XRISK(1) Programmer's Workshop, NTH XRISK(1)
X11
NAME
xrisk - X version of Risk boardgame
SYNOPSIS
xrisk [ -m ] [ -d ] [ -l language ] machine1 machine2 [ machine3 ... ]
DESCRIPTION
is a game running under the X window system, that looks very much like
the "Risk" board game published by Parker Brothers, Inc.
OPTIONS
-m disable missions.
-d two active players.
-l language to use. See FILES below for what languages are
supported.
COMPONENTS
For each player (machine), three windows will appear:
o Xrisk-info where you click on the colour you wish to be represented
by, and enter your player name,
o Card Info which displays the cards you have, and
o Xrisk@machine which is the main playing board, consisting of the
menubuttons, the message box, and the map. The menubuttons are
described further down. In the message box will come messages that
are distributed to all players, while messages for you alone will
be printed on the bottom of the map. Also, in the bottom left
corner you will see the name of the country and continent the
cursor is positioned in, if any.
BASIC RULES
The object of the game is very simple: World Conquest or fullfillment
of a mission . To obtain this goal, each player places and moves his
own armies on the board, and attacks the armies of other players until
a certain mission (chosen by the computer) is accomplished, or until
the world is totally conquered. Xrisk might be played with 1 or 2
simultaneously active players.
The sequence of play is very straightforward. Each player, in turn:
Exchange cards -
A player might exchange the cards he has received during play. A
player must exchange cards if the total of cards exceeds four in
the beginning of his turn, or anytime during play when the number
of cards exceeds four. To exchange, the player clicks once on each
of the three required cards to exchange, and the cards will be
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exchanged when it becomes that player's turn. The excnage happens
instant|y if the excange occurs during the turn. Exchange rates
are:
Three artillery -
Gives four additional armies.
Three infantry -
Gives six additional armies.
Three cavalry -
Gives eight additional armies.
A combination of all three -
Gives ten additional armies
A joker might be used as any one of the cards in the exchange.
If you own the country on the card (any card in the exchange), you
receive a bonus two armies in that country.
Place Armies -
You receive, at the start of your turn, one army for every third
country you own, at a minimum of three, plus one extra if you
conquered a country in your previous turn. If you are the sole
occupant of all areas on a continent, you receive:
North America -
five additional armies.
South America -
two additional armies.
Europe -
five additional armies.
Africa -
three additional armies.
Asia -
seven additional armies.
Australia -
two additional armies.
In addition come armies you got for exchanging cards. All of
these armies must be placed in countries belonging to you. You
place the armies by clicking on the country of your choice. You
will then be asked how many armies to place. In this phase,
clicking with the left button again means place all armies there
( Note: In the beginning phase only seven armies can be placed
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in a country.) while pressing the right button means place no
armies. You may also type in the number of armies to put in the
country.
Attack -
You can now attack from your countries to neighbouring enemy
countries if you have at least two armies in your country. To
attack, click on the country you wish to attack from, and then
on the target coutry. You may keep doing this (for a given pair
of countries) until either
o You have eliminated all the opposing forces,
o You have only one army left, or
o You decide to pull out.
You cannot pull out of a fight if you have chosen the Do or Die
option from the menu.
If you win, you will be asked how many armies to move into the
defeated country. You have to move at least as many armies as
those you attacked with, and at least one army must remain in
the attacking country. These armies are moved automatically by
the program, so if you don't have any armies apart from these,
you will not be prompted for how many you wish to move. If you
are prompted, you may press the left button to move all the
armies (short of the one that must remain), and the right button
to not move any extra armies. You may also type in the number of
armies to move.
You end your attacks by clicking in the message window (top
right corner).
Move Armies -
When you have completed your attack phase, you may move armies.
Up to seven armies can be moved from your countries to
neighbouring countries belonging to you. You then click on the
starting country and the target neighbour, then entering the
number you wish to move, pressing the left button for maximum
number and the right button for no armies.
THE MENU
In the top left corner you will see six boxes:
o A button for Suicide. In order to end the game (for you)
prematurely, you may double-click in this box. The text will then
change to and if you click again in the box, the Xrisk display
windows will be removed. The other players will receive a message
stating your suicide, but your armies remain in place until
defeated.
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o A button to toggle between meaning that attacks are conducted one
round at a time, and where the machine runs consecutive attacks
until one of the end clauses are met (see above).
o A button to indicate the number of armies you wish to attack with
per round (the defender uses up to two armies in defence,
automatically), going from 1 to 3. You raise the number by clicking
with the left button and lower it using the right button.
o A button to get a message about what your mission in the game is.
If you complete this mission, you win the game. You can display the
text describing your mission by clicking the left button in the
box, and remove the text by clicking the right button. The text is
displayed at the bottom of the screen.
o A button to refresh the Xrisk display window, in case some
"unauthorized" resizing has messed up the map or something else has
happened to the display.
o A small button to enter your own messages in. You can type away,
and terminate with The message will arrive in the message box of
all the players, with a tag naming the sending player.
FEATURES
Multi-language-support -
The file <language>.mapping describes mapping to different
languages. The environment varable XRISK_MAPDIR describes where to
look for mapfiles and XRISK_LANGUAGE what language to use. We
currently support English, French, German and Norwegian. If you
miss your own language, feel free to make a map-file and send it to
us.
BUGS
Probably plenty. Report any you find to xrisk@pvv.unit.no.
AUTHORS
The program was written by Hans Kristian Nordengen at the Norwegian
Institute of Technology. The X interface was written by Lasse
{\O}verlier, and this man-page was written by Tor Wilhelmsen.
FILES
Library files normally reside in /local/games/lib/xrisk.
Name-conventions:
*.xras - Run length encoded picture-file read by xrisk.
*.data - The data file describing countries etc.
*.mapping - Multi language support file.
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XRISK(1) Programmer's Workshop, NTH XRISK(1)
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Environment varables:
XRISK_XRASDIR - where to search for picture-files.
XRISK_DATAFILE - the data file.
XRISK_MAPDIR - where to search for language-support-files.
XRISK_LANGUAGE - what language to use.
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