Super Robot Wars 3 - Mini Manual

--ToC--
1) Prologue
2) Game Proression
3) Missions
4) The Various Status Screens
5) Intermissions

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1.Prologue
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Six months ago, under the leadership of Bian Souldark, the Divine Crusaders
swept across the world in an attempt to forcefully unify it against an alien
threat which Bian believed would soon manifest itself. He built a massive robot,
the Valcion, and used it in his offensives across the world. The people feared
the Valcion, and called together every robot-pilotting hero they could find to
fight against it. Thus, Londo Bell was formed from the world's greatest mecha.
Bian died with the Valcion at the hands of Masaki Ando and his robot, the
Masoukishin Cybaster. The long battle soon came to be known as the Second Super
Robot War.

In the months since the battle against the Divine Crusaders, the Earth
Federation was formed out of a strong need and desire for a united and
peaceful Earthsphere. Londo Bell fell under the Federation's jurisdiction,
but the top brass feared their strength and denied them all but the most
basic weapons.

Recently, however, military units have been disappearing in the Fifth Luna
area. Could the dangling remnants of the DC be responsible, or is a new
threat emerging from the shadows? The Earth Federation deploys Londo Bell
into the area to investigate...

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2.Game Progression
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When you start a new game in Super Robot Wars 3, you will be shown a brief
prologue and be taken to the War Room, where the crew of White Base, Londo
Bell's main battleship, will be discussing the situation.

Soon, the game will progress into the first mission, where you will have a
turn to move your units and the enemy will have a turnt to move his units.
The mission will progress until the victory or defeat conditions have
been satisfied, after which the game will progress back into the war room
for a debriefing.

You will then be taken to the Intermission screen, where you can upgrade
your units, swap pilots between units, check up on units' and pilots'
status, save your game, or sell units. When you're done, you will be taken
back to the War Room and the cycle will repeat itself until the game is
completed.

If you ever lose a mission, it will simply restart. Your characters will
retain all of their experience and credits that they acquired before the
mission failed, so it is sometimes to your advantage to lose a mission.
Your total turn count does -not- reset after you lose a mission, however.

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3.Missions
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Each mission is separated into two phases - the Player Phase and the Enemy
Phase. During the Player Phase, the player gets to move his or her units,
and during the Enemy Phase, the CPU gets to move its units. A description
of each phase and the actions you can take during them follows. Blue units
are Earth Federation units, while red units are Divine Crusader (DC) units.

-[The Player Phase]-

Each of your units may take a number of actions during the player phase.
Place the cursor over a unit to bring up a menu with various actions.
Typically, the menu will have "Move", "Spirit", and "Stats" in it. Often
it will also have "Attack" in it. A greyed-out unit has already expended
all of its actions for that turn and will not be able to take any more,
so the Stats option will be automatically selected without the menu
appearing.

Here is a brief description of each of the commands:

Move - Move the unit. Once the unit moves, it must either cancel the move
       or finish its turn, either by selecting an attack or the Done command.
Attack - Use one of the unit's weapons to attack an enemy unit.
         Some attacks have energy, ammo, and morale requirements; if they
         are not met, the attacks will be unusable.
         Some attacks can NOT be used after a unit's Move command. These
         are typically ranged attacks.
         Attacking an enemy unit will automatically end the unit's turn.
Talk - Speak to the pilot of an adjacent unit and attempt to convince them
       of the errors of their ways. Used to acquire secret pilots. Ends the
       unit's turn once it is used.
Deploy - Launch a docked unit from the Londo Bell battleship. Automatically
         selects the unit's Move command.
Form - Change the unit into another form. This can be used as many times
       per turn as you want.
Combine - Combine two units together (i.e. combine Gundam mkII with the
          G-Defensor into the Super Gundam.)
Flight - Launch a unit from the ground into the air.
Drill - Dig a tunnel beneath the surface of the battlefield.
Dive - Go beneath the surface of the ocean.
Ground - Land or surface from beneath the land.
Divide - Detatch a unit from another unit (i.e. launch the GP-03 Stamen from
         the GP-03 Orchis.)
Spirit - Use a Spirit Power. Each Spirit Power consumes the unit's pilot's
         SP. As many different Spirit Powers can be used per turn as you want,
         but some can be used only once per turn.
Status - View the unit's status.
Done - End the unit's turn. Only appears after the Move command is used.

If pilots acquire enough experience, most will be able to take two turns in
every Player Phase.

The Main Menu will appear if you select a non-unit square. Each of the options
behave as follows:

End - End the Player Phase.
Units - Display a list of your units. Units with an "E" before their name
        have finished their turn.
Map - Zoom out and display an overall map of the stage.
Orders - Alter counterattack orders for during the Enemy Phase.
System - Toggle animation on/off, gridlines display on/off, sound between
         Stereo and Mono, change between mouse and control pad support, and
         edit the key configuration (for controller) or mouse speed (for
         mouse.)
Condition - Display victory and defeat conditions.
Save - Perform an in-battle save, which can be loaded from the "Continue"
       option on the title screen.

-[The Enemy Phase]-
The Enemy Phase behaves exactly like the player phase, however it is the CPU
who is acting and the player who is waiting for the turn to end. Please note
that your units' counterattack commands are set during the Player Phase in
the main menu under Orders.

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4.The Various Status Screens
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There are four status screens: An initial overview screen, a Unit Status
screen, a Pilot Status screen, and a Weapons Status screen. The initial
overview screen is -only- displayed when selecting the Status command during
a battle; the various status options in the intermission menu will automatically
open the Unit and Pilot status screens.

As the initial overview contains pieces of each of the main status screens, it
will not be discussed.

-[The Unit Status Screen]-
Starting from the top, you are shown a picture of the unit, the name of the unit,
and any special abilities it has.

SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Form - The unit can transform into another mode.
Combine - The unit can combine with other units into a new unit.
Separate/Combine - The unit can divide into another unit, generally. It can
                   sometimes re-combine, but not always.
Phase - If the pilot's morale is 130 or higher, Phase has a 50% chance of
        activation. If it activates, the pilot will automatically dodge an
        attack.
Getta Vision - See Phase.
Mach Special - See Phase.
I-Field - The unit can nullify beam damage by expending a small amount of EN.
Beam Coating - The unit will absorb beam damage into its HP.

On the lower left, you are shown, in order:
CURRENT HP/MAX HP   Type
CURRENT EN/MAX EN   Range
Terrain Types       Armor
                    Response

Terrain Type is what kinds of terrain the unit can be deployed in. Please note
that "All Terrain" does not include interiors; Air and Space Only vehicles
-CANNOT- be deployed in an interior.

Type details the unit's primary terrain of movement.
Range details how far the unit can move in one turn.
Armor details the unit's defensive strength.
Response is actually "Response Limit", which is how fast the unit can respond
to the pilot's commands. If the pilot has a response of 255 and the unit has
a response limit of 215, for example, the pilot will -behave- as if he or she
had a response of 215, because the unit cannot respond any faster.

Adaptability details how effective the unit is on various terrain types.

-[The Pilot Status Screen]-
Starting from the top...
On the left is the pilot's mugshot. To the right of that is his or her full
name, level of experience, and current/max Spirit Point level. SP are expended
on Spirit Powers; detailed below.

The pilot's main statistics are listed as follows:
POWER PILOTING MORALE
HIT%  RESPONSE INTUITION

Power - The pilot's attacking strength.
Piloting - The pilot's skill at the helm; the higher this number, the more
           frequent are critical hits.
Morale - Increases as the battle turns in the pilot's favor; decreases as it
         goes against him or her. A certain level of morale is required to use
         some attacks.
Hit % - How effective the pilot's accuracy is.
Response - Affects the pilot's accuracy and dodging capabilities. If a pilot's
           Response is 130 or greater, he or she can take an extra turn during
           each Phase.
Intuition - Affects the pilot's accuracy and dodging capabilities.

Below and to the left are the pilot's Spirit Powers. They are as follows:

Accelerate - Move +5 for the current turn
Guts - Restore 1/3 of the unit's HP
X-Guts - Restures all of the unit's HP
Friend - Restores 1/2 of all units' HP
Love - Restores 100% of all units' HP
Supply - Restores energy
Luck - EXP and cash bonuses are double 'til the end of the turn
Fervor - Next attack is a sure critical
Focus - Intuition +50 for the current turn
Lock-On - Next attack is a sure hit
Flash - Automatically evade the next attack
Yell - Boost morale by 15
Rage - Deal 10 to 1000 damage to all enemies

Below that is the pilot's current experience level and the number of experience
points they need to reach the next level.

To the right of that are statistics that detail the pilot's skill at maneuvering
in various terrain conditions. The higher the number, the better.

-[The Weapons Status Screen]-
This screen behaves a little differently, and is easier to explain. First,
highlight a weapon using the big green bar. The up and down keys will move it
through the list of weapons, while the left and right keys will change the page
on units that have more than seven weapons. The weapon's attacking strength
(Power), attack range, and Hit % are displayed.

Power - The higher a weapon's power, the more damage it will do.
Range - The range at which the weapon can be used to hit an enemy. A range 1
        weapon can hit units immediately adjacent to the attacking unit, while
        a range 7 weapon can hit 7 grid-squares out.
Hit % - The ease with which a weapon is used. A rating of 100 is the median, at
        which the pilot's accuracy will be weighed against the enemy's evasion
        skill to determine an accuracy value. For each point above 100, 1% will
        be added to the final hit % value; likewise, for each point below 100,
        a 1% will be subtracted from the final hit % value. I think.

The requirements for firing a weapon are also displayed:

Ammo: If this value is listed as "---", the weapon does not have an ammo
      requirement. Otherwise, one point is subtracted each time the weapon is
      fired. If this value is 0, the weapon cannot be fired.

Energy Requirement - Upon firing, some weapons consume a unit's energy (EN.)
                     If the requirement is "---", it does not need energy to
                     fire. Otherwise, it consumes the said number of energy
                     points. If the unit does not have enough energy, the
                     weapon will not fire. The unit's current energy is listed
                     in (parentheses.)
Morale Requirement - Some weapons require the pilot's morale level to be at a
                     certain height before they can be used. If the morale
                     requirement is "---", the pilot's morale can be any level.
                     Otherwise, the pilot needs the specified amount of morale
                     before the weapon can be used. Using a weapon does -NOT-
                     consume morale. The pilot's current morale is listed in
                     (parentheses.)

Adaptability is as previously stated.
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5.Intermissions
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During the intermissions, you have a series of menus with which to check up on
your units and pilots and upgrade them if you wish. This is accomplished
through a fairly simple series of menus, beginning with the Main Intermission
Menu:

Save - Save the game to one of three slots, to be accessed later by LOADing at
       the title screen.
PowerUp - Improve a unit's React, Armor, EN, or HP, up to seven times.
Status - View the status of a unit or a pilot.
Pilots - Reassign a pilot to a new mech.
Sell - Trade in a unit for extra credits.
Done - Exit the intermission and proceed to the next mission.

-[Save]-
When you select Save, you are presented with three save files. Simply select
one with the A Button. If it is empty, your game will be saved. If it is not,
you will be prompted with a check to make sure you want to overwrite the old
data in the file you selected. Once the save is complete, you are asked whether
or not you wish to continue playing. If you're done, choose "No" and turn off
your system. Otherwise, choose "Yes" and continue playing.

-[PowerUp]-
To power up your suits, simply select one from the list displayed when you pick
PowerUp from the Main Intermission Menu. You will be shown its four upgradable
statistics; the cursor can be moved left or right with the control pad to choose
a statistic, and the highlighted statistic can be upgraded by pressing the A
Button. Statistics can be upgraded up to seven times or until they reach their
maximum value (255 for React and EN, negligible for Armor and HP.) Please note
that a fully-upgraded unit may not be detected as such by the game; if you hit
the ceiling values for React or EN before your seventh upgrade, the game will
still think you can improve the suit and will not inform you that it has been
maxed out when you select it. Each upgrade costs a specific number of credits,
mind, and that number will generally increase after each upgrade.

-[Status]-
Select Status from the Main Intermission Menu, then either Pilot or Unit,
depending on which you wish to view. Simply select either a unit or a pilot
from the list that displays to view its status and press the A Button to
view the Weapons Status screen from the Unit Status screen.

-[Pilots]-
Once you've selected Pilots, you will be shown a list of reassignable pilots.
Pick one from the list, and you will be shown a list of units that character
can pilot. Once you've selected a unit from that list, you will be shown a
screen showing the pilot's new stats in relation to the unit he or she is
pilotting, with the old stats in parentheses. If the new stats are to your
liking, select "Yes" from the Yes/No prompt that appears to reassign the
pilot.

-[Sell]-
After selecting Sell from the Main Intermission Menu, a list of recyclable
units will be displayed. Simply pick one, and a brief status window showing
its HP, Range, Response Limit, Armor, terrain capabilities, and credit value
will pop up. If you're sure you want to sell the unit and you like the amount
of credits you'll get for it, then choose Yes from the prompt to sell the unit
and recieve the credit bonus for it.
