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3. THE REFERENCE SECTION This section describes all of Hilt 2 in detail. Contents 1 Basic Game Overveiw 2 The Title Screen 3 The Character Select Screen 4 The Equip Screen 5 The Main Game ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Basic Game Overveiw ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section describes the basic idea behind the game. It explains the Action Points system and details what missions/campaigns etcetra are. 1.1 Strategy and Action Combined. 1.2 Missions. When you play a game of Hilt 2, you will play a mission. There are several different missions in the game, and these can be easily expanded with mission disks to add to your collection. Some missions have hand drawn maps, some maps are randomly created, so they're different each time. This makes for an almost limitless supply of gaming fun. 1.2.1 Campaigns. A campaign is basically several missions played one after another. The important difference is that you start the next mission with the equipment and units that you ended the last mission with. This makes campaigns very big, like one massive mission. Another difference with campaigns is that you are only allowed to equip your units once per campaign, this isn't always at the start of a campaign either, so choose your weapons and supplies wisely. 1.2.2 Mission types. Each mission has a main objective, which must be acheived to complete it. There are six types of main objective:- 1. Kill all of the enemy missions. 2. Blow something up missions. 3. Retrieve objects missions. 4. Get to the exit missions. 5. 2 Player missions - Kill the other sides units. 6. Kill all of a certain type of enemy/civilian missions. There are also other factors that affect missions. These remain the same no matter what the main objective is. These are:- 1. Whether civilian deaths are acceptable. Yes - Civilian deaths have no effect. No - Any civilian that dies (no matter how) will cause you to fail the mission, so don't fire at everything that moves. 2. Whether pass keys have been supplied. Yes - Allies will start with a pass key each to open locked doors with. No - Pass keys must be found in the map somewhere (or you could forget about keys and blow the doors to bits!!) 3. Whether equipment is allowed. Yes - You will be taken to the equip screen to kit out your team. No - Your team will start empty handed. They must find weapons. 4. Whether the map is random or mapped. Random - The play area is different each time you play. Mapped - The play area is hand drawn. This often means that the mission is harder, but it is possible to map out the level. 5. Whether computer controlled enemies are present. Yes - The norm. No - Life is easy. Usually only happens in two player games. 1.2.2.1 Kill all of the enemy missions. Logical Objective - End the turn when all hostile units have been terminated. Hunt out the enemy and open fire. Ending the turn when all enemy units have been killed will complete the mission. The number of enemies still alive is displayed on the computer terminal screens within the game (see 5.3.4 for information on terminals). 1.2.2.2 Blow something up missions. Logical Objective - End the turn when no target square is left anywhere in the map. Search for your target(s) as described in the mission briefing. When found, destroy it (or them). When this happens a message will appear in the message window at the bottom of the screen telling you how many targets remain. When you have destroyed the last target, end the turn to complete the mission. NOTE - Most targets need explosives to destroy them. 1.2.2.3 Retrieve objects missions. Logical Objective - End the turn when no specified object is left anywhere in the map, and when all units are on exit squares. Search the map for the objects in the briefing. When found, pick them up in the normal way. Picking up the specified object(s) will result in a message appearing in the message window telling you how many objects there are left. When all objects have been picked up, move all units to the exit and then end the turn. You are told in the mission brief what the exit looks like. NOTE - If a unit carrying an object dies, the object may be dropped. Even these must be picked up before the mission can be regarded as complete. NOTE - There is no need to drop the objects on the exit. When a unit steps on the exit, "You step on the exit" will appear in the message window. 1.2.2.4 Get to the exit missions. Logical Objective - End the turn while all units are on exit squares. Search the map for the exit, fighting as you go. Move all units onto exit squares, then end the turn to complete the mission. When a unit steps on the exit, "You step on the exit" will appear in the message window. 1.2.2.5 Two player missions. Logical Objective - End the turn when the other players units are dead. Search for the other players units and eliminate. All two player games have this objective. Some aspects of the game operate differently while playing a two player mission (in two player mode). See the Two Player section for more information on Two Player games (5.7). 1.2.2.6 Kill all of a specific enemy/civilian type missions. Logical Objective - End the turn when all units of the specified enemy/ civilian type have been terminated. Search for the enemy/civilian type specified in the mission briefing. WHen you kill a target, a message will appear in the message window that tells you how many targets remain alive. End the turn after killing the last target to complete the mission. 1.3 Finishing a mission. When you complete or fail a mission a debrief screen will appear. This will show various statistics concerning the mission. LEFT Click to exit the screen. If you have just completed a campaign an appropiate screen will then appear. After debriefing, medals may be awarded. A unit may get a medal if despite being severly wounded, the unit survives to complete the mission. 1.4 Playing Hilt II Hilt II is entirely mouse controlled. A typical game would be:- 1. Pick a mission (or start or continue a campaign) 2. Pick a team (only if starting a mission/campaign) 3. Equip your team (only done once in a campaign, not always at the start) 4. Play 5. View the debriefing, then start again. On rare occasions, this might happen:- 1. Pick a mission 2. Read the briefing, get half way through it then hear some disturbed cries of anguish and despair from outside. 3. Glance through your window and spot the crazed masses screaming in terror as they realise that the entire planet will cease to be in just three minutes. 4. Pick a team. 5. Give them all rocket tubes in a manically fast fashion. 6. Start the mission. 7. Fire at anything that moves, end the turn. 8. Glance at the time.... Just ONE minute left... 9. You spy your target, open fire... WHAT ? ANOTHER ONE LEFT. 10. Search in a frenzy for the last remaining target. Aargh, your best man has just been STUNNED.... 11. Find the last target... 10 seconds to go. 12. Open fire. The rocket streaks across the screen, seemingly in slow motion. The clock counts down.... 8... 7... 6... The Rocket makes contact... 5... 4... The blast expands 3... The rubble remains 2... 13. MISSION COMPLETE ! 14. 1... 0 (end of existance) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 The Title Screen Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the title screen you may start the game, save or load campaigns, load character files and adjust the difficulty via the vision and enemy strength options. A LEFT click on an option will select it. 2.1 New characters. Hilt II games are played by one to six characters, selected from eight. The standard characters are robots but you may load in whole new character sets from disk. To do this simply select "New Game" from the options. A new screen will appear listing the campaigns, missions and character files available on the disk. Just click on a character file name and the new characters will be loaded in. Now just play as normal and your new characters will be used. You may continue a campaign with different characters from the ones that started it, but only the appearance will change. The stats and equipment of the characters will still be the same. 2.2 New Game. This option allows you to start a new mission or campaign, as well as selecting new characters (see 2.1 above). Select the option and a screen showing any available characters/missions/ campigns will appear. Just click on the name of the mission or campaign to start playing. The mission brief screen will appear. Read your orders carefully. See 1.2 for more information about missions. See 1.2.1 for more information about campaigns. 2.3 Continue Campaign. This option will only appear if you have already completed at least one mission in a campaign. It will also appear after loading in a half finished campaign from disk. Select this to continue your campaign with the next mission. 2.4 Load Game/Save Game. Save Game will only be available if you are part way through a campaign. Here you may Load or Save your position in a campaign. All saves must be made to a preformatted disk with the name "HiltSaves". You can save four games per disk. To Save a game. 1. Select Save Game from the Title screen. 2. Insert your preformatted Save Game disk (any drive). 3. Select a slot by clicking on one of the disk icons. 4. The game will be saved, now re-insert the Mission disk. To Load a game. 1. Select Load Game from the Title screen. 2. Insert your Game disk (any drive). 3. Select a slot to load from. 4. Insert the mission disk. Future upgrades might occur (new mission disks may be released), if you have more than one mission disk, then be sure to insert the correct one for the campaign that you want to load. Saved games are very small (less than 2k) so don't be surprised if you think that nothing has been loaded because the drive light didn't come on. The Amiga systems I/O buffer will avoid disk access if possible by utilising some very clever programming. Experienced users can use an ASSIGN to direct their saves elsewhere (a hard drive for example). Just ASSIGN HiltSaves: to your chosen destination before you run Hilt 2. 2.5 Vision options. To customise the difficulty, you are allowed to tailor the way that you and the enemy detect each other. 2.5.1 Vision. The range you can see is ten squares as standard, but this might differ with different character sets. The enemy range of vision is normally ten squares also. Forwards only vision will allow detection of an enemy only if the unit is pointing roughly towards it. The field of veiw is approximately 130 degrees. This is the most difficult setting because it means that you can be sneaked up on from behind. You will also have to turn while walking about to make sure that the enemy isn't hiding behind a corner, waiting to ambush you. All round vision will give you full 360 degree vision, so the direction you are facing is irrelevant. See all of the time vision is the easiest setting. The enemy will be fully visible at all times, even through walls. This makes it easy to see their weapons and gives the enemy a tough time. 2.5.2 Radar. You may also use Radar to help detect the enemy. This gives you a huge advantage. Any life form (enemy or civilian) that is within visual range will be shown, even if behind a wall or large obstacle. The lifeform will be seen as a Radar spot if there is no line of sight. Turning off Radar will mean that you never see an emey or civilian unless there is line of sight to them, which may be too late. The enemy units however never have Radar so to be fair you should make Radar inactive (who said war was fair ?) 2.6 Enemy type. The last option determines the quality of the opposition. Each setting affects the ENERGY of the enemy by 10 points and their COMBAT SKILL by 5 points. The default is Normal Troops. The settings are:- Sissies, Trainees, Normal Troops, Tough Guys and Elite Troops. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 The Character Select Screen Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here you may select your team from the eight characters on display. This screen only appears at the start of a mission or at the beginning of a campaign. 3.1 Picking Your Team. Click on the large portrait of a character to select that character. The statistics of the unit are shown in the window on the right. Click on the small portraits to select the unit number. When finished, just click on the exit icon in the lower right corner of the screen with LEFT or RIGHT buttons. The character selection system allows you to select more than one of the same character. This has been permitted to allow freedom of choice, but this is not always a good idea. None of the characters excel in all areas but each has their best discipline. A good team would contain a good mix of skills so that the team could cope with any situation that might arise. 3.2 Two Player Missions. In two player missions you select the characters that will make up each players entire army. The first portrait is player ones character, the second is player twos. You may select the same character for each side but make sure you don't shoot your own side ! For more information on two player games see 1.2.2.5. 3.3 Player Stats Statistics (stats) describe your character and how well they would perform in different areas. Most are percentile so 100 would be the best possible and 0 the worst. Some stats are the same for all units but most of the ones concerning skills vary. Stats are what makes characters different from each other so it is a good idea to know what they mean. When a statistic is printed in this manual, it will usually appear in capitals to distinguish it from the normal meaning of the word. ENERGY - Initially 60. This is a units life force. Hits sap it. When ENERGY reaches zero, the unit dies. MAX ACTION POINTS - Initially 80. This determines how many Action Points per turn a unit has. It can be reduced by carrying too much. HEAL TIME - Measured in turns. This determines how quickly a wound will take to heal. Enemy wounds heal every 15 turns. STRENGTH - Measured in Weight units. This determines how much a unit can carry before beginning to slow down. The larger the number, the more he/she/it can carry. COMBAT SKILL - A Percentage. This represents the chance of an Aimed Shot hitting its target. A value of 100 would mean that no Amied Shot would miss and 0 would mean than all Aimed Shots miss. For a Snap Shot, this value is halved so a value of 200 would be needed to ALWAYS hit. Hand to hand combat ALWAYS hits. DEFENCE FACTOR - A Percentage. This determines the likelyhood of an enemy hit doing no damage. Sometimes a direct hit can hit a lucky spot and bounce off. This represents the chance of this happening in a percentile form. TRAP DETECTION - A Percentage. This determines the chance of revealing a nearby undiscovered trap (hidden land mines, shock traps, fire traps or weak floors). MASS - Weight in Kilos. Determines whether a unit will fall through the floor when stepping onto a weak floor. DEXTERITY - A Number ranging 0-100. Determines how many Action Points a USE action will take. Worked out as (100-DEXTERITY)/10 Action Points needed for a USE action. So a DEXTERITY of 80 means just 2 Action Points are needed for a USE. INTELLIGENCE - A Percentage. The general cleverness of the unit. Determines whether a live REMEX disarm has worked and used in the repair of broken computer terminals for calculating the amount of Action Points a repair will take. REPAIR SKILL - A Percentage. Determines the success of an attempted repair of a broken terminal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 The Equip Screen Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The equip screen is where you give all of your team members guns, armour or other objects that will help them in their quest. 4.1 Carrying Equipment Weight eats at STRENGTH, then maximum Action Points. Each unit can carry up to 20 items, but not without penalty. Each object in Hilt 2 has a weight value and each unit has an individual strength value. When a unit picks up an object, his/hers/its STRENGTH is reduced by the weight of the object. If STRENGTH gets below zero then points are subtracted from the maximum Action Points for that unit (normally 80). This equates to the extra weight slowing down the unit. 4.2 Using the Equip Screen Easy, pick a character, pick a weapon and when finished, RIGHT click on the exit icon to proceed. 4.2.1 Picking a character. The portraits of each of your units are shown in a group in the middle of the screen. Select the unit you wish to equip by LEFT clicking on their picture. An outline will appear around the selected character together with their current equipment list (blank at the start) and their statistics. Their STRENGTH and MAX APs (Action Points) are shown in a separate box in larger text to make them easier to see. 4.2.2 Picking an item of equipment. Use the up/down arrow icons to the left of the portraits to move through the selectable items list. A LEFT click moves one item at a time, a RIGHT click moves one page of items at a time. Click on the picture of an item and its information will be shown. This is the same as the information on an object that is veiwable in the game. See 5.2.3 for a full description of this information. 4.2.3 Selecting/Discarding. Click on the icon marked SELECT to equip the current unit. The weight of the object will reduce the STRENGTH then MAX APs as already described. To drop an object already held, LEFT click on its name in the equipment list. The object information will appear but this time the SELECT icon will read DISCARD. LEFT click on DISCARD to drop the item. 4.2.4 Automatic Assignment At the bottom of the selectable items list there is a large button with AUTO EQUIP written on it. LEFT Click here to give your current unit some random equipment. RIGHT Click here to equip your entire team. The Auto Equip is intelligent, giving your unit one (or sometimes two) guns, enough ammunition, a medikit, a hand to hand weapon, some armour and a clutch of grenades. 4.2.5 Leaving the Equip Screen. To exit the equip screen, RIGHT click on the exit icon (just below the SELECT/DISCARD icon). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 The Main Game Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section describes the main game screen, what it contains and how it all works. The main screen consists of a group of icons on the left side, an information window running along the base of the screen, three text boxes on the right showing the statistics of the current unit, the current weapons and armour and the full equipment list. In the centre of the screen is the main map display. This shows the current unit and its surroundings. It is 13x13 squares big. To scroll the display, touch the extreme edges of the screen with the mouse pointer. You may not scroll so far so that the current unit would be off the screen, this limits your veiw of the units surroundings. The current unit can be in in one of two states, move mode or fire mode. By default the unit is in move mode. It is easy to tell the modes apart because in move mode, a box will surround any square near the mouse pointer that the unit may move to. In fire mode, a crosshair appears on any square the unit may fire at. The default mode is move mode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 The Icons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The icon bank runs along the left side of the screen. A LEFT click will operate them. They are QUIT, PICK UP, DROP, RECHARGE, VEIW ENEMY, NEXT MAN, FLASH MAN, END TURN. 5.1.1 The QUIT Icon. This will abort the current game and enter the debreif screen. No confirmation is asked for. When you quit a game, the current mission is always failed. 5.1.2 The PICK UP Icon. This allows units to pick up objects on their square. When you move onto a square with an object on it (like a dead body) then "THERE IS A ....... HERE" will be appear in the message window. Click on PICK UP to pick up the object. When you pick up an object, its weight is subtracted firstly from your STRENGTH and then from your maximum Action Points values just as happens when you equip your units on the equip screen. Primed REMEX explosive must be disarmed before it is picked up. Pick up the REMEX as normal and the unit will attempt to disarm the REMEX. If disarmed, it will be picked up as normal, if not then it will explode with a standard REMEX blast of 90. Whether a unit succeeds is based on INTELLIGENCE. If a unit has an intelligence of 100 then all disarms will be successful, if zero then a disarm is never successful. 5.1.3 The DROP Icon. This is used to drop object held. Click on the icon then either RIGHT click to abort or click on the name of the object to drop in your equipment list. You cannot drop more than one object per square, or drop any object on the same square as an open door. After a succesful drop, STRENGTH is restored. If you drop a powered item (guns, armour...) then its energy content IS preserved. Dropping something takes just 2 Action Points. 5.1.4 The RECHARGE Icon. In emergencies, a unit may use his/her/its life ENERGY to recharge a wielded gun. This is done on a one to one basis so one unit of ENERGY turns into one gun shot. This is not risk free though because there is a chance that the weapon will explode during a recharge. Recharging. 1. Weild the weapon you wish to recharge. 2. LEFT click on the recharge icon. A window will pop up. Use the arrows to select the amount of ENERGY to give to the weapon. A weapon cannot be recharged beyond its maximum capacity and you cannot give all of your ENERGY to it. 3. Select the RECHARGE icon to attempt a recharge or EXIT to abort. When you first recharge a gun, there is a 1/5 chance that the recharge will fail. The second time you recharge the same gun there is a 2/5 chance the recharge will fail etc.. When this happens, the gun will explode and cause a 3x3 blast that does as much damage as the guns Damage Factor. So an Auto Pistol blast does just 5 damage but a Rocket Tube does 45 damage. If the recharge succeeds, the gun will now be charged up and your ENERGY will decrease by the specified amount. 5.1.5 The CENTRE ON ENEMY Icon. This will centre the display so that the last 'LIFEFORM DETECTED' will be visible. The display will not be exactly centred on the enemy but on the square that lies between your unit and the enemy last detected, thus showing the enemies location relative to your units position. 5.1.6 The NEXT MAN Icon. This will select the next unit for control. Useful if other units are out of screen range. In two player missions this is the only way of selecting the next character. After moving the last charcter, the Turn is automatically eneded. For more information on two player missions see 1.2.2.5 5.1.7 The FLASH MAN Icon. This will flash the current unit in the display. This is especially useful in two player games when many (up to 32) units are on the screen and you are unsure of which unit you are controlling. 5.1.8 The END TURN Icon. This will end your turn. Select this after all of your units have moved. When you end a turn, the following happens:- 1. Fire will spread one unit. 2. Wounds/burns on allied units will reduce ENERGY. 3. In a two player game, side B will now move and then be affected by Wounds/burns. See 1.2.2.5 for more information on two player games. 4. Enemy wounds might be healed (one wound heals every 15 turns). 5. The computer will move/fire all of its units. If the computer fires, this will be shown. 6. Fire will spread one unit. 7. Wounds/burns on enemy units will reduce enemy ENERGY. 8. Allied wounds might be healed (wounds heal at a varying rate, see 3.2). 9. Your move again. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 The Equipment List and Using Objects ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The current units equipment list is the large box on the right of the screen. Just above this is a smaller box which displays the current weapons and armour being used. 5.2.1 Using objects To use an object, just click on its name in the equipment list with the LEFT mouse button. Guns or Hand to Hand weapons will be weilded for combat. The weilded weapon will then appear in the box above the equipment list. You may weild one gun and one hand to hand weapon at once. To un-weild a weapon, either choose another weapon to replace the current one or drop the current weapon. Armour/Shields will be worn, protecting the unit. The armour (and its energy level) will appear in the box above the equipment list. To un-wear armour, either choose some other armour to replace the current one or drop the current armour. Other objects are used for their logical purpose, for example:- Using a detonator will detonate any (and all) planted REMEX explosives. Using an ammo clip will recharge the current weapon if it is empty. Using a key will open or close the door in front of the unit. Using a grenade will throw it (no weilding neccesary). Using a power pack will restore all lost ENERGY. Some objects are powered devices which have an internal energy supply. Their name usually ends in 'unit'. Their energy supply is reduced by one point each turn. Using these objects will turn them on or off. Turning a powered object on will also reduce its power by one point. When active (on) a - mark will appear in front of the name of the object in your inventory listing. When its power hits zero, the object automatically turns off. There is no way of recharging powered computers. 5.2.2 Action point usage when using objects. This is based on the DEXTERITY of the unit. A use will need (100-DEXTERITY)/10 Action Points. So a unit with a dexterity of 30% will need 7 Action Points and a unit with 80% dexterity will need just 2 Action Points. Note that when using a Medikit to heal more than one wound, the number of Action Points needed is the above amount multiplied by the number of wounds to heal. 5.2.3 Information on objects To get information on an object, just click on its name in the equipment list with the RIGHT mouse button. A window will open which displays detailed information on the object. This information varies depending on the type of object, guns for example show the Damage Factor of the weapon whereas with keys this is irrelevant. The information consists of:- A Description (Always shown) A description of the object. Object Weight (Always shown) The objects weight (in STRENGTH units). AP's for Use (Explosives, Hand to Hand weapons) The number of Action Points needed to use it. AP's for Aimed Shot (Guns) The number of Action Points needed to fire an Aimed Shot. AP's for Snap Shot (Guns) The number of Action Points needed to fire a Snap Shot. Fire Intensity Factor (Flame weapons) The intensity of the flame produced. Max Power capacity (Guns, Armour, Powered items) Maximum ammo/power capactiy of the object. Simply click to turn off the window. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 Move mode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- While in move mode, you can move, turn to face a new direction, look at an enemy or select another friendly unit. 5.3.1 Moving. A box will appear around any square that your unit can directly move to. LEFT click on the square to move. You unit will then walk towards the square in a straight line. You may have to make complex movements in stages. Any visible traps will NOT be automatically bypassed so take care when going for a stroll through a minefield. You may stop before you hit your destination if:- The unit sees an enemy on radar or by eye. The unit detects a trap that was previously invisible. The unit dies (usually burning to death by wading through fire). You run out of Action Points. The number of Action Points a Move needs is 4 Points per square plus 1 Point for every octact initially rotated to face the destination. So to move to the square in front takes 4 Action Points and to move to the square directly behind takes 4 Points PLUS 4 to turn to face backwards (8 Points altogether). 5.3.2 Facing a direction. Just point to an area on the display (no move box needed) and RIGHT click to turn the unit to face the pointer. If you spot an enemy (if you have forwards vision only), you will stop in mid turn. Turning takes up 1 Action Point for every octant turned through, so a 180 degree turn takes up 4 Action Points. 5.3.3 Traps Traps are special squares. They remain dormant, invisible, waiting for someone to step on them then... BOOM! You've just stepped on a land mine. When you walk within 2 squares radius of an invisible trap, a test is done to see whether you've just seen it. This uses your TRAP SKILL. If this was 100 then you would always see a trap when in range, if this was 0 then you would NEVER spot a trap (until it was too late). If you see the trap, it becomes visible and your movements are halted. If you don't see it you might step on it. That is bad. There are four traps in Hilt 2. * Land mines will explode causing a 3x3 devastation. DAMAGE FACTOR - 35 * Shock traps will severely damage their victim but will not explode. DAMAGE FACTOR - 35 * Incendiary traps will damage their victim AND burst into an intense fire. DAMAGE FACTOR - * Weak floors will damage their victim only if they fail a weight test. Some units might be too light to be damaged by them and nothing will happen until a heavy unit steps onto them. Weak floors are often seen around sites of devastation in the levels so tread carefully in such areas. DAMAGE FACTOR - 15 5.3.4 Opening doors, Repairing computers and Logging on. You may open a door speedily by standing next to the door (diagonal is fine) and LEFT clicking on the door. If you have a key, the door will open. To close the door, USE the key while facing it. You may attempt to repair a damaged computer terminal by LEFT clicking on it while standing next to it. Repairing is a complex business that uses DEXTERITY and INTELLIGENCE as well as REPAIR SKILL. The number of action points used depends on all of these factors but ultimately, REPAIR SKILL determines whether a repair has worked or failed. You may log on to a (working) terminal by standing next to it and LEFT clicking on it. This uses 10 Action Points and never fails. You will see a limited veiw of your surroundings complete with flashing dots indicating where allies are and thin lines representing doors. The number of enemies active is also displayed at the bottom of the screen. A mouse click will exit the display. 5.3.5 Looking at the enemy. You may instruct your unit to look at any enemy within any allies line of sight. You will know when this happens because the enemy is seen as a picture and not a radar blip. Looking at the enemy will give you clues about his/hers/its strength and also show their weapons and armour. It is also FREE as far as Action Points are concerned. LEFT click on any visible enemy and a window will pop up. This will show:- The enemy type (name). A brief verbal summary of how much life the enemy has left. Damage Sustained - The amount of damage sustained since starting the game. Number of wounds. Current gun, Armour and any grenade or bomb the enemy might be carrying. In two player games, looking at the other players units will only show their current weapon and armour. No grenades are shown becuase they might be holding lots of different ones. 5.3.6 Selecting another unit. LEFT click on any ally on the screen to select that unit. The unit will then auto centre and the units name will appear in the message window. LEFT click on your current unit to centre it on the display. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 Fire mode. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire mode allows you to fire at a target, an enemy, a map square or anywhere else you please. To fire a gun or attack with a hand to hand weapon, click on its name in the current weapon box, the box above the equipment list. To do this you must be weilding the weapon, be in move mode and the weapon must have some ammunition (energy). To throw a grenade or plant REMEX explosive, just click on its name in your equipment list, no weilding is neccesary. For guns, a window will pop up allowing you to choose an Aimed shot or a Snap shot. An Aimed shot uses the full COMBAT SKILL of the unit to fire an accurate shot. A Snap shot uses half of the units COMBAT SKILL but also half of the Action Points needed for an Aimed shot. * Grenades are always the equivalent of an Aimed shot. * Hand to hand weapons (including Fists) NEVER miss. * Guns fired at an enemy in the next square (even on a diagonal) NEVER miss. Select which type of shot you require or click on CANCEL to go back to Move mode. Move the mouse pointer onto the display. A crosshair will appear on any square that your unit has line of fire to. The computer is fairly generous in choosing where you may fire so you might have to use your judgement as to what you can/cannot hit. You can fire past anything you can see past/through including windows. You can also fire directly at walls and other solid objects with guns. Grenades are a little different in that you may not throw the bomb onto a wall (the Krell Rocket doesn't count though becuase it is a rocket). REMEX explosive can only be planted on the same square as the unit planting it. Hand to hand attacks can only take place on squares next to the unit (diagonals do count). If you have no hand to hand weapon in use, FIST will appear in the current weapons box. This allows you to punch a nearby enemy. A Fist takes 6 Action Points to fire and has a measly Damage Factor of 3. LEFT Click to fire your weapon. RIGHT Click to abort and return to Move mode. If you are planting REMEX explosives then a charge is planted. You must use a detonator to blow the REMEX up (get clear first!!). Your COMBAT SKILL is then tested and the shot either hits the selected target or misses by one square. After throwing a Grenade or planting REMEX you are automatically returned to Move mode. With guns or hand to hand weapons, you will remain in fire mode, able to fire/attack again as before. You must RIGHT click to return to Move mode. Each gun has ammo (internal energy). This is shown next to the name of the weapon in your equipment list. When out of power you must either use an ammo clip to reload the weapon or re-charge it directly from your own personal power supply. The latter can be risky. See 4.1.4 for details on re-charging. 5.4.2 Shooting Pickups. Some pickups react when shot. These require a direct hit, being within the radius of an explosion is not enough. Also, if a unit is standing on top of the pickup, the unit will usually be hit but NOT the pickup. If grenades/bombs/REMEX are hit with any weapon then it will explode, causing as much damage as the pickup. So, stun bombs will stun, fire bombs will start a fire etcetera. If a unit is standing on top of the pickup then the pickup will only detonate if hit with an explosive weapon. Normal guns will just hit the unit as usual. If an Ammo Charge is hit with any weapon then bullets will start shooting out in all directions. Eight shots equivalent in Damage Factor to a Power Rifle will be shot out, targetting random squares at the edge on the screen. 5.4.3 Starting a fire. Fire not only spreads but damages units in a unique way. See 4.5.2 to find out more about fire damage. There are two main ways of starting a fire. Firstly you could use an incendiary weapon specifically designed to burn stuff, these weapons are the Napalm gun, The Heavy Burner and the Fire bomb. These weapons do little damage to a target when shot directly but becuase they start a fire they force a target to wade through the flames which can cost the unfortunate victim its existance. The second way you can start a fire is by shooting a flammable material like an oil barrel or an ammo box. There are quite a few of these in Hilt 2 dotted around the levels. Most guns of a decent power will detonate a flammable material explosion and when this happens, one square of intensity factor ten or fourteen will appear. The intensity depends on the type of thing you shoot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 Taking Hits & Damage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A units ENERGY is its life force. When this hits zero, he/she/it is dead. 5.5.1 Shot/Bomb and Hand to Hand Weapon Damage. Each weapon in Hilt 2 has a Damage factor. This determines the power of the weapon and the amount of ENERGY it will sap from an un-armoured unit. When a unit is hit, first a check is done to see if the shot was a glancing blow. Sometimes a shot will hit a lucky spot and not damage the target at all. This depends on a units DEFENCE strength and is a percentage. So a unit with a DEFENCE of 5 will have a 5% chance of a glancing blow. DEFENCE strength is never very high so most of the time the unit is damaged. When a glancing hit takes place, "....... HIT BUT THE SHOT IS DEFLECTED" will appear in the message window and no damage is done. If the shot was not deflected then any armour being worn is taken into consideration. Armour has its own energy supply (just like a units ENERGY). This number is shown next to the name of the armour in your equipment list. A hit will reduce the armours energy by the power of the weapon. If the armours energy is reduced to zero then the armour is destroyed and any left over damage points are subtracted from the units ENERGY. If armour is destroyed 'PROTECTIVE ARMOUR HAS BEEN DESTROYED' will appear in the message window. Shield units are always destroyed on the first hit, but absorb ALL of the power of the weapon so no ENERGY loss is incurred. After armour is destroyed, hits eat away directly on a units ENERGY supply. Wounds can happen at any time when a units ENERGY is reduced. These will reduce your ENERGY at the end of each turn by 1 point per wound until you die or the wounds are healed. Wounds are serious, one wound will heal automatically every few turns but when a unit has more than one wound, it is often fatal. Medikits can heal wounds. They heal ALL of the wounds a unit currenly has incurred. Use them in the normal way to operate. A unit dies when ENERGY hits zero. When this happens one random object that the unit was carrying will be dropped on the same square as the dead body. If a powered object was dropped upon death (guns, armour...) then its energy is reduced to zero. Note that dropping a powered object using the DROP icon will not reduce its energy to zero. 5.5.2 Fire (the burning kind). Fire in Hilt 2 can play an important part in a battle. It damages anyone who stands on it or walks through it. It also spreads at the end of each turn so it must be used with foresight. Flames come in fourteen different intensities, known as the intensity factor. Walking through onto a square that is burning with a factor five fire will reduce a persons ENERGY by five and walking onto a square with a factor one fire will reduce a players ENERGY by (wait for it....) one. Armour has no effect in retarding fire. Hot metal armour can be worse than none at all. This makes fire the only effective anti-armour weapon. Standing still won't save you from burning because if you end a turn on a square that is on fire, your ENERGY will be reduced accordingly. As already mentioned, fire will spread around the floor of the map at the end of each turn although this does not mean that flame will eventually engulf the whole map because each flame on the map will also be reduced by two points when it multiplies. This means a factor fourteen fire will burn itself out after seven turns. When spreading, fire will not spread over or through solid objects, this means that you can contain and control fire. It is a skill that is worthy of mastering. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.6 The Statistics Display. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the top right corner of the screen, ten statistics are printed. For full details on all of the stats, see the character select screen reference at 3.1.1. Ten stats are shown. "xx" means a number greater than 99. A "--" means less than zero. ENERGY - Player Energy WOUNDS - Current Wounds H-TIME - (Heal Time) Time remaining until one wound is automatically healed. STRENG - Strength TRAPS - Trap Skill COMBAT - Combat Skill DEFNCE - Defence Factor IQ - Intelligence DEXTER - Dexterity REPAIR - Repair Skill ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.7 Two Player Games ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.7.1 Two Player Missions. In two player missions you control a whole army of units (up to 16) against another human opponent. You take command of either Side A or Side B. Side A always moves first. Your entire army consists of the same character so you won't get your units mixed up with your opponents. The units are automatically equipped in a similar way to that of the computer controlled units. Movement and firing are the same as for a one player game, but a complete turn comes in three phases now. First Side A moves, Then Side B and finally any computer contolled units which might be active (and will shoot both sides indescriminately). 5.7.2 Summary of Differences. 1. The Allies see.... option on the title screen applies to both sides. 2. The character select screen gives you just two characters. The first is the character that will make up all Side A, the second Side B. 3. There is no equip screen, weapons are handed out automatically. 4. Side A moves first, then Side B and finally any computer controlled units that might be active. 5. LOOKing at an opponents unit will show all of the usual information but won't show any grenades/bombs the unit might be carrying becuase they might have lots of pieces of equipment. 6. Each unit in each army has a unique name to aid identification. 7. Fire spreads (and burns) after each players turn. 8. The number of enemies shown on terminals is the number of units on the other side, not any computer controlled units. 5.7.3 The Armistace Rule. During playtesting as Side B, I found it annoying that Side A could kill or stun my units before they had been given a chance to move. After analysing the end results of the games I discovered that this actually made no difference to the outcome but still, many found it a problem so I thought of a solution, the Armistace rule. Simply it means that for the first turn of each side, you are not allowed to fire upon the other side. This gives Side B at least a chance to avoid the shots of Side A. At first I thought I would put a box on the Title screen so you could choose whether to activate the rule or not, but that would have been a waste of time and memory so instead I leave it up to you the player to mutually agree whether to play the Armistace rule or not. This also has the advantage that you may still fire on computer controlled enemies during your first turn.