Locations are divided into nine areas - mainly relevant in the realms of construction and warfare. These nine areas correspond to the points of the compass around a centre-point, as shown below.
The location "Meeting Place" is at sea-level.
= Northwest +2 NORTH +1 NORTHEAST +2
= WEST -- CENTRE +1 EAST +2
= SOUTHWEST -1 SOUTH -- SOUTHEAST +1
The numbers after the compass directions represent the undulations within a location, significant for melee and military battleground actions. Each plus 1 represents a foot raised, each -1 a foot below the location aggregate. Anyone may type LOCALE in a location to see nearby legions and their positions within the location. Soldiers and fieldworkers unassigned to a legion/regiment appear in lowercase, while those trained to their purpose and readied on active service are shown in capitals. Optionally you may type LOCALE followed by a direction to review troops in adjacent locations.
If you wish to review troops by legion name instead of more-cumbersome numeric figures, type BANNER instead. Use it precisely as you would use LOCALE. You can type BANNER followed by a direction to see in a certain direction. If you have used carrier pigeons to send out dispatches, you may - upon its return - examine a distant locale by typing LOCALE <pigeon> or LOCALE <pigeon> followed by a direction to review adjacent loations of the legion to whom the pigeon most recently delivered a dispatch. Again, you can use BANNER <pigeon> or BANNER <pigeon> followed by a direction in precisely the same way.
Banner has a few codes you should be aware of. It will list TRENCH or <number> FORTS if there is a trench or a certain value of fortifications have been erected at the locale point. It will show brackets () around a legion name if that legion is manning fortifications and double brackets (()) around the legion if it is entirely occupied with fortification manning (and thereby enhancing its defensive capabilities). The legion name is abbreviated to show the number of legionnaires within, then first three letters of its city or guild, then two capital letters according to its size (company, regiment, brigade etc) and then in [] brackets the legion's unique name.
It is possible, particularly when employing well-equipped and numerous legions, to affect the terrain layout as shown in LOCALE - digging holes, extending trenches, stacking defensive fortifications, etc. Familiarise yourself with the contents of HELP TERRAIN if you wish to involve yourself with the command of legions and setting them about the task of changing the natural environment.
See also HELP POINTS for summary of above, HELP MARCHING, HELP TRENCHES, HELP TERRAIN, HELP APPROACH and HELP CONVEY for various aspects of legion movement and terrain. HELP 22 is the index for battlefield command.
