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HSC14 Round 22: ARCHON bonus War Room


therealbountybob

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ARCHON

archon.png

Oh yes, it's here... One of the greatest games of all time Archon has made it into the HSC for the season 14 finale, and it doesn't even have any scoring! Not to worry HSCers as we will come up with some creative challenges to keep you all busy and earn those precious HSC points to move you up the final standings for Season 14. Thanks for playing this year everyone, much appreciated.

 

If you've not played before Turn up the TV volume, load Archon and let the demo mode play though, there are two sets of guys; light and dark, you move one of them around the board and when they overlap the opponents, it's battle time! The winner's piece remains on the square. If you wipe out the opponets side or capture the 5 power points you are victorious!

NOTE: the light side pieces are stronger on the light squares and vice versa.

 

Download Fandal XEX

Instructions and reviews on Atarimania

slx found this pdf of the original full manual :thumbsup:

 

The challenges

Play each one using both Light and Dark sides (so you get two sets of points for each challenge). NTSC players - let me know if you think the game is too hard to beat - on PAL(UK) it's challenging but not impossible!

1 play Archon! 1pt

2 win by capturing 5 power points 2pts

3 win by eliminating the opponent 3pts - bonus point for least lost pieces/best performance we'll have to agree on this!

4 no summon elemental allowed - win by elimination 1pt

5 no spells allowed - win by elimination 2pts

6 sacrifice your wizard/sauceror - move them into a battle at the first opportunitiy - no other moves, and let them be killed. No spells allowed. Opponent moves first.

6a - win by capturing 5 power points 1pt

6b - win by eliminating the opponent 2pts

7 no Unicorns/Basilisks, no spells allowed. Do not move them and when they are attacked sacrifice them both! Opponent moves first.

7a - win by capturing 5 power points 1pt

7b - win by eliminating the opponent 2pts

8 no Ogres/Trolls, no Djini/Dragon, no spells allowed. Do not move them and when they are attacked sacrifice them all! Opponent moves first.

8a - win by capturing 5 power points 1pt

8b - win by eliminating the opponent 2pts

9 NEW "The how about this then deteacher Challenge" No power point use. 1st move wizard/sauceror onto neutral square. Then move all pieces onto neutral or squares of the opposite colour - no attacking opponent until this is done. You are not allowed onto squares of your own colour. No spells allowed. 2pts

10 Bonus play 2 player (not on your own!!), 2pts for each game - max 10pts

 

>>>Tables<<< on Post #35

 

Bonus game: War Room

war_room.png

From the abbuc software contest: it's "Archon on ice without the board!" so get stuck into the opponents. Scoring 1pt for a win with each character use joystick l/r plus Select/Option to set. Downloads: War Room updated ver and the Manual. Please give the guys some feedback :)

 

Hope this is ok for everyone, I didn't like the timed idea as it's not a game to be rushed plus the NTSC/PAL differences etc but you can do this if you wish! If you find the game too hard to complete any of the challenges, just post about each game you played for a bonus point or two. This round (and the season) will end Tuesday 2nd Jan 10PM UK TIME.

 

EVERYONE WELCOME TO PLAY, POST IF YOU NEED HELP ;-)

Edited by therealbountybob
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Hm.. I played a game of Archon vs a friend yesterday (Saturday), but then I realize we played it on the C64 rather than the Atari 130XE placed next to it so that game had not counted for HSC bonus even if it happened within this round.

 

What striked me is that the C64 version I had downloaded and put on my EasyFlash cartridge is translated into German, which made it a bit harder, in particular the spells. It makes me wonder if the Atari 8-bit version also exists in many languages, although it would be a bit silly to include bonus points for playing the game in a foreign language (other than English, which all of us supposedly know well enough to handle the game).

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Ok, a few more challenges completed:

 

Elimination w/no spells:

 

post-9712-0-57322900-1513548543.png

 

Elimination after sacrificing Wizard:

 

post-9712-0-60928800-1513548554.png

 

Capture the Power Spots after sacrificing Wizard:

 

post-9712-0-52711500-1513549185.png

 

My tip for these challenges...take out the opponent's wizard/sorcerer immediately. That will eliminate CPU's ability to cast spells on you. I think I've completed all the challenges, playing the light side. Now to go to "The Dark Side."

Edited by Deteacher
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deteacher :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

OK either deteacher is an expert NTSC Archoner or I've lost my PAL powers (both) but I've barely survived my first outing and captured the 5 power points as light!

I'm totally rusty and this was much tougher than I had expected!!

post-19705-0-66806100-1513617988.jpg

it stays on screen at the end of game - here's some attract mode goodness:

post-19705-0-96150700-1513618006.jpg

 

I'll add another stipulation and another expert challenge to the list... ;)

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All power points captured (game 2) as Light (with Light starting). Getting back into this ;) but don't know how I will survive without my beloved unicorns.

 

post-4219-0-81773300-1513618923.png

 

Tried the same for dark with light starting and got clobbered after an epic battle to the last man. Light won with one knight remaining. Need to work on my melee combat skills. This time I used a gamepad, though, while the first game was with a TAC-2. Maybe my left thumb is too slow.

Edited by slx
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As Light


1 Play Archon! 1pt CHECK


2 Win by capturing 5 power points 2pts CHECK


4 no summon elemental allowed - win by elimination 2pts CHECK


5no spells allowed - win by elimination 2pts CHECK


7no Unicorns/Basilisks or spells. Do not move them and when they are attacked sacrifice them both! Opponent moves first. No spells allowed. CHECK



post-48102-0-15980900-1513626300.jpg



As Dark


TBA

Edited by therealbountybob
I've renumbered the challenges - trbb
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Well you guys are hitting the road running :-o

 

#2 Completed - win by power points playing as Dark - changed to my Comp Pro stick as I was too scared to shoot straight using my beloved Quickshot :-D

 

Anyone who is new to the game and struggling can use the feature to get an extra piece for the first three challenges (I've renumbered them by the way) - I think you click on the wizard and do summon then move the cursor to a blank space - someone will know and report back on this ? I'll play more Archon tomorrow now I'm taking a look at the latest ver of War Room!

 

I've added another couple of challenges and reduced the scoring slightly as there's two sets of points for each (light and dark) :)

 

Season 14 Current Standings updated with previous round's scores.

 

Still time to vote in the Kaz Kompo for best games of 2016

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deteacher :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

OK either deteacher is an expert NTSC Archoner or I've lost my PAL powers (both) but I've barely survived my first outing and captured the 5 power points as light!

I'm totally rusty and this was much tougher than I had expected!!

attachicon.gifPhoto1850.jpg

it stays on screen at the end of game - here's some attract mode goodness:

attachicon.gifPhoto1851.jpg

 

I'll add another stipulation and another expert challenge to the list... ;)

 

LOL! Thanks, TRBB. I played the crap out of this game as a kid. One of my all time favorites. I will say, once you learn the art of the computer's attack strategy, you can use it to your advantage. Gonna give the new challenges a try, but it will be a lot harder without my unicorns, Djinn and Trolls. :)

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Challenge two completed for the dark side (no Elementals used but needed a spell). That dragon is nice and packs some punch even on light squares (Light wizard imprisoned it on a center vertical square and kept attacking it but never killed it off).

 

post-4219-0-05227000-1513669240.png

 

Had a go for challenge 3 but after almost eliminating Light starting with a nice Dragon romp I accidentally won by defeating a knight on a power point. Had to try again and finally made it but with my forces severely decimated.

 

post-4219-0-01210100-1513677454.png

 

There's a very detailed description, probably more helpful to those new to the game who have not sucked up the feeling for who's how strong when and where in their digital infancy :-D It deserves a read even by experienced players as it confirms that the Atari version is the best version of the game. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Even more detailed informations gained from reverse engineering the game, including an AI analysis and detailed stats. Maybe useful to add to post #1. Maybe another challenge to play not having read all this :?

 

Just found that the manual that Atari included with the XE version is a lot shorter than the original EA version available on Atarimania. It doesn't contain the stats and omits a lot of the hints and strategy tips. What a bunch of cheapos, denying their players valuable information to save maybe 5c worth of paper and printing.

 

I found a pdf copy of the original manual.

 

Now there's some work to be done. Dark will get some reprieve before getting eliminated.

Edited by slx
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I know this is not scoring, but.

 

post-48102-0-41407100-1513706402.jpg

 

I played how I like with Light on this occasion and timed it to a Win.

 

22Min 48 Sec TIMED TOTAL ELIMINATION

 

I thought I wrapped it up early.... but lost the unicorns, genie and wizard.

 

Edit: I only playing this version to total elimination, because I had an early quick win and messed up the times. Just lucky.

 

 

Edited by RedThunder
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...

What about that extra piece thing deteacher? I forgot to try it.

 

 

What extra piece thing? Don't know what you mean.

I've just been messing around, might not be what I thought but I did find this: if you choose revive (lose a piece first) and then click on the bottom space instead of the lost piece you get a random(?) piece but when it gets planted on the board it is only a knight. So not much use really :D

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Had my first blow-out: Dark side no summon - a bleeding valkyrie had my number! Was down to 1 vs 2; my sauceror and a guy with a club, but had to tackle it on a light square. When the computer is down to one piece it looks like it doesn't attack you even on a changeable square.

post-19705-0-09789300-1513862948.jpg

post-19705-0-91773400-1513862954.jpg

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Challenge 3, Light winning by elimination (and having all power points at the same time).

 

post-4219-0-22752500-1513803820.png

 

Altogether winning by elimination feels a bit like a slog compared to capturing all power points.

 

Some computer decisions feel half-baked, like the computer imprisoning my Phoenix rather than the Djinni.

 

Anyone found an elegant use for the Phoenix besides roasting goblins on lighter squares?

Edited by slx
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Challenge 3, Light winning by elimination (and having all power points at the same time).

...

 

Altogether winning by elimination feels a bit like a slog compared to capturing all power points.

 

Some computer decisions feel half-baked, like the computer imprisoning my Phoenix rather than the Djinni.

 

Anyone found an elegant use for the Phoenix besides roasting goblins on lighter squares?

It's fun vs shapeshifter and especially the wraith! banshee!!

[edit[Just reading that manual it implies it is one of the strongest pieces but I'm not so sure about that?

Would be great to see some of the logic modified.

 

With this extended Archoning I'm trying to use the blockage things more - hiding behind them with the little guys and nipping out for a quick slug or shooting diagonally through them to catch mr.computer unawares :)

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With this extended Archoning I'm trying to use the blockage things more - hiding behind them with the little guys and nipping out for a quick slug or shooting diagonally through them to catch mr.computer unawares :)

 

I will have to learn that, too. My standard tactic is to move up and down on the left or right side and wait for an enemy to move up/down to my location and then hit him with a sideways shot. I am hopeless at diagonal shots and find vertical shots much harder, too.

 

I did a Shapeshifter vs. Phoenix fight in one of the games but that really seems to be a matter of split-second trigger action to inflict some damage before/after the fire protection begins/wears off for the other player and the only way to win this is probably due to more strength to start with.

 

I really need to play this against a good human player again. This is really one of the best Atari 8-bit games of all time, a technical marvel when published and probably the best fusion of chess and action ever.

Edited by slx
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