__________ _____ ___________
\______ \ / _ \ \__ ___/
| | _/ / /_\ \ | |
| | \ / | \ | |
|______ //\\____|__ //\|____|/\
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
B.A.T.
Bureau of Astral Troubleshooters /
Bureau des Affaires Temporelles
Computer's Dream / Ubi Soft (1990)
DOS
Walkthrough
Version 1.1
Author: Jan Larres <
[email protected]>
===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================
INTRODUCTION
GENERAL TIPS
Food
Differences Between Versions
CHARACTER CREATION
WALKTHROUGH
APPENDICES
Exchange Center
Shops
The Bizzy Game
MAP
VERSION HISTORY
LICENSE
===============================================================================
INTRODUCTION
===============================================================================
B.A.T. is an interesting mix between a graphic adventure and an RPG. You
have a set of attributes that can be increased over time, (sort of) random
battles, a big city to explore and even a programmable computer, and you
also have to solve puzzles and use some items like in a graphic adventure.
The game has a fascinating cyberpunk atmosphere, but unfortunately many of
its unique features remain quite under-utilized so the end result remains a
bit unfulfilling. Still, it's definitely worth a try if you like this kind
of game.
You can also have a look at my longplay video on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/GAe8z5-MR9A
===============================================================================
GENERAL TIPS
===============================================================================
- Read the manual. Knowledge of its contents is assumed throughout this
walkthrough.
- Remember to take your credit card out of vending machines, phones etc. If
you forget to do that you should be able to find it again by using the
'Search' command in the screen where you forgot the card.
- The informant at the beginning says that you only have 10 days to find
Vrangor, but that doesn't seem to be true. I once slept for two months in
the hotel and it didn't seem to have any effect.
- Don't steal in shops! If you get caught no shop will ever sell anything
to you again.
- If you are injured (the B.O.B. displays at least one body part in red)
you will continuously lose health. You can set your rhythm to
'Hibernation' to slow the loss down or buy anaesthetics from the Medical
Shop to stop it completely.
- Time always passes when you are wandering or just standing around. It
doesn't seem to pass if you have menus open, but if you want to make sure
that you won't suddenly get attacked or robbed (or starve) you can use
the Help->Pause menu option.
- If an enemy escapes during a fight they will most likely come back soon,
possibly with reinforcements. So be prepared for sudden attacks.
- Some of the people that are wandering around the city sell things like
food and medicine. You may also be able to get certain access cards this
way, but it's probably safer to follow the normal story path. Instead of
buying the things you can also try stealing them, but that is obviously
more risky as you may get attacked.
- Be sure to always have at least 5 credits on your credit card, otherwise
you won't be able to play the Bizzy game to get more money. And since
Krells can't be converted to credits trying to steal money from other
people won't help in that case.
- You can sleep anywhere in the street if you really want to. I've read
that if you do that or even just stand around for too long in one spot
you may get robbed, but I've never had that happen to me.
- All times mentioned in this walkthrough are based on a 24h clock, as
that's what the game itself is using.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Food
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the course of this game you will have to feed yourself. The B.O.B.'s
'PROG 2' display will show your current nutrition and hydration values. If
any of them reach 0 you will slowly lose health (called 'life potential'),
so pay attention to them (see also the programming section at the start of
the walkthrough). You can accumulate a maximum of 2000 calories, after that
the value doesn't increase anymore. This means that you should always carry
some food around with you in case you can't reach a shop in time. See the
shop tables in the appendix for prices.
Sidenote: The Amiga version (and possibly others) seems to allow for more
than 2000 calories. I've also read that eating too much in one sitting will
make you throw up and possibly get sick, but I haven't been able to verify
that. This may also differ between versions.
The maximum hydration is 99% for some reason. Drinking has the advantage
that you can get water for free from the fountain near the park entrance
(go left from the entry hall), so you don't have to spend as much on
drinks.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Differences Between Versions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This walkthrough is mainly for the DOS version, but most things should work
for all available versions (DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Amstrad CPC). Most
differences I've seen from short tests seem to be details like how much
money you start with, some prices, or the times when people are around; the
only somewhat more substantial difference is that opening hours don't seem
to matter in the DOS version, but they do in the Amiga version. If anyone
knows of other non-detail differences please email me. Also see the
sidenote at the end of the walkthrough for a potential important
difference.
===============================================================================
CHARACTER CREATION
===============================================================================
If you press the right mouse button on the title screen you will be taken
to the character creation screen. Technically it's more of a 'modification'
than 'creation', but oh well.
Even though the manual talks about all the neat things you would be able to
do with your competences and aptitudes, in practice they hardly seem to
matter at all. Only some of them like 'Reflexes' have an influence on
things like how much time you have in a battle before the enemy starts
shooting and how good your pickpocketing skills are.
You can probably just leave the values as they are, but if you want to have
at least some optimization the following competence values should give you
a reasonable character:
Force: 13
Intelligence: 17
Charisma: 03
Perception: 08
Energy: 17
Reflexes: 20
You can pick up one or two weapons depending on their weight. It doesn't
really make much sense to carry around two weak weapons instead of one
powerful one, so pick the MOZ (the second from the right) and leave it at
that. The last weapon, called NOVA, is technically a bit more powerful than
the MOZ, but it is so heavy that you wouldn't be able too carry around much
else.
Don't forget to save your character.
===============================================================================
WALKTHROUGH
===============================================================================
Getting Started
---------------
You start the game in the hangar with a credit card with 1000 credits and
504 Krells in cash. The first thing you should do now, before going
anywhere, is program your B.O.B. The ability to program your
B.O.B. is another idea that's nice in theory but has only limited use in
practice, as the best thing to do is to put everything useful into one
program and just run that all the time.
On the 'PROG 4' screen of the B.O.B. click the 'Edit' button to start
editing a new program. The following program will automatically translate
from the Robot and Alien languages (why do robots have their own language?)
and warn you when you are hungry, injured etc.:
IF ROBOT
TRANSLATE ROBOT
END IF
IF ALIEN
TRANSLATE ALIEN
END IF
IF HUNGRY
DISPLAY HUNGRY
END IF
IF THIRSTY
DISPLAY THIRSTY
END IF
IF TIRED
DISPLAY TIRED
END IF
IF INJURED
DISPLAY INJURED
END IF
IF ILLNESS
DISPLAY ILLNESS
END IF
RESTART
END
Note that for the DISPLAY command you need to select one of the five
messages at the bottom of the command list.
After you're done entering the program click 'Quit' and then 'Save', which
will prompt you for a name. You will then see that name in the list on the
left. Click on the name you just entered and press 'Run'. Luckily these
programs are independent of the current game, so if you start a new game
you can just click on 'Dir' to get a list of already existing programs,
'Load' the one you want and then 'Run' it as before.
After you're done with this follow the WC sign to the bathrooms on the
right. Go to the stall in the back and you will meet your contact person
who will explain your mission to you and give you your weapon(s), a
hologram of Merigo and a leaflet. You can drop the leaflet after reading it
as it's just taking up inventory space.
Return to the hangar and leave through the exit left of the bathrooms. You
will be in a street with stairs leading down to a pub referred to as "A
Space Pub" by the game and a path to the Astroport Square further ahead.
There's nothing important in the pub so you can just skip it if you want to
(unless you want to buy drinks). Continue to the Astroport Square.
The Astroport Square is one of the central intersections of the game. There
are exits to the Mecafood Center, the Exchange Center, an (expensive)
sleep-pod hotel and various streets. Before exploring the city we should
get prepared a bit better, so go to Mecafood Center and buy some food
(check the appendix for prices), and then exchange about 500 credits to
Krells at the Exchange Center. This leaves us with two things that we need
to get: ammunition and shields. Go straight ahead to the street in the
middle of the Astroport Square, past the car and then on that junction
there's the weapon shop on the right. Buy about 3 clips of E-300 ammunition
for your MOZ (or E-10 if they run out of that). After that go to the armor
shop (refer to the map to find it quickly) and buy 2 strength 8 force
fields.
Now we're prepared to explore the city. You may wish to just walk around a
bit to get more familiar with the layout, or you can go straight to doing
one of the following three tasks. They can be approached in any order, but
storywise it makes sense to try to find Merigo first.
Dealing with Merigo
-------------------
Go to the Night Bar a bit north of the Central Junction (depending on which
version you're playing it may only be open during certain hours). Ask the
woman in front about Merigo and pay the 46 Krells she demands. She will
tell you about a member of a specific race that she heard talking about
Merigo. Write the race down, it is randomized for each game.
Now we have to go find this person. Walk around the city and ask every
member of the race you wrote down about Merigo. Note that you don't have to
ask the what the manual calls 'static' characters, only the wandering ones
that you talk to using the 'interpellation' icon. It's also important that
you use the 'ask' menu item and not the hologram -- the hologram doesn't
actually seem to be useful.
Once you find the correct person he will tell you to meet him at the museum
in the park at a certain time. Again, write the time down as it is
randomized (or at least different between versions). Also make sure that
you have at least 100 Krells (better 400) in cash to be able to pay him.
Be at the museum at the specified time (you can ask the 'static' guy there
about the time), and an interpellation icon should show up. Talk to him and
pay the 100 Krells for his information. He will tell you that he spoke with
Merigo at a certain time yesterday in the Xifo club. Write that time down
as usual. The club is for members only, so you also need to get a
membership card from him. You can either buy it from him for 300 Krells or
try stealing it. If your pickpocket attempt fails you will probably have to
kill him, though.
Once you know the time and have the membership card go to the club at the
specified time. Before you enter set your rhythm to 'accelerate', this
should make the fight a bit easier. Inside the club go to the back and wait
for Merigo to show up. He will attack you immediately, so be prepared.
After killing him search the screen to find an electronic key. This will
become useful later.
Lydia
-----
We now need to meet up with a woman called Lydia as she will help us out
later. Go to the dance club in the hot quarter between 01:00 and 06:00, set
your rhythm to accelerate and pay the 50 Krells to be let in. Inside Lydia
will approach you and ask to dance with you. Say yes. In the following
dancing minigame you have to alternately press the left and right mouse
buttons as quickly as possible to fill up the progress bar on the right.
Keep doing that until she talks to you again. At that point she will agree
to accompanying you around the city.
Sloan
-----
The second person we need to meet is Sloan. Make sure you have at least
1000 Krells in cash and then go to the arcade (again in the hot quarter)
between 13:00 and 14:00, and go up to the Bizzy machine (don't just wait
around in the arcade). Sloan will pop up and challenge you to a contest.
Agree to it, and she will start playing the Bizzy game. You are going to
play after her and then have to beat whatever level she reached. When you
have won she will ask you what you want her to do, say that she should act
as your guide.
Note: For more information on the Bizzy game see the appendix.
A visit to Kortakis
-------------------
Now we're going to try buying a DRAG (essentially a vehicle for inter-city
travel). Go to the airlock, and then try going through it behind the guard.
The guard will tell you're that you're not allowed in, but at this point
Sloan will intervene and get him to let you through. In the DRAG room go to
the top right into the small control room. The guy there will tell you that
renting a DRAG will cost 5900 Krells and ask you to pay. Say 'no' here,
even if you should have enough. Now Lydia will interrupt and tell you about
a friend that would be able to help you out, and give you a phone number.
WRITE IT DOWN, it is randomized and you won't be able to ask her again, so
if you forget it it will be impossible to finish the game! (But see the
sidenote at the end of the walkthrough for a possible difference between
versions.)
Go to the hangar that you started in, or the street between it and
Astroport Square, and use the telephone there. Call the number that Lydia
told you and ask the guy about an appointment with Kortakis. He will tell
you that you are welcome at any time. Go to Kortakis' building through the
hot quarter and the guard will let you in. Once inside ask Kortakis for
money, and she will transfer 3000 credits to your credit card. She will
also give Lydia a jewel.
The Mobytrack & The Underground City
------------------------------------
For this part we're going to need the electronic key we got from Merigo, so
if you haven't killed him yet do that now. Then go to the Astroport Square
and go to the right behind the hotel, and continue going into the derelict
building. Here Merigo's key will allow us to go through the entrance to the
Mobytrack, a large and very confusing labyrinth. Don't try going through it
without some kind of map or you will go mad. Also note that at least in the
DOS version you shouldn't open the B.O.B. while you are on the Mobytrack or
your display will get corrupted.
Since there is only one way through the labyrinth to the underground city
it is easier to just provide directions instead of a map.
The way to the underground city:
1L, 2R, 1L, 1R, 1L, 1R, 2R, S, 1R, 2R, 1R, S
Legend:
nL: Take the nth door on the left.
nR: Take the nth door on the right.
S: Go straight through the door ahead of you. After going through a
door you will face either right or left; which direction it will be
is fixed for each door.
T: Turn 180 degrees.
After arriving at the underground city continue to the control room. When
you arrive there Lydia will tell you that there is a hole shaped like the
jewel she got from Kortakis. Tell her to insert it into the hole, and you
will hear a noise. Now search the screen to find an access card. This is
all we need to do here, so go back to the Mobytrack.
The way back through the Mobytrack:
S, S, 1L, S, S, T, S, 1R*, 1R, 1R, 1L, 1L, S, T, 1R, 1R, S, T, S, S
* This is not the door immediately to the right of you since that's the
one you came through.
Note that the way back is different from our way here because some
doors only open in one direction.
Preparing for the showdown
--------------------------
Now there's only two more things to do before we can go after Vrangor:
Exchange the credits we got from Kortakis to Krells so we can buy a DRAG
and find another access card. First go to the Astroport Square and exchange
enough credits so that you have at least 5900 Krells. After that go to the
Grand Hotel, say that you want to stay 1 day, go to your room and search
it. You should find a technician's access card.
Before we head to Vrangor's station make sure that you have at least one
full magazine clip and at least one full shield with strength 7, better 8.
Showdown with Vrangor
---------------------
Go to the airlock with the guard, but instead of going through it to the
DRAG room turn left instead to the technician's room. In there talk to the
technician on the left and he will let you use the computer thanks to our
access card. On the computer scroll through the entries until you come upon
the one for the 'Epsilon' station (the same one as the one written on the
card we found in the underground city). The computer will show an access
code made out of Ls and Rs. Write it down, it's again randomized for each
game.
Now go to the DRAG room and buy a DRAG in the control room. Your DRAG will
be on the left of the DRAG room. Enter it.
Driving the DRAG is done in a 3D first-person perspective. Use the mouse to
move to the left and right, the left mouse button to speed up and the right
mouse button to slow down. On the radar in the lower left you will see
Terrapolis as a white dot. Our goal is Vrangor's base, which will be shown
as a red dot. Speed up your DRAG and look around until you can see the red
dot on your radar. Once you do just head towards it.
Sidenote:
I've read in some places that the access card from the underground city
is not necessary for the red dot to appear, which would essentially
make the entire subplot around Merigo and the underground city
unnecessary. This doesn't seem to be true in the DOS version, I wasn't
able to find the red dot without the card even after driving around for
more than ten minutes. Since that subplot is a large chunk of the game
I assume that that might have been a bug in other versions of the game
that was fixed in the DOS version.
In Vrangor's base you will find a control panel in the lower left. Enter
the access code you wrote down before starting from the top, pressing the
left button for an L and the right button for an R. After you're done set
your rhythm to accelerate and go to the right. In the next room you will
get attacked by Vrangor. If you have enough shield and ammunition left he
should be easy to defeat.
Congratulations, you have beaten B.A.T.!
Curiously enough you can actually continue playing the game by going right
from the ending screen, but obviously there's nothing left to do.
===============================================================================
APPENDICES
===============================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exchange Center
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exchanging credits to Krells incurs a 1% charge. Also the exact exchange
rate varies a bit, but is usually a bit over 2 Krells per credit. Note that
it is not possible to convert Krells to credits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shops
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mecafood Center
-------------------
Be aware that the vending machine also charges you for items that are out
of stock. I don't know if that's a bug or intended.
----------------------------------------
No Name Credits Calories
----------------------------------------
0 Suchi (sic) 50 50
1 Slimeburger 23 800
2 Chips 30 500
3 Sausage roll 38 300
4 Autumn rolls 40 700
5 Saveloys 35 450
6 Kradokinoi 39 410
7 Shell surprise 60 50
8 Blue orange 25 40
9 Dish of the day 65 850
----------------------------------------
A Chin Merchant
---------------
------------------------------------
Name Krells Calories
------------------------------------
Selenian Salad 20 75
Kiche (sic) 18 250
Kluck Pate 24 175
Steak and Chips 36 750
Merluz Nitrokola 22 550
Saveloys 12 450
------------------------------------
A Space Pub / The Night Bar
---------------------------
--------------------------------
Name Krells Percent
--------------------------------
Double Splatz 8 25
Nitrokola 12 20
Seven Down 10 30
Metalurc 16 30
Centauriax 10 35
--------------------------------
Weapon Shop
-----------
Power is called "Perforation coefficient" in the manual.
-------------------------------
Name Krells Power
-------------------------------
Voktrasof 80
LP-12 16 4
Beckmann 160
LP-57 20 5
Hacker 200
A610-80 30 6
Haas 10 300
N-29 36 5
T-02 40 7
MOZ 400
E-10 50 7
E-300 56 8
NOVA 480
NOVA battery 60 9
-------------------------------
Armor Shop
----------
Computer test/repair is for when the B.O.B. gets damaged in a fight.
-------------------------
Name Krells
-------------------------
Force 6 200
Force 7 280
Force 8 400
Computer test 40
Computer repair 80
-------------------------
Medical Shop
------------
'General' surgery is for increasing 'life potential' (health) and varies in
effectiveness. The others are for healing the injured body parts that are
displayed red in the B.O.B.
-----------------------------
Name Krells
-----------------------------
Stimulants 28
Anaesthetics 34
Surgery (Head) 60
Surgery (Chest) 50
Surgery (Abdomen) 40
Surgery (Left leg) 30
Surgery (Right leg) 30
Surgery (Right arm) 20
Surgery (Left arm) 20
Surgery (General) 80
-----------------------------
The Astroport Hotel
-------------------
The Astroport Hotel is rather expensive, so I recommend against staying
there unless you're rich for some reason. 40 minutes of sleep cost 5
credits, so for 8 hours you will have to pay 60 credits and 180 credits for
24 hours (the maximum). Note that the time scale on the left is
logarithmic.
The Grand
---------
This fancy hotel is actually much cheaper than the Astroport Hotel, 1 day
is only 20 Krells. You can stay up to 7 days. The time restrictions seem to
be enforced somewhat inconsistently, though; if I only stay one day I get
kicked out once the time is up, but once I said I wanted to stay 7 days and
was able to sleep through 2 whole months without being disturbed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bizzy Game
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bizzy game works roughly like the old 'Simon' board game: It shows you
a number of symbols in a certain order and you have repeat that order after
it finishes, with each level having one more symbol than the previous one,
starting with 3 symbols for the first level. The main differences are that
the order changes every level, so you only get to see the sequence once,
and there are 8 symbols instead of 4 colours.
In each level you have to bet a certain number of credits, starting with 5
for the first level, and if you win you get twice that money back. So if
you have 100 credits and win the first level you will end up with 105
credits.
The following table shows the amount you have to bet for the first few
levels and the total number of credits you will have won if you
successfully complete that level.
-------------------
Level Bet Total
-------------------
1 5 5
2 6 11
3 9 20
4 14 34
5 21 55
6 30 85
7 41 126
8 54 180
9 69 249
10 86 335
15 201 1090
20 366 2570
-------------------
And if that's not enough for you you can calculate the bet amount and total
won amount with the following two formulas. 'i' here signifies the number
of the level you want to get the result for.
i
Bet: x = 5 + SUM (2 * (n - 1) - 1)
i n = 2
i n
Total won: t = 5 + SUM (5 + SUM (2 * (k - 1) - 1))
i n = 2 k = 2
===============================================================================
MAP
===============================================================================
This map is based on the one by Fred J. Philipp in the book "Quest for
Clues IV".
________________ .---------.
/ \ |Kortakis |
.------. .-------. | .-------. | G |
|Hangar| |Vrangor| | | DRAG | '---------'
'------' '-------' | |Control| | .-------.
| | | '-------'\ .---------. |Table |
.------. .-------. | .-------. |Kortakis'| |Merigo |
|Button|_| Door | \______________| DRAG | |Building | | F |
|Panel | | | | Room | '---------' '-------'
'------' '-------' '-------' | |
| .-------. .-------.
.-------. .-------. |Street |_| Xifo |
| Tech |_| Air | .--------. | | | Club |
| Room | | Lock | | Galaxy | '-------' '-------'
'-------' '-------' '--------'\ |
| .-------. .-------.
.-------. | .--------. |Street | | Dance |
|Museum | | |Arcade &| | | | Floor |
| E | | | Sloan | '-------' '-------'
'-------' | '--------'\ | |
| .-------. | .-------. .-------.
.-------. | Food | | | Hot | | Dance |
--------. .------. |Outside| | Shop | | |Quarter|-|Club & |
| Path |-| Path |-|Museum | '-------' | '-------' | Lydia |
'--------' '------' '-------' | | | '-------'
| | __|___ | |
--------. .------. .-------. / | \.-------. .-------.
|Fountain|-| Arch |-| Path | | | |Outside|__________|Street |
'--------' '------' '-------' .-------. |Airlock| | |
\_______________|Outside| '-------' '-------'
|Park |
'-------'
| .--------.
_____________________/ |Bedroom |
/ | C |
| '--------'
| |
| .--------. .--------.
| .-----. | Cell | | Grand |
| | Bar | '--------' | Hotel |
| '-----'\ | '--------'
.------. .--------. .--------. | .-------.
|Street|------------|Outside | |Police | .--------. | Armor |
'------' | Bar | |Station | | Street | | Shop |
| '--------' '--------' '--------' | B |
| | | | /'-------'
-------. | .--------. .--------. .--------. .--------.
|Medical| | | Weapon | | Street | | Street |-| Side |
| Shop | | | Shop | '--------' '--------' | Street |
'-------'\ | | D | | | '--------'
.------. '--------'\ | .--------.
|Street| .--------. | Street |
'------'------------|Central | '--------'
| |Junction| | .--------.
.------. '--------' | | In |___ To
|Street| | | |Building| Mobytrack
'------' _______________|_________/ /'--------'
| / | /
------. .------. .--------. .-------. .--------. .-----.
|Food | |Street| |Exchange| |Vehicle| |Outside | |Hotel|
|Center| | | | Center | | | |Building| | |
'------' '------' '--------' '-------' '--------' '-----'
| | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------.
| Astroport Square |
'-------------------------------------------------------'
|
.-------. .--------. +---------------------------------+
|Street | | Stall | | A Hologram of Merigo, leaflet, |
| | | A | | weapons |
/'-------' '--------' | B Force field |
/ | | | C Technician's card |
----. .-----. .-------. .--------. | D Ammo |
|Side|_|Space| |Hangar |_|Bathroom| | E Xifo club pass |
|Room| |Pub | |(Start)| | | | F Electronic key |
'----' '-----' '-------' '--------' | G Money, jewel |
| H Radar decoding device |
+---------------------------------+
.-------. .------. .------. .-------. .----. .--------.
From ___|Chamber|-|Houses|-|Street|-|Street |-|Tiny|-|Derelict|
Mobytrack '-------' '------' '------' '-------' |Room| | Ship |
'----' | H |
'--------'
===============================================================================
VERSION HISTORY
===============================================================================
1.1 (2012-06-03)
- Added link to longplay on YouTube
1.0 (2012-06-07)
- Initial release
===============================================================================
LICENSE
===============================================================================
Copyright (c) 2012 Jan Larres <
[email protected]>
This document is released under the Creative Commons BY 3.0 license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vim: cc=80 tw=77 sw=2 sts=2
