How the heck do i....

[Question]

Rest/Pass the time? I competed in the hogye arena, and now i have to wait till tommorrow. Theres no "inn" or resting option i can find, so how do i get the time to pass till tommorrow besides walking around, a LOT?

How do i check what morale i have? I cant seem to find the indicator. Same goes for inventory weight, and hunger. My speed is 18 instead of the original 19 for some reason, but i dont know why.

How do i get the shop to refresh? I bought a DC2 autogun in the tutorial and now i cant kill anything tougher than a rat in the mines, and the shop is currently selling NO weapons. At all.

Who the heck are these murder club students attacking me out of the blue with crazy equipment? I get email messages after they get killed by the guardians but i cant figure out how to read them....all i have is an old mobile phone that i cant figure out how to use.

Where the hell did the hogye arena owner go? I accidentally talked to her when i was running away from the murder student and now shes not in the building anymore. The game rapid scrolled through the conversation because i was trying to run away, and there doesnt seem to be a way to retrieve the conversation log.

[Machina]

To pass time, hit Shift-Z to sleep for an hour or s, or, five on your number pad for a short interval. Haven't checked if the five on the number row works.

Your morale is represented by the smily face, blank area, or angry face on your status. If you have the smile, good morale. Angry is bad morale. Blank is neutral.

Inventory weight... ... good question...

Shops refresh every twenty four hours.

The murder club is a quest that runs every now and then. You'll need something better than the mobile phone to check e-mail, though, if I remember right.

And yes, convo logs would be nice. If you remember what her name is set as, you can call her by hitting Shift-T and typing her name.

[Another]

That Old Mobile Phone actually HAS an e-mail function in it. Press 'm' and you'll see it. And that 'memo' function, also accessable this way, is _very_ useful.
Since that murder club isn't in the main plotline you may feel free to complitely ignore it as a quest if you don't like it.
For the shop - it is easier to go to another town and check shops there.

[Tung Nguyen]

The game rapid scrolled through the conversation because i was trying to run away, and there doesnt seem to be a way to retrieve the conversation log.

Shift + 'v' reviews messages, but doesn't show talk logs.

Press 'h' for a key reference, and other bits and bobs.

[SharkD]

There's also a key reference here:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quadrant/3864/keyd iagramkeys.htm???GearHead;Default;US104;16;

[Anticheese]

Quoting: Question

Rest/Pass the time? I competed in the hogye arena, and now i have to wait till tommorrow. Theres no "inn" or resting option i can find, so how do i get the time to pass till tommorrow besides walking around, a LOT?

There is much more to the RPG game then just the arena. Start off with the Dr. Kim & Snake Lake miniquest and just wander around the game learning about it.

Quoting: Question

How do i check what morale i have? I cant seem to find the indicator. Same goes for inventory weight, and hunger. My speed is 18 instead of the original 19 for some reason, but i dont know why.

(I am not sure if this applies to SDL mode as I only play ASCII.)

Underneath your stat menu there will be a green + for "I'm feeling really happy!" and you will get a small boost to your stats. Positive morale can be gained from good food (as a general rule, the more expensive the better. That $5000 lobster tastes damn good.), talking to people and (I think) winning battles and finishing quests.

If there is no + or - symbol then you are feeling neutral. No bonuses or penalties apply here. The reason why you are suffering the penalty is because your character is encumbered. Invest in the Weight Lifting skill, BODY enhancing Cyberware or just drop excess loot.

Quoting: Question

How do i get the shop to refresh? I bought a DC2 autogun in the tutorial and now i cant kill anything tougher than a rat in the mines, and the shop is currently selling NO weapons. At all.

Got ranks in Small Arms? When you get around the level 4 mark even the humble Autogun is a force to be reckoned with.

Shops refresh every 24 hours (except in the Linux version - due to a bug in the Pascal compiler for Linux they will refresh every time you use shopkeepers) assuming you are using a recent version and if you look in different cities (especially in Evil Elrics House of Hurt in the Snake Lake mall (Look for a bright green building with blue carpet))

A side note: The higher the DC of a weapon, the less XP you will get from a kill. Due to an update there is only a fixed amount of XP you can get from a kill, so the exploit where you could just keep plugging away at a corpse has been fixed.

=========
=SPOILERS=
=========


Invest some ranks in Armed Combat and buy a Rapier (DC:7 Acc + 3 Melee weapon. $1600 ish. High speed (I can't remember the exact value but it is something like 4..3..ish)). Due to its high speed and accuracy combined with a modest DC you will be able to get some serious XP off even Street Punks!

Quoting: Question

Where the hell did the hogye arena owner go? I accidentally talked to her when i was running away from the murder student and now shes not in the building anymore. The game rapid scrolled through the conversation because i was trying to run away, and there doesnt seem to be a way to retrieve the conversation log.

Sometimes NPC's can go walkies. Hogye is a small place and you should not spend too long in there anyway..but commonly you can leave an area and go back to it and important NPC's should be back in their positions.

[macksting]

Where the hell did the hogye arena owner go? I accidentally talked to her when i was running away from the murder student and now shes not in the building anymore. The game rapid scrolled through the conversation because i was trying to run away, and there doesnt seem to be a way to retrieve the conversation log.

I'm sorry about that; however, try to remember that it's a turn-based game. If she's fast enough to catch you, only evasive action will free you. If she's not, then just keep running away.
By the way, by default, your character is walking. When you're looking through the controls via the method described above, check for a Run key.

Anticheese, regarding the spoiler:
Much as I agree with you in principle, I'm very fond of going through a game with large scale guns. It's a lot of fun. While you don't get as much XP as you do for whacking rats with your bare hands, it's a delightful pasttime.
More importantly, accurate though the rapier may be, it doesn't solve his problem; it simply means throwing in more XP to a skill he's not currently using. I'd argue that a Fallback Pistol or, well, that Autogun he's using is a far more pragmatic use of XP for him right now; it's not as elegant as the rapier, but I found it to be truly excellent for taking out small game. Freed up my other hand for the larger weapons.

[Anticheese]

Quoting: macksting

Much as I agree with you in principle, I'm very fond of going through a game with large scale guns. It's a lot of fun. While you don't get as much XP as you do for whacking rats with your bare hands, it's a delightful pasttime.

I agree too..The idea of the spoiler is to help solve his XP shortage problems..

Due to the lack of personal scale weapons in the game I've added in a number of my own..

"Hey, Rats?"

"Squeep?"

"Meet my new friend!"

"Chu?"

"Nope, the KI-56892 Fusion Rifle!"

*INCINERATION*

[macksting]

Nah, just make a higher-level Survival check when gutting a Plague Rat.
Rat Flail

[Anticheese]

Oh that's a classic that is.

Remember kids, don't swallow the dice.

Also don't misinterpret the puzzles the DM throws at you so that you inadvertently fill a room with scalding hot steam leaving your sorcerer at 1HP in the middle of enemy territory and then only because he made a reflex save.

EDIT: Survival REALLY needs to be improved too. I can't remember a single time where survival (the skill) was useful in Gearhead.

[Red]

On a rare occasion, while using survival on a dragon, you would get a dragon heart, which healed a few hit points if you ate it.

[Anticheese]

Just what everyone needs.

Quoting: Red

On a rare occasion

That's the problem. Survival needs some beef added to it. It has potential but it has not been reached.

[palefire]

When you run out of food and you are deep in dungeons, a steady supply of mystery meat can ward off hunger and save the day....  I prefer stocking up on Nutrient Pills before dungeon diving....

[Question]

How do i sell the mecha that i found in the mines? Also, how do i figure out what my current weight/weight limit is? I thought the inventory screen would have something like 10 kg/MAX to indicate how much you are currently carrying, but no such luck.

Do all food items stave off hunger equally? As in, if i eat a hotdog, will i get hungrier faster than if i had eaten a hamburger platter?

When trying to install parts onto a mecha, how do i know how much space a section of the mecha has? It says something like 1/6 or whatever, but is 1 the amount of FREE space or the amount of NON-FREE space?

How do i repair my own mecha? What supplies do i need?

I find most guns suck because you cant get the ammo to show up in the shops. Sure i can buy a combat rifle, and it works, but if i cant find any rifle clips its not doing me a whole lot of good for dungeon work. I think it would work better if you could always buy ammo regardless of what is in the shop inventory.....i find relying on expensive laser weapons all the time very annoying.

How is damage calculated for burst weapons?

If i use shift+x to save the game, how do i load the game? Because it seems that when i quit the game it auto saves and will override the manual save.

[macksting]

can't remember a single time where survival (the skill) was useful in Gearhead.

LOBSTER SHIELDS.
Dude. Lobster shields. Nothing better in the world. Best shield EVAH. Worth every point.

Quoting: Question

How do i sell the mecha that i found in the mines?

Go to the Bus Station and have it shipped. It'll cost a couple thousand, but you'll get a lot more in exchange.

Quoting: Question

Do all food items stave off hunger equally? As in, if i eat a hotdog, will i get hungrier faster than if i had eaten a hamburger platter?

To my understanding and experience, foods differ in their nutritional value. Roughly according, once again, to price/weight/morale ratios. I seldom eat anything but Deluxe Rations and restaurant food.

Quoting: Question

is 1 the amount of FREE space or the amount of NON-FREE space?

It's the amount currently occupied by other parts. For instance, if you install an overthruster in there, it'll be more like 3/6.

Quoting: Question

I find most guns suck because you cant get the ammo to show up in the shops. Sure i can buy a combat rifle, and it works, but if i cant find any rifle clips its not doing me a whole lot of good for dungeon work. I think it would work better if you could always buy ammo regardless of what is in the shop inventory.....i find relying on expensive laser weapons all the time very annoying.

Granted I don't always have a wide variety of clips, but... How's this. Some guns have multiple types of clips available. For instance, the Combat Rifle has AP rounds, Flechette rounds, Assassin clips, Indendiary clips, and ordinary clips, and a few other varieties. Once you've got three or four (and it helps to buy in bulk until you have a variety going!), just keep reloading the ones you have. I assume you know that last.

Quoting: Question

How is damage calculated for burst weapons?

Crucially, the Spot Weakness skill doesn't apply to burst shots.

Quoting: Question

If i use shift+x to save the game, how do i load the game? Because it seems that when i quit the game it auto saves and will override the manual save.

Somebody mind reminding me (I'm on a borrowed computer) where the help file is for arena.cfg?
Until you turn off the autosave, the manual save means you don't have to worry about glitches and failures destroying your progress just before you quit for the day. Autosave enforces a constant progression with no reloads, it's true, but there's a way to turn it off; likewise, the game doesn't really save unless you quit or order it to.