Ataxia II is a turn-based strategy game in which wizards summon monsters to battle each other. It is based on the classic ZX Spectrum game, Chaos, by Julian Gollop.
Requirements: Ataxia II runs on Windows in a 1024 x 800 window, and requires some form of graphics card.
Ataxia II is programmed by Duncan Timiney in Blitz3D. Whilst playable, development is ongoing, but close to v1.0. Progress can be tracked at the Doodleblog Wiki, and user comments can be made there.
Download: Ataxia II v90703 (5.52 Mb, zipped. Uncompress into its own folder before executing)
Mouseclick past the title screen. Select the number of wizards (1 to 9), then select how many human players will be participating. Selecting 0 players is possible, in which case you can sit back and watch the computer wizards battle each other.
Each wizard's position is randomized, and human players are invited to input their names. A wizard's name is used to generate their appearance.
Play commences with the Spell Selection phase, Spell Casting phase and then Movement phase. Order of play in each phase is based on initiative, calculated from the average initiative of a wizard and all his creations. High-level creatures generate better initiative, as do skirmisher-type creatures.
In the spell selection phase, merely click on the icon of the spell you wish to cast. Hover the cursor over an icon to see the spell's range on the game board. The bar underneath each icon represents the spell's casting chance. If a spell has no targets in range, it cannot be selected. Click the right mouse button to skip this phase. There are two special spells; Illusion and Disbelieve
Illusion is a meta-spell. After selecting it, you are presented with the available spells it may be combined with. An illusionary creature always has a 100% cast chance, but is subject to the Disbelieve spell.
Spells are normally removed once cast. Illusion and Disbelieve are an exception and are always available.
In the spell casting phase, each wizard takes their turn to cast their chosen spell. Depending on the cast chance, a spell may fail, in which case play passes on to the next wizard. If the spells succeeds, it is either cast immediately or the player is prompted to select the spell's target. The mouse is used to click on the appropriate target, or in the case of summoning spells, the keypad can be used to designate an adjacent square. Use the right mouse button to skip this phase.
In the movement phase, the player moves his wizard and all their summoned creatures. Each creature moves one at a time. Use the right mouse button to skip a creature's movement.
Most creatures move one square at a time. Flying creatures may move to any square within their range.
To move, use the mouse to click a green movement mark or the keypad to move to an adjacent square.
Moving into an enemy triggers a melee attack. Available melee targets are shown with a red ring.
A wizard may mount creatures such as the horse, or constructions such as magic castle or magic wood. To do so, he merely needs to move into that creature's square.
A creature may have ranged attacks. If they have not made a melee attack, and there are enemies in range, you will be prompted to select an enemy to shoot at.
Spells may be neutral (grey border), chaotic (red border) or lawful (cyan border). Casting chaos or law spells will saturate the game board with that alignment. A wizard standing in an area of high alignment will have a bonus chance to cast similarly aligned spells. Thus to cast a powerful spell, one may first cast several weaker spells of the same alignment to boost the chance of it working.
Aligned creatures saturate the grid with their alignment at a strength based on their level.
When making a melee or ranged attack, a creature's chance of hitting is based on its Attack score vs. the enemy's Defense score, with the following exceptions:
Phantoms, spectres, wraiths and banshees attack is defended with an enemy's Reaction resistance, since they bypass armour.
Ghosts attacks are defended with Body resistance.
Dragons, magicians and ljósálfar seiđkona have ranged attacks that are defended with Reaction resistance.
Banshees ranged attack is defended with Mind resistance.
Phantoms, spectres, wraiths, ghosts and banshees are incorporeal; attacks partially pass through them, reducing their chance of being hurt.
If the enemy is hit, they may suffer a minor wound, a major wound, or be killed.
This is calculated based on the attacker's Damage score vs. the enemy's Endurance score.
Vampires, wraiths and trolls have a chance of regenerating, removing a major wound. The troll may even regenerate after being killed.
Creatures and spells can cause typed damage. This may be poison, acid, fire, lightning, psychic, vile or divine. Some creatures may be resistant or vulnerable to different damage types.
After a melee attack, the two combatants are engaged in combat and cannot move. Instead of attacking, a creature may attempt to withdraw (with the 'W' key). This has a base 50% chance of working, with these modifiers:
x1.5 for flying or incorporeal creatures (including wizards in shadow form),
x1.5 for skirmishers (goblins, manticores, bats, eagles, dire wolves, centaurs, skirmishers and unicorns)
x0.5 if the enemy is a skeleton, phantom, hobgoblin, crocodile, red dragon, ljósálfar, soldier or captain : these creatures are adept at keeping their foes in męlée.
Deafeating an enemy earns the victorious creature a fraction of an experience point (XP), of which the owning wizard earns a share. Gaining a whole XP results in the creature levelling up, increasing all of its attributes.
Killing an enemy wizard causes all their creatures to disappear. To win the game, your wizard must be the last man standing.
Ataxia II is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) - that is, I welcome you to alter the game and distribute as you wish as long as you credit me, and release the modified version under the same license.
I program as a hobby, during what little spare time I get. I look forward to your criticisms on the wiki.