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SPACE EMPIRES II Copyright 1995 Malfador Machinations INTRODUCTION Space Empires II is a strategic space conquest game for Windows. You design and build your own starships based on the technological level of your civilization. 1-4 human players and a slew of computer players will oppose you in your reign. Can you bring your enlightened rule to the entire galaxy? This is the challenge.... LEGAL JUNK Space Empires II is the copyrighted work of Aaron Hall for Malfador Machinations. The shareware version may be freely distributed so long as no files are changed or omitted. Malfador Machinations retains the right to deny retransmission rights to anybody for any reason. >>>>>> DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THE REGISTERED VERSION. <<<<<< See below for details on how you may obtain the registered version. INSTALLATION OF SHAREWARE VERSION FROM ZIP FILE The shareware version of Space Empires II is distributed as a single ZIP file. To install this version, you must: 1.) Create a new directory (recommended name: se2) 2.) Copy the ZIP file to this directory 3.) Unzip the file, using PKUNZIP 2.04g or later (usually done by typing: pkunzip se2v14.zip) 4.) Create a windows program item for SPACEMP2.EXE To create a windows program item, run Windows and select "New..." from the FILE menu of the Program Manager. Next select Program Item and hit OK. Then use the BROWSE button to get to your new SE2 directory and select the file SPACEMP2.EXE. Hit OK to select SPACEMP2.EXE, then hit OK again to create the program item. You're all done! (This can also be done through File Manager by selecting the file SPACEMP2.EXE and dragging it to the program group in Program Manager where you want to place it.) GAME REGISTRATION Space Empires II is a game where Technology dictates your ship size and the strength of your weapons. The shareware version of Space Empires II provides Tech Levels 1-5. If you'd like Tech Levels 6-20, you need to order the registered version of Space Empires II. With your registration you'll receive the latest version of the registered version of Space Empires II. You can also order the Strategy & Hints Guide which provides detailed clues on how to win against incredible odds! If you'd like to receive a Registered copy of Space Empires II, please fill out the Order Form (file ORDER.DOC) and send it in to Malfador Machinations. If you don't have the Order Form, use the following: $25 - Registered Version of Space Empires II $5 - Strategy & Hints Guide Make check payable to Malfador Machinations and send it to: Malfador Machinations Space Empires II Registration P.O. Box 471885 San Francisco, CA 94147-1885 (Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.) (Sorry, only 3.5" disks available) If you'd like to send in comments to Malfador Machinations you can either mail to the above address, or email us at: malfador@crl.com WHY REGISTER??? Here's what's waiting for you in the registered version of Space Empires II: - Tech Levels 6-20 - Battle Cruisers, Battleships, and Dreadnoughts - Starbases - Carriers and Fighters - Open and Close Warp Points - Destroy Suns - Cloaking Devices! - Mauler Beam - Wave Motion Gun - and much, much more..... You haven't lived until you've faced a fleet of de-cloaking Dreadnoughts preparing to fire their Wave Motion Guns! THANKS I hope you enjoy Space Empires II and please support shareware! - Aaron Hall COMMON QUESTIONS 1. I just built ships but they don't move. What's going on? When ships are first purchased, they are merely empty hulks sitting in space. You must now use your space yards to build (repair) them. When a ship is first purchased it will have all of its components destroyed (there will be 3 stars next to each of the component names). Each turn after that, the space yards in the same sector as the ship will repair it. Once the ship has some engines repaired, it will get movement points. Remember to not move the ship away too early or it may still have components that are not built yet. 2. What is Armor used for? Armor is a hold-over from Tech Level 0. When you get Tech Level 1 (every empire starts at this level) you attain shield technology. Shields render Armor obsolete. You can buy it, but economics say its not wise. Shields are cheaper. 3. What are Hulls used for? Hulls are free hits inside your ship. They act like shields in that they absorb damage. Other than extra damage points for your ship, Hulls serve no useful purpose. 4. My ship won't colonize a planet. Why? There are several criteria that must be met before a planet can be colonized. First, you must have a ship in the same sector as the planet with movement points remaining. This ship must be carrying an outpost. colony, or settlement module. Next you select colonize, and then select the ship from the Select Ship list. You're all done! 5. How are Space Yard 2's better than Space Yard 1's? Space Yards will repair 3 components for each level they have. Therefore a SY1 will repair 3 components while a SY2 will repair 6. 6. Does my ship do better in combat with 2 Combat Sensors on it? No. Combat Sensor and ECM are not cumulative. The highest level component will dictate the bonus your ship gets, and the extra components do nothing. There is one advantage however to having 2 on your ship. If the first one is destroyed, then the second one will still give you a bonus. 7. Turns take a long time. How can I speed up the game? You can speed up the game by starting a game that does not have neutral players. This can be done when you start a game by going into the Game Setup Window and un-checking the Neutral Players Allowed option. 8. How can I be player 2 in a 1 player game? Sorry, you can't. When you play with only one human player, that player has to be player 1. 9. How many ships can I have in Space Empires II? Space Empires II has a limit of 2000 ships total in the game. This is limited by how much memory you have, but most machines can go all the way to 2000. 10. I want to have my own class names to pick from when designing classes. How do I do this? The names that are shown in the drop-down list when picking a class name in the Design Classes window is loaded from a text file. The text file that the game uses for each player is selected from the Game Setup Window. When you start a new game, select Game Setup. In the Game Setup Window at the bottom, you will see 4 text boxes that contain the names of 4 text files. Just change the text file name to the file you created and those names will show up in the Design Classes window. 11. I press the Move ships command button yet the Select Ships window does not show any ships to pick from. Why? The Select Ships window filters the ships in the currently selected sector for the command you are attempting to perform. For example, if you press the Move command, the Select Ships list will only show ships in the currently selected sector that have at least one movement point left. When you press the Colonize command, the Select Ships window will only show ships that have colony modules and have at least one movement point left. 12. Why does the Load Game window have 10 slots, but the Save Game window only has 5? The last 5 slots in the Load Game window are reserved for Auto-Save games. When you auto-save a game, it appears in slots 6 through 10. 13. How is Maintenance calculated? Maintenance is calculated at the end of your turn as 3% of the cost of each ship in your empire. 14. Where does the list of Destinations in the Purchases window come from? The Destinations list is a list of all sectors that contain space yards you own. Since settlements have a built in SY1, your list will show every settlement you own, in addition to the location of any ships you have that have space yards. 15. How do I make old classes not show up in the Purchases Window? If you do not want a particular ship class to show up in the Purchases Window, you must mark it as obsolete. Go into the View Classes window and select the ship size and class your interested in. Now just check the obsolete button and that ship will no longer appear on the Items Available list in the Purchases window. 16. Can I delete a ship class? No. There is no way to completely delete a ship class in the game. You can mark it as obsolete which is effectively the same thing. You will not though, be able to use that class name ever again. 17. How do I find out what Tech Level I'm currently at? From the Main Window select Empire and then Status. The Empire Status Window will show you all of the summary information for your empire which includes what Tech Level your at. 18. I gave orders to a ship but it didn't do anything. Why? If you give orders to a ship, and then want it to execute those immediately, you need to press the Execute Orders button. If the ship has movement points left, it will attempt to carry out your orders. Orders are automatically executed at the beginning of your turn. 19. How is Money calculated? Money is generated by all of the colonies you have in the game. The real money you get from a planet is calculated as the population of the planet times the value of the planet divided by 500. You can see the amount at any given time by going into the Info Menu and selecting Colonies. 20. How do I find out what ships were repaired in the last turn? Select the Logs menu and then the Repair item. The Repair Log window will show you a list of all ships that were repaired last turn. 21. How do I find out what ships were purchased in the last turn? Select the Logs menu and then the Purchases item. The Purchase Log window will show you a list of all ships that were purchased last turn. 22. I was in combat and the game said that I retreated, but I didn't! Though the Attacker can manually retreat any time he wishes, the game will automatically force the Attacker to retreat at the conclusion of combat turn 20. 23. What is Fast Combat? Fast Combat should be used when you have large numbers of ships in combat. This option will deactivate the display of firing information (the text that's displayed in the top left corner when a ship fires). This speeds up the firing phase of combat immensely. 24. Are there any quick keys for moving ships around? When selecting commands for ships remember the Shift key. When you hold the Shift key and press a command, you are telling the game to select all the ships available for that command. This means that you will not get the Select Ships window and instead the command will just be executed for all the available ships. This helps a lot when warping ships through a warp point. There's also a quick way to move ships with the Shift key. Select a sector that has ships that can move. While holding the Shift key click on another sector in that system. All of the ships that can move in the selected sector will move towards where you just clicked! 25. I run Space Empires II but the System Display just shows blank white. The Galaxy display is fine but where it would show the solar system, I get nothing but a blank white space. What's going on? Space Empires II will only run in 16 or 256 colors. The problem your having is caused by running on a Windows system that is using more than 256 colors. Just set your display to 16 or 256 colors and everything should be fine.