----------------- Frozen Synapse ----------------- http://www.frozensynapse.com ---------- Contents ---------- Introduction About the Game Getting Started Principles of Combat Units Making a Plan Testing Aiming Firing Giving Orders Orders Reference Advanced Orders Selecting the Next Unit Commit Your Plan UI Toolkit Visibility Tester Outcome Phase Keyboard Shortcuts In-game Menus Home Screen Multiplayer Menu Advanced Setup Game Modes Search Notes on "Duplicate" Friends Profile Options Single Player Menu Single Player Campaign Skirmish Generator Troubleshooting and Known Issues Level Editor Contact *** Introduction *** Welcome to Frozen Synapse! If you're a new player, we recommend having a go with the tutorial or taking a look here:http:// www.frozensynapse.com/tutorials.html Got a technical problem? You can contact us at support@mode7games.com or visit the forums at http://forums.mode7games.com *** About the Game *** Frozen Synapse is a simultaneous-turn-based game: both players take their turns at the same time, commit them, then watch the results. Matches take place between two players, or between the player and the computer. Each player is dealt a "hand" of units: these have different capabilities, weapons and ranges. There are no health bars; units are killed by one good shot from an enemy or by being caught in an explosion. The game is about pure tactics and outwitting your opponent, rather than ploughing through a resource tree or mindlessly constructing unit rushes! Not that there's anything wrong with that... *** Getting Started *** An interactive tutorial and a quick tutorial video are available in the Single Player menu. We recommend you play these, then have a quick game against the AI (again from the Single Player menu) to kick things off. After that, you'll be ready to play online for the first time. // The Level // When you start a new game, you'll be confronted with a map. Dark blue areas are walls; light blue areas are half-height objects or windows. Half-height areas can be ducked behind and fired over. Explosions caused by rockets can destroy walls, whereas explosions caused by grenades cannot. To move the camera around the map, hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse, or use the arrow keys. To zoom, use the mouse-wheel or the "M" and "K" keys. // Teams // The green team are your units; the red team are hostiles. In single player, the teal units are units who cannot be attacked by your forces and generally have a hostile affiliation. Yellow units are friendly units controlled by the computer - you cannot make plans for them. Colours can be changed in the Options menu. If you set custom colours, they will only be seen locally: your opponent in multiplayer will not see any difference. // Turns and Plans // Matches are comprised of turns that usually last for five seconds. Both you and your opponent will need to make a plan, then press the PRIME button on the time bar at the bottom of the screen to commit it. When both plans are committed, you will both be able to see the outcome of your actions. In single player, the AI will need to calculate its response to your plan. The time this takes will vary depending on the performance of your computer. *** Principles of Combat *** Combat in Frozen Synapse is based on the following principles: 1. Cover A unit who is behind a half-height area is given an advantage; units ducking behind half-height areas cannot be shot by enemies who cannot see them. 2. Changing stance (transitioning from ducking to standing) A unit is less likely to win an encounter if he is in the process of changing stance. 3. Stillness A unit is less likely to win an encounter if he is moving while engaging. 4. Aiming A unit is given an advantage for facing in the correct direction, and a further advantage for actively aiming at a hostile. These are listed in rough order of importance, but all of them are vital to consider when making your plans. Although they may seem complex at first, if you adopt a tactical mindset when evaluating a map, you will find they come naturally. *** Units *** -Bullets- NOTE: All bullet-based units fire automatically upon seeing a hostile (this is by default only: you can alter this behaviour with a "Continue On Sight" order). Their weapons cannot harm friendy units. //Machine Gunner// These are the bread-and-butter of your tactical assault team. With a surprisingly long range, they can cover a significant area of the map and are vital to your assault force. //Shotgunner// These have a shorter range than machine gunners, but move much faster and will win most close-quarters encounters. //Sniper// Snipers have the longest range, but take a while to fire, so position them where you think they can get a good look at the enemy. -Explosives- NOTE: All explosives units will not fire until you instruct them to. Their weapons DO harm friendly units. //Rocket Launcher// The correct use of a rocket launcher can cause you to dominate the map: their ability to destroy terrain can come in very useful. Rockets only explode on contact with walls (the edge of the level is not included in this) so you must time their use very carefully. Rocket launchers normally fire their rockets over half-height objects. To hit them, the unit must be ducking before firing. //Grenade Launcher// Grenades cause more splash damage than rockets, and can be bounced off walls. Ducking makes no difference to the path of grenades. -Single Player Only- //Commando// The commando unit is, essentially, a very fast shotgunner. Keep moving it around to make maximum use of its abilities. //Civilians/ Green civilians can be moved around just like other units. //?// There is one other secret unit in the single player. Explaining it here would spoil your fun; it would make this Help a little bit like a rude clown or a biscuit that looks nice but is actually rubbish. You know, one of those cheap biscuits? Like that. *** Making a Plan *** To start making a plan, left-click on the unit you wish to select. You will probably want to move your unit somewhere, so double-click on the map wherever you want him or her to go: this will create a waypoint. Waypoints are generated with pathfinding: you don't need to make multiple waypoints to guide your unit around an obstacle. If you want to override the pathfinding and position the next waypoint literally anywhere on the map, just hold down shift and double-click. If you want to delete the most recent waypoint you have added, just press Backspace. To delete the last 10 waypoints in your plan, press =. *** Testing *** How do we know where our unit will get to in the five seconds he has to move? We can get an idea by testing our plan, so just click on the Play button on the time bar or press the spacebar. The plan will run through, and then skip back to the start so you can continue to edit it. It's important to note that your turn may not play out exactly as it does when you test it: units can react dynamically to hostiles they encounter, so things may happen slightly differently. However, it's a good idea to test! *** >Aiming *** Bullet-based units (machine gunners, shotgunners and snipers) will automatically engage any enemy who enters their field of vision by default. However, they will gain an advantage if they are specifically aiming in a particular direction when an enemy appears. To tell your unit to aim: 1. Left-click anywhere on your plan (not just on waypoints) to indicate when you would like your unit to start aiming. If your unit does not yet have any movement orders, but you would like him to simply start aiming in a particular direction, you can skip this step. 2. Click and drag the "aim handle" (the circular token that looks like a crosshair) in the direction you would like your unit to aim. 3. Test your plan to ensure your order is working correctly The Aim order is now complete. Your unit will continue aiming in the direction you have indicated as he walks along. To change the direction in which he is aiming, simply issue another aim order using the above method. If you would like to tell your unit to stop aiming completely, you will have to issue a "Cancel Aim" order. Issuing other kinds of orders is dealt with in the next section. *** Firing *** Explosives-based units (rocket launcher, grenade launcher) will only fire when instructed to do so. To fire a rocket or grenade, drag out the aim handle as normal. This will simply create a "Fire Now" order, which behaves in a similar manner to an Aim order. *** Giving Orders *** You can do more than simply moving your units around and aiming. To issue an order at the current point on your plan, just open the orders menu with right-click. If you want to issue an order at a different point, left-click on your plan to select when you would like it to be enacted. Then right-click to open the orders menu. You can move orders around your plan by dragging them, and you can delete specific orders by left-clicking on them and pressing Del. Remember that you can progressively delete your plan and orders using Backspace. This is handy for quickly re-doing a part of your plan that is not working out as you intended. *** Orders Reference *** Here are the basic orders that you can give your units: //Add Waypoint// Simply adds a waypoint where you right-clicked. //Duck// Causes you...
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