This section will help you understand game play and menu
and controller commands.
GAME PLAY CONCEPT
When you are not in a mission you
are located at one of the many cities on Huffman. In these cities you go
to the shops, bars, coliseum, military office, check your character's status,
save and load games, and stock, setup your mechs, and exit to the next
mission.
When you are in a mission you move,
attack, and use items during your (Player's) turn. When you are finished
the enemy takes it's turn to move, attack, and use items. First lets look
at what you can do in the cities and what certain buttons, functions, and
screens do.
UNDERSTANDING BUTTONS, MENUS, AND PLACE TO GO
A button: select button.
B button: unselect/goback button.
Start button: Used during a mission, it allows you to choose
from three options:
Player Phase End: If you don't' want to do anything else
during your turn you can use this to go ahead and let the enemy makes it's
move.
Config: Lets you adjust settings like message speed etc...
Interruption: This is a useful feature that lets you save
the game in the middle of a battle. Battles last anywhere from 20 - 50
mins. So, if you need to rush off but don't' want to have to start the mission
all over again you can use this save place.
During the game (not during battle) you can visit different locations
for weapons, parts, info, etc... Here is a list of the places and what
to do when you get there.
Shop: Here is where you buy new weapons, panzer
parts, items, sell items, and customize your mechs. The options in
the shop are:
Setup - Here you add new weapons, armor, computers and back
packs. There are several things that need explaining here:
Weapons - You select weapons for Right and Left hands of
the mech, You also select Missiles and shields for the mechs shoulders.
(see the "arm weapon" section of the technical files for more information).
Parts - You can select from this menu a
new Body for your mech, new Right and Left arms, as well as new Legs, Computers
and Backpacks. Check below for more info on backpacks, and computers).
(see the "Arms, Legs, Backpacks, and the computers" section of
the technical files for more information).
Paint - Change the color of your mechs.
Name - Change the name of your mech.
Buy - In this area of the shop you can buy mech
parts (just like in the setup area) and items (Check below in Setup for
descriptions of items).
Sell - Here you sell extra parts, weapons, and items. Remember
to sell all the parts you replaced when you buy new parts for your mechs.
Talk - Talk to the shop owner.
Exit - Exit back to the city.
Military Office: Here you are briefed by Olson on
you missions. Before you can go to the mission, you must talk to him.
Bar: At the bar you talk to the locals to gain
information and sometimes pick up a new person for your team.
Coliseum: Here is where you can make some money
and gain a little experience fighting opponents. You can also pick
up a few people from here. This is not a big source of money though (not
for me anyway).
Status Window: Here you can see the stats the
members of your unit. Each character has a value for each type of fighting skill:
Fight - Represents the hand to hand fighting like
punching or using a club. If the character has a high number here it is
better to let that character punch their enemy or use a club. They
will cause more damage to their opponent.
Short - This represents using a short range weapon
like a gun. If the character has a high number here it is better to equip
that character with guns and let them shoot their opponent.
Long - This represents missile firing and long range
guns. You should equip all you character's mechs with missiles. They are
always useful.
Agility - This represents the character's ability
to dodge an attack.
Here in the status window is also the character's skills. When
characters reach certain levels, (each character is different) each level
is reached by obtaining experience points when in battle) sometimes they
will gain a new skill. Skills come in different levels, the higher the
level, the better (or more frequently) the skill will work successfully.
When you have an opportunity to gain a skill, you may choose one or Skip.
You can Skip and wait until the skills go up another level.
This takes awhile though. Here are the different skills:
Double - Double is where a character punches an enemy
twice or even three times in a row. You must have both hands free to Double
(no weapons in hands).
Speed - This gives machine guns an extra
bullet.
Stun - This skill allows for a Fight battling
mech to stun their opponent which is the same as using a flash grenade.
Note: The opponent can Wake (become unstunned) if that mech is punched
or hit again.
Switch - When a mech with guns in both hands fires,
sometimes that mech will Switch and fire again with the gun in the
other hand.
Duel - This allows you to choose which part of the
enemy mech to do damage to (since it is random all the time).
First - This skill allows the pilot to attack
(in hand to hand or Fight mode) first.
Guide - This option is the most important skills
to have for all characters. This allows you designate what part of
the enemy mech your missile should hit. These skills after you have them
are random (except Duel and Guide).
Setup: This is just like the Shop's setup screen. The only
difference is your can only use items in your inventory. This is where
you stock your mechs with items you can use in battle like:
Repair - There are 4 types of repair packs
you can take into battle. Please see "items" in the technical
data area for more info. The more you upgrade your mech the more armor
you will have and the larger repair you will need.
Flash Grenade - These are very useful
and will get you through missions with less damage. You use these
to blind an enemy mech. The flash grenade makes the mech you shot it
at loose it's next turn. VERY USEFUL!
B.A. Mine - These are mines you lay on the ground
for your opponent to walk on. I do not use them that much.
Chaff Grenade - Use these when you want to protect
a mech from enemy missile fire. Very useful when you need to protect a badly
damaged mech.
Smoke Grenade - I don't know yet. Haven't ever used one.
Save / Load: Here you can save and load
from 2 save spots.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU WANT TO GO ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL
When you are in a city and you
want to go to the next mission, first go to the military office. Orson
will brief you and sometimes give you info on the enemy. Then you go to
the EXIT option on the main city screen and press A. Be sure you
have all the supplies and mech upgrades you need before you start a mission!
When you go into battle (the mission)
you are required to select who to take with you on the mission. You move
to each mech by pressing down on the direction pad and you select that
mech by pressing the A button. When you have selected all the mechs
you can select a little menu pops up that you use to go on into battle. Note:
When in battle, when a mech is destroyed
(yours or an enemies) the person inside is not killed. Son don't panic
if your of your guys' mech's get destroyed. At the end of each mission
you get money for completing the mission and each mech you destroy. You
get penalized (money taken away) for each mech in your unit that gets destroyed,
but the character is still alive.
