MULTIPLAYER GAMES

• Starting a game: From the main Conquests menu, select "Multiplayer".
   
• Once you have selected what type of game you want (Internet, LAN, etc.), you must change the Game Mode from "Standard" to "Scenario".
   
• In the player setup screen on the right, be sure that every human player selects a civ to play. Often, the default civ is a tribe from the regular game, not the scenario, so each player must manually select a civ to play. Very important: be sure to set all of the non-human player slots to "Computer". In the case of the Demo and Wild Frontier scenarios, you must mark the 8th slot "Closed", because there are only seven civs in these games.
   
• When playing Ultimate Sea Empire and Ultimate Land Empire, the host must not forget to set the World Size, Land Mass, Water Coverage etc...
   
• All of the human players in a multiplayer game must have the Age of Piracy mod pack installed.
   
• If you enjoy team play, Bloody Seas is a good scenario because of its locked alliances.
   
• Leader portraits in AOP do not show emotions, so using the emote buttons will not work. So it is important to express your emotions through chat.

SINGLE PLAYER GAMES

• Starting a game: From the main Conquests menu, select "Civ Content", and choose a scenario to run.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Be sure to try all five of the AOP scenarios. Each has different rules, strategies, and objectives. Each scenario has a very different feel and offers a unique playing experience. Be sure to play all of the eight AOP civilizations. Each civ has unique abilities, special "superunits" that only they can build, and some units they cannot build. Each civ will require a different strategy to win the game. If you play every civ in every AOP scenario, you will experience 39 very different games.
   
• AOP has many new ambient and combat sounds, so make sure the volume is turned up on your speakers.
   
• Although the unit graphics appear to be non-animated, they are actually animated, allowing for the new unit status square. To get the full benefit of this new feature, be sure in your game preferences that you have all the unit animations turned on. However, if you have a slower computer and are playing a game with thousands of units, you may want to turn off these animations in order to speed things up.
   
• Here are some examples of unit status squares. These will not display correctly if you don't have your game preferences set to show your units move and show the animations.
  
  Fortified ship
  Same ship, traveling southwest
  Laborer chopping forest
  Building a fortress
  Building a road
  Building a mine
  Planting a forest
  Clearing jungle or marsh
  
  Note: stacked units that are fortified as a group do not show the fortified symbol. Also, the directional movement symbols don't show when you use the goto command to move a unit a great distance at once.
   
• Armies in AOP are handled much differently than in a regular Conquests game. In a regular game, the AI is unlikely to field armies against you. This is not the case in AOP. You no longer need a Great Leader to build an army. Armies are built like any other unit, when the technology becomes available. However, armies are expensive and cost population points to build. Civs that over-indulge in armies will find themselves population depleted, economically disadvantaged and quickly falling behind the tech curve.
   
• When you are exploring and first meet a new civilization, pay close attention to what they say to you in the diplomacy screen. The diplomacy scripts in AOP have been customized to reflect the personalities and special abilities of the various civs.
   
• In addition to the normal special abilities of the civs (seafaring, religious, agricultural, etc.), three new abilities have been added:
  1) Political civs are the only ones capable of spying, and they are also allowed two Forbidden Palaces (in AOP, they are referred to as a Colonial Capitol and House of Parliament).
  2) Catholic civs can build the Papal Favor wonder.
  3) Protestant civs can build the Reformation wonder.
  Check the online civilopedia to get full descriptions of the special abilities for all the civs.
   
• When you check your diplomacy advisor, you will see portraits of the opposing leaders. These portraits will show you your opponent's level of technology, as well as their mood. Colored rings around the portrait convey this information:
  Red ring: angry
  No ring: neutral
  Green ring: happy
  Grey ring: Discovery Era
  Bronze ring: Colonial Era
  Silver Ring: Steam Era
  Gold ring: Steel Era
   
• When you first begin playing AOP, you may be surprised by the wide variety of ships you can build. Rest assured that each ship has a specific and unique advantage that no other ship possesses. Each ship is very different and your challenge is to discover their uses.
   
• When you attack with a naval vessel, you can use one of two tactics.
  1) You can bombard an enemy city, naval unit, or ground unit on the shore. Use the bombard button to perform this action. Bombarding is safer because you don't risk your ship.
  2) You can board an enemy naval unit. This is an all-or-nothing attack that will result in the destruction of one of the two ships. To board a vessel, simply move your ship into it, as you would when attacking with a ground unit.
   
• AOP has three different ways of handling  naval movement, depending on the scenario. These are known as the "shallow water rules":
  1) Strict shallow water rules: Large vessels (known as Deep Draft Vessels) can only enter cities with deepwater ports. In addition, deep draft vessels can not travel in coastal water.
  2) Relaxed shallow water rules: deep draft vessels can travel in coastal water and enter cities without deepwater ports, but their movement will be slowed to one square per turn.
  3) No shallow water rules: no restrictions on ship movement.
   
• You can not build a deepwater port, it is a terrain feature. Charted deepwater squares show a distinctive icon. However, many uncharted deepwater squares remain for you to discover. Deepwater always appears along coastlines, and shows as "Sea", not "Coastal", when you right-click on it. Charted deepwater ports give economic bonuses to your city, but uncharted deepwater squares, although functional, give no bonuses. Deepwater ports become strategically important in the mid-to-late game when you need to transport large units (such as armies) that can't be accommodated on small shallow draft vessels.
   
• All pirate ships have "hidden nationality". This allows you to attack other civs without starting a war. However, hidden nationality is a double-edged sword. Every civ in the game can attack your pirate ships at any time without starting a war.
   
• Wars are much more likely to ignite at sea than on land. If you are trying to maintain a peaceful existence, avoid sending ships out unnecessarily. And if you must leave ships out to guard certain areas, leave a stack of ships so they won't look like a tempting target.
   
• In the past, some players have been annoyed with the cultural aspects of Civ 3 because the biggest civ always had the highest culture. This has been changed in AOP. It is now possible for a small civ to have the highest culture. AOP offers many city improvements, such as the Printing Press, which only offer a cultural benefit. Players who concentrate on these improvements can be culturally competitive with much larger civs. When building a wonder or improvement, be sure to note its cultural value.
   
• If you decide to go for a cultural victory, you will probably want to play the French. The French are culturally oriented and are difficult to compete against on this level.
   
• None of the AOP scenarios allow communication trading. This is designed to encourage exploration and interaction.
   
• Use the small "v" button in the lower right of your screen to check on your victory points. Keep in mind that this button doesn't appear until 10 turns into the game.
   
• If you see a "capture the princess" notation in any of the scenarios, be advised that refers to gold, not an actual princess. The game's "capture the princess" feature has been used to allow you to seize units of gold and take them to your capitol, where they give your treasury a boost, and in some cases add victory points.
   
• If you have large city with citizens to spare, or a smaller city with an immediate need, you may want to consider converting a citizen to a specialists. Here are the specialist bonuses:
  Entertainer: +1 luxury
  Tax Collector: +2 taxes
  Scientist: +3 research
  Constable: -1 corruption
  Civil Engineer (requires Engineering): +2 construction;
   note: the construction bonus does not apply to building units.
   
• Only the Buccaneers can enslave units, and they must use their Raider Captain unit for this. If any unit besides a Raider Captain attacks an unarmed unit such as a Laborer, the Laborer will be killed, not captured.
   
• When Buccaneers enslave a unit, it becomes a Slave. These are essentially low-quality Laborers that don't require support. In certain situations surrounding naval combat, it is possible for Slave units to become stranded in open water. If you are a Buccaneer, you can pick up these drifting units and put them to work. If you are not a Buccaneer, you can pick up these drifting units and give them their freedom (but you can't use them as slaves).
   
• Building a Slave Market, however unsavory, gives you production bonuses. But be aware that this causes unhappiness in the city. Also, if the city ever goes into civil disorder, the slaves will occasionally revolt and burn the city.
   
• Be advised, when looking at shaded portions of the map, the red English cities and the orange Dutch cities will look the same color.
   
• Certain units (such as Raiders, Indian Mercenaries, and Armies) have "defensive initiative". When they are attacked, they can inflict a small amount to damage to the attacker before they themselves suffer damage. These units can also cause "collateral damage" when attacking cities. For example, an Army attacking a city may destroy the city's barracks in addition to killing a unit.
   
• In AOP, you need to build a Waterworks for your city to grow beyond a population of 6 (a waterworks, however, is not necessary if your city is built alongside a freshwater source). You need to build a Hospital to grow beyond a population of 12.