Once the game has started, you have at least one "map window" open. (For brevity, these can be called just "maps"). Each map window has identical capabilities, so you can play by using just one, or have one for each area of interest, or have some of them serve specialized purposes. For instance, you can have a map window that shows the entire world.
Each map window consists of a number of panes, whose size you may adjust by dragging the small square grips that may be seen on the the pane boundaries.
---------------------------------------------------------- | | | | history/notices | | | | | |-------------------------------------| sides | | command prompt | | |-------------------------------------| | | turn/date |------------------| |-------------------------------------| | | | | | | | unit/cell info | | | | | | | |-----------------------------| | | | | unit types | | | | | | ctrl | | | | panel | | | | | | | | | map view | | | | | | | | |------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | panner | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------
The map view is the actual display of the world.
Each map may have one current position and one current unit. The current position is specially highlighted, and the info subwindow displays information about it. If in addition there is a current unit at the current position, then it will be highlighted rather than the entire cell, and the info pane will describe it in detail. The current unit is the one to which your commands apply; it will always be a unit that you control. If the current position includes a picture of someone else's unit, the info will describe its type and owner but no more.
The info pane has the general form
<unit owner, type, name> <hp> <acp>|<cp> <cxp> <location> <other units here> <occupants> <supply> <plan> <more supply> <tasks> <even more supply>
Items like <hp>
and acp
have the form
current/max
, so that you can get an idea
of how the value compares to what it could be.
It will nearly always be the case that the world is too large to be seen all at once. You can scroll around in two ways. First, if you are in survey mode, and click near any edge of the view, Xconq will put the position you clicked at the center of the view. By clicking in the same place repeatedly, you can "walk" the view in any desired direction.
If you want to go directly to a particular part of the world, use the panner in the bottom right corner of the map window. To use the panner, click and drag the shadowed box inside the panner. The panner is sized to match the map, and the shadowed box is sized to match the view, so you can get a general idea of of where the map is within the world.
If you click the button labelled "More..." in the leftside controls, you will get a popup dialog that is a full set of viewing controls. Unlike the leftside view controls, these do not act at once; instead, you toggle them on or off, then click on "Apply" or "Done" to see the effects. This allows you to make a number of changes, but only redraw the map once when you are ready to see the results. "Apply" leaves the popup in place, while "Done" makes it go away. You can leave the popup up permanently and continue play, if you like.
Note that each map will have its own separate view control popup, and that they're not clearly distinguished from each other. Fortunately, these only affect display, not the game itself.