Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (
More info?)
Andreas Koch wrote:
> Hi,
>
> just played a few hours into gearhead v0.907, and still
> have a few questions. Sorry if just missed the
> answers in the docs :-)
>
> <spoiler alert on>
> What happened til now:
> Started in Hogye, got a buggy, went to snake hill,
> saved some farm,
good, this is your personal story that will lead you to the final fight.
> visited all the towns, got my mechs
> destroyed two times by some guy who wasn't happy with
> me saving that farm,
good (kind of); that guy knocked me out of my suit quite a few times.
> awakened some anti-mech bioweapon
> that again shredded my mech,
Is it still alive? And if not, were you able to kill it without nukes?
> bought a flying mecha,
> killed some underground giant biomonster on an island,
> saved some notes from Fluffy, saved a princess, got
> nice gem, got princess killed in a steamy place, made some
> illegal money, got a few cyber upgrades, lost a few
> other mechas, and have no clue what to do next...
> <spoiler alert off>
Get yourself a better mecha :-) To this end, fight in the Arenas (the
final price is a vastly upgraded Savin), collect the stuff other Mechas
drop (that Longman's laser rifle and that Gigas's nuke help alot), and
kill other Mechas (especially Ovaknights) with headshots.
> 1) Character death seems to be pretty non-permanent
> (unless at really nasty places like the ziggurath).
Unfotunately, yes. Btw you can revive fallen lancemates with First Aid
skill.
> Mecha deaths unfortunately seem to be a much more
> permanent loss on the other hand, and i tend to
> lose my mechas much much much much more often than
> my life... is there something like a "mecha insurance"
> perhaps?
No.
>Its really hard to re-build a nice mecha once
> your opponent had a lucky critical hit on your legs...
Legs are no problem (unless you get damage overflow to the torso), just
activate your hoverjets.
> 2) Money. How is one supposed to earn 46.395.079 credits
> for that CYB-13 Monstrous?
You don't want that Monstrous. They are sitting ducks. The only thing
they're good for is ripping out the nuke, sensors and comp.
> Biggest money i got was
> arround 500.000 from a certain gem, 15.000 from one
> gift mechas i got, 33.000 from several wallets, up
> to 45.000 from melee fights and 3.000 or so from mecha
> arena fights...
Also you can get 1M for the mecha blueprints in the abandoned factory
(the village with the raiders), sell captured mechas (intimidation skill
and headshots help), get prize mechas after the 10th fight in each
arena, and quite some money from corporate fights.
> 3) Party. Are you supposed to play this game with
> a party? I had that princess following me a while
> (without the mecha she had in our first encounter...
> grmbl...), but died as i had to retreat from a
> nasty dungeon. No other candidates yet.
Quite a few pilots (the one in the first mecha arena comes to mind) are
willing to follow you, but you might have to match their world-view
(chaotics won't follow lawfuls etc.) Even better, with a high robotics
skill you can bild yourself some teammates (those flying,
laser-rifle-wielding drones are quite efficient).
> 4) Mecha equipment. What i've seen in shops are
> basically sensors, targeting computers and
> thrusters. No weapons. Missed the right shop?
Yes.
> Or do
> i have to buy whole mechas and ripp their guns?
> (I know theres a part salvage skill, but the
> mechas i can beat usually don't have interesting
> equipment...)
Hmm, no Longmans, no Savins, not even BuruBurus?
> 5) Plot. I'm an orphan, any chance to find my
> parents?
IIRC it has to do wit the farm.
> I got some email about the info trail
> starting in Snake lake, but found no trail
> there...
The trail starts from the zoo.
> Has this game a "goal"? If yes, do i need
> both mecha and melee combat to solve it?
Yes, in the end you will have to kill just another anti-mecha bioweapon.
And, IIRC more mecha than melee, but that may depend on your personal
history.
> 7) EMail. I got the impression that it works
> without carrying any telephone or computer.
> Are they neccessary or not?
yommunicators come in different sizes, memo, pager, phone, computer.
Looks like you still had some kind of pager (maybe included into your
helmet).
> 8) Depression. My char constantly is in a bad
> mood or depressed (not to speak of my body
> rejecting my implants). What causes this?
Bad morale. Every time you lose a fight your mood goes down. Winning
fights, good food and massages help. For the implants you might need
biotech skill; broken implants can also make you depressed.
> Died quite some times, lost lots of mechas,
> and a princess. Any way to permanently
> treat this? (yes, i know massages and hot
> springs work temporarily).
Short answer: don't die, don't lose teammates, win some fights.
Lars