Konquest

"Konquest" is a simple turn-based strategy game that ships with the KDE desktop environment. The object of the game is to conquer the entire (2 dimensional) galaxy which consists of between 3 to 44 planets. Each planet produces a fixed number of ships every turn, and ships you control can be used to conquer planets until you own them all. The game can be played against A.I. or other people sharing the same computer; it is not possible to observe a game with only A.I. players. Konquest was developed by Russ Steffen.

Starting the game

The game starts with between 2 and 9 players (each with their own planet), and between 1 and 35 neutral planets. Players can be human or A.I.. As the game progresses, and more and more ships are built, neutral planets are conquered by players, thus increasing a player's shipbuilding capacity. The game board consists of 256 squares in a 16 x 16 grid.

Each planet can produce between 5 to 14 ships per turn - thus some planets produce more per turn than others, making some more valuable. In addition to this, each planet produces ships of varying quality, with a "kill percent" ranging from 0.30 to 0.90 (not inclusive) - the higher the number the more powerful each ship is. This "kill percentage" is taken into account when ships from that planet engage in combat - either in defence of their own planet or when they attack another planet.

Ships can be sent from one friendly planet to another, thus allowing planets with many ships to reinforce weaker ones. Once ships are sent from one friendly planet to another, they take on the defensive characteristics of that planet. Thus weak ships sent from one planet can be sent to a stronger one where they become stronger. The reverse is also true (strong ships becoming weak ones)

Ships cannot combat each other while in transit. Combat only occurs when ships attack enemy planets. When a fleet of ships is sent to an enemy planet, it can take up to 9 turns for a fleet to reach its destination, depending upon the distance (adjacent planets take 1 turn). Once a fleet of ships is sent on its way it cannot be recalled or redirected.

Winning

A player wins the game when either:
# They own more planets than any other player when the maximum amount of turns has been reached
# when all the planets have been conquered, and all enemy fleets eliminated.

Game Length

The game may last between 5-40 turns, depending upon the initial choice made when the game begins. After the amount of turns is completed, there is the option of increasing the game length or finishing the game.

Controls

* New (starts new game)
* End game
* Measure Distance (measures distance in light years between two planets, estimating amount of turns required for fleets to travel between those two points)
* Show Standings (statistical information on all players, including ships built, planets conquered, fleets launched, fleets destroyed and ships destroyed)
* Fleet Overview (which of your fleets are heading to which planet, how many ships are in each fleet and the turn they are expected to reach their target)

Navigating the game board

Hovering the mouse cursor over each planet will give you information about that planet, including its name, the amount of ships on the planet, how many ships it can build, and what the planet's kill percentage is (the quality of the ships it produces). Hovering the mouse cursor over enemy planets will also reveal that planet's information. Hovering the mouse cursor over neutral planets will only reveal the planet name - it must be conquered first by a player for its information to be revealed.

To send a fleet to attack another planet, or to reinforce one of your own, first click the sending planet, then click the destination planet. After this, a box at the top of the screen will prompt you to enter the amount of ships you are sending. For security reasons (multiple human players may use one computer for the game) when the number of ships is entered, only asterisks will be seen in the box as you type in a number. Then press enter.

If you make a mistake while giving orders to a fleet, or if you decide not to give the order, the order can be canceled by pressing the escape key. Once the order has been given, however, it cannot be canceled anymore.

When you have finished all your fleet maneuvers, click the button marked "End Turn". A.I. or other human players will then complete their turns, and you will be advised of every change on the game board that occurs in that time in the dialog box underneath the game board.

As the game progresses, your fleets will attack neutral and enemy planets, which will result in either a win or a loss for you. If you win, the planet becomes yours, and you are then able to control the planet's resources. A remainder of your victorious fleet will occupy the planet as well. If you lose, all the ships in that fleet have been lost, though they would have inflicted damage upon that planet's defenses.

You cannot send fleets into an empty square - they must be sent to a planet.

Planets

Each planet is named after a letter of the alphabet, or a number from 0-9, or another symbol from the keyboard (%, !, &, #, *, $, ^, @). The maximum amount of planets on the board is 44 (9 players + 35 neutral). The minimum is 3 (2 players + 1 neutral).

When the game is being set up, a game board of planets is presented in miniature format. If such a map is unacceptable, it can be rejected and another one created easily.

Each player begins the game with one home planet, capable of producing 10 ships per turn with a kill percentage of 0.40.

Neutral planets start out with a number of ships equal to their production capacity and defend themselves with their planet's kill percentage, but only produce one ship per turn as a neutral planet.

External links

* [http://docs.kde.org/en/3.3/kdegames/konquest/ Konquest Handbook]
* [http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/mainframe/review/R49978.html Review of Konquest]