Settlers 2 Vidi Veni Vici : The FAQ
INDEX OF THIS FAQ:
BUILDING
THE ROAD SYSTEM
FLAGS?
HOW TO PLAY SETTLERS II
GETTING WOOD FOR CONSTRUCTIONS
GETTING STONE (GRANITE)
EXPANDING YOUR LAND
ARMY
MINES
FOOD
SHIPS
WHAT GOES WHERE?
LEVEL INFO AND HINTS TO COMPLETE THEM
SOME COMMON TIPS FOR THE GAME
GENERAL INFO
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
I'VE HAD ENOUGH WHERE IS A CRACK OR A CHEAT!!!
Okay, This is the updated FAQ for Settlers 2, when you have mastered these topics, you will be able to procede to level 8 without any problems. If you encounter any please contact me for help.
This Faq will help you understand the basics needed to play Settlers 2 successfully as well as the more advanced areas of the game.
Most of this you can find out for yourself, but it'll take a very long time, so just read through this and you'll be ready to kick the enemies butt.
THE BASICS
BUILDING
To see where you can build any buildings, simply press Spacebar and all the golden houses that appear on the map are possible buildings. There are 3 Main kinds of buildings, small, medium and large (later you'll also get mines), never build a small building in the place of a big one. When you click on one of these golden houses, a window will open with pictures of possible houses. To select one, simply click on the picture.
THE ROAD SYSTEM
Well this is very easy, just click on a flag and then on another flag you want to connect it to, and there you have a road that will connect the two. It is important that there should always be a way (road) from any building to you main hall (it does not have to be a direct road, but there should be a way for resources to reach your new building). Water ways are very successful for transporting resources, but they cannot transport people, so there should always be a alternative route. In later missions you will be able to build big expedition ship, but more about how they work later.
FLAGS?
They are mostly used for roads, but that is not all. They are used to call a geologist (the guy with the white beard) and also Scouts (the guy with the brown clothes). More about them later.
HOW TO PLAY SETTLERS II
GETTING WOOD FOR CONSTRUCTIONS
Build a woodcutter (use a small area) next to the closest trees. Then Build a sawmill (medium building) near it. It is always wise to build 2 woodcutters and a forester (a guy that plants trees) together, by doing this you will never run our of trees for your woodcutters. For a successful community you need a lot of trees, so make sure you have multiple of these 3 building (2 woodcutters and 1 forester) groups all over your land. For every 3 of these groups you need 1 sawmill, so keep it in mind by looking at the number of uncut wood in your stock. If you have more uncut wood than cut (wood boards) you should build another sawmill.
GETTING STONE (GRANITE)
Well somewhere near you Main Hall you will see some rocks, somewhere very close to that you must build Quarry who can go and fetch it for you. Sometimes if the rocks block the expansion of your land, you should build more than one Quarry. When the rocks reach the main hall it will be sent to new constructions or to a catapult if you have one. When you run out of rocks, you can build a granite mine, this will also give you rocks.(to build a granite mine, look at MINES.
EXPANDING YOUR LAND
Once you have A and B up and running, it is time to expand your land. You can do this by building any military building: Barracks / guardhouse / watchtower or Fortress on the border of your land. Once a Army unit enters the new building your land will expand slightly. Do not build these buildings to close to each other. You start with enough army units to occupy a few military building, but before long you will have no army units left in you main hall. Look at ARMY for what to do when you reach this point. The best way to see land around you , before you expand there, is to send out scouts. When you click on a flag right on the edge of your land, you will see a picture of a guy wearing brown clothes, click on him and he will come and walk around in the dark areas of the map and reveal them to you. Try doing this often so you can see where the enemy's land is, or what buildings he has. In later missions lookout towers can be used for the same effect.
ARMY
To make soldiers you need a iron smelter (needs coal and iron to make steel) and a armory (needs steel and coal) next to each other and close to mines, and they will make your shields and swords. When these reach your store (try to keep it close by) a soldier comes out (a very weak one).
Beer in the Main hall will decrease the time it takes for a soldier to come out after a sword and shield has arrived. He will go to a hut and if there are coins inside he will be upgraded to a higher rank (he'll be able to kill more guys and take more hits).
To get coins you need a Gold Mine and near it you need a goldsmith (he needs coal and gold to make coins).
As soon as your army is nice and strong you can go and attack the enemy. A strong army unit will be able to take over a enemy building and you will get his land. When you capture one of his buildings build a road connecting it to your roads. You can only attack the houses with white and white-and-black flags (enemy army huts). Just take all of his land and you have won the stage!!!
MINES
When you reach mountains where you can build mines, build a flag on it, and send a geologist to go and check it out. There are 4 kinds of mines avalible: Coal[black],
Iron[brown],
Gold[gold] and
Granite[white].
Coal is the most common so try not to get too many coal mines, but you should have at least build 5 to start with. Try and keep the amount of coal and iron mines equal. Never build too many of the same mine, the problem here is that they use all your food and the other mines' productivity goes down. So if you have about 5 coal and 5 iron mines, for them to work at 100% you need a lot of food. Food is the only way to get your productivity up and get your militry program working, so check out FOOD for this part.
FOOD
The easiest way to get food is to build fisherman, build about 3 to 4 next to water and they will give you enough to start your mines on. Then you need to build farms (yes, more than one!!), a mill and bakery (which also needs water).
Be sure not to build anything close to a farm to keep productivity high. Water (for the mill and later pigfarm/donkeyfarm) can be found on any land which appears green, so a geologist is not necessary. In later stages you might want to build a pig farmer, but not yet (they need a lot of grain to keep running and if your farms aren't working yet, they waste your grain) and only if you have about 3 farms already working fully. Try to keep the buildings which supply each other with goods close together. This will also help your roads form getting blocked. See the list of WHAT GOES WHERE?
SHIPS
You must think of ship the same a peasants who carry your resources along the roads. When something needs for example wood and there is wood avalible at one harbor, a ship will pick it up and take it to the harbour where it is needed. The only instruction you can give ships is when you want to build a new harbour on a island. This works the same for everything, even army units. So when you have just finished building a harbour on a other island, select a military building to be built next to it, and wood plus rocks will be sent for the construction.
WHAT GOES WHERE?
For all your buildings to work at 100% productivity (press "s" to see) you need to get the stuff they need to them. Here is a list of what every building needs to run:
SMALL BUILDINGS:
WOODCUTTER:
Cuts down trees, only needs woodcutter
FORESTER:
Plants trees, only needs forester
QUARRY:
Turns rockpiles into stone, only needs the inhabitant
FISHERY:
Goes and get fish form the local dam of sea, only needs fisherman
BARRACKS:
Military building for land expansion, can hold 2 army units
GUARDHOUSE:
Military building for land expansion, can hold 3 army units
LOOKOUTTOWER:
Needs a peasent, will expand visible area, but NOT land
WELL:
Supplies water, needs inhabitant
MEDIUM BUILDINGS:
SAWMILL:
Needs lumber and inhabitant to produce wood boards
SLAUTERHOUSE:
Needs pigs and water to produce meat
MILL:
Needs grain to produce flour
BAKERY:
Needs flour and water to produce bread
IRON SMELTER:
Needs coal and iron to produce metal
METALWORKS:
Needs metal and lumber to produce tools (needed to create inhabitants)
ARMORY:
Needs metal and coal to produce Swords and Shields
MINT:
Needs gold and iron to produce coins
BREWERY:
Needs water and grain to produce beer
STOREHOUSE:
This is the same as your main store, it is only necessary when your land becomes wide spread
WATCHTOWER:
Military building for land expansion, can hold 6 army units
CATAPULT:
Needs stone, for Defense and attacking
LARGE BUILDINGS:
FARM:
Needs open ground to produce grain
PIGFARM:
Needs grain and water to produce pigs
DONKEY BREEDER:
Needs grain and water to produce donkeys
FORTRESS:
Military building for land expansion, can hold 10 army units
DESTROYING WITHOUT ATTACKING:
Well when you get to level 5 and onward, you'll notice that the game gets harder. This is the time when you should start using the Catapult method of destrying or at least weakening your enemy. This method is very simple, just build a lot of catapults all over your land and consentrate them around your borders. Every shot a catapult shoots and hits a enemy military building, one unit inside that building is killed. When there are none left, the building is destroyed, and you can expand your land while your not even at war with that culture. If the enemy ever has a stronger army, this is the only way to beat him, and another plus is that you can improve your army while killing his.
LEVEL INFO AND HINTS TO COMPLETE THEM
Here are some tips which should help people get to level 9 of Settlers II. I haven't tried this level yet so if anyone has any tips please e-mail me
Levels 1-4:
Everyone should find these really easy and should just let you learn how to provide food, weapons, gold, beer etc.
Always set up a wood and stone supply first and then concentrate on your army.
Level 5:
Set up defences to your west (catapults, fortress, etc.) at the small joining strip of land which leads to the yellow settlers.
Then expand your land quickly to the south with the aid of several stonecutters to clear your path.
Once you reach the bottom of the island you should meet the red settlers. Build several catapults at this point and some watchtowers (guard huts are too easily captured). This should let you slowly reduce the red army as he will loose knights as you destroy his huts. It is also possible to advance forward as you destroy the huts as the enemy supply is poor at this point.
In the meantime, mine like hell until all of the minerals in your area are used up. You should be able to build up an army to outmatch the red and yellow settlers and have enough gold to train your knights.
Once all of the minerals are used up (be patient) attack the yellow settlers to the west and you will be able to get to the gate easily. Forget about your armies in the south as they will take care of themselves. I think that the gate is in the middle of the map just inside the red territory.
Level 6:
Firstly, make your way to the East until you come across some mountains. set up some good defences here with several catapults as this is where you will come across the red settlers. Then build a harbour and a boat builder (build ships, not boats) and make some expeditions to the other uninhabited islands where you can get a large supply of minerals etc.
Don't bother about the warning about the whales, mine that island as well. Again wait untill all of the resources are used up and then attack the red settlers which you should have held off and weakened in the east.
Make your way east and you should find another island which you will be prompted to build a harbour on and from this point attack the yellow settlers. The gate is at the top of their territory
Level 7:
In this level you have to worry about the yellow settlers to start off with. Build your defences to the south, but before you reach the mountains. You will need heavy defences with a lot of catapults as they are very aggresive. Don't attack them or you will have to deal with the red settlers as well. (you may have to play a practice game to decide where to build your defences and you will have to clear trees and granite to get there).
Then mine the mountain to the southwest until it is exhausted, (there is gold on its western side) and while doing this set up a couple of fortresses on the western side of this mountain.
When your resources are used up attack the red settlers as the gate is in their territory, but what the hell if your army is big enough kick the yellow settlers ass as well.
Level 8
Firstly set up good defences to your west as before and convert the ore you start with into gold so you have at least a dozen generals to defend this area. Guard huts are not strong enough as the yellow settlers will attack in great force, but if your catapults are positioned well you should be able to hold them back.
Then expand east and set up a base on the peninsula and mine the copper and coal. There is one site to the bottom of this area where you can build a harbour. Then construct some ships and start 3 expeditions to the two large islands to the south which have all the minerals you need.
Once the yellow settlers have no more resources, they will not try to occupy huts next to your territory. At this point you should only be mining and it is a good idea to speed up the game (type “thunder” and then press ALT+6. I usually play the whole game with normal turbo, (V pressed)).
As before, wait until all of the minerals are used up then build several fortresses to the west of your base so you have plenty of knights to attack. You can destroy most of the barracks on the islands to gain extra troops (you only need barracks as there is no enemy).
If you have a lot of gold and copper left, then now mine the mountain to the west of your start point to get coal.
Then attack the yellow settlers and make your way to the southwest corner of the map where the gate is. Try to knock out enemy supplies on the way as they have large stocks and will build catapults to destroy the huts you have occupied. Try to have your best knights at the front of your attack as the enemy knights are nearly all generals.
(These Level info hints where compiled by Iain Mcewan, e-mail him at cbar98@strath.ac.uk.)
Some Common Tips For Game
1. To create soldiers you need in one store-place (headquarter, storehouse, harbor) one of each of the following: beer, sword, shield and free helper. Therefore you want to restrict storage of these items to only one store-place.
2. Gold coins are needed for training of soldiers. Usually you begin with little gold; therefore after building barracks, forbid the storage of coins in said place. One coin can train one soldier one step up. For example, if you have in barrack novice lev.1- sergant- sergant- officer- general- genaral, after train by coin, you will have sergant- sergant- officer- general- genaral- general.
3. Build store-places near the frontier where you will war. Concentrate storage of soldiers and coins here by forbidding them in other places.
4. For ships you need to build two buildings - a harbor and a shipyard. First should be built in large building sites with the anchor, and the shipyard can be built in a medium site near seaside. You are able to build shipyard far from sea but your shipbuilder will have long time walk to seaside. Only in a harbor can you begin new expeditions. This requires four things: wood, six stone, and one builder.
5. Don't build more than one harbor per island. If you do so, forbid soldiers in one.
6. Search for gold first. Coal, water, and grain are needed in three places as well.
7. If a catapult misses, reload the game to before it even fired. The game randomly calculates the hit/miss as the ball is shot out.
8. Click three searches per spot, so the geologists can inspect all points surrounding the flag.
9. Usually you want to stop the metalworks and build only one item at a time. You must control the stock; you are able to control this better than computer. (Maybe this you own cheat).
For first page of stock you can control own resource and instruments.
For second - craftsman who occupy same buildings, dankey and troops.
For continue - if building is "unoccupant" you haven’t masters. For create masters, you need master's instrument and free helper.
10. If you have a low efficiency % in an important production, stop those that use that resource.
11. People can only be transported in ships, not boats.
12. If you destroy an enemy's store-place, they will stop all production and all live enemies close to it.
To destroy harbor and storehouse you need attack by catapult or capture nearest barrack by soldiers, but headquaters you need attack directly. Catapult can't destroy headquater.
GENERAL INFO
The average time for a stage in Settlers 2 might seem long, and it is!!! (level 4 only took me 14 hours!!!) but a cool way to speed up the game is too press the ' V ' key this will put the game in turbo. Please note that if you use this, you might spoil some of the fun in the game.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Overall keyboard layout:
P: Pause.
H: Go to headquarters..
B: Go back to start position.
N: Opens messages window.
L: Shows map.
M: Main selection.
SPACE: Switches construction aid function on/off.
C: Check information about houses..
S: Shows status of houses.
Z: Zoom current window.
V: Acceleration on or off.
I: Info window.
ALT-W, ESC: Closes active window.
ALT-Q: Exit from game..
F1: Load game.
F2: Save game.
F8: Readme "Keyboard layout".
F9: Readme "What's new".
F10 :CD Audio Player.
F11: Midi Player.
F12: Option window.
Cursor keys: scroll the main map.
In the messages window:
DELETE: delete message.
G: Go to site of event.
+/-: Next/previous message.
I'VE HAD ENOUGH WHERE IS A CRACK OR A CHEAT!!!
WARNING: THIS WILL TAKE AWAY THE FUN OF THE GAME
How to use cheats mode of the game:
Simply type for game window “thunder” and you´ll have cheats mode.
The indication of cheats mode is a circle with exclamation mark (!) in right top of screen.
To change game speed you can press alt-1 through alt-6 (MAX). The "v" key equals alt-2.
To reveal the entire map you need press F7.
Next undocumented key is 'Y' then you´ll zoom in on window.
Do not be scared of looking for new cheat keys, but if you find any, please report them to me.
Customizing your game
Before you begin:
A: Always make backups of those files that you are about to modify.
B: Use this guide as a reference only, I am not responsible if the following instructions causes any damage to your system, or any loss of data. Use it at your own risk!
1) How to enable all chapters :
A: Change to the settler2\save directory.
B: Launch your favorite text editor.
C: Load the file missions.dat into the editor.
D: Change the string to read "1111111111" without the quotes
(Explanation : Each character represents a chapter. And the flag for enabling and disabling these chapters are 1 and 0 respectively).
2) How to get more resources and people :
A: Change to the settler2\data\missions directory.
B: Launch your favorite text editor.
C: Load the file mis_00xx.rtx into the editor.
(NOTE : xx represents the chapters. Thus :
mis_0000.rtx = Chapter 1
mis_0001.rtx = Chapter 2
mis_0002.rtx = Chapter 3
mis_0003.rtx = Chapter 4
mis_0004.rtx = Chapter 5
mis_0005.rtx = Chapter 6
mis_0006.rtx = Chapter 7
mis_0007.rtx = Chapter 8
mis_0008.rtx = Chapter 9
mis_0009.rtx = Chapter 10
mis_0010.rtx = Custom
mis_0011.rtx = Custom
mis_0012.rtx = Custom
.....
mis_0019.rtx = Custom
D: Here are what the variables mean :
!ADD_WARE Ware# Quantity {Gives you tools/resources/food all the things on the first page in HQ}
!ADD_PEOPLE People# Quantity {Gives soldiers/farmers/miners etc... the things on 2nd page in HQ}
!ENABLE_HOUSE Building# {Toggles whether you can build the specified building}
!ADD_ANIMAL Animal# Quantity Xcoordinate Ycoordinate
GLOBAL_SET_COMPUTER_ALLIANCE 1 2 {This will ally player 1 with player 2}
[MAPCOMMANDS]:
!SET_ACT_PLAYER 1 {Sets the following properties for player 1}
!ADD_WARE 2 255 {Gives player 1 255 Stones}
!ADD_WARE 15 33 {Gives player 1 33 Gold Coins}
!ADD_PEOPLE 26 100 {Gives player 1 100 Generals, Yipee!}
!ADD_PEOPLE 29 50 {Gives player 1 50 Dankey, maybe you need}
This Page was created by Dieter Leibold, feel free to comment .
Last Update: 23 August 1996
