From: echuang@cco.caltech.edu (Ernest Y. Chuang)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: Terminator T2029 help wanted
Date: 7 Jan 1993 05:13:17 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu

In article <1993Jan6.232255.1462@digi.lonestar.org> tross@digi.lonestar.org (Tony Ross) writes:
>In article <C07079.M05@cs.columbia.edu>, ykim@cs.columbia.edu (Yong Su Kim) writes:
>> Anyone have any good guidelines on playing T2029.  I get killed very 
>> easily.  I can't even make it past the first mission without dying.
>> 
>> What is the best offensive/defensive combo?
>> How do you move about?
>
>I just started Playing Terminator 2029 and I have made it to the rank of Major.
>You move about by the arrow keys. You have to be very quick when your being
>attacked. Don't stay in one location and try to fight everybody. What I do is
>hit and run..run..repair myself..run..run..attack..run..mission objectives.. 
>
>The enemies are activated by grid coordinates. Once you reach a certain grid
>coordinate in every mission, the program, all of a sudden sends the enemy to
>attack you. One key is to never back up and then cross those same coordinates
>again. This will only send more enemies after you.

Yeah, good advice in general.  This is the aspect I hated most about this
game -- and why after finishing it, I deleted it from my hard drive, never
to play it again.  IMHO, this game has a very workable idea for gameplay,
but implements it horribly.  The worst part is the idea of having 5 to 10
enemies suddenly materializing around you whenever you step on a "booby-
trapped" grid coordinate.  It would have been much more logical if they
had the enemies approach you from the limits of your radar range, rather
than instantly popping up halfway inside your radar range -- and sometimes
even right next to you. 

Oh well, enough griping...  A few words of advice:

The first thing you do whenever your radar suddenly fills with red dots
(unless you're defending the radar tower) is run like heck.  If you're
healthy and want to try to get some kills on your record, then at least run
far enough away so that you only have 1 or 2 enemies on radar behind you,
then you can turn around and walk back, taking them out one by one.
(Actually, this doesn't necessarily apply to all enemies.  For instance,
the Dragons and Scorpions don't actually fire that often, so you can
often stand in the midst of a bunch of them and shoot them out of the
air.  But you can't kill Scorpions until you get better weapons.)

If you took a few hits while running away and your status indicator is
flashing red, then it's a good idea to find a safe spot to repair your
armor and use the autodoc (don't leave home without one...) to heal 
your wounds.  Note that the computer has enemies disappear just as
illogically as it has them appear -- which means that if you're surrounded
by enemies, you can run away until they're all off radar, and then walk
back, and they'll all be gone.  (Just watch where you step :) ).

I spent most of my time just frantically running around, looking only
at my automap for guidance as I moved toward wherever I was going, and
running right under the noses of the dozens of enemies which keep 
popping up.  Not the most heroic behavior, but it keeps you alive, and
I think it's pretty futile to try to take on more than 2 or 3 enemies 
at a time, toe-to-toe.  They can waste you pretty quickly.  I've had
full health and armor, and died in under two seconds, before I could
say, "What the #*$%!?", when a bunch of mechs appeared at my elbows.

However, you definitely should try to get in some kills whenever
you're healthy.  As far as I can tell, technology upgrades are linked
to promotions, which are in turn linked to the number of kills you
get on each mission.  I didn't notice this until close to the final
mission, when I was still only a captain, and was having a really
tough time staying alive.  I then replayed from the beginning, taking
the time to get a bunch of kills each mission so that I could qualify
for the next weapon upgrade.  Believe me, life is much happier with
a 100W gun and Thermolite :)  (Hope I got that name right...)

You really only need to get to the rank of major, though.  At least
I didn't get any upgrades upon advancing to lt. colonel.

>I usually configure my A.C.E. hardpoints with 2 of the PPC nn WATT guns. One
>on either side. If your damaged on one side and most of your offensive weapons
>are on that side, you can't defend yourself until you repair them. This leaves
>you open for attack, since repairs take awhile. As you advance in the game and
>become promoted, you get access to better Offensive/Defensive weapons. Until

I'd recommend the same config, but for a different reason.  Having two
PPC's active lets you use switch guns whenever one of them needs to
recharge.

My own advice for later levels when you get better weapons (others
may disagree) is to only take 2 PPC's (or one if you have Thermolite
(again...not sure about the name -- the thing which cools your PPC))
and maybe one pack of fusion grenades if you're on a mission where
you have to destroy something(s) which can't be destroyed by guns,
and take defensive items for the rest of your hardpoints (even
just armor).  There's very little that can't be destroyed with a PPC.

I never tried to learn how to use all the variety of missiles properly,
so that may be a reason for some of my difficulties, but I decided
that I never wanted to be in a situation where I needed a guided 
missile (i.e. if there were more enemies than I could track by myself,
and keep in view, I wasn't about to hang around long enough to use 
a missile :) )  Besides, I think it takes too long to try to switch
weapons while terminators are firing at you.

Good hunting,

- Ernest Chuang
  echuang@cco.caltech.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games