Introduction

Falcon's Eye places you in a world of medieval empire building; given a small county to begin with, it is your job to develop its economy, employing your people, creating a military, and expanding your lands. The game is designed so as not to be linear, and we felt linear documentation would not help you much in the game. Instead, the first time you access many of the commands, help will come up, allowing you to better understand the game as you play. The best way of learning Falcon's Eye is to experiment - visit different menus, try different options. Below, you will find basic information on how to get a good start and not crumble right away ( :) ) as well as information on some different topics not covered in any specific help section. We recommend after learning a little bit about the basics of this game, you come back and read the latter part of these instructions again, as they will make more sense once you understand the game.

Starting Your New Country

When you select Join Game, you will be creating a new county. The first thing you must decide is what race you state wishes to be. There are a variety of races to choose from, each having their own specialties and disadvantages. If this is your first time playing Falcon's Eye, you might wish to consider being Human, the simplest and most straightforward race.

You will then be placed at the main menu, from which you can access the various aspects of empire management. First, you should visit the Labor menu and hire all of your unemployed workers. At the beginning, your workers will not be very skilled in their jobs, so you will need more people to produce a given amount of stuff. Early, you will need mostly Alchemists and Farmers to cover the basic costs of running your county.

Once you've hired your workers, you will want to visit the Council Room, where you can get all the information you'll need about your county. Be sure to check the Budget and Agricultural options to see if you're producing enough food and silver to cover your expenses. In the first couple months, you may have enough reserves to pay your expenses, allowing you to produce less than you need and not run out of money.

After you're back at the main menu, go to the City Improvements menu. Here's where you will be able to build various structures on your lands to benefit your county. If you have extra silver, you may wish to consider buying more land, as it will help to expand your population.

This takes care of the basics of your county. You should probably also visit the Foreign Affairs menu to learn about diplomacy with others. You will find that maintaining different agreements with other counties is in your best interests. Communications is also a great place to talk to other players and learn from them.

Other Topics

Approval Rating

It is critical to the success of your county to maintain a strong approval rating with the people. A higher approval rating increases the number of people willing to live in your county, so a strong rating gives you a larger potential labor pool. Sometimes, it may be difficult to gauge why your approval rises or falls; here are the factors that affect your rating:

• Pride helps to increase approval of the county. A strong month of growth helps to raise your ratings, while a loss in networth may hurt approval. In times of crisis, however, you may find that your approval jumps as your people rally behind their leader.
  
  
• The people of Falcon's Eye tend to be neither cynical nor trusting. Approval tends to naturally move towards the 70% mark.
  
  
• Larger empires tend to be more demanding of their leaders and naturally will have lower approval.
  
  
• Overcrowding tends to decrease approval. This is a self-correcting problem, as higher approval leads to higher population (overcrowding) which will come back and lower approval.
  
  
• Your trade agreements have an effect on approval as well. This is discussed in more detail in the diplomacy help.

Definitions for Combat

There are some terms used in the military aspect of the game which you should understand:

• Quality Rating - The quality rating of your army. This value helps determine how effectively your troops can fight. When military is used in combat or traded in trade deals, their quality rating drops. Quality naturally rises as troops remain at home. Therefore, it is wise to wait between attacks, giving your forces time to recover from their last battle.
  
  
• Offense - Being the offensive army refers to the army that is actually attacking the opponent away from his/her own lands. Your offensive rating is the strength of your forces when they are attacking another county. This is often measured in Swords.
  
  
• Defense - Being the defensive army refers to the army that is standing on his/her own ground defending a county. Your defensive rating is the strength of your forces when they are defending your realm. This is often measured in Shields.

In war, there are many benefits given by magic or building improvements that refer to the different definitions above.


The Falcon's Eye

The Falcon's Eye is a glass eye from a famous sculpture of a falcon. Each year, it is awarded to the player with the highest score. While maintaining control of the Eye, you gain the following:

• 100% success on the Wizard's Eye Spell
• Each month, your approval rating will rise
• All workers have 10% higher productivity
• Scientists work at an additional 30% higher productivity

However, having the Falcon's Eye makes the expectations of your people rise. Therefore, score will naturally drop more quickly than usual. This has the added effect of causing the Falcon's Eye to circulate.

Conclusion

Between the above information and the help scattered throughout the game, we feel you should be ready to begin learning Falcon's Eye. Your first few games, you will probably find yourself making several mistakes and learning to play better - we feel this is the best way to learn the game, so don't give up if you find your county in pieces. Use it as a learning experience and correct the problem the next time you play.

We hope the game will bring you as much entertainment as possible.

Thank you for playing,
John Dailey