Rise and Rule of Ancient Empires - beta demo Copyright 1996 Sierra On-Line, Inc. 03/22/96 ----------------------------------- Welcome to this demo version of Rise and Rule of Ancient Empires! SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEMO WINDOWS 3.1 or Windows 95 486DX33 8 MB RAM 2X CD-ROM Sound Card W/DAC SVGA 640X480X256 colors Mouse HOW TO START THE GAME Windows 3.1 In File Manager, locate the directory in which you downloaded this demo. Once in the directory, find the file that is named DEMO31.EXE. Double click on this file, and enjoy the game. Windows 95 Right click on the start button, click on Explore. Locate the folde in which you downloaded this demo. Once in the folde, find the file that is named DEMO95.EXE. Double click on this file, and enjoy the game. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR WINDOWS 3.1: Windows 3.1 users need to have both the WIN-G and Win32s system extensions installed to run the demo. If you are recieving error messages while trying to play this demo your system may be missing these utilities. You can download WIN32s from the Sierra Web page at WWW.SIERRA.COM, or Sierra's forum at AOL and Compuserve. Please download version 1.3 of Win32s that is named OLE32s13. WinG is named WinG on all the sites. You can locate the files in the software demos areas on the above On-line sites. Sorry, but the multiplayer features will not work in the Windows 3.1 version. The Win95 demo supports 2 player modem and network play. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR WINDOWS 95: Windows 95 users need to have the DirectPlay (DPLAY.DLL) portion of DirectX installed to run DEMO95.EXE. (See "Multiplayer Game," below, for more information.). If you have any Windows95 specific games, you probably already have an installation for DirectX on that game CD. If not, download DirectX from where you downloaded this demo from, the Sierra Web page at WWW.SIERRA.COM, or Sierra's forum on AOL or Compuserve. Both the Windows 95 and the Windows 3.1 versions of the game need the WIN-G windows system extension installed, WinG is named WinG on all the sites mentioned in the paragraph above. You can locate files in the software Demos areas at these sites. OVERVIEW: Rise and Rule is an empire building strategy game designed from the ground up for multiplayer gaming. It should be playable in 2-30 hours, offering satisfying play in single or multiple sittings, depending on the size of the map chosen. This demo includes the Egyptian and Greek cultures and allows a two player game. The commercial version will include six total cultures, with up to four players allowed in a single game. The demo is limited to 100 turns for each player. MULTIPLAYER GAME: Choosing the multiplayer game option allows two players with Win95, the DirectPlay portion of Directx (which, if not installed by a previous game, should have been loaded during the installation) and a properly installed network, to create or join a multiplayer game. (Sorry, but just two players are allowed in this demo). For network play, start the game and choose IPX network (at this time TCP/IP is not supported). One player should CREATE a game, and the other should JOIN it. You will need to name your machine and also specify a name to go with your portrait in the game. Modem play requires that modems be properly installed for Windows 95 on both machines. Initiate a multi-machine game and choose Modem Play. One player should Create a game, putting his machine into call-answering mode, while the other should choose "Dial". Enter the first player's number in the dialog box that appears and accept to set up the connection. During a multiplayer game, messages are sent between players by clicking on your opponent's picture in the upper right corner of the screen, then choosing a message button from the list below. You can customize the each of these message buttons by right-clicking on them, which lets you edit the text sent with each message. PLAYING THE GAME: When playing, the player: * explores a hidden map, * builds cities and units, * and expands his influence. The main game screen is the scrolling map, where the player controls his armies and cities. Left clicking on an army icon SELECTS it. Left clicking nearby MOVES the unit toward that point. To enter a city, left click on a unit near a city, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse onto the city. Left clicking and dragging can also be used to combine armies, or just to move. Moving the cursor near the edge of the map window changes the cursor to a yellow arrow; right clicking the mouse when the arrow is yellow changes the arrow green and scrolls the map in that direction. Function buttons at screen bottom allow the army to order a "Patrol", "Move to" a distant location and (for Merchants and Philosophers) set up a "Route" between two cities. For example, choose an army, click on the "Walking" icon and left click somewhere on the map; the army will continue to move, through subsequent turns, until he reaches that destination. SETTLERS, CITIES, POPULATION AND PRODUCTION: The player starts with a single settler unit, which allows for the creation of a city. Select "Found City" from among the buttons on the bottom of the screen to create a settlement on the unit's current location. After a moment, this will take you to the City Screen for this new village. The city screen lets you allocate the city population between four main tasks -- * food gathering, * education, * building, * and resource gathering, -- through the SLIDING BAR in the top center of the screen. Click on and drag the little "man" markers between the colored sections to reallocate labor between tasks. Moving the slider updates the Displays surrounding the Slider Bar to indicate the expected food, building and resource-gathering the city will achieve in the next turn. Focusing on food production tends to increase population (indicated by a row of PEOPLE above the Slider Bar) until the city reaches a state of equilibrium. CULTIVATION and ROAD BUILDING will (in the final game) increase the population level at which a city achieves equilibrium. At any point, the city can be assigned to build ONE specific unit (i.e. moving figure on the scrolling map) OR city structure (which in the final version of the game will affect a city's capabilities) AT A TIME. The display below the Slider bar indicates which unit or structure is currently selected; click on its icon to select a new choice from a list of possible units and structures. The PROGRESS BAR to the right of the display shows how much progress has been achieved on the selected item (in one color), and how much more will be done this turn (in another color). Building units and city structures takes WORK (indicated by the Building task on the bar) and RESOURCES (indicated by the Resource Gathering task on the bar. Once a healthy population has been reached (around 8-10 guys) try using the slider controls to remove people from producing EXCESS FOOD, and then balance them between Building and Resource Production. Watch how these changes affect the PROGRESS BAR. Not all units and structures are available at the start of a game; to build them, your city must gain KNOWLEDGE (see below) of how they are made. The same applies for structures which can be built to multiple LEVELS. CITY BUILDINGS, RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE: Left-clicking on certain buildings in the city will let you control additional tasks that the city can accomplish. For example, clicking on the Academy building allows the player to set the research FOCUS for the particular city. Research can be performed in five areas: - General Knowledge - Spiritual Knowledge - Engineering Knowledge - Medical Knowledge - Martial Knowledge A percentage of the city's population is assigned to researching from the main worker allocation slider bar. You use the academy panel slider bar to shift the city's focus away from certain areas of knowledge, and towards others. Research in the five areas gains the KNOWLEDGE that is required to build the various unit and building types and levels that are not available at the start of the game. Different units and buildings require certain levels of knowledge in MULTIPLE areas before they can be built. This knowledge also offers medical and spiritual benefits to cities and armies. Each city must perform its OWN research; given the distances involved, the knowledge gained in one city does NOT automatically become known in your other ones. However, you can spread knowledge among your cities through use of PHILOSOPHERS. SPECIAL UNITS: In addition to military and settler units, there are two special units used in the game to link your cities into an empire: Communication of knowledge is carried out by setting PHILOSOPHER units on ROUTES (see "Playing the Game," above) between cities. A philosopher unit currently requires about 15% in each of the areas of research. As it travels, the philosopher will "learn" from cities with more knowledge than it has, and then "teach" what it knows to less knowledgeable cities. Setting MERCHANT units to routes between cities has two benefits. First, it creates trade between the cities (which can increase each city's resources). Second, it raises each city's GOOD WILL towards the player who sent the Merchant. Currently, enemies will attack any unit they encounter, including merchants; but in the final game, players will be able to spread this good will to enemy cities, to increase the chances that they might break from their current empire and switch allegiances. COMING SOON: The demo version of the game will be updated as the release version of the game is updated. Check out our web page at http:\\\www.sierra.com for updates. To order call 1-800-757-7707 or see your local retailer. Have Fun! Legal Stuff: BY USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. Sierra On-Line End User License Agreement This software is copyrighted. This software and documentation is licensed to you by Sierra On-Line. You may copy it onto a computer for your own personal use and you may make back up copies of the software to protect your software against loss. This software may be used by more than one person, and may be freely moved from one computer location to another provided that there is no possibility of the software being used at one location or on one computer while it is being used at another. The software can not legally be used by two different people in different places at the same time. You may not modify, network, rent, lease, loan, distribute the software or create derivative works based upon the software in whole or in part, and you may not electronically transmit the software from one computer to another or over a network. This End User License Agreement grants you a limited license to use the Redistributable Code licensed to Sierra On-Line, Inc. by Microsoft Corporation, Inc. together with Microsoft operating system products. All intellectual property rights in Microsoft’s Redistributable Code contained in this product belong exclusively to Microsoft Corporation, Inc.