Fragile Allegiance(tm) Interactive Preview -------------------------------- (C) 1996 Gremlin Interactive, Ltd. All rights reserved. Fragile Allegiance and Interplay are trademarks of Interplay Productions. All rights reserved. Interplay is the sole publisher and distributor. Licensed from and developed by Gremlin Interactive, Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Welcome to the Fragile Allegiance Interactive Preview. This file contains basic installation instructions as well as an overview of your mission for this challenging glimpse at the epic experience that is Fragile Allegiance. 1. We have provided shortcuts for installing and running the game from within Windows 95. You may run the game by simply clicking on the Fragile.exe file but the shortcuts provide protection from accidentally hitting the wrong keys etc. One point to remember is if you MOVE or COPY the shortcut from it's original folder you will need to enter the path in the Properties of the shortcut. 2. Due to hardware conflicts, autodetecting for sound cards can be risky process. If you know the brand, port address, IRQ, and DMA of your sound card(s), it is recommended that you manually configure these items. Lockups are also common when autodetection is used when no sound cards are installed. 3. If you have a problem with video (black screens, strange blocks on the screen etc.) you may have a VESA problem. This is often caused by out-of-date video drivers. We have included a program to help fix this problem. To run the program make sure you are in DOS (don't run from Windows), then move to the Fragile directory and at the prompt type VESAFIX. This will run the program and fix the problem. If this doesn't cure the problem you should contact your supplier for the latest version of the drivers for your video card. 4. Although you can play Fragile Allegiance under Windows 95 if your machine has 16Mb or more, for speed and general performance we recommend that you play the game from DOS. 5. It is a good idea to turn off any screen savers you may have running while you are playing Fragile Allegiance. You should do this from the Properties of the shortcut: choose MISC, then alter 'Allow screen saver'. ***************************************************** Your Mission for the Fragile Allegiance Interactive Preview. ***************************************************** While this Interactive Preview has limited access to features and game play time (hey, we didn't want to give everything away in the Preview!), it has been designed to show off some of the more important and exciting aspects of Fragile Allegiance. You are given a pre-designed universe, with a basic colony already set-up and several very specific goals to achieve. Here are the essentials that you should be striving for: 1. Check out your starting asteroid and colony. Familiarize yourself with the game's menus, determine your colony's financial and mining status (see the Financial, Geological Survey and Colony Summary Menus) and decide if further construction is needed. IMPORTANT NOTE: Pressing and holding the Ctrl key activates the game's On-Line Help function. Simply move the pointer over a button and you'll receive an on-screen description of that button's function. 2. You are supplied with one Scout Ship to get you off-planet and exploring quickly (you can build more if you like). From the Asteroid Field View, you'll see one alien-occupied asteroid and one uncolonized asteroid. Send a Scout Ship to Prospect each of these asteroids... this will give you valuable information about an asteroid's potential for mining or allow you to open communication with alien cultures. 3. In this demo, you are allowed to immediately request a Colony Supervisor. This person allows you to delegate the day-to-day operations of colony management should you desire to play the game on a less micro-management level. See the Personnel Menu and place your request for this person as soon as possible. They will arrive with the next Federal Transporter and begin work immediately upon receiving directions from you. 4. Build and launch a Spy Satellite at the alien asteroid. This will allow you to view the alien asteroid and keep an eye on your neighbor's activities. 5. Along with Spy Satellites, you can also build and launch a variety of rather nasty missiles... If you have a Spy Satellite in orbit around an alien asteroid you can take a front row seat as your arsenal lays waste to your opponent's colony. Of course, most aliens don't like their worlds being bombed into space dust so be prepared to take some blows yourself should you decide to `walk tall and carry a big missile'. 6. Once your Scout Ship has returned from prospecting the uncolonized asteroid, you can view the results of its geological survey. If the asteroid looks promising, you can send your Transporter to start a new colony on this unclaimed piece of rock. The Transporter will start your new colony with the basic colonizing structure, the C.P.U. After that, it's up to you to construct the necessary buildings, power structures and mining equipment to keep your new colony running prosperously. If you have received your new Colony Supervisor, the job of managing construction for this new colony can be delegated to them if you wish. 7. Alien Communication, Negotiation and Trade are an integral part of the Fragile Allegiance experience. Click on the Communications button to see a small sample of this aspect of game play. 8. Don't forget to check out the game's Tutorials, accessible from the Main Menu. These tutorials will walk you through all aspects of game play, giving you a step-by-step tour of the many features and details that make Fragile Allegiance such an exciting and unique gaming experience. -------------------------------- INTERPLAY TECHNICAL & CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN THE U.S.: 714-553-6678 Please try to have your system information available and be near your computer if at all possible. Other ways to get Interplay Support: IN THE UNITED STATES Interplay Productions Attn: Customer Service 16815 Von Karman Ave. Irvine, CA. 92606 (714)252-2822 FAX Internet email: support@interplay.com FTP sites: ftp.interplay.com or ftp1.interplay.com Interplay BBS: 714-252-2822 BBS telnet: 199.182.211.86 or bbs.interplay.com America Online: keyword INTERPLAY or email to "IPTECH" GEnie: type "M805;1" Prodigy: email PLAY99B CompuServe: GO GAMBPUB, under INTERPLAY Prodigy: email to "PLAY99B" SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE This special interactive preview version of Fragile Allegiance (the "Software") is intended solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted by law. Interplay Productions [and Gremlin Interactive] retain [s] all rights and title in the Software including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof. You are granted a revocable, nonassignable limited license to create derivative works of this Software solely for your own personal noncommercial home entertainment use and may publicly display such derivative works to the extent specifically authorized by Interplay in writing. A copy of this authorization, if any, will be provided on Interplay's World Wide Web site, located at http://www.interplay.com, or by contacting the legal department at Interplay at (714) 553-6655. The Software, including, without limitation, all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be copied (except as provided below), resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or for any commercial purpose. You may make copies of the Software for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use and to give to friends and acquaintances on a no cost noncommercial basis. This limited right to copy the Software expressly excludes any copying or distribution of the Software on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, bundling the product with any other product or service and any give away of the Software in connection with another product or service. Any permissions granted herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. Modem and Network Play. If the Software contains modem or network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with another person or persons directly without transmission through a third party service or indirectly through a third party service only if such service is an authorized licensee of Interplay. For the purposes of this license, a "third party service" refers to any third party service which provides a connection between two or more users of the Software, manages, organizes, or facilitates game play, translates protocols, or otherwise provides a service which commercially exploits the Software, but does not include a third party service which merely provides a telephonic connection (and nothing more) for modem or network play. Authorized licensee services are listed on the Interplay Productions World Wide Web Site located at http://www.interplay.com. This limited right to transmit the Software expressly excludes any transmission of the Software or any data streams thereof on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, transmitting the Software by way of a commercial service (excepting those specific commercial services licensed by Interplay) which translates the protocols or manages or organizes game play sessions. If you would like information about obtaining a pay-for-play or commercial license to the Software, please call Interplay Productions at (714) 553-6655. Nothing in this paragraph is intended to prevent you from downloading the Software from Interplay's Web site or from commercial service providers authorized by Interplay to provide the Software to you. Acceptance of License Terms. By downloading or acquiring and then retaining this Software, you assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited license. If you acquired the Software and do not accept the terms of this limited license, you must return the Software together with all packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to the store where you acquired the Software for a full refund and if you downloaded the Software, you must delete it.