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                 ALPHA RELEASE INFORMATIVE README VERSION 0.1
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Table of Contents
1. Running the Game
2. What You are Doing
3. Things You Might See
4. Tools You Can Use
5. Tips and Tricks


SECTION 1: Running the Game
    
    To start Hectare, simple double-click on the included HectareAlpha.jar 
    file.


SECTION 2: What You are Doing

    In Hectare, you your job is to help an agricultural civilization survive,
    thrive, and spread across the world. You do this by changing the settlers'
    environment, using a set of tools, so that the settlers' crops thrive and
    the settlers themselves are well-fed.


SECTION 3: Things You Might See

    The world of Hectare contains a variety of objects that you will need to
    use in order to help the settlers prosper.
    
    TILES - A tile is a square piece of Hectare's world. It can be occupied by
            various things.
    
    TOWNS - A town is where your people live. You can query the town to see its
            current population. Each town will eventually fill a 5x5 area with
            its fields, if possible. Make sure nothing is in the way!
    
    FIELDS - A field is where your people grow crops. Query a field with the 
             Query Tool to see how much Water, Sun, and Nutrients it has. If
             you keep these levels in the correct range, your people's crops
             will flourish.
             
    CLOUDS - Clouds drift across the sky, blown by the wind. They will
             eventually start to rain, delivering much-needed groundwater to
             your peoples' crops.
             
    WATER - Some tiles in Hectare are covered by water. Light from the sun
            causes water to evaporate from these tiles. The water vapor then
            travels through the air, and eventually form clouds and rains back
            down.
    
    MOUNTAINS - Mountains block wind and prevent clouds from passing over them.
                
    WOOLY MAMMOTHS - There are no Wooly Mammoths.


SECTION 4: Tools You Can Use

    QUERY - Displays how much Groundwater, Sunlight, and Nutrients are
            available at a given location. Also shows the populations of towns.
            
    RAIN - Causes nearby clouds to start raining.
    
    WIND - Creates outwards-blowing wind, pushing clouds and water vapor away
           from where it is used.
           
    SUN - Beams extra Sunlight down on the tile where it is used.
    
    MOUNTAIN - Creates or destroys a mountain.
    
    CLOUD - Creates a cloud at a given location.
    
    NUTRIENTS - Adds extra Nutrients at and around the given location.

    
SECTION 5: Tips and Tricks

  - Use mountains to create a "rain shadow," where clouds and rain are kept in
    a certain area by a mountain range.
    
  - Use the wind tool to blow clouds over fields, and the rain tool to make
    them rain, in order to water crops.
    
  - The sun tool results in a very warm region. Wind blows away from cooler
    places like bodies of water and towards warmer areas.
    
  - A field will be are most productive when its Sunlight level is between 0.8 
    and 1.5, its Groundwater level is between 0.1 and 0.7, and its Nutrients
    level is as high as possible.