                  MARS RULES AND MAPS

     The following is still a work-in-progress.  A UNITS.GIF file is also being
worked on, but is a long way from prime-time.

     These maps are based on the role-playing game "Space: 1889", and are for
the planet Mars.  Mars is a largely Desert world, studded with Hills and
Mountains, and criss-crossed with strips of Plains (the remnants of silted-up
canals).  The best land (Grassland and Plains) is in the dried-up sea beds.
There is a network Grand Canals (Ocean squares) and lesser canals (Rivers)
connected to the polar regions (broad strips of Tundra and Arctic terrain).
My first Mars map (not included) had no open water (Ocean) at all, just Rivers.
The game engine seems to object to this: I could start playing on it, but the
game slowed down after a while and finally locked up.  The two maps included
are very similar; the main changes in MARS3.MP is some more Grand Canals and
some surface water (River squares) on the silted-up Desert canals.

     Changes in RULES.TXT vary from minor to major.  The transform terrain
path is changed to allow some ambitious terraforming: Forest -> Jungle ->
Swamp -> Ocean -> Swamp.  Some special terrains have been renamed (and more
may be later), but the attributes stayed the same: Wine becomes Liftwood,
Peat is Gumma, Spice is Bhutan.  Mining Mountains gets 2 more shields, not
just 1 more.  Mining Grassland into Forest takes 15 turns, Plains to Forest
takes 10 (I switched them because Plains is already a mixed terrain).
Science lost under Fundamentalism is 30% not 50%.

     The biggest change is that most ships are aerial, not aquatic (after all,
this _is_ a Desert world).  The ships that stick to the water are those that
carry other units: Trireme, Caravel, Galleon, Aircraft Carrier, Transport.
Thanks to the antigravity properties of Liftwood, Mars took to the air rather
early.  The first flying unit is the War Kite (Frigate); it has a flight
endurance of 5 turns, but can only attack ground units.  The Gunboat (Ironclad)
also flies for 5 turns, but can attack air-to-air.  All later flying ships
have a 10-turn endurance.  Airplanes also have Liftwood in them: Fighters and
Jet Flighters fly 2 turns, Bombers and Jet Bombers for 3 turns.  Stealth Ship
is the aerial version of the Submarine.
