Content

# BADLANDS — Field Guide

> *The world is on fire. Skeletons walk the earth. A nuclear reactor is melting down. And something is watching from the sky.*
> *You have guns, a truck, a fishing rod, and gloves. Make it count.*

---

## Table of Contents

1. [Getting Started](#getting-started)
2. [Controls](#controls)
3. [Vehicles](#vehicles)
4. [Weapons & Tools](#weapons--tools)
5. [Fishing](#fishing)
6. [The Wire System & Props](#the-wire-system--props)
7. [Multiplayer](#multiplayer)
8. [Story Missions & Endgame](#story-missions--endgame)
   - [The Nuclear Facility](#the-nuclear-facility)
   - [The Skeleton Invasion](#the-skeleton-invasion)
   - [UFO Encounters](#ufo-encounters)
   - [The F-16 Hangar](#the-f-16-hangar)
9. [Secrets & Exploration](#secrets--exploration)
10. [Leaderboard & Progress](#leaderboard--progress)

---

## Getting Started

On launch you'll be asked to **register** or **log in**. Your wallet, high score, kill count, and fishing records all save to your account and carry across sessions.

Once in-game you spawn in the open desert. The world is large. Start with the truck nearby — it'll get you places faster than your feet will.

---

## Controls

| Action | Key / Button |
|--------|-------------|
| Move | `W A S D` |
| Look | Mouse |
| Jump | `Space` |
| Sprint | `Left Shift` (hold) |
| Interact / Use | `E` |
| Cycle tools | `Shift` (tap) |
| Fire / Use tool | `Left Click` |
| Open console | `` ` `` (backtick) |
| Scoreboard | `Tab` |
| Pause / Save | `Esc` |
| Host server | `F9` |
| Third-person view | `V` |
| Noclip (cheat) | `/noclip` in console |

---

## Vehicles

### Trucks
Two trucks spawn in the world. Get in with `E` and drive with `W A S D`. Trucks have a **bed** — with gloves equipped you can load and unload items (bombs, the reactor switch) into the bed to carry them across the map.

### Motocross Bikes
Scattered across the badlands inside **barns**. Five barns are placed across the map — look for the large wooden structures away from the towns. Break the boards on the door with your **crowbar**, then climb on with `E`. Bikes are fast, agile, and handle rough terrain far better than the trucks.

### The F-16 — Airstrip Hangar
On the main airstrip, one of the hangars holds a **fully flyable F-16 fighter jet**. Finding it is half the challenge — the airstrip is large and the hangar locks from the outside. Once inside:

- `E` to climb in
- `W` throttle up / `S` throttle down
- `A / D` to roll
- Mouse to pitch and yaw
- `Space` afterburner boost

The F-16 is the only weapon effective against the UFOs at high altitude. Ground fire barely scratches them.

---

## Weapons & Tools

Cycle through your loadout with **Shift**. Each tool has a distinct use.

| Tool | Primary Use |
|------|------------|
| Fists | Unarmed — useful for nothing, embarrassing for everything |
| Knife | Silent close-range takedown |
| Crowbar | Break boarded doors, smash crates, pry open barns |
| Shotgun (Benelli M3) | Pump-action devastation at close range. 7+1 capacity |
| M16 | Mid-range automatic fire |
| Gloves | Prop placement, wiring, door interaction, truck loading |
| Fishing Rod | Cast and reel — see Fishing section |

---

## Fishing

Pick up the **fishing rod** from the bed of **Truck 1** by pressing `E` near it. Then cycle to it with **Shift**.

### How to Fish

1. **Face water** and **hold Left Click** — a power bar charges up
2. **Release** to cast — further = more power held
3. Watch the bobber. Text appears when something is biting
4. When `FISH ON!` appears, **spam `E`** to reel in
5. Every pull drags the fish closer — don't stop or it escapes

### Rewards

- Fish are measured in centimetres (12 cm – 100 cm)
- Catch earns cash: **$0.50/cm** up to 20 cm, then **$1.80/cm** for every cm above that
- Beat your **personal best** size and earn a bonus payout
- Your biggest catch and total fish cash are saved to your account

### Fishing Competition (Multiplayer)

When playing online, every catch is **broadcast to all players** — name, size, and cash earned. The fishing company building in the city tracks the competition. Biggest fish at session end wins bragging rights.

---

## The Wire System & Props

Equip your **gloves** (cycle with Shift) to access the prop system. Press **RMB** to open the **Prop Catalogue**.

### Prop Catalogue

The catalogue shows every prop in the game. Props are **locked** (shown as a padlock silhouette) until you discover them — either by placing one yourself or by walking near a pre-existing one in the world. Once discovered a prop is yours to place freely.

Scroll the catalogue with the **mouse wheel** or the arrow buttons on the panel.

### Placing Props

1. Open catalogue with **RMB**
2. Click a discovered prop to pick it up
3. Aim at the surface where you want it — floor, wall, or ceiling
4. **LMB** or **E** to place

Props snap to the surface and orient themselves correctly — a keypad placed on a wall will mount flush to the wall face.

### The Wire System

Props become useful when **wired together**. Signals flow along wires from source to target.

**To wire two props:**

1. Equip gloves
2. **LMB** on the **source prop** — it highlights and enters wire mode
3. **LMB** on the **target prop** — wire connects
4. **RMB** at any time to cancel

A physical wire (rope line) appears between connected props.

**To activate a prop:** press **E** while looking at it.

### Props Reference

| Prop | What it does |
|------|-------------|
| **Button** | Sends a one-shot signal when pressed (`E`) |
| **Lever** | Toggles ON / OFF signal when flipped (`E`) |
| **Pressure Plate** | Fires when a player walks on it |
| **Battery** | Always-on power source — wire to anything |
| **Light** | Glows when powered. Can strobe (alarm mode) |
| **Speaker** | Plays ambient sound when powered |
| **Money Printer** | Generates **$8/sec** while powered — wire a lever to control it |
| **Keypad** | Locks a door with a 4-digit code. Wire to a door handle |
| **Bruteforcer** | Automatically cracks a wired keypad over ~12 seconds |
| **Door Handle** | Receives unlock signals from keypads or bruteforcers |

### Example: Locking a Door

```
Battery ??? Keypad ??? Door Handle
```

Wire a battery to the keypad (always powered), and the keypad to the door handle. Set a combo. Players must enter the code to get through.

### Example: Cracking a Locked Door

```
Bruteforcer ??? Keypad
```

Wire a bruteforcer to the keypad, then press `E` on the bruteforcer to start cracking. It cycles through codes automatically — the door opens when it finds the right one.

### Example: Automated Cash Farm

```
Lever ??? Money Printer
```

Flip the lever ON and walk away. Come back to collect. Mind your wallet — money printers attract attention.

---

## Multiplayer

Open the console with `` ` `` and use these commands:

```
/mp host                     Start a server (port 7777)
/mp connect 127.0.0.1:7777   Join on the same PC (two windows, two accounts)
/mp connect <ip>:7777        Join a remote server
/mp disconnect               Leave or stop the server
F9                           Quick-toggle host on/off
```

All player positions, health, scores, and fish catches sync in real time. Chat by typing without a slash prefix, or with `/chat <message>`.

---

## Story Missions & Endgame

The world has a problem. Several of them.

---

### The Skeleton Invasion

Skeletons walk the earth. They come at night, they come in packs, and they have been spotted near every settlement on the map. Nobody knows where they came from. The nuclear facility does.

Kill them. Kill enough and the spawn rate slows. The invasion has a source — find it and you end it.

**Reward:** Each kill adds to your kill count and score. High kill streaks earn cash bonuses.

---

### The Nuclear Facility

> *Something went wrong underground. The meltdown timer is running.*

Somewhere in the badlands is a **nuclear facility** — a large brutalist complex with security doors, flickering lights, and armed skeleton guards throughout.

**The Mission:**

1. Fight through the facility — use your crowbar on boarded passages, your bruteforcer on locked keypads
2. Find the **Reactor Control Room** deep inside
3. Locate the **Reactor Switch** — a physical item in a locked cabinet
4. Carry the switch to the **reactor panel** (you can load it into a truck bed if the distance is long)
5. Press `E` on the panel to install it and stabilise the reactor

**When the switch is installed:**

- The meltdown countdown stops
- Skeleton spawn rates across the entire map drop sharply
- The source of the invasion is sealed
- You earn a massive score bonus and a cash reward

The facility has multiple locked doors. Keypads are on every junction. Bruteforcers are found inside crates (crowbar to open). Wire them up to get through.

---

### UFO Encounters

> *They've been circling since day one. At dusk you can see the lights.*

UFOs appear at high altitude — visible as slow-moving lights at night. At certain story triggers (reactor meltdown reaching critical, enough skeletons killed) they **descend and begin strafing runs** over settlements.

**Ground weapons are almost useless against them** — the armour plating shrugs off small arms fire.

**To bring one down:**

1. Find and fly the **F-16** from the airstrip hangar
2. Gain altitude — UFOs cruise at around 800m
3. Use the F-16's cannons at close range or afterburner-strafe passes
4. A downed UFO crashes and leaves a **wreckage site** with rare loot inside

**Loot from wreckage includes:**
- Alien power cells (high-value sell items)
- Advanced weapon components
- Bonus score multiplier for the session

Bringing down all active UFOs before the reactor is fixed triggers a different ending — the skeletons lose their signal and collapse. Faster, riskier, equally valid.

---

### The F-16 Hangar

The airstrip runs along the eastern edge of the map. It looks abandoned. It isn't.

- The main hangar at the **far north end** of the strip is locked with a keypad
- The combo is not random — it's written on a clipboard inside the **airstrip control tower** (crowbar the door)
- Once inside: the F-16 is fuelled and ready

Learn the flight controls before you take on UFOs. The terrain is unforgiving at speed and the map has several rock formations that don't show up until you're already in them.

---

## Secrets & Exploration

The world is larger than it looks. A few things worth hunting for:

- **Five barns** across the desert — each has a motocross bike and possibly a locked crate inside
- **Ghost town** to the south — abandoned buildings, one with a working money printer already wired up (battery inside the back room)
- **Underground bunker** — entrance is a hatch in the desert floor, marked by a rusted ladder poking out of the sand. Wire system puzzle inside
- **Fishing Company** in the city — talk to the sign (press `E`) to check the current fishing competition standings
- **The sky at 3 AM in-game** — something is up there even before the invasion starts

---

## Leaderboard & Progress

Your stats save on every fish catch and every time you open the pause menu (`Esc`).

| Stat | How it grows |
|------|-------------|
| **Score** | Kills, mission completions, fish catches |
| **Wallet** | Cash from fishing, money printers, loot |
| **High Score** | Your personal best score — shown on the HUD |
| **Kills** | Total skeleton kills across all sessions |
| **Biggest Fish** | Largest fish ever caught (cm) |
| **Total Fish Cash** | Cumulative fishing earnings |

View the global leaderboard in-game with `/leaderboard` or `/lb` in the console. Top 10 are shown, your entry highlighted in green.

---

*Good luck out there. Watch the sky.*