Difference between revisions of "Manual:Getting Started"

Latest revision as of 11:58, 11 August 2025

{rGetting Started}

When you first start a game of DRL, you're presented with a menu screen
with a few different options:

{YNew game} will, well, start a new game!
{YChallenge game} is initially locked, and becomes unlocked after you reach
Corporal rank (need to survive 10 levels for it). Challenge games force you
to play the game a certain way (e.g. using only melee), and you can raise
your player rank in DRL by completing them. As your rank goes higher, 
more challenges will be made available to you.
{YCustom game} brings up a selection screen where you can view and load
modules. Modules are player-created levels, episodes, or entirely new games
that bring a completely new experience to the DRL engine.
{YShow highscores} displays the highscore list, not surprisingly.
{YShow player} displays your player statistics, which include your player 
rank, number of kills, and number of wins. It has several screens which
can be scrolled with the arrow keys.
{YHelp} displays the help screen, which contains the info you are
currently reading.

For now, select {YNew game} with the arrow keys and press ENTER to start
your very first game of DRL!

Before you start your game, you have to make a few decisions. The first is
the difficulty level. At the beginning, only three difficulty levels are
available: "I'm too young to die", "Hey, Not Too Rough", and "Hurt Me
Plenty". At higher difficulties, more monsters appear and tougher monsters
appear earlier. "Ultra-Violence" and "Nightmare!" difficulties are unlocked
as your player rank rises. At Nightmare! difficulty, only the most insane
DRL warriors will stand a chance!

The second decision is choosing a character class. Classes differ by 
starting perks, availability of one advanced trait as basic, and each of
them has a different set of Master Traits.

The third decision you have to make is what your name will be in the game.
You can figure that much on your own, right? You can also leave it blank
and wear the name of a random legendary warrior...

The fourth and final choice to make is select a starting "trait". 
Traits are upgrades or "perks" that you earn when you gain levels in 
DRL (by killing monsters). Traits can raise your max health, let you
run faster, deal more damage per shot, or otherwise make you more awesome.
Some traits can be levelled up individually.

You'll notice a few traits aren't available. Some are "Advanced Traits",
and require you to learn a normal trait first. Advanced Traits are more
situational but quite effective, too. The rest are master traits, which
require you to take a specific set of traits (and block off a few other
traits) and give you some sort of great unique bonus. But hey, don't think
about it too hard. Just pick one you like and move on.

And that's it, you're ready to play the game! After a brief intro, you will
be greeted with something like this (ASCII map is present if playing in
ASCII mode):

{d---------------------------------------------------------------------------}
 Welcome to DRL...
 ##########
 #@.........
 #..........
 #.........
 #.........
 #........
 #........
 #.......
 #......
 #....
 #..









 {bDRLguy}{d                     Armor : }{lnone}
 {dHealth:}{r 100%}{d Exp:}{l  1}{d/}{l0%}{l    Weapon: }{lpistol (2d4) [6/6]}
 cautious                                                  {rPhobos Base Entry}
{d---------------------------------------------------------------------------}
                             {bThe Starting Screen}

This is a map of the first level of the moonbase on Phobos. The whole level
is exactly the size of the screen. Walk around (using the arrow keys or
numpad) and get used to the interface. Don't get yourself killed!

Take a look at the screen. It is divided into three parts. On top you have
the "message area", made of two lines of text. Watch this space carefully
-- it may notify you of impending danger or tell you that you're out of
ammo (poor sob!).

On the bottom you have the status bar. The top line displays your name, and
below it is the most important stat -- your health. If this one drops
below one percent, you're dead, dude - nothing can save you. Scanning 
to the right you can see the experience indicator. The first number is your
character level -- the higher it is, the tougher you are. The second number
is your experience displayed as a percentage. Each character level requires
a certain experience amount needed to achieve it.

Below your health and experience is "tactics". By default your tactic is
"cautious". This tactic gives no benefits or disadvantages. If you press
X once, it will change to "running" (note that changing tactics takes
some in-game time). With this tactic you have increased movement speed,
dodge chance, and defense bonus, but have a smaller chance to hit and
reduced melee damage. After some time spent running (or after pressing
X again), you will get "tired". Being tired has no effects, positive
or negative (like cautious), but while tired, you can't run again. You can
return to the cautious tactic by leveling up, gaining health by most
methods, or descending to next level. Since running is limited in this way,
try not to waste it. At the same time, however, remember to use it, as they
don't stockpile for later levels.

In the column to the right of that, you have two indicators, "Armor" and
"Weapon", that show you what armor and weapon you have equipped. For
weapons, the number in brackets indicates the damage that the weapon
deals, and the two numbers in square brackets indicate the current-loaded
ammo and clip size for that weapon (e.g., [4/6] means you have four
bullets in a magazine that can hold six).

Between the status bar and message bar, there's the map. The "@" sign with
the cursor below it -- that's you (aren't you ugly?). See any letters
nearby? It may be a "T"ree, but chances are it's the enemy. Kill'em all.
The "#" are walls, "+" is a closed door, "/" an open door. Dots are normal
floor. Red dots are either Phobos's ugly rock landscape (on the first
level), or blood (anywhere else).

Press "i" to see your inventory. It's pretty empty, right? Your character
starts equipped with a few things -- your trusty pistol (already equipped),
a handful of ammo, and a couple of med-packs. To check equipped item,
press "e" in-game to see the full list (which includes boots and a second
weapon slot).

Your pistol and ammo are not going to last you very long, though.  Press
"g" to pick up new weapons (represented by "}") and ammo ("|").  If you
walk around that first level you're likely to run into some small medkits
(red "+") that you can pick up and add to your inventory. Later on you
might find other consumable items, they're all "+"s. Press "i" at any time
and a consumable to use it at any time. If you ever want to drop something
(usually to make room for new weapons or items), press "Backspace" in the
inventory screen to drop items.

Along the way, you're bound to run into levers ("&") and barrels ("0"). To
pull a lever, stand on it and press "SPACE" to use them. The effects are
random, so pull them at your own peril! And if you've ever played a shooter
you know what to expect with barrels: They all explode quite nicely, but
with varying effects depending on the barrel. (Be aware that levers are
activated with the same button as using items -- in this case, open up
your inventory and use the item from there by selecting it and pressing
ENTER.)

As you go deeper into the base, you'll also find some power-ups ("^"). They
are used as soon as you pick them up, and several contain powerful effect,
so use them wisely.

Oh, I almost forgot! To shoot, just press "f" to fire at the currently 
selected target! You can swap between visible targets using "TAB", or 
hold "Ctrl" to move the target reticule manually with the arrow keys.
Some weapons allow an alternative fire mode, such as the chainfiring 
mode of the chaingun - to use it, press "SHIFT-f".

Ok, I hear you cry -- "Out of ammo!" Don't panic. Press "r" to reload your
weapon (Some weapons allow you an alternative reload by pressing SHIFT-r).
Reloading the correct ammo is automatic if you have it in your inventory.
But what if you don't? You can try pounding on the enemy with your fists
or a hand-to-hand weapon -- to do that just walk into him.  Pick up a
Berserk Pack or a chainsaw (or at least a knife) and you can do some
serious damage that way!

Getting hit too frequently when trying to approach an enemy (or when
running from him)? Try not to move in a straight line -- move diagonally,
as this increases your chance to dodge. If you don't want to approach or
retreat from the enemy, but also don't want to be hit often, try moving
from side-to-side, perpendicular to the direction of enemy, as this
gives you the same bonus as moving diagonally). Sometimes, in emergencies,
switching to the running tactic and using both of these tricks at once will
give you a much greater chance to dodge than normal.

In the equipment menu (remember, press "e") you'll see that you have a
primary weapon equipped and a secondary weapon at hand.  By pressing "z"
you can switch your primary out for your secondary.  This is faster than
equipping a new weapon from your inventory and it saves you valuable
space.  It's also quite useful in a firefight, when the situation can
change at any moment!

Hey, you think you're cool because you found some armor? Think again. Look,
there are three numbers by the armor. The first two in square brackets are
[current damage resistance/maximum damage resistance]. The second one is 
your armor's health. 100% means it's undamaged, 1% is almost destroyed.
The more damaged an armor is, the lower its actual resistance is. Keep an
eye on those numbers!

Additionally each armor may grant additional resistance to specific damage 
types. This information can be obtained in the inventory and equipment 
screens.

Try to check out player information screen by pressing "p" -- some useful
information is written there. First, there are your main parameters:
movement, firing, and reloading speeds, as well as your chance to hit with
the weapon you currently have equipped (from point blank range). Next are
the more passive statistics: your player and dungeon level, amount of
played turns, and your score so far. At the bottom you can find parameters
of equipment that you are currently wearing: damage, firing and reloading
speeds, and accuracy for weapons; and protection value, durability, and
movement and knockback modifiers for armor and boots (yes, armor and boots
can affect your movement speed and chance to be knocked back by powerful
attacks).

There are five types of items in this game:

1) {!Common} - These items are... "common"? You will see them all across the
game, and what you should rely on. Most are generated randomly, but you
will find some are guaranteed in certain places (as a reward for completing
a special level, for example). Common weapons and armor accept 1/1, 3/2,
and 5/3 mods, respectively, depending on the level of your Whizkid trait.

2) {CAssemblies} - These items can be assembled from other items, usually 
common, by modding them with a specific set of mods. Experiment, as
discovered (assembled) assemblies will be recorded in your player data and
can be accessed with the "A" key during the game.

3) {VExotic} - These items are rarer and more powerful than common items.
They can potentially appear more than once per game, but are more often
than not found in special levels. Exotic weapons and armor can hold the
 same amounts of mods that their common counterparts do.

4) {GUniques} - Unique items, as the name suggests, can only appear once per
game. Some of them just have cool stats, while others have special
abilities, and each of them come with a unique name. No unique item is
guaranteed, although they can appear in special levels, and they are quite
rare otherwise. Most uniques cannot be modded, but those that do can only
be modded if the player is playing the Technician class.

5) {YArtifacts} - Artifact items are similar to unique items, except that they
can only appear in very specific special levels, while never appearing
randomly. Finding and collecting these items is almost always a very
challenging task.

Mods (Displayed by a " symbol) are little packs that enhance your weaponry
or armor. Most equipment you find can be modded, so try to cover up their
weaknesses by modding them.

Whenever you see something that you aren't familiar with, press "l" to
trigger the Look command -- moving the cursor with the arrow keys will
show what's under the cursor in the message bar. You can also press "h"
in-game to open up the help menu.

Happy fragging!