Part 1: Grager's Yacht
There is no introductory cutscene or anything in this game, and we must consult the manual for the backstory.
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Mission Dossier
I. Excerpt from report by Patrick Blane, Federation Undersecretary for Caldorrian Affairs, 2/3/2994:
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
SCRAMBLE CODE B3Q8##
To Her Excellency the Ambassador to Caldorre,
I am delighted to report a successful conclusion to our negotiation with shipping magnate William Grager. He agrees to provide transportation for shipments of food from Caldorre and Norjaenn to our new outposts in the Rouyn and Mistassini systems. In return, the Federation provides protection for the shipments and the compensation package that you and I designed.
He's a shrewd old horsetrader, but I played him like a violin. I think this will mean promotions for us both. Keep the champagne cold until I get there.
So the Federation (talk about a generic name) successfully negotiated food shipments with one William Grager, a trade magnate.
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II. Weak and fragmentary message received at Federation Comm Center on Caldorre, 5/23/2995:
...MAYDAY MAYDAY CALDORRE DO YOU RECEIVE THIS IS THE TRANSPORT BARGE "NEW MOON" OUT OF NORJAENN TOWN WE HAVE BEEN ATTACKED [...] LIKE NOTHING WE'VE EVER SEEN [...] OUT OF NOWHERE [...] ENGINES ARE CRIPPLED OUR CARGO PODS HAVE BEEN [...] LOSING FUEL HURRY CALDORRE WE'RE SITTING DUCKS OUT HERE MAYDAY MAYDAY [...] OH NO OH MY GOD THEY'RE COMING BACK
[end of transmission]
But the transport ships got attacked, all of a sudden and seemingly out of nowhere.
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III. Transcript of the appearance of Caldorre System Representative Elizabeth Nguyen before the Federation Subcommittee on the Transport Raids, 10/23/2995:
"Gentle sentients,
"Since the first Raider attack earlier this year, Grager Transport has lost seventeen ships. The Federation has lost gigacredits' worth of badly-needed supplies for the new settlements. And eighteen men and women of my system have lost their lives.
"According to William Grager, the attacks are swift and brutal. The raiders appear out of hyperspace, rake the ships with some sort of energy weapon, and disappear before they can be identified. They make no attempt to contact the ships, or to capture them, or to salvage their remains. The destruction of this vital shipping route seems to be their only intention.
"The Federation must rethink its strategy. The current defensive posture, although well-intentioned, has been ineffective. The Dreadnought-class escort ships that you have supplied are too slow and heavy to respond to these lightning fast attacks. Only a more maneuverable ship, such as the Interceptor-class vessels, might stand a chance against the Raiders.
"On behalf of the Caldorre system, I demand that you find out who these Raiders are. It is an atrocious affront to justice when terrorism is permitted to rage unchecked in civilized space.
"Gentle sentients, no matter what you do, I beg you, do it quickly. We can spare no more lives to these monsters."
The raider attacks continue, and it's up to the Federation forces to investigate their nature and origin. To that end, Interceptor-class vessels seem to be best suited.
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IV. Address by Cynthia Rodrigues, Federation Mission Coordinator on Casparis, to the crews of eight Federation Interceptor-class vessels, 1/27/2996:
"Let me begin by congratulating each of you on your talents and dedication. You have been chosen from amoung thousands of volunteers, and have passed -- some would say, 'survived' -- a grueling training program that has tested and honed skills vital to the success of the mission.
"Most importantly, you have encountered the four other people whose skills and temperaments were found by our tests to be the most compatible with yours. You came here as strangers to each other, but the training you have undergone together has forged you into partners and friends. Your lives will depend on your ability to rely on each other.
"Let me review some of the details of your mission. A hyperspace barge will transport you and your ships from the Federation Central Base to the Caldorre system. This trip will take six months, during which your crew will be placed in cold sleep in order to conserve supplies. When the barge reaches the Caldorre system, you will be awakened, and your ship cast off to begin its mission.
"From that point on, the course you take will be up to you. You may decide to remain in space to protect the transport ships. In this way, you can challenge the raiders in battle, and, if you are victorious, even board their ships -- although I must remind you that no one has ever returned from such an attempt. With these tactics you can learn about the raiders first hand -- and still collect the bounties we offer for each raider ship that you destroy and each transport that you lead to safety.
"Or you may choose to go planetside to collect intelligence on the raiders. You'll find information on the streets and in parks, in restaurants and bars -- wherever people gather. Along the way, you may find the clues that will let you put together the pieces to this deadly puzzle.
"Don't forget that, to some extent, you must learn to fend for yourselves on this mission. While we have armed and supplied you, your party will have to earn money so that you can buy additional training, equipment, and weapons. While this requirement is in part a consequence of recent budget cuts, it has the benefit of forcing you to immerse yourselves more fully in the local culture, which cannot help but add to your store of information.
"In closing, let me send with you the best hopes of your teachers who remain behind. May you have good hunting and a successful return!"
You are one of the newbie Interceptor crews, sent on the mission of gathering intelligence on the raiders and eventually stopping them. Your money and equipment supply is limited, which is explained via a reference to recent budget cuts -- an excuse to get you involved in your standard RPG gameplay trivia. One thing I like about Sentinel Worlds is that it doesn't begin as "the chosen one must choose" kind of story. Will it become one? That is a mystery for now. For the time being, however, you are just that, a crew of one of the eight Federation vessels, and it's up to you to become the best, strongest and luckiest one in order to actually succeed in your mission.
So much for the background stuff.
In Sentinel Worlds, you control a crew of five, consisting of a Pilot, a Navigator, a Communications Officer, an Engineer, and a Medic.
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Pilot: Handles the ship's guns during space combat.
Navigator: Guides the ship through real space or hyperspace. Interprets long-range scanner input. Executes boarding and orbiting procedures.
Communications Officer: Establishes contact with targeted ships and programs the ship's computers.
Engineer: Repairs any damage the ship takes in combat.
Medic: Heals injuries suffered by all crew members, except when performing as the team leader.
One bad thing about the class system is that these are not combat-specific roles, but spacecraft crew roles, which kind of sucks because they all act the same way in combat (except for the Medic, to some extent). As it is, the classes are fluff, not contributing to the gameplay. At all. Controlling a Pilot in combat is no different from controlling a Navigator or an Engineer. You will even, most probably, assign the same starting attributes to them. They can equip the same weapons and wear the same equipment. Only the party's Medic and Communicator have a specific combat and a specific exploration role respectively, even if those roles are viable mostly thanks to the stat invenstment, with a Medic requiring high Dexterity and a Communicator high Charisma to act efficiently.
The game supplies you with a default party, but who uses default parties anyway? I'm going to create a new party myself and name them after Shin Megami Tensei II characters. I'm unimaginative like that.
Aleph is our Pilot. His rank is Combat Cadet, this game's equivalent of level 1. Other ranks include Senior Cadet, Command Cadet, Ensign, Combat Ensign, Senior Ensign, Command Ensign, Lieutenant, Combat Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Senior Leiutenant, Command Leiutenant, Lt. Commander, Commander, Combat Commander, Senior Commander, Captain, Combat Captain, Senior Captain, and Command Captain -- meaning the level cap is 20.
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Crew members attain higher ranks during the course of their duty. The higher their rank, the more effective they are at doing their job. For example, a Communications Officer with more experience will be more successful at reprogramming the ship's computers.
A higher experience level also increases the crew member's Maximum Trauma Rating, which is measured in "hit points". In addition, for each two additional experience levels attained, there is a 5% increase in effectiveness with any type of weapon.
Aleph's current armor is Uniform (plain clothes, basically), and his current weapon, unsurprisingly, hands. He has 25 out of 25 health points, maximum HP being the sum of his Strength and Stamina -- which brings us to the question of attributes. When creating a new character, you specify his or her attributes ("characteristics"), ranging from 10 to 20, from a pool of 70 points. There are 5 characteristics:
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Strength: Effectiveness in battle. High strength means that more damage is done when the person uses a contact or edged weapon. Also added to stamina to determine initial Maximum Trauma Rating.
Stamina: How long the person can last in battle. The higher a person's stamina, the more their Maximum Trauma Rating is increased as they attain higher ranks.
Dexterity: The rate at which the person can attack using any weapon. It also determines the speed with which the medic can heal injuries.
Comprehend: Ability to learn new skills. The higher a person's comprehension, the more new skills they acquire as they are promoted.
Charisma: Ability to communicate with and influence others. Confers greater effectiveness in encounters with other characters.
Normally in an RPG, the character's attributes should fit his combat role. This game doesn't have strong combat specialisations, though. Naturally, Charisma is important to a Communicator and Dexterity to a Medic. Comprehend is the attribute I'm going to max our right from the start, as it determines the number of skill points a character receives when levelling up. Apart from that, there isn't much choice or build variety. Oh, and Stamina is a totally pointless attribute that only influences the amount of HP you gain when leveling-up and should've been merged with Strength or something.
Apart from the attributes, there are also skills:
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Contact: Effectiveness with blunt or clubbing weapons. (I)
Edged: Proficiency with cutting or slashing weapons. (I)
Projectile: Effectiveness with projectile weapons. (I)
Blasters: Proficiency with the blaster class of weapons. (I)
(Each point a person has in one of the above skills is reflected in a 5% increase in their combat effectiveness rating with that class of weapon.)
Tactics: Skill in using any weapon. Every 2 points allocated to this skill results in a 5% increase in the combat effectiveness with any weapon. (I)
Recon: Ability to discern objects and locations using the long-range scanner in the Ground Command Helmet. (T)
Gunnery: Ability to aim the ship's lasers effectively. This skill is useful only to the team pilot. (I)
ATV Repair: Ability to make repairs on the ATV (All-Terrain-Vehicle). (T)
Mining: Expertise in locating valuable mineral deposits on a planet's surface. (T)
Athletic: Overall physical and mental potential. At the start of the mission, each characteristic can only be increased 3 points above its original level by means of training. This "ceiling" is increased by one for each point gained in athletic skill. (I)
Observation: Ability to notice usefull details about encountered beings. (I)
Bribery: Effectiveness in using the party's cash to influence encountered characters to do what you want them to do. (I)
In the above list, (T) denotes a team skill and (I) an individual skill. The ATV and Ground Command Helmet are two kinds of exploration interface; more on that later.
At the beginning, each character has 1 point in Contact and 1 in Edged, and we can assign one additional skill point in any of the skills. Since Aleph is a Pilot, Gunnery is the way to go. We'll need it soon.
Beth is our crew's Navigator. There are no Navigator-specific attributes, of course, and as for her skills, I invest one point in Recon. Recon is a team skill, which lets you survey the surroundings on a special kind of mini-map:
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Cumulative Recon Skill / Locations Displayed
2 Weapons shop
4 General stores
6 Training facilities
8 Ship's docked location
10 Access points to new map locations
12 Elevators between levels
14 Armories
16+ Chests and footlockers
In theory, high Recon lets us see all kinds of useful stuff on our radar. We'll see how that works out in practice, though. I'll try improving our party's Recon whenever I can, but it isn't really essential.
Zain is our Communications Officer; hence the high Charisma. We're going to let him handle conversations and some of the exploration. There is, I think, something quite fun in letting (SMT2 spoiler) an incarnation of Satan be a mouthpiece of our party. Bribery is the way to go with him. Really, it seems to be the only more or less useful Communicator skill available.
Gimmel is our team's Engineer. I'll be improving his Mining and ATV Repair skills.
Finally, Hiroko is a Medic and our party's motherly figure. Since Medics receive exp from healing, Hiroko will early on become our most experienced crew member. High Dexterity is a must, as it'll allow her to heal our party super-fast, which is really, really essential as enemy hits tend to be strong and, without constant healing, can bring a party member down easily. One factor we'll have to take heed of when exploring around is that, when separated from other party members by a closed door (and doors close automatically in this game), the Medic can't heal them - and that may get annoying.
A fine crew.
And an awfully fine ship! So off we go.
Apparently, we're put to sleep when travelling to our first assignment.
INCOMING MESSAGE FROM CAPTAIN..
Caldorre System was colonized in 2896, some 100 years ago. The worlds are Caldorre, Norjaenn, and Ceyjavik. The system prospered and it is now supporting colonization of the Rouyn System. Cargoliners from here destined for the new colonies are being raided. You must stop these raids.
SUDDENLY
We're under attack!
DROPPING OFF ALL INTERCEPTORS...
The eight Federation vessels; our vessel is green, the rest are purple. L lets us cycle through Long range 1 - Long range 5 views to the right.
Here is an example of Long Range 3 view. Purple dots are the Federation ships, yellow dots are cargo ships we're supposed to protect from the raiders, red dots are the raiders themselves, blue dots are neutral vessels, and large white dots are planets. The stats of our ship are located in the lower part of the screen: Movement level 4, Target level 4, Evade level 2, and Laser level 2, with the status of Hull, Lasers, Engine, Computers, and Shields being at the maximum (100).
Pressing F opens the Federation Telecom/Caldorre System map screen. It gives us information about the Federation convoys currently on their way (with the text turning red whenever a convoy is under attack), together with the convoys' coordinates, as well as various Telecom messages. Those in white are plot-critical, informing us about our current mission:
FEDERATION OFFERS 25 FOR EACH TRANSPORT ARRIVAL 100 FOR EACH RAIDER DESTROYED
Protecting convoys and destroying raiders is all our mission amounts to at the moment.
Messages in light blue are mostly there for the atmosphere. Some of them are of general nature...
FEDERATION ADVISES CAUTION WHEN TRAVELLING THROUGH THE CALDORRE SYSTEM
PERSONAL WEAPONS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON TOUR SHIPS
ARRIVING PASSENGERS SHOULD VISIT ORIENTATION CENTER
...some are advertisement...
ROUYN SYSTEM TOURS WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON AT A SPACEPORT NEAR YOU
BAILEY TRANSPORT EXPRESS DELIVERS PACKAGES ACROSS THE GALAXY
SPECIAL RATES ARE AVAILABLE FOR COREWARD TRAVEL WHEN SCHEDULED EARLY
FOR THE FINEST GALACTIC TRAVEL KIPPENHAN CRUISELINERS GETS YOU THERE
...some announce arrivals and departures...
THE DIEGO EXPRESS IS NOW DEPARTING AT GATE 152
CALDORRE EXPRESS NOW ARRIVING AT GATE 784
...some address a specific person...
CAPTAIN YBARRA CAPTAIN YBARRA PLEASE REPORT TO THE PILOTS LOUNGE
D ALBERT D ALBERT PLEASE PICK UP WHITE COURTESY PHONE AT NEAREST GATE
...some are sports-related...
WATCH THE ACTION FEDERATION BASKETBALL PLAYED AT MOST MAJOR STARPORTS
...and finally, there are messages reminding us of a few important facilities and institutions we can visit:
RESEARCH CARGOS ARE AVAILABLE AT SCIENCE FOUNDATION
THE SPACE MINERS GUILD WILL PAY FOR ORE LOADS
DRY DOCK REPAIR FACILITIES AVAILABLE AT CALDORRE SPACEPORT
At the Science Foundation, we can pick up research cargo delivery missions to earn money. The Space Miner's Guild is the place where we can sell the minerals we've mined. And we can visit the Dry Dock whenever we need our ship repaired. (For the most time that's unnecessary, as the party's engineer slowly repairs the ship by himself, and usually that's enough.)
You can target all ships, be they friendly, hostile, or neutral, with SPACE. This particular vessel is a non-Federation one, marked blue on the radar (a fact not well visible in the screenshot, alas).
Pressing T lets you talk to the targeted spaceship. This game features some dialogue trees, although they are by no means as advanced as in later cRPGs. In most cases, there are two different set of topics you can pursue in a conversation, one of general nature ("General Info" in this case) and one related to the mission or situation at hand (e.g., "Ask about Raiders"). In space, our party's Comm Officer takes care of all conversations; in ground exploration, all the talking is handled by the party's current leader.
Star pilots, as well as other non-plot-critical NPCs, don't really have much to say.
Can we speak with you?
I've got a flight to make.
So much for chatting with a starpilot.
Proud of its lack of any kind of hand-holding, Sentinel Worlds gives us some pretty bad starting ship stats. One couldn't of course find that out without experimenting around, but in fact, we are ill-advised to engage raiders in combat just now. This game starts with a trick, and a pretty counter-intuitive one at that: while our less resourceful allies are busy attacking raiders, we should seek out the impressive blue-marked ship (Space Yacht) pictured on the above screenshot...
...and talk to it. The space yacht signals us on board, which lets us initiate boarding procedure by pressing B for Bridge. (Overall, B serves three purposes depending on the circumstances: board a ship; dock a planet's spaceport; or enter hyperspace.)
We're given the option of visiting the Armory and equipping our crew before we board the ship, but this particular ship is non-hostile, so we'll leave the equipping part for later. Let's rather press 3 to complete boarding procedure.
And so we are presented with the ground exploration screen, the "Ground Command Helmet" mode. The green dot is our party leader (currently Aleph), and the yellow dots stand for the other members of our crew. As said earlier, we only control the current leader directly.
First thing we do is change the leader to our charismatic Comm Officer Zain. As you may have noticed, in the lower part of the screen there is a picture representing the area we're in, as well as its description. Naturally, the picture and the description change as we explore around.
We go through the short (1 square) airlock tube...
...then through some kind of entry area with automatic controls...
...and enter the yacht's main hall. Looks posh.
To the east is the engineering room. Sometimes a party member comments on the area we're passing through. Think of that as the beginning of party banter.
The blue blip tells us there's an NPC in this bedroom. Let's chat the NPC up.
A shower lady!
We try talking to her:
Fair enough.
Other first level areas of the yacht include a computer room..
...the bridge...
...as well as a weapon room:
And finally we reach the stairs to the upper floor:
The balcony gives us a nice overview of the ground floor hall:
We come across a large private gym on our way, prompting a comment from Hiroko:
The gym is empty. Going further down the corridor, we make it to an impressive private library:
This is Grager's study, and William Grager himself is here. As you may remember from the background story, he is the one whose shipments got raided. Let's see what's on his mind.
Again, two broad conversation topics, "General info" and "Ask about raiders". Let's start with the general stuff.
Auxiliary craft?!
My main yacht is currently being overhauled.Now about that shower girl...
My crew remarked about all the latest equipment. Yes, most of it is less than five years old.
As soon as we've exhausted all lines of general questioning, the above message appears, urging us to change topic. Let's now ask Mr. Grager about the raiders.
Sir, we advise not travelling in this area. Yes, the raiders. My ship is quite well armed. What do you know of the raids? I know they are ruining me!
Paragraph 37 posted:
"How are the raids ruining me?" Grager gives you a quizzical glance, then stares at his well trimmed fingernails. "The Caldorre system is my system. I own all trade rights to the system. The Federation has granted me the right to collect a tariff on all commercial shipping to and from the Caldorre system. In return all commerce is directed towards furthering the Federation's expansion into the Rouyn, Malartic, and Noranda systems. While such an arrangement is not without precedent, it is highly unusual and greatly coveted by all in my profession. I suspect some of my rivals would like to see me fail in this endeavor.
"I do not intend to fail. As we speak, my crew is installing better laser turrets on your Interceptor and my programmers are upgrading your software. It's the least I can do."
Grager upgrades our ship, and that's going to help us a lot in the upcoming fights.
Could they be based in this system? My crews have scoured this system and found no base. Could they be coming from a nearby system? Not one that I can detect.
Paragraph 3 posted:
"I suspect you're right in that assumption. Even my ship with the latest in fuel-efficient engines, cannot travel beyond two or three systems from here without refueling. From what I can tell of the raider craft, their technology is not particularly sophisticated, not even as advanced as your primitive interceptors."
Do you know who's behind the raids? It has to be one of my rivals. I suspect Lochinvar Avrensis.
Surely the Rouyn system needs food from this system... Avrensis would prefer to use his own suppliers. Wouldn't importing food from further away cost more? Of course, but his ships would make a greater profit.
Looks like Grager got tired of talking. Time to leave the yacht.
Our ship upgraded by William Grager (as you can judge by the stats), we can now engage in combat at last. Raiders, beware! We target a raider ship and then press ENTER to ready our lasers, maneuvering our ship so as to not lose sight of the enemy.
Protecting convoys not only gives us money, but also lets us advance the plot. As soon as we've protected a few convoys and destroyed a few raider ships...
...a new plot-relevant message pops up on the Telecom:
FEDERATION ASSISTANCE REQUESTED FOR LOCAL CONFLICT ON CALDORRE BEACON LOCATED NEAR CONFLICT
A new mission for us!
We prepare for a hyperspace jump, wondering just what kind of mission and what dangers await us. A minor local conflict shouldn't be much trouble, hopefully...