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| Summary of Game Rules | ||||||||||||||||
| Hoplite
Encounter. Game Summary Contents A. INTRODUCTION B. RESOURCES C. MAP D. HOPLITES and ARMIES E. SHIPS and FLEETS F. MONEY G. ENCOUNTERS H. BATTLES I. ALLIANCES J. ACTION (report) K. ORDERS A. INTRODUCTION. Hoplite Encounter is a computer-moderated, turn-based strategic wargame for about a dozen players. It represents, with no pretence to precision, the wars between City States in Classical Greece. The players control the main Imperial Powers which can conquer other countries, including each other, and hold them as colonies within their Empires. To conquer a country, an Empire must have at least one hoplite in undisputed possesssion of its (the country's) capital (ie. with no hoplites from any other Empire being present) at the end of a turn. The winner (Hegemon) is the first Empire to control at least two-thirds of the Imperial Powers. However, if no Hegemon has emerged after 120 turns the winner is the Empire with the largest tax income. Each turn is one month of game-time starting in Jan 430BC. B. RESOURCES. The game resources are hoplites (heavy infantry), triremes (warships), merchantmen (cargo ships) and money. Each country has a tax income each turn and possibly a capacity to raise numbers of hoplites, triremes and merchantmen. The income and raising capacity for Imperial Powers is different when they are colonies of other Empires from when they are in control of their own Empires. Resources are organised in armies, made up of hoplites and which can carry money and fleets, made up of ships (triremes and/or merchantmen) and which can carry hoplites and money. Forces are identified by a letter (A or F) and a number 1 - 999 which must be unique within each Empire. Each turn forces can be raised, disbanded, merged or split then ordered to move. C. MAP. The game is played on a map of the Known World made up of interlocking hexagons (hexes) arranged in columns and rows. Land areas are divided into countries. Each country has one or more cities one of which is the capital, any others ports. The capital may be a port. Countries are referred to by a three letter code (eg ATH for ATHENS), cities by a four letter code (eg ATHE for ATHENS). Hexes are referred to by column and row coordinates, eg C00 R00, D99 R99 etc. City hexes may be referenced by their city code. Hex references may be quoted as country codes in which case they refer to the capital (for armies) or one of the ports (for fleets). The map shows the area discovered by your Empire in the current game. Within this area the area currently visible to you is shown with a white line border and comprises hexes within viewing range of your countries and forces. D. HOPLITES and ARMIES. Maximum of 5 hoplites per army. Maximum of 1 talent per hoplite. Armies can march on land (including ports) and can cross the sea on board fleets. Hoplites can embark and disembark on fleets only in ports. Armies can be ordered to march any distance but have a maximum range (see Empire and Session menu options) they can cover in a single turn. This maximum is lower in the winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) except for the first two turns. E. SHIPS and FLEETS. Made up of triremes and/or merchantmen up to a maximum of 5 ships. Can move at sea and into ports. In one turn a fleet can sail out of a port, into a port and at sea. It cannot sail into then out of a given port in the same turn. Triremes can carry up to 1 hoplite, merchantmen up to 5 (max. 5 hoplites per fleet). Triremes carry up to 3 talents, merchantmen up to 15 in each case reduced by 1 talent for each hoplite carried. Fleets can be ordered to sail any distance but have a maximum they can cover in any single turn. This maximum is lower in the winter months except for turns 1 and 2. F. MONEY. 1 silver talent = 100 drachmae, written eg 1.23 for 1 talent, 23 drachmae etc. Money may be held in the Treasury of each country or with forces. Financial calculation (tax income, expenditure on raising and maintaining forces) is performed by the computer, but the player must move money around to ensure it is in the right place. At the start of a turn each country has the money from the previous turn plus tax income from the current turn. Forces have money left from the previous turn. Money cannot be created or destroyed by the player, only moved around within financial blocs. A financial bloc is either the land area made up of adjoining countries within an Empire plus all the forces of the Empire in the area or, outside the Empire, all the forces of the Empire on the same hex. G. ENCOUNTERS. When the lines of march of armies from two different Empires cross each other the two armies are said to encounter each other. At the encounter hex they typically halt and fight a battle. Similarly with fleets. There is a set of different types of encounter to handle situations like multiple encounters with the same or different forces etc. and these can be exploited to increase the effective defensive or offensive capabilities of your forces. Eventually it is recommended that you understand all the encounter types but for simplicity the basic tactic is to march or sail your forces to wherever you want them to end up (eg a capital city) and let the computer handle to resulting encounters. H. BATTLES. Armies fight armies and fleets fight fleets if they are from enemy Empires and end up on the same hex. Hoplites have a fighting strength of 1, triremes of 1 and merchantmen of zero; merchantmen can never win a battle but can hope for an indecisive result. The outcome of a battle (win, lose or indecisive) is decided by computer-generated dice casts. The odds are fixed in favour of the larger forces (eg a 4 hoplite army has more than twice as much chance of a win as a two hoplite army if they fight). Also armies of the same Empire and of 5 hoplites fighting on the same hex support each other; they increase each other's fighting strength by 1 up to a maximum of 8. Similarly with fleets of 5 triremes. Once the winner of a battle is determined a further die cast determines the extent of the victory in terms of numbers lost by each side. I. ALLIANCES. An Empire can offer alliance to another Empire. Each Empire must offer alliance to the other via the "Empire" input panel. The two Empires are then allied for the turns common to both offers. Allied forces do not block each others routes nor fight battles. J. ACTION. Report shows details of the action which took place in the previous turn. Summary03. Copyright (C) Hoplite Encounter 23 Jul 2007. 13 Nov 2008 |
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