First off, the views expressed here are simply my thoughts on the game, they might differ from yours or simply be wrong. If so, please feel free to correct me in a normal way.
Feel free to copy&paste if you want to, just mention were you got it from.
Contents:
(A) Introduction
(B) Single Player
(C) Multiplayer Basics
(D) Build your Hound
(E) Tips & Tricks & Random Thoughts
(F) Frequently asked Questions
(G) Links
(A) Introduction
Chromehounds is a game set in a fictional world where World War III actually has happened, leaving the world behind in a state of turmoil and tension.
In this world giant Mechs (here called hounds) dominate the battlefield, equipped with advanced, interchangeable weaponry. Players can join one of 3 nations fighting for supremacy in an area which contains parts of eastern Europe, the middle east and the former soviet union.
(B) Single Player
Well, obviously I’d recommend playing the single player campaign first. It’s not required I guess, but recommended. Also, read the manual if you are a first timer to this type of game. Though it lacks quite some information you will at least get an idea of the basics.
I won’t post a detailed walkthrough, but I’ll be glad to help if you are having trouble. Although there shouldn’t be much of a problem to get an S ratings in every mission, except someone had bad luck.
As this has been asked repeatedly; yes, you can go back and replay an already accomplished single player mission later on to get an S rating and get all the unlockable and paint schematics.
All in all there are 176 unlockable parts. A list of all the unlockable parts can be found here:
http://www.chromehound.com/forums/index.php?autocom=pages&do=show&id=14
Note: the section below may contain spoilers. Also the difficulties are rated the way they are displayed in the sp campaign. Personally I found the commander missions quite easy, so your experience might vary.
Soldier & Sniper missions (easy difficulty):
Not much to say, all rather straightforward. Might want to come back later and replay a mission with a custom hound.
During the Soldier mission where you are tasked to destroy the enemy HQ, help out at your own hq first, then heading straight for the enemy hq. Don’t use the road, as this will actually slow you down and make you a prime target for enemy snipers.
Defender & Scout (medium):
Not much to say, all rather straightforward. Might want to come back later and replay a mission with a custom hound.
As some defender missions have the requirement that you don’t loose any parts you might want to replay them with a custom hound with added armor platings.
Heavy Gunner (hard):
Well, I guess I cheated this one. After mission 2 or 3 I changed my hound to a heavy sniper instead, sniping all the targets. Works out fine as well.
There is a small mistake in the training mission which might confuse you (well, it confused me). After taking out the buildings as your first objective, you are told to destroy a moving target. The target is NOT at the waypoint on your map, instead it will be heading straight towards you from the direction where the buildings where that you just destroyed.
Tactics Commander (hard):
For hard difficulty those were rather easy. Some missions require that you don’t take damage at all. So use you “minions”J.
*SPOILER*
Final Mission (hard):
Well, they sure are tougher than what you encountered before. You should probably clean the area around the combas of tanks. After shooting one of them at least 2 hounds will approach, with the 3rd eventually giving backup with sniper rifles/cannons. Don’t let them get too close, you also might want to use a custom hound, I used a pure sniper build. You only need to destroy the tracked design though, so you might want to concentrate your fire on that one.
*/SPOILER*
After having completed the single player campaign you have a bit of experience under your belt, some toys to play you can let the real fun begin.
(C) Multiplayer Basics
Joining/Creating a Squad:
First you will need a squad/clan to begin with. When you name your squad there are certain restrictions but oh well. More important is the fact that if you are the last member of a squad and leave, that squad name is lost! So be careful with your precious names. I hope this will get changed sometimes.
Further explanation:
Let's say you start a squad named "squad A". Ten minutes later your buddy down the way say's to join his "squad B" for a few games, so you drop out of "squad A" and enter "squad B". Since you are the only player in "squad A" that squad name dies. Later, after your friend goes to bed, you decide that you really liked the name "squad A" and you try to re-make the squad with the same name as before.
that name ("squad A") will be lost and locked. you can't even rejoin if you left recruiting on. that name is gone. maybe the names will be released again after the server reset after the neroimus war ends. but right now nobody seems to know. so better treat it like you will never get that name back. this is especially bothersome as you can't search for a new squad while still being member of a squad. and since you also need to be a member of a squad to participate in the neroimus war.
In a squad you can adjust your recruiting requirements (like only wanting to recruit certain RTs), set a squad logo and colours, take a look at your squad members and their hounds and basically everthing you need to run a squad.
As mentioned above however you can’t check for other squads who are recruiting.
The War Map:
This map displays the basic progress of the ongoing neroimus war. Every flag represents a territory/region (the name of the territories are also used to keep track of the war progress like in the system messages that pop up when you log in), with every territory containing several maps to fight on (usually 3-4). Capitals are marked with a red cross underneath the flag.
If there is a circle at the base of the flag of a region, this region is the current region of interest for your nation, meaning that the government supports attacks in that region by paying higher rewards per mission than usual.
Note that each map has certain weather/time conditions that don’t change (at least not as far as I have seen). So you can actually learn that certain maps will be night missions or take place during a sand storm for example, properly preparing your hound for this.
You can also check the war progress on:
http://www.sega.com/gamesite/chromehounds/leaderboard.php
Playing a mission:
If you go to the flag symbol underneath the neroimus war map you can start or join different types of missions.
Neroimus War:
this will let you participate in a war mission which will influence the gain or loss of regions on the map.
You can either join a mission a clanmate of yours has already started (note the rank limit has to be set to the highest rank of the players joining), search for a custom mission by another player or start your own mission.
Capturing regions and increasing your rank:
If you win a neroimus war mission, your nation’s influence in that region will increase, simultaneously decreasing the enemy’s influence. The region goes to whoever has the most influence. If you loose you will also loose influence.
so what? i could care less about the human race...
