Thanks counterfeit, I had no idea there was a speed setting button (just another thing that should have been put in the manual or tutorial, haha).  That WILL help me teach my friends the game.

You mean default time not difficulty right? And I haven't played humans either. I'm hoping my sister comes in this weekend so we can play.

F10 does nothing? That brings up the menu. And hopefully you hit the minus key on the very top right of the keyboard in the number pad area. What country are you from? Maybe your scancodes are different.

Thanks, I just tired it, yes, it worked!  You have to go into the game options (BEFORE you start a game, it won't show durring) and change it to "adjustable".  Now, we were able to slow the game down to a crawl, and take our time reading all the items/spells.  Still, for those who "hate tutorials", you just don't do them then; they are there for all the other people who count on them.  The more easily accesable you make DG, the less likely people are to get confused or frustrated and give up on the game. 

I'm not saying the game couldn't use a tutorial, but I agree with some of what Saturn was saying.  The only thing the tutorial could really teach is how to move (by clicking your mouse, which is retarded if people can't figure that out) and possibly teach about the item shop and artifact shop.  If anyone reading this is having a difficult time playing the game, just start a single player tournament mode and play it on easy.  Try clicking on all the buildings in your starting area, some of them give you options to purchase items or upgrade your war efforts. 

Perhaps if some of us really want a tutorial we can work on creating an itemized list on here to help new comers out.  But it really isn't a hard game to learn, and it's more rewarding when you figure things out on your own

I was gonna say .

Thanks!