BAttlE for

Cronos

poly.play
 TABLE IntroductiON
OF CONTENTS The galaxy is controlled by a few powerful dynasties, that are constantly fighting
each other for influence and wealth.
Introduction ..................................................................................... 3 Each of these dynasties controls dozens or hundreds of systems and most
Technical Requirements ...................................................................... 3 conflicts are local, so the forces involved are fairly small.
Credits .............................................................................................. 3 As a commander in the service of one of these dynasties, you are send to a wide
Game Settings ................................................................................... 4 variety of battlefields.
Game Modes ...................................................................................... 4 So far you have always successfully completed your missions. You should
Campaign .......................................................................................... 4 continue to be. Your masters don’t tolerate failure …
Skirmish ........................................................................................... 4
Simulator .......................................................................................... 5 TEchnicAl
Maps/Passwords ................................................................................ 5
Save Games ....................................................................................... 5 REquirEmEnts
User Interface ................................................................................... 6 This game was created for the Commodore 64. It can be played on real hardware,
Battlefield Controls ........................................................................... 8 or in a C64 emulator like Vice.
Units ................................................................................................ 9 The game is controlled with a joystick in port 2 and is compatible with PAL and
NTSC systems.
Gunfight ......................................................................................... 11
The disk version requires a real disk drive or when using Vice, disk drive
Buildings ........................................................................................ 12
emulation turned on.
Appendix: Unit List .......................................................................... 14
The game can be run from other storage devices like SD2IEC.

CrEdits
• CO N CEPT, COD E, GA ME A RT, SFX a n d MA NUA L T EXT
FRIEDRICH VOLMERING
• MUSI C CARSTEN PRZYLUZKY
• A DDI T I ONA L SFX JÖRG WINTERSTEIN
• PACKAGING and PRINT DESIGN SEBASTIAN BACH (poly.play)
• MANUAL ILLUSTRATIONS FRIEDRICH VOLMERING with DALL-E 3
• USED FONTS AXEL by MONOTYPE, FUTURE EARTH by V. SARELA
Released in 2024 by

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 GAmE SETtings SimulAtor
When pressing the joystick button on the title screen, a settings window appears. Play missions in the battle simulator. The maps all are all single screen size and
Use joystick up/down to navigate through the settings. on an absolute basic terrain to reduce complexity.
Each map is a training mission for a certain tactical aspect and each mission can

GAmE ModEs be completed successful. If you don’t master a mission, then you have the wrong
strategy.
The game can be played in three different game modes. Move the joystick left/
right to change the game mode.
MAps/
CAmpAign PAsSwords
Whenever you receive a new medal in campaign mode, you also get a new
The campaign contains 8 missions that are unlocked successively.
password. When selecting this setting option by pressing fire, you have to
Each mission can be played in two difficulty levels. You only need to finish a enter 6 letters. Use the joystick up/down to chose the letter for each place and
mission on the first difficulty level to unlock the next mission. left/right to change the password place. Press fire when you have entered the
In the mission’s screen next to each mission there are two medal slots with the password, when it’s invalid it’s reset.
following meaning: In Skirmish and Simulator mode you can directly choose one of the available
• 0 M E DA LS The mission is unlocked, but you haven’t finished it yet. maps by pressing left/right.

• 1 M E DA L The mission was completed on the first difficulty level.

• 2 M E DA LS The mission was completed on the second difficulty level.
When you select a mission, you always start in the current mission’s difficulty
SAvE GAmEs
In addition to the password system, a game session can be stored onto disk.
level. The difficulty only affects the number of units on a map. There is only one save game file. To store a session, select the disk symbol from
In the mission’s screen a password is displayed. That password allows you to the user interface and press fire.
restore your progress in another game session. To restore a saved game, select load from the settings and press fire. If an error
The password is an alternative for save games, which require a disk. When saving occurs while loading, the border color of the screen will change. If the loading
a game, the current password is saved too. was successful, the match is immediately started.
Important: Only a disk drive device with number 8 is supported.

Skirmish To use the save game feature in Vice-Emulator, you have to make sure that a disk
image is attached.
By selecting game mode Skirmish, you can choose between a couple of maps
only available in this mode.
When you start the game, you will enter the match configuration screen. Here
you can set the type and the fraction for each player.
Players from the same fraction play as a team. They cannot attack each other and
win if only units from their faction remain.

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 UsEr IntErfAcE
[5] UN I T / T ER R A I N STAT S
Unit name
Firepower
Armor
Max attack range
Move points
Condition in %
Next to the armor and the speed stats, terrain modification icons are shown
when the terrain characteristics differ from standard terrain.
Armor
House = Cover
Castle = Strong cover
Move speed
[1] HE AD E R In the header the current round, the active player and the Rubble: Move cost = 2
number of units the active player controls are shown. On most maps the number Mountain: Move cost = 3
of rounds starts at 1 and is counted up. Bird: Only flying units can pass
[2] B ANNE R In the top right a banner shows the color of the current [6] MENU
player. Next to the player’s banner, there are two smaller ones, showing the
– Hammer: Change factory production
color of up to two allies, if available.
– Hourglass: End turn
[3] M A P The largest part of the screen shows the battle map with the terrain – Floppy-Disk: Save game to disk
and units. When the map is larger than the screen, it can be scrolled by moving
– Door: Exit match
the cursor to the edges.
To enter the menu either move the cursor onto an empty field and press fire. The
[4] M IN I MAP Below the banner a mini map is displayed. Every dot shows second way to enter the menu is to select an own factory and press fire. To leave
the position of a unit. The color equals the player color. Flashing white dots the menu keep pressing the joystick left.
represent neutral factories.

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 BAttlEfiEld When the attack mode is entered, the map is centered around the selected unit,

Controls so that you can keep an eye on all targets.

Move the cursor to any invalid attack position and press fire to abort the action,
or click onto another own unit with moving points left, to switch into move-
• T H E C U RSO R A blinking cursor shows your current position on the mode for that other unit.
battlefield. Move the cursor onto a unit or a building and press fire to interact The attack range of a unit determines which adjacent fields it can attack. In
with them. difference to moving the distance is measured the same either if horizontal,
When pressing fire while selection one of your units, can give them commands vertical or diagonal.
like to move or to attack. Most units can attack and move once each turn.
Important: the order in which the commands are given doesn’t matter. You can • CH ECKI NG ATTAC K R A NGES You can check the attack range of a
always move and attack in a turn, if the unit is able to do so. hostile unit by selecting it and pressing fire. Press fire to abort the action.
• MOV ING If you have selected an • CO LO R COD I NG The action state of a unit on the battlefield is
own unit with the cursor that still can visualized with four different colors:
move, press fire, to enter the move-mode. – Player color The default color
If the unit can move, all possible
– Red The unit cannot move anymore but still attack
destinations are shown in blue. Move
the cursor to such a destination and – Blue The unit cannot attack anymore but still move
press fire to execute the move. Move – Gray The unit has used all it’s actions this turn
the cursor to any invalid move position
and press fire to abort the action.
A movement contains of single steps.
Within a step only a directly adjacent
Units
fields can be reached. • ATT R I BU T ES
Most unit only have only one movement per turn, during which they can spend – Move points The amount of move points a unit can spend each turn.
any number of their movement points. Depending on the terrain, entering a field cost some move points. The more
The following illustration shows the calculation of moving costs. impassable the terrain, the higher the movement costs.
• ATTAC K IN G If you have selected – Attack min/max reach To attack, the distance between two units have to
an own unit with the cursor, that have be equal or larger then the min distance and equal or smaller then the max
hasn’t performed any action this round, attack distance.
press fire twice to enter the attack- – Size/Max size/Minimum size Each unit has a max, a minimum and a
mode. The attack range (gray) and valid current size. When the current size drops below zero, the unit is removed.
targets (red) are highlighted. The max size can never be exceeded, When a unit drops below the minimum
At the end of a move, if enemy units are size, the efficiency decreases.
in range of your moved unit, they are – Firepower The firepower determines the amount of damage a unit can deal.
automatically marked as targets and – Armor Armor reduces combat damage, the higher the more damage is absorbed.
you can select one of these targets to
attack. In this case, only the targets are – Experience There is a maximum of six experience levels. Three Medal
shown, not the whole attack range. levels and three intermediate levels. A unit can gather one experience

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 level in combat, when the target unit suffers at least one loss. A unit gains the reorganized unit contains different forces now, that are not well-
no experience when attacking a building. A unit gains double experience, coordinated yet.
when the target is destroyed in To merge two units, click the source unit and then move it onto the target unit.
combat. The experience is visualized – Conquer See chapter Buildings.
as medals and badges right to the
units strength, below the unit icon.

• A B IL IT IE S Gunfight
– Off-road The unit doesn’t suffer from terrain penalty when moving. A gunfight is started when one unit attacks another. Under certain circumstances,
Crossing each field cost 1 move point. the initial defender may backfire. Then both units switch roles of attacker and
– Flying The unit can only be attacked by units with air combat ability. defender, making both units attacker and defender in a single gunfight.
Crossing each field cost 1 move point. The unit can enter blocked terrain. In a gunfight the amount of damage each unit deals is calculated and then
The unit itself is non-blocking, other units can pass them by. assigned to the other one. The damage is dealt simultaneously and depends on
– Air Combat The unit can attack flying units. the following factors:
– Ground Combat The unit can attack ground units. – The attackers firepower The firepower determines the amount of damage a
unit can deal.
– Auto-Repair The unit repairs itself each round. Repairing only reduces the
damage taken. Losses cannot be restored this way. – The defenders armor The higher the defenders armor, the more the
attackers damage is reduced.
– Shoot-and-scoot The unit can interrupt the movement to attack. This is
useful to get artillery into attack range and then retreat it behind the own – The attackers experience A unit’s experience increases damage, but only
lines. The unit can move as long as move points are left. medal levels count when calculating the bonus.
– Move-or-shoot The unit can only either move or attack each turn. – The attackers unit size Units require a certain minimum size to ensure
maximum efficiency. If the number of troops falls below this, efficiency
– Conquer The ability to conquer buildings.
decreases. The minimum size depends on the unit type.
• AC T IO N S – The defenders cover The better the cover, the less damage the attacker will
Units can execute different actions: do. A lunar crater is very good cover, a trench is even better. Since all air units
can operate at very low altitudes, they can also use cover.
– Move Click once onto a unit. When the unit can move this round, a blue
overlay will appear, highlighting every position the unit can move to. The For every 100 points of damage dealt to a unit, the unit size is reduced by 1.
moving range depends on the unit’s mobility, special unit abilities and the Damage can only be removed by the ability auto-repair or reorganization.
environment. A defending unit can return fire once each round. So when a unit is encountered
– Attack Click twice on a unit that can move or once if the unit already by multiple attackers in a row, it can only return fire during the first attack and is
spend it’s move and all valid targets in range will be marked by painting the defenseless against every additional attack.
underlying fields in red. Click on such a field and an attack takes place. A defender cannot backfire when attacked over distance. So, backfire is only
– Reorganize You can reorganize units in a way, that two units of the same possible, when attacker and defender are located on adjacent positions and the
type are merged to compensate losses. You can only merge units when the defender can fight in close combat (min combat distance is 1).
target unit is below the max size or has received damage. It’s then filled The damage dealt to a factory is always 100 and to a HQ the damage dealt is
up with forces from the source unit, until the max size is reached. The always 50.
experience of the target unit of a merge is reduced by 1. This reflects that Important: There is no random factor in the damage calculation.

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 Buildings – One of the four directly adjacent fields is empty
– The global unit count doesn’t exceed 42
There are two types of buildings: Headquarters and factories. Each player can
only have one headquarter at a time. When the headquarter is lost, the owner – The players unit count doesn’t exceed 18
loses all units on the battlefield. A headquarter doesn’t count as unit. So a Else, the factory switches into the deployment-wait state, which is visualized
player immediately loses when the last non-HQ unit is destroyed. by an exclamation mark. As soon as all three deployment conditions are met,
the produced unit is deployed.
• FACTORIES
There are three types of factories: Light, medium and heavy factories. Each (Factory in deployment-wait state)
factory type can produce different units.
• CONQUERING BUILDINGS
Light Factory:
To conquer a building, the buildings defense has to be reduced to zero.
Medium Factory: When the defense is zero, the building can be conquered by moving a unit
with conquer ability onto that building. The unit will be dissolved and the
Heavy Factory: buildings defense is restored.

Select a factory, enter the menu and click the hammer icon to change the
production order of that factory. Warning: when you change the production
order, the production duration is reset.
Each production order has a different production duration, which is counted
down each round. When the defense of a factory is damaged, a repair order
can be selected. A repair order restores 1 of 3 building defense points. Repair
orders can be executed as long as the building’s defense isn’t at the maximum.
The active order of a factory is show on the top right, the number in the
bottom left shows the remaining defense and the bottom visualizes the
production countdown:

(Factory producing a unit of heavy tanks)

Order Duration in rounds

Repair 2
Assault Troops 2
Production order light factory 3
Production order medium factory 4
Production order heavy factory 5

When the production duration countdown reaches zero, the new unit is
automatically deployed – as long as the following three conditions are met:

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 Appendix: Unit List * Size is Maximum Size/Minimum size for 100 % efficiency.
** Reach is Minimum/Maximum.

Unit Size* Firepower Armour Reach** Speed Abilities Info

– Conquer buildings Cheap and expendable. Due to their speed they are the first in battle, due to
Assault Troops 6/4 1 0 1/1 7
– Ground combat their poor armor they are the first in hell.
Instead of infantry they carry additional firepower. A good choice for mowing
Light Tanks 6/3 2 1 1/1 7 – Ground combat
down lightly armored units.
– Ground combat A squadron of heavy tanks is like an unstoppable avalanche of metal, tearing
Heavy Tanks 6/3 3 2 1/1 3
– Off-road down everything in its path. Heavy tanks are the strongest close combat unit.
The best compromise between speed and long-range destruction. But they
Rocket Launchers 6/3 3 0 2/3 6 – Ground combat
need protection since they cannot fight in close combat.
The task of the assault guns is to break into the enemy’s front line and destroy
– Ground combat
Assault Guns 6/3 2 2 1/2 3 the rear support units. To ensure that they survive long enough to complete
– Off-road
their task, they are heavily armored.
– Ground combat Very effective in hunting defenseless ground units or providing quick support
Gunships 3/1 5 1 1/1 8 – Air combat anywhere on the battlefield. Their ability to fly over any obstacle makes them
– Flying particularly dangerous.
Flak Bunker 3 5 3 1/3 — – Air combat A double-barreled cannon spits welcome greetings into the sky.
– Air combat
Anti Air Missile 3/1 7 1 2/4 2 – Off-road Hit or not, a beautiful fireworks display is guaranteed.
– Move-or-shoot
– Ground combat
Moving them is a game of patience. But once in range, they burn a path
Heavy Guns 4/2 6 1 2/4 2 – Off-road
through the enemy lines.
– Move-or-shoot
– Ground combat A weak opponent if you have the right antidote. Otherwise they will stab you
Drone Swarm 3/1 1 0 1/1 6
– Flying until you bleed to death.
– Ground combat Light Guns are most effective when they attack like a horde of steppe riders:
Light Guns 6/4 1 0 1/1 7
– Shoot-and-scoot they fire their projectiles at the enemy, quickly retreat, and then attack again.
– Ground combat A good choice if you are in desperate need of an anti-aircraft support and
Light Anti Air 6/4 1 0 1/1 7
– Air combat slingshots are sold out.
The challenge is to fly high enough to avoid crashing into the nearest rock and
Dropship 3 — 0 1/1 6 – Conquer buildings
low enough to avoid being caught by anti-aircraft defenses.
– Ground combat
– Air combat These huge war machines are the Swiss Army Knife of warfare. Through their
Combat Mechs 3/1 4 3 1/1 4
– Off-road ability to repair themselves, they can absorb vast amounts of damage.
– Auto-repair
– Ground combat The twin machine gun does a good job and has a great sound. Slightly less
Anti Air 6/3 2 2 1/1 3 – Air combat destructive than heavy tanks, but capable of fighting both ground and air
– Off-road units.
Absurdly armored, with enormous firepower they are waiting for prey. Luckily
Bunker 3 5 3 1/3 — – Ground combat
they can’t move an inch.

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