BBS Toolkit/BBS Toolkit.iso/doors_2/toc3_5.zip/TEXT.ARJ/PLAYER.DOC

Text File | 1992-05-19 | 9KB | 198 lines

          Time of Chaos player documentation

          Copyright 1992 Shawn McMahon
          Time of Chaos copyright 1992 Brian Cain

1 - New players

          Ok, you've logged in Time of Chaos, and you have absolutely no
idea what to do now.  This file will attempt to set you on the right
track.  Don't look for advanced tactical tips here, though.  I've got to
maintain my edge *somehow*.

          First thing you want to do is look at your character's stats.
The game should have automatically shown them to you, but if you didn't
get a chance to see them, you can check your status from most menus by
hitting "!".  There are three stats you need to worry about: Dex,
Strength, and Hit Points.

          Hit points are how you take damage, and eventually die.  Thus,
they're important, but not as important as you might think.  At the
moment, you'll have more hit points than armor, so you'll want to have a
decent level of them at all times.  However, I've NEVER seen a character
who started with too few hit points, so you really don't have to worry
about them at the moment.

          Strength is important early in the game, because you'll be
fighting your first fight or two with strength-based weapons (with your
fists, in fact, if you're following my advice) AND for something you'll
discover later.  However, it's not the most important stat.  If yours is
under about 210 pounds, you might want to Sanctify (see the section
below about the Sanctification process.)  Otherwise, don't worry about
it.

          Dexterity is your most important stat.  You'll want at least a
25 to start.  If you don't have this much, you'll probably want to
Sanctify (ok, ok, I'll explain it in a minute.)  You use dex to hit
people, to avoid being hit, and to disarm people's weapons.


2 - Sanctification

          If your character wasn't up to par on dex, or maybe on
strength, then you want to sanctify.  What this does is reroll your
statistics, and reset you to level 1 and no experience.  However, it
also erases all items and money you have on you.  This is a bad thing.

          If you need to sanctify, then you want to go outside.  (Note:
you can almost always hit ? to see a menu, so in this file I'll assume
you do that instead of just telling you the key sequences to follow.
That way, you'll learn the menus.)

          When you're outside, you want to Drop items.  Drop ONE credit
on the ground, then exit the drop menu.  Look where you are.  There
should be one or more items like this:

[100] 1 credits

That number in [] is the item number.  If it goes over 199, then all
items laying around are erased.  This can be over 199 ANYWHERE in the
universe, and it'll erase ALL items laying around.  The reason you just
dropped that credit was to make sure it isn't about to wrap around on
you.  If there are NO items laying around, then it just wrapped and
you're ok.  Drop the rest of your credits.  Then, go back in the Complex
(most games call it The Time Zone, but it may be named something
different in yours.)

Now, go to the User Interactions menu, and sanctify.  After you've
followed the brief series of prompts, hit ! to see your stats.  If
they're satisfactory, you can go on.  If not, do it again.  (Note: some
sysops require a fee to sanctify.  If you don't have enough to do it
several times, you're screwed for this strategy.  Sorry.  You might try
telling your sysop that both the author of the game and the author of
these docs allow free sanctification in their games.  Maybe he'll shape
up.)

Once you've got a good character, go outside and Pickup your stuff.
Make note of the / option, to pick up all miscellaneous items.  This is
a big help and timesaver.  Use it.

If there are any players listed like this:

GHOST [Dead]

Then you want to steal from them.  Hit I to Inspect, then type the name
of the character.  ONLY MESS WITH ONES THAT SAY [Dead] AFTER THEIR NAME!
If you mess with one that says [Camped/Living] you'll probably be the
one with [Dead] after your name.  When you're inspecting them, Steal
items, and take anything they have, especially weapons.  You might not
want to bother with their armor, since it's probably at 0 points.  But,
if they have armor AND a lot of money you can steal, get their armor:
you can have it fixed in the complex.  It's expensive, but it's their
money...

Items that you need:
Compass
Mapper
Clock

Anything else is a bonus, although as a new player, medkits would be
nice.

Go back in the complex.  If you picked anything up besides your money,
go to the Supplies area and pick Misc supplies, then pick Sell.  When it
asks what to sell, hit / to sell all unused items.  That way, if you
have like 3 mappers and 4 compasses, it'll see the extras.  When it asks
about putting it in your bank account, hit N for no.

Now, if you got armor, go to the Protective/armor area of the supplies
menu, and have it repaired, if you can afford it.  If not, then look in
the buy armor part, and see if there is armor with more points of
protection left than you have.  If so, sell yours and buy it.

If you didn't get any extra stuff outside, then you need to do the
following:

Buy a mapper.
Buy the best armor you can afford, even if it leaves you broke.
Don't worry about weapons at this point.

Now, go outside.  Now that you have a mapper, you should see a map of
the surrounding area.  You're in the middle, and as you move, the map
moves around you, with you always in the middle.  The complex shows up
as [].  To find out what the other symbols mean, hit U to use misc
items, and use your mapper.  It'll show you the symbols for
Earth/Outside.  Different areas have different symbols, but you'll have
'em figured out by that time.

You need to kill something.  Either bash into a wall over and over, or
move off the complex and hit 5 to enter area over and over until
something comes to kill you.  When it does, pick one of your fists (or
one of your weapons if you have one.)

You're now in combat.  Some tips:

Always Disarm your enemies until they have no more weapons.  They can't
hurt you as badly then.

If you're using a firearm, watch your ammo.  It'll show you when you're
out, but it'll still let you attack, you'll just be pistol-whipping the
guy, and it won't do much damage.

Don't forget you can hit ? to get a menu if you get confused.

Later, you'll have automatic weapons.  Every time you reload one of
those, you'll need to change your firing rate again.  (don't worry about
this now, unless you got lucky and got an auto weapon off some poor slob
outside the complex.)

Bash your way through some guys, stopping when you start to get low on
armor.  Then, go back in the complex.  You should have one or more
levels coming to you.  Put 1 level into your dex, and put as many into
your strength as you need to get up to 310 pounds.  Keep going out and
fighting, then coming back in and getting levels.  Every time you come
in, you also need to have your armor repaired,  buy ammo for your
weapon (if it's a firearm), and sell all your miscellaneous stuff.

Keep all your money in the bank (in the user interactions menu) when you
leave the complex.  You don't need it outside, and if you die someone
will steal it from you.

When you get up to about 30 dex, walk around and explore.  Look for the
airport.  Don't go in anywhere except the airport or the castle, or
you'll die.  When you find the airport, go in and fight stuff.  Don't
forget to disarm things.  Eventually, you'll have better armor and
either a Mac 11 or an Uzi.  Now, you can really kick butt.  Kill things
in the airport or the castle, going back to the complex periodically.
When you reach about a 35 dex, you can go on to the next place on the
list: the Police Station.

From here, you're on your own.  You'll rapidly figure the game out.  Be
sure to find a good place to hide every time you log off.  If you can
weedle the door code to someone's fort, you can hide there with much
greater relative saftey.  Don't forget to bank your bucks before you log
off.

When dropping your armor and weapons to pick up new ones, watch out for
item rollover.  You can lose all your stuff that way.

You can figure the rest out from there.  If you can get a communicator,
you can access the message and email areas without needing to go in the
complex, but if not, you might want to check in there at the beginning
of each call, just to see if there's information you need.

If you need any other tips or hints, you can call The iCE Dimension
TOC HQ/BBS at 214/641-7805. 9600 USRobotics Courier HST/Dual Standard.
The author of this doc file can be reached at 405/436-2142, at
Void Where Prohibited. Supra 14400 v.32bis, 24 hours.

The iCE Dimension can be reached on USTGNet/ITCNet as node 85:841/1, and
Void Where Prohibited can be reached on Fidonet as node 1:19/141.

You can play TOC on both boards, as well.  VWP gives you game access on
your first call, if you use the callback verifier. On The iCE Dimension,
you can also play with any access level.

The latest version of TOC can be downloaded from either of these boards,
or FREQed if you have a mailer. The magic name is 'TOC'.