MEGATRAVELLER 2 - QUEST FOR THE ANCIENTS

MEGATRAVELLER 2 - QUEST FOR THE ANCIENTS (Empire) (?)

Solve:

This sequel is more complex, bigger and easier to play than the first game in the series. The totally icon-driven interface and combat system from MegaTraveller 1 were completely redesigned, and there are 117 worlds with up to nine cities each. Your party of five will see most of them as they try to prevent a volcanic eruption that threatens to cover the planet Rhylanor with toxic slime. You have 2,600 days before it explodes, time you'll spend rocketing through the four subsectors of the Spinward Marches in search of artifacts hidden in the ruins of the Ancients.

Along the way you'll get plenty of chances to go on mini-quests and engage in a wide number of activities that, while not necessary for solving the game, are just plain fun. Space travel and space combat are easily mastered, and color-coding streamlines character interaction in a novel way: NPCs with information appear green on the overhead map, and turn white after you've talked to them, which makes it easy to see when you've clearned an area of NPCs with messages. A clever 'PAL' feature eliminates a major frustration of roleplaying. Turn it on, and whenever a character's skills or tools are needed in a situation, he will automatically 'volunteer' to use them, so you don't have to move him into the lead position of the party as in most RPGs. This one's recommended if you like lots of objects and weapons to fool with and a variety of mini-quests.

General Tips:

To find a gas giant for refueling, look for a dot on a circle containing the city name on the maps. If you don't have a pass for the cities indicated, you will have to get one; you also need 36 coynes to win the game. When entering a starport through the Customs section, give most of your weapons to any Vagr in your party, because they can get them through customs. You need both a Scout and a Naval Officer to get you through some starports via the backdoor.

SKILLS:
Use only those skills you will need and split them up among your group. Give vaac to everyone; one character should get doctor, one pilot and one engineer skill. Get laser skill for all, turret gunner for two and add energy weapons skill later. One character should have a strong interrogation skill. Get full body armor and laser rifles for all, and a med kit for the Doctor. Save after arriving in each town. After thirteen saves, copy them to a disk and start all over. Times is a factor - save as much time as possible.

THE ANCIENT SHIP:
You can get around faster by salvaging the Ancient ship, in the Ylaven gas giant. But first get the antimatter fuel cores from the Ancient site on Patinir to power the ship. Another thing to acquire soon in the locator.

Walkthrough:

LOCATING THE EXPERTS TROW BACKETT
Startown, Rhylanor, Library, Visit the Library and read about the Ancients. Trow Backett, in the hotel yard at Startown, is an expert who will give you the locater, advice and coynes. He will buy any photos or artifacts you find, but don't sell artifacts until after you save Rhylanor.

OEGHHRA SCAN
Oeghrra is at Arden, Regina, in a building with a loop-like structure on it. He suggests a plot is behind the Rhylanor disaster.

BECKETT SENCHUR
Enope, Shaniira, Regina. His father was in a cave-in while searching on Dijnni or Gerome and lost one of coynes. It must be recovered.

HARIM FLORED
Kafka Town, Zivije, Rhylanor. Look in a hotel or apartment house to the northeast. He sells you a gold shield (75,000 credits) and suggests getting an interpretation from a Rahjel Dramaheon at Mougas, Regina.
MARTIN FREVIL
Lunapi Ina, Heroni, Rhylanor. He is located directly across the street from the bank. He has one battery and tells you the story of Fulican.

DESDRILLOUGH
Dishak, Treece, Lanth. He is located in a building with an orange edge on the roof. He has noticed a G-Band interference near an ancient site.

STUART WESTON
Sha City, Extolay, Lanth. He attempts to kill you; just kill him and get the note. You will discover that a conspiracy is afoot.

OTHER CHARACTERS
Talk to as many characters as you can to acquire information. After cornering a Thug, you can get good information about the leaders of the plots. Green dots are friendly - you must corner them to converse. Hail them first, then face them, then converse, buy, give or interrogate. After talking they turn white, so you won't have to talk to them twice. Red dots are the enemy.

ANCIENT RUINS - FULICAN, RHYLANOR
The ruins are northeast of the starport. You need a pass to land. Here you find additional coynes and batteries for all ancient devices. With a battery, locator glows green when you are on a planet with ancient ruins.

ANCIENT RUINS - INTHE, REGINA
The ruins are south and west of the starcity. Search an you'll find one coyne.

ANCIENT RUINS - LABLON, ARAMIS
Go west to the edge of land, then north. Search and you'll find one coyne.

ANCIENT RUINS - GEROME, RHYLANOR
There is no starport. Go woutheast of Main City and search the ruins. The locator indicates yellow, but you can find one coyne, which may have been the one lost by Beckett's father.

ANCIENT RUINS - VICTORIA, LANTHE
You must get towed by a ship to get here, as it is more than two jumps away and is a very costly trip. Leave the city and follow the water's edge southwest, then north; the ruins are difficult to see. Search and you'll find five coynes.

ANCIENT RUINS - REGINA, REGINA
Don't bother searching here until you have a string of pearls, which are required to open the city (to find them, see HUNDERU: CRUXLIC AND GRAZER, below). The ruins are located almost directly south of the starport, and you must rent a grav, as it's south of the water. Here you will begin to understand the solution. You will find seven coynes and other artifacts. Use the coynes before you leave.

ANCIENT RUINS - 457-973, 457-973, RHYLANOR
There is no starport. Leave the city and go directly south as far as possible, then west. Look to the north side, and you will see the city about one-fourth of the screen away. Search to find four coynes, a statue and a stasis ray.

ANCIENT RUINS - ZYCOKA, ARAMIS
There is no starport, and you'll need a pass. The ruins are located north and a little west. Search and find a force dome and one coyne.

ANCIENT RUINS - KNORBES, REGINA
To locate the ruins, take a transport to Cronin. Then leave Cronin and go north almost to the sea, then east. Search to find one disintegrator and two coynes. (The disintegrator can be used at the slime area; then see the duke for a reward.) See Lord Hollis in startown here.

ANCIENT RUINS - PATINIR, ARAMIS
You get a yelow light on the locator here, but you must talk to and buy information from Gorje Hussan. He will send you to see Iris Nova in the hotel. Give her his note, and she will give you a sapphire ring to take to Cadiz (whom you'll find back of the bar in the loop-designed building). Give him the ring, and he will give you a map. Go back to where you saw Iris Nova and go to the southwest corner of the Auditorium, then enter the ruins. Search to find two coynes and a fuel cell. There is no red X as indicated on the map.

ANCIENT RUINS - ZILA, ARAMIS
Go to Suugadus by tram, then rent an ATV. Ruins are located southeast of the city. Search to find a pocket disk and two coynes. Note: beware of NPCs who have PCMP or FGMP (battle armor). Now go to see Rahjel Dramaheon on Moghas for interpretation of the shield. he will buy your statue for 75,000 credits, claiming it has magical properties.

TO BUY PASSES
Look for a green dot in Starcity, Rhylanor, to find a pass salesman and buy a Fulican pass. He will advise you to seek out a salesman in JaeTellone, where you will have to run down a lot of green dots and buy passes for Gerome, Algine, Pscias, Huderu and Southert. When you run into Swat Szoul, he advises that you will need other passes. You can get passes to the following places from these people:

457-973.......Blen Struli on Heroni   Shiotonthy....Aldo Ronco on Algine
Victoria........Glar Venni on Hefry   Zykoca.........Filip Sama at Yebab

You may also find passes at Porozlo, on Rhylanor, to get into other cities. (See Joe Tellons for passes.) You'll never be asked for a pass unless you don't have one. Without a pass, you cannot get into certain cities.

MISCELLANEOUS
If you have encountered Nellie Bly in Treece, give the medicine she supplied to Dr. Keebler (in building with large dome in Zycoka.) Use a full set of coynes in Shionthy to see Grandfather.

Rugbear: here you can get truth serum. A salesman at the entrance to the city will sell you information. Go to the hotel. In the second room from the south, on the east side, you will find eight truth serums. As you travel around you will gradually discover that one of the large megacorporations in Tukera, Sharushid, Imperiallines, Naasirka or Oberlindes caused the Rhylanor disaster. This is the first confirmed by the note from Stuart Weston.

HUNDERU: CRUXLIC AND GRAZER
One of the mercenary thugs will confess under interrogation that he was released from Hunderu prison world to hunt you down. When you go to Hunderu, look for the warden, named Cruxlic. He is one of the houses on the east side of town. Interrogate him. You must have high interrogation skills; otherwise you will be arrested. If you are successful he will tell you that he is working for a man named Grazer, from Pscias.

Go to Pscias and see Grazer, but first you must kill his gang of thugs. grazer tells you he is employed by Joef Nonnel, a Turkera subsector chief from Lanth. After this, Grazer offers you a chnace to join. If you don't accept his offer, he will try to kill you. (You can save the game before making your decision; after completeing the game, reload it and you can play out the evil version from this point.)

END GAME
If you have checked the library, you will know that Nonnel lives in Treece. he is one of the large units in Whitmansburg, Treece. Use a tram to get there. After you defeat him you will get a string of pearls, which is an ancient artifact. use it to activate the ruin at Regina. He is also carrying a journal, a Lewis pass and a wooden brooch. Take the pearls to Regina, use them and get the balance of the coynes. Use them, then go to Shinoth. You'll need a pass, which can be bought in Algine's starport city or from Also Ronco on the streets in that city.

In Shinothy, use 36 coynes and meet Grandfather, who will give you the global terraforming device. Then, go to Rhylanor and use the device. A very nice reward follows, and then the computer takes over and ends the story. But if you wish, you may do the following. Go to Lewis and rescue Gvoudzon, a Vargr who was imprisoned by Nonnel. The Vargr can decode the brooch and will give you two sets of disks. One can be taken to Lie Ioccocco and the other to the Duke of Rhylanor for rewards.

THE OTHER CONSPIRACY
There is also the Other Conspiracy. If you talk with a fair number of people on your travels, at least one thug will advise you that Aran Ashkashur of Dhian gave orders to the Vemene. He tells you that Aran is now on Dhian in Hushhkim town. After tracking down Aran, Roald Bulolo of Rhylanor and then going to Tukera's Headquarters on Junidy in Ragid Town, you learn that the dead of the company, Lie Ioccocco, is in Loneseda.

Locate him here and you will find that all the officers deny being involved, which you can prove by using truth serum. Ioccocc offers a 250,000 credit reward for proof of who was involved. You have the proof in the Nonnell journal entry. These steps are not essential to solving the main game. There are still lots of worlds to travel to, and adventures to enjoy if you so desire.

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