See Battlezone 2: Combat Commander FAQ, Hint, Hint #2, Hint #3, Hint #4, Solution, Cheat-code here!

Tips & Strategies
for Battlezone II PC game by Activision
by Orlando C. Fernando
Version 2.0
Updated: January 15, 2000

This guide shows some tips, strategies from my war adventures in Battlezone 2,
an exciting sequel to the original PC game. This FAQ will grow as I gain more
experience
and receive any corrections. This guide also will try to explain how to do some
fundamentals not explained or explained badly (in my opinion) in the manual. :)

Cheat tactics, mapmaking techniques, and advanced software/hardware
troubleshooting are
beyond the scope of this guide. This guide assumes you are already familiar with
Battlezone 2 enough to play the first 2 Pluto missions. It also assumes you have
played
in multiplayer deathmatch a few times and are familiar with "ping" and "lag".
The first
section assumes you are moderately familiar with Battlezone I. The guide is
based on
playing the game with the 1.01b beta patch in Windows 95 with a 3dfx Voodoo 3
2000 PCI
card.

Web version of this guide is at http://www.orlandofernando.com/g_bztips2.html,
look
also for screenshots at http://orlandofernando.com/g_bz2screen.html.

VERSION 2.0: THIS VERSION. MULTIPLAYER STRATEGY GENERAL & TEAM STRATEGY SECTIONS
ADDED.
             MORE SINGLE PLAYER MISSION TIPS. VARIOUS CORRECTIONS.
VERSION 1.0: ORIGINAL VERSION. FIRST 2 SECTIONS CREATED.

Table of Contents
1. Changes Overview from Battlezone I
   1. Who is fighting whom now?
   2. How do the planets and scenery look?
   3. Is there still scrap and pilot management?
   4. Are all the building units back?
   5. Do the vehicle classes operate the same?
   6. Do you operate the command interface the same way?
   7. As a pilot, do I still have the plasma and sniper guns?
   8. Has computer AI improved?
   9. What other classics have improved in Battlezone 2?
2. Single Player Activity
   1. How can I skip the cinematic videos during the missions?
   2. Why don't I get all the vehicles as in the multiplayer with each mission?
   3. Can I save the game during a mission?
   4. What is Instant Action?
   5. Will these single player games improve me for multiplayer?
   6. Any tips on the single player missions?
3. Multiplayer Activity in General
   1. What are the multiplayer games in Battlezone 2?
   2. Why don't I get all the single player units in multiplayer?
   3. What bizarre things happen in Battlezone with bad ping or lag?
   4. How do I talk on the text screens?
   5. How do I talk during a live game?
   6. In the game preparation screen, can I chat with players already launched?
   7. If I leave a live game, can I come back?
   8. I am ready to enter the live game. Why can't I launch from the preparation
screen?
   9. Can I change my name in multiplayer?
   10. How can I get new multiplayer maps?
4. Multiplayer Team Strategy Activity
   1. Why is it called "team strategy"?
   2. How can I command or give up command of my team?
   3. What is my role as commander?
   4. Can I switch teams during the game?
   5. How do I use the number/F keys on my top command line?
   6. How can I group vehicles to command them as one F-key?
   7. How can I order single vehicles in a F-key group?
   8. Why can't I make any more vehicles?
   9. How do scavengers and extractors work?
   10. My scavenger is not scavenging anymore. Why?
   11. How does the constructor work?
   12. Why can't I make "" weapon with the armory?
   13. Why can't I build health/ammo supplies with the armory?
   14. I keep forgetting what unit builds what! Help!
   15. How does a tug work?
   16. How can I build a gun tower?
   17. What buildings can I enter as a pilot for further functionality?
   18. On foot, do enemy turrets and gun towers detect me?
   19. Do computer offensive or defensive units ever use all their weapon
hardpoints?
   20. A player/I left the game mid-battle. What happens to all their units?
   21. Any tips for A Bridge Too Far?
   22. Any tips for Ground Zero?
   23. Is there any general etiquette when playing strategy?

Section 1: Changes Overview from Battlezone I

1.1: Who is fighting whom now?
In the story of this great December 1999 sequel, the setting is somewhere in the
near
future. The intergalactic biometal Cold War between the Americans and Russians
are now
over. Both have combined into the International Space Defense Force (ISDF). They
now fight
an indescribable alien race, the Scions, on planets Pluto and beyond. As the
book
poetically describes, these two major forces have radically different building
technologies. Really. Some alien units bear different names to the human
equivalents and
operate with different weapons and uses of power. Their "kind" looks graphically
different
from human power - much more diversity than in BZ1.

1.2: How do the planets and scenery look?
Much better! Many more blue hues were used this version around to create some
fascinating
night scenes and crystal structures. The green forest planet gets rainy weather
(play the
demo version to see this, enabling the graphic weather option). Rocks, ruins,
and even
animals populate the scene. Animals love wandering pilots. There's even shallow
and deep
water which affect travel and tolerance of certain vehicles. Travel underground
through
tunnels to other sections on the planet. Bridges can be crossed or destroyed,
complicating
enemy invasions. Pilots can even enter certain buildings and enclosed
structures.

On a Pentium II 266 MHZ with 128 MB RAM on a Voodoo 3, you will need to reduce
some
graphics capabilities off for better framerate in heavy fighting situations. On
a Celeron
dual-400 MHz with 112 MB RAM on a Diamond Viper 32-bit, however, you can put
everything
to the max. With different processors and generation 3d accelerator cards, your
mileage
may vary. :)

1.3: Is there still scrap and pilot management?
This major question brewed on the alt.games.battlezone Usenet newsgroup for
quite some
time last year during production. Scrap management is in BZ2 with additional
methods.
Pilot management is drastically reduced. It is only a consideration when you
want one
to occupy a captured vehicle or you want to send out an APC.

1.4: Are all the building units back?
The recycler, constructor, factory, armory, and gun towers are back and have
mostly the
same functions. However the constructor, which is now robotic in appearance,
bears full
responsibility for making all the building units, including the factory and
armory
themselves. Barracks are now Training Centers. Communication towers are now
Relay Bunkers.
All the unit voices respond the same ("Building complete! Recycler here!")

1.5: Do the vehicle classes operate the same?
Turrets, scouts, and tugs are basically the same. Rocket tanks are slower now
but pack
better firepower. The other tank classes are very slow high firepower machines
which
can rotate the gun independently from the body (hope you have a good joystick!).
Walkers
also can gun twist independently. APCs and bombers are now aerial uncontrollable
vehicles. APCs will land to drop their pilots to attack a target (about 3 of
them).
If successful, the APC will pick up any surviving men. Bombers launch from a
bomber
bay and will actually bomb their targets from the air. Eagle landers and
minelayers,
however, are gone. Fast mortar bikes are now introduced which pack dozens of
mortars-
perfect for taking out a turret long distance.

1.6: Do you operate the command interface the same way?
The command interface has some significant changes which will require some time
to
relearn some key commands. Like in BZ1, you still select one or many units,
choose
what to do with them, and point to a location if applicable. However you now
call the
units with the function keys as well as a few number keys.

1.7: As a pilot, do I still have the plasma and sniper guns?
Yes, but there is much more other hand weapons that you can have. You also come
standard equipped with a jetpack and can carry an assortment of other rather
powerful
guns. Hmm, the Quake evolution is slowly happening...

1.8: Has computer AI improved?
Yes, the enemy artificial intelligence in the single player missions and instant
action:
(1) enemies strafe fire, (2) if you fire at an incoming enemy scavenger, it will
 sometimes turn back, (3) gun towers always sense enemy pilots presence now, (4)
enemies
will not fire at their own if you are close to or under them as a pilot, (5)
enemies that
kill your vehicle will continue to assault you while you are ejecting, (6) if
you take
out a key scavenger or defense, the enemy will work as quickly as possible to
reconstruct it or even have a spare handy!

Your friendly units have also gained a boost in IQ: (1) units are VERY careful
now not
to fire at you by accident if you are in the way of an enemy, (2) pilots ejected
from their
vehicles will try to fire at enemy vehicles before returning to base, (3) if you
give
vehicles an order then jump out of your vehicle and come back, the vehicles will
still
remember your last order, (4) if you order vehicles to follow you, they will
defend you
against oncoming enemies then continue to follow you, (5) they seem much less
prone to
getting stuck and will not go through lethal environments (scavengers will avoid
the water).

1.9: What other classics have improved in Battlezone 2?
Bear in mind that this is an overview and not a complete features list:
- use of the satellite view for commanding units
- game list descriptions for multiplayer (including the required map file to
play
  a hosted game)
- ammo usage. Over time, your ammo in any vehicle/pilot will eventually
replenish.
- Phantom VIR activation. You can now leave it on as you choose and fire another
  weapon. No grouping required.
- mortars. Cool smoke trails illuminate the path which it's traveling.
- turrets deploy quicker and are VERY effective defense units now.
- recycler can now produce for you an ammo powerup with health combined.
- recycler has tougher armor now but slower self-repair.
- name changing while in multiplayer.
- instant action now included in the game

Section 2: Single Player Activity

2.1: How can I skip the cinematic videos during the missions?
During the animations at the beginning of a mission (when the narrator speaks),
you
can skip it by hitting the SPACE key once it starts. It will not skip, however,
until
all the game mission map and dll files are fully loaded.

2.2: Why don't I get all the vehicles as in the multiplayer with each mission?
It's the game creator's intention. The commanders generally run the show while
you
drive and shoot in the early missions. However, as they introduce to you more
building
units, you will soon gain full access to your recycler, the command interface
and
building units. Likewise for building certain units (for example, you won't be
able to
operate bombers and APCs until the commanders see a compelling need for one.)

2.3: Can I save the game during a mission?
Yes. The entire mission does not have to be complete in order for you to save
it. In
fact, you could save the game just after the first few seconds of the mission if
you
wanted to (including during a battle). Just hit ESC to go to the OPTION screen.
Select
FILE and pick a name to save or overwrite an older one. This is where you can
also load
an existing game if you feel you can't go on with the current one. Bear in mind
that
when you reload a previous game, the exact same situation does not always
happen. For
example, on one reload, an enemy can suddenly attack from their base, while
another
time, an enemy may not attack for a few minutes. So be wary at what point in the
game
you want to save. I do not advise saving in the middle of a battle.
                                        
2.4: What is Instant Action?
Instant Action is another type of single player strategy which consist of only
one
mission: destroy the enemy's recycler (or matriarch if the enemy is the Scion
force).
It is basically like playing a multiplayer strategy game, but versus a computer
player.

2.5: Will these single player games improve me for multiplayer?
Definitely. During the missions, you will slowly get the gist of using the
different
mobile units and attacking the enemy as well as getting used to your
joystick/keyboard/mouse controls. You run no threat of enemies sniping you when
you
destroy their vehicle. You usually concentrate on one to three vehicles to
attack at once.
I highly advise to listen to all the dialogues and read all the objectives as
they
will go a long way in explaining the purpose of many of the units.
I also strongly advise to play some instant action games. Practice with the ISDF
unit
on the Bridge map or work on being the Scion unit on the Alien Dunes map. In
both cases,
the enemy is far enough away to give you plenty of time to build your units with
trial and error.

2.6: Any tips on the single player missions?
This is Not a Drill (Pluto) - If you have problems on this first mission, it's
highly
likely your controller. Set up your joystick/keyboard/mouse appropriately so
that you
can comfortably jump hills and strafe fire enemies. You should eventually get
comfortable taking out two Scion sentries by yourself.

A Simple S and R (Pluto)- Hard time protecting Shabayev's constructor from the
constant
Scion sentries? Be sure to always fire at the one attacking her first, so that
you divert
its attention and cause it to retreat for a while and return. Do the same for
the second
Scion.

We Have Hostiles (Pluto) - In the beginning, after exiting the tunnel and
killing the
first hardware-stealing Scion hauler, head back toward the tunnel. Inside the
tunnel
entranceway just before the down ramp, pick up the purple pummel weapon on the
left.
Each pummel shot does about 20% damage on the enemy. Helps significantly!
WARNING: The
1.01b beta patch makes the pummel weapon slow down gameplay for Force Feedback
controllers.

Dark Planet (Dark Planet) - When you encounter a circle of guardian turrets,
Shabayev
will warn you to pull back and retreat. From a reasonable distance, you can hop
out and
safely snipe every guardian out there. Bring a scout in case any stray Scion
sentry tries
to follow you. The commander will commend you if successful.

Through the Looking Glass (Mire) - Deploy your recycler and set up your units
right where
you are at the beginning. You have a scrap pool immediately behind you and the
enemy
generally approaches from the north direction. Be sure to set up 2 turrets
around your
recycler to help secure your position as you build the other units the commander
orders.

Rumble in the Jungle (Mire) - Even after you save Shabayev and says "we got to
stop meeting like this, people will talk," your mission is not over if you
didn't
clear the rest of the enemies on the map. You may have done the objectives in
reverse
order (unconfirmed), so the objective to use the APC won't change.

Snow Blind (Bane) - (1) Don't build much more than an upgraded extractor, two
turrets
and maybe a scout. Get to the convoy as quickly as possible thereafter. (2)When
caved
in and must return to the dust off site as last objective, travel the high hills
west
of the path to help you safely get there. Avoid the path of enemies and you'll
save
much time and anguish.

On Thin Ice (Bane) - (1) To guide the recycler through the ice, tell it to
follow you
and do this cursor trick. Tell it to deploy and just keep your cursor aimed to
the
ground. The red and green spots are safe to cross. Switch to a far-out view and
guide
it slowly. If enemies threaten, deploy it in a legal spot directly in front of
you.
Knock out enemies and repeat. (2) Having trouble getting your transport to the
dust off site as last objective? I did it with gun towers protecting the base,
two upgraded extractors (closest to base), gun towers protecting it, and a relay
bunker.
Put the transport east of your base because enemies always come from the west on
the
dust off site path. Go into the bunker. Now build a turret "chain" lining up the
path
from the recycler to the drop ship. This means constantly making turrets
and deploying them one after the other along the path to freedom. You must be
fast
with the group keys because you'll constantly need to make more F-key space for
new ones.
Several will get destroyed, but the chain will eventually overwhelm them. Once
you get
it close to the dropship. Logout and order the transport to go to the dust off
nav beacon.
Defend it along the way.

Section 3: Multiplayer Activity in General

3.1: What are the multiplayer games in Battlezone 2?
Team Strategy - A battle between two teams to conquer the opposing enemy
recycler. One
                or many people can be on each team.
Strategy - A battle between one-person teams to conquer the other enemy
recyclers.
           River4 and Ground4 maps allow normal strategy with 4 players maximum.
Deathmatch - A free for all battle.
Team Deathmatch - A free for all battle organized into two teams. One or many
people
                  can be on each team.
Capture the Flag - Teams fight to capture the opposing team's flag.
Loot - A free for all in downtown Pleasantville. Enter various banks in the map
as a
       pilot to steal cash bags for 100 points. Cash bags regenerate over time.

3.2: Why don't I get all the single player units in multiplayer?
The host for your current game has only allowed certain vehicles to launch with.
If he
only allowed ISDF vehicles, it won't be possible to form a Scion team in
strategy or
team deathmatch. You can ask the host to enable your favorite vehicle if the
host has
not launched yet. Remember in strategy that you will have the opportunity to
build
your favorite vehicle from the recycler or factory.

3.3: What bizarre things happen in Battlezone with bad ping or lag?
Frequently on the game server, it will enter "gamestate" in which the server
will try
to correct poor signals. At that point, all (or most) players in the game will
be frozen
for a limited period of time. Another server behavior is to have you be
temporary frozen
until the lag corrects itself. Unfortunately, it leaves you very vulnerable to
enemies
unstuck. Be careful giving commands at this point because there is a keyboard
delay as
well. When you become unfrozen, prepare to have been possibly killed. :( Too
much lag
might cause the player to be kicked off the server. When in gamestate status,
you can
still chat with others via the ENTER key or the ESC key. (The ESC menu shows
ping count
of each player in the game as well as the amount of lag that person is
experiencing. To
get your ping, ask someone else to check your name on their ESC menu. To help
counter
high ping as a host, you can prevent high ping players from joining the game.
Lower the
MAXPING setting on the game preparation screen.

3.4: How do I talk on the text screens?
Select CHAT W/ ALL, TEAM, or ONE at the bottom. Then type in your text in the
lower
left bar of the screen and hit ENTER. You will stay chatting with them until you
choose
another chat button, even when you launch into the live game.

3.5: How do I talk during a live game?
Either (1) hit the ENTER key, type your chat and hit ENTER again or (2) hit ESC
to bring
up a full chat screen, complete with history of conversations. You can change
who you
chat to by selecting CHAT W/ ALL, TEAM, or ONE. Enter your chat in the space
provided
and hit ENTER.

3.6: In the game preparation screen, can I chat with players already
launched?
Yes. You can chat with players already engaged in the live game and vice versa.

3.7: If I leave a live game, can I come back?
For the most part, yes (assuming everyone hadn't left the game by the time you
returned).
You might find the game full while you were away. Or the game server can simply
be too
full to handle any more user joins. If you do make it back into the preparation
screen,
you will need to select your appropriate vehicle and/or team then ENTER GAME
again.

3.8: I am ready to enter the live game. Why can't I launch from the preparation
screen?
If the host is still preparing the game options and has not entered the game
herself,
you will not have the ENTER GAME button enabled yet. Be patient, perhaps
chatting that
you are ready to launch.

3.9: Can I change my name in multiplayer?
Yes. Either at the preparation screen or live game, enter in a chat line /NICK
[NEWNAME]
where [NEWNAME] is what you want to call yourself. It should remember your new
name for
future games until you change it again.

3.10: How can I get new multiplayer maps?
There are no new maps publicized yet on the web nor by Activision, but that may
change
soon. However, Pandemic Studios has released separate documentation on how to
create
your own BZ2 instant action maps. Check their site.
http://www.pandemicstudios.com/

Section 4: Multiplayer Team Strategy Activity

4.1: Why is it called "team strategy"?
This game mode closely resembles the instant action missions involving the
recycler
and/or matriarch.

The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy recycler and factories (if any). As
a
commander, you will have full access to your recycler to build offenses,
defenses,
utilities, etc. to build a force for your team to attack or defend from the
enemy.
Unlike BZ1, several people will join one of two teams, so resources are shared
among
the team. On the preparation screen, you will pick what team side you want to be
on by
selecting JOIN TEAM 1 or JOIN TEAM 2. The Red Team (whether or not its
squad name is renamed) will have all their units, vehicles, pilots, and chat
text in red;
Blue Team in blue. The player list during the live game (accessed by hitting
CTRL-ENTER)
displays the people participating, team squad names (defaults are Red Team and
Blue Team),
their deaths, kills, and scores. Deaths are the number of times that player's
units,
including themselves, are destroyed (not sure for APC pilots killed though).
Kills are
the number of times that player has destroyed a unit or other player. A typical
strategy
game doesn't run as quickly as you may think. It can range from 30 minutes to
even 4 hours
depending on the map size, player skills, and number of latecomers joining. In
the course
of the game, you may change commander role or responsibilities of certain
vehicles to get
the job done. No two strategy games ever run the same.

4.2: How can I command or give up command of my team?
Your team must have a commander which will command the recycler, factory,
armory, and
constructor units. On the game preparation screen, hit the TAKE CMD button to
become
commander. To give up command, select one of your teammates on the team list
then hit
GIVE CMD. The one in command will have a "C:" next to their name on the team
list.

While on the battlefield, you can switch roles also. Hit ESC to bring up the
full chat
menu. The TAKE CMD / GIVE CMD button and team list works the same as in the
preparation
screen. If someone else is commanding your team, their icon on their F-key at
the top
of the screen will have a "C" next to it.

4.3: What is my role as commander?
As a commander, you need to build the units necessary to set up your base and
prepare
your armies for you and your teammates to use. There is much that can be done as
commander, but the first is a must:
1) Deploy your recycler somewhere. Somewhere in your starting area is usually
good.
2) Make scavengers and give them control to your teammates to set them up as
extractors.
3) Be mainly a base guard and work on building a strong base.
4) Give your teammates ships when they are killed.
5) Give your teammates an army for an offensive attack.
6) Give them special orders to attack a particular target, follow you, defend a
unit, etc.

4.4: Can I switch teams during the game?
No. You must leave the live game and reenter, picking the opposite team before
re-launching.

4.5: How do I use the number/F keys on my top command line?
You operate the recycler with the 1 key, the armory with 2 key (unconfirmed),
and the
factory with the 3 key. Any new vehicles you build will be assigned to F1 - F9
keys
(F1 - F10 in instant action). You command these vehicles by pressing their
function key.

Once you hit the first key, numbered commands will appear on the left. Hit the
right
number to do the appropriate command. If a command is not solid and a little
ghosted,
you cannot access it at the moment because you need more scrap to do it. If a
command
is very light colored, you are also missing another responsibility to make it
happen
(building a power, splitting a group, etc.). Some commands require a final step
to pick
the spot on the field where you want to do it. Use your mouse to aim your
reticle at
the spot and (if a legal spot) press the SPACE bar.

4.6: How can I group vehicles to command them as one F-key?
I encourage to group vehicles as much as possible, reason will be explained
soon.
To group one vehicle with another, hold CTRL and hit the function key of the
vehicle
you will group then let go. Hit 1 key to highlight that vehicle, the only
vehicle in
that F-key's group list. Now hit the function key of the vehicle you want to
group it
to. Done. If you want to group an F-key of several vehicles with another F-key
group,
instead of hitting just the 1 key, you will want to hit all the number keys to
highlight
all the vehicles in the group list. That's the only difference. For e.g., to
group F1's
2 turrets with F2's 3 turrets. You do CTRL-F1, 1, 2, F2.

NOTE: You can only group together vehicles of the same class. You can't join
turrets
with scavengers. You can't join regular tanks with assault tanks. You can't join
ISDF
turrets with Scion guardian turrets (unconfirmed).

Now why bother grouping vehicles? Two major advantages: (1) to make it easier to
command
an army to do one task, such as to attack a matriarch; (2) to free up room on
the F-keys
to put newer classes of vehicles. You cannot make more vehicles if all your
function keys
are assigned.

4.7: How can I order single vehicles in a F-key group?
You can select a particular vehicle on your visual sights with the SPACE bar.
Another
way is to split groups up back to singles so you can command them individually
with
the F-keys again..

4.8: Why can't I make any more vehicles?
Your F-key assignments may be full. Group like vehicles to free up space. There
may
also be a unit limit set on the game (unconfirmed).

4.9: How do scavengers and extractors work?
Scavengers pick up little bits of scrap around the area to fill its biometal
supply.
Biometal supply builds your various units and buildings. The recycler already
comes
with 40 scrap. Each scavenger holds a maximum of 20 scrap, but they can be made
much
more resourceful. Send them to a biometal pool (silver square pools scattered
throughout
the map) and they will constantly mine scrap from these everlasting pools. At
this point,
they become extractors which you needn't command anymore. Constructors can then
upgrade
the extractors so they mine the scrap much quicker. Your current scrap count is
at the
bottom of your scrap indicator. The indicator bar is divided into segments for
the
number of scavengers and extractors that you have. Green bars indicate scavenger
power;
yellow bar for normal extractor; red bar for upgraded extractor. Upgraded
extractors will
always pump up your new scrap first, making your reserves rich in a short time.
Then the
others follow. Because of their high value to your base, many battle for control
of
biometal pools near the enemy lines.

4.10: My scavenger is not scavenging anymore. Why?
Unless it finds new scrap or a biometal pool (unconfirmed), it will hold until
further
orders. At this point, you should order it to an available biometal pool if
possible.

4.11: How does the constructor work?
Created by the recycler, the constructor makes all the other building units in
the
game. In addition, it upgrades extractors to their full potential power. You
always
order the constructor to build a new unit on a green square usually somewhere
around
your base. Some units require a power building or a relay bunker to be built
first.
Then a unit could be built adjacent to it on a green square.

4.12: Why can't I make "" weapon with the armory?
- To make a laser, pummel, pulse stab, or plasma, you need a service bay built
first.
- To make pilot weapons or a MAG cannon, you need a technical center built
first.
- To make blast, you need both a service bay and technical center.

4.13: Why can't I build health/ammo supplies with the armory?
Although possible in the single player mission, it may not be available in
multiplayer
(unconfirmed). As a substitute you can have the recycler make supplies to
replenish
your health and ammo together. You can also produce a service bay or service
truck
to repair vehicles. Note that the truck can also repair gun towers.

4.14: I keep forgetting what unit builds what! Help!
1) The manual has wonderful build tree tables on pages 50-51.
2) Even if a building option on the command interface is not solid colored, hit
that
number key anyway. A message will tell you what you need to make that unit.

4.15: How does a tug work?
A tug can help you transport an empty vehicle to a training center so that one
of
your pilots can man it. Order a tug to pick up an empty friendly or enemy
vehicle.
Order it to bring it to the training center then drop it off. A pilot will
automatically come out and occupy it.

4.16: How can I build a gun tower?
Build a power first. You will then get a lightning icon on your top right
display
with a number indicating the number of powered buildings you can currently
build. Add
more powers to increase capacity. You can then build a power somewhere along the
base,
not necessarily near a power. In fact, if you build a relay bunker in a distant
area,
you may even be able to build a gun tower there. There seem to be some
exceptions.
For e.g., on the A Bridge Too Far map, you can build gun towers on either end of
the
far bridges, even without a nearby relay bunker!

4.17: What buildings can I enter as a pilot for further functionality?
Recycler - Change standard weapons for recycler-made vehicles. More weapons are
available if you build an armory, service bay, and/or technical center. It
doesn't
change the weapons on vehicles already made. Some weapon changes will cost the
recycler
more scrap to produce such an equipped vehicle.

Factory - Change standard weapons for factory-made vehicles. More weapons are
available if you build an armory, service bay, and/or technical center. It
doesn't
change the weapons on vehicles already made. Some weapon changes will cost the
factory
more scrap to produce such an equipped vehicle

Gun Tower - Lets you operate it manually. Hit H to hop back out.

Relay Bunker - Lets you operate the satellite (overhead view) for controlling
your
buildings and vehicles. Excellent for placing new buildings quickly and
efficiently.
You can also name nav points before you set them. When setting a nav, click
inside the
nav name at the bottom, change it, and press ENTER. Then place the nav where you
want
it as usual. You will not see enemy objects on this display.

Bear in mind that human enemy pilots can also enter these buildings. And you are
NOT
invincible to enemy fire while in it. If you die in a relay bunker, you may see
your
satellite display appear temporarily frozen for some seconds.

4.18: On foot, do enemy turrets and gun towers detect me?
Within their firing range, yes; even if you are in the air.

4.19: Do computer offensive or defensive units ever use all their weapon
hardpoints?
They usually use their top weapon (typically a cannon, rocket, or mortar) and
sometimes their special weapon (such as mines or solar flares).

4.20: A player/I left the game mid-battle. What happens to all their units?
Their units remain in the game on the team they were on. If the commander
leaves,
command gets passed to another teammate (unconfirmed). Don't be surprise to join
a game
in progress and suddenly gain control of a bunch of units and vehicles. It is
perfectly
possible for one player to remain and destroy the rest of the abandoned enemy
units.

4.21: Any tips for A Bridge Too Far?
For the southwest-based team, establish 2 extractors on the nearest sides to you
as
soon as possible. Then try to be the first to occupy the biometal pool on the
island
between bridges. Consider blowing up part of the bridge to cut off the enemy at
the
other side (that is, until they make aerial vehicles). The northeast, in my
opinion,
is better protected since there is only one pathways leading out to open water
(restricting certain enemy vehicles to travel).

4.22: Any tips for Ground Zero?
As a commander, get your teammates to establish extractors on the near corners
to
your base as quickly as possible. Most of the biometal pools on this map are far
from
your starting point, especially for the contructor to try to upgrade them. Give
your
teammates turrets to help defend extractors once planted. Avoid the middle -
that is
usually where the enemy starts their base.

4.23: Is there any general etiquette when playing strategy?
Here are general ones which most players will agree on.
1) If a player calls for taking a few minutes to build their units before
attacking them,
respect them. It's usually because either everyone want to build early in the
game first
or this player had just joined in very late without much to start out with.
Violating
that will guarantee a quick exit by that player. These sort of requests do not
tend
to happen too often anyway.

2) If you kill a player's life yourself, then suddenly see him reappear as a
pilot,
consider if that is that player's respawn point (the spot that a player will
reappear
after he/she dies). If you realize that is the case, back off of him or at least
attack
some of his/her other units so the player can have at least a fighting chance to
do some
moving or ordering. Mowing over a respawned player 2 or more times may be
considered
cheap by some people. Use your strict discretion, especially if they chat to you
themselves to stop attacking their respawn point.

3) Do not be a traitor to your team. This can cause great heat and anger. If you
made a
general mistake attacking one of your allies (such as their pilots since they
can be
difficult to identify by flag and without radar), apologize immediately.
Remember that
you can quickly identify all your enemy targets by their team color. Use your
targeting
reticle to identify your teammates if necessary. If you forget who's on which
team,
hit ESC quickly to see who's on the Red Team and on the Blue Team.

4) If you are tired of your role as commander or feel too inexperienced to try
to learn,
give command up to someone else. Let them know first.

Copyright 2000 by Orlando C. Fernando. This page is for personal use only. It
may be
openly distributed for nonprofit in whole or part, but authorship must be
credited.

BZ2 Tips and Strategy Hints :.


1. Moving Builders (and other slow units) Quickly:
A way to move a Builder rapidly: I've tried everything I can thing of based on
this limited info and end up doing nothing but damaging the Builder. How is this
done? Also, is it possible playing ISDF to quickly move the Constructor? When
you
morph sonic blast it becomes "Sonic Wave". You can push any unit around without
damaging it using sonic wave. It's great for pushing units into the drink or
simply keeping them from getting where they are going. Especially some enemy
Maulers headed for a Spire or the Matriarch. No , you cannot move ISDF
Constructors since ISDF tech-tree does not offer a Sonic Wave.

2. A Deeper Analysis Comparing Laser To Gauss Gun:
Laser combat does more damage than gauss assault at the same fire rate; however,
gauss assault has fifty percent greater range. Laser assault does more damage
than gauss combat per second, but gauss combat has 20m range advantage. Gauss
combat does more damage per second than laser combat at the same AI range. Laser
assault does fifty percent more damage every two seconds than gauss assault,
though gauss assault reaches almost twice the range. Laser AI ranges match
weapon
limit: 120m for combat, 100m for assault. gauss AI ranges are shorter than
weapon
limit: 120m combat (150m limit), 185m assault (190m limit). Gauss combat is
better, think Sentries. Laser assault is better, but what AI vehicle is going to
use it? If you're driving a walker, stick with Laser.

3. Regarding Scion Sentries:
Seems that Scions either use them a lot or not at all. In the past couple of
weeks I've started to make use of this under-utilized, underappreciated unit.
They're really fast, relatively cheap, and can go just about anywhere you can.

4. Scion Tip - How to use Sentries:
In the early game...all you need is two pools. Throw up a kiln and you're in
business.

i. Take out guardians/turrets with your solar flares then send in 2 or 3
sentries
to destroy the extractor (no sense using up your own scout's limited ammo).
These
little suckers can hit and run before the enemy knows what's happened. When they
morph to assault, they can do some good damage against buildings.

ii. Later in the game, give 'em the right shields, and make a mixed squad of ion
guns and some EMP-bearing sentries. When you get close to an enemy tank, send in
those sentries first, then come along with your arc/ion cycling. Those quick-
moving sentries can really discombobulate your enemy when he's zapped by the
EMPs. Almost guarantees you'll be able to hit the player with at least 2 more
arc
zaps, as he tries to get away. (I said, almost.)


iii. When you're far from base, fresh new ion Sentries can get to you faster
than
any other unit. When it's time to attack the enemy buildings, a swarm of them
can
really help out the offense. They tend to get spread out when travelling, so
it's
best to bring them to a nav nearby first. Let them all gather 'round, then send
them in.

iv. Use [Sentries] to distract/destroy turrets and GTs when sending other units
in to attack buildings. They're fragile but can buy you the time needed to get
maulers past those defenses.

5. In a hurry to get somewhere special, fast?:
Hop in a Sentry. Late in the game when your enemy is in a Sabre, you'll leave
him
eating your dust. And he probably won't even expect you to be in a Sentry when
there's Warriors or Scouts in the area.

6. Using Blink Effectively:
I always use the Blink I don't know wy more people don't!!! I make people regret
pucking all there GT's in front and For ISDF puting all their power in the back
of the base. Just drive hold the blink "BLOOM" You are on the other side of
their
taking out there power. Then all the GT's are just really big and costy
paperweights. Any way I was doing this and they Kicked me with the message "I
Don't Know how you are doing that. Ether your lag is really high or you are
hacked" LOL I love the Blink.

7. Learn To Fly(not to be confused with piloting):
You should learn how to fly the ship. Basically, you turn your auto leveling
off,
and run up a mountain, turn the ships nose to the ground and hit reverse. Easier
said than done, but you will get the hang of it. The way I see it, flying is a
learned skill, and is one of the hardest to learn skills in the game. It's much
harder to fly a scout or MB well, than it is to drive it on the ground. I don't
see it as unbalancing because I am capable of going after someone flying if I
have to, but in most cases it's not necessary. I'd rather keep a bunch of
service
trucks going, and let the guy fly bomb all they want.


i. In Response:
Here are my reasons playing Auto-Level OFF against Auto-Level ON. i) Fighting
officially sucks -Normally when staying ground bound, the only reason someone
would stick to a cliff is because of partial cover and the ability to get away
by
dodging enemy fire with a big leap. Now, when people fight, ALO'ers (auto-level
off'ers as I call them) they look for the nearest cliff like a life line for an
opportunity to jump in the air and fire down at them. Now, I've experienced this
WAY more than once, and have gotten good at anticipating and evading it, but I
still think it's kind of silly, stupid, and unintentional within the games
limitations to have a scout flying in the air pointing down firing on others.
That isn't a hovertank, and if a flying vehicle can do that, it shouldn't be
able
to point straight down. The intention was ground battle, and I'll be damned
every
time someone wants to take it to the sky; they can suck my shadowers. However:
Using an ALO jump, an ALO'er can go much farther and reach places normal Auto-
leveled players cannot, or have an incredibly hard time reaching. Such places
are
like the tops of cliffs, or jumping from mountain to mountain etc. etc. I ALWAYS
play auto-level off. All my friends do to. I love the freedom and improved
Mortar
range.

ii. Regarding Turrents:
Learn how the turrets track ships, you need to learn how to kill turrets. People
do this in various ways. I have seen pilots start flying from a standstill
position and then hover of the turret and kill it. I still can't really do this
very well and I am very jealous of the thugs who do. Another way is to just
circle the turret and kill it. This is a bit more conventional but needs some
practice. Turrets are easy to destroy because they can't point straight up.
Attack them from the air (see Flying).

8. Using Jammers As Scion:
If you are playing Scion, if you build a jammer, you can then build a spire on
top of it. The enemy has to to kill the jammer first in order to kill the spire.
but remember, always put a turret near the lung so those rats that try to kill
the lung will get toasted. Jammers I find are very useful for something -
locking
out pools. A scavenger cannot be ordered to deploy on a pool if there is a
jammer
within 250 meters of it. That can be very nasty, for example: A player has a
pool
with 2 gun towers guarding it, and comes and beats you off whenever you try to
take it out. You just build a spire 250m away, and build a jammer. Now order a
mauler to go get his ext (3 mauler hits, easy), and he has a pretty hard job to
get that pool back, having to get past your spire, destroy your jammer, get a
new
scav built and order it to deploy. You might just build another jammer by then
too. Some negative feedback on Jammers in Spires: Building a Jammer inside a
Spire isn't in the same category as having a TURRET inside a pool. The deployed
Extractor protects the turret, keeping it from being damaged while it toasts
you.
The Jammer in the spire takes almost nothing to kill and doesn't do much more
than look cool.... Seriously, that's what started that. The Jammer just LOOKS
like it should be part of a Spire, and is one of the few buildings that
doesn't 'own' the terrain around it, allowing you to build a Spire around it. I
happen to feel 'someone' out there wanted it thus. I ran some tests with the
jammer and was unable to find that it did anything useful. I put it in proximity
of stuff and nothing was protected from the bomber. I had one built right in an
ISDF base, then built a RT close by (i.e. in radar range), which was able to
take
it out. So it didn't stop me from ordering a unit to attack when it was close to
the jammer. I built then next to a target and ordered the bomber to attack. So
it
didn't stop me from ordering the AI to attack when it was close to the target.
Apparently it only masks objects from appearing on the radar screen, which is
pretty useless since they are visually quite obvious. Sorta like a non-mobile
red
field. Big deal!


9. Study the Build Plan:
Learn the build trees. Hate to admit this, but it took me a long time to realize
what the minimun build requirements were for building a bomber bay. I would
always try and build everything possible before I even attempted to build the
bomber bay.

10. On Setting Nav Points:
Don’t set them closer than 10-30 meters to the pool. It will obscure the pool
region on the map with a blue mark making it very difficult to see if the
extractor is set or not to all your teammates. The larger the map the more
distance needed for clarity. If you put your nav on top of pool, you can get
teammates killed as they frustratedly try to place the scav on pool and it keeps
locking on to the nav point instead. Your teammate will have manuever about more
predictably, and have to get much closer to the pool to set it, leading to
easier
deaths for opposition. Don’t set your nav on top of a teammates nav for the same
reason, it turns his green mark on his map to a blue smudge. When I set a pool
nav its also has a secondary use. Its positioning is also selected for a single
turret at the pool, for late game remote pool takedown by turret or other unit.
So its usually on a slight rise near the pool, on the side nearest my base, so
the turret doesnt make a slowdown as it attempts to manuever past the set
extractor. I've killed many enemys turrets because they were dispatched so their
final spot was 2 zigs around the extractor, giving me another 10 seconds to get
it before it deploys. Setting navs with the travel path in mind can lead to
quicker traveling scavs if you lead them in the straighest lines possible. Every
time they zig to turn a corner, they slow down. If there are other AI near it as
it makes path decisions, both AI will be confused and jostle and even contribute
to game lag. If you set a nav incorrectly, its easily fixed by selecting the nav
to highlight it and then hit delete key. Learn how to use the topography of the
maps and place your nav points in the right spots. A great way to learn this is
to copy cat a vet and just place your navs where the vet will place his or hers.
This is very important because misplaced navs are very useless. Plus, always
place a nav at your service bay. Early in the game, place a Nav Point at your
Rec’s spawning point. This way, you can send damaged vehicles to pick up POD’s
automatically. Later, however, the recycler apron nav is a general "base" nav,
not used to pick up a power-up (in case the base is attacked, I can send stuff
there, or if I just need to get a scav out of danger, I'll send it to there).
For
me it's nothing to send a smoking turret to the recycler apron (even in battle),
rather than just let it be destroyed. It's no more micromanagement than playing
the game itself. Of course I don't really use that nav once the service bay is
up. I always find that having a nav point next to every pool is useful when
using
empty's to help you. This way, instead of looking around for a scav to order
attacked, before driving off to some other corner of the map to distract the
enemy, you can just order the scout to the nav. It's still easy to have nav1 on
your service bay, by simply deleting nav1 and re-placing it at your bay. One
person says to always try to keep Nav 1 for the dower/service bay. Just a bit of
consistency. But others argue that setting your Service Bay to nav beacon slot 2
would save you even more effort. Then you just have to press 2 twice and you're
done. Nav1 is the recycler apron (for power ups), nav2 is the service bay
(always). Nav beacons can be given custom names but does anyone actually take
the
time in a game to use this feature? I would love to name the nav points, but who
has time to jump into they relay bunker and type all that in. Is there a way to
name the navs while you are still in your ship?? No response has yet been
submitted. Determining Direction Using Navpoints: It does not matter about
having
your navpoint N1 at your service bay, just press tilde key (`) then choose the
navpoint that is on your service bay and press enter. It will highlite it on
your
map so you wont get confused in action. Also, if you have a few navpoints and
your not where you are, you can highlite a few important navpoints to get your
bearings.

11. On Pushing Vehicles:
I have noticed that pushing scavs into the water seems to be acceptable. So you
new guys out there - learn how to push scavs into the water. Plus, learn how to
push your builder when you are scion. If you use the sonic blast weapon and hit
the morph key, you then activate the sonic wave - well, this is a great method
to
push the builders clear across any map in no time. However, doing the old spire
walk is considered a no no among the elite players, its kinda cheap. But, you
know what would be cool is if you can somehow push your builder into a enemy
base
and deconstruct their rec, that would be hilarous. Highly improbable way to win
however.

12. Fleeing The Scene?:
If you try and run away from danger then you should always point your nose down
to the ground and hit your thrusters. If you see any types of hills you should
jump them.

13. Flarius Gets Nasty:
Flarius has a Nasty Little Trick website at - Nasty Strat


14. On Scav management:
When a deployed scav is killed it yields 4 scrap bits or 20 scrap verses the 10
for an undeployed. An advanced pilot tells his scav to pick up that loose before
he sets it. This quick influx of loose quickly pays for the scav if it should be
lost due to the small delay, and is a good bonus if not. I try to report that 20
in loose is coming when I can, this often allows us to get our chains that much
quicker. Or a much needed GT gets built in the nick of time. If I see that the
enemys pilots are setting scavs on pools without tidying up first I follow this
procedure. Pound on the poor enemy scav until its hull is red. Let it set,
triggering the scrap production delay from new deployment. Once its fully
transformed into an extractor, put it out of its misery. My scav picks up the
victims 20 and then I set it. Now my meter stops, but its at a good spot, with
enough to build something and 10 seconds to get to base. Letting the enemy scav
set results an extra 10 for my side with a tidy bonus of stopping scrap flow for
10 seconds to enemys coffers (effectively a 10 scrap penalty for them).

15. Using Mortar Bikes:
You don't need to fly a bike to take out the defenses and I normally don't. The
bike is just incredibly agile and shadowers don't lock on very easy. If the
commander gives me an MDM bike as soon as it's available, then the base defenses
will be down shortly. And I can get a bike before you can get plenty of service
trucks which you will lose anyway. However I hardly ever ask for an MDM bike,
because it really doesn't make for a good game. One of two things happen when
the
bike appears. Either the other team gets upset because it's all going down too
fast. Or the other team has a good bike pilot and they start returning the
favor.
The reason the bike is so much more insideous is that it is so difficult to kill
whether it's attacking or running. I can stop a Sabre from mortaring nearly as
soon as I engage it. It's difficult to stop a bike from mortaring even while you
are attacking it. Naturally this is only applicable to team strat. There are
usually too many things to do for the commander to be in a bike. But when
ordering something like a mortar bike to attack the enemy scavenger, it is a
little more time consuming to order it to attack the extractor itself, though if
you do that you will make the most of the mortar bike's range. You can usually
get it to sit 200m away making the enemy confused for at least a little while
until they are discovered, and when they are (you'll see the red dot) then they
get a 200m headstart back home. However, ordering the MB to a navpoint near the
scav is a sure way to get them slaughtered when discovered (see Setting Nav
Points).

16. Turrets In Service Bays:
Building a turret in the centre of your service bay is, I find, better than a
gun
tower/spire. Why? Turrets penetrate armour better than towers, especially when
given chainguns/gauss guns. A turret in a service bay is very rarely killable
without destroying the service bay. MDM's will hit the turret, but it repairs.
MDM's will bounce off the bay, making the combo less vulnerable than a tower.
Finally you can change the armament of a turret in bay to react to scion
shields,
or enemy tactics. In Argument: Can’t Turrents in Service Bays be view as using
the same lame cheater’s tactic as putting Turrents in Pools is consider
currently? After all, if the Service Bay constantly repairs the Turrent, how can
anyone be expected to beat it?

17. Using Armory/Forge to Disable Turrents or
Other Stationary Vehicles:
Make weak weapons (i.e. EMP Lockdown) and throw it at a enemy
Turrent/Guardian/Towers. EMP Lockdown in a turret makes a weapon called EMP
Stream. It has a range of 40m, and if it constantly paints it's target, it stops
it's target from using it's weapons. What could be more useless in a turret?
This
can obviously be a good counter to Turrets in Service Bays.

18. On Spire Walking:
Although considered by most as a cheap way of playing, if a player spire-walks
you, and you're a half-decent player (one who actually knows the construction
tree), bear in mind that he probably does NOT have a base, or base defense. As a
scion, I can *always* beat a fast-spire-walker with 1 mauler, destroying their
recycler, and with it their chances of success. As ISDF, I use an assault tank
with mortars.

19. On ISDF Bombers:
Whenever you see an enemy bomber in a team game, target it with ‘T’ on your
keyboard, then tell the other players to attack your target via the menus. This
will show the bomber up as a big red dot on their HUD and radar until you issue
another order. Assuming you never issue another order, a commander will always
know when the bomber is coming - which will make him very happy. Shoot At Bombs:
When a bomber is not destroyed, it will deposit it's bomb. You then have a
window
of about 1.5 seconds to destroy the bomb in mid-air. It has about twice the
health of a crate, and if destroyed deals no damage whatsoever. Obviously this
can be so useful it can sometimes make the difference between victory and
defeat.
If you target the bomber, it will be un-targetted as soon as it goes out of
radar
range. scouts have pretty long radar ranges for units (about 300 I think). Com
bunkers have very long ranges (500?), but overseer arrays have absolutely huge
ones(800?). If you want to tell your teammates where the bombers is, don't just
target it, since you will lose the target when you get some distance from it.
You
must actually use the 'attack my target' command from the menu. And remember...
paint the bomber AND NOT the bomber bay! If enemy has bomber, one teamate should
be constantly scouting enemy base and painting bomber for entire team. No other
painting should occur during bomber threats, so as to not risk losing the bomber
target. Everyone should mirror bomber paint.

20. Learn The Scion Shields:
Especially in a scion v scion, shields are usually the key to scion success.
Just
remember that kinetic weapons (AT-stabs, SP-stabs, chainguns, quills) are
usually
quite penetrating, reducing the usefulness of deflection shields. (Deflection
acts as armour against these weapons, but these weapons penetrate that armour
pretty well.) I personally NEVER find a use for stasis shields, but a newbie
could well find these easier to manage, and they are certainly not a bad choice.

21. Surprise!!!:
Be ready to see something new. Never accuse a player of cheating or hacking when
he does something you don't believe possible. There are always things in this
game people have never found (for example, I found a tactic a tiny bit less
useful than tipping a tank forwards, tonight.). It's best just to ask how
someone
does something. If he doesn't tell you, try your best to play against him in
future, and study him 'till you know it.

22. On Making Big Units Harder To Take Out:
In a walker or assault tank, equip the cannon hardpoint with plasma stabbers.
The
proximity damage will make them able to damage a strafing scout that they could
not hit otherwise.

23. On Targeting Enemy Vehicles:
The other thing you should always be aware of is the targeting of the enemy. I
can't tell you how many times I would target an enemy scout to just have a
newbie
go after him and die. When teammates target a scout, you should assess wether or
not he wants you to actually attack or just be aware of the situation. Normally
when someone targets an enemy ship for me, I target the ship for my teammate
right away. Now remember, some targets have more importance than others, and you
can have only one target at a time. So if someone targets the bomber, never
target anything else after that. Always have the bomber targeted. And the target
should be a chain event. Once someone targets the bomber, then the person who
has
it on their target scope, should then have everyone on his team targeted to the
bomber. Hope that made sense. How To Target Vehicles: Let’s cover targeting from
the beginning. First hit your F10 and F9 key to select your 2 wings. Now point
at
a target and press from your Command Menu "Attack My Target". A red highlight
will follow target where ever it goes on map, no matter the range. It only stays
visible for them, you lose it as soon as your radar range is exceeded. A good
teammate will mirror the "paint" so that the guy who first painted target also
gets a lock that covers the entire map. In fact that may be the only reason that
he painted the target at all, to keep track of a commander for example. You can
mirror targets painted for you without range limitations. Don't automatically
assume that "attack my target" means exactly that and go chasing wildly after it
on your own. If you paint another target after the first, the first mark
or "paint" will transfer to new target and the wing you selected will lose the
lock on the first one (including "go to" chain, etc.). You get one paint from
each wing that will stay until target is destroyed or transfered to another
target, so its possible to have up to 3 marks tracking on your map. Targeting
has
great value in the initial dogfight, if the whole team selects one target and
concentrates fire, and repeats process untill entire opposing team is out of
ships. If a wing has targeted an extractor, its likely he has shot it red
already
and ran out of ammo. Another note on painting: When you paint friendly targets,
it will say defend my target and be highlited in blue. If a commander says
defend
my target and paints a constructor he's trying to get out in the field, often
the
best defense is to lead the fight away from that area so the constructor doesn't
get discovered. If you are in possesion of service trucks and receive a "defend
friendly target", it could be a request to get it serviced. If you're a
commander, a common way your pilots will tell you that a turret is undeployed in
your base is to paint it for you. They are busy doing their job, and thats often
the only warning you will get (and lucky to get that). Also pilots can indicate
to each other exactly which scav it is they would like passed to them. Every now
and then I've received "service my target", not sure how this is different from
defend command, maybe someone else knows how to specify repair.


24. Monitoring Wingman Vehicles:
By selecting one of your wings you can see bargraphs of his health and his ammo
and use this to make strategic decisions based on his hull and ammo load. Tilde
Key (~): Also, while your wing is selected pressing the tilde key gives you a
list of all units in his possesion, an easy way to see who has a spare tank and
who doesn’t. About the tilde key thing - can you command your thug's units? NO
YOU CAN"T.

25. Concentrate Fire On Enemy Ships:
Remember that it's better to have 2 healhty enemies rather then 3 damged. This
is
because it only costs your oppenent 2 scrap for a POD and a little bit of time.
However, a new scout costs 20 scrap, loss of FAF missiles, a lot of time or loss
of sniper rifle. Plus, in this case, you would have only two opponents shooting
at you instead of taking damage from three ships!


26. Undefended Pools:
If an enemy scout is attacking a undefended pools. Leave him alone. Don't go
shooting with what Saint calls "ring around the rosie" with him. In the
strategic
element of the game, the more the enemy has you occupied defending targets and
your own base, the more time his commander has to establish a base and his
resources. I have had plenty of games with vets that all we did for a good part
of the game is to kill each others scavs. I know this sound boring but if you
let
the good enemy have the resources he needs, you are sure to lose. Plus, if you
see an enemy extractor plus a enemy scavs picking up scrap around that pool,
kill
the roving scav first because 1) its easier to kill 2) the enemy can't quickly
deploy it after you kill the current extractor.

27. Defending Extractors:
If you have a wingman, you can defend a scav...but you have to each take a side
and stay there. That way, no matter where the attacker goes, he's getting shot.
Try to overcome the urge to strafe around with him...not only will you interfere
with your wingman, you won't be able to hit the attacker near as much as if you
just kept to your side.

28. Tips On How To Practice:
I usually play 1 player, then play over a LAN with close friends (and
clanmates).
Only if the game is well and truly extraordinary do I play it online, and I
quickly learn a lot of things I didn't know before! (Especially on BZ2 -
everything from builders walking up cliffs, to flying, to guntower-
wobblekilling!) It's sometimes nicer to play the game without knowing any cheap
tactics for a while.

29. Using Drop Off Points:
I've noticed a lot of veteran commanders neglecting the drop off points feature
that Pandi gave us in 1.2 patch. This is a very handy feature accessed under the
recylers command list, the tilde key activates it. What it does is allow you to
set the new spot that units coming out of rec drive go to. This is a great tool
to help make life a bit more difficult for snipers as turrets barely pause at
all
before flying to the drop off point when they are made. Since a commander should
be in the field with his men as much as he can, this also allows him to decide
where the next turret should be deployed ahead of time. He can then go fight
with
his wings, build a turret and know that it will settle into the proper spot to
fend off the followers that are now pursuing him back to base. If you get scav
tangle during a protracted scav war, moving the drop off point to the front of
base can help. Consider the path between the rec and the drop off point to
minimize turns for best flow. The factory also has a drop off point, so your
rocket tanks can now go straight from production to the service bay without any
help from you. A Note From Ken Miller: I'm glad someone finally noticed the Drop
Off point. It was a "bonus" I put in there one day because it was really easy to
write, and I thought it would be cool. I figured it couldn't hurt, since DR2
uses
it to good effect.


30. Luring Enemy Scavs:
Don’t forget to lure scavengers to your base (or other heavily defended site),
all you have to do is blow up an empty scout. You can then easily destroy many a
wandering scav that keeps trying automatically to get at 10 measly scrap deep
inside your base.

31. Tweaking Texture Detail (DogMeat here. I am copying this verbatum since I
have no experience doing this tweak.):
Speaking of graphics, one little "trick of the trade" that I discovered and use
myself, is to "create" more texture detail by using a lesser texture filtering.
yeah this ain't a game skill trick but rather a game settings trick. by default,
i believe bz2 is at "linearmiplinear" which tends to do a lot of bilinear
filtering, creating a "fuzziness" to the model and terrain textures. what i do
is
change it to "linear" and it clears up the textures somewhat, sorta like
clearing
your sinuses... it just clears up the filtering to expose more original texture
detail. the sacrifice is that linear filtering exposes laddering and waviness
that is inherent in this level of tex filter, but the sacrifice ain't too great
and you do get a better clearer picture. with linear, the waviness of the
terrain
as you move around is more provocative in lesser resolutions, like 640x480, but
less apparent at 1024x768, which is the resolution i run bz2 in, or higher. and
changing it to linear is great especially when you are using the small textures
pak, where the textures are already fuzzy-looking. console command is:
vid.filter.linear to take off tex filtering ompletely, use: vid.filter.nearest.
Any pandemic programmers may wish to elaborate some more.

32. Placing Nav Points For Scions:
Placing the nav above the matriarch's head still works ok, but I don't like it
being up there, so I place it in advance. I tell the matriarch to deploy, then
remember the wireframe to place the nav exactly. You get used to doing it
second-
nature after a few goes. The problem with scions using this tactic is the fact
that a scion pod appears slightly below ground level, and this causes scion
units
to p*ss about a bit while trying to get to the pod. On the Matriarch service
nav,
if you aim nav closer to center of rec floor to compensate for floor vs ground
height differences, you can nail that pod spawn spot everytime with practice.
Its
a good idea to remove those navs once you get dower or bay, since they hide pods
rather effectively.


33. Deploying Rec At Start Of Game:
At start, select Rec and use wireframe option to orient its position. Deploy
without moving it; this will save precious seconds at the start. When Rec (and
Factory, too) is deployed, select it and use the ~ key to set the drop off
point.
This very handy new feature new feature can be changed as base gets set up.

34. Gauss Gun Usage:
While playing the computer (doesn't work well in a human v human), try giving a
sentry or a warrior a gauss gun, then throwing a shield pod to be picked up
*after* the gauss gun is installed. For some reason this causes the gauss gun to
fire 2-3 times more rapidly, making it one incredibly powerful weapon. Shame
it's
ammo consumption is so poor.

35. A Note On Recycling Usable Buildings:
One players said, “Though I did Recycler my Factory to get Bomber Bay faster.”
Another’s response was, “Interesting tactic, but where do you draw the line at
scrap cheating?”

36. On Confusing Your Opponent:
Always have at least one AI unit at your command (especially a mortar bike, but
an empty scout with an AI pilot does ok). Then place one nav at your service bay
deck, that's all. Delete all other navs. Here's the trick... if you find an
enemy
scavenger, and its undefended, tell your stray MB (or pack of them, if you like)
to attack it and IMMEDIATELY draw the opponent's attention by shooting something
nearby, perhaps another pool. Buy his time and dance around the pool or whatnot,
then when the pool you ordered to be destroyed earlier is gone, quickly hit the
Ctrl-group of the units, then 2 then 1, and they will go back to the bay.
Remember, AI units are less affected by lag than we are, and will most likely be
able to escape from the enemy in a laggy game. Plus if they are discovered, you
can instinctively press ctrl group 2 1 to run home, and, while knowing your
enemy
is distracted, proceed to attack one of his other pools. Try to split your
opponent's attention, but play him into your hands. Make him go where you want
him to go. This same technique can also be used by pilots. Find a stray
scavenger
close to the enemy base, and fire on the scav enough rounds to cause their radar
to go BEEP BEEP and they realize the scav is under attack. Since it's close by,
someone will surely run out of the base looking for a fight, until they realize
you are right behind them, and after firing the four rounds into the enemy's
scav, you hid nearby silent in wait and got him in the rear. See? Play them into
your hands. I will part with one more... placing more attractive targets (like
assault tanks) alone somewhere with a scav next to it will attract your enemy.
Since they are rather simple to take down even with a stock empty this will draw
them away as they hack at its armor for a minute. This is a PERFECT diversion
and
can give you enough time to do something nasty to their base, at the cost of an
assault tank (of course, the scavenger is there to pick up his remains, not a
complete loss).



37. Arranging Your Command Groups:
Similarly I shuffle F keys around, to try to keep F1-F4 for combat units. F1 for
my #1 squad at the moment; scavs and turrets get relegated down to F7 8 or 9
(depending on the number of teammates).Builders on F5 and F6. Another opinion on
groups: I always put my first Constructor/Builder at F1. Then F2 - F4 initially
is for Turrents to defend Pools which are coincidently labeled Nav2 - Nav4
(Nav1,
of course is Service Bay/Rec Apron). That way, I know if a Turrent assigned F2
is
being attacked that my pool at Nav2 is being invaded. Then F5-F8 are assigned to
attack groups with F5 usually assigned to my personal wingmen. In SP games I
then
use F9 for Bomber and always F10 for Service Truck. In MP games my Service Truck
is assigned to F8. The basic thought is that I do not break up my group by
number
necessarially, but rather by how the F keys are physically separated on the
keyboard. Using the separation helps in the heat of battle knowing which key you
need to hit without really taking your eyes off the screen.


38. The Dead Pool: Time Virus
The infamous "dead pool". This has been the scourge of many a good strat. It is
caused by moving a scav off the pool at the exact instant it is setting. A lot
of
players knew this already but what a lot don't know is you can fix it if you act
quickly.
When you see a scav exhibiting the deploying animation as it travels, this is
the
source scav of a dead pool. If you target that source scav, you can see who the
dufus is who broke it. To repair the pool you must tell the source scav to pick
you up, and you personally drive it to the broken pool and deploy it. The pool
will now be repaired.


To avoid this in the first place you can do a couple things to help. Try to give
scavs to one designated pilot (scavenger sergeant) so he can keep track of them
and be careful to not move off them pools. And when I set a scav I assign it to
a
special group so I know its set and dont accidently tell any of that group to
scavenge.

39. Dealing With Mr. Clumsy: Time Virus
How many times have you told your constructor to build defenses as you saw the
red dots appear on radar, only to have it do a little dance instead and you lose
half your base as a result. Well you can bump him to speed things up but its not
random bumping that does it. Each time you disturb him expect a 1 to 3 second
dance penalty for the offense. So your bump should instead be one long smooth
push similar to pushing a scav in water.

The constructor is easily confused by other AI in your base, especially turrets.
Should they encounter, the constructor will dance for anything from 3 seconds to
5 minutes until the turret may decide to undeploy and move for him. The turrets
almost never redeploy after this courtesy making them prime sniper bait. You can
avoid the turret undeploying if its directly in the builders only path by
pushing
the builder up and over the turret. This helps the with the builders inevitable
confusion and also prevents the turret from undeploying. The builder seems to
prefer the path along the line between build tiles and if your turrets are
deployed completely within a tile that is built already, there is much less
chance they will undeploy for Mr. Clumsy.


The other thing that confuses builders is dual pathing problems. If you tell
your
builder to build something exactly diagonaly across your recycler, expect a lot
of dancing as it decides which way to go and finally makes its way around kitty
corner. A bump in one direction can help. I've found that if you must bump your
builder, then the best way is to bump it to the center of another build tile
entirely. Now watch it for 3 seconds to see if it snaps out of it, usually that
one tile bump is all it needs to recalculate a path and gather its wits. If you
need to bump it again, do it a minimum length of another tile.

So there are some good times to bump your builder, but if its path is
unobstructed and it doesnt seem confused, you are probably better off letting it
waddle along at its own pace. The bumped speed is only about 10% faster and you
must account for the inevitable dance.

40. Scav Stunning: Time Virus
Every time a scav is shot at it often will stop scavenging, so if you want them
to keep picking up as they are under fire, tell them repeatedly to scavenge. The
reverse can be used to slow enemy scavs from vaccuming your precious loose by
sprinkling them all with gunfire before concentrating your efforts on your main
target.

41. Satellite Resources: Time Virus
When a commander gives you scavs, dont set the pools local to base. Thats his
job. Get them set as far as possible from base. The farther a scav is from home,
the more its worth. Everythings cost must have the time component factored in,
not just its basic scrap cost. Likewise killing enemy scavs, the most valuable
are the ones farthest from enemy base. ALWAYS move your scavs out of base to a
remote nav when commander gives them to you. They obstruct defenses, confuse
builders and other AI, add to general base lag and are generally unsightly. A
tidy base is an efficient base.

42. Turrets on Crack: Time Virus
If you see a turret undeployed in your base, often a headbutt by you will remind
it to deploy again. This can be alot quicker than typing to commander that hes
got an undeployed turret.

43. Kill Extra Scavs First: Fly135
Kill the wandering scavs before you kill the pool. I prefer to take all scavs
and
extractors down to red before killing any of them. Get back and get a load of
ammo and then kill them all. That way the enemy doesn't get the scrap which
results when you kill one at a time. In the meantime you should be moving some
scavs into the area for reaping the big harvest of loose scrap.


44. Got Scav? Don't Leave Home w/o One!: LoC Mattroxx
When I'm commanding, I try to make sure that each thug has at least one scav at
all times; but sometimes they don't do anything with the scav and it just sits,
useless, in the base. When I'm a thug, I always want to have at least one scav
nearby. they have so many uses.

-scoop up results of dogfights
-default target for enemy AI units
-good to use as 'shield' to duck behind when fighting
-decoy to draw fire from enemy defenses while you toast them

ASAP after knocking out enemy extractor, deploy your own scav on the pool. Even
if it's close to enemy base and won't last long, it will draw a lot of attention
from your opposing commander.

45. Shut Up, Biatch!: Time Virus
Tired of the nagging Betty always telling you your base is under attack? Units
lost, bla bla bla. Like you didnt know... If you put wave files in your addons
directory with the right names, they will replace the nagging ladys voice for
various warnings. I chose a low key pleasant muted beep for my replacement sound
of base under attack. Much less stressful than a woman naggin me constantly.

The files names and the warning they will replace:
abetty1.wav unit lost
abetty2.wav defensive unit lost
abetty3.wav offensive unit lost
abetty4.wav scavenger lost
abetty6.wav base under attack
abetty7.wav ammo depleted
abetty9.wav damage critical
abetty11.wav power lost
abetty14.wav building lost

icomm01.wav is the background radio chatter when in a relay bunker... replace
with your favorite bunker commanders music.

Hint: When your armor starts to get low, order one of your tanks to come and
pick you up; that way, if your tank is destroyed, you'll have a nearby vehicle
ready to go.

Hint: In multiplayer games, be sure to shoot anyone who is running around on
foot. If he's your opponent, you'll win the game by taking him out.
                                        
Hint: You can assume control of enemy vehicles by shooting the driver with the
sniper rifle, then assuming his place behind the wheel.

Tips for Battlezone 2 Multiplayer

   This document was written by Nathan Mates, email nathan@visi.com. As
   this document may be updated over time, please do not copy out its
   contents to other websites. A link to
   http://www.visi.com/~nathan/bz2/nettips.html is acceptable. Note: this
   information is NOT provided as an official source; please refer to the
   game manual for that. Please do not call or email Tech Support for
   help with anything contained below.

   For the official BZ2 discussion boards, please see
   http://www.pandemicstudios.com/bzii/, or Activision's website at
   http://www.activision.com/.

   Version 1.0. Last Updated: January 2, 2000.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Ports, Firewalls, IPMasq/NAT/Internet Connection Sharing

   Battlezone2's network traffic runs under TCP/IP only. By default, it
   uses UDP ports 17770 and 17771. If you have a firewall in place
   between your computer and the network, you will have to allow traffic
   to freely travel in both directions along those ports. Consult the
   documentation for the firewall to allow that to happen.
                                        
   If you are using some sort of address-translation setup
   (IPMasq/NAT/Internet Connection Sharing), and are having troubles
   connecting to games, first check firewall settings. Additionally, you
   may want to manually forward traffic on the BZ2 ports to the computers
   in question. Once again, consult the documentation for your setup.
     _________________________________________________________________

  In-game chat

   While you can chat in Battlezone 2 from the non-pausing escape-screen,
   it's faster and easier to simply hit , type what you want to say, and
   hit again.
     _________________________________________________________________

  In-game score info

   Control+Enter while playing BZ2 Multiplayer (though not with the
   Escape screen up) toggles the in-game score info on/off.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Chat commands

   While there's a lot of commands that you can execute with the GUI, at
   any of the 3 chatlines (shell, in-game Escape screen, in-game
   activated by 'Enter') have a number of commands that can be executed.
   Type "/help" (no "s) on a line by itself to see the mini-help, or use
   this list of commands.

   For commands that have a required parameter, it is marked below in
   []s; an optinal parameter is in {}s.

   * /help
          Shows mini-help for most chat commands

   * /list
          Shows a list of players. It will look something like this:

Players in game:
C: (0) GSH [Local] [Server]

          The 'C:' up front identifies them as a team commander (if
          applicable). Next is a number in parentheses before the
          playername; it can be used as a shortcut to that player's name
          if you'd rather not type it out, e.g. "/info 0" or "/info GSH"
          will do the same thing. Finally, the local player (you) is
          identified, as well as the server by optional tags.

   * /info [Name/ID#]
          Shows info on a particular player. You must follow this command
          with either the player name, or the player number identifier.
          This command will have output like this:

Info on (0) Name: GSH [Local] [Server]
  Ping: 0 Deaths: 0 Kills: 0
  Commander of TeamGroup 1

          The info presented above should be self-explanatory.

   * /pinglist
          Shows ping times to all players. The pingtime is the average
          round-trip time in milliseconds for packets to get to the
          server and back. Thus, a ping of 500 is 1/2 of a second.

   * /leave {Explanation}
          Leaves the game. If an explanation message is also on that
          command line, it will be sent to all first.

   * /msg [Name/ID#] [Text]
          Sends a private message to the specified player. This is always
          sent to just that player, no matter what the Chat with
          All|Team|One is set to. Private messages appear on the sender's
          chat window as follows:

-> GSH: This is a private message sent to GSH

          and on the receiving end as:

GSH ->: This is a private message sent from GSH

   * /kick [Name/ID#] {Explanation}
          A server-only command; it removes that player from the game
          asap. An explanation may be given on the line, but it's not
          necessary.

   * /nick [NewName]
          Changes your in-game name to the new name specified. Spaces are
          not allowed in names, and the server may correct your name for
          legality and/or uniqueness.

   * /lockdown
          A server-only command; it prevents anyone from joining. Same
          functionality as the 'Joins: Deny' button in the shell and
          escape screen.

   * /openjoin
          A server-only command; it reverses the /lockdown and allows
          anyone to join. [Subject to passwords, player limits, etc].
          Same functionality as the 'Joins: Deny' button in the shell and
          escape screen.

   * /chatall
          Sets further chat messages to be sent to all players in the
          game. Same functionality as the 'Chat with All' interface
          buttons.

   * /chatall
          Sets further chat messages to be sent to all teammates. If
          teamplay is off, this setting acts like 'Chat with All'. Same
          functionality as the 'Chat with Team' interface buttons.

   * /chatone [Name/ID#]
          Sets further chat messages to be sent to the specified player,
          without having to use the /msg command above. Same
          functionality as the 'Chat with One' interface buttons.

   * /chattype
          Reports what the current chat type is-- chat with All, Team, or
          a single player.

   * /commandlist
          Shows all commands recognized by the chat system.

   * /vehiclelist
          Shows what each player has chosen for a vehicle. If DM vehicle
          randomizing is on (see below), this option will not show the
          current vehicle, but only what they chose in the shell.

   * /ip [Name/ID#]
          Shows the IP address for a given player other than the local
          player. Note: clients can only see the IP address of the
          server; they have no ability to see any other clients' info.
          Servers can see the IP address of anyone.

   * /iplist
          Shows the IP addresses of all players in game; once again
          clients can only see the IP address of the server; they have no
          ability to see any other clients' info. Servers can see the IP
          address of anyone.

   * /gsoff
          Server-only option; stops responding to all Gamespy queries
          received. This will effectively prevent anyone from seeing (and
          therefore joining) the game. This option may be most useful for
          modem-servers who don't want the possibility of extra bandwidth
          being used by mid-game Gamespy queries.

   * /gson
          Server-only option, and the default. Allows BZ2 to respond to
          all Gamespy queries received. If /gsoff had previously been
          done, this'll allow the game to be visible once again.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Sync Join

   Noted as 'Sync (Off) (On)' in the server's shell interface, this
   option allows the server to have all players start playing at the same
   time. In deathmatch, such an option is not normally chosen, but for
   strategy games, it may be desirable to do this. (Note: selecting
   another map will reset this option (and others) to what the map's
   defaults are.)

   If Sync Join is on, when the server launches, it'll wait for all other
   clients to launch as well. When all clients have reported in, the
   server will send the gamestate to them, and gameplay will begin.
   However, if a client (taking a nap or something) doesn't hit the
   'Enter Game' button within 120 seconds, they'll be kicked out.

   After the Sync Join is completed, by default, other players may join,
   as if Sync Join was off. Use the 'Joins: Allow/Forbid' option to
   prevent further joins after a sync join.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Vehicle Randomizer

   In Deathmatch (and similar, such as CTF and Loot) games, the server
   has the option of randomizing vehicles. The shell option looks like
   this: 'Vehicle [Fixed|Race|Random]'. (Note: selecting another map will
   reset this option (and others) to what the map's defaults are.) If the
   selection is 'Fixed', a new craft for a player will always be
   identical to their vehicle selection within the shell.

   If the selection is set to 'Race', then a random vehicle of the same
   race as that player's shell selection is chosen. (Of course, that
   randomizing is within the list of allowed vehicles by the server.) If
   the selection is set to 'Random', a random vehicle of any race allowed
   by the server is chosen.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Chat messages timeout

   By default, the in-game chat/messages window (not the escape screen)
   erases messages after 5 seconds. However, this is settable from the
   game console. While playing, hit Control-` (that's 2-keys, control and
   the key with ` and ~ marked on it) to pull up the console. [Chat
   messages are printed there as well, so some may just want to see that
   for a few seconds.] At the console, type
   'network.session.messagesappearforseconds 99' to set it to 99 seconds
   (what I prefer). The number can be anywhere from 1 to 9999 seconds;
   outside that range and it'll be reset to the default of 5 seconds. Hit
   Control-` to hide the console again.

   The console does have tab-completion (if you don't know what that is,
   you should use unix more) of commands. So, you can hit
   'net'[tab]'.ses'[tab]'.mes'[tab] to type that line a little faster.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Objectives window obscures chat

   If you hit 'o' during multiplayer, an empty transparent gray box will
   appear on the right side of the screen. [CTF may put an actual
   objective in it.] This objectives window will hide the chat window
   which appears in the same place. Hit 'o' again to turn it off.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Non-pausing servers

   By default, a BZ2 game will pause when a new client joins. This is
   designed to give modem servers a chance to have more bandwidth
   available to send the gamestate to new clients without being
   overloaded. However, if the game is hosted from a faster (i.e. ISDN,
   Cable Modem, DSL, T1, T3, OC-48) network connection, you may want to
   turn this off.

   Note: this information is provided to you without any guarantees of
   support or stability. It is an officially unsupported option, and
   should be used at your own risk. [In other words: don't gripe if it
   doesn't work for you. You're on your own.] To set this up, as a
   server, when you're in the MP shell (i.e. choosing a map/vehicle), go
   to the console (see above), and type the following
   'network.session.ivar10 1'. [The default setting is 0, i.e. pausing]
   That preference will be used until you quit and start another game.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Playing on a LAN Only

   BZ2 supports non-gamespy games among machines connected on a single
   subnet. To do this, all machines must have the same first 3 sections
   of their IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.*), and a valid subnet mask
   (usually 255.255.255.0 for such a class-C network). Next, from the
   game servers list window, there's a button in the top-right of that
   window marked 'Gamespy'. Press that button and it'll change to 'LAN
   Only'. [See command line options below for how to set this by default]
   This button must be set the same on all machines you want to play a
   game with.

   With a server set to LAN Only, it will not broadcast game information
   to Gamespy, and thus cannot be seen by a machine outside of your
   subnet. That is why a client must also be set to the LAN Only.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Commandline Options

   BZ2 supports several commandline options that Gamespy uses. To enter
   them, you'll either have to create a shortcut to bzone.exe, and edit
   that shortcut's properties, or add in the options via Start -> Run
   under Windows pointed at bzone.exe.

   * +name "Player Name"
          Sets the initial Multiplayer player name to the value
          specified. If there is a space or other character in the name,
          it must be enclosed in "s, as above. However, BZ2 will still
          ensure the name conforms to limits.

   * /lanonly
          Sets the initial setting of the Gamespy/LAN Only button to be
          LAN Only; omitting this option uses the default of Gamespy. You
          may still change this setting in-game, though.

   * +host [PortNum]
          Starts up BZ2 as a host (i.e. server) of a game, and places you
          in the Multiplayer Game Options shell screen. Valid port
          numbers to host on are 1024 through 65534; if the portnum
          specified is outside that range, the default of 17770 is used.
          BZ2 always uses 2 ports that are adjacently numbered; the
          number specified is the first.

   * +connect [i.p.add.ress:PortNum]
          Starts up BZ2 as a client to the game specified by IP address
          and port number; the port number should be the second BZ2 port
          number, usually 17771. For example, "+connect
          192.168.1.4:17771" tries to join the game at 192.168.1.4.

   * +password "TopSecretPassword"
          For either a client or a server (see above), this commandline
          parameter sets the password used when creating or joining that
          game.

    Scrap Management Guide

   This document was written by Nathan Mates, email nathan@visi.com. As
   this document may be updated over time, please do not copy out its
   contents to other websites. A link to
   http://www.visi.com/~nathan/bz2/scrapmgmt.html is acceptable. Note:
   this information is NOT provided as an official source; please refer
   to the game manual for that. Please do not call or email Tech Support
   for help with anything contained below.

   For the official BZ2 discussion boards, please see
   http://www.pandemicstudios.com/bzii/, or Activision's website at
   http://www.activision.com/.

   Version 1.0. Last Updated: January 4, 2000.
     _________________________________________________________________

   BZ2, while it may seem to have a fairly straightforward/simplistic
   approach to gathering scrap (resources), there is a lot of ways to get
   the most tank for your scrap, err, bang for your buck. This guide
   covers the following:

   * Managing deployed scavengers (extractors)

   * Managing free-roving scavengers

   * Build order for map 'hilo.bzn'
     _________________________________________________________________

  Managing deployed scavengers (extractors)

   Scavengers that have been told to go to a scrap pool permanently
   change from free-roving mode to a building called an extractor. While
   it may seem counterintuitive to cover the extractors first, you'll see
   the rationale for that after the extractor system is covered first
   here.

   [Tip: if you want to play around with things without pressures of
   combat, start a 'LAN Only' Multiplayer Strategy game (or disable joins
   on handin a gamespy game), and choose a map like 'ST: High & Low'
   (hilo.bzn). You'll then be able to have a 'sandbox' for building
   things.]

   Familiarize yourself with the scrap gauge at the left side of the
   screen. When you start a multiplayer strategy game, a default game
   will have that gauge consist of one large vertical component, filled
   with white, and count of 40 scrap below. That long component is your
   recycler, and it's at maximum capacity.

   For any scrap to come in from extractor(s), two things must happen:
   (1) your recycler must be deployed (i.e. not a vehicle), and (2) you
   must have a extractor (deployed scavenger). When this happens, your
   scrap gauge will change: it will have a smaller section below the
   recycler's component. If you have a second extractor, it'll also
   appear below the recycler. An 'upgraded' (use a Constructor/Builder)
   extractor has a red background, and is below the regular extractor(s).

   Also, note this: your maximum scrap capacity (i.e. what you can have
   on hand) is the sum of the capacities of all your extractors and
   recycler. If you want to build anything that costs more than 40, you
   better have an extractor built. Two extractors and a recycler give you
   a maximum of 80 scrap .

   Here's the hard facts on the three sources of scrap via extractors:
    1. Recycler. Cost: N/A. Capacity: 40 scrap. Production rate: 1 scrap
       every 3 seconds.
    2. Extractor. Cost: 20. Capacity: 20 scrap. Production rate: 1 scrap
       every second.
    3. Upgraded Extractor. Cost: 80 (20 for original extractor, 60 for
       the upgrade). Capacity: 20 scrap. Production rate: 2 scrap every
       second.

   This points out one important rule:

   Your fastest scrap producers are at the bottom of the scrap gauge.

   Next, note that the current level of scrap (the white bar) is
   contained somewhere within one of the segments, i.e. a specific
   extractor or the recycler. That happens to be the 'active' scrap
   producer-- and only one can be active at once. Anytime your scrap bar
   is within an upgraded extractor, you'll get 2 scrap per second.
   Anytime the scrap bar is within the recycler, you get one scrap every
   3 seconds.

   From this, I conclude one very important rule about extractors: 'Time
   is Money'. Consider a 3-second period of gameplay: if the scrap bar is
   within an upgraded extractor, you'll get 6 scrap. If it's within a
   regular extractor, you'll get 3 scrap. And if it's in the recycler,
   you get 1 scrap. Thus, your scrap income depends on how well you
   manage your scrap bar.

   Most strategy guides for RTSs point out one thing: there's no interest
   paid for keeping your money in the bank-- it's better to keep it
   spent. BZ2 really reinforces that, as the lower your scrap is, the
   more you'll take in. [Of course, if you spend your scrap foolishly,
   just to keep it low, you're not guaranteed any success in the matter.]

   Because 'Recycler Scrap' is so costly (3 seconds each), I try and keep
   from using it as much as possible during a game. Say you want to build
   a bunch of tanks costing 55 scrap each. The following is the time
   needed to go from 0 scrap to 55, with the given equipment, sorted by
   worst time first:

   * Recycler only
          Impossible: max scrap is 40, and your recycler will not produce
          scrap without an extractor.
                                        
   * Regular Extractor + Recycler
          First 20 scrap (coming from extractor): 20 seconds. Next 35
          scrap: 105 seconds (35*3, coming from recycler). Total time:
          125 seconds (2 min, 5 seconds).

   * Upgraded Extractor + Recycler
          First 20 scrap (upgraded): 10 seconds. Next 35 scrap: 105
          seconds (35*3). Total time: 115 seconds.

   * 2 Regular + Recycler
          First 40 scrap (extractor): 40 seconds. Next 15 scrap: 45
          seconds (15*3). Total time: 85 seconds.

   * Upgraded + Regular + Recycler
          First 20 scrap (upgraded): 10 seconds. Next 20 scrap (regular):
          20 seconds. Next 15 scrap: 45 seconds (15*3). Total time: 75
          seconds.

   * 3 Regular + Recycler
          All 55 scrap (extractor): 55 seconds. Total time: 55 seconds.

   * Upgraded + 2 Regular + Recycler
          First 20 scrap: 10 seconds. Next 35 scrap: 35 seconds. Total
          time: 45 seconds.

   * 2 Upgraded + Regular + Recycler
          First 40 scrap: 20 seconds. Next 15 scrap: 15 seconds. Total
          time: 35 seconds.

   * 3 Upgraded + Recycler
          First 55 scrap: 27.5 seconds. Total time: 27.5 seconds.

   In the above, the biggest difference most players will see is between
   2 regular + recycler (85 seconds) and 3 regular (55 seconds). That's
   30 seconds off a tank's build time simply by having one more
   extractor. That all comes because 'Recycler Scrap' is just so much
   more costly than other methods. When I play, I try and spend out of
   'Extractor Scrap' only, or dipping slightly into the recycler for
   things costing say 65 if you have 3 extractors.

   Also, consider your spending habits and consider skewing them around:
   with 2 regulars and a scavenger and a scrap gauge around 50, it's far
   better to buy a tank (cost 55) then a scavenger, rather than the other
   way around. Do the math: buying the scav first will set the scrap
   gauge back to 30, where it'll take 55 seconds to get to 55 scrap.
   However, if you wait 15 seconds to get to 55 scrap and buy the tank,
   your scrap gauge will usually be near 20 by the time production of the
   tank is done. In other words: buy the expensive stuff first.

   Note the following, though: for the first 12 seconds of a extractor's
   time in the scrap gauge, it pauses while it starts up. [This applies
   to when it first deploys and when it's upgraded.] You can see this
   easily by telling two scavs to deploy at roughly the same time, when
   your scrap is at zero. Both will be added to the scrap bar, but it'll
   wait 12 seconds for the first extractor to start producing, and it'll
   get to 20 scrap. Then, the second scavenger's 12-second dead time
   starts before it starts producing scrap. This delay happens for only 1
   time, though, and is unavoidable.

   Given their cost of the upgrade (60 scrap), when does it make sense to
   upgrade an extractor? Do the math: it'll take 30 seconds for that
   extractor to produce that 60 scrap back, plus the 12-second delay.
   Also, during that 12-second delay, you won't be producing anything as
   opposed to 12 scrap in a regular extractor. Thus, your scrap gauge
   will have to be in that upgraded extractor about 50 seconds to pay
   back the cost-- or fill that segment completely just over 5 times.
   Factoring in time/risk to get a (vulnerable and slow) constructor out
   to the extractor, I figure that if a extractor is going to be in use
   (fill up 20 scrap) for more than about 8-10 times, it's worth it to go
   for the upgrade. The extractors close to your base(s) should
   definitely be upgraded for a long game-- they more than pay for
   themselves in a game that lasts over half an hour.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Managing free-roving scavengers

   Each time a free-roving scavenger drives over a piece of scrap on the
   ground and picks it up, you get 5 scrap, instantly. [Subject to
   available capacity.] Also, as long as you have a deployed recycler,
   they can scavenge, no need to have an extractor first.

   From the above, we know that the worst time for extractors is when the
   scrap gauge is in the recycler. So, the best time for free-roving
   scavengers is when the scrap gauge is in the recycler. Do the math: +5
   scrap when the scrap gauge is in an upgraded extractor is roughly 2.5
   seconds worth. If it's in the recycler, that's 15 seconds worth of
   income. It's more micromanagement to control your extractors so that
   they scavenge mostly when the scrap gauge is in the recycler, but you
   can get serious wins that way.
     _________________________________________________________________

  Build order for map 'hilo.bzn'

   I've had a lot of practice on this map while testing stuff, so here's
   my fairly well optimized build order for this map. You may have to
   adapt it for other maps, as the amount of loose scrap on the ground
   determines how fast you can reach the various stages. See the
   directions above for playing a lan only game by yourself to practice
   this.

   1) Deploy your recycler. This takes a significant amount of time, and
   it travels slowly, so you may want to just tell it to deploy ASAP.
   However, with practice, you may determine better locations and/or
   orientations for it.

   2) As soon as your recycler (key: 1) icon appears, build a scav. [Tip:
   bashing the 1 key too quickly will get it ignored.] When that scav
   (F1) appears, set it to scavenge.

   3) Build a second scav (scrap now 0), F2 group. When it appears, set
   it to deploy on the scrap pool near the starting location. Your F1
   scav should have about 10-15 scrap by now.

   4) Start heading towards the upper half (NW side) of the map. When
   your F1 scav has collected 20 scrap (usually before F2-scav finishes
   deploying), build a third scav (F3).

   5) Send the F3 scav to the close uphill scrap pool, and set a nav
   beacon on the mountain nearby.

   6) As soon as you get 20 scrap again, build a 4th scav. [F2 group now
   empty, so it'll go into F2]. Your F1 scav should be done collecting
   the loose scrap near your base by now, so it's free to be pointed
   somewhere.

   7) At this point, be scanning your radar to see if your opponent is
   doing the same thing topside:

   7A) If they've not come up there yet, redirect your F3 scav to the far
   top pool, and the F2 (4th) to the close top. Then, hightail it over
   the cliff (no damage) to the 'close' (to your base) lower scrap pool,
   where your 1st (F1) scav should go.

   7B) If they have come up along with you, send the F2 scav to the nav
   beacon, and head over the cliff to the close lower scrap pool, sending
   your F1 scav to there.

   8) Set a nav beacon by the mountain on the lower side. If you haven't
   already, send scavs to both, and when you see them near their target
   locations, set them to scavenge.

   Summary: if your opponent followed the same build order, you've split
   the scrap pools evenly between you (3 each, the close ones to your
   base), and are in shape for some well-matched combat. However, if they
   aren't ready to immediately expand, you can collect 4, maybe even 5
   scrap pools, plus all the loose scrap. That's a huge tactical
   advantage in the early game to be ahead in resources.

   Downsides to the above: you cover a split-level battlefield. You can
   go over cliffs, but your AI wingmen may want to take the long route
   around.

   And, a final tip: a pair of turrets posted near an *enemy* extractor
   do wonders in the early game for knocking them out (they're real
   tough), and fending off the inevitable response.

1 миссия проста - просто выполняйте ВСЕ приказы командора Шабаевой (или Шабаева,
не ясно). Единственное - Когда прибудете на разрушенную базу - найдите здание,
над которым торчит большая тарелкообразная антенна. С той стороны, куда антенна
ближе, есть дверь, куда надо войти (для этого надо выйти из скаута - по
умолчанию, кнопка "H" (латинская)). Зайдя туда, тыкаемся в лежащего там майора
Мэнсона. После этого снова залазим в свой скаут и продолжаем выполнять приказы.
Все просто.

2 миссия - Просто выполняйте все действия командира - ничего сложного.

3 миссия - Как появились, так ныряем в туннель, на развилке берем влево и
натыкаемся на вражеский транспортник, пытающийся украсть болванку-оборудование.
ВНИМАНИЕ! Дайте транспортнику вытащить барахло из туннеля, или из-за
недоработки,
командор Шабаева встанет в туннеле и вы будете напрасно ждать продолжения. После
уничтожения транспортника вы остаетесь на базе и валите всех врагов, нападающих
на нее до тех пор, пока командор не вернется еще с двумя хмырями. Кстати, у
выхода из туннеля (где мы поймали вражеский транспорт) стоит целый танк -
неплохая замена скауту. Очень хорошее оружие, тем более, что у него есть Мортира
-
 оружие, которое может бить навесом намного дальше, чем многие виды оружия бьют
вперед - так можно расстреливать башни, защитные сооружения и далекую технику
врага.

4 миссия - Мы включили основные базовые системы и нам сбросили Базу -
саморазворачивающийся автомат, который позволяет строить все остальное. Пока мы
только рядовые, все приказы отдает Шабаева. Выполняя приказы, строим
мусоросборщик и помещаем его на лужу "металлолома". Потом начинают строиться
Турели - автоматические пушки, которые Вы можете использовать для отстрела
врага.
Когда строится новая турель (да и вообще что-либо), вверху экрана появляется ее
значок и название функциональных клавиш, которые позволяют приказывать этой
технике. Нажав кнопку (например, F1), наводим появившийся синий квадратик на
нужное нам место и жмем Пробел (активацию). Турель перелетает туда и
активируется.

В конце миссии нужно взять снайперский кубик, перелететь к далекому посту, выйти
из танка и зайти в пост. По рации нам приказывают снайперским выстрелом убить
пилота вражеского корабля (а для этого надо стрелять в светящуюся кабину). Но я
рекомендую сразу после входа в бункер выйти из него и снова залезть в танк.
Когда
появятся враги, надо пропустить первый корабль врага, а остальные замочить.
Первый корабль застрянет в ближайшем холме. Вот после этого можно спокойно
вылезти из своего танка, подойти и выстрелить в кабину. После этого сесть на
хвост прилетевшим своим танкам и идти за ними до конца миссии...

5 миссия - Задача - защитить базу, взорвать вражескую структуру после соединения
с отрядом майора Мэнсона.

Развернув базу, немедленно строим несколько Турелей (выбираем "1" и в меню
набираем "3" - т.е. Выбрали базу и в ней - 3-й пункт (турель)). С помощью них
строим более-менее мощную оборону, потом строим Сборщик (в "1" пункт "1") и
тащим
его к следующей луже металлолома. Для продолжения миссии надо проехать дальше -
там целая толпа вражеских турелей. Подобравшись к ним до того, как они открывают
огонь, немедленно отступаем - не имея мортир, уничтожить их без потерь трудно. В
этот момент строят Завод ("2"). Он позволяет строить Мортирный Мотоциклы -
легкая
техника, но с мортирами. Построив один, выходим из своего танка и выбрав его
(например, F2), нажимаем "5" - Поднимите меня. Из мотоцикла выпрыгивает мужик и
мы залазим в него (в мотоцикл). С помощью него навесом уничтожаем все вражеские
турели. Можно после этого построить мусоросборник и привести сюда (тут тоже
лужа). Кстати, можно запрыгнуть на стену и пулять мортирой сверху - безопаснее,
да и снаряд летит дальше.

Отсюда можно идти вправо (к майору Мэнсону) или влево (куда он нас поведет после
встречи). Но там нас ждут 2 мощные энергопушки врага. Бьют они очень далеко и в
одиночку их уничтожить трудно. Два попадания - мотоциклу абзац. Если мы сначала
встретимся с майором, то он ведет нас туда и попадает под огонь. Так что я
обычно
строю много мотоциклов, сначала (до встречи с майором) иду к башням и гроблю их
совместной атакой. Потом возвращаюсь к майору и иду туда уже вместе с ним. За
башнями стоит такой вертикальный круг. Выходим из мотоцикла возле него,
нажимаем "С" - ставим мину - прыгаем в мотоцикл и сматываемся. Взрыв! Конец
миссии.

6 миссия - Мы должны выбить врага с наших земель. Наша база слабо защищена. У
нас
3 не установленных мусоросборника и несколько боевых кораблей. Задача - отбить
атаку врага, уничтожить вражеский мусоросборник и после этого угробить вражескую
базу.

Немедленно после начала миссии заставляем всех трех мусоросборников
установиться,
иначе они рванут не поймешь куда и их уничтожат. Но и после этого мусоросборники
-
 наша главная цель - уничтожат хоть одного - нам кранты - материалов не хватит
на
постройку нужного. Отбиваем атаки, пока не будет перерыв в них. Причем осторожно
-
 враг атакует всегда спереди, но иногда атакует сзади - зазеваетесь и как раз
уничтожат мусорщиков.

Получив перерыв, вылетаем вперед. Влево - вражеская база, вправо - 2 турели и
вражеский мусоросборщик. Атакуем именно их и гробим. В результате нам дают
Конструктора - Робота сборщика. Около только что отвоеванного озерца строим
Радиолокационный пункт, а потом - Оборонные башни. Как только это построим, нам
дают еще и Бомбардировщик. С помощью него постепенно разносим вражескую базу -
Конец миссии - Враг отступает и мы следуем за ним в гиперпространственный
прыжок.

7 миссия. После того, как мы прыгнули за врагом, мы оказались на ЕГО планете. У
НЕГО здесь сил больше, чем у нас. А у нас - 1 мусорщик, 1 база и 2 танка. Причем
тут же один танк - командора Шабаевой - уходит на разведку и пропадает. А нам
предстоит построить базу и держать оборону. Совет один - построив базу и
установив мусорщика (а то и двух), строим Турели и устанавливаем их. Они хорошо
защитят нас от кораблей врага, но не от катапульт (маленькие такие - четыре
лопасти и шарик над ними). Если Вы видите, что на ваши Турели сверху падают
снаряды, то желательно пробежать по кругу недалеко от атакованных - Катапульты
обычно стоят за каким-нибудь пригорком.

Как только командор Шабаева выходит на связь ("Ой, меня сбили, я прячусь..." и
т.д.) надо немедленно сорваться с места и нестись туда, где она (туда указывает
навигационная точка). Долетев до этого места, надо выбраться из корабля и
забежать в здание, что рядом. Миссия закончена.

8 миссия. Не знаю, что случилось с нашим танком, но и мы, и Шабаева - пешком. А
до базы далеко. Ох, как далеко! А Шабаева, гадюка, говорит - иди, типа, козел
(за
козла ответишь, думаем мы про себя), к базе. Отнеси весточку, чтобы меня спасли.
А чо я?!! - орете вы. А то, говорит она, что ты ЛЕЙТЕНАНТ, а я - Командор!!! И
так недвусмысленно пушкой в нос. Короче, уговорила.

Первый раз я как дурак шел пешком, подобрал ракетницу и с ее помощью отбивался
от
кораблей врага, прятался от больших энергоразрядников и еле успел, притащив за
собой хвост из кораблей врага. В этот раз я поступил умнее. Сразу я забрался на
гору и засек стоящую там вражескую турель. Включив снайперскую стрельбу я
выстрелил в кабину и убил водителя. Потом спокойно дошел и сел в Турель.
Клавишей "С" я снялся с места и быстренько полетел к своей базе. Во первых, это
быстрее, чем пешком, да и безопаснее, хотя турель и не может стрелять по пути.
Когда я пролетал мимо Энергоразрядников, они прижгли меня, но я был
катапультирован высоко вверх и с высоты засек новую Турель. Приземлился
недалече,
снова пристрелил водилу и спокойно долетел до базы, без особых проблем и
сложностей, чего и Вам желаю.

9 миссия. Это была первая миссия, в которой я сначала застрял и даже подумывал
плюнуть на игру. Но потом все оказалось проще, чем казалось. Мы оказались на
базе
и нас даже повысили в должности - мы должны возглавить атаку на вражескую базу и
спасти командора Шабаеву. Проблема состоит в том, что мы не можем долго зевать -
довольно скоро враг находит Шабаеву и ее шлепают. А нас отправляют на Землю для
Военно-полевого Суда.

С нашей базы есть два выхода. С одной стороны сразу выходим к строениям, где
стоят две Турели врага а за строениями - 2 энергоразрядника. С нашими силами
здесь пройти трудно. Вот с другой стороны нам проход прикрывают только вражеские
турели, кроме того, там еще озера для мусорщиков. Переждав первую атаку (чтобы
не
терять корабли, наши башни и так с ними справятся), атакуем и уничтожаем Турели
врага. После этого строим мусорщиков и занимаем озера. Не помешает также
построить несколько турелей и ставить их, обороняя проход. Так же не помешает
построить Конструктора, Armory и Service Bay. Если зевать не будете, времени
хватит выше крыши. С помощью Armory улучшаем свои Guns (до ChainGun), Пушки до
Плазмы (для этого и нужен Сервисный Центр), а Мортиры - до последней. Этот вид
мортиры очень хорош. Падая, снаряд катится и после остановки взрывается тучей
осколков. Решетит буквально все вокруг. Одного попадания рядом с
Энергоразрядником достаточно, чтобы его разнесло в клочья. Из-за недоработки в
игре, снаряд иногда остается лежать на земле, светясь ярким огнем. Видимо, он
застрял между структур и никак не может остановиться. Если его кто-то задевает,
он, видимо, смещается, останавливается и взрывается. Иногда это на руку, когда
несколько таких лежащих снарядов кто-то задевает. Они взрываются все сразу и
всем
в округе - полный абзац!

С помощью этого и толпой своих кораблей атакуем базу врага и громим ее. Причем
как только враг начнет отбрасывать копыта, надо направить транспортники на базу
и
после этого в одиночку лететь к месту, где сидит Шабаева. На пути всего-то одна
башня Энергоразрядника и пара Турелей. Ухлопав их мы не торопясь прилетаем к
Шабаевой. Миссия завершена, тем более, что тут мы усекли новое супер-оружие
врага, способное угробить всю нашу планетку целиком. А таких пакостей у врага
целых 4. Так что у нас впереди еще не один бой.

10 миссия. Противник понял, что мы подобрались к нему слишком близко.