THE CITADEL.
Your main goal is to learn how to operate the Mechs at the Training Centre.
This will take six lessons, between which you can explore the surrounding
compound. The game requires time to pass between lessons, so here are some
other things to do.
MAKING MONEY
Credits are periodically posted to your account, but you'll have to invest
in the stock market at Comstar Station (one of the many buildings in the
compound) to make enough to buy all the necessary gear.
NasDiv is a steady performer, so if you do nothing but put all your credits
in this stock, you should amass quite a fortune by the end of the game.
BakPhar is a speculative stock that will make you rich in a short time if
your timing is right.
One strategy is to put most of your credits in NasDiv and a few in BakPhar.
Save regularly and check the market often. When BakPhar starts going up,
put all your credits in it, and usually your money doubles and doubles
again. It is essential to save your game whenever you get ahead, though,
for BakPhar's value can drop to zero in no time!
After investing, leave Comstar and go and do something (explore, rest,
visit the weapons shop, take a training lesson.........), returning
frequently to assess your holdings. It takes a fairly long time to earn
enough credits to buy a serious weapon and good armour, not to mention the
money you will need for training, so you may have to wander about the
compound pointlessly, waiting for your stocks to go up.
WEAPONS, ARMOUR & OTHER GEAR.
The Inferno never runs out of ammunition and rarely misses, so it's
advisable to stay around until you can afford one......BUT - you CAN get by
with less firepower. Weapon shops are everywhere throughout Pacifica, and
you can also salvage weapons after combat. Buy whatever armour you can
afford for yourself and any allies. Armour shops are in many towns. Get a
MedKit (sold at any of several hospitals) and a Mapper (at the video store
in Starport and a few other towns). Later on, get your Mechs modified at a
Mech-It Lube's Speed Shop and you'll become almost invincible.
SKILLS.
The Citadel is the ONLY place to get combat training, and for this you must
have money. Spend your credits to become proficient in as many skills as
you can, ESPECIALLY the skill pertaining to whatever weapon you're packing!
Two other skills, Mech Repair and Medical Training, can be purchased at any
Mechit-Lube or Hospital, and there are several throughout the region you
will explore.
THE INVASION, STARPORT & THE JAIL
On the 6th or 7th training mission, you'll suddenly face real opponents -
the Kuritans, who have invaded the compound. You've got to escape to
Starport, a neutral city northeast of the starting point. If you're lucky,
you'll escape with a Mech.
There are two ways to do so. Choose a Locust for your final mission, then
head West when the forcefield around the training grounds disappears, and
get out of town. Or use a Chameleon and, as soon as you're attacked, walk
back into the building you just left. When the walls come down, exit West
out of the city. (Sometimes neither of these methods are successful! If
that happens, you can get Mechs at several other points).
STARPORT.
Head Northeast to Starport. Save frequently if you decide to fight
attackers in the hope of obtaining money and equipment. Inside, immediately
find the Clothing Store and get rid of your uniform to avoid being attacked
as often. Then check your stocks at Comstar and re-invest if desired. Check
out the Inaugural Hall to learn of the Inauguration, then you might want to
earn credits by fighting at the Arena. repairs can be costly if using a
rental Mech, however, and may even exceed your 250-credit payoff.
REX PEARCE & THE CRESCENT HAWKS.
At the Inaugural Hall later that night you'll meet Rex Pearce, an ally.
Save the game before entering, since you might get killed when you leave
with him. Rex gives you a box from your father and says he's got a new
Commando Mech that Katrina left him.
A member of the Crescent Hawks, he says your mission is to round up other
Hawks, find a secret cache of spare Mech parts your father hid, and signal
Princess Katrina to return to Pacifica for the parts and your team.
But the enemy attacks before you can look at the holocard in the box (which
is necessary to locate the cache), and the card is damaged. If you survive,
you can roam about Starport gathering gear, earning credits and skills,
having Rex's Commando modified at the Speed Shop and so on.
THE JAIL & THE UNDERCOVER AGENT.
Go a little North and East to a small town with a jail and hospital. Save
right away, for you may meet an ally who turns out to be an undercover
agent. If you're having trouble getting people to talk, or if services like
Mechit-Lube are always closed, you've got an agent in the group. Put him
outside on foot and get into a few battles. He'll either be killed by the
enemy or Rex. If you don't have your own Mech, steal one from the Jail's
parking garage.
FINDING THE OTHER HAWKS,
DR. TELLHIM & THE CACHE
There are two places to view the damaged holocard. The easiest, quickest
way is to return to the destroyed Citadel and go to your barracks. You'll
find a holocard viewer and can see most of the message. The second way is
to go to one of the several towns Southwest of Starport. One has the
Mayor's house in it, and you can pick the lock and enter. Use the Mayor's
holocard viewer and you learn that you must find Dr. Tellhim at his hut in
the Northwest. He'll say where to find the cache. (His hut won't appear on
the map unless you view the holocard).
Head Northwest, exploring the various towns. You need to pick up two more
Crescent Hawks; one is a Doctor, found by visiting hospitals, checking the
records and talking to people there. Get him a MedKit to recover faster
from wounds.
Your other ally is a Tech, found by visiting the Mechit-Lubes and asking to
TALK and Apprentice. It's invaluable to get him additional Tech training,
for he can scavenge spare parts from enemy Mechs that you destroy, thus
earning you money as well as simplifying repairs to your own Mechs.
Tellhim is in a building located near the water, near Sector 36/40 x 49/20.
With the proper crew and gear, you'll pass his tests and he'll tell you
that the cache is on an island to the Southeast (39/60 x 55/60). Once
there, enter the cave.
THE COMPUTER TERMINALS
You are in a maze full of locked doors and computer terminals. You have a
key-card that needs to be imprinted with a different Red number, Blue
number and Yellow number to open each door.
Each computer throughout the complex has its own special colour coded
number that can imprint your key-card, and each computer's code can be used
only once. You must open ELEVEN different doors (that's 33 different
computer colour imprints you must find!), to get to the Map Room and the
Power Transmitter.
When you have located and opened the door to the Map Room, you enter it and
must then activate a combination of planets to get the password (PESHT,
BENJAMIN, SKYE, SUMMET, RYERSON, KATHIN, ACHERNAR).
Activate the planets by touching them all, then walk over to the control
panel on the West wall for your password. Leave the Map Room, go back
through the maze to the Upper Control Rooms, and turn on the transmitter to
call Katrina (you do this by walking into the panels).
