INFINITY COMPLEX PLAYER'S MANUAL -------------------------------- Copyright (C) 1992 S.J. Neal. All Rights Reserved. Copyright (C) 2004 Elwynor Technologies. All Rights Reserved. Getting Started --------------- Infinity Complex is a large but reasonably simple online game. It can seem quite baffling at first, and the size of this player's manual might seem overwhelming. However, don't let appearances fool you; once you understand a few basic principles of the game, it's easy to play. The first step you'll want to take is to skim this player's manual; don't try to memorize everything, or you're going to get yourself a nasty headache. Then, try playing the game for a while, and refer back to this manual when questions pop up. The game also provides help (just type a question mark and hit ENTER at any time) should you need it while playing. When you play the game for the first time, you should try making a map of the areas you find yourself in, and particularly noting the location of helpful facilities like Sleep Rooms and the medical console. Every room has its own unique number to aid you in mapmaking. Some of the characters in the game are there to help you out, and some of the characters are downright villainous; which are which will become clear fairly quickly. The helpful characters may provide information and weapons; the bad guys will probably just ignore you, or possibly try to kill you. The first few times you play the game, a character will arrive within a few minutes to help you out. You will want to arm yourself as quickly as possible; laser weapons are always easy to find, but most of the ones you will find will only have a few shots in them, so you'll want to pick up several. When you've earned some points, you can recharge lasers, but to start with, it's helpful to have a bunch of them. When you get into your first fight, use each laser until it's charge runs out, then drop it and ready another one. Hopefully, your opponent will run out of life before you run out of lasers. Remember that an M2 laser is deadlier than an M1, and an M1 is deadlier than a laser. Grenades and smoke bombs can also come in handy, but you'll want to experiment with these a bit so you'll know exactly how they work. Finally, there is no great shame in getting killed in this game. It's definitely going to happen a few times, so don't let it get you down. A Brief History of Infinity Complex ----------------------------------- 2028: The National Endowment for the Environmental Arts goes deeply into debt to finance its latest visionary work: covering the entire continent of Africa with biodegradable velcro, which, in the words of the NEEA chariman, "would serve to emphasize the bonds which join all men: strong, but often torn to the accompaniment of ripping noises." March, 2029: In order to preserve the solvency of the NEEA, the government declares a "war on underfunded art". All "fiscal responsibility" laws and consitutional amendments are suspended for the duration of the war, allowing politicians to pass the necessary measures, including a controversial 110 percent flat tax on all income. The penalty for failing to file and pay on time is a period of forced labor on the "velcro gangs". The tax is promoted as being "tough but fair"; as Senator-for-Life K'Ndy put it, "Loophole that, you rich fat cats!" March 30, 2029: The slogan "Velcro before butter" is adopted to convince the citizenry to "get behind the war". Saturation advertising of the new tax law is begun. April 1, 2029: Riots break out across the country when the ungrateful, unthinking populace fails to "rally 'round the velcro". The capitol is stormed by angry mobs; fortunately, the politicians have ample warning to retreat to their underground bomb shelter. The shelter had been fixed up as an "underground resort" in the years following the Cold War, and now featured a computer controlled environment, robot servants, and any number of other luxuries. Also, a leading government contractor has installed a revolutionary cryogenic suspension "cold sleep" facility, in exchange for "overlooking a few cost overruns here and there". April 2, 2029: In an emergency underground session, the authors of the tax bill are denounced for failing to exempt police and military personnel from the new tax measures. News broadcasts from above ground show that the riots continue, but in a strange new form; millions of people have converged on the capitol in their vehicles, and are driving in and out of the area according to some kind of sinister plan. April 3, 2029: All connections between the bunker and the surface are abruptly severed. The inhabitants of the bunker fear that a nuclear strike of some kind has taken place, and place themselves in cryogenic suspension after instructing the computer system to wake them when "those commies upstairs have calmed down a bit". April 4, 2029: On the surface, all citizens observe a minute's silence in honour of the new Capitol Monument, which has been erected on the site of the former capitol. The monument, a huge slab of ferro-concrete atop several million tons of landfill, is dedicated to the hundreds of politicians who gave their lives in the name of art. Plans to cover the concrete slab in velcro are shelved after the cost-benefit calculations for the project cause a divide-by-zero error in the budgeting software. 2030-3100: The computer controlling the underground bunker develops a few irregularities and software glitches after monitoring the brain patterns of the sleeping politicians for 170 years... irregularities that might be called paranoia and megalomania if they were observed in a sentient being. 3101: The first politician wakes up when a backup power system fails. Unfortunately, the cryogenic system has not worked all that well, and the Senator wakes with most of his brain gone. Fortunately, this does not impair him in the slightest, and he immediately calls for someone to get a cab to take him to lunch. When a cab is not immediately forthcoming, the Senator immediately starts waking up the other members of his party, hoping to form a majority and pass a back-to-work bill. The computer decides that this is a hostile act, and starts waking up members of the other party and arming them against the "commies". As the politicians slaughter one another, the computer uses its bioengineering system to create clones, in order to maintain balance in the "tough but fair" battles... It is into this baffling situation that you, the Infinity Complex player, have been thrust. Game Background --------------- The game INFINITY COMPLEX is drawn from such stories as "Logan's Run", "Brave New World", and other such depressing works. It is set in a futuristic complex which is run by a computer called MASTER CONTROL. MASTER CONTROL, as you shall see, is a little in need of some routine maintenance. All citizens of the Complex have a one-way link to MASTER CONTROL; a small receiver is implanted in their brains to allow them to hear MC's words of wisdom. The Object of the Game ---------------------- There is no fixed "ending" to Infinity Complex; the game continues to evolve until it is reset by the Sysop. The "object" of the game is the same as the object of real life, i.e. survive and hopefully prosper. The Basics of the Game ---------------------- Infinity Complex is a synthesis of a "role playing" and a "text adventure" game (if you don't understand either of these terms, don't worry; those who recognize one or both terms probably have too much spare time). In a text adventure, the game is played by typing in commands; the game responds to your commands by printing some text telling you the result of your command. In a role-playing game, you control a "character", who becomes your "puppet" in the game environment. The character is a list of "attributes" and "skills"; if a character is successful, it will survive and improve its skills. In Infinity Complex, you control a character using simple commands, and see the "world" of the Complex through the eyes of the character; in essence, you observe the game environment and change it through your character's actions. Your character consists of a list of characteristics like "strength" and "dexterity", a set of abilities, a score that reflects your relative success in the game, and your "hit points", which describe your current state of health. The game environment consists of places ("rooms"), objects ("items"), events (like "explosions") and other people ("characters"). Many of the commands will be familiar to anyone who has played an adventure game: "look", "north", "get", "drop" etc. All these commands will be explained in this manual, along with the commands that are unique to Infinity Complex. If you make a mistake entering a command, or try to do something that is not allowed, the game will respond with an extremely helpful message like: There are problems with doing that. or What do you mean by "up yours"? Your Character, Yourself ------------------------ A character is generated for you the first time you enter the game. You can always check your character's current status with the "stat" command; just type stat and hit the RETURN key. You will be shown a display similar to: Hits: 25 Max Hits: 25 Con: 13 Str: 10 Dex: 8 Security Level 0 Request Points 1042 Score 5247 Stun: 0 Ready: nothing Watching Nobody Short descriptions are ON. Team: None Team Score: 131072 0: nothing 1: smoke bomb 2: nothing 3: nothing 4: smoke bomb 5: smoke bomb ABILITY #: 0 SHIELD: 0 TELERUPT: NO (OFF) PAINT: NO WARN: NO INTEGRATE AMMO: NO INTEGRATE BOMB: NO INTEGRATE ROCKET: NO LOCATE: NO DIRECT: NO ANNOUNCE: NO RADAR: NO Most of this information is best explained elsewhere; for right now, the important items are: 1) Hits: 25 Max Hits: 25 As explained above, your hit points ("hits") indicate how healthy or unhealthy you happen to be. As you might expect, "Max Hits" indicates the maximum number of hit points you may have. You can lose hit points any number of ways; being shot, falling, or being in explosions, for example. If your hit points fall to zero or less, you're dead. If you're not dead, you may seek medical attention to restore lost hit points, or to increase your maximum hit points. Failing that, lost hit points will be regenerated slowly, at a rate of about one per minute that you're in the game. 2) Con: 13 "Con" is short for "constitution", and indicates how much damage you can absorb instantaneously without being stunned. The higher your constitution, the more difficult it is to stun you. CON may have values from 5 to 25. 3) Str: 10 "Str" is short for "strength", and reflects how much damage you can inflict in physical combat, i.e. kicking someone, or hitting them with a shovel. The greater your strength rating, the more damage you can do. Your STR rating may range from 5 to 25. 4) Dex: 8 "Dex" is short for "dexterity"... how nimble or clumsy you are. Your dexterity rating controls two things: how accurate you are in combat (with weapons or hand-to-hand), and how easy or difficult it is for someone to hit you in hand-to-hand combat. A higher dexterity means that you're more accurate with weapons, and harder to hit. DEX may have values from 5 to 25. 5) Security Level 0 "Security level" is determined by your score; on most systems, every 10000 points you gain increases your security level by one. Your security level determines the number and type of abilities you may have your rank, and a number of other things. Everyone starts at security level 0. 6) Score 5247 "Score" means exactly what it says. Note that this is not your TOTAL score, but rather the score you have accumulated since your last security level increase. On most systems, you can determine your TOTAL score by multiplying your security level by 10000 and adding the Score value from your "stat" display. Rooms ----- The Complex is a vast expanse of rooms, corridors, shafts, and other more exotic areas. A typical room might be shown to you as: You're in East-West Corridor 551. Exits: North, east, west, up, and down The area continues east Open doors: North Closed doors: South Eternalloy walls: West. A ladder joins the ceiling and floor. North : Damaged wall. Open door. South : Damaged wall. Closed door. Ceiling : Damaged ceiling. Hole. Floor : Damaged floor. Hole. On the floor are: 0: M1 laser 1: M1 laser 2: M1 laser 3: nothing 4: component 5: nothing Computer terminal There are no other people in sight 1) "You're in East-West Corridor 551". This tells you what room you're in (551) and what kind of room it is. 2) "Exits: North, south, east, west, up, and down" This tells you which way you can go from here. 3) "The area continues east". This tells you that there is no east wall in this room; that's why it's an east-west corridor. This implies that you will see everything else that happens in this corridor. You will also suffer the full effects of anything that happens in the corridor, like explosions. 4) "Open doors: North Closed doors: South" means just what it says. You can go NORTH without any further action; if you want to go south, you'll have to open the door first. 5) "Eternalloy walls: West." An eternalloy wall is an "outside" wall of the Complex, i.e. there's nothing beyond it. If at some point you need to create a new room (more on this elsewhere), it must be attached to an eternalloy wall. 6) "A ladder joins the ceiling and floor." You can therefore move up and down from this room without any undue difficulty. With no ladder present, you can't move easily go up. 7) "North : Damaged wall. Open door. South : Damaged wall. Closed door. West : Damaged wall. Hole. Ceiling : Damaged ceiling. Hole. Floor : Damaged floor. Hole." This part of the room description points out any unusual features of the walls... in this case there are several: DAMAGED WALLS have been weakened by explosions, and are more prone to be punctured, which would result in a: HOLE: which is a break in a wall large enough for a person to pass through. There's not much you can do with a hole other than walk through it or repair it. DOORS: A door mounted in the wall. Doors can be opened, closed, locked, and exploded. 8) "On the floor are: 0: M1 laser 1: M1 laser 2: M1 laser 3: nothing 4: component 5: nothing" This is a list of which items are in the room. Typing "items" will also show you the item list for the room you're in. 9) "Computer terminal" After the item list you will find a notation of any special features of the room. 10) "There are no other people in sight" If there were any people in sight, they would be listed here. Typing "who" will tell you what people you can currently see. You will be presented with a room description every time you enter a new room; you may also look at type "look" to see the room description again. You can peek into a neighbouring room by typing "look" followed by a direction; for example, to look at the room north of you, you can type "look north" or "look n". There are some variations in the room descriptions, but they are best learned by experience. Moving Around ------------- You can move from room to room by typing the direction you wish to move in: "north" to go NORTH, "up" to go up, etc. You may go north, south, east, west, up, or down; each of this may be abbreviated to one letter, i.e. n,s,e,w,u, or d. You may not always be able to go the way you want... doors and walls can get in the way, and you may not be able to go up if there's no ladder around. Stepping into a room with no floor can usually provide a quick, if painful trip down. Some rooms may be "protected" by various mechanisms; trying to enter them may have unpleasant consequences. Rooms sometimes explode. Some of the items you may find may help you get around more quickly and easily. Items ----- Rooms often contain various items (up to six per room), which you may pick up, drop, use, step on, explode, and carry around. Suppose a room has an item list like this: On the floor are: 0: M1 laser 1: repair kit 2: grenade 3: nothing 4: component 5: nothing To pick up the first M1 laser, you would type: get 0 "0" because the M1 is in the 0th spot on the item list. To get the component, you would "get 4" instead. Typing "get" by itself has the same effect as typing "get 0". Note: not all items can be picked up. You can see what items you are carrying by using the "inventory" command, which can be abbreviated to "inv". When you do an inventory, you will see an item list very similar to the one used for rooms: You are carrying: 0: M1 laser 1: smoke bomb 2: nothing 3: nothing 4: component 5: nothing To get rid of an item you are carrying, you can drop it... for example, to get rid of the smoke bomb you're carrying, you would type "drop 1". Typing "drop" by itself has the same effect as "drop 0". You won't be able to drop anything in a room that's already full, i.e. a room that already holds six items. The 0th item on your list (in this case, an M1 laser) is the assumed object of several of the commands, like "throw" and "shoot". For example, if you type "throw north", your 0th item that will be thrown into the room north of you. The "throw" command, as you might guess from the example above, requires that you type "throw" followed by a direction (one of N,S,E,W,U,or D). If possible, your 0th item will be thrown in the designated direction. In some circumstances, an item may bounce back into your hands after being thrown. You may also have a "ready" item type set at any given time; typically, it would be a laser or something you can use for attack or defense. For instance, in the example above, you could type "ready 0" to make an M1 laser your ready item; if you wanted to make a smoke bomb your ready item, you could type "ready 1". After a ready item type has been set, typing "ready" will automatically put any available item of that type in your hand. Assume an M1 laser is your ready type, and your item list looks like this: You are carrying: 0: component 1: grenade 2: M1 laser 3: nothing 4: nothing 5: nothing If you then typed "ready", you would see: OK, the M1 laser is ready to go. and your item list would then look like: You are carrying: 0: M1 laser 1: grenade 2: component 3: nothing 4: nothing 5: nothing If, at some later time, you no longer had an M1 laser in your possession and typed "ready", you would receive the message: You don't have your ready item anymore. You may also check the "status" of certain items using the "stat" command, followed by the number of the item in your item list you wish to check. Most often you will be using this command to determine the number of shots left in a laser or rocket rifle, but it can also be used to check the amount of fuel in a jetpack. In the previous item list, typing "stat 0" would tell you the number of shots left in the M1 laser. There are many different items available in Infinity Complex... what an item is used for may be immediately obvious, or you will have to do some experimenting to understand the things you find. Naturally, many of the items explode. Some of the more common items are: laser | Laser weapons of varying intensity and capacity. The M1 M1 laser | and M2 lasers are more powerful than the plain variety. M2 laser | There may be other types of lasers around as well. grenade | Explosives... a bomb is considerably more powerful bomb | than a grenade. Both can be used with the "arm" | command, and will explode after a delay of 20 to 30 | seconds... you should try not to be nearby when this | happens. rocket rifle | Another very deadly weapon. rocket ammo | Ammunition for the above smoke bomb | Used like a grenade, but creates a large cloud of | smoke that lasts for 20-30 seconds. Lasers don't | work at all well under smoky conditions. repair kit | Can be used to fix damaged walls with the "repair" | command. pack of glue | Can be used to seal doorways with the "glue" | command. component | Can be turned in to Master Control for points using | the "report" command, or used to construct other items. baseball bat | Really hurts when you hit someone with it. jetpack | Handy for travelling vertically when there are no | ladders around. You can turn a jetpack on with the | "arm" command, and turn it off using the "disarm" | command. Players ------- The other characters in the Complex fall into two categories, player characters and nonplayer characters (PCs and NPCs for short). Player characters are "real" people, i.e. they are controlled by someone sitting at a terminal, just like you. NPCs are controlled by the Infinity Complex program. It is important to realize that NPCs can become PCs, and vice versa; for instance, if a player exits the game to avoid a fight, it is entirely possible that his character will remain in the game and become an NPC under computer control. This lowers the life expectancy of the character considerably. It is not always possible to tell whether a character is a PC or NPC at any given time. The other characters in the game may make themselves known to you in a number of ways: a) You may "see" them if they are close to you; when you use the "who" command or get a room description, you will be given a list of all the characters you can see. Of course, if you can see a character, he/she can also see YOU. b) You may also "hear" the other characters when they speak or shout; also, if they happen to hit something (like the floor), you might hear the "splat" or "thud" of the impact. c) They may shoot at you, throw things at you, or try to blow you up. d) They may communicate with you via radio or by "broadcasting" through Master Control; these will be explained later. IMPORTANT NOTE: While playing Infinity Complex, you frequently need to enter another character's name. In most cases, you can abbreviate this name to a few letter; you only need enter enough of the name so that the game can tell exactly who you are referring to. Communicating With Other Characters ----------------------------------- The easiest way to communicate directly with other characters is by talking. This is easily done with the "say" command; whatever you say will be heard by everyone in the same room as you. For example, to say "I'm going to blow something up" to everyone in the room you're currently in, you would enter the command: say I'm going to blow something up. Characters in neighbouring rooms will know that someone is talking nearby (they will "hear voices") but will not know what was said. If you want to communicate more privately, you may whisper to a single character, using (you guessed it) the "whisper" command. The format of this command is: whisper to Say you wanted to whisper "I love my flamethrower" to a character named "Paper Pusher". You might type whisper to paper pusher I love my flamethrower. You may abbreviate the name just as you would with the teleconference whisper command. Note that whomever you're whispering to must be in the same room as you. Other characters in your room will see you whispering, but will not know what was said. If, on the other hand, you wanted everyone to know what was on your mind, you could use the "yell" command, which is used just like the "say" command. When you yell something, characters in adjacent rooms will hear what you yell, but not be told who's doing the yelling. Characters that are two rooms away will simply know that someone is yelling. Characters in the room you're in when yelling will probably ask you to quiet down. Teams ----- You may choose to work together with other players in Infinity Complex; sometimes it's almost a necessity. To facilitate this, the game allows you to join a team, or form your own team. Each team has a name, a score, and a list of members. To form a team, you can't be a member of another team, and you can't have an outstanding recruitment offer. Once these conditions are met, you can use the "form" command to form a team: form TeamName where TeamName is, surprisingly enough, what you wish to call your team. The team name may be up to 60 characters long, and must be unique; two teams cannot have the same name. Once you've formed a team, you are automatically the "team captain", giving you the exclusive right to recruit and eject team members. If you wish to disband the team, just type "disband"; this will erase the team information and score PERMANENTLY. Any team member may see who the other team members by typing "roster". When you wish to recruit team members (you may have up to 6 members including yourself) use the "recruit" command: recruit PlayerName You would of course replace "PlayerName" with the name of the player you wish to recruit. The recruit must actually be playing the game when you use the recruit command, and can't be a member of another team or have an outstanding recruitment offer. A potential recruit will be notified of your desire to have him/her join up, at which point they may either "accept" or "reject" your offer; if someone else is trying to recruit YOU, you have the same options. The "stat" display will tell you what team you're a member of, or what team is presently trying to recruit you. Once a player has joined a team, they may quit using the "resign" command. If, on the other hand, you're a team captain who's decided to get rid of a team member, you can enter eject PlayerName at any time to kick PlayerName off your team. The biggest advantage of being on a team is that you can communicate with your teammates using the "radio" command, which works just like the "say" command detailed above, except that a) it sends the message to all team members who are in the game, and b) the team members can be ANYWHERE, not just in your current location, and c) Nobody can tell that you're sending a radio message except those team members that receive it. A team's score is the sum of all points received by all team members from the point at which they became team members. For example, Ebenezer has a score of 1100. He joins the "Frothing Dogs" team, which has a score of 2000 when he joins. The team does not get Ebenezer's 1100 points; he wasn't a member when he earned them. However, until Ebenezer quits or is kicked off the team, each time he receives a number of points, the team will receive the same number. Suppose that Ebenezer receives 500 points (for blowing something up) right after he joins the team. Ebenzer's score rises to 1600; the team score becomes 2500. Your team score is shown under the "stat" display. Damage ------ Now for the important stuff. There are a variety of ways to get hurt in Infinity Complex, most importantly: a) Laser damage: what happens when you're shot with a laser weapon. b) Impact damage: the result of being hit with a solid object, like a fist or a baseball bat. c) Explosion damage: being in the vicinity of an explosion can be hazardous to your health. d) Falling damage: naturally, falling from any height can also be injurious. Each time you receive any damage, you will told what's happened, and see a message like: *** DAMAGE 10 , 10 being the number of hit points you've lost as a result. As mentioned above, when your hit points fall below zero, you're dead. Lost hit points will be "naturally" restored at a rate of 1 per minute while you're in the game. You may also find a room that contains a medical console, and heal yourself using your request points; more about that later. Besides actual physical damage, there is also what is called stun damage, which is not lethal. However, if you have taken stun damage, you can't perform any further combat actions until the stun clears. Stun damage may be inflicted along with any of the four types of damage listed above. For anything but "impact damage", you will take stun damage if the amount of damage inflicted in a single hit exceeds your CON characteristic. For instance, suppose your CONsitution is 15. If the damage from a laser hit, explosion, or fall is 25, you would take 10 points of stun damage. For impact damage, the stun damage depends largely on the strength of the character hitting you. How quickly you recover from a stun depends on your CON. Combat ------ Given the above, many people are naturally interested in how to make OTHER characters lose hit points, which is the purpose of combat. In combat, you generally have a specific character that you wish to hurt. With most combat commands, this target character is specified in on of two ways: a) Explicitly, by typing the character's name after your combat command, i.e. "shoot redwolf" b) Implicity, where you have already specified that you are interested in a particular character. Method b) works this way: you can indicate who you're watching by typing "watch" followed by the target's name, as in: watch InnocentBystander Note that when you "watch" someone, they will be made aware that you have done so. You may only watch one character at a time, but you can change your watch target anytime you wish. For all the combat commands detailed below, you can either type the command followed by the name of the player you wish to strike at: shoot redwolf kick redwolf punch redwolf bash redwolf hit redwolf or you can "watch" the desired target, and just type the combat commnad by itself. To achieve the same effect as the above five commands, you could type: watch redwolf shoot kick punch bash hit The most popular way to do harm is by shooting your opponent with a laser weapon. To shoot someone, you must have a laser as your 0th item (i.e. in your hand) and the laser must have some shots left in it. Most importantly, you must be able to see the character you wish to shoot. Once these conditions are met, you can type: shoot PlayerName If you are "watching" PlayerName, you can just type "shoot" and accomplish the same thing. Your chances of succeeding in this aggression depend on your dexterity and the distance to your target. You can continue shooting until you run out of shots, or you lose sight of your target. Keep in mind that Master Control's laser weapons are not of the highest quality, and may explode if they are overused. You can recharge a laser weapon using the "recharge" command; this will be explained elsewhere in this manual. "aim" and "zap" are synonyms for "shoot"; you may use these commands instead of "shoot". The amount of damage done depends on what sort of laser weapon you have. A plain "laser" does 5 points; the damage done by other sorts of lasers is best determined by experimentation. At times, you may wish to physically hit your victim instead of shooting him/her. You may hit someone with your hands or feet, or with an item (like a baseball bat). To do this sort of fighting, your target must be in the same room as you. The chances of landing a hit in this sort of combat depend on your DEX and the DEX of your target. To strike with your feet or hands, the commands are "kick" or "punch". You can either specify a target name, or just type the command by itself to direct the abuse at your "watched" character. The damage and stun delivered by a hit depends on your STRength characteristic. To strike with whatever item is in your hand, you can use "bash"... if you have nothing in your hand, the action will be just the same as a "kick". Some items are specifically designed to be used for bashing; the baseball bat is a good example. Using such items for bashing increase your chances of landing a hit, and will do more damage (or deliver more of a stun) when you do hit. Also, like the "kick" and "punch" commands, a higher STRength characters increases the amount of damage you do when bashing someone. There is also a generic combat command, "hit", which has the same format as the other combat commands i.e. specific player name or "watched" character. Depending on what you're 0th item is, "hit" will work like "shoot" if your 0th item is a laser weapon, like "bash" if you have a 0th item that's not a laser, or "kick" if you have no 0th item at all. The "attack" command works the same way as "hit". Explosives ---------- Apart from the "aimed" attacks detailed above, you can also damage your enemies (not to mention your friends and people you don't even know) with the appropriate use of explosives. The most common explosives are grenades; there are also bombs, which work in the same way as grenades, but deliver considerably more boom for your buck, and have some other special characteristics. Also, because of Master Control's poor quality control, many other items will explode when mistreated. Finally, rocket rifles are the most refined method of delivering an explosion where you want it; these will be discussed in detail elsewhere. Once you've obtained a grenade or bomb, you can "light the fuse" with the "arm" command; type "arm" followed by the number of the item you wish to light up. If you type "arm" by itself, it will be assumed that you're trying to arm your 0th item. After arming, you have 20-30 seconds before the item explodes; hopefully this is enough time to drop or throw the item and run someplace safe. When the explosion hits, anyone who doesn't have a wall between themselves and the explosion will receive 10 damage points (20 for bombs). The "shock wave" will then spread out into adjacent rooms, losing strength is it gets further from the center of the explosion. The explosion and shockwave will also damage doors, walls, and whatever else happens to be nearby. Apart from their basic explosive effect, bombs also have another interesting property. Whenever a bomb goes off in a room with one or more eternalloy walls, a new room will be created adjacent to one of the eternalloy walls; if there's more than one wall to choose from, the selection is made randomly. This feature is useful for digging tunnels and "sculpting" blocks of rooms. Rocket Rifles ------------- Rocket rifles are very advanced weapons that are used to shoot explosive rockets. If you do a "stat" on a rocket rifle, you will see a display like this: Shots: 10 Range 5 Mode: Single shot "Shots", as you might expect, shows the number of rounds left in the rocket rifle, 10 in this case. Unlike lasers, RRs can't be recharged with the "recharge" command; instead, they must be loaded with "rocket ammo". A rocket rifle may hold up to 15 shots; each rocket ammo item contains 5 shots. To reload a rocket rifle, you must have the rocket rifle as your 0th item, and rocket ammo as one of your other items. This being the case, you can type: rocket reload The rocket ammo will disappear, and 5 more shots will be loaded into the rocket rifle (up to the limit of 15). The RRs "mode" may be one of two settings: "Single shot" or "burst". In single shot mode, each time you fire the rocket rifle, one rocket will be fire. In burst mode, the RR will fire as many shots as are loaded. You can change the RRs setting with the command rocket mode If the RR is set to "Single shot", this command will change it to "Burst", and vice versa. A rocket rifle is fired by typing "rocket" followed by the direction you wish to fire in. If you wished to fire rockets north, you would enter: rocket north or rocket n When fired, the rocket(s) will travel in a straight line in the direction specified, until one of two things happen: a) They have travelled the number of rooms specified by the RRs "range" setting. b) They run into a closed door, or a wall that has no opening in it. It is important to note that the rockets may not travel their full range if they encounter an obstacle first. The range may be 0-6, or FULL. At range 0, the rockets will explode in the room that the firer is in. At range 1, they will explode in the adjacent room. At FULL range, the rockets will keep travelling in a straight line until they hit something solid, like a closed door or a wall. You can set the RR's range using the rocket range command: rocket range <0-6 or FULL> To set an RR's range to 3, you would type: rocket range 3 To set it to full, you would type: rocket range full Smoke Bombs ----------- As indicated above, it is usually necessary to be able to see someone in order to shoot or clout them... thus, it is often desirable to not be seen. The use of smoke bombs facilitates this. A smoke bomb is activated with the "arm" command, just like a grenade. However, the smoke bomb "goes off" immediately. You can also trigger a smoke bomb by throwing (not DROPPING) it. When it is used, a smoke bomb will fill the area you're in with smoke. The smoke lasts for 20-30 seconds and then disperses. This is handy for covering escapes, or stalling opponents while you recover from being stunned. Earning Points -------------- Obviously, one of the main goals of playing Infinity Complex is to earn points. There are three ways to do this: 1) Combat. Killing an opponent will usually earn you a few points. The tougher the opponent, the more points you will get. For extremely easy targets, though, you may not earn any points at all. The reward is mostly based on the security level of your victim. If you are on a team, killing a member of another team is worth more; there is no bonus for killing a teamless player. An NPC is worth less than a "real player" would be. A player who has killed a member of his own team is worth extra points. 2) Reporting components. You will find many components scattered around the Complex. Master Control considers this a nuisance, and has established a "cleanup" program. If you type "report" while carrying a component, Master Control will take the component off your hands and award you some points. 3) Repairs. Master Control also wishes to keep the Complex looking good, which is difficult given the circumstances. However, if you have a repair kit, and find damaged wall, you can use the "repair" command followed by the direction of the wall you wish to repair, and receive some points for fixing the wall. For instance, the room you are in has a damaged north wall. You can type repair n or repair north which will fix the wall and earn you some points. As mentioned before, you can see your own score (and your team score, if you have one) by typing "stat". To see which characters and teams have the highest scores, you can enter "high". Requests -------- When you receive "ordinary points", you also receive a proportional number of "request points", which can be used to improve your character, recharge weapons, and a number of other things. To make a request, you enter "request" (or the abbreviation "req"), followed by the type of request, and possible some request-specific information. Each request costs a certain number of request points. The possible requests are: HEAL -- To restore 5 hit points, up to your hit point maximum. Cost: 1 request point. Example: req heal HITS -- To increase your hit point maximum by 1 point. Cost: 15 rp. Example: req hits STR, DEX, CON -- Increase these attributes by 1 point, to a maximum of 25. STRength governs how much damage you do when striking another player. DEXterity controls how hard it is to strike you, and also your accuracy with laser weapons. CONstitution is a measure of how hard it is to stun you, and how quickly you recover from stuns. Cost: 15 rp Examples: req dex req con req str *** NOTE: All of the above requests must be made in a room with a medical console. CLAIM -- Marks a room as being the property of your team; anyone who is not on your team that enters the room is teleported to a random location. You must be on a team to use this request. You must use this command while standing in the room you wish to claim. You cannot claim a room that has already been claimed. Cost: 50 rp Example: req claim LOCK -- Similar to CLAIM, except that the room begins YOUR property; only you may enter it without being teleported. Cost: 50 rp Example: req lock UNLOCK/UNCLAIM: Releases a room that you have locked, or that a member of your team has claimed. Cost: 10 rp Examples: req unlock req unclaim *** NOTES: Each player may only have 1 room locked or claimed at any time. A room that is to be claimed must be a Boring Room, and may not be part of any area (i.e. hallways, shuttle bays, vertical shafts, etc.). RECHARGE -- Adds shot(s) to your ready item, which must be a laser weapon. You do not need to type "req" or "request" first. The command format is: recharge For 1 shot: "recharge" or "rec" For 3 shots: "recharge 3" or "rec 3" To load your weapon to full capacity: "rec full" or "rec f". Cost: 1 shot for a laser: 1 rp 1 shot for an M1 Laser: 2 rp 1 shot for an M2 Laser: 3 rp Abilities --------- Each time you go up a security level (i.e. accumulate 10,000 points) you may, at your option, get a special ability, or increase your immunity to damage from laser blasts. Some abilities are only available if you are above a certain security level, and the sum of your number of abilities and your laser shield level cannot exceed your security level. To see what abilities you have, simply type "stat". The abilities, costs, and minimum levels are: Ability Cost Level Description -------------------------------------------------------------------- ANNOUNCE 100 0 Use MASTER CONTROL's public address system DIRECT 300 2 Allows you to direct a bomb blast INTEGRATE 600 5 Create various items. LOCATE 600 5 Locate other characters/players in the game PAINT 100 0 Make your own signs in rooms RADAR 300 2 Request a map of rooms lying in a specific area SHIELD * 0 Shields you from laser damage. TELERUPT 200 1 Prevents you from being teleported WARN 300 2 Warns you when a specified player is nearby * SHIELDS cost 100*(Shield Level squared) You type "ability" to see the above list. To acquire an ability, type "ability" followed by the ability name. For example, to get the TELERUPT ability, you would enter: ability telerupt To get rid of an ability that you have, you would type "disable" followed by the ability name. To get rid of the telerupt ability, you would type: disable telerupt Ability Details --------------- ANNOUNCE allows you to use MASTER CONTROL to send messages to all players in the game via the "public address" system. Simply type "announce " to use this ability. For example, typing "announce Cab the Commie is in Room 556" would cause the announcement: MASTER CONTROL: Cab the Commie is in Room 556 to be sent to all players in the game. Note that this ability can only be used about once a minute. Cost: 100 rp Min. Security level: 0 Example: announce I have the announce ability. ************************************************************** The DIRECT ability allows you to set bombs to "go off" in a certain direction, thus allowing you to create a room in that direction. To use this ability, your ready item must be an armed bomb, and you simply type "direct "; when the bomb explodes, it will create a room in that direction (if no room already exists there). Cost: 300 rp Min. Security level: 2 Example: direct n ************************************************************** INTEGRATE: There are four INTEGRATE abilities: INTEGRATE BOMB, INTEGRATE ROCKET, INTEGRATE PLASTIC, and INTEGRATE AMMO. These abilities are used to transform 6 components into either a bomb, a rocket rifle, a lump of plastic explosive or rocket ammo. To use these abilities, you must be in a room with the 6 components on the floor, and then type "INTEGRATE ". The components will disappear and be replaced by the appropriate object. Cost: 600 rp Min. Security Level: 5 Examples: integrate bomb integrate rocket integrate ammo integrate plastic ************************************************************** The LOCATE ability allows you to know the location of another character in the game. To use, type "locate "; if your target is in the game, the system will reply with the room number that person is in, and the location of that room relative to you. Note that you have to enter a player name; you can't use the "watch" command to "fill in the blank". Cost: 600 rp Min. Security Level: 5 Example: locate redwolf ************************************************************** PAINT: Allows you to paint signs in rooms. You can also paint over signs that are already in existence, provided that your security level exceeds that of the player who originally made the sign. To use, type paint What You Want The Sign To Say For example, typing paint Cab The Commie Sleeps With Fish will place a sign that reads: Cab The Commie Sleeps With Fish in the room in which you are standing, assuming that there is no sign there already, or that your security level is higher than that of the person who painted the sign presently in that room. Note that it is only possible to have one sign per room. Cost: 100 rp Min. Security Level: 0 Example: paint I have the paint ability. ************************************************************** RADAR: The RADAR ability allows you to "radar-map" a row of rooms. It is used by typing "radar" followed by a direction. For example, radar n will show you a radar map of all the rooms north of you. A 0 in the map indicates that there is no room at that position. The radar scan will stop when it encounters a row of 5 empty positions. Cost: 300 rp Min. Security Level: 2 Example: radar up ************************************************************** SHIELD: The SHIELD ability reduces the ability of laser weapons to damage you; one point of damage is subtracted for each point of SHIELD ability that you possess. No special command is required to activate your shield; it's "always there". Note that your SHIELD level cannot exceed your security level, nor can the sum of your SHIELD level and the number of other abilities you possess. Unlike the other abilities, the cost of a SHIELD increases as you add more shields. The cost of a shield is 100 rp times the square of your new shield level. The costs are: Present Cost to Shields Add 1 Shield --------------------- 0 100 rp 1 400 rp 2 900 rp 3 1600 rp 4 2500 rp 5 3600 rp 6 4900 rp 7 6400 rp 8 8100 rp 9 10000 rp 10 12100 rp 11 14400 rp 12 16900 rp 13 19600 rp Note that you can't increase your shield level past 14. Cost: As above Minimum Security Level: 0 ************************************************************** TELERUPT: The TELERUPT ability (when activated) will prevent you from being teleported when you enter a Team, Player, or Commie room; instead, you will simply be "pushed" back into the room you entered from. To turn the ability on and off, simply type "telerupt". Cost: 200 rp Minimum Security Level: 1 Example: telerupt ************************************************************** WARN: The WARN ability will allow you to be warned anytime a specified player gets within a specified distance of you. To see who you are currently being WARNed against, type "warn" by itself. To turn the WARN ability off, type "warn off". To set your WARN parameters, type "warn --- note that the player you wish to be warned against does not have to be in the game, or even online. For instance, "warn sysop 5" would would cause the warning *** WARNING: Sysop is within 5 rooms of you. to be issued when Sysop was within 5 rooms of you. Note that you cannot use the WARN ability on non-player characters. Cost: 300 rp Min. Security level: 2 Example: warn redwolf 10 ************************************************************** Exiting Infinity Complex ------------------------ As mentioned before, Infinity Complex is designed to punish people who try to escape their just deserts by exiting the game or "hanging up the phone." The proper way to exit the game is to get yourself to: a) A sleep room. There are a few of these scattered around the Complex. b) A "team" room. A room that someone on your team has "claimed" using the "request claim" command. c) Your "player" room. A room that you have "locked" using the "request lock' command. Once in a room of one of these types, just enter "x" and you're safely away. If you enter "x" and are NOT in one of these locations, your character will stay right where it is, and be controlled by the game itself; this is like hanging a big "Kill Me" sign on your chest. Miscellaneous Information ------------------------- This manual tells you most of what you need to know to play Infinity Complex; the rest you must learn through experience. However, here are a few minor points that have not been covered: SUICIDE: Occasionally, you may find yourself in a situation where the best option is to take your own life. Just type "suicide" and take your lumps. WHEN YOU DIE: There's no easy way to die. Anytime you are killed, whether through suicide, or by the actions of hostile people, you will be penalized by the loss of some of your characteristics and abilities. How much you lose depends on who killed you. Once the penalties has been effected, you will be born again in a random location. After being reborn, you are a noncombatant for one minute; nobody can hurt you and you can't hurt anyone. This gives you a chance to re-arm yourself, and perhaps get set to avenge your death. CHEATING: In case you were thinking about it, taking turns killing a buddy and having him kill you is not a good way to get ahead in Infinity Complex. Try it and you'll know why. ROOM DESCRIPTIONS: You choose to see either LONG or SHORT room descriptions as you move around... you can do this with the "long" and "short" commands. Command Summary --------------- BASIC COMMANDS -------------- ? or HELP => To see a general help message HELP => To see a help message on TOPIC LOOK => To see what's around you LOOK => To look at another player. EXAMINE => Same as LOOK HIGH => To see the current high score list STAT => To see your current character status WHO => For a list of the characters you can currently see RESTART => To kill your character and start again SUICIDE => Same as RESTART LONG => Select LONG room descriptions. SHORT => Select SHORT room descriptions. SAY => Say out loud. Heard by everyone in your current room. YELL => Yell . Heard up to two rooms away. WHISPER TO => Send only to MOVEMENT COMMANDS ----------------- N or NORTH => Move north S or SOUTH => Move south E or EAST => Move east W or WEST => Move west U or UP => Move up (requires a jetpack or a ladder) D or DOWN => Move down OPEN => Open a door in the room you're currently in. CLOSE => Close a door in the room you're currently in. ITEM COMMANDS ------------- GET => To pick up . GET => Pickup item number 0. TAKE => Same as GET INV or INVENTORY => For a list of the items you are currently holding DROP => To drop DROP => Drop item number 0 ARM => To activate certain items ACT or ACTIVATE => Same as ARM DISARM => To deactivate certain items DEACT or DEACTIVATE => Same as DISARM. GLUE => Use a pack glue to stick a door open or closed. ITEMS => To see a list of the items in your current location READY => Make your 0th item your "ready" item. READY => Make your ready item. REPAIR => Use a repair kit to fix a damaged wall REPORT => Hand a component over to Master Control THROW => Throw your 0th item in the given direction. Rocket Rifle Commands --------------------- All of these commands require that a rocket rifle (RR) must be your 0th item. ROCKET => Fire a rocket rifle in ROCKET RELOAD => Load rocket ammo into a rocket rifle; you must be carrying the rocket ammo ROCKET RANGE => Set the range of your rocket rifle; must be 0 to 6, or FULL. ROCKET MODE => Toggle your RR's mode between SINGLE SHOT and BURST TEAM COMMANDS ------------- FORM => To form a team DISBAND => To disband your team RECRUIT => To offer team membership to a player ACCEPT => To accept a recruitment offer REJECT => To reject a recruitment offer EJECT => To remove a player from your team RESIGN => To resign from a team RADIO => Send to all your team members. ROSTER => See a list of your team members COMBAT COMMANDS --------------- WATCH => See who you're currently watching WATCH => Make your default target. SHOOT => Shoot at your default target. SHOOT => To shoot at AIM => Same as SHOOT ZAP => Same as SHOOT KICK => To strike empty handed at your default target KICK => To strike empty handed at PUNCH => Same as KICK BASH => Hit your default target with your 0th item BASH => Hit with your 0th item HIT => Make appropriate attack on your default target, determined by what your 0th item is. HIT => Same as HIT, but attack ATTACK => Same as HIT. ABILITY COMMANDS ---------------- ABILITY => See a list of available abilities ABILITY => Acquire ANNOUNCE => Use ANNOUNCE ability DIRECT => Use DIRECT ability DISABLE => To get rid of INTEGRATE => Use INTEGRATE ability LOCATE => Use the LOCATE ability PAINT => Use the PAINT ability RADAR => Use the RADAR ability TELERUPT => Toggle TELERUPT ability on or off. WARN => Use WARN ability. REQUEST COMMANDS ---------------- REQ HEAL => Heal one point of damage REQ HEAL => Heal points of damage REQ CON => Increase your constitution by one REQ CON => Increase your constitution by points REQ DEX => Increase your dexterity by one REQ DEX => Increase your dexterity by points REQ STR => Increase your strength by one REQ STR => Increase your strength by points REQ LOCK => Make your current location your "player room". REQ CLAIM => Make your current location a "team room". REQ UNLOCK => Remove your "lock" from your current location. REQ UNCLAIM => Remove a "claim" from your current location. RECHARGE => Add one shot to your 0th item, which must be a laser RECHARGE => Add n shots to your 0th item, which must be a laser RECHARGE FULL => Recharge your laser weapon to its maximum capacity.