![[Team manager window]](TeamManager.png)
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This document is nowhere near finished. Please bear with it.
Last updated: August 17th, 2003.
You guide a team of hardcore soldiers on missions to rid the universe of the big, nasty, evil aliens. Sometimes the missions involve killing everything hostile that moves. Sometimes they need you to rescue something valuable. Sometimes you need to blow something up.
If you have seen movies like Aliens or Starship Troopers, this should be very familiar to you. If you haven't, go watch them already.
The Game is written in Java™ 2, which means you have to have a proper virtual machine installed on your machine. Mac OS X has one out of the box, and you can get Java™ 2 for various Linux and Windows -based operating systems, as well as certain others. One major exception is Mac OS prior to version X (10.1). Classic MRJ, despite the version number it has, only supports Java up to version 1.1.8, and will most likely never get better than that.
The way to start the Game varies slightly with each platform. It is easiest on Mac OS X: just double click The Game icon in the Finder. In other operating systems, navigate into TheGame.app -directory, and launch the appropriate command file. Or, if you know how to run JAR files, run the one located at TheGame.app/Contents/Resources/Java/. It's called TheGame.jar.
When the Game starts up, it first shows you the team entry window. There you can select the mission, assign soldiers to the mission, recruit new soldiers and discharge old ones you don't like.
On the top left of the team entry window is a panel with all your soldiers. You can click a soldier's picture to get information about him. With the soldier visible in the information panel, click "Add to team" button to add the soldier to the mission team. Alternatively you can double click the picture in the soldier selection panel to quickly add the soldier to the team.
At the bottom left is the mission team. You can remove soldiers from it by selecting them and pressing the "Remove from team" button or double clicking the soldier's picture. You can choose weapons for the soldiers by clicking the weapon's icon below the picture. This brings up a pop-up menu with available weapons.
Your team has a limit on how much equipment is available, based on the rank of the team leader. Some weapons and equipment will only be available to higher-ranking teams.
Below the soldier information panel are three buttons, called "Recruit", "Create" and "Discharge". With these you can recruit new soldiers to your team, create custom soldiers that are more suited to your liking, or permanently remove a soldier from the team. You will be asked for confirmation before a soldier is shown the door.
On the bottom right is the mission information area. Click "Select" button to choose a mission. A file dialog will pop up. Select a mission file, and the mission brief will become visible in the team selection window. When you have selected a mission and your team, click "Start mission" button, and wait while the Game loads up the map and the graphics, and sets up the main window. When you see it, you're ready to go kill stuff.
On the bottom left of the Game window are the mode keys. One of these is always selected. The modes are, left to right, Walk, Run, Use and Attack. To the right of the mode keys are the soldier buttons. You can use these to select the soldiers. The main area of the game window holds the actual game view.
Clicking on the game view will make your currently active soldier try to perform the appropriate task. For example, if you have Walk mode selected, and click on the game view, your soldier will try to walk to the spot you clicked on. Likewise, if the current mode is Attack, and you click a monster, the soldier will try to shoot at it.
On the right is the overview map, and below it, soldier information area. It shows the soldier's name, face, current action points, health level, and selected weapon, with the currently active firing mode. You can click on the overview map to quickly view that area in the game view, and you can set the weapon firing mode from the drop-down list.
In the lower right corner of the game window is the end turn button. Clicking this will end your turn, and let the monsters do whatever they are up to. After that, you will be back on the commander's seat for another turn.
You can also use the keyboard to quickly control the soldiers. You can move the selected soldier with the keyboard despite the current game mode. Probably the fastest way to get around is let the game always be set on Attack mode, and use the keypad to move around. If you are standing next to a door, the soldier will open the door if you try to move on it.
| Key(s) | Function |
|---|---|
| Keypad 7, q | Move North-west |
| Keypad 8, w | Move North |
| Keypad 9, e | Move North-east |
| Keypad 4, a | Move West |
| Keypad 6, d | Move East |
| Keypad 1, z | Move South-west |
| Keypad 2, x | Move South |
| Keypad 3, c | Move South-east |
| Home | Center the view on the active soldier |
| Page up | Previous soldier |
| Page down | Next soldier |
| Help, Insert | Redisplay the mission information |
Different actions cost different amount of action points. If you try to do something, and the soldier doesn't seem to do anything, he or she may not have the sufficient action points for the task, or it may simply be that the task is impossible.
The amount of action points available for the soldiers varies based on several factors. An important factor is the skill level of the soldier and the leader he or she is following. More experienced soldiers will have more action points, as will soldiers who follow a motivational and experienced leader. The soldiers can operate on their own for a short while, but if they lose sight of their leader, they will have to think more for themselves, and consequently will have less action points. Wounded soldiers suffer a severe reduction to available action points. Finally, heavy equipment costs action points to carry.
Set the Walk or Run mode on. Click on the game view where you want to soldier to move.
The soldiers will open any doors on their way, if possible. The soldiers can not move through walls. Alternatively, press the appropriate key on the keyboard.
Note, The Run key is not yet functional and therefore disabled for the time being.
You can try to Use doors and various mission-related items. Doors can be opened and closed by selecting the Use mode and clicking on them. If nothing happens, the object isn't usable, or the soldier is standing too far away from it to use it. You can quickly Use objects by clicking on them with the middle mouse button (or Option-clicking on a Mac), regardless of the current game mode.
Sometimes there are mines spread throughout the levels. In some missions the objective is to disarm or destroy them. However, the mines will start out as hidden, and you will have to spot them first. This happens automatically. If the soldier is near a mine, he may see it if his Awareness attribute is high enough. Basic Military Training will also aid in this, but it is less effective. Once you find a mine, you can try to disarm it by walking next to it and Using it. This requires Explosives attribute. The light in the mine turns from red to yellow when you successfully disarm it. Beware: sometimes the mines go off when you try to walk near them. This can also be avoided with Explosives, or plain good Luck.
It is also possible to arm disarmed mines into your own use. You can do this by Using a disarmed mine. The light in the mine will turn green if you are successful. The mine will now be safe for your soldiers to step on, but will explode if any enemy treads on it. Note that a mine armed this way will still count as armed for missions that require you to disarm or destroy them.
If none of your soldiers are good with explosives, you can detonate the mines by shooting at them. This may require a few attempts, and suitably powerful weapons.
In some missions you may have automatic sentry guns somewhere on the level. These automatically shoot the nearest monster. It is possible to push the sentry guns around. Just move up against a sentry gun, and it will be pushed in the direction of the movement. If you try to push it into a wall or a closed door, it will switch places with the soldier who is pushing it.
The sentry guns can be destroyed by shooting or attacking them, and they will also have limited ammunition. Note that you can block doorways with sentry guns and still fire over them yourself, except with flame throwers.
You can heal wounded soldiers by clicking on them with the Use mode selected. First aid requires two action points, and the more damage the character has suffered, the more difficult it will be to heal. Also, first aid can only restore a character up to 70% of his or her maximum health. Finally, if the character performing first aid isn't skilled enough, it is possible to even hurt the one being healed.
You can see the how the healing attempt succeeded by the icon that comes up when you Use the soldier. A first aid pack means the soldier was healed. A green exclamation mark means the soldier cannot be healed further. A yellow exclamation mark means a failed healing attempt, and a red one means the attempt failed disastrously, possibly causing further damage.
Select the Attack mode, and click at the enemy. Weapons with area effect, such as grenades, can also be fired on the ground. When firing mode is active, you will see red and yellow boxes around the monsters. These will tell you if the soldier can see the monster. Red box indicates that the currently active soldier can not see the monster, but his buddies can. Yellow box indicates that the monster can be fired at.
The soldiers may not always hit their targets properly. If you hear a ricochet sound, the shot missed the target. Also beware that larger monsters, including other soldiers, can block the line of fire, and you can hit them instead of the intended target. It is even possible that you soldiers may die from friendly fire.
You can quickly access the secondary firing mode of the weapon with the right mouse key (or Command-clicking on a Mac). The weapon fires using the secondary function, and reverts back to the previously selected firing mode.
As your soldiers complete more missions, they will become more experienced. You can see their attributes by clicking on their face in the game window. This opens up a soldier information window, which shows the soldier's rank, attributes, mission kills, total kills, the number of missions the soldier has participated in, and free experience.
Each attribute has a level, and experience set to it. Once the attribute gets enough experience, its level will raise at the end of the mission. Higher level means higher capability on the attribute. You can move free experience points to the attribute by clicking its name.
When you have completed all your primary objectives, the mission will end. At this point, the game checks whether any of the soldiers advance in their attributes. Living soldiers will be saved, and you will be returned to the team manager window.
If you want to abort a mission, you must return all your living soldiers to a safe starting point. When they are there, and you end a turn, you will eventually be offered a choice to abort the mission. This may take a few turns. If you do not want to immediately abort, you will have to wait another five turns until you are offered the chance to abort again.
Copyright © 2002-2003 Virtu Halttunen. All rights reserved. The author takes no responsibility for any damages, material or psychological, caused by reading this document or playing the Game.
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.