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## Introduction to Mac Xconq

Xconq on the Macintosh(r) features multiple windows, click-and-drag operations, both menu and keyboard access to commands, and support for both b/w and color displays.

- Installing Mac Xconq
- Guide to Files and Folders
- Viewing and Printing the Documentation on Mac
- Introductory Game with Mac Xconq

### Installing Mac Xconq

Xconq requires no special installation once you have unpacked it. Since the distribution consists of a number of files and folders in addition to the application proper, it will be less confusing to keep Xconq in a separate folder.

### Guide to Files and Folders

``Xconq'` is the game application. It has been tested on nearly every kind of Mac (including PowerMacs), all running 7.0 or better. No init/extension compatibility problems have been reported so far.

``XconqPPC'` is the native PowerMac version of Xconq. This is an optional component that may not be in every distribution.

``lib'` is a folder of game modules.

``lib-mac'` includes Mac-specific files referenced by game modules. Xconq doesn't absolutely require these files, but you may lose some pictures or sound effects without them.

``doc-html'` is the folder of documentation in HTML format.

``WebMe.html'` is an HTML page with links to the parts of the manual most useful to Mac users. This is the easiest way to get started with looking at the manual; either open this file from your viewer or drag it onto your viewer's icon, then follow the links displayed.

``IMFApp'` is a small utility for game designers to display and convert images used in Xconq games. See below for information on how to use ``IMFApp'`.

``NEWS'` is information about notable changes in each release.

``COPYING'` is a copy of the GNU Public License, which is a special kind of copyright that allows you to redistribute Xconq sources and binaries as long as you allow your recipients to do the same.

### Viewing and Printing the Documentation on Mac

The standard distribution comes with documentation in the form of HTML files, which you can look at using your favorite Web browser. You can also print them out using the browser.

You have several other alternatives for viewing the documentation as well. If you're interested, see the X11 part of the manual for more detail.

### Introductory Game with Mac Xconq

Double-click on the Xconq icon. You get an initial screen with several buttons. Click on "New". You get a list of available games. The "Introductory" game will be at the top of the list and selected already. Click on "OK". You then get a list of sides and players; click "OK" again. After some activity, you see several windows open up.

The most important window is the map. It's mostly black, indicating that you don't know anything about what's out there. You should see a small picture of a city, and a small picture of a diagonal line of soldiers below it; the soldiers have a heavy black outline around them, along with a moving marquee around that. This means that they are ready to move. Note that the cursor is a arrow, and that it always points away from the soldiers. This means that if you click anywhere in the map, the soldiers (your infantry unit) will try to move to the place you clicked. This happens the same whether you click in an adjacent hex (or cell) or one far away, or even somewhere out in unknown regions. Your infantry is smart enough to find its way around some obstacles, and will stop and wait for new orders if they are blocked.

Click to move the infantry a few times. Notice that the turn number is changing at each move. Then all of a sudden Xconq will highlight a new infantry! Your city was working on it quietly while you were moving the first one; now Xconq will ping-pong between the two, asking first about one, then the other. Get used to it - it won't be long before you have dozens or even hundreds of units at your command! Fortunately for your sanity, Xconq provides some assistance - more on that later.

At this point you should have several infantry wandering around. Use them to explore the world - send each out in a different direction so as to learn the most the fastest. Eventually they will have spread out so much that Xconq has to scroll over to each one before asking about it. This can be a little disorienting. One thing you can do is to go to a lower magnification for the map; either click on the small mountains picture in the lower corner of the map window, or go to the "View" menu and pick something from "Set Mag". With a little experimentation, you will see that you can magnify so much that a single hex nearly fills the window, or make the whole world appear to be the size of a postage stamp.

Sooner or later you will encounter either an independent city or an enemy unit of some sort. You can tell which is which by looking at the emblem in the upper right of the unit; independents have nothing, while enemies have a small "2". To attack either, just click to move your infantry into the other unit's cell. There will be a bit of flashing, and then either nothing happens, your infantry disappears, the other unit disappears, or if a city, it changes to be on your side. In the last case, you have just captured your first city!

Capturing cities is good, because you can then have them build more units for you. When the city is ready to start building, it will be selected just like your mobile units; select "Build" from the "Play" menu, which then brings up the construction window. Click on a type of unit (on the right side list), then "Construct"; this tells the city to produce units of that type, as many as is indicated by the little text box in the upper right corner. You can choose to build more infantry, or you can choose armor, which takes longer to build but moves twice as fast (except in the mountains).

Building units and spreading them across the world is what this game is all about; you win when the enemy side has been entirely captured or eliminated. If it's being run by the computer's AI, it may just resign if hopelessly outnumbered. You should try to capture the enemy cities whenever possible; even if it is immediately recaptured, the disruption works in your favor.

You will probably discover that when you have a large number of units, you get traffic jams because units can't move through each other. This is because the intro game does not allow "stacking", for simplicity. Most of the regular Xconq games do allow stacking.

When you're comfortable with how to play Xconq, you're ready to play the standard game.

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