIED countries:

• Austria
• England
• Russia
• Prussia
• Spain

The remaining countries (e.g., Switzerland) are truly neutral, and though they may be drawn into the conflict, they will not join the alliance.

At the beginning of the game, many of the Allied countries may be at peace. While an Allied country is not at war, it does not contribute to Allied income, nor can armies be recruited in the cities of that country by the Allies. Such cities are represented by green circles.

If a nonaligned Allied country is invaded by France it automatically enters the war. (Allied armies can pass or retreat through nonaligned Allied cities with no effect).

Any city currently possessed will contribute to income. However, recruiting can only be done in certain cities:

RECRUITING

 1.9   Hot Keys

There are several game command short cut or hot keys that are useful:

• F1 – shows a list of the hot keys
• F3 – redraw the screen
• F4 – show a summary of unit strengths in each occupied city
• F7 – speed “End Turn” key: avoids the “are you sure” prompt

 1.10  Using the Menus

You may move the highlighted menu option by pressing the “up” and “down” arrow keys. Pressing ‘Enter’ will select the currently highlighted option. In most cases, you may exit from a menu without selecting any option by pressing the “esc” key.

“Hot keys” are provided to speed menu access. The first letter of each command will immediately select the item without having to move the menu bar. WARNING: In responding to city locations, watch out for cities that have the same first letter. Using the hot key will select the FIRST city on the menu that begins with the letter you press. If you wanted to select another, you must use the up/down arrow keys. Example: You have the option to recruit at Sardinia or Sicily, both of which begin with “S”. If you press “S”, Sardinia will be selected because it comes first alphabetically in the menu list. If you want to select Sicily instead, you must use the arrow keys. (If there had been no other cities beginning with “S” except for Sicily the hot key would have worked fine).

For the Option and Utility menus, the cursor stays on the submenu if there are more choices available for the item currently being selected (e.g., more troops to be drilled).

Otherwise it returns to the main menu and stays on the Option or Utility item.

PLEASE NOTE: TO RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU FROM EITHER THE COMMANDS OR UTILITY MENU, PRESS THE “ESCAPE” (“Esc”) KEY.

 1.11  Game Setup

There are several setup options available which can be accessed from the “UTILITY” option of the Main Menu. You can swap sides, select 1 or 2 player options, control sound and graphic options, and adjust difficulty. When you save a game, the configuration file is automatically updated to the current set of options you have chosen.

 1.12  Sequence of Play

Play proceeds in the following sequence for each game turn (representing 2 months):

1. Decision Phase
2. Side 1 Decisions (French if 2 players; Human if 1 player)
   1. Recruit
   2. Naval Actions (Resolved Immediately)
   3. Move Orders
   4. Other Decisions (Combine, Fortify, etc.)
3. Side 2 Decisions (Allies if 2 players; Computer if 1 player)
   1. Recruit
   2. Naval Actions (Resolved Immediately)
   3. Move Orders
   4. Other Decisions (Combine, Fortify, etc.)
4. Move & Combat Update Phase (Move Orders Carried Out)
   1. Turn Update Phase
   2. Income Updated Based on Cities Controlled
   3. Unit Supply Updated

 2   DECISION PHASE

 2.1   Land Movement

Movement is from city to city (point-to-point movement) by armies. Any number of friendly armies may stack in a city. A small number appears on the unit icon to show how many units are in the stack. Armies that move to a city occupied by an enemy army must fight the enemy, and either drive off the enemy (to capture the city) or be forced back themselves.

The move-to-menu for army shows the name of the occupying army if the target city is occupied.

NOTE: If there is more than one army in an occupied city that another army is viewing to move to, the name and strength of only one army is shown. You will need to consult the INFORM option to determine all the armies in that particular city.

Moving into an enemy city that is not occupied by an army results in automatic capture of the city. Movement into a “true” neutral city automatically captures the neutral city. The city will change colors to indicate change in control.

Fighting to capture an occupied fortified city reduces the fortification by one level. (Thus, a FORTIFIED+ city would be reduced to an unfortified city.) When an army captures an unoccupied fortified city, the fort is not necessarily reduced. The victorious army is given the option to raze the fortifications. Note that razing TOTALLY destroys the forts, even if they were double fortified.

 2.2   Army Attributes

Armies have several attributes of importance. These will change as the game progresses, and it is important for you to understand how they influence the outcomes.

• STRENGTH   – the number of men in the unit; the prime attribute in combat
• LEADER     – ability score of the unit leader, from 1 to 10. Greatly affects the unit’s effectiveness in battle and movement.
• EXPERIENCE – the number of battles the unit has won (0-10). More experienced units are more effective in combat. Each battle won increases the experience level by 1.
• SUPPLY     – the current state of food and equipment (0-10). Units use 1 unit of supply each turn, except in summer and autumn harvest months. Capturing cities and capturing enemy armies increases supply. Moving and fighting accelerate use of  supplies. Units that are surrounded in enemy countries use supplies at an accelerated rate. Units that are ‘out of supply’ (supply level=0) fight at 50% effectiveness, and move more slowly. In winter months out of supply units cannot move at all. Units that are out of supply are marked with an “S” to make them easier to locate. Armies in port cities are always in supply if the city is not blockaded.

 2.3   Napoleon

The stack commanded by Napoleon has some special abilities. His leadership bonus is very large. Unlike all other commanders, if he is defeated he is not necessarily eliminated from the game. He may be banished to Corsica with his unit size reduced to 1,000 soldiers. The French score will be reduced by half and the strength of all French units will be reduced by half. However, with fleet support, Napoleon can escape from Corsica back to the continent and the war may continue.

 3   MAIN MENU

 3.1   Main Menu

• Recruit
• Moves
• Ships
• END TURN
• Inform
• COMMANDS
• UTILITY
• Files

 3.2   Recruit

Allows you to recruit new armies or build up existing armies. Each recruitment requires 100 money units. If you do not have enough money, you cannot recruit.

You will be given several randomly selected cities where you may recruit. These will either be cities you originally owned or neutral cities you have captured. If the city is vacant, a NEW army is placed there, along with a commander and his corresponding abilities. ADDing recruits to an existing army increases its strength, but does not change the commander.

Newly created armies MAY NOT move the turn they are created, while they train and organize. Existing armies that are increased in strength CAN MOVE in the current turn.

The size of newly created armies depends on where they are recruited. The larger the city and higher the income it produces, the larger the number of recruits. For instance, if you are playing the French, you will build bigger armies faster by recruiting in Paris versus other cities. Experience level of recruits will be low (varies slightly, with slightly better levels for French armies).

NOTE: Once you have begun to recruit, you should NOT change sides or number of players, since the cities to recruit in are already selected for that part of the turn.

 3.3   Commanders

Each side has 25 commanders available to lead separate armies. As the game progresses, the number of available commanders will be reduced as commanders are captured or are used to lead other units. (When units are captured, the commanders are removed from play. An exception is Napoleon, who will continue in play if possible).

If the list of 25 preset commanders is exhausted, there is list of “generic” commanders provided so you can still continue the game. Generic units are given Roman numeral identifiers. For instance, French army 12 is designated French XII. Allies army number 27 (being the second Allied army) is designated Allies II, and so forth.

 3.4   Ships

Allows you to build and move fleets and bombard enemy cities. Each side has one fleet, consisting of 0-10 ships. Ships can be added to the fleet only in port cities controlled by that side.

Ships cost 100 money units. In each turn, they can be moved to any other port city. This means ships may move much more rapidly than armies, but their effect is different.

If the two fleets meet in a port, they will engage in combat. During each round of combat, the attacker has the option to press the attack or retire. Each ship can take 10 hits before it sinks. The current number of hits remaining is shown below the ship icon. Combat continues until one fleet either retreats or is eliminated. At the end of the turn, there can be only one fleet in a given port. English ships have a 10% combat advantage.

Ships can bombard enemy cities to damage defending armies or fortifications, or to drive the city to neutrality. If the city has an enemy army, the bombardment will damage the enemy. The fleet will also blockade the enemy army in the port, reducing his supplies. Fortified cities may have the forts damaged or reduced. However, forts may sink attacking ships.

Unfortified cities not occupied by a defending army may become neutral as a result of the bombardment.

 3.5   Fast Naval Combat

The normal naval combat speed will be accelerated if you press any key after combat has begun.

 3.6   Invasions – Marines

Small scale invasions by marine units from the fleet may be conducted only when the port city to be invaded is not hostile (either originally neutral or after being bombarded into neutrality) at neutral cities if there is more than one ship in the invading fleet. The fleet size will be reduced by 1 and the new army will seize the neutral city, under the leadership of the next available commander. The invading army is small and vulnerable to counterattack.

 3.7   Raid Commerce

Ships from both sides have the option to raid enemy commerce on the high seas. This is shown as the “Raid” option on the Ships menu. Selecting this option will cause a red box to appear, with the word “Commerce” in it, along with the ship icon. Each turn that the fleet stays in this box, there is a probability of doing damage to the enemy by destroying commerce and thereby reducing his income. There is also a chance that one or more of the raiding ships will be sunk. If both fleets enter the commerce raiding zone, combat will occur and one fleet will either be destroyed or have to retreat. Only one fleet can remain in this zone at the end of the turn; that fleet will then attempt to raid enemy commerce.

 3.8   Move Orders

Allows you to select an army to move and where to move it. A menu will cycle through all your armies that are able to move this turn. Armies that already have move orders, or that have been combined this turn, or that have built fortifications this turn, or newly created armies are not eligible to move in the current turn.

Once you select the army to move, the choice of all possible connecting destinations for that army are shown. Selecting a destination will result in a white dotted line from the selected unit to the destination. Note that the army does not move immediately. Rather, it will make its move during the move and update phase.

If an army with move orders is attacked during the move and update phase, there is a chance that it will not be able to carry out those orders. If it is defeated, it must retreat, but even if it wins it may have its movement orders cancelled.

3.9   Movement Across the Sea

Movement between England and the continent (e.g. London to Amsterdam) or between Sicily (or Sardinia) and the continent is considered movement across the sea and requires that special conditions be met:

• Your friendly fleet must be in the port city where the army is moving FROM
• The port city where the army is moving TO must NOT be occupied by the opposing fleet

3.10  Next Turn

When you have completed your decisions for the current turn, select this option to continue with the game sequence. Note that once the game sequence progresses, you cannot back up. Thus, when you select this option, you will be asked to confirm before the turn actually progresses.

3.11  Inform (Reports)

Seven different reports are potentially available; there is no cost for any of the reports.

1. Friendly Army report – Shows the status of all your armies, and other useful statistics on the progress of the game. After the first turn, it will also show the total strength of the enemy forces.
2. Enemy Army report – Shows information similar to Friendly army report, except that it shows less complete information on the enemy forces. It includes the composition of the enemy navy.
3. City report – Provides information on the cities, their worth, status, and so on.
4. Force summary – Shows on the map the strength of all armies (in 100’s of men). Because of the importance of knowing the force strengths, there is a hot key (F4) to access this information directly without having to go through the menu.
5. Intelligence report – Provides an on-map summary of attributes of all FRIENDLY armies (strength, leadership, experience, and supply).
6. Battle Summary report – Shows number of battles won and casualties incurred for each side.
7. Recap report (available only if HISTORY option is ON in the Utility menu). – Scrolls through a chronicle of the history of the game thus far (battle outcomes and losses)

Typical chronicle entries might look like this:

Metz *Napoleon (3200/29600) defeats Alvintzi (5400/30200)

Berlin Blcher (1200/59900) defeats *Grouchy (3900/22400)

The asterisk indicates the attacker. Casualties and total troop strength are indicated in the parentheses.

3.12  Commands

See Commands Submenu for a description of the choices. These generally relate to special commands available for individual armies.

3.13  Utility

See Utility Submenu. These provide game options that allow various features of overall game play to be modified.

3.14  Files

Allows you to load or save games and to quit the program. There can be up to 8 user-saved games,”NWSx.SAV”, where “x” is a number from 1 to 8. Those file names for which a saved game exists are marked with a “û” as a reminder. When the game is started, the base game is automatically initialized, configured according to the current NWS.CFG settings.

3.15  Autosave

There is one additional saved game file NWS9.SAV, the autosave file, that is automatically updated at the end of each decision phase. This provides a backup in case the game is interrupted for any reason. The game can be resumed by loading the NWS9.SAV file.

4   OPTIONS

4.1   Options (Commands) Submenu

• Cancel
• Fortify
• Join
• Supply
• Detach
• Army Drill
• Relieve
• MAIN MENU

4.2   Cancel

Allows the move orders for unit selected (menu with eligible units will be displayed) to be canceled – in case you change your mind before you go to the next turn.

4.3   Fortify

If ALL the following conditions are met, you may fortify a city:

1. City is occupied by a friendly army
2. City is not already at DOUBLE FORTIFIED ++ level
3. You have at least 200 money units

All cities meeting these conditions, will appear in a menu of candidates. Selecting a city to fortify will cause the city icon to be updated on the game display. The army occupying a city that is fortified loses its turn (it is presumably busy building fortifications) and will be shown as ‘Resting’ in the Army report.

An army may increase a given city’s fortifications by 1 level per turn. If there are 2 units in a city, each army may add 1 level of fortification in a turn, thereby double fortifying the city.

4.4   Join (Combine)

Up to a certain level, friendly armies may be combined to create larger and more powerful forces. In order to combine, armies must start the turn stacked in the same city. Stacked armies are indicated by a small gold circle on the flag icon. Selecting ‘Combine’ will result in a menu of candidate cities in which armies are stacked. Selecting a city will cause all armies in that city to attempt to combine, up to a maximum level of 400,000 men. Army attributes for combined armies are averaged, and the best commander of the armies combined will assume leadership of the combined forces. (His leadership ability may be reduced slightly to account for the increased difficulty of commanding the larger forces.)

4.5   Supply

On occasion, you may need to manually allocate additional provisions to units that are out of supply. These units may be seen on the map marked with an “S” to make them easier to locate. At the end of the move and update phase, units will automatically receive 1 unit of supply, assuming enough money is available. Automatic update of supply costs .002 money units per 1,000 men in the army unit. (For instance, a 22,000 man unit would require 44 money units to resupply).

This automatic resupply is done in numerical unit sequence, so that higher numbered units are supplied last. If there is not enough money to supply all units, or if the unit expends more than expected supplies, or is blockaded in a port, some will eventually get out of supply. Note that in the months of July and September, units are resupplied without cost (except for blockaded units).

To manually resupply, you must have enough money to provide the supplies, which depends on the size of the army being resupplied. Each unit of supply requires .001 money units 1,000 men (cheaper that automatic resupply). However, the computer will attempt to allocate as much supply as possible to the unit selected, up to a maximum of 5 units of supply. If you do not have enough money to allocate at least 1 unit of supply, none will be provided.

4.6   Detach

Either side may detach units from an existing army, provided the original army is large enough (6,500 men or more) and there is an available Allies commander for the detached unit. 30% of the original force is split into the new unit, along with 30% of the supplies.

4.7   Drill

Both sides may drill armies to increase their experience level. Drilling requires one turn in which the army cannot move. Experience gained in this manner cannot exceed the leader’s command rating, and is limited to a maximum of 5 in any case.

4.8   Relieve

The Relieve option allows you to replace generals, thereby removing them from their command. To be RELIEVED, a unit cannot have already used its turn (e.g., cannot have move orders). When a general is relieved, you are allowed to replace him with another general from the list of available commanders. When a general is relieved, the unit uses its turn, and suffers two additional penalties. Both the EXPERIENCE level and the LEADERSHIP level of the unit are decreased by 1 because of confusion about the new leader’s style of command. The relieved general is placed on the list of available commanders, awaiting possible future service.

5   UTILITY

5.1   Utility Submenu

• Side
• 1 Player
• Noise
• Tactical
• Display
• Balance
• End Cond
• Rndom Evt
• Vary Start
• History
• Aggress 1
• Save CFG

5.2   Side

Toggles between the French and Allies side for the 1 player game only.

5.3   1-Player/2-Player

Toggles between 1- and 2- player game.

5.4   Noise

Toggle between Sound & Music, Sound Only, and Quiet.

5.5   Tactical

Toggle to set up tactical level battles when combat occurs instead of the normal strategic level battle resolution. If checked, tactical level battles will result if the relative force strength is 3:1 or less. More lopsided battles will still be resolved using the strategic level combat.

5.6   Display

Sets display speed for messages displayed, from fast to very slow. Slower speeds display messages longer, but also slow movement and game play. This should be set as fast as possible for your machine.

5.7   Balance

Set Play Balance from Allies++ (large Allies advantage) all the way to French++ (large French advantage). Play balance affects the relative resources allocated, along with the handicap received in combat.

5.8   End Game Conditions

Shows the conditions that will determine when the game is over. These are specified in the input file NWS.INI, and can be changed by changing that file. Up to 5 different preset conditions may trigger the end of the game:

• Time (Month & Year)
• % Cities Controlled by Either Side
• % Income for Either Side
• Objective Capture By Either Side *
• Ratio of Total Army Strength

In addition, the total elimination of either side’s armies will trigger a victory condition. Active conditions are marked with an check mark. These may be toggled either off or on (active) using this option by pressing ENTER when the desired condition is highlighted, but the VALUES themselves can only be changed in NWS.INI (see “Files” section below). If ANY of the active conditions are achieved by EITHER SIDE, the game will end. If there are NO active end game conditions, the game will continue indefinitely.

* Note: If BOTH sides lose their objectives in the same turn, the game does NOT end even if this condition is active.

5.9   Victory Condition Override

There is an override option when victory conditions signal the end of the game. This allows you to keep playing if you choose instead of abruptly ending the game. Each time the override is used it increases the victory condition that was triggered. Overriding victory conditions during game play will result in a penalty to your score.

5.10  Random Events

Control over random events has been extended in the Utility menu option. Random events can be toggled OFF so they do not occur. If random events are ON, the degree to which they favor one side or the other can be controlled:

• Favor French  (70% of random events help the French)
• Neutral (50% help the French; 50% help the Allies)
• Favor Allies (70% of random events help the Allies)

Historically, Napoleon had problems with subordinates who were disloyal, sometimes to the point of treachery. This is reflected in the random events where sometimes French commanders will turn over their armies to the Allies.

5.11  Vary Start

Selecting this option at the beginning of the game will give different starting conditions.

5.12  Enemy Aggression

This option applies only for 1-player game. By repeatedly selecting this option you may cycle through enemy aggressiveness levels from 0 (least aggressive) to 5 (most aggressive). The default level is 1. At the lower levels, the enemy will be more cautious and defensive, preferring to build forts and make attacks only when the odds are favorable. At the higher levels, the enemy will attack more often, perhaps even to the point of foolhardiness.

5.13  Save Configuration

Allows the options selected in the Utility menu to be saved as your customized configuration.

6   MOVE & COMBAT PHASE

6.1   Computer Decisions

If you are playing a 1-player game versus the computer, you will see the computer decisions being made. The computer does not ‘cheat’ by taking advantage of knowledge of the moves you have selected.  If the side played by the computer has an advantage in play balance, it will be a more difficult opponent because it will get more resources, and will receive a combat handicap.

You will be prompted to “press any key for month/year events”. During the update phase, the message “UPDATE” will appear to the right of the map area. The computer will move the armies, provide information on battles, state of supplies, and so on. From time to time the display will pause to give you time to read the messages. You can press any key to move on.

6.2   Army Movement

When you see the message “press any key for (current month and year) events”, the move and update phase has begun. During this phase both sides have their move orders carried out. When enemy armies meet in the same city, combat occurs. After combat, only one side will continue to occupy the city. The side that was driven off loses the battle.

The order in which armies move depends on (1) ability of the leader (better ones tend to move first), (2) supply (out of supply units move last) and (3) a random factor. Armies carry out their orders one at a time. The flag icon will move from the starting location to the destination city.

6.3  The Occupying Army

When an army captures a city, that army becomes the occupying army. If there are multiple armies in a city, only one (the largest army remaining in that city) is considered the occupying army, which is the first army to engage in combat when the city is attacked.

6.4   Unit Cohesion

Allied armies sometimes suffer from having mixed nationalities (i.e., leader is of a different nationality than the army itself). In such cases, the unit will suffer from a lack of cohesion, and will perform more poorly in combat. (You may be able to remedy this by swapping commanders using the RELIEVE option).

6.5   Combat

If combat occurs, a set of statistics will appear on the right of the screen giving important information on how the battle will be resolved. The information for both attacker and defender begins with a base calculation, which goes through a series of adjustments to arrive at a final value for this battle.

The exact combat adjustment for outmanned armies is shown below:

Note that this is in addition to any other combat adjustments, such as leadership, fortification, supply, etc.

All combat adjustments are made sequentially, and the final result is the one actually used in the combat calculations. The final result for both the Attacker and the Defender is shown in a highlighted box. The final values can never be less than 1 nor more than 30. A calculation of the odds of an attacker victory are also given as A GUIDE ONLY. The computer actually resolves the combat separately from this calculation of attacker odds, but it should provide a good indicator of who is likely to win the battle.

The actual results of the battle will be displayed after you press a key. The winner is announced in the pop-up window. Casualty information (numbers and percentages for each side) are shown at the bottom of the screen. Notice that an army can win the battle but suffer greater losses than the enemy.

The loser must retreat to an adjacent friendly city. The human player is given the option as to which city to retreat to if his DEFENDING army must retreat (if there is more than one choice for retreat). If there are no retreat options, the loser will surrender. Even if there is a retreat option, a unit may be so outnumbered and reduced in size so much that it can no longer function. Such shattered units will also surrender. When units surrender, their commanders are PERMANENTLY removed from the game.

If there is more than one defending army in a city, the attacker must defeat each defender one at a time until all defenders are driven out before occupying the city.

6.6   Income Update

After all combat and moves are resolved, the supplies are distributed, and income and victory points are updated based on present game situations. Note that the Allied side always receives income from other parts of Europe outside the region shown (e.g., the remainder of England). Thus, the Allies in effect have an income bonus. Supplies are distributed based on cash remaining, to the armies in numerical order.

7   DATA FILES

7.1   Scenario Initialization File (NWSxxxx.INI)

These data files are simple “flat ASCII” files and may be customized as you wish to modify starting game conditions. (It is good practice to copy the original as a backup before you create a new one.) The program probably will not run if you make errors in these files.

Examples of the actual data lines are shown below in the boxed areas; comment lines before each of the data lines describe the information in that line.

Month and year the scenario begins

3,1796

End Game Conditions (Month/Year, % Cities, % Income, Objective Capture Flag, Total Force Strength Ratio)

6,1799,80,80,1,3

The above example will end in 6th month of 1799 or if 80% of cities are controlled by one side or if 80% of income is gained by one side. It will also end if one of the objective cities is captured (the “1”) or if the army strength ratio gets to 3 or more.

Battles won by French, battles won by Allies, French casualties, and Allied casualties.

0,0,0,0

War conditions for each country.

This can vary from 0 (total peace) to 100 (ultimate hatred). If it is above 50%, the country is at war. The values in order correspond to France, Austria, England, Russia, Prussia, and Spain.

75,75,0,0,0,0,0

Number of French armies at beginning of play (5).

5

Data lines for each French army at beginning of play

city # (47 = Paris)
strength in 100’s (400 = 40,000 men)
experience (1)
supply (9)

1,47,400,1,9
1,7,80,0,9
1,38,75,0,9
1,36,100,0,5
1,51,125,0,5

NOTE: These are automatically assigned commanders starting with commander 1 for the first army, commander 2 for the second and so on. There must be one line for each French army that starts at beginning.

Number of Allies armies at beginning of play (3)

3

Data lines for each Allies army at beginning of play

nationality (2=Austrian)
city # (65 = Vienna)
strength in 100’s (300 = 30,000 men)
experience (1)
supply     (7)

2,65,300,1,7
2,27,140,0,7
2,55,475,0,4

Starting Cash Position

Starting French cash (300)
Starting Allies cash (50)

300,50

French Navy Data: Number of ships (4) and their starting location

(city 7 = Bordeaux)

4,7

Allied Navy Data: Number of ships (6) and their starting location

(city 35 = London)

6,35

Objective Cities

Allied Objective (47=Paris)
French Objective (65=Milan)

47,65

7.2   Commander File (LEADxxxx.DAT)

Commanders will be assigned to armies in the order listed in this file, with first 25 assigned to French, second 25 assigned to Allies. There MUST be exactly 50 commanders total. First one listed goes with army 1, second with army 2 and so on.

Format for French entries 1-25

Name
Rating (1-10)

Bernadotte,7

Format for Allied entries 26-50

Nationality (country)
Name
Rating (1-10)

2,Alvintzi,8

7.3   Configuration File (NWS.CFG)

This file is automatically updated when you save a game in progress.

Format:

1. Side chosen (1=French  2=Allies)
2. Sounds (0=none 1=sounds only   2= sounds and music)
3. Play Balance (1=Allies++ 3=Balanced  5=French++)
4. Computer Enemy aggressiveness: single player (1=low, 5=high)
5. Number of players (1-2)
6. Display speed (1=very fast 2=Normal  4=very slow)
7. Random event balance (0= off; 3= favor Allies; 5= neutral; 7= favor French)
8. History switch (0=off; 1=on)
9. Tactical Battles (Registered Edition only) (0=off 1=on)

1,2,3,3,1,1,5,0,0

7.4   City Matrix (EUROxxxx.MAP)

Unless you are very experienced, you should not change this file. (Even if you are experienced, you should make a back up copy.) These are companion files for the scenarios, which indicate the control and value of cities for various start years (specified by the ‘xxxx’ portion of the file name).

Please note: Cities MUST be in alphabetical order based on the city abbreviations used; the program depends on this order for army movement, fortification identification, and other options. STRANGE things may happen if your cities are not alphabetized. There must be exactly 67 cities.

Format:

City #,
x VGA coordinate (1-530);
upper left corner of screen is (0,0)
y VGA coordinate (16-440),
city name (text),
which side initially possesses (0=neutral, 1=French, 2= Austria, 3=England, etc.)
income value (0-99)
next 6 numbers indicate which cities this connects to
port indicator (0=not a port, >90=port city)
fortification level (0-2))

1,”Amsterdam”,165,63,9,5,12,18,19,35,0,0,98,0

Explanation of example line above:

• Amsterdam is city 1
• at (165,63)
• originally possessed by side 9 (Dutch)
• income of is 5
• links to cities 12,18,19,and 35
• IS port (next to last value of 98 indicates this)
• is NOT fortified initially (last 0 indicates this)

8   DESIGNER NOTES

8.1   Combat Model Adjustment

The combat model has been made more “open” to allow more user customization. Three key combat factors are specified immediately after the list of months in the GAMEDATA.INI file.

ATKFAC – the base attacker casualty rate. Default is 11%. This value is adjusted, depending on whether the defender is in a fortified position and whether the attacker wins.

DEFAC  – the base defender casualty rate. Default is 9%. This value is adjusted, depending on whether the defender is in a fortified position and whether the defender wins.

TCR    – the total combat range. Default is 30. This is the limit of adjusted combat factors for both the attacker and defender. Lower factors than 30 will tend to make battle outcomes more influenced by random factors (luck). Higher factors than 30 will increasingly give the edge to the stronger army, particularly the one with the most troops. A value around 30 will cause the stronger side to generally win, but still leave enough element of luck that the weaker army can occasionally defeat a stronger foe.