Probably the biggest factor in the whole game is money. No money, no skill, no mech, no chance. The more cash the better equipped you'll be for combat.
Every five minutes or so your account is boosted by fifteen credits as ma and pa robot decide it's time to give some more of your allowance. Don't hang around !! Initially invest in a low risk account and then move onto the intermediate one. Do this for a few hours and you'll be counting the wads, around 350,000 of 'em.
Only two stocks are worth your while:
NASHAN DIVERSIFIED (NasDiv)
BAKER PHARMACEUTICALS (BakPhar)
NasDiv is a steady performer, so if you do nothing but put all your credits in this stock, you should amass quite a fortune by the end of the game.
BakPhar is a speculative stock that will make you rich in a short time if your timing is right.
One strategy is to put most of your credits in NasDiv and a few in BakPhar. Save regularly and check the market often. When BakPhar starts going up, put all your credits in it, and usually your money doubles and doubles again. It is essential to save your game whenever you get ahead, though, for BakPhar's value can drop to zero in no time!
After investing, leave Comstar and go and do something (explore, rest, visit the weapons shop, take a training lesson.........), returning frequently to assess your holdings. It takes a fairly long time to earn enough credits to buy a serious weapon and good armour, not to mention the money you will need for training, so you may have to wander about the compound pointlessly, waiting for your stocks to go up.
Your main goal is to learn how to operate the Mechs at the Training Centre. This will take six lessons, between which you can explore the surrounding compound. The game requires time to pass between lessons.
You'll not get far without any training, and the first thing you need to know is how to defend yourself. The important basics to learn are knife fight, rifle and machine gun, as these are the only weapon skills you'll find yourself needing.
Stop off at the mechit-lube and take up an apprenticeship. I know that it's expensive, but it enables you to patch up a battlefield mech, and take it in for a full repair and slap another member of your party inside.
When it comes to combat training, try to move around as much as possible and overheat as little as possible, and aim for speed on all the missions as this contributes to your overall mech skill.
Medical skill is also a worthwhile venture; it'll also make sure you stay in the game longer.
Start off with a machine gun. It takes quite a few hits to kill a human and has no effect on mechs whatsoever but, still, they're relatively cheap. Later on try to get hold of a Laser Weapon; I recommend the inferno best of all. One shot disposes of 90% of humans and Inferno Fire will overheat a mech, giving you time to flee. Whatever you do don't hang around taking on a twenty ton mech with a hand held SRM - it just doesn't work. Equip yourself with a forty point armour, it normally prevents any damage to the person in a typical combat round.
The Inferno never runs out of ammunition and rarely misses, so it's advisable to stay around until you can afford one......BUT - you CAN get by with less firepower. Weapon shops are everywhere throughout Pacifica, and you can also salvage weapons after combat. Buy whatever armour you can afford for yourself and any allies. Armour shops are in many towns. Get a MedKit (sold at any of several hospitals) and a Mapper (at the video store in Starport and a few other towns). Later on, get your Mechs modified at a Mech-It Lube's Speed Shop and you'll become almost invincible.
First and foremost, with the lump of cash you should have by now, any mech you own should be customised at the mechit-lube, extra lasers and armour always come in handy at the expense of jump jets and missile launchers. Never rule out kicking, more often than not it proves to be invaluable when a mech is close to shutdown.
Always try to face an attacking mech, all it could take is one hit with a small laser to the back to knock out half your arsenal.
On the 6th or 7th training mission, you'll suddenly face real opponents - the Kuritans, who have invaded the compound. You've got to escape to Starport, a neutral city northeast of the starting point. If you're lucky, you'll escape with a Mech.
There are two ways to do so. Choose a Locust for your final mission, then head West when the forcefield around the training grounds disappears, and get out of town. Or use a Chameleon and, as soon as you're attacked, walk back into the building you just left. When the walls come down, exit West out of the city. (Sometimes neither of these methods are successful! If that happens, you can get Mechs at several other points).
Head Northeast to Starport. Save frequently if you decide to fight attackers in the hope of obtaining money and equipment. Inside, immediately find the Clothing Store and get rid of your uniform to avoid being attacked as often. Then check your stocks at Comstar and re-invest if desired. Check out the Inaugural Hall to learn of the Inauguration, then you might want to earn credits by fighting at the Arena. repairs can be costly if using a rental Mech, however, and may even exceed your 250-credit payoff.
At the Inaugural Hall later that night you'll meet Rex Pearce, an ally. Save the game before entering, since you might get killed when you leave with him. Rex gives you a box from your father and says he's got a new Commando Mech that Katrina left him.
A member of the Crescent Hawks, he says your mission is to round up other Hawks, find a secret cache of spare Mech parts your father hid, and signal Princess Katrina to return to Pacifica for the parts and your team.
But the enemy attacks before you can look at the holocard in the box (which is necessary to locate the cache), and the card is damaged. If you survive, you can roam about Starport gathering gear, earning credits and skills, having Rex's Commando modified at the Speed Shop and so on.
Go a little North and East to a small town with a jail and hospital. Save right away, for you may meet an ally who turns out to be an undercover agent. If you're having trouble getting people to talk, or if services like Mechit-Lube are always closed, you've got an agent in the group. Put him outside on foot and get into a few battles. He'll either be killed by the enemy or Rex. If you don't have your own Mech, steal one from the Jail's parking garage.
There are two places to view the damaged holocard. The easiest, quickest way is to return to the destroyed Citadel and go to your barracks. You'll find a holocard viewer and can see most of the message. The second way is to go to one of the several towns Southwest of Starport. One has the Mayor's house in it, and you can pick the lock and enter. Use the Mayor's holocard viewer and you learn that you must find Dr. Tellhim at his hut in the Northwest. He'll say where to find the cache. (His hut won't appear on the map unless you view the holocard).
Head Northwest, exploring the various towns. You need to pick up two more Crescent Hawks; one is a Doctor, found by visiting hospitals, checking the records and talking to people there. Get him a MedKit to recover faster from wounds.
Your other ally is a Tech, found by visiting the Mechit-Lubes and asking to TALK and Apprentice. It's invaluable to get him additional Tech training, for he can scavenge spare parts from enemy Mechs that you destroy, thus earning you money as well as simplifying repairs to your own Mechs.
Tellhim is in a building located near the water, near Sector 36/40 x 49/20. With the proper crew and gear, you'll pass his tests and he'll tell you that the cache is on an island to the Southeast (39/60 x 55/60). Once there, enter the cave.
You are in a maze full of locked doors and computer terminals. You have a key-card that needs to be imprinted with a different Red number, Blue number and Yellow number to open each door.
Each computer throughout the complex has its own special colour coded number that can imprint your key-card, and each computer's code can be used only once. You must open ELEVEN different doors (that's 33 different computer colour imprints you must find!), to get to the Map Room and the Power Transmitter.
When you have located and opened the door to the Map Room, you enter it and must then activate a combination of planets to get the password (PESHT, BENJAMIN, SKYE, SUMMET, RYERSON, KATHIN, ACHERNAR).
Activate the planets by touching them all, then walk over to the control panel on the West wall for your password. Leave the Map Room, go back through the maze to the Upper Control Rooms, and turn on the transmitter to call Katrina (you do this by walking into the panels).