Thanks for checking out the Jagged Alliance Demo! In this demo, you'll get a chance to play around with Jagged's combat system - tossing grenades, blowing enemies up, shooting guns - and if all goes well, you'll take over the sector, just one of 60 on the island! ------------------------------------------------ INSTALLING THE DEMO ------------------------------------------------ 1. Move all the files to a directory, or insert disk 1 into your drive, and type INSTALL.EXE. ------------------------------------------------ About the Mercenaries ------------------------------------------------ When you arrive on Metavira, you'll see the main play screen. On both sides are mercs in your command. SELECTING MERCS AND MERCENARY PANELS * Action Points (Orange): Tracks action points in turn- based time. * Breath (Blue): Breathing rate and energy. Lowers as member exerts energy. Rises as they rest. * Health (Red): The member's health. If hurt, it lowers and leaves an "injury tracker" in its place. Untreated injuries are yellow, and may continue to hurt the merc if not treated. Treated injuries show pink. To select a mercenary..................Click on merc; double click portrait; F1-F8 To select combat mode or mute....................Right click portait To locate a member in the field...................Left click portrait To determine who's who..................Move the cursor over a member To see stats actual values for merc...........Click and hold on statistic bars To see mercs' statistics all at once. ...............Press S PERSONAL OPTIONS (ON FLIP SIDE OF MERCENARY PANELS) * MAX AIM: By default, the merc will always take extra time and action points to target the enemy to the best of his ability. You can alter points, though, unless "Fast Firing," a Control Panel option, is on. * RSV PTS: The merc will always stop with enough points left to perform an action based on what's in their Main Hand. * MUTE: Turns on or off the merc's "ok" an acknowledgement speech. INVENTORY CONTROLS To swap item from secondary secondary to main hand........................Right click on secondary item To view complete inventory...............Right click on vest pocket area, "I",INV To move any item to another location..............Left click on item To drink from canteen.......................Pick up canteen, left click on portrait To use camo-u-flage.............................Pick up kit, left click on body to 'camo' up MOVING AROUND To move..............................Double click on desired location To move all at once (not in combat)...........Hold down left button on destination plus right click To sneak..............................Hold down SHIFT during normal move To back up..............................Hold down ALT during normal move To crouch.............................Hold down ALT and left click with cursor over merc To look in a particular direction..........Hold right button down & left click To exchange places another merc.............Hold cursor over merc to swap with, "X" INVESTIGATING & CHECKING THINGS OUT You check things out in Jagged Alliance with (surprise) your hands and your eyes. So, the Hand Cursor is all important (above). When your merc sees something, he'll tell you, and a white circle will flash around the object. Things that are hidden, though, may require a bit of searching. To get hand cursor.................Press CTRL at any time to force it or, Hold the cursor still for couple seconds (if object there), or Left click on an object where the cursor is an "X" Opening Doors............................Look for "Door" and click on it Magnifying Items or Signs...................Hold cursor over it, "Z" or CTRL plus right click Picking up items...............Get hand cursor (above), left click on it Blue Flags......................When a merc detects a buried object, a blue flag will be placed on the area. Click on the flag to disarm or dig up the object. USING ITEMS Items that are in the mercenary's main hand may be used at any time. Some items, like a medical bag for instance, have specific uses. To use an item in the merc's main hand, right click in the main play field, and the cursor will change signify his or her intent. If a medical bag's in that hand, for instance, you'll get a "healing cross" cursor. Next, you need to select the target of the item's use. Where you left click is that target. If some items don't seem to have an apparent use, they may need to be merged with other items. In fact, many items in Jagged Alliance can be merged with others to create new items. Merging Items...........................Place item 1 in main hand in review, place item 2 in the attachment position. ------------------------------------------ COMBAT ------------------------------------------ Everything in a combat situation is governed by action points. Action points are a numerical representation of how many actions a mercenary can perform in a single turn, and are based upon the experience and overall statistics of the mercenary including his or her health. Mr. Hyper on Sugar can swim around Metavira several times, host a beachside infomercial on psychic haircare products and still have time to raise his gun to shoot someone. Mr. Slower than Death, on the other hand, would have just figured out that something was going on in that same period of time. For instance, a mercenary who can run 20 feet in one second would have 20 action points (he can move quickly). A mercenary who can only run only 5 feet in one second would have 5 action points (and be pretty darn slow). The more the mercenary can physically do in a set amount of time, the more action points he or she has. So, in combat, where physical actions cost action points, a faster mercenary can do more. Some actions, though, take a set amount of time no matter how fast the mercenary is. For instance, if a fast mercenary and a slow mercenary pull the trigger of identical guns at the same time, both bullets will fire at the same time and take the same amount of time to head down the barrel. So, the faster mercenary would expend more points to perform the action than the slower mercenary. Just because one mercenary is fast doesn't mean he can make a bullet go down the barrel of a gun faster. In general, though, action points determine how much your mercenary can do when it's his or her turn in combat. Since their action points are limited, be careful not to run slower mercenaries all over the place. An action that takes 10 points might not be much to a guy who has 20, but it's sure a lot to a merc with 12. There's only so much he or she can do in the space of seconds, and it would be a pity to have a merc bravely run up to an enemy, eagerly draw his gun but have no time left to shoot. Leave the marathon stealth runs to the fast guys. For whatever you choose to do, though, Jagged Alliance will continually alert you to the action point cost. You'll see the amount in the center of your cursor. If you don't use all of your action points in a turn, up to 5 points will roll over to the next turn. If you have more than that left over, the extra is lost. WHEN YOU'VE USED UP ALL YOUR ACTION POINTS OR DON'T HAVE ENOUGH LEFT TO DO ANYTHING, CLICK DONE TO GIVE THE TURN OVER TO THE ENEMY FORCES. To target an opponent..............Have weapon in main hand, right click in play field to "use," left click on target . . . then (optional) . . . To perfecting the gun's aim.................Right click once targeted for desired level of accuracy; more points=better aiming . . . then . . . Fire the bullet............................Left click again MAX AIM and RSV PTS (on flip side of merc panels allow you to set defaults) Healing Wounded......Get a med or first aid kit in a trained merc's main hand, use it (right click), and select the wounded merc as the target. WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED WITH YOUR TURN CLICK DONE OR "D" Screen Views Quick Automap............................................Ins Automap while in sector view.............................Tab Adjusting View....................................PgUp, PgDn General Controls & Quick Keys Pause.....................................P Cancel....................................ESC Exit game.................................ALT X Selecting Mercs...........................F1-F8 Spacebar (select next) Show enemies selected by merc.............F9, Enter (locate next) Options Menu..............................F10 Exchange places with another merc.........Hold cursor over one to swap with, X Compressed time (moves day along).........C Abort Day/Demo............................A Repeat last message.......................L Inventory of selected merc................I Options menu..............................O Merc stats................................S Quit (even in turn-based combat)..........ALT X Done (in combat)..........................D Magnify items.............................Hold cursor over item, Z Be sure to check out companion press release to see Jagged Alliance's other features!