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NetHulk README
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In NetHulk, a squad of Marines moves through a derelict spaceship hunting
down and destroying marauding aliens. There is typically a special objective
in each mission for the marines, which are outlined below. The goal of the
aliens is more simple: kill everything.

NetHulk is playable over the network mainly, but it also includes a hotseat
mode, primarily for testing out new maps and features (though maybe someone
will want to play like that, I don't know...)

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How To Play
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Choose whether you want to host or join a game. The game runs on TCP port
27200 in case of firewall concerns.

Once the opponent is connected, you will be taken to the configuration
screen where you can choose the side and the mission, and chat in a 
chat window (it won't ever replace instant messaging, but it's functional)
In this window you can also choose how many points each side has at the
start, by pressing the left mouse button to increase the total, and the right
mouse button to decrease it. More information on points is below.

The Marine player places his/her units first. Normally the game is Marines vs.
Aliens, but, some maps allow for Chaos Marines, which is Marine vs Marine
combat, or Hunters, which is a predatory race relying less on firepower
and more on cunning and speed. 

There is no difference in the abilties of a Marine or a Chaos Marine
unit. The only goal currently supported for Marine vs Marine maps is to
destroy all enemy units.

A default Marine squad has a Sergeant, a Flamer, and three Marines. However,
by clicking on icons at the right, you can change the composition of the
squad, and add Grenadiers, Minigunners, Claw Fighters, Staff Weapons, and
Psychics. Marine Sergeants can also be upgraded to Marine Captains.

Be warned, though, that a limited number of points are available. In addition,
if the option is set for aliens to use points as well, making your marines too
powerful will give points to the alien player, who can then make use of upgraded
alien units.

The marine player moves first, expending AP (action points),
of which each unit gets 4, and CP (command points), of which the player
randomly gets between 1 and 6 each turn. The Alien then places blips
(undetected aliens), and moves; each blip gets 6 AP. Aliens do not
use CP. The players alternate until one of them is the winner.

Some games will allow armed aliens. They only have 4 AP and are inferior to
a Marine in close combat, due to being encumbered by their heavy weapons.
However, what they lack in the raw power of a pure alien, they make up for
in firepower. Aliens can be armed with rifles, plasma cannons, acid
sprayers, autocannons, or missile launchers. Some aliens who are smart enough
to carry around weapons also have developed psychic abilities.

Note that a unit must use its entire set of AP when it is selected. If you
click away and then re-select it, its AP are lost. CP, however, can be used
in any fashion. As such, Marines may sometimes wish to use CP first to
perform a quick action, and use their 4 AP later on their turn. To do this,
click the letters "CP." They will turn blue. Now, any action the Marine
takes will consume CP only. Click it again to turn it off.

Marines can also save their CP and use them during the opponent's turn. When
an opponent has taken an action in a marine's line of sight, hit the space
bar and that marine will be given a chance to interrupt. He will be able to
perform a single action using CP, and then will have to return control to the
player whose turn it is (by clicking "Cancel" where "End Turn" normally is
found)

Any unit that is hit in melee combat, by gunfire, by flamethrower, or by
explosion is immediately destroyed, unless it is a Psychic with an "Aura"
card.

Buttons along the bottom of the screen do the following:

- Arrow - Left-click it once and it lights up. Now the unit is in move mode,
and left-clicking on a square will move the unit in that direction (note:
it will move in that -direction-, not specifically to that square. There
is no pathfinding and units move one square at a time). 

It costs 1 AP to move forward, 2 AP to move backwards, and it costs
Aliens 2 AP to strafe sideways. (Marines cannot do this)

Right-click the arrow, and, if undo is available, it will bring up the
undo arrow, instead. Right-click again to get the normal arrow back.

- Undo Arrow - Use this to undo the last move you made. Note that you can
only undo a move if you did not fire a shot, open a door, reveal a blip,
come under overwatch fire, or do any other action that changed the game
situation.

- Rotating arrows - Press the keyboard in the direction you wish the unit
to face. It costs Marines 1 AP for every 90 degrees of rotation. Aliens can
rotate 90 degrees for free, but a 180 degree turn costs 1 AP, except if the
alien is carrying a heavy weapon (marked with an H), in which case, that
alien must pay for turns just like a marine.

- Knife - Start a melee attack. Marines roll one (six-sided) die, and Aliens
roll three and keep the highest roll. The highest roll is the winner, and
the loser dies. If there is a tie, nothing happens. Marine Sergeants get
a +1 bonus to their roll. Staff Weapon Marines get a +2 bonus. 
Claw Marines roll two dice and keep the highest, and, on top of that,
they get a +2 bonus.

- Explosion - Fire a shot with your gun, which costs 1 AP. Marines 
roll two dice, and if they get a 6 on either die, score a hit. On subsequent
shots at the same target, the chances go up to getting a 5 or a 6 (The Marine
had more time to aim)-- this bonus is lost if the Marine moves or turns,
or changes targets.

If you have armed aliens in play, Aliens armed with rifles roll one die,
and score a hit on a 6. Rifle aliens can move and fire, just like many
marine. Those with acid sprayers roll two dice and score a
hit on a 6, but cannot move and fire. Aliens with plasma cannons roll
two dice, and score a hit on 5 or better. The price to this greater power
is that the plasma gun may only be fired once every two turns. The
autocannon also hits on a 5 or better, but cannot move and fire, and
cannot overwatch. The missile launcher costs 2AP to fire, and delivers
a powerful explosion to the target square.

Note that right-clicking on the explosion will bring up any alternate
fire modes that your guns may have, or melee mode if they do not have any.

Normal Marines might not want to start a melee fight: they're at a big
disadvantage. The bonus for Sergeants goes up to +2 if they're the one
attacking, and this is the normal bonus for Staff Weapons, so they can
usually hold their own, but the Marine that really shines in melee is the
Claw Marine. He'd better, the claws are his only weapon!

- Fire Staff Weapon - The staff weapon is fired and can be put in overwatch
just like a normal gun, however, it only has 6 power. There is no way to
reload it, or make it regain power any faster, but it will regain power at
the rate of one unit per turn.

- Fire Staff Weapon in High-Power mode - In this case, the shot will consume
3 power, but it will create a powerful plasma explosion that has a chance
of destroying nearby units as well, as well as starting fires.

- Triple Explosion - Fire the Minigun in full-auto mode. This uses 2 AP,
and consumes between 2 and 5 ammo, depending on how many targets are in view.
It has a good chance to obliterate every target that is in view-- including
friendly ones, so watch where you shoot it!

- Acid Splatter - Aliens with the acid sprayer have the best kill chances
of all, but they pay the cost instead with AP and range: it costs 2 AP to fire
the acid sprayer in this mode, and it can only hit targets within 4 squares of the Alien.

- Grenade - The grenade button allows you to choose a square, and then
launches a grenade at that square, for 1 AP. The grenade will explode, killing
anything in its target square, and having a good chance of destroying any
objects in a 3x3 box around the target square.

- Crosshairs - This command will spend 2 AP to put the unit into "Overwatch"
mode, where he will shoot at any target that moves in his field of view during
the opposite turn. There is a random chance the gun will jam, however, making
the Marine have to rely on his fists until he can clear it! Miniguns, being
designed for rapid fire, won't jam, but they might run out of ammo. Most marines
can overwatch, some Hunters can, and the rifle alien can also.

- Triangle - This command, for Hunters only, will use the Hunter's keen
instincts and advanced technology to increase his stealth ability, making him
very difficult to hit with weapons or overcome in close combat, as long as he does
not move in the meantime. It costs 2 AP to conceal the hunter.

- Jammed Gun Icon - If the gun is jammed, this will spend 1 AP to fix it.

- Flamethrower - Flamer Marines start with 12 ammo. Spend 2 AP to
activate the flamethrower, and then click on the target squares. A square
can be flamed twice, which will cause it to burn through the entire Alien
turn as well (good for blocking off routes). Each shot uses one ammo.

- Reload - Reloading spends 4 AP to reload the flamethrower or minigun.
Note that any ammo that was in the old clip is lost. Also note that in most
missions the Flamer Marine only gets one reload, so use it wisely.

- Blip to Aliens - Press this to voluntarily convert a Blip to Aliens. If
the blip has not yet moved, the Aliens spawned will have their full 6 AP.
If it has moved, the Aliens will have 0 AP.

- Upgrade Blip - If the Marine player spent points upgrading his/her forces,
and you are playing with the "Alien Point System" option turned on, then
this button will be available for the Alien player to change the contents
of a blip. The options are to add two normal aliens, or to change the blip
to an alien armed with a weapon.

- Teleport - Hunter leaders are equipped with personal teleportation devices.
Use this to teleport anywhere with four squares, at a cost of 4AP. Note that
you are able to teleport through closed doors and units.

- Psychic - This icon invokes Psychic powers. You will be presented a menu
of the various psychic attack cards that can be used by that particular
unit. Marines and Hunters have a hand of two, plus one for each psychic in
their force, up to four. Aliens, tied into the psychic power of the brood,
always have four.

- Take Box - In missions that use it, this button will take the robot module
off the floor or from the Marine who is carrying it.

- End Turn - This button must first be right-clicked to activate it, and
then left-clicked. This is to make sure you really mean it!

In addition, during the game, you can press ESC to bring up an options menu
that lets you open a chat window, toggle the minimap, or disconnect from the
game early. The chat window can also be toggled directly by pressing Enter,
and the minimap by pressing M.

Not sure about a unit's range? Wonder if that Marine on overwatch can hit
you? No need to worry now, just hover your mouse over a unit and it any
squares it can hit will be highlighted in red. If it's a marine that can
overwatch, any squares it can hit on overwatch will be highlighted in a
brighter shade of orange. If the unit is one of yours, its remaining AP will
also be shown next to the mouse pointer.

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Keyboard Shortcuts
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1 = fire main weapon
2 = fire secondary weapon (if equipped)
A = toggle move mode
B = attempt close assault
F = set unit direction
O = set overwatch (if possible)
R = reload (if possible)
M = turn minimap on/off
Z = undo

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Mission Objectives
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* Marine vs Alien Missions *
Mission 1 - Flame all 9 squares in the upper room (with the flame icons)
Mission 2 - Kill 30 Aliens
Mission 3 - Successfully carry the robot module to the exit
Mission 4 - Flame all 18 squares in the western rooms (with the icons)
Mission 5 - Get 5 Marines to the exit
Mission 6 - Protect the poison sprayer for 16 turns
Mission 7 - Activate the control square
Mission 8 - Kill 25 Aliens then get 4 Marines to the exit
Skirmish 1 - Get 2 marines to the exit
Skirmish 2 - Flame all 9 squares of the target room
Skirmish 3 - Activate the trigger
Siege - Defend while getting 5 marines to the exit
Hive 1 - Flame all 16 squares of the Hive's core
Hive 2 - Flame all 16 squares of the Hive's core
Hive 3 - Kill the alien overlord

* Marine vs Chaos Marine Missions *
War 1 - Destroy all enemy marines

* Marine vs Hunter Missions *
Hunt 1 - Destroy all opposition

* Hunter vs Alien Missions *
Hunt 2 - Hunt 15 aliens

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Special Missions
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Some missions may take the Marines directly into the alien hive. These
missions are highly dangerous, and the Marines get a bonus in firepower
for what is sure to be an especially difficult task. Some of the added
problems in the hive are:

- Armed alien blips - Even if the Marine player takes no additional points,
there will be a few blips in the hive armed with the Aliens' odd bioweapons.
This is their nerve center and they're bent on defending it!

- Bio-doors - Bio-doors are under the control of the Hive mind, and do not
cost the alien player any AP to open. They can also be opened or closed from
anywhere on the board, by any alien. They operate as normal for Marines.

The hive also reacts to protect itself. If a Bio-door is shot at, there is
a random chance it will simply open, rather than being destroyed.

- Pools of acid - These are completely harmless to the aliens, but any
marines traversing through them have a 1 in 6 chance of dying. It might
be better to clear them, using flamethrowers or grenades.

- Ambush - The hive has a great many twisted, tiny passages curving back
on themselves, as well as small tunnels above and below the main hallways.
This means that blips may sometimes simply vanish from view, and abruptly
reappear somewhere else.

This mechanism is duplicated by giving blips that have not left their
spawning area an "Ambush" button. When this is used, the blip will disappear,
and the alien will get to place it at the end of his or her turn anywhere
that is not too close to or in the line of sight of a Marine. Note that
Ambush blips are not 100% certain: They always contain 0 or 1 aliens--
which means that they carry the distinct possibility they may be a false
alarm-- when they are revealed, there may be no alien there at all!

One Ambush blip may be created from a normal blip every other turn.

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Configuration
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The NetHulk.INI file contains some useful things you might want to change.
Here, you can replace graphics if you don't like the standard ones, set the
default player name, and set whether you want to play full screen or in a window.

There are four gameplay tweaks, now, as well: MultipleHybrids controls whether
multiple armed aliens can come out of the same blip. This was the default before,
but with the new system, and more powerful aliens, it is off, now. AlienPointsSystem
controls whether aliens must spend points to upgrade, or if blips with armed aliens
(and bonus aliens) are drawn randomly. PutOutFires allows several weapons, including
the acid sprayer and the plasma, to put out flamethrower fires. The last option,
AlienPsychics, controls whether the aliens will be able to randomly draw alien blips
with psi powers.

It is currently not recommended to play NetHulk in windowed mode.
It is not optimized for it, and it is not nearly as tested as the full screen mode.

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Addresses
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web: http://www.ojnk.net/nethulk/

Contact me at sparkletwist@gmail.com :)

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Disclaimer
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NetHulk may bear a strong resemblance to a certain board game from years
past, but no challenge to the copyright of the maker of that game is
intended. :)
