Copyright: Copyright © 1997 Activision, Inc.


Buildings Menu
Game Contents

Story

Game Play

Multi-Player

Units

Buildings

Common Buildings

Freedom Guard Buildings

Freedom Guard Building Prerequisites

Imperium Buildings

Imperium Building Prerequisites

Construction Kit

Software License Agreement


Buildings Section
Buildings

“Even the lowliest of beasts knows order. Order is the purpose of intellect.”

 — Imperium Ruling Director Grote Reber

Common Buildings

Water Launch Pad — Freighters deliver their water cargo to the Water Launch Pad, where it is shipped off planet and sold. The Water Launch Pad comes with a Freighter.

Taelon Power Generator — These structures provide power to all other buildings. Each Taelon Power Generator holds a small amount of Taelon when constructed. More Taelon can be added to increase power output. The Power Generator comes with a Freighter.

Camera Tower — This structure provides extended line of sight. Because of its height, the Camera Tower can provide line of sight over some hills that other buildings and units cannot see over.

Freedom Guard Buildings

Headquarters — The HQ is the fundamental building in a base. It produces Construction Rigs, which allow the building of other structures, and provides the Minimap view. The HQ can be upgraded twice to allow production of advanced buildings and units.

Training Facility — The Training Facility is where all infantry units are trained. The building can be upgraded once to allow production of advanced units. Multiple Training Facilities reduce the amount of time required to train infantry units.

Assembly Plant — Vehicles are produced in this structure. Like the Training Facility, the Assembly Plant can be upgraded once, and multiple buildings allow for faster production of units.

Field Hospital — Damaged infantry units can be healed at this building. Only one unit can be healed at a time.

Repair Station — This facility repairs damaged vehicles and flyers. Like the Field Hospital, the Repair Station can repair only one unit at a time.

Re-Arming Deck — The Sky Bike and Outrider have limited ammunition weapons that must be re-armed at the Re-Arming Deck. The structure can only outfit one unit at a time, so multiple Re-Arming Decks may be needed to quickly re-arm a large number of air units.

Air Defense Site — These small structures provide an effective stationary defense against aerial attack. The Air Defense Site’s rapid pulse laser will bring down any air unit that lingers too long in its neighborhood.

Bridges — Use these structures to span liquid barriers.

Laser Turret — This basic defensive structure provides fortification against ground attacks.

Heavy Rail Platform — Primarily an anti-armor installation, the Heavy Rail Platform is armed with multiple gatling rail cannons and makes short work of vehicles that wander into its territory.

Phasing Facility — This building is required for all unit phasing functions to be enabled. If the structure is destroyed, units lose the ability to phase until another Phasing Facility is constructed. The facility can be upgraded to allow use of the Phase Transport.

Imperium Buildings

Headquarters — The HQ is the fundamental building in a base. It produces Construction Rigs, which allow the building of other structures, and provides the Minimap view. The HQ can be upgraded twice to allow production of advanced buildings and units.

Training Facility — The Training Facility is where all infantry units are trained. The building can be upgraded once to allow production of advanced units. Multiple Training Facilities reduce the amount of time required to train infantry units.

Assembly Plant — Vehicles are produced in this structure. Like the Training Facility, the Assembly Plant can be upgraded once, and multiple buildings allow for faster production of units.

Field Hospital — Damaged infantry units can be healed at this building. Only one unit can be healed at a time.

Repair Station — This facility repairs damaged vehicles and flyers. Like the Field Hospital, the Repair Station can repair only one unit at a time. You will be charged for all repairs.

Re-Arming Deck — The Cyclone has a limited ammunition weapon that must be re-armed at the Re-Arming Deck. The structure can only outfit one unit at a time, so multiple Re-Arming Decks may be needed to quickly re-arm a large number of air units.

Air Defense Site — These small structures provide an effective stationary defense against aerial attack. The Air Defense Site fires bladed orbs at any air units in its vicinity.

Bridges — Use these structures to span liquid barriers.

Plasma Turret — Useful for base defense, the Plasma Turret discharges a plasma cannon at any enemy unit within its range.

Neutron Accelerator Cannon — This advanced defensive structure fires a devastating blast of accelerated sub-atomic particles.

Temporal Gate — The Temporal Gate produces a portal in the fabric of space that can transport up to three units to any point on the map that has been scouted. The effect is slow to recharge but occurs continually once the building is constructed. Units enter the Temporal Gate structure and can then be transported when the gate is charged.

Rift Creator — This structure creates a void in space that can be projected to any point on the map in which you have line of sight. The Rift Creator uses technology similar to the Temporal Gate, but rather than moving units from one area to another, it simply drags any unit or building in its radius into nothingness. Once used, the Rift Creator must recharge before it can be employed again.


Construction Kit Section
Construction Kit

Use of the Construction Kit is subject to the end user License Agreement contained in the product. You must accept its terms before using the Construction Kit.

“It is better that all should die than one should live in slavery.”

 — Perigil Ilacas, at his execution

The Dark Reign Construction Kit allows you to create new game maps, as well as set mission objectives, assign orders to units, set unit values, and develop Artificial Intelligence Personalities for computer players. You can launch the Construction Kit from the Dark Reign Main menu.

After loading the Construction Kit, you’ll need to create a mission or load an existing one.  From the File menu you can see all of the available maps. Select one and press the Load button, or press Create to make a new map. When creating a map, you’ll be asked to enter a name and the size of the map, in tiles. Keep in mind that maps larger than 120 x 120  will not fit entirely in your Minimap screen when you play the mission. From the File menu, you can also Save your mission, Delete a mission, Launch the mission you are working on, return to the Dark Reign Main menu, or Exit the game.

Making a Map

The first step in making a mission is laying out the terrain. Left-click the Terrain button on the top of the screen. There are several different tile sets you can use to create your map. Each creates a different look for your map. Choose a tile set with the + and - buttons at the top of the menu. Now you can apply ground tiles to your map. Select the tile you want by left clicking on one of the boxes in the Tiles box on the right side of the screen. The tile will highlight to indicate it is selected. Left-click and hold on the map and paint the tile on the map by moving the cursor. You can change the shape of your paintbrush by selecting one of the icons in the Brushes box. You can also increase or decrease the size of the paintbrush with the arrow buttons in the Brush size box. The Spray button is useful primarily with large brush sizes. It will sprinkle the selected tile randomly through the brush area. Use the + and - buttons in the Zoom box to move the map view closer or farther away.

Every tile you lay down has an altitude. You can set the altitude by left-clicking on one of the levels in the Altitude box. Whatever tiles you place will then be at that altitude. Keep in mind that elevation differences in your map affect unit movement and line of sight. If you want to lay down tiles without affecting altitude, left-click the Altitude button in the Paint box until you see a red X. By turning Terrain off and Altitude on, you can change altitudes without affecting the ground tiles you have already placed.

Every tile has an outline, or mask. There are four available masks, which you can select in the Masks box. The differences in masks are visible only between two different tiles. Some of the masks have jagged outlines and are good for organic shapes. Others are more regular and suited to making borders that appear engineered, such as roads. You can select more than one mask at a time by holding down the Ctrl button.

There are a number of slightly different variations of each tile. If you lay down a large area of the same variation, the pattern will repeat and look unnatural. Set the slider in the Tiles box to R, and it will randomly place one of the variations for each tile. You can also select a certain variation with the slider. Using Random mode for both Tile Variation and Mask is the easiest way to make a natural-looking map.

Elevation

There are two tiles in every tile set that are used to indicate changes in altitude. They are used only to mark elevations. When you are finished making your map, go to the File menu and press the Auto Ridge button. This will apply the altitude change tiles to all changes in elevation that need them. Dark Reign uses three levels of altitude change that affect unit movement in different ways. Changes in altitude of five levels or less are passable to all units and are not indicated by a tile. Altitude changes of six to eight levels cannot be crossed by hover units. Nine level elevation changes are passable only to infantry and the Spider Bike (and of course flying units, which are not affected by terrain). It is important to use the Auto Ridge feature, as elevation changes will affect unit movement whether they are properly designated or not. If you do not mark elevation changes, players will be unable to see where they can or cannot move on your map.

Objects

Each tile set has a number of objects such as plants and rocks that you can put on the map to make it look more realistic. Press the Add Object button at the top of the screen, and a menu of available objects will appear on the right side of the screen. Left-click on an object to select it, then left-click on the map to place that object. You can paint an object in the same way you paint tiles, by clicking and holding and then moving your cursor around the map.

When laying down objects on your map, keep in mind that most have some tactical value. Units can hide behind trees and rocks. Some objects are impassable, and can be used to block off areas of the map. Scouts can only morph into objects that are roughly the same size as the unit, so Scouts would be unable to disguise themselves on a map that had no objects of the right size.

Buildings, Units, & Game Resources

To place structures on your map, left-click on the Add Building button at the top of the screen. A menu of buildings will appear. Select the building you want by left-clicking on its image. You must also choose which team it belongs to by selecting one of the numbered buttons below the building images. You can have up to eight teams on a multi-player map. For single player missions, assign the player’s units and buildings to team one and the computer’s to team two. Once you have the building selected, left-click on the spot on the map where you want the building to be placed. Units can be added to the map in much the same way as buildings.

Left-click on the Add Unit button at the top of the screen to bring up the Units menu. Select the unit and its team and then place it on the map. Keep in mind that you need only place the units that the player or AI will start the mission with. Both computer and human players will build their own units once the mission begins. You can move buildings and units that you have already placed on the map by left-clicking and holding on the unit and then dragging to where you want it.

You will usually want to place resources on every map you make. Select team N in the Add Building menu, and you’ll see the Water Well and Taelon Mine. Place them on the map like you would any building. The placement of resources is crucial as it will determine how the map is played. For example, on a multiplayer map, if you do not give all players fairly equal access to resources, some players may be severely handicapped when playing that map.

Orders, Paths, Mission Objectives, & Artificial Intelligence Personalities

If you are setting up a single player scenario, you may want to select behaviors for the units that will be controlled by the computer. When you left-click the Orders button at the top of the screen, you will be supplied with a menu of unit behavior options (Scout, Harass, Search & Destroy) as well as an opportunity to establish each unit’s autonomy and tenacity settings. If you left-click the Paths button, you will get a menu for setting up multiple paths with waypoints for the computer controlled units. Both Orders and Paths in the Construction Kit operate exactly the same way they do in gameplay.

You can also pre-establish areas of the map that contain “triggers” for certain behaviors, set the conditions that must be met by each team in order to win the mission, and even select “Finite State Machines.” The Finite State Machine, or “FSM”, is a file that is essentially the script for the computer player. It can be used to designate what the computer player will do when certain objectives are met, when a certain amount of time goes by, or when the opponent takes some specified action. These types of triggered behaviors are governed by Artificial Intelligence  Profiles (AIPs). For information on how to create AIPs and FSMs, please refer to the Readme.txt file on your Dark Reign CD.

When you are ready to lay out trigger regions, set end conditions, and select FSMs, left-click the AI button. The top two fields show you the currently selected end condition and FSM for the team you have selected on the number pad. You can lay out more than one team and select FSMs, end conditions, paths, and unit behaviors for each. Left-click the Select button for either end conditions or FSMs and a window will pop up showing end conditions or

FSMs to choose from. Left-clicking one of these will select it for the currently designated team.

There are other basic parameters you will want to establish whether you are creating a single player or multiplayer scenario. To set these, left-click the Player button at the top of the screen. Make sure that the number of the team you wish to work with is selected on the number pad. From the top set of buttons, select which side you want the currently designated team to play: Freedom Guard or Imperium. Civilian units and structures should always be assigned to team N. Next, left-click the Start Position button. Your cursor will now change to a flag which you can lay down on the point on the map from which you wish the designated team to begin. You will also see a box labelled Starting Credits. Type in this box the number of credits with which you wish the designated team to start and press the Enter key. The final display in this menu allows you pre-set the relationships between the teams you have placed on the map. Select the Explosion icon next to each team you want to pre-set as an enemy of the designated team, select the Clasped Hands to set two teams up as allies, and select the Swiss flag to make the selected team neutral toward another.

To get an overview of your work at any point, left-click the Stats button at the top of the screen. The top display will show you the statistics for the number of each type of item you’ve placed on the map, including water and Taelon resources. You can also set “tech levels” for your scenarios here (tech levels govern which units and buildings will be available for building in your scenario), as well as see what essential elements you have not yet included and are required for your scenario to work properly. Once you’ve gotten everything into your scenario you wish to include, make sure to return to File to save your scenario.


Freedom Guard Building Prerequisites


Game Contents

Story

Game Play

Multi-Player

Units

Buildings

Construction Kit

Software License Agreement


Game Play Menu
Game Contents

Story

Game Play

Main Menu

The Bridge

Game Controls

Basic Movement and Combat

Combat Engineering

Advanced Tactics

Keyboard Commands

Multi-Player

Units

Buildings

Construction Kit

Software License Agreement


Game Play Section
Gameplay

Main menu

Single Player

Choose this option to begin Dark Reign. You will be given the option to start a new game, load a saved game, or load a custom scenario.

Multi-Player

To begin a multi-player network, modem or Internet game, select this option.

Instant Action

Play with up to seven computer opponents. Battle against your own custom AIs. Game setup functions the same as Multi-player games except that you will not need to connect to other players with a LAN or modem.

Construction Kit

To design your own custom Dark Reign maps and missions, choose this option.

Replay Intro

To view the intro movie, select this option.

Credits

Choose this option to see the names of all the fine people who brought you Dark Reign.

Quit

Select this option to exit Dark Reign and return to Windows 95. Are you sure that’s really what you want? Think it over.

The Bridge

Once you have selected Single Player from the Main menu, you will be taken to the bridge of your ship, where you can access the data stores of Togra’s probe and begin your battle. You will interface the probe’s computers through The Cube.

Each face of The Cube provides different information and options. The main face contains the Encryption Key and is where you will select a mission.

Loading a Mission

Left-click the Options button, and The Cube will rotate. From the Options screen you can save your game, load a saved game, or exit Dark Reign.

Launching a Mission

Select a mission to play by left-clicking one of the twelve mission numbers surrounding the Encryption Key. You must play the missions in order, but you can play each mission from either the Freedom Guard or Imperium side. You can also always play a mission you have already completed. Each mission you successfully complete unlocks one section of the Encryption Key. When you have completed all the missions, the Encryption Key will activate and open the dimension door that will carry you to the final conflict.

Once you have selected a mission, press the Mission button at the top of the screen, and The Cube will rotate to the Mission Background screen. From this screen you will receive the historical context of the mission and select which side you want to play the mission from. Select Imperium or Freedom Guard by left-clicking on the corresponding icon in order to proceed to the mission briefing screen.

Training

From the main face of the cube you can also launch the training missions. Basic Training will teach you how to play Dark Reign. It covers movement and attacking, building units and structures, collecting resources, and using the game interface. Advanced Training is a tutor for some of Dark Reign’s features that will appeal to the more experienced gamer. It is recommended that you play Dark Reign for a while before you go through Advanced Training. Click the appropriate button to access either Basic or Advanced Training.

Archive

To access background information on the Dark Reign universe, press the Archive button.

Game Controls

Once you have launched a mission, press the Menu button to bring up the options Menu. From this menu you can load and save games, set sound and mouse options, check mission objectives, or exit the mission.

Saved Games

To play a saved mission press the Load button and a list of saved games will appear. Double-click on the game you want and that mission will load. To save a mission, enter a name for your saved mission in the empty slot and left-click on the Save button. If you want to overwrite a previous save, select the saved mission and press Save. To delete a saved mission, left-click on the mission you want to delete and press the Delete button.

Audio

The audio sliders allow you to set the volume levels for sound effects and music.

Speed

You can adjust the speed of gameplay with the game speed slider. The mouse speed slider adjusts the speed at which the screen scrolls.

Options

Restate Objectives displays the mission objectives for the current scenario. To restart the current mission from the beginning, press the Start Again button. Abort ends the mission and returns you to the Bridge. Press the Exit to System button to exit Dark Reign and return to Windows 95.

Basic Movement & Combat

Getting Around the Map

With no unit or building selected, you will see a standard arrow cursor. Move your cursor to the edge of the screen, and your field of view will scroll in that direction.

When you reach the edge of the map, the cursor will change to indicate that you can scroll no further.

To move around the map more quickly, you can click and hold down the right mouse button anywhere on the map, then move your mouse in the direction you would like to scroll.

Selecting & Moving Units

Place the cursor over a unit, and the unit’s status bar will appear above it. Left-click on the unit to select it. With a unit selected, move the cursor around the map area. You will see a Move cursor over areas that unit can move to.

Left-click to move the unit to that spot. You’ll see a Can’t Move cursor over areas to which that unit cannot move. To de-select a unit or group of units, right-click anywhere on the screen. If you are uncertain of a unit’s identity, simply place the cursor over the unit for a second and a label will appear above the unit indicating its identity.

Targeting & Attacking

To attack an enemy unit or structure, select the attacking unit and move the cursor over the desired target. Left-click when you see the Attack cursor, and your unit will attack the desired target. Most units will continue attacking until they are redirected or until the target is destroyed.

Grouping Units

It will often be useful to select more than one unit at a time. To do this, left-click next to a group of units and while holding down the mouse button, move the cursor to draw a box around them. Release the mouse button, and the units are selected. All units in the group will then respond to any move or attack command you give.

Unit Status

The physical condition of each unit is measured by its health status bar. To check on the status of a particular unit, left-click on its image on the map. A status bar will appear above it. The bar will display green as long as the unit’s health is good. As the unit is damaged, its status bar decreases in size. The status bar also changes color to indicate health level. Yellow represents marginal health, and red indicates critical.

Line of Sight & the Fog of War

When you start a mission, you will only be able to see a portion of the map. Unexplored regions will appear black. As you send units out to explore, the areas of the map into which they move will become visible.

Each game unit can only see a limited area around itself. This area is called line of sight. A unit’s line of sight is affected by the elevation of the terrain around it. As a general rule, the higher a unit’s elevation, the more of the surrounding terrain it will be able to see over. Map regions that have been uncovered but are not currently in line of sight of any unit will appear grayed out. Buildings and terrain features will continue to appear as they did when they were last in a unit’s line of sight. This is known as the fog of war. When a unit returns to this area and it is once again fully revealed, you may find that conditions are very different from the view that appeared through the fog of war. An area in which you could only see a single enemy structure may have, since your last visit, become home to an entire enemy base.

Combat Engineering

Building Structures

In most missions, you will want to build up a base to support and protect your war machine. Structures are built by Construction Rigs. To start the building process, left-click on a Construction Rig unit, and the buildings that are available to be constructed will be illuminated in the Build menu to the right of the map. Click on the structure you want to build. An image of the building will now appear as your cursor as you move back over the map. Left-click on the spot where you want to build it. You can only place a building in an area with sufficient flat, unobstructed space. You won’t be able to build on sloping hillsides or on top of terrain features such as trees or boulders. Your building cursor will appear red over areas where you can’t build. Left-click on the spot where you wish to build, and your Construction Rig will move to the site and begin building.

It will usually take a minute or so for your building to go up, and it won’t be operational until it’s complete. If you left-click on a building under construction, a status bar will show you the progress of the job.

Building types that are not yet available appear red in the build menu. Hold the cursor over the building and a text cue will appear telling you the prerequisite structures you need before this building can be constructed. You can cancel the construction of a building by left-clicking the Sell/Cancel button on the top of the screen and then left-clicking on the building whose construction you want to abort.

Building Units

Once you have laid down a couple of basic buildings, you can begin to crank out units and wage war against your opponent. The first thing to build is a Headquarters. Once you have completed this structure, it will be possible to produce more Construction Rigs which can build other structures.

The Training Facility is the structure which produces all of your infantry. Some specialized units won’t become available until you upgrade this building. Once your Training Facility is completed, available infantry units will appear in the Build menu. To produce a unit, simply left-click on the unit’s image in the Build menu.

Before you can produce vehicles, you will need to build an Assembly Plant. Available vehicles will appear in the Build menu when the structure is complete. As with infantry, left-click on the image in the Build menu to produce that unit.

If more units are available than can be displayed in the Build menu, use the arrow buttons below the Build menu to scroll through all of the available units. You can also right-click and drag the Build menu to scroll it up and down.

All units emerge from the building that produces them. As with buildings, when units appear red in the build menu, you do not have the proper prerequisites to construct that unit. When a unit appears blue, a building that can’t produce that unit is currently selected. If the latter, de-select the building, and the unit should become available in the Build menu.

If you are running low on credits and you want to stop the production of a unit, right-click on the unit in the Build menu and its production will pause. Left-click on the unit to restart its construction or right-click again to cancel production of the unit. When you cancel a unit in production, you are refunded whatever money has gone toward building that unit.

If you know you want to build more than one of a unit, keep clicking on the unit in the Build menu, and you will queue up units in the build order. When you click on the unit the second time, a small number “1” will appear above the unit’s image in the Build menu. This means one unit is currently in production, and one more has been ordered and will be built when the current one is completed. Keep clicking and more units will be queued up. Watch your finances, though. Your unit production facilities will keep cranking out queued units until it has produced all the units you ordered or you run out of credits. Hold down the Shift key and right-click on the unit to cancel the queue.

Funding Your War Machine

The most precious commodity in the Dark Reign universe is fresh water. In order to maintain control of the resource, the Imperium has poisoned all surface water. The only remaining source of pure water is underground springs. To fund your war machine, you will need to collect fresh water and transport it to a Water Launch Pad where it will be shipped off-world for credits. Every Water Launch Pad you build comes with a Freighter. When the building is complete, the Freighter will move to the nearest freshwater spring that is within your line of sight and begin hauling water to your Water Launch Pad. When the storage tanks at the Launch Pad are full, the water will be transported off-world and you will receive your credits. You will usually want to scout for a spring before you build your Water Launch Pad. The closer your Launch Pad is to a spring, the more quickly the water will come in. Each spring begins with a certain amount of water in its reservoir, and this amount is slowly replenished. You can quickly deplete a spring by building multiple Freighters. However, once you have used up the initial water store, the spring may not replenish fast enough to keep all of your Freighters busy. You will want to find the most efficient number of Freighters, depending on how many springs you are drawing from and how far they are from your Water Launch Pad.

If you need credits and can’t afford to wait for your Launch Pad to fill up, you can force a water launch by pressing the Sell Water button in the Special Functions menu or by double-clicking on the credits display at the top of the screen. However, you will be charged a fixed fee for every forced water launch, so it is much more efficient to wait for your Launch Pad to fill up.

Power

One of the first structures you should build when setting up your base is a Taelon Power Generator. All of your buildings need power to function. When your base is under-powered you lose the Minimap view, your units are produced slowly, and defensive structures fire more slowly. It is impossible to function efficiently without full power to all of your structures.

Taelon Power Generators generate power by harnessing the energy in Taelon. Each Taelon Power Generator starts with a basic power output level, but this level can be greatly increased by the addition of more Taelon. To get more Taelon, you will need to find underground Taelon resources on the map. Your Taelon Power Generator comes with a Freighter. When the building is complete, the freighter will move to the nearest source of Taelon that is within your line of sight and begin hauling it to your Generator. As the amount of Taelon in the Power Generator is increased, the power output increases. Left-click on a Taelon Power Generator to view its status bar. The bar indicates the building’s current power output. If your Taelon Power Generator is at full capacity, and you still need more power, it’s time to build another one. If you have enough power, your Freighter can be diverted to transport water to your Water Launch Pad.

Repairing Buildings

To repair a damaged building, left-click on the Repair button on the menu bar at the top of the screen, and you will see the Repair Cursor. Place this cursor over the building you wish to repair and left-click. The building will be repaired at a steady rate until it has regained full health. Repairing buildings costs money. Credits will be deducted from your account as the repairs occur.

Selling Buildings

Sometimes you will want to sell structures that you have built. Left click on the Sell/Cancel button on the menu bar at the top of the screen, and your cursor will change to a Sell cursor. Left click on the building you want to sell, and it will begin to deconstruct. You will receive half of the credits you spent to build the structure, but keep in mind the deconstruction process, like the building process, is not instantaneous. If you’re planning to get some value out of a building that is under attack and unsalvageable, start the deconstruction process early.

Power Up/Power Down

If you are running low on power, you may want to turn off the power to one or more of your buildings. This allows you to shut down buildings you are not currently using until you can provide more power to your base. Left-click on the Power Up/Down Button on the menu bar at the top of the screen. When your cursor changes to a lightning bolt, move it over the building that you wish to turn off and left-click. To restore power to a building you have temporarily shut down, just repeat the process.

Upgrading Buildings

To be able to build many of the advanced units, you will have to upgrade several of your buildings. The HQ, Assembly Plant, Training Facility, and Phasing Facility are the only upgradable structures. Like constructing or tearing down a building, the upgrading process takes time. To upgrade a building, select it. If that building can be upgraded, the price of the upgrade will appear over the building. Left-click the Upgrade button below the Build menu, and the structure will begin upgrading. A building cannot be upgraded while it is producing a unit, and cannot produce units while it is upgrading.

Accelerated Production

You can produce units faster by erecting multiple construction facilities. Cut the time it takes to produce vehicles in half by building two Assembly Plants. If you have more than one of a structure, units will emerge from the primary facility, which you select by double-clicking on the building.

If you don’t have a building selected when you left-click on a unit in the Build menu, the unit will be produced at the primary facility and all facilities of that type will contribute to the unit’s construction. However, you can also instruct multiple facilities to simultaneously produce different units. Select one of your unit production facilities and left-click on the unit you want produced in the Build menu. Construction of the unit will begin and all structures of that type will contribute. Now select another facility and left-click on a different unit in the Build menu. The facility will now begin producing the second unit, and all unoccupied structures will split their production between the two units. You can continue selecting structures and assigning them each a different build order if you want. All facilities without a specific build command will contribute its production resources evenly to all structures of the same type that are currently building a unit.

The Minimap

The Minimap appears in the bottom right of the screen as long as you have a functioning HQ. The Minimap provides a view of the entire battlefield. This allows you to more efficiently control your forces once your domain has expanded beyond an area you can see within the main map. With no units selected, left-click on any spot on the Minimap and your main map view will shift to the corresponding location. The white box on the Minimap indicates the area of the battlefield currently in view on the main map. The locations of your buildings and units and your opponent’s buildings and units are displayed on the minimap as dots and squares of the appropriate colors. Whatever units you currently have selected will appear white on the Minimap. The Minimap allows you to simultaneously track the movements of your units and those of your opponent in far-flung areas of the battlefield. You can even move units or groups of units on the Minimap by selecting them and then left-clicking on the desired destination on the Minimap.

Advanced Tactics

Repair and Healing

The health status of a damaged unit can be raised in several ways. Vehicles and flyers can retreat to a Repair Station or be repaired by a Mechanic. Select a vehicle and order it to enter a Repair Station. The unit will be repaired at a constant rate until its health returns to maximum. A Mechanic unit can be ordered to repair units or will automatically repair any damaged vehicle that is nearby. Infantry units can be healed in the same way at the Field Hospital or by the Field Medic. Repairing vehicles and healing infantry are free, so it is a very valuable tactic. The Amper is similar to the Field Medic in that it will boost the health level of an injured infantry unit to its maximum. However, the Amper’s effect leaves the unit poisoned, and it will slowly die unless it receives an antidote from a Field Medic or Field Hospital.

Morphing

Several units can take the shape of other objects or units to camouflage themselves. The Scout, Sniper, and Saboteur can morph into natural objects such as rocks and trees in order to maintain a concealed position behind enemy lines. This allows the Scout to provide intelligence on enemy activity or serve as a spotter for artillery. The Sniper can pick off straggler infantry units without being spotted, while the Saboteur can sneak up on enemy buildings in order to sabotage them. The Infiltrator is able to morph into enemy units in order to sneak into an opponent’s base. Keep in mind that enemy units will attack your morphed Scout, Sniper, or Saboteur if they see the unit move.

Double click on the morphing unit to activate the function. Then put the cursor over the enemy unit or object you want the unit to morph into. When you see the Morph Cursor, left-click and your unit will assume the appearance of the selected object. You may also activate the morphing function from the special function menu or by hitting the I key. The Scout, Sniper, and Saboteur can only morph into objects of roughly the same size. The Infiltrator cannot morph into vehicles. Double-click on the unit or press the Unmorph button in the Special Function menu to return the unit to its standard appearance.

Phasing

Once the Freedom Guard Phasing Facility is constructed, the Raider, Mercenary, and Phase Tank can create a phased energy shield which converts the earth around them into a semi-liquid form. This allows these units to suspend themselves underground indefinitely to hide their location. The phased units cannot move while underground and must surface to fire, but they take only minimal damage when fired at while they are phased underground. Double-click on the phasing unit or press the I key with the unit selected to make it submerge or resurface. Or you can use the Phase button in the Special Functions menu. All phased units will automatically surface if your Phasing Facility is destroyed.

Camouflage

The Rapid Armored Transport blends with the surrounding terrain to conceal its position.

Sabotage

The Saboteur can reduce the health of any building to half of its maximum. With the Saboteur selected, place the cursor over an enemy building and you will see the Sabotage Cursor. Left-click on the building, and the Saboteur will move to the building and tinker with it for several seconds, leaving it with only half of its maximum health. The Saboteur can never reduce a building below 50% of maximum functionality, so sabotaging a building that is already below that threshold will have no effect.

Stealing Plans

The Infiltrator is able to steal plans for enemy units and buildings. A stolen plan allows you to produce that enemy unit or building. The unit can take plans for buildings from any HQ. The Infiltrator can morph into enemy infantry units in order to sneak into the enemy’s base. Unit plans can be stolen from enemy Training Facilities or Assembly Plants. Select the Infiltrator and place the cursor over any of these buildings. You will see the Infiltrate cursor. Left-click and the unit will enter the building, and a menu of the plans available from that building will appear in your build menu. Select the plan you want, and the Infiltrator will begin the process of obtaining it. This work takes time, and the longer the unit remains in an enemy structure, the better the chance of his being detected. More valuable plans take longer to steal. When the plan has been obtained, the Infiltrator can leave the building or attempt to steal another plan. However, all stolen plans must be returned to the player’s HQ before the ability to construct that unit or building is acquired. While the Infiltrator is in an enemy HQ, the player will have access to the enemy’s line of sight.

While the Infiltrator is inside, there is a chance he will be discovered and an alarm will sound. The Infiltrator will remain in the building and continue stealing whatever plan he is taking until the player who owns the unit or the player who owns the building double-clicks on the building. This will eject the Infiltrator from the structure, whether he has finished stealing the plan or not. The same alarm will also sound when an Infiltrator leaves a building after successfully stealing a plan. This alerts the owner of the building, giving the owner a chance to stop the Infiltrator before he can deliver the plan to his own HQ. When the Infiltrator exits a building, he is automatically unmorphed.

Shielding

The S.C.A.R.A.B. can enclose itself in a retractable armored exoskeleton for defensive purposes. Double click on the unit to activate or deactivate the shell. The S.C.A.R.A.B. cannot move or fire while encased in its armored sheath.

Self Destruct

The Tachion Tank has the ability to self destruct, causing severe damage to all nearby units. If the vehicle is damaged, cornered, and outnumbered, select the unit and click the Self Destruct button in the Special Functions menu. This way you can be sure to take some of them out with you.

Mobile Buildings

Are Plasma Tanks crashing through the yard? Artillery fire ruining the roof? Pack up and move. Select the building or buildings that are in the line of fire and click Pack/Unpack Building in the Special Functions menu. The structures will load up into big moving vehicles so you can take them and set them up somewhere else. Buildings do not function while being moved. Base Mover vehicles are much easier to destroy than buildings, so your moving convoy won’t hold up long under enemy fire. Only Freedom Guard structures can be moved.

Decoys

You can produce decoys in order to deceive your opponent. The Freedom Guard is able to erect decoy buildings while the Imperium can build decoy units. Decoy buildings are cheap to produce and require no power. However, they are easier to destroy than normal buildings and serve no function except to draw the enemy’s attention away from your real structures. Decoy units are holographic projections of vehicles. They are cheap, but cannot fire and last for a limited time. Decoy units can be useful in diversionary attacks or convincing your enemy that your defensive force is stronger than it really is.

Special Attacks and Maneuvers

When you place the cursor over an enemy unit, you will see the Attack Cursor. However, there will be situations when you want to attack a target that does not present you with the Attack Cursor. For example, you do not see the Attack Cursor when you target allied or neutral units. You can attack an ally by left-clicking the Attack button at the top of the screen. You can then left-click on an allied unit, and your troops will attack it. You can also use the Attack button to fire on trees and rocks or to attack the ground where you believe phased units may be hiding.

Often when you give your units an order to attack, they will move to close on the target or will pursue a target that moves out of range. You may want your units to attack without breaking their position. If you have an established defensive position you don’t want to move from or you don’t want your units to move nearer to the enemy and get picked off, you can use the Attack without Moving button at the top of the screen. This will give you an Attack Cursor and allow you to target units as normal. However, when you left-click on the target, your unit will only attack if the target is within range. Your troops won’t close to fire on targets out of their range or pursue fleeing units. They will simply hold their position and attack if an enemy is within range. This attack is particularly useful for artillery units.

To make a unit or group of units abort an order, left-click the Stop button at the top of the screen. This is handy when you need to quickly abort a command.

So you’ve organized your troops into formation, and now you need to move them. Select the group of units and left-click the Formation Move button in the Special Functions menu. Now issue a move order, and the units will move to their destination and regroup in the original formation.

If you think you know which direction an attack is coming from, you can turn your units toward the imminent assault. This will help them to get off their first shot as quickly as possible. The effect is not great, but in battle every second counts. Select the units and press the T key. You will see the Turn cursor. Left-click on the point on the map you want your units to face, and they will turn in that direction.

If you get tired of scrolling back to your production facilities to get new units and bring them into the action, you can set an exit point for your unit production buildings (i.e., Training Facility and Assembly Plant). Select a building and then press the Set Exit Point button in the Special Functions menu. Left-click on the spot on the map where you want new units to go. Thereafter, all units produced in that building will immediately move to that location after they emerge from the production facility.

Waypoints

When a unit is ordered to move, it will travel the quickest path to its destination, taking into account elevation and terrain effects. In some situations, however, you might want to give your units a specific route to their destination. Want to sneak your Scout around an enemy base? Is there an enemy encampment between your Freighter and a freshwater spring? Need to set up a patrol around the perimeter of your base? You can set up a path for your unit(s) to follow while you tend to more important matters. Select a unit or group of units and hit the Paths button, and the Paths menu will appear. There are two levels of Path management, basic and advanced. You can switch between these modes with the tabs at the top of the menu.

Basic Waypoints

Press the Add Waypoint button to lay down waypoints. Then click on a spot on the map where you want the unit to move first. This is the first waypoint of the path and the number “1” will appear next to it. Click again where you want the unit to move next, and a second waypoint will appear. Continue adding waypoints until the path leads to your desired goal. If necessary, you can move a waypoint you have placed by clicking and dragging it to where you want it. Now press the Go button, and the unit will travel along the path you set and stop at the last waypoint. If you make a mistake in laying out your path, click the Delete Path button and start again.

You can lay out waypoints more easily by using the Tab key. With a unit or units selected, press and hold the Tab key. This will put you in Add Waypoint mode. Lay out your path and let go of the Tab key, and your unit will automatically execute the path.

Advanced Waypoints

If you want to really customize your paths, flip the toggle on the Paths menu to Advanced, and a number of new buttons will appear.

Delete Point removes the last waypoint you laid down. Or you can select a waypoint and delete it by pressing this button. You must then press Go again to have your units adjust to the new path.

The Path Direction toggle determines whether the unit will move to the end of the path and stop, move back and forth along the path continuously, or loop around the path. One-way paths are the default and are used for Basic Waypoints.

If there is a critical route on a map that you frequently send units along, make a permanent path that you can save and assign to any unit when needed. Press the Save Path button and lay out a path as usual. The name of the path will occur in the Current Path window. To rename the path, click on the Current Path window and type in the new name. To assign a unit or group to one of your saved paths, select the unit(s), then click on the name of the path in the window in the bottom right corner of the Paths menu and click Go.

Orders

You can assign a variety of orders to your units that they will carry out on their own. Select a unit or group of units and click on the Orders button. This will bring up the Orders menu.

Unit Orders

Units assigned Scout orders will explore the map to uncover uncharted regions but will not engage opponents they encounter. This is useful early in a mission to uncover the map without taking time to guide your units around manually.

Harass will cause your units to make hit and run attacks. Your troops will search out the enemy and launch a brief attack, then fall back. This tactic is particularly effective when your units have longer range than the enemy as they will attack and then move before the enemy can close to firing range.

When you assign Search & Destroy orders to a unit, it will hunt the map for enemies and destroy anything it can find.

To cancel any of these orders, de-select the appropriate button in the Orders menu, or give the units a Stop, Move, or Attack order.

Unit Behaviors

The Damage Tolerance, Independence, and Pursuit Range settings function differently from the unit orders. They assign AI characteristics to your units that affect how they will react in a variety of combat situations. To access these variables, you will have to set the toggle at the top of the Orders menu to Advanced. With a unit or units selected, click the settings buttons for Pursuit Range, Damage Tolerance, or Independence to alter that variable for the selected units.

The Pursuit Range setting determines how far a unit will go to pursue an enemy that it has not been ordered to attack. On low setting, the default, a stationary unit will attack an enemy that is within its range but will not move to pursue it. Change the setting to medium and your unit will pursue the enemy for a short distance and then return to its original position. On high setting your unit will abandon its position and pursue an enemy it has engaged until one of the units is destroyed. Keep in mind that these settings only apply to situations when your unit engages the enemy on its own. When you command your troops to attack an enemy, they will always pursue the enemy until it is destroyed or until it flees from their line of sight.

Damage Tolerance determines how much damage a unit will absorb before it disengages from a battle and attempts to return to a facility where it can be healed or repaired. A unit with a maximum Damage Tolerance setting will always continue fighting until it is destroyed. This is the default setting. If you do not change this setting, units will respond only to your orders and will have to be commanded to retreat and seek repair. However, if you change a unit’s Damage Tolerance setting to medium, it will automatically return to a Field Hospital or Repair Station when its health bar reaches red. At the lowest Damage Tolerance setting, a unit will seek repair when its health bar becomes yellow. This setting will only effect unit behavior if you have a Hospital or Repair Station.

Independence determines how willing your units are to disregard an order you have issued to attack an enemy unit or building. With Independence set on low, your units will always complete their present order before attacking. If you issue a move order to a unit, and it encounters an enemy, it will continue moving and will not fire on the enemy unit. Once it reaches its destination, it will attack the enemy unit if it is still in range. In addition, a unit with minimum Independence will never attack a building without an attack command from the player. This allows you to sneak units into an enemy base without them firing on a building and warning the enemy of your presence. If you set Independence on medium, your units will continue carrying out an order that you have given them but will also attack enemies they encounter. This setting applies mainly to vehicles with turrets, which are able to fire on an enemy while continuing to move to the destination of a move order issued by the player. In addition, stationary units will fire on buildings that are within range when their Independence is set to medium. With Independence set to high, your units will abandon a command you have issued them to attack enemies that they encounter. If possible, the unit will return to the original order once the enemy has been destroyed or has fled.

The Pursuit Range, Damage Tolerance, and Independence settings affect a unit’s behavior simultaneously. You can experiment with the settings to discover combinations you find effective.

Two preset behavior setups, Stand Ground and Pursue Enemies, have been provided if you want to alter the behavior variables quickly. You can return units to the default settings with the Default button. If you find a combination of behavior variables you particularly like, you can make this the default setting with the Set Default button. All units you produce after changing the default settings will be assigned your new behavior variables.

Keyboard Commands

Groups

Hitting Ctrl and one of the number keys will assign all currently selected units to a group corresponding to that number. You may then quickly select the same group at any time by hitting that number key. Each unit can be in only one group created with the Ctrl key. To create groups that will allow units to belong to multiple groups, press the Alt key plus a number key.

Build Menu

The B key brings up the unit Build menu.

Options Menu

Pressing the ESC key brings up the options Menu. This menu contains the Load/Save Game, Sound Controls, Game Controls, Restate Objectives, Return to Game, and Quit Game options.

Paths Menu

The P key brings up the Paths menu. The Tab key will bring up the Paths menu and automatically enter Add Waypoint mode.

Orders Menu

The O key brings up the Orders menu.

Comms Menu

Press the C key to bring up the Comms menu. The Enter key brings up the Comms menu and enters message edit mode.

Special Functions Menu

Press the Tilde (~) key to bring up the Special Functions menu.

List Keyboard Commands

The F1 key provides a list of all keyboard functions.

Pause

Press the Pause button to pause the game.

Quit

Press Shift + Q to exit the game.

Print

Press the Print Screen button to save an image of the screen.

Change Music Track

Use the keypad + and - keys to move through the available music tracks.

Attack

Pressing A allows you to use the Attack command. Choose and select the unit that will launch the attack, press A, and then click on the location to be targeted. This function allows attacks on objects that do not give the player an attack cursor, such as allied or neutral units, morphed units, or even spots of ground where phased units are believed to be.

Attack Without Moving

With units selected, press Shift + A and then give an attack command. Your units will attack the target if it is within range but will not move to engage the enemy.

Decoy Buildings Menu

Hit D to bring up the Decoy Buildings menu.

Select All

To select all units currently on the screen, press the E key.

Formation Move

Select a group of units and hit F. When you move the group, they will regroup in the same formation when they reach their destination.

Center

The H key centers the map view on your primary HQ.

Initiate Special Function

Hit the I key to activate a unit’s special function.

Self Destruct

With a Tachion Tank selected, hit Shift + D to make the unit self-destruct.

Force Water Launch

To sell the water in your Launch Pad before it is full, press Shift + L. You will be charged 500 credits.

Find

If you are told your base is under attack or the enemy has engaged your forces, but you don’t know where, press the Space Bar. This will take you to the location of the last game event, centering you quickly on the point of action so you can respond quickly.

Move

To give a unit a command to move to a location that is occupied by a unit or building and therefore gives you an Attack or Select cursor, press the M key. You can then click on the destination and your unit or units will move there.

Select Next Unit

Press N to scroll through all of the units in your arsenal and select the desired unit.

Go to Construction Kit

If you launch a mission from the Construction Kit, you can edit the map by hitting Ctrl + Q. This will move you to the Map Editor and automatically load the mission you were playing. This allows you to move back and forth easily between building your map and testing it.

Repair/Heal

Press the R key to activate the Repair/Heal functions of the Mechanic and Field Medic. It will also order any unit to return to the nearest Field Hospital or Repair Station to be healed or repaired.

Stop

To cancel an order and stop units from completing their task, select the units that you want to Stop and press S.

Re-Arm

Press the W key to send your selected air units back to a Re-Arming Deck.

Scatter

Groups of units can be easy prey for area effect weapons or close combat units like the Shredder. A selected group of units can be commanded to scatter to avoid an incoming threat by pressing X. Scattered units will continue to carry out an attack order. Press X repeatedly to cause your units to continue scattering.

Set Exit Point

Select a production facility and press the Home key. You can then click on a point on the map, and all of the units that building produces will gather at that spot.

Gather

Similar to Set Exit Point, you can designate a gathering point for each repair or re-arming structure. Select the building and press the End key. Select a point on the

map, and your units will move to that point when they are finished repairing or re-arming at that facility.


Imperium Building Prerequisites


Multi-Player Menu
Game Contents

Story

Game Play

Multi-Player

Modem Play

Serial/Null Modem Game

Internet & LAN

Manual IP

Setting Up and Launching a Game

Multiplayer Features & the Comms Menu

Units

Buildings

Construction Kit

Software License Agreement


Multi-Player Section
Multi-Player

“All empires fall. You just have to know

where to push.”

 — Freedom Guard Commander Jeb Radec

After selecting Multiplayer from the Main menu, you will see the Multiplayer Connection Screen. Enter your name at the top of the screen and select the desired connection type.

Internet

Play with up to four other players over the Internet.

Local Area Network (IPX)

Up to eight players on a LAN.

Dial-Up Modem

Two players, modem to modem.

Serial/Null Modem

Two players using a serial cable.

Manual IP

Manually play with up to four other players over the Internet.

To return to the Main menu, press the Main Menu button.

Modem Play

(Supports Two Players)

Dark Reign requires that both players’ modems be at least l4.4Kbps. The game will play at the speed of the slowest modem. To launch a modem game, select Dial-up Modem from the Multiplayer Connection screen. This will bring you to the Modem Connection screen, where you can connect to another modem player, modify your list of players, or change your modem.

You must determine which player will dial and which will receive the call. To make a call and initiate a modem game, select a player from the list at the top of the screen, select a modem from the Modem Setup screen, and press Dial. To receive the call, press Answer, and your modem will wait for the other player to call.

To add a player to your list of available players, left-click the Add Player button. A window will become active where you can enter the Player’s Name and Player’s Phone Number. After you enter the information, left-click the Accept button. To change the name or phone number of a player, select the player and press the Edit Player button. The Delete Player button allows you to remove a player from the list of available players.

Left-click on the Select Modem button to select your modem. If your modem is correctly configured, it will appear on the Modem Connection screen.

Serial/Null Modem Game

(Supports Two Players)

You must first connect the serial port in the back of your computer with the other player’s via a serial cable. You may need to use a null modem adapter if your serial ports have different numbers of pins. You must choose the proper com port for the serial connection and set both computers to the same baud rate.

Internet & LAN

Minimum Internet Requirements

In order to play over the Internet you will need the following:

•	A 28.8Kbps modem.

•	Winsock 1.1 compliant TCP/IP stack (comes with Win 95).

•	An account with an Internet Service Provider.

Selecting an Internet Server

You can choose an Internet server by pressing the Change Server button at the bottom of the Multiplayer Game Selection screen.

The currently selected server is displayed at the top of the Internet Connection Screen. You can change the server by selecting the Update List button at the bottom of the screen. A list of available servers will appear in the Internet Servers window. Left-click on the desired server, and then left-click the Connect button at the bottom of the screen. The server you select will appear in the Current

Server window and you will be connected to that server if it is available.

For additional multiplayer game information, see the Readme.txt file on your Dark Reign CD.

Selecting a Game

Once you have chosen to play an Internet or LAN multiplayer game of Dark Reign, you will either create or join a game on the Multiplayer Selection screen.

Available games are displayed in the Games on Server window. To join a game, select one of the games and press the Join Game button. You can also create your own game with the Create Game button. You will be asked to input the game name and password (if you want to restrict who enters the game).

You can also enter different rooms to chat with other players on the server. Select a room from the Rooms on Server window and press the Join Room button. You can make a room with the Create Room button. You can see all available games on the server no matter what room you are in, but you can only see or chat with players who are in the same room as you.

Manual IP

To create or play an Internet game that is not broadcast on an Internet server, press the Manual IP button on the Multi-Player Connection screen. You must give the TCP/IP number for the computer that you have selected to host the game to all players before you start up Dark Reign.  This host computer will act as a server for the game.  The TCP/IP number can usually be found in the software you use to connect to your Internet Service Provider, or you can ask your network administrator if you are on a LAN.

As the host, simply click on the Create Game button on the Manual IP screen. All other players must add the host’s computer number to their IP list. Click on Add Player, then enter the host’s name and the host’s IP number. If the host’s game is up, and you have correctly entered the IP number you will see the game listed in the window at the top of the screen. Then click on the name in the list and press the Join Game button. The IP list is saved and the computer will update the list when new games are created, so you only have to enter an IP number once. However, many Internet Service Providers change your IP number every time you log on. If this is the case with the host’s ISP, you will have to re-enter the IP each time you log on.

Setting Up and Launching a Game

The Multiplayer Setup screen is where you will set game options and launch the game. There are a wide variety of game controls available on this screen. Some are set by each player, but many can be changed only by the game host.

Player Controls:

Player Color- Left-click on a color in the color bar at the top left of the screen to select that color. You cannot choose a color that another player has already selected.

Select Side- Click on the column to the right of the players list to choose between Imperium, Freedom Guard, and Togran. Togran allows access to both Imperium and Freedom Guard units.

Set Alliances- The alliances column allows you to toggle between Enemy, Ally, and Neutral for every other player in the game. Your selection will be highlighted. If a player’s orientation toward you is different from your orientation toward them, that icon will be highlighted in light blue. In Teams mode, the alliances that are set on this screen cannot be changed within the game.

Select Handicap- This option allows beginning players to select a modifier that will increase their starting credits. For example, if the starting credits for a given game were 1000, a player with a 20% handicap would receive 1200 starting credits.

Select Start Location- If this option is allowed by the host, you can choose your location at the start of the mission by left-clicking on the desired point on the Minimap on the bottom of the screen.

View Rules- The Rules/Briefings & Objectives window shows the mission objectives for the game as well as any specific rules that the players agree to adhere to, like “No attacking Freighter units” or “No alliances with anyone named James.” Rules can be added by the game creator in the message box.

Host Controls:

Select Computer Opponents- The host can determine whether open slots in the player list will be left unplayed or filled by computer opponents. A pull down menu in each player slot will give the options: Available, Closed, Computer Easy, Computer Medium, Computer Hard, and Computer Custom AI. The host can also determine which side the computer opponents will play and, if appropriate, which team they will be on.

Kick Player- The Kick Player button allows the host to eject unruly players from the game.

Game Type- The host can choose from Normal or Campaign mode.

Give Allies Money/Units- This toggle will enable/disable the ability for players to give money and units to their allies.

View Allies Resources- The host can determine whether players can view their allies’ resources by changing this toggle.

Togran Units- This button allows the game creator to prevent players from choosing to play the Togran side.

Handicapping- The host can disable/enable handicapping with this toggle.

Map- Select from all available multiplayer maps. Along with each map’s name is listed its size and the number of players the map is intended for.

Fog of War & Shroud- The game host can turn on and off the Fog of War and Shroud with this button.

Set Starting Units- With this button the host can determine with what units players will start the mission.

Set Starting Credits- Allows the host to determine with how many credits players will begin the mission.

Random/Fixed Start Locations- With this toggle the host can determine if start locations on the map will be assigned randomly or if players can select their start locations by left-clicking on the map window on the bottom of the screen.

Show Start Locations- The game host can set whether or not start locations will be displayed in the map window.

Show Minimap- This toggle allows the host to display the selected map terrain in the Minimap.

Rules- The game creator can enter any game rules that the players have agreed to in this text box. These rules will also be available within the game by selecting Restate Objectives. For Campaign games this box will display the mission briefing and each team’s objectives.

Launch- I’ll bet you thought we’d never get to this, didn’t you? When you’re ready to go, press the Launch button. When all players have launched, the game will start. The small column to the left of the names in the Players list indicates which players have launched. Once all players have launched, the host must launch to start the game.

Multiplayer Features & the Comms Menu

Once you have launched into a game, there are several gameplay options that exist only in multiplayer games. These features are accessible from the Comms menu.

Alliances

You can designate your relationship (Ally, Neutral, or Enemy) to every other player in the game. This functions the same as in the player list on the Multiplayer Setup screen. If you already set your alliances on the setup screen before the mission was launched, you won’t need to set them within the game unless you want to make a change. Alliances cannot be changed in a Teams game.

Give Units

If one of your allies is in trouble and is calling for the cavalry, you can give him some of your units. Select the units you want to give. Select the player you want to give them to in the left column of the Comms menu. Then left-click the Unit button. The selected units will shift to the recipient’s team and fall under their control. You can only give units to players that you have designated as Ally in the Comms menu.

Give Credits

This works pretty much the same as Give Units. Select the poor deadbeat player who can’t seem to get by without your help. Enter the donation amount in the window at the bottom left. Then press Credits.

Messages

You can send text messages to all other players in the game. The buttons in the bottom right of the menu allow you to select whom you will send messages to. Select from All, Enemies, Neutral, Allies, or None. You can also select the players you want to send to manually by checking the message column just to the right of each player’s name.


Software License Agreement

IMPORTANT - READ CAREFULLY: USE OF THIS PROGRAM IS SUBJECT TO THE SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS SET FORTH BELOW. “PROGRAM” INCLUDES THE SOFTWARE INCLUDED WITH THIS AGREEMENT, THE ASSOCIATED MEDIA, ANY PRINTED MATERIALS, AND ANY ON-LINE OR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTATION, AND ANY AND ALL COPIES AND DERIVATIVE WORKS OF SUCH SOFTWARE AND MATERIALS. BY OPENING THIS PACKAGE, INSTALLING, AND/OR USING THE PROGRAM, YOU ACCEPT THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE WITH ACTIVISION, INC. (“ACTIVISION”).

LIMITED USE LICENSE: Activision grants you the non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right and license to install and use one copy of this Program solely and exclusively for your personal use. All rights not specifically granted under this Agreement are reserved by Activision. This Program is licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in this Program and should not be construed as a sale of any rights in this Program.

CONSTRUCTION KIT: This Program contains a mission construction kit (“Construction Kit”) that allows you to create customized missions and other materials for personal use in connection with the Product (“New Game Materials”). The use of such Construction Kit is subject to additional license restrictions listed in an on-line agreement (“New Materials Agreement”) contained within the Product, and you must agree to the terms of such restrictions before being allowed to use the Construction Kit.

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Story

For centuries man has viewed the universe as a series of puzzles. Within the molecule we found the atom, and within that the proton, and the quark, and the xion. And deeper we delved, finding another puzzle within every one we solved, never finding the answer we sought, but never questioning our method of searching. We have organized and compartmentalized our knowledge until it no longer serves us. Instead we serve it. We study physics and math and philosophy and religion and never realize that they are all the same. The monk and the physicist are searching for the same understanding. They simply use different tools. In every breath of the wind, in the graceful ellipse of a planet’s orbit, in the precise genetic abacus of DNA, in the awesome power of a supernova, in all these things I hear the voice of God. To truly advance human wisdom, we must learn to see the whole of things. This Foundation will strive to do just that. I am within reach of a discovery that will open the very soul of matter to my control. Together we will bring a new age to mankind. Together we will transform the universe and reveal the face of God.

– Alpheus Togra, at the dedication of the

Togran Foundation, 2382

“A man with only the humblest of means

will cling to life like a leech on a pig’s ass.

But a man with nothing cannot know fear.”

 – Unknown Freedom Guard Soldier

The Decline of Earth

In the opening centuries of the third millennium, Earth’s population continued to swell at a staggering rate. By 2250 the planet held over 30 billion people. Earth’s scientists raced to offset the strangling effects of population. Massive hydroponic agricultural domes dotted the landscape, increasing food production exponentially. Methods for large scale, economical water desalinization were developed. High altitude aircraft hovered at the crown of the atmosphere, releasing chemicals that slowly built up eroded areas of the ozone layer. In spite of these advances, the frenetic growth of humanity continued to strain Earth’s resources to their limit. Pollution became unmanageable. Thousands of pounds of nuclear waste were set adrift in space every year. Air pollution was so severe in many major cities that in 2267 the European Environmental Council estimated that one of every nine urban dwellers died by the age of 30 from lung related diseases.

Millions began living in massive urban complexes which contained air filtering and water purification facilities. These structures, as large as ten miles square, contained housing, commerce and entertainment for their occupants, and many people remained inside for years at a time. Wealth had become extremely polarized, and life was increasingly arduous for the majority of the populace who could not afford the safe confines of the complexes. Criminals banded together like small armies and in some areas had more control over the streets than the police.

In 2314 most of the Earth’s major nations allied to quell the rising tide of crime within their borders. The Global Commonwealth established a rudimentary dome colony on Jupiter’s moon Io and began shipping violent criminals there. Heavily armed Commonwealth forces seized criminals in the streets and poured them into processing facilities. After quick assembly line trials, those deemed “dangerous and irredeemable” were shipped to the penal colony on Io to live out the remainder of their lives. The experiment was extremely successful politically. An international regulatory body, the Jovian Detention Administration, was established and granted primary claim to all prisoners. The JDA also had an autonomous police force that by 2362 was the largest standing army in the world. By 2400 almost a million people were expelled to Io annually. Additional colonies were added on Callisto and Ganymede, as well as on Neptune’s moon Triton. Although some felt that the enterprise had little to do with meting out justice and was simply an escape valve for population runoff, the program was very popular, and the JDA had come to hold more political and military sway than any single world government.

In 2447 a rocket containing nuclear waste for deep space disposal malfunctioned and crashed near Bombay, killing over four million people in the first few months. Food stores were contaminated across the continent. Resulting worldwide famines led to widespread rioting and organized assaults against fortified urban complexes where food supplies were not seriously affected. The JDA, which by this time was the de facto global government, stepped in to suppress the uprisings, but it was becoming clear to world leaders that the future of Earth was bleak. Interplanetary colonization, however, was a dangerous and arduous affair. A large private campaign to promote colonization by the Ramsdell Corporation in the early twenty-third century had resulted in thousands of deaths and only a few scattered ramshackle societies. The prisoner colonies, while self-supporting, were barren, desolate outposts. Few private citizens were willing to confront the hazards of colonization.

The acting president of the JDA, Edward Dalen, negotiated a deal with the residents of the four penal colonies. In exchange for exploring and colonizing new worlds for Earth’s inhabitants, the prisoners would be granted their freedom. The prisoners were expendable and experienced at living off-world. Although counting on the off-world prisoners was less than popular, the citizens of Earth were willing to attempt somewhat desperate measures. Dalen realized that control of Earth’s sole implement of colonization, in addition to the political and military influence he already wielded, would place the JDA in a position of near absolute sovereignty. Dalen also had no intention of ever releasing the prisoners. He knew they would never be accepted into the societies on the Earth-based colonies, and they were too independent and well organized to be given their own planet. They had shown surprising resourcefulness on the prison colonies. Rather than slipping into violence and chaos as expected, the prisoners had developed efficient, productive communities with the limited means provided them. Dalen knew this would make them able pioneers, but he also realized they would represent a threat to the JDA if ever given their autonomy.

The Pioneer Age

Scientists quickly located a number of promising host planets in Earth’s sector of the galaxy. The Exploratory Corps, as the prisoner colonists were called, set out in massive cargo vessels, each the size of a large city, loaded with provisions, robotic terra-forming machinery, and enough genetic material to recreate self-sustaining ecosystems. Dalen provided the prisoners with only enough water for a few years so that if they could not prepare their planet for habitation within that time they would perish. Although some worlds proved unable to support life, and thousands of the Exploratory Corps died, a handful of worlds were soon ready and the first Earth settlers began to inhabit their new homes. The Corps, when finished with one planet, were picked up and transported to the next. The JDA moved into each new world and established themselves as the governing body and policing force. They assumed control of each planet’s water supply and instituted water rationing. Some planets did not have large enough viable water sources to support their populations, so those worlds with excess water were required to give up their surplus. In fact, there was more than enough water, but the JDA’s control of water distribution gave them unchallenged leverage over the individual governments established on each planet. The JDA began stockpiling the excess water in huge, asteroid-sized storage tanks orbiting a number of undeveloped worlds.

The Exploratory Corps pushed deeper into the galaxy, with mankind trailing behind, seeping into every crack the Corps opened. Hungry from centuries of limited space and resources, the human race devoured the galaxy. Within a generation a hundred planets were inhabited. Within two generations, a thousand. The JDA declared itself the official galactic government and was renamed the Imperium. Although some worlds chafed at the Imperium’s continued dominion over all water supplies, none defied them.

The Marked

In 2507 a regiment of Exploratory Corps aboard an Imperium cruiser en route to a new colonization assignment mutinied, seizing the ship and abandoning the crew on an undeveloped world. The dissidents then took refuge on a nearby planet, Teron, whose populace had grown tired of the Imperium’s ever increasing demands on their water supply. An Imperium fleet was quickly dispatched to the planet and determined the city in which the stolen ship had landed. Three regiments of Imperium infantry descended to the planet and seized the city. The ship was located, and the Corps members guarding the ship were tortured until they revealed the location of the rest of their unit. The remaining Corps personnel were tracked down and all were killed in an open courtyard. The Imperium left the city intact, but a sizable force of Imperium troops remained on Teron, and the planet’s water ration was halved.

The Imperium’s ruling Directorate feared that similar incidents would continue to occur, and determined to institute a more decisive means of controlling the Exploratory Corps. Imperium geneticists had been developing enzyme keys which, when injected into the bloodstream, could crack and alter the DNA code of every cell in the body in a prescribed manner. Exploratory Corps personnel had been receiving periodic injections of these substances to improve their immunity to alien bacteria and other microscopic life forms encountered while colonizing new worlds. In response to the Teron incident, a new, more ambitious strain of genetic keys was developed which created a chemical clock in the brain stem that caused life functions to cease at the age of 25. These agents were systematically introduced into all Exploratory Corps members along with the standard immunity treatments. In addition, the changes in the genetic code made the left eye of each member of the Exploratory Corps completely black. In this way, the Imperium could easily identify Exploratory Corps members and make it nearly impossible for them to escape. In addition, the fact that they would only live to the age of 25 made it difficult to organize any sustained effort at rebellion.

The scheme was more successful than anticipated. Within a few decades, the Exploratory Corps came to be known as the Marked and began to think of themselves as cursed. There were no further outbreaks of violence, and the Marked largely gave up hope of ever being granted their freedom. As the business of colonizing the galaxy became less risky and less vital, the Marked, who were now viewed as a separate caste from the rest of human society, were used to perform many of the menial tasks needed by humanity. In time, many among the Marked did not even believe they deserved to be free.

The Dawn of War

In the late twenty-sixth century, an extraordinary boy, Perigil Ilacas, was born to Marked parents. Living in the household of a noted educator, Lajos Cardat, for whom his parents worked as servants, young Ilacas spoke seven languages by the age of five and was versed in a number of

sciences. As the parents approached 25, they made a deal with Cardat, who was sympathetic to the plight of the Marked, to raise the boy as his own. Only in this way could Ilacas continue his education. To pass the boy off as a citizen, his mark would somehow have to be removed, but the marks had been engineered to be resistant to removal, even by techniques such as

tissue replacement. Once the new tissue was accepted by the body, the enzyme keys, which remained in the bloodstream of every marked human, would simply alter the new cells, and the mark would reappear. Cardat arranged for the boy’s eye to be removed and replaced with a cybernetic replica, a procedure that was extremely expensive and, if discovered, would have resulted in death for all involved. By the age of 19, Ilacas had become a leading scholar in the field of genetics. Although he never told his adoptive father, the real motivation behind his study was to uncover the genetic basis for the mark.

Ilacas eventually found the enzyme keys that were responsible for the differences in the DNA and deduced that these were man-made agents that had at some point been deliberately introduced into the Marked population. However, now age 22, Ilacas feared that he would not be able to discover how to counteract the keys in the few years he had left and feared also that if his research was ever uncovered by the Imperium, it would be destroyed. He decided to make his discovery public in the hope that other scientists would join his endeavor or even that public knowledge of the fact that the mark was a manufactured product of the Imperium would force them to release his people from their genetic bondage.

Within a week of the announcement, Ilacas, Cardat, and all those associated with his research were dead. However, news of the incident spread, and quickly small uprisings flared up around the galaxy. The Marked found support on numerous planets. Some viewed the Marked as mankind’s pioneers who had delivered humanity from their doomed homeland of Earth. Some believed their subservience was unnecessary. Some simply saw an opportunity to throw off the yoke of the Imperium and reap the profits of their own bounty. Imperium warships were hijacked, complexes sabotaged, water convoys seized. Several planets, including Teron, raged into full revolt. The rebellion slowly grew more organized, and within a decade the Marked had become a dedicated revolutionary army. Calling themselves the Freedom Guard, they coordinated the efforts of a hundred insurgent worlds into a unified endeavor. Although outnumbered, technologically inferior, and lacking strategic strongholds, the vastness of the Imperium’s domain worked to the rebels’ advantage. The Freedom Guard struck at strategic targets and then moved on, never facing the formidable Imperium war machine head on. After years of trying to smother the growing tide of insurrection, the Imperium found itself facing full-fledged civil war.

The Desiccator

In 2618 Imperium general Gregor Trilkin approached the Imperium’s Ruling Directorate and requested permission to develop a new weapon. Tired of pursuing smaller Freedom Guard forces across the breadth of the galaxy only to engage them in inconsequential skirmishes, he wanted a potent new tool to turn the course of the war. Trilkin’s arms research scientists had actually already designed a devastating new chemical weapon, a catalyzing compound that sheared the hydrogen atoms from water molecules. The compound then incorporated the free hydrogen atoms, thereby reproducing itself and continuing to divide any water molecules it came in contact with. The effect could be transferred through airborne water molecules and even through water in living organisms. One molecule of the compound could therefore consume all the moisture in an entire planet in a matter of minutes. The Ruling Directorate was hesitant to develop a weapon whose function was to destroy the very implement of their control, but Trilkin assured them that they would only need use the Desiccator once. Once its force was demonstrated, Trilkin claimed, the Freedom Guard would relent. Trilkin ultimately planned to use the weapon to seize control of the Imperium. With sole command of the Desiccator, the Ruling Directorate would have no choice but to submit to his authority. The Directorate Chairman, Albrach Boas, was aware of Trilkin’s new weapon from several of his personal moles in Trilkin’s command. He also suspected the general’s intentions for the Desiccator, but needed someone to put an end to the war and knew Trilkin was the best man for the job. Trilkin was a ruthless and efficient tactician, but a predictable politician, and Boas felt he could deal with Trilkin after he had put down the Freedom Guard.

The Tograns

The Togran Foundation was founded in 2382 by molecular physicist Alpheus Togra, son of Petrak Togra, the third and last Chancellor of the Global Commonwealth. Petrak’s assassination in 2356 led to the Rubicon rebellions and ultimately to the demise of the Commonwealth. JDA president Grote Reber suppressed the rebellions in four short days without consulting any of the national governments involved. The JDA’s position of global leadership was cemented. Reber negotiated the dissolution of the Global Commonwealth and the transfer of its remaining authority, mostly bureaucratic, to the JDA.

Alpheus, only nine at the time of his father’s death, studied under his mother, physicist Gisela Togra, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 2349 for her neutrino reactor. By his early twenties Togra had surpassed his mother in reputation. His Foundation, which he established at the age of 35, was dedicated to the development of a new paradigm of human understanding of the physical universe. Togra rejected the five hundred year old reductionist approach to science. Togra believed that matter could be easily and permanently altered at the molecular level and steadfastly maintained that the necessary knowledge and tools to allow such conversion could be uncovered in his lifetime. Matter, he claimed, like all of reality, is more than a sum of its parts. His research focused on element 115, discovered in the outer planets in the early days of exploration of the solar system. Element 115 was the only stable member of the very heavy elements. Other elements over atomic weight of 92 undergo spontaneous fission almost immediately. In addition, the “strong” force in element 115, the force that binds the nucleus together, was unusually powerful and similar enough to gravity that the force could be tapped and amplified and used to make a gravity drive for interstellar travel. The drive bent space in the same way that gravity does and actually pulled the destination point to the traveler. While the peculiar properties of element 115 were accepted by most scientists, none had been able to unravel its mysteries. Togra claimed that the element represented proof that our understanding of the nature of the physical world was flawed, and claimed that by unlocking the secret of element 115, he could transform Earth, even the entire galaxy, into a paradise. Although considered one of the great thinkers of his age, Togra’s obsession with element 115 was mocked as yet another megalomaniacal attempt to turn lead into gold. Togra countered, “If I can tame the soul of matter, what need would I have for gold?”

A man of considerable charisma and rare genius, Togra developed a dedicated following and became a spiritual as well as scientific leader. Togra claimed that the great scientists were simply discovering what the great mystics had always known in a less literal way. He believed that inquiry into the metaphysical realm was as important to mankind’s development as scientific advancement. Many of the world’s leading minds abandoned their own work to join the Togran Foundation. By 2387, Foundation members numbered nearly one thousand, and Togra’s work on matter conversion was making great strides. Togra became increasingly withdrawn and secretive about the Foundation’s research. He suspected that several Foundation members were leaking information to the JDA. Togra stopped accepting new members and expelled three Foundationers he believed were selling his secrets. He began working entirely alone, often fasting and meditating for days at a time. He was rarely seen in public and grew increasingly paranoid.

In 2391, Togra confided to a few of his closest associates that he had cracked element 115’s secret. Before Einstein it was believed that energy and mass, as well as linear and angular momentum, were each independently conserved; that is, none could be created or destroyed. Einstein showed that energy and mass were in fact interchangeable and united them under a single conservation law. Through his work with element 115, Togra found that linear and angular momentum were also equivalent to mass and energy, as well as charge, quark number, and several other variables. All of these, he claimed, are aspects of a single essence that obeys a single conservation law. The unusual nuclear forces of element 115 were due to the fact that the momentum of the electrons of its atoms was being converted to the “strong” force in the nucleus and back at an incredibly fast rate. Based on this discovery Togra was able, in a small scale reactor, to convert the angular momentum in the electrons of an atom of hydrogen into mass. He estimated that a single atom of hydrogen could produce as much matter as a fair-sized asteroid. He needed only to refine the process to make the reaction produce the desired element, and build a number of large-scale reactors to allow near unlimited matter conversion. He was certain, however, that the JDA was about to seize his research, and he decided to abandon his home planet and move the Foundation to an off-world colony. Togra claimed to have found a host planet near the galactic center on which a habitable ecosystem could be developed within a few years. Within a generation, he claimed, they could build their own heaven. Four hundred thirty-seven Foundation members, some of the world’s foremost biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, doctors, and philosophers agreed to accompany Togra. Within a few months Togra organized a small expeditionary force of cargo vessels with light warship support. Togra had expected the JDA to resist the endeavor, but they seemed to view the departure of the Foundation as simply an opportunity to be rid of some of their most influential, outspoken agitators. However, as the Togran expedition reached the outskirts of the solar system, Togra’s paranoia proved valid. An attack force of JDA ships ambushed the convoy, engaging the warship escort while cutting off Togra’s ship and attempting to board it. Unknown to even the other members of the expedition, Togra was armed and prepared for the attack. He killed two JDA agents and placed a small explosive device on the boarding vessel. His ship was damaged in the explosion, but he managed to escape the skirmish, leaving the remaining Tograns behind. When the remaining JDA ships realized what had happened, they disengaged and attempted to follow Togra, but no trace of him was found. The Togran vessels, without their leader but unable to return to Earth for fear of the JDA, decided to continue on to their destination and hope that Togra would somehow find his way there. A few days later the Tograns received a garbled transmission from Togra. His ship was damaged beyond repair. His navigation systems were not functioning, and he had barely managed to ditch the ship on an unknown planet.

By the time of the Freedom Wars the Tograns were merely a curious anecdote in the Imperium’s Neuro-Historical Archives. However, the Tograns had flourished on their new home planet. By genetically engineering offspring, they developed a society of more than one hundred thousand within a few generations. Most of the subsistence work was done by machines, and the need for government was minimal. To avoid pollution, the Togran industrial complex was maintained in massive factory vessels that orbited the planet. Togran society grew increasingly insular and monastic. The majority of the society’s resources was dedicated to scientific research, and citizens did little but work, study, and pray. With disease all but conquered, the Foundation members survived for hundreds of years, pursuing the limits of human knowledge with a dedication approaching madness. However, although Togran technology far surpassed that of the Imperium worlds, the Foundation scientists had been unable to reproduce Togra’s breakthrough in matter conversion.

For generations the Tograns scoured the galaxy for their lost leader but found no trace of him. Togra eventually rose to a mythical status in Togran society, and his followers stopped searching for him. They believed that their lost prophet would return to deliver them without need of their intervention, but as the centuries rolled by, Togra did not appear.

The war between the Imperium and the Freedom Guard raged across the galaxy, destroying everything in its wake. Eventually the war spread to the remote Togran home worlds. Although superior technologically, the Tograns had no experience with warfare and their society was crushed in the onslaught.

Objective

As your planet and all you know is destroyed, you escape in a solitary scout vessel. Adrift in space you encounter a probe sent by Togra himself. The probe brings you a message from Togra and the ability to transport you back in time. Centuries earlier the planet on which Togra had crash landed was consumed by the Imperium’s Dessicator weapon. Unable to save himself, Togra sent out the probe with the hope that one of his followers would happen upon it and unlock the key that could save him. The probe can open a dimensional port that will transport you to the moment just before Togra was killed and provide you with the technology to create an army to defeat both of the warring factions, but the mechanism can work only once. If you are unable to accomplish the task, then history will continue unaltered and Togra’s fate, as well as your own, will be sealed. The probe contains a number of recorded battles of the Imperium-Freedom Guard war. These battles will be presented to you as a series of trials. If you are unable to conquer them, if you are unable to demonstrate that you are worthy to fight the final conflict to save Togra, the probe will not transport you back in time. Togra will not allow his one chance for survival to be wasted.

To save your society. To save your lost messiah. To save yourself. You must open the dimension door and alter the destiny of a galaxy.


Unit Statistics
Unit Statistics	LEGEND:	Speed	Cost	Armor	Attack	Range

1	Very Slow	Cheap	Very Light	Very Weak	Very Short

2	Slow	Low	Light	Weak	Short

3	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium

4	Fast	High	Heavy	Strong	Long

5	Very Fast	Expensive	Very Heavy	Very Strong	Very Long

Speed	Cost	Armor	Attack 	Attack	Attack	Attack	Attack	Sight	Special	Primary	Secondary

vs	vs	vs	Range	Distance	Ability	Role	Role

Armor	Buildings	Air

Common Units

Construction Rig	1	2	1	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	3	Build Structures	Support	None

Freighter	3	4	4	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	3	Resource Transport	Support	None

Hover Freighter	3	4	3	3	2	2	NA	NA	3	Resource Transport	Support	None

Infiltrator	2	4	1	NA	NA	Special	NA	0	3	Steal Plans/Human Morphing	Special Operation	Reconnaissance

Water Contaminator	1	5	3	NA	NA	NA	NA	0	3	Destroy Water Resources	Special Operation	None

Freedom Guard Infantry

Raider	2	1	2	3	2	2	NA	1	1	Phasing	Light Attack	Ambush

Mercenary	2	2	2	1	4	3	NA	3	1	Phasing	Anti-Tank	Ambush

Martyr	3	3	2	5	3	3	NA	0	1	Anti-Infantry	Base Defense

Scout	2	2	1	NA	NA	NA	NA	2	5	Object Morphing	Reconnaissance	None

Medic	2	3	1	Special	NA	NA	NA	0	2	Heal	Support	None

Mechanic	2	3	1	NA	Special	NA	NA	0	2	Repair	Support	None

Sniper	2	4	2	5	1	1	NA	3	3	Object Morphing	Anti-Infantry	 Recon

Saboteur	2	3	1	NA	NA	Special	NA	0	2	Damage Buildings	Base Attack/Object Morphing	Recon

Freedom Guard Vehicles

Spider Bike	5	3	2	1	4	1	NA	3	3	All Terrain	Reconnaissance	Anti-Armor

RAT	4	3	3	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	3	Stealth Blending/Infantry Trans	Transport	None

Skirmish Tank	3	3	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	Medium Attack	Anti-Air

Tank Hunter	4	3	3	3	5	5	NA	1	3	Anti-Tank	Medium Attack

Triple Rail 	2	5	4	3	5	3	NA	4	3	Anti-Tank	Heavy Attack

Hellstorm Artillery	1	4	2	4	2	2	NA	5	3	Area Denial	Anti-Infantry

Sky Bike	5	3	2	2	2	1	3	3	3	Flying	Anti-Air	Light Attack

Outrider	3	4	4	4	4	4	NA	2	3	Flying	Medium Attack	None

Flak Jack	3	3	2	NA	NA	NA	5	4	3	Anti-Air	None

Phase Tank	2	3	3	4	3	3	NA	3	3	Phasing	Ambush	Light Attack

Shockwave	1	5	3	4	4	5	NA	5	3	Base Attack	Terror

Phase Transport	1	4	3	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	1	Underground Tank Transport 	Transport	None

Base Mover	1	NA	3	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	3	Support	None

Imperium Infantry

Guardian	2	1	2	3	2	2	NA	1	1	Light Attack	None

Bion	1	2	2	4	2	2	3	2	1	Medium Attack	Anti-Air

Exterminator	3	3	2	1	4	1	NA	3	1	All Terrain Hover	Anti-Tank	 Harassment

Suicide Zombie	2	NA	2	5	3	3	NA	0	2	Anti-Infantry	Anti-Armor

Imperium Vehicles

Scout Runner	4	3	2	3	2	2	NA	3	5	Reconnaissance	Light Attack

Invader Transport	4	3	3	3	2	2	NA	3	3	Infantry Transport	 Transport	Light Attack

Plasma Tank	3	3	3	4	3	3	NA	3	3	Medium Attack	Harassment

Shredder	4	3	3	5	NA	NA	NA	0	3	Anti-Infantry	None

Tachion Tank	2	5	5	5	4	5	NA	4	3	Self Destruct	Heavy Attack	Anti-Tank

Recon Drone	3	3	2	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	3	Flyer	Reconnaissance	None

SCARAB	1	4	2 (5)	4	2	2	NA	5	3	Shell Up	Area Denial	Anti-infantry

Amper	2	3	2	Special	NA	NA	NA	3	3	Increase Health/Poison 	Support	Anti-Infantry

Cyclone	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	Flyer	Medium Attack	Anti-Air

Sky Fortress	2	5	4	5	5	5	NA	3	3	Flyer	Heavy Attack	Base Defense

Mobile Air Defense	3	3	2	NA	NA	NA	5	4	3	Anti-Air	None

Hostage Taker	4	2	5	Special	NA	NA	NA	0	3	Produces Suicide Zombies	Anti-Infantry	Special Ops

Common Building

Air Defense Site	NA	3	3	NA	NA	NA	5	4	3	Anti-Air	None

Freedom Guard Buildings

Laser Turret	NA	3	3	3	2	2	2	3	3	Light Defense	Anti-Air

Heavy Rail Platform	NA	4	4	3	5	3	NA	4	4	Anti-Tank	Medium Defense

Imperium Buildings

Plasma Turret	NA	3	3	3	2	2	2	3	3	Light Defense	Anti-Air

Neutron Accelerator	NA	4	4	4	4	3	NA	4	4	Medium Defense	None

Rift Creator	NA	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	3	Anti-Everything	Terror


Units Menu
Game Contents

Story

Game Play

Multi-Player

Units

Unit Movement Types

Weapon Types

Common Units

Freedom Guard Units

Imperium Units

Unit Statistics

Buildings

Construction Kit

Software License Agreement


Units Section
Units

“The hand of man can hold the universe in its palm,

if only it can learn to unclench its fist.”

 — Alpheus Togra

Dark Reign has a number of different terrain types and elevation changes that affect unit movement in different ways depending on the unit’s movement type.

Unit Movement Types

Walker

This category includes infantry and machines that walk with articulated limbs. Walkers are the only units that can climb the steepest slopes. Walkers cannot cross water obstacles, but unlike other ground units they can navigate swamps, although with a significant loss of speed.

Wheeled & Tracked

All vehicles with wheels or treads are included in this class. These units cannot cross water or steep slopes, but they do gain a considerable speed advantage on roads and paths.

Hover

These vehicles produce a limited anti-gravity field that allows them to hover just above the ground. Hover vehicles can cross water and swamps with no loss of speed. However, they can’t climb even moderate slopes and don’t gain any speed advantage on roads.

Flyer

Flying units are not affected by terrain. They can move over any map area.

Keep in mind that there are several hybrid units that combine different aspects of these movement types. These are detailed in the unit’s descriptions.

Weapon Types

Laser weapons are fairly weak overall. They are effective against infantry targets, but weak against armor.

Plasma weapons are generally more powerful than lasers. They are particularly potent against infantry, but are also effective versus armor and buildings.

Rail weapons come in a variety of sizes, but are always more effective against armor and buildings than against infantry targets.

Missiles come in several types and sizes and are equally effective against all targets.

Artillery weapons have a powerful area effect. They are slightly less effective against armor than versus infantry and buildings.

The Tachion Cannon is very powerful and is good against all target types.

Neutron weapons and the electroshock of the Tank Hunter are both powerful weapons and are slightly more effective against armor.

The Exterminator’s poly-acid is a powerful anti-armor weapon, but is very ineffective against all other target types.

The Sniper’s needle gun is very weak versus armor and buildings, but deadly against infantry targets.

Common Units

Freighter- These vehicles haul the vital resources that feed the ravenous war machine. The multi-purpose Freighter is able to carry fresh water or Taelon.

Type	Wheeled

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Heavy

Hover Freighter- Serves the same function as the Freighter, but its hover drive allows movement over a broader range of terrain types. It is armed with a laser cannon.

Type	Hover

Speed	Fast

Weapon	Laser Cannon

Range	Short

Armor	Heavy

Contaminator- This vehicle can pollute and permanently destroy freshwater springs. It is slow and extremely expensive, but once you have cut off your enemies’ resources, their ruin is inevitable.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Special

Range	None

Armor	Medium

Construction Rig- The workhorse of any military operation, this unit constructs all buildings and bridges.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Infiltrator- The Infiltrator can morph into enemy infantry and is able to steal plans for enemy units and buildings. The unit can also observe the opponent’s Minimap at the HQ building. Plans for units are obtained at the building where that unit is produced. The Infiltrator must return safely to his own HQ with all stolen plans.

Type	Walker

Speed	Medium

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Freedom Guard Units

Raider- Stalwart of the Freedom Guard cause, the Raider is armed with a laser rifle. Once the Phasing Facility is constructed, the Raider gains the ability to phase underground.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Laser Rifle

Range	Short

Armor	Light

Mercenary- Recruited from outside the Freedom Guard ranks, these paid guns carry a massive shoulder mounted rail gun. Highly trained and ruthless, the Mercenary is tougher and deadlier than the Raider. The Mercenary can phase once the Phasing Facility has been built.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Rail Gun

Range	Short

Armor	Medium

Scout- Used mainly for front line surveillance, the Scout is able to morph into inanimate objects such as trees and rocks to conceal her position. The Scout is relatively fast but wears no body armor, so combat is not her specialty.

Type	Walker

Speed	Medium

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Sniper- With a long range electro-magnetic needle gun, the Sniper is lethal against infantry targets. Like the Scout, the Sniper can morph into objects for camouflage.

Type	Walker

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Sniper Rail

Range	Long

Armor	Light

Field Medic- The Field Medic can restore the health of wounded infantry units and administer an antitoxin to counteract the effects of the Amper. The Field Medic will automatically heal damaged units that are nearby or can be directed to heal a specific unit. The Field Medic has no attack capability and does not wear body armor.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Mechanic- The Mechanic functions similarly to the Field Medic, repairing damaged vehicles in the field. The Mechanic has no attack capability.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Saboteur- The Saboteur can damage any building to half its maximum health. The unit can morph into rocks and trees in order to sneak up on enemy structures.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Martyr- Freedom Guard soldiers who are approaching their 25th birthday, and therefore certain death, are outfitted with a high-powered explosive device and then sent screaming into the enemy to die for the cause. Sometimes soldiers not popular with their commanding officers are “volunteered” for this service before their 25th birthday.

Type	Walker

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Plasma Bomb

Range	None

Armor	Light

Spider Bike- This all terrain vehicle is the cornerstone of the Freedom Guard ground force. Fast and inexpensive, it is able to tackle all types of terrain. Armed with a double rail gun, it is fairly effective against armor but somewhat vulnerable to infantry.

Type	Special Wheeled

Speed	Fast

Weapon	Rail Gun

Range	Medium

Armor	Medium

Skirmish Tank- The Skirmish Tank is the foundation upon which any successful military outfit is built. Properly accessorized, the Skirmish Tank can make a splash at an intimate midnight raid, a small summer skirmish, or even a full-scale gala massacre.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Guided Missiles

Range	Medium

Armor	Medium

Triple Rail Hover Tank- The pinnacle of Freedom Guard armor, the Triple Rail uses hover technology stolen from the Imperium to allow movement over a broader range of terrain types. Hauling three electro-magnetic projectile accelerator cannons or rail guns, this tank is a savage consumer of Imperium armor.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Triple Rail Gun

Range	Long

Armor	Heavy

Tank Hunter- This quick, deadly vehicle emits a massive short range electric discharge. The Tank Hunter is devastating in close combat but has no ranged weapon and is vulnerable in situations where it cannot close on its prey.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Electrical Discharge

Range	Short

Armor	Light

Phase Tank- Using limited phasing technology, the Phase Tank can bury itself underground in order to ambush enemy units. However, the Phase Tank must surface to move or fire and can be fired upon and take damage while submerged. Although the phased energy shield surrounding the vehicle serves to protect it and minimize damage, the Phase Tank is essentially defenseless while underground.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Laser Cannon

Range	Medium

Armor	Light

Hellstorm Artillery- The Hellstorm Artillery fires a long-range, area-effect explosive. Its range is more than four times longer than any other unit. A battery of Artillery is capable of single-handedly destroying an enemy base, but the vehicle is slow and lightly armored, so undefended Artillery is fodder in close combat.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Artillery

Range	Extreme

Armor	Medium

R.A.T. (Rapid Armored Transport)- The Freedom Guard troop transport has the ability to camouflage itself to match the surrounding terrain. The R.A.T. is unarmed, but is able to carry up to five infantry units at a time and can move over water, although at a considerably reduced speed.

Type	Wheeled

Speed	Medium

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Medium

Phase Transport- Using phasing technology the Phase Transport can move up to five units at a time underground. Infantry and vehicles load into the unit at the Phasing Facility. The transport is then placed in a phased state in which it can move underground to any location on the map, although it cannot surface from under a building or water. There is no time limit on the phasing effect; however, once its cargo is deployed, the Phase Transport will automatically return to the phasing facility to be reloaded.

Type	Underground

Speed	Slow

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	N/A

Flak Jack- A revamped Construction Rig outfitted with two shoulder mounted particle launchers. The Flak Jack salvages metal from the battlefield and converts it into microscopic metallic particles that it fires in clouds which cause sustained damage to air units. The unit has no defensive capability against ground attack, and should be protected at all times.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Chaff

Range	Long

Armor	Light

Outrider- This ground attack aerial unit is slower and less maneuverable than the Sky Bike, but considerably tougher and fires air to ground missiles. Deadly effective against Imperium armor, it cannot engage other air units and should be escorted by air defense units. The Outrider has limited ammunition and must re-arm at the Re-Arming Deck.

Type	Flyer

Speed	Fast

Weapon	Guided Missiles

Range	Short

Armor	Heavy

Sky Bike- Using a modified Spider Bike chassis, the Freedom Guard were able to produce cheap, fast aerial units which could attack enemy ground troops and other flyers. Although quicker than the Imperium Cyclone, the Sky Bike is not as heavily armored and is outgunned in even combat. The speed of the Sky Bike, however, allows it to dictate the circumstance of conflict. This unit fires high-velocity mini-missiles and, like the Outrider, must re-arm at the Re-Arming Deck.

Type	Flyer

Speed	Fast

Weapon	Mini Guided Missiles

Range	Short

Armor	Light

Shock Wave- A single-use unit that creates an immense earth wave that travels across the map, causing severe damage to everything in its wake. The unit is armed by double-clicking on it and then fired at an enemy target to determine the direction of the wave. The Shock Wave unit then embeds in the ground and detonates, self-destructing in the discharge. The Shock Wave is expensive and slow to build but well worth the wait.

Type	Tracked

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Seismic Wave

Range	Special

Armor	Medium

Imperium Units

Guardian- Known as the Guardians of Order in the peaceful era before the Freedom Guard uprising, the basic Imperium infantry unit is armed with a laser rifle and wears a powered armor suit.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Laser Rifle

Range	Short

Armor	LIght

Bion- A fearless mechanical killer, the Bion is armored like a walking tank. This one-man cyborg death squad carries a massive plasma rifle, and can fire at both ground and air units.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Plasma Rifle

Range	Short

Armor	Medium

Exterminator- These infantry units are equipped with anti-gravity generators which allow them to hover over water. As infantry, they can also move over steep gradients that are generally inaccessible to hover vehicles. Exterminators are armed with poly-acid grenades that dissolve metal. They are very effective at attacking armor.

Type	Hover/Walker

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Poly-Acid Grenade

Range	Short

Armor	Light

Amper- The Imperium’s version of first aid, this lunatic cyborg fires darts into dying infantry units that boost the target’s health to full, but leave the unit poisoned so that its health will steadily decrease until the unit dies. The Amper can also be used as an offensive weapon, bringing slow death to enemy infantry.

Type	Walker

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Serum

Range	Short

Armor	LIght

Hostage Taker- This diabolical Imperium vehicle snatches infantry units, lobotomizes them, and converts them into Suicide Zombies. Shortly after the infantry unit is run over and captured, it is released, now under the player’s control and with a high-powered explosive strapped to its back. Enjoy.

Type	Wheeled

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Vivisector

Range	Contact

Armor	Heavy

Scout Runner- This fast moving hover vehicle is armed with a laser and is fairly effective against both infantry and armor. However, it is not very sturdy, and is used primarily for front line reconnaissance.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Laser Cannon

Range	Medium

Armor	Medium

Plasma Tank- Backbone of the Imperium war effort, the Plasma Tank is tough and packs a formidable plasma cannon. The Imperium overruns the enemy with endless waves of these ruinous machines.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Plasma Cannon

Range	Medium

Armor	Heavy

Tachion Tank- The Tachion Tank is the largest, most heavily armed beast on the battlefield. It’s a ponderous mountain of havoc that has the last word in any argument. When the enemy does manage to overpower one of these juggernaughts, it has the ability to self-destruct and take any nearby units down with it.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Tachion Cannon

Range	Long

Armor	Very Heavy

Shredder- A huge, hovering nightmare, the Shredder tears through infantry like a runaway saw. Although it has no ranged attack, it is fast, heavily armored, and inflicts severe damage on any infantry units foolish enough to get near it.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Blades

Range	Contact

Armor	Medium

S.C.A.R.A.B. (Self Contained Armored Ranged Artillery Battery)- This long range weapon fires a fragmenting projectile that breaks into numerous burning particles over its target. This vehicle is slow and lightly armored, but it can enclose itself in a retractable armored exoskeleton when it gets in trouble. The unit cannot fire while this armor is engaged, but can weather a considerable beating while waiting for reinforcements.

Type	Hover

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Artillery

Range	Extreme

Armor	Medium

Invader Troop Transport- Armed with a laser rifle, the Troop Transport can carry up to five infantry units at a time.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Laser Rifle

Range	Short

Armor	Medium

M.A.D. (Mobile Air Defense)- The M.A.D. fires bladed orbs at enemy air units. Like the Freedom Guard Flak Jack, it cannot fire at ground units and should be defended against land attack.

Type	Hover

Speed	Medium

Weapon	Bladed Orbs

Range	Long

Armor	Light

Recon Drone- This small unmanned drone is lightly armored and has no offensive capability. It is used solely to scout enemy targets.

Type	Flyer

Speed	Medium

Weapon	None

Range	N/A

Armor	Light

Cyclone- The Cyclone embodies the core of the Imperium aerial force. The unit is fairly rugged and can engage both air and ground units. However, the Cyclone’s neutron cannon has a limited energy source and must recharge at the Re-Arming Deck.

Type	Flyer

Speed	Fast

Weapon	Neutron Cannon

Range	Medium

Armor	Medium

Sky Fortress- Death from above. This floating platform of wreckage houses the largest plasma cannon known to humanity. It’s slow to recharge but makes a lasting impact.

Type	Flyer

Speed	Slow

Weapon	Pulse Plasma Cannon

Range	Medium

Armor	Heavy