7 CITIES OF GOLD **************** IN EUROPE --------- THE COURT - Not every visit to the palace will thrill ya with the same exultation as the first. Nevertheless, here you must return for recognition of your accomplishments, for the glory and power of titles, perhaps for more gold desperately needed to continue your search. HOME - Here in private you may look at your successes and failures and study the maps you've created on your journeys. Here you can also judge the progress you're making toward your goals - how much land and how many rivers you've explored, how many natives you've enountered and how many special landmarks (great lakes, lush jungles, etc...) You've found. You may learn how many missions you've established and how much gold you've found more than you've spent. The highest rank, viceroy, is reserved for those who can achieve an overall rating of at least 50% by 1540. (Losing an expedition completely - dying - costs you the maps and discoveries made since the last time you stopped at the pub. It also costs you the opportunity to get future credit and you lose a year and half of your valuable time.) THE OUTFITTERS - It's here that you'll spend your gold to equip and provision your expeditions. Tip - food is bought and bartered for in relation to the number of men in your expedition. Decide on the number of men you want first, then on how many weeks worth of food you'll need. THE PUB - Wise conquistadors will stop by here after every trip to record their maps and discoveries. THE EXPEDITION -------------- THE VOYAGE - when you leave port, mark well the indications of your voyage and how they constantly change. On the screen, n=top, w=left. At the top of the screen you'll see the month and year and number of vessels still in your expedition. To the left is the size of your army and the number of weeks you can feed them. To the right is the ledger of your cargo goods and gold. At the bottom is your speed and direction. The ship's cartographer can help you a lot in your search. Choose the 'view map' option to learn your latitude and and pay attention to passage of time. There are many perils in the waters beyond Spain. Men die of scurvy or of storms. Those same storms can blow you far off course and cost vital time. Your food supply dwindles as you ply your way across the ocean. Wander too long in search of land, and you will surely bite the dust. Discovery and exploration: Bring your ships into safe mooring carefully and learn from your costly mistakes. Don't lose your ships the same way you did before: running aground, storms, etc.. Remember also if you leave your ships unattended while you set off on long journeys, the sailors (who aren't included in your roster count) just might sail away before you return. The church has a powerful ally in your need for food and someone to help carry it. Unless you find and learn to deal with some local inhabitants, you're not going to get very far in your quest. TIPS: (1). Your own progress depends on your use of rivers a moderate pace on a river moves you as fast as a reckless pace on land. (2). Your computer will build maps for you as you go. Use them often. You want to be able to find your way back to useful places and avoid the dangerous ones. THE NATIVES ----------- Making contact with the natives: In any region, where the natives live will notbe visible unless you look for signs. When you enter a village, think of how you want to act. Reckless agression? Open-handed generosity? Etc.There will be a variety in the natives you encounter. Some will be more populous, some more credulous, some hostile, and some more complex combinations of those attributes. Trade or conquest: Both are available to you. Both, is successful, bring valuable bearers as well as goods. To trade, as the natives will be quick to tell (if your gait and perhaps your generosity seem suitable), you must deal directly with the chief. He always stands in the center of the village until an agressive threat causes him to vanish or yield in despair. Conquest is quick, but consumes lives. Trading is safer, but it's also slower and requires many goods. Establishing forts & missions: Both trade and conquest can bring you the opportunity to establish a mission on the site. How many men you must leave to establish more than a thinly manned fort, and how few to avoid an overgarrisoned armory, will depend on the size of the native population at the site and let experience tell you how eager the conquered are willingto revolt during your absence. Playing tips: (1). Pay attention to the time of year and to your latitude. Toward the north and far south, the effects of climate become visible in the fall, winter and spring. And, since how much food you'll find in a village depends on when the last harvest was, you'll find paying attention to the seasons important. (2). Don't under estimate native communications. Some can spread word of your activities to cities you haven't visited yet. And bearers can show you the location of other settlements - and of treasures, if you pause long enough to listen to them. (3). A mission can supply nearby ships and cause the sailors to wait patiently for the return of the landing party, provided care has been taken to inform the mission inhabitants of the location of the ships. 1540 AND BEYOND: ---------------- You may continue your explorations after 150 if you wish, but you'll receive no more titles from the court or other recognition for your efforts. ADVANCED PLAY ------------- Notes on the world maker: The new continent generator will conform to built into the program. for example: moutain ranges are generated where the plates bump into one another. and secondary ranges (like the allegheny mts.) may be created as well. the program also consults a cultural dissemination for its work. the influences of major civilizations are presumed to spread outward. consequently, pueblo dwellers genreally will be found between city-states and primitive agriculturists. the model will allow for varying levels of this influence and thus produce occasional continent arrangements which have no incan level civilizations. it can also make very rich and powerful arrangements, such as the 16th-century japan, are highly civilized from coast to coast. CIVILIZATIONS ------------- dark brown hut = tribal, poor hunters and gatherers. dark brown huts = tribal, rich hunter and gatherers. light brown huts = tribal, primitive agriculture. green structure = chiefdom, agriculture. pink structure = city-state confederation, agriculture. light blue = empire/nation, advanced agriculture.