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[Arenhart]

Hi, so I've been reading the ironseed source code to figure some things, and here is what I gathered:

This could be considered spoiler, but really, it's inconceivable that the captain of the ship wouldn't be informed of this data...

Combat, shields and energy consumption:
- Your ship generates 25 points of secondary energy every 8 ticks, proportionally reduced by damage in the energy system.
- Energy to maintain the shields is also consumed every 8 ticks, and the energy consumed is the "energy" number seen on the creation screen, which means all shields will quickly drain your power. Also, the equations are a bit convoluted, but I THINK the energy consumed by the shield may be for every 100 points of shield level generated, and not to keep it at 100 (for instante, a shield that generates 200 shield points and has a 100 energy level will actually consume 200 points of energy) again, I'm not sure about this last information.
- Energy recovery rate is a constant in the code, thus probably (but not necessarily) unupgradable in the game.
- Enemy ships use the same shields as the player, but don't seem to have any energy consumption, explaining why they usually have powerful shields while the player will be crippled by anything besides the reflective hull.
- The four damage types affect the shields equally (though the shield itself may have different efficiencies agains each damage type, they only multiply the effective shield value before the calculations), and the effectiveness of shields do not vary significantly (usually on the 20%-40% range for each damage type). Although I haven't finished the game yet, I don't think it's likelly you'll ever find a enemy virtually unbeatable by one of the damage types.
- The four damage types, psychic, particle, inertial ("intrl" in game, but "inrtl" in the code) and energy, also behave differently after they penetrate the shield: psychic damage damages the life support system of the target, particle damages the hull, inertial deals half damage to the hull, and energy will randomly damage one of the systems or the hull.
- Weapons consume energy only on the first tick they start charging, and take 100 ticks to fully charge. Taking in account that you regenerate energy every 8 ticks, without shield energy consumption and with a 100% repaired energy system, you can continuosly fire weapons with an added energy value of 312,5 without depleting your batteries.


Crew stats and disassembly:
- Actually from the changelog, not the code, but disassembling stuff and moving crew stats around doesen't have any risk of loss with patch 16. Originally there was a chance of one of the components beign converted to useless junk or of a stat point being lost when you did either, based on a skill roll by the engineer or the psychometrist, respectivelly.


Crew stats:
- Possibly spoilerish, but for the curious. Also, I would advise on actually choosing the crew that you like the most, after they gain a couple of levels and you fabricate some brain-drugs, starting stats won't matter.
- Bold crew is the highest total stat for that role. Since you can move stats around with no loss, only the sum is relevant.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Psychometry   EMO   PHY   MEN   SUM Glorina Practor    45   56   51   152 Serine Delin    32   58   83   173 Fira Olida    70   20   44   134 Lady Anka    29   67   96   192 Engineering             Bekor Emthera    92   36   14   142 Sharron Dionis    85   49   36   170 Westin Hastor    84   57   72   213 Trasp Emthera    53   83   43   179 Baroness Von Burin    74   88   47   209 Science             Amrin Locke    63   45   33   141 Hemeseth Carpath    41   41   26   108 Jenna Moran    99   87   64   250 Hector Gioran    89   27   48   164 Rinus Murthoran    65   40   59   164 Security             Alliana Sentius    88   79   25   192 Lauranna Ryuken    84   34   56   174 Kraithan Blood    58   99   45   202 Grenor Wolfe    91   76   26   193 Lord Krishan    68   90   11   169 Navigation             Jorgan Immortan    33   94   77   204 Elinda Oed    62   49   33   144 Lady Almathia    43   93   30   166 Zarkrin Mathesi    43   80   43   166 Aaron San-Gane    27   98   12   137 Medical             Jartanna Malorin    42   36   82   160 Lionna Freedin    74   22   40   136 Nina Benien    80   69   87   236 Ohron Braktis    37   20   32   89 Paulina Harofin    32   68   43   143 Thera-Auf Bena    62   27   74   163

I will post more if I get back to the code.

[frostshotgg]

I applaud the various escaped lunatics' incredibly dedicated efforts to figure out this game. It's incredibly entertaining, but also mildly concerning.

[ssfsx17]

I recovered my old walkthrough from the WaybackMachine.

Some of y'all probably have more accurate information on the quests now.

=== TABLE OF CONTENTS ===

[0x00] Introduction

[1x00] Hints & Tips
- [1x01] Beginning
- [1x02] Economics
- [1x03] Combat
- [1x04] Story

[2x00] Walkthrough
- [2x01] In Search of the Icon
- [2x02] Reformation of the Kendar Alliance
- [2x03] Defeating the Scourge

[3x00] Important Places

[4x00] Cheats

[5x00] Outro

=== [0x00] INTRODUCTION ===

The official Iron Seed website was at http://www.ironseed.com/ - although now you will probably have to use some other method to find the game and its latest patches.

As of the last time I checked, the latest patch was v1.20.0014-2007-03-01 - although it is uncertain where any of the patches are now.

The easiest way to run the game is through DOSBox, which can be found at http://www.dosbox.com/

=== [1x00] HINTS & TIPS ===

[1x01] BEGINNING

The ship with only 4 weapon slots is actually the best one overall. Even though weapon slots are hard to improve, you don't need maxed weapons until much later in the game. Thrust and fuel capacity are much more important in the early stages.

Choose crew members with good sanity or good all-around stats. A lot of the early game consists of repetitive grunt work, which will put a lot of stress on your crew.

Use multiple save slots. Save every time you travel or get a new star log. You never know when you might get into a battle you can't handle, or when you cause a plot-related bug.

[1x02] ECONOMICS

Scan planets fully - i.e., until all your probes are docked again and you get the full planet info. This is the only acceptable level of scanning for most things in the game.

You can use Astrogation to repeatedly travel to the same star that you are currently in. This is best used for refilling the caches produced by your bots in order to get easy resources.

Once your crew gets strong enough to do research without building up stress, set them all to do research. Then, go to the options menu and set the Time Slice to 1. Leave your computer on overnight and your crew will be at around level 20. Alternatively, if you have a powerful computer and are running the game through DOSBox, you can set the cycles to an extremely high number like 30,000 or 40,000, and your crew will reach level 20 within a few hours.

[1x03] COMBAT

In order to do well in combat, you first need Ochre Embryons, then as much thrust as your ship can handle. For shields, you don't need anything more than a Reflective Hull with Quarter Shields. The best defense is a good long-range sniping offense with the Ochre Embryons. Later in the game, you may also want to try out the Kyn-Pox Ichors in order to take out larger ships.

Successfully running far away from your enemies (roughly 1,200,000 kilometers) in the middle of combat will cause the enemy ships to self-destruct. You will win the battle and be able to scavenge for parts. This is a good way to get lots of free parts from the Scavengers and the Sengzhac.

If you get tired of practicing combat with drones, the Sengzhac are pretty good targets too. Simply go to their home planet, talk to them, and mention some keyword like "bye" or "fluids" to provoke them.

[1x04] STORY

Don't kill Aard or Phaedor Moch ships. You will need them for the storyline later. If one of them keeps on following you, go to the Security panel and choose to Retreat.

Don't go to Yned (1.9, 127.1, 88.1) more than once! You'll run into an infinite amount of Scavenger stacks! Eventually, they'll wear you down and kill you.

Once you get the quest to find the Icon, don't even bother trying to figure out where they are unless you really enjoy scanning planets. Otherwise, just spoil yourself here.

If you ever get stuck, try starting a new game and redoing the quests in the "correct" sequence. You'll get a good idea of what the "correct" sequence is after getting enough star logs.

=== [2x00] WALKTHROUGH ===

This walkthrough is intended to be used in conjunction with the "important places" section. For example, I might say something like "find the Thermal Plating." This means searching the "important places" section to find out which system has the Thermal Plating in it, or you can try to find it the fun way.

[2x01] IN SEARCH OF THE ICON

Scan the planet.

Go to the next system that you are able to.

Talk to all of the major races (Aard, D'pahk, Ermigen, Guild, Phaedor Moch, Quai Pa'Loi, Scavengers, Sengzhac, Titarian, Void Dwellers) at least once. The Aard, Phaedor and Scavengers have no homeworld to talk to, so you may have to explore around to find one of their ships.

Look for the Malzatoir and the Icon Data Buoy. I think they were in Sigonib.

Now, talk to the Icon at their home of Hadekou. You want the ship log "Reformation of the Kendar Alliance" to be safe.

[2x02] REFORMATION OF THE KENDAR ALLIANCE

Now it's nonlinear quest time (I think there might be a certain order to do the quests in)

Get the Ermigen to join:
- I think you have to repair their ship first?

Get the D'Pahk to join:
- Find the Thermal Plating
- Decompose the Thermal Plating
- Talk to the D'Pahk until they give you the Thaumaturge

Get the Titarian to join:
- Find the shunt drive
- Decompose the Shunt Drive
- Talk to the Titarian until they join

Get the Sengzhac to join:
- Go to Dubofang and find the Temple of Iron
- Find the Detonator. It might be given by the Sengzhac themselves, or you might have to find it through other quests, or at Deol?
- Go to Dubofang again to receive the Iron Seed
- Talk to the Sengzhac until they give you the Doom Gate

Get the Guild to join:
- Find the Ylinth Genes
- Talk to the Guild until you get the star log "Guild tell you how and where to defeat Derraak"
- Find the Homing Device, which I think is bundled with some other quests? Possibly the Iron Temple quest?
- Go to Fabexi and clean out the system. Derraak might steal the shunt drive in the meanwhile, but you'll get it back when you catch him at Fabexi.

Get the Quai Pa'Loi to join:
- Talk to the Quai until you get the ship log "Quai go to war"
- Talk to the Guild until they tell you that the Moch have the Goolas
- Talk to the Phaedor to get the Goolas
- Talk to the Quai, they should join the Kendar now

Get the Aard to join:
- I don't know if you have to repair their ship first?
- I don't know if they can join before or after the Ermigen are destroyed

[2x03] DEFEATING THE SCOURGE

Eventually, the Icon will tell you "They have killed again..." Go to Mytuk and get the Data Tapes. (I don't know if it's safe to decompose the tapes or not.)

Experience a supernova at Tyr.

Look for the Hallifax Maneuver.

Go to Papesia.

Talk to the Guild to find out how to beat the Scavengers? It seems like a star log was originally meant to go here, but was not put in the game.

Go to God's Eye and win the first battle. If there is a second battle, you have not yet finished all the possible quests and should quit the game and reload.

Congratulations, you have beaten the game!

=== [3x00] IMPORTANT PLACES ===

Baal (32.1, 148.3, 138.4)
- Quai Pa'Loi home system

Dubofang (4.3, 227.8, 240.6)
- Temple of Iron (requires planet scan)
- Iron Seed and Channeler (requires Detonator)

Edaum (22.0, 47.0, 34.0)
- Second Buoy

Fabexi (153.8, 99.0, 196.9)
- Derraak (requires Homing Device)

Hadekou (145.4, 140.4, 8.7)
- Icon home system

Igua (108.5, 110.1, 245.6)
- Hallifax Maneuver

Mytuk (116.5, 146.0, 28.6)
- Ermigen home system
- Data Tapes (requires planet scan)

Oban (16.6, 22.6, 3.3)
- Sector Codex (requires planet scan)

Oetus (238.9, 169.5, 131.4)
- Ylinth home system
- Trojan Gate

Onan (219.3, 27.5, 203.2)
- Guild home system

Papesia (107.4, 117.8, 194.3)
- Monks home system

Rehez (69.1, 47.2, 210.7)
- Titarian home system

Sigonib (66, 139, 243)
- Malzatoir home system and Icon Data Buoy? (might have been Dubofang instead)
- Ylinth Genes (requires planet scan)

Suenyo (134.6, 122.2, 131.2)
- D'Pahk home system
- Thermal Plating

Tetun (44, 169, 211)
- Shunt Drive

Tyr (247.4, 123.3, 163.5)
- Supernova (requires planet scan)

Yned (1.9, 127.1, 88.1)
- Teleport to Oetus (first time only)
- Scavengers home system (unwinnable until the end of the game)
- God's Eye

Zamiu (51.4, 9.9, 174.3)
- Sengzhac home system

=== [4x00] CHEATS ===

Recovered from the WaybackMachine, originally posted by user "karynax"

These are all the easter eggs in the game.

Easter Egg 1
Start a new game. While selecting ship or crew member click the the red button below the ship or the crew's bio rhythm. It will turn green.

With the button now green press shift-F1. This will bring up a screen showing all possible crew choices and their starting stats. The list is unsorted and ungrouped. The stats are MEN/PHY/EMO (mental, physical, emotional).

Easter Egg 2
Press alt-1 on the main screen. You will see the portraits of the game authors.

Easter Egg 3
Press control-F10 on the main screen. This will bring up a simple juke box which allows you to change the default music

Easter Egg 4
Press control-END on the main screen. This will bring up a cheat screen. It allows repairs and refueling of your ship.

Easter Egg 5
On the main screen press escape and click the the status lights on the right edge of the screen in this order:

- SHD
- AUX
- PWR
- DMG

Make sure you press escape before each click.

This willl bring up a cheat screen. It allows you to add a dirk, a reflective hull, an unknown component or an unknown material to your cargo. It will only add an item to your cargo only if you don't already have one yet.

hint: Installed weapons and shields don't count as cargo.
hint: What an unknown component or material is can be determined by clicking on it in disassembly mode in the creation screen.

=== [5x00] OUTRO ===

v0.01: 2008-03-26
- First version of the guide.

v0.02: 2008-03-26
- Figured out how to finish the game, although some things are still unfinished.

v0.03: 2019-07-24
- Recovered the cheats from the WaybackMachine.

[Il Palazzo]

I'm resurrecting this thread with my greatest WTF of the day: this was recently released on Steam.
The blurb says something about being updated with a 3d engine, but from the screens it looks like at best they added a couple 3d planets and stars. I'm almost tempted to see if they left everything else just as obscure and borderline non-functional, but (continuing the wtf theme) they charge ~25 USD for the pleasure.
I mean, true to itself, the game continues to baffle in altogether new ways.

[Cthulhu]

The first few pages of this thread read like some kind of collaborative fiction game where somebody makes up a name for a video game and everybody riffs on it to come up with an imaginary obscure video game

[EuchreJack]

But it's real man, I totally played it.  It is absolutely not a game we just made up as a joke, that managed to get made into a joke game on Steam.

I'm resurrecting this thread with my greatest WTF of the day: this was recently released on Steam.
The blurb says something about being updated with a 3d engine, but from the screens it looks like at best they added a couple 3d planets and stars. I'm almost tempted to see if they left everything else just as obscure and borderline non-functional, but (continuing the wtf theme) they charge ~25 USD for the pleasure.
I mean, true to itself, the game continues to baffle in altogether new ways.

Nostalgia got the best of you there, Il Palazzo.  The original looked far crappier than the Steam game. 

But yeah, by 3d engine, I think they mean 3d graphics engine.  Probably one of the few remakes in history where I really, really, really wish they had re-imagined the thing instead of remaining faithful to the original.  The ideas it was based upon where really cool, but the execution, oh god the execution...

The original game is often compared to Star Control and Starflight.

Yeah, as in "go play Star Control or Starflight and give this game a solid pass".

Actually, it was pretty cool for a bit.  It was just one of those games where the ideas were solid but it never really went anywhere.  Like how the DeLorian was great in Back To the Future, but in real life it couldn't even go 88 miles per hour.

[Sergius]

They seem to have moved the assets to a more modern engine. The text seems high res now, but of course all the pixel art is the same and looks weird scaled up.