Basic Rules Shortcuts Interface Descriptions Network Games FAQs & Tips
Basic Rules
The objective of Castle Vox is to capture all the enemy Castles on the map! Use your Pawns and Knights to out-wit, out-maneuver, and defeat your opponenets on the battlefield. Conquer valuable territories, grow your army, and assault enemy Castles to take them for yourself!
Teams
| Many maps in Castle Vox are team maps. When you start a game, Castle Vox will tell you who is on your team with popup messages. You can also view who is on your team by looking at the symbol in the 2nd column of the Player Info (PI) display. Players with the same symbol are on the same team. Team mates can coordinate attacks and can co-occupy the same spaces and continents. But you can not build units in a teammates Castle.
Player Info (PI) Display
| The Player Info display is a helpful table found inside all Vox maps. The 1st column shows the player colors, the 2nd column is the team symbol and character name. Characters with the same team symbol are on the same team. The 3rd column is the player type or "Brain," this will be the name of either a computer AI or human player. The 4th-6th columns show how much land each player occupies, how much their army is worth, and how much gold they are currently making each turn.
TIP: Click and drag the PI display to move it.
TIP: Right click the AI name in the PI display to change AIs during single-player games.
Gold & Economy
| Each space on the map is assigned a bonus value. Owning a territory will give you gold equal to the bonus value of that space. Some spaces are grouped together to form "continents" with an extra bonus value. Occupying every territory of a continent will give you gold equal to the bonus value of the continent. You use gold to recruit more units. You can see the bonus values of each space and continent by clicking the "Bonuses" button at the bottom of the game window. Beside each value on the bonuses screen is the team symbol that currently owns said space or continent.
TIP: If you and your teammates share an entire continent, you will share the continent bonus!
Units
In Castle Vox, no matter what map you play, there are 3 units: Pawn, Knight, and Castle. Each map may represent these units with a different image, but they are still the same unit in every map.
| Castle The Castle is the most expensive unit, costing 80 gold each. In order to build a new Castle, a space must have a minimum of 5 units. Castles provides an extra defensive bonus. New pawn and knight units can only be placed on spaces that contain a Castle. Captured castles are not destroyed, they can be used by the new owner.
| Pawn Pawns cost 3 gold each. The pawn has a strong defensive value, but a weak attacking value. Each pawn can move one adjacent space per turn.
| Knight Knights cost 5 gold each. The knight has a weak defensive value, but a strong attacking value. Each knight can move up to 2 adjacent spaces per turn, provided the first space is friendly or empty.
Gameplay
Each turn of Castle Vox is comprised of moving your units, and recruiting new units. Every player takes their turn during the same time, independently of each other.
| Recruiting You may choose to recruit new units anytime during your turn. To start recruiting click on one of your Castles or press the "Recruit" button at the bottom of the map to open the recruit panel. This panel shows you how much gold you currently have. Click on the unit you want to purchase, then click the space on the map where you want to place that unit. Remember, pawns and knights can only be recruited to spaces with a Castle, and a Castle can only be recruited to spaces with at least 5 units occupying it.
WARNING: Newly recruited units will not become active in your Castle space until the beginning of the next turn. If your Castle gets conquered, any units being recruited there are lost forever.
| Moving and Attacking Click on the unit you want to move, then click the space you want to move them to, and a single unit will be ordered there.
TIP: Hold down the control key to move 5 units at a time, the option key for 10 at a time, or shift to move all of the current selected units.
You can move any or all of your units on the map. Pawns can move 1 adjacent space and Knights can move up to 2, provided the first space is friendly or empty. A red movement arrow indicates an attack. A green arrow indicates a friendly or defensive move. To undo a move or attack, right-click on the movement arrow.
| Conflict Resolution When you have finished all your moves and recruiting, press the "Finished Moves" button at the bottom of the game window. When every player is finished, it will trigger the conflict resolution phase in which all battles are resolved. Conflicts are resolved by the game according to the attack/defend values of the units involved. When all battles have been resolved, a new turn will begin again. This continues until one team owns all the Castles on the map, wherein they win the game!
Shortcuts
• Right-click order arrows to undo orders This includes both movement arrows and recruit arrows. • Control-click to order 5 units • Option-click to order 10 units • Control-Option-click to order 50 units • Shift-click to order all selected units • Z-click to order all-but-one-unit • When ordering large army groups, hold a number key (2-9) and click on countries to divide your armies into equal parts. For example, after selecting an army, holding the 3 key and clicking on a country will move 1/3 of your army to that country. • Command-E to finish your moves • Command-R to show/hide the recruit panel • Command-B to show/hide map bonuses
TIP: Look under the Map and Game menus for more commands and shortcuts.
Main Menu Interface
| 1: This lists all maps that you currently have installed in Castle Vox. 2: Click this button to open the Castle Vox map manager, where you can peruse and download new maps and AIs. 3: Choose which player on the selected map you desire to play, as well as the difficulty setting. Choosing a difficulty heading such as "Hard" will randomly distribute all the hard AIs to fill the remaining player slots on the map. If you choose a particular AI such as "polymath" then all remaining player slots will be the "polymath" AI.
4: Open the Map Editor. 5: Open the preferences window. 6: Open the Castle Vox Achievements window that tracks all of your wins, losses, and current rank. 7: Open the Online Game Tracker where you can join multi-player games of Castle Vox. 8: Press this button to start a new game.
Map Manager
| The Castle Vox map manager is where registered users will find a plethora of maps available to download into the game. Use the map sets drop down to browse particular categories or use the search field if you are looking for something specific. To install or update a map simply select it and press the "Install" button at the bottom of the window. To remove a map, select it and the install button will turn to a "Remove" button. Click it and the selected map will be removed from Castle Vox. You can also rate maps here to tell those hard working cartographers what you like and don't like.
Preferences
| The preferences window provides several settings to optimize the Castle Vox experience for your liking. If you have the "Allow network players to join" box checked it means that when you click (8) Start New Game from the main interface you will start a multi-player "host" where other users can join your game of Castle Vox, provided you have your internet and port settings correctly configured. For help with this please follow this link. If you have the "Advertise network games internet-wide" box checked then your "host" will appear in the Online Game Tracker and anyone from around the world can join. If it is unchecked then only people you provide your IP address to will be able to join your host. The battle speed slider effects how fast the conflict resolution phase of the game takes.
Network Games Listing
| This is the Online Game Tracker. The main table displays all the online games currently being advertised. To join a game, select it in the table and click "Join Game." The first column of the table will display a little icon if you are already a player in that room. The "Connected" column shows how many users are currently in the room at the moment. The "Humans" column shows how many of the maps player slots are being played by humans. For example if the Humans column reads "2/5" it means that of the 5 available players slots on the map, 2 have been occupied by human players, the other 3 are currently AIs and could be filled by other humans at any time.
The "Turn Time" column shows the round length. A display reading "10/16 hours" means that the room has rounds that last up to 16 hours and there are 10 hours left in the current round. If all players finish their moves before the 16 hours is up, then the round moves on and the clock is reset. A turn time reading of "1.5 minutes" means each round only lasts a minute and a half. A room that is bolded means that you are a player in that room and you have moves to make for the current round. A room that is in green means that there are available player slots open. To join a private game, type the IP address in the "Private game address" box then press "Join Game."
WARNING: In order to join an advertised game the Private Game box must be empty.
Playing Online
| When you join or launch an online network game you will be provided with a chat box at the bottom of the map. To join an open slot you can type /play (optionally followed by the name of the open position you would like to play). This will replace the AI player with yourself. Typing only /play will randomly assign you to one of the open positions available.
TIP: Use the TAB key to autocomplete player names.
Type /t before messages you wish only to be read by your teammates. Team chat is shown in green. Scroll up in the chat box to read previous messages. Remember, any messages shown in green text are messages from teammates that can only be read by your teammates. After you have made all your moves press the "Finished moves" button. If the game has a long turn timer, such as 16 hours, then you can leave the game and come back later. When you close the window to leave the room a message will pop up asking "what should happen to your player?" Click the "I'll be Back" button if you plan on returning. Click "Bot Takeover" button if you don't plan on returning and you want the position to be reassigned to an AI player. If you are playing in the current game and feel as if there's no way you can win, type /surrender to raise the white flag and give the win to your opponent(s).
TIP: Type / and then press the TAB key on your keyboard to explore other available chat commands.
FAQs & Tips
• When a Castle gets attacked, do the units being recruited there take part in the defense? No. Units only get recruited into Castles after all battles have been resolved. If a Castle gets conquered any units recruiting there that turn are lost forever. • Can my Knights use their attack value when traveling into a battle in a friendly country? No. If your team owns the country at the start of the round, your units can only defend there. Knights only use their attack value when moving into a country that is owned by the enemy. • When 2 allies attack the same country in the same move how is the battle run, and who controls the country after the battle? The attacking allies will be grouped together and collectively fight the defenders. The player with the most surviving units will take ownership of the country after the battle. • If there is no defender in a country and 3 separate teams attack it, does one get designated as the 'defender'? No, they will all use attack values. • If enemy players A and B both attack a country owned by player C, how are the battles figured? A and B will both attack the defender to start with, with the defender fighting against both of them at the same time. If the defender gets eliminated then A and B attack each others forces until only 1 player is left. • Can I give-up and see the end graph of the game? Under the Game menu you have the option to Surrender. • Can I preview the results of a battle? The Battle Odds Calculator can help you judge battle results. Watch out though, it will only be accurate if the enemy moves as you expect him to. Even then, there's some randomness in every battle • If I attack an enemy country at the same time he attacks me, will we meet in the middle? No. If you attack an enemy country with all of your armies and your enemy attacks your country with all their armies, you will not meet in battle. Instead, you will swap places and essentially trade countries. Plan for this when doing battle, it's usually good to leave forces behind just in case an enemy tries to slip behind your front lines to wreak havoc. • Can I secretly chat with my teammates? Yes. Use the /t command to send secret team-chat to your allies. Team-chats are always shown in green text. Colloborating with your teammates is the best way for your team to win. • Can I change my moves after I click Finished Moves? During online multi-player games, you can change your moves after you've clicked "Finished Moves" as long as the game is still waiting for other players. It is not until every player has clicked the "Finished Moves" button that your moves will become finalized. • If I lose my Castle am I dead? All hope may not be lost, provided you have at least 5 units remaining in play. You can save money round to round until you have enough to buy a new castle, which can be placed in a teammates land. However, even if you build a castle in a teammates land, you will be the only one that can recruit there. • Where can I find out more? Discuss strategy and more in the Castle Vox Forums.