Ubuntu Manpage: freedroid - a free Paradroid clone

Provided by: freedroid_1.0.2+cvs040112-7_amd64

NAME

       freedroid - a free Paradroid clone

SYNOPSIS

       freedroid [ options ]

DESCRIPTION

       Freedroid is a remake of the classic C64 home computer game Paradroid by Andrew Braybrook, including also
       various extensions.

       The  player  takes  control of the so-called 001 influence device and must clear a freighter of robots by
       either shooting them or seizing control over them.  Seizing control is done in a small logic subgame,  in
       which you have to connect more electrical connections within 10 seconds than your opponent.

OPTIONS

       -v or --version
               Prints out Freedroid version information.

       -q or --nosound
               Suppress all sound output.  Very useful if you don't have your sound card configured yet or don't
               have any sound hardware at all.

       -f or --fullscreen
               Work  in  full  screen mode.  Note that fullscreen or window mode can also be toggled from within
               the game via the options menu.

       -w or --window
               Start Freedroid in a window rather than using full screen mode.

       -j or --sensitivity
               Control joystick sensitivity. Value must lie in between [0:32]. Default is 1.

       -d LEVEL or --debug=LEVEL
               Control debug output of the game.  Debug output will be printed to stderr, i.e. in most cases  to
               the  console  you  started Freedroid from.  The variable LEVEL controls how much debug output you
               would like to have.  LEVEL 0 is the default and means (almost) no debug output.  LEVEL  1  prints
               the  most  important debug messages and LEVEL 2 or LEVEL 3 print (almost) all debug output, which
               might be quite a lot.

HOW TO PLAY

Moving and Firing
The influence device can be moved inside the ship by either using keyboard input or joystick
directions. Keyboard control can be done by either using cursor keys or the Quake and Half-life
style a-w-s-d keys combination. Firing can be done by either using the crosshair and the left
mouse button or by pressing a direction key and pressing space in addition or by holding a
joystick direction and pressing a joystick button.
Entering Elevators and Consoles
The influence device can move from one deck to another deck using the elevators of the freighter.
To do this, you must step onto an elevator plate, and then either press the e key or press the
middle mouse button or appropriate joystick button. Entering consoles is done in a similar way.
You have to stand directly in front of a console terminal and then press the e key to activate the
console. Inside the console you will have access to a small scale map of the current deck, a side
elevation of the ship and to the droid database of the ship. Note however, that access to the
droid database is achieved via the security clearance of the host you currently control, i.e. you
will only be able to view droid data for droids that are lower or equal to the host you currently
control.
The takeover subgame (Taking control of other droids)
To take control of another robot, you must first enter transfer mode. This is done by either
standing still and holding space bar pressed (and keeping space bar pressed afterwards) or by
holing down the right mouse button or holding town appropriate joystick button. While in takeover
mode, the influence device can try to initiate takeover by touching the host it wishes to control.
As soon as another robot is touched while in takeover mode, takeover subgame will be initiated and
control of the new host will be seized, provided that the takeover subgame is won.
Playing the takeover subgame
After the takeover subgame was initiated, the two droids struggling for control will be presented.
Then the player gets to decide which side of the takeover game he wants to play. The player on
the left side takes the yellow color, the player on the right side takes the magenta color. Note
that which side to choose may be the most important decision of the takeover subgame, cause one
side may host strong tactical advantages over the other. After sides have been chosen, the
takeover capsules will be placed. Each droid has a limited number of capsules to place and must
try to convert the central status bar to his color. The number of capsules you have at your
disposal depends on the clearance of the host you currently control. Once the takeover subgame is
won, the player will have control over the new bot while the old host is destroyed. Control over
the new host also means inheriting the movement properties and the weapons of this robot. Loss of
takeover subgame results in the current host, if one is present, being destroyed or the influence
itself being burnt out and destroyed if no host was present.
Notes on energy loss
The influence device depends on hosts to control. Whether currently controlling a host or not,
the influence device will always lose energy due to construction properties. When taking control
of a new host, the influence device will also take control of the energy this droid had left,
which will be even more the higher the bot you take control of. However, higher droids also tend
to put up more resistance against the control of the influence device, resulting in faster loss of
energy. Therefore it is recommended to change hosts frequently in order to keep the influence
device well powered. Note that there are some refresh field, where some of the energy lost so far
can be restored. But note also, that only energy loss due to collisions, explosions and enemy
fire can be restored this way, while energy loss due to host resistance is permanently lost until
the host is changed again.

PROJECT HOME PAGE AND LATEST VERSIONS

       The Freedroid project features a home page at freedroid.sourceforge.net.  The project itself is hosted at
       the  Sourceforge.   The project summary page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/freedroid/ can be used to
       access download and status information.  Note that home page and project summary page are shared with the
       FreedroidRPG development branch as well.

FILES

       ~/.freedroidClassic/highscores
              The high scores file of Freedroid.
       ~/.freedroidClassic/config
              The file containing all configuration setting of this user.

ENVIRONMENT

       Freedroid does currently not care about any environment variables.

DIAGNOSTICS

       Debug output can be produced by using the -d or --debug command line options as described above.

BUGS

       Freedroid can now be considered pretty stable.  However we're sure that there are still  some  bugs  here
       and   there.    If   you   encounter   any   problems   or   bugs,   please   send  mail  to  <freedroid-
       discussion@lists.sourceforge.net>.

AUTHORS

       Johannes Prix, Reinhard Prix, Bastian Salmela, Lanzz.