I. Introduction Welcome to Command and Conquer. In this demo you will be playing the side of the Global Defense Initiative (GDI): the strike force of the United Nations, the "good" guys. Your opponents are the forces of the Brotherhood of Nod, a ruthless terrorist organization bent on world domination. II. Title Screen Menu This is where you begin the game. You are given a few options here. Start New Game: Choose this option to start a new game. You will receive instructions on your mission objective and then enter the battle. Load Mission: If you have previously saved a mission, you may reload it with this option. Order Info: This option will give you information on how to order the full version of Command and Conquer. Replay Intro: If you wish to review the introduction sequence, choose this option. Exit game: Choose this option to exit the game and return to your operating system. Please note that multi-player (modem and network) functionality is only available in the full version of Command and Conquer. III. The Playing Field Your screen is broken up into 3 sections. The first and largest section is the map. This is where all of the action in the game takes place. To scroll around the map, simply move the cursor to the map edge (notice it changes to a fat white arrow). If you reach the edge of the world, the arrow will be covered by the 'universal no' symbol. The second section is the Sidebar. This is where your Radar and building options are located (more on these below.) The third section is the strip of tabs at the top of the screen. There are three tabs: Options: Clicking this tab pauses the game and takes you to the options window. Credits: This tab shows the current amount of Tiberium credits available to you. Tiberium is gathered by Harvesters and processed in a refinery. If you lose your harvester or refinery, you no longer have a source of income, and your career in GDI will be short. Sidebar: Clicking this tab will hide the sidebar and give you a larger view of the map. IV. How to Play Once you have received your instructions, you will find yourself on the field of battle, looking at your troops. Most actions in Command and Conquer are controlled by moving the mouse and using the left mouse button. Each action has its own cursor. The default cursor is a white pointer arrow, the same one that is used to select menu options. Selecting Units To do anything with a unit, you must first select it. To do so, place your pointer over the unit. Notice that the cursor changes to a white box. Left click the unit - it now has a white box around it. You can also select more than one unit at a time by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the cursor to include all the units you wish. Doing so will draw a white box around the units; all units within the box will be selected, and any command you give will affect them all. Moving Units To move a unit, move your mouse to the desired location. Notice the cursor changes to a green circle with white arrows. Left click the mouse to move your selected unit(s) to that location. If you choose a location that is unreachable, the movement cursor will be covered by the "universal no" sign. Attacking To attack an enemy unit, move your cursor over it - notice that the cursor changes to a white circle with red arrows. Left click the enemy, and your selected unit(s) will attack. Deploying the MCV The Mobile Construction Vehicle is a special unit that unfolds to become your construction yard. To deploy the MCV, select it. If the MCV is in a good location and is not being attacked at the time, the cursor will change to a green dot with outward pointing arrows. Left click it again, and it will deploy. Since all buildings must be built next to an existing structure, make sure you have plenty of open space before deploying your MCV. Otherwise, you may not have enough room to build the rest of your base. Transporting Infantry Infantry (including Commandos) can be transported on transport helicopters and APC vehicles. To load a passenger into a transport, select the infantry soldier and then move the mouse over the transport. When the downward pointing green arrows show up, click the mouse. The infantry soldier will walk into the transport. Move the transport normally. When ready to unload, double click on the transport in the same manner as used when deploying the MCV. All passengers will then unload. V. The Sidebar Once you have deployed your MCV, The sidebar becomes active. The sidebar consists of four sections: the building strips, the radar screen, the power output strip and the buttons. Building Structures The left building strip allows you to build structures. To build what you want, click the icon for the structure. The icon will become gray, and begin counting down the construction time. Right clicking the icon during the building time will pause the construction; a second right click will cancel it. When finished, you will hear the "construction complete" message, and the word 'ready' will appear at the bottom of the icon. Left click the icon again, and move your cursor to the map. You will see a white grid in the shape of your chosen structure. To place the structure on the map, left click. You cannot build another structure until you have placed the one that is ready. If any part of the grid turns red, the location you have chosen is unsuitable. You may right click to cancel placement and return to the 'ready' stage. Structure Tips - Everything you build requires credits. You get credits from harvesting Tiberium. It is a good idea to scout out the Tiberium fields at first opportunity. - The first building you are allowed to build is a Power Plant. Notice that when you do, the Power Output Strip turns green. Also note the blue line on the Strip. The green is the power you have (this will turn yellow or red depending on the placement of the blue line) and the blue line is how much power your buildings require. Remember that when your power level is yellow, some structures cease to function, and build times are increased. - To create units, you must build the correct structure (factory): Infantry require a barracks, vehicles require a weapons factory. Building two barracks will decrease the build time for infantry; this applies to any factory building. - There are pre-requisites for some structures and units. For example, you cannot build a refinery without first building a power plant, and you cannot build an APC without first building a barracks and a weapons factory. - When you build a Communications Center, the radar screen becomes available to you (it appears where the GDI logo is on the sidebar) if you have sufficient power. The radar shows everything on the map that you have explored (unexplored portions of the map are black). You can change the magnification of the radar by clicking the MAP button under the screen. You can also click the screen to move to different parts of the map, and can click on the radar screen to move units. - If one of your structures becomes damaged, you can repair it by clicking on the REPAIR button, located under the radar screen. Doing so changes your cursor to a wrench. Any structure you click on with the wrench icon will begin repairing itself (draining credits as it does). The cursor will remain a wrench until you either click the repair button again or right-click the mouse. - If you wish to get rid of a structure, or you desperately need cash, you can sell it by clicking the SELL button under the radar screen. Doing so changes the cursor to a dollar sign. Clicking on a structure with the sell cursor will dismantle it with two effects. First, you will be refunded half the building price of the structure. Second, you will see the personnel of the structure abandon it; these usually consist of minigun troops or civilians. Be careful not to sell your construction yard unless absolutely necessary! If you do, you will not be able to build any more structures. - If you have more than one of a factory (whether by building it or capturing one from your enemy) you can select a primary unit-building location. This means that units which are common to both structures will appear at the primary location when built. For example: If you have two Barracks or a Barracks and a Hand of Nod, minigunners will appear at the primary location. If you have a Barracks and a Hand of Nod, a grenadier will only appear at the barracks, and a flamethrower will only appear at the Hand of Nod, since the units are not common to both structures. Building Units When you complete construction on a unit-capable structure, the units available to build will appear on the right strip. Building units is similar to building structures: click the icon and the countdown begins. Once the unit is ready, it will walk/roll out of the structure that created it (the Barracks or Factory). Unit Tips - You can check on a unit's health by selecting it. If the colored bar is green, the unit is healthy. This will change to yellow and red as the unit takes damage. While there is no way to heal infantry, later missions will allow you to build a repair bay, which will repair any vehicle (which costs credits). To repair a vehicle, select it, then place your cursor over the repair bay. Notice the cursor changes to the 'enter' cursor (three downward-pointing green arrows). Left click, and the unit will make its way to the repair bay. Once the unit is fully repaired, you will need to move it off the bay to make way for the next unit. - Remember! Tiberium is poisonous to infantry! Moving a trooper through a Tiberium field will eventually kill him. - The Engineers are special units. Though they do not have any offensive or defensive capabilities, they are able to capture an enemy building and place it in your control. To do this, select your engineer, then move the cursor over an enemy structure (notice the 'enter' cursor) then left click. The engineer will make his way to the structure, and if successful, the structure will change color and be in your control. Once captured, the enemy structure is yours to use, including selling it, or producing units. Note that this will allow you to build units and structures not normally allowed to you. Some structures (such as SAM sites, Turrets and Obelisks) cannot be captured. - The Orca is an air unit you will receive in the second demo mission. The Orca is selected and targeted just like any other unit. However, you cannot select an Orca once it is airborne. For this reason, you may wish to keep the Orcas on a group hot-key (see the README file for keyboard shortcuts and hot-keys). You can get Orcas to return to their pads by selecting them, placing the cursor over the pad (notice the 'enter' cursor) and left clicking. Orcas are immune to weapons other than missiles (such as SAM sites or Bazooka troops). VI. The Options Menu The Options menu is accessed either by clicking the options tab in the upper left corner, by hitting the space bar, or by hitting the Escape key. You have several options: Load Mission: The same as the main menu option - loads a previously saved game. Save Mission: Save your mission in progress. You may name the saved game anything you like, and the only limit on the number of savegames is your available hard drive space. Delete Mission: Allows you to delete a savegame from your hard drive. Useful to conserve space. Abort Mission: Choosing this option allows you to exit the mission to the main menu, or restart the current mission. Resume: Takes you back to the action. Restate: Gives you a text summary of the mission objectives. Also gives you the option of reviewing the video briefing. Game Controls: This option brings up a new menu to adjust the settings of the game: Game Speed: Adjusts the overall speed of the game. Scroll Rate: Adjusts the scroll rate of the map. Visual Controls: Allows you to adjust the brightness, color, contrast and tint of the game. Sound Controls: From this menu you can adjust the volume of the music and sound effects, change the music track, listen to a music track, or set the music tracks to shuffle during the game. The demo contains two of the music tracks from the many available in the full version of Command and Conquer. To listen to a track, click the desired track, then click the play button. VII. List of Available Structures in the Demo (note that not all structures are available in all three missions) GDI (you can build these) Construction Yard The construction yard is formed from a deployed MCV. It is the foundation of a base and allows the construction of other buildings. Power Plant Provides power for the buildings in your base. The power output declines when this structure is damaged. Barracks This building allows the training of infantry units. Guard Tower Provides base defense with a high-powered machine gun. Refinery Processes Tiberium into credits. A refinery comes with one Harvester, and will store 1000 credits. Silo This building stores 1500 credits of Tiberium. Communications Center Allows the use of the radar screen, as long as there is sufficient power. Weapons Factory Produces light and heavy vehicles. Helipad Allows the production of the Orca VTOL craft. Each pad comes with one Orca. Repair Facility Repairs damaged vehicles. If the bay is damaged, repair time is increased. Barrier Defenses Includes sandbags (which provide some cover and block unit movement) and Chain-link fences (which will stop light vehicles). NOD (You can build these if you capture the NOD construction yard) Hand of Nod Allows you to train infantry (equivalent of barracks). Turret A non-mobile defense against vehicles. SAM Site Non-mobile, fires surface-to-air missiles at enemy aircraft. Airstrip Allows the purchase of heavy and light vehicles (equivalent of weapons factory). VIII. List of Available Units in the Demo (note that all structures are not available in all three missions) GDI (You can build these) Minigun Infantry The standard for GDI and NOD forces. Grenade Infantry These troops can throw their grenades over barriers and up hills to great effect. May catch friendly units with area effect (shrapnel). Bazooka Infantry These troops use portable rocket launchers for great effect on armor units, air units, and structures. Engineers These troops carry no weapons, but have the ability to capture enemy buildings. Humm-Vee A quick vehicle armed with a chaingun. APC This vehicle can carry up to 5 infantry units. To load an APC, select your infantry unit, then place the cursor over the APC (notice the 'enter' cursor) and left click. Only one unit can load at a time. Medium Tank The staple of the GDI armor arsenal. MCV The unit which deploys into a Construction yard. You will not be able to build these in the demo, so guard it well. Harvester This vehicle gathers Tiberium and returns it to the refinery for processing. You get one free with each refinery you build, but you may build them separately. Orca An attack aircraft which fires a limited supply of rockets (the orca must return to the helipad to reload). You get one free with each helipad you build, but you may build them separately if you have a helipad available. Ground Support Aircraft (A-10) You cannot actually build these, but if you eliminate all SAM sites on the map, you will gain airstrike capability. This allows you to call an A-10 loaded with napalm to fry the enemy troops. NOD (you can build these if you capture NOD's Hand of Nod and Airstrip) Flamethrower Infantry A nasty trooper carrying a flame pack. May catch friendly troops with spray, and explode when killed. Recon Bike A very quick unit armed with rockets. Nod Buggy A quick unit with a mounted machine gun. Light Tank The staple of the NOD armory. Not as effective as the GDI tanks, but cheaper and faster. Mobile Artillery Devastating to units and structures at long range, but weak and ineffective close up. Flame Tank The ultimate anti-personnel weapon, this tank sprays twin flames at it's victims. Explodes when destroyed. IX. Final Notes For more information about units and structures (both in this demo and in the full game) including building prerequisites, please see the FAQ file. For more general information including keyboard shortcuts and hot-keys, troubleshooting and installation information, please see the README file.