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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

I remember Ultima VII's manual. Great times.