bard@jessica.stanford.edu (David Hopper) (02/06/91)
I thought there were enough people asking for more info on MechForce, so I'm
posting a good portion of the BattleManual. This is pretty long.
All typos are Ralph's, 'cause I'm using Snap.
[begin insert]
MechForce - Heavy Metal Combat
What is MechForce? It is a game that simulates combat between two or
more giant, robot-like machines. Simple words can't begin to give you the
feel of piloting a 30 - 40 foot tall, fire breathing, earth shaking colossus
that obeys your every whim. To enjoy the game you must put yourself in the
cockpit of a Combat Mech. Live the experience!
You are the elite of the elite - a Mech Warrior. Your Combat Mech
thunders under you as you pace across the land, searching for a reported
enemy mech. You view the land around you, searching for the enemy. To your
left the plain climbs gradually from low hills up to high mountains. To your
right is a lake, the calm waters shading from light to cobalt blue as the
water deepens in the center, with patches of treacherous swamp at the edges.
Ahead of you the hills meet a mixture of light and heavy woods. You are
debating whether to climb the hills or fight your way through the trees when
the enemy mech steps over the crest of the hill.
Your heart leaps as you recognize a heavy Archer, just as he fires one
of his massive 20 racks of Long Range Missiles. Your Marauder is staggered
by the multiple impacts as you frantically pit your piloting skill against 75
tons of overbalanced mech. You swivel your torso and call up your weapons
display. The reassuring green lights indicate that all weapons are ready to
fire. You select your Auto Cannon 5 and one of your Particle Projection
Cannons. A moment later your combat display shows you your field of fire and
weapon range. The targeting pipper is blinking on the Archer as you fire
your weapons up the mountain.
The crash of your cannon tears chunks of armor from the Archer, but the
scintillating beam of the Plasma Cannon slashes to the left of the Archer.
"Too quick" you curse under your breath. The temperature in your cockpit
jumps as the heat from firing the Plasma Cannon soaks into your mech. No
problem so far, the heat sinks can handle it. You drive your mech into a
pounding run. You've got to get close, his LRMs have a minimum effective
range, if you can just get inside it...
The Archer is shrouded in smoke as another salvo of missiles blast their
way toward you. Missiles clang off your armor, tearing chunks away. Your
cockpit rings as one hits the head of your mech. You fight for consciousness
and keep going, his racks are empty now, he has to reload.
Motion, behind you. Another Combat Mech breaks from the forest and
races across the plains toward you. You quickly identify it as a light
weight Stinger, ordinarily no threat to a Marauder, but it AND an Archer?
What to do? Run? Fight? Fight which one?
There's no real choice, if you turn your back on the Archer he'll nail
you. Ignore the Stinger. You quickly check your status. Your heat is
dropping as the heat sinks suck away the excess heat. Your armor indicators
are still all green although those missiles have chewed away about half of
you left leg armor. Your Auto Cannon is still recycling, but your Plasma
Cannons are ready. Time to Rock an' Roll.
Weapons select. You arm both of your Plasma Cannons. The targeting
computer comes up and you select the Archer again. Your mech is rocked by a
laser blast in its vulnerable back, but you ignore it, triggering your Plasma
Cannons. The warbling shreik of your Plasma Cannons echos across the plains.
Blazing energy lances from each arm of your mech to impale your enemy. The
first strikes the Archer dead center where his armor is the strongest, but
the second beam scores a lucky hit on his vulnerable head. The Archer is
staggered as armor vaporizes from his chest and head. You watch the Mech
fight for balance and fail, tumbling backward off the mountain.
One down. Another laser digs into your back, as red lights flash on
your status display. Your back armor is breached, the laser got through to
your Auto Cannon and its out of the action. You begin to turn your ponderous
steed. As you turn to face the charging Stinger it suddenly jumps into the
air on jets of flame.
"Damn!!!" you yell as you frantically bring up your weapons. The Auto
Cannon in your Left Torso is disabled, your Plasma Cannons are still
recycling. You're still hot, but there's no choice as you arm the two medium
lasers in your chest. You try to target the fast moving Stinger, but before
you can fire 20 tons of armor and fire power land on top of you.
Your mech shutters under the impact. You scramble to control it, but
you're falling. "The next time I'm in the Factory I'm putting jump jets in
this thing" you vow. The ground shakes as 75 tons of Mech falls flat on its
back. Lights are flashing all over. You bring up your status display. The
Stinger landed on your right shoulder, its out along with all the weapons in
your right arm. The fall did more damage to your weak left leg. You'll
survive, now where is that little Stinger. You look around. The Stinger is
racing for the forest.
"Oh no you don't" you mutter as you wait for your remaining Plasma
Cannon to recycle. You target the Plasma Cannon at the racing Stinger's
back. The warbling blast echoes across the plain as your man-made lightning
bolt hits the Stinger dead center.
The Stinger stumbles, starts to fall... a blinding flash lights the sky
as its fusion reactor explodes. Metal peppers your mech as the concussion
threatens to knock you unconscious. Your temperature gauges peg as the mech
shuts down from too much heat. With time your mech will recover. Lets just
hope the Archer has had enough.
This is MechForce. It can be played with one person against the
computer or up to 32 people fighting in teams. You can train in the
simulator, fight in the arena, or try to complete combat missions.
[end of insert]
I'll stop there. It's too damn long to print the actual mechanics of the
game. The main program is a `bird's-eye-view' of a map of different terrain
hexes. You take your position either alone or with friends against the enemy,
equally equipped to do major damage to each other. The game offers user-
definable missions, mechs, and maps, as well as variable skill levels.
Well worth the download time for the distributable segment. I *very* much
recommend registering. The map editor alone is worth the price (it's almost
as much fun as the game). Info regarding registering is included in the
distributable segment, almost invariably called MechForce-3.71.lzh. It's at
New Xanth, among other places.
Happy Thrashing,
Dave Hopper | /// The Amiga: | The great strength of the total-
| __ /// | itarian state is that it forces
bard@jessica. | \\\/// The Cybernetic | those who fear it to imitate it.
Stanford.EDU | \XX/ Revolution is NOW! | --Adolph Hitler