Players Guide

Contents:

Playing Scirmish
Playing Multiplayer
Playing Missions
A quick guide to playing Dark Suns 2004
Dark Suns 2004 Build Trees

Playing Scirmish

A single player skirmish against the AI is set by selecting single player (this requires CD1) and then skirmish. Select a map – the size is in screens at 640*480 – and set up between one and three opponents by clicking on the light-shaded bars to the left of screen. The basic AI is somewhat pathetic, especially on easy.

The other settings, to the right of the screen, should be (top to bottom): Game Ends, Fixed, Mapped, True.

Playing Multiplayer

For multiplayer play, start TA as usual (the TA:M battleroom has issues not resolved before development terminated and should NOT be used). Select “multi” (this requires CD1), then Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay.

The host should now leave the IP box which appears on selecting “select” blank, and then the next screen appears select “host”. The other players should then type the host’s IP into the box, and select connect when the game appears.

When all players are in the game room (and all choices made, as per skirmish), select the little bulb under “Go?”, and in line with your name. When everyone has done this, the host can start the game. The game is now peer-to-peer, and the “host” can drop and the game remain.

As far as the interface is concerned, left clicking does everything, and right clicking deselects any units currently selected. The ` key (top left hand side of the keyboard, below escape) shows and hides units health status.

Check the game speed, using the number pad + and  - keys. It should be running, naturally, at +0 but on some systems a bug places it at +10, which needs to be adjusted each time you start a new skirmish or mission.

Playing Missions

Select “multiplayer”

A quick guide to playing Dark Suns 2004

You have two resources to deal with. Metal, and energy. Metal is generated by metal extractors, which only produce a reasonable amount of metal when placed on a metal patch, which are easily recognisable by their exposed “metal” look and are only found on asteroids.  The alternative in metal production are “vortex generators”, these take a large amount of energy output (2-3 solars) and produce a small amount of metal.

Energy, on the other hand, is produced by solar collectors (steady income), “wind generators” – magnetic for the IAF, infrared for the TAAK (it varies over time, and depends on the map) and on more advanced construction units a fusion/antimatter plant or an “advanced wind generator”- gravity for the IAF, gamma for the TAAK

Your current balance in both resources and your income and expenditures for them are at the top of the screen. If you press F2, then a menu appears. You can select “help” to view all keyboard functions. To automatically shoot non-combatant enemy units such as solar panels, press enter to open a chatbox and type “+shootall”, then enter.

The help file cuts off because of a game limit. The remainder of the lines are as follows:

CTRL+F9		Screen capture;
F1			Display information on selected unit;
F2			Display the Options menu;
F3			Selects the unit that last reported;
F4			Bring up the multiplayer scorecard;
F12			Clear all chat messages;
CTRL+F5 - F8	Applies a map bookmark at cursor location;
F5 - F8		Centers the screen on a map bookmark;
Dark Suns 2004 Help File;

The IAF (ARM on the selection screen) Commander is a small, quick unit. It has powerful standard weapons and can build quickly, but no equivalent to the D-Gun. It is VERY tough.

The TAAK (CORE on the selection screen) Commander is large, slow unit. It has powerful standard weapons and can build quickly and is VERY tough. It has a weapon somewhat like the D-Gun, but instead of exploding in a line, it has a circular area of effect around the target point. Also, some capital ships can take 2 hits to kill with this weapon.

Each unit has a cost in metal and energy, and takes time to build. Start with 2-3 metal extractors and solars (or twice that number of wind generators), then build a vehicle or kbot plant. From there, you can build other units, and even more advanced construction units which in turn can build more advanced defences and factories, for the more powerful level 2 units.

Remember that TA has a good pseudo-physics model. A particle beam will hit a fast-moving target while a torpedo, much slower, will hit the ground behind it.

There are two sorts of mobile units – fighters, which “fly”, and capital ships which act like vehicles, moving in the strictly 2d plane of the map.

Dark Suns also models weapons power – most fighter weapons cannot affect anything much heavier than them. A heavy fighter or bomber is needed to hurt a capital ship. On the other hand, a capital weapon not designed to do so will have trouble hitting a fighter.

Hold down the shift key to stack orders. A unit can have unlimited orders stacked. This is especially useful for construction units.

You can make one construction unit aid another or a factory either by making it guard it (it will follow and help the unit it is guarding construct), or simply selecting a construction unit and clicking on the object being built (in which case it will only help build that unit). Selecting a construction unit and clicking on a factory corpse (only factories leave corpses in Dark Suns) will make the construction unit reclaim it, adding the metal to your stores. Construction of a metal storage before you start doing this is advised.

Ample storage is required in any place, since combat can use a large amount of metal and energy to power weapons as they fire, especially torpedos and the larger capital ships. Low energy and/or metal could mean your units stop firing in the middle of a battle.

To use a carrier, medical corvette or repair base, either make the damaged fighters patrol close to the repair unit (they will automatically make use of it), or select the damaged unit, select move and click on the repair unit. You will need to tell the unit to move off manually once it is done if you use the second method.

There is no selection unit limit. You can select an unlimited number of units (see the help file in the game for the hotkeys for this – they are different from the original game).

Dark Suns 2004 Build Trees

IAF

Commander
►	Level 1 Fighter Factory
►	Level 1 Capital Factory	►	Level 1 Capital Constructor

Level 1 Capital Constructor
	►	Level 2 Fighter Factory
	►	Level 2 Capital Factory	►	Level 2 Capital Constructor
						►	Level 2 Fighter Constructor*

(*Astro-Tech builder)

TAAK

Commander
►	Level 1 Fighter Factory	►	Level 1 Fighter Constructor
►	Level 1 Capital Factory	►	Level 1 Capital Constructor

Level 1 Fighter Constructor
	►	Level 2 Fighter Factory

Level 1 Capital Constructor
►	Level 2 Capital Factory	►	Level 2 Capital Constructor