| The Map |
| Using the Game Map The game map is your window into the world of War of Conquest. In the map you see a top-down view of the landscape. You can see the names and shapes of nations, and the borders between them. You can see the topology of the landscape: which areas are land that you can occupy if you so choose, and which areas are blocked by impassable mountains or deep seas. You can also find special features of the landscape, such as fresh water, hillocks, and coal mines, which can be of great benefit to your nation if you've developed the technology to make use of them. And of course, you can use the map to find the mysterious and powerful orbs that each nation wishes to claim for themselves. The game map, showing a remote area. Above a nation's name on the map is a flag of the nation's color, to help clarify which nation the name belongs to. If this flag has a white dot on it (as in the example above), then at least one of the nation's players is currently online. You can change the view that is displayed in the game map using any of the eight directional arrow buttons on the map border. You can also change the map view using the Center, Zoom In, Zoom Out and Find Nation features, discussed below. You can find out the name of the nation occupying a space on the map, and the number of fortifications that have been built in that space, by holding your mouse pointer still over the space for a few seconds. A tooltip displaying this information will appear. A tooltip showing the nation's name and number of fortifications. The number in the lower left corner of the map is the position of the area being viewed relative to the center of the map. In the example above, "31m NW" means that the area of the map being viewed is 31 land squares to the north west of the map's center. You can instantly move the map view to a particular location using the "@go" chat command. For instance, type "@go 31 NW" into the chat entry line and hit enter, and your map view will position itself at that location. Note that there is a wide arc of land at each map location, such as "31m NW", and so you still may have to search around nearby to find any particular nation or object at that location. Below the game map are several tools that you can use to change your view of the map and to make changes in the game world. Actions Immediately below the map are eight action buttons. Click on an action button to choose that action. Which action you currently have selected determines what happens when you click on the map. If you select the Attack action, then by clicking on the map you are attempting to invade the area of land that you've clicked on. If that land area is occupied by another nation, you will attack that nation, and possibly gain the land. If the land is free to begin with, you will move in and occupy the land. If you select the Evacuate action, then by clicking on an area of land on the map that your nation already possesses, you are ordering your forces to abandon that area of land. If you select the Fortify action, then by clicking on an area of land on the map that you already possess, you are ordering that fortifications be built in that land area by your forces. Each time you build a fortification, it uses one of your nation's Fortification Points. A single land area can be fortified many times, and each fortification makes it require one more successful attack by an enemy nation before that land area falls to that nation. If you select the Alliance action, then by clicking on an area of land on the map possessed by another nation, you are inviting that nation to join in an alliance with you. If you select the Info action, then when you click on something else, a panel will appear with information on whatever you clicked on. Whatever action you previously had selected will then be reselected automatically. You can use this feature to get information about any nation on the map, or any object or feature on the landscape, by clicking on the appropriate land area on the map. You can also use the Info action to learn about any feature in the game by clicking on any part of the interface. If you select the Center action, then by clicking on any part of the map, the map view will be centered around the area that you clicked on. If you select the Zoom In action, then by clicking on any part of the map, the map view will zoom in closer and be centered around the area that you clicked on. This action is unavailable if the map view is already zoomed in as far as possible. If you select the Zoom Out action, then by clicking on any part of the map, the map view will zoom out further and be centered around the area that you clicked on. This action is unavailable if the map view is already zoomed out as far as possible. Protection from "Robots" Some players have tried to cheat the game by using "macro" programs to create automated "robots" to play the game for them. To protect against this, every so often a small pop-up will appear on the map view, asking you to "Click here to continue". Simply click the button to make the pop-up disappear. Robots don't know how to "Click here" Selected Weapon You can choose your selected weapon from the "Weapon" menu under the action buttons. Your selected weapon is the weapon that your nation's forces will be primarily attacking with when you use the Attack action. You may want to experiment by attacking an enemy nation using various weapons; the weapon that best takes advantage of your nation's strengths and your enemy's weaknesses is not always simply the "most powerful" weapon. You can also use the Info action to learn about an enemy nation, to help you decide which weapon is best. The selected weapon menu Find Nation To the right of the selected weapon menu is the Find Nation tool. Enter the name of any nation in this text field and press enter, and the map view will be centered on that nation. You can even use this tool to find your own nation if you've moved the map view elsewhere. The find nation tool •To learn more about playing War of Conquest, click here.