The Newbie's Guide to System Shock 2
by ZylonBane
System Shock 2 is a complex game, that demands much more player knowledge than the typical FPS. This is a list of some basic information that should make your first run through SS2 a somewhat more pleasant one.
STRATEGY
- The wrench is your friend. If it's at all possible to kill something with the wrench (or other melee weapon), do it. Health is cheap and plentiful, ammo is not.
- The replicators (Value-Reps) are rarely necessary. You can find almost everything you need elsewhere.
- Search everywhere and everything. Every body, robot chunk, desk, turret, locker, trashcan, egg... every nook and cranny. There's useful stuff all over the place if you just look for it.
- Unload every weapon you find. Ammo is precious.
- Your inventory capacity is fairly limited, but you can pick a single big empty room (ideally near an elevator) to store all your extra stuff.
TECHNICAL
- Turn on the mini-map (checkbox at the bottom-right of the level map).
- Med beds don't work until you plug an activation key into them. There aren't a lot of these, and they can't be removed, so use them wisely.
- Moving between bulkheads overwrites your quicksave slot. So does loading a new game (This is fixed in NewDark SS2).
- You'll be switching between Use and Move mode a LOT. Bind it to something handy.
- Press "U" to listen to any unread logs you've picked up.
- Press "N" to drop nav markers anyplace you want to find again later. These show up in first-person view and on the map. On the map, you can click on a nav marker and annotate it by typing, or remove it by pressing the Delete key.
- You can stop any security alert by accessing (not hacking) any security terminal.
- The background music is not reactive. If the tempo picks up, it doesn't mean you're about to be ambushed. It just means it's that part of the song.
- The gas cloud released from eggs when they self-destruct or when you destroy them is harmless. It's the spores flung from self-destructing eggs that are harmful.
- Read the descriptions of all the items (ctrl-click in the inventory). They're mostly funny, and occasionally helpful.
- If your character seems a lot slower and shorter than he should be, you're probably in crouch mode. Remember that crouch in SS2 is a toggle, unlike most other FPSs where you have to hold it.
- Activated QBRs are only effective within the current map.