How the game works
Normally, the game starts with 4 small countries in the corners of the map. You start as the ruler of the Green country, and your goal is to conquer the whole map.
Tiles
The map is made of hexagonal tiles. They are:
/\^ Mountains, cannot be populated
/$\ Gold mines, cannot be populated too.
This is the source of gold for your country.
To control a mine, surround it with your army
` n ` Villages, have the slowest population growth (+10%)
i=i Towns, average population growth (+20%)
W#W Fortresses, high population growth (+30%)
` - ` Grassland, normal habitable territory
People
People are your primary resource. Thriving popluation is essential for your victory.
Every tile can support at most 499 people from each country. When people from more than one country occupy the same tile, they fight. The country that has the highest population at the tile is called the tile owner.
The population of the tile owner is shown on all grassland tiles as follows:
. 1 - 3 citizens
.. 4 - 6
... 7 - 12
` : ` 13 - 25
.: 26 - 50
.:. 51 - 100
` :: 101 - 200 <br />
.:: 201 - 400 <br />
:::` 400 - 499
People migrate from highly populated tiles to less populated tiles.
Population grows only in cities. In villages by 10%, in towns by 20%, and fortresses by 30% every simulation step. By controlling cities, you control their surrounding territory.
Flags
Every country can put flags on the map. Flags change migration rates,
so that people of your country start gathering at the tiles with flags.
Player’s flags are shown as white “P” on the right side of a tile.
Flags of the computer opponents are shown as “x” on the left side of a tile.
The flags can be used to increase population of your own cities, as well as
for conquering foreign territories.
When countries are fighting for a city, and if the damage to the defender’s army is significant, the city can be destroyed: A fortress becomes a town, a town becomes a village, and the village gets completely burnt by the invaders.
Countries
Computer opponents differ in personality, and it affects the way they fight.
Controls
Arrow keys and [H], [J], [K], [L] are for moving the cursor
[R] or [V] to build village -> town -> castle
[Space] to add/remove a flag
[X] to remove all your flags
[C] to remove a half of your flags
[S] slower
[F] faster
[Q] quit
Multiplayer
To start a server for two players:
$ ./curseofwar -E 2
To start a client and connect to the server:
$ ./curseofwar -C <server's IP>
To specify ports, use -e option for server’s port, and -c option for
client’s port. By default, servers are using port 19140, and clients are
using port 19150.
Examples:
Start a server for a single client using port 11111
$ ./curseofwar -E 1 -e 11111
To connect to it:
$ ./curseofwar -C <server's IP> -e 11111
Alternatively, to connect to it using port 12345 on the client’s side:
$ ./curseofwar -C <server's IP> -c 12345 -e 11111
Note that all needed map options must be setup when you start a server, the map and other data are transmitted to clients, once they are connected.
Example: Server for 3 clients, no computer opponents, hexagonal map, and equal conditions for all:
$ ./curseofwar -E3 -l3 -S hex -i0
Game speed cannot be changed by a client, so it must be set initially by the server. Not all data is sent to clients (e.g. info about population is not sent in full).
Multiplayer mode is at relatively early development stage. Changes may occure at any moment. When you play with other people, make sure that you are using the same version of the game. Hopefully, game’s client-server communication protocol will be improved in future. All communication is made via UDP.
Please, report you problems with multiplayer.
