Tuesday 5 June 2018

B.A.T. II - The Simulator Conspiracy

Written by Ilmari

Last time I had a problem how to continue, since I had no clue where to find any more deeds. Well, it turned out that the solution was to search through the belongings of everyone walking on the streets of Roma. They didn’t have any deeds with them, but one person did own something unique: a local newspaper.


I guess everyone else prefers the digital version
The news told me of a murder that happened in the old Ashan district. Zist Honor, a former page of the ex-king, had been killed by few muggers. Honor had been critical of the current regime of Shedishan, but police didn’t believe there was anything political in the killing.

Now, I knew of one landmark in the Ashan district - the balcony of a house, which required some equipment for me to get in. Armed with the newspaper and a piece of rope, I finally managed to climb in. And yes, I had to had the newspaper in my possession, since I had earlier tried to enter the building with merely the rope. Considering that this puzzle required hours of talking with crowds of featureless characters, just to find a random dude with the correct object, I am mightily pissed.


At least I got in


A door! How to open it?


What’s this then?


Aha! A secret mechanism.


Another door


Jackpot! Some new deeds

In addition to deeds, I found memoirs of the dead page. Apparently an astronomer friend of the page, Moses Banafoosh, had set out on an expedition to Bedhin 6 and taken his store of deeds with him, never coming back. When I went to discuss this with Sylvia, she thought this was a lead to follow.

Sylvia also said I should disguise myself as a praetor, since Bedhin 6 was currently closed for other persons. I would need some praetor clothes and a real praetor card. I knew where to find some praetor clothes - from a clothing store at the Tourist Sector. I had stolen one set at the beginning of the game and sold it, because they paid well. Problem was that the store didn’t have the clothes in its selection anymore. Like every monopoly, the store sure knew how to make its customers pay. The selection was renewed only after I had bought the store completely empty - and there was no guarantee the new selection would contain praetor clothes. After losing a considerable portion of my assets, I finally had some praetor clothes.


Could I get a patron discount?

A joke shop next to the clothier sold fake praetor cards (well, it had sold them, and I had to go through same procedure as with the clothier - I am starting to think the game was developed by hard-core Marxists trying to make players hate capitalists). A false praetor card was not what I needed, but I had an idea, where I might switch one with a real card.


The praetor sauna

I searched the sauna, picked a random praetor’s card I found and dropped my false card.

Now all I had to do was buy my way to Bedhin 6. Problem was that I had just spent so much money that I didn’t have the 5000 credits which space ship would cost. I was then forced to earn some cash by stealing. This was quite tedious, but I did manage to acquire something interesting.


Aureus, the largest “coin” in Shedishan

You might think this solved my financial problems, since all I had to do was to sell it and gain 40 000.


Apparently no one has so much money

Since I couldn’t sell it, I just gifted it to someone.


Money CAN buy friends

The person I gave the aureus liked me so much that he gladly joined me. I am happy that I got to explore this possibility, although it seems to be too late in the game to be really useful.



The main reason for getting companions appears to be that I could make them run errands for me. They can find rare objects, like praetor clothes, for me, and they could be used to collect information on some relevant topic. I also finally found a use for phones - I could give one to my companion and call him, whenever I wanted to have a chat with him.

After getting enough money, I bought a ride in a spaceship. Needless to say, I had to do the driving.


I am sure I didn’t sign up for blogging on Simulator Addict

My first task was to get out of Shedishan, which was relatively easy, since this time I knew exactly the direction I should be taking. The only problem was I kept bumping on some invisible roof every time I flew too high. I guess this was the developer’s attempt to simulate the need for escape velocity, since going full speed solved that problem.


The final frontier

I had no idea where to fly, but the manual suggested I would be heading to the right direction. And in any case, that group of brownish dots was the only landmark, so I flew there. That proved to be the right choice, since it took me straight to Bedhin 6.


 It looks artificial


Seems like I brought my accomplice with me. Couldn’t he have driven?

I didn’t get very far before coming across a guard.


Here’s my official praetor pass


Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken Adelia’s card

Guard didn’t accept my identification and claimed it had been stolen. I guess I was too careless in my pickpocketing. The praetor sauna had a sign telling which praetors were currently on duty and which on vacation. I probably should have taken the card of someone who was not on duty, so that the robbery wouldn’t draw that much of attention.

Well, I was almost forced to do the space simulator sequence again. Fortunately, I got curious and tested something. Remember that escaping from a battle would result in my character “running” through few screens. I was interested what the guard would do if I tried to do that trick in the same screen as he was. I engaged in fight with a random person walking past the guard and instantly escaped. To my surprise, my character just ran past the guard. I guess this must have been a bug, but this time I was happy to find it.


In addition, I ran straight to the machine I was looking for


No!!!!! Not another simulator!

I was supposed to ride through tunnel system in Bedhin 6 with a fancy ship. Although you’d think tunnels would be easier to navigate than flying, I kept driving to some deadly dead ends.


For some reason they were red. Perhaps I drove headlong to a wall of cinnabar?

Then I made a startling discovery. While reading the manual, I noticed a really well hidden sentence that pushing S on my keyboard might be of use.


A map!

The manual really wasn’t forthcoming with this information, but I guess this thing would have been listed in the reference card the manual mentions. Still, it seems unfair that a game so heavily mouse-driven would suddenly use keyboard for a crucial action. With the map, it was easy to search the place. I found the deeds I was looking for in the upper rightmost corner of the tunnel system.




If you want to use difficult words like “praetor”, please check how to spell them

After getting back from the tunnels, I checked what other places of interest Bedhin 6 contained. The asteroid had surprisingly detailed rooms with nothing to do.


Like this. The screen just screams that I should be able to interact with the cups of red liquid, but no

With nothing else to do, I boarded my ship and went back toward Shedishan.


I could have used map view in space also.


That’s Shedishan in front of me. In my return trip I saw few spaceships flying past me


And to top it all, I could have used map view, while flying over Shedishan


What’s this then?

After I entered the spaceport in Roma II, I was captured by the local authorities. My boss, Sylvia, had been killed and I had been framed for her murder. I was sentenced to spend ten years as a technoglad, fighting other inmates for the pleasure of the crowd. My only hope was to beat enough adversaries and to get a pardon from the king of Shedishan.

Interesting plot twist, I’ll admit, but I’m afraid the fights mean another round of minigames…

Session time: 4 hours 30 minutes
Total time: 29 hours 45 minutes

8 comments:

  1. REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE

    OK, I think I must be near the end of the game, so instead of banging my head against the proverbial wall for few more hours, I've decided to ask for help. For all answers, please use ROT13.

    V'z fhccbfrq gb oernx vagb gur inhyg bs Xbfuna Vap. naq yrnir gurer fbzr rivqrapr gung gurl ner gelvat gb nffnffvangr zr. V'ir znantrq gb ragre gur inhyg, ohg abj V nz fhccbfrq gb bcra n fnsr va vg naq gurer'f n pbaibyhgrq chmmyr ceriragvat guvf. Gurer'f fbzr xvaq bs pvephvg obneq (?) jvgu synfuvat yvtugf naq n pbzcyrk flfgrz bs vagrepbaarpgvbaf purpxvat jurgure pregnva cnvef bs yvtug ner va gur fnzr fgngr. Gur ceboyrz vf gung jungrire V cerff, V nyjnlf znantr gb gevttre na nynez. Ubj nz V fhccbfrq gb orng guvf pbagencgvba?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have only partial help to offer:

    Gur jnyxguebhtu V sbhaq entrf nobhg guvf chmmyr, pnyyvat vg "gur ovttrfg qvfnccbvagzrag va gur tnzr." Gurl arire svtherq bhg ubj vg'f fhccbfrq gb jbex naq hfrq fnirfphzzvat gb cnff vg. V'ir pbcl-cnfgrq gurve pbzzragf orybj:

    ---
    "Gur sbhe yvtugf ba gur gbc punatr enaqbzyl, juvpu va ghea punatrf gur sbhe yvtugf ba gur evtug va cerqvpnoyr jnlf onfrq ba gur pvephvg tngrf. Lbh pna pyvpx ba nal bs gur 16 oyhr yvtugf ba gur yrsg. Zbfg pyvpxf jvyy vzzrqvngryl xvyy lbh. N srj pyvpxf jvyy punatr gur yvtug frghc. Naq n fvatyr zntvp pyvpx jvyy jva lbh gur tnzr.

    V unir arire svtherq bhg gur ybtvp oruvaq guvf; vs lbh qb, cyrnfr yrg zr xabj. Rira jura gur gbc sbhe yvtugf fubj gur fnzr pbzovangvba nf gur ynfg gvzr lbh gevrq vg, pyvpxvat gur fnzr oyhr yvtug pna cebqhpr qvssrerag erfhygf. Va zl pnfr, V fnirq gur tnzr jvgu gur gbc sbhe yvtugf fubjvat BOOO (nf fubja va gur cvpgher). Vs, jura V erybnqrq zl tnzr, gur arkg punatr jnf gb OOBO, pyvpxvat gur 11gu oyhr yvtug sebz gur gbc jbhyq jva gur tnzr. Ubjrire, vs V jnvgrq hagvy OOBO pnzr hc ntnva, gur 11gu oyhr yvtug jbhyq gura abg jva zr gur tnzr, ohg hfhnyyl xvyy zr vafgrnq. Vs gur arkg punatr jnf abg BOOO gb OOBO, pyvpxvat gur 11gu oyhr yvtug jnf fgvyy hfhnyyl n fnsr org va gung vg cebqhprq n punatr va gur yvtug frghc engure guna qrngu.

    Cbffvoyl, gur jubyr guvat vf whfg enaqbz, juvpu jbhyq or n irel qvfnccbvagvat ynfg chmmyr vaqrrq. Va nal pnfr, zl nqivpr vf gb fnir lbhe tnzr naq whfg gel rnpu ohggba va ghea ba gur arkg yvtugvat punatr, naq gura erybnq vs vg qvqa'g jbex. Ntnva, yrg zr xabj vs lbh svaq nal ybtvp oruvaq guvf bar."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uzzz, V'z abg rira trggvat gur yvtug punatrf gung gur jnyxguebhture zragvbaf urer, ohg nyjnlf raq hc jvgu n qrngu fperra. V'yy gel gb gvaxre n ovg jvgu guvf sbe n juvyr, ohg vg'f ybbxvat irel zhpu yvxr V jvyy unir gb yrnir guvf tnzr hafbyirq...

      Delete
    2. Sbe ersrerapr, vs lbh jnag gb ybbx ng gur cvpgher gur jnyxguebhture vf qrfpevovat, gur jnyxguebhtu vf ng:

      uggc://fanexqernzf.pbz/crefbany/xbfuna.ugzy

      Guvf chmmyr vf ng gur irel obggbz bs gur jnyxguebhtu.

      Delete
    3. Jryy, rira vs V jnvg sbe gur yvtugf gb ybbx yvxr gung, gurer'f ab punatr va gur fvghngvba... V guvax V nz pnyyvat guvf tnzr Ybfg.

      Delete
  3. Nu då? Every port in a storm...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sure it just shrugs off the difficulty of the puzzle with handwaving a solution, but this is what I found on the same site where I found the manual of the game :

    Eraqrm-ibhf fhe yn gbhe qr Xbfuna. Nggraqer zvahvg cbhe cnffrm yn cbegr. Nggragvba à yn pnzéen, cnffrm à qebvgr cbhe pbhcre yr flfgèzr q'nynezr chvf ercnegve qnaf yr pbhybve rg ceraqer yn qverpgvba qh pbsser. Ncchlrm fhe yrf ynzcrf qr tnhpur rg ibhf nherm grezvaé yr wrh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's literally just handwaiving. Still, thanks for the effort for finding this quote!

      Delete