hq.txt v1.1 08/18/99


The headquarter program is the executable which deals with the team
creation and management.

Work on it started 5 years ago when Vicious Byte tried to do Titans of
Steel for the first time. Therefore its graphics are a bit dated and
the interface is far from perfect but it should do its job.
Though we promised to do a major rewrite for v1.0 we must admitt that
we could not keep this, sorry.


This a short help on how to create new jocks and build teams.
You can navigate through the different screens with the two
arrow keys at the screen bottom. When active they are displayed green,
otherwise they stay black.


1. As soon as you launch hq.exe you have to decide which team file
   to edit. These files are used during startup of the battle module
   as well as to modify/repair your titans in the factory module. 
   They are located in the data directory as team1 to team4.
   If there does not exists such a file it will be created and your
   new team will start with 500000 $ initial money and no jocks
   or titans.


2. Next you are in the main menu. Here you can :

a) Rename your team.
b) Hire new jocks via the state prison database.
c) Recruit jocks from other teams.
d) Buy new titans via the titan factory database.
e) View/Modify your teams jocks.
f) View/Sell your teams titans.
g) Save your current changes
h) Logout and save if you want to.

Some basic team data is displayed. The teams total fights are divided
in wins and losses. Cost does show the teams monthly maintainance
which is automatically deducted from the teams cash after a battle.
 

a) To rename your team click on the word TEAM in front of its name.
   The default name is VICIOUS WITCHES.

b) To search the database you must enter the search criteria like
   name, callsign, race and sex. You are only allowed to hire 
   new jocks if you can pay 25000 $ to release them from prison.

   There are four races available :
   Human, Android, Replicant and Cyborg.

   Humans are like you and me, therefore they get a +1 bonus on
   charisma :-)

   Androids are like those you may know from Alien2 or Alien4 movies.
   In ToS they have self healing abilities and are sexless.
   Androids gain +1 on both reaction and neural sense attributes.

   Replicants are like those you may know from the Bladerunner movie.
   They are cloned humans, genetically enhanced either in dexterity
   or intelligence. Therefore they receive +2 on one of those attributes.

   Cyborgs are sturdy humans enhanced with cybernetic implants.
   They receive +1 on constitution but suffer a -1 penalty on
   charisma.

   If you choose male jocks you are granted a additional +1 bonus
   on constitution whereas females receive +1 on instinct. 
   
   After you have entered all necessary data you will be presented
   with the result of your search. 
   Now you are on the jock development screen.

   A jock is defined by 7 attributes and 19 skills in 3 categories.
 
   Each skill can be developed to a limit which is defined by its
   primary and secondary attribute.
   This limit is calculated as follows :

   Max  =  5 * ((2 * primary attribute + secondary attribute) / 3)
   A skills primary and secondary attribute are displayed when your
   mouse pointer is over the skills name. 
   
   Attributes range from 5 to 20, thus allowing a maximum skill of 100%.

   The attributes are :

		Intelligence
		Neural Sense
		Reaction
		Instinct
		Dexterity
		Constitution
		Charisma

   Neural Sense does need some explanation. Recon and light Titans are
   piloted manually by the jocks, therefore they have dexterity and
   reaction as their primary/secondary attribute. 
   Medium, heavy and assault titans are controlled with the help of a neural 
   bridge, connecting the jock with its machine. Each character
   has a personal sensibility towards this device, called Neural Sense.
   Therefore Neural Sense and Dexterity are the primary/secondary
   attibutes for the skill 'piloting medium & heavy' titans.

   Please note that intelligence does limit the numbers of skills a jock
   can improve. Each point of intelligence does grant one skill to train.

   Rookies do start with 300 development points (DP) in each of the
   three categories piloting, combat and other which they can
   distribute amongst their skills and/or attributes.
   These points do represent their initial training.
   

   A jock can improve his attributes (at a very high cost) by left
   clicking on the attributes name.
   The better the attribute, the more DPs he has to pay to for it.
   Jocks can improve skills by 1 point to their limit by left clicking.
   Shift-left click does add 10 points. Same goes for reductions with the
   right mouse button. 

   The cost of increasing the attribute or skill are displayed in the
   DP column of the screen. Note that the cost for attribute increases
   is deducted from all three categories !

   There are three types of skills, piloting, combat and others.

   They are

   Piloting		Combat				Other
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Recon/Light		Close combat		Electronic Warfare
   Medium/Heavy		Guided Missiles		Scanner Systems
   Assault		Unguided Missiles	Defensive Systems
   Jump			Cannons		Damage Control
			Energy Weapons		Leadership
			Indirect Fire		Recon
						Business
						Survival
						Medical
		

   Most of the skills are self-explanatory. The are described in
   detail in appendix A.

   After you have finished to distribute the DPs you can go back
   and hire more jocks up to a maximum of 8 per team. This number
   is also limited by your leaders leadership skill.

   NEW :
   You can create tournament teams by hiring a pseudo jock with 
   name MONEY and callsign xxx ( xxx is a number ). This team 
   immediatly does receive this amount of money. You can hire a 
   pseudo jock with name SKILL and callsign xxx ( again a number ).
   All subsequent jocks will start with xxx development points in
   each of the three skill categories instead of 300.
   These teams do NOT receive experience points after battles and
   should only be used for single battles between humans. They are
   not suited for campaigns.

c) Select a jock from a different team for transfer. The transfer
   cost will depend on his rank. If the other team is out on
   mission ( has a running game in the battle module ) it can not
   be selected for transfers. The transfer cost is partially paid
   to the team the jock was drafted from.

d) Select the titan database to buy titans for your team up to a 
   maximum of 16.
   You can select among premade designs and  those created with the 
   factory module.
   The cost is modified by your team managers buisness skill !

e) Have a look at your jocks. Here you can fire them and allocate
   them to a titan for the next battle. Your team manager is choosen
   automatically, he/she is the one with the highest buisness skill.
   If this skill is lower than 70%, the difference is added to the
   cost when buying and subtracted when selling titans. The
   biggest penalty is 40% for managers with <= 30% in buisness.
   Business skill in excess of 70% does give a bonus, a jock with
   a skill of 100% does receive 30% discount !
   Your team leader is also choosen automatically. He is the one with
   the highest leadership skill ( modified by his rank ).
   A good leader has a chance to attract better rookies from prison.
   Furthermore a leadership skill directly influences the number of
   jocks a leader can recruit ( skill / 10 ).
   There are eight ranks [Acolyte, Adept, Priest, Curate, Perfect,
   Canon, Lama and Patriarch] a jock can be promoted to. Each
   promotion depends on gaining enough xps or by performing an
   outstanding battle. 

f) Have a look at your teams titans and sell them if you want.
   Damaged titans are displayed with exclamation marks (!) left
   and right of their cost and should be repaired in the factory.

g) Select save to write changes into the team file.

h) Select logout to quit. If you haven't used g) during your use
   of the hq this is the last chance for you to save. 


NEW : 

If your team is out on mission ( you have started a game with the 
battle module and not finished it yet ) you can NOT choose
menu points a - f ! Instead you get the option to retrieve your team
from battle for 500000$. This will result in no team updates in
the battle module if you decide to finish the mission.


Well that's all for now. Vicious Byte is aware that the HQ is the
worst part of the game, please do NOT judge ToS only by looking
at this module :-)

Henrik
		

 
Appendix A : Skills
-------------------

I. Pilot Skills

a. Recon/Light [Dexterity/Reaction]

This skill is needed to pilot titans up to 70t. These titans are still
piloted by sticks, so dexterity and reaction are the attributes which
limit the maximum skill level.
 
b. Medium/Heavy [Neural Sense/Dexterity]

This skill is needed to pilot titans build from medium or heavy
chassis ( up to 140t ). These titans are piloted by neural bridges,
therefore neural sense and dexterity are the primary and secondary
attributes. Jocks have to reach adept rank to improve this skill.

c. Assault [Neural Sense/Dexterity]

This skill is needed to pilot assault chassis titans ( up to 200t ).
These are also controlled by neural bridges. Only jocks of curate rank
or better can improve this skill.

d. Jump [Dexterity/Reaction]

The jump skill is required to perform jump manouvers on any titan
which is equipped with jump ports.


II. Combat Skills

a. Close Combat [Instinct/Reaction]

This skill is used for hand to hand combat. This does include punches
and kicks as well as charges.

b. Guided Missiles [Intelligence/Instinct]

The deadly guided missile racks do depend on this skill.

c. Unguided Missiles [Dexterity/Reaction]

The unguided short and long range missile racks do depend on this skill.

d. Cannon [Reaction/Dexterity]

MGs as well as all autocannons and the gauss cannon are fired with
this skill.

e. Indirect Fire [Instince/Intelligence]

All missiles (guided and unguided) can be fired in a ballistic arc on
targets which do not have a direct line of fire. This skill does
influence the to hit value. Guided missiles are better suited for this
task.


III. System Skills

a. Electronic Warfare [Intelligence/Instinct]

This skill does influence a wide variety of actions.
In combination with the battle computer it is used for calaculation
of the time to lock enemies.
It does influence the time to toggle the E.C.M device.
It does help to defeat active scans and is used for threat level
calculation.

b. Scanner [Intelligence/Neural Sense]

Needed to calculate time for toggling the scanner as well as performing
active scans and scanner links. It does influence the maximum number of
link partners. Most valuable for succeeding in active scans.

c. Defensive Systems [Dexterity/Intelligence]

This skill is very usefull if your titan does have flares and/or a
shield. It is used to calculate the time to activate these devices.
A successful skill check will prolong the duration of flares and
will prevent shield overloads. A jock can also fine tune his heat 
regulators, making them a bit more effective.

d. Damage Control [Intelligence/Dexterity]

This one is needed to efficiently use damage control systems and to
avoid ammo explosions. Further it is used to calculate the cost for
titan repairs after battle. The team automatically does use its best
man/woman for this job.

e. Leadership [Charisma/Intelligence]

A good leadership skill will help to recruit better rookies. Divided
by 10 it is used to calculate the maximum number of jocks in a team.

f. Recon [Intelligence/Instinct]

The recon skill is used to keep scanner links, give linked titans with
missiles a better to hit value and to move quicker in wooded areas.

g. Buisness [Intelligence/Charisma]

Used for all kinds of financial transactions, especially buying/selling
titans.

h. Survival [Instinct/Intelligence]

Vital for successfull and quick ejects as well as usefull to reduce the
effect of damaged shock absorption.

i. Medical [Intelligence/Dexterity]

This skill is needed to use the healing ability of life supports and
to stop bleeding.



   


