Your spells are very important and you should keep spells charged at all times. The Spell Charge Rate bar is very useful and will tell you if you have too many spells charging at once (the bar is low) or if you are wasting precious Mana (the bar is flashing red). The bar can also be low if your followers, especially Braves, are idle and not creating Mana. Right-click on a spell icon to toggle it on or off. Learn which spells are most useful to you and keep charging them after you cast them. Blast is very useful, as is Lightning. The more devastating spells such as Earthquake and Tornado should be fully charged before you attack.
Blast | Convert | Swarm | Invisibility | Shield | Landbridge | Lightning | Hypnotism | Tornado
Swamp | Flatten | Earthquake | Erode | Firestorm | Angel of Death | Volcano | Guest Spells
BLAST:
This is your simplest spell and also one of the more powerful. Although it has a short range, the Blast spell is more useful for defending the Shaman against attack. One Blast can usually kill a Brave, a Preacher and certainly a Spy. Firewarriors and Warriors take more shots and enemy Shamans can be dispatched with four or five. It is tactically useful near water where the shock wave will fling any enemy into the water. If any enemy followers are running along the coast cast the spell to other side of them so they are all blown into the sea. Be careful when using the Blast spell near your own followers as it can hurt them as well.
CONVERT:
This is only really useful at the start of the level when you have plenty of Wildmen to convert. Keep it charged so that you can cast it on any Wildmen that might appear. Wildmen will often re-appear if one player suffers a massive loss of followers.
SWARM:
Swarm can be a very useful spell to cast on the enemy if you are under attack, but it is only a temporary solution. Often it will just scatter the enemy and cause you more problems in the long run. When you cast Swarm on the enemy, they will be injured and run away in panic, but will return when the panic is over. The Swarm will also enter nearby enemy buildings and expel their occupants. Swarm is a good way of stopping your followers from being converted by Preachers if you have no other defence in the area. It is also useful to cast on Boats and Balloons as the enemy will jump out in terror and often drown. Shamans are not affected by the Swarm spell.
INVISIBILITY:
Invisibility does not last a long time so you should only cast it on your target followers at the very last moment. Your followers will then appear ghosted and totally invisible to the enemy. You can cast the spell on any follower, apart from the Shaman and they will still be able to perform any task. Preachers, however, will become visible again when they start to preach to the enemy leaving them vulnerable to attack. Invisibility and Shield make an excellent combination. Shamans are not affected by the Invisibility spell.
SHIELD:
Like Invisibility, Shield doesn’t last very long. It can be very effective when invading a superior enemy’s settlement, where their defences are solid and would immediately overpower any normal attack force. If you guard the Shaman with shielded followers, she will be reasonably safe from attack. Also, remember that any spell fired on a Shielded follower is bounced back to the enemy. Shamans are not affected by the Shield spell.
LANDBRIDGE:
Landbridge is more useful than you think. Not only is it good for joining two areas of land separated by water, but it can also level hills and valleys that would normally make construction impossible. Landbridge averages out the land between the point where the Shaman is standing and point where the spell is cast. By placing the Shaman on one side of a hill and casting the spell on the other side, you will level the land. You can also cast it next to the coast to expand the coast a little further. As well as levelling land, it can also be used to raise land and create impassable barriers. If you place the Shaman on one hill and cast Landbridge on another, you will create a barrier of land that the enemy will have to navigate around to reach you. With this in mind, you can force the enemy to attack from a specific, and heavily fortified, direction.
LIGHTNING:
Lightning is a more powerful version of the Blast spell and will kill anything it is directly cast upon. It will also set fire to buildings and burn down trees. If you are attacking an enemy settlement, use the Lightning spell to burn down their Huts so that they cannot breed any more Braves. Also, use it to kill the enemy Shaman with one shot and gain a quarter of her Mana. The only way to stop the Shaman being killed by a Lightning spell is to keep her moving. If she is fired upon when she is walking, often the spell will just miss and throw her into the air causing her a little damage.
HYPNOTISM:
Hypnotism is very useful at the beginning of an attack on an enemy settlement. When you attack, the enemy will respond and send over all the followers she can. If you cast the Hypnotism spell on them, they will become temporary members of your tribe and begin attacking their own people. You can also command them so you should send them as far into the enemy base as possible. Keep them away from your own followers so they don’t start attacking them when the spell wears off. Enemy followers converted by hypnotised Preachers will be permanent members of your tribe.
TORNADO:
Tornadoes, once cast, are very random and unpredictable. To make sure you destroy at least one target, cast it on a specific building. Hopefully that building will be destroyed and take one or two more with it. You can also cast it on an approaching enemy army to slow them down.
SWAMP:
Swamp can be very useful when placed in the path of the enemy, especially in front of your defences. You can also cast it on Stone Heads to prevent an enemy from worshipping it before you do. There is little you can do against an enemy Swamp except sacrifice ten of your followers to fill it or erode the land underneath so it falls into the water. You could always try and trick the enemy into entering the Swamp. Remember that your followers are vulnerable to your own Swamps, although you can Shift right-click on them to remove them.
FLATTEN:
The Flatten spell is similar to the Landbridge spell in some respects. Not only will it flatten the land around the point where it was cast but it can also lower the land into the sea. If you cast the spell right on the coastline, the land will lower and the water will rush in to cover it. You can also cast Flatten near enemy buildings to raise the land and cause the buildings to explode.
EARTHQUAKE:
Earthquake is most effective on high ground where both the lava and the change in the earth can destroy many buildings. When the spell is cast, the pre-shocks will begin to destroy buildings in the immediate area. Any buildings caught in the path of the earthquake will be blown up or incinerated by the lava.
ERODE:
Erode is a very useful spell against high ground and coastal settlements. When cast on a point, it accelerates time and causes the land around to collapse as if centuries of weathering were affecting it. If cast on high slopes, the land will sink and fall into the valley. If cast on the coast, the land will collapse and fall into the sea. If any buildings are caught in the erosion, they will either explode because the land underneath is unstable or roll into the water. The enemy will often find it hard to recover if their land is receding so you can use it to block them in or destroy their most valuable buildings. Try casting it on Guard Towers or any other enemy fortification to destroy it. The Erode spell is not very effective on level ground.
FIRESTORM:
The Firestorm spell casts a shower of meteors onto the target. If you cast it in a heavily populated area, it will destroy any buildings and kill any followers who stray into range. It can be a very useful spell for permanently clearing away enemy fortifications.
ANGEL OF DEATH:
The Angel of Death is similar to the Knight in the original Populous games. When you create one, it will fly around the world looking for any enemy followers. When it finds one, it will stalk them, swoop down, grab them and kill them. You can only charge one shot of the Angel of Death spell at any one time. Therefore, you should always fire the spell at the earliest opportunity so you can begin charging again. If you are attacked by an Angel of Death, there are a number of things you can do to survive. The first is to move the Shaman away from it. The Angel of Death will try and kill the Shaman at any opportunity and you will keep losing Mana if it does. Firewarriors can fire on the Angel of Death and damage it. It has only so much strength and the Firewarriors will destroy it, if it doesn’t kill them first. Also, you can simply cast an Angel of Death of your own. If you do, they will attack each other and the weaker will be destroyed.
VOLCANO:
The Volcano is probably the most destructive and certainly the most impressive spell of all. When you cast it the ground rises up and boiling lava flows over the land. Any buildings and followers caught by the magma are destroyed. New land is created if the lava reaches water although once the lava has cooled; the new land cannot be built upon. It is best to cast the volcano in the middle of a populated area. Also, bear in mind the lava will always try to flow downhill. If you cast it on the side of a mountain, you can direct the flow. Volcanoes have short ranges so it will always be cast near a Shaman. If a Volcano is cast on you, there is little you can do but at least you will know where it will appear. Try and get all your followers away from the Volcano so the lava doesn’t kill them. Just shift left-click on the Total Population icon on the Followers Panel and move them away from the buildings. A Volcano cast by a Shaman cannot kill her so you can always try the same trick on the enemy.
GUEST SPELLS:
Guest spells do not have permanent icons on the Spells Panel. This is because they are very powerful and would upset the balance of many levels. They are also more suited to multiplayer games.
TELEPORT:
Teleport can be cast anywhere on the world to transport the Shaman to that point. Obviously, the sneakiest tactic is to Teleport into an enemy settlement and cast a Volcano, Firestorm, or any number of spells, and Teleport out again. To guard against this, you should spread out your settlements and have more than one of each type of training building. You should also try and use this tactic before anyone else so they have to clear up the mess, not you.
BLOODLUST:
Bloodlust can only be cast on your own followers and will turn them into battle-hungry savages. They will be stronger and faster, a formidable foe for any enemy. The spell is best used just before a battle to make sure it lasts longer. If you find yourself up against enemy followers affected by Bloodlust, you should use spells such as Swamp and Tornado against them. Warriors with Bloodlust will be especially hard to beat so keep them away from you as long as possible until the spell wears off.
ARMAGEDDON:
Armageddon is a very traditional Populous spell. Each player’s followers are transported to an arena where they fight for dominion over the world. As each tribe fights, the Shamans fire spells at each other. When a tribe loses, that tribe’s Shaman is struck by Lightning and killed. The last remaining Shaman is the victor. There is nothing you can do to stop an Armageddon, but you can influence it. If you think an Armageddon is imminent then train as many Warriors as possible. You can only take 120 followers to the arena with you so you need the strongest army possible. Preachers lose their powers of persuasion and are reduced to fighting hand-to-hand; Spies are actually weaker than Braves and are next to useless in battle. In such close-quarter fighting, the Blast ability of the Firewarriors is limited as the Warriors can easily reach them and kill them.
MULTIPLAYER:
In multiplayer games, you are up against more unpredictable enemies than those in the Single Player game are. You need all your wits and cunning with you to defeat them. There are a number of extra features of the multiplayer game that you can turn to your advantage. Remember also that the maps are often symmetrical so you can often guess where the enemy will be if the world is fogged. A useful trick is to build your Spy Training Hut early, train some Spies and dismantle it. Hopefully your opponents will not have seen it and won’t realise you have the ability to sabotage their settlements.
FORGE WORLD:
Forge World is an optional feature that gives you the change to alter the landscape before the level begins. You can turn this to your advantage if you cast the available spells wisely. Each spell has only five shots and a range around the Reincarnation Site. First look at the land around the site and use the Flatten spells to make room for your settlements. Then, around the perimeter, raise the land into small hills so you can construct Guard Towers on top of them and join them with Landbridges later. Then, look for a suitable spot to place the trees. Choose a place away from the settlement so that you don’t have to build over the trees later. Lastly, when the timer reaches about 5, cast the Wildmen spell on the Reincarnation Site. When the level begins, any Wildmen caught inside the Reincarnation Site will be automatically converted to your tribe saving you Mana later on.
GHOST ARMY:
Ghost Army is a multiplayer-only spell that creates six ghost followers depending where it is cast. The ghost followers have no strength and cannot build or perform tasks but to the enemy they appear as solid as your real followers. If you cast the spell on the ground, you will create ghost Braves. If you cast the spell on any other follow, even the Shaman, you will create six ghosts of that follower. Ghost Shamans can be especially useful for confusing the enemy. You can also use ghost followers to create a decoy army while your real army is attacking from the other direction.