• English, cusion bank and "cut" (the rebound angle of one ball off another) seem to be slightly exaggurated from the real world. Zoom in until the cue ball seems life-size and shoot from that perspective.
• A mouse is best, and a trackball is ideal. Joysticks are not a good idea.
• The "tracking" and "undo" options are great, but DO NOT become dependent upon them--they cannot be used during games
• As in real pool, cue ball position is everything. Watch the computer opponents to see how they position for breaks, after scratches, and by putting "english" and "follow" on the ball.
Warcraft 2 Hints & Tips
• Make sure you have a constant supply of farms so that you never have to stop production and expansion due to lack of farms.
• Keep your town hall busy creating peasants; don’t stop assigning peasants to mine gold until you find that you never have to wait for money to build what you need to build.
• Organize your town well. Put farms and buildings that don’t need to be reached by units away from the main town (e.g. blacksmiths) so they don’t get in the way of your peasants. Leave a two-tile border around your town hall and barracks and don’t block the path from the town hall to the gold mine. Build a lumber mill near the trees you’ll be chopping.
• Send scouts out early to examine the terrain. Then avoid chopping trees that provide a good natural defense (even better, thin ‘em out and build cannon towers behind them). Build farms in gaps to close off access to your town, and build cannon towers behind them. You’re at a great advantage if you close off access to your town so that you can concentrate your defenses at a single point.
• When using ballistas or catapults, reserve some soldiers or knights to ward off attackers. These vehicles are very vulnerable at close range, so it’s important to protect them with other ground units.
• Flying machines/zeppelins are crucial tools when planning an attack. Use one to scout out the territory ahead before sacrificing your other units.
• When engaged in sea battle, have your ships attack one specific enemy ship. The faster you cut down their numbers, the greater the advantage you have in battle.
• Keep your transports offshore when you’re not using them so that they can’t be attacked by land units.
• Build oil refineries near oil platforms to cut down travel time and speed up oil production.
Descent II Hints & Tips
• This game isn’t Doom. Learn to use all twelve maneuvering keys and take full advantage of the 3D environment.
• Use the automap when you’re totally lost; combined with the help of the Guide-Bot, you can’t go wrong.
• Remember to use headlights in dark corridors! You’ll live much longer if you do.
• Firing into lava produces a deadly explosion; try to fire at lava under enemy robots if they’re hovering just above the lava.
• Learn to switch quickly between weapons, and know which weapons should be used for which situations. When confronting the brown claw-like robots introduced on the third level, use the Vulcan or Gauss Cannon instead of energy weapons, as energy weapons cause the robot to return fire with a deadly green plasma weapon.
• Before destroying the reactor, find the exit (if possible) and plan your escape.
• After destroying the reactor, turn on your headlight and make a beeline for the exit. Don’t stop to fight enemies if at all possible. Keep up with your Guide-Bot!
• If you see the Thief-Bot on any given level, take a few minutes to finish him off so he won’t bother you any more. Killing the Thief-Bot takes a bit of skill. Homing missiles are a good way to get a few solid hits on him; they’re not a guaranteed hit, but they’re better than any human could do with a laser weapon. Use the Vulcan Cannon, as you don’t have to worry about leading him. Finally, find a dead-end room. After a few moments, the Thief-Bot AI will determine that it needs to head for the exit. Stand inside the doorway, blocking the exit, and fire you weapons continually until he’s dead.
• When confronting bosses, learn to circle and strafe while firing missiles inward. Often, sniper attacks from inside protective doorways is the safest method of confronting a boss. Use your Guide-Bot (“Find Robot”) or a guided missile to take a look inside the boss’s room if you can’t see where he is. Find places where you can fill your energy and shields, and use your headlight!
Hexen
• Learn to strafe and fire on the move. These baddies are not fast. (Well, the Dark Bishops and Death Wyvern are.) This ability will help you immensely in Hexen, as well as other games.
• Learn and maximize the effectiveness of the character you choose and the weapons you wield. In other words, read the manual because it has some very important material pertaining to your character.
• Pull every switch you see and watch the map closely. It helps to know where you are at all times.
• Don’t waste your Icon of the Defender or Mystic Urn. They are invaluable at the end.
• Don’t waste your Dark Servant or Porkulator on the tougher beasts such as Death Wyvern, Heresiarch, Zedek, Traductus, Menelkir, and Korax. They have no affect on them.
• Learn to hit without using mana. Certain weapons can be used without mana. This becomes important in the later rounds because the best weapons chew up mana.
• On the final board, after you have hurt Korax, he will open up two rooms on the sides of the hall. As soon as you can, go into these room to fight the next wave of beasts. This way you won’t be caught in the fireballs, lava, and whatever other havoc he creates for you.
