Convolution

Falcon's Eye - League 77

Set in a medieval world, Falcon's Eye (also referred to as FE) gives the
player extensive control over a feudal state.  The player must learn to
balance the various needs of his or her empire, while competing with
other states to achieve greatness.

The game is designed around one basic premise.  It is that an online
game must emphasize interaction between the players.  The opportunity
that online games offer of competing with other, human opponents must be
utilized.  Because of that, Falcon's Eye offers interaction in every
possible way, including warfare, trade, magic, and diplomacy, and
communication.  This tends to bring out the most competitive spirit and
a strong dedication from the user, immensely adding to its entertainment
value.

Falcon's Eye takes this interaction to an even higher level.  Through
InterBBS warfare, Falcon's Eye allows players to interact with people
throughout the world.  The InterBBS system has been constantly developed
and improved since it was first implemented in the first release of
Barren Realms Elite's (another John Dailey Software online game
product).

Falcon's Eye is a simple to play and learn game, and is very
configurable so the sysop can make his/her game unique.  We have tried
to make Falcon's Eye as simple to install and maintain as possible, and
neither the InterÄBBS or Local play really requires much maintainence by
the sysop.


Starting The Game 

When you begin the Falcon's Eye game, and after the FE splash screen,
you will be presented with the main game menu.  This menu consists of:

    The current version of Falcon's Eye that is running.

    The date that the game began on (last reset).

    Join/Enter Game
    Obviously, this option changes depending on whether or not the
    current player is already involved in the game.  It allows them to
    either join the game in progress, starting a new player character if
    not part of the game.

    See Scores
    This menu selection shows the scores for the BBS only. 
    Interplanetary scores are shown from within the game.

    See Today's News
    Displays the news for the current day.  Note that unlike the main
    menu scoring option, the news can also contain interplanetary news
    in IBBS leagues.

    See Yesterday's News
    Shows the news for the previous day.

    Game Bulletins
    Bulletins that the sysop has created, or the ones included with the
    distribution archive, can be read by selecting this option.

    Game Setup
    The game setup menu option simply displays how the current game is
    configured to be played.  Items such as months per year (turns),
    months of protection, wages and startup settings are displayed here.

    Help Database
    Falcon's Eye contains a sophisticated help system that can be viewed
    at any time simply by visiting this option.  Help topics on nearly
    all functions of the game is included here and players may peruse
    them simply by selecting them from the menu.  When players visit new
    menu options for the first time during game play, these same help
    items are displayed.

    Instructions
    Although the game is a vast and intricate strategy game, a brief
    overview of the game and simple instructions for getting started is
    included here for new players.

    Quit
    The quit option exits the software and returns the player to the
    BBS.


Playing Falcon's Eye 

Falcon's Eye places you in a world of medieval empire building; given a
small county to begin with, it is your job to develop its economy,
employing your people, creating a military, and expanding your lands. 
The game is designed so as not to be linear, and we felt linear
documentation would not help you much in the game.  Instead, the first
time you access many of the commands, help will come up, allowing you to
better understand the game as you play. 

The best way of learning Falcon's Eye is to experiment - visit different
menus, try different options.  Below, you will find basic information on
how to get a good start and not crumble right away as well as
information on some different topics not covered in any specific help
section.  We recommend after learning a little bit about the basics of
this game, you come back and read the latter part of these instructions
again, as they will make more sense once you understand the game.


Starting up your new county

When you select Join Game, you will be creating a new county.  The first
thing you must decide is what race you state wishes to be.  There are a
variety of races to choose from, each having their own specialties and
disadvantages.  If this is your first time playing Falcon's Eye, you
might wish to consider being Human, the simplest and most
straightforward race.

You will then be placed at the main menu, from which you can access the
various aspects of empire management.  First, you should visit the Labor
menu and hire all of your unemployed workers.  At the beginning, your
workers will not be very skilled in their jobs, so you will need more
people to produce a given amount of stuff.  Early, you will need mostly
Alchemists and Farmers to cover the basic costs of running your county.

Once you've hired your workers, you will want to visit the Council Room,
where you can get all the information you'll need about your county.  Be
sure to check the Budget and Agricultural options to see if you're
producing enough food and silver to cover your expenses.  In the first
couple months, you may have enough reserves to pay your expenses,
allowing you to produce less than you need and not run out of money.

After you're back at the main menu, go to the City Improvements menu. 
Here's where you will be able to build various structures on your lands
to benefit your county.  If you have extra silver, you may wish to
consider buying more land, as it will help to expand your population.

This takes care of the basics of your county.  You should probably also
visit the Foreign Affairs menu to learn about diplomacy with others. 
You will find that maintaining different agreements with other counties
is in your best interests.
Communications is also a great place to talk to other players and learn
from them.


Other Miscellaneous Topics


Approval Rating

It is critical to the success of your county to maintain a strong
approval rating with the people.  A higher approval rating increases the
number of people willing to live in your county, so a strong rating
gives you a larger potential labor pool.  Sometimes, it may be difficult
to gauge why your approval rises or falls; here are the factors that
affect your rating:

    1)   Pride helps to increase approval of the county.  A strong month
         of growth helps to raise your ratings, while a loss in networth
         may hurt approval.  In times of crisis, however, you may find
         that your approval jumps as your people rally behind their
         leader.

    2)   The people of Falcon's Eye tend to be neither cynical nor
         trusting.  Approval tends to naturally move towards the 70%
         mark.

    3)   Larger empires tend to be more demanding of their leaders and
         naturally will have lower approval.

    4)   Overcrowding tends to decrease approval.  This is a
         self-correcting problem, as higher approval leads to higher
         population (overcrowding) which will come back and lower
         approval.

    5)   Your trade agreements have an effect on approval as well.  This
         is discussed in more detail in the diplomacy help.

Definitions for Combat

There are some terms used in the military aspect of the game which you
should understand:

Quality Rating - The quality rating of your army.  This value helps
determine how effectively your troops can fight.  When military is used
in combat or traded in trade deals, their quality rating drops.  Quality
naturally rises as troops remain at home.  Therefore, it is wise to wait
between attacks, giving your forces time to recover from their last
battle.

Offense - Being the offensive army refers to the army that is actually
attacking the opponent away from his/her own lands.  Your offensive
rating is the strength of your forces when they are attacking another
county.  This is often measured in Swords.

Defense - Being the defensive army refers to the army that is standing
on his/her own ground defending a county.  Your defensive rating is the
strength of your forces when they are defending your realm.  This is
often measured in Shields.


In war, there are many benefits given by magic or building improvements
that refer to the different definitions above.


The Falcon's Eye

The Falcon's Eye is a glass eye from a famous sculpture of a falcon. 
Each year, it is awarded to the player with the highest score.  While
maintaining control of the Eye, you gain the following:

    100% success on the Wizard's Eye Spell
    Each month, your approval rating will rise
    All workers have 10% higher productivity
    Scientists work at an additional 30% higher productivity

However, having the Falcon's Eye makes the expectations of your people
rise.  Therefore, score will naturally drop more quickly than usual. 
This has the added effect of causing the Falcon's Eye to circulate.


Between the above information and the help scattered throughout the
game, we feel you should be ready to begin learning Falcon's Eye.  Your
first few games, you will probably find yourself making several mistakes
and learning to play better - we feel this is the best way to learn the
game, so don't give up if you find your county in pieces.  Use it as a
learning experience and correct the problem the next time you play.