It's time to become a god. In Populous: The Beginning, you play the Shaman, the spiritual leader of a primitive tribe. Your destiny is to become a deity, a god for all eternity over every living thing. You must battle and conquer each world, crushing the enemies who stand in your way. Using your knowledge of magic and power, you will build mighty armies and unleash awesome spells as you spread across the worlds, destroying all in your path. Only by gaining domination over all the planets will you gain omnipotence.
I.II Main Menu
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-New Game
Begin the demo. There are three Single Player Levels for you to enjoy.
-Tutorial
We recommend that all first-time players play the Tutorial to familiarise themselves with the game.
-Load Game
Loads a previously saved game
-Multiplayer
There is one two-player multiplayer map for you to play over a network, modem or the Internet.
-Options
The Options Menu.
-Rolling Demo
Begins a short rolling demo of the game.
-Quit
Exits to Windows
I.III Finding Information
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Populous: The Beginning contains a very comprehensive help system. If you move the mouse pointer over any icon or object in the game, you will get a tooltip detailing the nature of the icon and how to use it. There is also a fully-featured Encyclopaedia listing every building, spell and follower that you have in your possession. Press F1 to access the Encyclopaedia or left-click on the ? (question mark) icon on the Control Panel and left-click on any other icon or object to find out more.
The following sections detail how to play the game.
I.IV Spells
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The Spells Panel contains all the spells you can cast either on your own followers or against enemy tribes. Spells use mana and require 'charging' before they can be cast.
Mana is the source of all power in Populous: The Beginning and is created by your followers to be stored in the Reincarnation Site. Braves generate the most mana and do so only when they are working or resting in Huts. Under those circumstances, your mana will then grow, and you will be able to use it to perform one of your many spells.
The first spell you are given is Blast. Each spell needs to be charged before it can be used. As your mana grows, each spell will gain mana until it has enough for one spell.
The dots on a spell's icon tell you how many shots of that spell you have. You can only have a limited amount of shots charged at any one time.
The blue bar on a spell's icon on the Spells Panel indicates how much mana that shot has charged.
At the top of the spell panel is the Spell Charge Rate bar and shows the rate at which your spells are charging with mana.
If the bar is low, your spells will take longer to charge. You can increase the rate by charging fewer spells, training fewer followers, giving work to idle followers or breeding more Braves.
If the bar is high, your spells are charging well and your followers are working.
If the bar flashes red, you are wasting mana and should charge up some of your inactive spells.
When you cast a spell, a dot will disappear and you will have to charge the spell again. Right-click on the spell's icon to prevent a spell from charging and thus give more mana to your other spells. Hold down Ctrl and right-click on any spell to toggle all but that spell on or off. Hold down Shift and right-click on any spell icon to toggle all the spells on or off.
There are also special spells called Single Shot Spells which are given to you by Stone Heads. These spells have grey icons and red dots; they cannot be charged and only contain enough mana for one cast.
See the Encyclopaedia for information on individual spells.
To cast a spell, left-click on its icon on the Spells Panel. Around your Shaman will appear an ethereal circle that indicates the range of that spell and how far you can cast it. You can extend this range by making use of higher ground or Guard Towers Once you have selected the target for your spell, place your mouse pointer over it and left-click. If you cast the spell outside the ring, the Shaman will walk to within range and cast the spell.
To deselect a spell, right-click.
I.V Buildings
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The Buildings Panel contains all the buildings you can construct to train new followers and expand your settlements.
Left-click on a building icon to select. Right-click to zoom.
See the Encyclopaedia for information on individual buildings.
Construction is a very important part of the game. As your tribe and Shaman grow in power and knowledge, your settlement will increase in size and diversity.
To construct a building, left-click on its icon on the Building Panel and move your mouse pointer onto the landscape.
A white square, called a Plan, will appear on the ground and shows you how much space the building needs to be constructed. You can only construct a new building next to an existing building or the Reincarnation Site, except the Guard Tower which can be built anywhere and can be used to start a new settlement.
If you cannot build on a particular spot, the Plan will become partially red and you will have to move it to a new location. Also on the Plan is an arrow and this indicates where the entrance to the building will be. Pressing the Space Bar will rotate the Plan through ninety degrees, which may help you fit it in.
To deselect a Plan, right-click.
Once you have found a good spot for your building, left-click to place it down. You can either tell some of your Braves to start construction (select them and left-click on the blueprint) or leave them to do it automatically. To delete a Plan, shift + right-click on the Plan. To delete a building, right-click on the building and left-click on the Deconstruct icon.
I.VI Followers
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The Follower Panel details each type of follower and tells you how many are performing the different jobs, i.e. which Braves are fighting or building. There are two jobs missing from the bottom of the panel. Later in the game, you will discover two types of vehicle and the panel will provide you with information about these vehicles and the type of followers that are inside them.
To the far left are the total followers performing those tasks, the remaining icons show the followers of each type performing those tasks. Left-click to select one follower, Ctrl left-click to select five followers Shift left-click to select all followers.
See the Encyclopaedia for information on individual followers.
In Populous: The Beginning, you control all of your followers directly and command them to perform a multitude of tasks.
When you start Populous: The Beginning, you will only have your Shaman and a number of Braves in your tribe.
To select a follower, move your mouse pointer over him (a white square will appear around him) and left-click.
To select more than one follower, position your mouse pointer on the landscape and left-click and drag your mouse pointer outwards. A white box will appear on the ground and you can change its size by moving your mouse pointer around. If you let go of the mouse button, any follower within the square will be selected.
To deselect your selected followers, right-click.
When you have one or more followers selected, you can click on objects on the world and perform various tasks:
To move your followers to a point, left-click on the landscape at that point.
To enter a building, left-click on the building.
To attack the enemy or an enemy building, left-click on either the enemy followers or the enemy building.
To guard the Shaman, select some followers and press g. To stop your followers guarding the Shaman, press g again.
You can also tell your selected followers to perform multiple tasks by holding down the Ctrl key when you left-click on an object. Each time you do this with the same group selected, you will add the task to a queue, and the followers will move onto it when they have completed their current task. You can perform up to eight multiple commands in a row, which can be useful if you want to fill lots of Huts in one go, or if you want to command your followers to use more than one Guard Posts to create patrols.
I.VII The World
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Reincarnation Site-
You create this when you enter a new world and it stores your mana as your tribe grows. Provided you still have followers on the world, the Shaman will be reincarnated inside it when she dies. It can never be destroyed or built on so it is safe from attack, but you can construct buildings next to it without first constructing a Guard Tower.
-Trees
On each world, you will see Trees dotted around the landscape and these are your source of construction material. Each Tree contains four pieces of wood when fully grown and your Braves will automatically collect this wood when they are building. A Tree will grow back steadily if it is cut but if it is completely stripped of wood, it will disappear and won't re-grow. Be careful with your trees and manage them well.
-Water
Water on every world of Populous: The Beginning is fatal and if any of your followers fall in, they will drown.
-Stone Heads
Stone Heads are mystical statues left on the worlds by The Ancients. If they are worshipped, they will reward you with special spells or buildings which you can use to conquer the Enemy. These spells and buildings can only be used once, so you will need to worship the head again to receive more. A Single Shot Spell does not need to be charged with mana, but can only be cast once. Right-click on a Stone Head to show how many of your Followers are needed to worship the stone to begin. When a Stone Head is completely drained, it will sink into the ground. Select some followers and left-click on the stone to worship it.
II MULTIPLAYER
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-Winsock TCP/IP Internet Connection
Select to play Populous: The Beginning over the Internet using a more customisable connection.
-Head to Head Modem Connection
Select to play Populous: The Beginning using a Modem.
-IPX Connection for DirectPlay
Select to play Populous: The Beginning over a LAN (Local Area Network).
To select one, left-click on its name and left-click on OK.
Left-click on Back to return to the Main Menu.
II.I Creating a Game
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When you first choose a service, your default name is Player. To change this, left-click on the name and type in a new one. Press Return to store the name.
Left-click on Back to return to the Choose Service menu.
Winsock
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On the Winsock service, you are provided with an Address Book. You can use this address book to store the Names, IP Addresses and Ports of your favourite opponents.
The game will automatically search these addresses for any games which have been created and will display them in the Games Box.
To host a new game, left-click on Create New Game. If you want to change the name of your game, left-click on it, change it and press Return. Left-click on OK to proceed.
To join a game already created, left-click on the name and left-click on Join Game.
Modem (2 player only)
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Populous: The Beginning automatically knows what type of modem you have installed so all you have to do is either create or join a game.
To host a game, left-click on Create New Game.
If you opponent has already created a game, left-click on Join Game. You will have to enter the telephone number of the host before you can start. Left-click on the phone number box, type it in and press Return. Left-click on Dial and Connect to join.
IPX
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In IPX, Populous: The Beginning automatically searches for created games and lists them on the screen for you.
To host a new game, left-click on Create New Game. If you want to change the name of your game, left-click on it, change it and press Return. Left-click on OK to proceed.
To join a game already created, left-click on the name and left-click on Join Game.
II.II Starting a Game
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If you have joined a game, you will see a different screen to the host. The joiner will only be able to chat with the other players, while the host will be able to alter a number of different options to change the game.
At the top of the screen is a list of all the players. Each player can left-click under Allies to change their allegiance between Neutral, Good or Evil. When the game starts, those who chose either good or evil will be allied with each other. The last column shows which players are ready to start. Before each game can start, each player must left-click and toggle this option to yes.
To the right is the Chat Box. When a player sends a message, it will appear in this box. To send your own, left-click on the box underneath and type your message. When you press Return, the message will be sent.
-Start
Left-click to begin the game.
II.III Play on Internet Matchup Service
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For those with Internet capability, you can use the Internet Matchup Service to chat to other players and organise games. When you left-click on this option, Populous: The Beginning will quit and you will be taken to the EA Populous: The Beginning Internet Matchup Service page (www.populous.net/gamelobby.html)
Internet Site: http://www.populous.net
Please note: You must have either Netscape 4* or I.E 4 (Service Pack 1) installed to play from the MatchMaker.
Software (c) 1998 Bullfrog Productions Ltd. Bullfrog and Populous, are trademarks or
registered trademarksof Bullfrog Productions Ltd. in the United States
and/or other countries.Bullfrog is an Electronic Arts company. Electronic
Arts and the Electronic Arts logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Electronic Arts in the United States and / or other countries. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
