1
Other Games / Re: Iron Seed
« on: July 24, 2019, 10:42:28 am »
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.
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.
