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                     |   POPULOUS:  THE BEGINNING  |
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 1: Revision History
 2: Copyright Notice
 3: Introduction
 4: Followers
 5: Spells
 6: The Infamous "Level 15"
 7: The Credits 


***********************************************************************
*************************** REVISION HISTORY **************************
***********************************************************************


1-5-00  : Populous: The Beginning FAQ was released on this day
          solely to GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com).  Grand
          release.
1-18-00 : Remedied a problem in the title; other than that, no
          big updates.
1-27-00 : Added some tips from SWhyte.
11-5-01 : After a very, very long period of inactivity, I have
          returned to this FAQ and completely rewritten it.  A
          huge update, and certainly an unexpected one for the
          small population that reads this guide.  Much of the
          information about followers, buildings, artifacts of
          religion, and vehicles has been taken down, but that
          can all be found in the game tutorial or game manual
          anyway.  Enjoy.


***********************************************************************
*************************** COPYRIGHT NOTICE **************************
***********************************************************************


Last revised as of 11-5-01.

  This document is copyright sonicboom123@hotmail.com. It CANNOT be,
  any way, shape, or form, rewritten, reproduced, or re-transmitted, 
  but by the EXPRESS PERMITION OF THE AUTHOR. That means you have to
  ask me first.  Any selling, commercial portraying, or plagiarizing
  of this document shall be dealt with to the furthest extent of the
  law.  Violation of this contract is a punishable offense.


***********************************************************************
*************************** INTRODUCTION ******************************
***********************************************************************


  Several thousand years ago, the Gods unleashed four tribes of human 
beings upon the galaxy.  These groups called themselves the Matak, the 
Chumara, the Dakini, and the Braves.  Over time, each tribe evolved and 
became more sophisticated... and more powerful.  Before long, the four 
powers clashed together in war, fighting each other over land and 
nobility.

  In Populous: The Beginning, you play as the Brave tribe.  You must 
eliminate the enemy factions to ensure the safety of your people.  
Construct and destroy buildings.  Use them to train followers in the 
arts of war.  Combat against rivals with force and magic.  Win, and 
you'll become a deity.  Lose... and your legend will be lost forever.


***********************************************************************
****************************** FOLLOWERS ******************************
***********************************************************************


In Populous: The Beginning, there are six types of followers you can 
manufacture, use, and command.  They are your Shaman, your Braves, your 
Warriors, your Priests, your Firewarriors, and your Spies.  Each type 
has its own strengths and weaknesses, and each must be used to the best 
of its abilities to ensure your success in completing a level.

Shaman: There are two basic things you need to know about the Shaman 
before you start to utilize her obvious advantages.  One, she can cast 
spells, but she has a limit on how many spells she can cast.  The 
amount of magic she can use is dependent upon your tribe's Mana Level, 
which is in turn dependant on the number of Braves you have.  In order 
for her to be useful at all, your tribe must be strong and your 
population has to thrive.  Two, she sucks as a fighter.  Do not, under 
any circumstances, put her in a position of combat.  If an enemy 
Warrior picks a fight with her, order a group of your own Warriors to 
come to her defense, or better yet, use a Blast spell to pick the enemy 
off.  When faced with combat, the Shaman will almost always, always 
lose.

Brave: These guys suck almost as much as the Shaman.  However, they are 
essential to your success.  As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, 
the number of spells you can cast depends solely on the amount of 
Braves in your tribe.  To raise that number, have Braves rest in 
houses.  Over time, they will multiply.  Braves can be trained to 
become Warriors, Priests, Firewarriors, and Spies.

Warrior: Warriors are created by training Braves in the Warrior 
Training Hut.  They are very strong and have many hit points.  However, 
because they don't have any long-range defenses, they are quickly 
recruited by enemy Priests, making them less valuable later in the 
game.  Warriors will always be your main shock troop when invading 
enemy settlements, though, and are best backed up with both 
Firewarriors and Priests.

Priest: Priests are created by training Braves is the Temple/Priest 
Training Hut.  These preachers of religion are very unbalanced when it 
comes to pretty much anything (don't use them for fighting).  Their 
strength lies in their ability to permanently convert enemy followers 
to your own tribe.  If a Warrior, Brave, or Firewarrior belonging to a 
competing tribe comes to close to your own Priest, that follower will 
forget all previous orders and become inactive for several moments.  At 
the end of this time span, the enemy follower will be recruited to your 
own tribe and become a follower of yours.  Priests are best not used in 
conjunction with Firewarriors and cannot convert enemy Priests.

Firewarrior: Firewarriors are created by training Braves in the 
Firewarrior Training Hut.  These followers are best used for defensive 
purposes to protect your own settlement from invasion, although they 
can be just as effective when put on the offensive line.  The best way 
to use them is to move them into Guard Towers at high elevation 
surrounding your settlement to have them pick off any would-be 
attackers from enemy tribes.  They are best used for offense in 
conjunction with Warriors and never alongside Priests.

Spy: To me, the Spy is useless.  He can sabotage enemy structures, yes, 
but he is always caught in the act of doing it, and can never damage 
the building enough to cause any immense damage.  A Brave from the 
opposing tribe will almost always repair the sabotaged structure within 
seconds of the Spy being killed.  Not only that, there are far too  
many ways to unmask the Spy.  Having a Spy at your disposal isn't worth 
the effort of training him in the first place.  You can use him in 
multi-player if you want, but in the actual game, the Spy is 
practically valueless.


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******************************* SPELLS ********************************
***********************************************************************


To describe the basic attributes of each spell, I will use three terms: 
Range, or the maximum distance each spell can be cast, Power, or the 
damage the spell inflicts, and Area, or the area each spell effects.


SPELL:   Blast
RANGE:   Short
POWER:   Small
AREA:    Small

You start the game with the Blast spell.  When used, the Blast will 
fire a very small bolt of fire at its designated target.  When used 
correctly, the Blast can send groups of enemies packed tightly together 
flying through the air.  The Blast spell will never kill an enemy an 
enemy in one hit, unless that enemy has already taken damage.

SWhyte sent me this: "Primarily a defensive spell for the Shaman - if 
aimed correctly it can send attackers flying - even killing them if 
they land in water."


SPELL:   Convert
RANGE:   Very Long
POWER:   ---
AREA:    Small

Convert will transform any followers you cast it on into able-bodied 
Brave followers.  There's little more to say than that; the spell just 
sways the allegiance of a neutral people.


SPELL:   Magical Shield
RANGE:   Medium
POWER:   ---
AREA:    Small

Casting the Magical Shield on anyone but the Shaman makes them 
invincible to some (note: not all) magical attacks.  The spell lasts 
for quite a long amount a time, though sadly not forever.


SPELL:   Invisibility
RANGE:   Medium
POWER:   ---
AREA:    Small

The Invisibility spell will temporarily make any followers you cast it 
on invisible to the enemy for a short period of time.  If you attack an 
enemy while the spell is active, your followers will become visible 
again.  This spell is an excellent choice if you ever need to get your 
army into a heavily guarded area, and also works well with Spies.


SPELL:   Swarm 
RANGE:   Medium
POWER:   --- 
AREA:    Small

Um... well, I've never seen the Swarm spell actually kill anyone, but 
it can be a major distraction.  If this swarm of magical hornets 
touches anyone, it will send them running for cover.  However, it is 
uncontrollable - you have no say over where the swarm goes or who it 
attacks once it's cast.  It even sometimes attacks your own followers, 
so stay out of the swarm's way.

SWhyte sent me this: "Excellent at interrupting preachers when they are 
converting your troops."


SPELL:   Lightning
RANGE:   Long
POWER:   Medium
AREA:    Small

The spell of Lightning summons a bolt of electricity from the sky that 
will strike an enemy follower, more than often killing him.  This is 
one of my favorite spells, because it packs more than enough punch to 
destroy an enemy Shaman, and can do it from a long ways away.


SPELL:   Hypnotize
RANGE:   Medium
POWER:   ---
AREA:    ---

Hypnotizing the enemy will temporarily transform them into followers of 
your own.  It's a fantastic weapon in war; when going up against a 
large army, all you need to do is put your Shaman in a balloon and have 
her cast it on the majority of the enemy troops and they'll start 
fighting each other!  Excellent weapon, especially when you're 
outnumbered.


SPELL: Land Bridge
RANGE: Long
POWER: ---
AREA: Medium

Land Bridge creates (surprise) a bridge across water and other 
dangerous obstacles for your followers to walk on.  This is quite handy 
to know in early game, although it loses its novelty some with the 
addition of the bigger and better Flatten spell to your spell book 
later on.  To create a land bridge, you need to cast the spell on the 
shore on the opposite side of the lake/river you want to cross.


SPELL: Flatten
RANGE: Medium
POWER: ---
AREA: Large

This is one of my favorite spells.  Casting Flatten will either raise 
or lower the surrounding territory to the same elevation as the patch 
of terrain you cast it on.  You can level out mountains or raise land 
out of the sea... If you're really bored, you can even raise your 
entire colony really high into the sky so none of the other tribes can 
get to you.


SPELL: Swamp
RANGE: Medium
POWER: ---
AREA: Large

This spell turns the land you cast it on into a swamp, deadly to anyone 
who comes to close to it.  The spell lasts until a certain number of 
people are consumed by the swamp; when that number is met, the marsh 
becomes average productive land again.  This is a great defensive 
spell, excellent for temporarily sealing off portions of your base from 
enemy attack.  It also works wonders with the previous Flatten spell 
for a long-term defensive edge over your opponents.


SPELL: Tornado
RANGE: Medium
POWER: Large
AREA: Small

Summoning a Tornado will create a large funnel cloud at whatever point 
you designate.  The cyclone will travel in a random direction for a 
short time after casting it, sucking up any followers and structures in 
its path.  This is a good offensive spell, although I personally don't 
value it as much as I do the more powerful and accurate Lightning 
spell.  This is mainly just one to use to cause panic against your 
enemies while you prepare for something greater (say, a Volcano or a 
Firestorm).

SWhyte sent me this: "You cannot cast spells whilst in a tornado (this 
wasn't always the case but we found that the computer player was using 
the huge height advantage to cast spells across vast distances!)"

 
SPELL: Erode
RANGE: Medium
POWER: ---
AREA: Large

Erode turns any land you cast it on into water.  A cheap way to get rid 
of buildings or kill the enemy Shaman, but probably not worth much of 
your time.

 
SPELL: Firestorm
RANGE: Medium
POWER: Large
AREA: Large

Another awesome offensive spell.  Firestorm brings forth a wave of 
burning meteorites from the sky, which will plummet to the ground and 
either kill or set on fire what they strike.  Amazingly accurate and 
freakishly long-lasting, this is spell can be devastating if used 
against the enemy at the right place and time.

 
SPELL: Earthquake
RANGE: Medium
POWER: Medium
AREA: Medium

This spell is really only mediocre, nothing at all compared to 
Firestorm.  All it does is create a long ditch in the ground where you 
cast it which will fill up with water and lava, taking the lives of any 
followers or structures that happen to be in its way.  The problem is 
it doesn't do a lot of damage to big enough an area to make it useful.  
Flatten is a better offensive spell than this.


SPELL: Volcano
RANGE: Small
POWER: Enormous
AREA: Large

Casting Volcano will trigger a crater to rise out of the ground and 
spill destructive lava onto everything in the vicinity.  This is 
probably the best spell in the game; one volcano is usually enough to 
take out an entire enemy tribe.  First, the crater will rip to shreds 
any buildings previously built upon it.  Then, the lava will destroy 
everything in a very large area, including any other remaining 
structures and followers.

SWhyte sent me this: "Your shaman is invulnerable to the lava of her 
own volcanoes - a good strategy is to cast a volcano at your feet - 
you're Shaman will be the only one standing at the end of it."


SPELL: Angel of Death
RANGE: Small
POWER: Large
AREA: Everywhere

Here it is, the ultimate spell: the Angel of Death, a dragon that will 
spawn into several flying beasts.  These monsters will fly straight 
from where you cast them to the enemy tribe, diving to destroy 
structures and gobble up followers.  They will not hurt your tribe.  
They do seem to be hurt by Blasts and other such spells, though.

SWhyte sent me this: "Ghost army in multiplayer is a good way to 
distract them. You can also try luring Angel of Deaths to other players 
in multiplayer games with more than two players. Angels of Death can 
only really be killed by two methods - one casting another Angel of 
Death (the angels fight and the strongest survives) or by positioning a 
large troop of Firewarriors on the top of a large hill/mountain."


***********************************************************************
*********************** THE INFAMOUS "LEVEL 15" ***********************
***********************************************************************


  In all of Populous: The Beginning, there is no level so perplexing or 
so difficult as the Infamous Level 15, "Incarcerated."  In this stage 
of the game, your Shaman is imprisoned in enemy territory, unable to 
cast any spells.  Meanwhile, the rest of your tribe is stranded on an 
island on the other side of the world without any magic to speak of.  
Those players who have relied too heavily on the Shaman in the past, or 
who have used the cheat mode to get thus far into the game, all seem to 
struggle when placed in this scenario.

  In truth, over half of all the emails I've ever gotten concerning 
Populous: The Beginning are inquiries on how to complete the Infamous 
Level 15.  In response to all these pleas of help, I am including in 
this update of the Populous: The Beginning FAQ a guide on how to beat 
this complex level.

  You will need: 6 Spies, 6 Firewarriors, 6 Priests, and 3 Boats.  Take 
the first few minutes of the level to train, gather, and construct 
these items.  Afterwards, disguise your Spies, put them all into your 
first boat, and send them across the sea to the Chumara settlement.

  Land two Spies on each of the small islands with Guard Towers on them 
and have them sabotage each.  The Guard Towers will be disabled, and 
the Firewarriors inside won't be able to utilize them to protect the 
coast from your invasion force.  Land the remaining four Spies on the 
continent and position them near each of the towers surrounding the 
Shaman's prison.

  Now, quickly send your Priests and Firewarriors over on separate 
Boats and land them on the coast.  Have your Spies sabotage the 
remaining Guard Towers.  Strategically position your Priests on the 
corners of the beach to have them convert enemy soldiers to your side 
while your Firewarriors deal with the resistant ones.  When all this is 
done, have all your forces attack the prison until the Shaman is freed.

  Once the Shaman is released, the time clock should stop.  Send her to 
the Obelisk in front of the prison to have her pray for the Volcano 
Spell.  When this is attained, walk her up the ridge to the very top 
and drop the Volcano smack dab in the middle of the Chumara settlement.

  That's it!  You're done.  You've completed the Infamous Level 15.  Be 
proud of yourself, you've just completed the most difficult level in 
the whole game!  Now it wasn't that hard, was it?


***********************************************************************
***************************** THE CREDITS *****************************
***********************************************************************


Recognition goes out to those who've helped me compile this FAQ.  Let's 
give these people a hand, folks; they're the ones who've really made a 
Populous: The Beginning strategy guide possible...

SWhyte: Sent me many tidbits of information on followers, structures, 
and spells.  Also provided me with some basic information which made 
a guide to the Infamous Level 15 possible.
CJayC: Owner of the GameFAQs, the home of this FAQ. 

