POPULOUS THE BEGINNING

A bit information about the Game,

Populous the Beginning is a 3D strategy god game , devoloped  by bullfrog productions in 1998. It was the third and last game in the populous serie. Unlike the other games where you play the god, you now control the shaman, who is the leader of your tribe. The shaman must lead her tribe through a universe of 25 planets. But shes not alone, she have enemies! There are a total number of 3 enemy tribes: The Matak tribe (green), The Chumara tribe (yellow) and The Dakini tribe (red). To move from one planet to another the shaman must defeat all enemy tribes on it. Luckily the shaman doesnt have to do every thing on her own. She got followers. Those followers are called braves. The braves can build huts which produces mana for the shaman. Mana is used to create spells. Braves can build training huts and be trained into special units. Each unit (troop) have its own special abillity. The shaman can order her followers to build large bases and huge forces to destroy the enemy. The hostile tribes dont only attack your tribe. Luckily they also attack each other from time to time. But most you the the You are the victim. Lets now take a closer look at the enemy tribes, the buildings, the followers and the spells.

Enemy Tribes: 

 As i alraedy said there are 3 enemy tribers, the matak, the chumara and the dakini. Each tribe plays in a differnt color. That means that each tribe wear differnt clothes. Lets take a closer look at each of them.

The Dakini is maybe the most feared tribe in populous the beginning. They are agressiv and most of the time to strongest tribe too. The Dakini are very dominating in Populous The Beginning. The dakini is the red tribe, the Shaman wears a red mask. This is how she  looks Like

The Matak is in my way the weakest tribe. They are often settled on their own on islands far away from the other tribes. But sometimes they strike with deadly attacks. They are very sneaky. The matak is the green tribe, the Shaman wears a green mask. This is how she looks like

The Chumara is something between the Dakini and the Matak. They are most of the time fair placed on the levels. But sometimes they are the dominated tribe. They like to use balloons and on some levels they are just as strong as the DAkini. The Chumara is the yellow tribe, the shaman wears a yellow mask. This is how she looks like

The Shaman is able to charge and use spells. Each spell haev a different effect. Some are destructive and some are more peacefull. 

Spells:

The shaman is able to charge 16 regular spells, 3 guest spells and 1 extra multiplayer spell.

Regular spells:

Blast : Creates a fireball. Used to kill enemy shamans and followers. Can also slowly destroy enemy buildings.

Convert: Cast this spell on a wildman, there will be created a ring. The wildman will be converted into a brave.

Swarm: Creates a swarm of bees. Followers cant take this and will start running around and screaming. Good against attacking firewarrior or anoying warriors.

Lightning bolt: A very daedly spell. If a follower get hit by a lightning it will die. This is most used on Shamans.

Invisibility: Wil make your follower invisible for the enemy for a little while. Cant be used on your shaman.

Hypnotize: This will hypnotise enemy followers and will make them yours for like 1 minute. A good tip is to train hypnotized followers. Then they will be yours permantly.

Swamp: This spell creates a deathy swamp. A follower will drown when he walks in it. Each swamp can kill 10 followers. Then it will dissapears,

Magic Shield: Creates a shield around followers. The follower now cant be hit by spells. (Hypnotize does still work, and they cant walk through a swamp either) They can still be killed in fights,

Landbrigde: Creates a stripe of land. Usefull to connect pieces of land or hills.

Flatten: Flattens the land, can also raise or sink land.

Tornado: Creates a whirwind which swallows everthing on its way.

Firestorm: Creates a storm of fire. Buildings will burn down when hit by this spells. Followers get on fire by this spell.

Erode: Used to erode hills or to make water.

Earthquake: A very dangerous spell. Creates random holes in mountains or hills. Can also create pools of water. The shaking effect can destroy buildings.

Volcano: The most Deathly spell in the game. A volcano explodes when this spell is used.

Angel of death: A flying creature which eats every enemy follower. Can be killed by firewarriors or another angel of death.

Guest Spells:

Guest spells can be turned on in multy player games. Those spells are rare in the single player mode.

Armageddon: Creates a large arena. All followers from each tribe will be teleported into this arena and fight til they die. Only one tribe can win.

Teleport: This spell can teleport the shaman to any point on the map. Usefull for surprise attacks.

Bloodlust: This spell gives the followers used on a rage attack. They will get red pricks around their head and will run very fast. They will also become very strong. Firewarriors can shoot faster and preachers can convert faster.

 That were the spells. But what is a shaman without a large base? Each shaman should have a large base to controll. Each building is special and have its own function. Lets begin with the buildings and then ill tell you about each of the followers later.

Buildings

Each building have is own special ability.

Huts: Huts are the building bricks of each base. Without huts you wont get much mana. Hut produce braves which can build other huts and training huts. There are 3 stadium in a hut:

The small hut.  

 Can house 3 followers.

The Medium Hut 

 Can house 4 members.

The Large hut

 Can house 5 members.

 
Guard Tower

 Gives the shaman a longer spell range. Firewarrios can also shoot fireballs to a long distance. When an enemy follower get spot by one of your followers who is in the guard tower, will it make BOING sound.

 
Spy training Hut 

  Here followers can be trained to spies. Spies are usefull to set enemy buildings on fire. A spy can change colors. It can look like one of the enemy followers while its you who controll it.

 
FireWarrior Training hut

 Here followers can be trained to Firewarriors. Firewarriors are usefull to guard enemy lines and hills. They are maybe the weakest followers. They cant take much combat fighting.

Warrior training hut

 Warriors are the most strongest units in populous. They are agressive fighters which can be deadly in large numbers. They can be trained in this hut.

Temple

 Preachers can be trained here. They are very good followers. They can convert enemy troops to your tribe. A preacher will preach the enemy troops will fall in a trance, and after a while they will become your followers.

 
Boat House

 Boats are usefull for sea attacks ofcourse. Swarm can make followers jump over board.Can only be used on water.

Balloon hut

 Balloons can be build. Balloons are the most usefull vehicles. They can lift 2 followers at the time.

 The building panel.     The spell panel.       The follower panel

FOLLOWERS

Each tribe also have followers. Followers are nice little men helping the shaman to win battles and creating large bases and armies. Each follower is special and they all have their own so called 'speciall ability'. My favourite Follower is the Preacher. I'm now going to tell a little bit about each of these nice little guys and you will soon find out why I like the preacer the most.

The Brave:

The brave is the basic follower in each game. You use him as a tool to create huts and other buildings. Braves do all the building work, they are the only follower who is able to build so be carefull that you dont have them all killed. The brave is in my opinion also the main sorce of mana. Mana is used to create spells. Braves can be trained into special units. These units all have their cool abilities.

The Spy:

The Spy is a very cool follower, but is not used very much. As you know, an enemy Dakini brave wears a red dress. A spy is able to change the color on his dress and will make it look like hes one of the Dakini braves. And now comes the funny part of a spy. A spy can set buildings on fire! Yes, but watch out... if there is an enemy spy in a guard tower or another building, will your spy be discovered and most possible be killed by enemy troops.

The Warrior:

The warrior is the strongest unit in Populous the beginning. They are armed with sword and shield. These furious warriors are often used in large number attacks to knock out entire bases. If you get attacked by around.. lets say 40 warriors, there isnt much you can do. Unless you have lots of firewarriors surrounding them. Preachers are also usefull against warriors. Warriors are also used as guards.

The FireWarrior:

This guy is dangerous! He can throw fire!!!! A firewarrior is trained in the Firewarrior Training hut. They are possibly the weakest unit, but in large numbers they are almost unbeatable. You should use them to defend hills, gaps and ofcourse your base. These fireshooting guys should be placed in towers and in the front huts in your base.

The Preacher:

Finally.. We came to my favourite unit, The Preacher! This religious follower is trained in a Temple. The special thing with a preacher is that they can convert other followers. If a preacher starts preaching the enemy attackers will fall in some sort of trance. They sit down on the ground and wont attack anymore.. But when the preacher get intruded he will stop preaching and the enemy attackers will kill him. This follower can also fight in hand to hand combat battles! He uses his bible to hit enemy followers on their head! A very good ability.