Introduction
Okay, This is the updated FAQ for Settlers 2, when you have mastered these topics, you will be able to proceed to level 8 without any problems.  If you encounter any please contact me for help.

This FAQ will help you understand the basics needed to play Settlers II successfully as well as the more advanced areas of the game.

The Basics

Building
To see where you can build any buildings, simply press Spacebar and all the golden houses that appear on the map are possible buildings.  There are 3 Main kinds of buildings, small, medium and large (later you'll also get mines).

They are mostly used for roads, but that is not all.  They are used to call a geologist (the guy with the white beard) and also Scouts (the guy with the brown clothes).  More about them later.

Getting Wood For Construction
Build a woodcutter (use a small area) next to the closest trees.  Then Build a sawmill (medium building) near it.  It is always wise to build 2 woodcutters and a forester (a guy that plants trees) together, by doing this you will never run out of trees.

Getting Food
The easiest way to get food is to build fisherman, build about 3 to 4 next to water and they will give you enough to start your mines on.  Then you need to build farms (yes, more than one!), a mill and bakery (which also needs water).

Be sure not to build anything close to a farm to keep productivity high.  Water (for the mill and later pig farm/donkey farm) can be found on any land which appears green, so a geologist is not necessary.  In later stages you might want to build a pig farmer, but not yet (they need a lot of grain to keep running and if your farms aren't working yet, they waste your grain) and only if you have about 3 farms already working fully.  Try to keep the buildings which supply each other with goods close together.

Destroying Without Attacking
When you get to level 5 and onward, you'll notice that the game gets harder.  This is the time when you should start using the Catapult method of destroying or at least weakening your enemy.

Buildings

Small Buildings
¥ Fishery: Goes and get fish form the local dam of sea, only needs fisherman.
¥ Barracks: Military building for land expansion, can hold 2 army units.
¥ Guardhouse: Military building for land expansion, can hold 3 army units.
¥ Lookout Tower: Needs a peasant, will expand visible area, but NOT land.
¥ Well: Supplies water, needs inhabitant.

Medium Buildings
¥ Sawmill: Needs lumber and inhabitant to produce wood boards.
¥ Slaughter House: Needs pigs and water to produce meat.
¥ Mill: Needs grain to produce flour.
¥ Bakery: Needs flour and water to produce bread.
¥ Iron Smelter: Needs coal and iron to produce metal.
¥ Metal Works: Needs metal and lumber to produce tools (needed to create inhabitants).
¥ Armory: Needs metal and coal to produce Swords and Shields.
¥ Mint: Needs gold and iron to produce coins.
¥ Brewery: Needs water and grain to produce beer.
¥ Storehouse: This is the same as your main store, it is only necessary when your land becomes wide spread.
¥ Watchtower: Military building for land expansion, can hold 6 army units.
¥ Catapult: Needs stone, for defense and offense.

Large Buildings
¥ Farm: Needs open ground to produce grain.
¥ Pig Farm: Needs grain and water to produce pigs.
¥ Donkey Breeder: Needs grain and water to produce donkeys.
¥ Fortress: Military building for land expansion, can hold 10 army units.
 
Keyboard Shortcuts
P				Pause.
H				Go to headquarters.
B				Go back to start position.
N				Opens messages window.
L				Shows map.
M				Main selection.
SPACE			Switches construction aid function on/off.
C				Check information about houses.
S				Shows status of houses.
Z				Zoom current window.
V				Acceleration on or off.
I				Info window.
ALT-W, ESC	Closes active window.
ALT-Q			Exit from game.
F1				Load game.
F2				Save game.
F8				Read me for "Keyboard Layout".
F9				Read me for "What's New".
F10				CD Audio Player.
F11				Midi Player.
F12				Option window.
Cursor keys	Scrolls the main map.
DELETE		Delete message.
G				Go to site of event.
+/-				Next/previous message.

General Hints
¥ To create soldiers you need in one store-place (headquarter, storehouse, harbor) one of each of the following: beer, sword, shield and free helper.  Therefore you want to restrict storage of these items to only one store-place.

¥ Gold coins are needed for training of soldiers.  Usually you begin with little gold; therefore after building barracks, forbid the storage of coins in said place.  One coin can train one soldier one step up.  For example, if you have in barrack novice level 1 - sergeant - sergeant - officer - general - general, after train by coin, you will have sergeant - sergeant - officer - general - general - general.

¥ Build store-places near the frontier where you will war.  Concentrate storage of soldiers and coins here by forbidding them in other places.

¥ For ships you need to build two buildings - a harbor and a shipyard.  First should be built in large building sites with the anchor, and the shipyard can be built in a medium site near seaside.  You are able to build shipyard far from sea but your shipbuilder will have long time walk to seaside.  Only in a harbor can you begin new expeditions.  This requires four things: wood, six stone, and one builder.

¥ Don't build more than one harbor per island.  If you do so, forbid soldiers in one.

¥ Search for gold first.  Coal, water, and grain are needed in three places as well.

¥ If a catapult misses, reload the game to before it even fired.  The game randomly calculates the hit/miss as the ball is shot out.

¥ Click three searches per spot, so the geologists can inspect all points surrounding the flag.

¥ Usually you want to stop the metal works and build only one item at a time.  You must control the stock; you are able to control this better than computer. (Maybe this you own cheat).  For first page of stock you can control own resource and instruments.  For second - craftsman who occupy same buildings, donkey and troops.  For continue - if building is "unoccupied" you haven't masters.  For create masters, you need master's instrument and free helper.

¥ If you have a low efficiency % in an important production, stop those that use that resource.

¥ People can only be transported in ships, not boats.

¥ If you destroy an enemy's store-place, they will stop all production and all live enemies close to it.  To destroy harbor and storehouse you need attack by catapult or capture nearest barrack by soldiers, but headquarters you need attack directly.  Catapult can't destroy headquarter.

Level Hints

Levels 1 - 4
Everyone should find these really easy and should just let you learn how to provide food, weapons, gold, beer etc.  Always set up a wood and stone supply first and then concentrate on your army.

Level 5
Set up defences to your west (catapults, fortress, etc.) at the small joining strip of land which leads to the yellow settlers.  Then expand your land quickly to the south with the aid of several stonecutters to clear your path.

Once you reach the bottom of the island you should meet the red settlers.  Build several catapults at this point and some watchtowers (guard huts are too easily captured).  This should let you slowly reduce the red army as he will loose knights as you destroy his huts.  It is also possible to advance forward as you destroy the huts as the enemy supply is poor at this point.

In the meantime, mine like hell until all of the minerals in your area are used up.  You should be able to build up an army to outmatch the red and yellow settlers and have enough gold to train your knights.

Once all of the minerals are used up (be patient) attack the yellow settlers to the west and you will be able to get to the gate easily.  Forget about your armies in the south as they will take care of themselves.  I think that the gate is in the middle to be of the map just inside the red territory.

Level 6
Firstly, make your way to the East until you come across some mountains. set up some good defences here with several catapults as this is where you will come across the red settlers.  Then build a harbour and a boat builder (build ships, not boats) and make some expeditions to the other uninhabited islands where you can get a large supply of minerals etc.

Don't bother about the warning about the whales, mine that island as well.  Again wait until all of the resources are used up and then attack the red settlers which you should have held off and weakened in the east.

Make your way east and you should find another island which you will be prompted to build a harbour on and from this point attack the yellow settlers.  The gate is at the top of their territory

Level 7
In this level you have to worry about the yellow settlers to start off with.  Build your defences to the south, but before you reach the mountains.  You will need heavy defences with a lot of catapults as they are very aggressive.

Don't attack them or you will have to deal with the red settlers as well. (you may have to play a practice game to decide where to build your defences and you will have to clear trees and granite to get there).

Then mine the mountain to the southwest until it is exhausted, (there is gold on its western side) and while doing this set up a couple of fortresses on the western side of this mountain.

When your resources are used up attack the red settlers as the gate is in their territory, but what the hell if your army is big enough kick the yellow settlers ass as well.

Level 8
Firstly set up good defences to your west as before and convert the ore you start with into gold so you have at least a dozen generals to defend this area.  Guard huts are not strong enough as the yellow settlers will attack in great force, but if your catapults are positioned well you should be able to hold them back.

Then expand east and set up a base on the peninsula and mine the copper and coal.  There is one site to the bottom of this area where you can build a harbour.  Then construct some ships and start 3 expeditions to the two large islands to the south which have all the minerals you need.

Once the yellow settlers have no more resources, they will not try to occupy huts next to your territory.  At this point you should only be mining and it is a good idea to speed up the game (type 'thunder' and then press ALT+6.  I usually play the whole game with normal turbo, (V pressed)).

As before, wait until all of the minerals are used up then build several fortresses to the west of your base so you have plenty of knights to attack.  You can destroy most of the barracks on the islands to gain extra troops (you only need barracks as there is no enemy).

If you have a lot of gold and copper left, then now mine the mountain to the west of your start point to get coal.

Then attack the yellow settlers and make your way to the southwest corner of the map where the gate is.  Try to knock out enemy supplies on the way as they have large stocks and will build catapults to destroy the huts you have occupied.  Try to have your best knights at the front of your attack as the enemy knights are nearly all generals.
