Wasteland FAQ Last Updated 08-05-03 (Maintenance Release -- No Content Changes) This FAQ may be freely uploaded and distributed provided that no information is changed and no fees beyond those associated with transmission and duplication are charged for its use. Created by Stephen Sedmak Assisted by Chris Baer The rest came from gracious people around the world :) **************************************************************** This version targeted specifically toward the Apple // version. **************************************************************** Table of Contents 0. Generally Important Stuff 0.1 README IF YOU HAVEN'T YET (It's not too long :) This section was created to eliminate any confusion over the purpose of this document and its content. If you want to use this FAQ properly, read it. 0.2 Updating this FAQ 0.3 Disk usage problems 0.3.1 Saving Progress 0.3.2 Apple // version won't boot 0.3.3 I/O error on Apple // version of Wasteland 0.3.4 Disk Copying 0.3.5 IMPORTANT WARNING - you can damage the disks and forever lose your party! 1. Newbie Stuff (still might hold wisdom for all you Post-Apocalyptic veterans out there) 1.0 Instructions 1.0.1 Ranger Center 1.0.2 Command Summary 1.1 Attributes 1.1.1 Attribute Descriptions 1.1.2 Attribute Hints 1.2 Equipment 1.2.1 Items 1.2.2 Weapons 1.2.3 Armor 1.3 Skills 1.4 General Hints 1.5 Big Map 2. Early Stuff (If you have never seen a Scorpitron, go here) 2.1 Equipment 2.1.1 Items 2.1.2 Weapons 2.1.3 Armor 2.2 Skills 2.3 Highpool 2.4 Agriculture Center 2.5 Nomads' Camp 2.6 Mine 2.7 Quartz 2.7.1 Courthouse 2.7.2 Ugly's Hideout 2.8 Needles 2.8.1 Temple of Blood 3. Las Vegas Stuff (Speaks for itself, don't it?) 3.1 Equipment 3.1.1 Items 3.1.2 Weapons 3.1.3 Armor 3.2 Skills 3.3 Las Vegas Misc. 3.4 Faran Brygo 3.5 Temple of the Mushroom Cloud 3.6 Sewers 4. Post-Vegas stuff (If you're friends with Max or the Junkmaster, go here) 4.1 Equipment 4.1.1 Items 4.1.2 Weapons 4.1.3 Armor 4.2 Skills 4.3 Sleeper Base 4.4 Darwin City 4.5 Guardian Citadel 4.6 Savage Village 4.7 Base Cochise 5. Which Paragraphs are Real (mostly complete) 6. Cheating 6.1 Disk Switching 6.2 Negative Skill Point Cheat 6.3 Infinite Money 6.4 Apple // Supercharacter Walk-Through 6.5 Super Loot Bag Cheat 7. Revision History 8. In Planning for Future Versions 9. Additional Legal Fine Print Which Does Apply To You. 0. Generally Important Stuff 0.1 README IF YOU HAVEN'T YET (It's not too long :) First, this is an FAQ. The style is to provide hints to solutions for common problems people face playing the game. As opposed to the walk-throughs floating around the 'Net, this FAQ does not do all the thinking for you, nor if used properly will it spoil the plot development! Earlier versions of this FAQ were criticized for giving away too much info to newbies and ruining the surprise of the game. So in this version the FAQ is split into 4 parts: newbie stuff, early stuff, Vegas stuff, and Post-Vegas stuff. It is recommended that if you have not solved the game yet, only read the parts up to where you have played. I have tried to place the information in the order most people will encounter it. The programmers left the game fairly open so the order in which tasks are solved is not carved in stone. People may disagree with my ordering of events, but frankly I don't care. I recommend only looking at the equipment/skills sections if you find something that you cannot identify correctly. Otherwise it might give away some secrets. Feel free to read the "Hints" sections BEFORE you enter the areas. They give nothing away, but do point you in the correct direction to start. In the Q&A sections, only read the answers to questions that you currently need help solving. To do otherwise would spoil the game. If you have already solved the game, go wild and read every letter we typed. You're likely to find something new. The masculine pronoun is used throughout this document. As gender is a moot point in the game (except for the restrooms in Scott's Bar), no exclusivity is implied. Also note that this FAQ is specifically targeted toward the APPLE // version of Wasteland. Most of the FAQ should be accurate for other versions, but this is not guaranteed. I'd like responses from users of other versions so as to make this FAQ completely comprehensive. 0.2 Updating this FAQ The FAQ is in a closed state. 0.3 Disk Usage problems 0.3.1 Saving Progress Wasteland modifies ALL of the disks. You need to keep backup copies of the original. Whenever you exit an area, Wasteland saves EVERYTHING you modified since you entered. *Some emulators (such as STM for the Mac) force you to manually save the changes to disks, so when leaving an area which you have cleared or finished, be certain to save the changes, else you might have to do it all over again. 0.3.2 Apple // version will not boot You must boot with Wastboot.dsk. Wastmst1.dsk is the first scenario disk. It will not boot 0.3.3 I/O error on Apple // version of Wasteland Many people using the Apple // version of Wasteland experience an I/O error when they attempt to run it. There is a very minor flaw in the disk images that causes the program to crash if you do not continue your last saved game. To circumvent this problem when you are asked to continue the last saved game always answer "YES". The original images are saved at the beginning of the game, so you start in the same place anyway. 0.3.4 Disk Copying Screw the Utilities menu and just just use the typical software you use to copy the disks. The only exception would be if you have the original master floppies, then use Utilities to make a set of scenario disks. THEN you can use your normal copy software to duplicate the scenario disks. Much faster and easier. Plus you can make backups :) 0.3.5 IMPORTANT WARNING - you can damage the disks and forever lose your party! If you have the emulator change the disk before the drive in use light goes off you WILL damage the image. This makes one or more maps on that disk image invalid. When you enter that map the game will not only crash, but as soon as you enter you will be saved on that map. When you reboot and try again you will be in the same location In other words, your party has been irrevocably destroyed. There is no hope -- it's the end of the road for your party. The *only* solution is to have a recent backup of your Wasteland disk 1, or a recent saved memory image (very easy and fast with ApplePC). I don't think this will be a problem with STM because it doesn't automatically save to the disk. But users of other emulators should beware. Keeping a backup of your party is no big deal. I did it all the time with RPGs on my Apple //c. 1.0 Instructions ********************************************************************* Would someone with a scanner PLEASE scan the instruction manual and post it? It's kinda fun to read. The programming crew did a good job on it. ********************************************************************* If you're using the cracked Apple // version, then the only valid thing to do is to select "Start" "Resume Last Saved Game - Yes". If you've got an emulator it would be useful to save the booted state at this point. Then whenever you want to reboot Wasteland, just load the state and put your scenario disk 1 in drive 1. 1.0.1 Ranger Center The following passage taken from the instruction manual: "Wasteland is a post-nuclear holocaust adventure. Your party, the famed Desert Rangers, have been assigned to investigate a series of disturbances in the desert. After several strategy meetings, you've decided to search for clues in Highpool, the Agricultural Center, and the Rail Nomads' Camp, all of which are located to the West of Ranger Center." You start out in the "Ranger Center", Wasteland's equivalent of the Adventurer's Guild or Inn. The Ranger Center used to be a prison, but after the war all the criminals were kicked out to fend for themselves in the desert. The Desert Rangers converted the prison into their headquarters. The party can have a maximum of 7 character, 4 of which you can create. The other 3 are typically hired Non-Player-Characters (NPCs). If you create less than 4 characters (not recommended) you can have even more NPCs in your party. The game starts with 4 pre-made characters, who are fair. They're not horrid, but they're not great either. You can probably make better ones yourself. See sections 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 to find out about Attributes, Equipment, and Skills respectively. Examine them by pressing the number keys 1, 2, 3, and 4. Press to see the next page. Press to see the previous page. 'P' Pools the money and 'D' divides the selected characters money over the entire party. Use the arrow keys and to Create a new character, Delete old ones, or Exit. 1.0.2 Command Summary Most of the commands available are displayed on-screen, but if you want to find the others check out below. There's a few commands most people wouldn't figure out on their own, but they're not needed to play the game. The clock is in the upper-right hand corner. Military time of course. Note: Each map varies in time and scale. Non-Combat - pass time I - North J - West K - South L - East - Display party roster. 1 through 7 - Display Stats of that character U - Use and Item, Attribute, or Skill E - Encounter, enter Combat mode. Useful for reloading your party after a big fight. O - Select a new marching order D - Disband - Breaks the party up into 2+ groups (Maximum 4). Also lets you bury the dead and kick out unwanted NPCs. Don't forget about it -- you NEED to use it on a few occasions. V - View switches the view between parties S - Save the game. You can do it in ANY non-combat situation as long as you have control. R - Radio. Gives you promotions (raises experience level) if you have enough experience. -# - Shortcut for Use character number -S - Uses the first skill for the first character in your party. Useful for Perception, Picklock, or Climb. -R - Re-orders a characters skills or possessions. Helpful in combination with changing the marching order to have -S do a specific thing. Note: You can also select actions with the arrow keys and Combat - Undo R - Run. Lets the whole party or a single character move during combat. Can be used to flee by running around corners, or to enter melee combat. VERY useful! Note: Run Single is the same as non-combat Disband. Note: Keep in mind that when you attempt to run your running speed is determined by the Slowest speed in the party you want to move, discounting unconscious members. U - Use. Works EXACTLY the same as it does in non-combat situations. Mainly useful for healing during combat. H - Hire an NPC. NPCs typically will not attack unless you attack them, but sometimes they will be included in an Encounter when true enemies are involved. Be careful not to kill NPCs. Note: There are several humans in the game which will not attack you, but only a few of them are actually NPCs. The rest are usually Civilians or Guards. E - Evade. Attempts to avoid enemy attacks. Can also be used as a "do nothing". A - Attack. The most basic element of combat Enemies frequently come in separate groups and you must select which group to attack. There are also several basic types of weapons: Single - Only attacks 1 thing Group - Explosives hurts everyone in a group Brawling - This skill gives you multiple melee attacks. If you kill the original target remaining attacks will harm enemies remaining in the same group. Burst - Fires exactly 3 shots at the group. Auto - Empties the remainder of the clip. Requires at least 4 ammo. Note: If you have melee weapons equipped you will not be able to attack enemies more than 14' away, but they can still attack you if they've got guns. Either Run at them or ready some ranged weapons. W - Weapon select. Selects armor too. Selecting the weapon/armor you currently have equipped will ready FISTS/no armor. L - Load or unjam weapon. When ammo reaches 0 the weapon becomes a melee weapon. Damage is determined by your skill using the particular weapon equipped -- NOT pugilism! Brawling still works no matter what melee weapon is used. -A - Shows a list of enemy groups; only works if the enemies are in range and you're not using an NPC. Up Arrow or -K - Increases message scroll speed. Down Arrow or -J - Decreases message scroll speed. Note: Default is full speed, so you might want to drag it down a few notches. Viewing Characters 1 through 7 - Displays the Status of that character. First Screen P - Pool cash to character you're viewing. D - Divides the character's cash among everyone. Inventory 1 through 9 - Equip/Unequip/drop/reload/unjam or trade the selected item -R - Reorder the Inventory Skill Screen -R - Re-order the skills. Useful for using -S. 1.1 Attributes 1.1.1 Attribute Descriptions Strength (ST) - Lets you break down doors and force objects. Adds roughly 1 damage to melee attacks per 2 ST. It doesn't make too much of a difference. Better to spend your points on Luck or Agility if you want a melee warrior. Intelligence (IQ) - Without doubt the most important skill in the game. It gives you skill points to learn new skills and gives you a wider selection of skills to select. Luck (LK) - Influences every part of the game where a random number is involved. Combat, traps, using skills, etc... Second only to IQ in importance! It does all the following: improves accuracy, makes you harder to hurt, and even causes a significant increase in damage inflicted. Speed (SP) - Determines the order you act in combat. The sooner you act the less time enemies have to react. Becomes sort of useless when guns are involved -- everyone shoots at the same time. It does help you run during combat. Agility (AGL) - How quick you move (could have combined speed with this, but they didn't). Influences likelihood of hitting in melee. Also determines whether you'll be injured or not in all situations. It's devastating to have a low Agility, but once you get it up to 15 there's not too much benefit in going any higher. 20 tops. Concentrate on Luck instead. Dexterity (DEX) - How steady your aim with ranged weapons is. 3rd most important attribute just behind Luck. When using Autofire a high DEX/Luck combination, almost every shot will hit. Needless to say, this can inflict a TREMENDOUS amount of damage! Note: With typical characters only 4 or 5 shots actually hit when burning a 35 shot clip! Charisma (CHR) - How personable you are. Pretty useless. The only symptoms of low charisma are NPCs who don't want to trade items or use things all the time. Just keep trying until you succeed. Attribute points are too important to waste here. Skill Points (SKP) - Determines how many skills you can learn. When you Radio to go up levels increasing IQ gives you the same number of Skill Points. Use skill points in libraries. Caution: no 2 libraries carry all the same skills. If you want a skill and have enough IQ you still won't be offered it if the Library doesn't carry the books. The library in North-West Needles carries basic skills. Rank - Just a fancy indicator of experience level. MAXCON / CON - Your hit maximum and current hit points. You heal over time. Time passes fastest on the main land map. Unconscious and worse off characters usually cannot be hit during combat. Traps can still mess them up. If your CON is still a number but highlighted in white, then your character is diseased and will not heal. In the sewers the whole party is diseased. If they all go unconscious, your party is dead. Only hospitals can heal diseases. UNC - Unconscious. Give him time and he'll recover. SER - Serious. He needs a medic, if not he'll deteriorate. CRT - Critical. This is about the limit Medic will work on. MRT - Mortally wounded. He needs help! COM - Comatose. This character will die soon. If you have no doctor make sure you find a nice grave site. skull symbol - Dead. This ain't Bard's Tale. There's no magic, no resurrect. Dead is dead. Disband the character. AC (Armor Class) - Indicator of how much damage the character's armor will absorb when hit. A 1 is infinitely better than a 0. Sex - Only affects what bathrooms you can go in. Nationality - affects nothing. $ - The amount of cash he's toting. 1.1.2 Attribute Hints At the start of the game spend almost all points on raising IQ until you hit about 28. Important attributes are: Luck, Dexterity, and Agility. Strength is moderately useful, but don't concentrate on it. Charisma is useless. After Luck, Dexterity, and Agility get in the 20s you'd be best off putting your points into Constitution. I will not accept a character with less that 17 IQ unless they've got extraordinary Luck, Dexterity, and Agility. Constitution is moderately important at the start. There's not really much difference between a 25 and a 35. If something's going to kill a character with 25 CON, chances are it'd do likewise to someone with 35 CON. Only worry about Constitution if it's real low. A good IQ will more than make up for a low MaxCon. Plus you can always raise MaxCon by going up levels Harder to do without good skills or ability to inflict damage. 1.2. Equipment Price - The price you buy things from stores. Sale price is almost always 1/2 buying price. * Cannot buy anywhere (PRICE represents resale) # Can only buy in Darwin City 1.2.1 Items Canteen - Need it to avoid dehydration. EVERYONE needs one. PRICE $10 Hand Mirror - Useless. Sell them. PRICE $10 Gas Mask - Only used once in the game and even then it's not needed. Sell them when you find them. PRICE $150 Match - Useless. Sell them. PRICE $10 Rope - Lets you climb over things. VERY useful! Always 3 on-hand and sell the rest. PRICE $25 TNT - use this for low-end demolitions. If in doubt, blow it up! There are a few things TNT can't blow up, but heavier ordinance can. Also a weapon. PRICE $50 Ax - Can use to hack apart some doors and weak walls. Also a weapon. PRICE $25 Shovel - Used to dig stuff up and dig through weak walls. Keep 1 on hand at all times. PRICE $15 Snake Squeezin - Give them to bums and they'll either get out of your way or give you useful info. Sell them when you find them; buy them back when you find a bum. PRICE $10 Clay pot - Useless. PRICE $15 Fruit - Used late in the game and then you only use 2 Sell them at the Agriculture Center when you find them for extra money. Buy them back when you want to use them. PRICE $30 (sells for $23 at the Ag Center) Jewelry - Useless. Sell them at the Ag Center PRICE $100 (sells for $75 at the Ag Center) Crowbar - Not too useful. PRICE $15 Sledge Hammer - Not too useful. Might smash some stuff up, I don't know. PRICE $25 Jug - Used VERY late in the game. Don't even bother picking them up until you need them. The selling price isn't worth the effort to carry them. PRICE $1 Geiger Counter - Detects radiation. VERY important! Ever wonder what those 8 squares are on the right side of the screen? They're the geiger counter reading. When 6 squares are red, you'd better get Rad Suits or turn back the way you came. If you wait until night (18:00 to 6:00) you can see the radiation and walk around it. Get 1 per party. PRICE $300 1.2.2 Weapons Range - An approximation. Give it + or - 10' Armor - For projectile weapons, armor piercing tends to be more important than raw damage inflicted because most enemies have armor From best to worst: Excellent (near full damage to well armored) Very Good Good Decent Fair Poor (less damage to even light armor) Damage - Approximation based on unarmored enemies. An average if it doesn't vary much. A range if it does. With high skill levels, damage inflicted by melee weapons can by far exceed any other weapons in the game. With Level 6 Brawling and 10 Strength, an Ax can do 145 damage per round! And that is by no means an upper limit :) Damage is also heavily influenced by Luck. NOTE: All damages were inflicted by characters with *very* high luck. So the damages will seem quite high. But the damage trends between weapons still hold. Reload - For single-use weapons, reload time is vital. With AT Weapons you only get to attack every other round, but with Demolitions you can attack every round. FISTS - Can't beat the price :) With high pugilism FISTS be a devastating. RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 4.4 Pugilism + ST/2 SKILL Pugilism PRICE I certainly HOPE they're free Ax - A decent melee weapon. RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Fair Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 8 + 3.9 Brawling + ST/2 SKILL Brawling PRICE $25 Club - Very similar to the Ax. RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Fair Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 8 + 3.9 Brawling + ST/2 SKILL Brawling PRICE $15 Knife - Waste of Skill Points and an Inventory space RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Fair Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 7 + 4.2 Knife Fighting + ST/2 SKILL Knife Fighting PRICE $20 VP91Z 9mm pistol - It beats the M1911A1 because it holds more bullets RANGE 42' ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Fair DAMAGE 30 SKILL Clip Pistol PRICE $150 AMMO 9mm clip SHOTS 18 M1911A1 45 pistol - It stinks RANGE 42' ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Fair DAMAGE 33 SKILL Clip Pistol PRICE $150 AMMO 45 clip SHOTS 7 TNT - Inefficent in combat compared with similar weapons. RANGE 64' ATTACKS Group ARMOR Poor DAMAGE 10-20 SKILL Demolitions PRICE $50 RELOAD Auto Throwing Knife - Practically useless. Sell them when you find them. Don't waste your skill points on them. RANGE 45' ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Very Good DAMAGE 26 SKILL Knife Throwing PRICE $20 RELOAD 1 Round 45 Clip - Used in the M1989A1 and MAC-15 PRICE $25 9mm clip - Used in the VP91Z and Uzi PRICE $30 NOTE: equip explosives to use them in combat. 1.2.3 Armor Leather Jackets - at the start put them on people who are hurt. Some armor is infinitely better than none at all. AC 1 PRICE $200 Bullet Proof Shirt - At least it not the worst AC 2 PRICE $500 1.3 Skills The Heart of Wasteland. This is what separates it from other RPGs. You can gain skills in Libraries. Numbers in brackets are base Skill Points Required. IQ is required. I only added the ones I've actually found a real use for somewhere in the game. Check if your NPCs already have the skills before spending SKP on your characters. For each skill I STRONGLY recommend you get the starting skill level I state. Getting less would be detrimental to your party's health. Getting more would be a waste of Skill Points. Note: With the exception of character creation in the Ranger Center, you can NEVER get a skill level higher than the character's experience level. If you ever get to a point when you use skills frequently, but they never raise levels, try to get some promotions. Ex: A level 3 character cannot get level 4 brawling no matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind. Note: When it takes "255" SKP to go up a level, that is the highest you can ever possibly get by using the skill. In other words, it is impossible to get more than level 8 in ANY skill by using it. Skills that take 2 or 3 SKP for level 1 are stuck at level 7. You must use the Negative Skill Point Cheat to get higher than a Level 8 in any skill. IQ 3 Brawling (1) - Gives an extra melee attack for every 2 levels. Everyone needs this. Start with level 2. Climb (1) - Self-explanatory. Try climbing on things like tables and fences in addition to the obvious. Only one per party needs it. Start with level 1. Pugilism (1) - Increases damage done with FISTS. Everyone needs this. Start with level 2. Swim (1) - Obvious. It can be helpful, but not required, for everyone. Start with level 1 if at all. Raise it by taking a leap in the river. *Clip Pistol (1) - DON'T GET IT! You get 1/2 the XP of melee combat and pistols suck anyway. Sell your pistols in Quartz first thing. IQ 6 Perception (1) - Lets you see things that are hidden. Only 2 people per party need it. 1 if he's really good. A level 4 or 5 perception should cover the game. Start with Level 1. Assault Rifle (1) - Lets you hit with them. Everyone needs it, but don't get it until Needles. Start with Level 1 or 2. *AT Weapon (1) - I know I used to encourage this skill, but I now realize it is not vitally important. It can still be somewhat useful -- Spears are cheap AT Weapons that can do a LOT of damage in the hands of a strong person. All AT Weapons are disposable. Start with level 2 if at all. SMG (1) - Lets you hit with them. Everyone needs this, but don't get it until Needles. Start with Level 1. IQ 10 Acrobat (1) - Only need 1 per party. I don't know if any NPCs have it. Start with level 1. Picklock (1) - Of utmost importance. You'll need it a lot. Only 1 per party. Start with Level 2. Silent Movement (1) - Not quite sure how useful it is. Never was able to get a high level in it. Maybe if you did you could walk right through the Citadel. Never tried it. Gambling (1) - You can make a heck of a lot of money early on with gambling. Gambling also raises in skill level VERY rapidly. Most useful on characters with high luck. Start with Level 1. IQ 13 Demolition (1) - Fire, Fire, Fire!!! Huh, huh, huh. Without it you'll blow yourself up with TNT etc... (Works in combat too) Only 1 person needs it. Start with level 1. If in doubt, blow it up! IQ 15 Bomb Disarm (2) - Bomb traps are the deadliest things you'll encounter in the game. Save before using it. (ApplePC save state works well) Only 1 person needs it. Start with Level 2+. Medic (2) - Very important, but hesitate to give it to all characters. Once you get an IQ in the low 20s go to Las Vegas's library and give everyone Doctor 1. Doctor 1 can heal Comatose people, Medic 40 cannot. Level 1 Medic is completely useless. Start with 2 level 2 Medics. Safecrack (2) - Like picklock for big doors. Only 1 person needs it. Start with Level 1. IQ 16 Cryptology (2) - Lets you decode messages/passwords. Only one person needs it. Don't get it until Las Vegas. Start with Level 1. IQ 17 Metallurgy (2) - OK, it's not really a useful skill. But it allows you to find the 2 silver veins in the mine. (yawn) Start with Level 1 on 1 person if at all. Doubtful skills: Knife fighting (3/1) Rifle (3/1) Knife Throwing (6/1) Confidence (11/1) Sleight of Hand (12/1) Forgery (13/1) Alarm Disarm (14/1) Bureaucracy (14/1) The tougher the problem is that you use a skill on, the more likely you are to raise the skill level. Example: You're more likely to raise Assault Rifle skill by ripping a clip on a Guardian than on a rabbit. A good way to raise brawling is to equip yourself with a non-weapon, such as a match and fight something tough. Works with pugilism too. 1.4 General Hints Don't drop anything you can sell. I have amassed quite a fortune early on in the game by simply selling everything I find. Use melee combat whenever you can. Ammo can get expensive. Plus you get DOUBLE experience for melee combat. You can only see radiation at night, presumably it glows. If your geiger counter goes wild wait until nighttime before proceeding. Demolitions weapons do damage to an entire group of enemies. Don't waste them on singular enemies. If you ever get tied up, use Dexterity to free yourself. It is indeed true that low level characters can go up a few levels by simply evading during combat, but progess is much slower than simply killing the enemies. It's generally a good idea to back up your party in case they get saved in a place where they're stuck. If you're using an emulator, save the state before you do something risky. Enemy Morale: Depending on how the battle's going, some enemies may try to run away. There are basic rules you can use to determine the morale of an enemy. 1) Animals and Robots almost NEVER run away. They fight to the death. 2) Cornered enemies cannot flee. Enemies will NEVER try to run around you into the open so they can get away. 3) If a humanoid doesn't hurt you in 3 or 4 rounds, he might run away. 4) If a humanoid in a group is seriously injured he'll run away. 5) If a group of humans has taken multiple casualties, the group may run away. 6) If your party can kill the enemy several times over, he'll probably run away. 7) If enough time passes, the enemy may come back for more. 8) Enemies with long range attacks often run to their maximum range and shoot you from afar. 9) If enemies are fleeing, you can sometimes corner them into a wall and pound the crud out of them. With that said I never have to touch the morale issue again. There is typically no direct indication that a particular "opponent" is an NPC other than that NPCs will not attack unless you attack them. Try not to kill your allies too often -- NPCs can be useful. Note: There are several non-NPC people in the game which will not attack, but that doesn't mean that they're NPCs, or even friendly. Q: Which NPCs should I keep? A: It depends what stage in the game you're on. Radio often to see if your characters have gone up levels. Remember, Radio also saves your game so don't Radio if you're in a sticky situation. Most of the early NPCs waste your ammo and don't do anything useful. Use them as bullet catchers if you want. They won't mind :) NPC's in this class include Jackie (in Highpool), Mayor Pedros (in Quartz), Ralf (in Needles), and Felicia (in Quartz) You'll know 'em when you see 'em. Drop 'em when they're dead or badly hurt if you don't have Medics/Doctors. Generally, when you find a new NPC, save the game. (ApplePC Save State works well) Hire the NPC (disband an old one if you have to) and see if he/she is any better than one of your current NPCs. If so, keep the NPC. Criteria: IQ - How many levels do they need before they're useful. CHR - How obedient they are. MAXCON - Any NPC with less than 20 MAXCON is probably a loser. Equipment - 'Nuff said. Skills - Do they have anything really useful? Or are they worthless? SKP - Most NPCs have some free Skill Points. Rank - The LOWER the better. If a low level character is as good as a high level character, 10,000 XP from now the low level character will eat the high level one for breakfast. It's easier to make lower level characters powerful because they go up levels much quicker. Q: There's lots of walls that look weak. What do I do to them? A: Blow 'em up with TNT. Works on doors too. Some walls/doors are stronger than others and require more powerful ordinance. NOTE: Try picklock and safecrack on doors before you blast 'em. Try shovel, pick ax, ax, and strength on walls first too. 1.5 Big Map Hints: Be careful where you step. Don't fall in the river unless you are purposely trying to raise swimming. Don't walk into the desert without canteens on everyone. Don't head East of the Ranger Center unless it's nighttime (18:00 until 6:00). You'll see why. Q: My whole party suddenly got diseased with something and died! What happened. A: See above. Wait until 18:00 and do it again. You'll find out rather quickly. Q: My character died, how to I bring him back to life? A: As I said before, this isn't a Fantasy RPG. There's no magic. Bury the character and make a new one. Q: How do I fix the jeep. A: You can't. Only Ace (an NPC) can fix the jeep. And then it's a waste of time -- it just drops you in Las Vegas and gets stolen! One of the larger disappointments in the game. It can be seen as a method of advancing the plot of the game, though. 2. Early Stuff (If you have never seen a Scorpitron, go here) 2.1 Equipment 2.1.1 Items Plastic Explosives - A little more kick than TNT. Quite expensive, so only use them when TNT won't do the trick. PRICE #$300 Chemical - You won't need it for a LONG time. Just let it sit there until you need it later on. You cannot sell it, so it would just waste a space in your inventory. Book - Does nothing PRICE $10 Map - Useless. Sell them. PRICE $50 Pick Ax - Used to dig silver in the mine. PRICE $25 Howitzer Shell - Yes, they ARE functional. PRICE #$50 2.1.2 Weapons M17 carbine - Don't buy it RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Good DAMAGE 39 SKILL Rifle PRICE $250 AMMO 7.62mm clip SHOTS 10 M19 Rifle - Don't buy it RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Good DAMAGE 36 SKILL Rifle PRICE $350 AMMO 7.62mm clip SHOTS 8 Mac 17 SMG - OK. Uzi is better RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Fair DAMAGE 31 Burst 28-103 Auto 300-700 SKILL SMG PRICE #$500 AMMO 45 clip SHOTS 30 Uzi SMG Mark 27 - Good all around weapon RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Fair DAMAGE 32 Burst 29-102 Auto 400-900 SKILL SMG PRICE #$750 AMMO 9mm clip SHOTS 40 AK97 assault rifle - Similar to the M1989A1, but with 5 less bullets per clip. Pierces armor slightly better. RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Decent DAMAGE 40 Burst 35-140 Auto 500-800 SKILL Assault Rifle PRICE #$1300 AMMO 7.62mm clip SHOTS 30 M1989A1 Nato assault rifle - Best projectile weapon RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Decent DAMAGE 40 Burst 35-140 Auto 600-900 SKILL Assault Rifle PRICE #$1500 AMMO 7.62mm clip SHOTS 35 Grenade - Use them when you find them Demolitions punch of TNT RANGE 64' ATTACKS Group ARMOR Fair DAMAGE 27 SKILL Demolitions (I think) PRICE $150 RELOAD Auto Plastic Explosives - It does lots of damage, but it's too expensive to use in combat RANGE 57' ATTACKS Auto ARMOR Good DAMAGE 31 SKILL Demolitions PRICE #$300 RELOAD Auto Spear - A low end AT Weapon. Seriously! RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Good DAMAGE 36 SKILL AT Weapons PRICE $35 RELOAD 1 Round Flamethrower - With a high Energy Weapons, Flamethrowers can make a cheap substitute for AT Weapons at $50 per shot. Otherwise they're useless. Hint: Sell them back when they run out of ammo for a $1500 refund! RANGE 64' ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Fair to Excellent depending on skill DAMAGE 58 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE $3000 AMMO *Cannot reload* SHOTS 60 Mangler - Don't waste them on wimpy enemies RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Excellent DAMAGE 40-60 SKILL AT Weapons PRICE #$500 RELOAD 1 Round Sabot Rocket - Don't waste them on wimpy enemies RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Excellent DAMAGE 55-75 SKILL AT Weapons PRICE #$1100 RELOAD 1 Round LAW Rocket - Don't waste them on wimpy enemies RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Excellent DAMAGE 75-95 SKILL AT Weapons PRICE $2500 RELOAD 1 Round 7.62mm clip - Standard Rifle ammo PRICE $30 Power Pack - The Universal ammo for all Energy Weapons. No store stocks them, so use only when necessary. Sell them to a store for now. Buy them back when you need them later. No reason to waste inventory space. PRICE *$75 2.1.3 Armor Robe - Lets you walk through the Temple of Blood AC 1 PRICE #$250 Kevlar Suit - The best you'll have for a long period AC 6 PRICE #$1750 Rad Suit - RADIATION PROOF suit AC 5 PRICE #$1350 Kevlar Vest - OK AC 4 PRICE #$1000 2.2 Skills 2.3 Highpool Hints: Search all the buildings carefully. The juvies in the Camp by the store are sitting on a decent weapon. Nothing bad happens if you kill the kids :) Talk to the Kid in the SW corner and ask him: Jackie Cave Q: Where's the cave? A: Directly North of the boy there's a pair of trees (?) separated by 1 space. Use perception there. Bring a rope too. Q: How do I get past the boulders in the cave? A: Use Climb skill. Level 3+ helps immensely, but isn't required. Q: I'm in the cave, but I can't find Jackie. Where is he? A: Kill Rex (see below). Follow the tunnel North and past some boulders. Q: Is there any way to avoid killing Rex? A: Despite popular myth, there is. But I don't recommend it. Rex'll start a fight, but don't attack. Run Party North. Then use Climb North. Disband West a character with Climb and have him rescue Jackie. Keep evading with the other party. Return the party with Jackie to the rest of the party. Then leave. The dog is untouched. And unless you've got some good armor, your party is trashed. But you've got Jackie and Rex lives! To tell the truth, just beat the snot out of Rex, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to prove that it IS possible to save Jackie without killing the dog. Q: Is there any hidden treasure in Highpool? A: Search under the beds. That's a general rule throughout all of Wasteland. Also, fix the pump with an engine. You can buy one from the Trading Car in the Nomad's camp. Q: How can I see something cool in Highpool? A: Become the Grim Reaper. The juvies' time has come (sinister laughing) Seriously, cool stuff happens if you ruthlessly slaughter everyone in Highpool. To get everything started, slip on the rocks by walking back and forth across the river (not the bridge) Hate it when people laugh at you? Get your revenge! You might want to avoid saving after doing so, though. 2.4 Agriculture Center Hints: Before you kill Harry, walk next to the walls and get pelted by tomatoes. Eventually your perception will rise, but it doesn't work too well. Jewelry and fruit sell for the highest prices in the Ag Center's store. If you find any fruit or jewelry any time in the game -- sell it there. Q: What are fruit good for? A: For now, sell them. You use them much, much later Don't worry about it :) Q: Where's Harry the Bunny Master? A: Just scan all the rows of vegetables and you'll find him. Q: What use is the root cellar? A: Not much. There's usually a few things hidden in the boxes. Use Perception on the table 2nd from the bottom. Q: Is there any hidden treasure in the Agriculture Center? A: Yes. You can use picklock to get at the treasure hidden behind the doors. Also check out the SW corner of the Ag Center. There's a hidden tunnel with some goodies in it. 2.5 Nomads' Camp Hints: Go see the Brakeman. The Nomad's Camp is an *EXCELLENT* place to get experience. The battles are easy and the experience is high. USE MELEE WEAPONS ONLY! You get double the experience, and you don't need to waste ammo on these wimps. The casino car is very useful. It is a low-stakes place to gamble. As such it is an excellent place to raise gambling skill. With decent luck, you can get gambling up to Level 8 in 5-10 minutes and lose less than $1000. Then take a trip to Vegas and watch the money roll in! Notice: remember that no skill level can ever be higher than the character's experience level. If you have a level 4 character you can only have a maximum of level 4 gambling. The only exception to this rule is character creation in the Ranger Center. Q: What do I do with that stinking bum? A: Give him something to drink. Maybe he's not just a stinking bum. (Hint hint) Q: Is anything hidden in the Nomad's Camp. A: Besides the mini-quest, I assume. Yes. Try using the Atchison's password on the other 2 tents and see what happens :) 2.6 Mine Hints: Bring a pick ax. Q: In the mine there are places where the wall has been chipped and the rock looks strange. Is it any use? A: There's silver deposits there. You need Metallurgy to find the silver veins and a pick ax to extract the silver. To tell the truth, you get a pitiful amount of money for the effort. Your Skill Points are better used elsewhere. Q: What are Gas Masks for? A: They are only used once in the entire game, and even then aren't necessary. Sell them. 2.7 Quartz Hints: Use the manhole covers for some safe, quick transport There's a store in the SW corner of the city. The Bar is to the SouthEast, just West of the graveyard. The Courthouse is 2 blocks directly North of the Bar. The Inn is West of the Courthouse and 1 building to the North. In the Bar, go in the bathroom and talk to the person Say CHAT. If you give snake squeezins to a bum, he'll let you pass. Q: What do I do with Head Crusher? A: Go see the Brakeman in Nomad's Camp first. Q: OK, now how do I show him the Visa Card? A: Use it on yourself or the table, I forgot which. Q: What do I say to the Riddler? A: The first Answer is TOAST. The second is R. For the 3rd answer talk to the Barkeep. Q: Is anything hidden in Quartz? A: Check out the graveyard. Nothing real valuable, but the tombstones are cool. Also explore ALL the rooms in the Inn. Also in the Inn Climb over the counter and raid the vault. Be careful. Jump on the stage in the Bar and check out the Jukebox. Shove the punks around. 2.7.1 Courthouse Hints: Make sure you *finish* Scott's Bar and Stagecoach Inn before you come to the Courthouse. It's your choice whether you want to come in fighting or sneak in. Q: What's the Password? A: What's the matter? Don't like a fight? MUERTE Q: Danny Citrine's dead! What do I do? A: When you entered and woke Louie he sounded the alarm and Citrine was executed. Try again until Louie stays asleep and you knock him out. Then enter the room again and roast the enemies. Q: What do I do with Danny Citrine? A: First, to revive him give him a drink from your canteen. Then have him join your party and head upstairs. The SE jail cell holds Citrine's father. Bring Citrine in and step on the bed. Moola! Info courtesy: Chris Baer Q: I found Hewie and Dewey. Where's Louie? A: I assume you didn't wake the guard and knocked him out. He was Louie. You read Louie's bracelet, remember? (P-107) Q: And what do I do with the Mayor once I have him? A: As far as I know, use him as a beast of burden until someone better comes along, then disband him forever. Q: And how about the other prisoners that I release? A: Doesn't matter. 2.7.2 Ugly's Hideout Hints: Walking along the glass in the secret entrance can raise Perception, but it's a real pain to get it any higher than Level 2. Q: Where's the secret entrance to Ugly's hideout? A: Directly North of the Courthouse there's 2 buildings separated by 1 space. The building to the East is Ugly's hideout. Notice the black square directly SouthWest of the hideout? That's the secret entrance. Carefully examine the walls. Q: What's the code for the vault? A: Use the numbers from the bracelets in the Courthouse. Note that the order of the numbers is important. Q: Should I let Ugly John go? A: He does tell the truth and you do save Felicia. But if you have a decent bomb disarm it's a pretty simple trap. You get some goodies for killing Ugly John. Other than that, it doesn't matter. Q: Where the heck's this Ace NPC I keep hearing about? A: In the basement of Ugly's hideout. Get to it by way of stairs hidden behind a counter along the East wall. He's in a jail cell. Try Picklock and Safecrack. Be patient, the doors WILL open. 2.8 Needles Hints: Head to the Police Station first to find out what the heck is going on. There are several Bloodstaffs. Only 1 is real. Check out the Ammo dump in NE Needles. Check out the trash pit in SW Needles. Bring some TNT. You'll be very glad you did. Leyroy's Place is also a decent weapons store. The shifting hills in Southern Needles can raise Climb. Search all buildings in Needles carefully. Watch out for radiation. Hire the Uzi-toting female in the alley of downtown Needles. Needles is a poor place to gain experience. For low level characters the fights are hard and the XP is terrible. Do your business, then leave. Q: Are the shifting hills good for anything else? A: Disband a character with climb skill and have him walk over the hills. Check out the tops of the hills. It works best if you disband 1 character to look (he must have Climb or Acrobat) Q: What can I do in the garage? A: Find Ace in Quartz, then have him check out the jeep North of Quartz. Q: How do I disable the alarm in the Police Station? A: The Communications Center is near the center Southern wall. In the NE corner of the room there's a panel. Press Button 0. Then get the FREE SMGs and ammo to the East. Courtesy: Chris Baer Q: What do I do with the Ruby Ring? A: Show it to the priest in the building in SE Needles. Then toss it. Q: What do I do with the Bloodstaff? A: Give it to the priest in the building to the SE of Needles Q: How do I get in the building in SE downtown Needles? I can't blow the door down. A: There are two drunks in a room nearby. Give one of them several snake squeezins and they'll tell you the name of the club they got wasted at. The name of the club is also the Password. This hint courtesy: Stephen Lee Q: Is anything hidden in Needles? A: There's a gang meeting going on behind some rubble in downtown Needles. You can get in a decent fight back there and pick up some assault rifles early on in the game. Use howitzer shells on the howitzer in downtown Needles. You need Demolitions or AT weapons. 2.8.1 Temple of Blood Hints: If you wear Robes on everyone when you enter, very few enemies will fight you. Put your regular armor back on when you're on the chess board. The electric chair is fully functional. BZZZT! Don't step on the pressure plates. It brings out one of the tougher enemies in the game. Q: How do I open all those doors? A: Picklock works wonders. Q: What's the solution to the Chess Puzzle? A: Come on, that's a fun one to solve. Here's how to do it: take a step. If you just move and nothing happens it's correct. It's helpful to make a little map of the Chess Board and put an X at every correct step. For the final question, if you're certain you're right, but you're wrong try increasing/decreasing the answer by 1. It depends how you count. Q: What's the launch code for the Nuclear Missile? A: If you really can't figure it out, it's MOTEKIM. 3. Las Vegas Stuff (Speaks for itself, don't it?) 3.1 Equipment 3.1.1 Items Antitoxin - Just let it sit there for now, you brute. You won't use it for a while yet. No it cannot heal diseased party members. Rockets - Function like Plastic Explosives for demolition purposes. Only a last resort when you're out of everything else -- rockets are worth a fortune! 3.1.2 Weapons RPG-7 - The most powerful AT Weapon RANGE All ATTACKS 1 ARMOR Excellent DAMAGE 105-125 SKILL AT Weapons PRICE $5000 RELOAD 1 Round Laser Pistol - Use the ammo in them, then sell them Assault Rifles are just about as powerful but don't waste precious Power Packs. Laser Pistols have the greatest damage inflicting potential of ANY weapon. Keep that in mind. RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Good DAMAGE 40 Burst 36-135 Auto 800-1300 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE *$8000 AMMO Power Pack SHOTS 40 Laser Carbine - Use them in the Sewers, then sell them like Laser Pistols RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Good DAMAGE 52 Burst 43-171 Auto 700-1000 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE *$11500 AMMO Power Pack SHOTS 30 Laser Rifle - The mainstay weapon later in the game Use Single shots unless you're in deep trouble. RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Very Good DAMAGE 55-80 Burst 55-240 Auto 400-900 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE *$13000 AMMO Power Pack SHOTS 20 Chainsaw - A good melee weapon. RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Decent Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 18 + 3.9 Brawling + ST/2 SKILL Brawling PRICE #$500 Proton Ax - The best melee weapon. RANGE Melee ATTACKS 1 + Brawling/2 ARMOR Very Good Very Good Very Good DAMAGE 45 + 4.5 Brawling + ST/2 SKILL Brawling PRICE $10000 Chainsaw - Rules in combination with brawling; don't be surprised to inflict 100 damage per round with this lethal combination. They never run out of ammo. A temporary fix for characters without pugilism. Once you get pugilism level 3 forget all other melee weapons and concentrate on raising pugilism. 3.1.3 Armor 3.2 Skills IQ 20 Electronics (3) - Lets you fix a few things. Get Level 1 on 1 person. IQ 21 Doctor (3) - Similar to, but much better than Medic. Level 1 Doctor can heal COMATOSE pretty well! Everyone needs Doctor. Start with Level 1. IQ 23 Energy Weapons (3) - Lets you use them. Everyone needs it. Very easy to raise in skill level. Start with Level 1. 3.3 Las Vegas Misc. Hints: Watch out for land mines. There's a library in the SE corner -- check it out! There's a bum in the 2nd building West of the Library Give him some money and ask the following: CHAT FAT FREDDY FARAN BRYGO ROBOTS MAX Courtesy: Chris Baer There's a hospital on the 2nd Southernmost block, 4th building from the West on the North side of the street. (Wouldn't addresses have helped?) 3rd building West of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Ave. Temple of the Mushroom Cloud is at the very Eastern part of Las Vegas set off the road midway North/South The Casinos and golf course are in the center West The Jail is in the NE corner. Check it out, but be careful. Talk to Fat Freddy. Say "Yes" to his offer. If you say "No" make sure you've got Gas Masks. The best place to gamble is at Fat Freddy's. For lower stakes, 3-Card Monty at Spade's is pretty good. Q: Where the heck's the Sonic Key? A: Go to the very North end of the golf course. You should see 4 flags arranged in a somewhat misshapen diamond. There's a cactus in the center The Sonic Key is buried 2 squares East of the cactus. (Use a shovel to dig it up) There's another one guarded by 10 Cyborg Commandos a few squares SW of the Jail (NE corner). Q: Are there any hidden items in Las Vegas? A: Yes. There's some ammo and a Proton Ax hidden in the second building East of Scorpitron on the South side of the street. Q: What's the password for Fat Freddy? A: Talk to the bum (see Hints) Q: Where's Covenant? A: In the jail in NE Las Vegas. 3.4 Faran Brygo Hints: Faran Brygo's hideout is the second building West of Scorpitron on the North side of the street. When you try to enter it says "Entering a small beat up building". Don't worry -- it's really Faran Brygo. Once you press the button, you cannot come back! Q: What's the password for Faran Brygo? A: Go to Spade's Casino and walk up to the bar. Q: What can I do with the strange wall in Faran Brygo's Place? A: Use Cryptology on it. You'll be glad you did! Q: I killed Faran Brygo. What useful stuff does he have to say? A: Paragraph 7 Q: I didn't kill Faran Brygo. How can I get Fat Freddy's reward? A: If you take out the Guardian Citadel, give Fat Freddy the Onyx Ring contained within. 3.5 Temple of the Mushroom Cloud Hints: Don't play around with the radioactive waste. There's nothing of value over there. Q: What's the password to get into the Temple of the Mushroom Cloud? A: Look at the walls. Q: What do I say to Charmaine? A: Didn't Faran Brygo send you to see her? Q: How do I open the secret door? A: Use the Sonic Key. Or else talk to Charmaine. 3.6 Sewers Hints: Use ropes to cross the river and chasm. Swimming works too, but ropes are much much easier. Courtesy: Marc Sira Use a shovel to break through all the hollow walls. Explosives work too, but that's kind of wasteful. If your party is injured or low on ammo, feel free to leave and come back later after you freshen up. Go wild with your conventional ammunition. After you finish the Sewers SMGs are almost useless and Assualt Rifle ammo is fairly cheap. If your weapon is empty you'll use it as a melee weapon. If you don't have pugilism but you do have a high energy weapons, keep an empty Energy Weapon (likely a laser pistol) on hand. When you strike with it it'll use your energy weapons skill in determining damage -- not pugilism. Granted it won't do as much damage as fists and level 6 pugilism, but it'll still do about 40-70 damage per blow with a decent skill level. Brawling still works no matter what melee weapon you're using. Q: What do I do with the Servo Motor? the Fusion Cell? the ROM Board? the Android Head? the Power Converter? etc... A: Save every one of the above that you can find. They are necessary later on. Q: What do I do with the table? A: Run diagnostics on each section. You'll find the necessary parts strewn all over the sewers. Don't worry, they're all down there. Just look. Make sure you open up every single passage with your shovel. 4. Post-Vegas stuff (If you're friends with Max or the Junkmaster, go here) 4.1 Equipment 4.1.1 Items Antitoxin - Can only be used for 1 purpose and 1 purpose only. Check out the Darwin City bar. 4.1.2 Weapons Ion Beamer - A very powerful weapon. More economical on weaker enemies than the Meson Cannon because it gets 20 shots per valuable Power Pack. Use Single shot unless you're in deep trouble. RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Very Good DAMAGE 50-80 Burst 50-240 Auto 700-1100 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE *$17000 AMMO Power Pack SHOTS 20 Meson Cannon - The most powerful weapon in the game. Always use single shot unless you're in deep trouble. RANGE All ATTACKS Single/Burst/Auto ARMOR Excellent DAMAGE 80-100 Burst 80-300 Auto 200-700 SKILL Energy Weapons PRICE *$18000 AMMO Power Pack SHOTS 10 4.1.3 Armor Pseudo-chitin Armor - 2nd best AC 10 PRICE *$5000 Power Armor - Kicks butt! AC 14 PRICE *$30000 4.2 Skills IQ 19 Helicopter Pilot (3) - Hmmm. I wonder. Not really useful. Get Level 1 on 1 person if at all. IQ 20 Toaster Repair (3) - Lets you fix toasters in the Citadel. You get some stuff inside the toasters. Throw the fixed toaster away - you can't use it and can't sell it. Get Level 1 on 1 person if at all. IQ 22 Clone Tech (3) - Lets you fix the chemical levels in the cloning machine. Get Level 1 on 1 person if you're interested in Cloning. IQ 24 Cyborg Tech (3) - Lets you hook up an Android head to a Virtual Reality machine. Get Level 1 on 1 person if at all. 4.3 Sleeper Base Hints: There's no random encounters, so take all the time you want. There's not much fighting at all in Sleeper Base. Q: Where is Sleeper Base? A: You need to either revive Max or befriend the Junkmaster to find Sleeper Base. Sleeper Base is in the NorthEast corner of the Big Map near the source of the river. Q: Where do I find all the Secpasses? A: Secpass 1 - Pile of debris in the room just West of the entrance on Level 1. Secpass 3 - Pile of debris in one of the little rooms South of the main entrance on Level 1. Secpass 7 - On level 3 in a locked desk. Secpass A - Use perception on a desk in the center North of Level 2. Secpass B - Guardian Citadel or Finster in Darwin City. Q: What Secpass do I use to open door x? A: There's many doors in Sleeper Base and I'm not going to mention every single one. Just try all the Secpasses you've got. If it won't open come back when you find a new Secpass. Q: How do I break the crystalline wall guarding the big suits of armor? A: Despite what the game says, just blow it up with Plastic Explosives. It takes 4, I think. Q: How do I get past the shiny floor, electricity, and dead doors without getting roasted? A: Disband 1 member of the party to the power control room. Turn power off to walk safely past the electricity. Turn power on to open doors. Switch parties with 'v'. Q: How do I open "The most secure safe door you've ever laid eyes on"? A: Picklock. Safecrack might work too. Q: How do I fix the Helicopter Simulator? A: Use a ROM board on it. Q: How do I get in the Helicopter Simulator? A: Send 1 person at a time. High dexterity helps. Q: How do I make clones? A: Go to level 2. Use a Power Converter on the broken generator in the NE corner. Then head to the room South of the room with the crystalline walls. Go to the machine and run Diagnostics. Use Clone Tech skill (available on level 1) on the machine. If it didn't work run diagnostics again and repeat. If it did work select 3) Install manual drainage. Then use a jug on the machine. Get the Clone Fluid and give it to the character you want to clone. Send the character you want to clone alone into one of the cloning chambers. It takes a while to incubate the clones. I'm still not sure exactly how long it takes. When the clone's done release it and you'll get to name it. Make sure you've cleared an empty spot in your party. You can incubate up to 4 different clones at once. 4.4 Darwin City Hints: Go to the Black Market. I have no idea what the password is. Kick their butts and grab their Uzis. Now enter the store and buy any conventional weapon your heart desires. You need Cyborg Tech to use the android head Virtual Reality gizmo with the android's head. Q: Can I finally do something with all that **** fruit? A: Yes. Go to the little shack in the middle of the city. Find the little table. Use fruit, chemical, and Doctor on it to make Antitoxin. Q: Where can I get chemicals? A: There is one chemical in Housekeeping in the Stagecoach Inn and there are three chemicals on a table in Ugly's hideout. If you're a meanie, you can also find some chemicals and even an entire Antitoxin in Spade's Casino. Just massacre everyone and search what's left. Q: That's great. Now what do I use Antitoxin for? A: Check out the Darwin City bar. Q: Can I do anything else with Antitoxin? A: No, you cannot. Q: I have Cyborg Tech, but the android's head still keeps exploding! A: You're using the wrong android's head. Go see Finster next door. Then head to the lower level and free the prisoners. There's 2 ways to do this: 1) Enter Finster's desert world of the future and leave through the cliff on the West. Then unlock/destroy the door South of the elevator. 2) Take the elevator to the lower floor. If you don't know the password, you'll be bound and gagged. Simply use Dexterity to wriggle out. Then leave. To find the password, examine the SW cell in the Quartz Jail. Or else head down to Finster's "future" desert and kill all his "pets". Climb up the mounds and open the hatches with Strength. After that go and see Finster again. He'll be pretty pissed :) Q: I have Cyborg Tech. I used the correct head, but I still didn't log on! A: Try again. Q: OK. I'm in the Virtual Reality place. But I'm stuck! A: Have no fear, the FAQ is here! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO FIGURE OUT THE HARDEST PUZZLES IN ALL OF WASTELAND BY YOURSELF! I though you'd still be here :) 32 512 You don't need to kill the Night Terror, but he's a lot of free experience. Take as much time as you like to kill him -- he won't hit you! 20 Walk around until you're in the NW corner. Then use IQ on yourself until you're in the SW corner. Then head East. FINSTER Kill the spider Use IQ on the Web NOTHING Next you have to play baseball. I always hit homeruns so I don't know what to do if you fail. I've heard you can use Luck and Charisma to get out of the showers, but I have not been able to verify it. Save before entering. (Save State under ApplePC works great) Use STRENGTH to break the fragile wall Kill the dude Take his stuff Use STRENGTH to break the next fragile wall Walk around the room Take the Head ICEBERG Go left. (I don't think it matters) Use IQ on yourself 3 times Thrash Finster Leviathan Take Secpass B Jump down the hole Q: I entered the Virtual Reality part and I realize I'm not prepared to solve it. Can I leave and come back? A: You can if you haven't gotten too far yet. I suppose I'd recommend just saving before you enter (ApplePC save state works well) 4.5 Guardian Citadel Hints: The Citadel is a LOT LOT easier if you take out the Sewer and Sleeper Base first. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you have high enough Luck and Dexterity (25+) you can conquer the Citadel with Assault Rifles alone! Just go full-auto every round and you'll roast everything in 1 or 2 rounds. More than 50% of the battles can be resolved with one 7.62mm clip if you've got a very good marksman. If you sell 1 RPG-7 you can buy 83 clips -- more than enough to conquer the entire Citadel. If your aim's not THAT good, you can still do considerable damage with assault rifles and finish the job with an Energy Weapon or 2. Save those power packs. Many Guardians rely solely on armor to survive; they have surprisingly low Hit Points once you pierce their armor. I've killed some of them by doing only 7 damage! Beware that the Guardians on the 3rd level are significantly more powerful than the rest. There are NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS in the Citadel! Feel free to leave any time to get healed/stock up on ammo You can only obtain power packs by finding them. You cannot make them nor buy them anywhere in the game. (see cheats) You can sell power packs and buy them back later. (see cheats) Make sure you get all 4 special keys: Pulsar, Quasar, Blackstar, and Nova. Use perception on anything that looks suspect. Q: How do I open the vault in the first section? A: Safecrack. Level 1 works just fine :) Picklock will work too, but with a high level the probability is still pretty low. Q: How can I avoid the traps in the vault? A: Leave at least 1 item in each treasure bag. I suggest a 7.72mm Clip or a Power Pack. Q: How do I open the display cases in the museum? A: Picklock. Q: How do I open the portcullus as the top of the stairs? A: Just West of the stairs there's a door. Go in the door and use Strength on the wheel/chain. A 20+ Strength helps a lot. 18 Strength will work, but it's a pain. Q: How do I board the helicopter? A: You need someone with Helicopter Pilot skill from Sleeper Base. Q: Is anything hidden in the Citadel? A: Look carefully through the 2nd room West of the stairs. Lots of useful stuff. Use Perception on the desks. Q: How do I open the vault upstairs? A: Look carefully at all the beds in the Inner Sanctum. Or else search the desk 2 rooms to the West. Q: Where's the Blackstar Key? A: Use perception on the Altar in the Inner Sanctum. 4.6 Savage Village Hints: There are 2 possible ways to use Savage Village: 1) Early on in the game slaughter everyone and get a load of assault rifles/ammo. 2) After the Citadel use it to reveal Sleeper Base and Base Cochise instead of using the Sewers. Then you can kill everyone :) Personally, I prefer method 1. The Sewers work just fine plus give you your first taste of decent energy weapons, Laser Rifles. Then you can build strength in Sleeper Base before cracking the Citadel. You don't need Redhawk to please the Junkmaster. He'll accept the Grazer Bat Fetish too. (it's in the museum) Q: What's the password? A: REDHAWK is all the passwords. Q: Should I drop my weapons? A: Yes, they're just checking. They don't really take your weapons. Q: How do I get out of the well? A: Doh! Climb skill. Q: Is anything hidden in Savage Village? A: Not really. Everything's pretty much out in the open. 4.7 Base Cochise Hints: To find Base Cochise either use the Helicopter in the Citadel or search for a map in Sleeper Base (tells you to read a paragraph). The map is referring to location relative to *Sleeper Base*, NOT Darwin City. If you enter Base Cochise via Helicopter make certain you have Secpass B and take a rope with you. Also when you enter via helicopter it kills almost all the enemies outside the base. Personally, I prefer getting the experience from the fights. Plus when you enter by helicopter it shows the wrong location on the Big Map to purposely mislead you. When you exit Base Cochise you exit from a different place. Personally, I walk and kick some tail! (You still need Secpass B) Take a large amount of powerful explosives with you. Again, if your Luck and Dexterity are high enough you can even defeat Base Cochise with assault rifles alone. By now those 7.62mm clips should seem cheap as dirt, so don't worry about wasting money on them. Wait for nighttime (18:00 to 6:00) before solving Level 5. You know what that means! Q: How do I get past the Southernmost door at the perimeter of Base Cochise? A: Good old fashioned Boom Boom. (Explosives, for the clueless) Q: I entered via Helicopter. I can't go anywhere! A: Blast open one of the partially retracted thingies (the round things at the center). Then toss down a rope and use Climb. Take the treasure before you leave. Q: What should I type into the computer past the escalators? A: Whatever you do, don't type BREAK. It'll put you in a very bad position to cross a pit. Q: After the escalators, where can I go? A: Search the Eastern wall very carefully. Q: OK, I got to the 4th level. What do I do? A: Go in each one of the "Vaults" and complete the little quest. The pipes and the weather work best if you only send in 1 character. They're all pretty easy. Q: How do I open the 4 doors on the lower level? A: No keys work. Blast 'em. Use Plastic Explosives or Rockets. Q: How do I get past the "indestructible" walls on level 5? A: Send someone to fix the machine in the NW corner. He'll need explosives and a power coupler. Q: How do I get past the conveyor belt on level 5? A: Destroy the fragile machinery in the Northern part of the room. Q: I got to the 4 corners but I can't seem to get any farther. A: You must disband 4 parties -- 1 to each corner. Q: Which keys go where and in what order do I press the buttons? A: Did you think I was going to solve the WHOLE game for you? It's pretty easy to figure out which keys go where -- trial and error. Also it's pretty easy to figure out the destruction sequence. I'll give you these clues: 1) The game TELLS you what colors to use, if you paid attention. 2) The order is not circular. Q: OK, I've got a live nuclear weapon sitting under my nose. How the heck do I get out without becoming part of the stratosphere? (It looks pretty cool, by the way. You should try it sometime) A: Time is very important. Combine your 4 parties as efficiently as you can. Then head for an escape pod a few squares North of the center ladder. Q: Is anything hidden in Base Cochise? A: On the 3rd Level (after escalators, before vaults) send the platform across the radioactive pit. Then head across to a room with a bunch of robot generators. Pick the locks. One of them should say "BREAK IN PROGRAM >". Type "RUN" and select type admin. This will create VAX, far and away the best NPC in the game. Hire him, don't kill After you solve the game, Radio for a pleasant surprise. 5. Which Paragraphs are Real (mostly complete) Ag. Center: 6,56,84 Nomad Camp: 2, 3, 28, 39, 43, 46, 54, 56, 110, 117, 128, 141, 152, 156, 160 Quartz: 10, 23, 26, 35, 49, 57, 107, 109, 126, 147, 155 Needles: 29, 37, 60, 61, 66, 77, 103, 104, 111, 112, 124, 127, 136, 150, 158 Las Vegas: 7, 15, 21, 65, 71, 76, 83, 96, 99, 129 Sleeper Base: 40, 52, 63, 70, 90, 91, 100, 101 Darwin City: 14, 80 Savage Village: 30 Citadel: 20, 85, 162 Base Cochise: 47, 79, 118, 130 6. Cheating You really thought there was such a thing as a CRPG you can't cheat at? Not a chance. You just need to be a little creative for Wasteland because the programmers did a good job trying to stop people from cheating. This section makes the game a little too easy, so I'd recommend against it the first time you play. It'd just defeat the fun of the wonderful game. However after you solve the game, go wild the next time! 6.1 Disk Switching Enter an area with a copy of the original disk, then place another copy in the drive after the area is loaded. Do what you want, take all the treasure you want, hire whoever you want, kill whomever you want, then leave. The stuff will be saved as modified on the disk you placed in the drive BUT THE FIRST DISK WILL BE UNCHANGED. You can just place the first disk in the drive and repeat the process. An easy way to rack up items, cash, allies, and experience. It saves what you buy and sell too. The stores rarely run out of things they're originally stocked with, but if you sell them 2 power packs they only have 2 power packs in stock for you to buy again later. But if you are creative with the disk-switching technique you can work around this too. 6.2 Negative Skill Point Cheat If you go to a library and a skill requires 255 SKP for the next level, there's a bug in the program that treats it as a NEGATIVE 1! Just hit the key as if you were trying to get level 1 It'll raise your skill level by 1 and give you a skill point in return. So you gain a skill point for getting a skill level! Note: You need to have at least as many SKP as it takes to get level 1 in the skill for this to work. Always keep 3 SKP on hand and it's not a problem. Note: Your skill level can never be higher than your experience level, so there is a limit on how high you can go. Conversely, remember to take a trip to the Library after you get a few promotions. VERY important thing to keep in mind when using low level characters. Note: Because this bug likely comes from a problem with signed vs. unsigned arithmetic, when you have 127 SKP the computer thinks you actually have -1 SKP which is less than the requirement for level 1, so the cheat stops working until you spend some SKP. If you want to raise a skill that takes 128 or 192 SKP you need to get the skill points by getting some promotions and raising IQ. I'll use energy weapons as my example. Level 1 takes 3 skill points. Every level doubles the previous requirement, so level 2 takes 6, 3 takes 12, etc... But what if you want level 8 Energy Weapons? It would take 384 skill points, but the Apple // can't count that high on one register. You can achieve Level 7 by fighting and using the skill, but not Level 8. To get level 8 go to a Library. It'll say you need 255 Skill Points to go up another level. It's lying. If you try to increase your level the register loops around to a negative and you actually GET ANOTHER SKILL POINT FOR GOING UP A LEVEL. Your skill level can never be higher than your experience level so don't be frightened when the process stops. Just go kill some more, radio, then try again. It's very hard to get Pugilism and Brawling to Level 8. You might just want to spend the Skill Points. Note: You can raise Brawling/Pugilism to Level 8 on Level 5 of Base Cochise with all those little Robots popping out of the floor. But it's tricky. It checks Brawling first, then Pugilism. If you've got good Brawling, it will never even test Pugilism. Also you might want to get some useless skills that are easy to raise in level so you can spend negative skill points in the library on them :) One use of a Laser Pistol is to fight a powerful enemy and keep going full auto at it with the Laser Pistol. You won't hurt it, but it will raise your Energy Weapons. You can start the Negative Skill Points Cheat early on as soon as you get Level 9 characters. Go to Fat Freddy and get a quick $1000 by offering your services. He doesn't know that you won't make good on your promise for some time. Go to a Library and get Gambling Level 1 on a lucky character. Then head for Nomad's Camp and go to the Casino Car. Keep betting until you've got Level 8 Gambling. Then go to a library and the process has started. 6.3 Infinite Money At the start of the game each character starts with piddly cash and some cheap equipment. For a head- start make a bunch of characters and trade the pistols to the first guy and have him P)ool cash. Then delete the losers and do it over again. When the first guy's inventory is full of pistols save the game and create a band of some more losers to take with him. You can use a similar technique on each one to rake in even more cash if you've got the time. Then make a mad dash to Quartz. There's a store in the South-West corner. Sell EVERYTHING. P)ool all cash to one character then return to the Ranger Center. Don't worry if one of them dies. Delete all the characters except the one with the dough, then make your first REAL character. Give him all the money and delete the old guy. Then create the rest of your party. Not an immense boost but it'll give you about $10,000 each repetition. Later on you can use the disk-swapping method to bring in major money with expensive equipment. 6.4 Apple // Supercharacter walk-through To get XP I used to go through the Citadel. The perimeter of Base Cochise works much better. But here's my secret: Night Terror. Just use disk switching and kill him over and over again. Each time is 64,000 XP, more than slaughtering the entire Citadel. However to do it efficiently you need to almost have solved the game. On the bottom level of Base Cochise there's a room with robots in the floor that challange your brawling first, pugilism second if brawling fails. You can get level 8 in both if you do it enough times. I highly recommend having at least level 6 before trying it. Get pugilism by killing everything in the Citadel with your fists. Get brawling by doing likewise with a chainsaw. Always use the lowest skill level characters to do it. If you don't the high level ones will always kill the enemy before the lower level guys have a chance to raise their levels. Once you go to a library and see a skill require 255 skp to go up a level you're home free. If you've got enough skp to get level 1 in that skill (3 for energy weapons) then you can raise the skill up levels until it reaches your experience level, each time getting a skill point in return. An example. Get level 7 Energy weapons by torching Brother Goliath (the first guardian) with laser pistols repeatedly. He'll likely never get hurt. Go full-auto on him over and over again until you hit level 7. Then give the next character a try. OK. Now head to a library. The next level should take 384 skp, but only 1 byte is used to represent it so it maxes out at 255. Suppose you have 0 skp and experience level 14. Select the skill and it will say "Not Enough Skill Points" Get that character up 2 levels and give him 3 IQ. Now he's level 16. Now go back to the library and try again. You'll get level 8 Energy Weapons and have *4* skp. Keep doing it and you'll end with level 16 energy weapons and *12* skp. You can do this with any skill. The trick is finding a skill that can be raised to the critical level this way. I have found 4. In order of ease to do it: gambling, energy weapons, brawling, and pugilism. You could probably also do it with Assault weapons and SMG. Gambling is REALLY easy to do this with, but it'll cost you about $1000 depending on your Luck. Get gambling level 1. Go to the Nomad's camp. Find the casino car and enter it (in the back). Keep gambling until you hit level 8. It took my characters about 2 minutes a piece, but they had 40 luck at the time. Anyway, after you get level 8 brawling, raise it as high as it can go. Then equip a chainsaw, or preferably a proton ax. If you have Level 8+ pugilism screw weapons and use your fists. Now you'll hurt that darn Night Terror pretty good! (And just about anything else in the game as well) 6.5 Super Loot Bag Cheat The Super Loot Bag cheat is a method where you can supposedly get a loot bag containing a great number of every item in the game. Included in the bag are a Red Ryder Rifle that does tremendous damage and an armor that has an AC127. Here's the cheat to the best of my knowledge: 1) Go to either the Acapulco Club in Needles or Fat Freddy's in Las Vegas. 2) Disband a single character and gamble until he/she wins, but do NOT pick up the cash. 3) Move the character to another seat and gamble again until you win, but don't take the cash. 4) Go back to the first loot bag and take the money. 5) Drop an item. It can be anything; try a clip of ammo. 6) Walk over to the other bag and when it locks up press down and then hit escape. 7) If the cheat worked, the previously empty loot bag is filled with goodies. At step 6 the bag appears just like a normal loot bag with the sole exception that there is absolutely nothing in it. So hitting down and escape does nothing. 7. Revision History 12-16-1995, by Stephen Sedmak Hey! It exists! 01-10-1996, by Chris Baer Doubled the Q&A section, added several comments, introduced a partial account of real paragraphs, and introduced the "Legal Fine Print" section. 02-25-1996, by Stephen Sedmak A total rework of the entire FAQ. Split into multiple sections and multiplied several times the total amount of Wasteland-related info. 02-27-1996, by Chris Baer A maintenance release available only via WWW. Mainly corrected some errors in the 02-25-1996 version of the FAQ. 03-31-1996, by Stephen Sedmak A semi-major revision, mainly adding statistics for all the weapons and armor. Also decided to add the Supercharacter Walk-Through I created in 1/96. This is NOT an update to the 02-27-1996 version, rather the 02-25-1996 version. Changes from the 02-27-1996 version were added indirectly. Some e-mail comments by Chris Baer were pasted into the FAQ. 08-05-2003, by Chris Baer A maintenance release to update e-mail addresses and remove old/extraneous information. No substantive content changes. 8. In planning for future versions We don't really have any more changes in mind at this time. 9. Additional Legal Fine Print Which Does Apply To You. THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS DOCUMENT IS ASSUMED BY YOU. ALL COPYRIGHTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. HAVE A NICE DAY. This FAQ may be freely uploaded and distributed provided that no information is changed and no fees beyond those associated with transmission and duplication are charged for its use.