EMG: Win-EMS Tutorial



 

 

File Layout

After you've download the Win-EMS.ZIP file, create an EMS folder and unzip the Win-EMS.ZIP file into it.  Then create a folder under EMS for the game you are playing in, in this case EMS001. Then create a folder under EMS001 for each turn.  


Saving Your PLYRDATA file and REPORT file

When you get sent your emails with the plyrdata information and your report, you then need to save it in the appropriate turn folder. The picture below shows the plyrdata message being opened and then saved in the C:\EMS\EMS001\TURN-02 folder as a file called plyrdata.txt. With the report message, just save the report to the same folder as report.txt.  If you got sent emails with attached zipped files, just save the attachments into the turn folder and unzip them in that folder.


Starting Win-EMS

Start Win-EMS by clicking on the Win-EMS.EXE file. This will bring up the Win-EMS window.  From the Win-EMS window menu select File and then Open. A dialogue box will then open asking you which file you want to open. Move to the C:\EMS\EMS001\Turn-02 folder where you saved the plyrdata.txt file and select it.


Initial Screen

Once you've opened the plyrdata.txt  file, Win-EMS will load that file in and then update the information on the Win-EMS window and display the Map window and the Summary window.

The Win-EMS window will now have a row for each province on the map and display any information on the province that you know about.  Double clicking on a province row will bring up different windows based on which column you clicked on.  For example, double clicking on the Incm, Pal, Frt, Prt, Mnt or any of the Build Limit columns will bring up a Build window for that province.  Double clicking on the Rtrt column will bring up the Retreat window, while double clicking on any of the unit columns will bring up the Unit window.

The Summary window has one row for each of your Dynasties, it shows information on each Dynasty.  This window is not clickable.

The Map window starts out showing only which Dynasties own each province.  Capitals are displayed with a .  Provinces are colour coded based on options that you can set.  Provinces that are controlled by a Major Dynasty also have an icon in the province, for your provinces the icon is .  For example once Cartage gained controlled of Gaetali, then any provinces owned by Gaetali would also have the in it.  Beside each province number there might also be an R if the province is rough (province 139) or a D if the province is desert (province 10).  If there is a road connecting two provinces, then the border between the two provinces is black (see the border between 5 and 6).

Notes: (1): If the map doesn't display as below, go to the OPTIONS pull down menu where you can set the colours to display on the map for the various Dynasties, the zoom level of the map and wither the map is to display in squares or hexes. (2) If you get an error message saying the map can't display, try reducing the number of colours you are displaying  in Windows, through the Display Properties window.


The Map Window

One of the most important windows is the Map window.  From the Win-EMS window menu select Options, then Map Info.  This will bring up a menu displaying all the types of information that you can display on the Map window. 

As you can see there are quiet a few things you can display on your map.  Once you've selected the information you want to display on the map, the Map window name will change to the indicate what type of information you are displaying on the map.

Below, the Army Navy Units options has been selected and the Map window now has a title of Army & Navy Units. For any areas that have units in them, an icon of a with the number of your units to the left and the number of other Dynasty units to the right will be displayed.  For example province 6 is showing that Carthage has 5 army/navy units in the province.

The icon displayed will be dependent on the type of information being displayed.

Double clicking on province in the Map window would now bring up information on Units for the provinces.   For example, by double clicking on province 6, the following Unit window would be displayed.  

You can see that there are 5 army/navy units (PHA,WB,SPR,SPR,TN) in the province.  In addition any individual units in the province are also displayed.  You can control which units are displayed from the Win-EMS window by selecting Options and then Unit Display Options.  This will bring up a dialog box where you can select which units you want displayed.


The Unit Window

To move units you'll want to attach you army units to your GEN units.  To do this select AT button, once you do, all the other commands will be ghosted out, and an Attach To window will be displayed showing you which units you can attach to.  Once you click on the unit you want to attach to, the command will get filled in on the Unit window.  Below you can see that units 841, 842 and 843 have already attached to unit 838.

Once you have all the units attached to the GEN, select the MO button, then select the GEN you want to move.  The Map window will then become the active window and you can start selecting the provinces for the GEN to move through.  If you don't need to move you full distance, just click on the Done button.  Green lines are then displayed along the route the GEN is moving.  In this case I've ordered unit 838 to move to 7, 9 and 12.

To change your mind in the middle of issuing a command to a unit or if something goes wrong with the command, select the Cancel button, this should reset things.  To cancel the command of a unit, select Cancel and then the unit.


Sending in your Commands

Create an email to send to emg.pbm@shaw.ca with a subject of EMGTURN, then attach the commands.txt  file.  Then mail the message.  In about 15 minutes you should have a reply back from the mailbot.