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The Political Machine 2008
         DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
	 http://www.PoliticalMachine.com

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Overview
--------

Thank you for buying The Political Machine. This README file
contains information not included in the game's manual.

Be sure to visit the website at http://www.PoliticalMachine.com
updated news and information.


1. Quickstart
	Left-click to select your candidate or operatives.

	Right-click on a target state to move there.

	Build campaign headquarters to research the top issues in a given state,
	raise funds, and increase awareness.

	Create ads tailored to the most important issues in battleground states.

	Use political operatives and endorsements to pump up your campaign and
	counter your opponent.

	Remember: at the end of the campaign, winning is a question of electoral
	math. You need 270 electoral votes to win. Good luck!


2. Hotkeys

-State Action Hotkeys

	1 - Create Ad (unhides the window)
	2 - Campaign Speech
	3 - Raise Funds
	4 - Headquarters
	5 - Special Interest
	6 - State Details
	7 - Player/Opponent Assets
	8 - Weekly News Wrap-Up
	9 - Candidate/Opponent Details
	0 - Zagby Polls

-Map View Hotkeys
	F1 - Normal Mode
	F2 - Awareness
	F3 - Wealth
	F4 - Electoral Votes
	F5 - Polling Data
	F6 - Liberals / Conservatives
	F7 - Popular Vote
	F8 - Political Strategy

-Map Hotkeys
	C        - Select Player's Candidate Icon
	TAB      - Cycle through Assets (Operatives, Ads, Headquarters, ect.)
	Spacebar - Advance to Next Turn

-Screenshots
	PrintScreen - Saves screenshots to User's Documents\Games\PolMachine2008 folder


3. Multiplayer Notes (Broadband Internet connection required)

-Firewall/NAT configuration - port forwarding
 To join a multiplayer game from behind a firewall or NAT, you must
 open UDP port 6012 and forward it to your machine (if applicable).

 When joining a multiplayer game, this port will be used to connect
 you with the other player.

-Firewalls in general
 To join a multiplayer game, you must configure your firewall to
 allow PolMachine2008.exe to access the Internet. Political Machine
 uses UDP port 6000 to connect to its online Lobby for multiplayer games.

 With Windows XP Service Pack 2 or 3, the included Windows Firewall is
 activated by default. You can add an exception for PolMachine.exe
 via Control Panel / Network Connections / Local Area Connection /
 Properties / Advanced / Settings / Exceptions. Use the Add Program...
 and Add Port... buttons to Browse to PolMachine2008.exe and allow
 communication over UDP ports 6000 and 6012.

-Difficulty setting
 As you are not playing against the computer AI, the Difficulty
 setting has no impact on multiplayer games.

-Highscores
 Highscores are not tracked for multiplayer games.

-ESRB Notice
 ESRB Notice: Game Experience May Change During Online Play


4. Windowed mode

-To run PM in a window on your desktop (with a desktop resolution
 of greater than 1024x768), modify the shortcut to load the game to
 have a parameter of 'w'. e.g. "c:\PolMachine2008\PolMachine2008.exe w"

 The Options screen can also be used to toggle this, though you need
 to make sure your resolution is different than your desktop or the
 game will still appear to be full screen.


5. Known issues

-Installing video drivers
 If you experience any graphical problems, please install the latest video
 drivers available for your video card. Especially if the drivers are older
 than 2008.

 Even in our internal testing in May 2008, we've seen issues with drivers as
 recent as February 2008. Updating the drivers corrected the issues.

-Installing sound drivers
 If you experience any sound problems, please install the latest sound
 drivers available for your sound card.

-Installing DirectX

 The Political Machine required DirectX 9.0c to run properly. This is included
 on the CD in the DIRECTX folder or please visit:
	http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/downloads

-Missing fonts in-game

 If your are missing text on buttons in-game, please restart your machine
 so that Windows can recognize the included fonts.

6. Troubleshooting

-Logging
 Political Machine generates a DEBUG.ERR file in your user's
 Documents\Games\PolMachine2008 directory. This information may
 be useful to support in tracing problem reports.


Obligatory information
----------------------

Developed and Published by:
Stardock Corporation
15090 Beck Road - Suite 300
Plymouth, MI 48170 USA
http://www.stardock.com

Stardock is a registered trademark of Stardock
Systems, Inc. The Political Machine is a
trademark of Stardock Entertainment, Inc.

(c) Copyright Stardock Entertainment, Inc. 2004-2008.

All trademarked names mentioned in this document
and SOFTWARE are used for editorial purposes
only, with no intention of infringing upon the
trademarks.

No part of this publication may be reproduced
without written permission from Stardock Entertainment.

All rights reserved.

