Nomad manual - FAQ

----Janus (Kevin Gadd)'s Nomad FAQ v0.0----
--First updated 1-25-02--
--Last updated 1-25-02--
Email: janusfury@citlink.net
ICQ: 144270102
AIM: Kaimu Desu

--Turn on Word Wrap if you're viewing this in Notepad!--

--This FAQ is constantly in development, and should be updated on a weekly or even daily basis!--

----Important Notes----
This FAQ is for the United States version of Nomad.
Any of the information in this FAQ may or may not apply to the UK version, I do not have the time or resources to cover both versions in detail.
Most likely, the games will only have a few small differences, but I can't know for sure.

----Introduction----

I'm working on this FAQ for two reasons:
#1, so I won't forget anything while I try and figure out the intricacies of the game.
#2, so that others will be able to enjoy this great game to its fullest without spending months playing it over and over.

I've beaten Nomad multiple times, and each time I've played it, I've discovered dozens of new things about it.

I used to have a large amount of information on this game, but I've lost most of it over time. However, I remember quite a bit of it, and I have created a special program to enable me to track changes between game saves, which will speed up my discoveries quite a bit. I plan on making this program available on the internet soon.

It appears to have multiple endings, each caused by different actions during the game, and the method you use to win.

There are around a dozen races in the game, and somewhere around a hundred star systems. Each star system contains up to a dozen planets, in my experience.

The game contains a large number of uninhabited systems, useful only for mining and farming, and for finding enemy caravans and such to ambush later on in the game.

Anyway, now that I've given you a few bits of information about the game, let's get into the useful stuff!

By the way, I'm not going to spoil the plot except in the 'spoilers' section at the bottom of the FAQ. I had a lot of fun discovering some of this stuff, so I don't want to ruin it for anyone else!

Item values will be listed by how many Hunter Missles they are worth when traded, because most items can be traded for Hunter Missles.

Enjoy!
-Janus

----The Plot----
I'm not really sure about all this yet... the intros from the US and UK games are completely different and both have a lot of interesting information in them.

----Races----

-Arden
Big, fuzzy laama-ish things. They like meat, and chocolate, so both are valuable in trades with them.
Their homeworld is Ardania (?)

-Musin
Little chipmunk-looking things. They are spies by definition, and live in hiding.
Their homeworld is a secret.

-Korok
Heartless automatons. They all operate under the control of the 'MCR'.
Their homeworld is a secret.

-A. H.
Mysterious energy beings which live near certain planets...
Look in Spoilers for more information on the A.H.

-Phelonese
A matriarchal race of proud feline humanoids. They consider themselves better than all other races, and love nothing more than to fight.
It is quite difficult to get anything out of them, especially in trades - their items are far more valuable than those of other races.
Phelonese equipment is quite valuable later in the game.
Their homeworld is unknown.

-Chanticleer
A female race of angelic humanoids. They have a peaceful appearance about them and a haunting sound to their voices.
They have valuable equipment, and specialize in crystalline items.
Their homeworld is a space station orbiting a black hole.

-Shaasa
A strange snake species.
They are very hard to understand in conversations, and usually trade in minerals only.
Their homeworld is unknown.

-Bellicosians
A race of nomadic space raiders, who stay alive by raiding trade ships.
Their homeworld is unknown.

----Equipment Listings----

--Shield Generators--
Blast Shield Booster
Strength: Wimpy
Value: ~10

--Missle Loaders--
Impact MLoader
Speed: Slow
Value: ~10
Crystal Strike MLoader
Speed: Normal
Value: Unknown
Crystal Speed MLoader
Speed: Fast
Value: Unknown

--Engine Boosters--
Go-Far Engine Booster
Speed: Slow
Value: Unknown
Courser Engine Booster
Speed: Normal
Value: Unknown
Warp Drive
Speed: Ultimate
Value: Unknown

----Item Listings----

--Commodities--
Chocolate
Value: ~5
Asi Meat
Value: ~0.5

--Gag Items--
Car Keys
Company Badge (Bunny Ears? O_o)
Company Watch
Twenty Dollar Bill

--Special Items--
Secrets of the Galaxy

----Facts----
Throughout the game, in conversations you will recieve 'facts' during discussions.
More facts can be found by asking about certain things, or offering facts to people during discussions.
Right now, the fact listing only contains facts from my old saved game. Once I get my new game going, I'll try and create a more comprehensive list, with information on who to get facts from and how to trigger them.

----Weird, Useless, Stupid Stuff----

A space station named 'Hawking' is mentioned a few times in the US game, but so far I have yet to actually see it. It seems like a piece of the plot that got removed, or something.

----Hacking----

--Notes--
'Secrets of the Galaxy' appears to be some sort of special item, as I can't find any count byte for it.

The Inventory appears to be made up of a large number of count bytes, one for each item in the game, and then some array or flag that specifies what items are in the player's inventory... I still haven't found that array/flag, but I'm working on it.

--Save File Offsets (Decimal)--
40286: Mercury Count
45870: Chocolate Count
45886: Twenty Dollar Bill Count
45894: Hunter Missle Count
45934: Asi Meat Count
45938: DR-100 Count

----Semi-Spoilers----
The stuff in here is a bit fun to find by yourself, but it takes a little time too, so feel free to just look here for the information instead of spending hours figuring it out.

--A. H. Locations--

--Artifact Locations--
Warp Drive
Origin: Unknown
Use: *ULTIMATE* Engine Booster

--Antique Locations--
Ancient Nuclear Drive
Origin: Unknown
Ancient Rocketskate
Origin: Unknown
Ancient Stonetree
Origin: Unknown
Curled Iron Flaben
Origin: Unknown
Velt Painting
Origin: Unknown
Vinell Ceramic
Origin: Unknown

--Fact Listing--
"The Alliance is a collection of rag tag ships that isn't good for anything"
Origin: Korok?
Use: Unknown
"The Altec Hocker are communication malfunctions"
Origin: Unknown
Use: Unknown
"Sidhide-cli is a great Musin hero"
Origin: Musin?
Use: Unknown
"The Master Control Robot leads and controls all Korok"
Origin: Arden? Korok?
Use: Unknown
"The Altec Hocker are telepathic beings who absorb energy and information"
Origin: Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The color of Musin cloaks denotes family members"
Origin: Arden? Musin?
Use: Unknown
"Controlling all Korok has left the MCR over-extended"
Origin: Arden?
Use: Unknown
"The Shaasa is a misunderstood species"
Origin: Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Korok pushed the Bellicosians off their homeworld, turning them into space raiders"
Origin: Altec Hocker? Korok? Bellicosians?
Use: Unknown
"Many races share myths and legends in different forms"
Origin: Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Korok attempted to invade Phelonese space"
Origin: Altec Hocker? Phelonese? Korok?
Use: Unknown
"The Shaasa follow a strange code handed down in verbal form called the Volm"
Origin: Shaasa? Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Shaasa consume gas"
Origin: Shaasa? Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Pahrump will trade for anything"
Origin: Arden? Phelonese?
Use: Unknown
"Your vessel was stranded at this space station -- Hawking"
This one is particularly strange, as it refers to a part of the UK intro which isn't even in the US version...
But this fact is in both versions, from the beginning of the game. Oh well :)
Origin: ???
Use: ???
"The Alliance needs all the help it can get"
Origin: Arden?
Use: Unknown
"In their travels, the Musin pick up a good deal of objects that are not really for trade, just left momentarily unattended"
Origin: Altec Hocker? Phelonese?
Use: Unknown
"The Musin have legends of a Losthome. After leaving, the Musin settled Newhome I, but were pushed off that world by the Korok"
Origin: Musin? Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Altec Hocker share a common mind, but different individuals specialize in different knowledge"
Origin: Altec Hocker
Use: Unknown
"It is possible to communicate with most Korok for short periods of time"
Origin: Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"The Arden and Phelonese have similar legends of great immortal beings, such as the Less Ten who advocate the path of less and the Phelonese L'ton who tries to imprison M'andra and her mate N'era"
Origin: Altec Hocker?
Use: Unknown
"There is a Korok mining colony in the Alhena system that has been abandoned due to a malfunction of the mine supervisor"
Origin: Unknown
Use: Mission?

---Spoilers!---

--The Korok Homeworld--
The Korok have no homeworld, however the MCR is in orbit around Losten, protected by a special gateway and a special model cruiser.

--The Nature of the Korok--
The Korok were created to serve their creators, by repairing, harvesting, and performing other tasks.
Through some strange order of events, the MCR managed to take control of all the Korok.

--What ARE the A. H.?--
Altec Hocker.
If I remember, they are beings who reached a higher state of existence, and lost their physical forms and became pure energy.
They spend their time watching the events in the galaxy and studying people and places.
Each Altec Hocker specializes in knowledge about certain things and races.

--The Losten Secret--
I don't remember the details of this, but here goes. ^_^
The Losten were an ancient race with great technological prowess. They created the Korok to be servants.
The Arden, Phelonese, and most other races were created by the Losten as genetic experiments. This is why many races have legends with names similar to Losten:
Arden - The Less Ten
Phelonese - L'ton
Anyway, through some sort of calamity or event, the Losten dissapeared, leaving the Korok and the MCR behind with their technology.