A Few CAPTIVE Tips
                  ++++++++++++++++++

                   c/o Steve McGuire

I noticed in the "help wanted" section that a solution for Captive
was required.  While I certainly wouldn't be able to provide a
comprehensive guide to completing even the first mission, I
thought I might put digit to key and pass on a few tips of my own
which might help someone get a little further along the way in
this great game.

o Use the keyboard.

It is well worth learning how to use the keyboard for moving the
droids around. As with Dungeon Master it will allow you to keep
the mouse free for clicking on the other icons.

Alien mercenaries tend to follow movement patterns which allow you
to predict their moves.  This means that you can develop your own
counter patterns to lead your slower enemies around in circles,
allowing you to attack them without much chance of retaliation.

o Portals.

In Captive, attack is definitely not the best form of defence.
Strangely enough, defence is; and by far the most useful defences
in any base are the doors and ladders.  You will probably find
that you can make much better progress by using good defences from
which to launch sorties against alien opposition, rather than
relying on armour and expensive shields to go toe-to-toe with
heavily armed adversaries.

Doors can also double as weapons, but their offensive value is
limited to the first few planets only.

o Shops.

You can leave up to 65,500 of your cash with a shop owner, and it
will be available at all the other shops on a planet.

Don't forget to pick it up before you leave the planet though.
It's worth storing your cash with the shopkeeper as large wads of
cash can get very heavy, so I'm told.

Virtually everything has a resale value, so you can try out all
the weapons, armour, optics and dev-scapes you want, and find out
which is most suitable for your own style of play.

This very reasonable sale and return policy also means that if
there are items which you do not frequently use then you can just
buy them when you need them.  This means you don't take up
valuable storage space by trying to carry one of everything "just
in case".

o Sockets and Batteries.

Sockets not only provide invaluable power for the droids, but they
can also be used as a source of free projectile weapons so you can
spend your initial cash on better robotics and tools rather than
on weaponry.  Just stick your cursor finger in a socket, point it
at the bad guys and click away. They can also be fired at
different heights, so they can be used against ground or aerial
targets.

Although they are very expensive for what they do, I reckon it can
be worth having one battery on hand at the start of a new base in
case it takes you a while to find a socket.

New chest armour comes almost powerless, so you can get a few
invigorating joules from a battery to get your souped-up droids up
and running upon leaving a shop.

Don't forget to top up your batteries at power points. No-one
likes getting caught short.

o Optics.

There is a wide variety of optical instruments available from the
Captive shops, but the only ones that I use are Optic 2 and the
Super Optic which are the Route Finder and Visor, respectively.
The route finder can either lead you to the base entrance when you
first arrive on a planet, or it will lead you back to your shuttle
when you want to leave a planet.

An obvious use for this is to direct you back to the exit once you
have sabotaged the generators, but I often use the route finder to
get me back to a familiar location if, or rather when, I get lost.
This saves lots of time, especially for someone like myself who
doesn't have the patience for making maps.

The Visor optic allows your droids to see in the darkened areas
found in some bases.

o Dev-Scape Modules.

As with the optics there are a number of Dev-scape units to choose
from, but the only ones that I ever use are the Anti-gravity
module and the shield.

The Anti-Grav unit allows you to "fall upwards" and then walk on
the ceiling. This means, for instance, that you can keep your
droids' titanium toes dry in flooded areas.

It also allows you to use low trajectory weapons against aerial
targets and vice-versa.

Your droids can also float over mines without triggering them
using this module. Aliens can be lured into following floating
droids over mines, thereby blowing themselves up, and saving you
ammo into the bargain.  Floating chews up power though, so make
sure you have ever ready access to a power socket for top-ups.

A Shield module simply reduces the damage that your droids suffer.
There are situations where even a cowardly gamer like myself
cannot avoid their droids getting into fights, which is when I
switch those expensive shields on. This is a question of survival
after all, and your creds are of no use to you if the droids have
been zapped.

o Cameras.

As far as playing Captive goes, this is far and away the single
most useful piece of equipment you can have.

Cameras have access to most areas in a base as they are unaffected
by obstacles such as fires and they are also ignored by resident
hostiles.

Alien mercenaries show up on a camera monitor as yellow images,
providing early warnings of danger and allowing you to track them.
They also show up portals, obstacles, mines, shops, generators,
computer consoles...etc.

When a camera finds an alien or an obstacle then you can get
confirmation of its exact nature by switching to TV mode. Simply
click on the button on the extreme left below the camera monitor
in question.  Cameras are unaffected by the darkened areas found
in some bases, so you can even search those areas with one.

You can have up to 4 cameras active. Just click on the appropriate
number below the camera screen, and up comes the view.

It can be a bit confusing keeping track of multiple cameras at
first, but they will soon become invaluable to you because of the
information they provide.

Don't bother carrying multiple cameras from planet to planet, just
take one along for your initial scouting, and buy any others you
may require at the first shop you find. They are a real bargain at
only 1200 credits each.

I spend most of my Captive time moving cameras around collating as
much info on the locale as possible, so that I can plan forays
from my current sanctuary.

This excellent demi-dalek is great for reconnoitring uncharted
areas, but they are also very effective in combat if used in
combination with portals against even the fastest and most
dangerous of foes, such as the deadly "rocket pigs of Budod"!

Set up your camera viewing the approach to a portal, and just
watch for when it is safe to open it, ie. when an alien moves away
from the portal. You can then step through; unload your weapons
into the unsuspecting foe, and retreat to safety. You can do this
ad infinitum, and it will work with any mobile enemy. There's no
chapter under fair play in my book and that's for sure.

Cameras are not immune to area mines, so beware.

o Weaponry.

Combat in Captive is great fun, and there is a wide variety of
weapons available and it's worth trying them all out just to see
what they do.

Deadlier weaponry is expensive, and more importantly in the
long run, so is its ammunition. By planning ahead and setting
traps and fields of fire to catch your enemies in, you can make do
with fairly simple firearms that can be fed with cheap ammunition.

Pistols and maybe a couple of uzis are adequate to kill off
anything you will come up against in the first couple of missions.
Alternatively, you can equip the droids with one or two shotguns
or rifles for dealing with aerial targets.

The best advice I can think of for playing Captive is to develop
your own routines using a limited range of familiar equipment.
Knowing, for example, that the red droid always has the visor and
the green droid always has the shotgun cartridges allows you to
react more effectively in any situation.  You do not need every
piece of equipment available to finish Captive, so find what you
consider useful and ditch the rest.

Bye for now.




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