Warlords II
Quick Docs For: Warlords II by Razor 1911
Installation Notes:
Like the .NFO file says, you need to install this game from disks. Unless you want to take the time to change the textfile that's used in the install, you can't install from the HD.
There is no copy protection, so no need to copy a .EXE file from the orignal disks.
Starting:
You'll need about 600K to run the game with a soundcard. The game says to use war2.bat to run the game, but this doesn't work for some reason. So run install.exe, and then type warlord2 to start the game. I believe a mouse is required.
When the game starts up, you'll see a row of menu headings and four options below them. You can't do anything with the menus, so select one of the options below them.
I highly suggest using the tutorial scenario under [Scenario]. It explains the game fairly well, as well as I could explain it in fact. The rest of this file is written assuming that you have played the tutorial.
Select [Begin] once you have selected your scenario, or if you have selected [Random Map]. Unless you have selected the tutorial, you will be presented with a screen of eight characters. This game does allow for eight different players (locally) and you can turn them on and off by clicking on on the box that says either human or off. Either a character is off, played by a human, or played by a computer. To the left is the difficulty level, begin game, and return to main menu.
Below you can load saved options or select a leader. Now you will being the game.
Display:
This is pretty self explanatory. The large map is the map where you move around. The icon will change to various things, from feet for movement to a sword to do battle. Below this is sort of your inventory. It tells you how much gold you have, and how many castles you occupy. At the top right is a smaller map used to move around with. Below this are the controls for the game (explained later). And at the top are menus and a display of all the player's crests and who's turn it is.
Game Play:
Note: Whatever I have left out in this file can probably be found by clicking the right mouse button on whatever you need help on. Usually this will tell you what the item does. Of course the basic idea of this game is to conquer all of your enemies' castles. Basically, you just move you character around and battle other castles, and go into ruins to collect items. Hopefully, you were able to accomplish the basic idea in the tutorial. If not all you need to do is approach a castle, and get the sword icon to come up and click. The game does battle for you. To search a ruin, "land" on top of the ruin and select Search under [Hero] to search it.
Most everything on the menus are reports. Everything else is pretty much self explanatory. However, there is one option I want to explain. Under [Game] is an option called Shortcuts. This allows you to actually assign many different options to four of the icons in the control panel. This is a really nice feature because if you don't have any use for what's selected for the icon, you can change it. Use the right mouse button to see what all the different options are.
Miscellaneous:
Well, hopefully I've explained everything else not already included in the game. This game has a great online help, and most everything vital is covered. There are a ton of options, and it seems like you can do pretty much anything that you would want to do in this type game. I had thought about not even doing docs for this game at first, but there were several things I couldn't figure out at first. Thus I figured someone else might have trouble on the same things. If you need more help though, I can be contacted on The Rising Sun and several other PWA sites. Feel free to leave me mail for help.
Keys/Menus:
[Game] [Order] [Report]
Settings - Alt X Fight Order - I Army - A
Shortcuts - Alt U Move All - M City - K
New Game - Alt N Disband - Q Gold - G
Save Game - Alt S Signpost - X Production - N
Load Game - Alt L Resign - R Winning - W
Load Map - Alt Z Diplomacy - D
Save Map - Alt M Quest - =
Quit - Ctrl Q
[Hero] [View] [History]
Inspect - , Army Bonus - O City - H
Plant Flag - F Items - T Events - E
Levels - U Build - B Gold - I
Search - Z Cities - C Winners - Y
Production - P Triumphs - L
[Turn] Vectoring - V
End Turn - Alt E Ruins - .
Stack - S
Select the next army group - Enter
Quit current army group, and get the next group - Esc
Group all armies - Space
Move between army and its destination - Tab
Center current army group - Home
Move army group along its path - End
Deselect current army group - Del
Cancel current movement path - Backspace
Hold to switch icons for moving/selecting - Ctrl
Hold to obtain city/ruin icon - Shift
Hold to bring up icon to define army movement path - Alt
Icons:
Moves to play area where you click - Magnifing Glass
Moves army to area selected (land) - Legs
Moves army to area selected (water) - Ship
Obtains city info. dialog - Castle Tower
Drags play area around - Hand
Selects group of army;
Double Click: Selects whole army stack - Target
Ruin info. dialog - Ruin
Begin battle with enemy - Sword
Military Advisor (to obtain this, hold down
the shift key when the sword is shown) - Bubble w/ ?
Movement path for army - Long Arrow
Like the sword, but doesn't start war (??) - Heart
Quick Review:
This game has decent sound, great graphics, and superb scrolling. The idea for it, although it has unique features, has been used many times before: Conquer All. I rate it a 82/100.
