Hellhog XP - Introduction




    Welcome!

    So you are going to be a drone pilot for the NAG armada, are you?
    Your new task is to control an orbital combat drone (OCD) whose
    mission it is to guard and protect your mothership or space station
    against alien intruders and space parasites.

    As you know, OCDs are the most technical advanced defensive
    units of the NAG armada.Equipped with high speed ion drives,
    anti-matter based power supplies, regenerative energy shields
    and impressive weaponry, these drones are the foundation of
    modern secure interstellar travel and transport.

    Under varying environmental conditions such as gas nebulas in outer space
    or planetary scenarios it is always your top priority to keep the different
    types of parasites from pirating or damaging our star freighters and
    deep space stations. Sometimes you will have to operate under difficult
    visual conditions while defending our ships against countless hordes of
    interstellar creatures. Show no mercy whenever this alien scum wants to
    steal our resources and technologies.

    NAG Central Command




 
     
 
     
 


    Hellhog XP - Guide


    Contents of this document

    1. What is it all about?
    2. Controls / What you can do.
    3. How to play.
    4. Weapons
    5. Enemies and Score
    6. Environments and Missions
    7. Heads Up Display (HUD)
    8. Orbital Combat Drone (OCD)
    9. Tips and Hints


    What is it all about?

    Hellhog XP is a 3D Orbital Combat Shooter.

    You are put in control of an orbital combat drone, flying around a mothership
    or space station in an orbital manner, always trying to intercept and destroy
    those hostile creatures that are coming for you attack wave after attack wave.

    Your goal is to survive the attack waves and eliminate all enemies as quick as possible.
    Every destroyed enemy increases your score.
    If you manage to eliminate enemies with a bonus (green bar)
    within a certain time, you gain extra points or even bonus drones.

    After completing a level/mission by destroying all enemy attack waves,
    you proceed to the next level.
    When you complete the last level, the game is over and you win.
    If you have lost all your combat drones, the game is over and the mission fails.
    Try again until all enemies are defeated and mission objectives are accomplished! :)

    With a limited number of drones it is always important to keep an eye
    on your active drone's energy, shield and damage status.
    Its ion drives and regenerative shields as well as all weapon systems consume lots of energy.
    Whenever your energy status gets really low, the drone's weapons fail to fire and its ion drives get
    ineffective.This is a dangerous situation where even the weakest enemies can be very deadly ,
    so you should avoid it at all cost.

    Various weapons are available to you during a mission.
    They all have different properties like missile speed,
    damage, number of missiles per shot or energy consumption.
    You always have a (selectable) primary and a secondary weapon active at a time.
    Experiment with your drone's weaponry to find out which is your favorite gun or
    combination and which weapon fits best for which situation or type of enemy .

    Different types of enemies will attack you during a mission.
    They always come in waves, most of the time increasing in numbers and
    getting harder to defeat wave by wave.
    They differ in attributes like 'agility', the maximum damage they can take,
    shield regeneration, the damage their weapons can produce,
    weapon reload times and lots more.

    Some of them will come close to you and attack you all the time (like the 'Killer')
    and some will try to keep the distance between them and your drone as big as possible
    firing missiles at you from far away.(like the 'Remote Killer')
    Others change their behavior from time to time or according to their status.
    When a Vampire attacks your drone, it comes very close and uses its Absorber Gun
    to suck its energy.It does no harm but can decrease your drone's energy status to zero,
    which is (as you already know) a very bad situation.



    Controls / What you can do.

    You can always access or close the game menu pressing the escape key (Esc).
    During a mission this will pause the game and start a camera tour around the mothership.
    This can make for a nice effect when in a heavy battle as it freezes all missiles and explosions.
    From the active menu that you can see at this point it is possible to access the options menu
    or quit the mission.
    The cursor keys can be used to navigate the active menu.
    Pressing the return key triggers the current active button.
    You can always press the escape key to return to a previous menu if any.

    Pressing the F8 key lets you save a screen shot of the current view.
    The saved images can be found in the Screenhots folder of your Hellhog XP installation.
    You can save up to one hundred screen shots beginning with screen000.bmp
    and ending with screen099.bmp.
    You will have to move or delete the old screen shots from the folder before you
    can save new ones.Keep in mind that the images consume a lot of space on your hard drive
    so deleting them from time to time is a good idea.



    General Controls:
    Menu <Esc>
    Screen shot <F8>
    Console <~>

    Movement Controls:
    Move Left Left Arrow
    Move Right Right Arrow
    Move Up Up Arrow
    Move Down Down Arrow
       
    Weapon Turret Movement /
    Aiming     		Move the Mouse to change your field of view.
    This also controls the drone's weapon turret and
    the cross hair.

    Interaction:
    Primary Weapon Fire Left Mouse Button
    Secondary Weapon Fire Right Mouse Button
       
    Weapon Select Menu Mouse Wheel Up, Mouse Wheel Down,
    Number Keys (depending on game version)
    >> open menu and pre-select weapon in menu
       
    Weapon Selection Left Mouse Button
    >> selects new primary weapon when in Weapon Select Menu
    Right Mouse Button
    >> selects new secondary weapon when in Weapon Select Menu






    How to play..

    To start a new game select [Start Game] in the main menu.
    Enter the name for the new game in the next menu.
    You will get a warning if the name already exists.If you are not
    interested in resuming the game later simply ignore the warning and select [Yes].
    Select a skill level in the following menu.This will also start the game.
    After a short preparation phase (when you see the rotating OCD)
    you will enter the first level with your first combat drone.
    Expect the first attack wave... good luck!

    Your orbital combat drone is always circling around a mothership or a space station.
    It is basically oriented towards a point within the mothership.
    Move left or right to change the drone's position within an orbit.
    Move up or down to change the height of the orbit.
    You can (and should) move the drone's weapon turret with your mouse,
    thus changing your field of view and of course moving the cross hair.
    In this way it is possible to slightly rotate the drone out of its basic orientation towards
    the mothership which is necessary to aim at your enemies in some situations.

    Play around and get comfortable with your drone's controls.
    Tip: It is a good idea to eliminate all enemies but one to have a relatively
    undisturbed practice scenario.

    Use the number keys or mouse wheel to open the weapon select menu
    and pre-select a weapon from the list.
    Pressing the left mouse button selects the weapon as the primary one.
    Pressing the right mouse button selects it as the secondary one.
    Weapons are triggered/fired using the left (primary) and the right (secondary) mouse button.

    Sniper weapons (like the Plasma Thrower) can only be secondary.
    Pressing and holding the right mouse button when a sniper weapon is your active secondary weapon
    activates the zoomed sniper view.
    Releasing the right mouse button fires the weapon and returns to the normal view.



    Weapons.

    There are 7 weapons available in the full registered version (4 in shareware)
    with more to come through updates and add-ons.

    Among other things weapons differ in :
    • energy consumption
    • damage
    • reload time
    • (missile) speed
    • number of missiles per shot



    AMT Launcher  
    -energie consumption: 2 units
    -damage: 80
    -reload time: 750 millis
    -missile speed: 60000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 1


    Plasma Thrower Note: This weapon is a sniper gun.
    -energie consumption: 5 units
    -damage: 250
    -reload time: 1500 millis
    -missile speed: 85000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 1


    Dual Phaser Gun  
    -energie consumption: 5 units
    -damage: 50 per missile
    -reload time: 1000 millis
    -missile speed: 60000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 2 + 1


    Delta Gun  
    -energie consumption: 7 units
    -damage: 40 per missile
    -reload time: 1500 millis
    -missile speed: 40000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 3


    EMP Gun Note: This gun produces a very strong shockwave
    damaging/destroying everything within its range.
    -energie consumption: 50 units
    -damage: 500
    -reload time: 4000 millis
    -range: 20000 units


    Phalanx Note: This weapon fires 3 AMT missiles.
    -energie consumption: 5 units
    -damage: 40 per missile
    -reload time: 1500 millis
    -missile speed: 60000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 3


    Hydra  
    -energie consumption: 5 units
    -damage: 40 per missile
    -reload time: 1000 millis
    -missile speed: 60000 units/sec
    -missiles per shot: 4+1




    Enemies and Score

    Every type of enemy in Hellhog XP gives you a certain reward when destroyed.
    In addition, enemies sometimes have a bonus that decreases with time.
    Very few enemies give you a bonus drone when destroyed in time.



    Name: Alpha
    Reward: 25
    Agility:     100
    Shield: 40
    Max. Damage: 40
    Shield Regen.: 1
    Damage Regen.: 0

     



    Name: Beta
    Reward: 50
    Agility:     160
    Shield: 75
    Max. Damage: 75
    Shield Regen.: 1
    Damage Regen.: 0
     



    Name: Gamma
    Reward: 75
    Agility:     220
    Shield: 200
    Max. Damage: 200
    Shield Regen.: 7
    Damage Regen.: 0
     



    Name: Killer
    Reward: 200
    Agility:     220
    Shield: 250
    Max. Damage: 350
    Shield Regen.: 5
    Damage Regen.: 0

    Comment: There is a known mutation of this parasite
    called Solo Killer. Be cautious!
    It is meaner and stronger than a normal Killer.
     



    Name: Remote Killer
    Reward: 200
    Agility:     180
    Shield: 150
    Max. Damage: 300
    Shield Regen.: 3
    Damage Regen.: 0
     



    Name: Vampire
    Reward: 50
    Agility:     250
    Shield: 140
    Max. Damage: 140
    Shield Regen.: 2
    Damage Regen.: 0

    Comment: Uses Absorber Gun.
     


    Environments and Missions

    The full registered version of the game contains 33 levels that have to be played through one after another.
    You encounter different planetary and outer space scenarios.Some of these scenarios involve
    gas nebulas or interstellar regions that are densely populated with stars,
    which can make for difficult visibility conditions.
    When operating in a planetary context you should be aware of bright sun light that could make
    detection of parasites more difficult.

    There are different types of ships that have to be secured and protected against intruders or parasites.
    Because of their different architectures you will be confronted with different orbital flight conditions.



    Heads Up Display (HUD)





    The HUD of an orbital combat drone contains several devices,
    that help you to check its status or a mission's environment:

    1. Level Counter (upper-left)
    2. Score Counter (upper-right)
    3. Shield Indicator (lower-left)

      4. Starts blinking when a drone's shield level gets critical.
    4. Damage Indicator (lower-right)

      5. Starts blinking when a drone's damage status gets critical.
    5. Surplus Energy Indicator (lower-middle)

      6. Amount of Energy available to the combat drone's weapon sub systems.
    6. Close Range Radar (lower-right / above Damage Indicator )
    7. Available Drones Display (left)


    Orbital Combat Drone (OCD)


    Max. Damage: 150
    Max. Shield Power: 100 units
    Max. Energy Capacity: 100 units
    Shield Regeneration 3 units/sec
    Energy Regeneration 8 units/sec

    Warning: The combat drone's power supply is able to produce
    enough energy for 2 of your system components:
    1. Shield Regenerator
    2. Ion Drives
    As long as its shield level is at 100% or its ion drives are inactive,
    there is surplus energy that can be stored for weapon usage.
    This surplus energy is what your HUD's energy status bar is indicating.
    When the energy status goes below 20% because of frequent weapon usage,
    less energy is available for the drone's ion drives, as the power supply
    tries to store larger amounts of energy for weapon sub systems.
    Have an eye on your combat drone's energy status!


    Tips and Hints

    1. If your shield and/or energy status is low and there are only a few enemies left,
      destroy all but one and wait until your shield and energy is fully regenerated
      before you eliminate the last one. This will give you better starting conditions
      for the next attack wave.

    2. When there are lots of enemies around you, keep moving.

    3. Enemies try to predict your movements, so try to move unpredictable.

    4. Sometimes it helps to stand still (if possible) and let your shield regenerate.
      Keep in mind: When your shield is low (needs energy for regeneration) and you move around,
      your drone's (surplus) energy status will not recover.

    5. There are small status bars visible above the enemies in the HUD.
      - a green bar for enemy's bonus (decreases with time)
      - a red bar for its damage status

    6. Keep an eye on the radar.It tells you how many enemies there are left
      and where they are.

    7. To get a very high score (this should be your goal :) ),
      it is important to eliminate all enemies of an attack wave as quick as possible.
      Enemy bonus decreases with time!