Missionforce: Cyberstorm Walkthru work in progress
by DAVID FINN
First published in the DIRTY LITTLE HELPER September 1996
The following text is a work-in-progress guide to Mission Force:
Cyberstorm. Please feel free to add, modify or edit this document in
any way. All comments and suggestions are welcome and greatly
appreciated.
THE FIRST SECTOR
There is not much to this sector. There are what is called "bioderms"
or pilots which are used to carry out your commands. There should be
no problems, until you reach the elite mission. This is where most
people are stumped. There are a few things that I suggest to prepare
for the elite mission:
1. The bioderms are the pilots of the HERCs. They gain
experience when used on missions but it tends to shorten their life
span quickly. Create two separate teams as soon as possible, one set
of bioderms for military missions (use the most expensive ones here)
and one set for mining (these can just be the protohuman bioderms,
ie. models 001, 101 & 110). I have observed that the bioderms do
not seem to age when not in use.This seems to be the best strategy
for the game allowing for more bioderms than HERCs.
2. I prefer to customize the HERCs. Rather than settling for
"stock" features, it allows for more optimization of technology
available. Unfortunately certain combinations of weapons are
extremely deadly. I have included some combinations that have worked
for me. See appendix A for more detail.
3. Although customizing shields is very effective, watch for
return fire protocols. There is nothing as frustrating as watching
a HERC turn to return an attack only to leave his weak side exposed
to the enemy. Truly depressing with some of the bigger HERCs.
4. Jacking up is suggested although be aware that it does lower
the genetic stability of the bioderm by 5%. Once below this mark,
known as the "halfway" mark, the skill ratings begin to drop, thus
making them unstable. Hope that this gives you a greater understanding
of stabliity and toxin numbers:
Erma Health:70 Stability:60 Toxins:70
TACTICS FOR ELITE MISSIONS
By following the above information, and the following tactics, this
mission should be challenging, but not too difficult. I feel that
these are my most helpful suggestions. If you feel that I have left
out anything important, please feel free to E-Mail me.
1. As tempting as it is, do not overlook or neglect to use the
Shadow or Sensei HERCs. These have the most powerful sensors
available which cannot be used by any of the other HERCs. My
personal favorite, the shadow when equipped with overdrive nodes,
is the fastest HERC, b y f a a a a r.
2. The Cybrid enemy base regenerates/makes Verminus robots (small
HERCs armed with elf weapons that bypass shields and self destruct
nodes) every turn (my information leads me to believe two per turn).
Therefore, you cannot take this level leisurely. My best advice is to
create an offensive line when advancing, using the bigger HERCs with
their shields directed towards the enemy, have your shadow HERCs scout
forward, as spotters, then retreat behind the bigger HERCs for cover
while the bigger HERCs pound the helpless Cybrids (uh hem).
3. Take the time to read planetary conditions before a mission,
otherwise you may be unpleasantly surprised. For example, your
missles won't fire or your shields are exceptionally weak or your
sensors are useless.
In conclusion, this is probably one of the most enjoyable strategy
games I have ever played. Like you I was disappointed that there was
no written manual included in the packaging of the game. However, the
online manual is excellent and thorough in content, as well as
creating an engaging atmosphere. I am currenlty in the process of
doing statistical cross-reference charts which I will post soon.
MISCELLANEOUS TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS
The first time I played this, I almost missed the improved mine
extractor at 100% efficiency and 1200 ore limit. This is the best
mining extractor.
For life support, I recommend multi-shell or above, at this level I
never lost a bioderm without also losing the HERC.
Personally, I do not prefer to use electronic counter measures as
using multiple units does not appear to be cumulative.
The criteria that I used to chose my bioderms for the military
missions team consisted of cost and life span, in that order. My
reasoning is that the bioderms that I chose in the beginning of the
game were still ALIVE and had gained experience through previous
missions. They all possesed nearly perfect stats.
Finally, overdrive nodes are by far my favorite device to add to my
HERCs, big or small. My configurations for all of my HERC designs
combine two overdrive nodes with one antigravity node to allow for
maximum speed. The benefits are: missions take less time, bioderms age
less and in my first elite mission I had more manuverability.
