K37-D is a science fiction action/adventure game that is mostly in first person,
but has a third person tank portion as well. It has some survival and stealth
elements and also puzzle-solving. It's not the kind of game that holds your hand
all the way through, you have to learn things for yourself and determine your
own goals.
[Controls]
The controls are fairly basic and straightforward.
Movement - W,A,S,D or the Arrow keys will move.
Aim - You aim with the mouse.
Shoot - You can fire with the left mouse button or with left ctrl. Note that
your weapon will overheat if fired continuously. This will also click buttons in
console navigation, like a regular mouse.
Confirm - Right mouse button or left Alt. This will open consoles and advance
dialogue.
Flashlight - Left shift or middle mouse button. Your weapon will overheat
slightly faster while the flashlight is activated.
Player Menu - Esc or P will bring up the player menu, which contains your
inventory, a map screen and game menu options.
[Tutorial Sequence]
When you begin the game you will go through a tutorial sequence with helpful
dialogue (unless you turned off the tutorial sequence). You begin the game in
the administration section and you will be guided to the tank rover, which you
will drive around the outside of the facility to get to the utility section.
In the utility section, you may want to activate your flashlight so you can see
better until the main power is on. You will be guided to the main CPU, where you
have to install the data core. After that you can activate the power and turn
off your flashlight.
You will be instructed to look at power unit panel to determine which components
are needed to repair it. You will be instructed to do the same with the comms
unit. After that you can leave utility and head to extraction in the tank.
When you leave utility you will have your first encounter with the mutated
creatures. It's really easy to kill the creatures in the tank, either with the
cannon or just by running them over. Drive to extraction and enter that area.
When you get to extraction Aleska tells you she has no idea what those creatures
are but she is analyzing some data about them. When you get to the extraction
console you are instructed to set drone 1 to collect a resource.
Next you need to head to manufacturing and see what components you can make and
what resources are needed to make them. After taking a look at the manufacturing
console you're directed to the control console to get familiar with that.
Aleska tells you that the creates expel toxic gas when they die and that you
should go get a toxicity meter in the research area; she also says that you can
call for the transport ship after you repair the comms unit. Once you go to
research and pick up the meter, the tutorial sequence is essentially over and
Aleska suggests that you remember to collect resources from extraction and that
you explore the facility for more helpful info.
At this point it's up to you to decide what you should be doing. Figuring out
what resources you need to make the repair components is one thing you should
do. Then make sure to set the drones to collect those resources. While you wait
for the drones to collect the resources, you should really start looking around
on all of the computers in the facility.
[Basics]
-The Facility
K37-D is a facility with 7 different areas; administration, housing, storage,
utility, extraction, manufacturing and research. The south portion of the
facility is comprised of admin, housing and storage; utility is on its own in
the center; and extraction, manufacturing and research make up the north
portion.
If you open the facility map in the player menu, you will get basic information
about each section along with indicators for breaches and high toxicity. This
screen will also remind you of basic goals.
-Creature Attacks
After your initial encounter with the creatures, they will continue to attack
the facility at random time intervals. This is usually between 2 and 4 minutes
time. You will get a warning when the attacking creatures are approaching and a
timer counting down to a possible breach.
The best way to defend against these attacks is with the tank rover; if you can
get to it in time you can easily kill the attacking creatures without having to
worry about the toxic gas they disperse. However if the breach timer reaches
zero, the creatures will breach whichever section of the facility they were
attacking; unless the auto-defense turrets stop them.
It's up to you how/if you want to defend against these attacks, but they are a
lot more difficult to deal with if they get inside the facility. However if you
don't need to go to that section of the facility, or if you're just doing
something more important, you don't necessarily need to worry about every
incoming attack.
[Facility's Systems]
The facility has a variety of computer systems which you access through the
control, extraction, manufacturing, research and personnel consoles.
-Control Console
Each area of the facility has a control console and they all grant access to the
same systems; communications, utility and turrets.
*Short-range communications won't be available until after the Ion Coil is
repaired. Short-range comms allow you to scan the radio waves for local
communications and record position data for any signals you find.
*Long-range comms won't be available until after you repair all three components
of the comms unit. Long-range comms allows you to call the transport ship to
escape the facility and end the game.
*Power allows you to choose which systems to route power to in the facility.
When the power unit is first activated it will only have 8 bars of power
available for use, which are set to each area's turrets and drone 1.
You can select each area of the facility on the left side and see which systems
have power and which do not. You can click on an active system to deactivate it
and make a bar of power available for another system. This is how you reroute
power to the various systems (note that the research console requires 2 bars of
power).
*Enviro let's you monitor and filter the environmental conditions in the
facility. If you have to kill creatures inside the facility, they will release
toxic gas and the enviro systems are how you remove that gas.
To activate the environmental systems in any area, you must route power to those
systems via the power screen. Each area's enviro systems require 1 bar of power
to remain active. Once the area is clear of toxins you do not need to maintain
power to those systems if you do not wish to.
The enviro systems also allow you to inject aerosol into an area; this requires
you to have the aerosol injector and at least one aerosol in your inventory. It
also requires you to have power running to that area's environmental systems.
Aerosol will be further explained later in the guide.
*Auto-Defense Turrets allows you to monitor the status of the facility's
turrets.The turrets defend against incoming attacks and each area needs to have
power and ammunition to function. The turrets use carbon or ionized carbon as
ammunition.
Each area's turrets can be set to either burst fire or full-auto mode. Burst
fire will help conserve ammo but isn't as effective; full-auto is totally
effective as long as it's supplied with ammo. Ionized carbon is more effective
ammunition and you can set any or all turrets to use it if you have enough
supply.
If the creatures attack the facility, the functional turrets will fire on the
enemies. This means that when the breach timer counts down to zero, you will be
notified if the turrets stopped the attack or if they breached the facility. You
can rely on them for defense to a certain degree while you take care of other
tasks in the facility.
-Extraction Console
The extraction console is very important to understand because it is how you get
resources in the game. It controls 3 mining drones that automatically gather
elements for you while you go and do other work. Each of the 3 drones requires 1
bar of power to operate, and by default power is routed to the first drone.
You click on which drone you want to control then you click on which element you
want it to collect. Each resource takes a certain amount of time to collect and
you will see the timer count down on the bottom right. When the resources are
gathered you can collect them with the collect button.
Drone 3 requires a CPU before it will become functional, which you will need to
manufacture first. Also take note that each drone can function more efficiently
if you manufacture a RAM upgrade for them; the upgrade reduces extraction time.
-Manufacturing Console
The manufacturing console is where you use resources to craft components. Once
you decide what components you want, you need to come here and see what
resources they require; this will give you an idea of that you want your drones
to be collecting.
When you have enough resource simply make sure the console is powered on and
craft your component. It will go into your inventory where can can view a brief
description of the item if you forget what it's for.
-Research Console
The research console is the most advanced and complex console in the facility,
thus its requirement for 2 power bars rather than 1. It has 4 functions; signal
analysis, genetic analysis, ionization and synthesis.
*Signal Analysis lets you triangulate the origin of a radio signal with data
recorded from local short-range comms. Before you can collect signal data, you
need to have repaired the Ion Coil on the comms unit.
With the Ion Coil repaired you have access to short-range comms; if you scan the
frequencies you will find 2 separate signals. You can record the data for each
signal at any control console in the facility.
In order to triangulate the signal you need 3 unique data for that signal, which
means you need to record the signal from 3 different control consoles. Once
you've done this you can triangulate the source of the signal and it will show
up on your mini-map when you are in the correct area. The signal can then be
deactivated.
*Genetic Analysis lets you analyze a genetic sample and compare it for a match
with one in the systems database. In order to collect genetic bio-samples from
deceased enemy creatures, you will need to find the Bio-Sample Case first (which
is located behind the locked door in the research area).
Once you have the Bio-Sample Case, the creatures will randomly drop bio-samples
when they die for you to collect. You can bring the samples to the research
console to test for matches.
On the genetic analysis screen you select a sample in the database to test
against by entering a number on the right side of the screen. When you enter the
number that sample's genetic profile will be shown below.
Each time you analyze a genetic sample the computer will begin to build a
genetic profile for that sample. This means that even if you don't find a match,
you're still making progress towards revealing the sample's profile.
If you reveal the sample's genetic profile you can visually compare it against
that of a sample loaded from the database and try to find the correct match that
way. Of course this might be time consuming and it would be a lot easier if you
could just discover which sample in the database would be a match right away.
*Ionization is a very simple process that allows you to ionize resources or an
Ion Coil. You just select which item you want to ionize on the input screen then
press the ionize button. The items will go directly into your inventory.
*Synthesis allows you to create certain items but requires you to know what
combination of resources to mix in order to make those items. You choose which
resources to insert on the input screen and you will see if it creates anything
or not on the synthesis screen. If you're wondering how/where to get aerosol,
this is it.
-Personnel Consoles
The personnel console hold files and e-mails which have all of the vital
information in the game, so you better make sure to check all of them out. Even
though they all look the same, you'll quickly see they all have different
users/areas associated with them. If you need information about one of the other
consoles, there is always a personnel console close to it that will explain how
that console works.
Most (but not all) of the employee's personnel consoles are in the housing area;
this means you could spend a considerable amount of time here searching the
files and e-mails for information and hints. There is also a lot of narrative
and generally useless information in these files too, so you'll have to figure
out what you need and what you don't need.
It's really fun just going through all of the silly references and stuff in the
files though, so you might like to do that.
---If you'd like to try and figure out the rest of the game for yourself, you
should stop reading this guide now; otherwise keep reading for some detailed
strategy.---
-Strategy
Ok, so if you've got the basics down you can go to the options and check the
"skip tutorial" option and start a new game. Take the tank straight to the
utility section, install the data core and turn on the power unit. You don't
need to check anything else here for now.
Head directly for extract and just run the bugs over on your way; they are
really easy to kill if you just run into them. Enter extraction and head to the
control console first.
Open the power screen and take power away from the turrets systems in utility or
one of the southern areas. Reroute that power to drone 2 in extraction, then
exit the control console.
Go to the extraction console right next to you and set one drone to collect
uranium and one drone to collect silicon. Close the console and go through
manufacturing then enter research.
Grab the toxicity meter from research then head back to extraction and see if
the drones have collected 1 silicon and 2 uranium. Collect the resources then
set the uranium drone to start collecting carbon.
You may have to deal with an attack by now, so it's really up to you how you
want to handle it. I would recommend being ready to defend in the tank.
Anyway once you have the silicon and uranium go back to manufacturing and make
sure you route power to the manufacturing console. Make a Drone CPU then bring
it back extraction and repair drone 3.
Now it's up to you how you want to route power and if you want to have all 3
drones powered on right now, but your drones should hopefully have collected 4
carbon and 1 uranium by now so collect those resources then set one drone to
collect silicon and one to collect mercury; after that go back to manufacturing.
With 4 carbon and 1 uranium, make a Zeta Amp at the manufacturing console then
take it to the utility section. In the utility section open the power unit panel
and repair the Zeta Amp, which will give you 3 more bars of power to work with.
Now you should be able to power all of the drones and all of the turrets; this
gives you a good foundation to work from. Go back to extraction and collect as
much silicon and mercury as the drones have gathered, at least 2 of each.
Back at the manufacturing console, make as many Drone RAM as you can then use
those to upgrade the drones at the extraction console. This will make them
collect resources faster.
From here you should be in a good position to explore the facility and discover
your own goals. There are 9 possible endings in the game so what you discover
and what you choose to do makes a lot of difference; as long as you don't get
the lazy ending that is.
-How not to get the Lazy Ending
If you want to know how not to get the lazy ending, you should go looking around
on the personnel consoles in research, and figure out how to open that locked
door. Some very important information is behind that door...
One day I'll probably come back and update this guide, unless someone else makes
a better one. For now I just wanted to set people on the right path; if you're
looking hard enough to find this guide then you deserve some help. I hope you
figure out how to get the non-lazy endings and have fun!
