How big is the manual going to be for the Standard Edition.

ya i had the same dilemma as well. I dont see the games lore or rules filling the instructions booklet. Maybe full of modding tools help.

Is that a joke Wintersong or is that really the manual that comes with the standard edition of Elemental?

If it wasn't so blatantly photoshopped, it'd still surprise me if Stardock could con Walmart into letting them have that in the box.

You know, I'd pay extra for an illuminated manuscript.

I'm so sick of game companies not putting out decent manuals these days.

A manual should have all the information on how to play the game like what each stat does and how it relates to the unit and game. What the different symbols mean. The advantages and disadvantages of the terrain features. How to create tiles and use them. City management section and all the ins and out of building up a city and what each improvement does. Etc.

There should also be a large section on how to mod the game such as creating maps/heroes/units etc.

What I don't want to see is lore taking up space in the manual.

Hell, no. This was the BEST part of the Starcraft manual.

I remember the manual/strategy guide for the original Age of Wonders... I think they gave it out as a pre-order bonus at the last minute or something because I remember getting it rather unexpectedly.  That thing was nice and think, with pretty much everything you wanted to know about every unit.  If the limited edition is definitely coming with something like that I'll be all over it.

Later,
LAR

Whats wrong with lore taking some space up in the manual. Dude the Homeworld Manual kicks ass!

So does anyone know the answer? Is the manual for the Standard Edition a simple guide or something more?

Generally speaking, I quite agree with your first point, and games are not the only software genre suffering from corporate distaste for decent documentation.

Your second point is a bit of a rub for Stardock games, though, because the shop consistently works to refine and expand games with *free* updates that can make parts of a manual printed at RTM obsolete. I'd like to see them make the best of both worlds by providing a base manual that's technically comprehensive, uses lore for both decoration and to help teach about the campaign mode, and is built with future updates in mind for the PDF version.

Homeworld manual was ok because they had information about the game. The lore I could have done without in the manual.  An manual should be an instruction guide not a novel. Now you can have a seperated book with the lore or even better have the lore in the game itself that you can read.

You have to be kidding, the Homeworld manual was absolutely great. If you didn't want to read the lore stuff, you could just skip it.

No, it seems it was the regular manual, I have it too. I remembered it being good but, reading your post, I just took it from the shelf to take a look.

WOW!!

Let's see:

- 186 pages

- dozens of screenshots to illustrate the text

- 11 pages just TO EXPLAIN THE TUTORIAL! And every move described in detail (Exemple quote: "If you wish to deselect a unit from a party, simply left-click on the small movement icon below the unit's picture.").

- chapters covering campaign, interface, combat, diplomacy. Did I say "interface"? Yeah, those guys knew their job and wouldn't tell us that "everybody playing strategy games should be able to understand the interface" like I read somewhere around here (not from Stardock, I must add!)

- the complete list of races, units, spells. The list of hotkeys. It even has a two-page INDEX at the end!! (in addition to the two-page Table of Contents at the beginning)

- and there is some lore too.

A model!

Same can be said of the Alpha Centauri manual (200 pages). Just by reading it, you knew the game would be an amazing experience.

If Stardock wants to cut some from their manual, they should put some very detailed and explicative tutorial.

The standard edition's manual is about 35 pages.

Which is enough to definitely learn how to play.

The Limited Edition includes the Hiergamenon, the world's encyclopedia. That's looking like it'll be around 150 pages (plus it has the big canvas map, dragon pewter piece, etc.). 

Keep on advertising it and it has better be not so 'limited'.

As for me...Ok, you won, I'll upgrade my pre-order. As soon as that checkout accepts to work!

I think a good idea would be to sell the manual by itself.  I for one like to read in bed before it's lights out and I like to read my game manuals in addition to magazines, etc.  Selling the game manual by itself would allow that.

Lore is exactly what I DO want in a manual.  Most games can be played without reading the manual, which is good because I suspect most people don't.  Stats and information on mechanics are obviously important, and the more detail the better, but they don't exactly make for an interesting read.

Anyone remember Homeworld's manual?

I still have that - it is amazing.  I wish more manuals were like that!

I remember Ultima VII's manual. Great times.