Introduction Double click on the installer to start the installation install. Simply follow the on-screen dialogs to install the game. Welcome to the Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game Manual. This manual uses the original Hearts of System Requirements Iron manual as its starting point and I wish to credit and To play Arsenal of Democracy you will need to meet thank the original (unknown) author. I have tried in a short the following minimum requirements: amount of time to collate the vast amount of changes Pentium III 800MHz, Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP and incorporated into this new game. I thank the developers for Vista/Windows Seven x86/x64, 128Mb to 2Gb RAM their misplaced trust and confidence in me. Any corrections, (depending on your operating system requirements), 900Mb errata, and updates to this manual may be included with free hard drive space, 4Mb video card DirectX compatible subsequent game updates and/or posted in the Forums. (8Mb or more recommended); DirectX compatible sound Any mistakes are mine alone. Clifford Andersen card, DirectX 9.0 or higher. Arsenal of Democracy is a new standalone game based on Paradox Entertainment's award-winning Hearts of Keeping Up To Date Iron II, where you will guide your nation to glorious victory (or ignominious defeat) in the World War II era. Developed Paradox is deeply committed to its customers and in by BL-Logic, a development studio made up by fans of the my experience their product support is almost unparalleled Hearts of Iron series and active members of the modding in the gaming industry. The developers read (and frequently community. Arsenal of Democracy is the ultimate World War participate in) the discussions on the public forums and will II simulation and is described by Project Leader Lennart often implement some of the best player-requested features Berg as “Hearts of Iron II on steroids!” or enhancements post release. They also make minor With several Grand Campaigns, numerous Battle tweaks or alterations to existing features and squish the Scenarios, multiplayer capability, and your choice of the occasional bug that had previously escaped detection. more than 70 playable countries that spanned the globe at Game updates and other information are announced first in under the the time, Arsenal of Democracy will give you hour upon the on-line Forum at www.paradoxplaza.com Arsenal of Democracy heading. hour of challenge and entertainment. This is a highly complex grand strategy game, not a Launching the Game historical simulation or FPS. With AoD's nearly limitless options and exceptional depth comes a comparable learning Click Start> Program Files> Paradox curve. It may take some time to become familiar with its Entertainment> Arsenal of Democracy> Arsenal to launch richness and its multitude of controls, so don't be surprised Arsenal of Democracy. This will open a launcher applet that if your first few campaigns end in disaster. There is no displays news and information. It also allows you you "right" or "wrong" way to play AoD, and no sure way to register the game, check for updates, select a mod to play, win. You'll probably find that the lessons you learn in your and start the game. The opening movie for AoD (and most early defeats will be just as valuable as any that you later Paradox titles for that matter) tends to launch a little more gain through victory. Use those experiences and don't be slowly than some games because Paradox leaves a large afraid to experiment or save the game and then try a number of files in simple text format to make them easily variety of alternatives. modifiable by users who might want to tweak unit values, While the manual will familiarize you with most of write their own events, or even construct new battle the ins and outs of Arsenal of Democracy, the most valuable scenarios on their own. This gives the game immense resource of all is the Paradox public forums. You can usually flexibility, but it also means that those files must be get the answer to any question you might have about the compiled when the game loads. game in a matter of hours (if not minutes), It's also a place Note: you may experience some issues if the Bink where tips and strategies are exchanged, where people Player (a small program used to play the opening movie) from around the world will arrange multiplayer games, does not correctly release resources on your system when it where you can read about others' AoD experiences (or post finishes playing the opening movie. If you suspect that you your own), and where new battle scenarios and user game are experiencing this problem you can easily resolve it by modifications will often be developed. This is also where going to the main folder where you installed AoD and you'll find Paradox's latest post-release enhancements renaming the avi folder to avi_old. This will disable the available for download and a large number of FAQ's and opening movie and take you directly to the Main Menu on other resources. launch. Installation Procedure Registration Why you should register: when you register the Arsenal of Democracy is a digital download only game. Go game you are allowed full access to the Tech Support, Bug to your favorite online game store, register/login, purchase Reports, Multiplayer and User modifications sub-forums and download. If possible make a copy of the file as backup. Registration is also required to install updates! (DSL/Cable with TCP/IP protocol installed) or a connection Getting Started to a Local Area Network (LAN) to play AoD in multiplayer mode. For Beginning Players LAN: This connection is established automatically If you're new to Arsenal of Democracy and Paradox by searching for any hosted games on your LAN. Either click games I would recommend that you begin by reading the "host" or select a detected game and click "join". Game Manual section: Key Concepts, and then work your GameRanger: This technology allows players of way through the tutorial scenarios. These will introduce you AoD and other games to easily connect and interact with to the most important parts of the interface and get you up each other in a friendly environment without the network and running fairly quickly, though they focus mostly on problems usually associated with multiplayer games. "how" to do something, not "why". Once you're more Valkyrienet: This is a service provided at no comfortable and have done a bit of your own charge by Paradox as both a meeting place for players and experimentation you'll probably want to come back to the a connection handler to make it easier to host or join other sections where you will find detailed descriptions of all games. AoD also allows the host to set a password that the controls and some of the underlying strategies and tips. guests must enter to be able to join private games. My best advice would be a mixture of "don't panic" Internet: You will need to enter the IP address of and "be patient". AoD can seem a bit intimidating and the host computer in order to join an Internet game. This complex at first, but once you've played it for a little while can change each time the host connects to the Internet if it you'll find that most aspects of it are quite intuitive. is not a permanent connection. If you are hosting a game Remember that a full grand campaign game is quite long you can determine your IP address by establishing an and that if you rush headlong into battle without preparing Internet connection and then chose Run from your for it, you're likely to be just about as successful as you computer's Start menu. would be if you tried to do it in real life. If you can't find the If you are using Win98 or WinME type winipcfg and answer to a question you have in the manual, don't forget then click OK and make a note of the IP Address and then that you can probably get one almost immediately on (yep, communicate it to your guests (via email, IRC or other you guessed it...) the Paradox public forums. means). If you are using Win2000 or WinXP type cmd and For HoI Players... What's New? then click OK. In the new window that appears type ipconfig. Make a note of the IP address displayed and then If you're a Hearts of Iron vet, then you'll find that communicate it to your guests. AoD builds upon the best aspects of the HoI engine, adds several important new features, incorporates a few big Routers and Firewalls game-play changes, and has undergone some pretty significant interface changes. You may want to simply dive It is common for computers to be "behind" routers in and explore, but I'd recommend that at a minimum you or be protected by firewalls. read the Key Concepts section (and glancing or reading Firewalls: through the entire manual really wouldn't be such a bad multiplayer games use UDP port7768portfor idea). communication. This portneed to beforwarded to The complete "what's new" list is far too long to to host or join a game. Notethat this will resultinlimited present here, but major changes include increased exposure to malicious Internet users and that you do so at resolution and windowed mode freely selectable, a totally your own risk. since there are many different routers on reworked combat mechanic, new missions with realistic Routers: combat behavior and losses, several new technologies, a the market, each with unique software controls, please new espionage interface and reworked espionage system, consult your user manual for details.