SUMARIA An historic strategy game reworked by Steve J. Collins Overview: Based on a very early computer game, this 're-mix' lets you take control of the running of a village in ancient Sumaria. Starting with 1000 acres of land, you are given a random populace and a random amount of grain for sowing and feeding to your people. The Game finishes when you have increased your land ownership to 2000 acres. Dealing with rats which destroy your stockpiled grain, and plagues which can decimate your population, are just two of the challenges you must meet. Some help is given in the form of shortfall-insurance, which coughs up if you do not have enough grain to feed all your people and sow all your available acres, but at a cost - and with the inevitable small print! (see below). Do not feed the animals Each individual in your village requires at least 20 bushels of grain per year to remain alive; eg: 100 people require 2000 bushels between them. One person dies for every 20 bushels below the optimum. Alternatively, supplying more grain than required means your people become much better fed, and consequently more fertile - producing increasingly more children the better fed they become. Don't fear the reaper One person can sow, tend and reap 10 acres of land every year; eg: if you have 100 people you can only properly utilise 1000 acres - any surplus is unusable. Yet, on the other hand, if you have 120 people but only 1000 acres, 20 people will be idle - a drain on your resources, as they will consume 400 bushels of your precious grain each year they remain unemployed! Against the grain As well as requiring 20 bushels of grain to feed each person, you also require one bushel of grain for every acre of land to be sowed; eg: with 100 people and 1000 acres, 2000 bushels are required for food and 1000 bushels are required to sow the fields. Insure early for Xmas If, heavens above!, disaster strikes, (from rat-strike or insufficient crop-yield), and you are unable to procure enough grain to both feed and supply your people and lands, help is at hand if you are foresighted enough! While issuing your orders concerning how many will be fed and how much will be sowed, you will be asked if you require shortfall-insurance. If you answer 'yes' to this, ten acres will be deducted from your lands as payment, and this will ensure that whatever befalls you the coming year, enough grain will be supplied to feed all your people and sow all your lands... That is: only for the number of people you fed, and the amount of land you sowed in the immediately preceding year to your purchasing the insurance!!! Duckin' and a-divin' If you are unlucky enough to get caught short of a bushel or two at harvest-time, and you weren't insured, you have two options:- a) starve a few inhabitants (you have to be cruel...) b) sell some land. Buying and selling land is what the game is all about - well, nearly - you have to buy land in order to achieve your 2000 acre target. You can, either, do this safely by only buying land when you have spare bushels - say, after a bumper harvest. Or you can speculate, and sell land when the exchange rate is high, and then buy back when the price drops low. However, if you do decide to speculate, WATCH OUT! It is not uncommon to be totally ruined by a plague of rats gobbling-up all of your acquired assets, while they sit pensively in their silos! The last round-up If this seems all very complicated, take heart, it isn't as bad as it seems. The simple upshot is: a) feed the people, b) plough the fields and scatter..., c) buy land when you can afford it, d) sell land and/or starve citizens when you're a-can-short- of-a-six-pack, e) HAVE FUN. Ending the program Typing an 'x' at the first prompt ("How many acres...?") will stop the program cleanly; or:- hold down the CONTROL key and press the 'C' key at the same time to terminate the program at any point. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL HACK If you liked this program, then please show your support by sending a small registration fee of five pounds (sterling) to the address listed below. You will receive:- a) any new updates, b) program listing, c) a signed thank-you letter from the entire Boughton-and-Entwistle rugby-league football team - namely: ME. Please send registration, (comments, suggestions, fault-reports and patent writs welcome), to: Mr SJ. Collins 4a Hartington street, Handbridge, Chester, CH4 7BW England.