PDF Manual

[willgamer]

ORIGINAL: Dragoon

I find the tooltips explain most things, although it's missing detailed background information about mechanics, which leads to confusion how things actual work.
Like pollution. Maybe in an extended tooltip it should not only show the source but also explain the process how it's created. Instead of me shifting workers around to get actual numbers how much pollution each different production unit creates.

Mouse over the pollution icon in the upper left hand side of the city screen (in the Statistics box) and you will see the breakdown by worker type. [:)]

[schascha]

I'm interested by this game.
But I won't buy it without a real manual.

[sanderz]

If the devs can't produce a manual maybe they could just post some info on various topics in the war room [:D]

[also not bought this yet but keeping a close eye on it].

[tombo]

I'm also keeping close watch on this...so far seems good.

Is it that difficult to put a overview PDF together from the those who built the game? This could be a living document updated bi-weekly or so.

[&:]

[Moltke71]

Many years ago, production cycles started to force manuals to be written before the game was even beta. Bad system but there it is.

[willgamer]

ORIGINAL: schascha

I'm interested by this game.
But I won't buy it without a real manual.

I'm really quite sympathetic to this, but what if games are simply moving away from this paradigm of an external manual to an organic kind of in game documentation?

While short of full info, the mouse over that is displayed is quite detailed and can reveal most of what the developer wants the player to know.

(I support developers not right to not reveal every algorithm.)

I happily still read my Emrich and Hughes Master of Orion- Build an empire to Span the Galaxy... all 403 pages of it, but if games developers are trying a different approach, I wouldn't want to miss a really good game (as it seems Pandora is shaping up to be).

[Moltke71]

Yeah, the manual reads like a press release but the in-game stuff is sufficient for play. Amazon and Apple got away with almost no manuals for the Kindle and iPAD.

[Velihopea]

The game hardly needs any manual, UI, tooltips and mechanics are quite clear.

Few things confused me:
- Game progress. That is, victory conditions and progress towards them were/are hidden.
- Some details, which a under 250 page manual would not cover anyways.

But I seldomly read any game manuals so this depends on the player.

[robc04_1]

While I do find the lack of a real manual poor, I was able to learn and play effectively without one. I would have preferred to read the manual first. Between the hint messages and the tooltips I'd say 85-90% of the game is covered.

[shauny1987]

I have probrem. As Socialist faction I wish to stomp Greens. Cannot find war button.
Comrade Mao of the Solar Dynasty thinks a decent manual may have covered how to make war on green scum.

Halp.



Where is smash in face option in diplomacy?

[willgamer]

I don't know all the political conditions, but you definitely cannot break a non-aggression pact and then go to war the next turn.

There a "cool down" period that seems to happen with many of the political options.

So, my guess is that in a couple of turns, you will be able to declare war.

FWIW, I like this feature, as it prevents a lot of exploits by the human player.

[robc04_1]

Did you have a non aggression pact with them at all? When that is terminated I think there is a 5-10 turn waiting period before war can be declared.

[shauny1987]

AH yes... the cooldown it was.

[torrone]

I bought this game without realizing there is no manual that describes game mechanics. This is a terrible omission, IMO. Having to scroll over tool tips to try and decipher how things work increases the learning curve dramatically. Inexcusable as far as I'm concerned. It's going to take quite some time to figure things out, time I'm not sure I want to spend. So far, this is looking like a waste of $30.

[Dragoon.]

I really like the tooltips approach that is not like Europa Universalis IV. Allows you to drive right into the game seemingly simple without having everytime pull out the manual.