Welcome! We've put together this demo to give you just a glimpse of what you can expect to find in the full version of our upcoming title "Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom."
MISSIONS IN THE DEMO
WeÆve included all six tutorial missions covering the full time period of the ancient Xia dynasty. Each of these missions starts by presenting you a briefing screen that lays out the goals for that mission.
Once you go "To the city" you will also see a popup screen with detailed tutorial information about how to properly build a city. You can right-click to close these tutorial screens at any time. If you want to bring this information back up, you will find it in the messages area in the lower right corner of the screen.
Once youÆve completed the Xia dynasty, you can move on to play the first three missions of the Shang dynasty. These missions will introduce you to bronze-making and monument-building (you will build a temple).
Finally, there is one multiplayer mission to try. Set in the Shang dynasty, this mission allows up to 8 players. All 8 players must be on the same Local Area Network (i.e., LAN) for the multiplayer demonstration. The full version of the game supports play over the Internet from SierraÆs multiplayer matchmaking lobby. When you reach the Emperor Lobby Connection screen, click on the Other Multiplayer button at the bottom right of the screen and this will take you to the screen where you can host or join the multiplayer demonstration game via LAN.
CREATING A CITY
A city in Emperor is essentially a collection of working buildings and housing. To build any new structure, select a Ministry from the Control Panel at the right of the screen, then select the specific structure you would like to build from the available choices you see. Move the mouse pointer over the landscape. You will see the structure itself where you are able to place the building (and this footprint will either be green or yellow, see "Feng Shui" below); otherwise you will see a red footprint, indicating that this particular structure may not be placed in that location.
On-Line Help and Feedback
Emperor does feature extensive on-line help. When in doubt, you can right click on any structure, location, or city inhabitant for more information about it or about your city in general.
Geomancy and the Art of Feng Shui
Geomancy (or feng shui, which translates as "wind-water") is an important part of Chinese culture. Feng shui is based on the idea that channels of energy occur throughout the landscape. If one exists in harmony with these channels, positive things can occur; if one blocks the flow, calamity may result. Geomancers in ancient China divined suitable sites for cities, buildings and tombs to take advantage of the positive energy of earth and heaven. Feng shui theory includes the five-elements concept that categorizes all things into five interactive elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. For game purposes, feng shui is determined by the placement of buildings relative to the terrain.
Harmony Feedback: When you construct a building, youÆll receive immediate feedback about the harmony of that location through the color of the ghost footprint. A green-ghost footprint indicates the building can be constructed on that spot, and all of the underlying terrain tiles are Harmonious to it. A yellow-ghost footprint indicates the building can be constructed on that spot, but one or more of the underlying terrain tiles are Inauspicious to it. A building constructed on an Inauspicious location functions normally, but your cityÆs people will be unhappier, and your homage offerings will be less effective. A red-ghost footprint indicates the building cannot be built there at all.
WORKING BUILDINGS
In order for working buildings to function they must be placed in a certain way. This is mainly intuitive, although there are a few key concepts you should be familiar with.
Road Access
Most structures must be next to a road, because this is the primary means the city's inhabitants will use to interact with them. This does not mean that the building should be surrounded by road, merely that there should be some road along some part of the building's side(s).
Insufficient Number Of Workers In City
Even if a structure has access to a road, there may not be enough workers in the city for all buildings to work. The game automatically allocates the available workforce to different tasks (you can review and change these via the Industrial Ministry, which is not available until the third mission in this demo).
HOUSING & EVOLUTION
When immigrants first move into new housing, it is of very poor quality, called a 'shelter'. One of your primary goals in building a successful city is to 'evolve' its housing -- that is, to improve it by providing its inhabitants with food, water, and certain amenities. If a house subsequently loses access to food, water, or amenities on which it was dependant, it will similarly 'devolve', until access is restored. As housing evolves (or devolves), its outward appearance changes.
Amenities
These take the form of actual goods (such as hemp and ceramics, delivered to the house from a market square), and access to services (such as religion and entertainment, provided by citizen "walkers" like diviners and jugglers in this example).
Desirability
Proximity to unattractive structures (such as industrial buildings -- i.e., clay pits, kilns, etc.) makes it more difficult for a house to evolve, regardless of what amenities it might have access to, while proximity to attractive structures (such as gardens and statues) makes it easier for a house to evolve. It is therefore important to allocate certain districts of your city for quality housing, free from unsightly industrial structures, in order to achieve the highest level of housing evolution possible in a given mission.
Purpose of Housing Evolution
The better the quality of housing, the more taxes its occupants pay (though taxation is only available in the sixth mission of this demo). Additionally, housing evolution is often a goal in and of itself, required in order to win certain missions, because it is a good measure of how nice a place your city is to live in.
HOTKEYS
P Pause the game
R Rotate selected sculpture or building footprint
[ Decrease game speed
] Increase game speed
space Toggle Overlay for currently selected Ministry
So, you've played the demo, and you want to know what more you can expect to find in the full version of Emperor. Here are some highlights:
The Story of Ancient China
In the full version of Emperor, you'll play an additional 39 single-player missions (48 total). These cover the rest of the Shang dynasty, and continue through the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song and Jin dynasties. The game culminates with the Mongol invasions made by Genghis Khan.
Along the way, youÆll build Chinese cities throughout the empire. Sometimes youÆll be operating in humid areas like Annam (present-day Vietnam). Other times youÆll be building in arid locations like the Taklimakan Desert. Through it all, the fortunes of the empire will shift, growing under your careful direction or falling as a result of your neglect.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer scenario included in the demo is a competitive mission you can play via a LAN. The full version of the game ships with 8 other multiplayer missions, and weÆre confident youÆll find many more available for download. Best of all, you can play online for free (or via a LAN) in cooperative or competitive missions. So if youÆre reluctant to try some competitive multiplayer action, then get online with some friends in a cooperative effort to, for example, build the Great Wall of China.
The Longest Wall in the World
In addition to the great temple you built in the demo, the full version of Emperor features another dozen monuments of larger proportions. These include a splendid temple and temple complexes, burial tumuli, large palace, underground vault filled with terracotta soldiers, sections of the great wall and grand canal, grand pagoda, and astronomical clock tower.
Religions & Heroes
The full version of Emperor includes three more religions and nine more heroes that you can make offerings to. Each hero provides special benefits and blessings for your city when he or she is summoned. For example, Sun Tzu helps tremendously with spying and the military, whereas Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, aids the health of the people and reduces the cost to bribe enemy invaders away.
Military Activity
Because the full version of the game spans over 3,000 years of history, itÆs no surprise that the Chinese must face many enemies in Emperor. These include the Xiongnu, Viets, Koreans, Tibetans, Khitans and Mongols. But there are enemies within the empire, too, and sometimes you are the one trying to usurp the power! You can build chariots, cavalry, crossbowmen and catapults in addition to your infantry. And donÆt forget to build city walls, towers and gatehouses for protection.
Industry & Commodities
In the full version of Emperor you'll find many more buildings, industries and commodities. The Chinese were the first in the world to create steel and paper; they excelled in the fine art of lacquerware. YouÆll find many opportunities for profit, establishing relationships with other cities and opening up trade routes such as the famous Silk Road during the Han dynasty.
Open Play
For those who prefer an open-ended game with no goals, try an open play mission set during the bronze, iron or steel age. You can pick the map and set the parameters at the start of the mission to determine the size of the empire (number of cities), how other cities feel towards you (peaceful, neutral, aggressive, etc.), and the frequency of natural disasters.
Campaign Creator
If those 7 campaigns (48 missions) and 8 multiplayer scenarios we provide you in the full version of the game donÆt satisfy your craving for city building in ancient China, then maybe youÆll want to create your own campaigns and missions. Fortunately for you, the full version includes a Campaign Creator as well as a userÆs guide in pdf format to help you along. And please share your created missions so others can enjoy them, too!
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