GEMini Atari/GEMini_Atari_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1993.iso/files/games/help/captvhlp/hardware

Text File | 1991-03-02 | 11KB | 204 lines

Captive is heaven for hardware fans. Forget spells, charms, and magical
weapons. Everything is real, and has a price. So where do you get some
hardware? At the hardware store, of course.

There are hundreds of items, in four broad categories: Armor, Weapons,
Ammunition, and Accessories. All shops sell ammo and accs, but tend to
specialize in either armor or weapons. The types of armor and weapons
on display are limited in Mission 1. Your droids will find more things
available as they battle on and gain experience. Many items are divided
into eight levels of quality. No shop stocks every one. You can only buy
items from a shop that lists them, but you can sell items off to any of
them. The catch is that you are only given half value for unstocked items.
A similar rule applies for repairs. Any shop can repair any damaged item,
but you are charged double if the repair is made on an unstocked item. All
shops in a given base are linked. This is convenient; you can leave gold at
one shop and it is available at any shop in the base. Just remember to get
your change before your final departure!

Your droids have to be qualified to use most items. Every time an opponent
flakes out (whether you caused its demise or not), your droids acquire
experience points. By clicking the colored bar above a droid's monitor,
you can assign experience points to either armor (Robotics) or weaponry.
The weapons selections are nested; you must reach a certain level of
proficiency in one weapon to be able to assign points to the next more
powerful one. Of course you need gold to buy all this stuff. At first it's
difficult to gather much gold together, but as you advance the opponents
carry larger sums, and eventually you'll have more gold than you can carry.
My droids threw away hundreds of thousands of gold pieces during the first
three missions; the stuff was too heavy, and they were fully supplied. After
your droid makes a 24 rating in Robotics, it must advance in several weapon
categories before the 'price' of advancing in armor becomes reasonable. Keep
in mind that the higher a droid's wisdom, the more experience points it
racks up with each kill. The higher the Robotics rating, the more wisdom
the droid has. If in doubt, spend your points on Robotics. The ultimate
armor set requires a Robotics rating of 64.

          ARMOR

Every part of each droid is a commodity. All can be bought and sold at the
shops. There are ten armor classes, and your guys start off with the bottom
two. The classes are:
Human
Tindron
Coppator
Bronzite
Ironide
Cromize
Silvosh
Rosteeld
Stenforcer
Titaniux

Each class has eight quality grades, and there are six different pieces of
armor. So the total armor inventory in the game is 480 unique items.
Tindron heads do not have good vision, but otherwise every class is an
improvement over the previous. The chest is a critical part, for it
contains the battery for the droid. As you move up in armor class, the
droid becomes 'harder', but pays a price. Each improvement in armor uses
more power, putting more of a drain on the chest. The chests increase in
storage capacity as you upgrade, so there is a balance. I've found that
the best balance of time between charges and protection is to use a chest
that is two classes above the limbs and head. So a droid would wear, e.g.,
Coppator limbs powered by an Ironide chest. This combination lets you move
easily from one outlet block to the next without the need for external
batteries to tide your droids over.

      WEAPONS & AMMO

They are listed in the shops in order of potency. But there are some
exceptions and traps. Once you qualify for ranged weapons, you must figure
out which ammo fits which gun. Buy cautiously, for ammo is not returnable.
On the other hand, weapons always are, so you can check for fit...that is,
try a weapon in a droid's hand. If an S appears next to it, the droid is
not yet qualified for it, and it will not operate. By the way, the S also
applies for armor. A droid can wear S armor, but it offers no protection!
A very useful weapon that is easily overlooked is the ball. It is a ranged
weapon that requires no experience, and is dirt cheap. Balls are reuseable,
and cause a surprising amount of damage. The problem with them is that if
you miss your target, you catch damage from the rebound, and you have to
pick them all up again after a scuffle. Nevertheless, I used them
extensively until my droids were rich enough to buy unlimited amounts of
ammo for firearms. Another low-cost (actually free) weapon is the electric
bolt. If an opponent is located conveniently close to an electic outlet,
you can electrify the cursor, then shoot bolts by clicking it in the upper
part of the viewscreen. This is very effective in Mission 1, but not worth
the trouble later, because the opponents are much tougher.

Note: Your rear two droids can only use ranged weapons, while the front two
can use anything from fingernails to nukes. So plan your buying accordingly.

Here are my opinions of some weapons:
My favorite hand-to-hand weapon is the slick-looking Light-Blade.
It does very respectable damage. The Fire-Axe is more powerful, but
it takes longer to cycle between swings. My experience has been that it
is too slow for consecutive blows while circling an opponent, while the
Blade was fast enough to get a swing in every time. Thus I was able to do
more damage with the Light-Blade.

Rifles can only fire up, and are used to attack flying opponents, or very
tall ones. Conversely, if you are floating, you can use them to fire down
at groundlings. This is useful if you're in a damp area and don't want to get
wet feet. Rifles are a matter of taste. You can use other guns to the same
effect in conjunction with the Anti-Grav.

Cannons are flat dangerous. They fire a large rubber ball that rebounds if
it does not hit an opponent. Want something twice as dangerous? Try the
Twin Cannon, that fires a high and low ball. Unless you're shooting at
something tall, you'll be getting a closeup of one of those balls soon after
you fire. The Rocket Launcher is also in the Cannon class, and rockets do
not rebound. However, everything here is heavy and slow. I have been very
successful using NOTHING from this weapon class.

Aerosols are the most powerful weapons, but they are a tease. Very few
shops stock them, and only the ones that sell these weapons have the ammo
for them. The ammo consists of huge heavy tanks that deliver very few shots.
Another drawback of the aerosols is that you do not get a 'hit' sound when
you fire at a baddie. The only feedback is the sound of a gold bag hitting
the floor when something flakes out. The majority of the bases in Mission 3
have NO shops selling Aerosols.

This brings me to my weapon of choice: The Ion Pulse Super. It's the top
weapon in the Laser class, and loads with Sonic Packs. My droids carry
eight of these little beauties, and are extremely bad news for anything
that moves. Only Walkers can stand up to a couple of full volleys, and
low-powered opponents just melt away. These guns cycle quickly, the ammo is
sold at every shop and is lightweight. My routine when entering a base is
to carry 900 rounds (including what's in the guns). If it's a long way to
the first shop, so what? With this much ammo, I'll get there.

        ACCESSORIES

Explosives - You have to blow up those generators, and this is all you need
to do it. The cost increases 100 gp/base as you progress on your rampage of
destruction. The explosives are activated by placing the sticks on the upper
part of a generator. When you hear a click, it's time to get out of Dodge.

Mine - These always cost twice as much as explosives. Activate by holding
just above the floor in front of you. Once activated, a mine will explode
when anything touches the floor block it is on. I use mines when I'm feeling
wealthy and want to have some fun with a Walker. Otherwise I leave them
alone.

Camera - Activate like a mine. I don't use one, but people who do like to
use them at ladders to know when to pop out and shoot.

Battery - Be careful buying these. They, like ammo, are not returnable. It's
better to save your gold and buy a good one. The better the battery, the
more charge it will store. Get at least a level VI; better yet, hold out
for a Super. You'll have the money eventually...

Dev-Scapes - You'll want some of these!
Basic - Anti-Grav. You must have one of these! After the first few bases
                   you have to float through holes in the ceiling to
                   access major areas. Also helpful for avoiding mines and
                   water and fighting certain opponents.

II - Shield. Absorbs half the hitpoints (AG) of incoming fire. You can use
             more than one; their effect multiplies. A shield has a limited
             life, whether it is absorbing damage or not. After use it can
             be repaired at a shop.

III - Fire-Shield. Works like a shield against fireballs & flamethrowers.

IV - Greaser. Gives your droids a slight speed increase relative to an
              opponent. Useful when battling the swifties!

V - Power-Sapper. A trick device. All it does is suck out your power!

VI - Fixer. Will repair any badly damaged limb back up to 10%. This allows
            a badly damaged droid to use weapons and travel at full speed.

VII - Re-Charger. Prevents battery drain when operating. Very useful for
                  your crown droid. Be sure to turn it off when repairing
                  the droid, as it will zero out power.

Super - Deflector. Not only shields your droid, but reflects the shot back
                   at the attacker. Use only when essential; extremely
                   limited life.

Optics - More than meets the eye
Basic - AG-Scan. Reports damage done to opponents (AG). Useful for evaluating
                 weapons, and rating the baddies.

II - Root Finder. Guides you to the base entrance when you land your ship,
                  guides you back to the entrance when you want to leave,
                  and guides you back to your ship once you exit. Nice, huh?

III - Mapper. If you don't draw your own, you might want this. Shows all
              levels, and can be marked.

IV - Radar. Gives early warning of what's behind doors and walls.

V - Magna-Scan. Clears your vision after fire damage or a hit from a TV.

VI - Body Scan. Gives a graphic image of condition of the eight body parts.
                Redundant; you can do the same thing with the standard body
                display in percentages.

VII - Vision Corrector. Allows detection of false walls, and may correct
                        vision problems with Tindron heads. Note that there
                        are no false walls in Mission 1.

Super - Visor. Allows limited vision in darkened rooms.