DP Tool Club 8/CDASC08.ISO/VRAC/MW19F.ZIP/INSTRUCT.DOC

Text File | 1993-08-09 | 14KB | 432 lines

GAME OBJECTIVE:
---------------
     Ultimately, the player wants to gain universal domination, in
which he ranks the highest.  The concept of the game being
multi-player adds to the action because the player is playing
against those possibly of greater or lesser skill.  The player's
progression in this game is proportional to the amount of planning
and the efficiency of the player in destroying enemies.  Overall,
it may take weeks to effectively dominate the universe, even then
the player's power can be challenged and overthrown.  There are 5
Zones situated througout the universe that create enemy drones.
These must be found and destroyed. With each sucessive Zone
destroyed, the mechproduction will lighten up, but Zones will
regenerate themselves after 10 days. Once all 5 are destroyed, the
user who destroys the last one will get his name entered in a top
five ranking list and then the game rests itself.

----------------------------------------------------

MAIN COMMANDS
-------------

HELP
----
     (?) : Gets player help!

MOVING
------

     [1..9] Make sure that num-lock is on.  Use the keypad;
the directional keys on the keypad correspond to the
possible directions the player can move:


(7) Up Left   (8) Up   (9) Up Right
(4) Left               (6) Right
(1) Down Left (2) Down (3) Down Right

FOLDING
-------

     (F) Folding is another way of moving, but faster for sectors
very far apart. Enter an X-fold coordinate [1..100], and a Y-Fold
coordinate [1..100] and if you are lucky, you will find yourself in
the destined sector.  Folding Takes up more energy than moving to
an adjacent sector, but it is most efficient when time is on the
line or you are jumping 3+sectors distance.

ATTACKING
---------

    (A) If enemies are in the sector this will allow you to attack
them via 6 weapon systems.  Watch out the enemy will counter
attack, both player and drone.  Your skill and the other skill is
calculated and its a 1:1 shot firing suicide, and whoever looses
their shields first looses the game. Differnet Mechs have different
stats that can aid or cripple them in attacking.  The best way to
compensate/boost is the buy mounts, or visit the mech garage*
*Mech Garage is only for registered sysops. When attacking enemies
you are asked which enemy number to target, the enemy # appears in
the text box along with the Enemies name and shields.  Just type
the corresponding enemy # in which you want to attack and it will
blast 'em!


MINES
-----

     (M) In order to drop mines, you must have some.  Mines will
protect your investments from everyone.  Team members may pass
through unharmed.

PORTING
-------

      (P) Docks at a base to allow trading.

CREATING A PLANET
-----------------

      (G) Creating a planet takes 200,000.  The universe has a 250
planet limit so get them while they last.

LANDING ON A PLANET
-------------------
      (L) Lands on a planet if it is defenseless, if it is
not then it will attack your mech unless you have the
right password.

CLOAKING
--------
       Players can cloak when they log-off the game, It will take
5000 starvacs to do this.  The player will remain hidden until
his next logon.

SCANNING
--------
        (Z) - Scans Zone if you have right mount
        (K) - Scans Planet if you have right mount
        (S) - Searches for zones if MECHWARS is registered

DIVERSIONS
----------
        (D) - Diverts power from shields to energy or vice versa if you
              have the right mount.

MISSILE PACK
------------
        (X) - Fires missile pack, if you have one, and missiles and
              your copy of MECHWARS is registered.
QUIT
----
     (Q) Quits Mechwars


COMPUTER SUB MENU
-----------------
     (C) The Computer is a sub menu that allows users to:

MESSAGE(S)
----------
      (M) To send a message to a user, the player can type in
the displayed user number to send it.  A prompt will
appear asking them to send the message with an attitude
(moral).  Then the player can type 5 lines of 70
characters.  The message will be displayed to the paged
user at his next logs on.

RANK
----
     (R) This will rank players and show your standing. This gives
you an idea of what you need to do to beat another player.  Its
main purpose is to calculate appreciation, or the money you
get when the maintenance is run to help you destroy the
drone forces.

ANSI TOGGLE
-----------
     (T) Toggles ansi support.

QUIT
----
     (Q)  Quits computer


TEAM SUB MENU
-------------

CREATE A TEAM
-------------

    (C)  Allows users band together.  Up to 5 players on a team. A
name and a password must be picked.

JOIN A TEAM
-----------

     (J) Allows you to join a team.  If team is not full, and you
enter the correct password, then you will be adopted as a memeber.

QUIT A TEAM
-----------
     (Z) Quits Team.

QUIT
----
     (Q) Quits Team menu.

OTHER INFO:
-----------

OPTICAL GATE
------------
     Optical Gate is a special base.  It allows the player
to buy higher lever guns, tactical mounts, energy, and shields.
For Registered versions there is the Mech Garage which allows the
user to customize his Mech.

MECHS:
------
     There are 5 types of mechs that the player can choose from

BORGMAN
-------
     A very small and lightweight mech.  The borgman moves very
efficiently..with considerably less energy units. With the right
mounts, he can virtually move across the universe without much
energy.  His disadvantage is the amour, its very weak. It's  shield
projection units are also very weak.

MIRAGE
------
     The Mirage moves very efficiently, and it has better amour.
The marage still is one of the least battle-ready mechs. With the
right mounts, and a few trips to the garag...who knows.

CAVALIER
--------
     The Cavalier is the well-rounded mech, but booring!  This mech
is one of the better starter mechs.

ORION
-----
     The orion is the battle-class mech.  It's shield strength
is its main feature. However, its a energy hog. It requires
30% more energy to move the same distance as the Borgman.

DYAMO
-----
     Anyone want power?  The dyamo can spew huge amounts of
energy out, but it is not very graceful.  This mech is for
going in an vaporizing everything in its path, but it
cannot do it for very long!!

WEAPONS:
--------

GUNS
----
     #1 PHASER        - +1 Damage [ STOCK ]
     #2 STELLER FIRE  - +2 Damage
     #3 STAR BLASTER  - +3 Damage
     #4 HYPER CANNON  - +4 Damage
     #5 PULSAR NUKE   - +5 Damage

SECONDARY WEAPONS:
------------------

WEAPONS                  DAMAGE
-------                  ------
Yellow Laser             10
Green Laser              15
Re Laser                 30
Energy Moiter            75
Plasma Shell             100
Ion Torpedo              150
Sub Nuke Ray             200

MOUNTS:
-------

Laser Targeting Sight :
-----------------------
     If you get nothing else, buy this mount, it will improve your
efficiency by at least 10%  It helps in targeting enemy and player
mechs.

Force Field :
-------------
     Partially blocks out damage...sort of like a small shield.

Solar Collector:
---------------
     Adds Shield and Energy Units per move.  This is worth the
price....It helps on those margin situations.

E.F.S :
-------
     When you shields reach 0, it will kick in and Fold you to
another part of the Universe to keep you alive.  Then you had
better hot foot it back to Optical Gate and buy more shield units
before an enemy mech attacks you.

E.F.S.H.S:
----------
     When someones E.F.S kicks in while in a 1:1 attack, the
E.F.S.H.S will lock on to the E.F.S system and Fold you into the
same sector so you can continue attacking.

Criuse Missile:
---------------
     This weapon is primarily for destroying planets, not taking
them over.  If a planet is to powerful to invade, try using this
little hot item...and watch the sparks fly.

Scanner
-------
     This scans planets, usefull when you're ready to attack
another players planet.

Power Pack 1000
---------------
     This device will kick in when your power reaches 0 and refuel
your mech energy with 1000 units.  Sometimes players with Mirage
and Borgman mechs cary these around when they explore deep space.

Mine Shield
-----------
     This device is great for ramming into mines with.  When you
hit a mine, this device will lower the damage that your shields
will sustain by 30 points.

Death Charge
------------
     This will detonate just before you do to take out shields or
mines.

Zone Scanner
------------
      This will scan the zones and relay valuable info to you.

Divertor
--------
     This enables the user to convert shield and energy units into
each other.



PLANETS:
--------
     By investing money in Planets it increases productivity of the
mines and energy.  You can add defensive measures to your planets
by placeing mines in and around your planet, and buying fighters.


-- STRATEGY NOTE:  The best way to protect a planet is to put it in
an acid cloud...it may take a bit off of your energy and shields
everytime you access it...but consider the amount of money that you
have pumped into it and the damage that can be done by a few cruise
missiles.

-- STRATEGY NOTE:  Familize yourself with your mech, the amount of
damage each weapon can inflict.  Then surgically take out each
enemy with the weapons you have.  Don't waste huge sums of energy
when using big weapons on tiny enemies.

-- STRATEGY NOTE:  If your sysop has registered his version,
Consider visiting the GARAGE instead of buying a better main
weapon.  The Garage is a bit expensive for your mech, but the class
change puts you in a whole new situation.

-- STRATEGY NOTE:  It is better when attacking multiple enemies to
destroy 1 at a time.  Not that it is quicker or anything, but the
less enemies in your sector, the less chance of them to counter
attack.

-- STRATEGY NOTE:  Folding is one of the best moving features in
the game.  Remeber though, it is only efficient to fold when the
sector span from point A to point B is 3+ sectors.  However, use
this option to avoid mines and clouds.

ENEMIES:
--------
The following is a listing of enemies, and their default shields.
Note, these values my vary depending on how the SysOp has configured
the game.

NAME           SHIELDS
----           -------

Albatros       40
Agama          80
Athene         120
Burinok        160
Centrax        200
Galvon         240
Hammer Head    280
Hizak          320
Klatan         360
Larthogy       400
Madox          440
Murkiu         480
Zugock         520

GENERATING CASH:
----------------

     The player travels through 10,000 sectors in search of Enemy
drones to wipe out.  Once he wipes these drones out, then he
salvages metals, collects a bounty, and collects pulsar points.
Once the player gains a large sum of starvacs, then he/she invest
in energy, planets, mines, shields, weapons, mech maintenance....or
whatever.  The metals he salvages can be sold at one of the 1000
bases located throughout the entire universe.  The ratio of drones
to sectors is roughly 1 drone to about every 5 sectors. The payoffs
for destroying a drone can be up to 2x the invested price.

PLANETS:
--------
     The player can purchase a planet for 200,000 Starvacs.  If the
player chooses to invest in the planet, the planet will produce
energy and mines that will pay for themselves in a short period of
time.   In order to defend the planet the player can create
fighters on the planet to defend it, or protect it with mines.
Only the owner and those with the landing password will be allowed
to land without being attacked!

ZONES:
------
     There are 5 zones located throughout the universe that create
enemy drones.  The game objective is to destroy all of theses
zones.  The more zones that are destroyed, the less mech production
there will be.  Every move that the player makes is crutial.  The
metals that the player sells to the bases are collected by enemy
cargo ships and brought back to the zones where the metals are
converted back into drones.  A destroyed zone will regenerate
itself in 10 days.

OPTICAL GATE:
-------------
     Optical Gate located in 1-1 is a special base that sells
special items for your mech.  These devices will aid your mech in
its battle against the zones.


APPRECIATION:
-------------
     Appreciation is calculated every time the maintenance is ran.
It varies depending on how the SysOp has configured it.


HELP:
-----
     If you find yourself in need of help, ask other players or the
sysop.  The rule of thumb is press the '?' mark to get a help menu.
They are located throughout the game.  If you find any bugs, report
them to the sysop, please do not exploit them. (Something bad might
happen to you!).  In the mean time, do some damage.

IDEAS:
-----

     If you have an idea, or multiple ideas send them to:

                    Dennis R. Alexander c/o MECHTECH Software
                    32318 Wisconsin
                    Livonia, MI  48150
                    USA

     If I implement them, I will credit you in the documentation.