Missionforce: Cyberstorm Walkthru work in progress by DAVID FINN First published in the DIRTY LITTLE HELPER September 1996 The following text is a work-in-progress guide to Mission Force: Cyberstorm. Please feel free to add, modify or edit this document in any way. All comments and suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated. THE FIRST SECTOR There is not much to this sector. There are what is called "bioderms" or pilots which are used to carry out your commands. There should be no problems, until you reach the elite mission. This is where most people are stumped. There are a few things that I suggest to prepare for the elite mission: 1. The bioderms are the pilots of the HERCs. They gain experience when used on missions but it tends to shorten their life span quickly. Create two separate teams as soon as possible, one set of bioderms for military missions (use the most expensive ones here) and one set for mining (these can just be the protohuman bioderms, ie. models 001, 101 & 110). I have observed that the bioderms do not seem to age when not in use.This seems to be the best strategy for the game allowing for more bioderms than HERCs. 2. I prefer to customize the HERCs. Rather than settling for "stock" features, it allows for more optimization of technology available. Unfortunately certain combinations of weapons are extremely deadly. I have included some combinations that have worked for me. See appendix A for more detail. 3. Although customizing shields is very effective, watch for return fire protocols. There is nothing as frustrating as watching a HERC turn to return an attack only to leave his weak side exposed to the enemy. Truly depressing with some of the bigger HERCs. 4. Jacking up is suggested although be aware that it does lower the genetic stability of the bioderm by 5%. Once below this mark, known as the "halfway" mark, the skill ratings begin to drop, thus making them unstable. Hope that this gives you a greater understanding of stabliity and toxin numbers: Erma Health:70 Stability:60 Toxins:70 TACTICS FOR ELITE MISSIONS By following the above information, and the following tactics, this mission should be challenging, but not too difficult. I feel that these are my most helpful suggestions. If you feel that I have left out anything important, please feel free to E-Mail me. 1. As tempting as it is, do not overlook or neglect to use the Shadow or Sensei HERCs. These have the most powerful sensors available which cannot be used by any of the other HERCs. My personal favorite, the shadow when equipped with overdrive nodes, is the fastest HERC, b y f a a a a r. 2. The Cybrid enemy base regenerates/makes Verminus robots (small HERCs armed with elf weapons that bypass shields and self destruct nodes) every turn (my information leads me to believe two per turn). Therefore, you cannot take this level leisurely. My best advice is to create an offensive line when advancing, using the bigger HERCs with their shields directed towards the enemy, have your shadow HERCs scout forward, as spotters, then retreat behind the bigger HERCs for cover while the bigger HERCs pound the helpless Cybrids (uh hem). 3. Take the time to read planetary conditions before a mission, otherwise you may be unpleasantly surprised. For example, your missles won't fire or your shields are exceptionally weak or your sensors are useless. In conclusion, this is probably one of the most enjoyable strategy games I have ever played. Like you I was disappointed that there was no written manual included in the packaging of the game. However, the online manual is excellent and thorough in content, as well as creating an engaging atmosphere. I am currenlty in the process of doing statistical cross-reference charts which I will post soon. MISCELLANEOUS TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS The first time I played this, I almost missed the improved mine extractor at 100% efficiency and 1200 ore limit. This is the best mining extractor. For life support, I recommend multi-shell or above, at this level I never lost a bioderm without also losing the HERC. Personally, I do not prefer to use electronic counter measures as using multiple units does not appear to be cumulative. The criteria that I used to chose my bioderms for the military missions team consisted of cost and life span, in that order. My reasoning is that the bioderms that I chose in the beginning of the game were still ALIVE and had gained experience through previous missions. They all possesed nearly perfect stats. Finally, overdrive nodes are by far my favorite device to add to my HERCs, big or small. My configurations for all of my HERC designs combine two overdrive nodes with one antigravity node to allow for maximum speed. The benefits are: missions take less time, bioderms age less and in my first elite mission I had more manuverability.