_____ _ _ ____ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ _ ____ ____ |_ _| | | | ___| | \ / | /\ / __| | | | | \ | | ___| __| | | | |_| | |__ | \/ |/ \| / | |_| | | \| | |__| |__ | | | _ | __| | | /\ \ | | _ | | | __|__ | | | | | | | |__ | |\/| |/__\ \\__| | | | | |\ | |__ __| | |_| |_| |_|____| |_| |_| \_\__|_| |_|_|_| \_|____|____| The Machines / Universal Warrior STRATEGY GUIDE by Christian Schmidt (cs216@gmx.net) ######################################## INTRODUCTION ######################################## Welcome to the strategy guide to The Machines! This is my second in-depth strategy guide (the first having been on Contraptions, a puzzle game), next to a couple of small walkthroughs. I hope you'll find what you're looking for in here. So, a strategy guide on a obscure, utterly forgettable little game that's so trivial, you likely won't need guidance at all - why on earth would anybody write such a thing? Good question. I am well aware that this guide will like- ly not be read by many people other than myself. I have spent weeks compiling, cross-checking and writing down this information regardless. Because first, I have an inexplicable soft spot for The Machines; and second, apparently, an alarming tendency towards masochism. ######################################## CONTENTS ######################################## Introduction About The Game Version Details Where To Get This Game How To Get It To Run Controls About This Guide Quick Hints Money Guide How To Make Money Betting Tokens Speed Selling Equipment How To Spend Money Buying Equipment Betting Insurance Repairs Saving Illegal Info Equipment Guide Requirements The Shops Starting Equipment Weapons Missiles Drive Units Armour Force Fields Communications Shopping List Gameplay Guide Enemies Map Elements Traps Time Score Damage Boosts Missiles General Strategy Level Database Credits ######################################## ABOUT THE GAME ######################################## The Machines is a top-down arcade action game by Merit Studios, published in 1995. It alternates between equipment management and the actual in-level ac- tion, in which a remote-controlled robot braves maze-like maps and fights mechanical enemies. With the money earned in these sci-fi contests, improved equipment can be bought in five categories, making the robot more powerful, more manoeuvrable and less easy to damage. The game's look and feel is remi- niscent of Gauntlet or Alien Breed, with added economic elements. The game can be played solo, competitively in two-player hotseat mode or co- operatively in split-screen mode. The Machines features, for its time and the PC platform, smooth scrolling and crisp controls; together with the solid basic gameplay idea, this makes for likeably light entertainment. At the same time, The Machines is graphically plain, technically unimpressive and tiring over time due to lack of variety. It also suffers from several bugs and bad balancing, which makes for unfair situations and gives the overall impression of sloppy design. _______________________________________________________________________________ / VERSION DETAILS The game was originally released for the Amiga by Zeppelin Games Ltd. in 1995, under the name of Universal Warrior. Merit Studios then ported it to the PC, where it was renamed to The Machines. The two versions differ greatly. Most importantly, the level design is completely unique for each platform. The Amiga version ends at level 40, while the PC port features 60 levels. The Amiga levels make much more use of the third dimension, featuring climbs and canals. The equipment differs in parts, and its availability is randomized on the Amiga, while the PC has a logical progression. Here's a list of the most important differences between the Amiga original and the PC port: AMIGA | PC ----------------------------------------------------------------- 40 unique levels | 60 unique levels About 10 enemy types | 13 enemy types Some enemies spawn on the map | All enemies on the map from the | beginning Terrain height levels used | Terrain height levels used frequently | almost never Goal tokens required in some | Goal tokens required in all levels | levels Variable time limit | Fixed time limit (3:00 or 1:00) No Destruction Zone levels | 10 Destruction Zone levels Less time bonus and cool bonus | More time bonus and cool bonus -------------------------------|--------------------------------- About 45 equipment items, some | 49 equipment items, some unique unique | Randomized equipment in shops | Equipment becomes available | progressively 2 chassis (=lives) | 4 chassis (=lives) Illegal info long and detailed | Illegal info short and mediocre -------------------------------|--------------------------------- 32 color graphics | 256 color graphics No intro sequence | Short rendered intro sequence Digitized pics in shop screens | Crude drawings in shop screen The PC port improves on the Amiga original in many ways, most notably in level design, fairness, equipment progression, enemy variety and graphics. It can thus be considered the better version, even though it is a lot more bug-ridden than the Amiga game. The game is slightly easier on the PC, mainly because it is less unfair there. Note that this strategy guide focuses on the PC version ONLY. While some of the general advice and information appliy to the Amiga version, too, much of it does not. _______________________________________________________________________________ / WHERE TO GET THE GAME Two words: good luck! The Machines is out of shelves for a long, long time. To say that it wasn't much of a success in its time would be an understatement. Consequently, since nobody bought it, the game (at least in its PC version) is rare. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's valuable, only hard to find. Your best bet is Ebay, but bring lots of patience. Your second best bet is visiting a game trading website such as Game Trading Zone (www.gametz.com) and actively asking in the forums. If you're looking for instant gratification, try some of the better-stocked Abandonware sites on the net. _______________________________________________________________________________ / HOW TO GET IT TO RUN The Machines is a DOS game. It runs fine and with correct speed under all cur- rent Windows versions, but without music or sound. You have to use a work- around to solve this problem. Windows 95 and Windows 98 run DOS games in native DOS mode. Exit windows with the "Quit to DOS" option and load The Machines from the prompt. Windows 2000, ME and XP require DOS emulation software in order to run The Machines with sound. Both VDMSound (http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound) and DOSBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net) work fine. Both programs are free. VDMSound is significantly easier to use, so it's recommended for novices. _______________________________________________________________________________ / CONTROLS The Machines can be controlled by joystick or keyboard. The standard key con- figuration is: Player 1 Player 2 a ' ^ ^ | | x <-- --> c , <-- --> . | | v v z / Fire: Space Fire: R Shift Missile: b Missile: Enter Boost: w Boost: Backspace In addition, The Machines uses the following function keys: F2: Sound volume F4: Sound / joystick on / off F5: Save / Load game F7: Redefine keys F8: View control keys F10: Quit to DOS ESC: Restart game It is strongly recommended that you customize your keyboard controls (F7). To activate multiplayer mode, you have to select "Enter another player" on the screen where you customize your company logo. ######################################## ABOUT THIS GUIDE ######################################## This guide is the most comprehensive collection of information on The Machines (i.e. the PC version of Universal Warrior). It provides tipps and strategies, level data, and equipment analysis and statistics. It's broken down into four sections: * How to make money and spend it wisely * How to select the right equipment * How to play the game successfully * What to know about every single level This guide is mainly aimed at beginners and returning players, who will find heaps of useful advice. I doubt that there's anybody who'd call himself a The Machines veteran or even fan. It's not that kind of game. This guide in NOT a walkthrough. If you're stuck on one of the maps, you won't find specific help in here. In fact you likely won't need it. The Machines is not a difficult game, and there is lots of general information in this docu- ment which will help you solve any problem you might encounter. _______________________________________________________________________________ / A WORD ON LANGUAGE The Machines is a British game. This means that it uses British English. While my English is mostly US-ish, I am applying British expressions whenever the game uses them (most notably "armour"). I am not a native English speaker. You may trip over word errors or grammati- cal mistakes. Sorry. I am not to blame for the errors in the quotes taken di- rectly from the game though (e.g. illegal info). The game's English seems to be fishy at times, too. ######################################## QUICK HINTS ######################################## _______________________________________________________________________________ / REDEFINE KEYS The Machines' control keys are bound to the AZ/XC/Space keys. This is very awkward. You will want to change this to the arrow keys, or any configuration of your liking, by pressing F7 once you're in the main menu (city screen). Un- fortunately, the game resets the keys at every restart, so you have to go through the start-up screen with the AZ/XC combination and re-configure the controls every time you play The Machines. _______________________________________________________________________________ / YOU HAVE FIVE LIVES The Strength stat measures the integrity of your robot's hull. It cannot be repaired. If Strength drops to 0, the robot is destroyed. You have four re- placement chassis (i.e. lives). You cannot gain more. If you lose all five chassis, the game ends. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SAVE AT EVERY LEVEL Save your game every time you successfully finish a level and didn't get dama- ged too much. If your robot is a wreck, reload and retry. Else spend the 10,000 NuYen on a save. For details see the "Save" section in the strategy guide below. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SAVE & EXPLORE & LOAD & BET & DON'T GET DAMAGED The above formula describes the tried and true standard procedure for every one of the 60 levels: 1) Save your game. 2) Explore the level and figure out how to get through safe and quick. 3) Reload 4) place your bets. You should be able to tell easily which bets are safe. 5) Replay the level. 6) If you receive too much damage, miss too much money or bust bets, loop from 3). 7) Repair your robot. 8) Save your game. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SELL EQUIPMENT Remember that you can sell obsolete equipment. This provides much-needed cash for new investments, bets or repairs, especially early in the game. DON'T sell the L.A.G. Turboblast drive; you will need it in some levels even if you've already upgraded to a faster drive. _______________________________________________________________________________ / DON'T INSURE Don't insure your equipment. You won't need it since you'll either finish a level successfully or reload, but never die. _______________________________________________________________________________ / KNOW YOUR NUMBERS The maximum number of enemies in a level is 60. The time for each normal level is 3:00 minutes, but you can take as much time as you want. The time for De- struction Zone levels is 1:00 after you've picked up the goal token, and the level will explode at 0:00. You need to know these figures to place sensible bets. The LEVEL DATABASE section of this strategy guide helps you bet safely. _______________________________________________________________________________ / MISSILES ARE HEAVY You start the game with three missiles, each weighting 50 kgs. This impacts your drive unit's acceleration and deceleration values. You can improve weak drives by firing missiles, and improve hyper-sensitive drives by stocking up on missiles. Missiles cannot be sold. _______________________________________________________________________________ / MISSILES INCREASE ACCURACY Missile kills count as regular kills, but firing a missile does not count as a shot. This means that every time you destroy an enemy with a missile, your ac- curacy rating improves. You can have an accuracy above 100% if your laser shots never miss and you have a few missile kills. More importantly, missile kills improve your ratings if you have accuracy bets running. _______________________________________________________________________________ / COLLISIONS DON'T COUNT AS KILLS Force field kills do not count as kills. If you have kill ratio bets running, don't destroy enemies by colliding with them (i.e. damaging them with your force field). ######################################## MONEY GUIDE ######################################## The Machines' currency is the NuYen. You need NuYen mainly to upgrade and maintain your robot. In addition, you must spend money to make more money - by betting it. The game's flow of money is very unbalanced. It depends only in part on the player's skill, via the time bonus and the betting system. In addition, pla- yers gain money by collecting cash tokens within the levels. The amount earned in this way differs greatly from level to level. The average amount is about 20,000 NuYen for the first ten levels, significantly less in the 30s and 40s, and there's a 70.000 peak at level 3 already - that's more cash than in 90% of all following levels. The excessive peak is at level 24 (of 60) with 710,000 NuYen - more than twice the amount of the next best level (#54, 328,000). This means you will earn huge amounts of NuYen at times, which have to last through the following levels, where money trickles at best. In general, all but the most inconsiderate players will earn enough to get through the game comfortably. Careful players with some insight into the me- chanisms detailed here will pile up more money than they'll ever need. This is especially true (and disappointing) since the game doesn't offer any new hard- ware to spend your money on throughout the last 20 levels. _______________________________________________________________________________ / HOW TO MAKE MONEY There are four different ways to make money in The Machines. Each is important for your financial well-being. In addition to the four income sources, there's a fifth strategy to be considered: don't waste money. The HOW TO SPEND MONEY section covers this topic. _______________________________________________________________________________ / BETTING MAKE MONEY Betting is a fairly steady and fairly reliable source of income; in more than a few levels, it will also be your biggest source. While you can easily cope without betting in the later game, betting wins are indispensable early on. You wager your money at Tope, the local betting office. Tope offers four dif- ferent bets for each level; they are not randomized. There are six things to bet on: __ SURVIVE LEVEL _____________________________________________ You win if you finish the level successfully. This is ALWAYS a safe bet. __ TIME LEFT (>0m, >1m) ______________________________________ You win if you finish the level before the timer falls below the indicated time (either 1:00 or 0:00). Every normal level starts with the timer at 3:00. Destruction zone have the clock disabled until you pick up the goal token, when the timer is set to 1:00. This means that you CANNOT win a "Time Left >1m" bet in Destruction Zone levels. Time Left bets are usually mo- derately to very difficult. __ ACCURACY (>70%, >80%, >90%, =100%) ________________________ You win if your accuracy rating is above the indicated percen- tage when you finish the level. This means that you must not miss when you shoot. Only hits on enemies count. Some levels require that you shoot at blocks to move them; this lowers your accuracy. You cannot win "Accuracy=100%" bets in these levels, unless you use the missile trick (see QUICK HINTS above). Note that you will never win any accuracy bet if you use a weapon that fires multiple shots. Accuracy bets are mo- derately to very difficult. __ KILLS (>10, >30, >50) _____________________________________ You win if you kill the indicated number of enemies or more. This depends largely on how many enemies there actually are in a level. Tope occasionally offers bets which are impossible to win, e.g. "Kills>30" in a level with 20 enemies. The maximum number of hostiles per level is 60. Be aware that collision (= force field) kills do not count as kills. Kill ratio bets are either safe or impossible. __ EVEN KILLS / EVEN HITS ____________________________________ You win if you have killed an even number of enemies (2, 10, 24 etc.) / if you have scored an even number of hits against enemies when you finish the level. To achieve Even Kills is fairly easy IF the total number of enemies on a map is even (see this guide's LEVEL DATABASE) AND IF you do not kill enemies by colliding with them, or if you do, quickly run into another one AND IF you kill all enemies in the level While you can try to keep a mental record of the kills while you play, this is distinctly more difficult with hits. Both distracts you from playing efficiently. These bets are essen- ti ally a 50/50 gamble. __ NO KILLS __________________________________________________ You win if you do not shoot a single enemy and finish the le- vel. You may, however, kill enemies by crashing into them. This damages your force field and, to a lesser extent, other systems. This bet is virtually impossible to win most of the time, and never worth it since the repair costs will almost always exceed your winnings. Beware that winning some bets may be impossible. Tope occasionally poses chal- lenges that cannot be fulfilled. Most commonly, it asks you to kill more ene- mies than are present in the level, or finish a level within an impossible timeframe. Essentially, this means that you must know what lies ahead before you wager your money. Whether you win bets or not depends strongly on your knowledge of the upcoming level and its hazards and difficulties. The basic betting strategy is thus: Explore every level thoroughly, then reload and place your bets. To help you out, this strategy guide offers betting safety ratings for each mission in the LEVEL DATABASE section below. The ratings are: Safe - You will always win this bet. Possible - You will easily win this bet. Challenging - You will win this bet if you play carefully. One or two retries might be necessary. Very Hard - It is possible to win this bet, but only with expertise and patience. Three or more retries might be necessary. Impossible - This bet cannot be won. Gamble - There's a 50/50 chance you will win this bet. Tope lets you place bets of any size in 100 NuYen steps, up to a maximum of 5,000 NuYen. Always bet the maximum. On top of the stake, you have to pay 10% sales tax. If you place 5,000 NuYen, you will actually pay 5,500. If you lose your bet, the entire sum is lost. If you win, you get a multiple of your stake depending on the quota. The quota consists of two digit displayed behind the bet, i.e. "Time Left >1m 5-2". The first digit is the multiplier; the higher, the better. The second digit is the divisor; the lower, the better. Your winnings are calculated like this: Bet + ((Bet / Divisor) * Multiplier) For example, if you bet 1,000 NuYen on "Time Left >1m" with a quota of 5-2, the winnings would be: 1,000 + (1,000 / 2) * 5) = 1,000 + 500 * 5 = 1,000 + 2,500 = 3,500 Generally, the earnings will be the better the lower the second digit is, and the greater the difference between the two numbers. 1,000 with 3-2 = 2,500 1,000 with 5-3 = 2,666 1,000 with 4-1 = 5,000 The best ratio in the game is 8-1. The worst ratio is 5-4. _______________________________________________________________________________ / TOKENS MAKE MONEY The levels in The Machines may contain two types of tokens which directly in- crease your wealth: Nuyen tokens and Cool Bonus tokens. NuYen tokens are bright yellow text squares with a number followed by the Nu- Yen symbol. They are frequent, although their number and value varies greatly from level to level. There are four values: 100 NuYen 500 NuYen 1k NuYen (=1,000) 10k NuYen (=10,000) You should strive to pick up all Nuyen tokens with a value of 500 and above. The small 100 NuYen tokens may not be worth the trouble, considering that you lose 200 NuYen per second in time bonus (see SPEED section below). If there's a chance to finish the level with a good time, it might be smarter to rush to the exit and maximize the time bonus rather than hunt after small fish. Cool Bonus tokens are invisible. They are hidden in some levels, but not in all of them. If your robot runs over a Cool Bonus square, the yellow "COOL" text will become visible. Each uncovered Cool Bonus is worth 5,000 NuYen when you finish the level. One third of the levels (20 of 60) contain Cool Bonus squares. They are not distributed evenly. Chances are that you'll run over a Cool square by accident. This is a good in- dication that other ones must be hidden in the level. With the exception of two levels, there are at least two Cool Bonuses around, usually three. The fi- nancial maximum is in level 36, where nine Cools net 45,000 NuYen. The numeri- cal maximum is 16 in level 48, but due to a calculation error (or other rea- sons), you get only 14,665 Nuyen. The complete list of levels with Cool Bonus is: LEVEL | COOLS | NUYEN ----------------------------- 2 | 7 | 35,000 7 | 2 | 10,000 8 | 2 | 10,000 9 | 3 | 15,000 ----------------------------- 11 | 3 | 15,000 14 | 3 | 15,000 16 | 2 | 10,000 17 | 3 | 15,000 ----------------------------- 21 | 4 | 20,000 22 | 1 | 5,000 27 | 7 | 30,000 ----------------------------- 30 | 2 | 10,000 36 | 9 | 45,000 ----------------------------- 42 | 2 | 10,000 44 | 2 | 10,000 46 | 1 | 5,000 48 | 1 | 14,465 ----------------------------- 50 | 4 | 20,000 51 | 3 | 15,000 52 | 8 | 40,000 If you know that a level must contain multiple Cool squares, it's worth sear- ching for them. The money bonus is ample. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SPEED MAKE MONEY You receive a NuYen bonus depending on the time left at the end of a level. The quicker you reach the goal, the bigger the bonus. You always start with 3:00 minutes on normal levels. The exception are De- struction Zone levels, where the timer starts at 1:00 once you picked up the goal token. Each second is worth 200 NuYen. At 3:00, the bonus is worth 37.000 NuYen. You lose 1.000 NuYen every 5 seconds. TIME | NUYEN --------------- 3:00 | 37.000 2:00 | 25.000 1:00 | 13.000 0:10 | 3.000 In practice, finishing times between 1:00 and 2:00 are good. More than 2:00 is possible in one or two levels. It's rarely worth it to rush through levels though, since it's more likely that you get damaged (repairs eat up your time bonus) and that you miss NuYen tokens. As always, the best strategy is to learn the level by heart in a few trial runs, and then try to finish the level quickly and efficiently to maximize your time bonus while keeping damage low. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SELLING EQUIPMENT MAKE MONEY Selling obsolete equipment is a vital source of income in the early stages of the game, where you will be buying new, increasingly expensive parts every few levels. When you buy new, advanced equipment, current robot parts may become obso- lete. This is not always the case. Some early drives may be useful in speci- fic situations later in the game, most notable the L.A.G. Turboblast, which can cross directional arrows. Some weapons may be more appropriate in certain situations than others. For weight reasons, it may also be prudent to keep a lighter armor in case a level should require maximum speed. However, you can always sell outdated force fields and communications systems once you have bought a more advanced model. You sell used equipment at Big Als Second-Hand Hardware. Big Al pays 5/6th of the original price for items in mint condition (100%). For example, a Maas- Neotek Sleek Talk MK3 communications unit worth 25,000 NuYen will bring 20,833 Nuyen (25,000 / 1.2) when you sell it. In practice, this means that you lose 1/6th of your money when you buy an item, use it for a while and then sell it in perfect condition. That's a pretty good ratio. Used equipment loses value based on its condition. The loss follows a linear scale based on the maximum selling price (i.e. the original price reduced by 1/6th): For each 1% of damage, the selling price drops 1%. The Mass-Neotek at 50% is thus worth 10,417 NuYen. Is it worth repairing damaged equipment before selling it? Yes, provided that 1) The part is valuable (>20,000 NuYen) 2) The damage is considerable (>40%) 3) You use manual repair, not automatic This may earn you a couple 1,000 NuYen extra. Considering that you should have plenty of money by the time you've reached level 30, I'd say: don't bother. _______________________________________________________________________________ / HOW TO SPEND MONEY Generally, money is short in the beginning and abundant towards the end of the game. Early on you will spend most of your wealth on new equipment and saves. Later, when new hardware becomes scarce and expensive, repair costs will be the biggest item on your balance by far. This requires most of your attention. There are five other ways to spend money, two of which are pretty much unne- cessary: insurance and illegal info. _______________________________________________________________________________ / BUYING EQUIPMENT SPEND MONEY You need to upgrade your robot's hardware in order to survive the increasingly challenging levels. The equipment and specific purchasing recommendations can be found in the EQUIPMENT section further below in this strategy guide. I sug- gest you follow the advice provided there, since you need to buy only a frac- tion of the hardware available during the course of the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ / BETTING SPEND MONEY You need to spend money on bets in order to win sizeable sums. The betting system is explained in detail in the BETTING section above. The maximum amount you can spend on bets per level is 22,000 NuYen. In practice, you will spend between 5,500 and 16,500 and win between 7,500 and 45,000 NuYen (stakes in- cluded). _______________________________________________________________________________ / INSURANCE SPEND MONEY Insurance replaces your robot's hardware in case it is destroyed during a le- vel. If this should happen, you will want to reload your savegame. Insurance is thus pretty much unnecessary. Untick all options in the upper list until the sum at the bottom right reads 0 NuYen. For the sake of completeness, here is how insurance works. The list at the top of the deed contains the five hardware categories. You can tick or untick them to pick which to include in the insurance. Unticked items will not be covered in case of destruction of your robot. The insurance fee is 2.5% of the corresponding hardware part's value. For ex- ample, a Variplas Industries Heavy Plastic Armour at 9,800 NuYen costs 245 Nu- Yen to insure (9,800 / 40 = 245). The four options in the second half of the deed specify how comprehensive you want your policy to be. New for Old: All robot parts will be replaced with the same parts in perfect condition (100%) Replace: All robot parts will be replaced with the same parts in random condition (0-100%). Consider- able repair costs might ensue. 3rd Party: (unclear - can anyone help out?) Comprehensive: (unclear - Can anyone help out?) The sum of the insured parts in the upper part of the deed is multiplied with a factor based on the conditions specified in the lower part of the deed to calculate the final insurance fee. 3rd Party, Replace Sum Comprehensive, Replace Sum x1.5 3rd Party, New for Old Sum x1.5 Comprehensive, New for Old Sum x2.25 Remember that your robot's chassis is not covered by the insurance and will not be replaced. Since you have four replacement chassis, you may only die four times until the game is over, regardless of insurance. _______________________________________________________________________________ / REPAIRS SPEND MONEY When your robot's hardware (armour, weapons etc.) gets damaged, it will work less efficiently (see DAMAGE in the GAME MECHANICS section below). It has to be repaired, unless you decide to replace it with a better model. Since the repair costs are directly proportional to the item's value, repairing high- level hardware is VERY expensive. The most important advice is therefore: Don't get damaged! Your should always start into a new level with all your parts at 100%. To re- pair a system, visit Roy's Repairs. Roy offers two options: Manual Repair and Auto Repair. Manual Repair lets you fix the item yourself in a mini-game with- in a limited timeframe. Auto Repair works instantly, but is considerably more expensive. AUTO REPAIR fixes damaged equipment in 1% increments. Each per- cent of damage repaired costs 2.5% of the items original value. Or, in other words: Auto-repairing 40% of any item costs as much as buying the item new. In fact, the ratio is even worse, since you have to pay sales tax on top of that. For example, repairing 1% of a damaged Specker & Rosch Lanzka- none Lang (value: 150,000 NuYen) costs 3,750 NuYen. To bring it from 80% to 100% amounts to 75,000 NuYen. On top of that, Roy demands a whopping 25% sales tax. Repairing 20% of the Lanzka- none ends up at 93,750 NuYen. MANUAL REPAIR, on the other hand, is five times less expensive than Auto Repair. Instead of percents, you buy seconds, at 0.5% of the item's original price. The 25% tax applies here, too. The purchased seconds make up the time you have in the repair mini-game. In the Manual Repair mini-game, the damaged part is displayed as a 10x10 square board with a three-color wire circuit. Each square represents 1% of the item's condition. Damaged squares are misaligned so that the colored wires don't connect. If a part is damaged 15%, then 15 of the 100 squares will be out of sync. Your task is to move the cursor to a misaligned square and ro- tate it with the action key until the colored wires are connec- ted. You do this until either all tiles are aligned or the time runs out. If the latter happens, the item's condition improves depending on how many tiles you aligned. Your goal is to fix all the damaged squares while buying as few seconds as possible. Depending on your experience and skill, Manual Repair is significantly less expensive than Auto Repair. As a rule of thumb,... ...1 second per 1% damage is challenging ...2 seconds per 1% damage is possible ...3 seconds per 1% damage is safe Even if you buy 3 seconds per 1% damage, which is more than enough time to repair all damage, Manual Repair still saves you about one third of costs compared to Auto Repair (1.5% vs. 2.5%). Early in the game, Manual Repair is thus recommended. Later on, when you have plenty of money, Auto Repair turns out to be much more convenient. Your chassis (the Strength value in the city screen) cannot be repaired. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SAVING SPEND MONEY Saving your game costs money in The Machines, and quite a bit of money, too: 10,000 NuYen per save. Despite the cost, saving your game is indispensable. The question is not so much IF to save, but WHEN. To save or load your game, press F5. You have three save slots. The Machines gives no indication which slots are empty and which are used, let alone basic info about the savegames. It doesn't even let you name your savegame. Each save deducts 10,000 NuYen from your account, unless you don't have this much, in which case saving is aborted. You will easily make up for the costs by using the save game to maximize your profits from the current level. As described above (see QUICK HINTS section), the best The Machines strategy is to explore a level thoroughly, then reload, place safe bets and play through the level with best speed and minimal damage. This strategy saves you insurance fees and repair costs and earns good bet winnings and time bonuses. The strategy requires that you reload your game at least once, most likely a few times. To minimize the hassle of repeating actions, it's important to save your game AFTER you've done a few basic things. When you successfully finish a level and are content with the results, don't save at once. Instead: 1) Repair damaged equipment 2) Browse the shops for new equipment 3) Change equipment (if necessary) 4) Stock up on missiles (if necessary) Now save. If you have to reload your savegame now, all you have to do is place your Tope bets anew. After that, you can jump right into the mission again. By the way, you can buy the illegal info in Sid's Taverna after saving (see below). Then reload. _______________________________________________________________________________ / ILLEGAL INFO SPEND MONEY Sid of Sid's Taverna sells illegal information on each level. The price starts at 1,800 NuYen at level 1, increases by 200 NuYen per level and ends at 13,600 NuYen at level 60. Buying the info is more or less a gamble. Sid's info is rarely useful, but on some occasions, it's a lifesaver. The best strategy is to buy and read the in- fo right after you saved your game, and then reload. Alternatively, this stra- tegy guide's LEVEL DATABASE lists everything Sid has to say. ######################################## EQUIPMENT GUIDE ######################################## One of the key gameplay elements of The Machines is to upgrade your robot, to improve its speed, maneuverability and destructive power. Unfortunately, this part falls short of what one would expect. The arsenal in The Machines is com- paratively small, very unbalanced and in part incoherent. Worst of all, the last third of the game doesn't see any new equipment at all. The bad balancing and the uselessness of a significant amount of items make this equipment section necessary despite the moderate number of robot parts. In essence, this section gives shopping advice. In addition to comprehensive lists of all items, you'll also find some amendments to and corrections of specifications which are omitted in the game, or simply wrong. Your robot can mount one item at a time of each of the five categories. Items can only be changed in the workshop, not while your robot is in a level. _______________________________________________________________________________ / REQUIREMENTS EQUIPMENT In compliance with "ordinance 9 of the regulations", some robot parts are re- quired to enter a level while others aren't. The requirements are: Weapon REQUIRED Drive Unit REQUIRED Communications REQUIRED Armour NOT REQUIRED Force Field NOT REQUIRED Defensive gear is thus optional. It's highly unlikely that you'll enter a le- vel without it though, unless you're either desperate to save weight, looking for a real challenge or completely broke. _______________________________________________________________________________ / THE SHOPS EQUIPMENT Three shops in New Tokyo sell hardware for your robot. There's really not much difference between the three, apart from the condition at which they sell their items. Each shop has articles from all five categories. New items will become available as the game progresses. See the LEVEL DATABASE section of this guide for info on when which item appears in which shop. __ METEOR ____________________________________________________ Sells premium hardware. Robot parts at Meteor are always new. Good selection throughout the game. The only shop that sells missiles. __ BIG AL's __________________________________________________ Second-hand store. Items bought here may not be at 100% condi- tion and might need repairs. Hardly anything early on, selec- tion grows in mid-game. The only shop that buys back used items. __ SID's TAVERNA _____________________________________________ Sells blackware. This means that the parts are more expensive, but usually also more powerful. Buying blackware has no nega- tive consequences. Some items may have unknown specifications. Items bought here may not be at 100% condition and might need repairs. Sid gets new items fairly regularily until late in the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ / STARTING EQUIPMENT EQUIPMENT YOu start out with the following five items: COMMUNICATIONS Nimrod Super Budget Droid Comms. System WEAPON The Yamatomato Yazukukayama FORCE FIELD Stallone Industries Sly Thumper DRIVE UNIT Kwakasaki Motors Corona 7 Overdrive ARMOUR Securetech (TM) Supertuf Alulite (LT. ALLOY) These five combined are worth 67.000 NuYen, or 52.822 when you sell them. Counting the sales price of your equipment on top of your starting money, you actually start the game with roughly 152.000 NuYen. Your starting equipment is solid. In fact, you can play for quite a while without urgent need to change anything. This gives you the freedom to scruti- nize new equipment carefully before buying or installing it. _______________________________________________________________________________ / WEAPONS WEAPONS Weapons are used to shoot enemies and movable blocks. There are 15 different weapons in The Machines. Apart from their price and mass, they differ in seven categories. __ POWER ____________________________________________________ The destructive energy of the projectile / beam in kilowatts (KW). If a weapon fires more than one beam at the same time, the Power value is multiplied. Depending on a weapon's power, enemies may take one, two or several hits until they explode. High-end weapons can destroy most enemy types with a single shot. However, if multiplied with the rate of fire, medium power weapons may prove to be superior to their big brothers. __ RANGE ____________________________________________________ The distance a weapon's projectile / beam travels in meters (m) until it disappears. Weapons always inflict maximum dama- ge within their range. The game gives the range in meters, which is pretty useless, since there's no indication of scale and proportion in the levels. On top of that, the range values given for some wea- pons are highly inconsistent with how far they actually shoot. For this guide, I have checked all weapon ranges and converted meters into "tiles", i.e. the squares that every level consists of. The worst range is 5 tiles, which is roughly one-fourth of the visible horizontal area. In other words, your robot's be- am, if fired from the center of the screen, will fizzle half- way to the edge of the screen. This means that enemies will come pretty close. A range of 10 tiles means that your robot can shoot from the center of the screen to any of the borders. The best ranged weapons shoot their beams beyond the borders of the screen. The game keeps track of the projectiles, so you can shoot enemies that you don't actually see. __ SPEED ____________________________________________________ The projectile's / beam's velocity in meters per second (m/s). Values go from 100 m/s to 256 m/s. The faster a beam travels, the better the chance to hit, since the enemy has less time to move away. Inexperienced players might find wea- pons with high beam speeds easier to use. For advanced play- ers, this value is of secondary importance. __ RATE OF FIRE _____________________________________________ The number of shots a weapon can fire per second (shots/s). The game gives only rough estimates (slow / moderate / fast / very fast). This guide uses the correct and a lot more useful shots/s values. The rate of fire is the second most important value after the raw power. Multiplied, these two values make up a weapon's real power. A slow rate of fire means that your own shots mustn't miss since enemies get more time to hit you while you wait for your weapon to reload. A fast rate of fire means that you can spray shots at enemies, but are more likely to ruin your acc- uracy rating with misses (see the BETTING section above). Slow weapons fire one shot per second. They are not recommen- ded, since this will leave you struggling and evading in some of the more crowded levels. The average rate of fire lies be- tween 2 and 3 shots per second. __ NUMBER OF PROJECTILES ____________________________________ There are three weapons in the game which fire more than one shot at a time every time you pull the trigger. All projecti- les fired are equally powerful. These additional beams go in- to different directions. They either form a fan or a cross with the robot at the center. Multi-shot weapons are generally not recommended. They have a terrible rate of fire, and they make accuracy bets impossible since most of the shots will inevitably be misses. __ FIRING MODE ______________________________________________ There are three firing modes: manual, semi-automatic and au- tomatic. "Manual" means that you must press the action key every time you want to fire a shot. "Semi-automatic" and "au- tomatic" mean that you can press and hold the key to make the weapon fire continously at its maximum rate of fire. Apparen- tly, there is no difference between semi and automatic. In practise, the mode of fire is irrelevant on two levels. First, only two weapons fire manually, one of which is your starting gun. You will likely use it for the first level only and then trade it for a better model. Second, you will want to fire each shot manually anyway, even with automatic wea- pons, since this is the best way to maintain a high accuracy rating (see BETTING above). __ RECOIL ___________________________________________________ Recoil is not a measured weapon stat, but is has to be consi- dered in conjunction with the drive you're using. In general, the stronger a weapon, the bigger its recoil (i.e. the force with which it pushes the robot backwards). Contrary to what one would expect, the type of drive unit (ground-based vs. hovering) doesn't seem to have an influence on the recoil at all. You have to take recoil into acount when shooting while moving though difficult terrain (see HOLES and LEDGES in the GAME MECHANISMS section below). Assessing a weapon's usefullness is based on a combination of the above para- meters. Most important are power and rate of fire, followed by range. In con- nexion with your drive unit, weight and recoil may play a role. In practice, most weapons have severe drawbacks which limits their usefulness. Only four of the 15 weapons are clear recommendations (see SHOPPING LIST at the end of the EQUIPMENT section). Some others may be a viable choice, depen- ding on your playing style. The WEAPON COMPARISON list below gives an over- view over the primary statistics of each weapon and helps you pick the right weaponry. It is usually not necessary to switch between weapons for specific levels. You can safely sell obsolete weaponry if you're content with the new one. But make a trial run with the new weapon before you sell your old gun; you might want to keep it. _______________________________________________________________________________ / WEAPON COMPARION WEAPONS * In order of appearance * Names abbreviated * Secondary attributes omitted - see EQUIPMENT appendix * Attributes RANGE and RATE OF FIRE replaced with correct & useful values * "3x" and "4x" power values indicate multi-shot weapons * The asterix (*) marks recommended equipment Weapon Cost Power Range Speed Rate of Fire ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yazukukayama | 18.000 | 30 KW | 9 tiles | 200 m/s | 2 shots/s Uzi 9mm SMG | 27.500 | 10 KW | 8 tiles | 225 m/s | 4,5 shots/s Babcock MK27 | 2.000 | 20 KW | 5 tiles | 120 m/s | 1 shot/s Yazukukayama II | 24.900 | 30 KW | 15 tiles | 200 m/s | 2,25 shots/s * Badd-Year 120-60 | 8.000 | 15 KW | 15 tiles | 200 m/s | 2,25 shots/s Copley & Grahan | 7.900 | 35 KW | 6 tiles | 130 m/s | 2,5 shots/s Damage Inc. Mega | 30.000 | 3x40 KW | 10 tiles | 100 m/s | 1 shot/s Frantti JWC2LPE | 34.900 | 4x50 KW | 6 tiles | 140 m/s | 1 shot/s Maas-Neotek PD 7 | 117.000 | 60 KW | 12 tiles | 250 m/s | 2,5 shots/s The Paterson MI | 34.900 | 3x75 KW | 11 tiles | 192 m/s | 1 shot/s W&S Plasma Pro | 20.000 | 150 KW | 7 tiles | 100 m/s | 1 shot/s * Zeiss - Armco | 60.000 | 95 KW | 11 tiles | 256 m/s | 1,25 shots/s Specker & Rosch | 150.000 | 100 KW | 15 tiles | 200 m/s | 2,25 shots/s * W&S Grenadier | 26.000 | 180 KW | 14 tiles | 240 m/s | 1 shot/s Destruction Inc. | 280.000 | 120 KW | 14 tiles | 250 m/s | 3,5 shots/s * _______________________________________________________________________________ / MISSILES WEAPONS In addition to its primary weapon, your robot can carry an variable amount of France & Lerman Shurikan Missiles. You start out with three missiles. Their maximum number is only limited by your drive unit's carrying capacity. Every missile weights 50 kgs. Missiles cost 2,000 NuYen each. They cannot be sold. Shurikan missiles are auto-targeting fire & forget projectiles which home in on the target and destroy it with one hit. The missiles have several advanta- ges and disadvantages. PRO + Homing + Powerful + Can shoot through walls + Increase accuracy rating CONTRA - Expensive - Slow - Cannot pick specific target - Can only fire one at a time - Weight The biggest advantage of missiles is likely their positive impact on your ac- curacy score (see QUICK HINTS section at the top of this guide), which makes accuracy bets easier to win. The most severe drawback is their tracking sys- tem. The missile will automatically target the enemy which is closest to your robot at the time the missile is fired. Since enemies move, the missile will then circle around it for times often in excess of ten seconds until it final- ly hits. You cannot launch a second missile while the first one is still in the air. This makes missiles useless for close combat or time-critical situation where an enemy moves in on your robot. They are, however, useful to take the edge of critical situations in adjacent rooms which you haven't entered yet, since missiles can fly through (or rather over) walls. Apart from their combat usefulness, the most important consideration with mis- siles is the weight issue. Stocking up on missiles quickly amounts to a signi- ficant load. The three missiles you start the game with weight 150 kgs. This affects the acceleration and deceleration rates of your drive (see DRIVES sec- tion below). In short: If you carry around many missiles, your robot will be slower and less maneuverable. Actually, this can be employed to your advantage. There are one or two hyper- sensitive hoverdrives in the game which are difficult to control. By adding additional weight in the form of missiles, you can fine-tune the accel/decel values until they suit your playing style. There is no other way to get rid of missiles than firing them. _______________________________________________________________________________ / DRIVE UNITS DRIVE UNITS Drive Units carry your robot through the levels. There are 15 different drives in The Machines. Apart from their price and mass, they differ in five catego- ries. __ VELOCITY__________________________________________________ The drive's top speed in meters per second (m/s). The drive will reach top speed more or less quickly based on its accel- eration value. The drive's velocity is NOT affected by the overall load. It IS affected by the drive's condition; dama- ged drives lose speed. A high velocity value may indicate that the drive reacts nervously and could be difficult to control. Velocity ranges from 18 to 180 m/s. __ ACCELERATION _____________________________________________ The drive's increase in speed in meters per second per second (m/s/s). The higher a drive's acceleration in relation to its velocity, the quicker it reaches top speed. Two drives have an acceleration that matches their velocity, which means that they move at top speed instantly unless they carry heavy loads. A high acceleration value is the key condition for maneuvera- bility. Conversely, a low value means that the robot's reac- tion time increases and spontaneous evasive maneuvers become more difficult. __ DECELERATION _____________________________________________ The drives braking capability in meters per second per second (m/s/s). The higher a drive's deceleration in relation to its velocity, the quicker it stops. Again, two drives have a de- celeration that matches their velocity, which means that they stop instantly unless they carry heavy loads. A high deceleration value means that the robot reaches stand- still almost instantly and is less likely to slide into ob- stacles, enemies or even holes. Conversely, a low value means that your robot slides for a considerable distance before it stands still, increasing the risk of collision damage. __ MASS CAPACITY ____________________________________________ The amount of mass your robot can carry until its accelera- tion and deceleration values drop. The game gives only rough estimates (poor / moderate / good / very good). This guide defines mass capacity by measuring how much mass in kilo- grams a drive can carry until its accel/decel values decrease by one meter per second (m/s). The impact of weight is different for acceleration and dece- leration. Drives with a bad mass capacity lose acceleration with every 30 kgs load; considering that decent weapons wei- ght around 300 kgs on average alone, the efficiency loss is staggering. In practice, some drives are unusable with heavy equipment. One drive in particular, the Digipillar Shadow MK IV, cannot be used at all even with the lightest load possi- ble. Drives with good mass capacity can carry up to 300 kgs until acceleration is affected. The deceleration loss is less serious, with double to triple the mass allowed until the decel value drops. Bad drives lose braking capabilities with every 60 kgs load, good drives can manage up to 600 kgs. __ TYPE _____________________________________________________ The Machines has nine different names for drive types, from "Slow wheeled" to "Jet Stream" or "Repulsor". In essence, there are two types of drives: ground-based (wheeled, track- ed) and hovering (stream, repulsor). If one can say anything about the differences, than probably that the hovering drives are potentially faster. Basically though, the fancy types mean nothing. Some hovering drives can carry considerably more load than ground-based ones, some wheeled drives accele- rate much more quickly. Neither drive type seems to be affec- ted by friction, so the effect of weapon recoil is more or less the same. A drive unit's efficiency is strongly affected by the load it has to carry (i.e. the combined mass of the robot equipment). This makes the mass capacity the primary parameter to consider when buying a new drive. The second most im- portant element is both acceleration and deceleration in relation to velocity; this defines the "sliding range" of a drive. Drives with little sliding are very much preferred. This guide's SHOPPING LIST at the end of this section recommends only two out of the 15 available drives. This is not so much because the other drives are bad, but because they're just not better than the earlier ones. Again, The Machines' balancing leaves much to wish for. Most notably, there are two drives which cannot be used. The Digipillar Sha- dow MK IV has an acceleration of 0 m/s no matter how light your load. The Richardson R2 Megadrive looks like a nice enough drive in the shop, but if you buy it, it will not show up in your workshop. This is likely a bug. The DRIVE COMPARISON list below gives an overview over the primary statistics of each drive and helps you pick the right one. Beware that it is sometimes necessary to switch between drives to make some levels easier or even at all finishable. This is usually connected to a drive's performance on ice or in levels heavy with acceleration arrows. All of these situations can be solved using the L.A.G. Turboblast. You need to hang on to this drive and switch to it whenever you need maximum control in a level rather than good velocity. _______________________________________________________________________________ / DRIVE UNIT COMPARION DRIVE UNITS * In order of appearance * Names abbreviated * Secondary attributes omitted - see EQUIPMENT appendix * Attribute MASS CAPACITY replaced with actual accel/decel loss values * Two attributes corrected (IDTV Decel 6 -> 10) (Vosper Decel 15 -> 25) * The asterix (*) marks recommended equipment Unit Cost Speed Acceleration Deceleration -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kwakasaki | 30.000 | 73 m/s | 28 m/s/s (-1/100kg) | 16 m/s/s (-1/200kg) Ludo GTL | 5.000 | 31 m/s | 16 m/s/s (-1/110kg) | 12 m/s/s (-1/200kg) Dogipillar | 20.000 | 18 m/s | - | 26 m/s/s (-1/ 50kg) VER R-MI | 27.500 | 32 m/s | 32 m/s/s (-1/125kg) | 32 m/s/s (-1/100kg) IDTV Super | 21.500 | 100 m/s | 16 m/s/s (-1/250kg) | 10 m/s/s (-1/500kg) L.A.G. | 22.500 | 50 m/s | 64 m/s/s (-1/100kg) | 56 m/s/s (-1/200kg) * Pratt | 40.000 | 180 m/s | 46 m/s/s (-1/ 45kg) | 8 m/s/s (-1/100kg) Toyotah | 12.000 | 50 m/s | 18 m/s/s (-1/300kg) | 10 m/s/s (-1/600kg) Richardson | 25.500 | - | - | - Pheonix | 24.900 | 70 m/s | 20 m/s/s (-1/ 30kg) | 10 m/s/s (-1/ 60kg) Victors | 55.000 | 82 m/s | 32 m/s/s (-1/100kg) | 16 m/s/s (-1/200kg) Jaguar-Ford| 25.000 | 103 m/s | 30 m/s/s (-1/100kg) | 20 m/s/s (-1/200kg) Tyrell | 32.000 | 130 m/s | 32 m/s/s (-1/ 40kg) | 20 m/s/s (-1/125kg) Rolls XII | 30.000 | 140 m/s | 30 m/s/s (-1/ 80kg) | 30 m/s/s (-1/ 60kg) Vosper 9000| 110.000 | 150 m/s | 40 m/s/s (-1/200kg) | 25 m/s/s (-1/400kg) * _______________________________________________________________________________ / ARMOUR ARMOUR Armour protects your robot's chassis and its systems from damage. There are seven different armours in The Machines, each more powerful than the previous one. Armour is rather straight-forward. Its power is determined by multiplying the two basic parameters, energy dissipation (in KW) and strength (in rounds). All armours are moderately heavy (100-300 kgs), with the exception of the best ar- mour, Steel, which weights a whopping 800 kgs. Armour does not absorb the entire damage however. With every hit, there's a chance that other systems might get damaged as well. The exact specifications of the Mandalore armour are unknown. Judging from its performance on the battlefield, its parameters lie pretty much midway between Heavy Plastic and Titanium. Generally, every armour is recommended buying. There's no need to keep obso- lete armour unless you're really having an eye on mass. _______________________________________________________________________________ / ARMOUR COMPARISON ARMOUR * In order of appearance * Abbreviated type names used Armour Cost Dissipation Strength Mass -------------------------------------------------------------- Lt. Alloy | 4.000 | 11 KW | 35 rounds | 100 kg Ultra-Flak | 17.500 | 20 KW | 100 rounds | 150 kg Laminated | 14.500 | 20 KW | 125 rounds | 195 kg Hvy Plas | 9.800 | 20 KW | 150 rounds | 300 kg Mandalore | 77.000 | Unknown | Unknown | 150 kg Titanium | 120.000 | 50 KW | 120 rounds | 170 kg Steel | 15.000 | 60 KW | 200 Rounds | 800 kg _______________________________________________________________________________ / FORCE FIELDS FORCE FIELDS Force Fields protect your robot's chassis from collision damage and at the sa- me time damage enemies on touch. There are six force fields in The Machines, each more powerful than the previous one. A force field's quality is governed by a single parameter, its power (in kilo- watts). This value is directly comparable to a weapon's power. The best force field with 60 KWs is about one third as powerful as the best gun. In essence, this means that destroying an enemy through collision damage requires more hits than destroying an enemy with firepower. Bumping into foes is not recommended anyway, since it inevitably damages your forcefield, your armour and likely other systems. Repairing this damage is costly. What is more, force field kills don't count towards your kills rating (see QUICK HINTS and BETTING sections above). Force fields are moderately heavy. Experienced (or patient) players can save the weight and enter levels without force fields if they're skilled at avoid- ing collisions. This is manageable with moderate effort in many levels. _______________________________________________________________________________ / FORCE FIELD COMPARISON FORCE FIELDS * In order of appearance * Names abbreviated Force Field Cost Power Mass -------------------------------------------------------------- Stallone Sly Thumper | 10.000 | 20 KW | 150 kg Force Field Make Unknown | 22.400 | Unknown (25 KW) | 150 kg Kramdev, Force Field | 15.000 | 30 KW | 175 kg Refractor Model LSX989 | 20.000 | 35 KW | 185 kg Maas-Neotek Expulsor V2 | 40.000 | 50 KW | 225 kg Magnum Corp. Tiger 60 | 98.000 | 60 KW | 300 kg _______________________________________________________________________________ / COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATIONS The communications unit is the link between you and your remote-controlled ro- bot. There are five comm units in The Machines, each more powerful than the previous one. Frankly, I do not know what the effects of a comm units's power are. There se- ems to be no noticeable difference; your robot's controls function flawlessy no matter which comm unit is installed. When a comm unit has Anti-Jam capability, there won't be any on-screen static any more whenever your robot gets close to a radiation source (i.e. a lamp). With comm units without Anti-Jam, the static increases the more damaged the unit is. There is no need to switch back to older comm units once you've upgraded. You can savely sell obsolete models. _______________________________________________________________________________ / COMM UNIT COMPARISON COMMUNICATIONS * In order of appearance * Names abbreviated Comm Unit Cost Power Anti-Jam Mass -------------------------------------------------------------- Nimrod Super Budget | 5.000 | 50 W | No | 150 kg Model 34 L 931 Miller | 9.000 | 50 W | No | 50 kg Mitsusushi-Sinclair | 22.000 | 100 W | No | 120 kg Maas-Neotek Sleek Talk | 25.000 | 140 W | Yes | 220 kg Macaroni FM 97.3 | 12.000 | 110 W | Yes | 150 kg _______________________________________________________________________________ / SHOPPING LIST EQUIPMENT This is a recommendation of which items to buy once they become available. The list ends at level 40 since there are no new items after this point. There are 21 equipment items that are recommended buying. With armour, communications and force fields, the next model is always better than the previous one and can be bought without second thoughts - or almost without, since you might want to consider weight in relation to your drive's mass capacity. If you follow the recommendations in the list, you won't have any problems. Weapons and drives vary in more aspects than their power. This recommendation is based on destructive power plus rate of fire for weapons (single shot) and speed plus maneuverability for drives. If you prefer multi-shot weapons, you might want to consider switching to different models. LVL | ITEM | TYPE | COST ----------------------------------------|-------- 1 | Miller Light Com | COMM | 9.000 2 | Yazukayama Mark II | GUN | 24.900 3 | | | 4 | L.A.G. Turboblast | DRIVE | 22.500 5 | FF Make Unknown | FIELD | 22.400 | Imperial Armour | ARMOR | 17.500 6 | Mitsusushi-Sinclair | COMM | 22.000 7 | | | 8 | | | 9 | | | 10 | Maas-Neotek Power-Drive | GUN | 117.000 | Metallica Orion 8.12 | ARMOR | 14.500 | Kramdev Force Field | FIELD | 15.000 11 | | | 12 | | | 13 | | | 14 | W&S Plasma Projector II | GUN | 20.000 15 | Refractor Model LSX989 | FIELD | 20.000 | Macaroni FM 97.3 | COMM | 12.000 | Plascrete Ultra VI | ARMOR | 9.800 | Vosper Jupiter 9000 | DRIVE | 110.000 16 | | | 17 | | | 18 | | | 19 | | | 20 | Mandalorian Armour | ARMOR | 77.000 | S&R Lanzkanone Lang | GUN | 150.000 | Maas-Neotek Expulsor V2 | FORCE | 40.000 21 | | | 22 | | | 23 | | | 24 | | | 25 | Magnum Corp. Tiger 60 | FIELD | 98.000 26 | | | 27 | | | 28 | | | 29 | | | 30 | Apollo Titanium Alloy | ARMOR | 120.000 | Destruction Inc. Demon | GUN | 280.000 31 | | | 32 | | | 33 | | | 34 | | | 35 | | | 36 | | | 37 | | | 38 | | | 39 | | | 40 | British Armour Steel | ARMOR | 15.000 ######################################## GAMEPLAY GUIDE ######################################## _______________________________________________________________________________ / ENEMIES GAMEPLAY GUIDE All 60 levels of The Machines literally crawl with enemy robots, drones and installations. There are 13 different kinds of opponents in the game, of vary- ing sophistication. In general, all enemy types are pretty mindless and easy to destroy if you know their behavioral patterns. They're only dangerous when they appear in masses, or when the terrain is difficult (see MAP ELEMENTS be- low). All enemies are confined to the tiled level area, exactly like your robot. There are no flying, teleporting or wall-walking opponents. Enemies cannot open doors or use teleporters. Most foes will simply home in on you, some shooting. All names with which I refer to the enemies in this strategy guide were coined by me. I do not know if there are official terms. Based on the description be- low, you should have no problem recognizing and distinguishing the opponents in the game. __ CANNON _____________________________________________________ Type: Stationary one-directional gun Tracking: No Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Uncommon Danger: Low Cannons are stationary guns 4x4 tiles in size which fire in one direction in regular intervals. Cannons cannot move. They are easy to destroy from the side or by attacking them diagonally. As they are sometimes built into niches, you have to learn to move in between the cannon's shots, fire, then quickly move out again. __ TURRET _____________________________________________________ Type: Stationary multi-directional gun Tracking: No Damage: Gunfire Frequency: very common Danger: Low Turrets are small stationary guns which shoot in regular inter- vals while rotating clockwise in 45 degree steps. Turrets do not target you directly, they rather cover the area around them with their shots. When a turret fires in your direction, it ta- kes seven steps before it faces you again. Since it's easy to predict where a turret shoots next, its projectiles are easily avoided. Turrets are weak and take few hits before they explo- de. Beware: Sometimes there are multiple turrets stacked on top of each other. __ BIG TURRET _________________________________________________ Type: Stationary multi-directional gun Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Common Danger: High Big Turrets are the big brothers of turrets, 4x4 tiles in size. Much as turrets, they are stationary and can shoot in eight directions in 45 degree steps. However, the big turret tracks your movement and fires in your direction. Big turrets are of- ten set next to each other so that they shoot at you simultane- ously from different directions. This makes approaching them difficult. Try to use their size against them and hit their si- des while not standing in their direct line of fire. __ MINE _______________________________________________________ Type: Straight-moving explosive Tracking: Semi Damage: Collision Frequency: Very common Danger: Moderate Mines are small green-black dishes that quickly speed towards you in a straight line when you get close to them. Mines move in 90 degree angles only and do not change their course while moving. They stop once they hit a wall, or your robot. In the latter case, they explode and deal collision damage. Mines are the single most important reason why you should ex- plore unknown levels carefully and slowly. Mines are dangerous mainly due to their speed. They are easily avoided when you know they're coming, but more often than not, their approach comes as a surprise. Mines are easy to kill, usually with a single shot. The best strategy is to face them and shoot them as they rush towards you. __ BIG MINE ___________________________________________________ Type: Homing explosive Tracking: Yes Damage: Collision Frequency: Rare Danger: High Big mines are grey-yellow dishes 4x4 tiles in size. Like their small cousins, they explode on collision, dealing massive dama- ge. In addition, they slowly home in on you until they are a- ligned with you, then rush towards you in a straight line. Because of their size and speed, Big Mines are very hard to evade. On the upside, because of their size, they are easy to hit and sometimes get stuck on edges. Your best bet is to face and shoot them quickly before they hit. Fortunately, Big Mines are rare. __ CRAWLER ____________________________________________________ Type: Random mover Tracking: No Damage: Collision Frequency: Very common Danger: Low Crawlers are purple, round, bug-like creatures that crawl through levels at random paths (though in 45 degree lines). They do not track you, but can change their course at any time; this makes them hard to predict. Crawlers are dangerous only when you let them come close, which shouldn't happen since they are easily destroyed. __ SEEKER _____________________________________________________ Type: Homing mover Tracking: Yes Damage: Collision Frequency: Uncommon Danger: Low Seekers are sophisticated Crawlers, turquise mechanical movers that home in on your robot on a collision course. Easy to de- stroy and only dangerous when you let lots of them come close. __ ROBOT ______________________________________________________ Type: Homing mover Tracking: Yes Damage: Collision Frequency: Rare Danger: Low Robots are black-grey mechanical men that function exactly like the Seekers, i.e. they home in on a collision course. You'll see only a handful of Robots in the game. Easily avoided and destroyed. __ TANK _______________________________________________________ Type: Homing shooter Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Common Danger: Moderate Tanks are small green tracked vehicles which home in on your robot while shooting in its direction. Like all armed enemies, tanks can only shoot in 45 degree angles, but since they move, they can hit you no matter where you stand. Tanks are moderate- ly dangerous in every respect: They are moderately stong, mode- ratly fast and moderatly armored. The general strategy for ar- med homing enemies (see GENERAL STRATEGY section below) ap- plies. __ BIG TANK ___________________________________________________ Type: Homing shooter Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Uncommon Danger: Moderate Big tanks are exactly the same as normal tanks, only four times the size. They are a little more dangerous since they fill more space and make evasion more difficult. At the same time, they are hard to miss when you shoot at them. __ MINITANK ___________________________________________________ Type: Homing shooter Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Very common Danger: High Minitanks are small, grey, round vehicles with a gun. They're likely the most annoying enemies in the game, and they're com- mon at that. There's no difference between Minitanks and other homing shooters (such as tanks) other than that Minitanks can really take a lot until they explode. Even with the best wea- pons, Minitanks will take two hits where most other opponents go down after one. Always keep enough space for evasive maneu- vers between you and them and shoot from a safe distance. __ DROID ______________________________________________________ Type: Homing shooter Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Very common Danger: Moderate Droids are turquoise automatons who essentially function like all homing shooters. Common and moderately dangerous. __ SOLDIER ____________________________________________________ Type: Homing shooter Tracking: Yes Damage: Gunfire Frequency: Very common Danger: Moderate Soldiers are another form of homing shooter, though not as strongly armored than their mechanical counterparts. They're humanoid in form with a green uniform and red helmet. Common and moderately dangerous. _______________________________________________________________________________ / MAP ELEMENTS GAMEPLAY GUIDE Apart from floors and walls (and enemies, of course), there are a number of objects on The Machines maps which function as obstacles, hazards of even puz- zle elements. You'll easily learn what all these do while playing, but there may be more to it now and then. __ DOORS ______________________________________________________ * Doors come in two types: locked and unlocked. * Locked doors are marked with a red number, which indicates the corresponding key. * All doors open on touch (i.e. bump into them). * Once opened, doors stay open. * Enemies cannot open doors. * Door areas are good places to funnel through enemies and finish them off one by one. __ KEYS _______________________________________________________ * Keys are grey and marked with a yellow number next to them. * The number refers to the door the key opens. * There is a maximum of three keys per level. * You pick up keys by moving over them. They appear in the status bar at the top of the screen. * Keys can only be used once. Rarely, there will be two doors of the same number. You can only open one. __ SWITCHES ___________________________________________________ * Switches are small square elevations in the center of a nor- mal tile. They are sometimes hard to see. * Switches are activated by moving over them. You hear a click- ing sound. * Switches can only be pressed once. They never reset. * A switch is always linked to a wall or floor tile, which it either creates or removes. * Switches are always part of simple puzzles along the lines of "remove an obstacle" or "create a path". __ INVISIBLE TILES ____________________________________________ * Invisible tiles or walls look like void (i.e. the stuff you fall into when you move over the border of the map), but are in fact solid. * They become visible once the robot moves onto them (floor tiles) or bumps into them (walls). * Usually, invisible tiles form a walkway over the void from one room to another. It's not always apparent where they are, especially if they form a curve. Typical case of trial and error. * Fortunately, invisible tiles are rare. __ VANISHING WALLS ____________________________________________ * Some walls are not solid, but pervious. * They vanish on touch. * If you're in an apparent dead-end and there seems to be no alternative way, search for vanishing walls. * Sometimes there are invisible floor tiles directly behind a vanishing wall. Move carefully. * The very last level (60) is full ov vanishing walls. __ ARROWS _____________________________________________________ * Arrows accelerate your robot in the direction they point. * They are essentially one-way streets. * Drives with high acceleration values can slow, stop or even reverse your movement on arrows. Having a light load helps. * Arrows can be dangerous when they accelerate you towards ene- mies or even ledges. Look ahead! * Some arrows are invisible and will appear only when your ro- bot moves over them. They are extremely dangerous. * It is generally advisable to steer in the opposite direction when on an arrow path. This will slow you down and give you time to think. * Never fight while moving on arrows, unless you have absolu- tely no choice. * In levels with lots of arrows, use the L.A.G. Turboblast drive. __ TUBES ______________________________________________________ * Tubes are essentially corridors with a roof. You can't look into them. * You do not see your robot while its in a tube. Its position is usually near the center of the screen. * Worse, you cannot see enemies while they are in tubes. This makes it dangerous to rush into tubes head over heels. * The best strategy is to shoot enemies before they have a chance to enter a tube. * The next best strategy is to stand in front of a tube and see if shots come out of it (listen for shooting sounds, too). Quickly dodge them, then fire back in the direction the shots came from. If you hear an explosion, the enemy is de- stroyed. * Alternatively, wait until the enemy appears from the tube. __ TRAPDOORS __________________________________________________ * Trapdoors are floor tiles that open and close in regular in- tervals. * Open trapdoors are deadly. Your robot falls into the void. * Trapdoors are only deadly if they are open all the way. Your robot can savely move over them while they open or close, i.e. while the tile is animated. * Rows of trapdoors usually open in a pattern. Watch them care- fully and time your movement accordingly. * Enemies move over trapdoors, but do not fall into them. How- ever, they are stuck while the trapdoor is open and thus sit- ting ducks. * Trapdoors become very common in later levels. You need to learn to deal with them. * Be especially wary of trapdoors next to or within ice areas. You need to steer slowly and carefully in order not to slide into an open hole. * A drive unit with a high velocity makes moving over rows of trapdoors a lot easier. * On the other hand, a slow drive with good deceleration makes it much less likely to fall into a gaping hole by accident. * Remember weapon recoil when fighting next to trapdoors. Your robot mightbe pushed backwards and over the ledge. __ LEDGES & PITS _______________________________________________ * The Machines levels are flat surfaces hovering over the void. This void is deadly if your robot falls into it. * Level borders are not always surrounded by walls. Sometimes there are open ledges. * In addition, there are often bigger or smaller holes in the floor within the level. * Ledges and pits call for careful maneuvering when you're close to them. This is especially true in the rare cases where there are small, open bridges over the void. Don't fall over. * Remember weapon recoil when fighting next to trapdoors. Your robot mightbe pushed backwards and over the ledge. __ PONDS _______________________________________________________ * Ponds only appear in garden levels. * They are a variation of the holes. * Your robot will sink and be destroyed when it falls into a pond. * However, there are two kinds of ponds: bubbling ones and still ones. * Only the bubbling ponds are deadly. Your robot can move over still water. __ BLOCKS ______________________________________________________ * Blocks are square grey obstacles. * Some blocks can be moved, some can't. There's no way to dis- tinguish them other than shooting at them. * When a block is hit by a shot, they will move in the direction of the shot if the adjancent tile is solid and unoccupied. * Some blocks move only in specific directions, even if all sur- rounding tiles are empty. Try shooting at different sides. * Blocks cannot be moved by bumping into them. * Blocks will not move if they are hit by enemy projectiles. * Blocks cannot be pushed into the void. * Moving blocks is usually part of "clear the way" type puzzles. __ TELEPORTS ___________________________________________________ * Teleport pads are yellow-red circles that look like targets. * Stepping on a teleport pad moves the robot to a fixed location somewhere else on the map. * This can be extremely dangerous since teleports sometimes lead to small rooms full of enemies. In this case, quickly look for a escape route or a safe corner and try to hold the enemies away from you. * Teleports are essentially one-way. If there is another tele- port pad at your destination, it usually leads back to where you came from - but not always. * Enemies cannot teleport. If in trouble, you can use the pads as escape routes. __ ICE TILES ___________________________________________________ * Ice tiles have reduced friction, which means that your robot slides a long way. * Maneuvering on ice is difficult. The chance to bump into walls, enemies or dangerous obstacles is increased. * Slow drives with good braking capabilities have a small advan- tage on ice. * Never accelerate to top speed while on ice, especially not with fast drives. Press the movement keys in short increments and try to keep a slow pace. If necessary, steer against the direction of your slide to slow down. * Move to your destination slowly and directly. Do not fight on ice! __ MONEY _______________________________________________________ * Money tokens are bright yellow text on normal floor tiles in- dicating an amount of NuYen. * There are four variants: 100 NuYen, 500 NuYen, 1k (= 1,000) NuYen and 10k (= 10,000) NuYen. * Collect them by moving over them. The stack will vanish as the NuYen are added to your account. * In some levels, there are fake stacks which don't give any mo- ney and don't disappear. __ POINTS ______________________________________________________ * Point tokens are complementary to NuYen tokens, only that they raise your score. * There are five token types: 100 PTS, 200 PTS, 500 PTS, 1k (= 1,000) PTS and 10k (= 10,000) PTS. * In some levels, the point tokens' face value and their actual value don't match. 100 PTS tokens suddenly give 500 PTS, 500 PTS tokens even 10,000. Occasionally, PTS tokens don't add points at all but NuYen. Not a bad thing either. __ GOAL TOKEN __________________________________________________ * The goal token is the key to the goal. * You have to collect the goal token before you enter the goal. Otherwise, nothing will happen when you step on the goal. * Collecting the goal token will start the destruction timer in the Destuction Zone levels. You have one minute to find the goal and escape. * There may be fake goal tokens around which cannot be picked up. _______________________________________________________________________________ / TRAPS GAMEPLAY GUIDE Some levels contain traps. Traps are situations which either kill you instant- ly or lead you to dead-ends with no escape. In the latter case, you have to abort the level manually with the Escape key. There are essentially two types of traps: Teleport trap: A one-way teleporter sends you to a dead-end with no return pad. Arrow trap: Directional arrows move you into abyss or into a dead-end. The worse variant of the arrow trap is one where its arrows are initially in- visible (see ARROWS above). They are rare and usually located near ledges or pits. It's usually hard to detect a trap until it's too late. They are classical trail-and-error situations. If you're stuck in a trap, you have to restart the level, this time avoiding the critical area. Fortunately, traps are rare. Arrow traps can be negated by using the L.A.G. Turboblast, the only drive that can move across directional arrows. You're robot mustn't be too heavy though. _______________________________________________________________________________ / TIME GAMEPLAY GUIDE Each normal The Machines level has a finishing time of 3:00 minutes. The fi- nishing time is not compulsory; you can take as long as you want. The time is only relevant for the time bonus which you are awarded at the end of the level (see SPEED in the MONEY GUIDE section above for a detailed explanation) and for time bets (see BETTING in the MONEY GUIDE section). There are ten levels in the game where time is critical; they are called De- struction Zones. The timer is turned off at the beginning of the level, and starts counting backwards from 1:00 minute as soon as you pick up the goal to- ken. When the clock reaches 0:00, the level explodes. Your robot will be de- stroyed if it hasn't reached the goal in time. _______________________________________________________________________________ / SCORE GAMEPLAY GUIDE The game keeps track of your score, as a measure of your skill. Your score is not a gameplay element; you cannot spend score points. The score never decrea- ses. You collect score points on the maps only, in two ways: * Collect point tokens (see above) * Shoot enemies Shooting enemies increases your score depending on their size. All small ene- mies are worth 2,000 points, all big enemies 5,000. You score points only if you shoot enemies; force field kills (collisions) don't count. Your score determines your ranking in the league; you can access the league table from the city menu. This is only useful if you're playing with / against another human and want to compare scores. Good players should have a score of over 8 million points at the end of level 60. _______________________________________________________________________________ / DAMAGE GAMEPLAY GUIDE Getting damaged is what you want to avoid, since damage always means costly repairs. What is more, it also means an instant efficiency loss in the damaged equipment part, which can make finishing the level more difficult and even im- possible. There is no environmental damage in The Machines; all damage is always related to enemies. They damage your robot by either gunfire or collision. You robot is equipped with protective gear. The force field absorbs collision damage, the armour gunfire damage. Both systems are not vital for the func- tioning of your robot, but they prevent the vital systems from taking damage. The protection through force fields and armour is not perfect. With each hit your robot takes, other systems will also be damaged. The extent of this da- mages depends on the force of the hit in relation to the quality of your ar- mour or force field. If your robot's armour is worn down to 0 percent, additional hits will direct- ly damage your robots chassis. If the chassis is down to 0 percent, your robot explodes, destroying all equipment on board. Chassis damage cannot be repaired between levels. You have a total of five chassis. They cannot be replaced. The three vital robot systems communications, weapons and drive unit will lose efficiency relative to their condition. The symptoms are: Comm Unit Progressively more on-screen static Drive Unit Loss of speed and maneuverability Weapons Loss of power; enemies take more hits _______________________________________________________________________________ / BOOSTS GAMEPLAY GUIDE Your robot can activate a second-long speed boost that propels it forward at high speed. The boost can be used to speed through dangerous areas (e.g. mine- fields), to escape critical situations or to pass arrows. The latter is pro- bably the most useful use, since it is a possible exit strategy for arrow traps (see TRAPS). You begin the game with three boosts. Interestingly enough, boosts do not automatically reload, and it is unclear whether they can be reloaded manually. At this time, it seems that you have exactly three uses of boost for the entire game. _______________________________________________________________________________ / MISSILES GAMEPLAY GUIDE Missiles are homing projectiles. For a detailed description, see MISSILES in the EQUIPMENT > WEAPONS section. _______________________________________________________________________________ / GENERAL STRATEGY GAMEPLAY GUIDE Your general approach to the game should follow the "Save & Explore & Load & Bet & Don't get damaged" strategy as described in the QUICK HINTS section at the top of this document. The Machines is not a difficult game in terms of complexity and required skill. The prime consoderations are: __ LOOK AHEAD __________________________________________________ Enemies advance and fire in set patterns. You have to anticipate were they move, when they fire and where the bolts go. That way, it is easy to both dodge their attacks and avoid being cornered. There are some situations where you can't look ahead, e.g. tele- porters that take you to unknown rooms. Be prepared to assess the situation quickly and move away from the enemies into a safe section of the room. __ ADVANCE SLOWLY ______________________________________________ Don't rush into unknown territory or you will find yourself sur- rounded. Always keep your back open and free of enemies. Be pre- pared to retreat to safe places. Use doorways and small corri- dors to funnel enemies through and take them out one by one. Go very slowly when close to ledge, holes, or on narrow bridges. __ DODGE _______________________________________________________ Don't get hit. This means dodging shots and avoiding collisions. Always have room to your sides and back to move to. Don't stand still if facing moving enemies. Move away from them while fi- ring. With stationary turrets, find their blind spot and shoot from there, moving in and out their line of fire if necessary. __ SHOOT ACCURATELY ____________________________________________ Don't spray shots. You will likely only get confused in the tur- moil, you will have to wait for the next shot with slow weapons, and you'll ruin your accuracy score if you bet money on it. Try to identify the most dangerous enemy instead, focus on this one and try to make every shot hit the mark. If you find it very difficult to beat a level, chances are that you're not ap- propriately equipped. Refer to the SHOPPING LIST and LEVEL DATABASE sections for advice. ######################################## LEVEL DATABASE ######################################## This section lists the 60 levels of The Machines in chronological order with basic information on new equipment and pre-level and in-level statistics. _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 1 - EASY AS PIE (3:00) ############################################# L01 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ The Uzi 9mm Sub Machine Gun Ludo Tamara GTL Weapon 27,500 NuYen Drive Unit 5,000 NuYen Fance & Lerman Shurikan Missile Missile 2,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Model 34 L 931 Miller Light Com Time Left >0M 3-2 safe Comm Unit 9,900 NuYen Survive Level 5-4 safe Accuracy >90% 2-1 possible Illegal Info 1,800 NuYen Accuracy 100% 3-1 challenging "Place a bet and win some cash." RECOMMENDED: Model 34 L 931 Miller Light Com ENEMIES__________________________ 12 SPOILS________________________ 5,000 6 Crawlers NuYen (Tokens) : 5,000 2 Mines NuYen (Cool) : - 2 Big Turrets 2 Seekers ___________________________ 30,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 30,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 2 - FOLLOW THE LEADER (3:00) ####################################### L02 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Babcock Brothers MK 27 Pea-Shooter Weapon 2,000 NuYen Dogipillar Shadow MK IV Drive Unit 20,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ The Yamatomato Yazukayama Mark II Time Left >0M 3-2 safe Weapon 24,900 NuYen Accuracy >80% 5-3 safe No Kills 3-1 very hard Illegal Info 2,000 NuYen Even Hits 5-4 gamble "Don't pay the Dogipillar drive unit." RECOMMENDED: The Yamatomato Yazukayama Mark II ENEMIES__________________________ 18 SPOILS_______________________ 38,000 8 Crawlers NuYen (Tokens) : 3,000 2 Big Mines NuYen (Cool) : 35,000 (x7) 4 Soldiers 4 Seekers ___________________________ 46,000 Points (Tokens) : 4,000 Points (Enemies) : 42,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 3 - INFESTATION (3:00) ############################################# L03 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Badd-Year Rubber BulletType 120-60 Weapon 8,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ VER R-MI Panzers Survive Level 5-4 safe Drive Unit 27,500 NuYen Time Left >1m 3-1 safe Even Kills 3-2 possible IDTV Super 100 Accuracy >90% 2-1 challenging Drive Unit 21,000 NuYen Illegal Info 2,200 NuYen "Some blocks can be moved by being shot." RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 11 SPOILS_______________________ 70,000 11 Crawlers NuYen (Tokens) : 70,000 NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 22,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 22,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 4 - A STROLL IN THE PARK (3:00) #################################### L04 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ L.A.G. Robotics Turboblast Drive unit 22,500 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Pratt & Wibbley Jetstream Time Left >1m 5-2 safe Drive Unit 40,000 NuYen No Kills 3-1 very hard Even Hits 3-2 gamble Illegal Info 2,400 NuYen Accuracy 100% 2-1 challenging "Go right." RECOMMENDED: L.A.G. Robotics Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 15 SPOILS________________________ 3,400 6 Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 3,400 3 Soldiers NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Seekers ___________________________ 30,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 30,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 5 - PIPE MANIA (3:00) ############################################## L05 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Copley and Grahan's SA80 Survive Level 3-2 safe Weapon 7,900 NuYen Time Left >0m 2-1 safe Time Left >1m 4-1 possible Damage Inc. Mega-Blasta MK 5.08 Kills >10 2-1 safe Weapon 30,000 NuYen Imperial Armour (Ultra-Flak) Armour 17,500 NuYen Force Field Make Unknown Force Field 22,400 NuYen Illegal Info 2,600 NuYen "You will find the goal tokens on the left." RECOMMENDED: Force Field Make Unknown, Imperial Armour (Ultra-Flak) ENEMIES__________________________ 14 SPOILS________________________ 1,200 14 Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 1,200 NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 30,800 Points (Tokens) : 2,800 Points (Enemies) : 28,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 6 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 1 (1:00) ###################################### L06 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Toyotah Carfona Drive unit 12,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Mitsusushi-Sinclair Uplink ZX-57 Time Left >0m 3-2 safe Comm Unit 22,000 NuYen No Kills 5-2 very hard Kills >30 4-1 impossible Illegal Info 2,800 NuYen Accuracy >80% 5-3 possible "Find the GOAL before you collect the token." RECOMMENDED: Mitsusushi-Sinclair Uplink Type ZX-57 ENEMIES__________________________ 10 SPOILS_______________________ 10,500 1 Turret NuYen (Tokens) : 10,500 1 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : - 2 Robots 2 Soldiers ___________________________ 43,000 4 Mines Points (Tokens) : 20,000 Points (Enemies) : 23,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 7 - THE MAZE OF ARROWS (3:00) ###################################### L07 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Richardson R2 Megadrive Drive Unit 25,500 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 3,000 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Buy the L.A.G. Turboblast drive No Kills 5-4 challenging before attempting this level." Accuracy >90% 3-2 possible Accuracy 100% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: L.A.G Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 52 SPOILS_______________________ 30,000 51 Turret NuYen (Tokens) : 20,000 1 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) __________________________ 164,500 Points (Tokens) : 57,500 Points (Enemies) : 107,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 8 - GOING FOR GOAL (3:00) ########################################## L08 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Frantti JWC2LP Experimental Weapon Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging Weapon 34,900 NuYen Even Kills 5-4 possible Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Pheonix Repulsorlift Kills >30 7-2 impossible Drive Unit 24,900 NuYen Illegal Info 3,200 NuYen "Look very carefully for switches on the floor." RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 29 SPOILS_______________________ 22,200 1 Turret NuYen (Tokens) : 12,200 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) 10 Seekers 4 Soldiers ___________________________ 77,000 7 Mines Points (Tokens) : 12,000 4 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 65,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 9 - DAISY CRISIS (3:00) ############################################ L09 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Maas-Neotek Comms Sleek Talk MK 3 Comm Unit 25,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Victors Drives PLC Warrior XXV Survive Level 3-2 safe Drive Unit 55,000 NuYen Time Left >0m 2-1 safe Time Left >1m 4-1 possible Illegal Info 3,400 NuYen Kills >10 2-1 safe "Down, up, down, up, down, up, from player one's point of view." RECOMMENDED: Maas-Neotek Comms Sleek Talk MK 3 ENEMIES__________________________ 23 SPOILS_______________________ 18,500 14 Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 13,500 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 15,000 (x3) 4 Seekers 2 Cannons ___________________________ 74,600 Points (Tokens) : 13,600 Points (Enemies) : 61,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 10 - THE SEWER (3:00) ############################################## L10 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Maas-Neotek Power-Drive 7 Kramdev, Device Force Field Weapon 117,000 NuYen Force Field 15,000 NuYen Jaguar-Ford Escort E-Type Metallica Orion 8.12 (LAMINATED) Drive Unit 25,000 NuYen Armour 14,500 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 3,600 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 safe "Buy the Powerdrive Weapon before No Kills 5-2 challenging trying this level." Kills >30 4-1 impossible Accuracy >70% 5-3 safe RECOMMENDED: Maas-Neotek Power-Drive 7 Metallica Orion 8.12 (LAMINATED) Kramdev, Device Force Field ENEMIES__________________________ 12 SPOILS________________________ 7,000 12 Crawlers NuYen (Tokens) : 7,000 NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 24,500 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 24,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 11 - COSMOPOLIS (3:00) ############################################# L11 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Tyrell Corp Nebulon Drive Unit 32,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 3,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 8-1 very hard "Use the teleport then be ready Kills >50 6-1 impossible for a fight." Accuracy >70% 3-1 safe Accuracy >90% 5-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 26 SPOILS_______________________ 31,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 16,000 9 Soldiers NuYen (Cool) : 15,000 (x3) 5 Seekers 2 Mines ___________________________ 68,800 3 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 4,800 3 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 64,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 12 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 2 (1:00) ##################################### L12 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Rolls Aerospace Pegasus XII Drive Unit 30,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ The Paterson MI Glentanner Special Time Left >0m 5-2 safe Weapon 34,900 NuYen Kills > 50 8-1 impossible Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Illegal Info 4,000 NuYen Kills > 40 7-2 impossible "Pick the mines off one at a time, then collect the money." RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 12 SPOILS_______________________ 14,000 12 Mines NuYen (Tokens) : 14,000 NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 24,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 24,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 13 - RUSH III (3:00) ############################################### L13 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 4,200 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Go down blasting." Time Left >0m 2-1 safe Time Left >1m 4-1 possible Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 36 SPOILS________________________ 6,300 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 6,300 9 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 2 Big Mines 3 Mines ___________________________ 94,000 13 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 4,000 3 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 90,000 2 Soldiers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 14 - FLOWER POWER (3:00) ########################################### L14 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ West & Smithon Plasma Projector II Weapon 20,000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 4,400 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 safe "Buy the Plasma Project 2 No Kills 5-2 4-2 very hard a.s.a.p." Kills >30 4-1 challenging Accuracy >70% 5-3 safe RECOMMENDED: West & Smithon Plasma Projector II ENEMIES__________________________ 31 SPOILS_______________________ 24,000 6 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 9,000 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 15,000 (x3) 6 Tueerts 7 Mines ___________________________ 90,500 5 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : 4,500 5 Soldiers Points (Enemies) : 86,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 15 - THE PIE PIPER (3:00) ########################################## L15 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Macaroni FM 97.3 Comm Unit 12,000 NuYen Variplas Ind. Plascrete Ultra VI Armour 9.800 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Vosper Motors PLC Jupiter 9000 Time Left >1m 5-2 possible Drive unit 110,000 NuYen No Kills 5-4 5-4 very hard Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenging Refractor Force Field Model LSX989 Accuracy 100% 3-1 very hard Force Field 20.000 NuYen Illegal Info 4,600 NuYen "Beware the collapsing platform." RECOMMENDED: Refractor Force Field Model LSX989 Macaroni FM 97.3 Variplas Industries Plascrete Ultra VI (HVY PLAS) Vosper Motors PLC Jupiter 9000 ENEMIES__________________________ 29 SPOILS_______________________ 14,800 3 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 14,800 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 7 Turrets 3 Big Mines __________________________ 103,400 1 Mine Points (Tokens) : 15,400 2 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 88,000 6 Soldiers 3 Seekers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 16 - ULTRA FLAK ATTACK (3:00) ###################################### L16 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 4,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "You don't need to go into room 2" Even Kills 5-4 challenging Accuracy >70% 3-1 possible Kills > 30 7-2 impossible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 27 SPOILS_______________________ 20,500 1 Big Mine NuYen (Tokens) : 10,500 1 Mine NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) 1 Big Turret 6 Turrets ___________________________ 78,000 2 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 12,000 2 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 66,000 2 Soldiers 8 Seekers 4 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 17 - ROBOTS ATTACK (3:00) ########################################## L17 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 5,000 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Once in the room with the GOAL Time Left >0m 2-1 safe run down the arrows past the Time Left >1m 4-1 possible mines; do not try to shoot." Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 22 SPOILS_______________________ 21,500 6 Mines NuYen (Tokens) : 6,500 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 15,000 (x3) 2 Turrets 4 Minitanks ___________________________ 55,500 4 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : 2,500 2 Seekers Points (Enemies) : 53,000 1 Crawler _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 18 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 3 (1:00) ##################################### L18 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Zeiss - Armco Pulsed Laser MK 14 Time Left >0m 5-2 safe Weapon 60,000 NuYen No Kills 5-4 very hard Kills >30 3-2 possible Illegal Info 5,200 NuYen Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible "Find the GOAL killing enemies as you go, then collect the goal token." RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 37 SPOILS_______________________ 11,900 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 11,900 5 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 5 Turrets 6 Mines ___________________________ 98,600 10 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : 3,600 9 Crawlers Points (Enemies) : 95,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 19 - MAD MECHANOIDS DISEASE (3:00) ################################# L19 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 5,400 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 possible "Far right, then bottom right." No Kills 5-4 challenging Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Accuracy >90% 7-2 possible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 18 SPOILS_______________________ 11,500 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 11,500 5 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Turrets 5 Minitanks ___________________________ 57,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 57,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 20 - TUBULAR WORLDS (3:00) ######################################### L20 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Maas-Neotek Expulsor V2 Force Field 40.000 NuYen Specker & Rosch Lanzkanone Lang Weapon 150.000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Mandalorian Battle Armour Time Left >1m 5-2 possible Armour 77,000 NuYen Even Hits 5-4 gamble Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Illegal Info 5,600 NuYen Kills >30 7-2 impossible "Do not go into any of the rooms on the left." RECOMMENDED: Maas-Neotek Expulsor V2 Specker & Rosch Lanzkanone Lang Mandalorian Battle Armour (MANDALORE) ENEMIES__________________________ 22 SPOILS____________________________ - 13 Mines NuYen (Tokens) : - 9 Tanks NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 55,400 Points (Tokens) : 11,400 Points (Enemies) : 44,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 21 - ROBOT RAIDERS (3:00) ########################################## L21 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 5,800 NuYen Survive Level 5-2 safe "Use the L.A.G. Turboblast, search Time Left >0m 3-1 challenging for a secret door." Time Left >1m 5-1 very hard Kills >10 3-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 59 SPOILS_______________________ 45,500 7 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 25,500 8 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : 20,000 (x4) 3 Turrets 2 Big Mines __________________________ 214,600 21 Mines Points (Tokens) : 30,600 6 Big Tanks Points (Enemies) : 184,000 3 Minitanks 3 Seekers 6 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 22 - DROID DRONE ZONE (3:00) ####################################### L22 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 6,000 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 possible "Destroy turrets to reveal No Kills 7-2 very hard switches." Kills >30 6-1 impossible Accuracy >80% 7-3 possible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 22 SPOILS_______________________ 16,000 16 Big Turret NuYen (Tokens) : 11,000 4 Mines NuYen (Cool) : 5,000 (x1) 2 Big Tanks __________________________ 102,000 Points (Tokens) : 4,000 Points (Enemies) : 98,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 23 - CURSE OF THE CUBE (3:00) ###################################### L23 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 6,200 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 possible "Get the West and Smithon No Kills 5-4 impossible Grenadier and shoot mines long Accuracy >80% 3-2 possible distance." Accuracy >90% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 41 SPOILS____________________________ ? 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : ? 10 Mines NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Big Turrets 1 Turret ________________________________ ? 1 Big Tank Points (Tokens) : ? 4 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 109,000 8 Soldiers 4 Seekers 5 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 24 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 4 (1:00) ##################################### L24 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 6,400 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Do not collect the goal token Even Kills 5-4 possible until you have destroyed all Accuracy >70% 3-2 safe enemies and taken all the money." Kills >30 7-2 impossible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 27 SPOILS______________________ 710,000 9 Mines NuYen (Tokens) : 710,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Big Tanks 3 Minitanks ___________________________ 84,000 5 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 84,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 25 - THE TUBE (3:00) ############################################### L25 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Magnum Corp. Tiger 60 West and Smithon Grenadier Force Field 98.000 NuYen Weapon 26.000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 6,600 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Shoot down tubes to destroy Time Left >0m 2-1 safe wandering troops." Time Left >1m 4-1 possible Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: Magnum Corp. Tiger 60 ENEMIES__________________________ 14 SPOILS____________________________ - 3 Big Mines NuYen (Tokens) : - 1 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : - 3 Big Tanks 8 Soldiers ___________________________ 73,800 Points (Tokens) : 22,800 Points (Enemies) : 51,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 26 - FULL METAL JACKET (3:00) ###################################### L26 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 6,800 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 possible "Use the L.A.G. Turboblast for No Kills 5-2 very hard this level." Kills >30 4-1 possible Accuracy >80% 5-2 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 32 SPOILS_______________________ 18,500 13 Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 18,500 16 Minitanks NuYen (Cool) : - 3 Crawlers ___________________________ 79,800 Points (Tokens) : 15,800 Points (Enemies) : 64,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 27 - DARE DEVILS (3:00) ############################################ L27 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 7,000 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Beware the arrows in the top No Kills 5-4 very hard room." Accuracy >70% 3-2 possible Accuracy >90% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 47 SPOILS_______________________ 38,000 1 Cannon NuYen (Tokens) : 8,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 30,000 (x7) 6 Turrets 8 Mines __________________________ 127,000 2 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 12,000 4 Tanks Points (Enemies) : 115,000 3 Seekers 17 Crawlers 2 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 28 - CYBER DROIDS (3:00) ########################################### L28 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 7,200 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Get down and collect the token." Even Kills 5-4 gamble Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 49 SPOILS_______________________ 39,500 11 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 39,500 7 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 4 Mines 2 Big Tanks __________________________ 215,900 13 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : 78,900 3 Seekers Points (Enemies) : 137,000 9 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 29 - THE GRASSY KNOLL (3:00) ####################################### L29 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 7,400 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Kill then collect." Time Left >0m 2-1 safe Time Left >1m 4-1 safe Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 12 SPOILS_______________________ 70,000 12 Tanks NuYen (Tokens) : 70,000 NuYen (Cool) : - ___________________________ 24,000 Points (Tokens) : - Points (Enemies) : 24,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 30 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 5 (1:00) ##################################### L30 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ Destruction Inc. Demon VI Weapon 280.000 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Apollo Armour Titanium Alloy Time Left >0m 5-2 safe Armour 120.000 NuYen No Kills 5-4 very hard Kills >30 3-2 possible Illegal Info 7,600 NuYen Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible "Step on switches to reach your goal token." RECOMMENDED: Destruction Inc. Demon VI Apollo Armour Titanium Alloy (TITANIUM) ENEMIES__________________________ 39 SPOILS_______________________ 26,500 12 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 16,500 11 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) 2 Mines 9 Minitanks __________________________ 122,000 2 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : 8,000 3 Seekers Points (Enemies) : 114,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 31 - TOTAL DESTRUCTION (3:00) ###################################### L31 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 7,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Level 1 but much harder." No Kills 5-4 very hard Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenging Accuracy 100% 3-1 very hard RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 41 SPOILS_______________________ 18,000 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 18,000 17 Mines NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Tanks 6 Minitanks ___________________________ 88,000 3 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : - 7 Seekers Points (Enemies) : 88,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 32 - DIE HARD DROID (3:00) ######################################### L32 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 8,000 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "A wise man kills his enemies in a Even Kills 5-4 possible room of arrows before he takes Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible his reward." Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 46 SPOILS_______________________ 16,000 4 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 16,000 1 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : - 5 Turrets 21 Mines __________________________ 137,000 2 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 24,000 4 Tanks Points (Enemies) : 113,000 7 Soldiers 2 Seekers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 33 - DANGER ZONE (3:00) ############################################ L33 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 8,200 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Find a secret door to get the Time Left >0m 2-1 possible goal token." Time Left >1m 4-1 challenging Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 48 SPOILS________________________ 3,900 4 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 3,900 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 8 Turrets 9 Mines __________________________ 140,500 4 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 14,500 7 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 126,000 3 Seekers 9 Crawlers 2 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 34 - MUDDY WATERS (3:00) ########################################### L34 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 8,400 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 possible "Beware. Drinking muddy water can No Kills 5-2 very hard be fatal." Kills >30 4-1 possible Accuracy >80% 5-3 possible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 35 SPOILS________________________ 8,500 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 8,500 7 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 1 Big Mine 10 Mines ___________________________ 98,000 3 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 4,000 10 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 94,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 35 - TUBULAR TROUBLES (3:00) ####################################### L35 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 8,600 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenge "Buy Titanium armour a.s.a.p." No Kills 5-4 very hard Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenge Accuracy 100% 3-1 very hard RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 32 SPOILS________________________ 9,500 5 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 9,500 2 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 6 Mines 3 Big Tanks ___________________________ 95,800 6 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 7,800 10 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 88,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 36 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 6 (1:00) ##################################### L36 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 8,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Clear your path before collecting Even Hits 5-4 gamble the token." Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Kills >50 7-1 impossible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 29 SPOILS_______________________ 64,000 4 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 19,000 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 45,000 (x9) 6 Turrets 2 Mines ___________________________ 99,800 3 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 11,800 2 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 88,000 2 Soldiers 2 Seekers 4 Crawlers 1 Droid _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 37 - DIE HARDER DROID (3:00) ####################################### L37 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 9,000 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "To get key 3 move diagonally." Time Left >0m 2-1 possible Time Left >1m 4-1 challenge Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 56 SPOILS________________________ 2,000 3 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 2,000 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 10 Turrets 16 Mines __________________________ 151,000 3 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 12,000 3 Tanks Points (Enemies) : 139,000 3 Minitanks 6 Soldiers 5 Seekers 4 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 38 - RAIDERS OF THE LOST ZARK (3:00) ############################### L38 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 9,200 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 possible "You need the Jupiter 9000 or No Kills 5-2 very hard L.A.G. Turboblast drive to do Kills >40 4-1 possible this level." Accuracy >80% 5-3 possible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 56 SPOILS________________________ 5,500 10 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 5,500 17 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 2 Big Mines 3 Big Tanks __________________________ 152,500 8 Crawlers Points (Tokens) : 4,500 2 Droids Points (Enemies) : 148,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 39 - GARDEN WORLD (3:00) ########################################### L39 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 9,400 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 possible "You can get to goal tokens by No Kills 5-4 very hard holding and tapping." Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenging Accuracy 100% 3-1 very hard RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 13 SPOILS________________________ 4,000 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 4,000 1 Big Mine NuYen (Cool) : - 3 Mines 4 Big Tanks ___________________________ 61,000 1 Minitank Points (Tokens) : 14,000 2 Seekers Points (Enemies) : 47,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 40 - TECHNO TUBES (3:00) ########################################### L40 METEOR______________________________ BIG AL'S____________________________ British Armour Inc. 20mm Steel Armour 15.000 NuYen SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 9,600 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 possible "To get a token take the third Even Kills 5-4 challenging blue turret on the left." Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Kills >30 7-2 impossible RECOMMENDED: British Armour Inc. Chobham 20mm Steel (STEEL) ENEMIES__________________________ 29 SPOILS____________________________ - 3 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : - 6 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 7 Turrets 1 Big Mine __________________________ 105,100 2 Mines Points (Tokens) : 11,100 2 Big Tanks Points (Enemies) : 94,000 3 Tanks 3 Soldiers 2 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 41 - REMEMBERANCE (3:00) ########################################### L41 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 9,800 NuYen Survive Level 5-2 safe "Buy steel armour a.s.a.p." Time Left >0m 3-1 challenging Time Left >1m 5-1 very hard Kills >10 3-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 29,500 4 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 29,500 8 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 16 Turrets 2 Mines __________________________ 159,000 1 Big Tank Points (Tokens) : - 11 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 159,000 4 Soldiers 4 Seekers 6 Crawlers 4 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 42 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 7 (1:00) ##################################### L42 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 10,000 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 safe "Use the L.A.G. Turboblast to make No Kills 7-2 very hard this level easier." Kills >30 6-1 safe Accuracy >80% 7-3 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 37,500 5 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 27,500 14 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) 6 Turrets 13 Mines __________________________ 191,000 1 Big Tank Points (Tokens) : 11,000 6 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 180,000 7 Seekers 7 Crawlers 1 Droid _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 43 - TANK HANGAR (3:00) ############################################ L43 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 10,200 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 very hard "Beware hidden arrows." No Kills 5-4 very hard Accuracy >80% 3-2 challenging Accuracy >90% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS____________________________ - 1 Cannon NuYen (Tokens) : - 6 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 12 Turrets 18 Mines __________________________ 306,000 3 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 156,000 13 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 150,000 3 Seekers 4 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 44 - ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN (3:00) ################################# L44 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 10,400 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Go cautiously." Even Kills 5-4 possible Accuracy >70% 3-1 possible Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 67,200 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 57,200 4 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 10,000 (x2) 12 Mines 1 Big Tank __________________________ 132,000 12 Tanks Points (Tokens) : - 4 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 132,000 16 Soldiers 8 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 45 - LOOK UP LOOK DOWN (3:00) ###################################### L45 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 10,600 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Use a fast drive to avoid mines." Time Left >0m 2-1 possible Time Left >1m 4-1 possible Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 35 SPOILS__________________________ 400 6 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 400 20 Mines NuYen (Cool) : - 3 Big Tanks 6 Soldiers __________________________ 149,900 Points (Tokens) : 52,900 Points (Enemies) : 97,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 46 - RUN AROUND (3:00) ############################################# L46 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 10,800 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 possible "Use the L.A.G. Turboblast on this No Kills 5-2 very hard level." Kills >30 4-1 impossible Accuracy >80% 5-3 challenging RECOMMENDED: L.A.G. Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 22 SPOILS_______________________ 27,000 1 Cannon NuYen (Tokens) : 22,000 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 5,000 (x1) 3 Turrets 3 Mines ___________________________ 55,000 12 Crawlers Points (Tokens) : 2,000 1 Droid Points (Enemies) : 53,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 47 - TRAGIC TELEPORTERS (3:00) ##################################### L47 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 11,000 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "A hole is not always a hole." No Kills 5-4 impossible Accuracy >70% 3-2 possible Accuracy >90% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 22,500 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 22,500 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 10 Turrets 5 Mines __________________________ 128,000 6 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : - 19 Soldiers Points (Enemies) : 128,000 12 Crawlers 4 Robots _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 48 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 8 (1:00) ##################################### L48 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 11,200 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Collect the goal token then run Even Hits 5-4 gamble right for the goal." Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 64,465 3 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 50,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 14,465 (x16) 19 Turrets 1 Big Tank __________________________ 151,800 10 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 7,800 7 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 144,000 4 Soldiers 12 Crawlers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 49 - THERE AND BACK AGAIN (3:00) ################################### L49 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 11,400 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Work out where all the tele- Time Left >0m 2-1 challenging porters take you." Time Left >1m 4-1 very hard Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 57 SPOILS_______________________ 44,000 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 44,000 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 8 Turrets 10 Mines __________________________ 219,000 10 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 90,000 4 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 129,000 2 Soldiers 4 Crawlers 8 Seekers 6 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 50 - 11 DEAD DROIDS (3:00) ######################################### L50 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 11,600 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 challenging "Kill turrets along tunnels before No Kills 5-2 impossible they kill you." Kills >30 4-1 safe Accuracy >80% 5-3 possible RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS______________________ 137,400 7 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 117,400 18 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 20,000 (x4) 4 Mines 3 Soldiers __________________________ 141,000 6 Crawlers Points (Tokens) : - 22 Droids Points (Enemies) : 141,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 51 - TURRET TROUBLE (3:00) ######################################### L51 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 11,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Find switches to reveal your No Kills 5-4 impossible exit." Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenging Accuracy 100% 3-1 challenging RECOMMENDED: L.A.G. Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 23 SPOILS_______________________ 41,000 6 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : 27,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 15,000 (x3) 1 Turret 2 Mines ___________________________ 93,400 2 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : 11,400 4 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 82,000 2 Crawlers 2 Seekers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 52 - MINES OF MADNESS (3:00) ####################################### L52 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 12,000 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 very hard "Don't follow the arrows to the Even Kills 5-4 gamble end." Accuracy >80% 3-1 possible Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 58,000 3 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 18,000 6 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : 40,000 (x8) 2 Big Mines 15 Mines __________________________ 135,000 5 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : - 10 Soldiers Points (Enemies) : 135,000 8 Crawler 4 Seeker 7 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 53 - ROGUE TROOPER (3:00) ########################################## L53 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 12,200 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Shoot blocks on arrows to obtain Time Left >0m 2-1 very hard entrance to the goal token room." Time Left >1m 4-1 impossible Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 58,000 1 Big Turret NuYen (Tokens) : 58,000 9 Mines NuYen (Cool) : - 9 Big Tanks 12 Minitanks __________________________ 160,000 26 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : 10,000 3 Droids Points (Enemies) : 150,000 _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 54 - DESTRUCTION ZONE 9 (1:00) ##################################### L54 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 12,400 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 safe "Room 3 could make your fortune." No Kills 5-2 impossible Kills >30 4-1 safe Accuracy >80% 5-3 impossible* (*very hard with several missiles) RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS______________________ 328,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 328,000 8 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 2 Mines 1 Big Tank __________________________ 186,000 6 Tanks Points (Tokens) : 51,000 6 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 135,000 21 Soldiers 3 Crawlers 4 Seekers 5 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 55 - PIPE DREAM (3:00) ############################################# L55 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 12,600 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Beware some 10k pieces are fake." No Kills 5-4 impossible Accuracy >90% 3-2 impossible* Accuracy 100% 3-1 impossible (*very hard with several missiles) RECOMMENDED: L.A.G. Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS_______________________ 86,000 4 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 86,000 10 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 5 Mines 5 Minitanks __________________________ 128,000 4 Soldiers Points (Tokens) : - 8 Crawlers Points (Enemies) : 128,000 2 Seekers 22 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 56 - ICING ON THE CAKE (3:00) ###################################### L56 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 12,800 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "You will need a very fast drive Even Hits 5-4 gamble for this level." Accuracy >80% 3-2 challenging Kills >50 3-1 possible RECOMMENDED: vosper Jupiter 9000 ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS____________________________ - 2 Cannons NuYen (Tokens) : - 2 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 11 Turret 20 Mines __________________________ 132,000 10 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : - 2 Soldiers Points (Enemies) : 132,000 6 Crawler 6 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 57 - CLIFF HANGER (3:00) ########################################### L57 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 13,000 NuYen Survive Level 3-2 safe "Switches could be the key to your Time Left >0m 2-1 challenging success." Time Left >1m 4-1 impossible Kills >10 2-1 safe RECOMMENDED: L.A.G. Turboblast ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS______________________ 117,000 1 Big Turrets NuYen (Tokens) : 117,000 14 Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 1 Big Mines 8 Mines __________________________ 135,000 3 Big Tanks Points (Tokens) : - 11 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 135,000 8 Soldiers 14 Droids _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 58 - TELEPORT TRAP (3:00) ########################################## L58 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 13,200 NuYen Time Left >0m 3-2 very hard "There is more than one goal in No Kills 2-1 impossible this level but only one is real." Kills >40 4-1 safe Accuracy >80% 2-1 challenge RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS______________________ 213,500 60 Minitanks NuYen (Tokens) : 213,500* NuYen (Cool) : - __________________________ 182,000 Points (Tokens) : 62,000 Points (Enemies) : 120,000 (* +120,000 in trap) _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 59 - TANK ATTACK (3:00) ############################################ L59 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 13,400 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 challenging "Collect as much money as No Kills 5-4 impossible possible, you will need it." Accuracy >90% 3-2 challenging Accuracy 100% 3-1 very hard RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 49 SPOILS_______________________ 27,300 1 Cannon NuYen (Tokens) : 27,300 5 Big Turrets NuYen (Cool) : - 21 Turret 3 Mines __________________________ 136,500 1 Big Tank Points (Tokens) : 17,500 2 Minitanks Points (Enemies) : 119,000 16 Seekers _______________________________________________________________________________ / LEVEL 60 - DEATH TRAP (1:00) ############################################# L60 SID'S TAVERNA_______________________ T.O.P.E.____________________________ Illegal Info 13,600 NuYen Time Left >1m 5-2 impossible "Buy the best equipment you can, Even Kills 5-4 gamble save the game and say a prayer." Accuracy >80% 3-1 challenging Kills >30 7-2 safe RECOMMENDED: - ENEMIES__________________________ 60 SPOILS______________________ 180,000 1 Cannon NuYen (Tokens) : 180,000 1 Big Turret NuYen (Cool) : - 1 Big Mine 18 Mines __________________________ 129,000 12 Minitanks Points (Tokens) : - 14 Soldiers Points (Enemies) : 129,000 13 Droids (* +270,000 in two traps) _______________________________________________________________________________ / CREDITS Created by Christian Schmidt Munich, Germany September 2006 This document may be distributed freely. You may change whatever you like, though I'd appreciate it if you'd contact me if you're planning to do so. ;) Comments and additions are welcome: cs216@gmx.net _______________________________________________________________________________/