xconq(6)
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 in
- teractively 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 multi
- plier 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 ad - ditional 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 min
- utes.
- -tside number
- limits the total time of play for each side to
- number minutes.
Time is only counted while actually waiting for in - put.
- -tturn number
- limits the time of play for each side to number
- minutes per side
per turn. Time is only counted while actually wait - ing 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 usu
- ally asking for
trouble. - Some annoying behaviors are actually features.
- Networked games can get out of sync too easily.