Skaphander: Der Auftrag/Gameplay

User interface


The cockpit displays along the bottom of the screen are divided into six sections. From left to right:
 * Score: Score affects your pay at the end of the level, being multiplied by 5, 10, or 50 based on the chosen difficulty level. Neither pay nor score count for anything other than bragging rights, and they can be gamed with some actions that can be repeated indefinitely, but they are still useful for tracking your progress through a level.
 * Compass: The compass shows the Skaphander's current heading and is useful for orienting yourself with respect to the HUD map (which is always shown with north at the top). The compass letters are from German, so "east" is shown as "O", for "Osten".
 * Inventory: The inventory screen shows what tools, if any, the Skaphander has in its inventory.
 * Vehicle Status: The vehicle status display shows the condition of the Skaphander, mainly whether or not it has any shielding, but the vehicle's wireframe also does change orange and then red as the vehicle takes damage, so it can be useful to keep an eye on its color. Jump jets, accessible with a cheat code, also show up here.
 * Data: Data represents the vehicle's health (see below). It ranges from 0 to 400.
 * Energy: Energy represents the vehicle's fuel/ammo (see below). It ranges from 0 to 300.

The main screen shows the view from the Skaphander. Overlaid on that view are the currently selected weapon(s), a targeting reticle if the weapon(s) can be aimed, and the HUD map if it is enabled.

Resources
The Skaphander relies on three resources:
 * Data: The game's equivalent to health, Skaphander's data protects Victor's brain from destructive feedback through the HMD—if it reaches zero, then Victor suffers brain damage, and the game ends. The Skaphander begins the game with 300 data and can attain a maximum of 400. An auditory warning plays continually if the Skaphander's data falls below 50. Data is lost to impact with enemies or terrain (even driving over an uneven floor too fast can damage the Skaphander), to enemy weapons, or to contact with corrosive Matma. Data is regained by collecting data refreshes or by connecting to a repair station.
 * Energy: The game's combined fuel and ammo resource, Skaphander's energy allows it to fire reusable weapons and to move forward or backward—if it reaches zero, then the Skaphander will still be able to turn and strafe slowly, but forward and backward movement will be almost imperceptible, and reusable weapons will not fire. The Skaphander begins a level with 300 energy, which is the maximum it can attain. An auditory warning plays continually if the Skaphander's energy falls below 50. Energy is slowly consumed by moving forward or backward and more rapidly consumed by firing reusable weapons, with heavier weapons requiring more per shot. Energy is regained by collecting recharges or by connecting to a charging station.
 * Shielding: Shielding is provided by a protector and absorbs damage from Matma or barnacles and halves damage from other viruses. The Skaphander begins with 0 shielding and can attain a maximum of 1500. One unit of shielding is lost for every unit of damage that is absorbed or reduced. Crucially, though a white overlay shows on the vehicle status indicator when the Skaphander has shielding, the exact level of shielding is never visible. A warning message does appear when shielding runs out, however.

Resource items
The Skaphander can renew its data, energy, and shielding by collecting resource items:

(Ranged weapons also add energy when picked up, so a ranged weapon that has already been collected can still be valuable as a large reserve of energy.)

A big part of Skaphander strategy is leaving resources in place for when they will be needed later, so it is important to avoid collecting these items when their benefits would be lost to the Skaphander's resource caps. As a corollary, it is usually better to secure an area before topping off data or energy; the items might be worth more after spending resources on a fight.

Weapons
The Skaphander can equip a variety of reusable energy weapons for use against viruses:

The Skaphander can also deploy single-use breakpoints:

And the Skaphander can carry one mêlée weapon that can damage the environment itself:

Weapon pitch
Weapons are normally mounted at a fixed angle on the Skaphander, but they can be unlocked by pressing PgUp/PgDn (or, equivalently, Num 9/Num 3) to adjust their pitch up or down. (This is also useful just for peering over ledges or up shafts.) However, while unlocked, the weapons swing much more freely, and so it is difficult to maintain aim when the suspension rocks or a shot causes recoil. The Skaphander will also automatically relock weapons in their default position after a few seconds of no pitch adjustments, so to maintain a nonstandard pitch for any length of time the player must periodically tap these keys to make fine adjustments.

Level-specific devices
The Skaphander can also carry various level-specific non-weapon devices including a sublight scanner and various tools, the latter being shown on the inventory display. Tools in particular let Victor interact (using the "manipulate" command) with corresponding switch-like objects that otherwise would be unreponsive. Unlike most weapons, these level-specific devices cannot be carried from level to level.

Bugs
Besides viruses, which actively resist Victor's incursion, the network is also plagued by passive bugs, which are represented on screen as beetles. The Skaphander can squash bugs by driving over them (similar to how items are collected), but some bugs are booby-trapped to release enemies. Starting in the level "Rael", there are also invisible bugs that can only be squashed with the sublight scanner active—without it on, the bugs just act like invisible obstacles.

Cheats
One further item is available via a cheat code:

Enemies
Setting aside the puzzles set by major viruses according to the narrative, the main opposition Victor faces comes in the form of lesser viruses of various standard types, described in their default forms below. Keep in mind, however, that individual virus stats may vary from the defaults for their type. For example, there are several spiked viruses that have three times as much health as a normal spiked virus, so the description of spiked viruses below should only be taken as the usual case. The same is true for other types.

Spiked viruses


A spiked virus is a common, low-level enemy that appears as a floating spiky gray ball and flashes red when aggravated. (One contemporary review jokingly called them "Christbaumschmucke", or Christmas-tree ornaments, perhaps not realizing that their internal name really is "XMas Virus".) Spiked viruses ordinarily have 350 health. They have no ranged attacks but can still do damage by ramming the Skaphander with their spikes (which hit for 10 damage) and by pushing it into hazards or off ledges. Normally they stand guard at ambush points and do not move until they detect the Skaphander. They particularly like to surprise Victor from above or below, but their vertical speed cap is much lower than their horizontal speed cap, so sometimes they get themselves caught for a bit on ledges or overhangs.

Spiked viruses have a number of tactics that they might employ:
 * When far away with a good line of sight and no incoming fire, they simply charge the Skaphander, easily matching its maximum speed.
 * When far away with poor line-of-sight to the Skaphander, they will look for corners of walls to hide behind in ambush. They always converge to their target's altitude, so once they engage in a fight they are usually stuck on the same plane as the player.
 * When being shot at, they will make rapid lateral movements in hopes of outpacing the Skaphander's turn rate.
 * When close by, they will attempt to dart behind the Skaphander and attack it from behind, again exploiting its slow turn rate.

Blobs


A blob is a late-game mêlée virus that appears like a pulsating, primary-colored bouncy ball. It sacrifices almost all of the spiked virus's maneuverability in exchange for more health (400–1500, depending on the variety) and harder hits (80 damage maximum but with unusual inconsistency for a virus). Their behavior is not particularly interesting, as they mostly just approach, soak up damage, and ram the player, but they can be a serious impediment when blocking hallways or doors or on levels where energy is hard to come by.

Barnacles


A barnacle—or perhaps a pair of barnacles—is a biconical virus that splits itself into two hemispherical suction cups. It has 600 health, but can do no damage normally. Instead, its real danger is that when it touches the Skaphander, it can attach itself to the cockpit glass, obscuring the player's view and draining first the Skaphander's shielding, then its energy, and finally its data. The cockpit glass is too close to shoot with any ranged weapon, so getting rid of an attached barnacle requires more creativity. Some levels provide green pools that will destroy barnacles that are submerged in their liquid long enough, and Matma can also be used in a pinch. Other levels include a separator as an available weapon, which can grind a barnacle off, or, if all else fails, a repair station has a mode where it spends its reserves to remove a barnacle rather than to heal the Skaphander. Barnacles borrow general tactics from clamps even when those tactics make less sense for a brightly colored mêlée virus:


 * They charge the player head-on when near.
 * They charge obliquely when far away.
 * If they are heavily damaged, they may try to retreat and hide.

Nonetheless, because of their high health, undesirable attack, and one trick clamps do not have—a tendancy to jump upwards when hit, possibly taking them out of a locked weapon's line of fire—barnacles still pose a serious threat.

Clamps


Clamps are floating vises that can open up their pincers to reveal two machine guns. They are extremely common. Clamps have 1000 health, and their machine guns can do up to 20 damage apiece per shot (depending on accuracy) at a maximum of four shots per second (so, 2 guns × 4 shots/second/gun × 20 damage/shot = a maximum of 160 damage/second if unopposed). However, taking more than 40 damage makes clamps flinch, and taking more than 75 damage spins these viruses around, interrupting their attack as they can only fire forward. Like spiked viruses, clamps can also ram the Skaphander either to do direct damage or to push it into environmental hazards. Many clamps have patrol routes that they follow until they become aware of the Skaphander. They move slower than spiked viruses horizontally, but can change altitude more quickly.

Clamps also have several tactics that they may use:
 * In normal circumstances they will charge the player, relying on their high health and damage output to ensure their survival and eschewing lateral movement in favor of maintaining gunfire. They may approach obliquely when still too far away to target the Skaphander.
 * If they are taking damage, especially in close quarters, they may try to make short lateral movements before charging again in order to avoid the player's fire.
 * If they are heavily damaged (causing them to appear burnt or with "corrupted" graphics if very near death), they may try to retreat and find a dark surface to hide against.

Unlike in the 1997 game's opening cutscene, in this game clamps cannot grip the Skaphander. However, they can pin the Skaphander against a wall, which is fatal under Matma because the clamps, unlike the Skaphander, are immune to the corrosion.

Turrets


Looking like a cross between a top and a fishing bobber with many pegs off their sides, a turret is an extremely strong ranged virus. Turrets boast 2000 health and can fire homing artillery for 50 damage per shot and the longest enemy range in the game, though this power is mitigated by their slow rate of fire, the fact that they cannot fire while taking damage, and the fact that their artillery shells can be shot down. Turrets like both to float over depressions or pits where they can duck down and to take the high ground and fire from above. Either way, they often force the player to rely on pitch controls (and the associated recoil issues) to score hits.

Special viruses
There are also a couple of one-time or otherwise special enemies:

Steps, ledges, and pits


Besides damage from enemies, the Skaphander also takes damage if driven recklessly. Because of its armor, impacts with walls do not hurt it, but it is instead the vehicle's underside that is vulnerable. In particular, where the terrain changes in steps, the Skaphander can be damaged by driving (or being pushed by an enemy) over those steps more quickly than its suspension can handle, and more serious falls will hurt it even more. There are four common categories of changes in ground level:


 * 1) A small step is the most common fixed change in ground level, one that's the same size as the depression in the middle of the game's first room, the chapel in the "Michelangelo" level, but not so thin as the red "rug" at the entrance to that room. Small steps are generally safe to drive over unless the Skaphander is somehow above its normal top speed (e.g., it is using or has recently used turbo, it is coming out of an acceleration tube, it is sliding on frozen data, it is being pushed by an enemy, it is bouncing off another step or wall, etc.) or is tilted by high acceleration (e.g., breaking hard). Descent does slightly more damage than ascent.
 * 2) A large step covers anything larger than a small step up to twice that size. Crossing one can damage the Skaphander even at normal speeds, though not if the Skaphander traverses it slowly. Again, descending a large step requires more care than ascending one.
 * 3) A ledge is an even larger change in ground level that the Skaphander cannot ascend, one that deals damage unless the Skaphander drives extremely slowly, and the drop is short. An early example would be jumping down from the ledges encircling the chapel, which at normal speed will deal about 60 damage.
 * 4) A pit is an area of ground with effectively no bottom. Driving into a pit will certainly cause the Skaphander to be destroyed unless that pit is an escape shaft, the exit to a level, also sometimes called a "transmitter" in game. Escape shafts are distinguished from ordinary pits by the Firm's two-headed-snake logo.

If the Skaphander is approaching a small or large step at speed, it is possible to brake with reverse thrust to reduce or eliminate any damage that might be taken when the vehicle crosses.

Curtains and doors


Curtains are barriers that block vision but not physical objects like the Skaphander, viruses, or weapons fire. The may share a texture with nearby walls, but have noticeably lighter coloration. A virus will only cross a curtain if it knows from earlier observation that the Skaphander must be on the other side.

Doors between rooms are motion-sensitive and will open when the Skaphander approaches. Sometimes it is possible to end up in front of a door, but not by approaching it, in which case the Skaphander must retreat and reapproach to trigger the motion sensor.

Closed doors block both viruses' line of sight and their movement (viruses cannot trigger the motion sensor), so it is possible to lure an enemy into a room and trap it there.

However, in the earliest demo versions of the game, closed doors did not block viruses' movement, rendering that tactic ineffective. Still, a virus would only phase through a door if it knew from earlier observation that the Skaphander must be on the other side, so, in those demo versions, a door was still useful cover to avoid aggravating an enemy in the first place.

Discs, fans, and acceleration tubes
Various terrain types can apply horizontal forces to the Skaphander and its enemies:

Below is a visual guide to the color coding of acceleration tubes:

Lifts and pillars
Lifts and pillars are terrain tiles that rise, sink, or alternate rising and sinking, normally based on the Skaphander's location, but very occasionally when triggered by switches. Most begin moving to the other end of their vertical range when the Skaphander drives onto them, when the Skaphander uses the manipulate action on them, or when they are struck by ranged weapons fire. But others feature a variety of movement rules—some move in different directions based on where the Skaphander sits on them, yet others are triggered once by switches, and still others might be enabled by switches but only respond when the Skaphander is in a certain location.

Because they are solid underneath, the Skaphander cannot end up below a lift or pillar, but some pillars rise all the way to the ceiling, so it is still possible for them to crush the vehicle with upward movement.

Like ledges, both lifts and pillars present some environmental danger to the Skaphander. Just as with any other steps, driving between a left/pillar and a surface at a different height can damage the vehicle depending on its speed and tilt at the time. Worse, if the Skaphander straddles the boundary between a stable surface and a lift/pillar, the rise or fall can tip it, not only destroying vehicle's data when it contacts the ground, but possibly sending it sliding at high speed into other terrain or over a ledge. Then too, there is the possibility of being crushed against a ceiling, which can do hundreds of points of damage in an instant.

On the flip side, lifts and pillars can also be used strategically to block or relocate enemies. And some under-Matma lifts even provide immunity to corrosion.

Matma


Matma is a red corrosive liquid with a lava-like appearance, usually confined to pools. It acts as a "energetic defluctor", which in gameplay terms means that any unprotected contact with it damages the Skaphander continually, the amount of damage increasing the deeper the Skaphander is submerged. It does not hurt most viruses, but it can harm barnacles, spiked viruses' and blobs' strikes lose their impact due to the viscosity, and clamps are unable to fire their guns when they are immersed. But the last effect cuts both ways: the Skaphander's weapons also cannot be fired when they are submerged in Matma.

In some levels, matma can be neutralized by freezing it, leaving behind frozen data.

Green pools


Green pools look like opposite-colored Matma. They slowly damage viruses like attached barnacles, but they do not harm the Skaphander itself. As with Matma, mêlée attacks in pools are ineffective due to viscocity, and weapons cannot be fired when they are submerged.

Frozen data


Frozen data is a slippery, blue-and-white, ice-like surface. On its own it poses no danger, but fighting on frozen data can be difficult, and it is very easy to build up too much speed and take damage by running into steps or falling off ledges.

Switches and buttons
One major way that Victor affects the environment is by flipping switches and pressing buttons:

Stations
Stations are larger, wall-mounted repositories of data (a repair station), energy (a recharging station), or information (an info station).

When the Skaphander makes contact with a resource station by driving into it and is at least 10 units below the resource maximum, it becomes magnetically attached, and the station slowly transfers its resource until the vehicle reaches its resource limit or the station's reserve runs dry. This makes stations useful for topping off, since they only provide what is needed, and nothing goes to waste. On the other hand, because of the magnetic attachment, the Skaphander is nearly immobile for the duration, and because of shaking from the resource transfer, aiming is also quite difficult during that time, so stations are much less useful than resource items in a fight. There are two types of resource stations:

In both cases, the height of the liquid in the tubes indicates the amount of resources remaining within the station. In cramped quarters, it may be necessary to pitch up to see the level in the tubes.

Info stations, on the other hand, work differently: