 Dark Legions TM
 Version 1.0
 Readme file updated 6/16/94
 (c) 1994 Strategic Simulations, Inc.
 All Rights Reserved
_____________________________________________________________________

BATCH FILES FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT
         
        Please note that in the main directory for the game (normally
        c:\dlegions) you should find four batch files. Please DO NOT 
        run these batch files unless you are prompted to do so by SSI
        technical support.

    
QUICK START GAMES

        **JOYSTICKS NEED TO BE CALIBRATED FOR EACH QUICK START GAME**

        LIGHT-DARK-1 The forces of Light are arrayed against the 
        forces of Darkness. The Dark side has more raw power 
        initially, but the Light side has more potential and is in a 
        good defensive position. The computer difficulty level is set 
        to easy.  You will be the Light side (player one).

        CLAN WARS-1 Here we have a battle between the Berserker Clan 
        and the Orc Horde. The front lines have just spotted each 
        other and are itching for combat. You are the Berserker Clan, 
        player one. The computer difficulty level is set to average.

        ARENA-1  Two armies have met at a natural terrain feature 
        known as "The Arena", to have it out. The computer player has 
        a weaker force to start with, but has a few surprises for the 
        unwary opponent. We'll leave it to you to find out what those 
        surprises are. The computer difficulty level is set to easy. 
        You will be player one.

        TRUTH-1 This quick start stresses the value of the Seer. 
        Protect the Seer and you should be victorious. The computer 
        difficulty level is set to average. You will be player two.

        CLASH-2 This is a two player game. Player one's forces consist 
        of Demons, Wraiths, and Water Elementals. Player two's forces 
        consist of Trolls, Vampires, and Fire Elementals. Both sides 
        have a few sacrificial Orcs. The characters are spread all 
        over the map, so it will be a fight from the start. Lots of 
        action.

        TIDALWAVE-1  In this quick start game you will have mostly 
        Water Elementals with a few land-based characters to battle 
        with. The computer will have less Water Elementals than you, 
        but will have more land based characters to battle with. The 
        computer difficulty level is set to average. You will be 
        player one.
                                
        THATSCOLD-1 In this game the theory is to use the multiple 
        Wizards and Templars to freeze any characters that come into 
        sight. The computer is going to throw everything it has, which 
        is a fair amount, at you. This quick start game is more of a 
        strategy game than tactical combat, so the computer difficulty 
        level is set to weak. You will be player one.

        TOE TO TOE-1 In this Quick Start game you will have to roll up 
        your sleeves and get bloody. Warning -- this game requires 
        some serious strategy! Your opponent has you outnumbered with 
        quite a few surprises. This game is for experienced players. 
        The computer difficulty level is set to merciless. You will be 
        player one.

        EPIC-1 Each army is identical. The computer difficulty level 
        is set to average. You will be player one.

        BALANCED-1 This is a good introduction to the game. Both you 
        and the computer have one of each character, hence the name. 
        The computer difficulty is set to hopeless. You will be player 
        one. Hint: one of the Fire Elementals is a Shape Shifter.


RULEBOOK ERRATA:                                                     

        P.25 Hidden Movement- If the alert option is on, then the 
        character will stop as soon as the enemy comes into sight. The 
        exceptions to this are the Wraith, Phantom, and Water 
        Elemental, who will finish their move.

        P.33 Data Display: Life Force- The Wizard's Freeze Ball does 
        no damage in combat.
        
        P.36 GamePlay Tips- The Berserker has the same stamina as the 
        Orc.
        
        P.40 Special Notes- Illusionary Vampires are able to make 
        Zombies.

        P.42 GamePlay Tips- If you give the Orb to a Phantom then you
        cannot give that Phantom any rings.

        P.42 Special Notes- The Phantom becomes visible in combat only 
        when it swings.

        P.42 Special Notes- The Phantom is always visible to the Seer 
        in combat.

        P.42 Special Notes- The Phantom is able to cross chasms and 
        bodies of water.

        P.43 Special Stratigic Powers- The Seer's ability to destroy
        illusions on sight only works on the Seer's turn.

        P.43 Special Notes- The Seer's befuddle attack against 
        computer opponents will make them hesitate. This ability is 
        more effective on the weaker levels (see below for more 
        information).

        P.44 The Shape Shifter's strength, movement, agility, and 
        stamina on the Strategy Board will conform to that of the 
        current form of the Shape Shifter.

        P.50 Special Notes- The Vampire can fly over water in the 
        strategy board.


GENERAL PLAYER NOTES AND ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

        Be sure of the army you purchased because exiting the 
        purchasing screen finalizes your army.

        Characters' movement will decrease when characters are low on 
        "Life Force."
        
        The limit moves option works for two player games only.
        
        During placement of characters the only way to change from 3D
        Mode to Overhead Mode and back again is with the "F1" key.

        When playing the computer set to "Merciless" the computer's
        characters, in combat only, will receive the following 
        benefits: Strength +2, Agility +1.
        
        On map small04 there are large chasms creating islands out of 
        the land, so be sure you have characters that can "move" from 
        island to island. Walkers would be good for defense, of 
        course. Rings of Speed would be a major benefit for characters 
        that have low movement, like the Phantom.

        In combat, if the characters are standing very close to trees 
        or rocks, their attacks may go right "over" the obstacle, 
        especially with missile weapons.
                                                                     
        If the character you are playing is paralyzed by the Vampire 
        in combat, do not hold down the attack button because the 
        character will lose stamina.
        
        Fire and Water Elementals are stopped by poison and insanity 
        traps but take no damage.
        
        If you set the computer level to merciless or difficult on 
        small or tiny maps, keep the points down, or the computer's 
        traps will hinder game play.

        Timing is crucial in combat. If an attacking character is hit 
        with an attack that is quicker while in mid-swing, then that 
        attack will be spoiled or "interrupted". The interrupted 
        character will not inflict any damage in that attack. However, 
        certain awesomely powerful attacks cannot be interrupted: 
        Demon            both attacks
        Vampire          both attacks
        Fire Elementral  mini-nova only
        Conjurer         all three attacks

        The Demon's scream has no effect on either frozen characters 
        or Trolls in rock form.
                

ADDITIONAL NOTES ON MODEM and DIRECT LINK:

        During modem play, Dark Legions will make use of all the 
        power the two machines have to offer. Modem play is best 
        experienced with two fast machines (486DX/33+) at 9600 baud. 
        If both machines are local bus, so much the better. 
        
        For optimal gameplay with a modem, especially with less than
        ideal hardware or line quality, we strongly recommend that 
        both machines have a serial/controller card of the latest type 
        (16550 UART chip or equivalent). These cards have a buffer 
        that makes data transfer more reliable. You can check your 
        UART chip if you have MS-DOS 6.0 or higher: use the MSD.EXE 
        program -- normally the UART chip type will be listed on the
        last line.
        
        Modems that are not 100% Hayes compatible may experience 
        problems while connecting. You may need to try the connection 
        several times: be patient.
        
        In order to make recovery from disconnections as convenient as 
        possible, an autosave feature saves the game every turn. The 
        last slot in the Load Game screen has been redesignated for 
        this feature. If your game is interrupted, simply reconnect 
        and load the Recover game, and you will have lost only a 
        little time.

        During modem or direct link, if one player is moving in Over-
        head Mode and the other player is viewing in 3D Mode with 
        animations on, there will be a long delay between movements.
        
        WARNING: do not play with the keys in direct or modem link 
        when it is the other player's turn.


CHARACTER NOTES:

        Conjurer- The type of characters that the Conjurer can conjure
        and the cost in Life Force is as follows:
                Demon            20
                Fire Elemental   15
                Phantom          12
                Troll            10
                Vampire          20
                Water Elemental  15
                Wraith           18
        
        Demon- The Demon's Death Cry is unable to kill characters on 
        the strategy board, including illusions. 
        
        Fire Elemental- The Fire Elemental's flame suicide attack will 
        not destroy illusions of Fire Elementals.

        Illusionist- The Illusionist can create illusions of all 
        characters except for Phantoms and Zombies. The cost in Life 
        Force for each of the characters is:
                Berserker        8
                Conjurer         5
                Demon            20
                Fire Elemental   10
                Illusionist      5
                Orc              8
                Seer             5
                Templar          5
                Thief            5
                Troll            15
                Vampire          20 
                Water Elemental  10 
                Wizard           8
                Wraith           12
        The cost to maintain an illusion is 10% of the creation cost. 
        For example: an illusion of a Demon would cost the Illusionist 
        two points of Life Force a turn to maintain.

        Orc- The Orc, when charging, does more damage when the target 
        is pinned against the border and obstacles than out in the 
        open. The Orc's charge cannot be initiated within a minimum 
        range of about one inch.

        Phantom- When you take the Phantom into combat, remember that 
        the Phantom's "invisibility" is most effective in a two player 
        game.

        Seer-  The Seer's befuddle attack will make computer 
        characters hesitate in combat. The computer's difficulty level 
        will affect the amount of time that the characters hesitate. 
        For example: on Hopeless level the hesitation will be very 
        pronounced, and on Merciless, will hardly be noticeable. The 
        Seer's befuddle attack drains the enemy character's stamina. 
        Once the character regains all its stamina it will throw off 
        the effects of the befuddle. If you attack with a befuddled 
        character then it will take you that much more stamina to 
        recover before the effects of the befuddle wear off.

        Shape Shifter- The Shape Shifter in Phantom form is invisible
        on the strategic and tactical boards. If the Shape Shifter
        changes form at the begining of the turn, the Shape Shifter 
        will retain the movement for the previous form for the rest of 
        that turn. For example: if the Shape Shifter was a Troll and 
        changes to a Vampire, the Shape Shifter will still retain the 
        movement of the Troll. The Shape Shifter is immune to the 
        traps that the current form is normally immune to. If the 
        Shape Shifter changes into a form with less Life Force than 
        the Shape Shifter's maximum (50) then the Shape Shifter will 
        have the Life Force of the new form.

        Templar- The Templar is able to heal, in a limited capacity, 
        characters that are near the Templar. If the character is in 
        the adjacent square, that character will receive two points of 
        Life Force per turn. If the character is two squares away, 
        that character will receive one point of Life Force per turn. 
        The Templar is unable to use his special healing on characters 
        with a negative or zero revitalization. The special healing 
        gives three times the revitalization of the character being 
        healed. For example: the Templar healing a Wizard would give 
        that character six points of Life Force. If charaters  have 
        Ring(s) of Rejuvenation they will not be included in the 
        multiple when the character is being healed by a Templar.

        Thief- Make sure that you want to disarm a trap before you go 
        to the "Decrypt Trap" screen because there is no going back 
        once there. Manually disarming a trap: choose a symbol that is 
        going to lead you in the right direction (follow the arrows). 
        If the first couple of slots are open, make your best guess to 
        start.

        Troll- Be careful to remember which Trolls you turned into 
        rocks, for there are no identifying marks to remind you.

        Vampire- If you make a Zombie out of a character that had 
        rings then those rings no longer function. In a Vampire vs. 
        Vampire combat, if one of the Vampires gets paralyzed with its 
        tongue out, that Vampire will not get any stamina back until 
        its tongue is retracted and is unparalyzed. Vampires are 
        unable to make Zombies out of conjured characters. If the 
        Vampire is the Orb Holder and is the last of you characters, 
        no matter how many Zombies you make your Vampire's life 
        regeneration will still be -5.
                                                
        Water Elemental- The Water Elemental, when charging, will do 
        more damage when the target is pinned between the borders and 
        obstacles than out in the open.

        Wizard- If the Wizard tries to freeze a Water Elemental in 
        combat as the Elemental is using its Tidal Wave attack, the 
        Water Elemental's attack will not be stopped. The minimum 
        range for the Wizard's strategic freeze attack is three 
        squares, the maximum range is six squares. The damage caused 
        by the freeze is ten points of Life Force. The frozen 
        character will be frozen for one turn for every time that the 
        character was hit with a freeze. In combat, the Wizard's 
        freeze attack is less effective at close range.

        Wraith- The Wraith's special power, "Teleport", costs ten 
        points of Life Force initially and one point for every square 
        that the Wraith teleports. The Wraith's double grope attack 
        does the same amount of damage as the single swipe, but gives 
        the Wraith four times as much Life Force. The Wraith's agility 
        is rated as a seven, but because the Wraith must first extend 
        its arms, the character is a little slow starting off.

        Zombie- Zombies are unable to move on the first turn of 
        creation.

Thanks for playing Dark Legions!
