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- 1. Tips
- 2. Cheat
-
- 1. Tips:
- =======
- Seed factory:
- ------------
- Use the Elevation Map on the site map window to choose a landing area. The clear
- terrain is shown in black so the best locations are black with the red dots -
- which mark potential mines - identified from orbit.
- When you place the Seed factory a red 'X' will appear on the diamond-shaped tile
- map. Run a turn by left-clicking on the small planet in the lower right-hand
- corner of the screen. Then the turn number will appear below the planet. When
- you see the Seed lander on the map (in place of the red 'X') you can start
- running turns to get the Seed factory started. Construction tiles and pre-
- fabricated tubes will appear.
-
- Building with tubes:
- -------------------
- Tubes carry air and power from your CHAP and power facilities. For most
- structures a tube connection is required to physically connect it to the
- existing network of buildings and tubes. Since construction also requires a tube
- connection on a tile adjacent to your intended building site you may find that
- nothing is available in your tile selector window except for robots and tubes.
- After placing a tube on a bulldozed part of the diamoned-shaped tile map
- structures will appear in the tile selector window provided resources are
- currently available to build new structures. When your colony is just starting
- tubes will be unavailable in the tile selector window until you've brought down
- your first colonist lander.
-
- Early construction:
- ------------------
- During the first 50 turns or so you should build slowly. Allow for the
- completion of each structure before starting a new one. In the meantime you can
- always bulldoze mine and tunnel horizontally or vertically with your robodiggers
- (assuming these are available when you want them). Build your first few
- structures in this order: agricultural dome; CHAP; power facility; storage tanks
- residential units.
- If your morale is falling fast you may want to build a couple of residential
- units to slow it down. You'll need to build a power facility before the Seed
- Factory stops supplying power - around turn 150. SPEW facilities provide
- resources from the sewage generated by residential units so it's also a good
- structure to build early on. In addition sort out a warehouse and a robot
- command facility. The latter will allow you to make use of your robots build by
- the Seed factory. Gradually add more mines to ensure that your resources keep
- flowing.
- Remember that an operating SPEW will generate MPG which will replace any
- resources you may temporarily be missing. It's stored at the SPEW facility and
- automatically used to maintain existing structures. You can check the amount of
- MPG in storage by getting a SPEW report - simply left-click on it.
-
- Seed factory collapse:
- ---------------------
- Also remember that you will lose your Seed factory units (power; smelter; robot
- factory) after 150 turns so if you want to maintain those functions you must
- build replacement structures. Before the Seed factory units collapse make sure
- that your tube connections can be maintained between structures. Tubes are
- required to carry power and air both for construction of new buildings and
- maintenance of those buildings. You need a constant physical connection of
- buildings and tubes to maintain the supply of power and air to all your
- structures so you'll need tubes that bypass your seed factory before it
- collapses.
-
- Using the robots that landed with your seed factory:
- ---------------------------------------------------
- Your seed factory landed with three robots on board: a robodozer; a robominer
- and a robodigger. While the seed factory is building itself these three robots
- can be assigned to tasks on the diamond-shaped tile map that dominates your
- screen. When available they are visible in the tile selector window at the top
- centre of your screen.
- When you first place your robots it's wise to place a robodigger adjacent to one
- of the tube openings that are part of the seed factory complex. It will then
- start digging a shaft to create your first underground level. On the surface of
- the planet a robodigger can only dig a new level when it starts next to the
- surface tube connecting it to its home colony. Because the robodigger constructs
- the air shaft for the underground levels the tube connection is required to
- carry air and power to structures. When you want to extend an air shaft to a
- deeper level place a robodigger directly on an existing one.
- Place the robominer on a red mining beacon. Later to extand a mine shaft to a
- deeper level - on planets where this is possible - position a robominer directly
- on an existing underground mine shaft. This will not affect the functioning of
- the existing mine.
- Finally position a robodozer beside one of the other tube openings to prepare a
- building site. When you have placed all these robots the tile selector window
- will be empty. You must run turns to complete the current activity by those
- robots. As each robot completes an activity it will reappear in the tile
- selector window for assignment to a new task.
-
- Mines:
- -----
- The starship locates many potential mine sites and the geological penetrator
- probe can discover more. But to find the best mining sites you'll need explorer
- robots. They perform their function automatically and each is capable of finding
- undiscovered mines. On the Easy difficulty level ten explorers are sufficient to
- discover the remaining mine sites.
-
- Building robots with your seed factory:
- --------------------------------------
- Once the construction of your seed factory is complete you can use it to build
- additional basic robots. Familiarise yourself with each unit of the seed factory
- by left-clicking on each of the finished units and reading the report that
- identifies its individual function.
- When you select the robot factory portion of the seed factory you can start
- building additional robots. There is a text entry area on the robot factory
- report which has a small arrow to its right. Clicking on the arrow button will
- pull down the robot production menu. By selecting one of these robot types and
- closing the report you have set the factory to produce one of those robots every
- five turns. After you've build one or more of a single robot type you can go
- back to this same report and reset production to build a new type.
- New robots must be stored in a warehouse. Usually one warehouse is sufficient to
- hold robots for a long time. Since those active in the field require no storage.
- You must have at least one warehouse to store the robots that your seed factory
- is building - otherwise nothing will happen. To activate your automatons you
- must also build a robot command centre (described below).
-
- Building robots without the seed factory:
- ----------------------------------------
- The seed factory can keep producing robots right up to the end of its life which
- occurs around turn 151. For the first phase of the game seed factory robot
- production will often be sufficient for your needs. However at some point you
- may decide to build more in which case you'll need a surface factory: after turn
- 151 this is your only option for building new robots. Active ones have a life of
- 200 turns before their fuel cells die so you'll start losing them after this
- point if you haven't already said goodbye to some due to accidents.
-
- Activating new robots with Robot Command:
- ----------------------------------------
- However they are produced the new machines need to be stored in a warehouse from
- which they are available to robot command units. Each command facility can
- operate ten machines. If you want to operate 11 you will need to construct a
- second facility.
- If a factory has produced robots and a warehouse exists to store them and at
- least one robot command facility exists to operate its ten automations they will
- appear in your tile selector window so that you can place them on the tile map.
- If all of the currently available robots are active no more of that type will
- appear in the tile selector window.
- The radius of a command area is unlimited if you have a communications satellite
- in orbit (assuming you packed one when you left Earth). If you have no satellite
- communications towers must be built to extend the range of your robominers and
- other robots. Each command facility and each tower has a communications radius
- of 30 tiles.
-
- When buildings go idle:
- ----------------------
- Buildings go idle due to lack of resources; power or people. In the case of
- laboratories this happens if they are not assigned a specific line of research.
- When a structure's report shows it status as 'idle' you can find out what
- resources it needs by clicking on the 'Needs' button at the bottom of the report
- The CHAP facility report is reached through the Executive Summary Report buttons
- CHAP and power facilities are at the top of the priority list when resources are
- scarce allowing time to react to the resource shortage. Bulldoze unnecessary
- structures particularly if you have an operational SPEW facility to recycle the
- bulldozed building materials. Make sure you have operating mines; an operating
- smelter and sufficient space in your storage tanks to handle all the processed
- resources coming into your colony.
- If buildings are only idle due to a lack of staff bulldozing unnecessary
- structures will free up employed workers. Alternatively wait for your population
- to grow and age - giving you a larger available workforce.
-
- Why people die:
- --------------
- People die naturally from old age or by accident (life is designed that way of
- course). This will occur no matter what you do. Deaths also occur due to
- starvation or lack of air but these are problems you can do something about.
- When you recieve a death message after running a turn it doesn't necessarily
- mean you are doing anything wrong. Check to make sure that enough food is being
- produced by your agricultural domes (one unit feeds ten people) and that your
- structures are getting enough air. If you have handled these requirements you
- know they're dying due to old age or accident. After turn 60 deaths by old age
- or accident are substantially reduced - because the first part of the colony has
- been built; the weaker people who survived the trip have subsequently died in
- the hostile environment; and construction accidents are fewer because the
- workers have learned better and safer techniques.
-
- Resource movement from mines to colony smelters:
- -----------------------------------------------
- Mined ores are stored at each shaft until a full load is ready to be moved by
- the truck assigned to that mine. When built each pit has one truck to
- automatically more ores to the Seed factory smelter you can build yourself. You
- won't see these trucks operating but rest assured they're on the job.
- Storage tanks are also required to receive the smelted resources and make them
- available for the colony.
-
- Trucks:
- ------
- Trucks can be produced by your surface factories speeding up resource movements
- between the mines; smelters and storage tanks. They are not affected by the
- robot command facility of ten robots each. New trucks are automatically created
- to serve each new mine. Any trucks you build will remain in your warehouses
- until one currently in use breaks down; then one of the warehouse trucks is used
- automatically.
- On the Easy difficulty setting it is possible to get through most or all of the
- game without having to use extra trucks. Although there are no roads or
- monorails in the version of Outpost that was released; resources are moved
- automatically from place to place as necessary.
-
- 2. Cheat:
- ========
- Setting up a colony on a new world needn't be a chore with these cheats. While
- playing the game pushing [Ctrl] with [F9] will kill all the rebels. [Ctrl]+[F10]
- calls up a disasters menu. To get unlimited resources press [Ctrl]+[F11]. To get
- maximum or minimum education morale and crime toggle them by pressing
- [Ctrl]+[F12].
- *EOF*
-