Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/172.PLAYER.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-23 | 8KB | 159 lines

Tips for the Player

I think it's only fair that I should have something to say in
behalf of the player of Wolf. Perhaps you won't read anything new
here, but some of you new players may pick up a tip or two. You may
find there's more to the game than rushing around and disposing of
everything that moves. A clever floor design can make you work hard
to get out unscathed.

The most obvious tip is never go rushing into a room or area
without doing 1 or 2 things first. When you open a door, fire one
shot the instant you activate the door to open (not with the chain
gun, dummy! It wastes ammo - and the knife doesn't make enough
noise when you wave it around). Don't wait for the door to complete
opening before shooting, or you could be dead real quick. If anyone
is in there and they aren't deaf, they'll let you know. Unless
there are Mutants or Officers inside. The Mutants can't talk and
the Officers are too smart to respond to a shot fired at random.
More on how to deal with these guys later.

Stand back to one side if possible and wait for the macho ones to
come tripping out. If there are multiple entrances, move back far
enough to see all doors. Don't forget there may be doors around the
corner that you can't see. NEVER stand directly in front of a door
unless you have no other choice.

If there's only a single entrance, get as close to one side or the
other as you can, depending on the type of guard(s) you may
encounter. If you know there are officers and mutants coming out,
stand back much farther than otherwise in order to force them to
come farther into the room before shooting.  On the other hand, if
you stand too far away, they may not come out, so you may have to
"prime the pump" so to speak, by moving close to the door or even
opening it and exposing yourself to get them started. In general,
the closer you are to your "enemy" the more effective your shots
will be (and you'll need fewer bullets). Of course, the flip side
to this is it'll take fewer bullets by your antagonist to put you
away too!

If no one responds to your shot, it doesn't mean it is safe to
charge right on in. The deaf guys could be on the other side of the
door. How can you tell? Open the door, move in a short distance,
then move right back out. If they're there, they'll see you and
sound off and either come out after you or head into another room
to wait in ambush. By the way, count those "sound offs". They'll
tell you how many macho guys you have to deal with.

What about the not-so deaf guards that didn't come out when you
fired a shot? They could be waiting for you too. There is a
technique to find out if they're waiting on the other side of the
door without having to run in, turn and start firing and hope you
get them before they get you. The technique is called stealth. What
you do is edge forward into the entrance just far enough so when
you turn and look right or left you'll be able to see what is on
the other side of the door and not be seen yourself. If you edge
forward too far, you can depend on the door closing behind you, and
with it your imminent demise.

So you've learned there's a sneaky guy waiting to have you for
lunch. Or there's more than one. That's called knowledge or
intelligence. Now you formulate a plan for dealing with them. If
most of them are SS, or Officers, go somewhere else, if you can, so
they'll start looking for you. If they're tan guards and there
aren't too many, go in with your chain gun (if you have one) and
quickly deal with them.

The worst-case scenario is when the guys in the next room are
themselves in an area they can't escape from so they can only wait
for you to come in. Hopefully the room will be long enough that
some of the guards will wander far enough from the entrance that
you can shoot them without going all the way in. This should
improve the odds in your favor somewhat. For the rest of them you
can use the above "stealth" technique to find out how many are left
to overcome. I could tell you more about how to succeed in this
situation, but I don't want to spoil it all for you. Let me just
say, "it ain't easy".

Another bad scene is when you are forced to go into a room that has
multiple entrances with or without doors. You find out that some
guards will go around and come in behind you. There's really no
subtle way to handle this situation, except to back off to an area
that's defendable and close by and hope they come after you after
they see you. If this doesn't work, you'll just have to charge in
and give it your best shot (heh, heh).

Many players decry their ability to find hidden doors. The problem
isn't so much they can't find them, they are frustrated that it
takes more time than they want to spend. Don't be misled by the
notion that the only good players are those who set some kind of
record getting in and out; these players aren't concerned about
hidden areas.

The only way to find most hidden doors is to squarely face any wall
and hold down the space bar, strafe key, and the left or right
arrow key. It also helps to hold the "run" key as well. Yes, the
noise made on your sound system is not pleasant, but there's really
no alternative. (Somehow it didn't seem appropriate to play Dance
of the Hours while doing this). The only risk using this method to
locate hidden doors is you could very well open the wrong door
first. But then you don't know that until you do it. It's best to
search right from the beginning of each floor. It's discouraging,
to say the least, to get all the way to the elevator and find out
you still need a key which you didn't locate. So you still have to
go back and search every room anyway.

One of the mistakes players make is to find a hidden door, go in
the secret room and plunder whatever loot is there, then leave.
Don't forget to check the secret room for more hidden doors and the
room beyond that, and so on. Don't assume, either, that there's
only one hidden door per room. If you know of more than one hidden
door in a room, don't try to open a second door while the first one
is in motion; the second one won't move until the first has
finished moving.

And don't think that the only things behind these hidden doors is
treasure, ammo, or first aid/food. Hidden doors can provide access
to some interesting action that you could miss if you fail to
locate the hidden door.

Speaking of the "run" key: don't forget you have one. Learn to use
it as it can get you out of some potentially unpleasant situations.

Which brings us to shooting. If you can afford the time, take care
to aim a bit off dead-center. Your shots will be more effective.
You'll also learn that the "enemy" shoots longer distances and more
accurately than you can in most cases. But the answer to this is to
always keep moving. A moving target is harder to hit.

Most people forget they have a knife until they run out of
ammunition. The knife's a good weapon if you see a guard with his
back to you (preferably a tan guard). You can sneak up and dispose
of him without using ammo or waking up the garrison. This assumes
the guard isn't of the "deaf" variety; he'll see you when you get
within one square and whirl and try to shoot - you may still be
able to get him. At least you'll know whether to repeat the tactic
on him the next time. The knife adds a whole new dimension to the
game.

I shouldn't even have to mention this, but DON'T FORGET TO SAVE
OFTEN!. You may want to consider saving just before you throw the
switch in the elevator. That way, after the results are added up,
you can decide if you want to resume the level you just left to go
back for something you forgot. It also lets you change your mind
after entering the secret floor and instead go back and locate the
other elevator.

Finally, most players think of themselves as the person behind the
weapon that shows on the screen; a natural enough assumption. If
the first-person perspective bothers you when playing this game or
others like it, just remember that the "real" guy holding that gun
in this game is named B. J. Blazkowicz. You will already know this
if you own a copy of the official hint book. Also remember that all
the "actors" will be back doing business next time you play the
game. And don't let the sound effects get to you.

Warren Buss
Compuserve ID: 71044,3477
Prodigy ID: HNHM14A