* High Color graphics for 640 x 480 x 16-bit color (must be compatible with DirectX)
* Mouse
* DirectX-compatible sound card
The Field of Battle
The battles of 7th Legion are fought on battlefields of varying size, climate and terrain.
The Tactical Radar Display in the upper left corner shows a small map of the battlefield areas for which you have current reports.
Since High Command's ability to get accurate recon is limited, you'll have to rely on reports from units on the scene. Given the speed with which the tactical situation can change, even local information quickly becomes outdated, so regular patrols are very useful. Stealth technology has rendered radar largely useless on the battlefield; enemy units will generally appear on the tactical radar display only if your units can see them.
Getting Cash
It takes money to run a war. Your government will provide this money. At regular intervals, you will receive an influx of cash as the budget is allocated. You also get a little money for every enemy unit killed by your units. Since the budget money is based in part on your Command Rank (which is based on the number of kills your forces get), maximize enemy casulties!
Your individual units can also gain rank, usually through experience. Higher ranking units are stronger and faster, and units repair some damage when promoted. There are five unit ranks, ranging from Recruit to Deathtrooper.
Building Stuff
Building stuff is the key to winning most missions. You can build structures and battle units. To build structures, you need a base; to build units, you need structures. Protect your base!
Building is done on the bottom of the screen. When you begin a mission, there will be nothing there. As you construct your base and other buildings, however, icons will be displayed, showing which production buildings you have built. Clicking an icon brings up a menu of things you can build with that structure; you can also click on the building itself to show the build menu. Placing your cursor over the picture will tell you what it is and how much it costs. When you are building units, numbers at the bottom of the icon indicate the number of units you want to build. For example, clicking on the "8" at the bottom of the Machine Gunner picture will produce eight of them in a row, one at a time. You won't be able to start building anything you can't afford, and if you run out of money, multiple unit construction will be held until you have the money. Multiple buildings of the same type speed up production, but you can only build at one site at a time (click to select the building you want producing).
Different buildings produce different types of units: Barracks train various non-vehicular units, Vehicle Factories produce vehicles and Robot Hangars produce various heavily armed Assault Chassis. The Hi-Tech Lab researches improvements to your units' weapons and armor, along with some other useful gadgets. Not all buildings and/or units are available in all missions.
Selecting Units
Now that you have all of these new units, you need to select them in order to give them orders. There are several ways of selecting units, singly or in groups. Click on a unit to select that unit; Shift-click on another unit to add it to the group of active units. You can click and drag to select all units in a given area. Right-click on the terrain to deselect all units; right-click on a unit (when you have no other units selected) to activate that unit and all units that are doing the same thing on the same screen. Buildings can only be selected by clicking on them.
Selected units and buildings have a frame around them and show their current damage level. Damage is shown on a bar across the bottom of the frame; when the bar is empty, the unit will blow up. Clicking on a building's damage bar lets you repair it; clicking again stops repairs, but repairs also stop if you run out of money or finish fixing the building.
Playing Cards
Your current stock of Battle Cards is displayed in the upper right corner. You start with three Battle Cards and can hold up to five at a time. You'll receive another card every other budget period. Place your cursor over the card to show its name; you'll have to experiment with them to find the best use for each card. The green-bordered cards are generally beneficial, red-bordered cards are generally not beneficial and blue-bordered cards are mostly neutral. Of course, it all depends on the situation you're in. To use the cards, just drag and drop them on a valid target (usually a unit), sit back and watch the fun.
Power-ups
Scattered across the battlefield, you will occasionally run across gray shipping containers marked with a "P." These contain useful things, like credits, equipment and upgrades for your units. Containers broadcast a locator signal at regular intervals; in areas for which you have current information, this signal will flash the location of all power-ups on the tactical radar display.
Moving and Attacking
When you have a unit (or units) selected, the cursor will change into a move/attack cursor. If the new cursor is over an enemy unit or building, the cursor will turn red and say "Attack." Otherwise, the cursor will say "Move." Click on the spot you want to move to or the unit you want to attack, and all of the selected units will either move to that location or move within range and attack.
If you hold down the left mouse button when picking a target (for movement or attack), a small menu will pop up. This lets you determine how the moving units will act on the way to the target. Defensive units will avoid contact with the enemy; aggressive units will fire at any targets of opportunity they can. Some units are unable to fire while moving, and some units will get so involved in a small fight that they will forget where they were initially headed.
Key Commands
Ctrl+Attack Forces an attack (even on your own units and buildings)
Esc Game menu
Ctrl-1 through Ctrl-0 Store detachment
1 through 0 Recall stored detachment
R Toggle building repair on/off
Shift+Left Mouse Button Add unit to current group
Right Mouse Button on Unit Select all friendly units on visible screen performing same action
Home Center view on base
End Go back to the view before you pressed Home
T Toggle tactical radar
I Toggle infrared radar
Tab Toggle radar on/off
V Center view on select unit(s)
Known Problems
This demo of 7th Legion represents a work in progress. As such, you may run into a few problems while playing this demo.
For instance (not an exhaustive list):
* The mouse may get stuck in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
* The mortar units look cool, but they don't actually do anything -- you probably don't want to build any.
* The game may give a General Protection Fault as you exit.
In addition, multiplayer is not included in this demo. The complete version of 7th Legion, however, will include support for modems, local networks and the Internet. You can enter the multiplayer area to play a special mission called "Skirmish." You will play against one to five computer-controlled oppponents.
