The Quick Reference Guide
                               to Overlord
                           Virgin Mastertronic




CHOOSING AN OPPONENT

 When Overlord has loaded, the opening sequence launches automatically.
 Now you must choose which of the systems to compete for:
              Hititsu, Futatsu, Mittsu or Yottsu.

 You win by taking your opponents base.

 Hitotsu is the easiest: you only need Credits to buy items, the enemy
 is not very experienced and you have eight planets to fight over. (the
 enemy gets progressively stronger and wiser in Futatsu, Mittsu and Yottsu.

 In Futatsu there are 16 planets and you need credits and minerals to
 complete some purchases; in Mittsu and Yottsu there are 32 planets, and
 credits, minerals, and energy are needed to buy craft.

 Provided you have a mouse, the only time you need to use the keyboard
 is when you are naming or renaming things or confirming that you want to
 scrap a ship - otherwise, Overlord is controlled entirely by moving the
 cursor and clicking mouse buttons. The PC version can be played from
 keyboard - use the cursor keys to move the on-screen pointer, pressing
 ENTER instead of clicking the left mouse button and ESCAPE instead of the
 right mouse button.

 Click on your chosen opponent, and wait for the Main Screen to appear.
 Choose to fight Wotok for the Hitotsu system if you want to follow the
 Quick Start Tour in OVERLORD.DOC.

THE MAIN SCREEN CONTROLS

 The animated System Map on the Main Screen shows the planets in the
 system. Clicking on the arrows to the right of the display moves the Planet
 Cursor up and down the map. A view of the current planet appears in the
 Video Window to the right. The concept of 'the current planet' is important
 - some of the controls only work on the current planet and generally you
 have to own the current planet for those controls to take effect. When the
 game starts, the Planet Cursor is on your Starbase ath the bottom of the
 map, and Starbase appears in the Video Window. So Starbase is the 'current
 planet'.

 Ten icons in a panel below the System Map are used to access the other
 control screens in Overlord. To return to the Main Screen from elsewhere in
 the game, click on the right mouse button. All incoming messages appear on
 the scrolling text window that was used to display the system checks and
 log-on sequence when you started play; click on the message window to view
 any unread messages.

THE CONTROL SYSTEM

Government Screen Icon (Picture of a Graph)
 Used to access economic information and review resource levels on planets
 under your control, to review military strength, to ship credits back to
 Starbase, to set tax rates and to review craft located above or on the
 surface of a planet

Buy Screen Icon (Picture of a Stack of Gold)
 Calls up a catalogue of craft and resource-generating equipment that you
 can buy providing you have the required Credits and Resources to complete
 the transaction.

Navigation Screen Icon (Picture of a Ship)
 Allows you to send the craft under your control on journeys through space,
 to launch and land them and to locate craft in your fleet. Craft may also
 be renamed on the Navigation Screen.

Planet Formatter (Smaller Picture of Planet Formatter from Buy Screen)
 Clicking here dispatches your Atmosphere Processor to the current planet,
 provided it is still unformatted; when it arrives, planet formatting
 begins automatically.

Platoon Management Screen Icon (Picture of a Fist)
 Accesses the screen where civilians are drafted, trained, equipped and
 commissioned into platoons - the units that make up your army.
 
Cargo Bay Screen Icon (Picture of a Crate on a hook)
 Accesses the controls for the Cargo Bay on the current planet; allows
 cargo operations to be undertaken - loading and unloading Resources,
 crewing, fueling or scrapping craft that are in the Docking Bays on the
 current planet.

Planet Surface Screen Icon (Picture of a Planet)
 Used to move craft between the surface of the current planet and its
 Docking Bays, and to activate or deactivate Horticultural and Mining
 Stations when they are on the surface.

Combat Control Screen Icon (Picture of a Skull and Crossbones)
 Once you have an army, clicking here allows you to move platoons into
 battle, set their aggression level, monitor the progress of a battle or
 retreat from a lost cause.

Spying (Picture of a Magnifying Glass)
 Gives you the option to buy information about the current planet. Data on
 Resource levels, Population size and War Status can be purchased, or a
 package of all information can be bought.

Disk Management (Picture of a 3.5 Floppy Disc)
 Calls up a control panel that allows a game position to be saved, loaded
 or restarted, a disk to be formatted or the computer reset.