FREEDROID(6) User Manuals FREEDROID(6)
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 con-
trol over them. Seizing control is done in a small logic subgame, in which you have to connect more electrical connections within 10 sec-
onds 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 con-
sole. 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 con-
trol.
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 proper-
ties 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.
SEE ALSO
freedroidRPG(6),
Linux MARCH 2003 FREEDROID(6)