Name: Privateer Part I. Game Objectives. Ok. Now that you installed all six discos (and maybe that three of Speech Pak) and typed PRIV, you become a Privateer. For those who didn't launched game yet I recommend to do so and view the introductory animation - it's quite impress- ive. Later on you can skip it clicking either mouse button or pressing a key. So, as I told, you are now a Privateer - a free space trader. Let's see what's the epoque we're operate in. The time is quite hot: the war against Kilrathi is still raging. No one can feel himself safe enough even in humans' space - Kilrathi raiders can appear anywhere. Although it's not your work to fight them as it was in Wing Comman- der - you're not a soldier, you're free man and you can do whatever you want. And you're not alone: in space and grounded you meet other privateers, pirates and so-called Retros, who in fact are followers of so-called Church of Man. The only thing you should know about Retros is that they hate new technology that allowed humanity to reach stars and they use it only in aim to kill "techophiles", as they call other people. You also can meet militia, who guards lines against pirates, and confederation forces, who are in fact military. This is your environment. And you can choose either way of decent trade, or you can become a pirate. This game looks quite unimpressive until you get to the start of storyline. When you reached it, I think you won't stop until you go thru all of it. Many fites, alien artifacts, misterious murders, finally an encounter with aliens who're millions years older than Humans and Kilrathi - this is shortly what expects you on your way. In this walkthru I tried to gather all information needed to complete the game. I also provided a MoneyMaker, which may help you to get your money quick and do not waste time sticking around the base and attacking any approaching ship in hope to get some cargo from it or working that low-cost missions that the Mission Computer provides. The following walkthru is formed in Q&A manner, that is I'm giving answers to the questions most likely to be asked. Part II. Game controls. Following are game controls which I used during the game (maybe there are some more of them, but I finished the game using just these): Anywhere: Alt-X Exit (might be not immediate) At bases: "C" or both mouse buttons click brings up a Quine 4000 Console, where you can load or save game, watch your performance, financial status and mission status. Point and click mouse for all other actions. In space: Fx keys - change view (also switch to additional turrets if you have them). You are not able to hire crew for your ship, so you'll have to switch to turrets and shoot or activate tractor beam by yourself. Arrows - well, I think you're not that stupid :) + - increase set speed - - decrease set speed BackSpace - stop Tab - activate afterburner if you have one Space - shoot guns (should first activate them) Enter - shoot missiles (if you have them) W(eapon) - see weapon status, also change missile type if you bought missiles of more than one type. G(uns) - see weapon status, activate/select guns (active guns will lit) A(utopilot) - activate autopilot (should set the course first) D(istance) - shows distance to selected destination point E(nemy) - switch to enemy status view R(eport) - report internal damage and all like that T(arget) - switch to radar view L(ock) - lock target (you can shoot FF - Fire'n'Forget missiles only if target is locked, else they won't lock their targets. BTW, they say FF stands for "Friend Or Foe", but I'm quite sure this is not the case with THESE FF missiles - they're quite stupid to hit your own ass if you give 'em a chance) P(ause) - hmm, very useful key, ain't it? But they maybe better gotta implement B(oss Alert) key, that's what I think. :) N(av comp) - turn on Navigation computer - this is where you set course for autopilot J(ump) - do a hyperspace jump (activated only in jump points) C(omm unit) - activates Communication unit - not so often used item. Land- ings are performed automagically as you reach the automatic landing zone - no talks required. M(ission) - brings on mission objectives screen S(hiels) - shield generator control (cycles thru all available modes of operation: Full/Two Thirds/One Third/Off). Be aware of this key in battle, for if you lower the shields and then decide to raise them back you'll have to turn them off first because of cycling switching scheme, thus making yourself unprotected for a short time which although may be quite enough to get blown to bits. [ - cycle thru all available views (G,D,E,R,T,C,M) Remember that guns, shields and afterburner are all powered by the same source: your main engine. If you turn shields to two thirds mode, then more energy will be available for guns (you'll be able to shoot more often) or for afterburner (you'll be able to keep it active for longer time). But if you turn off guns that won't have any effect other than you'll be unable to shoot. There's also a key for dumping cargo if you're in tough break, but I never used it and though don't know which one is it (my friend told me there is one). I believe that the key is 'X'. And also there should be key to acti- vate ECM system, but I didn't find it - well, it maybe works automagically.. Part III. Getting to and thru the storyline. The Privateer has quite twisted storyline. First of all, you're not yet on it when the game's just begun. You should first get to the planet from where it starts. When you start the game, you have just 2000 cosmobucks and a ship, which name I didn't noticed for I soon changed it. You ain't got a jumpdrive, so you cannot jump to other systems. You are currently in Troy system, Humboldt quadrant. What you gotta do is to make some more money so that you can buy a jumpdrive and become able to jump to another star systems. You also will need to buy additional sector maps (this is done in Software Booth at Ship Dealer's hangar), or you'll be unable to find anything in uncharted sectors. Each map costs 2000 cosmobucks, but you can buy all of them for just 5000. There's much of action in the game but anyone should solve his fighting problems himself - there's no common way to defeat enemies. For example, I used my MoneyMaker and made 255 FF missiles before each mission. This amount is quite enough to get thru the most tough missions, like the one where you encounter total of 11 Kilrathi in three waves and then Kamekh with two Grikaths of cover (that's not counting retros). Sure, you can try to go thru without any cheats, especially when you have a joystick for ship control via keyboard's too rough to point guns exactly where you want :(u'll see that by yerself). It would be wise to save game before each new mission - this will allow you to replay it if you fail. Unlike Wing Commander, Privateer's storyline is straightforward and if you fail one of the crucial missions you'll be unable to go further and finish the game. By "crucial" I mean missions given by game characters. Those you get from Mission computer, Mercenaries' Guild or Merchants' Guild are not important for the storyline - they're just mean for making money. Ok, let's go over the game now. Q: Where can I get the money? A: There's couple'o'ways: you can take missions at the Mission Computer and receive paiment after accomplishing them (most likely those will be patrols or something like that), but that will take much time 'cause your ship ain't a helluva-gunpower killing machine and you might expect that you'll be shot down not only once or twice... The other way is to save game rite as you started, exit and use MoneyMaker on it. You'll be able to set any account you want. Then go back to game and buy anything you want. I suggest that first of all you'll buy a Centurion. This is a helluvaship, with ultimate shields and gunpower. Outfit it with afterburners, shield generator, guns, nav/targe- ter and whatever you select and proceed further. Q: I got enough money, bought and outfitted cool ship. What then? A: Fly to New Detroit in Potter quadrant. Visit bar. You'll see a man sitting at the front table. Talk to him. This is Mr. Sandoval and he opens the storyline. He'll give you a milk-run mission and an alien artifact to keep it for a while. Q: I did mission Sandoval gave me and found that he's dead. There's a girl sitting in the bar instead of him. What should I do? A: Just do what she tells you. She will help you to hide artifact good enough and also she's paying quite a lot. Q: After completing first Tayla's mission (deliver cargo to Oakham instead of Newcastle as claimed in manifest) she told me that I've failed it and kissed me goodbye. What should I do with it? A: You probably landed somewhere else before reaching Oakham. You should go directly to Oakham and land there - no other landings allowed before you do it. You gotta replay the mission. Q: I did all four missions for Tayla. What now? A: When you made final mission, she told you that she couldn't find out anything about the artifact but she knows person who can help you and that that person's name is Roman Lynch and she arranged a meeting with him for you. Lynch is a contrabandist's king and his residential is at New Constantinople which is one jump away from New Detroit. Fly there and visit bar. Q: I did all missions for Lynch, but in the last one I was attacked by his bodyguard Miggs. Sure I blew his brains out but when I returned to the New Constantinople there's no Lynch, no payment and no clues. Where should I go now? A: During the briefing before the last mission, Lynch told you that one of his men found out something important at Oxford's library but there are problems recovering him and the information from there so you should fly to Newcastle and recover him. That's where Miggs ambushed you. Now fly to the Oxford thyself and visit the library. Oxford's in the same quadrant, somewhere near the bottom of the map. You will have to work for University to get free access to the library. Q: How could I protect Hunter Toth from that Retros? Second wave just blowing him up before I'm able to engage... A: Well, let's go over tactics - this mission's not of kill-em-all-an-get- the-hell-out kind. You'll have to buy all 20 missiles and better they be FF type. First wave of two Talons is very easy to defeat. Spare missiles and get them off with guns. Just don't leave them alone for long time so that they won't have much time to aim and shoot Toth's Drayman. But wait! Don't kill the second Talon right now! Second wave of three fighters won't arrive until you down this one, so let Toth get outta here as far as he can. Then kill second fighter of first wave and try to intercept incoming triple before they come close to Toth. Now you can use your missiles. Lock first target, shoot about 4 missiles at a time, lock another target, shoot another 4, lock third and go after him. First two brothers won't think of anything else but their lives (but that probably won't save them, cause FF missiles are very hard to avoid). If you see that no missiles left on radar (they're of yellow color) but some targets remain, repeat the sequence. Most probably this tactic will lead you to success. Note, that mission's not accomplished until you kill or drive away all five enemy fighters (you may think that if you just lead Toth near the Oxford and land then mission will count as success - in fact, this is not the case). Q: Well, I did all missions for the University, examined artifact but it just told me that this thing is of unknown origin, made of unknown material and then show me a page about someone called Monkhouse. Where should I go now? A: The page says , in short words, that Dr. Monkhouse is the only person who is able to tell you what the hell this artifact is and that he was last seen at Palan. Go there. Palan's in Fariss quadrant, somewhere in the top-right corner of the map. There's a planet and a mining base (Basra) in the system. First you should go to the planet. It is blocked by a bunch of Demons - do not try to shoot down all of them - it's impossible. There will be always six of them. Instead activate afterburners and go straight to the planet. Most likely you'll break thru the blockade and land. Once landed go to the bar and meet Dr. Monkhouse. He'll describe the situation and ask you to get him outta here, but first you should penetrate the blockade around the Palan. Go to the neighbouring Basra base and meet Lynn Murphy in the bar. Follow her instructions. The next four missions will be of kill-em-or-die kind. But not too hard for such professional as you :). Q: Ok, I did that. The planet's clear. What then? A: Fly to the planet, pick up Dr. Monkhouse and deliver him where he asked you to. There will be an encounter with Kilrathi, so watch out. Doctor will give you another piece of artifact and you'll discover that the artifact is actually some kind of star map. But the space shown on this map is not yet charted. Go to Rygannon in the same quadrant and visit Tarin Cross at the bar. Do all reconaissance missions. Q: In the last mission I found huge alien base abandoned eras ago. I landed there and picked up an alien weapon from derelict fighter. After that strange bogie started to go after me. It looks like an almost black egg with green carvings and it seems to be invulnerable. What should I do with it? A: Yes, this thing is inpenetrable to your weapons, including that one you found at abandoned base. This is Steltek's Drone and it's aim is to kill YOU, because you got an artifact of Steltek's technology (the gun). Drone is very fast, maneurable and heavily armed. Even with activated after- burners you won't get away from it. Here's what you gotta do: Carefully return to base, get your money and kiss girl goodbye. Then head to Nexus. You should avoid contact with Drone. If it rushes after you, use missiles on him and activate afterburner. This won't let you escape him until you get to jump point but at least you'll be able to keep him far enough. Whenever you see it's closer that 4 miles shoot FF missile again (don't forget you should lock him before). Although missiles cause no harm to him, he always trying to avoid them for some reason. On the Nexus go to the bar and meet Sandra Goodin. She'll invite you to Perry Naval Base. Go to Perry (in Clarke quadrant) and visit Admiral Terrell's office. Accept his mission and go to the system he named. In my case that was Blockade Point Tango. Before the last jump to destination you should meet Steltek ship. Use Communication unit and force them to trade with you. They will power up your derelict weapon so that you'll be able to penetrate Drone's shield in exchange to coordinates of that huge bogie where you found the weapon. Now jump to destination, meet ambush forces (use Comm unit to force Drone to come) and then kill the Drone. You'll see an attractive animation and one more when you return to Perry and visit Admiral Terrell again. That's it! You made thru it and now you can exit and type "echo y|del." at the DOS prompt. This will save you about 16Mb of disk space. :) And so your career of Privateer is over... until Origin release Privateer II, if it will. Well, bye until then.