The manual for The Free Mercenaries has been uploaded, and is now available for free. It is a .pdf document about 1.7MB in size, and contains more screenshots, advice and descriptions of the game mechanics.
The manual also has inside information on just what the different ranks your starships can attain mean in terms of performance boosts, what makes the different types of weapons unique, and how starship designs vary between the factions of The Free Mercenaries.
For those of you who want some background information on the factions themselves, there are tidbits of information to whet your appetite.
"There's nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment when you figure out how a Komani strike force can take down a Centauri battlestation with minimal losses"
The demo for The Free Mercenaries will be posted some time in the next week, so that you can preview the game's tutorial, a custom skirmish and a battle from one of the campaigns.
The game itself weighs in at about 30 MB so far, although this size is not final.