Battle for the Ashes
©1995 Audiogenic
Manual
LOADING AND INSTALLATION
IBM PC - Battle For the Ashes can be played from either hard drive or
from floppy disk provided. To play from the floppy disk insert the
disk, select the correct floppy disk drive and type CRICKET.
To install the program to the hard drive, insert the disk type INSTALL
and follow the on-screen instructions. Once the game is installed on
hard drive then you will be given further options:
Configure your soundcard: Follow the on-screen instructions to select
sound type and soundcard settings. [There is further information
concerning soundcard settings if you select F10 on the installation
screen]
Format a system disk: If you experience memory problems when trying to
run the game then use this option. Insert the system disk when you
reboot your machine.
Each time you play the game you must insert the game disk, which acts
as security protection, before typing CRICKET from your cricket
directory on your hard drive.
AMIGA - Insert the disk and reset your computer (much easier than
crappy PC~S)
THE MAIN MENU
To select a menu option, move the hand which acts as a pointer to the
required option and click. Pressing ESC exits to DOS (IBM PC ONLY). To
play a match choose one player England vs Australia, one player
Australia vs England or two player game; to watch two computer
controlled teams, click on computer vs computer. All the games are
test matches played over five days.
RESTORE SAVED GAME: If you have previously saved an incomplete game
you can continue it by selecting Restore Saved Game. Games can only be
saved to a floppy disk when you are playing from floppy and to hard
drive when playing from hard drive (IBM PC ONLY). Enter the name of
the saved game when requested.
(IBM PC ONLY) When playing from hard drive, to restore a game saved to
floppy you must copy the relevant saved game to hard drive before
starting the game. Saved games have the suffix. SAV and must be copied
to the CRICKET directory.
SKILL LEVEL: There are three skill settings - Amateur, Professional,
and World Class - You should choose Amateur for your first game.
Amateur: Batting is a breeze at this level. The timing of the shots is
very easy and the compuetr bowling, batting and fielding is of the
village green standard. This level is strictly for beginners.
Professional: The correct timing of your shots when batting becomes
more and more important although there is still some margin for error.
The computer bowling and fielding is improved and runs will be harder
to come by. It will also be hard to get the computer batsmen out. The
game becomes a challege at this level.
World Class: This is the real thing. Batting is very difficult with
the timing of your shots being absolutely crucial (as soon as you
press the button the shot will be played). The computer bowling and
fielding is top notch and total concentation is required to build a
decent total The computer batsmen are very difficult to dismiss and
will punish any wayward bowling. This level will take some beating.
SOUND: This option enables you to turn on or off the music and sound
effects.
CONTROL DEVICES - THIS PART REFERS TO PCS AND SO IS LAME
HOW TO PLAY
Each match is played between Australia and England Lets assume that
inyour first match you decide to play as England against an Australia
side controlled by the computer. The Englan squad will be displayed so
that you can select the eleven players you would like in your team.
Note: there are up to 20 players in each squad, more than can be shown
on the screen at a time; to see the others click on the arrows at the
right hand side.
Pick your team by clicking on each of the eleven players in turn (if
you change your mind about a player just click again to drop him from
the team). The order that you you click on the names will be the order
that they will line up to bat. To save time you can get the computer
to pick the team for you - just click on best 11.
The statistics provided with each player are important to their
performance - better batsmen (with a higher average) will be superior
in shot execution; better bowlers (with a lower average) will be able
to bowl quicker or spin or swing the ball more.
It is important to select a balanced side as having a poor selection
of bowlers or batsmen can leave your team in a weak position. Remember
to include a recognised wicket keeper (marked with a dagger symbol) as
playing without one will result in choas behind the stumps! After
choosing your team click on OK.
Note: if you select for your team more than one player who is
designated as a wicket keeper, the player who was selected last keeps
wicket.
If you wish the computer will automatically choose its best team to
play against you - but you can also pick the team yourself (this is
useful if you want to recreate a particular match).
Now for the coin toss. If you win the toss you can decide whether to
bat or field first. Lets suppose that your team is batting first.
if you clicked on best 11, the batting order is automatically chosen
by the computer, based upon the players batting averages; otherwise
players bat in the order they were selected. The batting line-up is
displayed before the innings begins if you are batting. This allows
you to revise the entire batting order if you wish - just select the
player you want to move up or down the order, then indicate the
position you would like him to bat. Click on OK when you have
finished, or else CANCEL if you want to go back to the original order.
If you are bowling then the team is displayed and you can now change
the opening bowler if necessary.
CONTROLLING THE BATSMEN
In a real game of cricket the ball is bowled so fast (up to 90 mph)
that the batsmen must react instinctively, moving his feet, adjusting
his posture, and swinging his bat to play the stroke. To emulate all
that in real time using a joystick would be impossible, so instead
Battle For The Ashes breaks down the batsmens movements into two.
First, move left or right to position the batsmen. Watch the small
white square - this shows where the bowler intends to pitch the ball -
when it turns grey it will stop moving, and the bowler will commence
his run-up. Start thinking about which stroke you intent to play.
When the ball leaves the bowlers hand you have a fraction of a second
to select one of the eight possible directions to determine which
stroke is played - and when it is played (timing is particularly
crucial at Professional and World Class level). The strokes roughly
correspond to the joystick movement, for example, if you move the
joystick to the left the batsmen (if he is right-handed) will attempt
a cover drive; if you move it to the right he will try to hook or
sweep the ball.
The full repertoire of strokes is as follows:
UP - FORWARD/BACK DEFENSIVE
RIGHT UP - SWEEP/HOOK
RIGHT - LEG GLANCE
RIGHT DOWN - ON-DRIVE
DOWN - STRAIGHT DRIVE
LEFT DOWN - COVER DRIVE
LEFT - SQUARE DRIVE
LEFT UP - SQUARE CUT
These joystick directions are for a right-handed batsmen; for a left
hander the controls are mirrored
The batsmen will play the best stroke he can in the circumstances - if
you choose a difficult or innappropriate (or if your timing is
incorrect) he might mishit the ball, or miss it altogether. The margin
of error depends on the skill setting you have chosen, and onthe
batsmens average.
If you succeed in hitting the ball and want to run, press the fire
button. The batsmen will start running at a leisurely pace - to make
them run faster waggle the joystick from side to side (in fact you can
start the batsmen running merely by waggling - there is no need to
press the fire button if you intend to waggle).
To take a second (or third) run press the fire button again, or just
keep waggling. If you change your mind about taking a run, press the
fire button to turn around and go back to the crease you have just
left. Of course if the batsmen have already crossed there is no point
in turning back, so in this case when you press the fire button it
acts as a signal to go for another run after the current one.
If the ball crosses the boundary the umpire will signal a four, or a
six, and the batsmen will automatically return to their original
positions.
Overthrows: in the event that the fielding side throw the ball past
the bowler or wicket keeper the batsmen can continue running.
When the batting side are all out (ie 10 wickets have fallen), or when
the alloted number of overs has been bowled, it is the turn of the
fielding side to bat.
CONTROLLING THE BOWLER
There are three types of bowler: fast, swing, and spin Swing bowlers
and spin bowlers can move the ball in either direction - although spin
bowlers will find it easier to spin the ball in one particular
direction depending on whether they are leg or off spinners.
Before you can start your run-up you must decide where you want to
pitch the ball. Move the small white square which indicates where the
ball will bounce, and press fire to fix it into position (the square
will turn grey).
This is only an approximation and the ball will not necessarily pitch
in the centre of the square.
If a fast bowler is bowling he will automatically start his run-up;
waggle the jotstick from side to side or the equivalent on the
keyboard to increase the speed of the ball.
If the bowler is a swing or spin bowler, choose the direction you want
the ball to move, and press fire. Now the bowler will start his run-up
- waggle the joystick or the equivalent on the keyboard to increase
the amount of swing or spin.
You can change the bowler due to bowl the next over by clicking on
Change Bowler on the menu displayed between overs. Any played can be
chosen to bowl, with the exeption of the wicket keeper, but it will be
harder to bowl with a player who has a poor average. Remember that in
a limited overs game a bowler cannot bowl more than one-fifth of the
overs allowed for each innings.
SETTING THE FIELD
You can change the predefined fields during a match, and even save
them for use in future games. Each player has a predefined field
setting of his own - but you can copy a field setting from one bowler
to another, so that if (say) you want to use the same field for all
youe fast bowlers you need not enter it more than once.
To access the screen which allows you to alter the field settings,
press the space bar while the bowler is waiting to bowl. This will
display a menu of options:
POSITION FIELDERS* SCORECARD
KEEPER-SLIP* SOUND & MUSIC
BOWL OTHER SIDE* ABANDON MATCH
* ONLY AVAILABLE IF THE FIELDING SIDE IS USER-CONTROLLED
Select Position Fielders - a diagram is displayed showing the existing
field setting (for the current bowler). To adjust the position of an
individual fielder just move the pointer to his name tag, press the
left mouse button (or fire button), and drag the tag to a new position
- then press the button again to drop the tag.
Around the wicket at the strikers end is a darkened area. To add an
extra slip drag the players tag into this area. Fine positioning of
players in this area is carried out using the Keeper-Slip option (see
below). Only two fielders, plus the wicket keeper can be in this area.
If you want to exchange the positions of two fielders click first on
the swap icon, then on the tags of the two players.
To copy to the field setting from another bowler click on Copy until
the correct field setting is displayed, eg to copy the field setting
for Malcolm to Gough (the current bowler), keep clicking until Setup
for D Gough copied from D Malcolm appears. If you keep clicking on
copy, eventually you will be back where you started.
If you make an error select Cancel which exits leaving the original
field placing intact (changes which have been saved to disk cannot be
cancelled). To save your changes to disk or hard drive click on the
DISK icon - howeber you can use the new field settings in the current
match without saving them to disk, though they will be lost at the end
of a match. Click on OK to return to the game.
The Keeper-Slip screen can be selected either from the menu, or by
clicking on the icon at the top left-hand corner of the field setting
screen (beware - this also confirms your changes to the field, even if
you subsequently select the Cancel icon on the Keeper-Slip screen).
To move the keeper or a slip just click on him, and move him to your
preferred position. Be careful - the wicket keeper obeys your
instructions to the letter, so you will concede a lot of byes if you
put him in a silly position! When you have the keeper and slips in the
correct positions click on OK to save them to disk.
OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE DURING A MATCH
Bowl Other Side
Normally a right handed bowler will bowl over the wicket. Howevee, you
can make the bowler bowl on the other side by selecting this option
from the menu.
Score card
This displays the scorecard for the current innings. By clicking on
the tabs at the botton of the scorecard you can also display the
batting and the bowling statistics for the innings, the carrer batting
statistics of the batting team, and the career bowling statistics of
the fielding side.
Abandon Match
Allows you to abandon a match, in which case the game goes back to the
main menu.
SAVING A GAME
Although the games are played faster than real amtches, some games
will last for hours, or even days! At the end of each over you have
the option to save the game - this will save all the information about
the match, including the teams and field settings.
IBM PC - You can save to hard drive if playing from hard drive to a
pre-formatted floppy disk if playing from floppy disk. Follow the on
screen instructions once you have selected this option.
AMIGA - You will need a pre-formatted floppy disk. Click on the SAVE
GAME icon and follow the on-screen instructions.
HINTS AND TIPS
. Occasionally you will find that a fielder "gets stuck", perhaps
running on the spot! Do not worry - press the ESC key and the game
will continue normally.
. When you select Best 11 the batting order is chosen automatically
by the computer - the players with the highest averages bat first.
However if you make any changes to the team the compuetr has picked,
the batsmen are not sorted into order. If you choose your own team the
players bat in the order of selection.
. Rain: It can rain at any time and for any length of time and if it
has already rained during a match then it is likely to rain again.
. During a "computer vs computer" match you can press SPACE (while
the bowler is waiting to bowl) to display the scorecard. At the end of
an over you can also save the game. When you restore the saved game
you will be able to restart the match as a 1 or 2 player game - so you
can take full control.
Programmed on the Amiga and Atari ST by Gary James Gray.
IBM-compatible PC conversion for Audiogenic Software Limited by Simon
Prytherch.
Game and Manual (c) Audiogenic Software Limited 1994
All Rights Reserved
UPGRADE OFFER
If you have enjoyed playing Battle For The Ashes then you will enjoy
World Class Cricket which is available to owners of Battle For The
Ashes at A VERY SPECIAL PRICE and comes complete with a free copy of
our 94/95 data disk.
World Class Cricket contains all the features of Battle For The Ashes
plus:
* All forms of cricket from limited overs matches to full Tests
* All the Test playing nations and an XI
* A full team editor
The 94/95 data disk has the very latest squads and averages for:
* The 18 English County sides
* The 9 Test sides
For details of this offer call our Customer Services Department on
081-424 2244 or write to:
CUSTOMER SERVICES (REF:ASH/95
AUDIOGENIC SOFTWARE LIMITED
UNIT 27, CHRISTCHURCH INDUSTRIAL CENTRE
WEALDSTONE
HARROW HA3 8NT
Further cricket games will be available in 1995 and 1996. Write now to
ensure that you are on our mailing list.
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Typed by IGGY/HELLFIRE 30/1/95
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