main_screen

SHORT INTRODUCTION


'Greyhounds' is a greyhound racing and breeding game. Your goal is to
acquire fast and talented greyhounds and be successful with them in the
races; your two possibilities for doing so are breeding and trading
(more on these issues in the breeding and trading help). Ultimately
you should aim at winning the Champions' Trophy. You might also consider
establishing a record that lasts to the end of times a worthy goal.

NOTE: The help button pops up help text that varies depending on the
menu you're currently in. So if you'd like to know more about trading
dogs, you should press the button when in the trading menu. 


The course of the game


The game is structured into seasons. Each season consists of 24 race
week-ends (I'm going to call them semi-months from now on, even if it
sounds weird, because 'next week-end' just isn't correct; and 'the
week-end after the next' is a bit long winded). Each semi-month there
are 12 races, 2 for each level.

During the season, statistics are kept (which you can access through
the 'Statistics' option menu, naturally). At the end of the season six
kennels are qualified for the Champions' Trophy races (for information
about how those kennels are determined see the 'Statistics -
Champions' Race' section). They can enter dogs in the six Champions'
Trophy races which consist of two race for each race length. The
kennel with most points from all six races wins the Trophy; if some
are tied for first, the best WAT over all six races breaks the tie.


Dog development


During the game, dogs develop. They get better and faster, when they
are young, and they get worse and slower when ageing. This leads
inevitably to level changes, which come on the one hand from race
results, on the other simply from their speed / stamina values. So if
a dog never enters a race during the whole season, he probably
experiences a level change nonetheless. An ageing dog that constantly
reaches good results will keep his level, though his skills may
indicate otherwise.


THE MAIN SCREEN


The main screen consists of roughly six parts. The first one is the
toolbar with the Load, Save etc. buttons.

The second one is the bar with the Main Screen, Race,Statistics
etc. buttons; I'll call them the main buttons.

The third one is the one-line message window between the main buttons
and the two windows on the left and right.

The fourth and fifth ones are the two windows on the left and on the
right. I'll call the left window dog-list and the right window
dog-info.

The last part are the buttons between the windows, i'll call them dog
buttons because clicking on them always operates on dogs.

NOTE: Most buttons have tooltips and keyboard shortcuts.

NOTE: If clicking on a button makes no sense, it's made
non-sensitive. So if you can't click on 'Enter dog in race', although
the dog and race levels match, your dog may be injured or in heat. Or
it's a bug you can report.


The toolbar


The first three buttons (from left to right) are just the standard
Load/Save/Quit buttons.

NOTE: You can load a Greyhounds save file directly by giving the file
name as a command-line parameter to 'greyhounds'.

Clicking on the fourth button pops up the options window.

The next two buttons are the 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons. Clicking on
them shows you the other kennels (kennels 2 - 20) and your puppy list
(kennel 21) when in the main screen. When in other menus, they mostly
change the content of dog-info; you can browse kennels, races,
statistics etc. with them.

The button with the dog house on it brings you instantly to your home
kennel list when you are looking at another kennel.

Finally, the button with the black puppy on it brings you to your
puppies (what a surprise). Of course it's non-sensitive when you're
looking at your puppies.

Oh, and there's the button with the bulb on it. You have figured out
that one, haven't you?


The main buttons


The left-most button with the house on it always brings you to the
main screen when you're doing something else.

The next button with the clipboard shows this semi-month's races and
lets you enter dogs.

The button with the running dog on it ends the semi-month's activities
and shows you the race results.

The newspaper button shows you the results of last semi-month's races.

The next two buttons bring you to the Trading and Breeding menus.

The last item is the statistics option menu. Clicking on it will show
you a sub menu with 'Dog statistics', 'Kennel statistics'
etc. Choosing one of those will display the selected statistics in dog-info.


The message window


Here you find sometimes messages like 'The owner accepts' when a trade
proposal of yours is accepted.


The dog-list


The dog-list always contains all your dogs; the only exception is when
you browse the other kennels in the main screen.

The columns are: name, age (in months, of course), gender, level,
speed, stamina, points (in the current season) and status.
Status can be: 'OK' (the dog's healthy), 'in heat' (a bitch in heat,
what else), 'injured', '? pregnant ?' (the question marks signify that
the bitch may only appear pregnant; see Breeding), 'pregnant' and
'recover.' (bitch's recovering  after a birth). Only dogs with status
'OK' can beentered in races.

Your kennel can contain 20 dogs at most.

By clicking on the column titles (except for 'Name') you can sort the
dogs ascending by the respective attribute; by clicking once again you
can reverse the sort order.


The dog-info


When in the main screen, the dog-info contains detailed information
about the dog currently selected on dog-list.

Otherwise, dog-info is quite multi-functional: race results, kennels
and statistics are displayed in it. When so, the 'Back' and 'Forward'
buttons turn the page of dog-info.


The dog buttons


Clicking on the uppermost button will enter the selected dog in a race
(when in 'Entering dogs in races' and the dog's healthy and the levels are
matching etc.).

The second button removes a dog from a race list.

The button with the left-right arrows proposes a trade when in
'Trading'.

The button with the cute dogs in love makes a mating proposal when in
'Breeding'.

The last-but-one button moves a puppy from the puppy list to your home
kennel if it's old enough (> 10 months I think).

The last button with the present box on it removes the selected dog
from your kennel. Makes sense for old or slow dogs.

main_screen

entering_dogs

ENTERING DOGS IN RACES


If you press the 'Enter dogs in races' button, dog-list is
automatically re-set to your home kennel, your dogs are sorted by
level and ascending, and in dog-info a race list appears.

A race list consists of the columns 'Rank', 'Name', 'BTS' or 'Time',
'Kennel' and 'Remarks'.
When you're entering dogs, 'BTS' is shown instead of 'Time', and
'Remarks' is always empty. 'BTS' means 'Best Time in Season', it just
shows the best time reached by the dog over the race distance in the
current season.

If the option 'Automatic pre-selection of races and dogs' is on, the
displayed race is the first one you can enter a dog in (e.g. if you
have only one level-0 dog and he's injured and you have a healthy
level-1 dog, the first level-1 race is displayed).

Normal races have level-binding, i.e. a level-5 dog can only be
entered in a level-5 race. On normal race week-ends there are always
two races per level. In contrast, Champions' Trophy races (at the end
of the season) have no level binding; additionally there are only six
of those.

Besides level, races have one other important attribute, namely the
race length. Each race can go over 1, 2 or 3 laps. Naturally, dogs
with higher speed should preferably be entered in 1-lap races whereas
dogs with higher stamina do better in 3-lap races. In 2-lap races a
30/60 dog should be approx. as fast as a 60/30 dog and vice versa.

You can see the level of a race on one hand written above the dog-info
window; on the other hand, the very first row of a 1-lap race is
coloured red; a 2-lap race is blue; and a 3-lap race is green.

Now you can select the dog in dog-list you'd like to enter, and if he
can be entered, the 'Enter dog in race' button becomes sensitive. If
you press it, and 'Automatic...' is on, the next race and dog are
displayed / selected, that match. Else you have to chose the next race
manually with 'Forward' or 'Back'.

NOTE: Double-clicking a dog has the same effect as clicking on 'Enter
dog in race' (when sensitive).

If you'd like to browse the race lists, you can always use those two buttons.

If you've changed your mind about a dog already entered you can remove
him by selecting the race and pressing the 'Remove dog from race'
button or simply replace him by another dog (just by selecting that
dog and pressing 'Enter dog...'.

If the 'Automatic...' option is off, the first level-0 race is
displayed, and you have to select both dogs and races manually.

When you're done, you can either go back to the main screen, or you
press 'Race!' (or 'R') to go racing.

NOTE: Pressing 'Race!' has by default two consequences which might
annoy you after a time: first, you are asked if you really want to end
the semi-month; second, after you confirm, the 'live race' window
appears and you can watch the races.
The prompting can be switched off directly by clicking on 'Don't
bother me with this next time' or in the options menu; the 'live race'
can be switched off (or changed to a simple progress bar showing the
calculation of the race results) in the options menu. You can also
specify the levels of the races shown. By default all levels are
switched on.

entering_dogs

race_results

RACE RESULTS


When you press 'Race!' and you have entered dogs in races, by default
the first race that features a dog from your kennel is shown in
dog-info. You can then browse the races in which you have entered dogs
with 'Forward' and 'Back'. If you'd like to see all races, i.e. those
without a dog of yours, too, you can switch on the option 'Show all
races' in the options menu.

The progress bar shown before the races while calculating the race
results you can switch off, too.

A race result differs from a race list shown when entering dogs in two
columns: instead of 'BTS', the race time is shown for each dog; and if
there were special occurences they are shown in 'Remarks'.

The remarks can be: 'BTS' or 'BTE', which means that the dog has
reached a seasonrecord or a personal record.
'injury' means, you know ... well... hell, now it's slipped my mind.
'LU' means 'level up'; this happens when a dog has reached constantly
good performances.
'LD' on the contrary means 'level down' and it happens when a dog has
constantly bad results.
'NR' means that the dog's reached a new all-time record (which you can
verify on the 'All-time Records' statistics screen).

A 'NR' result is always marked with colour (bright red); the other
occurences are only marked if the dog in question is yours.

In Champions' Trophy races, the points accumulated are shown in the
'Remarks' column. This means that the winner is the kennel with most
points in the 'Remarks' column of the 6th race.

When you're done with looking at the race results, you press 'Main
Screen' and a new semi-month begins.

You can always look at the results of the past semi-month by pressing
the newspaper button next to the race button.

race_results

last_races

RESULTS OF LAST RACES


Nothing much to say here. Exactly the same as the previous section
'Race results', except that the main buttons are all sensitive (when
looking at race results at the end of the semi-month, they're switched
off, only 'Back to main' is functional).

Here you can browse the results of last semi-month's races and admire
or curse the performances of your dogs.

last_races

trading_

TRADING


Clicking on 'Trading' re-sets dog-list to your home kennel and
displays the first cpu kennel in dog-info. To sort the dogs you should
click on a column on dog-list and both lists get sorted; sorting them
separately is not possible (yet; I'm not sure if it's really needed).

With 'Forward' and 'Back' you can browse the cpu kennels in dog-info.

By selecting a dog in each list and pressing 'Trade dogs' (the dog
button with the green arrows on it), you make a trade proposal to the
cpu owner. Dogs can only be traded one for one.

The owner then compares the two dogs and either accepts the trade and
the dogs are transfered, or he rejects. Be careful not to be too
persistent, as cpu kennel owners tend to punish you with a trading (or
mating, for that matter) block, i.e. they refuse to trade (or mate
dogs) with you for a couple of semi-months if you make too many bad
proposals.

You should also be aware of the fact that cpu owners evaluate young
dogs by their potential skills, whereas older dogs they evaluate by
their actual skill; so don't be surprised if an owner refuses to
trade, for instance, a 14-year old dog with speed / stamina 25/40 for
a 45-year old bitch with 50/30.

Trading dogs won't improve the absolute quality of your kennel
greatly, but it can make your kennel more balanced on the one side,
and you can avoid incest when breeding on the other side. Bringing
fresh genes to your kennel, so to speak.

trading_

breeding_

BREEDING


Clicking on 'Breeding' re-sets dog-list to your home kennel and
displays in dog-info the first kennel, beginning with your own, that
has a bitch in heat. So if you have a bitch in heat, clicking on
'Breeding' will show you your kennel in both windows.

You can browse the kennels in dog-info as usual with 'Forward' and
'Back'. If there are no bitches in heat in your kennel, you can of
course only mate dogs with bitches in heat from other kennels, so only
such kennels are shown; all others are filtered out.

If you select a male in dog-list, all dogs and bitches not in heat get
filtered out in dog-info and only bitches in heat are shown.
Correspondingly, if you select a bitch in heat in dog-list, all female
and all injured dogs get filtered out in dog-info.

If you select a dog and there are no bitches in heat in dog-info, or
if you select a bitch currently not in heat, all dogs are shown in dog-info.

Now if you have selected a dog and a bitch in heat, you can click on
'Mate dogs' and thus propose the mating to the cpu kennel owner. He
then compares the dogs (considering their peak skills yet to come or
perhaps even already over; the genes stay the same, after all) and
accepts or rejects. 
But contrary to trading he sometimes might accept an offer that he
consideres bad otherwise, if you allow him to take the majority of the
'resulting' pups after the birth. In this case you are asked whether
or not you agree; you can switch off the prompting and accept
automatically, too.

If both parties have come to an agreement, the dogs are mated and the
bitch is (hopefully) pregnant. Whether or not she's really pregnant
you only get to know the semi-month after the mating.

The success of a mating depends on the fertility of the dogs, and that
one depends on their age. Both sexes reach their peak fertility when
they are between 2 and 4 years old; when younger or older the
probability of a succesful mating decreases.

NOTE: The skills of the pups depend not only on those of their
parents, but also on the skills of other ancestors. So if you have a
dog with speed 40 and a bitch likewise, but you know that both have
parents with speed at least 60, some of the pups may well reach speed
50 or more. Only a minority of them, though.

If the mating was succesful, some months later you get a message that
new puppies were born. You can then take a look at them in your puppy
kennel.

Puppies between 10 and 12 months old should be 'promoted' to your home
kennel. If you fail to do so, they'll get promoted automatically at
the age of 13, or they are given away, if there's no room in your kennel.

breeding_

dog_stats

DOG STATISTICS


Dog statistics are sorted by level. For each level and additionally
for the statistics counting all dogs there are two pages of
statistics. The two pages are the same for each level, so I only
describe the statistics for all dogs below.

When clicking on 'Dog Statistics', you'll be shown the first page of
the statistics about all dogs in the game. On the first page you can
see the 'Best Time Season' for each race distance, the number of
points and the number of wins. Clicking on one of these columns will
sort the dogs in the game from 'good' to 'bad'. Additionally, the
number of races is shown, but you can't sort by that.

The points a dog gets in a race are as follows:
6 pts. for 1st place;
4 - 1 pts. for 2nd - 5th places.

On the second page, the 'Best Time Ever' is listed three times, plus
points / race and wins / race. Dogs are only taken into account for
the the two latter statistics, if they have participated in a number
of races. So if you have a dog who won his first race and never takes
part in another one any more, he'll drop out of the p/r and w/r
statistics after a couple of semi-months, although he's got perfect
rates of 6,0 and 1,0 (100%).

At the end of the season, when the season history is written, only dogs who
have taken part in at least 7 races are counted.

dog_stats

kennel_stats

KENNEL STATISTICS


The first kennel statistics pages features exactly the same
categories as the dog statistics. Here, the times are the best time
reached by any dog in the kennel; the points and wins are the sum of
points and wins of all dogs in the kennel.

When the list is sorted by a time, the dogs in the kennels that have
reached the times are shown in the second column, plus their level.

The second page has three categories (besides 'Races'), the well-known
points / race and wins / race, and the so-called 'WAT'.

WAT stands for 'Weighted Average Time' and represents a combination of
the three best times for the three race distances of each kennel. It's
not an ordinary average of the kind (time1 + time2 + time3) / 3, but a
weighted average (technically: it's  (A * time1 + B * time2 + C *
time3) / 3, and A + B + C = 1) with the time for the 1-lap race
weighted most and the time for the 3-lap race weighted least. The
reason is that naturally the greatest time differences occur in a
3-lap race, so if we didn't weight the average, a kennel with a
superior 3-lap time and mediocre 1-lap and 2-lap times could be first
in the WAT ranking. And we don't want to have that, do we?

kennel_stats

champions_stats

CHAMPIONS' RACE


This statistic shows you the currently qualified kennels for the
Champions' Trophy races at the end of the season. The qualified
kennels are marked green.

There are three categories which determine the qualified kennels: WAT
(which is described in the 'Kennel Statistics' section), points / race
and wins / race.

The most important one is WAT, followed by p / r and, last, w /
r. This means that the first two kennels in the WAT ranking are at any rate
qualified, then we take the first two kennels in the p / r ranking
_without_ the already WAT-qualified kennels, and then we take the
first two kennels in the w / r ranking _without_ the four kennels we
have already.

The list is updated each semi-month. Its last version, at month 12 and
week 3, determines the participants of the Trophy races.

At that date, i.e. before the Trophy races, the best kennel in each
categorie (except for points and wins) receives a special award.

champions_stats

all_time_stats

ALL-TIME RECORDS


Here, the records for eternity are displayed. Basically, they are from
the same categories as those on the dog and kennel statistics pages.

The time, most points and most wins records are updated constantly,
whereas the p/r and w/r records are updated before the Trophy races
for kennels and after the Trophy races for dogs. Dogs must have taken
part in at least 7 races to be counted for the two latter records;
kennels must have at least 73 races.

Thus, except for the time records all records indicate a performance
during a whole season, so 'Most points: 55' means the dog has gathered
55 points during one season.

The last column, 'Season', tells you in which season the record has
been established.

all_time_stats

history_stats

HISTORY STATISTICS


Here you can browse some statistics of previous seasons. All the best
efforts of dogs and kennels are shown, plus your best times (and the
corresponding dogs) and your rank in each of the Champions' Race
categories.

history_stats

about_

ABOUT GREYHOUNDS


Version: 0.8 pre-alpha (GTK 2)
Author: Gyz Both (gyboth@gmx.de)

Download at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/byghound/

about_
