Welcome, Cyber Knight

The year is 2217 and the world has ended. Mega-corporations provide humanity’s last survivors shelter in the vast dome cities of New Boston, New Berlin and others. Across the planet the Global Matrix has reunited the scattered survivors and reignited the fires of competition.

Technology has changed humanity. No longer merely flesh, many Cyber Knights have turned to nano- and cyber- technology to gain an edge and extend their abilities beyond human limits.

A global arms race has begun between the remaining mega-corporations. Technological domination and control of the remaining metroplex are the only things that matter now. In this conflict the soldiers are called Cyber Knights. These elite urban mercenaries are expendable, deniable and effective. The mega-corporations need them to do the dirty work in the grey shadows of the metroplex.

How to Play

As a Cyber Knight operating in the NBZ (New Boston Zone), you will navigate a maze of slums, residential, corporate and industrial areas, seeking out illegal work for street gangs, criminal organizations, and mega-corporations. You will use your earnings to stock up on ammo, gear, new guns, and to implant cutting edge cyber and chrome into your body to make you a fighting, hacking, or sneaking machine. Throughout, you will make friends, enemies, and contacts and be forced to dodge the ever-present surveillance and security within the NBZ.

How to Use the Touch Interfaces

Tactical Touch Map

The Tactical Touch Map is the primary interface for moving around the city of New Boston. While navigating the neighborhoods of the NBZ, you will use this interface and the HUD to control your actions, navigate for your team, locate potential destinations, and pinpoint and complete jobs. If you start, or are pulled into, a violent conflict, you will use the Combat Touch Map, described below to control the flow of the combat.

Figure 1: Cyber Knights Tactical Touch Map

A: Portrait / Status Page

Click this image to open the Main Status page for the current character.

B: Team Details

Shows the team's current credits (¥) and the current Cyber Knight's Experience Points (XP).

Below, the HEAT bar shows your team’s current heat count in the ever-present surveillance system of New Boston. Heat is bad news for any Cyber Knight and increases as your illicit activities draw more and more attention. High Heat can reduce your XP gains, make encounters worse or more violent, and provides additional challenges.

Reduce heat with safe houses, hideouts and hotels

Last, the REP (Reputation) bar shows your team’s reputation with the faction that owns this neighborhood or stretch of concrete. Red bars indicate negative reputation with the faction, while green bars indicate positive reputation.

C: Mini-Map / City Map

The Mini-Map shows the 36 neighborhoods of the NBZ. The region in which your team is currently located is represented by a yellow square. Any active job is represented by a dark red square, and if your team is in a sector that has an active job, the neighborhood is lit with a bright red. Click the Mini-Map to open the City Map and to locate destinations or search for services.

D: Zoom Slider

Use this slider to increase or decrease the zoom level of the main map. Slide to the left to zoom out, and slide to the right to zoom in.

E: Faction Owner Flag

Displays the flag of the owner of the current neighborhood in which your team is located. Your reputation with this faction is shown in the B: Team Details section of the HUD. Click this flag in order to see detailed information this faction and your relationship with them.

F: Equipment Menu Button

Click this button to launch the Equipment page for the current character.

G: Computer Menu Button

Click this button to launch the Computer page for the team.

H: Go! Blue Arrow

Click this button to continue to a previously selected destination on the map. Use this button if your movement was interrupted to continue as previously planned.

I: Location and Time

This informational text indicates the current date, time, and name of the neighborhood in which your team is located. It also provides the name of the faction which owns the neighborhood.

J: Health / Mental Condition Bars

Displays your current physical and mental health. Red bar indicates physical condition, which green indicates mental.

Combat Touch Map

The Combat Touch Map is the primary interface for controlling your team during combat. While maneuvering, shooting, or fleeing combat, you will use this interface and HUD to control your team. The Combat Touch Map shares many elements with the Tactical Touch Map, described above.

Figure 2: Cyber Knights Combat Map

B: Team Details

Shows the current character’s Action Points (AP) and the character’s active weapon’s loaded ammo count.

Reduce heat with safe houses, hideouts and hotels

Note that both Heat and Reputation can be updated during combat based on actions.

K: Attack

Click Attack to bring up the Attack menu and the red attack selector. Touch any enemy within the red range-selector to initiate an attack.

You can also touch an enemy to engage the red range-selector. Then, touch an enemy within the red range-selector to initiate an attack. This will complete your attack without requiring the use of the HUD buttons.

The size of your red range-selector is determined by the range of the currently equipped and active weapon.

If you click Weapons, you will switch the currently active weapon to your second weapon. Because you can equip two weapons at the same time, only one weapon can be active and this allows you to toggle between the two weapons. Changing weapons costs 0 AP and does not end your turn.

If you click Reload, you jam more bullets or a new magazine into your current weapon to refill its ammo. The bullets must have already been loaded into yourCyberloader. Reloading costs 1 AP.

L: Move

Click Move to bring up the green move selector on the map. You can then move within this range and click Finish to complete your move.

You can also touch an empty hex near your character to engage the move selector. Then, navigate to your desired location and click directly on the current character. This will complete your move without requiring the use of the HUD buttons.

If you move 3 or more hexes, your movement costs 3 AP. If you move 1 or 2 hexes you execute a Short Move, which only costs you 1 or 2 AP, respectively.

M: Item

Click Item to use one or more items from your inventory or to change your equipped gear. Enter the Carried gear section to see your team’s inventory of available items to use. Using an item costs 1 AP.

N: Escape

Click Escape to try to flee the current combat. Successfully escaping your enemies requires a successful Stealth skill save, considering many factors such as Heat and how close your enemies are. Attempting to Escape costs 1 AP.

Team Status Pages

Your team’s status, skills, ability, equipment, implants, computers, and your relation to the different factions and people within the NBZ are all available from within the Team Status section. The four sections of your team status are accessible from The Wheel, and your Stats, Equipment and Computer are directly accessible from the main HUD on the Tactical Touch Map.

The Wheel

From any of the pages or sub-pages, you can always return to The Wheel by touching your current character’s portrait in the top left. The Wheel is a fast and easy way to navigate between the Team Status pages.

Stats – Status, Attributes, Team

The Stats page displays the health, status, vital details, and attributes and skills of the current character. It also provides a Team sub-page through which you can access and compare your team members.

Note that you can reach the Stats page directly from the Tactical Touch Map by touching your current character’s portrait (A).

Figure 4: Stats Page

Status

The Status sub-page provides your current character’s vital details, including name and profession. It also lists important details such as the date and time, your current location, the number of turns you have played as a Cyber Knight, your current XP, and the total number of XP you have spent over time.

The Status page also displays your DV rating, which is increased as more mechanized implants (cyber, nano, or bio) are installed into your body. Finally, the Status page displays your character’s level and title, such as Street Runner [7].

Attributes

The Attributes sub-page shows all of your attributes and skills and their current and augmented rating. The attributes and skills are organized to show their hierarchy. For example, Athletics is a skill under Strength which is an attribute under Body. If a skill or attribute is augmented by an implant its augmented rating will be shown in brackets, such as 3 [5]. The augmented rating is used in all skill and attribute tests.

Team

In the current BETA release, you cannot recruit additional team members and therefore are a Solo Operator in the Team sub-page. In future releases, you will be able to compare your team members in this sub-page.

Gear – Equipped, Carried, Implants

That

Note that you can reach the Equipment page directly from the Tactical Touch Map by touching the Equipment Menu Button (F).

Figure 5: Equipment Page

Equipped

The Equipped sub-page shows your currently equipped gear. You have two slots for active weapons and one slot for armor. Also, the Equipped sub-page shows yourCyberLoader which is one of the tools that defines you as a Cyber Knight. The CyberLoader is a mechanized loading device that allows you to rapidly reload any type of weapon you are carrying and can be crammed full of hundreds of bullets of different types and sizes.

You can touch your weapons or armor in the Equipped sub-page to unequip it.

Carried

The Carried sub-page lists all of the equipment your team is carrying. This equipment is shared across your team and can be used by any team member when needed. Using an item from the inventory will affect the current character (loading his or her gun, using a medkit to heal his or her health, taking a crammer to keep going after days on the job).

You can touch weapons and armor in the Carried sub-page to equip them. You must unequip any weapon or armor you want to remove first.

You can touch other items like medkits, ammo, V-Chips, computer files, and the like to activate them. In the case of ammo, you load the bullets into yourCyberLoader, where with a computer file, you load it into your computer’s memory.

Implants

The Implants sub-page lists all of your currently installed nano, cyber, or bio implants. Each implants describes its maker, cost in credits, cost in DV and its rating. Each implant is also described and the game effect is listed in bold text. The text often refers to the rating (such as Adds +1 Hacking * Rating).

Computer – Home, Jobs, PDA

The Computer page details what is currently stored in your Cyber Knight computer, including your credits, passcodes, contacts, and other important files. Your computer is a critical part of what makes you a Cyber Knight, so be sure to keep aware of all of the information stored here.

Note that you can reach the Computer page directly from the Tactical Touch Map by touching the Computer Menu Button (G).

Figure 6: Computer Page

Home

The Home sub-page lists the specific model of Cyber Knight computer you currently own. The home sub-page also provides a list of critical details about your current computer’s status—the number of credits you have, your number of current jobs and maximum jobs that can be stored in the secure memory, the free hardware memory on the machine, passcodes and paydata loaded.

Also any digital files that have been installed into your Cyber Knight computer are listed here. Click on one of the Digital Files to read its contents.

Jobs

As all jobs that you take as a Cyber Knight are stored within your computer’s secure memory, each current job is listed in this sub-page. The job description includes details about your connector and his or her location, the type of job, and any other important locations related to the job. As a Cyber Knight, you have pre-negotiated the pay for any job, so your reward and the time at which the job expires are also stored within your computer.

PDA

Your PDA sub-page lists all of the contact V-Chips that you have loaded into your computer. If you are at a location with a phone (such as a hotel or a Matrix terminal) you can call any of these contacts.

The Note Book section is not in use in the current BETA release, and is pending future releases.

Factions – Politics, Conflicts, Rumors

The Factions page gives you information about the major politics and criminal entities with the New Boston Zone, and your team’s relation to them.

Figure 7: Factions Page

Factions

Each of the nine major factions are listed in this sub-page. Each faction’s flag and public title are displayed, along with your current relation and reputation with the faction. For example for Mars with 3 reputation you will see “Citizen B-Grade (3)” where if you have -15 reputation with Los Valentinos, you would would see “Hater (-15)”. Also, for each faction, you can also see a list of any paydata (company or criminal secrets, stolen data files, schedules, or reports) and any stolen Security Codes (allowing access to restricted areas).

Each section has a link to a detailed section of information about the mega-corporation, criminal organization, or street gang under “Read Detail.”

Conflicts and Rumors

In the current BETA release, both the Conflicts and Rumors sub-pages are disabled, pending future releases.

Experience: Character Advancement

Your team of Cyber Knights gains experience (XP) while navigating the NBZ, dodging the law, completing contracts, hacking the Global Matrix, and fighting for their survival. Experience will guide train your gun hand, sharpen your reflexes, harden your body, sharpen your mind, and hone your skills. Experience is the currency of character advancement.

Spending Experience

Spending Experience represents significant advancement in your physical or mental prowess, or in one of your many talents. Such training requires down-time and focus, and therefore you can only spend experience while staying in a hotel or at a safe house.

Figure 8: Hotel Room

Raising Attributes

Attributes are split into two groups--Physical and Mental. Physical includes the key attribute Body, and the Strength and Dexterity attributes. Mental includes the key attribute Mind, and the Perception and Intellect attributes. You cannot raise the value of any attribute higher than the rating of the attribute's key attribute (Perception cannot be higher than Mind). The cost of raising any attribute (including key attributes) is equivalent to the following equation.

XP Cost = (Sum of Attribute Ratings of other Two Attributes) x 2

For example, if Strength = 3, Body = 5, Dexterity = 5, then raising Strength to 4 costs (5 + 5) x 2 = 20 XP. However, raising your Dexterity to 6 costs (3 + 5) x 2 = 16 XP. Characters who attempt to raise all of their attributes will pay higher experience as opposed to characters who are willing to focus on one or two attributes. Training for sheer strength is easier than trying to train for muscular power and speed and coordinatoin.

Raising Skills

The eight skills are organized into categories under the four attributes, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Perception.

Athletics and Brawilng are under Strength.
Stealth and Firearms are under Dexterity.
Electronics and Hacking are under Intelligence.
Negotiate and Intimidate are under Perception.

The cost of raising a skill is based on its relationship to its attribute. You will find it easier to raise a skill if its rating is less than its attribute. If your physical Strength is high, find it easier to raise your Brawling. If you talent in Brawling begins to surpass the strength which supports it, more XP is required. The following equations determine the cost of raising a skill.

IF (Skill < Attribute) THEN XP Cost = Skill Rating + 1

IF (Skill >= Attribute) THEN XP Cost = (Skill Rating + 1) x 2

IF (Skill >= Attribute x 2) THEN XP Cost = (Skill Rating + 1) x 3

Therefore, if your Brawling = 3 and Strength = 5, then raising Brawling to 4 costs (3 + 1) = 4 XP. Raising Brawling to 7 would cost (7 + 1) x 2 = 15 XP. Raising Brawling to 12 would cost (12 + 1) x 3 = 39 XP. Characters who focus on both attributes and skills in which they are interested in will advance quickest. Investing experience in skills that fall under your weaker attributes will be costly.

Figure 9: Advancing Skills

Human DV: Blocking Experience

Adapting and learning is a part of human nature, driven by our natural, mortal state. Your body and mind are in a constant flux: suffering, experiencing, and learning. This flux is our history, our evolution carried with us from before the world was destroyed, before we were civilized, before the first fire was lit. It is a thing of human flesh and blood, in our genes, down to our ever-reproducing cells, our bones which fuse stronger after fractures, and the flashes across the neural network of our brain.

If you choose to enhance your humanity through cybernetic and nano implants, you will pay a terrible cost. While you can increase your physical prowses, resistance, speed, memory, and strength to inhuman levels, you also lose much of your humanity. This loss is described by your Human DV (Delta Value), which increases as your physical form diverges farther from flesh and more into machine.

As your DV increases, you are less and less likely to gain XP. Whenever you have the possibility to gain a point of XP, a 300 sided dice is rolled. If this die rolls higher than your DV, you gain the XP. Otherwise, your humanity does not react and the XP is lost. Therefore, if you have over 300 DV, you will no longer gain XP--you have paid the terrible price for power.

Experience and Death

Depending on your game difficultly, experience and death may have a close relationship. Near-death experiences crush your body, shock your system, and may drain you of Experience.

In Simple and Easy Difficulty, death does not affect Experience.
In Normal and Hard Difficulty, death causes an immediate Experience penalty. Death only affects your unspent Experience, so it cannot reduce existing attributes and skills.
In Crazy, if you die you will suffer an Experience penalty. If you die with 0 current experience, you die permanently. No more learning.
If you are playing on Maximum Difficulty, dying permanently fixes your Experience problem. You are dead forever. No more learning.

FAQ

This section contains a compliation of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). These questions have been gathered from the following sources:

What is Heat?

Heat is the negative attention that your Cyber Knight's life as a soldier-for-hire is certain to acquire. As you move through the NBZ, completing jobs for connectors, chose to avoid or interfer with local criminal activity, clash with BraveStar or other security forces, you draw a lot of attention. Mega-corporations and security forces work hard to keep their areas tightly controlled and monitored, and have built a powerful surveilliance infastructure into the dome over the New Boston Zone. Street gangs and criminal organizations alike try to keep their streets under watch, often tailing or following new people who come through their stretch. Heat is a result of the world in which we live.

You Heat is directly affected by your Reputation with the faction of the neighborhood your team is currently in. If you are in a area in which you have good Reputation with the faction, your positive Reputation will be removed from your Heat (as long as you stay in the area). In the reverse, negative Repuation is added to your Heat score as long as you stay in the area.

Violence and other criminal activities are sure to increase your Heat. Having high Heat increases the likelihood that Encounters will turn violent.

How do I get rid of Heat?

Heat slowly reduces over time, but slowly enough that you are likely to get into more trouble before it has a chance to dissipate. In order to dissiate Heat quickly, avoid security forces, confrontations, combat, and the law. Cyber Knights who are being watched find it best to slink into the city and vagabond between hotels and safe houses until the Heat has passed. Staying in a single hotel over and over again does not reduce your Heat as staying on the move, and losing anyone who is following your trail.

How do I find Contacts and V-Chips?

A V-Chip is a secure contact card that can be used to reach a Contact via a phone. You must install a V-Chip into your Cyber Knight computer to insure a secure connection, and visit a hotel, bar, or Matrix terminal to use a phone.

Contacts are friends, powerful connectors, fixers, taxi drivers, and other denizens of the New Boston Zone who can offer special services, jobs, or are interested in purchasing paydata. Most Contacts stay remote and do not show their faces on the streets to protect their identity, themselves, or their employers. Therefore, you always reach a Contact through a secure connection on the Global Matrix.

You can find contacts or their V-Chips throughout the NBZ. There are many citizens, shop-keepers, and fixers on the street who can help you locate a contact, trade a V-Chip for services, or directly sell you a V-Chip for a profit. When navigating the NBZ, you should also keep an eye out for Contacts who have sent someone to give you their V-Chip out of interest in you and your work. Often, these delivery-agents may appear hostile until they are close. Therefore, when faced with an Encounter, bear in mind that you may be being followed, tailed or approached by such a delivery-agent as opposed to a threatening enemy.

For example, locate the Laughing Dog in the The Fenns or the Black Water Saloon on Commonwealth to meet find some Contacts.

How do I sell paydata?

Contacts will purchase different types of paydata, and you must call them through the Global Matrix using their V-Chip to make them and offer to sell paydata.Paydata is any type of valuable data about a specific faction or organization, including reports, identification cards, historical records, payment information, census data, manufacturing diagrams and files, personal correspondence, or the like. Each contact is only interested in specific types of data. For example, an internal affairs for BraveStar is only interested in purchasing paydata relating to the BraveStar faction. It can be challenge to locate a consistent buyer for paydata, as many of the buyers can only purchase so much data at a time.

What should I do on the Global Matrix?

The Global Matrix has recently come online, brining with it a new era of mega-corporate competition. The Global Matrix is a network of hosts with the NBZ, owned by different corporations and connected to the major hubs and exchanges through the NBZ infastructure. If you have a Dataport implant, you can connect to the Global Matrix and attempt to hack into these hosts, or navigate the Global Matrix pipes.

The Global Matrix is a game system under heavy work during the Cyber Knights BETA. At this time, you should use the Global Matrix as a way to locate and download paydata. Paydata from a Global Matrix host always belongs to the owner of the host.

When will Cyber Knights RPG Elite be available?

Cyber Knights RPG Elite is already available on the Android market. Elite is still in BETA, and being updated almost daily, but if you would like to support the Trese Brothers Software team, we encourage you to purchase it at a discount price of $1.99!

How to Report an Issue or Suggest a Feature

If you find a bug, have a new feature, or are having difficulty playing Cyber Knights, the best place to go for help is the user forum. A strong community has grown around Cyber Knights and there are many players interested in answer questions or helping a new player acclimate to the game. Also, the Trese Brothers Software team members are on the forum often, helping to respond to questions, gather RFEs, help with bug reports and engage with you, our community. Please join us at the Cyber Knights Forum .

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RPG by The Numbers 6/26/2011 - v0.2.1

40 Sci-Fi Weapons Including Cyberweapons
25 Armors and Advanced Protection Gear
20 Portable Computers for Hackers
105 Matrix Hosts to Crack
61 Unique Cyberware Implants
120 Items / Gear including files, medical, drugs
521 Buildings, Shops, Hideouts, Warehouses and Corps
92 NPC Contacts -- Fixers, Fences, Spies and Taxis
51 Monsters -- Drones, Dogs, Security Team, Knights
21 Monster Teams