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Naval Transport
Units may be transported over ocean squares by any ship that has enough empty holds. A ship needs one empty hold to carry a colonist (and any guns, tools, or horses he has with him, if he's a soldier, etc.) or artillery. It needs six holds to carry a treasure train. Embarking: A unit may board a ship by moving onto it from an adjacent land square. Also, if on sentry duty (see Sentry, below) inside a settlement, a unit boards a ship automatically when the ship leaves the harbor. While aboard ship, all units are on sentry duty. Disembarking: Units disembark automatically when their ship enters a coastal settlement. If you attempt to move a loaded ship onto land, a menu appears, asking whether to make landfall or not. If you choose to make landfall, all embarked units are automatically activated one at a time, allowing you to move them ashore. In addition, you can move some but not all units from a ship to any adjacent land by clicking the ship, then selecting the units you want to activate from the menu that appears.

OTHER ORDERS

Orders Box: When not at work in a colony, every unit has an orders box attached to it. The orders box is a small square containing a color representing the nationality of the unit. Inside the box, a letter (or dash) also appears, indicating the units current orders. Fortify: Units may be ordered to fortify themselves by pressing the fortify key (F). A fortified unit receives a 50% defense bonus if attacked. Fortifying a unit stops automatic activation of that unit each turn. A fortified unit has an F in its orders box, and you must activate it to give it new orders (see below). Note that the unit will not gain the effects of fortifying its position until the following turn. Sentry: Units can be put on sentry duty by pressing the sentry key (S). Units on sentry duty in a colony automatically board outgoing ships. Putting a unit on sentry stops automatic activation of the unit each turn, unless a foreign unit moves adjacent to it. A unit on sentry duty has an S in its orders box, and you must activate it to give it new orders (see below). Clear Land, Plow Fields: If the active unit is a pioneer (a colonist carrying tools), and its currently in a forested square, it may be ordered to clear the land. If the active unit is a pioneer and currently in a non-forested square, it may be ordered to plow the fields. Press the plow key (P) to clear or plow the land. Performing either action expends 20 of the tools the pioneer is carrying. A pioneer that is clearing or plowing the land has a P in its orders box, and must be activated to give it different orders (see below). Clearing the land increases the potential crop production of a square, but eliminates the potential for timber and fur production. While you do get some lumber from the action, once cleared, land may never be re-forested.

POPULATION GROWTH

Each colonist working in a settlement eats two food per turn. If the settlement is producing more food than is needed to feed the population, the excess is accumulated in the settlements warehouses. When there is 200 extra food, a free colonist is produced and added to the population; the 200 food is removed from the warehouse.

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THE COLONIES

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Settlements are the centers of commerce and government for your colonial empire. They are areas where several families build dwellings and shops in an attempt to establish a self-sustaining community. A colony must produce enough food to feed its inhabitants and, to grow, must have a reliable source of lumber out of which to fashion buildings and improvements. As a settlement grows it can become a manufacturing or a shipping center for trade with the old world. It can become a center for agricultural productivity and population growth or a link in a chain of commerce. It can become a flash point in the struggle for independence from the Crown. You decide what shape your empire will take, and what goals it will pursue. But whatever you decide, your settlements are the pistons that drive the colonial engine. Be careful when choosing settlement sites because the surrounding terrain will, to a large extent, determine the character of the new colony. Very soon after establishing a settlement, youll probably want to produce some cash crops or resources. Make sure your colony is adjacent to proper terrain for these purposes. There are two ways to acquire new settlements. The most common way is to build them (B key) but you can also capture them intact from another European power.

BUILDING

NEW SETTLEMENT
Any colonist (except Indian converts) may build a settlement in any land square on the map (except mountains). Simply press the build key (B) when a colonist is blinking in a square upon which you wish to build. Your advisors suggest a name for the new settlement, which you can accept or change at your whim. When you are satisfied with the name, enter it (Enter key). When a settlement is named, the Colony Display appears, showing the settlement and important information about it (see The Colony Display, below). When you close this display, your new settlement is on the map. The unit that built it is now working inside the settlement.

TRANSPORT VIEW

This view shows any and all wagons or ships currently at the Selected settlement. Beneath the Ship wharves is a row of boxes representing the Ship cargo holds of the currently-selected ship or Cargo wagon. Note that different Holds ships and wagons have a different number of holds available. In this view, you can transfer cargo from your warehouses to your ships and wagons, or vice versa. You can also transfer cargoes between ships and wagons. Selecting Units: In the transport view you select a particular unit by clicking on it. The currently selected unit has a box around it, and the holds beneath the wharf belong to it. Moving Cargoes: Each hold of a ship or wagon train stows up to 100 units (a full cargo load) of goods or commodities. Whenever you transfer cargo from ship to warehouse (or vice versa) you move as much as is available in the hold or warehouse, up to a full load. A full load in a cargo hold appears as a color icon. A partial cargo appears as a black-and-white icon. Instead of cargo, each hold of a ship may carry one colonist or artillery unit. (Scouts and dragoons units, which are actually men and horses, are still considered one unit.) Wagons may never carry colonists or artillery, only cargo.

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Loading Cargo
Loading Cargo Holds: Regardless of the type of unit containing the cargo holdwhether ship or wagonthe procedure for loading and unloading is the same. With the mouse, drag the cargo you want to load from the warehouse onto the vessel. You have now transferred all the cargo of that type (up to 100 items) from the warehouse to a hold. Load the most Valuable Cargo: If you want to pick up the most valuable cargo in the settlements warehouse, theres a shortcut: simply press the load key (L). This loads the most valuable cargo currently in the settlement into an empty hold of the selected ship or wagon. However, horses, tools, and guns are not considered cargoes for this purpose (since you seldom think of them as commodities to be sold). Note that the load key (L) works from the map display as well. When a wagon or ship with an empty hold is awaiting orders in a settlement, pressing the load key (L) functions as described above. Unloading Cargo: Unloading cargo is the reverse of loading. Using the mouse, drag the cargo from the hold to the warehouse area of the Colony Display (you dont have to drag it to its corresponding slot, just to the area). The cargo is automatically stowed in its proper place. If theres not enough room in your warehouse to stow what you are unloading, your advisors point this out and ask for further instructions. Unloading Shortcut: Alternatively, you can press the unload key (U) and empty the cargo from your first hold into the warehouse. Repeatedly pressing the unload key (U) eventually unloads an entire ship. Moving Partial Cargoes: You may want to load or unload somebut not allof the cargo in a hold or warehouse. To do so, shift-drag the cargo. A dialog box appears, into which you can type the exact number of items you want transferred. Transferring Cargoes Between Units: To move a cargo from one unit to another, drag the cargo from one unit to the other in the transport view.

Loading Units

Units are not loaded in the same way as cargo. Instead, any unit (except other ships or wagons) that is on sentry duty (S key), automatically boards a ship with an available hold when it leaves the colony. However, units may never be transported by wagons.

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AREA VIEW
This view (upper right) is a top-down view of the area surrounding the settlement and shows how it is being used. The area view is where colonists do outside jobs like farming, mining, trapping, woodcutting, and so on. Colonists working in the settlement can be put to work in the area In use by view by placing them in another map squares on the Colony area view and choosing a job from the Fur Trapper jobs menu (see Putting Colonists to Work, Settlement below). Each square can Fisherman produce one commodity at a time. The number it can produce per turn varies according to the type of terrain, its level of forestation, and the expertise of the colonist working there. Only one person at a time can work a square in the area view. See the Terrain Chart for details.

SETTLEMENT VIEW

This view (upper left) shows the important buildings existing in the settlement. Colonists may be placed in the buildings to transform any commodities on hand into processed goods. The number of goods produced each turn varies according to the skills of the people working in the building. Up to three colonists can work in a building at once.
Statesman Blacksmith Carpenter Tobacconist
Cathedral producing Crosses Dragoon

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WORKING THE COLONY
In order to make a colony productive and profitable, you must put people to work there. The more people you bring to a colony, the more productive it is likely to be. But, the larger the settlement, the more annoying it is to the native population. You must balance the need for productivity and profit with the need for pacification of the natives. Colonists can either work the fields and woods around the colony or work in the buildings of the town commons.

PUTTING COLONISTS

To put a colonist to work, you must first decide if he should work the fields and woods around the settlement on the area view, or whether he should work inside the colony in one of the buildings of the settlement view. A third possibility exists: a colonist can be in the same square as the settlement, but not working there at all (see Defending a Colony). Jobs in the Area View: Your first concern is to harvest enough food to feed the population. If you have enough food then you probably want to grow cash crops like sugar, tobacco, or cotton, or mine for ore or silver; you may also want to trap beaver, otter, or other fur-bearing creatures or chop lumber for building inside the settlement. All these jobs must be performed in the woods and fields surrounding the settlement on the area view. Jobs in the Settlement View: Most jobs performed inside the settlement (in the settlement view) convert resources gathered from outside the colony, or those currently stored in the warehouse, into goods such as coats, tools, cloth, rum, or cigars. Therefore, it makes sense to work inside the settlement only if you have convertible resources or commodities on hand in the warehouse, or people working outside that are producing such commodities or resources. Some jobs inside the settlement do not require other resources. Teaching requires only some type of school building and a skilled colonist to act as teacher. Preaching requires only a church or cathedral and a colonist to produce crosses. Statesmen require only a Town Hall and a colonist to produce liberty bells. To Put a Colonist to Work: Drag him onto a terrain square in the area view or building in the settlement view. An icon (or icons) immediately appears next to the colonist indicating what he is producing in that location. If you want to change his job, click on the colonist to bring up the jobs menu and select the new job he is to perform in that location. While the colonist is selected (a box is around him), you can move him to a new location on the area or settlement views simply by clicking the location to which you want him to move. He moves there automatically and the production icons change accordingly.

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THE EUROPE DISPLAY
Transaction Monitor Transit Boxes En route to New World Harbor View Docks

Warehouses Exit Button

You conduct all trade transactions with your mother country on the Europe display. On this display, you can examine the current prices of all goods and commodities in your home countrys market, check out all the ships currently in your home country's harbor, or en route to or from the harbor, pick up immigrants that are ready or willing to go to the New World, purchase ships or artillery units, or hire professionals to come to America to aid in your cause. As you establish yourself in the New World and begin trading with Europe, your ships will probably be making the journey from New World to Old almost continually. To open the Europe display, press the Europe Status key (E). The display automatically opens when one of your ships docks at the harbor in your European home country. The display contains several different views: the transit views, the harbor view, the warehouses, and the docks.

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HARBOR AND WAREHOUSE VIEWS
The harbor view and warehouses of the Europe display function identically to their counterparts on the colony display. The only difference is that loading and unloading cargo on the Europe display is an economic transaction, causing the value of your treasury to be adjusted according to the prices displayed in the warehouses. The warehouses (horizontal strip along the bottom of the screen) show all the goods and commodities that can be sold or purchased in your home country port. There is an infinite supply of all these goods and commodities, and the port buys as much of each as you can bring to market. Both ask and bid prices are listed for each item. The number to the left of the slash is the amount of gold you are paid per unit of cargo you sell (bid); the number to the right is the amount of gold you must pay to buy the cargo (ask). The harbor view shows all ships currently docked in the harbor. Beneath the wharves runs a row of boxes representing the cargo holds of the currently-selected ship. In this view, you can transfer cargoes from warehouses to your ships, or vice versa. You can also transfer cargoes from ship to ship.

BUYING

SELLING CARGO
The procedure for buying and selling cargo in Europe is nearly identical to that for loading and unloading cargo in one of your colonies. The only difference is that here your treasury is adjusted. Buying Cargo: With the mouse, drag the cargo you want to buy from the warehouse onto the ship. You can purchase up to 100 items of that cargo, and your treasury decreases accordingly. Selling Cargo: Selling cargo works the opposite way. Using the mouse, drag cargo from your ships hold to the warehouse area of the display. The cargo is automatically stowed in its proper place, and your treasury increases accordingly. Alternatively, you can press the Unload key (U) and empty the cargo in your first hold into the warehouse. Repeated use of the Unload key (U) eventually unloads an entire ship, updating your treasury hold by hold. Buying and Selling Partial Cargoes: You may want to buy or sell somebut not allof the cargo in a hold or warehouse. To do so, shift-drag the cargo. A dialog box appears into which you can type the exact number of the cargo you want transferred.

HIRING

You can recruit new colonists in Europe either for free, by picking up immigrants on the docks (see Immigration and Population Growth), or for money, by paying the passage costs of immigrants in the recruitment pool. In addition to recruiting those Europeans who are looking to go to the New World, you can also use money to persuade specific experts from the Royal University to make the crossing.
How Immigrants Get to the Docks
As discussed in the section Immigration and Population Growth, potential immigrants begin in the recruitment pool and are driven to the docks by religious unrest. Religious unrest in the Old World is sparked by religious freedom in the New World (represented by crosses produced in the colonies). When a new immigrant arrives on the docks, one of your trusted advisors informs you of the fact, and another immigrant joins the recruitment pool. Thereafter, the immigrants on the docks may be picked up by a ship that docks in Europe.
Giving Orders to Immigrants
All immigrants that appear on the docks start on sentry duty, meaning they will board the first available ship that leaves harbor. If you want to change the orders of an immigrant on the docks, click the one you want and choose a new order from the menu. Dont Get on Next Ship: This option removes the selected immigrant from sentry duty and makes him watch all ships leave the harbor without boarding. Such an immigrant will never board ship unless he is placed back on sentry duty. Get on Next Ship: This option appears if the selected immigrant is not currently on sentry duty. It puts the immigrant back on sentry duty and makes him board the next available ship for the New World. Move to Front of Docks: This option moves the selected immigrant to the business end of the docks, so that he will be the first one to board when a ship is available. This option appears only if there is more than one immigrant on the docks.

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Equip with Muskets: This option buys 50 muskets from the warehouse (for the listed price) and gives them to the selected immigrant, creating a soldier unit. This is exactly like choosing soldier from the jobs menu of the colony display. Note that if the selected immigrant already has horses, giving him muskets creates a dragoon unit. Sell Muskets: If the selected immigrant already has muskets, this option appears. The muskets are sold for the current market price, and the immigrant resumes his previous identity. Equip with Horses: This option buys 50 horses from the warehouse (for the listed price) and gives them to the selected immigrant, creating a scout unit. This is exactly like choosing scout from the jobs menu of the colony display. Note that if the selected immigrant already has muskets, giving him horses creates a dragoon unit. Sell Horses: If the selected immigrant already has horses, this option appears. The horses are sold for the current market price, and the immigrant resumes his previous identity. Equip with Tools: This option buys 100 tools from the warehouse (for the listed price) and gives them to the selected immigrant, creating a pioneer unit. This is exactly like choosing pioneer from the jobs menu of the colony display. Sell Tools: If the selected immigrant already has tools, this option appears. The tools are sold for the current market price, and the immigrant resumes his previous identity. Bless as Missionary: If you want the selected immigrant to act as a missionary in the New World, this option ordains him. This is equivalent to ordaining a colonist in your settlement's church or cathedral. No Changes: This option removes the menu, causing no changes to the selected unit.

Executing the Trade

Initiating the Trade: To trade with an Indian village, city, or camp, you must bring cargo to the settlement. You may bring cargo by ship to a coastal settlement, or by wagon train to any settlement (simply move the ship or wagon into the square). Striking a Deal: If the Indians are in a trading mood, theyll examine the cargo and offer you gold if they want it. You have the opportunity to haggle with them if you think their offer is low, or you may accept the offer. Once you accept the offer, the cargo is removed and your treasury is adjusted. Make it a Gift: You may, however, choose to accept no payment for your cargo, and make it a gift to the Indians instead. This strategy is useful if your trade is designed to assuage Indian ire. By giving them gifts, you reduce their anger more quickly. Buying from the Indians: Whether you give them a gift, or sell them your cargo, the Indians now offer to sell you some of their goods; they offer three goods or commodities, and after you choose the one you want, you can haggle over the price or reject the whole deal. If you make a trade, your holds are filled with the appropriate cargo and your treasury reduced according to the terms of the trade.

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Restrictions
Angry Natives: If you bring stuff the settlement doesnt need, the Indians wont trade. Also, if the tribe is angry because of your actions, or if that village is highly alarmed (red exclams) they will not trade with you. Restless Natives: If the tribe is restless (yellow exclams) at the moment, a village will not trade with your ships. Consecutive Trade: If willing to trade, the Indians always take one of at least three different goods or commodities, but never the same one twice in a row. If you try to bring the same village the same cargo in consecutive trading expeditions, the villagers refuse the subsequent trades. The single exception to this is muskets. The natives almost always trade for muskets. Trade from Ships: Indians will not trade with a ship unless the tribe already knows your people. The introduction must occur between land units. In addition, the uneasiness of natives towards ships in general prevents ship-borne trading from being as profitable as overland commerce. The natives much prefer trading with wagons that come from known colonies.

OTHER INTERACTIONS

Living Among the Natives: Whenever a colonist or pioneer unit enters a friendly Indian settlement, he has the opportunity to live among the natives (to become what the French called a coureur de bois). If you choose this option, the Indians may teach the colonist a skill. A colonist that is already skilled cannot be taught anything further, but the Indians are honored to have him living among them. The Indians do not allow petty criminals to live among them. Demanding Tribute: Soldiers, dragoons, and scouts may demand tribute from a settlement, hoping to gain gold from the natives. Attacking a Village: Soldiers, dragoons, scouts, and artillery may attack villages. Simply choose this option from the menu. Meeting With the Chief: Scouts may ask to speak to the settlement Chief. The scout can learn all the goods and commodities the natives would like to buy from your colonists and what skills the Indians of this settlement have to teach young Europeans. In addition, the chief may tell tales of nearby lands, which reveal vast areas of unexplored territory; or he may offer a peace gift of gold or beads to the scout. Treasure Trains: If you capture an Indian settlement, you may find treasure. To carry these valuables, you get a special unit: a treasure train. Treasure trains fill six holds of a ship (it takes a galleon to transport your prize to Europe). If you park the treasure train in a coastal colony, your King will send one of his galleons to transport it for youfor a price.

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MISSIONARIES
Missionaries are very useful emissaries of your colonies. They can influence the mood of the native population with regard to your colonies and the colonies of your European adversaries. They can even incite the Indians to attack other European colonies and peoples. Any colonist can be ordained as a missionary, but expert missionaries perform all missionary powers better than non-experts.

Obtaining Missionaries

There are several methods for obtaining missionaries. Expert Missionaries: Expert missionaries can be purchased from the Royal University, or they may appear as normal immigrants on the docks in Europe (see The Europe Display). Ordaining Missionaries: Any colonist, even skilled immigrants on the docks of Europe, may be Blessed as Missionaries before they board ship to come to the New World. In addition, any colonist in a colony that has a church or cathedral may be ordained and made a missionary.

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The colony at Quebec stagnated because few Frenchmen wished toor couldgo there. France was primarily a feudal country of rich aristocrats and peasants, lacking an aggressive middle class. The middle classes of Spain and Portugal led the drive for Empire while the middle classes of England and the Netherlands fostered their mercantile traditions. French culture was more conservative and the people generally lacked the ambition or means for colonial expansion. While the English used their colonies as outlets for religious dissenters and other outcasts, the French refused to allow their dissatisfied to go. For years, the few emigrants to New France were hired men and criminals, not families. New France had a harsh climate that also kept settlers away. The government had few resources to apply to the empire because of nearly constant warfare with her European neighbors. French missionaries were the exception to the lack of interest by their countrymen. Monks went to live among the natives and led the French policy of accommodating the natives, who greatly outnumbered the European traders. The missionaries disrupted Indian culture, however, by preaching that native religion was wrong. When Indians began to die of new bouts of diseases spread by the Europeans, the missionaries were blamed, and often paid with their lives. The beaver trade also brought disruption to Indian culture. Before the arrival of Europeans, the natives killed only what they needed and lived in relative ecological consonance with the wilderness. Indian culture and beliefs were largely based upon harmony with the natural world. When beaver pelts became the means by which trade goods, guns, and alcohol could be obtained, the natives overhunted the wildlife and partially destroyed that delicate ecological balance. The French had access to the interior of the new continent but not sufficient population to hold it. In 1640 there were three hundred Frenchmen in New France versus thousands of English colonists in Virginia, Maryland, and New England. Therefore, New France consisted mainly of scattered small fortified outposts, built in strategic sites along rivers. French colonial policy changed in 1663 when New France was taken over by Jean-Baptiste Colbert. A new governor, he downgraded the importance of the beaver trade, which was thinning anyway. New lands were cleared for farming and pasture. French troops discouraged Indian attacks. Women from French orphanages were brought over and married to settlers. By 1666 the population of New France was over three thousand (but still only a tenth of New England's size).

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CHEROKEE
The Cherokee Nation was first encountered by Europeans in the sixteenth century, when Hernando de Soto led a large expedition of Spanish soldiers on a wandering overland march from the Florida Gulf coast to the Mississippi River, searching for another Aztec or Inca Empire to be conquered. Although much of de Soto's route is still debated, it is believed that he visited several Cherokee towns in what are now Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. At the time of de Soto's march, the Cherokee controlled much of south central North America. They lived in towns of wooden buildings surrounded by thick wooden palisades for defense. There was always the risk of Creek raids from the south or Mohawk raids from the north to be guarded against. The Cherokee were predominantly farmers. Approaching a typical town of the period, you passed corn fields and other crops for miles. Their diet was supplemented with deer and buffalo hunted in the hills that surrounded the valleys where their farms were located. They managed the surrounding forests by periodically burning off the undergrowth to stimulate young plants that attracted wildlife; they have been called the tenders of the forests. Following in the wake of de Soto and other European visitors along the coasts came the plagues for which the natives had no defense. By the time later Europeans began to settle along the Carolina coast, the Cherokee population had been reduced by as much as two-thirds and many of their towns were left vacant. The Cherokee maintained generally peaceful relations with the encroaching English settlers and traded deer skins for iron tools, guns, and other manufactured goods. Successive treaties were made establishing boundaries between the Cherokee and the expanding coastal settlements, but the demand for more land for settlers was unceasing and seemingly insatiable. The Cherokee Nation continued to shrink. Treaty after treaty was broken. White settlers invaded Indian territory and then demanded protection when the Indians threw them out or killed them.

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The Cherokee attempted to adapt to the white man's ways and were so successful that they were called one of the five civilized tribes of the southeast. They established their own representative government, built schools, developed an alphabet and written language, and published their own newspapers. When President Andrew Jackson attempted to force them off their remaining lands and relocate them across the Mississippi, they argued before the Supreme Court and won. They believed they were a sovereign nation and that the United States had no right to appropriate their lands. Their victory was temporary, however, because Jackson, an avowed Indian hater, forced a fraudulent treaty through Congress whereby the Cherokees gave up the remaining 20,000 square miles of their nation in return for $5 million and the promise of land in the West. In 1838, the US army rounded up the remnants of the Cherokee Nation. The people were kept in squalid camps until the march west could begin. Throughout the following winter they were marched at bayonet point across the South and placed in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The march west is known as the Trail of Tears because one quarter of the sixteen thousand dispossessed people died making the journey. For nearly three decades, the Cherokee were successful in the West, building new farms, schools, and towns. When the American Civil War broke out, most believed their interests lay with the Southern Confederacy. After the war, the consequence of that decision was the forfeiture of their farms and towns to whites once more, in exchange for poorer lands farther west. The Cherokee survive today mainly on a small reservation in Oklahoma, a shadow of their former size and greatness. In the mountain valleys of the lower Appalachian Mountains, a small enclave of Cherokees also survive. They avoided being forced to take the Trail of Tears and still occupy a tiny fraction of the lands their ancestors held before the arrival of the Europeans.

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APACHE
The Apaches were renowned for their skill as raiders and warriors, to the extent that their name is synonymous with fierce warrior, even though their population was always quite small. For many years they were the scourge of the North American southwest, terrorizing Spanish, Mexican, and European settlers alike. Recognized by their long hair, head bands, and sashes, they were considered the fiercest of the natives in the area. Ably led by famous chiefs such as Cochise and Geronimo, some of the Apache bands were among the last Indians subdued by the United States and forced onto reservations. When the Spanish entered New Mexico in 1540, the land north of the town-dwelling Pueblos was occupied by small bands of Apaches. The Apaches raised some maize, beans, and squash, but relied to a greater extent on hunting and wild-food gathering. They were organized into small groups of a few families because they lived in relatively barren lands that more agricultural tribes avoided. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the Apache traded with the Pueblos and coexisted in relative peace. The Spanish conquest of the area and the Pueblo revolt of 1680 forced the Apaches to adopt new ways. The Pueblos no longer produced surplus crops for which the Apache could trade. The Spanish brought in new types of livestock that were attractive alternatives to hunting wild game. The Apaches at first supplemented their food gathering and limited agriculture by raiding the town dwellers and Spanish farms that occupied the better lands. By the 19th century, the Mescalero and Chiricahua bands gave up farming and subsisted almost completely on predation and food-gathering. The availability of the horse gave the Apaches new mobility. They adopted the technology of guns to their use. They became experts at guerrilla warfare, hitting and running too fast for the authorities to respond.

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The goal of the United States after the American Civil War was to control all Indians within its borders, but the Apache proved especially elusive. Because they avoided agriculture, the standard policy of destroying their crops would not work. The small bands disappeared into the endless canyons of the desert after each raid, showing up far away to raid again. The terrain they occupied was some of the most difficult on the continent and perfect for their purposes. In the late 19th century, reservations were set aside for them. The army made life difficult, gradually inducing individual bands to give up and accept reservation life. Using other Apaches as scouts, the army forced the last of the warring bands to surrender. Some were held prisoner in Florida for many years before being allowed back to the desert reservations where their descendants live today.

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SUGGESTED READING
Axtell, James. The European and the Indian: Essays in Ethnohistory of Colonial North America. Oxford University Press, New York: 1981 Bailyn, Bernard. Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence. Vintage Books, New York (a Division of Random House): 1992 Bailyn, Bernard. The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century. Harvard University Press: 1955 Bailyn, Bernard. The Origins of American Politics. Vintage Books, Random House, New York: 1970 Boxer, C. R. The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600-1800. Penguin Books, New York: 1990 Craven, Wesley Frank. The Southern Colonies in the Seventeenth Century 1607-1689. LSU Press: 1970 De Vries, Jan. The Economy of Europe in the Age of Crisis, 1600-1750. Cambridge University Press: 1976 Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. Editor. The Times Atlas of World Exploration. HarperCollins Publisher: 1991 Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of American History: Simon and Shuster, New York: 1963 Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events. Simon and Shuster, New York: 1993 Jensen, De Lamar. Reformation Europe, Age of Reform and Revolution. DC Heathe and Company, Lexington Mass, Toronto: 1981 Jensen, De Lamar. Renaissance Europe, Age of Recovery and Reconciliation. DC Heathe and Company, Lexington Mass, Toronto: 1981 Lewis, W. H. The Splendid Century: Life in France of Louis XIV. Morrow Quill Paperbacks: 1978 Morgan, Ted. Wilderness at Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent. Simon & Shuster, New York: 1993 Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Great Explorers: The European Discovery of America. Oxford University Press: 1978 Parry, J. H. and Phillip Sherlock. A Short History of the West Indies. St. Martins Press, New York: 1982 Parry, J. H. The Establishment of the European Hegemony 1415-1715: Trade and Exploration in the Age of the Renaissance. Harper Torchbooks, Harper & Row, New York: 1966 Pennington, D. H. Seventeenth Century Europe: A General History. Longman Group Limited: 1970 Rink, Oliver A. Holland on the Hudson: An Economic and Social History of Dutch New York. Cornell University Press, Ithaca: 1989 Shenkman, Richard. Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History. HarperPerrenial (a Division of HarperCollins Publisher): 1989 Time Books. The Times Atlas of the World. Time Books: 1983 Trevor-Roper, Hugh. Editor. The Age of Expansion: Europe and the World 1559-1660. Mcgraw-Hill Book Company: 1968 Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. Facts on File, New York, Oxford: 1985

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CREDITS

Design

Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, Jeff Briggs, Douglas Caspian-Kaufman

Programming

Brian Reynolds

Art Direction

Fortified Unit

Stockade

Fortress

FORT TYPE

Fortified Unit Stockade Fort Fortress

DEFENSE BONUS

50% 100% 150% 200%
* These units may not attack.
Copyright 1994 MicroProse
Note that artillery defending in a fortified colony receives a 75% bonus against Indian raids.

SKILLS CHART

Expert Farmer

Expert Fur Trapper

Expert Lumber Jack Expert Ore Miner

Master Sugar Planter

Master Tobacco Planter
Elder Statesman Master Carpenter

Master Distiller

Master Tobacconist Master Weaver
Master Blacksmith Master Gunsmith
Seasoned Scout Hardy Pioneer
Veteran Soldier Jesuit Missionary

Expert Fisherman

Expert Silver Miner

Master Cotton Planter

Firebrand Preacher

Master Fur Trader

OUTDOORSMEN
Expert Farmer Expert Fisherman Expert Fur Trapper Expert Silver Miner Expert Lumber Jack Expert Ore Miner Master Sugar Planter Master Cotton Planter Master Tobacco Planter

PRODUCES

Food Food Furs Silver Lumber Ore Cane Sugar Cotton Tobacco

WHERE 1

SCHOOL 2

S* S* S* S* S S C* C* C*

Plains, Savannah, Prairie, or Grassland Ocean Forested Terrain, except Swamp Mountains Forested Terrain Hills, Mountains, Swamps, Marsh, Tundra Savannah, Marsh, Swamps Plains, Grassland, Prairie, Savannah, Desert Plains, Grassland, Prairie, Savannah, Marsh, Swamp, Desert

SPECIAL

Firebrand Preacher Elder Statesman Crosses Liberty Bells Church/Cathedral Town Hall U U

CRAFTSMEN

Master Master Master Master Master Master Master Carpenter Distiller Weaver Tobacconist Fur Trader Blacksmith Gunsmith

CONVERTS

Lumber to Hammers Sugar to Rum Cotton to Cloth Tobacco to Cigars Furs to Coats Ore to Tools Tools to Muskets
Carpenters house/Lumber mill Distillers house/Distillery/Rum factory Weavers house/shop/Textile mill Tobacconists house/shop/Cigar factory Fur trading post/factory/Fur factory Blacksmiths house/shop/Ironworks Armory/Magazine/Arsenal S C C C C C C
Seasoned Scout Hardy Pioneer Veteran Soldier Jesuit Missionary Better at exploring rumors, negotiating, meeting Chiefs, infiltrating Clears forest, plows fields, and builds roads faster Increased attack and defense strengths More effective missions, denouncements, incitings S* S C U

Letting Go

During the creative process of designing a game, you come up with thousands of great ideas and notso-great ideas. Sometimes you come up with ideas that seem like amazing groundbreaking concepts. Occasionally, these ideas just dont work. Whether for technical reasons, world continuity and design considerations, or simply because theyre just not fun to play, these ideas need to be changedor set

12:31 PM

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aside. Sometimes, this can be a simple matter when you try something out and realize that it isnt fun or simply doesnt look right. Other times, this can be an extremely difcult decision because you can see how it might work and are willing to try and nd ways to keep the idea alive. For example, we had a major shift in the look and the associated design elements of WarCraft III after a year or so of development, when we moved away from the over-the-shoulder angle associated with Hero units. The interesting aspect of this decision was that although it probably caused some concern and confusion to our players, the development team actually found that they could now make the game they envisioned; the rest of our design concepts related to melding role-playing elements into a strategy game were basically unaffected. Dumping an idea that you have conceived, fostered, and perhaps even implemented is a painful but necessary process. Not everything works out as planned, and its difcult to admit when that gameplay mechanic you thought would revolutionize the industry turns out to be an adventure into tedium. When youre faced with the need to pull the plug on something in the gameno matter what the causeyou have to do so as quickly and painlessly as possible. Dont be afraid to scrap ideas because many times youll replace them with something far better or simply nd that [you dont need] anything there at all.
Bill Roper says that WarCraft III is one of our greatest accomplishments to date. We started out hoping to create a tting sequel to WarCraft II, and we ended up crafting a world of epic proportions. WarCraft III offers players an incredibly fun and dynamic experience.

(Used with permission by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.)

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Taking Time for Tools
The design and implementation of the World Editor for WarCraft III was key to the successful realization of the role-playing game aspects found in the single-player campaign. The level designers worked handin-hand with the editor programmer to create a tool that was not only powerful but also easy enough for them to use day in and day out. While its not uncommon to see tools created without much thought given to the end user, the growth of the World Editor was a cooperative venture between the people making it and the people using it. This was essential, not just because we intended to ship it as a part of the game, but also because we knew that we wanted to free up our game programmers as much as possible from having to do special-case programming for the campaign. By putting a heavy focus on designing a robust tool that the level designers could use to modify their work and then immediately review it in the game, we streamlined our development process [and gained] many more chances to iterate on those designs while reducing our required quality assurance testing time [see Chapter 17, Proper Game Testing]. Its said that a craftsman is only as good as his tools, so giving your craftsmen the best possible tools will help them create the best product they can.
Is there anything that Roper wouldve done differently? We should have spent more time in designing the game before we put as many programmers and artists on the project as we did, he admits. Roper explains:
By nature, game design is a very organic and iterative process, but in our excitement to start making the game, we honestly put too many people on the project at too early a stage. Its difcult to gauge the proper numbers to assign to a project in the rst weeks and months, but the biggest lesson we learned was to put as many designers into the mix as possible. Also, keeping multiple high-end designers in addition to the level designers on the project until the end was something we didnt address until later in the development process. Fortunately, we caught this issue before it was critical, but it certainly set back our balance and campaign designs to some extent.
In addition to the Legendary Heroes and the role-playing game avor, what else makes WarCraft III stand out from other real-time strategy games? While there are many elements that go into any successful game, I honestly feel the character and emotional bond gamers get while playing WarCraft III makes it far different from any strategy game we have ever created.

Movies have come a long way in the past 20 to 30 years in terms of what can be technologically created and brought to life onscreen. Games have leaped forward in the past 5 to 10 years in terms of what can be accomplished and represented with much of that same type of technology. Games provide potential immersion mainly because theyre interactive, placing the player in control of the situation something that movies simply cant do. But movies have traditionally provided something that games dontan emotional connection between the entertained and the entertainment. This is an area where we as game developers can grow, and it was a major focus of the unit and level designers as well as the writers, cinematic artists, sound designers, and musicians on WarCraft III. In terms of gameplay, the units in WarCraft III play an even more important and unique role within the composition of an army than in any of our previous games. Even the most basic unit has some special twist that makes him different and a viable choice throughout the course of a game. The top-end units

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the Legendary Heroesare the epic leaders of those armies and can greatly inuence the outcome of any battle in which theyre employed. These special units really show how we used the sensibilities of role-playing games within a real-time strategy game as the units grow in experience, gain levels, and nd and purchase items that they carry in an inventory. They even have their own names, making them a very personal element in the scope of any game. When one of these Heroes dies in battle, a message is sent throughout the game announcing his or her defeat, and the death animation is far more grand and dramatic than those of his less-epic compatriots. Although WarCraft III is rst and foremost a real-time strategy game, these elements provide an interesting and unique gaming experience.
Roper says that in terms of making an emotional connection with the player, they spent a huge amount of time crafting a rich storyline thats expressed through the single-player campaign:
The use of pre-rendered and in-game cinematic sequences, professional voice acting, and missions that are centered around a story (and not the other way around) create a compelling game that involves not only the skills of the players, but also their feelings. As the story unfolds, both the world and the characters within undergo changes. Reaching someone on a deeper level only makes for a more satisfying experience, and this is something that other forms of entertainment do extremely well. With WarCraft III, we wanted to involve the player on many levels while still tapping into the adrenal responses that have served games so well for so many years. If we can succeed in this endeavor, we can reach a wider variety of people than just the traditional core gamer. Anything and everything that touches your life is potential fodder for the creation of a game. Did you ever get stuck on the expressway and wish you could just jump the center divider, blast through oncoming trafc, and cinematically sail into the local 7-Eleven parking lot so you could grab a Slurpee while waiting for trafc to break? Grand Theft Auto 3. Have you ever sat through a long boring dinner, lazily arranging and rearranging the vegetables on your plate into new and interesting patternseating only the ones that line up three-in-a-row? Bejeweled. Have you ever listened to Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner while staring into a clear blue summer sky? The Wyvern Riders in WarCraft III.

Most of Brian Reynolds advice in this book is found in the chapters on programming (see Chapter 11, Programming Theory) and articial intelligence (Chapter 12, Articial Intelligence [AI]), as well as on how best to break into the industry (Chapter 21).
Bruce C. Shelley, Ensemble Studios
Bruce Shelley is a lead game designer and spokesman for Ensemble Studios, the development studio that has created award-winning and critically acclaimed real-time strategy games for Microsoft. In the past, Shelley has worked on computer games such as Civilization (Microprose), Railroad Tycoon (Microprose), and others. His latest project was the million-unitseller, Age of Mythology. Shelley offers some key tips for those starting out in the industry:
Be familiar with lots of games, but especially those most like the game you most want to design. Consider which parts of a game are working and which are not. Providing a player with interesting decisions is the rocket science of game design. If you agree, then consider whether a game youre playing or designing is providing interesting decisions. When you attempt to add a new piece to a game, ask yourself whether it will add interesting decisions for the player to deal with. When considering a new game, look at the competition rst and make lists of features they do well, poorly, or not at all. The features they do well are the minimum requirements for your game. The features they do poorly or not at all are a list of opportunities where you can differentiate your game and offer innovation. Always seek to differentiate and innovatedont clone around.

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On providing direct examples, Shelley says this:
When we set out to make the original Age of Empires (AOE), we made our lists of features that were done well, poorly, or not at all in games like Civilization, WarCraft, and Command & Conquer. From these, we built our list of must-have features for AOE, such as hidden maps, economic buildup phase, empire building, town conquest, great multiplayer, scenario editor, and differentiated civilizations. Then we built the list of features that would differentiate Age of Empires because other games were not doing them well, such as historical theme, random maps, non-cheating AI, levels of difculty, realistic graphics (not cartoonish), and multiple victory conditions. By meeting the competition where they were strong and providing clear differentiation and innovation in AOE, we created a game that was able to be quite successful in a very competitive genre (50+ RTS games in development in 1997). Competing games that fell by the side came up short mainly because they didnt sufciently differentiate and innovate from the best games in the genre already available.

Check out this screen grab from Shelleys latest, Age of Mythology, published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2002. Talk about gorgeous graphics!
(Used with permission by Microsoft Corp. and Ensemble Studios, Inc.)
Shelley says its critical for a game designer to keep these three pointers in mind when starting out:
1. Design for a broad global audience, not a narrowly focused, especially hardcore audience. The majority of game buyers are casual gamers, and too many games are beyond their skill or tastes.

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2. Within a specic genre, make your game different in terms of topic, look, and feel. At the gameplay level, innovate new features and gameplay. Dont imitate successful games only to the point of being at least as good as they are on their strong points. Create a new experience with your game. Nobody buys imitations. 3. After you have a basic design document, prototype the game quickly and thereafter design by playing. Play every day, make adjustments, get opinions, recode for tomorrow, and play again. If you have enough good gamers giving comments and your instincts as a designer are good, youll design a fun game.
Shelley supports this advice in light of his latest project, Age of Mythology:
1. Included within Age of Mythology are multiplayer games, a single-player campaign, random map Solitaire games, and a variety of game types such as death match. We believe that gamers of all skill levels and from all global PC markets will nd a satisfying way to enjoy our game. We think this is reaching out to a broad global market, as all of our past games have done. 2. Adding the mythological elements and moving to 3D technology will make our game different from other RTS games, including the Age of Empires games. At the gameplay level, we think weve innovated with myth creatures, god powers, and more subtle changes. Overall, weve made Age of Mythology both different and innovative to provide a new experience. No one will consider it a clone of something else. 3. Age of Mythology has been playable since early 2001. Since then, we continued to design the game by playing every day, making changes, and recoding through thousands of iterations.
Shelley is also known for this piece of advice: A game has to have a great rst 15 minutes!

The concept of a great rst 15 minutes was Sid Meiers. He mentioned to me that one of the reasons he thought AOE did well was because it had a great rst 15 minutes. The point is that a game has to engage a new player within 15 minutes of that person sitting down to play. If not, the player is likely to give up and never try the game again. So the start of the game has to be engagingget the player absorbed by presenting a lot of interesting decisions that pile on top of one another. Another one of Sids phrases was the inverted pyramid of decision-making. You want the player to deal with only a few decisions at rst, which multiply quickly, fully absorbing the player. Games that do this pull the new player in. In the original AOE game, for example, the map is almost entirely hidden at the start. The new player has a few villagers to put to work and use to explore. Once he or she has built more villagers and begun exploring, there are more decisions to be made: what tasks to assign to newcomers, where to place gathering buildings, which new directions to explore, what strategic choke points to watch, etc.
Its been said that a game designer need not reinvent the wheelthat its perfectly acceptable to improve on an existing formula. Does Shelley agree or disagree?

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The most valuable resource any game designer has is all the games that already exist from which we can get ideas. The risk is that we may do too much copying and not enough creating. Gamers want a new experience. It can be familiar or similar to other games theyve played, but it must also be different and innovative to be successful. Age of Mythology is a big RTS similar to many others, including our own Age of Empires games. Weve played and considered everything in the games that have been published. But weve also tried to create something thats different and innovative.
On creating an innovative yet accessible game, Shelley adds the following:
Basically, cloning a successful game is a recipe for disaster. We believe a new game must be clearly different from existing products or people will ignore it. For the Age of Empires games, the big differentiation was choosing historic themes when the competition was doing mostly sci- and fantasy. As a bonus, it turned out that there was a huge interest in the casual market for a historical RTS, which no one else was trying to ll. Innovation is important also, perhaps mainly with the hardcore gamers. They want a new experience. If a new game doesnt add much thats new and fun, they wont bother to put in the time to learn it. Graphic look and feel can be an important differentiation. Tony Goodman, our CEO and early art director, championed a fairly realistic graphic look and bright colors. The competition at the time was going with a more cartoonish look and often very dark and gloomy colors. We think now that our look was an important differentiator and another important key to attracting casual gamers. We think too many developers largely ignore the casual market, to their loss. Most game sales reside in the casual market, yet developers often try to outdo themselves focusing on what only the hardcores seem to want. Make commercial art, not ne art. When someone says theyre making the game theyve always wanted to make, the question is, how many of them does that person intend to buy? It makes much more business sense to say that youre going to make the game that you think millions of average casual gamers are going to want to own. Thats the kind of thinking that publishers want to hear.

Finally, Shelley was asked to be frank about what its like working with a powerful publisher such as Microsoftsomething many game designers are likely curious about! Shelley says the pros are that big publishers get shelf space; have marketing muscle; have PR departments; and are usually well organized for testing, localization, and manual creation. They do virtually everything better than the alternatives (small publisher, self-publishing). But he discusses some of the cons as well: They usually control the purse strings and can dictate schedule dates and budgets. Your game is just one in their portfolio. They may use it for strategic purposes good for their company, but not necessarily for yours (loss leader, bundling deals). Bruce Shelley offers advice on many other topics in this book, including writing design documents (Chapter 6, Creating Characters, Storyboarding, and Design Documents), coding realistic AI (Chapter 12), creating a good user interface (Chapter 14, The All-Important User Interface [UI] and Game Control), and breaking into the industry (Chapter 21).

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Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios
One of the computer game industrys most revered game designers is Peter Molyneux, the brilliant (and soft-spoken) managing director at Lionhead Studios. And talk about a track record! Molyneux is responsible for some of the most beloved PC games, including Populous, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, and the Black & White series. Molyneux is currently overseeing a number of new projects, including Project Ego, Black & White 2, Black and White: Next Generation, and The Movies. Molyneux shares some advice he wishes he was told before he got involved in this industry:
1. Come up with a concept thats easy to explain in a sentence or so. This was highlighted to me by Bing Gordon at Electronic Arts back in 1993. I was heading up to a meeting to try to sell the concept of Magic Carpet. [As we rode up together in the elevator] I said that I was looking forward to making the presentation, and Bing replied that if I couldnt explain the concept on the way up then it probably wasnt a good concept. We were on the rst oor, and the meeting was on the second oor. Games that are easy to explain and that deal with subjects people can easily understand are always going to be more successful than more abstract ideas. 2. The most brilliant concept is useless unless you can think of the way that people will play the game. In the end, game design comes down to interface designthe key to making games playable is how youll get people to interact with your concept and how simple the interface is. 3. Dont be frightened to be original and innovative. Remember that the greatest game concepts and interfaces are yet to be designed; just because everyone else has done things a certain way previously doesnt necessarily make it the right and only way to do something.
Put to the testto support his advice with real-world examplesMolyneux passes brilliantly:

Asked to comment on the key differences when creating a game for a console versus a PC, Castle has these comments:
The main difference between consoles and a PC is that a console game is one in which youre playing the interface device. You need to treat the controller as the actual game and let the audiovisual systems be subordinate to the device. The console player builds skill in a game through manipulating the interface device. The PC player builds skill from understanding the game and environment. The interface needs to be transparent, and the best PC games dont require skill in manipulating the keyboard and mousebut rather, knowledge of what to do and when. Of course, both of these points are important on both platforms, but the emphasis is different. Console games are about instant satisfaction and longterm skill development. PC games are about quick entertainment and accomplishment followed by indepth understanding and mastery.
How can you acquire a dev kit to work on a console game?
Console development kits are acquired through well-known publishers who support the platform. Developers can get systems directly through the manufacturer, but it usually requires a track record and volume of titles to be of interest. The very early systems typically cost tens of thousands of dollars and are in very limited supply. (Theyre considerably less now, although developers are not allowed to reveal exact prices. Formerly of THQ, Mike Rubinelli talks more in depth about dev kits in Chapter 21.)

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Chapter 21 thoroughly discusses the various ways to break into the industry, but Castle offers some sound advice here:
Take a low-paying job in any discipline you can. This minimizes the exposure for a company and gives you an opportunity to prove yourself. Learn to follow and execute; then worry about leading. Put your ego on hold and let your professionalism win you the creative jobs. Ive always found the best way to get a job is to prove you can do it rst, with the blessing of your boss and peers.

Chris Sawyer, Freelance

Although Chris Sawyer may not be a household name, this game developer, designer, and programmer created some of the most popular computer strategy/simulation games in the industry, including Transport Tycoon, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, and its add-on packs Corkscrew Follies and Loopy Landscapes. Sawyer has also been in charge of many PC conversions of Amiga games, including Frontier Elite 2, Xenomorph, Conqueror, Campaign, Virus, Goal, and Birds of Prey. Sawyers contribution to the sage advice in this chapter:

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Lets not tell them and maybe they wont nd out always backres; its no
different than when you were a kid.
For more information on Empire Earth and the design team at Stainless Steel Studios, visit www.stainlesssteelstudios.com.
Phil Steinmeyer, PopTop Software
For the past few editions of this book, PopTop Softwares president and lead programmer, Phil Steinmeyer, has shared savvy strategy design tips. Steinmeyer has a number of games under his belt, including Railroad Tycoon 2 and the Tropico series. When it comes to general game design, Steinmeyer says to focus on a small niche somewhere within the gaming universe for your rst project:
If you can, create something with a built-in audience that will nd your product with little marketing or distribution clout on your end, and with no big-budget competition. Some excellent niches to start in are war games, detailed 4X space games, games about semi-obscure sports or hobbies, gambling games, and so forth. Too many beginning game developers overshoot on their rst game and never get it done. First, games are rarely brilliantbetter to get something completely done and published and shoot for the moon on your second game.

Where does Tropico t in?

Tropico was my fth major game; I had a much bigger budget and a more experienced team than anybody would typically have starting out. My rst game (released in 1994) was a low-budget war game called Iron Cross. I did all the programming, most of the art and sound, and it was my rst gamea true garage effort. There was a built-in audience (World War II enthusiasts), and little big-budget competition. It didnt sell nearly as many copies as my later games like Railroad Tycoon 2 and Tropico, but it did all right given its budgetI made a decent amount for my time invested, and more important, I got my start in the industry and moved on to bigger and better things.
But is it possible to make a game easy to get into and understand while trying something new at the same time?
Its hard to dene itthis is sort of a gut feeling thing. I think Tropico was pretty good with this. The concept was quite novel (playing a Caribbean dictator, la Fidel Castro). There had been few if any games set in the Caribbean or Latin America before, and our humorous Latin/Caribbean feel was very fresh, I think. At the same time, we grounded our gameplay in previous successful titles, particularly the SimCity series, although that was only a rough gameplay guide. But we thought the millions of buyers of SimCity and RollerCoaster Tycoon would immediately be able to get Tropico just by looking at the screenshots or seeing a little snippet of gameplay.

For more from Steinmeyer, ip to Chapters 6 and 21.

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Ed Del Castillo, Liquid Entertainment
As president and co-founder of Liquid Entertainment, Ed Del Castillo juggles his management responsibilities with active participation in all aspects of product development: especially design and art direction. Liquids rst release was the eagerly anticipated Battle Realms. Before cofounding Liquid, Ed Del Castillo was probably best known as producer in charge of Westwood Studios Command & Conquer franchise, including Red Alert and its expansion packs, various ports to other platforms, and foreign language versions. Del Castillo was asked to provide three pieces of advice to a new strategy game designer looking to be successful in this industry. He responds as follows:
Go to lm school to learn how to tell a story, develop characters, light a scene, set a mood, and evoke an emotion. Never stop reading, watching, and playing everything. Consider another line of work if having a family is one of your goals!
According to Del Castillo, the most challenging obstacle when creating a real-time strategy (RTS) game is getting people to innovate:
The RTS genre has been in stagnation for so long with only micro-improvements that its hard for people to create stuff thats truly better and not just different. Overcoming it is a matter of vision. You have to have a clear picture of what youre trying to achieve.
If Del Castillo could create Command & Conquer (C&C) all over again, would he do anything differently?
Thats tough because C&C taught me so much. I think that I would change two things: A less-limiting universe. C&C is very limited, which is why you see things like Red Alert and Emperor. Theyre both attempts to use the C&C model in other worlds. More controlled presentations prior to ship. A few people, who shall be nameless, went on to great success due to their good memories and timely use of video cameras during our presentations prior to our release. It had its place and time, and Im having a hard time messing with that. The original C&C is my third favorite RTS after [Blizzards] StarCraft and [Bungie Studios] Myth.

Any pet peeves with todays strategy games?
Yes, too much iteration, not enough innovation. We need fewer people just trying to squeeze all they can out of an engine and more people crafting emotional experiences.

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As a programmer, Del Castillo offers these words for others:
Think before you act. The days of the hacker are over. Think modular, exible, expandable, wellorganized, and well-documented code. Truly grasping these tenets will make you incredibly wanted by everyone.
On articial intelligence (AI):
I think the biggest mistake you can make, and not just in AI, is to believe your own marketing. Theres no such thing as a learning AI yet. Everything is still incrementing and decrementing weighting variables on algorithms based on specic and predened data. AI is hard because most games arent in the oven long enough to bake up a proper one. I think the best AIs are written for people who understand how little time they have and work to distill the decision-making tree of a human down to the essentials for that given game. Im afraid that the only tip I have is to study the player. Most of his decisions can be simple to understand and emulate.
Del Castillo gives some examples of his past or present work that reinforce what hes suggesting here on innovation and on adding an emotional layer to a game:
Innovation. When we conceived this game, it came from our ideas. We all came together and designed an RTS with no restrictions, no legacy, no need to be in the same universe as a predecessor. We were unbound by the past, and that allowed us to more fully reach for an ideal. Its the way it should be done. Too many people are held back by what theyve already created and the desire to get more money out of it in the form of an incrementally improved sequel. Battle Realms (BR) endeavored to innovate in two major ways. The rst is combat. First-generation RTSs did a great job of showing the potential of this genre, but inadvertently they were very production-oriented. Building was more important than ghting. In BR, terrain matters. Height makes a difference to combat effectiveness. Real line of sight makes reconnaissance, sneaking, and ambushing a real element in the game. The unit dynamics focus on the combat dynamic and incentivize spending more of your attention commanding the battles rather than landlording the village. The second major thing is to create more of a living world. There are a number of prongs to this, but it basically revolves around distilling more elements of reality and turning them into fun elements for the game. We incorporated a Living Resource System, which allows the player much more freedom. Horses are gathered and harnessed as pack animals or war steeds; water is used to put out res, grow rice, and quench the thirst of peasants. Weve tried to connect everything in some way, like the real world. Inspiration. Its about what I love, not what makes money this week. The inspiration comes from my childhood. Way too much D&D and the like mixed with way too many Kung Fu movies. Ive been a game master for paper RPGs since I was 14, so the world-creation part is denitely something I love.

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Living world and the Living Resource System. This affects things in three ways: It makes things easier to understand. It feels right when the men run at each other, when the re burns down a building or catches another building on re or is put out by your peasants. Players of RTSs have learned a vocabulary of what they can and cant do and what things mean. Were allowing them to do more, and that means changing how things work a bit. It connects everything. Water, as an example, can be used for many thingsput out res, domesticate horses, quench the thirst of peasants toiling to build a building or soldiers training, even make the rice grow faster. Connecting things in this way not only feels more natural or right, but also allows the player to easily shift his strategy and adapt to the enemy. It brings the world to life. We have units with more animations than ever before. Combats look alive as the units do different types of attacks. Birds y from the trees when men move through the forest. Vultures gather on the battleeld. Soldiers juggle or clean their weapons when left alone too long, and it affects their abilities! Removal of articial genre boundaries with the introduction of what other people would call RPG elements, but what I call character-investment elements. Genres are a thing of the past. Bringing in some of the growth and motivations from RPGs is very natural and allows for new cool possibilities in the game, to feel natural, and leave you asking, Why couldnt I do this before? Its all part of bringing the battleeld more to life. Allowing you to customize the characters is the rst step to giving them individual characters and allowing you to fall in love with them. If you fall in love with them, you wont want them to diethus creating the battleeld drama.
Ed Del Castillo offers some helpful advice on breaking into the industry in Chapter 21.