Where is the actual game manual

[torrone]

The manual in the website is useless for gameplay. Where is the manual that actually tells you what the things on the screen actually mean? Started a game and there are Isogen(?) and gold fields the tooltip says I should mine. Doesn't say how. Tooltips kind of tell you what to do in a limited, pick your way along, manner. Gonna be an awfully steep learning curve that way.

[kridon]

I would like to echo this statement. There is no manual and that's pretty lame. It makes the game very hard to learn and play, to the point that its not really worth the time to learn it. I guess the only solution is to stop buying games from companies that do this.[right][/right][right][/right][right][/right]

[IainMcNeil]

The game has extensive in game help and is designed to be intuitive so it doesn't need one. If there are any specific things you think are not covered let us know so we can help to improve them.

[moltobenny]

I agree with both sides. One the one hand, if you have any experience with this type of game, everything is so familiar, well laid out, and well-explained in the tooltips and popups that although I'd still LIKE a manual, I don't feel like I NEED one.

On the other hand, if this was your first 4X/Civ-alike, I can imagine being overwhelmed and confused and wondering where the manual is, even given the excellent popups and tooltips.

I'd imagine the manual for Pandora need be little more than tooltip/compendium/popup stuff rearranged into book form. C'mon, who's up for it?

[Wolfe1759]

ORIGINAL: moltobenny
I'd imagine the manual for Pandora need be little more than tooltip/compendium/popup stuff rearranged into book form. C'mon, who's up for it?

The developers !

[moltobenny]

I hear ya. But really. What do you need help with that it doesn't already explain?

I had one, and posted it to the forum, and it was answered quickly, and in retrospect it was because I just hadn't been paying attention.

[PDiFolco]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

The game has extensive in game help and is designed to be intuitive so it doesn't need one. If there are any specific things you think are not covered let us know so we can help to improve them.

Iain,
Not meaning to be rude, but this really smells bad excuse for the totally missing manual...that you don't seem to be able to get from the devs.

But Happy New Year nonetheless [:'(]

[eyegore]

Like everyone else it's one of those cases you can understand both arguments. I had no trouble jumping into the game. In all likelihood had there been a manual I would have never looked at it. But someone new to the gendre might want one.

A good solution of course is to make a fan based one. The manual for Dominions 3 for example is solely done like that...and it's had many compliments by fans being a pretty good well written one. Who wants to volunteer?

[Werewolf13]

Before purchasing a product perusing the manual is always 1st on my list of things to do. The next is to visit the forums and check out the tech support/bug reporting sections.

Pandora looked like a really good prospect. Touted as the successor to Alpha Centauri - a great game.

This thread made my buying decision easy. Not producing a manual for a game is inexcusable. Gathering info necessary for play and a basic understanding of product background is fundamental. Not doing it shows either great disrespect for product users, laziness on the producer's part or plain ole penny penching.

Go ahead and flame away, tell me I'm missing out on a great product but I won't be purchasing Pandora and until more devs feel it in the wallet they'll keep right on doing what they're doing.

Then again - the console generation has been trained to accept no manual so I'm probably in the minority anyway.

[schascha]

ORIGINAL: Werewolf1326

Before purchasing a product perusing the manual is always 1st on my list of things to do. The next is to visit the forums and check out the tech support/bug reporting sections.

Pandora looked like a really good prospect. Touted as the successor to Alpha Centauri - a great game.

This thread made my buying decision easy. Not producing a manual for a game is inexcusable. Gathering info necessary for play and a basic understanding of product background is fundamental. Not doing it shows either great disrespect for product users, laziness on the producer's part or plain ole penny penching.

Go ahead and flame away, tell me I'm missing out on a great product but I won't be purchasing Pandora and until more devs feel it in the wallet they'll keep right on doing what they're doing.

Then again - the console generation has been trained to accept no manual so I'm probably in the minority anyway.

+1

I'm in this minority too

[stormbringer3]

I also decided not to buy because there was no manual. I think there's more lost sales because of this they think.

[pitman]

You know the old acronym, RTFM? Well, my question is WHERE is TFM?

One of the reasons I paid more in order to get a physical copy of the game was to have a handy manual--and I discover that there is no manual at all, just a fluff booklet about the factions. I've been trying to play it for about an hour and I have a ton of questions which the in-game "tips" and the extremely shallow "compendium" don't even come close to answering. Things like, if I try to farm a hot springs, will it destroy the special terrain feature. Things like, is there some way to zoom in or zoom out on the map? All sorts of things.

I mean, come on. I have been playing 4x games since the mid 1980s, so I have been around the block. But every game needs a manual, even if just a PDF file. I want to *play* the game, not have to figure out how to play the game by trial and error.

[Raindog101]

How do you open the production menu? Is these a list of hotkeys anywhere.

[Ozymandias2]

How about, "How do you make your population happy?"

I'm an "old-school" Civilization 3 "fanatic" and handling population in Pandora isn't in the slightest bit obvious to me.