Info of SDL version?

[kcwong]

Hello! I found out about GearHead a few days ago, and started playing GH1.

I'm playing the Windows SDL version, and I have a few questions.

1) I'm wondering about those displays... what are those meters around the direction indicator? The pulsing red one and the unmoving green one.

2) I searched for "SDL", "UI", etc, but found nothing here. Are most of you playing the ASCII version?

3) I noticed my HP dropping suddenly, e.g. from 20/20 to 14/14. I was not getting hit. I found the "How the heck do i..." thread and suspect it is due to hunger. I went to the cook, ordered a meal and my HP went back up. Am I right? If so, how do I check how hungry I am in the SDL version?

4) Are there any guides about the basics? Those guides in the wiki seem to contain many spoilers, and are suggesting what to do without telling why... I want to learn about the basics first (like eating, sleeping, will I get tired/hungry/thirsty, etc.).

5) When I visit a doctor, my displayed HP is reduced while the dialog box is opened. It reverts back to normal afterwards. Why is that?

[Erathoniel]

1) Red is speed, green is height.
2) Look at Sourceforge. Most of us play SDL, I think, but there's not enough difference.
3) If you are hungry, it should show in the bottom right-hand corner of the character description, on foot it will show you, it will also tell you you are hungry.
4) GH1: Eat by entering the inventory screen "i" and selecting a food item, sleep (not needed, heals and passes time) with "Z", you get hungry, but that is the only necessary upkeep, the Stamina and MP costs are all non-necessary, and you usually will regenerate them if you don't use them too much.
5) Are you happy? That could be a cause. Do you have cyberware, etc.? I've never noticed this, though I guess it probably happened to me.

There's no difference between the SDL and ASCII version beyond graphics and three or four characters of code.

[kcwong]

Thank you for the answers, Erathoniel!

3) I finally caught the line in the message window - it said I feel hungry.

4) That's good to know... I can focus on other fun stuff!

5) No cyberware... it's my first serious character, a martial artist. I have a little smiling face at the lower left corner of the stat display, right under the Craft stat. I noticed my max HP also changes when I shop. Why does the happy status cause that?

[Karoline Dianne]

that's probably not you. when you talk to someone or shop, it shows 'their' stats, not yours. lol. It confused me a while back too.

[kcwong]

Aha! So that's why. Thanks for the tip!

[Erathoniel]

Oh yeah, that's why. You're welcome, even though I was wrong.

My theory is that it was showing your "true" health, regardless of any current status. Have you checked out the CCP for GH2 yet? It increases the difficulty, though, if I am correct. Get one-shotted a lot.

[kcwong]

Haven't checked out GH2 yet... I just learned about GH a few days ago, when I was searching for discussions on Dwarf Fortress (Dungeon Keeper + The Sims + Roguelike) and Incursion (another roguelike).

GH1 seems pretty fun... my martial artist managed to retrieve the mining robot on day1, found some hints about my past and moved to another town, where there're fire-based monsters (burning and poisoned... that nearly killed me).

I'll stick with GH1 for a while, to learn the basics before moving on to GH2.

[Erathoniel]

Dwarf Fortress and Incursion are awesome, but I prefer GH. Less loading time than DF, more of a built-up feel than Incursion. Granted, Incursion is more complex, which I like, and DF is insanely complex to insanely simple feeling, and it takes forever to load, generate a world, and run. My poor laptop.

You really need no experience to go to GH2, it helps a little, but they're more or less the same game, with a different setting and GH2 is slightly improved.

[Karoline Dianne]

I have a question... in GH2, what does the gray S mean on the little HUD? I know an H is hungry, + is happy, - is unhappy, etc... what's S? it pops in and out constantly and has me confused...

[Joseph Hewitt]

S is for Stealth. It means that no-one can see you. I was going to go with H for hidden, but that's taken by hunger. I really need to make a glossary of these status symbols.

[Karoline Dianne]

ah, that was one thought. and yeah, I was going to ask for a symbol glossary. lol thanks

[Erathoniel]

The purple guy is stealth in SDL, then?

[kcwong]

I have more questions...

1) How do I find a place? Is there a world map of any kind? I was told to take some medical supplies to another town (Markheim Fortress) and it sounded pretty urgent. My character is not good at mecha fighting yet, so I don't want to wander around... raiders would kill me.

[Erathoniel]

1) You can take a transport to anywhere but the Fortresses and the Temple. I think Markheim is north of Last Hope, and Ironwind is south of Snake Lake, and off to the west somewhere, all the way below the ocean.

Rudimentary, off scale map: *=Markheim, L=Last Hope, S=Snake Lake, I=Ironwind

*{{{{
({{{{
L{{{S
{{{{{
{{{{{
{{{{{{{{I

[Michael]

Quoting: Joseph Hewitt

S is for Stealth. It means that no-one can see you. I was going to go with H for hidden, but that's taken by hunger. I really need to make a glossary of these status symbols.

But S is also already used, three times.  Magenta S is inebriation ("Stoned"), Yellow S is Stun, and Cyan S is the cyberdisfunction "Shutdown".

Also, there's already a collision at H.  Yellow H can indicate the second of three levels of hunger, or it can mean the status effect Haywire.