CURSEOFWAR(6)

💖 CURSEOFWAR 💖

okay so bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we are talking about curseofwar — that's manual section 6, version v1VERSION1 — and it's literally a whole Real Time Strategy game that lives in your terminal. no GPU. no launcher. just vibes and ncurses. 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

curseofwar — Real Time Strategy Game for Linux. yes that's the whole name section, she's lowkey humble like that.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

the whole shape of her, verbatim, no notes:

curseofwar [ -c port ] [ -C IP ] [ -d difficulty ] [ -e port ]
       [ -E clients ] [ -h ] [ -H height ] [ -i inequality ]
       [ -l countries ] [ -q quality ] [ -r ] [ -R seed ] [ -s speed ] [
       -S shape ] [ -T ] [ -v ] [ -W width ]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so this is a fast-paced action strategy game for Linux, built with an ncurses user interface. terminal game supremacy, periodt. 🖥️✨

and here's the twist that makes her iconic: unlike most RTS games, you are not out here micromanaging individual units. nope. you're on your high-level strategic planning grind — building infrastructure, securing resources, and moving your armies around. main character energy only. 👑

the core game mechanics turn out to be quite close to WWI–WWII type of warfare, BUT (and this is important, bestie) there is no explicit reference to any historical period. it's just the vibe of it. iykyk.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

every single one, no skips:

• -c port — the client's port. default is 19150.
• -C IP — start a client and connect to the server's IP-address that you hand her.
• -d [ee|e|n|h|hh] — difficulty level (that's the AI, not you) running from the easiest all the way to the hardest. default is normal.
• -e port — the server's port. default is 19140.
• -E [1|2| ... L] — start a server for not more than L clients.
• -h — display this help.
• -H height — map height. default is 21, maximum is 29.
• -i [0|1|2|3|4] — inequality between the countries. 0 is the lowest, 4 is the highest.
• -l [2|3| ... N] — sets L, the number of countries. default is N.
• -q [1|2| ... L] — choose the player's location by its quality (1 = the best available on the map, L = the worst). only in the singleplayer mode, bestie.
• -r — absolutely random initial conditions. this one overrides options -l, -i, and -q. chaos mode, we love her.
• -R seed — specify a random seed (an unsigned integer) for map generation.
• -s [p|sss|ss|s|n|f|ff|fff] — game speed, from the slowest to the fastest. default is normal.
• -S [rhombus|rect|hex] — map shape. default is rectangle. max number of countries N=4 for rhombus and rectangle, and N=6 for the hexagon. hex girlies stay winning. 🐝
• -T — show the timeline.
• -v — display the version number.
• -W width — map width. default is 21, maximum is 40.

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🦋 HOW TO PLAY 🦋

normally, the game starts with 4 small countries chilling in the corners of the map. you start as the ruler of the Green country 🌿 and your goal is to conquer the whole map. that's it. that's the dream.

🏔️ Tiles

the map is made of hexagonal tiles. they are:

/\^   Mountains, cannot be populated

/$\   Gold mines, cannot be populated too.
      This is the source of gold for your country.
      To control a mine, surround it with your army

 n    Villages, have the slowest population growth (+10%)

i=i   Towns, average population growth (+20%)

W#W   Fortresses, high population growth (+30%)

 -    Grassland, normal habitable territory

translating for the girlies:

• /\^ — Mountains. cannot be populated, periodt. do not try.
• /$\ — Gold mines. also cannot be populated. this is where your country's gold comes from, so to control a mine you surround it with your army. manifesting that bag. 💰
• n — Villages. the slowest population growth, only +10%.
• i=i — Towns. average population growth, +20%.
• W#W — Fortresses. high population growth, +30%. the it-girl of tiles.
• - — Grassland. normal habitable territory. the default. the blank canvas.

👥 People

people are your primary resource. a thriving population is essential for your victory, no cap.

every tile can support at most 499 people from each country. and when people from more than one country occupy the same tile, they fight. 😭 the country that has the highest population at the tile is called the tile owner. the population of the tile owner is shown on all grassland tiles like this:

 .      1 - 3    citizens
..      4 - 6
...     7 - 12
 :     13 - 25
.:     26 - 50
.:.    51 - 100
 ::   101 - 200
.::   201 - 400
:::   400 - 499

people migrate from highly populated tiles to less populated tiles. it's giving physics, honestly.

population grows only in cities. in villages by 10%, in towns by 20%, and fortresses by 30% every simulation step. and by controlling cities, you control their surrounding territory. that's the whole strategy, bestie. 🫶

🚩 Flags

every country can put flags on the map. flags change migration rates, so that people of your country start gathering at the tiles with flags. it's a lil magnet. 🧲

• your own flags show up as a white P on the right side of a tile.
• the computer opponents' flags show up as x on the left side of a tile.

the flags can be used to increase population of your own cities, as well as for conquering foreign territories. multi-purpose queen. ✨

and okay heads up: when countries are fighting for a city, and if the damage to the defender's army is significant, the city can be destroyed — a fortress becomes a town, a town becomes a village, and the village gets completely burnt by the invaders. 😭 brutal but that's war.

👑 Countries

computer opponents differ in personality, and that personality affects the way they fight. so they're not all the same NPC, they have lore.

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🎮 CONTROLS 🎮

• Arrow keys and H, J, K, L — moving the cursor.
• R or V — build village -> town -> fortress.
• Space — add/remove a flag.
• X — remove all your flags.
• C — remove a half of your flags.
• S — slower.
• F — faster.
• Q — quit.

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🌈 MULTIPLAYER 🌈

to start a server for two players:

curseofwar -E 2

to start a client and connect to the server:

curseofwar -C <server's IP>

to specify ports, use the -e option for the server's port and the -c option for the client's port. by default, servers are using port 19140 and clients are using port 19150.

examples, bestie, take notes:

• start a server for a single client using port 11111:

curseofwar -E 1 -e 11111

• to connect to it:

curseofwar -C <server's IP> -e 11111

• alternatively, to connect to it using port 12345 on the client's side:

curseofwar -C <server's IP> -c 12345 -e 11111

note that all needed map options must be setup when you start a server. the map and other data are transmitted to clients once they are connected. so like, decide your map before you open the door. 🚪

example — a server for 3 clients, no computer opponents, hexagonal map, and equal conditions for all:

curseofwar -E3 -l3 -S hex -i0

game speed cannot be changed by a client, so it must be set initially by the server. and not all data is sent to clients (e.g. info about population is not sent in full). lowkey mysterious. 🙈

multiplayer mode is at a relatively early development stage. changes may occur at any moment. when you play with other people, make sure that you are using the same version of the game. hopefully, the game's client-server communication protocol will be improved in future. all communication is made via UDP.

and please, report your problems with multiplayer. she wants the feedback, fr fr. 🫶

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🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

a good and easy mode to start playing:

curseofwar -i4 -q1 -dee

or, on a smaller map:

curseofwar -i4 -q1 -dee -W16 -H16

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

• Game: Alexey Nikolaev <koiwai at yandex dot com>
• Makefile: Maximilian Dietrich <dxm at openmailbox dot org> Anton Balashov <sicness at darklogic dot ru> Kirill Dmitrenko <kdmitrenko at gmail dot com>
• CMakeLists.txt and Windows support: Yves Quemener
• Manpage: Anton Balashov <sicness at darklogic dot ru> Maximilian Dietrich <dxm at openmailbox dot org>

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and that's the whole page, bestie. this is curseofwar, manual section 6, version v1VERSION1, dated July 2013. go conquer a hexagon for me. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶👑