Introduction

Cities Of Faith is an online multiplayer strategy game. When you connect online to the Cities Of Faith server, there are a number of games simultaneously running. These games are called worlds. In each world you play multiplayer against other online players all over the world. You are able to join multiple worlds, so you are basicly playing multiple games at the same time. Each world is different from the others in various ways, continue reading below...

Interface

The entire COF interface will be explained in two capital sections: the main interface and the game interface.

Main interface

Login window

The first thing you encounter when starting up the COF application is the login window, you are required to fill in the correct username and password you received when registering.

World selection window

When logged in, you get a list of all worlds currently active. For more information about worlds, see the World section. Select the world you want to play in and click enter.

Menu bar

At the top of your screen is the menu bar, by accessing the menu bar you can logout, open the communications window, the chat window, the music player. By accessing the menu bar you can exit the world, open the world information, world news, diplomacy and technology windows.

Game interface

The game interface is the collection of components accessible after entering a world. All components have been marked on this figure.

Map

The map is the graphical representation of the world that fills up the most part of your screen. The map is entirely built out of hexagonal tiles, so each tile has six adjacent neighbours. A special property of the map is that it is actually a sphere, it has no beginning or end, much like the earth. The map can be scrolled in eight different directions by using the scroll buttons on the screen or by using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Minimap

The minimap is an extremely powerful tool in getting a complete overview of the map. It is a miniature representation of the map. The rectangle on the minimap shows your current view on the map. By accessing the buttons in below of the minimap you can enable or disable whether parties, settlements or territory gets displayed on the minimap. By clicking on the minimap you can move the location of your view on the map.

Tile information

When clicking on the map, you can select a tile. When selecting a tile, basic information about it is being displayed below the minimap. This information involves the tile's coordinate, the owner of this piece of territory, the tile's movecost and whether there are natural resources (see the Natural resource section).

Party and settlement access panel

On the left side of the minimap is the party and settlement access panel. If you select a tile with a settlement on it, this settlement is displayed on the left side of the access panel, more information about accessing a settlement is available in the Settlement section. If you select a tile with parties on it, these parties will be displayed on the right side of the access panel, more information is available in the Parties section.

Time bar

At the very bottom of your screen is the time bar, at the right side of the time bar you are kept updated when the next dawn (=turn) will arrive.

Worlds

What is a world?

A world is the virtual reality in which a game runs. If you are online or not, the game continues independently. A number of other players are playing in the same world as you are in, and you can interact with them in numerous ways. A world defines both the physical and temporal layout of a game. This means that first of all every world has a map, where land and sea make up the continents. Next to this physical layout is the fact that every world contains different sets of cultures, which are situated in a certain period of time. If this time period is, lets say, the ancient times, then there will be cultures like the Roman culture, the Greek culture, etc. One of the base concepts of COF is that there are multiple worlds simultaneously running and that you can be active in multiple worlds as well. So when one world has finished, you might be already playing in a number of others. There is no limitation on the amount of worlds you are allowed to join.

Joining a world

When logged in, a list opens up with all currently active worlds. If the world is not yet full, and you have not joined it yet, you can select the world in the list and click the register button. If the world has already started, you can�immediately�start playing, otherwise you will be informed by email when the world starts.

When joining a world it will ask for two things, the name of your first settlement and your culture. You can chose the culture from the list.

Goal

Now one of the most important questions: how do you win the game? Every world has a set of conditions to achieve victory. Their can be multiple ones within one world. To check which ones have been enabled, you can simply click the world info button.

When you or your alliance is victorious, an honorary title is added to your username. This way, people get to know the reputation you have built.

Territory victory:

You achieve a personal territory victory when the percentage of territory on the map you occupy is greater than the personal territory victory percentage. You achieve an alliance territory victory when the percentage of territory on the map your alliance occupies is greater than the alliance territory victory percentage.

Cultural victory:

You achieve a cultural victory when the amount of gathered culture points of all your settlements is greater than the personal cultural victory amount. You achieve a cultural alliance victory when the amount of gathered culture points of all settlements within the alliance is greater than the alliance cultural victory amount.

Survival victory:

If you or your alliance are the sole survivors, then you or your alliance are victorious.

Wonder victory:

A wonder is a special kind of settlement, some parties have the ability to construct it. When a wonder has been constructed, you or your alliance achieve a wonder victory when you are able to stay in control of the settlement for the number of dawns specified. When you are able to capture a wonder, the amount of dawns you have to defend it are reset.

Turn based multiplayer

Within a world, you play with or against other players like yourself. COF is entirely multiplayer, you only play against other human players, there are no computer players involved. Turn based means that every dawn (=turn) your workers get paid, the population receives its food, the farms and mines produce resources, units get trained, etc. The time between two dawns is world specific.

Cultures

Every world has a set of cultures within. Each culture has its own units, parties, settlements, buildings, technology,... Beside that some general economic properties vary among different cultures: tax-rates, the amount of resources your workers get, the amount of food a citizen needs every dawn, how fast technology is being researched, etc.

Settlements

A settlement is the main strategic element within COF. It provides in the ability to control certain regions on the map because it is the basis for both military, economic and diplomatic power.

You can manage your own settlements by either double clicking a settlement or by selecting it and clicking the enter button. The settlement interface will open, here you can construct new buildings, train units, dispatch parties, manage your farms and mines, check out the settlements economic status and read the news reports.

Territory

Each settlement has territory belonging to it. That territory is indicated by the coloured border lines surrounding it. The territory around your settlement grows faster with more culture as more time passes. New territory can only be acquired by building new settlements, expanding existing ones or by conquering enemy settlements.

Population

Basis for a smooth working settlement are the people. Every settlement has citizens living in it. Starting with a population minimum, the amount of people living in your settlement grows automatically every dawn, if there is enough food and housing capacity. If the housing capacity of your settlement has reached a maximum, than the settlements population cannot exceed this maximum. The amount of food each citizen requires is culture specific. If there is a food shortage, the possibility exists that after a while people start leaving, and thus your population will decline.

Some of your citizens have a job within the settlement, they are called workers. When putting people to work in farms or mines (see the Resource section) or in the construction of buildings (see the Buildings section), these citizens now become workers. As your settlement grows bigger, your economic power grows bigger with it.

Resources

Each settlement has its own stock of resources. Depending on the world you are in, the types of resources can vary, the most basic resources are food, wood, stone, silver, iron. Resources are required in the construction of buildings, the training of units, the dispatching of parties.

You can gain more resources by constructing farms or mines within a settlement that can exploit a resource. A stonemine for example will increase the amount of stone you receive each dawn. Once you constructed such a building, the building needs workers to produce its resources. When you have the settlement interface open, you can click on the farms and mines button. In the panel that now opens you can manage the amount of workers assigned to produce resources. If you increase the amount of workers on a farm or mine, this will increase the amount of resources produced each dawn. However, adding more workers is not free of charge, each worker needs to get paid. The type and amount of payment for a worker are culture specific.

Natural resources

Some locations on the map contain natural resources. If your settlement is on top of a natural resource, the production of this resource gets doubled when constructing economical buildings that exploit the same type of resource, .

Economy

By clicking the economics button you get an overview of the inflow and outflow of all resources within your settlement.

Buildings

Constructing new buildings is a necessity for your settlement to grow more powerful. New buildings can increase the maximum number of people living in your city, increase the maximum amount of garrisoned units, improve technological research, enable the training of new units or parties, produce more resources.

Civilian buildings

Each settlement has a limited housing capacity. To increase the maximum amount of people that can live in your settlement, you can construct new civilian buildings, such as houses. The amount by which it is increased is building specific.

Military buildings

Units that are garrisoned within the settlement need a place to stay, they find shelter in military buildings. Training new units is only possible as long as there is room for them within the garrison's housing facilities. Constructing new buildings of this kind increases this limit by an amount that is specific for each building.

Economical buildings

Economical buildings have the ability to produce new resources each dawn. When the building is finished, workers can be put to work in them to produce these new resources. The kind of resource produced, and the amount of produced resource per worker is building specific. For more information regarding resources, check out the Resource section.

Research points

Some buildings have research capabilties, for researching technology, having research capabilties means producing a nonzero amount of research points. Only certain types of settlements can construct such buildings.

Culture points

Depending on the kind of building, each dawn a building adds an amount of culture points to the settlement. Having more culture within your settlement increases its territory with time or helps in achieving a cultural victory.

Constructing new buildings

When opening the constructions panel, you can construct new buildings. Each building requires an amount of time and resources which are building specific. When the construction for your new building has started, you need to assign workers to it. This is explained below.

Managing ongoing constructions

In the construction management panel you can change the amount of workers assigned to the construction of your buildings. More workers assigned means that the construction will progress faster, but remember that these workers need payment.

Building overview

To get an overview on the kind and amount of buildings present in your settlement, you can open the building overview panel.

Training units

Units can only be trained within a settlement. Each unit you want trained requires one available citizen. When his training starts, the citizen leaves his civilian house and gets shelter in the military housing facilities of the settlement. For each trained unit an amount of resources is required. Next to resources, the training of units might require the construction of certain buildings and/or the research of technology. You can add new trainings in the unit training panel and you can manage ongoing trainings in the training management panel.

Dispatching parties

Dispatching parties means that you assemble a group of units that will have the ability to walk around on the map. By opening the dispatch panel, you can select what type of party you want to dispatch, select which garrisoned units will serve within the party and select what resources the party will take with it. When the party is dispatched, it is located on top of your settlement. For more information about parties, check out the Party section.

News reports

In your settlement news reports panel you are informed of all settlement related events, such as finished trainings or buildings, the increase or decrease of your population,...

Capital

Among all your settlements only one settlement at a time can be the capital. When entering the world, the capital is automatically at the center of your screen. Changing the capital can be done by selecting the settlement, clicking the settlement settings button, and selecting 'Capital'.

Protection mode

A settlement cannot be attacked by other players for aslong as the settlement is under protection mode. Nobody but your own parties are allowed on top of the settlement. The first settlement you have is always under protection mode for a minimum of 24 dawns. If the game was already in progress when you joined, your protection mode will be extended. The maximum protection mode duration is 120 dawns. All other settlements created or conquered during the game do not have protection mode enabled.

Creating new settlements

When dispatching parties, some parties have the ability to create a new settlement when walking on the map. If you have such a party walking around, you can create a new settlement on the location where the party is at by clicking the party's settings button, and selecting the kind of settlement you want to create.

Technology

The properties of buildings, parties, units, settlements and cultures can be upgraded by researching technology. Researching technology can be done in the technology panel. You can see the specific properties of a technology by moving the mouse over it.

For each culture, there is a technology tree, according to your settlement's culture, the tree is displayed. Researching technology costs resources and takes time, each technology requires an amount of research points. Each dawn, the settlement add its research points to the technology being researched. Each settlement can only research one technology at a time, so building more settlements with research facilities will speed up research, since they can research multiple technologies. The settlement's research points you receive each dawn can be increased by constructing buildings in your settlements that stimulate technology research, more about that in the research points section.

Trading

Within a world, you have the possibility to trade resources with other players. Beside the possibility for an insecure trade on the map by dropping/taking resources, there are places on the map called trade markets that offer a secure infrastructure for trading.

Trade markets

Trade markets are neutral settlements on the map that offer you the possibility to setup a resource trade with another player. Neutral means that these trade markets belong to nobody, they cannot be captured either. The trade market is surrounded by neutral territory, which is coloured cyan, only non military parties can enter this neutral zone, which is a guarantee that no party can be attacked within it.

Entering the trade market

Before you are able to access any of the options a trade market has to offer, you need to get to the trade market first. From the moment you have a non military party on top of the trade market, you are able to access and enter the trade market just as any other settlement you own. Simply double click it, or click the trade market's enter button.

Setting up a market

In order to trade goods with anybody, you need to setup your own market within the trade market. When you have the trade market window open and this is the first time you visit the trade market, you can create your own market by entering the market's name you desire and clicking the create button. From this moment on, you can open the trade market window even if there are no non-military parties on top.

Adding resources

In order for you to trade resources, you first need resources to trade off course. You can add resources to your market by transporting them towards the trade market within a party. For example, you can dispatch a trading party carrying some resources from a nearby settlement of yours and then move towards the trade market. When this party has arrived on top of the trademarket, you can simply transfer these resources by pressing the party's settings button and clicking 'Transfer resources with market'. You can decide the kind and amount of resources you want to transfer. When this is done, you now have some resources to trade within your market.

Proposing a trade offer

When opening your market's panel you can select the kind and amount of resource you want to trade for the kind and amount of any other resource, press the button to confirm. Now your trade offer is added to the list of trade offers within the trade market. Now it is time to wait until your offer is accepted. It is obvious that nobody will accept outrageous offers.

Accepting a trade offer

When browsing through the markets panel, you get a list of all trade offers. If you like a particular offer and you have the requested resources, you can accept the offer by selecting it and then clicking the accept trade offer button. Resources are exchanged immediately.

Exporting resources

There comes a point when you want to export the resources from your market to the outside world, a settlement for example. Since the trade market is neutral ground, your resources and parties are perfectly safe, and nobody can steal or harm them. Getting the resources out is the reverse of getting them in the trade market, select the party you want to transport it with, press the party's settings button, select 'Transfer resources with market'. Now your party can walk out of the neutral zone and head to whatever destination you had planned for it.

Hint: In order to protect your non-military parties going in and out the trade market, you could maybe escort them with some military parties in order to guard the resources they transport.

Parties

A party is a collection of units that have the ability to move around on the map. Moving your parties around on the map is very straightforward:

1. Click on the tile on the map where your party is at.
2. At the bottom of your screen, the parties on that tile are being displayed.
3. Press the move button of the party you want to move (it is possible to move multiple parties at once).
4. Small feet appear around your party, these indicate the locations where you can move your party towards
5. When you click such a location, it shows the route your party will take, when you press again to confirm, your party moves over there.
6. If at any point you want to cancel your move action, simply right-click the mouse.

Moving your party is not free of charge. Each party has a number of movepoints, for every tile you travel, the tile's movecost is�subtracted�from your party's movepoints. Every dawn, the number of movepoints is restored to its maximum value. The tile's movecost depends on the surface and the kind of natural obstacles, like trees and mountains, if these are present.

As mentioned earlier, a party can contain a number of units. The amount and kind of units is party specific. To see what units a party contains, select the party, click on the unit button. The different kinds of units the party contains now pop up.

Some parties have the ability to carry other parties, for example, ships can transport other parties. To see what parties are being carried, select the party, click on the party button. The parties that are being transported now pop up. If there are multiple parties present on one tile, it is possible to move your party in or out another party, this can be done by clicking the party's settings button and then selecting 'relocate party'. No movepoints are lost in such an action.

All parties have the ability to carry resources. This is extremely important if you want to transport resources from one settlement to the other. The maximum amount of resources being carried is party specific. In the case your party is killed in battle, the resources are dropped on the map, and everybody will be able to try and take some of it. You can transfer resources between a settlement and a party, between a tile and a party or between a trademarket and a party (see the Trade section). To open the transfer interface, click the party's settings button, and select the kind of transfer you want to initiate.

Each party has five combat skills: attack, ranged attack, damage, ranged damage and defense. These skills and there uses are explained in detail in the Combat mechanics section.

Some parties have the ability to create new settlements, this has already been mentioned in this section.

Units

As mentioned earlier, units are the base elements within parties. Like parties, units have five combat skills: attack, ranged attack, damage, ranged damage and defense. The combat properties of both parties and units are explained in detail in the combat mechanics section.

Units serving in parties

When dispatching a party, you can add different kinds and different amounts of units to the party. It is evident that the strength of a party grows as more units are added.

To see what units a party contains, select the party, click on the unit button. The different kinds of units the party contains now pop up.

It is possible to move units from one party to the other. To do this, select the party, click on the unit button, click on the unit settings button, click on 'Relocate to different party'. A window then pops up that gives you the opportunity to transfer the desired amount of units to the party you want.

It is also possible to transfer units from a party to a settlement. To do this, select the party, click on the unit button, click on the unit settings button, click on 'Relocate to settlement'. A window then pops up that gives you the opportunity to transfer the desired amount of units to the settlement the party is on.

You can also split a group of units. To do this, select the party, click on the unit button, click on the unit settings button, click on 'Split unit'. You can then chose the size of the splitted groups.

If there are multiple groups of the same kind of units within a party, it is possible to merge all these groups into one group. To do this, select the party, click on the unit button, click on the unit's settings button, click on 'Merge units'.

Units serving in settlements

When units have finished training, they are�automatically�added to the settlement's garrison. The units present in a settlement will aid in its defense in case it is being attacked. These units get support of the settlement's military infrastructure (check the Combat mechanics section for details).

Units serving in settlements can be splitted and merged same as units serving in parties.

It is possible to transfer units from a settlement to an already existing party, if this party is on top of the settlement. To do this, select the settlement, click on the unit button, click on the unit's settings button, click on 'Relocate to party'. A window then pops up that gives you the opportunity to transfer the desired amount of units to the party you desire.

Combat mechanics

Attacking

When at war, you have the ability to capture enemy settlements and/or destroy enemy troops. To attack a tile, and thus the enemy parties and/or settlement on it, the attacking party needs to be located on a tile adjacent to the tile you are about to attack. To initiate the attack, simply move your party over there, the battle will automatically commence.

When attacking either party or settlement, all diplomatic related parties and settlements surrounding the location under attack will be involved in battle. Diplomatic related means that these are parties/settlements belonging to either you or the enemy or belonging to players you or the enemy are allied with. If a tile on the map has allied parties on it, and this tile is under attack, all these parties are obliged to enter battle, but if the tile is only next to the tile being under attack, only the parties that are on alliance duty will enter battle. Following figure explains all possible situations.

Allied attack

It is clear that by surrounding enemy parties/settlement with an army consisting of both your own troops and allied troops, you have a strategic advantage. Being in an alliance means that beside political power, you have the opportunity to create a powerful military strike force. You and your allies can help each other in the attack and defense of both settlements, parties and territory.

Alliance duty

You can enable alliance duty by clicking the party's settings button and selecting 'alliance duty'. When your party is on alliance duty, it will assist in the battle when one of your allies is attacking/under attack in an adjacent tile. Alliance duty is disabled by default.

The battle

When the battle is started, all groups of units both present in parties and settlements start fighting each other. Depending on which kind of party or settlement a group of units comes from, the combat properties of this group of units changes, which is explained below.

Party combat properties

The overall attack for a unit serving in a party is the sum of the unit's attack and the party's attack. The maximum value of attack for a unit or party alone is 50, so the maximum overall attack value is 100. The same applies for ranged attack, damage, ranged damage and defense. When inspecting a unit serving in a party, by clicking the unit's settings button and then selecting 'Inspect unit', you can see both the overall and specific combat values for this unit.

Settlement combat properties

The overall attack for a unit serving in a settlement is the sum of the unit's attack and the settlement's attack. The maximum value of attack for a unit or settlement alone is 50, so the maximum overall attack value is 100. The same applies for ranged attack, damage, ranged damage and defense. When inspecting a unit serving in a settlement, by clicking the unit's settings button and then selecting 'Inspect unit', you can see both the overall and specific combat values for this unit.

Attack and defense

The percent change of success is based upon comparing the attacking unit's attack stat with the defending unit's defense stat. The attack stat is calculated by multiplying the value for attack for this unit with the unit's size. The same applies for the defense stat. If these stats would be exactly the same, the percent change for a successful attack is 50%. Every difference between the two stats influences this percentage accordingly. The minimum chance for a successful attack is 5% and the maximum chance is 95%. This means that, although you maybe have one very powerful unit, it would be powerless against an army of a hundred.

Ranged attack

Units with ranged capabilities such as archers have ranged attack. At the start of a battle, ranged units have a strategical advantage, because they can attack from a distant. The way ranged attack and the defense against it are calculated is exactly the same as described in previous section.

Damage

If an attack is successful, the amount of damage that will be done to an enemy unit is calculated. A random damage percentage is calculated that is between 1 and the unit's damage value. This random damage percentage is then multiplied by the unit's size, and this number gives the amount of enemy units that will be killed.

Ranged damage

If a unit attacks ranged, the ranged damage value will be used to calculate the amount of enemy units killed, as described in previous section.

Battle outcome

Party vs party

When the battle is over, some units could have been killed and it is even possible that the entire party is destroyed. When a party has suffered a large amount of casualties, it is possible that it has retreated from battle, to an adjacent location.

Party vs settlement

When the defending settlement has all its units killed, and all defending parties on top of the settlement have been killed as well, control over the settlement will be given to the attacker. In case a settlement is under attack, all defending parties will fight till the end, retreating is not possible.

Battle report

At the end of each battle, you get a detailed graphical report of what has happened. You are informed about the battle outcome, casualties, survivors, retreated parties,...

Diplomacy

Between two players in one world there are five different diplomatic statuses possible. Each status has its own restrictions on the movement of parties and the level of interaction with the other player. These statuses are: war, non-attack-agreement, peace, right of passage, alliance. To see what diplomatic proposals are incoming and outgoing, open the Diplomacy window, which can be accessed through the world menu in the menu bar.

Diplomatic colors

On the map, the other player's territory and parties have been colored according to the diplomatic status you have with the other player. The colours have following meaning:

• blue: your parties or territory
• red: war
• black: non-attack-agreement
• green: peace, extended peace
• yellow: right of passage
• white: alliance

War

When at war with another player, you can move freely through the other player's territory. When moving to a tile where there is either a settlement or a party owned by the other player, a battle will occur. When at war, you can always request a non-attack-agreement with the other player. When at war, you can request for peace if you have no troops within the other player's territory.

Non-attack-agreement (NAA)

When you have a non-attack-agreement with another player, you agree to seize hostilities for the time being. In most cases, a NAA is an intermediate stage towards peace, because a NAA gives you the opportunity to safely move both his and your troops outside each others territory. When having a NAA, you can always declare war with the other player. When having a NAA, you can request for peace if you have no troops within the other player's territory.

Peace

All players are at peace with each other by default. Peace means that you are not allowed within the other players territory, also, you cannot move parties to a location already occupied by the other player's parties. When at peace, you can always declare war with the other player. When at peace, you can always request for a right of passage with the other player.

Right of passage (ROP)

When having a right of passage with another player, you are able to move through the other players territory. However you cannot share a tile with the other player that is already occupied by a party or settlement. When having a ROP, you can always declare war with the other player. When having a ROP, you can return to peace, if all troops have left the other person's territory.

Alliance

An alliance is the most honourable form of interaction between players. It is the embodiment of the cities of faith base concept. When you are in alliance with another player, you are able to walk through each others territory, you are able to share a tile occupied by the other player's parties AND you are able to share a tile occupied by the other player's settlement. This way, you can help defending each others settlement. Different from other diplomatic statuses, is the fact that an alliance is a bond between a group of people, not just two. Now how do you get into an alliance? There are two possibilities, you can either create your own alliance or you can try to join an existing one.

Creating an alliance

If you have the diplomacy window open, click on the alliance tab. Enter the name of your new alliance and confirm, your alliance has now been created. You are the alliance leader. The alliance leader has the power to grant/deny alliance membership. The alliance leader can kick existing alliance members. Last but not least, the alliance leader can assign a secretary general for the alliance. In the event the leader dies, the secretary general becomes the new leader.

Joining an alliance

If you haven't already joined an alliance, you can apply for membership within an alliance. You can to this by opening the alliance tab, selecting the alliance you want to join from the list and click on the request to join button.

Regardless what diplomatic status you are in, you can always request to join an alliance or create your own, but you can only be in one alliance at a time. At any time you are free to leave or disband the alliance. The maximum member size of an alliance is world specific.

Special case: Extended peace

When leaving an alliance, the possibility exists that you are sharing a tile with a former alliance member. When this is the case, you are put in extended peace with this other player. This status allows only to leave the other players territory, but not to enter it. When being at extended peace, you can always declare war with the other player. When being at extended peace, you can return to peace, if all troops have left the other person's territory.

Java

Cities Of Faith is entirely written in Java. Java is a platform independent technology, which means that as long as you have Java 1.6.0 (or higher) installed, you can play the game on either Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and others.

System requirements

Cities Of Faith is guaranteed to run smoothly on a computer with following minimum requirements:

• Java 1.6.0 or higher
• 256 MB RAM
• 800 MHz CPU
• 32 MB graphics card
• 800x600 pixels minimum screen resolution
• Windows/Mac/Linux/Solaris/...
• Stable connection with the Internet

Launching the game

When surfing to the play-web page on the cities-of-faith.com website, there are two ways of launching the game; automatic and manual launch.

Automatic launch (using Java Web Start)

The automatic launch of the game requires Java Web Start being installed on your computer. Normally, Java Web Start is present on your computer when you have Java 1.6.0. When clicking the play button, Java Web Start starts up, by which the game is automatically downloaded and launched on your computer. You can start playing right away.

When clicking the play button, some browsers require that you save the Java Web Start-file called 'client.jnlp' on your computer. After saving the file on your computer, simply double click it, and the game will launch. If this has no effect, it is highly probable that you do not have Java Web Start installed and you can then try the manual launch, explained below.

Manual launch

When experiencing problems with the automatic launch, there is no reason for despair. Simply click on the manual play button, your browser will ask you to save the file called 'client.jar' on your computer. When this is done, open it by double clicking and the game will launch.

Questions? Problems?

If you have questions or if you experience problems in launching the game, there is a help section on the Cities Of Faith forum.