Manual

[Boorsook]

I see that in the version labeled as Space Hulk there was a pdf manual. Is there an updated version for AA? And if not, is there some summary of what e.g. all the medals do etc. etc?

[alex3337]

I understand it's just an example question, but ... medals (awards) don't do anything. They ere there just for show, and some ambient ... so you get attached to the poor guys, and actually feel sorry when the guy with 6 medals gets killed

[Boorsook]

Originally Posted by alex3337

I understand it's just an example question, but ... medals (awards) don't do anything. They ere there just for show, and some ambient ... so you get attached to the poor guys, and actually feel sorry when the guy with 6 medals gets killed

Thanks for the answer! And what about the ranks? I assume from the options that they in turn can play a role?

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Yes. The Sergeant's rank sets the minimum Command Point value, and the melee/ranged combat bonuses kick in after the soldier in question reaches a specific rank (one-time deal, they don't increase after that).
That's of course if you enable the options...

[Jorgen]

I see that in the version labeled as Space Hulk there was a pdf manual. Is there an updated version for AA? And if not, is there some summary of what e.g. all the medals do etc. etc?

I wrote the original Space-Hulk game manual back then, and really felt the game needed a new manual when we changed it to Alien Assault instead. However a manual take an enormous amount of time to write so when discussing this with Niklas we finally agreed that most people playing Alien Assault had either played TDSH or the board game before and knew all the basics. Also Horseman did a stellar job writing new tutorials so that th players learned the game that way.

Sure we might still need a manual but instead of spending a week writing such a piece we answer any questions fans might have here instead.

[Ghazkhull_thraka]

So is there a list of all keyboard shortcuts? I looked around and found out for example that L shows dice throw results on screen but havent figured out yet the most important feature: Screen capturing! It 's not "Prnt Scrn",not "Ctrl-P",what,where? I have come up with a rather time and sweat consuming way: Print Screen and then paste the whole picture in MS Paint and then save it as BMP in the normal folder.I hold captures of the team after each mission, one as the show in debriefing,one for the statistics and one for the marks!Again, very addictive game, excellent job!

[Niklas]

A list of all keyboard shortcuts is available here: http://www.teardown.se/forum/showthr...ight=shortcuts

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Originally Posted by Ghazkhull_thraka

So is there a list of all keyboard shortcuts? I looked around and found out for example that L shows dice throw results on screen but havent figured out yet the most important feature: Screen capturing! It 's not "Prnt Scrn",not "Ctrl-P",what,where? I have come up with a rather time and sweat consuming way: Print Screen and then paste the whole picture in MS Paint and then save it as BMP in the normal folder.I hold captures of the team after each mission, one as the show in debriefing,one for the statistics and one for the marks!Again, very addictive game, excellent job!

It is PrintScreen. You have to hold the button for half a second or so to trigger the capture, though.

[Niklas]

Horseman: That totally depends on the computer, it is more or less instant when I play on all my computers.

[Killgore85]

I've been working on updating and expanding the Space Hulk manual for Alien Assault. No pics in it yet, but the info is considerably more complete than SH's.

<removed old manual link>

I've been doing it using wordpad, so any IBM clone can check it out without additional software like Office, although Word will open it also.

There are a couple things I need to verify about it:
1 check weapon stats
2 check rank stats
3 check vulcan reloads
4 check backstory
5 check CP turn off overwatch
6 check combat bonuses are what I think
7 check seargent bonuses are what I think and whether they all need options turned on.



Any input would be appreciated

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Originally Posted by Killgore85

1 check weapon stats

Only the flamethrower differs from the source material, IIRC. The "section effect" weapons instead have an area of effect (which may vary depending on the weapon)

2 check rank stats

Rank-based stat bonuses - if turned on - give +1 to the given type of combat rolls for any soldier with rank 3 ("Veteran") or above.

3 check vulcan reloads

Vulcan Cannons always have one reload. The Flamer reload is optional depending on the mission.

4 check backstory

We had a post with an outline of it somewhere, IIRC.

5 check CP turn off overwatch

Regardless what combination of AP and CP you used to turn on Overwatch, if you cancel it before ending your turn - all points used are returned in the correct type.

7 check seargent bonuses are what I think and whether they all need options turned on.

Only one of these bonuses needs an option turned on - the CP bonus (if you roll less CP than your Sergeant's rank, you get a number of CP equal to the Sergeant's rank).
All Sergeants get +1 to Close Combat regardless of the weapon used. This bonus stacks together with the experience-based combat bonus.
All Sergeants increase the time allotment by a certain value.

[Killgore85]

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

1 Only the flamethrower differs from the source material, IIRC. The "section effect" weapons instead have an area of effect (which may vary depending on the weapon).

It was already written that way in the SH manual so no change needed.

I just found the WEAPON REFERENCE TABLE for the Genestealer supplement at http://spacehulk.barsoom.cc/mirrors/shc/ and will adjust my stats list accordingly.

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

2 Rank-based stat bonuses - if turned on - give +1 to the given type of combat rolls for any soldier with rank 3 ("Veteran") or above.

Gotcha- I removed the inccorect bonuses

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

3 Vulcan Cannons always have one reload. The Flamer reload is optional depending on the mission.

Gotcha- that's the way I have it


Also, are vulcan explosions exclusive to when you are using reloaded ammo? I thought I saw it happen using normal fire as well as overwatch, but I might have forgotten about reloading it. It wouldn't surprise me for full auto, but I haven't seen any explosions using it yet.

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

4 We had a post with an outline of it somewhere, IIRC.

I found it and bookmarked it previously, but for now I want to get the rules/example pics hammered out first. Several of the missions add noteable info also.

At this point I've done little more than name substitution and cutting out some of the more SH/GW specific details for the background.

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

5 Regardless what combination of AP and CP you used to turn on Overwatch, if you cancel it before ending your turn - all points used are returned in the correct type.

Valuable confirmation - worth noting is that unlike normal action undos, you will always get your AP/CP back. Even if you select another Marine, then go back to the first one.

Originally Posted by the_Fifth_Horseman

7 Only one of these bonuses needs an option turned on - the CP bonus (if you roll less CP than your Sergeant's rank, you get a number of CP equal to the Sergeant's rank).
All Sergeants get +1 to Close Combat regardless of the weapon used. This bonus stacks together with the experience-based combat bonus.
All Sergeants increase the time allotment by a certain value.

I was being lazy (not checking the options) and trying to get my 1st draft of the manual out for people to check out for errors.

What I was actually trying to find out was if seargents had a melee & ranged bonus. I know I saw the melee bonus somewhere but don't know for sure about a ranged bonus.

Unless I hear otherwise, I'm switching the manual to just mentioning a melee bonus.

I totally forgot about the time bonus. I don't play with the timer myself, since I get clipped half the time.

==========================
Here's a couple more:

8 correct me if I'm wrong, but the activity stat has no actual bearing on gameplay. I do know it's generated by the number of movements made (it's not based on AP)

9 More Vulcan stuff- does full auto always use 5 ammo or is that the minimum, using more ammo after 5 shots? I rarely use it because it's an ammo hog and haven't had the opportunity to use it with more than 5 targets available. Seal the Outpost is one of the few missions that I've found it to be highly useful in so far.

=====================
I'll try to have a revised version of the manual out on Sunday (with pics!)

[Killgore85]

another one:
10 Can hard blips (the ones that definitely show an alien and have a white dot in the middle on the main map/bright red dot on the mini-map) convert to fuzzy blips (the amorphous ones without the white dot/dark red on the mini-map)?

I think I have seen it happen, but can't remember for sure.

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Originally Posted by Killgore85

Also, are vulcan explosions exclusive to when you are using reloaded ammo? I thought I saw it happen using normal fire as well as overwatch, but I might have forgotten about reloading it. It wouldn't surprise me for full auto, but I haven't seen any explosions using it yet.

Correct. Reloading the Vulcan enables the possibility of malfunction.

What I was actually trying to find out was if seargents had a melee & ranged bonus. I know I saw the melee bonus somewhere but don't know for sure about a ranged bonus.

Unless I hear otherwise, I'm switching the manual to just mentioning a melee bonus.

Melee only.

8 correct me if I'm wrong, but the activity stat has no actual bearing on gameplay. I do know it's generated by the number of movements made (it's not based on AP)

Correct.

9 More Vulcan stuff- does full auto always use 5 ammo or is that the minimum, using more ammo after 5 shots? I rarely use it because it's an ammo hog and haven't had the opportunity to use it with more than 5 targets available. Seal the Outpost is one of the few missions that I've found it to be highly useful in so far.

Always 5 ammo.

10 Can hard blips (the ones that definitely show an alien and have a white dot in the middle on the main map/bright red dot on the mini-map) convert to fuzzy blips (the amorphous ones without the white dot/dark red on the mini-map)?

From what I know, they shouldn't - best ask Niklas, though, since he's the one in the charge of the engine.

[Killgore85]

Good info

still more questions:
11 does rolling a 1 always miss (VC with sustained fire + with or without rank bonus, AC with sustained fire + rank bonus). I believe so, but I'd like to verify.

12 does the rank bonus apply to flamethrowers. I think it's treated as an attatck by the flame (no bonus) and not the flamethrower.


13 are explosions auto-kills/detructions for everything other than the exploding Marine as well? I know that's the way SH did it, but that might have changed

14 sustained fire- does a move+fire action count as the first shot also, or does it only start with firing that uses AP
Also is this table correct or does it stop increasing on the 3rd or 4th shot:
1st shot no modifier
2nd shot +1 to the roll
3rd shot +2 to the roll
4th shot +3 to the roll
5th shot +4 to the roll
6th shot +5 to the roll

15 firing at hybrids and Swarm Leader- are there modifiers/hard coding involved (like in SH).
Possibly leave this one as a mystery to be discovered by the player.

16 hybrid and Swarm Leader stats- leave as a mystery?


I know checking out the ingame logs will indirectly give me a number of the answers I've been looking for, but it's considerably quicker and easier to just ask.

[Killgore85]

New version of the manual (v1.6)

Nearly all rules covered and fixed as appropriate- some might surprise you like defining hard/fuzzy blips, sustained fire, Flamethrower operations, and Vulcan operations
Many pics added including a couple for examples
Tactics section added
Keyboard shortcuts added
Options listed

Stuff still to do:
add door pics (already put in opening example)
add doorways/bulkheads stats for destruction
add entryway rules/notes + pics
add tunnel rules/notes + pics
add more example pics + fix example texts to work with new pics
add section on adding content (mods/campaigns/mission) + multiple installs
revise backstory more to what the game and teardown have said it is.

===== edit ======
I removed the link to the v1.6 manual since I just released v1.7
check this thread http://www.teardown.se/forum/showthread.php?t=1677

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Error
The file is not fully saved at RapidShare yet. This file is possibly still being uploaded.

Please try again later.

~.-

[Killgore85]

The file was bigger than I realized and I might have clipped it before it was done.

I just zipped it and replaced the link. It should work now

[CATAFRACTO]

The game deserved a manual, and here we have it.

As a suggestion, when it's a definitive version, perhaps we could turn it into a pdf with nice graphic design.

Great work, Killgore.

[Killgore85]

I'd be more than happy if someone else did that when I'm done working on it (probably next week). I've never dealt with or had the software for creating pdfs myself. Correction, I think gimp deals with them clumsily, but I'd rather stick to what I know how to deal with. Admittedly that's limited.

It probably won't be quite as pretty as what someone else might do, but it should be pretty solid as far as explaining things, giving examples and general completeness. I The one thing I definitely don't have any intention to put in is the cheat codes. As far as I'm concerned, they kill the fun of games and are only really good for development work.