Table of contents:
1. Copyright
2. Winxp (IT DOES WORK!)
3. Introduction
4. Herc Base
5. Herc Command Center
Mission Types
6. Herc Bay
Herc List
Weapons listing
Optional Component listing (or lack therof)
7. Bioderm Facility
Derm listing
8. Mission Interface
Basic Mission Tactics
9. About the Author
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1. Copyright
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Of course, now is the time to say that this guide is copywritten, and i own
exclusive rights and all that. You can reproduce this guide for personal,
non-profit uses (ie downloading it to your computer to read). So far GameFaqs,
and neoseeker, are the websites authorized to post this (If you got this off
any other site, write me and let me know). if you want to put it on your
website, just write me at RJR99SS2@yahoo.com and most likely i'll write you
back and say its cool, along with inviting you out for a drink and possibly
some light petting. This guide can ONLY be posted AS IS, and modified in no
way, without my permission. Violating any copywrite laws can result in legal
action and probable cannibalism.
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2. Win XP (IT DOES WORK!)
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The First thing i'd like to mention is that MissionForce: Cyberstorm DOES work
on a Win XP OS. Dont bother trying to install it normally though. Simply
open the cyberstorm cd, look for a folder named: cstorm, and copy that folder
to your hard drive, wherever you want it. After you do that, open the cstorm
folder, right click on the CSTORM.EXE file, and select Properties. Go to the
Compatibilty tab, and select "Run this window in compatibilty mode for:
Windows 2000". Also check "Run in 256 colors", click Apply and then OK.
Then just double click the CSTORM.EXE file and the game should work perfectly
now. Plus, since you copied it all to your hard drive, you have no need to
keep the cd in your drive, unless you want to listen to the game music
(if you put any audio cd in while playing the game, it will play that music).
Alternativly, if you dont want to waste the whole 242 mb of hard drive space,
you can just run the game in the same way straight from the cd rom.
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3. Introduction
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What is Cyberstorm?
Cyberstorm was release by Sierra in 1996. It loosly follows the "Earthsiege"
type universe, but places it into a turn based stratigic sort of game, rather
than an action piloting sim. The basic plot is fairly simple, you are an
officer in charge of several Bio-Derms and their Herc machines, and you have
to go out and blow crap up and make money. The enemy are the Cybrids, an
advanced race of intelligant machines who want nothing more than to blow you
up, thats about the extent of their personality. For it's day, it was a pretty
groundbreaking game, and i still find it to be a highly enjoyable,
customizable strategy game.
Why Cyberstorm?
So why write a faq for a game thats been out a good 10 years now?
Well...there really wasnt any good faqs for it...and the girls dont really call
me like they use to. I find i'm either working down at the cheese factory, or
in alley ways drinking myself into oblivion and starting conflicts at fast food
drive through windows. The only way i know how to keep myself using up all my
free time by holding a handgun in my mouth and weeping, is by obsessivly
immersing myself in old video games that remind me of a time where i was
dating cheerleaders and driving a trans am.
Or maybe it's just boredom, and i like the game a lot. I dunno. Lets get this
over with...
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4. Herc Base
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This is the main base, where you can choose which buildings, or actions you
want. Simple clicking on the facility list on the lower left corner, or even
clicking on the graphic of the facility and you'll go there. Once you select
a mission from the command center, you can click "launch" to zoom to it. In
the upper right hand corner is a list of how many hercs you own, and how many
derms you have linked, this is actually pretty useful information.
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5. Herc Command Center
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This is a pretty self explanitory building, you can select missions here, or
re-watch your old promotion briefings.
Mission Types:
Each mission takes a certain amount of months to complete, 1-3. All this
effects is the life of your Derms, obviously you generally want to pick a
mission with the least amount of months to extend the life of your Derms, but
that isnt always an option. Also pay attention to the conditions on the
planet the mission takes place. Sometimes they're normal, sometimes they have
positive effects, sometimes negative. As the game goes on, most planets tend
to only have negative effects.
Mining Missions:
Probably the easiest, and most profitable missions in the game, however they
can be quite boring. From the Start, send your scouts out to locate the enemy,
dont bother mining at all until the cybrids are gone. Of course, it all depends
on the terrain, and number of Cybrids out there. Your main objective is to
destroy all the cybrids before they mine your ore. So commit everything you
have to that. Once they're all gone, then you can get to mining. You can
manually mine the ore, or just exit the mission and let it be "automined". The
difference is you'll get slightly more rating points (usually only 10%) if you
mine it yourself.
Reconnaissance: (see why they abbreviate it "Recon"?)
Pretty straightforward, you need to scout out a base. You have to have sensor
coverage over the entire area of the base to complete the objective...which is
not easy. You'll have to expose your lightly armored scouts to the heavy base
defences. Personally i usually just end up blowing the base up...it seems
easier than scouting it. You usually dont get paid a lot for these missions
even if you do destroy the base though.
Quick Assault:
You'll be dropped into the middle of a whole bunch of Cybrids. Be sure you
have strong military forces before you try these missions. They're not so bad
because you have first strike, so you can usually destroy at least 50% of the
enemy before their turn even starts. The key is first to organize your units
into a few organized "v" formations, so they can take fire from the enemy
effectivly once the shooting starts, then start laying into them.
Defend Base:
Pretty similer to "secure area" except there's a base you need to protect. Its
usually not too hard, as the cybrids general ignore the base and gun for your
units only, so treat it just like "secure area"
Secure Area:
Sort of similer to "Quick Assault" except you usually arent dropped right into
the middle of the cybrid force. Usually they're out of sensor range, and you
have to scout around a little bit to find them, then organize your forces to
strike at them.
Destroy base:
Basically it's the exact same thing as "Recon" but you're actually required to
destroy the base now.
Elite Military Missions:
There's three elite missions throughout the game, basically they're really hard
"Destroy Base" missions, with a lot more cybrids and base defences. You should
only take them on after you've gained every promotion you can for that
particular part of the game.
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6. Herc Bay
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Your Hercs are the giant man shaped machines that your protohuman slaves pilot
and fight with. Whats nice about the Hercs in this game is that they're all
highly customizable. Each has upwards of around 20 components that you can
customize to your own personal style. As the game goes on, more and more
choices of weapons and components are available to you. In the Herc bay, go
to manage and click on one of your Hercs, here's the options you have to work
with:
Name: Yep, you can change the name of the herc, little known fact. Simply
click on the name at the top of the screen, then type your desired name in,
such as "PimpMobile2" and click "Done".
Armor: Your Herc's armor is what protects it from being destroyed once its
shields are down. Each type of armor can affect your herc's speed, and each
type has its own effectiveness against different types of damage. More
advanced armor costs more, like thats a surprise. However, the most expensive
isnt always the "best" choice, pay attention to the armor's stats.
Drive: This is the engine that propels your Herc. Initially you're stuck with
Pre-Flexive Drives, but as the game progresses you get to choose from Flexive,
Improved, and Trivate. Each step up provides more speed, but costs more.
Legs: You get to choose whether the Herc's Legs are Standard or Reinforced.
Reinforcing them adds more duribility, at the cost of speed and cash.
Personally, i never reinforce them, for some reason Hercs rarely take
leg damage.
Reactor: This is the powerplant on the herc, it provides juice for all your
weapons, components, and affects the herc's movement speed by allocating power
for movement. At first you're stuck with Fission, but as time goes on you get
to choose from Ion, and Matter Conversion Reactors. Each upgrade costs more,
but provides more power to be used for movement and firepower.
Battery: Just like your car has an alternator (you know it has an alternator
right?) which is the same as the reactor on the Herc, it also has a battery,
which stores unused power from the Reactor. Basically the battery is only used
once your Reactor runs out of power. However Battery power can only be used
for firing weapons, or activating components. It can NOT be used for movement.
Battery power is also pretty limited, it recharges from power thats unused from
the reactor. If you use up every last bit of reactor power, none goes to
recharging the battery, and if the battery is out of juice then you're out of
luck. At first you're stuck with chemical batteries, but Iridium, and
Tru-Power batteries become available later. Upgraded batteries cost more, and
slightly reduce movement speed, but can hold more power.
Shield: Your shield is your main line of defense, if it goes down, then all
hell is about to break loose. Even the heaviest armor isnt terribly effective,
your Herc may survive taking a few unshielded hits, but it's going to be
damaged and probably wont function optimally. Shields are rated by the amount
of total protection they provide to all 6 sides of the shield, anywhere from
300-3900. As the shield you equip becomes more powerful, the protection and
regeneration speed goes up, as does the power drain on your reactor.
The herc's movement speed will also suffer as you add heavier and heavier
shields.
Sensor: Sensors basically come in two types: Standard and Scout. Standard
sensors have limited range, and have trouble seeing over obstacles like high
ridges. Scout sensors have greater range, and can see over any obstacle,
however only the Fast Shadow and Sensei hercs can mount them. Each type has
several upgradable versions however, as you upgrade them the sensor range
increases, but so does the power drain on the reactor, and it will slow your
herc down.
Targeting Computer: The targeting computer adds a bonus to your derms ability
to hit cybrids; Anywhere from +2% to upwards of around +45%. As targetting
computers get more accurate, their cost and energy drain goes up,
and (you guessed it) movement speed goes down.
Life Support System: This is what keeps your expensive little Bio-Derm alive.
If this system is damaged or destroyed in battle, your Derm may die as well,
depending on how hostile the environment is. Life support starts out as
Standard, which simply keeps the derm alive. More sophisticated systems will
start to add a healing bonus to health, stability, and toxicity to the derm for
every turn. Of course, the more sophisticated the system, the bigger the
power drain, the slower the herc, and the more cash you got to shell out.
Here's a hint: dont ever buy anything higher than a Reactive Life support
(Which offers +3 Health, +1 stability, and +3 toxicity per turn), anything more
than that is really overkill and a waste of power.
HardPoints: These are the slots you mount weapons and optional components on.
Each herc has a given number and type of weapon mounts, but all hercs are only
allowed 4 optional components.
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Hercs:
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Each Herc has its own specific upsides and downsides (well...the more expensive
ones have no downsides). Here's a brief description of what i'll cover for
each of them:
Cost: Cost is a pretty tricky thing to tell you. As you may have noticed,
each herc can be customized from a bare bones junker to a highly modified work
of art. The First cost i give is the price of a low end fully equiped model,
and the second is for an upscale model with all the options. Of course, not
everyone will agree what the best configuration is, so i'm just giving you a
price range to expect from the herc.
Armor: Light, medium, or heavy. Nothing real fancy there cowboy.
Shield Max: This is the maximum size shield the particular herc can mount.
Sensor Type: Standard or Scout
Weapon slot: Slots basically break down into either Energy, Missile,
or Cannon. Each having a Light, Medium, and Heavy version of each. I break
it down into 3 catagories just for simplicity's sake, as you'll see from
playing the game, there will be some weapons that blur the line, such as
energy weapons that can only be mounted in cannon slots, and so on.
The Juggernaut Herc is the only exception, having an Ultra Heavy Mount,
and two universal mounts which can mount any weapon.
Fast Shadow
This is about as basic as a herc can get. Lightweight, poor armor, poor
shields, little firepower. However, this unit can be used up until the last
mission in the game, because it does have a very good upside: It's increadibly
fast, and it mounts a scout sensor. Unlike the other scout unit in the game,
the Sensei, the Fast shadow is designed for the sole purpose of being a
scout unit. It should quickly become apparent after the first two missions
or so that this unit has no business whatsoever being in combat (it can't
withstand hardly any damage and it sure cant deal any out) so it's best to
strip it of weapons, armor and shields, and try to maximize it's movement
points as much as possible. Near the end game, a single stripped down
Fast Shadow will be able to scout most of the map all by itself!
Cost: 4k-25k (you can really pimp these out)
Armor: Light
Shield Max: 900
Sensor Type: Scout
Weapon Slots: Two light energy, Two light missile
The first few missions you'll have basically no choices as to what kind of
weapon to mount on these. After that, you'll quickly learn that this Herc
should never be in combat anyways, so you should just strip all its weapons
to maximize it's speed.
Optional Components:
dont bother with an ecm as it should never be close to an enemy all by itself
anyway. Try to fit an overdrive node, or anti-gravity unit (or both), a miner,
and later a sensor amplifier.
Remora
Another light mech, the Remora is SLIGHTLY better than a Fast Shadow in combat,
but you'd still be crazy to send it into danger. It's only useful the first 3
or 4 missions, as thats all you have to work with. The second the Ogre becomes
available, you should replace the Remora with it.
Cost: 6k-10k
Armor: Light
Shield Max: 1200
Sensor Type: Standard
Weapon Slots: Two light energy, Two Light Cannon, Two Light Missile
You wont have much choice of weapons, so it should be fairly obvious. By the
time better weapons become available you wont even need this Herc anymore.
Optional Components:
Basically all you can put on it is a miner. This unit is entirely useless to
you by the time any useful components become available.
Sensei
Another useless light Herc. The only other scout unit in the game, the Sensei
seems to be designed as scout skirmisher. It has more weapons and shields than
the Fast Shadow, however it's much slower. In the end, what you find yourself
with is a scout thats too slow to be a scout, and a combat mech thats much to
light to withstand any combat. If you're hurting for cash in the early game,
it may be an ok substitute for an Ogre unit, otherwise dont waste your time.
Cost: 10k-25k
Armor: Light
Shield Max: 1500
sensor Type: Scout
Weapon Slots: Two Light energy, two Light Cannon, two Medium Missile
The extra slots for machine guns look impressive over other units available at
the time, but then again you have to realize even as a fire support mech you'll
never be able to hit a cyrbrid with them while standing behind another herc.
Plus, in the early game, most derms aren't a terribly good shot with cannons
anyway.
Optional Components: Not much you can do here. Adding a miner may frustrate
you even more by making a slow scout even slower, nothing else is really
available in the early game.
Ogre
The first medium Herc you'll run across, and the first that can actually handle
itself well in combat. It's highly useful in the early game, it's cheap, can
do some ok damage, and can withstand some as well. It will serve you well in
the early game as your standard combat only unit. Once the Demon Herc becomes
available though, the ogre quickly becomes obsolete.
Cost: 20k-50k
Armor: Medium
Shield Max: 1500
Sensor Type: Standard
Weapon Slots: Two Medium Energy, Two Light Energy, Two Light Cannon.
The four energy weapons can do wonders to a cybrid's shields (if you can get
your shoddy early game derms to actually hit one), however the cannon's arent
terribly useful as they're short ranged and early game derms are notoriously
terrible with them. You'll probably have to rely on another unit with missiles
to actually take down a cybrid.
Optional Components: Not a lot available here. A miner is ok, as the Ogre is
relitivly slow, making it a little slower wont matter a whole lot.
A nanorepair node can be fitted, but there's not much point to it as the ogre
isnt very expensive to repair. By the time anything more useful becomes
available, the ogre will be obsolete.
Giant
Without a doubt, the most useless unit in the game. The giant's armament
consist of entirely Cannon type weapons. It looks pretty impressive, however
the biggest advantage you can have with any combat unit in this game is
versitility...which the Giant lacks completly. Yes, you can lay waste to an
unshielded enemy with your tons of cannons, but how are you going to take the
shields down? The giant has no ability whatsoever to do so. Frankly, The
hard part is getting an enemy's shields down, once down just about any unit
can destroy them. You'd be much better off getting a demon instead, as it can
take an enemy's shield down, and dish out great damage to the body.
Price: 40k-75k
Armor: Medium
Shield Max: 1950
Sensor Type: Standard
Weapon Slots: Two heavy Cannon, Two Medium Cannon, Two light Cannon
The weapon choices are pretty limited, for the heavy the 200mm HEAP is a good
choice as it's very long ranged and does good damage. The choices you get for
the medium and light should be pretty obvious. The Giant will be able to
mount SHPG, HPG, MPG, and LPG in the mid game. These are kind of a
cannon/energy hybrid, and should be avoided as the giant's battery and reactor
simply dont have the power to supply these. Plus, it seems that any derm
that's good in Cannon, is pretty bad with Advance tech. Stick with the big
guns.
Optional Components: Might as well throw a miner on this one, as it dosnt have
a lot of other uses. The Giant is useless from the second it's available, so
no special components are going to make it any more desirable to have.
Demon
This is the first combat unit you'll get thats actually well designed, with
little or no flaws. It mounts good armor and shields, and has a very
impressive amount of firepower. This is basically going to be your standard
combat unit from the late early game, to the early mid game. In the mid and
late game, it will become clear that the Demon can still dish out some great
firepower, but dosnt have enough shields and armor to be a front line unit.
I still like to keep two around to use as armed miners and faster medium
assault skirmishers.
Price: 75k-140k
Armor: Medium
Shield Max: 2400
Sensor Type: Standard
Weapon Slots: Two Heavy Energy, Two Medium Energy, Two Heavy Missile
You can make a very balanced unit with these weapon choices, choosing
two energy weapons designed to take out shields, two balanced energy weapons
like the PBW or NBW, and two missiles. As a side note, you'll love how
effiencient heavy missile weapons are, after spending most of the early game
dealing with short ranged, inaccurate cannons.
Optional Components: An ECM is a good choice as this is a combat unit, as
well as nanorepair. Later in the game you might want to equip it with a miner,
as it will start to loose its effectivness in battle, a shield amp and
antigravity/overdrive are also good choices when they become available.
Reaper
Now this is a serious combat machine. While the heavier Juggernaut Focuses on
defense, the Reaper's job is offense. It boasts a very intense amount of
firepower, and can still take much more damage than a demon. This will be
your standard combat unit in the mid to late game, and for good reason.
This is the first unit that you'll actually be shocked in disbelief if it is
somehow destroyed.
Price: 150k-200k
Armor: Heavy
Sensor Type: Standard
Shield Max: 2850
Weapon slots: Four Heavy Energy, Two Heavy Missile
Use the same design as with the demon, assign two anti-shield weapons,
two balanced weapons, and two heavy missiles. If you were impressed with how
well this worked with the Demon, you'll love the Reaper, as you get more varity
in choices, and much more damage.
Optional Components: An ECM, nanorepair, and antigravity/overdrive are a must.
Dont bother equiping it as a miner, as it's too slow to effectivly do the job.
The shield amp is a great idea once it's available.
Juggernaut
Offensivly, the Juggernaut isnt totally impressive at first. It has a lot of
oddball weapon mounts, and a lot of them you really cant even use to their full
potential until near the end of the game. Defensivly though, it's unmatched.
It can soak up the most damage of any unit in the game, it has the most shields
and armor of any herc , which makes it ideal for being on point.
Unfortunatly, its huge expense, and slow speed will limit your use of this
Herc. I wouldnt recommend getting more than 4 of these unless you want to find
yourself in a economic nightmare.
Price: 200k-400k
Armor: Heavy....ist
Sensor Type: Standard
Shield Max: 3900
Weapon Slots: One Ultra Heavy, Two Universal, One Heavy Energy,
Two Heavy Missle, TWo ELF
The Ultra Heavy mount is a specialty to the Juggernaut, unfortunatly you're
basically stuck with the FAnnihalator (gag) or a standard SP1200-PLAS until
near the end of the game. Then you can get such weapons as the ATN Auto,
which of course is bad-ass. Other than that, the universal mounts are kind
of nice, however by the time you get the Juggernaut, about 75% of the weapons
you can choose from are worthless. The ELFs are pretty useless as well,
if anything is getting close enough to your juggernaut that you can use an ELF
on them....you're doing something horribly wrong. Try to make it as well
balanced as you can, NBWs and pulse lasers work wonders.
Optional Components:
Pretty much the same as the reaper, ECM, Shield Amp, Nanorepair, and
antigravity.
Weapons:
There's tons and tons of weapons to choose from in the game. Fortunatly,
a lot become obsolete very fast, and some flat out suck; so the choices are
actually pretty simple. However, that does not stop me from cataloging every
single weapon in the game and explaining them to you. Keep in mind that more
weapons become available after each promotion, and not all of these are
available right from the start of the game.
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Energy
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The "energy" skill basically consists of mainly lasers. Generally, they take
an average amount of energy to fire, they do high damage to shields, but not a
whole lot to armor, and they're fairly long ranged.
SE400 Laser
The wimpiest laser in the game, short ranged, low power, only useful the first
one or two missions.
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 20
Damage Vs Shields: 50
Damage Vs Armor: 10
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 40
SE660 Laser
Slightly larger and more powerful than the 400, but still only useful against
small rodents and amphibians.
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 27
Damage Vs Shields: 75
Damage Vs Armor: 15
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 191
SE1000 Laser
The biggest of the SE classes, it's actually a fairly ok laser. However it
becomes obsolete pretty fast once the SC lasers become available.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 36
Damage Vs Shields: 120
Damage Vs Armor: 24
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 480
SC400 Laser
Slightly Better than the SE version, but still a dinky laser. Cybrids will
laugh at you if you shoot it at them.
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 18
Damage Vs Shields: 50
Damage Vs Armor: 20
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 171
SC1000 Laser
Slightly better than the SE version, this laser actually stays useful until
the mid game. It's long ranged, comparativly energy efficient, and has good
shield damage. Once pulse lasers come into play, this baby is gone though.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 36
Damage Vs Shields: 120
Damage Vs Armor: 46
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 556
SE700 L-Gat
This is basically a gatling laser cannon. Not a lot of damage, but you get a
lot of shots per turn...which can actually be a bad thing. The more shots you
have to fire, the more chance your derm will miss. This is especially true
seeing how this weapon is only useful in the early game, when your derms
aren't such a great shot. Plus it gets a little boring have to click 4 times
to get all the potential damage. You might as well just stick with an SE or
SC1000.
Max Range: 18
Max Rounds Per Turn: 4
Energy Cost: 10
Damage Vs Shields: 64
Damage Vs Armor: 12
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 1179
SP500 Pulse Laser
Pulse lasers shoot three pulses of lasers (doy!). They're a lot more powerful
than the standard version, once you go pulse, you'll never go back. The SP500
is the smallest version of them, and should never be used unless you're just
trying to burn the hair off something.
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 30
Damage Vs Shields: 150
Damage Vs Armor: 30
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 250
SP750 Pulse Laser
A step up from the 500, and a fairly useful weapon, it fits nicely in a Demon's
medium energy slot.
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 36
Damage Vs Shields: 240
Damage Vs Armor: 48
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 1467
SP1200 Pulse Laser
Now here's a real winner. This will be your standard anti-shield weapon until
the end of the game.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 45
Damage Vs Shields: 360
Damage Vs Armor: 72
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 2306
SP800 PL-Gat
A pulse laser Gatlin gun. Pretty much the same story as the SE700 L-Gat, kind
of nice in theory but in combat you'll just be annoyed with it. For some
reason this version is very short ranged though. The SP1200 is superior in
all ways; more shield damage, much more range, less energy, you might as well
just stick with that.
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 24
Damage Vs Shields: 160
Damage Vs Armor: 40
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 2883
SCX C-Class
A heavy compression laser, this is kind of a confusing weapon. It does
moderate damage to shields and armor. The SP1200 is superior in all ways to
it, plus it takes slightly less energy to fire. The only use for this weapon
i can see is as a paperweight, or maybe an interesting marital aid.
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 48
Damage Vs Shields: 180
Damage Vs Armor: 72
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 10794
LCBlaster
This seems like it would be an Advanced tech weapon, but the game catogorizes
it as a laser. Well what the freak ever, it's still a nice weapon. It does
slightly less damage to shields than a standard laser, but a lot more damage
to armor. It fits nice in a light energy slot, but if it's at all possible,
try to get the HC version.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 15
Damage Vs Shields: 80
Damage Vs Armor: 64
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 6400
HCBlaster
Much better than the LC version, however it requires a heavy energy slot.
Compared to the SP1200, it does slightly less shield damage but a whole lot
more damage to armor. Assuming both shots hit, it's a pretty pimped out
weapon.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 25
Damage Vs Shields: 160
Damage Vs Armor: 128
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 11520
Blast Mortar
Some sort of weapon that fires energy that somehow blows up i guess.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 15
Damage Vs Shields: 75
Damage Vs Armor: 15
Penetrating Damage: 0
Area: 3
Cost: 360
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Cannons
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Cannons fall under the "Cannon" skill, ironically enough. I'm not a huge fan
of Cannons, you'll be using them mostly through the early game. The problem
with them is they're pretty short ranged, and they tend to drastically loose
their effectivness over range. Adding to the complications, most derms seem
to suck at firing them. Cannons have a rating known as "Penetration Damage".
This is damage that penetrates through the shield. No...it isnt a modifier or
percentage, its the actual damage that penetrates. Even the heaviest cannon
in the game only has a penetration damage of 100, lesson is...dont bother
shooting a cannon at a shielded target. The only real upside to cannons is
they require no energy to fire...which really isnt all that big of a deal,
seeing how advanced reactors become in the game. In general, they do very
little damage to shields, and good damage to armor. All in all, missiles are
a much better choice as they have much longer range, more accuracy, and damage.
So now that you know my feelings on them, i guess i'll go ahead and list them
all, this should be a barrel of fun.
20mm Light AutoCannon
This is the lightest cannon available in the game, as you might have guess,
your Red Rider bb gun you had when you were a kid probably had more balls.
Short ranged, low damage, and bordering on idiotic.
Max Ammo: 30
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 24
Penetrating Damage: 4
Cost: 28
50mm AutoCannon
A little better than the 20mm, but still not an overly impressive weapon.
You'd think you'd get a lot more kick out of an extra 30mm, but apparently not.
Must be quality control issues.
Max Ammo: 18
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 32
Penetrating Damage: 6
Cost: 81
120mm Heavy AutoCannon
As far as cannons go, this dosnt eat it so much. It's range is fairly
impressive, of course it seems to loose a lot of firepower after about half of
its maximum range.
Max Ammo: 12
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 90
Penetrating Damage: 12
Cost: 308
40mm Ranger Cannon
A long range Cannon (sort of a sick joke). The game's description says it's
able to damage shields, however it really isnt. This is a pretty stupid gun
to have. You can slightly damage an unshielded cybrid 30 units away, big
whoop. The problem is, this is only useful in the early game, and of course
none of the early game lasers are capable of taking a cybrid's shields down
at that range, even if there was one your dipstick Derms wouldnt be able to
hit them. Pretty well thought out weapon dont you think?
Max Ammo: 24
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 30
Penetrating Damage: 10
Cost: 171
30mm Chain Cannon
This weapon focuses on shooting out a large number of smaller rounds.
Assuming they all hit (which they wont) it will do more damage than a standard
cannon.
Max Ammo: 24
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 35
Penetrating Damage: 10
Cost: 263
Devastator
This gun (who's name is a complete overdramatic misnomer) follows the same
principal of the 30mm Chain, but shoots out more lead. It's more powerful
than the 30mm Chain, assuming all the shots hit but once again you'll find it
pretty hard to get all the rounds to actually land, and it looses quite a bit
of effectivness over range.
Max Ammo: 30
Max Range: 10
Max Rounds Per Turn: 3
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 32
Penetrating Damage: 4
Cost: 704
90mm Autocannon
This is actually listed as the "90mm Accelerated Autocannon". Whooptie damn
do, it's still useless. It does a whole 15 damage to shields, and a little
less damage to armor than the 120mm.
Max Ammo: 20
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 18
Damage Vs Shields: 15
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 12
Cost: 1362
100mm Chain
This is an even bigger "Accelerated Autocannon", this is a short ranged
(even for a cannon), high firepower weapon. It does exceptionally light
damage to shields, and moderate damage to armor. I really dont know why
anyone would use it, unless they had a drug abuse problem.
Max Ammo: 24
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 24
Damage Vs Shields: 24
Damage Vs Armor: 120
Penetrating Damage: 24
Cost: 5632
200mm HEAP
This is about the most useful cannon weapon you'll find in the game.
It's long ranged, and it's targeting seems to not be affected by changes in
terrain. It also has a bonus of being able to blow a garbage truck sized
hole in a cybrid (well not really...but this is about the only cannon weapon
i feel comfortable offering praise to, so might as well go over the top).
Max Ammo: 8
Max Range: 25
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 110
Penetrating Damage: 15
Cost: 480
210mm X-HEAP
Shorter ranged, but more damage that the 200mm HEAP. I dunno, depends what
your preference is. I dont really want to come across as preachy or anything,
so like whatever...chose what you want. No big deal to me. Seriously, i dont
care. Things are still going great for me, dosnt matter what you do partner.
Thats fine with me. Good. Grand. Great.
Max Ammo: 15
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 140
Penetrating Damage: 35
Cost: 948
280mm ATX
The bigest gun on the game, It's one of two specialty guns that fit into the
Juggernaut's super heavy slot. I'm not a fan of it, by the time you get it,
you'll pretty much be over your little cannon phase. It has impressive damage,
yeah, but it's a little bit overkill. Your missiles should be able to take
care of armor by this point in the game, the ATN Auto is a much better choice
as it can bypass shields.
Max Ammo: 18
Max Range: 25
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 100
Damage Vs Armor: 480
Penetrating Damage: 100
Cost: 102000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missiles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missiles require the "Missile" skill, you'd think you'd start seeing a trend
here. Much more accurate, powerful, and with longer ranges than cannons.
The only downside is...well...i cant really think of a downside. Plus the
require no energy to fire. They have slightly less ammo than cannons, but at
least they have a good chance of actually hitting the target unlike cannons.
Missile targeting is not affected by obstructions in the terrain, so they can
fire just about everywhere. Of course, they do no damage at all to shields,
so be sure you take those down first or you're just wasting precious missiles.
Missile-SP
This is the weakest missile launcher available in the game. It's cheap, and
actually more reliable than most cannons, but it's still little better than a
slingshot.
Max Ammo: 10
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 50
Penetrating Damage: 6
Cost: 53
Missile-SG
Basically just a souped up SP missile launcher
Max Ammo: 10
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 9
Cost: 108
Missile-SP2
Another souped up SP launcher, it's only slightly better than the SG missile.
The only downside is it carries 2 less missiles than the previous versions.
Max Ammo: 8
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 100
Penetrating Damage: 10
Cost: 320
Missile-SPX
Pretty much a "Chaingun" version of the sp missiles, fires many missiles that
do less damage than the regular SPs. Assuming every single missile hits, it
will do more damage, but thats probably not going to happen. It's also MUCH
more expensive than the other versions, personally i'd just stick with the SP2,
it makes life a lot more simpler.
Max Ammo: 20
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 4
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 48
Penetrating Damage: 8
Cost: 1508
Missile-HK
This is my favorite launcher, pretty much the same as the SP missiles, but it
packs one hell of a kick. Once you start using it, you'll never go back.
Max Ammo: 8
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 200
Penetrating Damage: 20
Cost: 3145
Missile-HK+
Another chaingun version of a missile launcher. Assuming they all hit
...blah...blah...freaking...blah
Max Ammo: 16
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 4
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 80
Penetrating Damage: 12
Cost: 4915
MicroMissile
A chaingun missile that can fit into a light missile slot. It might actually
be an improvement over an SP missile, that is if it wasnt so short ranged, did
no damage at all, and costed a lot more (thats sarcasm).
Max Ammo: 24
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 13
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 30
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 342
Jihad
This is a saturation missile. It does damage over a pretty large area.
I never liked these types of missiles, as it's not very likely that you'll
have several unshielded cybrids just sitting in the exact right spot to shoot
a sat-missile into, plus they're pretty short ranged. All in all i think
direct fire missiles are way more effective and efficient. If you have doubts
about sat missiles, just watch how many times the cybrids use them on you,
and how little effect it has. The jihad is the cheapest version of these.
In fact it's pretty much a sucide missile, as it's effective range is only 2
units. Unless you want to see your Derms squirm and twitch as they die, dont
bother with this.
Max Ammo: 1
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 160
Penetrating Damage: 24
Area: 5
Cost: 136
Missile-MY
This is a saturation missle system that actually isnt a suicide weapon.
Still...it eats.
Max Ammo: 6
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 50
Penetrating Damage: 10
Area: 3
Cost: 204
Katyusha
Pretty much the same as the Jihad, except leaving out that whole
"kill yourself when you fire it" pricipal. Good idea, i bet someone got
promoted for designing this.
Max Ammo: 6
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 50
Penetrating Damage: 6
Area: 5
Cost: 838
Missile-Sat
A more powerful version of the MY.
Max Ammo: 5
Max Range: 25
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 10
Area: 7
Cost: 1257
Sat Rocket
A saturation version that boasts the power of an HK missile, but ruins it by
turning it into saturation form, jacking the price way up, and cutting the
range. I imagine somone got fired for inventing this thing.
Max Ammo: 4
Max Range: 25
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 150
Penetrating Damage: 15
Area: 7
Cost: 8192
Missile-HOG
This one has a pretty cool name, thats about all it has going for it. It's
the Hummer of missiles, very expensive, very inneficent, short ranged, totally
pointless, and very powerful. It's a single fire missle that blows the ever
loving crap out of anything it hits....once. It's complete overkill, there's
nothing in the game that requires such a powerful missile. Maybe if you suffer
from some sort of chronic penis envy, this may very well be the missile for
you.
Max Ammo: 1
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 750
Penetrating Damage: 70
Area: 7
Cost: 5120
Rapid-SAT
I imagine some executive at a board meeting saying "Hey guys you know what's a
bad idea? Rapid fire! You know what's a worse idea? Saturation! But!!
Aha! But...if we combine the two...surely it cant get any worse right??"
Max Ammo: 8
Max Range: 30
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 0
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 135
Penetrating Damage: 15
Area: 5
Cost: 15000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plasma
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plasma weapons appear in the mid game, and thats about the only time they're
usuful. They're short ranged, powerful, highly innacurate, and require tons of
energy to operate. You'll find that even in the later stages of the mid game,
there's just much better alternatives. They're all extremely short ranged and
on top of that they drastically loose effectiveness at about half their max
range. If something is about 5 or 6 units away, expect to only do about 40%
damage. Sure a PBW dosnt look as good on paper, but at least it'll hit the
target 10 units away, and still do some damage. By the way, they require the
"Plasma" skill, booyaa!! Bet you didnt see that coming.
FFlamer
This almost sounds like an insult, but it actually stands for "fusion flamer".
I have no clue what the difference between it and a plasma cannon are
technically, but the FFlamer just does slightly less shield, and slightly more
armor damage.
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 30
Damage Vs Shields: 128
Damage Vs Armor: 96
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 409
P-Cannon
The standard plasma cannon.
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 50
Damage Vs Shields: 150
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 428
HP-Cannon
A heavier version of the P-cannon
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 75
Damage Vs Shields: 300
Damage Vs Armor: 150
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 643
Plasma Beam
Pretty much the same as the HP except with longer range. Which in fact, is
still pathetically short ranged.
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 60
Damage Vs Shields: 270
Damage Vs Armor: 135
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 2031
FCannon
A souped up version of the FFlamer pretty much.
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 45
Damage Vs Shields: 192
Damage Vs Armor: 128
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 819
FAnnahilator
Fusion Annahilator. This is one of the weapons you're stuck with for the super
heavy slot in the Juggernaut when you first get it. It's pretty much the same
thing as a HP-Cannon just a little less shield damage and a little more armor.
Still it doesnt matter because it's so short ranged and innacurate, you'd be
much better off just putting a SP1200 in.
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 60
Damage Vs Shields: 288
Damage Vs Armor: 192
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 3840
Plasma Mortar
This is actually a fairly useful weapon. It's an energy mortar than does an
area affect damage, it's equally effective against shields as it is to armor.
Takes care of those pesky light Cybrids who like to bunch up.
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 16
Damage Vs Shields: 80
Damage Vs Armor: 40
Penetrating Damage: 0
Area: 3
Cost: 1834
Fusion Mortar
Just a beefed up Plasma Mortar, except this one requires ammo for some reason.
Max Ammo: 24
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 18
Damage Vs Shields: 108
Damage Vs Armor: 72
Penetrating Damage: 0
Area: 3
Cost: 2828
F-Gatling
Yet another rapid fire weapon. I suppose this one could be pretty decent, if
it wasnt so short ranged.
Max Range: 9
Max Rounds Per Turn: 4
Energy Cost: 15
Damage Vs Shields: 90
Damage Vs Armor: 60
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 7600
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELF
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was going to make some cheesy Will Ferral joke, but i couldnt think of a good
one. Anyways, ELF stands for Electromagnetic Flux. It's basically some kind
of lightning cannon. Unfortunatly, they're increadibly short ranged (only 2-4
hexes), and dont do much damage at all. The upside is they completely bypass
shields. Still, they're not very handy weapons, if you let a Cybrid get close
enough to you to use an ELF on them, you're doing something wrong.
L ELF
A light ELF, which kind of goes without saying. I mean would you call a shrimp
light?
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 40
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 50
Penetrating Damage: 50
Cost: 46
M ELF
Medium ELF (we seeing a trend?)
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 50
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 60
Penetrating Damage: 60
Cost: 171
H ELF
A heavy ELF, sort of like a jumbo shrimp.
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 60
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 75
Cost: 411
Auto Elf
An automatic elf, as opposed to a manual one. And we all know ELFs cant drive
stick.
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 3
Energy Cost: 10
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 20
Penetrating Damage: 20
Cost: 352
Chain ELF
Another rapid fire ELF. Unlike other rapid fire weapons, this one actually is
better than other ELFs. Seeing how short ranged they are, it's pretty dang
impossible for your Derm to miss when the cybrid is standing 2 hexes away.
Max Range: 2
Max Rounds Per Turn: 4
Energy Cost: 10
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 25
Penetrating Damage: 25
Cost: 838
ELF Mortar
Another good mortar weapon, and probably the only useful ELF weapon. It can
do a nice little number on lighter cybrids who like to hold hands.
Max Range: 12
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 16
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 40
Penetrating Damage: 40
Area: 3
Cost: 7974
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Advanced catagory is basically just a bunch of oddball weapons, they are
all sort of hybrids of the other types. Nothing can be said about them all as
a whole, as they're all so different. They require the "Advanced" weapon skill,
if you didnt see that coming you should eat a lot of prescription pills and go
take a bath.
EMP
The basic electromagnetic pulse weapon, they all do high damage to shields,
but none to armor.
Max Range: 5
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 32
Damage Vs Shields: 150
Damage Vs Armor: 0
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 204
EMP Beamer
A huge upgrade from the EMP.
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 36
Damage Vs Shields: 250
Damage Vs Armor: 0
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 804
EMP Blaster
An even better version over the Beamer. Capable of doing 600 damage to a
shield, basically any shield you point it as is going down. It's marginal
range is kind of a setback though.
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 2
Energy Cost: 24
Damage Vs Shields: 300
Damage Vs Armor: 0
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 3686
PBW
A Particle Beam Weapon, this is actually one of my favorite guns. It's
versitility make it highly useful, if you need to take some shields down, you
can; if you need to kill some armor, you can do that too.
Max Range: 13
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 40
Damage Vs Shields: 100
Damage Vs Armor: 100
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 804
NBW
A Nuetron Beam weapon, just a much more powerful version of the PBW, with much
better range. Probably my favorite gun of the game.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 60
Damage Vs Shields: 200
Damage Vs Armor: 200
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 1834
LPG
Light Particle gun. The particle guns are kind of the opposite of the EMPs,
they're energy weapons that do damage to armor rather than shields. I wouldnt
bother with them, just stick to the missiles for blowing something's arm off.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 18
Damage Vs Shields: 15
Damage Vs Armor: 75
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 250
MPG
More bang for your buck.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 24
Damage Vs Shields: 24
Damage Vs Armor: 120
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 670
HPG
Premium Quality.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 33
Damage Vs Shields: 36
Damage Vs Armor: 180
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 1005
SHPG
Supersized.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 36
Damage Vs Shields: 40
Damage Vs Armor: 240
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 2096
Nuetron Gun
Pretty much the same stats as the SHPG, except it does less damage and takes
less energy. Your guess is as good as mine why it's in the game.
Max Range: 20
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 24
Damage Vs Shields: 24
Damage Vs Armor: 120
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 2096
TLance
A point blank range weapon. It does impressive damage, but you have to be one
hex away from a Cybrid for it to work, whats the freaking point man? An NBW
could probably get two or three shots off while covering that distance.
Max Range: 1
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 80
Damage Vs Shields: 300
Damage Vs Armor: 300
Penetrating Damage: 0
Cost: 819
TNeedler
An odd weapon. It bypasses shields for some reason, and does pretty decent
damage to armor. It's lackluster range holds it back though. Plus, why not
just use a PBW or NBW, as you get the option to damage shields so your buddies
can shoot the target as well?
Max Range: 15
Max Rounds Per Turn: 1
Energy Cost: 32
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 100
Penetrating Damage: 100
Cost: 1638
ATN Auto
Probably one of the funnest weapons in the game, it's a rapid fire cannon type
weapon that bypasses shields. For once, it's highly accurate as well.
Unfortunatly it can only fit in the Juggernaut's super heavy weapon slot.
Max Range: 18
Max Rounds Per Turn: 6
Energy Cost: 16
Damage Vs Shields: 0
Damage Vs Armor: 40
Penetrating Damage: 40
Cost: 96000
--------------------
Optional Components:
--------------------
Hercs have 4 bays to put optional components into. They can do a variety of
different things; boosting performance, adding new functions, repairing damage,
adding less filling and more taste, etc.
I'd love to list all the components, and trust me i've tried too, however all
the information you need is listed right in the game about them, and they're
all pretty self explanitory. Plus, there's a lot of information about them,
such as energy use, that isnt available. So you're on your own on this one.
*******************
7. Bioderm Facility
*******************
This is where you manage all your unnaturally grown pilots.
Biovat: Use this to create new derms.
VR Training: This increases the stats of your Derms, however it's fairly
expensive. Most Derms can only be trained two or three times in a skill.
Medvat: This is used to heal Derms that have taken damage from battle. Keep
in mind this is VERY expensive, and you'd be much better off just buying a nice
life support system for your Hercs which will heal your Derms while in battle.
Link: You can scroll through a list of Derms that you own, and unlink or link
them to whatever Herc that you wish. Once you create and train up your new
Derm DONT forget to link him!
---------
Bioderms:
---------
Just like weapons, there's TONS of Derms to choose from, and just like weapons
the choices are fairly limited because most of them are terrible. However, we
might as well list every last one of them, not like we got anything better to
do right???
Derm stats:
Cost: How much the derm cost. The one word actually describes it pretty well.
Piloting Skill: This affects how effectivly a Derm can dodge fire from an
enemy, and also effects how efficiently they move. If you order a derm to
travel a long path, the piloting skill determines how intelligently the Derm
will plot it's course. Derms with low piloting skills will go through all
kinds of rough terrain even when they dont need to, Derms with high piloting
skills will plot the path that costs the least and gets the most distance.
Weapon skills: I list the BASE skill the derm starts with. You can increase
this skill with VR training to a certain extent, and the skills also grow as
the derm ages.
Command: Command simply increases the stability of the derms who are nearby
the derm with the command skill.
Age: Whatever the number the age is, just multiply it by 10. One would be 10,
10 would be 100. This gives you the number of months the derm will live.
Health: I dont bother to list the Health, Stability, and Toxin specs on the
Derms, because it doesnt really matter. If you put a Derm in a Herc that has
a Reactive life support system, you'll NEVER have to worry the Derm's health
status. Even with lesser life support systems, it's only a minor concern at
best.
Model 001:
This is your basic, bottom of the line, made in Korea quality derm. He's...
well he's just terrible, plus he looks like an alien who does way too much
crank. Nothing else to say really, you'll be stuck with him for a few
missions but get rid of him as soon as you can.
Cost: 540
Piloting: 50
Energy: 50
Missile: 40
Cannon: 35
Plasma: 20
ELF: 20
Advanced :10
Command: 0
Age: 1
Model 101:
Slightly better than the 001, and much foxier. Still, it's a pretty worthless
derm, and should be gotten rid of as soon as you can afford it.
Cost: 780
Piloting: 50
Energy: 50
Missile: 50
Cannon: 30
Plasma: 40
ELF: 20
Advanced: 10
Command: 0
Age: 3
Model 110:
This one is a little better in the cannon area...which makes it significantly
worse everywhere else. Basically all it has going for it is a mediocre cannon
skill (and you know how i feel about cannons).
Cost: 1400
Piloting: 50
Energy: 40
Missile: 40
Cannon: 60
Plasma: 20
ELF: 30
Advanced :10
Command: 0
Age: 3
Tola:
I'd tell you right now that Tola is hands down the best derm available to
create (heck, i'd say he's the best in the game), plus he has a striking
resemblance to Jake Steed. With great stats in all the areas that count, and
the longest life of any derm, you should have about 10 of him by the end of the
game.
Cost: 50,000
Piloting: 75
Energy: 75
Missile: 75
Cannon: 70
Plasma: 70
ELF: 65
Advanced :75
Command: 10
Age: 10
Xian:
A cheap, mildly useful derm. His ELF skill is pretty high, but at the early
game when he's of the most use you dont even have ELFs available to you. He
does make a pretty good, inexpensive Pilot for an Ogre though with his above
average energy and cannon skills.
Cost: 6800
Piloting: 55
Energy: 65
Missile: 35
Cannon: 65
Plasma: 45
ELF: 75
Advanced :55
Command: 0
Age: 8
Garan:
This is actually going to be a pretty handy Derm to use early in the game, as
his energy, piloting, advanced and missile skills are above average. They fit
pretty well into an Ogre or a Demon. The downside is they seem to be extremely
overpriced.
Cost: 24340
Piloting: 65
Energy: 65
Missile: 60
Cannon: 55
Plasma: 50
ELF: 50
Advanced: 70
Command: 0
Age: 8
Kyoko:
Nothing really to shout about with this doofus, nothing really stands out about
him...but what do you want for two grand?
Cost: 2000
Piloting: 60
Energy: 55
Missile: 45
Cannon: 35
Plasma: 30
ELF: 30
Advanced: 60
Command: 0
Age: 4
Nura:
She's kind of cute...but still not worth buying. The piloting is impressive,
but everything else on her is just mediocre, nothing you could really use in a
battle. If she wasnt so expensive, you could just use her as a scout pilot.
Cost: 15980
Piloting: 75
Energy: 65
Missile: 65
Cannon: 65
Plasma: 40
ELF: 40
Advanced: 55
Command: 0
Age: 5
Persis:
Looks kind of like Cate Blanchett if her head got crushed. She can be useful
as a scout pilot, just because of her high piloting, but nothing else.
Cost: 5040
Piloting: 70
Energy: 55
Missile: 35
Cannon: 40
Plasma: 30
ELF: 60
Advanced: 60
Command: 0
Age: 5
Imra:
Kind of a strange combination of really cool, and suck. Everything is great
except the energy skill...which just happens to be one of the most useful.
Basically she's kind of a cheap tola. I suppose she could be used in a herc
that only uses advanced tech weapons, but that seems kind of a hassle having
to design a herc around her, instead of paying a little more and having a tola
that can be used in any herc.
Cost: 29620
Piloting: 85
Energy: 45
Missile: 75
Cannon: 50
Plasma: 60
ELF: 55
Advanced: 75
Command: 10
Age: 20
Kouras:
Yet another derm that can really only be used in an unarmed scout.
Cost: 4960
Piloting: 70
Energy: 55
Missile: 35
Cannon: 40
Plasma: 25
ELF: 60
Advanced: 65
Command: 0
Age: 5
Khadisha:
Pretty sub-standard, basically the same as Kouras, but with some different
strengths and weaknesses. Still he adds up to being nothing special.
Cost: 5340
Piloting: 70
Energy: 55
Missile: 60
Cannon: 65
Plasma: 40
ELF: 50
Advanced: 35
Command: 0
Age: 6
Borok:
This is cheap derm looks like every single trucker i've ever seen. He's
basically designed to pilot a Giant with only cannon weapons. He does make a
great scout pilot though.
Cost: 5940
Piloting: 80
Energy: 35
Missile: 60
Cannon: 70
Plasma: 45
ELF: 50
Advanced: 45
Command: 0
Age: 6
Jamax:
I'm not really sure what you could do with this thing. It's price makes me
think that surely they intended some sort of use for him....but it really
doesnt appear so. Totally inept at energy and missile (the two most useful),
his only saving grace is an above average advanced skill...which wont get him
far.
Cost: 10600
Piloting: 65
Energy: 55
Missile: 25
Cannon: 35
Plasma: 55
ELF: 55
Advanced: 65
Command: 0
Age: 7
Jath:
This is probably the cheapest derm you'll find with a command skill...and thats
about all you can use him for. It sure is hard to find a derm with both energy
and advanced skills huh?
Cost: 7940
Piloting: 75
Energy: 40
Missile: 45
Cannon: 25
Plasma: 65
ELF: 60
Advanced: 70
Command: 10
Age: 6
Uru:
This is another grossly overpriced, yet only mediocre quality derm.
Cost: 23480
Piloting: 70
Energy: 60
Missile: 65
Cannon: 65
Plasma: 55
ELF: 55
Advanced: 50
Command: 10
Age: 8
Elana:
Her stats are all pretty lackluster...but she sure does live long huh? Kind of
like my ex girlfriend.
Cost: 38560
Piloting: 55
Energy: 55
Missile: 55
Cannon: 50
Plasma: 40
ELF: 40
Advanced: 55
Command: 10
Age: 10
Jarvis:
Arent you geting sick of seeing derms who are way overpriced and have no real
abilities?
Cost: 12900
Piloting: 75
Energy: 65
Missile: 60
Cannon: 40
Plasma: 50
ELF: 50
Advanced: 40
Command: 0
Age: 8
Crow:
Early on you might find use for him as a Ogre pilot, but he's not really useful
the rest of the game.
Cost: 15300
Piloting: 75
Energy: 60
Misile: 60
Cannon: 50
Plasma: 60
ELF: 40
Advanced: 75
Command: 0
Age: 7
Andra:
This long lived derm has a pretty impressive Plasma and ELf Skill...which is
kind of like saying someone has a pretty impressive shirt folding skill.
Cost: 35705
Piloting: 75
Energy: 65
Missile: 40
Cannon: 45
Plasma: 70
ELF: 70
Advanced: 55
Command: 10
Age: 10
Thats covers all the derms that you can clone for your own uses. As you might
have noticed most of them arent even worth looking at, much less using.
Personally, i use only Tola units for combat hercs. Early on i might throw a
few Xians in Ogres and Garans in Demons, and Boroks make nice cheap scouters.
Special Derms
Special derms are derms that you get from promotions, they're given to you free
of charge. Generally they're much higher quality than the crap you can clone.
Tarsus:
As you might have noticed, he has an outstanding cannon skill. If you want to
see just how much cannons suck, put him into a fully loaded Giant, and see how
ineffective it is against cybrids.
Piloting: 75
Energy: 55
Missile: 85
Cannon: 99
Plasma: 60
ELF: 60
Advanced: 60
Command: 0
Age: 8
Boto:
This little monkey makes a great scout pilot, but obviously he couldnt handle
anything combat related, plus he has an exceptionally short lifespan. A lot
of people like to just put him in a heavy herc, equipped with a self destruct
device and then make him go on a suicide run. It's called a "Boto Bomb"
Piloting: 90
Energy: 50
Missile: 50
Cannon: 50
Plasma: 40
ELF: 40
Advanced: 40
Command: 0
Age: 2
Jai:
His piloting is great, but everything else is pretty unimpressive. About all
he has going for him is a high command skill. Sometimes i just throw him into
a reaper because i feel sorry for him being so ugly.
Piloting: 85
Energy: 60
Missile: 60
Cannon: 45
Plasma: 50
ELF: 40
Advanced: 65
Command: 40
Age: 7
Qabal:
As you can tell he's all around mediocre. He's the "Bob Saget" of bioderms, no
real strengths, no real weaknesses. No matter where you put him, he's really
nothing special. Too average to be a scouter, too average to be a warrior.
Piloting: 60
Energy: 60
Missile: 60
Cannon: 60
Plasma: 60
ELF: 60
Advanced: 60
Command: 60
Age: 4
Ma-Yuan
If you got a rig laying around that has only missiles and energy weapons, then
she'd be the one to put in it. Of course...you probably dont have something
like that. I usually just throw her in a standard reaper and hope she doesnt
screw anything up too badly.
Piloting: 65
Energy: 85
Missile: 80
Cannon: 55
Plasma: 55
ELF: 55
Advanced: 50
Command: 0
Age: 8
Mentor:
This is a brain in a jar. His only real weakness is his missile skill...but i
can look past that because by the time you get him the targeting computers you
have available will greatly compensate for that. Plus...he's a freakin' brain
in a jar, how cool is that?
Piloting: 70
Energy: 75
Missile: 55
Cannon: 55
Plasma: 75
ELF: 75
Advanced: 75
Command: 0
Age: 5
Tarn:
He must of got cheek cancer or something, cause his one cheek has been replaced
by a metal plate. Or maybe he's just Kano from mortal kombat, trying out a new
range of work. In any case he's a pretty solid front line fighter, his missile
skill could use some work...but his charming metal face always wins me over.
Piloting: 70
Energy: 70
Missile: 60
Cannon: 65
Plasma: 70
ELF: 65
Advanced: 85
Command: 0
Age: 6
Vryl:
I'm guessing he's supposed to be some kind of feline/human experiment, he's got
great stats but his lifespan is pretty short. I thought cats were supposed to
have 9 lives, what a gyp.
Piloting: 95
Energy: 75
Missile: 65
Cannon: 70
Plasma: 75
ELF: 75
Advanced: 85
Command: 10
Age: 3
Kaesar:
This is an average guy who got irradiated somehow. Maybe he was using a stick
of uranium as a anal probe, who knows? The bottom line is he has even better
stats that Tola, but his lifespan is much shorter.
Piloting: 98
Energy: 98
Missile: 85
Cannon: 80
Plasma: 80
ELF: 80
Advanced: 90
Command: 20
Age: 6
Maia:
I'm told this baby has an unusually large head, but i just dont see it. Looks
like every other baby i've seen, *shrug*. He's got the best stats of any derm
so feel free to do whatever you want with him.
Piloting: 90
Energy: 90
Missile: 99
Cannon: 85
Plasma: 90
ELF: 90
Advanced: 99
Command: 0
Age: 5
********************
8. Mission Interface
********************
The interface gives you quite a bit of options. Such as:
Movement:
The keys below the movement button will turn your herc to face a certain
direction (assuming you have power available). The big center button stops a
herc in mid-movement just in case you changed your mind. Using the crouch
button will crouch your herc which increases is defence, but reduces the
offense, plus it isnt able to move while crouched.
Fire:
This brings up a list of available weapons that can be fired. Select and enemy
and move your cursor over the weapon, the chance to hit and how much damage it
will do will be displayed. If a weapon is displayed in red, that means it cant
be fired again until the next turn.
Internal:
This tab activates or deactivates any optional components you have available.
Shields:
This brings up your shield graphic display. You can adjust your shield
coverage by dragging the cursor around inside the shield display. *Hint*
Move your shields towards where the enemies are. *Wink*
Pilot and Herc info:
At the bottom rights is a large display showing the herc and pilot you have
selected. Starting at the left side, the energy bar shows how much energy is
left in the herc's reactor for that turn. The bar above that is how much power
is left in the herc's battery. If you click on the picture of the herc, you'll
bring up the internals menu, where you can view the functionality of every
system on the herc, if you have nanorepair you can repair these too (except
the armor). The two arrow buttons can be used to toggle between your different
hercs, and the defend button will just mark that herc as done for the turn, it
doesnt add any defence bonuses.
Next to that is the portrait of the Derm, if you click on that you can see a
detailed derm screen, where you can administer Jackup, which increases the
derm's stats but lowers stability, and Placidex, which increases the derm's
stability. Both drugs increase the derm's toxicity though, if it goes above
the max for that derm, the derm dies. If the derm's stability or health
reaches 0, he dies.
And of course, if you click the End Turn button, your entire turn ends, and the
cybrids get their chance.
Basic Mission Tactics:
The missions themselves are fairly easy, and pretty scripted once you get the
hang of them. Of course, the most useful tactic I can give you would be to
always use the "Assualt V", which is my little name for it. Basically, form
your fighting units into a V type formation, with your strongest at the point.
It should look like:
X -Your strongest pilot and herc, usually a Juggernaut
X X -More fighting units
X S X -More fighing units with a small scout hiding in there.
X X -More fighting units, i'm sure you get the idea by now
You should have have a scout, or any other units you want hiding inside the V
to protect them from fire. If the unit at point takes damage, the next time
you move the formation forward, you can always take an undamaged unit from the
rear and move him up to the point. The Assault V should be your standard
formation for combat, you can have as few as 3 hercs in it, or as many as you
want. Usually for heavy assault missions i have two V formations going, and
for lesser missions i can for as many as 5 or 6 small ones. Whats nice is you
can set shields on each of your units all forward, and the unit behind it will
cover the weaker shields. If you're going straight into an enemy formation
it's great, however if you're getting flanked heavily it can have some
weaknesses. There's only one other formation i should cover. Lets look at
this:
C
X C
X X C C
X S X C
X X
My C's represent Cybrids. Notice anything? Your hercs on the left side of the
V cant shoot at them. In such a case you can form the Combat Wall.
X C
X C
X C C
X C
S X
X
X
Now all your units have a line of fire on the cybrids. This is your secondary
tactic, what's nice is it only takes 1 turn to form into this from the V
formation. You'll usually find yourself using this if you're flanking a base.
It generally has a better attack advantage over the cybrids than the V, however
it's not as good defensivly because you cant really control which unit will
take the most fire, plus moving a unit out of formation and behind the line
will remove it from combat effectivly.
Elite Mission 1:
This is probably the hardest mission in the game. You should have the rank of
"Squad Commander" before you attempt it. You should max out your Herc limit,
filling it up with Demons and 1 or 2 scouts. Your hercs need to be equipped
with the latest and greatest of all the technology, and all of their shield
generators should be the most powerful that herc is capable of. Movement is
going to be painfully slow in this mission no matter what you do, as the
terrain is very rough. Dont bother equipping short range plasma weapons, make
sure your demons have some effective long range firepower like SC1000s and
PBWs. At the start, move your map so that you're starting position is in the
exact south part of the map for simplicity's sake, form your Hercs into an
"Assault V" and start moving north. The base will be right in the middle of
the map, slightly northeast. The most annoying cybrid you face are the
Verminus, they're tiny and only armed with an ELF and a self distruct node,
DON'T let them get anywhere near you, they should always be your first target.
Luckily they only take one or two hits from a laser to take them down. Once the
cybrids start showing up, just stay where you are until all the visable ones
are dead, then move only a few units north. You'll be taking fire from the
base's turrets (which have pulse lasers) the whole time, but they wont hit very
often. Once you get to the base you're really in trouble, theres a bunch of
heavy Cybrids guarding it, and there's no way you can lure them out. You
basically just have to slug your way in. Expect to loose several units. The
Key is to stay back just far enough to avoid most of the turret fire, but
still have a chance to hit some of the defending cybrids. Most of the Heavy's
in the base use Plasma weapons, so they're pretty easy to snipe with lasers
and missiles. Another big tip is dont just shoot off all of your weapons each
turn, make sure every Herc has at least one shot to use, that way when the
Verminus' come up during their turn your units can kill them before they get a
chance to self-destruct. Once all the defenders are sniped away, move in.
Move as far as you can into the base initially, target the turrets, the
manufacturing nodes that make the Verminus', and the sensor nodes. Once it's
all cleared out, you'll probably have to scout around the map for any leftover
cybrids to round up.
Elite Mission 2:
You should be a Combat Commander before you try this one. Luckily...this is
about the same thing as the first elite mission, however you have much better
Hercs and technology to deal with it. So basically it's much easier. Adjust
your map so you start off in the exact south. To the north is a big ravine
that will take a few turns to move through. I like to break my units into two
seperate groups, sending one east aroud the ravine, and one right through it.
It'll take a while before your units are all in formation and able to march
on the base. The base is in the north part of the map, there's a smaller
ravine in the middle that has all the defending Cybrids in it. Use the same
tactics once again, move up just in range to snipe the defending units, but far
away enough to avoid the turret fire. Once all the defenders are gone, move
on in. To get to the base, you'll have to crawl through the ravine, and you
wont be able to hit anything in the base while down there. I like to have just
one group crawl towards the base, while my second stays up on the ridge
providing cover for them. You'll probably have to scout around again to find
all the leftover cybrids.
Elite Mission 3:
This is probably the easiest of all the elite missions. You'll have some
pretty heavy weapondry available to you by now, you can probably beat this
mission right after you beat the second elite mission if you want to. I go for
it right after the ATN Auto becomes available, because it takes care of the
pesky Verminusi with east. Move your map so you're in the south. The base
is, once again, in the northern part of the map. The key is, dont even bother
going straight up the middle for it, the terrain there is ungodly, you'll only
be able to move two units or so at a time, and you have absolutly no visability
on the cybrids ahead of you. Instead, take all your forces and move up the
northeast plateu all the way to the base. The terrain is smooth, and you have
a good shot on everything in the base. You should breeze right through this
one.
I believe that covers about all of it, so i'm pushing the End Guide button, and
getting the hell out of here. Have fun!
*******************
9. About The Author
*******************
Rusty Roberts is a skit-skat-skeeta wit chicken heads on the flip side and the
down low. In his free time he enjoys driving semi trucks through fast food
resturants, impersonating a grief councelor, operating his part time
international aeronautics sabotauge home business, and dog grooming.
Questions? Comments? Drug induced death threats? Is it his baby? He can be
reached at RJR99SS2@yahoo.com, but be warned that he is regularly drunk, and a
very crude man.
