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Downloaded Spartan, Can't Find Manual
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:46 am
by lesslucid
I think the subject line says it all... but, I bought the download version of Spartan last night, had a go at it and was enjoying it, but wanted to work out some more stuff about how diplomacy works and went to look for the manual... and couldn't find it. Does the download version come with a manual? If so, where should I be looking for it? If not, how do I find out more about how diplomacy works?
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:49 am
by IainMcNeil
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 3:23 pm
by lesslucid
Ah, great, thankyou!
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:52 pm
by Redpossum
Let me add a few words here, because I found the manual unclear on one point.
As soon as you have Gold Tech 1, you can build the foreign ministry.
Now, from there, (and this is the part I had to learn for myself), there are two separate and mutually exclusive upgrade paths!
Basically, there is a "nice" upgrade path, and a "nasty" upgrade path.
Embassies, Diplomatic School, and (I'm pretty sure) League HQ all allow you to do progressively higher levels of more-or-less above board diplomatic tasks.
Cryptography Center, Assassins Guild, etc allow you to do progressively higher levels of evil nasty covert ops type diplomatic tasks.
This is a very important point because you cannot do both; you must choose one path or the other, or else just skip diplomatic buildings altogether. And once you have started down a given upgrade path, the only way to go back is to demolish what you have, and start all over with the Foreign Ministry.
The last point I'd mention on this subject is that the more stars a diplomat has, the better his chances of success at a given mission, and the less his chance of getting caught. Diplomats earn more stars faster if they are working, doing missions, than if they are doing nothing.
A good filler mission, to earn them experience is "Seek Asylia for Merchants". It only costs 150 silver, and there is no chance of any unpleasantness if the mission fails.
Spartan/ GoT is a great game system, one that has given me literally hundreds of hours of enjoyment, and cost me untold hours of sleep with that damnable "one more turn" syndrome. But many of its subtleties are hidden a bit, and easy to overlook. I fear that some players pick it up, play it for 3-4 hours, and put it away forever without realising that they have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
Actually, where's the manual for Gates of Troy, as well?
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 9:23 pm
by teufel0331
i'd like the downloadable one for GoT, also, please...
Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 9:41 am
by IainMcNeil
The manual is the same for Troy - it is really an expansion pack, but can be played stand alone.
can i get a .pdf version please?
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 10:28 pm
by teufel0331
somethings wack about the word file -- it ends up in endless cyclings with some LOCALTEMP key thing... could you please just put up a pdf file, it'd make it much easier on me... i purchased GoT as a stand-alone and the game referred me to the SPARTAN manual (!?!). thanks for your time/consideration,
-K
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:20 pm
by IainMcNeil
Can you try downloading it again as it may just be corrupt - we've never heard of this problem again and this manual is all we currently have and the game is 5 years old now.
Re:
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 5:51 pm
by DEB
Redpossum wrote: ↑Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:52 pm
Let me add a few words here, because I found the manual unclear on one point.
As soon as you have Gold Tech 1, you can build the foreign ministry.
Now, from there, (and this is the part I had to learn for myself), there are
two separate and mutually exclusive upgrade paths!
Basically, there is a "nice" upgrade path, and a "nasty" upgrade path.
Embassies, Diplomatic School, and (I'm pretty sure) League HQ all allow you to do progressively higher levels of more-or-less above board diplomatic tasks.
Cryptography Center, Assassins Guild, etc allow you to do progressively higher levels of evil nasty covert ops type diplomatic tasks.
This is a very important point because you cannot do both; you must choose one path or the other, or else just skip diplomatic buildings altogether. And once you have started down a given upgrade path, the only way to go back is to demolish what you have, and start all over with the Foreign Ministry.
The last point I'd mention on this subject is that the more stars a diplomat has, the better his chances of success at a given mission, and the less his chance of getting caught. Diplomats earn more stars faster if they are working, doing missions, than if they are doing nothing.
A good filler mission, to earn them experience is "Seek Asylia for Merchants". It only costs 150 silver, and there is no chance of any unpleasantness if the mission fails.
Spartan/ GoT is a great game system, one that has given me literally hundreds of hours of enjoyment, and cost me untold hours of sleep with that damnable "one more turn" syndrome. But many of its subtleties are hidden a bit, and easy to overlook. I fear that some players pick it up, play it for 3-4 hours, and put it away forever without realising that they have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
Very Interesting.
Thanks !
{ I may have accidentally hit the "Report this Post" button, when trying to hit the "Quote" button for this post. My abject apologies if this was indeed the case. }
Re: Downloaded Spartan, Can't Find Manual
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:49 pm
by DEB
I had a look at the Manual and the "in Game" Pedia with regard to Redpossum's post / points, and found the following on Page 49 under Epic Structures ( first paragraph ) :-
"The Foreign Ministry can only be built in the capital and when built it offers your diplomats new order options. It can be upgraded to specialise in either diplomatic or covert
operations but as you can have only one Foreign Ministry you must choose which area to specialise in. It is not possible to follow both paths".
This is appropriately concise, but evidently eminently forgettable...
[ As I forgot it too ! ]
Re:
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 5:00 pm
by luk3Z
IainMcNeil wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:20 pm
(...) and the game is 5 years old now.
Chess are ~1500 years old now and people play it.