Overload Gameplay FAQ

[Vizor]

This will be updated with more Questions/Answers as we come up with them. Let us know if you think there's something that should be on here. There will be a separate technical FAQ posted soon (today or next week).

HOW DO I BLOW UP THE REACTOR IN LEVEL 1?

You don't. Your objective is to clear the level of ALL auto-ops (robots), then return towards the "surface" (upper area on the auto-map, aka closer to the area you start on).

ARMOR VS. ENERGY VS. AMMO?

Armor is your life. It's the blue bar on the HUD, and you pick up blue orbs to replenish it (you start every level with 100 armor, or more if you had more at the end of the previous level).

Energy powers the majority of your weapons, and some other ship functions like Flare, Headlight, and Boost (each of those use a little bit). Energy is the yellow bar on your HUD, and you replenish it with yellow orbs or at energy centers (shiny area with glowy yellow sparks everywhere).

Ammo is required for 3 primary weapons: Driller, Crusher, and Flak. Small ammo boxes give you ammo.

HOW DO I GIVE A COMMAND TO THE HOLOGUIDE?

Hold down the Hologuide button after summoning him. You'll see a radial menu in the top left with the various commands. UP is the default direction for the next level objective.

HOW DOES WEAPON SELECTION WORK?

There are 3 ways to select a weapon (applies to both primary and secondary weapons).

1) Press the Next/Prev Weapon buttons. This cycles through the weapon in the order they appear on the HUD (the small icons beneath the weapon names).

2) HOLD the Next Weapon button. This brings up a radial menu and slows down the game so you can pick which weapon you want with your joystick/gamepad/mouse.

3) Press the Select Primary 1/2 (or 3/4, 5/6, 7/8) buttons. These map to the following primary weapons, which follow the same order:
1/2 - Impulse/Cyclone
3/4 - Reflex/Crusher
5/6 - Driller/Crusher
7/8 - Thunderbolt/Lancer

The missiles are:
1/2 - Falcon/Missile Pod
3/4 - Hunter/Creeper
5/6 - Nova/Devastator
7/8 - Timebomb/Vortex

By default, if you push 1 (aka Select Primary 1/2), you'll get the Impulse, or Cyclone if you push it again assuming you have neither one already selected. BUT, if you assign the 1 key to the 2nd slot on the remapping screen, you'll get Cyclone first, and Impulse on the 2nd push.

3a) If you assign BOTH the 1st and 2nd slot on the remapping screen, the 1st slot selects Impulse (and never Cyclone), and the 2nd slot selects Cyclone (and never Impulse). This applies ACROSS the Keyboard/Mouse mapping and Joystick mapping.

That is kind of complex, but it allows you to use either dual use keys for weapon, or single use keys as well, without adding extra UI.

WHERE IS THE LEVEL EDITOR?

It's coming soon. We still have some cleanup work to do on it, and to put together some level of documentation before it's ready. Very likely available for all by the end of June, if not sooner.

WHAT DO THE SUPER (++) UPGRADES DO?

We're just going to cover the weapons and missiles, because the super upgrades for the ship are pretty straight forward. Generally, one super upgrade just makes the weapon more powerful, while the other changes the functionality a bit (and also more powerful). In a few cases (such as Cyclone), it's a case of making specific aspects more powerful in the two super upgrades.

You can try out these upgrades more easily in Challenge Mode (get 25/75/etc kills to upgrade your current missile, and 50/100/etc kills to upgrade your current weapon) so you know which you prefer in Singleplayer. [In CM, use the Hologuide button to cycle between the two options right when you receive an upgrade.]

PRIMARIES

Impulse Q: FOUR SHOTS AT ONCE WITH SLIGHTLY REDUCED RATE OF FIRE
Impulse RF: HIGHER RATE OF FIRE, FASTER SHOTS, AND LOWER ENERGY USE

Cyclone X4: ADDS A 4TH CENTRAL SHOT AND SLIGHTLY WIDER FIRING ANGLE
Cyclone F: HIGHER RATE OF FIRE, FASTER SHOTS, AND REDUCED FIRING ANGLE

Reflex RF: MUCH HIGHER RATE OF FIRE
Reflex L: SHOTS FLY FARTHER, BOUNCE MORE, AND REDIRECT TOWARDS ENEMIES UP TO 45 DEGREES

Crusher DX: HIGHER DAMAGE AND IMPACT FORCE, AND SLIGHTLY REDUCED FIRING ANGLE
Crusher AF: AUTOMATIC ALTERNATING FIRE, WITH A REDUCED FIRING ANGLE

Driller DX: HIGHER DAMAGE AND IMPACT FORCE
Driller M: SMALLER, MUCH FASTER FIRING SHOTS, WITH REDUCED AMMO USAGE

Flak DX: HIGHER DAMAGE AND IMPACT FORCE
Flak VK: RAMPED RATE OF FIRE, AND SHOTS FLY FARTHER

Thunderbolt MX: HIGHER DEFAULT AND MAX POWER, FASTER CHARGING RATE, AND FASTER SHOTS
Thunderbolt RT: SHOTS TRACK TOWARDS ENEMIES

Lancer C: REDUCED FIRING DELAY AND LOWER ENERGY USAGE
Lancer SF: SINGLE-SIDED AUTOMATIC RAPID FIRING

SECONDARIES

Falcon MX: HIGHER DAMAGE AND RATE OF FIRE, AND FASTER SPEED
Falcon T: MISSILES TRACK TOWARDS ENEMIES

Missile Pod XS: HIGHER DAMAGE AND MORE MAX AMMO
Missile Pod ST: BETTER TRACKING ABILITY

Hunter W: FIRE THREE MISSILES AT ONCE
Hunter XT: BETTER TRACKING, FASTER SPEED, AND HIGHER MAX AMMO

Creeper XS: HIGHER DAMAGE AND MORE MAX AMMO
Creeper ST: MUCH IMPROVED TRACKING

Nova XB: HIGHER BLOB DAMAGE, MORE BLOBS, AND MORE MAX AMMO
Nova CL: AUTOMATIC EXPLOSION AFTER SHORT DISTANCE, BETTER BLOB TRACKING, AND MORE MAX AMMO

Devastator PT: HULL-PIERCING ABILITY, FASTER SPEED, AND MORE MAX AMMO
Devastator XS: HIGHER DAMAGE, BIGGER EXPLOSION, MORE SHRAPNEL AND MAX AMMO

Timebomb LT: LONGER STUN AND TIME DISTORTION, AND MORE MAX AMMO
Timebomb XS: FASTER FLIGHT, MUCH HIGHER DAMAGE AND MORE MAX AMMO

Vortex XG: VORTEX DEALS CONSTANT DAMAGE, AND MORE MAX AMMO
Vortex LP: VORTEX LASTS LONGER, AND MORE MAX AMMO

WHAT ARE MOUSE BUTTON 0/1/2?

Mouse button 0 = Left Mouse Button.
Mouse button 1 = Right Mouse Button.
Mouse button 2 = Middle Mouse Button.

We're considering changing these in a future patch to say LMB/RMB/MMB instead. Sorry for any confusion.

WHY IS THERE NO CO-OP?

Cooperative multiplayer was never planned to be in Overload, and adding it late in the project, particularly for Singleplayer, is a very significant task. We have a relatively small team (less than 10 developers if you don't count testers), so we had to pick what to prioritize. Even with the backbone of multiplayer in place, none of the robot/AI systems are built for co-op, as well as the sequencing of the game logic (not to mention balance/design), so the implementation and testing of SP co-op would consume as much as 9 months of the majority of the team (including testers). Even co-op CM-only would take at least 4 months by our estimates.

Obviously we would have liked to include this feature, but keep in mind that the vast majority of games do not include online co-op because of the time/resources involved.

[Miasmic]

Thanks for this!

[Kharn]

Can you explain Smash Attack? Just got the game and have no idea what it is, or how to use it.

[Miasmic]

Originally posted by Kharny:

Can you explain Smash Attack? Just got the game and have no idea what it is, or how to use it.

Its a melee attack. Point your nose towards enemy, SMASH :P

[Kharn]

Originally posted by Miasmic:

Its a melee attack. Point your nose towards enemy, SMASH :P

Does it use energy or cause self damage? Do I need to be boosting? See a bunch of conflicting info from other threads during development so it may be worthwhile to explain in the above post, especially since the game makes no mention of it.

[CHILLYBUS]

It consumes a very small amount of afterburner power, and it returns to you a small shield value on each successful connection with an auto-op. More shield are returned with successful smash attacks while using an invulnerability powerup.

[Kharn]

Originally posted by CHILLYBUS:

It consumes a very small amount of afterburner power, and it returns to you a small shield value on each successful connection with an auto-op. More shield are returned with successful smash attacks while using an invulnerability powerup.

When you say afterburner, I'm assuming that is the same as boost, right?

[Sushi]

Good FAQ, thanks!

[swim]

Game stutters a lot. vsync doesn't work correctly at higher refresh rates.

[CAPGuy]

"How do you blow up the reactor in level 1"
"You don't"

...

"Challenge accepted."

[Matlyon2]

Thanks for this FAQ, I understand why that miss coop mod, i really wanted this mod but I forgive you. Good job for this game with a small team!

[awest57]

Been looking for this, nice job!!

[Anduin]

It would be nice if we could exclude weapons from the Next/Prev weapon cycle button, so that we could quickly cycle through weapons we've fully upgraded while excluding weapons we have not upgraded.

[Samst3r]

But Descent had Coop too. I need that mode so much, playing with friends against the AI. Like old times... sigh

[Orange_Death]

In Descent (which this is clearly modeled after), there is an energy transfer to the shields. Why is there no way to transfer energy to the shields?