I will not be responsible to any destruction or damage my game does to you or your computer. Although I spend many hours debugging my software and making sure it runs smooth and clean, I cannot ensure that your computer will run flawlessly. In other words, Run this program at YOUR OWN RISK!
Intro
Iron army is a 2 player strategy game written to play like a board game. I've added many of the classic elements you would excpect to find in a board game (board, pieces, turns), with a mix of some video game style gameplay elements (hp system, magic). Iron Army wasn't written to blow you away with stunning graphics, but simply to provide an original-style board game you can play online with buddies or by yourself against the computer....enjoy.
Since the change from version 0.6 to 0.7, I've added some units and further complicated the game. Therefore I have made this file easier to follow :-).
All of the technical details on source code and installation tips can be found on the Iron Army page on the LightSword site.
Netplay
Iron Army's multiplayer features have been completely rewritten using the libnet library. I have been testing them on 56k to Cable connections and have ran into few problems. However, it is still recommended that you use the netplay feature on a broadband to broadband or LAN connection when possible as 56k can bring more in-game problems with lag. I should also mention that the multiplayer mode has been switched to use UDP instead of TCP now (doesn't work through firewalls without DMZ or portwarding).
Controls
There aren't many but here they are:
Mouse button 1 = Select a unit.
Mouse button 2 = Unselect a unit or cancel.
F key = end turn. (you also can press the red button by the status pane).
T key = Multiplayer in-game chat.
Tab key = Cycle through un-moved units.
Arrow keys - scroll map.
Esc - Quit to title.
Rules
The following picture shows the game screen and the different areas:
The rules of Iron Army are generally simple rules with one or two excetions. First off, there are two types of games modes. Long game and Short game. In the long game, turns are more like chess; each player can use one piece and that's it. In the short game, each player can use their entire army or as little as one piece for a turn. "Using" a piece is defined as moving and attacking, or just attacking. Once you have used a piece to attack, he cannot move afterwards.
Typically, if you choose to attack a piece, the amount of damage you inflict depends on 2 numbers: the attacker's atp, and the victim's dfp. The dfp of a piece is the top number on the unit piece, the atp is the bottom one. If a number is written in white, that indicates magic. Magic attacks can ONLY be reduced by magic defense. If the number is green, it is a recovery amount. Because some of the values (like magic defense) are not written on a piece there is a Full Status menu that can be viewed by clicking the tiny "status button" on the status pane.
Winning the game
To win a game, you must kill the other side's leader. This can be done by attacking them instantly with a "trapper" unit. Or simply by killing them with your army.
Shroud
If you have ever played Command and Conquer before, you will know what this is. If not, shroud is a foggy substance that you cannot see through. If shroud is turned on, you need to send out pieces to remove the shroud so they can find out where the enemies are, and more importantly, see if they are coming. Good pieces for clearing out shroud are jesters and trappers, because they are fast. During 2 player local games, shroud cannot be turned on due to the fact that it's pointless :-).
The Units
Some of this is stuff I have already explained but it doesn't hurt to organize it into a nice little table.
| Unit name | DFP | ATP | MgDfp | HP | MP | Skills |
| Archer | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | N/A | Able to shoot long range arrows. |
| Mage | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Able to cast magic spells. |
| White Mage | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | Able to cast HP and MP recovery spells (can not recover MP of other White Mages). |
| Knight | 3 | 7 | 0 | 5 | N/A | None. |
| Jester | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | N/A | Fast runner; best moving range of all units. |
| Trapper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | N/A | Kills (captures) leader with one hit. |
| Juggernaut | 4 | B(11) | 0 | 5 | N/A | Incredibly strong attack but slow mover. |
| Sorcerer (Ldr.) | 2 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 10 | Incredibly strong magic but weak physical defense. |
| Hero (Ldr.) | 4 | A(10) | 3 | 10 | N/A | A stronger version of a Knight. |
Bugs
- Multiplayer game can freeze due to heavy lag. (Just hit ESC when this happens).
- Switching from windowed to fullscreen mode in linux fails saying "cannot grab mouse"???
- Sometimes in linux typing in a textbox will not work (might be an allegro problem). Restart Iron Army to solve the problem.
Credits
==Allegro game library== Shawn Hargreaves and the allegro community @ www.allegro.cc ==Libnet networking library== George Foot ==Help with networking/multiplayer beta testers== Le Degroat "Ash" on #allegro Walaneh Labala Brenner Eugenides Elias Pschernig
LightSword Software