Copyright: (C) 1993/94 Immo Zech


Index
Burglary V1.5

About Burglary

General Principles

The Game Area

Symbols on the ground plans

Skills of your burglars

1. phase: Selecting the ground plan

2. phase: Selecting the burglars

3. phase: Planning the Burglary

4. phase: Executing the Burglary

5. phase: Trading

Strategic hints and tactics

To get Help for an action button, press it while holding down the SHIFT key.


General principles

To succeed in Burglary, you only have to make money. The more, the better.

You may employ Burglars and make them break into buildings. These burglarys are planned on a ground plan before the actual beginning.

To get to the really interesting safes several obstacles are waiting to be taken. Locked doors are the smallest problem. Guards, for instance, tend to be a bigger one. Having cracked all the safes you only have to reach your car in time - if there wasn't an impatient fellow burglar who got nervous and drove away.

Having been successful, you can sell your goods and increase your wealth.  At the end, there's a million Dollars waiting for you ...


Skills of the burglars

The skills of the burglars are shown in the middle of the upper half of the  Game Area. These are:

Name	The burglar's name

Price	The price for actually employing the burglar. This value does not depend on the outcome of the burglary

Share	A percentage of the total booty which every burglar will receive after finishing the burglary.

The following values are in the range of 0 to 20.

Strength	Strong burglars have lesser problems with knocking down guards.

Experience with doors	The higher this value, the faster  doors are opened.

Experience with alarm systems	The higer this value, the faster alarm systems can be switched off.

Experience with safes	The higer this value, the faster safes are opened.

Driving skills	A burglar with a low value in this caterory tends to drive off rather early when being alone in the car. This might be a problem for other burglars who are still in the building.

Loyality	Illoyal burglars might lie about the real contens of a safe and supress part of their findings. There is, however, something you can do about this - read to the strategic hints.


The Game Area

In the upper left corner of the game area you see some action buttons that you can use while planning and executing the Burglary. To get Help for one of these buttons, press it while holding down the SHIFT key.

Next to the buttons the skills of the active Burglar can be seen. This field is empty when no burglar is selected.

In the upper right corner you see pictures of the burglars you employed.

The contents of the lower half of the game area are depending on the phase the game is in.

See also:

Symbols on the ground plan


Symbols on the ground plan

These are the most important symbols on the ground plan:

    Selected burglar

    Non-selected burglar

    Open door

    Closed door

    Locked door

    Locked door with alarm system

    Trap door

    Box (basic kind of  safe)

    Desk (another kind of  safe)

     Showcase (yet another kind of  safe)

     Strongbox (the toughest kind of  safe)

    Light barrier (a kind of  alarm system)

     Tile secured with an alarm system

    Guard


Selecting the ground plan

This phase opens every game round.

In the lower half of the main window you see a list displaying the ground plans actually available. At the beginning the first three are available. You will (hopefully) find additional ground plans in safes during the game.

Double click on the list entry of your choice to select it. You will automatically proceed to the second phase where you will be selecting the burglars.


Selecting the burglars

This phase follows after  selecting the ground plan which makes it the second phase of every game round.

In the lower left corner of the main window you can see a short description of the ground plan you selected. In the lower right corner you see a list of up to 21 burglars you can choose of.

Whenever a burglar is chosen his or her skills are shown in the upper half between the pictures and the action buttons.

In the middle of the lower half of the main window you see four buttons that have the following functions:

Ground Plan	You can choose another ground plan.

Hire	If less than four burglars have been hired, clicking this button hires the chosen burglar and causes his or her picture to be displayed in the upper right corner. Your financial situation is not checked at this point.

Sack	The burglar who was chosen in the upper right corner is sacked.

Go!	If you are wealthy enough the burglars are finally recruited and you can start  planning the burglary.


Planning the burglary

This phase follows after selecting the burglars.

Now the burglary has to be planned. The burglars can be moved on the ground plan with the Cursor keys (or with the action buttons showing arrows). Select a burglar by clicking on a burglar on the ground plan or in the upper right corner or by using the function keys F5 to F8.

Special actions like opening doors are executed by clicking on the appropiate action button (You can get help for an action button by pressing it while holding down the SHIFT key).

Keep in mind that you can't rely on everything you see! Especially while working with more than one burlar you should mind you steps or your burglars may block themselves later on.

You should also remember that  those burglars who aren't in the car at the end of your burglary must have time to reach it. Don't calculate your time too tightly.

Having completely planned the burlgary you start its Execution by clicking on the appropiate button.


Executing the burglary

This phase follows after planning the burglary.

All burglars are walking the paths you designed for them during the planning. The burglars are running at a default speed (which you can alter with an action button). You are always watching the burglar which you actually selected.

In the caption of the main window specific actions like opening safes are displayed.

Only now you will learn if your plans were succesful. In case of emergencies you are still able to control one burglar "by hand"., but this won't make bad plans good in most cases.

The burglary end when all burglars have terminated their steps (either by reaching the car or by having been arrested). Now you have the opportunity to trade your belongings.


Trading

This phase follows after executing the burglary and ends every game round.

You see a dialog window where your you can inspect your haul in detail (the burglar's shares have already been deduced). You can now sell a part of your belongings for the actual prices which vary form round to round.

Afterwards a new game round will start.


Strategic hints and tactics

When  safes with contents of high value are to be opened you should always refer to the  burglar's loyality! Illoyal burglars might lie about the real contens of a safe and supress part of their findings. If there is no other way, hire an additional "cheap" burglar and make sure he or she is placed right next to the illoyal but expensive one in the moment the safe is opened.

While planning the burglary it is possible to walk through closed  doors. During the execution of the burglary those doors are opened automatically (alarm systems, however, are ignored). In these situation it may be helpful to remember that opening doors usually takes more than a second. Guards for instance might not be were you thought they would be ...

Save your game everytime you solve a ground plan to avoid having to go back to the very beginning in cases of sudden bankrupts.

Be rather tight-fisted with your money. It's not always the expensive burglars who will suit the ground plan's needs best. Therefore keep a close eye on the burglars'  skills.


About Burglary

Author:	Immo Zech

Sielkamp 52

38112 Braunschweig

e-mail:	zech@helios.informatik.uni-hannover.de (subject to change!)

Burglary is Shareware! In this case this means a resctrictions in ground plans: Only the first 15 Grundrisse are playable. Register for DM 30,- to receive a fully-functional version with an additional set of at least 10 ground plans (Further ground plans are currently being developed). Saved games can of course still be used.

Many thanks to all those who helped me in developing this game over the last 18 months, especially to my beta-testers. Special thanks to Michael Hanns for supplying me with some ground plans.


You can choose up to four burglars who will execute the burglary. Burglars will cost money when eployed and claim a part of the haul. There are up to 21 burglars available. Arrested burglars are not selectable for three game rounds.


Doors can be opened, closed, locked and locked with an alarm system. To open a door a burglar needs appropiate skills. The doors' status is permanently made topical during planning.


Alarm systems can be switched off if the burglars have appropiate skills. They exist separately as light barriers or alarm-secured tiles and are also sometimes found in doors and showcases. The status of the alarm systems is permanently made topical during planning.


Safes can be opened if the burglars have the appropiate skills. They exist as boxes, desks, showcases and hardboxes. The safes' status is permanently made topical during planning.


Trap doors close as soon as a burglar has passed through them and cannot be opened by no means. Traps doors are not made topical during planning!


Guards are walking on fixed paths and can spy a burlgars three tiles straight on and one tile to every side. Spied burglars are arrested. Guars can be knocked down by burglars if they have the appropiate skills. The guards' status and position is permanently made topical during planning.