[GUIDE] Steam Marines: How to Play

Welcome to Steam Marines!  As of today (Dec. 30, 2013) it's still theoretically in Alpha, but don't let that fool you.  It already has enough for a complete game experience and the addictive gameplay shines through from the beginning.

What is Steam Marines?
It's a turn based, 2D, squad-combat roguelike set in a steampunk world on a spaceship.

Now what do those terms mean?

• "Turn based": You take your turn, then the enemy takes theirs.  No simultaneous moves.
• "Squad combat": You control up to 4 Space Marines at any given time who are all trying to stay alive in a very terrifying ship.
• "Roguelike": There's a lot that goes with that term, but the short answer is that there is no persistence between plays.  At any given time you have just one game going.  There are no checkpoints, and you can't intentionally save (though it does start you from where you left off if you quit).  When you lose all your squad members, that's it!  Game over!  Time to start the next game.  The heart of roguelikes is not improving by grinding better gear or stats in game, but improving as a player.  That means thinking smarter, making better decisions, and understanding the world.
• "Steampunk": Click here for a description.  Your marines shoot guns at robots, but there are pipes everywhere with steam coming out of them...
• "Spaceship": Flying through space, wheeeee!

Okay, how do I get it?
Their website lists multiple ways to get it, but most likely you'll end up purchasing it on Steam.


I've bought the game.  Help me get started!
Try the tutorial first!  It's not bad, but it's very short.  It'll get you started with the mechanics and controls at least though.

For your first real game, DO NOT SELECT A GRENADIER.  Grenadiers are a great class, but it's very easy to screw up on your first playthrough and blow up your squad with him.  Save him for your second game at least. I would suggest replacing him with another leader.

Now that your game has started, you should see something that looks like this:

For starters, look at your surroundings to identify what things are.  Those brown rectangles to the west and south are doors, that can be opened by walking into them.  The blue circles are just windows (can't see through them however).  The rectangles directly to the north are lockers, which can be opened for credits or items by bumping into it, like so:

Your primary goal is to find the elevator on every level, get your whole squad to it, and descend to the next level.  Along the way you'll find many bloodthirsty robots, who have to be eliminated before you can proceed.  The most important thing to remember is that 1. you have all the time in the world to think and 2. the robots are usually very, very slow.  This means that you can often even kite one around in a room if you need to.

Sometimes you get really screwed over like this:

When you're in trouble, don't forget to stop to THINK!  Especially make sure to check your inventory.  Weapons like the laser sight can really save you in a pinch.

Note that doors and walls are sometimes booby trapped with a little device on top of them.  You can see two of them in the screenshot below.  Do NOT touch them as they will explode!  You can bait enemies into them of course, or preemptively explode it yourself.

When enemies are weak and alone, think about meleeing them to save ammo.  For example, you can see the Brute in the shot below has lost ten health already from my sniper.  I have a squadmate nearby who can easily finish him off in two melee hits.  Since melees never miss, I know it's nearly a risk-free move.

Another excellent time to melee:

General tips:

• Get used to never using the mouse, except to click through menus or to hover over objects to see what they do.  Using the mouse to move or shoot will just confuse you later and you'll do something you didn't mean to.
• Tab and Ctrl will advance you forwards and backwards through your squad.
• Pressing the "C" key will cycle you through your laser sight (+25% accuracy) or your flashlight (+1 sight range).  By default, the flashlight is active.  It costs 1 AP to use, but this is actually really key to playing the game well.  Basically whenever you're shooting at something besides your ideal range, you want to have the laser sight on.
• If you need to reload, remember it consumes all of your remaining AP.  Thus you might want to move to a safe place first, THEN reload.
• If you're running low on ammo, the Smasher Stat (+1 melee damage, +10% obstacle bash chance) can really help you.
• If an enemy is low on health, consider using melee attacks to finish them off to save ammo.
• You can push enemies into space (for example, with the shotgun) to instantly kill them.  They must be by the black border on the edge of the level.  You'll always need to destroy at least one wall segment to be able to do so.
• You can only heal from random events, finding healing items (like the Canteen) or over time (this will take a while).
• Items can be used by anyone, but they can cost 1 AP to use.
• Guard Mode shots can go diagonally, but you can normally fire only up/down/left/right.  Go figure...

Enemies:

Name	Health	AP	Damage
Bucket	18	3	5
Brute	12	3	6
FlameJack	15	3	6 (range 2)