This guide will give you a brief overview of the new Android user interface of JSettlers. For installation instructions please refer to our Download page.
Some Important Notes Ahead
While most of the App should be self explaining, the selection of multiple people and how you can send them might not be that obvious. For more on this, please read about selecting and moving settlers.
With the new Android App, you can put a running JSettlers match in the background and return to it later. Be informed that the game will still be running in the background and thus continue to consume your CPU and battery. To have the game paused in the background, you need to pause the game manually!
Please also note that the Android App probably has some bugs and some features are still missing (for example, there is no minimap yet). We continue developing it to improve it further. Furthermore, some options are not available because the game does not support them, yet. These will be added in future versions.
Although the following guide only shows the JSettlers Android App in portrait mode it can also be used in landscape mode and you can turn the phone while playing the game.
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Main Menu
After starting the JSettlers Android App, you will see the main menu. Here you can start and load single-player games as well as start and join multiplayer matches.
First Start of the App
When starting the JSettlers Android App the first time, you will see the message with the green background saying you should select the Graphics and sound folders of the original game. This is needed because JSettlers uses the graphics and sounds of the original The Settlers III. Please copy them these files to a folder on your device. Afterwards, click the “Locate Folders” button and select that folder in the shown dialog. When you successfully selected the folder, the green message will disappear.
Now, if you want to play multi-player matches, you should change your display name via the settings screen. To do so, select the settings symbol in the upper right corner of the main menu and enter the name in the upcoming screen by tapping on the name field.
Starting a new Match or Joining a Multi-Player Match
Starting a new Match
When you choose to “Start” a new single-player or a multi-player match, you will be asked to select the map you want to play from a list of all available maps.
Joining an open Multi-Player Match
When you choose to “Join” a multi-player match, you will be shown the list of open matches. Select one from the list to join the lobby.
Setting up the Match
After you have selected a map or joined an existing mutli-player match, you will be shown the map setup screen. Please note, in multiplayer the player settings cannot be used yet, as the server does not yet support that.
You can select the player type (e.g. how strong the AI should be) and the spawn position for single-player games.
When you are ready, or in multi-player, when everybody is ready, you can start the game.
Loading a Single-Player Match
Please note, at the moment, only single-player matches can be saved and loaded again.
When you choose to “Load” a single-player game, you will be presented the list of your savegames. By tapping on one of the savegame, it will directly be loaded.
In-Game User Interface
This image shows the in-game menu of the JSettlers Android App after starting a new game.
In the upper right corner, there is the typical button to access the game menu. On the bottom of the screen there are three buttons to access the “Buildings”, the “Goods” and the “Settlers” menus. In the upper left corner, you can see your current frame rate, the game time and the version of the game (Git Hash).
You can move the map around by simply dragging it with your finger (like you know it from e.g. Google Maps). Zooming can also be done like you now it from any other App.
Game Menu
The Game Menu allows you to “Pause”, “Save” and “Quit” the game.
Furthermore, you can make the game run at a “Faster” or “Slower” speed. These buttons incrementally change the speed. So to get the game running much faster, you will have to hit the button several times. If you just want the game to run at 5 times the normal speed, you can select “Fast Speed” and “Normal Speed” to get back to the standard game speed. With “Skip one minute” you can fast forward one minute.
Buildings Menu
To construct new buildings, select the “Buildings” button on the bottom of the screen. The first buildings category will pop up. With a swipe to the left or the right (swipe where the buildings are shown), you can switch between the different building categories.
When you select a building, the panel will disappear so you have more space to place the building. If you want to cancel the building, just tap somewhere where you cannot place a building. To get the panel back up, just press the “Buildings” button again.
Settlers Menu
When tapping on the “Settlers” button, the settlers menu will open. Here you can see the current offensive strength of you soldiers and be able to upgrade them when you have collected enough mana.
Selecting and Moving
To select a single settler or building, you can just tap on them. When you have them selected some information on them will be shown in a bottom sheet. There you can also destroy buildings or convert bearers to pioneers or geologists.
If you want to select multiple settlers, you have to long press on the first corner of a selection rectangle. The phone will vibrate when the selection begins. Then, keep the finger on the screen and move it to form the selection rectangle. When you are finished, just release your finger and the settlers in the rectangle will be selected.
To deselect settlers or buildings, just tap somewhere else.
To send settlers (e.g. soldiers) somewhere, you have to use the long press as well. Again, when the device vibrates shortly, the command is executed and you can release your finger.