Athena's Owl

Where the owl is

In the top strip, beside your own entries, it says Owl. Press it and the window that opens shows a progress bar at the head and, right under it, the next step on a large card: what it asks for, where to press and what Athena will give. The Take me there button takes you to where that work is done: the building, or the empty plot to raise it on, pulses on the map; with more than one city you go to the one you looked at last. Below, the chapters stand in order on a numbered road; the one you are in is open, and you open the others by pressing them. The steps you have done show as done, the ones you have not show as still waiting. Press a step and it comes up to the card at the top.

The owl is only for players new to a world. When you have finished every step and seen its gift, it leaves the strip.

The arrow shows the way

An arrow appears on the screen where the next step is done. If you are not on that screen, the arrow first points at the button that leads there: Island for the pirate cove or a resource bed, Back to city for work in the city, Research for research. If no button on your screen leads there, the arrow goes to the owl's button and, in the window that opens, to Take me there. The owl looks at the world again on every new screen and every half minute, so when your soldiers are trained or your building is finished the arrow moves on to the next task by itself. It bounces above the place to press now, with a few words on what to do. First it points at the building on the city map where the work is done, or, if the building does not stand yet, at a free plot it can be raised on. If a building is to be built for the first time, it points at Build; if it is to be raised, at Upgrade. Where a task takes several presses it leads you one at a time: in the Barracks, first to where you choose how many soldiers to make, then, once chosen, to the button that trains them. The arrow does not move on to that button until the number asked for is chosen; if your goods only cover fewer, as many as you can make will do. If a window asking "are you sure?" comes up on the way, the arrow moves onto its confirm button. When you press the last button the arrow steps aside, and it comes back once the owl moves on to the next step. If you cannot take a step yet, the owl knows: when the step's building does not stand, when your army is not enough to beat the cove for the pirate raid, or when you have no galley to carry it, the window says what comes first and the arrow leads you there first. The same holds for every step: if a building needs another building at some level or a research, the arrow takes you to that first, and to assigning scholars if your Knowledge is short for the research; if your goods are short it says how long to wait, and when the wait is long and the bed has room it has you put workers on it; if a good the island does not produce is missing, it says so; if a construction or a research is under way, it waits for it to end; for a priest it has you choose a patron god first. When a later step needs a research, the research steps point at that one first, so the Knowledge of the gifts is enough for that step. Whether your army is enough is weighed with the same fight as the raid itself. If you have too few free citizens for the soldiers but some of your citizens are at work, the arrow takes you to the Town Hall, shows which job to take how many off, and moves on to the save button once enough are free. Soldiers in training count too: the owl does not ask for them a second time, it waits for them. If you would rather not see it for a step, close it with the × beside it.

The steps

Gifts

Each step's gift is written beside it in the window: materials, Gold, Knowledge, sometimes ships. The gifts are chosen to make the next step in the game easier. The Knowledge that comes when you assign scholars covers your first research, and the Knowledge after your first research covers the research the Temple asks for.

Materials arrive in your capital's store, Gold and Knowledge in your empire's treasury. Ships and load carts arrive in your capital, and their crews are taken from your free citizens. If you have too few free citizens, the ships and carts wait and arrive by themselves once enough citizens are free; the window says which are waiting. If your store has no room, the materials that do not fit do not arrive; the window writes beside the step what you actually received.

Taking the gift

It does not matter on which screen you take a step: the owl watches the world, not its window. The moment you take the step a window comes up, showing the step you finished and Athena's gift. Press Take and the gift arrives; the window then says what you actually received. Choose Later and the gift waits for you: in the owl's window a Take button stands beside that step. A line also appears in your events; pressing it opens the owl's window. You can take the steps in any order.