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Land Of Devastation By Scott M. Baker The War ------- It happened in the early 21st century. Nobody is sure actually when as most recorded history was lost at that point. Nobody is sure who started it, or what the reasons were, but one thing is for sure, the world was made very aware of the possibilities of nuclear warfare. The estimated time is somewhere between 2001-2005 that the war occurred. Hundreds, if not thousands, of nuclear missiles stormed through the atmosphere. Their targets: Population centers, military outposts, and governmental facilities. The effects were greater than had been previously theorized. Great blast waves levelled entire cities. All unprotected crops and livestock perished. Those who didn't die of the initial attack were killed off by starvation or nuclear contamination. Sacre Base ---------- There was, however, at least one establishment that survived. A small nuclear fallout shelter about 50 miles out from Tucson, Arizona. At the first sighting of the nuclear clouds, the doors were sealed and the base relied on its self-supporting supplies. After about ten years, when internal supplies became scarce, it was necessary to explore the outside world. The first explorations were lead by Commander Defs Sacre, a survivalist who helped to found the shelter before the war. Sacre was able to locate supplies necessary to sustain life in the shelter for many years to come. Sacre also located a pre-war weapons laboratory, Tera Labs. At Tera Labs, Sacre and his men were able to develop advanced energy weapons - phasers, electroblades, etc. With these weapons, Defs Sacre upgraded the small, fragile nuclear shelter into a full-fledged military outpost. In honor of his bravery, the base was named "Sacre Base". Nuclear Contamination --------------------- As a result of the great war, vast amounts of nuclear radiation were released into the atmosphere. This radiation, in turn, affected the environment in ways never before imagined. Peaceful animals were mutated into hideous beasts; Humans were transformed into a disorganized mass of criminals. Law and order completely collapsed. It was thought that all hope of saving the earth would be lost. The PuriTron Device ------------------- In the year 2022, scientists at Tera Labs developed a device known as the PuriTron. This device would be capable of removing the radioactive contaminants from several thousand cubic feet of air per day. At last, it seemed that there was finally a solution to the world's problems. The PuriTron would clean the radiation out of the atmosphere. The radioactive mutations then would cease, and organized government could be established. Sacre base was very anxious to see the puritron put into action and ordered its transportation immediately. An armed caravan left Tera Labs later that year to transport the PuriTron to Sacre Base where it could be installed and operated. The situation was perfect. Too Perfect. About half way through the journey, the caravan was attacked by a fierce band of female warriors known as the Black Widows. The party was overwhelmed by the attack. The Black Widows had enhanced weapons far superior to that of the caravan. The battle was devastating and only a handful of men were able to escape. The PuriTron device, however, was lost. From intelligence gathering operations, it has been determined that the Black Widows split the PuriTron into at least five separate components which they then hide in separate locations throughout the wasteland. The Quest --------- Your quest, as a soldier stationed at Sacre Base, is to locate these lost parts of the PuriTron and return them to Sacre Base where they may be assembled and activated. The fate of the world is in your hands. Weapons ------- Many weapons are available from the local weapons store. There are basically two types of weapons you can use - close combat and ranged combat. Close combat weapons are used in hand-to-hand situations where you must hit your enemy in order to inflict damage. Ranged combat weapons are used when you sight your target from a distance. Close Combat Weapons -------------------- KNIFE This is pretty lame. Sort of a cross between a butter knife and a steak knife, it doesn't inflict much damage. However, if you're on a budget, it is better than nothing. DAGGER Basically, the Knife designed specifically for combat use. SWORD If you don't know what a sword is, go back to grade school.... RAZORLANCE The lance is a special variation of a spear. It has razor sharp blades on both ends. The user usually holds the lance from the middle and can twirl it in many directions, hitting the attacker with the blades mounted on each end. ELECTROBLADE The electroblade is a dagger that has been electrically charged. It gets it's power from a POWER PACK and when the target is struck, the electrical charge dissipates into them, doing enhanced damage. This weapon does require ammo (POWER PACKS) and will do reduced damage without them. ELECTROSWORD The electrosword is an electrically charged version of the sword. Like the electroblade, it require POWER PACK ammo to function. ELECTROLANCE The electrolance is the electrically charged companion of the razor lance. When properly loaded with a power pack, it can do massive amounts of damage. NEUTRON SABRE A recent experimental prototype using Nuetron technology. The Neutron sabre is a sword-type weapon that uses neutron energy to charge its blade. Produces an intense burning effect on whatever it hits. Uses NEUTRON PACKs as armor. Ranged Weapons -------------- CROSSBOW A purely manually operated weapon. The operator pulls back the string, sets in a crossbow bolt, aims and fires. It requires crossbow bolts for ammunition. CLIP PISTOL A 9mm clip pistol. You slap a clip in, take aim, and blast a hole in your enemy. Uses 9mm clips for ammo. UZI 9mm An automatic 9mm hand held sub-machine gun. Does a lot of damage. Uses 9mm clips for ammo. PHASER-1 A hand held phaser weapon. Sends a charged proton beam into the enemy. Requires power packs for ammo. PHASER-2 More powerful version of phaser-1. PHASER-3 More powerful version of phaser-2. COMP BLASTER The most powerful power-pack weapon built. Similar to a phaser, but uses higher efficiency circuitry to acheive a stronger effect. GRAVBLASTER This weapon sends a beam of gravitons against the target. The gravitons create an immense gravitational disruption in the target's cells, causing the gravitational forces to rip his cell structure apart. Uses gravblast clips. PLASMABLASTER Sends plasma energy into the enemy. Uses plasma clips for ammo. NEUTRON RIFLE Experimental prototype. Uses Neutron packs as ammunition to produce massive damage on whatever it hits. GRENADE PACK This is a package of grenades. It is neither a long range nor a close range weapon. When you enter combat, you have the choice of throwing a grenade at your foe instead of firing a weapon. Grenades have the advantage of almost always hitting the opponent and their damage can go right through an opponent's armor. Ammunition ---------- Certain weapons require ammunition to operate. Ammunition is available at the ammunition store at Sacre Base. The following chart lists the various ammunition types and what weapons require them. (Note: Certain weapons found in the wasteland are unknown to the technicians at Sacre Base and therefore may not appear in this chart) Type 1: Crossbow Bolts SR: None LR: Crossbow Type 2: 9mm clip SR: None LR: Clip Pistol, Uzi 9mm Type 3: Power Pack SR: Electroblade, Electrosword, Electrolance LR: Phaser-1,2,3 Comp Blaster Type 4: Grav Pack SR: None known LR: GravBlaster Type 5: Plasma Pack SR: None known LR: PlasmaBlaster Type 6: Neutron Pack SR: Neutron Sabre LR: Neutron Rifle Misc. Items ----------- RADIO This two-way field radio can be used to tie into the base's communications system. You can send and leave messages just as if you were sitting in the safe comfort of the base. LR SCAN The LR Scan is a very useful device. What it does is tie into the ZR327L military surveillance satellite and generate a satellite picture of the surrounding terrain. Very handy if you get yourself lost. MEDICAL KIT The medical kit contains a number of self-contained "healing" drugs. One quick shot from one of these drugs can do wonders for a person's injuries. (These wonder drugs were actually created in 1973, but held up in various government agencies for 70 or so years) RATIONS A package of poorly tasting, but very nourishing troop rations. Mostly gathered from the remains of dead beasts, it tastes pretty bad, but is very necessary to your survival. SCANNER This is a hand-help radar scanning unit. It can give you a quick idea of the type of terrain around you as well as locate prominent establishments such as towns. STEALTH FIELD GENERATOR The SFG is a unique product of modern technology. It allows you to create a field around your person which can either interfere positively (amplify) or negatively (cancel out) the noise that you create. Since many of the wasteland creatures are dependant upon noise as a means of locating targets, you can either increase or decrease your encounter chances with this device. LAPTOP The GS-224 Laptop is a very valuable instrument when equipped with the necessary programs. You can buy a laptop at sacre base as well as software for the laptop. I'll leave it to you to discover what the laptop does. (Try talking to TROY HADLEY at the Sacre Base Tavern) Medical Lining -------------- Medical lining is a special suit that you wear inside your armor. It is kind of an automated medkit. While you are moving about, the medical lining pumps you full of chemicals, increasing your hit points as you move. Medical lining is rated in hit points per 50 moves. So 5/50 medline would be one hit point regenerated per every 10 moves. The following classes of medical lining are available: STD. MEDLINE: 1/50 (1 hit regenerated per 50 moves) ADV. MEDLINE: 5/50 (1 hit regenerated per 10 moves) PuriTron Device Parts --------------------- The following parts are required for the assembly and operation of the PuriTron device. Sacre Base will pay generously for their return. RAD EXTRACT The Radiation extractor is a device capable of collecting radiation from contaminated materials. The radiation is then collected and concentrated into the storage vessel. STORAGE VESSEL The storage vessel is a special lead cylinder capable of storing the concentrated radiation in a safe, leakproof environment. FILTRON The Filtron is a energy-enhanced filtration unit that removes large particles such as soot, sand, etc from the air. These debris are then sent to the RAD EXTRACT for decontamination. CIRCULATOR A large atmospheric collector. It collects air from the atmosphere and sends it to the FILTRON for processing. NOVA CELL A power cell containing stored solar energy. This energy is used to power the above equipment. The following diagram illustrates how the above units operate together: CIRCULATOR FILTRON :-------------------: :--------------------: : \ : : / : : \ : : /---\ / : : \------------- : : ---//---\\----/ : air ---\ : : : :/-\: : ---\ air out in --- >: : : ::*:: : --- > ---/ : : : :\-/: : ---/ : /------------- : : ---\\---//----\ : : / : : \---/ \ : : / : : | | \ : :-------------------: :--------------------: :--------------------: :------------------: : : : RAD : : STORAGE : :--------: : : : EXTRACT : : VESSEL : NOVA CELL: : : --- : : : : :--: : : / \ : : /------\ : (Supplies: :--: : :--------: ---- --------- : : ---/ : : power to: :--: : : : : : : : all) : :--: : : -------: ---- --------- : : ---\ : : : : : : : \---/ : : \------/ : :--------: / \ :--------------------: :------------------: Debris Out Locating The PuriTron Parts --------------------------- Locating the lost PuriTron parts will not be easy; We have absolutely no data as to the parts' location. You may have to rely on source your meet out in the wasteland to reveal the necessary information. WasteLands Commands ------------------- North...: N or 8 Pick Up Item: P Enter Town....: G South...: S or 2 Drop Item...: D Camp out here.: A East....: E or 6 Check Status: C Construct fort: F West....: W or 6 Equip.......: Q Enter Fort....: I Look....: L or 5 Use Item....: U Inv Maint.....: M Kill Obj: K Quick Heal..: Y B.A.D. Spell..: B Most of those commands are self-explanatory, but a few of them deserve some special mentioning: ENTER TOWN (g) This command will enter any town that you are in front of. Also, if there is a "special" place such as a pylon or a horticulture cetner, you may be able to use "g" to enter it. KILL OBJ (k) This command will allow you to permanently "kill" an object on the wasteland. For example, if there is a "dagger" laying in front of sacre base and it has been annoying you, you can kill it. EQUIP (e) You need to use this one to equip your weapons, armor, etc. USE ITEM (u) This is one of the most important commands in the game. You can use this command to use any usable (i.e. Laptop, rations, medkit, etc) items in your inventory. QUICK HEAL (y) Rather than use the USE (u) command multiple times on a medkit to heal yourself, you can use the Y command to automatically use as many medkit doses as are necessary to heal you. "ALL" On the Kill obj (K), Pick Up (P), and Drop (D) commands, you can say "ALL" when prompted for an item number and LOD will attempt the command on all available items. Combat ------ Combat is a two-phase process. The first phase is when you first sight you opponent at a distance. Since you are far away, you have the options of running, surrendering, throwing grenades, firing your ranged weapon, or proceeding directly to close combat. Once you execute one of these options, you will then encounter your foe at hand-to-hand combat. Let's discuss each of these options: LONG RANGE COMBAT This simply fires your ranged weapon at the enemy. Ranged weapons usually require ammo and if yours doesn't have any, you cannot use this option. CLOSE COMBAT (hand-to-hand) This will bypass you long range combat options and proceed directly to close (hand-to-hand) combat. THROW GRENADE Basically, you throw your grenade at the enemy. RUN You attempt to use the age old strategy of running away. If your enemy has no ranged weapons, he will probably let you go. But, if the enemy does have a ranged weapon, he may try to take a shot at you. SURRENDER Give him half of your money and he'll probably let you go. VIEW OPPONENT See what your up against. VIEW CHARACTER See how pitiful your current status is. STRIKE UP CONVERSATION For some monsters that look somewhat talkative, this option will appear and you can talk to the monster. Odds are you can't talk him out of killing you, but you may be able to gain some vital information from the monster. Close Combat ------------ Most of your encounters will most likely lead to close combat. Close combat is mostly a skill of knowing when to run and when to fight. Some monsters will simply be stronger than you. You may have to run or surrender in order to preserve your life. However, in instances where you choose to fight, the following options are available: ATTACK Charge at the monster with your weapon; Inflict as much damage as possible while protecting yourself from injury. TILL DEATH Fight until one of you is dead. No aborting! Either you or the monster dies! SURRENDER Give him half your money and hope he goes away. RUN Try to run away. Monster may attempt to block you or shoot you if you run. VIEW OPPONENT See what kind of a mess you are getting yourself into.... VIEW CHARACTER Check how bad you are losing.... WARP If you are carrying a warper, you can push it's button and get out of combat fast! After each combat round, you will be informed what your health and the monster's health is. When one of your hit points reaches zero, you die! Attributes ---------- Your character has four basic attributes. These are strength (STR), dexterity (DEX), agility (AGL), and health (HITS). These attributes combine to form your basic physical self. STRENGTH Strength effects how hard you can hit with your weapons. The higher your strength, the more damage you will do in hand-to-hand combat. For example, if you had 50 STR, you would do about 30% more damage than a 25 STR person. DEXTERITY Your ability to hit what you are aiming at. Your dexterity is put up against the enemy's agility. The higher your dexterity is compared to his agility, the more often you will hit. AGILITY Your ability to run away and dodge attacks. HEALTH/HITS Your current hit points are your life. When they reach zero, you die. Experience and Levels --------------------- You will gain experience as you fight in combat and/or complete special quests. Every so often, you will gain enough experience to "go up a level." By rising a level, your characters attributes will increase. The experience requirements per level are summarized below: Level Experience ----- ---------- 1 0 2 1200 3 2400 4 4800 5 9600 6 19200 7 38400 7 32000 8 64000 (remember to fill in rest of chart 9 128000 before releasing this version) 10 192000 11 256000 12 320000 13 384000 14 448000 15 512000 When you have enough experience to go up a level, return to Sacre base or another city and you will rise a level. You will gain five "bonus points" which may be allocated to your attributes as you wish. Fortresses ---------- Fortresses may be constructed by the prosperous adventurer. There are several reasons a fortress is useful and several purposes a fortress can serve: A PLACE TO HIDE OUT The wasteland isn't a very nice place. Hiding out in your fortress can be a great defence against monsters and "competitive" players. STORAGE VAULT Every fortress includes a storage vault. You can drop off as many objects as you like. As long as your fortress remains intact, your valuables are safe. TRADING CENTER You can designate your fortress to buy/sell the three basic products: Minerals, Fuel, and herbs. You can set your prices and how much you wish to buy/sell. In addition, you can sell healing (i.e. medkit doses) and energy (i.e. power packs) to the passing players. If someone is in a bind, they may very well pay a high price for some extra ammo or healing! It should be noted that when trading, other players are held outside the gates of your fortress. They aren't allowed access to your vault, treasury, etc. All that sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Well, it sounds nice to just about everyone else as well. So the point is, you'd better protect your fortress pretty well or somebody uninvited will move in! (and move you out!) Fortress defensive options: MOAT You can dig a moat around your fortress. When somebody wants to attack, they'll have to get through it. Several different moats are available - from simple water with a crocodile to flesh- dissolving acid! DEFENSE FIELD Every fortress should purchase a defense field immediately. The defense field is essentially the fortress's "hit points". When an attacker defeats the defense field, he is inside. Defense fields recharge before battle from the fortress's energy stores. WEAPON So what happens while somebody is hacking away at your defense field? You have a big gun that shoots at him. The better the fortress weapon, the more damage will be inflicted as the attacker attempts to beat the defense field. REACTOR All this stuff takes power. Your defense field requires energy to recharge, your base weapon requires energy to fire, etc. So you might want to have a reactor to build up your daily energy supply. COMMUNICATOR Rather than carry a radio around with you, why not just install a base communicator into your fortress? You'll have complete access to Sacre Base's message system. Now, the most important thing you have to worry about is supplying your base with energy. Without energy, your base defense field cannot charge and your weapon cannot fire. So, how do you get energy? METHOD #1: Buy, steal, or otherwise "acquire" power packs. Take the power packs into your fortress configuration room and discharge them into the fortress power banks. METHOD #2: Buy a reactor (described above) and it will generate a generous amount of energy each day. Fortress Trading ---------------- As mentioned above, trading is possible with fortresses. By using the FORTRESS TRADE CONTROL menu, you can set various options about what you wish to buy or sell. Here are some quick hints: SELLING HEALING (MEDKIT) DOSES First you'll have to "dump" a medkit into your fortress medkit supply. You can do this from the fortress configuration menu. Then go back to the fortress trading menu and you can decide how much of your medkit stocks you wish to put up for sale and how much you wish to charge per dosage. SELLING ENERGY (Power Packs) Like with medkits, go into the fortress configuration menu and dump some energy into the fortress energy banks (unless you already have a plentiful supply of energy in the banks). Then go back to the fortress trade menu and select how much energy you wish to sell and at what price. Don't sell all your energy, because you would leave your base defenseless. BUYING/SELLING THE THREE PRODUCTS (minerals, herbs, fuel) Not fully implemented yet. Feel free to experiment with the options. THE SALES COUNTER Each base has a sales counter. The base owner may place up to five items in this sales counter. Other players may then come and buy them from the base. SELLING TELEPORTATION If you equip your base with a teleporter, then you can charge other players to use your teleporter. You will receive money both when players depart from and arrive to your base. (Note: You may wish to use the "Register with traders union" so people know where your base is) Communicating ------------- Land of Devastation includes some interactive communications capabilities which allow you to "talk" to various characters. When talking to a character, the character will respond to various "hot words" - for instance, asking someone about "JOB" or "NAME" will usually get them to respond with the appropriate information. Special Quests -------------- There are multiple special quests in LOD. A quest could be something as simple as bringing somebody something or a more dificult series of steps. The quests are scattered around. Sometimes you can get information in the Taverns of various towns. The benefits of completing a quest are twofold: 1) You get an exp point bonus and 2) You usually get some kind of special item or information out of it. Terrain ------- Plains -- Wide, open grasslands; Usually quite safe. Impass. Mtn MM Impassable mountains. No way to get around em! Desert .. Hot temps and dust storms make travelling dangerous. Mountains mm Low mountains; Easily climbable, but not too safe. Road || Pre-war highways - monsters usually stay clear. Wasteland ww Areas severely damaged by nuclear radiation - stay clear! River ~~ Flowing water - usually easy to cross. Swamp "" Swamps - very unsafe. U-Pylon /\ Several located, but their function is unknown. D-Pylon /\ Several located, but their function is unknown. Rad-zone rr Direct nuclear strike. Very, very hazerdous Forest ff Thick, woody forests. Hort. Center HS True nature unknown; Rumored to exist. Phaser Cache PC True nature unknown; Rumored to exist. Towns xx Relatively safe if your friends with the residents. Inside the cities ----------------- In LOD, there are several cities scattered about through the wasteland which you may enter. The first of these is of course Sacre Base where you being your adventure. Sacre base is also a very nice "home base". You can buy more weapons, medkits, and such there. Financial Options ----------------- In the investment options menu of the troop quarters, there are a few different financial options that you can perform. These are: 1] Withdrawing/Depositing money in your "standard account" The standard account is a safe investment which will ear you 5% of your money per night. Your money is always safe there - it can't be lost, stolen, etc. 2] Withdraw/Deposit money in your "game account" The game account is a special account which will earn you 20% per day. However, this money is not without risk. Other players can "challenge" you to games. They will challenge you for up to 50% of what is in your account. If they win, you will gain 50%, if you lose, then you will lose 50% for them. For example: a> Defs Sacre has $500 in his account. b> Atlas Eyes challenges for $250. If Atlas Eyes wins the game then he will get $250 of Defs Sacre's money. Otherwise, Atlas Eyes will lose $250 of his money to Defs Sacre. c> Atlas Eyes loses. And Defs Sacre ends up with $750. d> maint runs and Defs Sacre earns 20% interest on his $750, bringing his total up to $1000. Not bad! 3] Request a loan You may request a lone from the bank. They will usually loan you up to 5% of your worth. Each day the amount you are required to pay back will rise by 18%. They will get increasingly upset if you do not pay this off very quickly. 4] Pay off loan You can pay off as much of your loan as you wish at any time. Paying off your loan is wise as any unpaid balance accumulates 18% interest per night. 5] Financial Statement Just summarizes how much money you have (or don't have?) 6] Financial Info A brief summary of the available financial options. Getting Started --------------- 1) Equip Your Character a) Go into the misc. store and buy a "medkit/10". This is probably the single most important item since the medkit is capable of healing your lost HPs. b) Buy a rations/5 from the misc. store. The rations will be necessary if you become hungry in the wasteland. c) Go into the weapons store and pick up the best hand-to-hand weapon you can afford. This will most likely be a "dagger". d) Go into the wasteland and use the "Q" (equip) command to select the dagger as your hand-to-hand weapon. 2) Fight some monsters a) Go into the wasteland. b) Wander around in the area around the base. Try not to get to far away from the base since you don't want to get lost. c) When you encounter some "easy" monsters (such as a rad hound, giant rat, ant man), waste them! Go into hand-to-hand combat and you should be able to defeat them. d) If you encounter a "hard" monster (such as an Insane Soldier or a Scavenger), run away immediately. Your odds of beating them are very slim. e) If your hit points run low, use your medkit to heal them back up. f) When you have accumulated 2000 experience or you are out of medkit dosages, head back to the base. If you have the 2000 or so experience, then you should go up a level. 3) Equip your character with better weapons. a) Buy at least one more medkit/10; You'll need them when you go out again. b) Depending on your amount of cash, buy a better hand-to-hand weapon, armor, long-range weapon, and ammo if necessary. c) When you feel you're ready, purchase a Laptop and some programs for it. The DIET and NOTES programs are pretty nice to have. 4) That's it - you're on your own from now!