Avalon Hill's CAVEWARS

Alright, so I'm playing through these old AH PC games (1830 is _awesome_)and I've gotten around to AH's only (as far as I know) software-only game...CAVEWARS. I've got it, finally tweaked it up so Dosbox will run it without laughing at me, and I need a damn manual! Anybody have a scan of it or know where there might be one? It looks like a pretty interesting game, sort of 4X game with some interesting details- cave setting, building weapons independent of units, some interesting races, humans with rifles...but pretty opaque stuff. The art and graphics are some of the worst I've ever seen, but hey, it's AH, baby.

Best I can do for you.

web.archive.org/web/19970530192346/www.a...ill.com/cwtutor.html

Thanks Chapel...or "Razortooth, the famed Gakkar Bladesman" as the case may be.

Isn't DosBox a huge pain to work with?

Last year, I finally got around to getting Fallout. Actually, I got Fallout and Fallout 2 together, for $8 at the Salvation Army. Anyway, I literally spent most of a weekend trying to get the game running properly, including attempting to learn how to properly install and use DosBox. I got it working okay, except that the screen turned black every time it refreshed, which was annoyingly frequent. I could get the visuals back by "wiping" away the darkness by sweeping the mouse back and forth, at least until the next refresh. I don't even remember how I did it, but eventually I figured out a way to deal with the refresh problem, too. I think it had something to do with downloading a different set of drivers for my video card.

The sad part is that I was willing to overlook the primitive graphics for the sake of the setting and story, but I really don't like the combat system. I don't mind turn-based combat, it works great in Temple of Elemental Evil. I just don't like Fallout combat.

One of these days, I will force myself to finish Fallout. And then go through the same miserable process getting Fallout 2 to run on my computer.

I actually think FALLOUT hasn't stood the test of time very well. The story is still really cool and it's a great, fully realized setting but it's really, really crude beyond the excellent presentation. The combat system seems great at first, but then it just gets irritating. And the amount of pointless running around puts a JRPG to shame. I got this nice combo disc from the UK that has the first one, FALLOUT 2 and FALLOUT TACTICS a couple of months ago to revisit them...TACTICS is actually the only one that seems worth playing through again but then again JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 does the same thing but better.

Got CAVEWARS running...goofy game...it looks like it was developed in a third world country. There's some really neat ideas though, I really like the tunneling/mining aspect. I wonder if it might have been a board game idea at some point. Strangely, it plays out like a stripped down 4x game.

DOSBox is OK, as long as the game is 100% supported...when it's not, good grief. It's amazing to see how difficult it is for a modern PC to run some 15-20 year old game.

Shellhead wrote:

Isn't DosBox a huge pain to work with?

Last year, I finally got around to getting Fallout. Actually, I got Fallout and Fallout 2 together, for $8 at the Salvation Army. Anyway, I literally spent most of a weekend trying to get the game running properly, including attempting to learn how to properly install and use DosBox. I got it working okay, except that the screen turned black every time it refreshed, which was annoyingly frequent. I could get the visuals back by "wiping" away the darkness by sweeping the mouse back and forth, at least until the next refresh. I don't even remember how I did it, but eventually I figured out a way to deal with the refresh problem, too. I think it had something to do with downloading a different set of drivers for my video card.

The sad part is that I was willing to overlook the primitive graphics for the sake of the setting and story, but I really don't like the combat system. I don't mind turn-based combat, it works great in Temple of Elemental Evil. I just don't like Fallout combat.

One of these days, I will force myself to finish Fallout. And then go through the same miserable process getting Fallout 2 to run on my computer.

What OS are you running?

I recently did a playthrough of Fallout 2 this summer and I had no problems whatsoever installing it on XP.

I personally love the combat system in fallout, though it does have its flaws. Fallout is a great series and i'm eagerly awaiting the revisioning of the series with Fallout 3. I loved Oblivion, so i'm sure Bethesda's Fallout 3 will be a-ok in my book.

I'm running XP. I haven't even tried to install Fallout 2 yet, it was the original Fallout that devoured an entire weekend before I finally got it running properly. I am looking forward to Fallout 3, but I may not be able to run it on my current system. BioShock almost broke my heart.

Fallout 1 runs fine on XP, it's just the installer that wouldn't run, so you had to manually install the game. There are howto's on that somewhere in the vasts Internets.

I don't have to struggle with DOSBox. I have two PCs: a modern one and one with Win98 and original DOS

But I don't think Cavewars was there only software-only game. I'd have to dig up an old AH catalog though to make sure. I can think of one tactical game which had an text command interface and was slightly based on Squad Leader, but given the graphical restrictions not that at all.

EDIT: I remembered the name: Field of Fire.

http://www.picofactory.com/download/abandonware/computers/apple_ii/games/field_of_fire

Michael Barnes wrote:

TACTICS is actually the only one that seems worth playing through again but then again JAGGED ALLIANCE 2 does the same thing but better.

Of course, Arcanum does everything the 2 Fallout games did but better as well.


mmm, Jagged Alliance 2. I should play that again...