G-nome

(Hints)

Although the lumbering metal machines in G-nome may seem similar to those in other games, there's an important difference that makes this title unique. In other games, your mech is your persona; you are firmly bound to your cockpit just as you are bound to Doom's Space Marine, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, or whoever the guy in Quake is supposed to be. But in G-nome, your persona is the little soldier sitting inside the HAWC. He can step out to take a walk, infiltrate buildings, or, most importantly, "borrow" better vehicles. This independence from whatever vehicle you're currently driving is a crucial concept in G-nome.

Grand Theft HAWC
The first thing to remember is that when you see a HAWC that's more powerful than yours, it doesn't have to be a threat; consider it an opportunity. All foot soldiers are armed with Gas-Assault Shock Rifles (GASHR's). Although it's not made clear in the manual, these little weapons are used to knock a driver out of his vehicle, allowing you to hop in and use it yourself. So if you're tooling along in a modest little Merc Sentry HAWC and you stumble across a Scorp Heavy Assault HAWC, there's no need to panic. Rather than going toe-to-toe against it with your smaller guns, rush it and eject when you get within 50 meters. Then you can use your GASHR to hijack it. Many of the later missions are almost impossible to complete in your original vehicle. Also, since damage won't repair itself, you should abandon damaged HAWCs to hijack fresh ones.
The difficulty level at which you set the game determines how many GASHR rounds you'll get (generally you'll get three on the easiest setting and one on the hardest setting), but these never start at more than five. If you find a Weapons Depot, you can load your GASHR ammo to five rounds by entering it. If you enter with all five rounds, you come out with six, so be sure to turn around and go right back in after a reload for that sixth bonus round.
Since GASHR ammo is in such short supply, be sure to take the time to aim carefully when you fire. Your target will slow to a stop if it's in motion, so you may not be immediately sure if you've hit it successfully. Look for the ejected pilot to be certain you've connected. This will be a tiny pixel clump moving upwards at roughly the speed of a shooting star. Blink and you'll miss it. Once the pilot's ejected, you can run towards the empty HAWC without fear of being squashed, since an unpiloted HAWC won't kill you.
With foot soldiers around, you're likely to find yourself ejected out of your own cockpit. To prevent this, try to take out enemy vehicles from ranges greater than 100 meters, which is the maximum reach of enemy GASHRs. Use weapons with high damage point radii (see below) to aim near enemy soldiers before they get too close. When you leave your cockpit, you're particularly vulnerable to enemy HAWC fire, so stay in motion when there are vehicles around. If you're only among enemy foot soldiers, drop to a prone position and they'll never hit you, even from a few meters away. Also, enemy foot soldiers won't run for empty HAWCs if you stand still, so if there are no marauding vehicles around, lie down and shoot it out with them.

Fill 'Er Up
The energy system in the game can be a little baffling, since you only have the single bar in your Holo Display to represent your energy level. Each HAWC has an energy reservoir from which to draw power for movement, energy weapons, and shields, in that order. The amount of power in that reservoir is reflected by the green bar on your Holo-Display. This limited pool is first used to power movement; the remainder is channeled into weapons fire. After that, anything left over is used to regenerate shields. Therefore, in combat one of your first priorities should be to slow down if you plan to use energy weapons. Energy weapons will fire repeatedly if you keep triggering them, but unless their recharge bar has refilled and turned green, your shots will have decreased range and damage. The recharge bar will fill more quickly if you slow down your HAWC. If your shields are low, you should either switch to ammo-based weapons or aim carefully and make every shot count. Keep in mind that running away at full speed will hinder shield regeneration, so weigh your options carefully.

Chassis Smashing
There are three types of targets you will be shooting at: shielded targets, unshielded targets, and personnel. Different weapons are optimal for different targets. Although there are exceptions, choosing the right weapon for the job means using energy weapons to shoot away shields and then finishing a target off with missiles and guns, which are also the most effective weapons against foot soldiers.
Until an enemy's shields have been lowered, you should attack it with weapons that either have a high Shield Damage rating, or with weapons that have a low Shield Diffusion and a high Armor Damage rating. The Scorp CETI and Darken HOMP11 and WART are the most effective anti-shield weapons. Weapons with low Shield Diffusion (the Union P2MEC and ARCM, the Scorp LRIP and TAR12, and the Darken RUPP) can punch through shields to attack armor directly. This isn't particularly effective, since even weapons with low Shield Diffusion lose 90% of their damage potential when passing through shields, but it's better than wasting gun ammo or missiles.
Once an enemy's shields are down (as indicated on your targeting Holo Display), switch to weapons with high Armor Damage. This is where missiles prove their worth, especially the Union SAG5T and VISOM and the Darken PUG and CHUM. Most energy weapons are also effective here, but ammo-dependent guns with their high rates of fire can ultimately do more damage to a shieldless vehicle, since you won't have to wait for recharges (the Union TCREAP and FLECH, the Darken DASY, and the Scorp zWASP). Remember that missiles and guns will let your shields recharge more quickly, too.
Shooting at foot soldiers can be an exercise in frustration if you're using the wrong weapon. You can either try to pick them off with precision aiming while they lob GASHR rounds at you (not recommended), or you can use area-effect weapons. A weapon's Damage Points within Radius rating indicates its area of effect, which is only useful against personnel. All missiles and rockets are excellent for this, but it's a shame to waste them on soft targets unless you've got plenty to spare. Guns have large damage radii and they're great for rooting out pesky foot soldiers; just spray the area around a newly ejected pilot and you should kill him.

Drive-By Shooting
The computer is more likely to miss if you're moving at an angle to it. If you're being rushed, trying moving backwards slowly (to allow faster weapon and shield charging) at an angle, using the torso twist to target your enemy. At a distance, use the auto-tracking ("W" key) to avoid wasting shots. When you're up close, note that some weapons fire from the side of your HAWC and will hit slightly off-center of your targeting reticule, so adjust your aim accordingly. An enemy's legs are the more frail, but torsos are the easiest to hit. Getting in close to most computer controlled HAWCs will send them running in circles around you. You can pick them off easily without their being able to return fire consistently; in fact, they're likely to get in the way of any incoming fire.
Towers are best attacked with stand-off weapons outside their range. If you find yourself in close, some of the shorter HAWCs can stand at the base of a tower and attack it from a blind spot. Also, remember that towers can be hit with GASHRs and occupied for use against other HAWCs. The all-powerful Meson Towers are especially fun, but you probably won't be able to get close enough to occupy them.

Kicking The Tires
Since you can't customize your vehicles in the game, you'll have to get to know the ones which are available. This is important so you can decide whether to destroy or hi-jack another HAWC. The first thing to keep in mind is the differences between races. The Mercs tend to have the fastest vehicles, the Darken have the most powerful shields and missile warheads, the Union has the long-range missiles, and the Scorps rely on ample stores of missiles and well-stocked guns. If you ever run across a Heavy Assault HAWC, you should leave it alone and fight to eliminate or weaken any other HAWCs in the area. Once you've secured the area, eject near the Heavy Assault HAWC and steal it. The unique Merc Cruiser has the distinction of being the only HAWC to carry a Meson Cannon, easily the most powerful weapon available, so it's also a candidate for stealing. Remember that you can fight to the death in anything but a Merc vehicle and still be safely ejected; you have to manually bail out of a Merc HAWC before it's destroyed, or you'll be killed.
Finally, not all the missions require that you fight to the death with everything you see. G-nome's missions are more like obstacle courses with a series of objectives, some of which can be rather obscure. If you find yourself getting killed repeatedly, perhaps you shouldn't be trying to fight it out. Sometimes a bit of defensive driving (i.e. running away) is what it takes to complete the mission.

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