Help for Islands
================


The Rules of Islands
--------------------

Islands is a Risk player for RISC OS. Anyone familiar with the rules of Risk should be able
to use Islands fairly easily. The object of the game is to use your armies to conquer all
the territories on the board.

At the beginning of the game, territories are randomly distributed amongst the available
players with a single army being placed on each. If there are any armies left over from your
initial deployment allocation (set from the Choices window - see below), then you have the
chance to place them on any territories you own.

Once this initial deployment phase is complete, the game commences. At the beginning of your
turn, you are given a fresh allocation of armies to deploy. The number you get depends on a
number of factors: how many territories you own (the more the better), whether you own any
continents entirely, and if you are cashing any cards (see below). You can deploy your
allocation to any territories you already own.

Now you can attack enemy regions. Click the attack button on the toolbar, followed by the
source region where your armies are, followed by the destination. The armies will clash. Any
casualties will be removed from either side. To repeat the process, simply re-click on the
destination territory. If you are successful, the destination will turn to your colour, and
one of your armies will enter it. To send more in, use the + and - buttons on the toolbar.

The process is repeated until you've had enough. Once you've finished attacking, you can
choose to consolidate your forces. In this phase, you can move any number of armies from a
territory you own to another adjacent owned territory. Do this by clicking the Consolidate
button, followed by the source and destination territories. Use the + and - buttons to move
armies between the two. However, you can only do this once. After this is finished, you must
end your turn: click menu over the map and select 'End Turn' from the bottom to do this.


Cards and Continents
--------------------

If you own an entire continent, you will get a bonus to the allocation at the start of your
go. The amount of the bonus for each continent can be found by selecting
'Bonuses>Continents...' from the main menu. Attacking and holding continents is a big part
of the strategy of playing Islands well.

You can also get bonus armies by using cards. If you are successful in attacking an enemy
territory during the course of your go, the computer will give you a random card (maximum
one per go). You can view how many cards you've accumulated over the course of the game by
clicking 'Bonuses>Cards...' or the Cards icon in the toolbar.

Cards come in three varieties: Guns, Horses and Men. Once you have three of one kind, or one
of each, you can cash them in for armies. The armies you get are as follows:

One of each card: 10 armies
Three Horses: 8 armies
Three Men: 6 armies
Three Guns: 4 armies

Note that you can only cash cards right at the start of your go, in the deployment phase.
Remember to check your cards at the start of each go so you don't miss the chance to cash.
You can open the cards window at any point to see how many you have in your hand, but if
you're playing against a human opponent make sure they don't see what you have when you do
so.


Getting Started
---------------

To run Islands, double-click on the !Islands icon in the normal way. Clicking on the iconbar
will bring up the Choices window. From here you can select the level (map) to use, determine
how many players are involved, and whether they are human (represented by the smiley face)
or computer. If you're using computer players, you can opt to give them a bonus of extra
armies each turn to make them a bit more competitive. You can also choose whether or not
sound effects and card bonuses are implemented.

You may want to try various values for the initial deployment phase. By default, Islands
selects the minimum armies necessary for the loaded level, but you can increase this to a
maximum of 35 armies - starting with different amounts can greatly affect the gameplay of
each level.

Click OK to start the game. Once in play, you can use the menu items and the toolbar buttons
to control the action. At any point you can end the current game by clicking 'Game>End this
game' from the main menu, after which the game window will close and you can start a new one
by clicking on the iconbar as before.


Differences from the board game
-------------------------------

Islands uses the same dice mechanics as Risk, and implements many of the features of the
game, such as cards, the consolidation rule, and continent bonuses. However, there are some
important differences:

- there are no missions implemented - world domination is the only valid objective;
- wiping out another player merely removes him or her from the game - the conqueror does not
inherit his or her cards;
- attackers are not obliged to move more than one army into a territory if they capture it,
regardless of how many armies were used in the attack (normally three);
- cards are not associated with countries, so there are no extra armies to be had when
cashing a set including countries represented on one or more of the cards;
- there are no joker cards;
- you can play on as many different boards (maps) as are defined in the internal Levels
directory; the Risk-type board is called World.


Final words
-----------

Islands requires RISC OS 3.8 (or above) and around 900K free to run. The display looks best
in 256 colours or more.

This application is Freeware, which means you may distribute it free of charge. Please do
not modify the code or alter any other part without the permission of the author. 

Constructive criticism, ideas for improvements and general comments are welcome.

This file for use with Islands version 1.10.

email@lym.iconbar.com
www.lym.iconbar.com
