Manual or Tech tree?

Bwahahahahahahhahahhahahha.... c'mon, do you think just because you purchased a piece of commercial software you are entitled to updated and appropriate documentation?!

I was being very sarcastic. Ok, on a serious note, I've been asking for this since the day I bought ToA, which was the day it was released. The two official answers I've received are:

"A manual isn't a strategy guide" (in other words, asking for tech trees and some background info on main ToA features is asking for too much)

and

"Brad plans to release an updated manual soon" (the emphasis is on the "soon", and the patch notes for the upcoming patch mention nothing about updated documentation)

So there you have it. :/

Yeah, I did not think there was any out there.
Being that every race has its own tech tree it would have been nice to have a layout of what they are instead of having to go ingame to look at them.
I'm just one of those types who likes to read all manuals, instructions, etc... before I play a game.

Galactopedia is the best resource currently available for viewing tech trees outside of the game.

I heard they were gonna update Galactopedia for ToA. Has that happeded yet?
You know what...I'll go check

Tech tree??? I can't find ANY info. Not a word about what has changed in the game. No explanation of new features or changed ones. I know something has changed because there are new options, but I don't know exactly what they do because I can find NO DOCS. None. I can flop at strategy and tactics without help, but at this point even playing at all is mostly guesswork, If I DID get docs with the download where are they? I looked everywhere but under my sofa,,,,

Yeah, something changed... Trade is useless beside its relation bonus and playing a race w/o eco bonuses is hard. Btw, starting a game with a race will give you idea of most techs they have, with exception of post Xeno Ethic choices.

Main problem is actually not a tech tree itself but how to distinguish the same tech with different names for different races while trading (like Artificial Gravity/Gravity Manipulation) and lack of description for techs not in your tree. Remind me blind swap game, when you never know what you'd get.

See here for an overview of the new features in TA.



The game itself is still mostly the same, the bulk of the non-graphics change in TA being the tech trees and adjustments to the effectiveness of improvements (as has been done many times in past patches). Aside from that, the existing DL/DA manual is still pretty accurate about the basics; if you've played the game before, then you should be able to pick right up with TA.

The economy was made more challenging in TA, but again, short of a new tutorial there's not much a manual would do to help with that.



You can see the description and effects of any tech in the diplomacy screen by simply right clicking on it.

Thanks Kyro. That little bit of info was vastly helpful. BTW, I'm not meaning to slam the game or the support people. I was venting my frustration about not knowing what had changed in the actual gameplay. You guys and gals have been consistantly responsive and helpful whenever i posted a problem. My hat is off especially to Seabass who insisted on providing help after i had given up on getting SoaSE to work.