*************************** *** How to install zeus *** *************************** # mkdir civ (this directory will be referred to as the "home" directory) # mv zeus.tar civ # cd civ # tar xvf zeus.tar ...lots of output... # cd src # make ...lots of output... # cd .. # zeus ...follow the instructions... O.K. Here's where things get complicated. Before you create the game you need to create a file called "START" in the home directory. This file will contain player information so you will need to figure out who plays which civ by some method of your own making. Here's an example file for a 3 player game: addplayer babylon susa Paul addplayer africa sahara Steve addplayer crete knossus John You can create a new game (thereby overwriting the current game!) by using the '-n' option to zeus (e.g. # zeus -n). if a START file exists, the game will be created and the following files will be created: 1 - directory containing turn 1 information. PHASE - file containing current phase and phase status (active/complete). TURN - file containing current turn number. world/CIVS - CIVS database file (1=active,2=civ that departed early) world/STARTTIME - number of seconds since 1/1/70 at time game was created. edit by hand. (Note that the zeus distribution comes with a sample START file for a bogus three player game.) These game-specific files need to be edited by hand: world/PARAMS - game specific parameters (don't think maxcities works well). world/PASSWORDS - passwords for each civ (pre-set to the password "password") must edit world/PARAMS by hand to tailor the game as appropriate. "showcalamities" enables calamity card counting feature. Each separate game must have it's own home directory. *************************** *** The World Directory *** *************************** CIVS - active/inactive civilizations PARAMS - game specific parameters PASSWORDS - civ passwords STARTTIME - game start time (aesthetic only) astchart - civ ast definitions calamities - calamities help file civcards - civ cards definitions civs - civ name definitions credits - civ card credit definitions help - generic help file map - mapboard area definitions map.1 - area location defs map.2 - area location defs map.2b - area location defs map.3 - area location defs map.3b - area location defs map.4 - area location defs map.wxt - area location defs paths - area path definitions rules - pbem rules tradecards - trade cards definitions years - year/turn relation definitions (aesthetic only) *************************** *** Game Turn Directory *** *************************** Each turn is stored in a subdirectory named after the turn number (i.e. "1","2", ...) which contains the following files when the turn begins: AST - a "graphical" representation of the AST chart ast - civ's current ast position calloc - calamity counting information cards. - civ's trade cards (one for each civ) decks - trade card deck information mapboard - state of map ord.cala - calamity orders ord.city - city orders ord.gold - gold purchase orders ord.grow - growth orders ord.move - movement orders ord.pill - pillage orders ord.purc - civ card purchase orders ord.ship - ship building orders seed - random number seed for turn techs - civ's advances All these files represent the state of the game at the beginning of the turn (except for the orders files: ord.*). As the turn progresses more files are created in this directory representing the new state of the game. The only files that need to be edited by the moderator are the orders files. *************************** *** How to use ZEUS ******* *************************** To run the game you basically do the following: 1. edit the orders file for the current phase 2. start zeus from a shell 3. type in the "go" command (this will execute the orders). when you start zeus you should get a prompt similar to the following: $ zeus the first number is the turn number the second number is the phase number the third number is the phase state (active or complete). Note that it is possible for a phase to be complete but the next one to not be active. This is done for example before trading begins to make sure everyone is ready to proceed. The phase numbers represent the following phases: 1 = Ships 2 = Movement 3 = Conflict 4 = Cities 5 = Trade 6 = Calamities 7 = Growth (note that growth occurs at the end of the turn) The only zeus commands that are important to know are: go - executes current phase's orders deal - deal out trade cards newturn - ends a turn and creates the next turn nextphase - ends the current phase and starts the next one endphase - ends the current phase but does not start the next one help - lists zeus commands q - exits zeus Sample Turn 1: *** Ships Phase *** Since no one should (hopefully) build ships on turn 1, first edit the ship orders file (1/ord.ship) and enter each civ's orders for this phase ("none or "pass") after the dashed lines under each civ's name. All possible orders for all phases are listed in the world/help file. Start zeus and enter "go": $ zeus go executing ship orders... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done Each civ line should have the word "done" at the end. If not, then an order was not edited into the orders file for that civ. The above example is in a game with 3 unlikely civs (Africa, Crete, Babylon). If the go command was successful then three new files will be created in the turn directory: 0100 - a phase summary that can be sent to players mapboard.0 - state of the map after the ships phase mapboard.info - detailed view of current phase's map The phase summaries are the form ##$$ where ## represents the turn number and $$ represents the type of summary: 00 - ships summary 01 - movement/conflict summary 02 - city summary 03 - not used anymore 04 - calamity summary 05 - end of turn summary (game summary) enter "nextphase" at the zeus prompt when all civ's ship orders have been processed correctly. If you need to go back a phase, edit the PHASE file by replacing the first number with the phase you want to play over and restarting zeus. *** Movement Phase *** The prompt should now look like: edit the movement orders file with the information that the players send in. Let's say that only Crete will move. Here is an example file: Africa ---------- pass Crete ---------- 1 Knossus Phaestos Babylon ---------- pass type "go" at the zeus prompt: go executing ship orders... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done executing move orders... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done Note that all phases up to the current one are re-run. The following files are created after movement: mapboard.1 and mapboard.info is update to reflect the current phase. Note that since movement is sequential, you will be entering moves one civ at a time and running zeus for each one. The mapboard file will be updated as each move is submitted to zeus. Enter nextphase to go to the next phase. *** Conflict Phase *** The ord.pill file must be edited even if there is no combat during a turn. Enter "pass" for each civ in this file, start zeus, and enter go: resolving conflict... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done The following files will be created: 0101 - a phase summary that can be sent to players mapboard.2 - state of the map after movement/conflict conflicts - a list of conflicts loot - trade card looting results Enter nextphase to go to the next phase. *** Cities Phase *** Three files need to be edited for this phase: ord.city, ord.list, and ord.purc. Since no cities will be built, enter pass for all civs. The ord.list file does not need to be edited since there are no cities to list. Enter go: executing city orders... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done reading city lists... Africa...done Crete...done Babylon...done checking for city support... Africa : 0 cities : 1 tokens - all cities supported Crete : 0 cities : 2 tokens - all cities supported Babylon : 0 cities : 2 tokens - all cities supported Note that since Africa did not move a token from Sahara it was over-populated. This is shown in the newly created "cities" file. The following files will be created: mapboard.3 - state of the map after city building cities - city building summary Then, run the "deal" command which will create the following files: 0102 - final summary for cities phase including trade card info mapboard.4 - state of the map after trade cards are dealt newcards - number of trade cards dealt to each civ deal - list of actual cards dealt You must now edit each civ's trade card file by hand by adding the lines contained within the "deal" file to the cards. file of the appropriate civ. On turn 1 this of course is not necessary. Enter nextphase to go to the next phase. *** Trade Phase *** ************************************************** *** How to set up the zeus mail server on IRIX *** ************************************************** 1. edit /etc/aliases and add the following entries a. one entry for each civilization like: Crete: verweij@tpd.tno.nl b. one entry for all players and the moderator like: aciv: Egypt, Illyria, Africa, Crete, Assyria, moderato c. one entry for the zeus mail daemon like: zeus: :include:/usr/local/aliases/zeus make sure this file listed above exists and looks something like: |/usr/people/moderator/Mail/civ/zeusd make sure this zeusd file exists and looks something like: # cd /usr/people/moderator/Mail/civ ./zeus -m Roberto Ullfig