in a friendly city, but there are no refunds for removing more expensive kit. Army units will appear as coloured flags when based in a city (yellow for player controlled units, red for other units). Horse image represents one cavalry unit and an image of a man represents one infantry unit. Moving the mouse over the image will give information about the number of soldiers and where it was raised. When a unit is crossing over water, a Trireme image is shown. World Map The world map is a 3D world, with mountains, grassland, forests and oceans. It is also populated with cities of the player's realm and of their rivals. As the game happens in real-time, a handy 'message board' informs the player of their army movements, famine and disease warnings, and alerts regarding sieges of their cities and the cities they are attacking. Army movements can be tracked on the map using the mouse or the keypad. Unit speed is based on the type of unit (as cavalry are faster) and the amount of armour on the soldiers (lighter units move faster). An overview map allows trade routes to be adjusted. Trade routes are important to collect tax revenues and keep control of the player's cities. Attacking and defending The objective of each mission is to conquer all of the cities on the map. Capturing an enemy city involves laying siege to it, by sending an army to attack it. Most cities will be defended by an army, which will cause a battle to occur. The player can organise their armies formation and can maneuver them before the battle begins. Armies with bows can fire a set number of arrows at the enemy to reduce their numbers, but the bowmen's range depends on the race. When morale or troop numbers for one side fall sufficiently, that side loses the battles and the troops retreat. A player can order a retreat, but this has a bad effect on the army's morale. Depending on grain levels, morale and whether a city has walls, a city can take a while to fall to a siege. When a city falls, it can be sacked, razed to the ground or captured. If the player captures a city with a different race from their own, they can raise army units with that race, enabling specialised armies to be created in the later stages of