LORDS OF THE REALM DEMO -- INSTRUCTIONS
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Welcome to Lords of the Realm!  In this playable demo, 
you'll be able to try many of the features of Impressions' 
new medieval simulation.  But before we go into what you can 
do, let's start with a list of what the demo CAN'T do:

* You can only play for a limited number of turns; the game
  will automatically end after several YEARS of play.
* In this demo, you can only control TWO counties (of the
  thirty-two on the map); if you try to capture a
  third, a message will appear claiming that it is "too far
  away" for you to rule.
* Games cannot be saved or loaded in this demo.
* Castles cannot be designed or built in this demo.  In the
  full game, unique castles can be designed and built using
  over a dozen types of castle-components, and historical
  castles can be constructed in your counties.
* The Siege screens are not present in this demo (as there
  are no castles to siege!).  The full game includes a turn-
  based siege simulation.
* For space reasons, some of the battle graphics have been
  removed, so the colors of the two armies in a battle will
  NOT match the colors of two opposing sides.
* This demo only supports Sound Blaster-compatible cards
  that are set to the default settings (Address=220,
  IRQ=7).  If your sound card is set differently or is not
  Sound Blaster-compatible, the demo will run but no sounds
  will play.  (The full version of the game supports other
  sound cards and settings.)


INSTALLING AND RUNNING THIS DEMO
--------------------------------
If you're reading this, then you should have already 
decompressed this demo and are ready to play.  To start the 
demo, simply type LORDS.

Lords of the Realm requires 640K conventional memory; it 
requires between 580K-590K of it to run.  The game can also 
use XMS memory to make it run faster.


BRIEF TUTORIAL
--------------
The rest of this document is a brief tutorial for trying out 
the game, it will take you step-by-step through the most 
important aspects of gameplay.  The best way to use this 
tutorial is to print it out, and read it as you first play 
the game.

SET UP YOUR GAME
When you begin a new game, a series of setup panels will 
appear. Set them as follows:

* Select START A NEW CONQUEST.
* Set ECONOMY LEVEL and WARFARE LEVEL to Novice and LIMITED
  VISIBILITY to Full.
* Set the number of human players to One.
* The next screen shows six shields, each a different color,
  and a rectangular box. Type a name for yourself in the
  box, then pick the color that you want to represent you in
  the game. 
* The computer will display a roster of the six players,
  showing the color of each and the order in which they will
  play. The five computer opponents you will face each have
  different attitudes and personality which will affect
  their actions. When you are done reading the player
  roster, right click to end the set up and begin playing.

YOUR FIRST TURN
Lords of the Realm begins at the end of the spring season in 
the year 1268 A.D. Each turn represents a season of the year 
(three months of time); during each turn, you will view the 
events that happened in your lands in the season just past 
and make plans for the season which will follow. 

The first screen you will see after you complete the game 
set up will be the MAP OF THE REALM, which is an overview of 
the entire game map.  Find the county with your own flag in 
it (your flag will be the same color as the shield you chose 
during setup.), place the scepter over it and click. This 
will take you down to the first of the two action levels of 
the game: the Kingdom level.

THE KINGDOM MAP
When you first move to this screen, you will see a banner 
appear telling you which season has just passed. If you are 
not the first player on the turn roster, you may have to 
wait a few moments while the nobles who are ahead of you 
make their moves. You can tell who is acting by watching the 
box in the lower right corner of the screen, which will 
change to display the name of the current player. The shield 
icon just to the left of that box will also change to show 
the current player's shield. 

On the Kingdom Map, you should be able to see your county, 
with its borders marked in gold and one or more tan roads 
running through it. Somewhere on one of the roads should be 
the town cross, shown as a small building with a cross on 
top and your flag flying beside it. (A town cross without a 
colored flag shows a neutral county, uncontrolled by any of 
the nobles.) This is the point which must be reached and 
conquered in order to seize control of the lands. As soon as 
possible, you need to raise an army to defend your town 
cross and keep one of the other nobles from taking your 
county, but you can't do that right now because your county 
is too poor. (However, it is unlikely that your enemies will 
reach you before the demo ends, so you are fairly safe.)

Much of your county will be covered with wild grass and 
possibly forest, but near the town cross will be sixteen 
fields, the tilled lands that support the people living in 
that county.  You can also see a small house somewhere in 
the county, which represents the people living there. As the 
population of the county grows, more houses will appear.

By moving the scepter to an edge of the screen, you can 
cause the Kingdom Map to scroll in that direction to reveal 
more of the Realm.

ON THE COUNTY LEVEL
To get to the County Level, place the scepter anywhere 
within the borders of your county on the Kingdom map, and 
click. 

First, the Event panel will appear, to tell you what unusual 
event happened in your county last season (if any) and let 
you know what the weather was like. Click any mouse button 
on this panel to make it disappear and bring up the General 
county screen. 

The General county screen is the first of six screens 
available on this level. At the right edge of the screen are 
seven icons, one for each of the screens, plus the last one, 
which is the Doorway icon that will take you back up to the 
Kingdom level. On many of these screens there is a colored 
border that indicates the season which is ending: light 
green for spring, green and gold for summer, gold and red 
for autumn, and blue and white for winter. 

On the General screen, notice the name of your county, plus 
the season and the year, shown at the top. Just underneath 
that are three very important statistics: the Population of 
the county, the Happiness of the county, and the Health of 
the county. YOUR FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE IS TO 
GET ALL THREE OF THOSE STATISTICS TO AS HIGH A LEVEL AS IS 
REASONABLY POSSIBLE. 

Population is shown as two numbers; the first is the current 
number of people in the county, and the second the change in 
population since last season (in black if the population 
increased, in red if it decreased.). Current Happiness in 
the county is shown in hearts, on a scale from zero to 
forty, with forty being the best. As with population, the 
change from last season is shown after the current rating. 
Current Health is shown just below Happiness, and is rated 
on a scale from Diseased to Perfect Health. 

FEAST OR FAMINE?
First, you need to set the ration level for your population. 
If you set a lower than normal ration, your population will 
grow more slowly (or possibly even shrink), your people will 
become less healthy over time, and their happiness will 
drop. If you set a higher than normal ration level, all 
these things will increase, but your food stocks will drop 
more quickly. Your ration level should already be set at 
Normal; if not, find the pair of up and down arrows in the 
lower middle section of the General screen and click through 
the selections until you find the right one. 

For this tutorial, your people are going to farm some cows 
and grow some grain. Your county will probably begin with 
some of each type of food: a few head of cattle, some sacks 
of grain, and a small flock of sheep. Since you don't plan 
to raise sheep, you will want to eat the sheep and save as 
many cows and sacks of grain as you can.

In the middle of the General screen is a tricolor sliding 
bar you can use to determine what kind of food (grain, 
sheep, or cattle) your people will eat during the next 
season. Click and drag the borders between the colored 
sections to adjust their sizes until as much of the bar is 
blue as possible. If there are enough sheep, you may be able 
to fill the entire bar with blue. If not, make the blue 
section as large as you can, and then fill the rest of the 
bar with green, for grain. 

Below the slide bar is a small table which will show you 
exactly how your food stocks will be used in the next 
season. The third column, Eat, tells how many cows, sheep, 
or sacks of grain your people will eat at the current ration 
level and food bar setting. The first column is how many of 
each you have available, and the second column is how many 
you will have left over after the next season ends. Check 
and see whether or not there will be any sheep left, and 
remember this. (You'll want to know for the next section.) 
Notice that under this table is a display showing how many 
people can be fed solely on the dairy produce from your 
cattle herd; this food is always automatically eaten first, 
and does not appear on the bar. 

FIELDS AND FLOCKS
Go to the Fields screen by clicking on the Fields icon in 
the column at the right of the screen (second icon from the 
top.) You will see all the county's fields displayed with 
the various crops (sheep, cattle, or grain) pictured. 

Fields appear in one of four states: farmed, fallow, barren, 
and weather-damaged. 

* FARMED fields are those which are producing food for your
  peasants, either sheep, cattle, or grain. 
* FALLOW fields show wild grass in the field square. These
  fields are being left unplanted to rest and regain
  nutrients to keep the field fertility high.
* BARREN fields are shown as rocky bare ground. These fields
  are not good for farming and nothing can be grown on them.
  A barren field can be made fertile again over time by
  assigning serfs to fertilize them and dig up rocks. 
* WEATHER-DAMAGED fields will appear either flooded or
  drought-stricken. If you have the game's economy setting
  on the lowest difficulty level, you will not see these
  often, if at all. A damaged field is temporarily barren
  until the weather changes. 

Underneath the fields squares, to the left, is a display 
showing you the current fertility level of your fields.  The 
number of animals displayed in each field box will change as 
the number of total animals in the herd changes.

For the first year, you are going to farm one field of cows 
and two or three of grain. TO REASSIGN A FIELD TO A NEW 
CROP, click on the field you want to change and a panel will 
pop up offering you a choice of grass (fallow), cows, sheep, 
or grain. Click on the new type of field that you want.

Under the fields, at the left side of the screen, is a table 
you can use to allocate labor to your fields. The Now column 
shows how many men are assigned to each of four tasks: 
farming sheep, farming cattle, working the land (Serfs), or 
growing grain. If the number in this column is shown in red, 
more men are needed to get the most benefit from those 
fields. The number in the Need column shows how many men are 
optimal for each task. If there are enough men Idle (shown 
at the bottom of the table), you can make the Now column 
match the Need column by clicking on the Need number in each 
row. 

Use the arrows to set the Now value for each row equal to 
the Need value, if you have enough men.  If there are men 
left over, and you have one or more barren fields, assign 
all the extras to Serf duty. They will begin to work on 
reclaiming the barren fields (this will probably take more 
than one season.) If you have no barren fields, leave the 
men idle for the time being. 

The demand for labor in your fields will change from season 
to season, so you will need to return to this screen every 
season for the first few turns to make sure everything is 
being tended to properly.  Note that it is possible to have 
the optimal number of men assigned to tend the cattle and 
still have a net loss of cattle for the season.  If you 
decide to put more fields into grain, change them after the 
winter, as the grain is sown in spring. Remember that if the 
current season is winter, you are making decisions for the 
NEXT season, spring.

CHECK SUPPLIES
Next, click on the icon for the Trade screen, which is 
fourth from the top of the icon column and shows two men 
shaking hands. From this screen, you will be able to trade 
goods with merchants when they come into your county. There 
will not be any merchants in any of the counties during the 
first turn -- they will gradually arrive from overseas until 
all twelve of them are in the realm. Even without a merchant 
around, however, you can use this screen as an inventory. 
Under the boxes picturing each type of goods (cattle, sheep, 
grain, wool, ale, iron, stone, timber, and weaponry/armor) 
is a small number saying how many units of that commodity 
you have available. 

END YOUR FIRST TURN AND START YOUR SECOND
From any one of the county screens, you can click on the 
Exit icon (last in the column, the Doorway) to return to the 
Kingdom Level. Once there, click on the shield icon to end 
your turn. You will see the shield change as each of the 
other players completes his or her turn. When the end of the 
roster is reached, the season will change, and the playing 
will continue until it is your turn once again. You may get 
a message from one of your rivals at the start of your turn. 

When it's your turn, return to the county level in your 
county. You will want to play through several turns at this 
point while simply keeping an eye on your population and 
food stores.  Check the trade screen again each turn to see 
if a merchant has arrived in the county. 

BARTER AND BANTER
You can tell when a merchant arrives in your county by 
watching for the little peddler's wagon which will appear at 
the town cross on the Kingdom level or on the Map of the 
Realm. When a merchant finally arrives, buy as much grain 
from him as you can afford; click on the price in the Buy 
row under the picture of the grain sheaves, then use the up 
and down arrows in the pop-up panel that appears, then press 
the "thumbs-up" icon. 

You can also click on the button marked Gossip? to see if 
the merchant has any interesting news from other counties. 

THE TREASURY
To check on your current funds and adjust tax rates, you 
need to visit your Treasury. From the Kingdom level, click 
on the icon at the bottom of the screen which shows a group 
of gold coins (third icon from the left.) The Treasury 
Screen will appear.  In the top right corner of the screen 
is the phrase Seasonal Tithe and a set of up and down 
arrows; this allows you to set the tax rate for all your 
peasants. It is set at the start of the game at a reasonable 
rate, but you may want to experiment with it.  When you are 
finished, right click to exit the screen and go back to the 
Kingdom map.

DEFEND YOUR LANDS
When all your fields are fertile, your people are well-fed 
and fairly happy, and your population is above 800, you can 
risk raising a 50-man peasant army to defend your county's 
town cross. To create an army, go to the Create Armies 
screen on the county level by clicking on the Knight icon 
(fifth from the top of the icon column). If there are 
mercenaries available in the county for you to hire, a panel 
will pop up telling you about them; click past this as you 
probably won't have enough money for them.  Use the arrow 
buttons next to the different fighter-types to build your 
army (until you buy or build arms, you will only be able to 
select peasants), and select "Raise this Army" to confirm 
your selections.

When you return to the kingdom map, you will see a small 
figure of a knight standing next to the town cross, 
representing that army. Move him on top of the cross so he 
can defend it if trouble comes; click on the Move Army icon 
(pictured as a knight and an arrow), select the army, then 
move the pointer over the town cross and click.

CONTINUING THE GAME
In further turns, you will want to continue as you have 
been, tending to your county and trying to keep it healthy 
and growing.  If, while you are on the Kingdom level, you 
see the pointer change to an animated gold lion on a brown 
shield, it means that an army is marching somewhere on the 
map; click the right mouse button, and the map display will 
jump to show you the army that is moving. Another noble's 
army will appear as a knight marked with the noble's color; 
an army of outlaws peasants will appear as a peasant 
carrying a torch. (When peasant armies are moving, the 
shield icon at the bottom of the screen will display a brown 
shield with a pitchfork instead of a noble's shield.) 

After you create an army, if you still have extra men 
available who aren't needed to farm, you can put them to 
work producing iron (for making armor), or stone and wood 
(for building castles).  You do this by selecting the Labor 
icon on the County Screen (third from the top -- shows a man 
hoeing).  For this tutorial, use the slider bars on this 
screen to put any extra men on duty mining iron -- you can't 
build castles anyway.  The small bar to the right of the 
labor bars will fill in slowly with red; when it is filled, 
a unit of goods has been completed.  When you have iron, you 
can assign armorers to convert it into weapons.

As the game progresses, your treasury should increase and 
your peasants should start producing useful goods. At some 
point, you will want to send your armies out to take over 
other counties and expand your power base. If you are 
managing your county well, other counties may offer 
themselves up to your rule the moment your army crosses 
their border. In other cases, you may have to march your 
army to the town cross and take it (see below).

MARCHING TO BATTLE, AND THE BATTLE SCREEN
Whenever two armed forces meet, or you attempt to capture a 
neutral county's town cross, a ground battle may take place. 
Any time a ground battle begins, you can have the game 
automatically compute the battle results, or you can direct 
the battle yourself in detail.  When you choose to take 
charge, you will be taken to the Ground Battle screen.

Most of this screen is filled by the battlefield display 
itself. The terrain is mostly grass, but there are marshes 
which can slow your army's progress and hamper their 
fighting ability if you march into them. The battlefield is 
a scrolling display which is twice the length and width of 
the area you can see, so either set of troops may not be 
visible when the screen first comes up. To scroll the field, 
move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen in the 
direction you want to move.

Both sets of troops are marked with different colors.  Each 
army is organized into groups, and each group is represented 
by a number of small human figures armed with the 
appropriate weapons (peasants are armed with pitchforks). 
Each group can be directed individually during the combat. 
Each single figure represents a number of men.

At the left edge of the screen is the information column. 
The box at the top of the column shows you how many men each 
figure represents, displays the shields of the two 
combatants (unallied peasants or outlaws have a brown shield 
with a pitchfork), and shows the total army size of each 
side under each shield. Under the shields are eight icons 
which allow you to control your army: 

* RANK/COLUMN: Changes the formation of the selected group
  from a horizontal line to a vertical one and back again. 
* HOURGLASS: Starts and stops the battle. (See below.)
* MOVE ARMY: Lets you direct a group's movement. (See
  below.)
* ARCHER: Lets you designate targets for any group with
  missile weapons. (See below.)
* BATTLEFIELD: This changes the scrolling battlefield
  display to an overview.  Click on a part of this screen to
  zoom to that location on the battlefield.
* FACE: This four-way toggle can be set to show the
  following things for each unit: troop type, morale, number
  of men, or nothing.
* SOLDIER WITH FLAG: Orders your army to retreat and ends
  the battle. 
* HANDS WITH FLAG: Allows you to offer quarter (mercy) to
  the enemy. 

When a battle first begins, no troops are moving. You can 
move around and survey the field at your leisure, then issue 
your orders. When you are ready, you can click on the 
hourglass icon and time will progress, and your men will 
begin to follow your orders. Whenever you wish to change 
your orders, you can either click on the hourglass again and 
stop time passing while you act, or simply issue them while 
the battle is raging.

To give orders to your troops, you must first select a group 
by clicking on it, which will cause your flag to appear as a 
marker on that group. To direct that group to move in a 
certain direction, click on the Move Army icon, and the 
mouse pointer will change to a dagger. Click again on the 
position where you want your soldiers to go.  Soldiers 
wielding hand weapons can be targeted at an enemy group by 
simply moving them up to the group you want them to attack. 

Soldiers with missile weapons (crossbows or longbows) are 
moved in the same way, but to assign them a target you need 
to select a group and then click on the Archer icon. The 
mouse pointer will change to the dagger; select a target 
group of the enemy as above and click. Your archers will 
then fire their weapons at the target group, as long as that 
group is in range. 

You can select more than one unit at a time to move or to 
aim, and can deselect any chosen unit by clicking on it a 
second time. If you select multiple units, they will all try 
to go to or attack the same place (be sure that there is an 
army there for them to attack).

You can order a retreat or offer quarter to the enemy at any 
time by clicking on the appropriate icon, although you may 
suffer some casualties during a retreat. If the size of your 
army becomes too small before a retreat is called, the 
casualties taken during the retreat may wipe the army out 
entirely and cause it to disappear from the map. If the 
retreat causes your army's morale to drop to zero, the 
entire army may rout, which will also cause it to disappear.  
Mercenaries always leave an army after a retreat.

When the battle is over, a summary screen will appear 
telling you who won and what casualties were suffered. Right 
click to exit this screen and go back to the kingdom map. 

ENDING THE GAME
If you wish to leave the game, you can exit from the 
scrolling map by pressing ALT-X.

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Copyright (c) 1994 Impressions Software
