Experts: No End in Sight for Oil Crisis rves, while others point to hed a new dwindling rese As the price of crude reac ng cost of extracting remainel yesterday, the increasi line, though, record price of $75.30 a barr ing oil reserves. The bottom telling us that rt from the American Energy a new repo is the same: Companies are dire warnings Production Group issued running out of oil. oil crisis is in we are all here we today that no end to today's Where are we headed? Now the White t, and again called on to ory is any indication. sigh want to be, if hist devastatHouse to act. 1970s Arab embargo was of oil les the by now well- The The report tack Libya raised the price -- that a rap- ing. 5a known reason to the crisis from $4.90 a barrel to $8.2 quickly overnight growing global demand is dle Eastern countries idly eral Mid dly diminish- barrel. Sev to the United outstripping an equally rapi voted to stop supplying oil ing off supply -- by racking up ing world oil es altogether, effectively turn . Last year's Stat ed some remarkable numbers OPEC nations put up a unit rate was the spigot. al worldwide consumption global community on glob the year-by-year front, leaving g price hikes a startling 6 percent on a tenterhooks. The resultin e the tip sales last year were up 4 basis, global car long lines at the pumps wer ent in alterna- and the percent, and global investm erg. The embargo led to for the of the iceb energy sources was down rampant inflation and tive ch of $370 billion one-two pun years for the fourth year in a row, from global recession. It took 2 billion this year. last year to $35 erican economy to recover. blame on Am artificial. The report puts most of the And the 1970s crisis was Middle drying up of oil wells in the stop producing oil for the to ainly partly OPEC chose the goods; East, but Americans are cert political reasons. They had -- their love affair with us. Once responsible, too just didn't want to sell to -- but devel- they oil SUVs continues unabated l storm had passed, the they, too, the politica g countries have found that in. opin aga f. China, in started to flow solved by have a taste for the black stuf fuel its Today's crisis won't be no angry relying on oil to particular, is easement policies. There's app oil expanding economy. this scenario, sitting on an sheik in oil. Everybody, it seems, needs sell his wares. The probto g, supplies well, refusing The oilmen And as demand is growin lem is more fundamental. e. Energy companies have are dwindling. 't sell us what they don't hav dramatically. can See Experts page 3 cut their production quotas Some cite The reasons are varied. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 THE README FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 INSTRUCTION MANUAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 SETUP AND INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 MAIN MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 GAME SET-UP SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 BASIC TRAINING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 BATTLE SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 MOUSE CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 CAMERA MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 YOUR ARMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 YOUR BASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 MONEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 COMBAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 UNIT AND BUILDING REFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 UNIT SPECIAL ABILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 TASK FORCE TALON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 U.S. ARMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 CONSORTIUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 ATARI WEB SITES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 TECHNICAL SUPPORT (U.S. & CANADA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 Experts in Davos Harold Kingman announced will soon month that his company last rs ling in Egypt. TGE enginee begin dril Continued from page 1 ed new technology that, if have develop the market Egyptian oil What little crude there is on successful, will unlock the expenThe energy rves previously thought too selling at usurious prices. is the rese ies deny responsibility for extract. sive to compan other oil , the global In an effort condemned by price inflation. In their view elmed any efforts at conglomerates as predatory pricing, economy has overwh c, it is the cus- TransGlobal is pricing its crude at 10% price controls. By this logi ing price of $75 a rampant demand that is sett below the set commodity tomer's traders are forthright about barrel. TGE the price. e to capture happened to Some may ask, whatever their belief that now is the tim coming of a nomics 101 market share, in anticipation market competition? Eco r explanation oil glut. professors are clear in thei dangers. If competition benefits the This scenario holds its own of how industry y's oil industry is far TransGlobal succeeds in pushing other consumer. But toda market, the 1970s. rgy companies out of the different than it was in it, trans- ene tion disappears -- and with s and acquisitions have competi Merger ketplace. Companies that the built-in market mechanisms that keep formed the mar enormous. prices competitive. were once big are now cal. Today's have resisted But that problem is theoreti Historically, oil companies r piece dation, eager to guard thei is real. crisis consoli has dwindled, of the pie. But as that pie t accepted, and then these companies firs tion policy embraced a merger & acquisi t times. to stay afloat in turbulen as a way one compaThe situation is bleak. But lf as a small ny, TransGlobal, presents itse tunnel. CEO light at the end of the GETTING STARTED THE README FILE The Act of War: Direct ActionTM DVD-ROM game has a ReadMe file that includes the License Agreement and up-to-date information about the game. We strongly encourage you to take the time to read this file in order to benefit from changes made after this manual went to print. To view the ReadMe file, double-click on the ReadMe.txt icon on the Act of War: Direct Action directory found on your hard drive (usually C:\Program Files\Atari\Act of War). You can also view the ReadMe file by clicking on the Start button on your Windows® taskbar, and then select Programs > Atari > Act of War: Direct Action, and click on View ReadMe. 2 3 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Operating System: Processor: Memory: Hard Disk Space: DVD-ROM Drive: Video: Sound: DirectX®: Multiplayer: Windows® 2000/XP Pentium® 4 1.5 GHz or AMD Athlon® 1.5 GHz (Pentium® 4 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon® 2.2 GHz recommended) 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended) 6 GB free 2X Speed or faster 64 MB Hardware T&L video card (128 MB hardware T&L video card recommended)* DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. Broadband Internet connection required for online multiplayer play. MAIN MENU The Main Menu opens automatically when you start the game. Profile: View and manage player profile(s), create new profiles, deleted expired ones, view stats and track records. Operation: Play the Act of War: Direct Action campaign. Engagement: Engage in a skirmish game against AI opponents. Load: Load a previously saved Act of War: Direct Action game. LAN: Create or join a LAN game. Online: Create or join an Internet game via GameSpy. Options: Configure settings for Act of War: Direct Action. Credits: View the game credits. Quit to Windows: Exit Act of War: Direct Action. *Note: Hardware T&L video cards that do not support shaders, such as the GeForce 4 MX and the Intel Extreme Graphics family, are not supported. SETUP AND INSTALLATION 1. Start Windows® 2000/XP. 2. Insert the Act of War: Direct Action game disc into your DVD-ROM drive. 3. If AutoPlay is enabled, a title screen should appear. If AutoPlay is not enabled, or the installation does not start automatically, click on the Start button on your Windows® taskbar, then on Run. Type D:\Setup and click on OK. Note: If your DVD-ROM drive is assigned to a letter other than D, substitute that letter. 4. Follow the remainder of the on-screen instructions to finish installing Act of War: Direct Action. 5. Once installation is complete, click on the Start button on the Windows® taskbar and choose Programs > Atari > Act of War: Direct Action > Act of War: Direct Action to start the game. You can also click on the Act of War: Direct Action icon on your Windows® desktop to start the game. Note: You must have the Act of War: Direct Action disc in your DVD-ROM drive to play. Profile Select Profile from the Main Menu to manage player profiles. Existing profiles are listed on the right side of the screen. Select: Activate the currently selected profile. New: Create a new profile. Delete: Delete the currently selected profile. Cancel: Return to the Main Menu. Edit: Edit the selected profile. Awards: View any awards associated with the selected profile. Installation of DirectX® The Act of War: Direct Action game requires DirectX 9.0c or higher in order to run. If you do not have DirectX® 9.0c or higher installed on your computer, click "Yes" to accept the DirectX® 9.0c License Agreement. This will then launch the DirectX® 9.0c Install. ® Operation (Single-player) Select Operations from the Main Menu to play the Act of War: Direct Action campaign. New Campaign: Start a new single-player campaign. Chapter Selection: Enter a selected chapter. Note: As with a book or a DVD, you can enjoy the chapters in Act of War: Direct Action in any order you wish, but playing the single-player campaign out of order might ruin the campaign story for you. 4 5 Continue Campaign: Load the last Autosaved game. Cancel: Return to the Main Menu. LAN (Multiplayer) Select LAN from the Main Menu to start or join a local area network game. Create: Create a new LAN game ­ clicking here will take you to the Game Set-up Screen, where you can decide the number of opponents, teams, map and difficulty level for AI opponents (see "Game Set-up Screen" on page 10). Join: Join an already created LAN game. Refresh List: Refresh the list containing all available LAN games. Difficulty Levels Each time you launch a new Chapter of the single-player campaign, you have the possibility to set your difficulty level: Standard (for most players), Advanced (for experienced players) and Expert (for experienced Act of War: Direct Action players). You can also change the difficulty level at any time in the Pause Menu. Changes in difficulty level only affect the currently active player profile. Chapter Selection Launch: Select the chapter you wish to play by clicking on its video icon and then click on "Launch" to start (or double-click the video icon). To move to another set of chapters, click on "18," "9-16," etc. Cancel: Return to the Main Menu. Cancel: Return to the Main Menu. Getting Started in Engagement and Multiplayer Mode With practice, you'll soon figure out the best way to defeat opponents in the Engagement and Multiplayer modes. Here are some helpful tips to get you started: 1. Build a Refinery ­ For reliable, steady cash flow, build a Refinery close to an (existing) Oil Derrick. Build two additional Tankers to increase oil extraction speed. 2. Build a Barracks ­ Recruit some ground units to scout the surroundings and protect your base. 3. Build Defense or Offense ­ Make the important early decision to either attack opponents immediately with light troops or to first build a strong defense to protect against a rapid enemy attack. 4. Cash or Conquest ­ Decide whether to capture additional oil wells or assault an opponent. Engagement (Single-player) Engagement is the single-player skirmish mode, where you can practice against the AI. Clicking here will take you to the Game Set-up Screen ...