How About a Manual?

[Gibsie]

I recently purcahsed this game from HMV for £2, which meant that it didn't come with a manual. At all, not even on the CD (although I might have missed it, given how many files are produced).

So I've been lumbering through the game on the pretty basic tutorial mode so far... I finished my first game without ever doing social engineering or changing the energy allocation, and certainly no advanced terraforming techniques.

Is there any way for me to understand and learn how to play this game fully, without trial and error?

[Method]

F1, the datalinks, is a great tool. i only have the SMAX manual, so i don't know what's in the original one.

[Alex]

Check out the datalinks, as TKG said.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Datalinks provide most of the info in the manual, in an abreviated form, without the errors that were printed in the manual and never correct. The datalinks are inferior for understanding the game from scratch, compared to the manual.

[Sarxis]

Plus the manual has all the very interesting and rich blurbs for the factions and their leaders, along with the story intro.

Plus the blurb at the end by Brian Reynolds- the REAL creator of the game.

[Kirov]

I think that datalinks are much more important than manual. The latter has indeed great blurbs section, but a) is full of errors b) states only some basic rules along with randomly chosen informations. Datalinks give _almost_ full description of the game (not every aspect is fully covered), and IIRC (it was long time ago...) tutorial is also OK.

[Alex]

Yes, the tutorial is fine. And there are a couple tutorial scenarios for solo play that are somewhat useful for those who are playing the game for the very first time. It took me some months to find them...

[gwillybj]

Re: How About a Manual?

by Gibsie:
I recently purcahsed this game from HMV for £2, which meant that it didn't come with a manual. At all, not even on the CD (although I might have missed it, given how many files are produced).

If it's on there you'll see a "Manual" option on the autorun screen when you insert the CD.
You can browse the CD in Windows Explorer or use Find. If the manual is on there you will see "Smac.pdf" in the "\eDocs" directory.
I compared the pdf manual on my second SMAC CD with the printed manual I got with my first CD and it is identical. It even includes the front cover art.
The file isn't copied to your HD during install, but I don't think there's any reason you couldn't do that manually

[Gibsie]

Ack, genius! It was there (although it's a pain to read in Adobe) all along

Hmm, now, I wonder if it'll tell me if there's a way to view the hall of fame...

[Method]

either F10, or F11...posssibly F9

[Gibsie]

Aww, you mean I have to load up a game first? That's just not good enough Firaxis! :P

[Frankychan]

Your not missing that much from the manual. I usually use it for bathroom reading and going over the SP's and what they do....i tend to forget what SP does what.

[Main_Brain]

hey me too I always tend to mumble 'hey! how nice' but as Domai grabs almost all SPs ;=)

[Sarxis]

Seriously? There's a manual on the CD??

Hmm, I could use a copy of that pdf for my laptop when I travel and play.

[JimmyAAA]

SMAX Manual

Is there any chance someone could post the manual or email it to me. I bought the disk used and it seems it was one where the manual was in the box and not on the disk. I like to have for reading on the train or the pot.

JimmyAAA