Preface

Sitting along the corner of a small alley in your humble town, you notice the people playing in the streets and working their shops and stables. A large knight clad in steel armor approaches you. After a long conversation, you agree to join your county's militia...

Years later, after an illustrious career in the military, you are visited by a top aide to your Count.

"My good friend, the Count has decided to step down from leading our great county. He has personally selected you to succeed him and lead this county onward toward greatness."

Having accepted the new challenge, you are now ruler of your county. It is your job to manage the day to day affairs of government to build a powerful economy, an awe-inspiring military, and a realm worthy of greatness.

Introduction

Welcome to The Arcadian Legends (TAL), a strategy war game set in medieval times. Given command of a small county, it is your job to strive to lead it to true greatness. You have command over a variety of options, including contructing on your lands, training an army, engaging in trade and diplomacy, and conducting war.

The game documentation is designed to be easy to use, and is therefore spread throughout the game. In the rest of this portion of instructions, you will find the basics to carry you through the game. Then, throughout the game, as you select different options, more details will appear about that topic, allowing you to learn as you go. Also, pressing "?" at many menus will let you get help on a variety of topics as well.

The Turn System

The Arcadian Legends is a turn-based game. Unlike other turn-based games, however, you cannot do a variety of things in each turn. Every turn you play is the equivalent of one day of a month. During that one day, you can do only one of many things, such as conduct war (which actually takes two days), send out a spy, or send out a treaty proposal. It is up to you to decide how to make the most out of your limited number of turns.

In addition, each turn you will find that several things happen within your county, including:

• Population changes. People will move in or out of your county
  
  
• Economic changes. Your per capita income will rise or fall, depending on the state of your economy
  
  
• Your people will eat. Your populace will consume food, assuming some is available. If not, the consequences can be dire. You should always be sure to keep sufficient food stores.

Keeping Your Country Afloat

Maintaining a county is very simple -- expanding it is the real challenge. The only things that must occur for your county to survive is that it has both land and people, and the people have food to eat. Without the former, you have no county. Without the latter, your county will slowly crumble. Be sure to maintain an adequate food surplus; to gain additional food, you will need to spend time farming.

You will notice early on that your per capita income does not rise much. Do not worry about this, as it is normal. When people move into your county, they are not yet as productive as stable households. Therefore, since you are getting a huge influx of people with low productivity, matched by rising productivity by others in your society, the average per capita income remains flat. As your population stabilizes, your per capita income will begin to rise.

Miscellaneous Topics

Morale

Morale affects the ability of an army to be effective in combat. The higher your morale, the better your troops will fight. Morale naturally rises by 1% every turn, up to the maximum 100%. You also have the option of spending time to increase your morale by 5% per turn, should you wish to.


Unplayed Turns

Any turns which you do not play for a day will be spent mining or farming. If your people lack necessary food stores, you will automatically spend a turn farming; otherwise, all turns will be spent mining gems for your later use. Doing this minimizes the losses from skipping a day of play.


Good luck!

With the above help, you should be ready to enter the world of Arcadia and master the challenge of maintaining a powerful medieval county. If you are playing a local game, everyone will still be learning just as you are. If you are involved in an InterBBS game, you will have a huge pool of talent from which to learn. Most importantly -- have fun and enjoy the game!