NAME
xconq - X-based configurable strategy game
SYNOPSIS
xconq [ options ] ...
DESCRIPTION
xconq is a configurable multi-player strategy game.
By default, xconq brings up a series of dialogs that let you choose the
game, game variants, and the players.
In addition, xconq has extensive and elaborate facilities for building
maps, scenarios, and sets of rules, allowing for a wide variety of
games.
OPTIONS
The following options are X-specific:
-bg bgcolor
sets the background color of the windows.
-display display
sets the display to be used by the default player.
-fg fgcolor
sets the foreground color of the windows.
-geometry geometry
sets the geometry of the first window.
-name name
sets the name of the application.
-x allows the game and the players to be set up interactively via
menus. The menus should be self-explanatory.
The following options are generic, and may be used with any version of
Xconq that allows command-line arguments:
Each argument will be taken to be a specification of a player who will
participate in the game. The format of a player spec is
[name[,ai][/config]@]host[+advantage]
where host is the name of a host. advantage is a multiplier specifying
how much more a player gets to start with, so a player at +3 in the
standard game gets 3 cities and 15 towns instead of the usual 1 and 5.
-e[,ai][+adv] number
sets the number of machine players (AIs) not attached to displays.
If ai and/or adv are supplied, each of the machine players will
get that AI type and advantage.
-h number
creates number players that may have displays and waits for them
to join the game (via -join, see below).
General options:
-c number
sets checkpointing to occur every number turns.
-f name
reads the file named name, interpreting as a game.
-g name
reads the game named name.
-help, --help
displays help information and exits.
-host game
sets up a network game named game.
-join game
connects to a network game named game.
-L pathname
sets the location to search for game files to pathname.
-noai
suppresses all AI creation when setting up the game.
-r suppresses the creation of the default player.
--version
displays version information and exits.
-w suppresses warnings.
Variant options:
-M width[xheight]
generates a random map of the given size. The size must be at
least 5x5, although some periods will impose additional
constraints on the lower bound. In theory, there is no upper
bound (but 200x200 would be huge).
-seq makes all the players move one at a time.
-sim allows all the players to move simultaneously.
-tgame number
limits the total length of the game to number minutes.
-tside number
limits the total time of play for each side to number minutes.
Time is only counted while actually waiting for input.
-tturn number
limits the time of play for each side to number minutes per side
per turn. Time is only counted while actually waiting for input.
-v makes the entire world seen by all players at the outset. This is
useful if exploration is deemed to be time-consuming, or if the
world is already known to everybody. Some games have this enabled
by default.
-V makes everything seen all the time. Some games have this enabled
by default.
-vvariant-name[=variant-value]
sets variants that are defined by the chosen game. The options
"-g game -vhelp" will list the available variants.
Designing and debugging options:
-design
enables designer mode, if available.
-D[-GM]
enables debugging output, if available.
-R number
sets the random seed to number, if available.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
XCONQLIB
If this is set to a directory pathname, Xconq will look here for
library games. XCONQ_SCORES If this is set to a directory,
Xconq will use it to store scorefiles instead of the compiled-in
default. XCONQHOME This is the pathname to where Xconq will
store saved games and preferences for a user. If this is not
set, Xconq will use $HOME/.xconq to store per-user files.
EXAMPLES
xconq -g standard
Standard game, one human on local display, one AI, 60x30 random
world
xconq -g crater-lake
One human vs one machine, playing the "crater lake" game
xconq -e 2 -M 40x20
One human, two mplayers, 40x20 random world
xconq -e 6 -g u-e1-1998 -V
Seven players (6 mplayer, 1 human), all playing on a 360x140
map of the earth with present-day cities, with everything
always visible. Major!
xconq ,ai+4
Standard game, one human and one mplayer, mplayer has advantage
of 4.
X DEFAULTS
TextFont Font for all text.
HelpFont Font for the help pages.
AUTHOR
Stan Shebs (shebs@cygnus.com) (with help from many)
FILES
~/.xconq/save.xconq
saved game
/usr/local/share/xconq/lib/game.dir
directory of playable games
/usr/local/share/xconq/lib/*.g
predefined games
/usr/local/share/xconq/lib/imf.dir
directory of predefined images
/usr/local/share/xconq/lib/*.imf
predefined images
/usr/local/share/xconq/lib/news.txt
news about features and additions
/usr/local/share/xconq/images/
more pictures
SEE ALSO
Xconq - the School for Strategy
DIAGNOSTICS
If the world is too small for the desired number of players, the
program will complain about not being able to place units in good
locations.
BUGS
Specifying multiple games on the command line is usually asking for
trouble.
Some annoying behaviors are actually features.
Networked games can get out of sync too easily.