Wars in the Inner Sphere:

Crescent Hawk's Inception Walkthrough

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Pictures: Map of Pacifica - Copy Protection Codes - Map Room Planets - Cache Map

Sourced from a BBS a long, long time ago with a few corrections and additons (plus a complete map of Pacifica) from Rocqueforte O'Leary and Matt McLaine. Map Room picture by Anonymous, Copy Protection picture by Matt McLaine. Portions by Joshua Mandel and Andy Backer. Cache Map by Jonathan Schattke.

As the game begins, you find yourself in the Pacifica Training School, and your only immediate objective is to complete the training necessary to graduate as a Mech Warrior in the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces. Explore the area. You start out opposite the Citadel, where you should meet Katrina, and take gunnery classes. Next door is Comstar, where the stock market can be played. To your far left you will find your barracks. Southeast of the barracks is the entrance to the Mech training center. Other buildings you can enter are a Weapons shop, an Armor shop, a Lounge, and a Mechit-Lube.

Most of the time, when entering a lounge or other building and attempting to talk with somebody, nobody will be interested in talking to you. In order to increase your opportunities, hang around outside a building. When you see somebody enter the building, follow them inside, and immediately try to talk. You'll usually get a response, though this rarely leads to finding a new party member; it's merely a diversion.

MONEY
Probably the biggest factor in the whole game is money. No money, no skill, no mech, no chance. The more cash the better equipped you'll be for combat. Every five minutes or so your account is boosted by fifteen credits as ma and pa robot decide it's time to give some more of your allowance. Don't hang around!! Initially invest in a low risk account and then move onto the intermediate one. Do this for a few hours and you'll be counting the wads, around 350,000 of 'em.

RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Only two stocks are worth your while:

NASHAN DIVERSIFIED (NasDiv)
BAKER PHARMACEUTICALS (BakPhar)

NasDiv is a steady performer, so if you do nothing but put all your credits in this stock, you should amass quite a fortune by the end of the game. BakPhar is a speculative stock that will make you rich in a short time if your timing is right. One strategy is to put most of your credits in NasDiv and a few in BakPhar. Save regularly and check the market often. When BakPhar starts going up, put all your credits in it, and usually your money doubles and doubles again. It is essential to save your game whenever you get ahead, though, for BakPhar's value can drop to zero in no time! DEFIANCE INDUSTRIES OF HESPERUS (DefHes) is a steady riser, good for safe long-term investment, but not a money-maker.

EXPLORING THE COMPOUND
After investing, leave Comstar and go and do something (explore, rest, visit the weapons shop, take a training lesson...), returning frequently to assess your holdings. It takes a fairly long time to earn enough credits to buy a serious weapon and good armour, not to mention the money you will need for training, so you may have to wander about the compound pointlessly, waiting for your stocks to go up (alternatively, you could just load the game up and leave it running whilst you go do something else for a few hours. By the time you get back, you should have a small fortune in C-bills).

TRAINING SCHOOL
Your main goal is to learn how to operate the Mechs at the Training Centre. This will take at least six lessons, between which you can explore the surrounding compound. The game requires time to pass between lessons.

You'll not get far without training, and the first thing you need to know is how to defend yourself. The important basics to learn are rifle and machine gun, as these are the only weapon skills you'll find yourself needing.

Stop off at the mechit-lube and take up an apprenticeship. I know it's expensive, but it enables you to patch up a battlefield mech, and take it in for a full repair and slap another member of your party inside.

When it comes to combat training, try to move around as much as possible and overheat as little as possible, and aim for speed on all the missions as this contributes to your overall mech skill.

Medical skill is a worthwhile venture; it'll make sure you stay in the game longer.

Note that if you proceed directly to the northern towns after leaving the Compound and Starport, you can meet the Doctor you'll need, and unless you failed to escape the Training Ground with a mech, you'll never need a doctor anyway, nor will you need weapon skills. Why? If you invest wisely and wait until your stocks shoot up to sell, you can afford a personal SRM launcher - the best anti-personnel weapon in the game, it kills anybody in 1 shot, even with no skill by the user. Jason will only use it once, escaping the Kurita Inaugural Hall in Starport.. Rex, and later your Tech, will have Good or better Tech skills, so you can likely skip getting these for Jason as well.

WEAPONRY
Start off with a machine gun. It takes quite a few hits to kill a human and has no effect on mechs whatsoever but, it's relatively cheap. Later on try to get hold of a Laser Weapon, but I recommend the SRM over all. One shot disposes of any human in the game will certainly damage a mech. Whatever you do, don't hang around taking on a twenty ton mech with a hand held SRM - it just doesn't work ("Jason had been squashed underfoot. Game Over."). Equip yourself with a forty point armour, it normally prevents any damage to the person in a typical combat round (from other humans).

The SRM never runs out of ammunition and rarely misses, so it's advisable to stay around until you can afford one......BUT - you CAN get by with less firepower. Weapon shops are everywhere throughout Pacifica, and you can also salvage weapons after combat. Buy whatever armour you can afford for yourself and any allies. Armour shops are in many towns. Get a MedKit (sold at any of several hospitals) and a Mapper (at the video store in Starport and a few other towns). Later on, get your Mechs modified at a Mech-It Lube's Speed Shop and you'll become almost invincible.

MECH ETIQUETTE
First and foremost, with the lump of cash you should have by now, any mech you own should be customised at the mechit-lube, extra lasers and armour always come in handy at the expense of jump jets and missile launchers. Never rule out kicking, more often than not it proves to be invaluable when a mech is close to shutdown. Always try to face an attacking mech, all it could take is one hit with a small laser to the back to knock out half your arsenal.

THE INVASION
On the 6th or 7th training mission, you'll suddenly face real opponents - the Kuritans, who have invaded the compound with four Jenners (no, they can't be salvaged, and you'll never see them again). You've got to escape to Starport, a neutral city northeast of the starting point. If you're lucky, you'll escape with a Mech.

There are two ways to do so. Choose a Locust for your final mission, then head West when the forcefield around the training grounds disappears, and get out of town. Or use a Chameleon and, as soon as you're attacked, walk back into the building you just left. When the walls come down, exit West out of the city. Sometimes neither of these methods are successful! If that happens, you can get Mechs at several other points.

STARPORT
Head North to Starport (on the Overhead Map, the little arrow always points toward it). Save frequently if you decide to fight attackers in the hope of obtaining money and equipment. Inside, immediately find the Clothing Store and get rid of your uniform to avoid being attacked as often. Then check your stocks at Comstar and re-invest if desired. Check out the Inaugural Hall to learn of the Inauguration, then you might want to earn credits by fighting at the Arena. Repairs can be costly if using a rental Mech, however, and may even exceed your 250-credit payoff, so it usually doesn't pay (but see below). There's also an Electronics shop in the Northwest of town where you can buy a holodisc player (if you don't feel like going back to the Citadel later) or a Mapper, which reveals the area around Starport without your having to explore it - but by now, you already have. NOTE: you have no mech at all and need a free one, you can rent an Arena mech, shoot out the thinnest section of the Western grandstands (oh, the carnage!), and run away - however, you'll lose any mechs that were in the garage, and Starport will never let you back in, so make sure you're desperate. Also, if you have Rex and your Expert Tech with you, this can be your chance to get the only Urbanmech in the game! Yes, it's a slug of a mech, but that AC10 is the longest-ranged and deadliest gun in CHI (without hacking). Here's how: rent a mech, check the opponent, and reload if it's not the Urbanmech (the chances of the Urbie appearing are about 1 in 100). Head West, hiding to avoid the AC10 shots. Shoot out the bleachers, then run outside, but stay next to the outer Arena wall; if you get too far from the outer wall, the "steal a mech" dialogue plays. Wait until the Urbie comes to you (coax it out gently), then kill it. With EXTEME luck, you might be able to salvage it, since neither Rex nor Russ will have a mech after your little gore-fest in the stands. The chances are VERY low, but it's been done. The Urb can't be modified, but why would you want to?

REX PEARCE & THE CRESCENT HAWKS
At the Inaugural Hall later that night you'll meet Rex Pearce, an ally. Save the game before entering, since you might get killed when you leave with him (but not if you have the recommended armor and SRM launcher!). Rex gives you a box from your father and says he's got a new Commando Mech that Katrina left him.

A member of the Crescent Hawks, he says your mission is to round up other Hawks, find a secret cache of spare Mech parts your father hid, and signal Archon Katrina to return to Pacifica for the parts and your team.

But the enemy attacks before you can look at the holocard in the box (which is necessary to locate the cache), and the card is damaged. If you survive, you can roam about Starport gathering gear, earning credits and skills, having Rex's Commando modified at the Speed Shop and so on. NOTE: Speed Shops won't modify the Jaevlin, Spider, Urbanmech, or Chameleon; the Wasp, Stinger, Locust, and Commando all get two modifications each, all worth the money.

NOTE ON TRAITORS
Rex will never turn against you, but after this point, beware! Save your game before entering Mechit-Lubes, Hospitals, or the Jail in case you meet one of the Crescent Hawks. Sometimes, they're Draconis Agents. After adding a party member, Inspect them several times. If it says "something's not right" or "he's nervous", keep inspecting him until you discover his treachery, then kill him. Problem is, some versions of the game have only ONE of each character in them - Tech, Medic, Stinger Pilot - so if the one you find is a traitor, you can't finish the game. If you find a slimeball like this, reload your last saved game and try the agent again, avoiding that particular Mechit-Lube or Hospital if he keeps turning up a scumball. Keep trying over again if it's at the Jail.

THE JAIL & THE UNDERCOVER AGENT
Go East-Northeast from Starport to a small town with a jail and hospital. Save right away, for you may meet an ally who turns out to be an undercover agent. If you're having trouble getting people to talk, or if services like Mechit-Lube are always closed, you've got an agent in the group. Put him outside on foot and get into a few battles. He'll either be killed by the enemy or Rex if he's a traitor; if not, you'll have a free Stinger and a competent pilot. If you don't have your own Mech, steal one from the Jail's parking garage.

FINDING THE OTHER HAWKS, DR. TELLHIM & THE CACHE
There are two places to view the damaged holocard. The easiest, quickest way is to return to the destroyed Citadel and go to your barracks. You'll find a holocard viewer and can see most of the message. The second way is to go to one of the several towns Southwest of Starport. One has the Mayor's house in it, and you can pick the lock and enter. Use the Mayor's holocard viewer and you learn that you must find Dr. Tellhim at his hut in the Northwest. He'll say where to find the cache. (His hut won't appear on the map unless you view the holocard).

Head Northwest, exploring the various towns. There are several cities in the game, all of which are easily found (they have no names, and most have no special features). You need to pick up two more Crescent Hawks; one is a Doctor, found by visiting hospitals, checking the records and talking to people there. Get him a MedKit and Field Surgery to recover faster from wounds. Also, make sure to have him attend a Medical Seminar to raise his Medic skill to Excellent.

Your other ally is a Tech, found by visiting the Mechit-Lubes and asking to TALK and Apprentice. It's invaluable to get him additional Tech training, for he can scavenge spare parts from enemy Mechs that you destroy, thus earning you money as well as simplifying repairs to your own Mechs. Make sure to have him Apprentice to raise his Tech skill to Excellent.

Tellhim is in a building in the West of Pacifica located near the water, near Sector 36/40 x 49/20. With the proper crew (Excellent Tech, Medic, and Pilot [Rex]) and gear, you'll pass his tests and he'll tell you that the cache is on an island to the Southeast (39/60 x 55/60). Once there, enter the cave. Click HERE for a map showing his Hut and the Cache.

THE COMPUTER TERMINALS
You are in a maze full of locked doors and computer terminals. You have with you a keycard that needs to be imprinted with one red number, one blue number, and one yellow number to open each door. Each computer throughout the complex has its own special colour coded number that can imprint your key-card, and each computer's code can be used only once. You must open ELEVEN different doors (that's 33 different computer colour imprints you must find!), to get to the Map Room and the Power Transmitter. The combinations are different for each door, and the keycard can only hold one "number" of each color. Thus, you could bump up against one machine and get, for example, RED 1. Then, if you bumped up against another and got RED 2, your card would now be imprinted with RED 2 only; RED 1 has been replaced. If you do the same for BLUE and YELLOW, your card will now be temporarily imprinted with one red, one blue, and one yellow.

Using the arrangement described, you will be able to open the doors in alphabetical order. There is some flexibility, although at least the first three doors must be opened in the order listed on the map. After you print out the map, you may find that whiting-out or crossing off the map's machines and doors as you finish with them may make your task easier.

Remember that your card can only hold the registration for one number of each color at a time. Thus, if you have the correct blue number, and while getting your red or yellow number you accidentally access another blue machine, you will have to go back and "re-register" your correct blue number.

Click HERE to see a map of the Cache with every terminal numbered and color-coded. (Map by Jonathan Schattke.) Here's the Key to the Cache Map's numbering system:

Jonathan notes: The Apple ][ version has codes 6-33 as numbers 5-32, and code 5 is 33, however the position of the codes needed is exactly the same. Note that door E can be opened any time prior to J.

To find your father's secret Mech (the one that will net you a free Battletech miniature from Infocom, "while supplies last"), move south along the corridor on the western wall, where you found the Y21 machine. Keep going, even though the corridor apparently ends. Voila - Phoenix Hawk LAM.

When you have located and opened the door to the Map Room, you enter it and must then activate a combination of seven planets (PESHT, BENJAMIN, SKYE, SUMMER, RYERSON, KATHIL, ACHERNAR) to get the password. Click HERE to see a picture of the Map Room, with these seven planets highlighted in yellow squares (see also Page 14 of the original manual). Activate the planets by touching them all, then walk over to the control panel on the West wall for your password.

Go back upstairs to the power room and turn on the power. Proceed next door to the transmitter room and turn on the transmitter (by walking into it) to call Archon Katrina Steiner. There's a brief congratulatory closing sequence.

Pictures: Map of Pacifica - Copy Protection Codes - Map Room Planets - Cache Map

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