Terminal Overload 0.5.0 Player Manual¶

Welcome to the player manual for Terminal Overload 0.5.0.

Terminal Overload is a home-made experimental free and open source multiplayer FPS game. It is the successor to ROTC: Ethernet and while still in an early stage of development, already provides unique gameplay: Alternate between the pure energy “etherform” and physical manifestations called “CATs”. Capture territory and defeat enemies using a multitude of weapons, grenades, and target-seeking discs that can be deflected and steered around corners.

Contents:

Game Modes¶

Terminal Overload 0.5.0 offers two game modes: The really simple and well-known Team Elimination Mode and a novel and more complex mode called Ethernet.

Ethernet Mode¶

Ethernet maps contain rectangular zones and two teams fight over control of these zones. Players can exist in different forms: The flying, indestructible Etherform and humanoid, weapon-wielding physical manifestations called CATs.

Players start out in Etherform and need to find a zone owned by their team in order to manifest as a CAT. As CAT, players can capture zones connected to their existing zones by being inside the zone while no enemy CAT is also present in the zone. The zone then turns a different color, depending on which team captured it. If CATs of both teams are present, the zone remains neutral. CATs can enter enemy zones that are not connected to their team’s zones to prevent the enemy from manifesting in that zone. Such blocked zones are distinguished from normal zones by blinking.

The game is won if one team has captured all zones.

Classes¶

In Etherform, players can choose between four different CAT classes. If the selected class does not have enough health to manifest, players can regenerate the selected class’ health by spending time inside one of their team’s zones in Etherform. If the selected class is at full health but other classes are not, the health regeneration is distributed evenly over all classes that are not at full health.

Class 1: Commando¶

Form: Standard CAT

Weapons: SMG2 Sub-Machinegun, SG3 Shotgun

Grenade: G1 (Grenade)

Disc: Razor Disc

Modules: V-AMP, Etherboard, X-Jump, B.O.U.N.C.E., Stealth

Class 3: Sniper¶

Form: Sniper CAT

Weapons: SR2 Sniper Rifle

Grenade: G1 (Grenade)

Disc: Explosive Disc

Modules: V-AMP, Etherboard, X-Jump, B.O.U.N.C.E., Stealth

Class 4: Minigunner¶

Form: Standard CAT

Weapons: MG2 Minigun

Grenade: G1 (Grenade)

Disc: Repel Disc

Modules: V-AMP, X-Jump, B.O.U.N.C.E.

Team Elimination Mode¶

Team Elimination is a very simple round-based mode where two teams fight until one team has been completely eliminated. At the start of each round, all players spawn as Standard CAT with a fixed loadout. If a CAT is destroyed or switches back to Etherform manually, it can not re-manifest until the beginning of the next round, when it will manifest automatically.

Forms¶

Depending on game mode, players control and switch between the following forms:

Etherform¶

Etherforms are indestructible flying entities. They can’t move through solid objects, but solid objects can move through them.

Depending on game mode, Etherforms can turn into various physical forms.

Standard CAT¶

CATs are humanoid combat units that can carry Weapons and are outfitted with head-mounted Disc and Grenade launchers.

The name “CAT” (short for catenate) comes from the fact that it’s the only form with the ability to capture territory zones in Ethernet Mode.

Health¶

Standard CATs have 75 health points. Health is lost if a CAT takes more damage than its damage buffer can absorb or if it’s hit by a weapon that by-passes the damage buffer. If a CAT loses all its health, the CAT is erased and depending on game mode, its controlling player is forced into Etherform.

Damage Buffer¶

Standard CATs have a 25 point damage buffer. The buffer constantly recharges back to 25 points.

Damage Damper¶

Standard CATs have a 100 point damage damper, which serves as the CAT’s first line of protection against damage. If full, it reduces damage by 50%. The damage reduction decreases in a linear fashion with decreased damage damper levels.

Or to put it another way: The lower your damage damper is, the more damage you take.

Note: A lot of weapons draw power away from the damage damper when fired, so it’s generally a bad idea to fire weapons indiscriminately.

Impulse Damper¶

Standard CATs have a 100 point impulse damper, which works similar to the damage damper, except protecting against impulses instead of damage and reducing impulse by up to 75%. Modules that draw power away from the impulse damper when used are the Etherboard and the X-Jump.

Additional Modules¶

Depending on game mode and loadout, CATs are outfitted with modules that extend the CAT’s abilities. See the CAT Modules section for an overview of all existing modules.

Sniper CAT¶

The Sniper CAT is almost identical to the Standard CAT, but only has 30 health points and a 12.5 point damage buffer.

In version 0.5.0 the Sniper CAT still uses the same model as the Standard CAT.

CAT Modules¶

Depending on game mode and loadout, CATs are outfitted with modules that extend the CAT’s abilities. This section contains information on all existing modules.

V-AMP¶

When outfitted with a V-AMP module, CATs can restore their health by damaging enemies, but only 50% of the health lost by the enemy is transfered.

Etherboard¶

The etherboard module allows a CAT to slide, trading agility for speed. Using the etherboard drains power away from the CAT’s impulse damper.

X-Jump¶

The X-Jump module allows a CAT to propel itself away from its surrounding surfaces. Imagine jumping off every surrounding surface at the same time.

The module can be charged (default: left alt) or activated instantly (default: space).

The strength of the jump increases based on the speed of the CAT using it.

When used, the X-Jump module drains power away from the user’s impulse damper.

Stealth¶

The stealth module allows a CAT to become temporarily undetectable to weapons that are able to by-pass a CAT’s damage buffer (currently the SR2 Sniper Rifle and the G1 (Grenade)).

The stealth module will activate automatically if the CAT is hit by a weapon that can by-pass a CAT’s damage buffer.

CATs with an activated stealth module will appear the be flickering.

B.O.U.N.C.E.¶

When activated, the B.O.U.N.C.E. will scan for enemies within a short radius, reverse their momentum and hit them with a 6000 point impulse pointing away from the user.

If the B.O.U.N.C.E. is unable to find any enemies in range, using it will drain 50 points from the user’s damage damper.

Discs¶

All CATs are equipped with a head-mounted disc launcher that allows them to deflect incomming discs. Depending on the CAT’s loadout, the launcher can also be used to attack enemies using offensive discs.

Attacking Using Offensive Discs¶

In order to attack enemies using discs, you first need to acquire one or more enemies as disc targets.

To mark an enemy CAT as disc target, you need to deal it a certain amount of damage in a single hit (currently 40 points), which makes it impossible to acquire disc targets using the SMG2 Sub-Machinegun or MG2 Minigun.

Once you’ve acquired one or more disc targets, you can launch an offensive disc by pressing the “Launch Disc” button (right mouse button by default).

The type of offensive disc that will be launched depends on your CAT’s loadout.

The disc will go after the disc target nearest to your position and the target will be removed from your list of disc targets. So if you have aquired multiple disc targets you’ll have to press the “Launch Disc” button multiple times to send discs after all of them.

Deflecting Enemy Discs¶

Every CAT has the ability to launch interceptor discs that can disable enemy discs.

To launch an interceptor disc at an enemy disc, simply aim at the disc and press the “Launch Disc” button (right mouse button by default).

Repel Disc¶

Repel discs don’t do any damage. Instead, hitting an enemy with a repel disc will stop and push the enemy CAT away from the CAT that launched the disc.

Explosive Disc¶

Explosive discs do a lot of damage when they explode. On the other hand they are easy to deflect due to their slowness and can be outrun by CATs.

Razor Disc¶

The Razor Disc deals 60 points of damage and 1000 points of impulse on impact.

Weapons¶

TODO

SMG2 Sub-Machinegun¶

TODO: Image

TODO: Description

Cost 2 pts damage damper
Impact Damage 15
Impact Impulse 600
Splash Damage
Splash Impulse
Splash Radius
Bypasses

SG3 Shotgun¶

TODO: Image

TODO: Description

Cost 10 x 2 = 20 pts damage damper
Impact Damage 10 x 15 = 150
Impact Impulse 10 x 600 = 6000
Splash Damage
Splash Impulse
Splash Radius
Bypasses

MGL2 Micro-Grenade Launcher¶

TODO: Image

TODO: Description

Cost 16 pts damage damper
Impact Damage
Impact Impulse
Splash Damage 60
Splash Impulse 0
Splash Radius 2
Bypasses

SR2 Sniper Rifle¶

TODO: Image

TODO: Description

Cost 30 pts damage damper
Impact Damage 40
Impact Impulse 6000
Splash Damage
Splash Impulse
Splash Radius
Bypasses Damage Buffer

MG2 Minigun¶

TODO: Image

TODO: Description

Cost 2 pts damage damper
Impact Damage 20
Impact Impulse 250
Splash Damage 5
Splash Impulse
Splash Radius 5
Bypasses

Grenades¶

Upon explosion, grenades will inflict damage upon anything within their splash radius. This section contains information on all existing grenades.

G1 (Grenade)¶

TODO: Image

The G1 is currently the only grenade in the game. All CATs are equipped with a grenade launcher. If more than one enemy is within the splash radius of a grenade when it explodes, they will both be targeted.

Usage¶

By default, a grenade can be launched with the middle mouse button. A grenade can be charged to make the grenade fly farther. After you have launched a grenade, there will be a 5 second delay before you can launch another.

Details¶

Property Value
Splash damage 40
Splash radius 15

Default Controls Reference¶

TODO