In the land of Serim Ral, there are 10 months in the year. These months are:-
Deep Dominions, Ocean Lords, Renaissance
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Keltica
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Weather
Ragna is the height of summer and Yearsdoom is generally the coldest month of the year. Weather conditions, which affect production, combat and movement change from week to week, with a description of that weeks weather conditions on your turnsheet along with a forecast for the following week. These forecasts are by no means infallible. Weather conditions can vary from a howling blizzard to a scorching drought, depending upon the time of the year. The exception to this is the Realm of Deep Dominions which is set underground. Weather does not affect Deep Dominions at all.Time
Each month is only two weeks long, and each week has eight days of 20 hours a piece. Thus there are only 160 days in a Serim Ral year. Each turn of game time represents a week passing within Serim Ral. Each of your army leaders and Castles have 160 hours (eight days of 20 hours) to carry out your orders.
If the orders you specify for a leader take more than 160 hours to carry out, the orders that should be carried out last (e.g. - MOVE orders) will only be partially carried out or disregarded. Movement usually takes up most of the 160 hour allowance. For example, it takes most races 35 hours to cross plains (weather and encumbrance permitting) so at most your army can cross 4 squares of plains, allowing only 20 hours for combat, transactions or anything else. Excess time cannot be saved up. i.e. - not instructing an army in one turn does not give it 320 hours in the next.
The map in Serim Ral consists of 100 x 100 terrain squares, and the
co-ordinates start in the top left corner. e.g. - (1542) is fifteen rows down
from the top left and forty two columns across. At the beginning of the game you
will start on the most favourable terrain somewhere on this map. Each square is
assumed to belong to the player who owns a Castle nearest to it.
Most Games of Serim Ral are 'wrap-around' in nature. e.g. If one of your armies stands at co-ordinates 2001 and moves West twice, they will be standing at co-ords 2099. Keltica games and SR14 Renaissance are an exception and your armies will be unable to move over the map boundries. The map is different for each game and it will be up to you to explore your surroundings.
Your leaders will gain experience the longer they survive in Serim Ral. As
would be expected they begin the game with little or no experience, having just
started out in their chosen profession. Experience points are given in combat,
for casting spells and for simply carrying out your orders effectively. Your
leaders will also gain experience every time one of your castles is involved in
combat. Less experience will be given when attacking an inactive position or an Empire with
Apprentice Status.
Huge amounts of experience can be gained through combat, especially later in a
game when extremely powerful ‘Legendary’ and ‘Eternal’ level leaders battle
against Citadels rammed full of troops, although a leader can advance a
maximum of two levels in one turn.
The title of your leader will be known to any other leader he encounters.
i.e. - a fourth level Wizard has the title of `ENCHANTER'. Note - Most of the
male titles have female equivalents. Titles for the first few levels in a
typical game are shown below (they may differ in certain games):-
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Leaders may progress all the way up to 100th level and beyond, but we don't want to give it all away! As your leader reaches a new level his skills increase in his particular field, and all classes will fight better and can take more damage in combat. On your turnsheet it will list the present state of health of each of your leaders. This will begin at EXTREMELY HEALTHY but may go down in battle. The second-worst rating you can have for your leader is CRITICALLY INJURED. This means he is below the 10% health mark and should not be taken into any other combat. Time is a good healer, but the use of spells can often help speed up the process.
Every week, no matter where they are, your troops will consume food. Different troop types eat more or less depending on their size, but the average troop consumes about two units of food per week. Larger creatures (e.g. - Trolls, Giants, Dragons) will eat considerably more than 1 or 2 and some magical creatures like Demons and Zombies will not eat at all. Food will automatically be deducted from the stockpiles of your armies. Even if your troops are in an army outside a castle the food they eat will be deducted from the army's stockpile and not the castles stores. Only the castle's garrison will consume the food in the castle. This will all become clear with your first turnsheet, but remember, if there is not enough food to go round, those that do without will either starve to death or resort to cannibalism. Your leaders also have to eat, so don't forget to take that into account. On the encumbrance chart below, the different food consumption for some of the major race types is also shown (FC). Fighters / Warriors of 6th level or higher can feed their troops on half rations, obviously very useful for large armies on the march.
Every item and creature in Serim Ral has an encumbrance value. This reflects
the difficulty a person or carrying device has in carrying the item, based upon
a combination of weight and size. People or vessels can only carry a certain
amount before they are slowed down. This capacity is calculated from the size
and strength of the person or vessels. If the encumbrance is too much, movement
will become impossible. To calculate the encumbrance simply add up the
encumbrance value of everything that needs to be carried and add up the strength
values of everything that is doing the carrying. If the encumbrance is greater
than the total strengths, then movement is affected.
Encumbrance and Carry Strength values will vary from game to game. The PROFILE command
is very useful for finding out this information.
Example:
Stumpo Forkbeard the Dwarven Warrior is planning an expedition. He wants to travel by Sea, so
needs to know how many Longships are needed to carry all his equipment. His army consists of
149 Dwarven comrades, 500 food, 500 Armour and 500 Weapons.
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His ships have a Carrying Strength of 15,000 each, so he will need at least 2 ships
to carry all his Troops and Equipment. If he took 2 ships, he would also have space for 8500 more
encumbrance without being slowed.
As your leaders move across various terrains, they will automatically arrange what is carried by who
to ensure the best move rates possible.
All creatures in the land of Serim Ral have an alignment - a general measure of their behaviour, moral values and outlook on life. Creatures of opposing alignments will not mix very well, and this ultimately affects their usefulness in battle. The stronger your armies protestations, the less likely they are to be fighting as well as they could - it may even get to the stage where a group of creatures become so vexed that they just pack up and go. Alignment also affects other things - like your chances of recruiting other creatures into your army. Paladins will refuse to allow creatures who's alignment differs from their own in their army.
There is only one way to win a game of Serim Ral - Complete destruction of all
opposition. You can do this either on your own or with an alliance of
other empires. Although it's unlikely that this will be accomplished on your
own, it's not impossible. Either way, calling down the Gods to Aid you in the
Final Battle will help considerably in wiping the floor with any remaining
enemies. To call down your God, you will need to collect all seven of your Gods
Artefacts. The seven artefacts are the key that is needed to enter "The Arena
Of Lost Souls".
In games earlier than SR23, a Leader with all seven artefacts is
able to simply walk into the Arena Of Lost Souls which is at a secret location
on the map which you'll need to find. In Games SR23 onwards, the Arena is
located 'off map', in other words you cannot just walk into it. The Arena can
be reached by drinking potions at any time, although this is quite a risky
business due to their extremely random effects. A leader carrying all seven
Artefacts can also visit any teleporting special location - possessing the
"seven artefact key" will teleport the leader directly to the Arena. In Ocean
Lords games, visiting a Small Pyramid will have the same effect.
Once at the Arena with the seven Artefacts of your God, your leader will need
to spend one whole turn at that location so that they can perform the ceremony
required to call down the Gods themselves.
As well as Calling down your God and his minions this will summon the Main
Leaders of all remaining empires to the Arena, ready for the 'Battle To End
All Battles'. From then onwards, all Retreat percentages are set to 100% and
if your Main Leader dies, your entire empire will defect to the killer.
The calling down of your God does not automatically mean you have won the game,
although the firepower now at your disposal should make the task of destroying
the opposition a lot easier.
There are four possible Win Levels:-
Level 1 - Ultimate Victory - "Armageddon"
Achieved by calling down the Gods and being the last active player left alive. The best possible Victory.
Level 2 - Ultimate Alliance Victory*
Achieved by calling down the Gods and being part of an alliance of active players (max 7) who agree to an Alliance Win*.
Level 3 - Victory - "Last Man Standing"
Achieved by being the last active player alive. Gods not called.
Level 4 - Alliance Victory*
Achieved by being part of an alliance of active players (max 7) who agree to
an Alliance Win*. Gods not called.
* A maximum of 7 Empires can declare an Alliance Win. To declare an Alliance
Win ALL remaining players in the game must have recognised each other as
'Friend' and must all issue a PROCLAIM order, stating "I DECLARE AN ALLIANCE
WIN" on the same turn. Even if you think you have a very solid alliance, it's
always worth sending in a full set of orders with your declaration as if just
one active empire does not declare or has not recognised all other players as
friend, the game will continue until these win conditions are met.
PLEASE NOTE: We cannot stress enough how important the above instructions are.
ID will not manually intervene, re-run turns or impart any information
regarding other players in the event of a win declaration failing. It is
completely up to you the players to ensure your alliance issues the correct
orders to bring about the end of the game. Failure to do so means the game will
continue, until all the above conditions are met.
As well as the admiration and hero-worship of all other Serim Ral players,
winners will receive a nice certificate and be entered into the
Serim Ral Hall of Fame on our website. A generous
amount of Free Turn Credit will also be distributed amongst the victorious.
