Z/Walkthrough

Z
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The Z interface displays the following information:

Status Panel[ | ]

Attack button: This flashes whenever a unit is under attack. Clicking on it will cycle through the units currently under attack. Pressing F5 has the same effect.

Time elapsed: the clock shows the time elapsed since the start of battle. The faster the battle is won, the higher the winner's rank.

Reporting Unit: This show the portrait of the selected unit, or one delivering a message from the battlefield. If the unit is reporting back but not selected, left-clicking on the portrait selects that unit.

Unit name: the name of the currently reporting unit.

Weapon/Vehicle and extra: this shows either the weapon type that the unit is carrying or the vehicle/gun that it is occupying. If the unit is capable of using extra object such as collected grenades, the number of remaining "extra" is also shown.

Name of weapon: the name of the weapon the unit uses or vehicle/gun it occupies.

Energy bar: this show how much energy the unit has remaining. When a unit is out of energy, it is destroyed.

Mini-Map[ | ]

The Mini-map only works if the player controls a Radar Station. It shows units owned by the player and a rectangle marking the position of the battlefield view. It will also show the scanning range of any captured Radar Stations and the position of enemy units within the radar scan. The scanning range will increases with each additional territory captured, and decreases for each one lost. Brief descriptions of units and buildings appear on the mini-map as tooltips. Left-clicking on any spot on the mini map takes the player to that spot. Holding down the left mouse button while moving the pointer over the mini map scroll the battlefield view to track the pointer.

Overlay button: there are 3 buttons controlling mini-map overlay modes. Left-clicking on them toggles mini-map overlays on and off. The overlays are:

T: Terrain Overlay. This shows roads, rock formations, water and other terrain features. Buildings are displayed and color coded to show whether they are uncaptured (white), or in possession of either the red or the blue player. The position of the flag controlling each territory is shown by a |pulsating dot. These are also color coded, and are marked in white if the territory is uncaptured. Buildings and flags remain on the display even if terrain is switched off.

D: Description Overlay. This shows brief descriptions of units and buildings in the form of tooltips. The descriptions are coded as follows:

R = robot
V = vehicle
G = gun
RF = Robot Factory
VF = Vehicle Factory
VR = Vehicle Repair Facility
RA = Radar Station
FT = Fort

Z: Zone Overlay. This shows a grid marking the territories controlled by both armies.

A white frame on the mini-map marks the location of the current battlefield view.

Command Bar[ | ]

Cycle Unit Button :

Left-clicking on the R, V, B or G buttons cycles through the available robots, vehicles, buildings and guns respectively, starting with the unit closest to the one currently selected. The same effect can be produced by pressing one of the first four functions keys (F1: ROBOTS, F2: Vehicles, F3: Buildings, F4: Guns). The B button has an additional function if it is right-clicked on (or by pressing Ctrl and F4 simultaneously): this brings up the relevant build menu and highlights the building on the mini-map, but does not scroll the map. This allows setting up build orders while still concentrating mainly on the frontline.

Army strength: Shows the number of units each side has.

Menu: Pauses the game and brings up the game menu.

Hotkeys[ | ]

F1 — Switch Robot
F2 — Switch Vehicle
F3 — Switch Building
F4 — Switch Gun
Ctrl-Q — Quit Game
Enter — Center View of Fort
Space — Select/Unselect Unit
A — Select all Robots and Vehicles
G, S — Save Game
L — Load Game
M — Menu
P — Pause

Units[ | ]

Which unit types can be produced depends on the building type (Robot or Vehicle factory), building level (number of stars displayed on the building) and game level. Fixed guns can be produced at either type of factory, while the Fort can produce all types of units, only limited by the game level. Higher level units are slower to produce.

Robots[ | ]

Robots are produced in squads, the size of which depends on the robot type.

Grunt: Armed with a rifle, weak, but fast to produce. Squads of 3.

Psycho: Armed with a machine gun, stronger than grunts, also capable of shooting drivers out of their vehicles. Squads of 3.

Tough: Armed with a bazooka, but very slow. Has the strongest armour of all foot soldiers. Squads of 2.

Sniper: The fastest foot soldier unit, with a very long-range anti-infantry rifle. Snipers also have greater accuracy as gunners and vehicle drivers. Squads of 3.

Pyro: Armed with a flame-thrower, one of the most destructive units against buildings and vehicles. Squads of 4.

Laser: High level units with a fast and powerful laser weapon, but very slow to produce. The weapon has a long range and can be used to shoot drivers out of vehicles. Squads of 4.

Grenades: Robots other than the "Toughs" can collect grenades, using them to attack units or buildings or to blast through rocks.

Vehicles[ | ]

All vehicles are produced with a grunt as the driver, though empty vehicles may be found on many game levels. The driver may be ordered to get out, or may sometimes be shot by enemy units.

Jeep: Fast but weak and highly vulnerable.

Light tank: The fastest tank, with the least amount of armor and firepower.

Medium tank: Slower, but more powerful then the light tank.

Heavy tank: Very slow, but has a powerful long range gun.

APC: As fast as a light tank, and can be loaded with any single infantry type, allowing them to fire while the vehicle is moving.

Missile launcher: Devastating firepower and range, but has slow speed and slow reload rate.

Crane: Can repair bridges or buildings. Unarmed but has heavy armor and fast speed.

Guns[ | ]

Immobile guns are produced with a grunt as the gunner. The gunner may be ordered out, or can be shot by enemy snipers. Guns placed on fort towers can only be destroyed, not taken.

Gatling: A weak machine gun post, capable of shooting drivers out of vehicles.

Gun: Similar in weapon power to a Medium tank, but has limited range (less than that of a Sniper).

Howitzer: The longest range weapon in the game.

Missile Cannon: Shorter range, but more destructive than the Howitzer.

Buildings[ | ]

There are 5 kinds of buildings:

Robot Factory: builds robots and guns.
Vehicle Factory: builds vehicles and guns.
The Fort: the cpu controlling the robots of each side. Capable of constructing robots, vehicles and guns.
Repair Building: repairs damaged vehicles.
Radar Station: capturing a Radar Station activates the mini map.

Each building has a preset number of stars from 1 to 5. 1-star buildings can only produce basic units, while 5-star ones have access to all the units of the type they can produce. Each building also displays its own timer, showing time remaining until the unit it is currently constructing is completed.