Perhaps making link to the Empires manual from the Empires background main menu will make it easire and more appealing for noobs who can't be bothered using there time to find the correct file in the C: drive. it could also be used as a tempoary substitute before any sort of training lvl is ready. eg. program the main menu so the "find servers" button only becomes visable once the manual button has been clicked on , at least once.
The manual is pwnfully out of date. I just tell noobs to go to www.empiresmod.INFO for a good manual.
The minute you click finnish in the installer, the website with the manual should pop up saying "READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO LIVE". Or you could make it so there was a code at the end of the manual that unlocks Online Mode.
or, like when signing up for the gmod forums, in size 72 font in bold, all caps, and red, it says "READ THIS, IT ISNT THE USUAL SHIT"
Just have a test you have to take for the unlock code to Empires at the end of the manual. It tests you on things like, 'What is the CV?' and 'Why should you not buy jeeps?'. Don't forget the 'Why must you resist the urge to take the "big, shiny, tank" right when you get out of barracks?'.
I think this should be shown to all people before starting to play. Ok, I'm just kidding, but it would still be funny and maybe new people would find that everything in there would be a joke and stop doing those things.