Cool name
Arcane
- Joined
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There is not much that I can tell about Hard Nova other than it is Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic spiritual successor. The developers did greatly develop some elements from Sentinel Worlds for this 'sequel' but they did also simplify or dumb-down several others along the way. If I had to place the game on a scale I would say it is much more complex than a game like Space Rogue but less complex than a game such as Whale's Voyage. From what little I did see of Starflight it has more deep than Hardnova does. I did never play Sundog for long so I am unable to compare. It may be a little less complex than Sentinel Worlds. It may be a little more so.
It was released back in 1990 and did receive good reviews. I do find it a fun little game but then I do very much enjoy Protostar so it is up to you to decide if my taste does deserve any trust. You may do so. You may not do so. I do hope you do enjoy it. If not I do hope you do at least enjoy my twist on it.
Any prologue beyond this would have to deal with the gameplay. I believe it is better to speak about such a topic while on the game proper.
This is the tittle screen that does receive us as soon as we start the game. The music on it is pretty nice. Most people who do play the game as abandonware does find it hard to play the game with sound on DosBox. If you do check Hardnova.bat you will find the following lines.
:HARDDISK
IF EXIST A.CFG HARDHARD A
IF EXIST AM.CFG HARDHARD AM
IF EXIST AS.CFG HARDHARD AS
IF EXIST AMS.CFG HARDHARD AMS
IF EXIST AM.CFG REN AM.CFG A.CFG
IF EXIST AS.CFG REN AS.CFG A.CFG
IF EXIST AMS.CFG REN AMS.CFG A.CFG
For the game to run with sound you need to comment those lines. Just add a comma where each line does begin. I do believe other punctuation marks do work as well.
:HARDDISK
,IF EXIST A.CFG HARDHARD A
,IF EXIST AM.CFG HARDHARD AM
,IF EXIST AS.CFG HARDHARD AS
,IF EXIST AMS.CFG HARDHARD AMS
,IF EXIST AM.CFG REN AM.CFG A.CFG
,IF EXIST AS.CFG REN AS.CFG A.CFG
,IF EXIST AMS.CFG REN AMS.CFG A.CFG
After a while I do continue.
Copy protection. I press enter and do move beyond. I do hope my abandonware copy is cracked.
The first choice we have to face in the game is which character do we wish to use, in itself nothing more than a choice of gender. A few dialogues and events do change based on it. Yet it is nothing big.
Appendix A. Important issues, an offtopic dramatization.
One should always treasure equally her dreams and her delusions.
You do have a point there.
You do speak nothing but truth.
Please do understand game developers do find hermetic both couture and bijouterie.
I am affraid the comment was very unladylike.
Yet we must forgive for she is neither idol nor model. She is but a rough mercenary, a crude and unenlightened creature.
Such behaviour does lack decorum when you are but part of a minority yourself.
If I am allowed to get technical on this matter-
None there are. This one is the one.
Yet I am truthful.
You do seem to forget we did need a step by step guide in order to fix the sound issue we did previously mention.
Would you let this fault slide if I were not to satisfy your petition?
A simple choice you do leave for me to take. May I ask for your opinion on this one portrait?
And what critique would you do of this other one?
It is your taste a hard foe to conquer. I do ask for your critique of this one portrait.
In a story that does tell of the many adventures of a band of galactic mercenaries she will fit with ease.
The things I could tell. The proberbial mercenary heart does many a shape take.
I do live but to serve.
We do choose Nova as our character. What did pass as a cinematic back in 1990 does play as a result. The game does start right afterwards.
I. Alexandra.
This is the game interface from which we explore surface sites and any spaceship we do board. We do control our party by means of the arrow keys: Up does take us a step forward. Down does make us take a backward step. Left and right does rotate us ninety degrees in either direction. The icons on the right hand of the screen do allow us to see the description of the current locale, talk to the selected NPC, and have a droid or darcator member of our party break formation and explore ahead. When we do select an NPC its face does take the uppermost place. If we do click on it we will be able to see its equipment. The lowermost icons on either side do represent the weapon and armor Nova does presently wield and wear.
Characters do only have a personality until they join your crew. Once they do they become but puppets over which you do exert limited control.
The faces on the left side of the screen do represent our away team. Nova is always the point. Other characters can be told which position to occupy. Currently we do only have A'kri Janr, apparently nicknamed Punch, with us. If we do click on one of the faces we will be shown various information about her or him. We can also do this by using F1 through F4.
This is Nova.
Please do forgive the foolish mistake.
Our health is currently very low. We have but a bit of pocket change. 'Starkiller' does mean she is from the Starkiller mercenary group. 'Point' is her current position in the party. 'Rank' is her level. The experience we do obtain is equal to the damage we do in combat. Below are the stats for the weapon we wield and the armor we wear.
We do press '2' to check our abilities.
Those are Nova's abilities. Presently we do have four points with which to increase our abilities. In the begining I would advice you to ignore all but Aptitude. This is the single most important ability on Hard Nova. Why? I does govern how many skill points do you get when you do reach a new level. The game does depend greatly on equipment but it does help to build up the core abilities early. We are able to grind a few levels early on if we do not mind to invest some money. We will do so in time.
I do invest all of Nova's points on Aptitude and press '3' to view her inventory.
Inventory space is very thight. Ammo does take a lot of space. Other than ammo for our gun we have our gun, an Automagnum, our armor, a Body Armor, and our Advanced Medical Lining, an Issue AML. The AML does decide how much health do we recover by time unit. Both our away team and the enemies recover health every time unit. Retreating to recover health or using the movement rules to make sure a badly hurt member of our away team is behind cover can be very important.
I do know our readers do want to make popamole jokes so let us add a standard response in here so that I do not feel forced to respond each and every one of them.
Now let us continue. I do check our companion's sheet.
He is not a very good character to have on our away team. He is however indispensable. His unique skill does make him the only character able to take our ship through wormholes. If he does die we are stuck. As I will be playing the game with reloads limited to game over screens 'Punch' will spend the rest of the game in our starship.
I do still invest his single point in Aptitude. I can always decide to level him up using the robomaze.
We do move to the south. The game does inform me the corridor actually is a bridge that does traverse a maintenance bay below. Beyond we do find a vast central area. From there we can return to our hovecraft or move to an arms dealer, a bar, and the robomaze. I do check the arms dealer first.
In this shop they do sell mostly ammo. I move across the room to the elevator leading to the bar. A recording reminds us to put our weapons on safety mode before we do enter.
A green man is the first thing we do see when we do leave the elevator. A Lanta evangelist he is.
That I do, yes. He is a Lanta evangelist. And I do initiate dialogue with it. To do so is a slow procedure that does involve to cycle around all visible targets by means of many a right click and to then press the dialogue icon I did previously mention.
As I do advance towards the bar I almost bump on an old Zero-L mercenary. After right clicking for so long he did have the chance to take several steps away I do manage to start a dialogue with him.
His pleading is so pitiful it turns your stomach.
Gunther mumbles miserably into his drink. Then he looks at you again.
He's making too much noise. You hit him. He looks dizzy and sick, then he staggers away.
A space merchant does pass not far away from us. I do decide to initiate dialogue with him.
His eyebrows go up.
He goes to the bar...
...and returns with your drink.
The temptation is almost too great.
Almost.
The originality does kill me.
Giggle. Giggle. Do you want me to blush too?
He shakes his head.
You do so and he places a small, clear crystal on your palm. Then he grasps your hand.
He rolls his eyes.
You don't. All you feel is a cold rock and a sweaty palm.
I do fear that were I to try to see his aura I would perceive but a neon sign that does read 'loser' float over his head.
He stares at you strangely.
'twas but a rethorical question.
He turns your clasped hands over.
Sitting on his palm is the crystal. It's as black as al ump of tar. He quickly drops it into a nearby disposal chute. He seems frightened.
How novel.
He quickly covers up his fear.
Space news at eleven.
You put just the right amount of threat in your voice.
He mutters into his drink.
As I leave I do come across a girl who does look very out of place in a place such as this.
She ignores your comment as she turns away.
We are finally near the bartender. He does nod at me. If I am to believe the game I do consider him to be a 'friend' of mine. I do not believe the game.
He sets a glass filled with steaming black syrup in front of you.
Lord in heaven.
An uncomfortable silence does reign.
He shakes his head.
The bar has the shape of an inverted U. The leftmost leg is the place we were in just now. The rightmost leg is where the roulette tables are. The line that does connect both has little of interest other than a pair of aquariums. As we do approach the roulette tables we do catch sight of a young Delta Coro. I will later add an appendix with all the data files on the game's library so that you can understand what do names such Starkiller, D-Coro, and Zero-L mean in the context of the game.
He reaches into a holster and pulls out a Class AA Thermal, the kind you find in woodburning kits at hobby stores.
His eyes light up.
His eyes widen.
A single patron does remain for us to meet. She is sit alone in a corner near the automated roulette machines. She does have a proper name instead of a generic moniker. Her portrait does look of a much higher quality than the previous ones. If my role playing game senses do not betray me we are in front of a non player character available for recruitment. I do close in.
She laughs.
She grins.
She bristles.
She gets up and starts to walk away.
She walks away, over to the front of the bar. She taps the Lanta evangelist on the shoulder and says...
When he turns she pulls a nasty looking blaster out of her holster and fires one blue bolt of plasma at his chest. The Lanta falls amidst a shower of sparks.
The twisted body lies on a scorch mark on the carpet. You notice three other scorch marks near the new one. The whole bar erupts with applause.
The woman bows, and she walks back to your table while the bartender quickly drags the body away. The woman sits down next to you and says...
She grins and puts her gun back into her holster...
We do have our first recruit. She is a bit of a sociopath but I do guess such is the kind of people that does make the majority of the space mercenary demographic. I do check her character sheet.
I do invest her point in aptitude. As long as she does not die she will become a permanent feature of my away teams. In the ship she will take care of the gunnery station.
There is nothing more to do on the bar. We do return to the main hall. Once there we move to the south.
The robomaze is a combat simulator. If my memory does not fail me we are not able to die in here. Entrance does presently cost three hundred credits. As Nova does level up the cost will grow. Once inside we will have to defeat enemy robots and hunt for flags. The flags can be sold in all weapon stores we do find for a little money. Ammo money. The real use of the robomaze is to grind our characters. As the amount of experience we do get is the amount of damage we do in combat we can grind for as long as we want. Once we do have more money I will use this to train.
I do enter the robomaze for a test run.
The red figures are enemies. The orange square is an item. All items do look like orange squares in the map. Combat is real time. It is not complex. You do pick a target in the same way you do pick targets elsewhere and click 'enter' to fire. You do have to wait a certain amount of time before you do fire another shot. Your companions do fire by themselves. Both the away team and the enemies do recover health constantly. The trick is in positioning yourself so that only a few enemies have line of sight to your team, move your party in such a way the characters with grave injuries are behind cover until they can recover, and overpower their AML regeneration by means of raw firepower.
I do go around the maze collecting the flags and defeating the robots.
As you can see in the screenshot above the items you do collect do not go into your inventory straight away. Instead they do appear on the slot that before did show the armor Nova does presently wear. The item does blink while it is there. You do later move it into the inventory of the character you do want to equip or carry it.
After defeating the team shown above Nova does obtain a level. The three points she does obtain go all to Aptitude. The ability is now at 12.
I do also obtain three flags. I do decide to leave for now as we are short on ammunition. We will return later. I go to the weapon shop. The three flags do sell for 60 credits each. The money we do obtain from the flags is enough to get Nova and Ace three Automagnum clips each. This does leave us with 700 credits. The exact same amount we did have after we did pay the entrance fee.
To sell the items you do move them into the item pool. The Shopkeeper will make you his offer. The items you do buy go to the character pool as any other item you do collect.
As you can see above Ace's armor is a Flak Vest. It is a better armor than the one Nova does wear but it has +1 Slowness.
We do return to the hoverdock and leave the base.
This is the planetary interface. From here we will be able to control our hovecraft and explore the surface of the worlds we do come to visit. The window above the three dimensional view does show the view from the cockpit. To its right is our cargo hold. If we have an active mission to smuggle goods this will show the coordinates of the drop off point. Fuel and damage are self explanatory. Fuel is consumed constantly. I believe that the rate of consumption is fastest the higher our altitute is. We do control our altitude by means of the arrows between the three dimensional view and the frontal view.
Below the gauges for fuel and damage is the minimap. Below the minimap is the name of the world we are in and our coordinates on its surface. I do not remember what do the two icons to the right of the minimap do. They must not be important.
If we are above a hoverport we can dock with the 'D' key. We do use 'esc' to return to our ship in orbit. I do press 'esc.'
This is the orbital interface. From here we can select the coordinates we want our hovercraft to descend to. The selector does move in increments of twenty. Even when you do know the exact location you want to descend to you need to descend 'close by' and navigate to it. The small window on the right does show a magnification of the area presently selected. The red in the map is the base we did just leave.
We leave the planet's orbit.
This is the space interface. I am sure by now you will be able to understand what everything is. The only element of particular interest is the 'viewer' in the lower right corner of the screen. The viewer is a database that does hold miscelaneous information about the game setting. It does not contain anything of particular depth but it is nice to know. Before doing anything else I do configure my crew.
I remove A'kri from the away team and do place Ace on his place. I do also place Ace as the ship's gunner. Next I dock on the space station.
In this space station we can replace those systems that did suffer grave damage in combat. All of our systems are green. Our crew is able to the systems up to a certain damage threshold. Then we do have to replace them.
Below the systems is our missile loadout. There are three types of missiles. I do only rarely use them so I do not know much about them other than every type of missile does have its own countermeasure. I do just outrun them.
I did only come here to check the smuggle trade offers.
These are missions in which we have to take a cargo to a drop off point in a particular planet. I do not want anything too involved right now. I do pick the mission to take fuel cells to Tikorr for five thousand credits. The client will deposit the money on our account the moment we drop off the cargo.
I leave. I do turn on the engines and move a short distance away from the planet. Soon I do receive a message.
Gerard Kendall is our boss. I do not want to return yet. I do still need a crew and some pocket change. I decide to ignore the order and check the remaining messages.
This does cover communications. This is the third icon to the right of the upper window. The first one does allow us to check the status of our various systems, to pick which system do we want to repair, and to activate and deactivate different options. We can also check the signature and missile we do have active at the moment. The more systems we have active the faster our fuel does consume.
The second icon does allow us to check our software. We can put our technician to code if we do have one. Currently Nova does take care of all stations other than navigation and gunnery. She is not good at this.
Those are the stations available. The next icon does show the signature we currently transmit. From this window we can for example switch our identification from the real one, J21C, to a fake one, J17E. If such were the case we will not need to pay a small tribute when in Ariel space. Yet if we do get too close to their ships they will open fire upon us.
The last icon does allow us to choose which weapons' bay is active. This does control the missiles I do rarely use. The laser is set to active or inactive from the systems menu.
I set a course for the stargate to Ariel. A stargate is a wormhole. Only the Bremar are able to take ships through them. Along the way Nova does manage to decrypt the second message we did get.
Later on we come across a Delta Coro ship. They do hate Starkiller mercenaries over an old territorial dispute you will get to read about later on.
I do activate our laser, pick the Delta Coro ship as a target, and begin to maneuver the ship to keep it in range and evade its missiles. The laser does shoot by itself as long as we keep the target in range. Space combat in the game is too fast to easily take screenshots of it. While lasers were shot and missiles did pursue us I was not able to capture any of them on a screenshot. Only the enemy ship right before it goes down.
All my systems are in yellow. Nova is the one in charge of repairs. They will not be done fast.
We do reach the stargate without further trouble.
We are in the Ariel system. We do keep as far away as possible from the central world as we do make our right to the east of the stargate. After a while we do find Tikorr, the world we were paid to take a cargo to.
As you can see in the screenshot above there is an area of the planet a shield does protect. If we do want to explore there we have to get in from outside the area by means of our hovercraft. Right now I do not care about this. I set the descent coordinates as close as possible to the drop off point and go to the surface.
The distance to the drop off point is very short. Yet as you can see below we have barely any fuel left once we do arrive.
I unload the fuell cells. I do leave immediately afterwards. With 5700 credits on my account we do have some breathing room. In the station over Tikorr every fuell cell does cost but fifteen credits. I did spend 70 fuel cells getting there. To go through a stargate does require a lot of fuel. I fill the tank. We are left with 4650 credits.
This is the end of the chapter. The next episode will have Nova recruit a fourth member for her crew. She will also refamiliarize herself with the four systems. Along the way we will run several more contraband runs and return to the robomaze for training in several occasions.
Appendix B. The viewer, records A through O.
The viewer is the in-game encyclopedia. The game has little background lore. Most of what there is is in the viewer for us to check. As the game does start we have records A through O available for our perusal. Through the game world we will find more disks to copy to our reader. As you can see in the screenshot at the time I did remember to take screenshots of the viewer I had already found one. This one, Q, will not be present on this update as the Let's Play is still one or two updates away from the moment I did find it.