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Populous seriesTrying to understand this game (Populous 1)(4 posts)(4 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 24, 2016
I recently bought this game and it's sequel (since I wanted to try out Bullfrog games), but while I think I understand it's base concept, I can't seem to make heads or tails on how to actually play it.

And before you ask, yes. I actually read the manual.

First, I seem to have trouble to understand the interface. I understand the mana gauge and the information shield, but I'm not sure about which buttons does what. This is the kind of game that really needs a reference card (the manual only describes the buttons appearance and it's not always clear).

Second, if I believe the gameplay footage I found on Youtube, the game is mostly creating bigger and bigger stretches of flat land so that your followers can reproduce and build bigger structures. Outside of using spels when you got enough mana, it doesn't appear to be much more than that. I know that there's something about a leader, but I'm not sure I understand how it works (I got stuck on my second map. My followers created two castles and then didn't do squat).

These games sound really interesting, but I want to understand them so I can play them (and I have a fixation with starting with the first game).

Thanks in advance.
Posted March 07, 2016
In truth, the first two Populous games are about flattening land as fast as possible. It's not strategically deep.

Anyway, let's discuss the mess of buttons in the bottom left corner.

The arrows scroll you around the map. In the middle, there is the "go to shield" button. The other three "go to" buttons are to the lower right of the arrows and they all have <chevrons> around them. The crossed swords take you to any fight in progress, the ankh takes you to your leader/Papal Magnet and the helmet takes you to any knights you have.

To the lower left of the arrows are the buttons that select the four follower modes. The crossed swords make followers fight more, the guy with the arrow pointing towards him makes followers buddy up, the flag makes them settle and the ankh makes them go to your leader and makes your leader go to the Papal Magnet. You can thus use the Papal Magnet to move your guys around. Most of the time you want your followers in Settle mode.

You can move the Papal Magnet around by clicking the ankh to the lower right of the arrows, the one that doesn't have <chevrons> around them. Then click on the world to place it. You can only move your Papal Magnet if you have a leader. If your leader dies, the Papal Magnet will mark where he died and putting your followers in Papal Magnet mode will make them go to the ankh until one of them gets there and becomes leader. If the AI leader gets killed with a swamp, it won't be smart enough to remove the swamp and will often lets hordes of followers march to their death.

Next to that is the "up arrow, down arrow" icon. This is usually highlighted because it is your default spell. Left clicking raises land. Right clicking lowers it. This is the most basic ability, and also the one that success depends on. Your followers will build settlements and breed in them, but you must supply them flat land to build on.

Next to that is the question mark icon. This turns your icon into a shield and you can use this to tag a follower or settlement, not necessarily one of your own. This gives you information about that settlement or follower on the shield in the top right corner of the screen, and allows you to zoom to it by clicking the " go to shield" icon in the middle of the arrow icons.

To the upper left of the arrows are the spells. The icons also appear on the brown mana bar, so I'll list them in mana bar order:
-Raise/lower land - we've covered this
-Move Papal Magnet - we've also covered this
-Earthquake - shakes the screen and scrambles the terrain. It generally bring terrain down to sea level. Not actually a good idea, because a few castle dwellers will become a dozen or so tents, and when the cpu cleans it up there will be a dozen castles somewhere.
-Swamp - Places swamps on the map. These swallow up any follower foolish enough to walk over them. A great way to kill an enemy leader or knight.
-Knight - turns the leader into a knight, who then independently roams around killing enemies.
-Volcano - Creates a mountain on the map and lots of rocks.
-Flood - Lowers all the terrain by one level. If you have lots of flat land just above sea level, it will all be submerged. A very powerful effect, although one you'll need to prepare for by raising all your land.
-Armageddon - Everyone heads towards the middle and fights to the death.
Posted March 08, 2016
avatar
badjim: In truth, the first two Populous games are about flattening land as fast as possible. It's not strategically deep.

Anyway, let's discuss the mess of buttons in the bottom left corner.

The arrows scroll you around the map. In the middle, there is the "go to shield" button. The other three "go to" buttons are to the lower right of the arrows and they all have <chevrons> around them. The crossed swords take you to any fight in progress, the ankh takes you to your leader/Papal Magnet and the helmet takes you to any knights you have.

To the lower left of the arrows are the buttons that select the four follower modes. The crossed swords make followers fight more, the guy with the arrow pointing towards him makes followers buddy up, the flag makes them settle and the ankh makes them go to your leader and makes your leader go to the Papal Magnet. You can thus use the Papal Magnet to move your guys around. Most of the time you want your followers in Settle mode.

You can move the Papal Magnet around by clicking the ankh to the lower right of the arrows, the one that doesn't have <chevrons> around them. Then click on the world to place it. You can only move your Papal Magnet if you have a leader. If your leader dies, the Papal Magnet will mark where he died and putting your followers in Papal Magnet mode will make them go to the ankh until one of them gets there and becomes leader. If the AI leader gets killed with a swamp, it won't be smart enough to remove the swamp and will often lets hordes of followers march to their death.

Next to that is the "up arrow, down arrow" icon. This is usually highlighted because it is your default spell. Left clicking raises land. Right clicking lowers it. This is the most basic ability, and also the one that success depends on. Your followers will build settlements and breed in them, but you must supply them flat land to build on.

Next to that is the question mark icon. This turns your icon into a shield and you can use this to tag a follower or settlement, not necessarily one of your own. This gives you information about that settlement or follower on the shield in the top right corner of the screen, and allows you to zoom to it by clicking the " go to shield" icon in the middle of the arrow icons.

To the upper left of the arrows are the spells. The icons also appear on the brown mana bar, so I'll list them in mana bar order:
-Raise/lower land - we've covered this
-Move Papal Magnet - we've also covered this
-Earthquake - shakes the screen and scrambles the terrain. It generally bring terrain down to sea level. Not actually a good idea, because a few castle dwellers will become a dozen or so tents, and when the cpu cleans it up there will be a dozen castles somewhere.
-Swamp - Places swamps on the map. These swallow up any follower foolish enough to walk over them. A great way to kill an enemy leader or knight.
-Knight - turns the leader into a knight, who then independently roams around killing enemies.
-Volcano - Creates a mountain on the map and lots of rocks.
-Flood - Lowers all the terrain by one level. If you have lots of flat land just above sea level, it will all be submerged. A very powerful effect, although one you'll need to prepare for by raising all your land.
-Armageddon - Everyone heads towards the middle and fights to the death.
Thanks, just replayed and I kinda have some questions.

- Why does sometimes, raise/lower land suddenly stop working, even when my mana bar is half-way full? Is there some sort of limitation?
- I'm not exactly sure how to activate the spells. The buttons didn't seem to do anything (unless I missed the effect). From your message, it seems like the buttons under the mana bar are those that activate the spells.
- I just played the map I was stuck in, and I think I may have activated Flood by accident, killing almost all my followers. Can the CPU use spells? Or was it me who accidentally sabotaged my game?

Thanks in advance.
Posted March 08, 2016
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POLE7645: - Why does sometimes, raise/lower land suddenly stop working, even when my mana bar is half-way full? Is there some sort of limitation?
Depending on the map settings, you might only be able to raise/lower land when a settlement is on the screen or you might also be able to do it when one of your followers is visible. This is to prevent players simply lowering their opponents houses into the sea as soon as the game starts.
avatar
POLE7645: - I'm not exactly sure how to activate the spells. The buttons didn't seem to do anything (unless I missed the effect). From your message, it seems like the buttons under the mana bar are those that activate the spells.
Click the grey buttons in the lower left corner, just above and to the left of the arrow buttons. The mana bar only shows what you can afford.
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POLE7645: - I just played the map I was stuck in, and I think I may have activated Flood by accident, killing almost all my followers. Can the CPU use spells? Or was it me who accidentally sabotaged my game?
The CPU can use spells, though I don't think they can cast Armageddon. It depends on the map settings. On the first map, Genesis, you can use all spells and the CPU cannot use any spells. On other maps, you may be unable to cast some spells while the CPU will be able to use them.
Post edited March 09, 2016 by badjim
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This is my favourite topic
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Populous seriesTrying to understand this game (Populous 1)(4 posts)(4 posts)
(4 posts)