Nectaris Military Madness I. ----------Introduction---------- This is the first guide I've made and it covers a lot more of the details about the mechanics of the game rather than the more generic concepts. II. ----------Version History---------- Version 1.0 Basic layout set up, Unit statistics finished, Modifiers complete except for support fire. III. ----------Table of Contents---------- I. Introduction II. Version Hisotry III. Table of Contents IV. Game Basics . Units and Statistics . Modifiers . Contact Information IV. ----------Game Basics---------- Nectaris is a military strategy game set in the future on the moon. The player controlles the "Allied" forces in their battle to recapture the moon from the "Xenon" forces. Play is devided into turns where the player takes one turn to move all of his forces and then the computer (or second player) takes one turn to move all of their forces. Each unit can move a set number of spaces in a turn and then attack. A unit can also attack without moving if there is an enemy unit already in an adjacent hex. The player does not have to move every unit and can end their turn at any time. Each unit on the map is actually a squad of individual units. Every map unit has a number (1-8) denoting how many of that unit are actually in the squad. The maximum number of units in a squad is 8. When the number is reduced to zero, the squad is destroyed and its marker is removed from the map screen. The outcome of a battle is determined by the attack and defense status of the units, the number of units in the squad, terrain and experience bonuses, and support fire and encirclement bonuses. [section XXX] Victory is achieved in each map by either capturing the opponent's base with an infantry unit [section XXX], or destroying all of the opponents squads (with the exception of the Trigger). V. ----------Unit Stats---------- There are several different classifications of units each with their own special characteristics which will be listed along with the stats for each individual unit. There are six stats for each unit. G-Atk is the attack rating of a unit against an enemy on the ground (most enemies will be on the ground). G-Rng is the range at which they strike the target. If the range is anything other than 1, the unit cannot attack an enemy in an adjacent hex and must be at least two spaces away. A-Atk is the attack rating of that unit against a flying enemy and A-Rng is the range at which such enemies can be targeted. Mov is how many hexes a squad can move per turn. This is impeded by harsh terrain (anything with a rating greater than 5%) and facilitated by roads. Lastly Def is the units ability to withstand an enemy assault be it from air or land. INFANTRY: Infantry are weak and usually slow, so keep them out of direct combat if at all possible. Their primary goal is to capture factories to give your units a place to heal and possibly get new units, or to infiltrate your enemy's base and win. They consist of the Robbie (tg16 Charlie), the Killroy, and the Panther Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Robbie 10 1 10 1 3 4 Kilroy 40 1 10 1 2 10 Panther 10 1 10 1 8 8 ARMORED UNITS: These are the primary fighters of your army, they move fairly quickly have good attack and have excellent defense ratings. There are some that sacrifice power for speed and others that are mobile fortresses that are slow but almost impossible to stop. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Bison 50 1 6 40 Polar 60 1 4 60 Grizzly 70 1 4 50 Giant 90 1 10 1 2 80 Titan 60 1 5 50 Slugger 50 1 7 40 Lenet 45 1 5 30 ARTILLERY: These units attack from a distance, putting them out of harms way and deadly just behind the front lines. They cannot move and then attack however and cannot fight back if they are attacked by another enemy (even if the enemy is another artillery unit). Keep them behind the lines and out of harm's way and they will be a very valuable asset. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Hadrian 45 5 4 30 Octopus 60 4 4 30 Atlas* 70 6 0 20 *The atlas can only be moved by transport and once it is set on the map it cannot be moved again so be cautious of where you place it. BUGGIES: These are fast moving, hard hitting units that can also move again after a battle takes place. Use them to strike at a weakened enemy and then zip back across the line to safety. Be wary of their low defense as it makes even a quick strike potentially fatal. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Rabbit 70 1 10 1 8 20 Lynx 40 2 10 1 6 20 AIRCRAFT: These units are very powerful in attack and can fly over any terrain, making them very good for strikes behind enemy lines. You must always be careful of anti-aircraft however as there are units specifically designed to knock these birds out of the sky. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Falcon 90 1 12 30 Eagle 70 1 20 1 10 30 Hunter 70 1 70 1 11 50 ANTI-AIRCRAFT: These are the cannons designed to eliminate those pesky flying units that make you panic with their wide range and heavy hits. Be cautious and keep them well behind the front lines as they are very vulnerable to ground-based assults. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Seeker 30 1 65 1 6 30 Hawkeye 85 5 5 30 TRANSPORTS: These vehicles are designed to move units very quickly across the map. Be warned, as they are very vulnerable to any attack and the units inside can't fight back. If you carry precious cargo, make sure that you have a strong escort if you're not safely behind your lines. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Mule 10 1 10 1 6 10 Pelican 9 10 NON-MOBILE UNITS: This consists of the Trigger, a landmine unit that cannot be moved once it has been deployed, load it onto a transport and carry it somewhere to halt the enemy's advance. It cannot attack either so it basically just sits there until its destroyed. It can be very useful in forcing your enemy into a pinch with proper deployment however. Unit: G-Atk G-Rng A-Atk A-Rng Mov Def Trigger 80 VI. ----------Modifiers---------- TERRAIN MODIFIERS Each hex on the map has a percentage listed on the bottom part of the screen. When a unit is in a battle on that space, its defense is modified by that percent. The most common terrain is the generic plains which gives the unit a +5% defense rating. So if there are five bison fighting on a plain (5 units times 40 defense per unit gives us a base of 200) their actual defense rating for the battle will be 210. (this of course excludes all of the other modifications). Possible terrain boosts are 0%, 5%, 20%, 30%, 35%, and 40% for roads and trenches, plains, hills, rocky areas, bases, and mountains. Aerial units do not get bonuses for terrain. EXPERIENCE MODIFIERS The second type of modifier (which is actually calculated before terrain) is the experience modifier. This step is never actually shown being calculated and is a simple alteration of the base stat based on the number of battles that have been fought. It is a simple tiered multiplier that is applied before all the other modifications. I have a table of the ratios below. (These were tested thoroughly on a bison and sporadically on several other units) Exp: Ratio 0 1 1 1.05 2 1.1 3 1.2 4 1.3 5 1.4 6 1.6 7 2 8 2 SUPPORT FIRE BONUSES The next type of modifier is determined by the attack powers of adjacent units either allies or enemies. While attacking, support fire increases the units attack rating based on the number of allied units adjacent to the enemy being attacked. While defending, it increases the defense rating based on the number of allied units adjacent to the attacker. At this present moment, I do not have the necessary info to create formulas for the effect of support fire on attack and defense ratings. The actual bonus given to the unit is dependent on the attack/defense of the unit considered (depending whether the target is attacking or defending) and the number of units that occupy the space. So a trigger, which has no attack rating, will not give a bonus if the trigger's ally is attacking, but will give a significant bonus if the trigger's ally is attacked. ENCIRCLEMENT BONUSES Encircling an enemy entails placing units around an enemy so they are in direct assault range no matter where they try to move. This can be accomplished with as few as two allied units, on opposite sides of the enemy (See below). The encirclement bonus, when achieved does not actually increase your stats, but actually halves the attack and defense ratings of the enemy. Needless to say, this is a very potent tool for eliminating powerful enemy units. ___ ___/ \___ / \___/ A \ \___/ X \___/ / A \___/ \ \___/ \___/ \___/ See how no matter which direction the Xenon unit (X) tries to move, it will be in an adjacent square to one of the Allied units (A). This is the simplest way to ensure an encirclement bonus. ___/ A \ ___/ \___/ / \___/ \ \___/ X \___/ / A \___/ \ \___/ A \___/ \___/ Here is another example of encirclement, notice that the allied unit does not have to be adjacent to the target. ----------Contact Information---------- If you have any questions or comments about this guide, feel free to send them to senshitiger.nospam@yahoo.nospam.com (please remember to fix the address to remove the '.nospam' so it will actually transmit) Thank you.