I t ' s . . . . . B a l l e r b u r g ?

* What's Ballerburg?
 An incredibly simple game of physics, resource management and strategy made for the Atari ST.  Control a Medieval castle in its battles against rival castles.  Fight against your friends in 'hot seat' mode or tackle a wide range of cunning computer controlled opponents.   Laugh at the (German) blathering of your inbred monarch and ruthlessly over-tax the peasants.                    

Okay, enough of the marketing crap.  Lets just say it's like Bill Gate's Gorillas.bas (a game he programmed in BASIC and shipped with early versions of MS-DOS)
o n l y  b e t t e r !

Actually, that's not really saying much, but trust me, it's incredibly addictive.

* Wow, where can I get it?
 Fortunately Ballerburg is Shareware (I think) so download it here in handy.zip form, it's only 46KB.  Unfortunately Ballerburg does require an Atari ST emulator such as STew (Windows) to run.
* How the hell do I run it?
 Assuming you've installed WinSTon, extract the baller.zip file to the 'hard_drv' folder (or whatever folder you've configured) in your WinSTon folder, which is 'C:\Program Files\WinSTon' by default.
Now load up WinSTon and open the 'Hard Disk' icon on the desktop that appears (double click it).  You should see a load of files, but the important one is labelled 'BALLER.PRG' which runs Ballerburg. YAY!.

However Ballerburg won't run unless you set the desktop to 'Hi Res'.  This is easily done in WinSTon by accessing the emulator options from the toolbar (the box thing by the apple) then setting Monitor to 'Mono' under the 'Screen' tab.
* But it's all in German?
 Oh yeah, didn't I mention that?  Oh well, you've come this far so you may as well persever.  Here's a rough translation guide.
* How do I play?
 Now this bit really is simple.  All you have to do to win is destroy the opposition's monarch or have the greatest amount of Gold when the turn limit is met.

Cannonballs can be fired by clicking a cannon and then selecting the required Angle & Power.  After a few shots you should soon find the optimum values for blowing chunks out of your opponent, but remember to keep the windin mind.

Destroyed equipment, ammunition, defences and more can be bought by clicking on your Cannonballs, Gunpowder barrels or Gold Reserves (it doesn't matter which).  You can also set your castles Tax Rate here.
* Any tips?
  • When Selecting your castle don't necessarily go for the one with the most cannons.  Often your monarch and ammunition will be poorly protected or you'll be severely limited in the amounts of Gold or ammo you can store.
  • Oil Wells can be worth investing in, but don't be surprised if your opponent takes it out with one well aimed shot.  However they are harder to hit if they're hard-up against the dividing 'hill', such as in the example.
  • Tempting as it is to whack up the Tax Rate and rakeinthe cash, this isn't sustainable in the long-term as all your peasants will leave and you'll have nobody to tax.
  • For Gawds sake don't bother tunnelling a hole through the hill, your monarch will be long dead by the time you get through.
   
* Thanks mate
 Don't mention it.  If you've got any better translations for any parts of the game (not hard) feel free to e-mail me.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................




Back to the Main Page!