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W A R I N C. FAQ
Version 1.00
by Jamal Leyba (leybaj@colorado.edu)
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*Disclaimer
-----------
The writer of this FAQ is in no way affiliated with Interactive Magic,
Inc. or any its affiliates. If you have technical questions regarding
the game, don't ask me I probably don't know. They have a website so
just go there. There is none of their home-grown material within this
FAQ, just everything I've seen in the game.
*Note
-----
This FAQ is not near completion, you if you have a RANT or RAVE about
the lack of information your just going to have to wait. There is a lot
in this game and I am not done with it yet.
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=Contents=
==========
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-Introduction
-Research
-Stocks
-Unit Creation
-Information Tables
-Tricks of the Trade
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==============
=Introduction=
==============
War, Inc. is a strategy game in the ideal of Warcraft and Command and
Conquer with a little different ideology. Not only do you have to build
units, building, and soldiers, but you have to earn money on the stock
market and use it to research new weapons. With all that going on it is
easy to get lost. So over the course of (I believe) 24 missions you
kill, crush, and maim all you opponents with your lethal weapons of
death and buy out corporations with mo' money than you though you'd ever
use. This game actually has a current time that runs in actual time or
faster.
When you start out you have around $10 million dollars that you use to
fund some of your research and hopefully invest in some poor little
company. They also give you four basic units to modify, but they go far
from there.
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=Research=
==========
In order to improve your effectiveness on the battlefield, you
absolutely have to research the 7 areas or you will be CREAMED. The 7
units are Hulls, Weapons, Power, Armor, Computer, Shield, Specials.
There are plenty of levels (I think about 12) to extend you amount of
bloodshed so don't feel that you'll come up with the greatest unit on
you first outing. They don't last more than 3 campaigns, unless you're
lucky, heh heh heh!
You don't have to research level one, but knowing what you start with
can help. Another thing is that you can not put more that 200
scientists on one project, but you can hire as many as you want if you
have the money.
**HULLS**
This is where you find all the standard military types (tanks,
helicopters, MRE's). This is also (I find) one the areas that you
should really keep ahead in. Hulls have a type and a sub-type that
define the vehicle you are imagining. Usually the first name of
the vehicle is the "sub-type" and the second is the "type". So the
'Recon Tank' is a Tank-type that is in the category of a Recon
unit. Make sense, no? Just play the game and you'll see what I
mean. When the unit is on screen click on the rotating picture to
view the verbal description.
-Level 1
Scout Quad, Ore Sniffer, Mobile HQ
-Level 2
6x6 APC, Recon Tank
-Level 3
Tracked APC, Light Tank, Light Power Armor, Scout Chopper
-Level 4
Anti-Aircraft Tank, Gun Turret, Transport Chopper, Tracked
Launcher
-Level 5
Light Hovertank, Main Battle Tank, Medium Power Armor,
Heavy Launcher, Gunship.
-Level 6
Medium Hover Tank, Missile Turret, M109 Self-propelled Gun
-Level 7
Heavy Hover Tank, Heavy Power Armor, Hover Launcher
**Weapons**
GUNS, GUNS, GUNS!!! If you have any doubt about researching this,
then you shouldn't be playing. Here you find an assortment of
deadly weapons ranging from the useless to deadly beyond reason.
Certain units can only use certain weapons, so don't think about
putting a tank gun on a helicopter, it'll never work! Besides that
the game is smart enough not to allow that.
**Power**
Make you units go faster and keep your shields running smoothly
with this one. This will get you early on, because the first few
engine are not so powerful and take up too much space to keep
using. After time, as everything, they become more efficient. The
military does not use a car engine to run a tank, though that is
exactly the first one you will use. You will have a constant fight
between armor and power that may make you sick. Usually you give
up speed for armor.
*Armor*
As I said earlier, you will have a 'battle' between this and power.
You have to watch the strength rating of each material. Also on
these are Projectile and Missile Adsorption ratings. They function
as an additional means of choosing armor. So if all your chopper
get blown out by missiles, advanced armor can help. As time goes
the armor will become cheaper, stronger, and weigh less.
*Computer*
Computer make the world go 'round, and they do here. This helps
you target all the little soldiers, tanks, and buildings that cause
so much pain and increase the usable range of your weaponry. I
still don't know if it's really necessary to put Laser Guidance on
a tank gun, but it may be worth the try. A tank gun that has range
of 6 without a targeting system of range 6 will not fulfill its
purpose.
*Shield*
As the word says all this does it help keep the bad guys from
killing you too quickly. They come in two varieties, pulse and
continuous. Continuous is definitely better than pulse, but if you
want to get out cheap use the pulse on a helicopter.
-Level 1
Kinetic 50KW Pulse
-Level 2
Energy 50KW Pulse
-Level 3
Kinetic 50KW Continuous
-Level 4
Kinetic 50KW Continuous
-Level 5
Energy 50KW Continuous
-Level 6
Energy 100KW Continuous
*Specials*
This should be called the miscellaneous category for the fact that
everything in it can't be put in other categories. This includes
speed and energy increases, more ammo and other less describable
objects.
========
=Stocks=
========
This is what makes the game fun. Once you start you can't stop. There
are about 40 different corporations with a variety of stock prices.
When you buy them out you get bonuses on an assortment of things. Here
you will see the name of the corporation, the stock value per share, the
change in price, the type of company it is, the Price/Earning (P/E)
ratio, and the profit if sold. When you click on each corporation you
will see the number of available stocks and their progress over the last
260 days.
The key to investment for maximum profit is to look the price/earnings
ratio. Any investor will tell you get on while it's cheap. A company
with a lower P/E number is best for investment. Early on you will be
really trying to keep a hold of your money so it will be hard to invest.
A good profit is above 25% of you investment. When you are satisfied
take it out and re-invest. Soon you will be playing with hundreds of
millions of dollars to invest. Very stable stocks don't earn profit
very easily. Unstable stocks that tend to earn a lot of money, at least
in this game.
The key to buying out a corporation is to look at the price and the
number of shares. The game will tell you that you need 51% of the
shares to acquire them. This is all you need so don't bother buying
more than that. The first corporation you should buy out is "EntInd"
which is the first company on the list. It can be bought for under
$100 million. Watch the market for price drops and then make your
attack.
Stocks are simple and try to leave them that way. :)
**Types of Corporations**
Here are the types of corporations and their bonuses:
ITRec: Increase Command Points by 50%
Medical:
Pharmaceutical: Increase Infantry Stamina and Speed by 50%
Biotech:
Cybernetic:
Utilty: Double Power Output from 30KW to 60KW
Telecom:
Transport:
Natural Rsrc: Double the speed of ore output
Computer: Double the unit building time
Contractor: Decease prototype costs
===============
=Unit Creation=
===============
Take one part gun, one part armor, and two parts power and you have
everything under the sun as far as guns. If you afraid of screwing up
a design, don't be. Just click and play with it for a while. You will
get the hang of it quickly. Design is a balancing act, that is all.
Set limits for yourself when you design. Say that you refuse for you
tank to be slower than 20mph, or you won't have less than 100 HP for
armor. This will make it much easier. Just remember that 40mph is fast
for a tank and 60mph is slow for a chopper. Long-range artillery can
stand to be super slow so don't worry about them. Here are some easy
steps to unit creation (Ignore if your want):
Step One:
Choose the purpose of the vehicle. Tanks are definitely frontline
assault vehicles. Chopper can be too, but watch out for missile
turrets. Heavy artillery such as Howitzers and missile launchers
are not for front line use and should be protected. Transports
like the APC's or transport choppers are only for frontline relief.
Step Two:
Choose how powerful you want it to be. The weapon can make it a
bomb or a success. Tanks should not have a 12.7mm Machine gun as
the main weapon.
Step Three:
Go to armor and select how much you want. This typically makes the
unit slower so be careful.
Step Four:
Now look at the power and think of how fast you want it to be. I
recommend keeping tanks between 30mph to 40mph. Much fast and they
become uncontrollable. Choppers should be at their maximum speed.
If you get 105mph for a chopper that has a max-speed of 110mph, do
add more power to it. There is no reason to do this. Artillery can
be slow, but should be well-armored because the tend to launch from
far distances.
Step Five:
Computer Targeting should be simple. Big gun don't have to aim
well, just destroy!
Step Six:
Specials add neat things but sometimes are really unnecessary.
Take them into last consideration until they get beyond just adding
ammo.
Step Seven:
When you have completed your initial idea look at the RU cost and
prototype cost. And then begin to play with the numbers within the
limits that you ideally set for the design.
====================
=Information Tables=
====================
These tables tell you the basic look and feel of the units and weapons
with all the given information for basics unit with no modifications.
=====================
=Tricks of the Trade=
=====================
1. Tank guns on hover tanks don't work, so forget about it.
2. If you like infantry research computers more than anything else.
3. APC are no good for general combat.
4. Strike Forces can be turned away just by engage them then
immediately exiting.
5. Try to combine different style units to improve overall
effectiveness.
6. Gang up on enemies and move carefully!
7. Scout Choppers can outrun missiles by watching where the first
missile detonates then immediately moving back out. The turrets
usually have around 12 missile so be patient.
8. Vulcan Cannons are absolutely deadly to pulse-shielded and
unshielded units.
9. Once you have Tank Guns use them!
10. Mines are difficult to use. Use the Mine Roller to remove enemy
mines.
11. Not all missiles can attack every type of target.
12. Use a chopper/launcher combination for long-range attack.
13. Gunlock is good for mass attacks of the same unit or same weapon.
14. Speed lock is good for scouting with several units or as an escort
for transports or launchers.
15. Not all upgrades aer worth the effort, unless you have lots of
money.
