Bandit Kings of Ancient China BASIC TERMS Before beginning play, there are a few terms you should be familiar with. Prefecture : One of the 49 sections that divide the game map. Territory : A Prefecture that is under someone's control. Good Fellow: One of the ten major characters that you may choose to play. Bandit : A character in the service of a Good Fellow. Chieftain : A bandit in charge of a Prefecture. Minister : The villain of the game--the Imperial Minister of War, Gao Qiu. Official : A character in the service of Gao Qiu. An enemy of bandits. Magistrate : An Official in charge of a Prefecture. People : Characters that can become either Bandits or Officials. Heroes : Any Bandit, Chieftain, Good Fellow, Official, Magistrate, or Minister. Men : Soldiers serving under Heroes. Scenario 1 Lin Chong 1101 AD The Leopard Headed kills the agents of Gai and is exiled to the frontier. Good Fellows: Lu Zhi Shen, Shi Jin, Lin Chong, Wu Song and Yang Zhi. Scenario 2 Song Jiang 1103 AD The Welcome Rain, against his wishes, murders his wife, the wicked Yian Po Xi. Good Fellows: Lu Zhi Shen, Shi Jin, Song Jiang, Lin Chong, Wu Song, Yang Zhi and Chao Gai. Scenario 3 Song Jiang 1104 AD The Welcome Rain writes a revolutionary song that leads to his capture. Good Fellows: Lu Zhi Shen, Shi Jin, Li Kui, Li Jun, and Chao Gai. Scenario 4 Chao Gai 1105 AD The Heavenly King is struck by Shan Ting Gui's poisoned arrow and falls in battle. Good Fellows: Lu Zhi Shen, Shi Jin, Song Jiang, and Li Ying. WINNING THE GAME Victory Conditions Unlike past KOEI games, the objective is not to conquer the country. This time, your mission is much more direct. Stop Gai Qiu... permanently. However, as Gao Qiu begins the game in an almost impregnable position, this is not as easy as it seems. In order to challenge Gao Qiu, you must become an equally powerful figure in the Empire. By taking territories, winning battles, and doing good deeds, you will gradually become more and more popular. In January of every year, the Emperor will search the country for a champion with enough popular support to defeat Gao Qiu. If the Emperor decides that you are indeed the one, he will issue you an Imperial Edict, giving you the authority to confront Minister Gao Qiu, and hopefully, kill him. LOSING THE GAME You can lose the game in any of the following ways: * If your Good Fellow dies * If your Good Fellow is taken prisoner or becomes a Criminal * If any Good Fellow other than your own kills Gao Qiu * If the time limit is reached and the Northern Barbarians invade in January of 1127 AD In multi-player games, when all of the players' Good Fellows are killed or imprisoned, the game will end. If someone decides to retire early, the computer will take the part of that player's Good Fellow, and play will continue. USING THE KEYBOARD Keys Used in the Game Numeric Keys : You can use the numeric keys 0-9 freely. Return Key : The prompt to hit the Return Key is represented by the symbol. Delete Key : You may use either the Del or Backspace Keys to move the cursor back. Alphabetic Keys: Use "Y" and "N" when answering Yes or No Questions. Space Key : Use when setting your Good Fellow's attributes, and when flipping through a list of Heroes on the Main Display. Entering Responses When entering your responses on the Main Display, numbers, and "Y" or "N" must be followed by . When you are asked questions, you will be prompted by the message "(Y/N)?" Use the "Y" or "N" keys to respond. You do not have to hit in this case. Note that you may also use the number "0" key for a "Y" answer, and for a "N" answer. On the Battle Display, use the Numeric Keypad to indicate the direction you wish to move in. WARNING While the game is in progress, please be careful not to: Turn off the Power SAVING A GAME Making a Save Disk 1. Format a disk to be your Save Disk. 2. At the opening menu, select Option "3: Create a Save Disk." If you wish to cancel this process at any time, press the Esc Key. 3. When instructed to, insert your disk into Drive B, press , and wait. 4. Hit and start the game. If you do not create a Save Disk before beginning play, you will not be able to save your game data during play. Your Save Disk can hold up to 10 Saved Games on a single diskette. CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES Understanding the Character Attributes There are 255 characters in BANDIT KINGS, and although all are represented by the same attributes, their strengths and weaknesses make each one unique. Also, some of the attributes will change as the game progresses. For a complete listing of a character's attributes, use Command 15 . Attribute Meaning Name The character's name Age The character's age Position The character's social rank Serves The Hero the character serves under Men The number of followers the character has Steersman Whether the character can steer a ship Ship Whether the character has a ship or not Body The character's present stamina and health Strength The character's physical strength Dexterity The character's physical ability Wisdom The character's mental ability Integrity The character's moral fiber Mercy The character's mercy Courage The character's bravery Popularity The amount of popular support for the character Loyalty The character's loyalty to the Chieftain or Official he serves Prefecture Attributes Attribute Meaning Prefecture The Prefecture's number and name Shipyard Whether this Prefecture has a shipyard or not Smithy Whether this Prefecture has a smithy or not Gold The present amount of gold in the Prefecture Food The amount of food in the Prefecture Metal The amount of metal in the Prefecture Fur The amount of fur in the Prefecture Rate The Prefecture's current market rate Heroes Number of Heroes present in the Prefecture Men Total number of Men in the Prefecture Skill The training level of the Men Arms The arms level of the Men People The number of free characters in the Prefecture Castles The number of fortified lairs or castles Support The Prefecture's support for its Ruler Flood The level of Flood Control Land The productivity of the land Wealth The wealth of the citizens EVENTS Throughout the game, events such as Floods, snowstorms, Riots, and Epidemics will occur. Read this section to learn how to minimize the damage caused by these untimely occurrences. Yearly Events The following will occur every January: Taxes : If your Support is 40 or greater, you will receive taxes in the form of Gold and Food. Depreciation: Skill, Arms, Flood, Land, Wealth, and Support will all suffer a slight decrease due to the passage of time. Aging : The date will advance one year and all characters will age 1 year. Unrest : All Good Fellows will suffer a decrease in Loyalty among their Chieftains, and all Chieftains will suffer a similar decrease among their Bandit followers. The same applies to Gao Qiu and his Magistrates and Officials. The amount of the decrease depends on the compatibility of the characters involved. Seasonal Events The Season will change every March, June, September, and December. Typhoon : In Summer, Typhoons can occur. A typhoon will decrease a Prefecture's Flood, Land, and Wealth values, while raising the Rate Value. Snowstorm : In Winter, heavy snows can occur. A snowstorm will make any movement (Command 4 ) or fighting (Command 1 ) impossible. Land and Support will decrease, while Rate will increase. In Spring, the snow will melt and its effects will end. Epidemic : An Epidemic can hit during any season. Wealth, Support, and Body values will decrease. Men will die and Market Rate will increase. Festival : Spring and Fall bring Festivals to the Song Empire. The origin and effects of these boisterous event remain a mystery even today. Wild Beast: This is the occurrence of bears, wolves, leopards or tigers of unusual size terrorizing the citizenry. They will remain for one season. You can hunt them down. If you are successful, your Popularity will go up. If you fail, you will risk a decrease in Popularity as well as serious injury. Monthly Events The following occur monthly: Rate Change: The Market Rate will change, affecting the prices of Food, Fur, Arms, Ships, and Men. Expenses : Lack of Gold or Food can lead to mass desertion among your Men. Recovery : Body values will automatically recover. Body will never rise above the Body Maximum. Riot : A riot can occur when a ruler's Support is between 40-55. This can sometimes be averted by paying Gold to quiet the citizenry down. A mistake can easily mean the chopping block for that Prefecture's Ruler. Desertion : When a Bandit's Loyalty to his or her Chieftain gets too low, there is always the chance that Bandit (or Official), will leave his or her master. MAIN COMMANDS Command List - This is a list of the Main Commands and Exile Command that you may use on the Main Display. Main Commands 1. Fight Go to War Go on Expedition 2. Service Flood Control Cultivation Construction 3. Make Ships Weapons 4. Move Hero Provisions Go into Exile 5. Negotiate Ally Invite to Lair 6. Travel Return to Lair Go to Marketplace Go Downtown Go to Smithy Go to Shipyard 7. Solicit Gold Metal 8. Hunt Food Fur 9. Personnel Swear Brotherhood Promote Exile 10. Organize Hire Men Assign Men Assign Ships 11. Train 12. Feast 13. Rest 14. Give Citizens Hero 15. View Your Home Prefecture Other Prefecture Your Territories Alliances 16. Interrupt Save Wait Sound Animation Fixed Displays Quit Exile Commands 1. Flee 2. Recruit Hero 3. Settle 4. Rest 5. View 6. Interrupt How to Enter Commands Game Turns - Every month, every Prefecture will get a turn in which to execute one command (aside from Empty Prefectures). The order in which a Prefecture's turn comes up is random and will change every month. However, you will only be able to input commands for those Prefectures under your direct control (your Home Prefecture, and any Territory ruled by your Sworn Brother or Sister). All of your other Chieftains will execute orders on their own. You can exercise some control over what kinds of commands your Chieftains will be executing by sending them standing orders using Command 9 Option 4. Entering Commands - Use the numeric keys to enter the number of the command you wish, and press . Sub-commands are entered similarly. If you make a mistake, you can go back by using the Delete Key before you hit . You can view a list of all possible commands by pressing instead of a number. You can return to the Main Display by pressing "0" key. In the EGA version, invalid commands, such as going to a Shipyard in a Prefecture that has no Shipyard, will be highlighted in red. In the CGA version, invalid command numbers will be displayed, but not the command itself. For example: 1. Return to Lair 2. Go to Marketplace 3. Go Downtown 4. Go to Smithy This applies to invalid Battle Commands as well. Who Will Execute Commands - When you enter a command, you must sometimes select someone of your band to carry these orders out. Often it will be yourself (your Good Fellow) but sometimes you will want to use Sworn Brothers or Bandit followers instead. As all commands require different abilities, you will want to be careful in making your selection. All commands will cost the executing character a certain amount of Body points. If the characters's Body is too low to pay this cost, the character will be unable to carry out your orders. The amount of Body required varies according to the difficulty of the command. When a command is successfully executed, the character who carried out the command will receive an experience bonus. The attribute that will increase depends on the type of command completed. For example, successfully completing a command will cost the character 15 Body Points, but will increase his Dexterity Experience by 15 points and his Wisdom Experience by 10 points. When Experience reaches 100 points, the corresponding attribute will increase by 1 point. Experience will return to 0 and must be built up again. For example, if a character's Strength Attribute becomes 100, that character's Strength Attribute will immediately increase by 1 point. Strength Experience will return to 0, and must by built up again. This is to reflect a character's growing experience in using his or her attributes to the best advantage.