How to experiment and really learn about this game.

[Ichthyic]

If you are finding the learning curve a bit steep, with all the different skills, abilities, weapons, mods to weapons, etc...

there is an easy way to test things for yourself to see what works and what doesn't (aside from just replaying arena).

you can cheat. now hold on... wait till I'm finished.

1. Use cheat engine to give yourself as much cash as you want (instructions at bottom).
2. wait until you are on a derelict with a vendor that sells items by conversation instead of a shop (like the wandering military guys that you can trade with).
3. BUY ALL THE THINGS. and by that I mean, literally just keep click on the buy button (you can just keep clicking on it and it will make all the text scroll by while you double click it). Literally, buy a hundred items. Because it's conversation oriented and not a shop, you will just keep filling new pages in your inventory (btw, I SOOO wish they would just add an option to buy infinite storage space). Buy stuff in as many categories as they have.
4. find a place where you know there will be a fight if you move onto the square.
5. mix and match items that aren't obvious what they do, and see how they work in combat.
6. try a few different kinds of enemies to see what works and what doesn't for your team.
7. $

to be fair, you should start the game over without all that cash and stuff, but with the knowledge obtained from running experiments.

it will take a few hours to really get a handle on things, but in the end, it will save you much frustration during a regular non-cheaty playthrough. :)


cheat engine instructions:

***back up your saves somewhere.***

1. google cheat engine.
2. go and download it and install it.
3. start it before you start your game, then start your game, load a save, and then alt-tab back to cheat engine.
4. click the glowing green "open process" button, and select the game from the list of things currently running
5. alt-tab back to your game, open your inventory, and note the exact amount of cash you have.
5. alt-tab back to cheat engine and enter that number in the big empty box called "value" under the button that says "first scan", and then click the "first scan" button. you will see a bunch of numbers appear in a list in the window to the left.
6. alt-tab back to the game and buy or sell something. note the new amount of cash.
7. alt-tab back to cheat engine, and enter this new value in the value box, overwriting the old value.
8. click the button the right of the first scan button called "next scan".
9. you should now see the list in the big list to the left whittle itself right down to 1 or 2 entries.
10. select all the values in that list, and then right click on them.
11. choose: "change values of selected addresses" and enter the amount of cash you want. a few hundred thousand is good, just so you don't have to do it again later.
12. alt-tab back to the game, and save the game to a new slot. it might not show the new value until you sell or buy something else, or reload the game, but you're now rich.

you can close out cheat engine at this point, you're done.

btw, you can follow the same procedure with your experience points as well, to test your abilities and stats at higher levels if you want.


this is the fastest way to learn everything. or you can just replay the game repeatedly to learn, but that's gonna take a LOT longer :)