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Hints, Tips, Strategy and FAQs for playing Populous III online

A: When the game is launched, you will find yourself in the game setup screen, where there are loads of options which you alone can set - such power! However, if you don't want to hack off the other players, check with them that they are happy with your proposed choices. When all the players are showing '<YES>' in the 'Ready' column, start the game. Only you can do this, but it won't work unless you have all the 'yes's. If one player is hanging on 'no', send him a gentle reminder, he's probably forgotten.

A: Just about everything. The options shown on the setup screen are (in order):

• Restrictions - Click for a pop-up window of all the spells and buildings, with defaults set for the map which you will be playing. You can change any of these, but check with the other players first - especially if you have a sneaky strategy you want to try.
• Level list - select which world to play on. Each requires different tactics, and the choice will have a large effect on how the game plays.
• Guest spells - additional spells over and above the defaults Possible choices are Armageddon, Teleport and Bloodlust. There is also a random choice, which picks one of these at random. Don't select any of these (especially armageddon) without checking with the other players first.
• Fog of war - With this selected, players can only see the terrain which their followers have explored. It makes for a tougher, but interesting game. The trick when it's on is to explore the area around the enemies base as soon as possible, because it will get progressively harder as he builds up - and if you can't see his base it will be very hard to attack. Equally, when he sends braves to explore your village, you need to kill them as soon as possible to keep him (literally) in the dark. Using ghosts for exploring saves the sacrifice of braves.
• Shaman - Number of times a shaman can be reincarnated. If other than 'infinite' it means that you can win by killing a shaman the set number of times, rather than grinding out the entire tribe.
• Force 640x480 - Use to force all players to use a standard screen resolution. Otherwise, players with fast computers and large screens can use a higher resolution and thus see more of the terrain - a definite advantage.
• Forge World - With forge world switched on, you get 120 seconds before the shaman appears during which you can shape the area around the Reincarnation Circle using a selection of spells. These are explained in the in-game encyclopaedia.