                             Medway Boys & Ikari
        
                                 - Present -

                                OIL  IMPERIUM

                            540 lines (17 Pages)

                     Docs by Phantom Lord (MEDWAY BOYS)


Introduction
------------
We had an idea to create a game of commerce based around the cut-throat
world of international oil. We were determined that the game should not
only be good fun to play, but would also have terrific graphics,
interspersed with arcade action scenes and lots of variety. Have no fear,
this game of commerce stays a game of commerce. You don't have to shoot
down space ships or break a joystick in doing so!

We had one further prerequiste: (WHAT!!) in the multi player mode the game
should be as true to life as possible, i.e. the winner would have to be
quicker, cleverer and more ruthless than the competition. We didn't want
the computer to simply and randomly choose the winner after two hours. We
wanted to make it as realistic as possible.

Be honest, what would you rather do, sell wheat to Uncle Bobby or sabotage
one of his pipelines.

One thing should not be forgotten. This is only a game. It is possible that
the sums for oil prices, production quotas, storage tank capacity and
service fees, many indeed differ from their actual market values. We have,
however, tried to keep them as accurate as possible. It should also be
noted that the competition in real life would not be so quick to blow up
your pipelines. We ask you to note that we have avoided using the word
"simulation, as a real oil business simulation would be boring and
unnecessarily complicated - just think of your own tax return. Please do
not try to use this instruction manual to find out why four star petrol has
again risen in price.

With this in mind we hope you will have endless hours of fun with this
game.

INSTRUCTIONS
------------

After the program has loaded, a presentation screen will appear which can
be exited by pressing any key. You will be shown two coordinates which can
be found in the code card. After looking up the coordinates, enter first
the left hand then the right hand letter making sure that you press the
RETURN or ENTER key after each letter.

You will be asked to enter the number of players participating. When there
are less than four, the computer will simulate the additional players. Each
player can choose a company and an office as well as a company name. When
this initial input is complete, the players' details will appear on the
screen. Should any mistakes be noticed, corrections can still be made at
this point.

Now its up to you to choose one of four missions:

1. THE RICHEST PLAYER AFTER THREE YEARS TRADING - This game automatically
ends after three (simulated) years have passed. The most succedsful player
(the one with the most liquid and fixed assets) is the winner.

2. MORE THAN $60 MILLION OF LIQUID ASSETS - The players have to accumulate
liquid assets of $60 Million or more. The first player to achieve this is
the winner.

3. ALL OTHER PLAYERS ARE BANKRUPTED - The aim of the game is achieved when
all other players cannot meet their payments and default.

4. MORE THAN 80% MARKET SHARE - Here one has to own at least 80% of the
available oilfields.

Now the game begins. Every player has one month for dealing. He can but or
sell oilfields and storage tanks, offer oil on the world's markets, obtain
statistics and feasablitiy studies, use sabotage, employ detectives, drill
for oil, lay pipelines and much more. Once the month has ended the next
player begins his turn.

When all the players have completed their deals, a graphical description in
column form, showing the financial status of each company will appear. One
column shows investments, the other liquid assets. The uncompleted
activities of each company are scrolled at the top of the screen. This only
shows purchases of storage tanks and oilfields. Less important dealings are
not shown.

GENERAL INFORMATION
-------------------
The game is controlled by clicking on given symbols. If an outside window
is clicked on, it will close itself again.

Figures are selected by using the UP/DOWN ARROWS. Once the correct amount
has been selected the "OK" symbol should be clicked on.

BANKRUPTCY
----------
The game is over for a player who does not own either money or oilfields or
has more than $5 Million in debts.

THE DESK
--------
The desk screen is the main of the program from where all important deals
are made. Some of the object that can be found on this desk have special
functions.

THE CALENDAR
------------
This shows the day and month. This is important to know during complex
deals so that you can allow enough time to complete your plan. When you
wish to complete the month's trading, click on the calendar "END OF MONTH
TRADING". The next players turn starts when you have finished your month's
trading. Once "ERROR - MONTH OVER" appears, the next player's turn begins.

LIQUID ASSET DISPLAY
--------------------
Here you can check the status of your bank account, i.e. the amount of
liquid assets you have. Not included are investments, e.g. values of
oilfields or storage tanks previously purchsed. The name of the player
whose turn it is shown above the liquid asset display.

THE COMPANY NAME
----------------
The name of the company belonging to the player whose turn it is is shown
to the right of the liquid asset display under the desk.

On the left and right hand sides of the desk are main dealing fields, which
relate to certain objects of the desk screen.

THE SUITCASE
------------
If one of your oilfields is on fire, you will immediately be informed by
telephone. To avoid further, unnecessary damage, immediate action should be
taken.

You have two choices :

A) Call Ted Tedhair (click on "CONTRACT"); the company that is experienced
in dealing with such catastophes, or...

B) You can fly with your private jet to the trouble zone (click on "AIR
TICKET" and manage the fire-ffighting operations yourself. The costs are
much lower, but expertise is required). For further information about
extinguishing oilfields, see "ACTION SEQUENCES". It is not possible for you
to extinguish burning oil rigs in the sea. Only Ted Redhair can do this.

THE TELEPHONE
-------------
This only rings when something out-of-the-ordinary occurs. This could be
offers of oil delivery contract, the burning of an oilfield, legal
proceedings or messages from detectives or saboteurs. Messages of a general
nature, for example, the positive outcome of a court hearing or the effect
of sabotage to your own company, will also be given here. Messages will be
stored if the telephone is not answered during the first couple of rings.

Stored messages are displayed in chronological order. Any message may be
exited by clicking on the telephone.

THE DRAWER
----------
This is the place for illegal wheelings and dealings. Important secret
documents are filed here. Detectives specialising in various fields may be
employed for a given period of time to protect your company against
sabotage instigated by your opponents. The saboteurs, if apprehended, are
taken to court. The success rate for detectives varies. Should you wish to
use illegal methods to damage other companies, saboteurs may be employed
(click on ACTION DOCUMENT). They are available at various prices however,
the cheaper they are, the more danger there is of them being caught. The
following services are available from the saboteurs :

1) Setting fire to oilfields

2) Robbing the competitors bank

3) Blackmailing agents responsible for oil purchases

4) Blowing up oil tanks.

These services do not come cheaply, but successful competitors can be
easily damaged. For an overview of your oilfields, storage tanks,
contracts, running expenses, etc. click on BALANCE SHEET. The three record
cards (OIL FIELDS, STORAGE TANKS, CONTRACTS) can be selected by clicking on
the corresponding command. Should you wish to see details of a special
region, click on ARROW.

The balance sheet provides you with the following information :

OILFIELDS : Number of oilfields in the selected region, output in barrles
per month, oil capacity, running costs and current market value of
oilfields. Separation between active and inactive oilfields is made. If a
license to drill is not held in a certain area, LICENCE NOT HELD is
displayed.

STORAGE TANKS : Quantity in the selected area, capacity of the storage
tanks, amount of oil in the tanks and running costs of the tanks.

CONTRACTS : Duration of contracts with detectives, duration of contracts
with saboteurs.

MAP OF THE WORLD
----------------
This gives an overview of individual ownership and condition of the
oilfields. The 8 most important areas of the map can be enlarged in order
to see which company owns which area (this company's name will be flashed).
Each region consists of 24 zones which can belong to different companies.
Should an oil well start to burn, the company's name is shown with a red
background. If production has been stopped (further drilling is necessary),
the company's name is shown in green. Should an oil field be up for sale,
the name of the vendor will be shown in white.

The areas which can be enlarged include : Alaska, North America, Central
America, South America, Europe, USSR, Middle East and Indonesia.

THE COMPUTER TERMINAL
---------------------
All commercial deals are controlled from the computer terminal. The buying
and selling of oilfields can be done by clicking on the corresponding areas
of the map. A drilling license has to be obtained before the purchase of a
given oilfields can be made. Before purchasing an oilfield, it is
recommended that a feasibility study of the field is obtained with the
following information : running costs, projected profit per month etc. This
study is extremely valuable as some oilfields are very expensive, but not
always profitable.

Drilling for oil can be done either when buying the oilfield or by using
the DRILLING icon. Instead of supervising the drilling yourself, you can
employ specialists to complete drilling for you. These specialists are,
however, very expensive. Further information about drilling for oil can be
found under ACTION SEQUENCES.

Storage tanks have to be purchased before oil can be produced. These are
available in different qualities and sizes. The market price of the tanks
may vary considerably. These tanks are not transferable between regions, so
sufficient storage capacity has to be provided for each region. Of course,
one would only put storage tanks where the company has already purchased
oilfields. A pipeline has to be laid before the extracted oil can be sold.
Oil in every region can be seperately sold (different market prices),
therefore the correct region has to be selected before an oil sale is made
(after clicking on, the regions and amount of oil available will appear
below the map). By using the ARROW icons you now have to enter how much oil
is to be sold. Information about the days oil price, the amount of oil
available in each region, the demand for oil and the profit will be given
to the player. Clicking on the OK box executes the entered values. For
further information on laying pipelines, see ACTION SEQUENCES.

The option STATISTICS quickly provides you with a survey of the economical
status of your own company as well as that of your competitors. Information
about stockholdings and movement of capital can be called up. Detailed
information about your own company is easily accessed (table below icons).

THE NEWSPAPER
-------------
Sometimes it can be very helpful when you are made aware of current
affairs. The newspaper always provides the player with the main event of
the day. The newspaper appears daily. We advise you to read the newspaper
several times per month by clicking on NEWSPAPER. Less important
information is also available, allowing you to act accordingly.

The newspaper only provides information on varying oil prices (averaged
over all regions), result of court cases and all forms of disaster.

Specialised vocabulary used throughout this game can be found in the
glossary.

DELIVERY CONTRACTS
------------------
Contracts for oil delivery will be announced by telephone. These can affect
the game as they give the possiblity to sell a fixed amount of oil without
having any effect on the oil price or demand.

Every contract relates to a specific region. This contract obliges you to
ensure that you provide the agreed amount of oil per month in this region.
In return your company recieves a given amount of money per month. Should
none or only part of the oil delivered, a fine is levied against you for
breach of contract. The contract is then terminated. the contract is also
terminated upon its expiry date. A contract is only valid when it is signed
and sealed.

Current contracts can be looked up in the BALANCE SHEET (DRAWER). For this
please click on the CONTRACT icon.

THE COURT
---------
When an act of sabtoage instigated by another player has been discovered,
court proceedings are initiated and judgement is made. The guilty party
will loose between one and three oilfields. One of these oilfields is
awarded to the company who won the court action, the others are given to
the state to be put up for sale again. The severity of the fire awarded by
the judge is then announnced.

If one of your detectives discovers an act of sabotage initiated by one of
your competitors, the result of any court action and the region that you
are awarded an oilfield in, is given to you over the telephone.

These events are, of course, reported in the newspaper.

DRILLING FOR OIL
----------------
Drilling must take place before any oil can be extracted from a newly
purchased or unexploited oilfield. This can either be contracted to an
experienced crew or the player himself can perform the task.

Control of the drilling is by joystick (IBM by keyboard : CURSOR keys =
direction, SPACE = increase of pressure, ANY OTHER KEY = reduction of
pressure.)

The large picture shows a cross-section of the drilling area. The drill
(light grey in colour) is shown side-on. On the right hand side a zoomed
clip of the drill bit is displayed. The scanner (top left) shows a
schematic top view of the borehole.

The aim of this action-sequence is to drill through to the oil (shown as
black) as vertically as possible. Should the drill not be inserted
vertically there is danger of the drill drifting to one side and breaking.
The drilling process in this case is seen to have failed.

To prevent drifting, the joystick should be moved in the opposite direction
as soon as any drifting of the drill is noticed.

The drilling speed is determined by two factors : the drill pressure
(adjustable) and the density of the strata which changes layer by layer.
The drill pressure is regulated by the fire button. Press the fire button
for a short period of time for low pressure drilling, hold the button down
for a longer period to increase the pressure (see the horizontal column,
DRILL PRESSURE).

The quicker the drilling, the lower the costs, but there is an increased
danger that the drill bit could disitigrate, therfore unsuccesfully
completing the task.

It is particularly easy to drill in the sea as the distance from the earts
crust to the oil is less than when drilling on land.

FIRE FIGHTING
-------------
Any fire in an oilfield must be extinguished as quickly as possible in
order to prevent a loss in production. TED REDHAIR would be pleased to
assist you - for a fee of course. To save costs you can fly to the disaster
area in your private jet and personally supervise the fire-fighting
operation.

Control is by joystick (IBM by keyboard : CURSOR keys = direction, SPACE =
placement of dynamite). The player controls the technician desiganted to
plant the explosives in the oil rigs attempting to blow out the fire. The
explosives must be positioned so that only the fire is blown out and the
rig itself is not damaged.

The higher the flames the larger the amount of explosives is needed to
extinguish the fire. Every time the fire button is pressed a stick of
dynamite is used. The amount of dynamite left is shown top left of the
screen. The explosives can only be planted when the technician is directly
in front of the oil rig. Shock waves caused by the subsequent explosion can
possibly injure the technician, therefore move your man away from the rig
as soon as he has primed the explosives.

The physical condition of the technician is shown at the top right of the
screen (three hearts). Once he has been injured three times, he is taken to
hospital and is no longer able to carry out his duties.

The condition of the oilfield is displayed top right of the screen. If the
indicator moves into the red area, the field is in a critical condition.
The more critical the condition of the oilfield the longer production is
interrupted.

LAYING PIPELINES
----------------
Should the player be informed of any problems arising from the safe of oil
he must go to the scene and personally take control of the situation.

Control is by mouse (IBM by mouse or keyboard, C64 by keyboard or joystick.
Keyboard : CURSOR keys = various pipe sections (arranged as shown on
screen) RETURN = laying pipe section, SPACE = removal of pipe section).

The pipeline must be laid between the point with "I" and the point marked
with "i". Various obstacles, for example palmtrees and mountains have to be
by-passed. For this reason straightand angled sections of piping can be
found at the bottom right of the screen (click on with the mouse). The
selected section will then be connected to the lastly layed section. This
should be continued until the two points ("I" to "i") are connected.

At the same time the computer will attempt to lay pipeline from the point
marked with "II" to the point marked with "ii". If the computer is quicker,
it will sell its oil instead of you (NO OIL SOLD is displayed). If the
player is quicker a sale is made and the previously estimated profits are
transferred into the players bank account.

The lastly layed section of the pipeline can be removed by using the right
mouse button.

It is especially important to survey the area, finding the most effective
and direct route with the least angles (angled pipeline sections are more
expensive than straight ones). The computer starts to lay its pipeline
after the player has started to lay his.

TIPS
----
It does not matter which one fo the four missions is cchosen. The primary
aim of the game is to build a profitably run company, keeping storage costs
down, purchasing as many profitable oilfields as possible whilst remaining
competitive.

The correct evaluation of the feasibility study, statistices and contracts
as well as the service of saboteurs is essential.

Generally speaking, at the beginning of the game the player should confine
his actives to one region as drilling licenses are very expensive and
reduce liquid assets. A decision has to be made by the player which
"single" oilfield is to be almost always pays to act according to the
feasibility study. The only drawback is that this costs time, although at
the beginning of the game the player has enough.

The next step is to purchase a storage tank for the region where the
oilfield is situated. By this time the initial capital is generally used
up. The employment of saboteurs at the beginning of the game carries a very
high risk and should one and only oilfield should the saboteurs be caught.
This would result in having default after just a few months of trading.
Should your saboteurs not be caught there is a good chance of your
competitors being greatly damaged with little chance of staging a recovery.

Operations like fire-fighting or drilling should be done by the player
rather than contracting the work out as the latter could prove rather
expensive.

The signing of delivery contract for oil at the beginning of the game would
almost be like committing suicide as, with only one or two oilfields, it
would not be possible to fulfill your obligations. The penalty clauses
inserted into the contracts are so severe that the risk of non-fulfillment
should not be taken. It is important to select the contract applicable to
the region your oilfields are in. It would be useless to use a contact of
delivery for North America when you only have oilfields in Europe.

We recommend at least one photocopy of each of the 8 maps is made to enable
you to enter details obtained from the feasiblity studies during the actual
game. This would enable each player to have an overview on the quality of
the oilfields.

When three oilfields are situated next to each other they can be turned
into a combination (oilfields flash during purchase). The advantage lies in
a lowering of the running costs.

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
--------------------

AMIGA
-----
Place the OIL IMPERIUM disk 1 into the internal disk drive, press the two
AMIGA and CTRL keys simultaneously (reset). After a short time the
WORKBENCH appears, click twice on the OIL EMPIRE icon. A window showing the
OIL IMPERIUM symbol is displayed and should be clicked on twice. The
program will then load and start automatically.

ATARI ST
--------
Place OIL IMPERIUM disk 1 into the internal disk drive and press the RESET
key. As soon as the user screen is displayed click twice on the DISK DRIVE
A symbol. A window showing the OIL file will appear, which should be
clicked on twice. The program will then load and start automatically.

LOADING AND SAVING THE GAME
---------------------------
Should you wish to save the game during play for future recall you may do
so. To save the game, go to the main menu DESK and activate the SAVE
facility as follows:

AMIGA : When holding down the mouse key a menu from which functions can be
selected is displayed.

ATARI ST/IBM PC/C64 : Click on the company name and a DOS menu will be
displayed.

It is recommended that the game is saved approx. once per hour to ensure
against an electricity cur or system crash.

DIFFERENCES IN VERSIONS
-----------------------

AMIGA, ATARI ST, IBM PC
-----------------------
Should your computer have memory expansion the program will use this to
store data and graphics. This advantage is a drastic shortening of loading
times, as data which is often required is only loaded once and stored in
the extra memory.

SYMBOLS
-------
During the course of the game various symbold (icons) will be displayed.
The majority will be self-explanitory. We have, however, listed below the
most important icons together with a short descriptions of their functions:

BROKEN DRILL                    Drilling sequence unsuccessfully completed.
                                Drill destroyed.

CALENDAR                        Monthly trading ended.

COINS                           Relates to liquid assets. For example :
                                loss due to act of sabotage.

COMPUTER                        Trading to be executed via the computer.
                                See DESK.

DRAWER                          Opens secret drawer. See DESK

FIRE                            -fighting sequence unsuccessfully completed
                                The oilfield has burnt to the ground.

HELMET                          Arcade sequences successfully completed.

MAP OF THE WORLD                Displays map of the world. See DESK.

NEWSPAPER                       Read headlines in the newspaper. See DESK.

UNABLE-SIGN                     Request cannot be executed.

OIL RIG                         The act of sabotage relates to oil rigs.
                                For example : oil rigs destroyed by acts of
                                sabotage.

OK-BOX                          Executes entered request.

PROFIT CURVE                    Collapse of turnover. For example : game 
                                terminated through lack of funds.

MISTAKE                         Use of the selected function is not
                                possible or does not make sense.

STORAGE TANKS                   Relates to storage tanks. For example : 
                                purchasing of tanks (BUY TANKS).

SUITCASE                        Opens SUITCASE menu. See DESK.

TELEPHONE                       Saved messsages can recalled. See DESK.

ATTENTION                       Caution! Note opposite text.

WALLTET AND MONEY               Request cannot be compiled with due lack of
                                funds.


                              T H E   E N D . . .