Conquest of the New World, Deluxe Edition
 Scenario Template File Documentation
 Version 1.00
 October 21, 1996
 
 
 INTRODUCTION
 
 Scenario Template files give you control over many aspects of the creation of
 new solitaire games: who the players are, when and with what the ships
 arrive, what their special Abilities will be, and so on.  They contain the
 seed information for creating the map. The map can be different every time
 or, if a specific seed is selected, it will always be the same. 
 
 Scenario Template files do not allow for defining existing buildings and
 units on the map at the start of the game; that requires a Mapped Scenario
 (which can be built by using the built-in editor).  The following explains
 the lines that appear in the template files.  Since they are text-based, they
 are easy to create and edit using a standard external text editor like EDIT
 in DOS.  NOTE: they must be saved with a ".BE2" extension to be recognized by
 the game.
 
 One caveat about the files: the format has been designed to be very
 particular about the ordering of the information.  If a player not going to
 start out "independent," the line must still appear saying that the player
 will be "not independent".  Also, most values are bounds-checked to prevent
 invalid data from causing problems in the simulation. There are no default
 values.  If just one line is incorrect, the file will fail to load.
 Informative error messages are provided to describe in detail where the
 problem was encountered.
 
 These lines take their arguments from three types: strings, tokens, and
 numbers.  String arguments are delimited with double quotes. Tokens consist
 of a single word without quotes. Numbers are non-negative integer values.
  Notice that some lines take no arguments at all while a few take several
 arguments.
 
 
 
 FILE LAYOUT
 
 ScenarioText
 
 Takes a number between 1 and 3 which specifies how many languages you're
 specifying.  The following are lines used for each language.  Currently, only
 the name is actually used. The other strings will be ignored.
 
 Language: Takes one of the words "English", "German", "French".  Defines the
 language for the scenario.
 
 ScenarioName: Takes a string with maximum length MaxNameSize (30 characters).
 This will be the name of the scenario as it appears in the list of Scenario
 Template files when you create a new game or a new Mapped Scenario.
 
 ScenarioDescription: Takes a  string.  Describes the scenario. Not supported
 in this release.
 
 GameOverWinText: Takes a string.  Printed out when the player wins. Not
 supported in this release.
 
 GameOverLostText: Takes a string.  Printed out when the player loses. Not
 supported in this release.
 
 NoColoniesLostText: Takes a string.  Printed out when you have lost all your
 colonies (a hint that you should "retire.") Not supported in this release.
 
 SoleSurvivor: Takes a string.  Printed out when you are the "sole survivor"
 in the game. Not supported in this release.
 
 
 ScenarioSetting
 
 Takes no arguments.  Simply used to show where the settings part begins.
  This consists of lines used only once in the file.  They correspond to the
 controls available in the Game Settings window of a custom game.
 
 HumanPlayers: Must be set to 1.  The number of human players in the game.
 
 ComputerPlayers: Takes a number from 0 to 5.  The number of computer players
 in the game. The sum total of HumanPlayers and ComputerPlayers cannot exceed
 6.
 
 Difficulty: Takes a number from 0 to 4.  These correspond to levels of
 difficulty, from 0 for very easy to 4 for very difficult. Normal is 2.
 
 MaxNumTurns: Takes a number from 0 to 300. This is the maximum number of
 turns in the game.  Zero means unlimited turns.
 
 WinningScore: Takes a number from 0 to 32767.  This is the winning score in
 the game.  Zero means unlimited winning score.
 
 NativeTribes: Takes a number from 10 to 200.  This determines the number of
 native villages on the map.
 
 NativeDisposition: Takes a number from 0 to 2.  0 implies natives are mostly
 friendly, 2 implies they are mostly hostile, and 1 implies mixed relations.
 
 LandSeeds: Takes a number from 10 to 100.  Defines the number of land seeds
 in generating the map.  See the Game Settings documentation for more
 information.
 
 WaterSeeds: Takes a number from 5 to 20.  Defines the number of land seeds in
 generating the map.  See the Game Settings documentation for more
 information.
 
 ResourceAvail: Takes a number from 0 to 2.  0 is Scarce, 1 is Normal, and 2
 is Abundant.
 
 Movement: Takes a number from 0 to 2.  0 is Difficult, 1 is Normal, and 2 is
 Easy.
 
 WorldSize: Takes a number from 80 to 256.  This specifies the dimensions of
 the land-containing part of the map in grids. The largest possible map is 256
 by 256 grids. A typical building occupies either one grid (Housing, Tavern,
 Mine) or 4 grids (Farm). The War College is 9 grids in size. Setting this to
 80 will result in a moderately small island in the rightmost corner of the
 map. The rest of the area in the world will be filled with water.
 
 StartingSeed: Takes any 32-bit number (up to +/- 2 billion or so). Specifies
 the starting seed used for the random number generator.  If the value is
 zero, there is no starting seed, so the value will be different every time
 you play.  If one is specified, it guarantees that the world layout will be
 exactly the same each time, assuming that all of the other parameters are
 left unchanged. The number and location of native tribes and the locations of
 Special Discoveries will all be the same as well.
 
 EarlyDiplomacy: Takes a token of either "FALSE" or "TRUE".  If TRUE, all
 players in the game are able to perform Diplomatic tasks at any time, even if
 they are not yet Independent. They can set up Trade Alliances and change
 relations between themselves and other countries at will. Of course, if the
 Mother Country does not like what the player is doing, this can turn into a
 rapid and unexpected way to declare Independence.
 
 
 PlayerInfo
 
 Marks the start of player information for the scenario.  Takes as its
 argument the number of players in the game.  This must be the number of human
 and computer players combined.  The specifications for each player then
 follow in this section.  Many of the fields are the same as in the player
 setup window.
 
 Player: Takes no arguments.  Simply marks the beginning of the information
 for a single player in the game.
 
 IsComputer: Takes either a 0 or 1.  0 implies a human player, 1 implies a
 computer player. Only one player is allowed to be the human.
 
 Name: Takes a string as the name of the player.  The length must be less than
 MaxNameSize.
 
 Nation: Takes a token which must be one of the following: Britain, France,
 Spain, Portugal, Holland, or Native.  Note: each nation must be used only by
 one player; otherwise the results are unpredictable.
 
 Abilities: This simply marks the start of four lines that have Ability on
 them.  Each of these takes one token from the following: MiserAbility,
 ColonistAbility, PacifistAbility, DiscovererAbility, CartographyAbility,
 NavigationAbility, ConquerorAbility, MissionaryAbility, CraftsmanAbility,
 AdmiralAbility or, if no ability is wanted, NoAbility. Note: the sum total of
 the costs of all Abilities plus the values in the following four Modifier
 fields must add up to 40 or less.
 
 ColonyMod: Takes a number from 0 to 40.  This is the colony modifier as found
 in the player setup window.
 ExplorationMod: Takes a number from 0 to 40.  This is the exploration
 modifier as found in the player setup window.
 CombatMod: Takes a number from 0 to 40.  This is the combat modifier as found
 in the player setup window.
 DiplomacyMod: Takes a number from 0 to 40.  This is the diplomacy modifier as
 found in the player setup window.
 
 Independence: Takes a token from the list of the following: Not_Independent,
 Commonwealth, Independent.  This determines the starting diplomacy status of
 the player.  Note that the Native player will always be Independent
 regardless of this setting.
 
 
 EuropeanShipInfo
 
 This area defines the kinds of ships, their cargo and passengers, and when
 they arrive within the game.  This line takes a number from 1 to 10.  The
 number specifies the number of ships arriving for each European player in the
 game (The next section deals with Native ships.).
 
 Ship: Takes no arguments.  Simply a marker showing the start of information
 for a ship.
 
 ShipLevel: Takes a number from 1 to 4.  This is the level of the ship.
 
 ShipTurn: Takes a number from 1 to 300.  This is the turn on which the ship
 will appear.  All ships for a given player will appear in the same place.
 
 ShipContents: Takes no arguments.  Simply a marker for the area defining the
 contents of the ship.  The following lines are in that area.
     NumLeaders: Takes a number from 0 to 2. This specifies the number of
 leaders on the ship.
     Leader: Takes four numeric arguments.  The first is level of the leader
 and is a value from 1 to 5.  Notice that leaders and military units can have
 a extra higher level; Level 5 normally can be achieved only through combat
 experience.  The second is the reputation of the leader and is a value from
 -4 to 9. Higher is better.  The third is the charisma of the leader and is a
 value from 0 to 9.  The fourth is the number of military units contained in
 the leader and is a value from 0 to 15.  Giving a leader more units than that
 leader should naturally contain will have unpredictable results.  The
 military units are listed right after the leader. Overloading the ship can be
 similarly unpredictable.
 
 Military Units: These lines show the military units contained in the leader. 
 The lines are either Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery.  Each takes one
 argument from 1 to 5 which is the level of the military unit.
     NumExplorers: Takes a number from 0 to 7.  This specifies the number of
 explorers on the ship.
     Explorer: There is one line of this for each explorer on the ship.  Takes
 a number from 1 to 4.  This specifies the level of the explorer.
     NumSettlers: Takes a number from 0 to 3.  This specifies the number of
 settlers on the ship.
     Settler: There is one line of this for each settler on the ship.  Takes a
 number from 1 to 4.  This specifies the level of the explorer.  There follows
 a series of lines which determines the commodities for this settler.
         Gold: Takes a number from 0 to 1000 that specifies the quantity.
         Metal: Takes a number from 0 to 1000 that specifies the quantity.
         Goods: Takes a number from 0 to 1000 that specifies the quantity.
         Wood: Takes a number from 0 to 1000 that specifies the quantity.
         Crops: Takes a number from 0 to 1000 that specifies the quantity.
 
 
 NativeShipInfo
 
 This follows the same format as for European ships but allows for different
 ships with different loads to appear for the native player.  Note that ships
 and units are limited in the levels available to the natives (one or two),
 and that Natives are not allowed to have Artillery.  Also, for gameplay
 balancing, a different number of ships can be specified to arrive for the
 native player.
 
 
 
 EXAMPLES
 
 Several example files can be found in a template directory of the Conquest of
 the New World CD-ROM. These contain the parameters used for the creation of
 all of the standard scenarios in the game, such as Island or Natives. The
 game uses its own copies of these same files every time you click the button
 in the New Solitaire Scenario window with that name.
 
 Good luck, and happy adventuring!
 
 
 Copyright (c)  1996 Interplay Productions. All rights reserved.
 

