Merc Manual

Welcome to the fight

Welcome to the fight. As you know, several of the world’s most powerful nations have contracted us, The CIN, to tip the balance of power in their favor. We owe no allegiance to any one nation or cause, our only allegiance is to the top bidder. As such your missions will require you to fight under a different banner and for different reasons on a regular basis. No two missions will ever be the same, and you will constantly need to change your appearance to prevent reprisals from enemy soldiers or mercenary’s. We will not coddle or help you more than provide you with a constant stream of mission and credits in your pocket depending on your success.

This guide will tell you, our contracted mercenary, the steps you need to take for your first mission. Read it carefully, you will be tested in the battlefield and a failure there results in loss of life, and more importantly, loss of an investment for our corporation.

The first step to playing Parabellum is downloading the most up-to-date installer. The GamersFirst LIVE! is the quickest and always has the most updated client and installer, the LIVE! client is required for Parabellum as it also will patch your game when updates are pushed live. You can get the GamesFirst LIVE! client here.

Parabellum comes with an installer for your convenience. Please make sure that you have administrative rights before installing the game as access to your Windows system folders is required. The installer will require up to 2 GB of free disk space on the target hard drive.

• Parabellum Beta: Please follow the instructions from the installer. You must accept the license agreement before you can proceed and then choose the installation folder. Press OK and the closed beta version of Parabellum will be installed on your machine. The beta installer will create a folder called “Parabellum” in your Windows start menu. From this folder you can start the game, access all manuals and find shortcuts to the forum and web page.

The installer will also create a shortcut for the game on your desktop.

Network and Firewall Settings*

The game client uses the UDP communication protocol. You must make sure that you have the default port 7777 open to run the game. There is also a list of ports for client / server communication. Make sure that you have the following ports open if you experience problems finding game servers, using the buddy system, logging in and/or updating the game:

UDP: 27900, 29910, 27901, 6500, 13139
TCP: 29900, 29901, 29920, 6667, 28910, 80

Updating

The client for Parabellum has an integrated patch tool. A message window will pop up when you start the game if a new patch is available. Press the OK button in the pop-up to start downloading the patch. The progress bar indicates how much download time is left. You are able to cancel the download of the patch, however you will not be able to play until you have patched the game.

The game will automatically quit when the download is finished and start the patch installer. Follow the instructions in the window and press OK at the end to start installing the patch. After the installation you can start the game and begin playing again.

The downloaded patch can be found in the main folder of your game in the event you had to quit the installation of the patch. Simply double click on it to restart the installation.

The first thing that you see when you enter the game is the login screen. Enter the account ID (1) and password (2) you have created on GamersFirst.com into their respective fields and press the Login button (3). The two checkboxes allow you to save the account ID for future gameplay sessions and set the game to automatically log in. The quit button will quit the game.

Please click here to set up a GamersFirst account if you have not done so already.

Note: Be careful to not check the option that automatically logs into the game on public computers. You are fully responsible for all activities on all your accounts.

The Com Center can be opened through the small button in the bottom left corner of the main menu and is also accessible inside the game through the “i” key (by default). The screen contains two Windows: the Buddy List on the left side and the chat on the right.
1. Buddy List: The Buddy List stores your friends and more people can be added by pressing the Add Buddy button on the bottom of the list. Pressing this button will open a popup window containing a field with a search button at the top and a large empty field below. You can add new friends by entering their name in the field at the top and press the search button. All results will be then displayed in the large field. To add a buddy you must select the person you wish to add and then press the Add Buddy button. The friend will be added to the buddy list but they still have to confirm your friend request before you can begin to send messages to them.
2. Chat: The chat consists of a large field on the top with a smaller one below and a Send button. To send messages select a friend in the buddy list and enter the message in the small field at the bottom of the chat window. Finally you can press either Enter or the Send button to send the message.

New tabs will open for each buddy you currently have open conversations with.

Start up the game and log in to the game. Open the multiplayer screen in the main menu and the server browser will be displayed (1). The browser contains all game servers (2) that are currently available. Select the server (3), based on the information available (4), you want to join by either double clicking on it or pressing the “Join” button at the bottom of the list (5).

The player settings screen will appear when you join a game. In the upper part of screen you can choose and change your team. The lower area contains the different weapon presets that you can choose from.

1. Team: You can choose from CT Forces, Syndicate or random. You can select your team by clicking one of the icons. You will spawn into the team that you have chosen after you have pressed the Ok button at the bottom of the player settings screen (4). To change teams during a team Deathmatch, reinforcement or campaign round press the Backspace key (by default). Your character will automatically die and spawn on your new team.

2. Weapon Preset: Before you join a game you must select your weapon preset. While playing you can always return to this screen (by pressing ESC) to choose another weapon preset. The character will be equipped with the new weapon preset the next time he spawns in the game. The bottom of the player settings screen also contains an Options button to access the Options screen from the main menu. Pressing the Leave Server button returns you to the main menu.

Campaign mode is comprised of a linked series of rounds where the CTF are trying to defuse an EMP bomb that has been placed by the Syndicate. Before they can do this though, the CTF need to neutralise the anti-aircraft defences so that their helicopter can move the EMP bomb into position ready for defusing. In every round then the CTF are the attackers and the Syndicate must defend. This is a battle against the clock, if the EMP bomb explodes then the Syndicate team win automatically regardless of how many are still alive or which map is being fought over.

The Campaign Map

Each map except for the final one has two terminals in it. These are marked as points A and B and destroying either one will allow the CTF to move to the next map. If all the CTF operatives are killed before the C4 is placed on the terminal or if the C4 is defused then the CTF have to try again on the same map. The choice of terminal is important because this determines which map the CTF will advance to next. On the campaign map, you can see which map corresponds to which choice on the right hand side. In the picture to the left, we are currently fighting over the centre map (outlined in green). Destroying the terminal at A will take us to Greenwich Village while B will open up the Rooftops map.

You’ll also notice that some of the maps have a star in them, this means they are a mortar zone. We’ll get to that later.

Terminals and Using C4

At the CTF spawn point at the start of each round will be a C4 charge. There’s only one and you need it to win so make sure somebody picks it up. The person with the C4 needs to get close to a terminal and attach it. When the player with the C4 has his crosshair over a terminal, the cursor will change to a hand icon to show that you can interact with this item. Hold down the ‘Use Item’ button (E by default) until the C4 is placed – a timer bar will show you your progress and a message will be sent to all players in the game once you’ve done this successfully.

You’ll notice that the person with the C4 has a special icon on the right of his screen to remind him that he has a job to do! If the C4 carrier is killed then the charge will be dropped where he died and another CTF operative must pick it up.

Defusing the C4

Once the C4 has been attached it will explode after a short time and destroy the terminal, if this happens then the CTF win the map. The Syndicate can prevent this however by defusing theC4. To do this all they need to do is go to the terminal and interact (again, with the ‘Use Item’ button) until the action bar is full.

Anyone can defuse the C4, you don’t need a special item. If the Syndicate manage to defuse the C4 then they win this round. The CTF can’t destroy a terminal any more as they only have one C4 charge so it’s important for the CTF team to defend the terminal once they’ve placed the charge.

Special weapons

There are two special weapons available in the campaign. One is the mortar which is available to both sides in special zones and the other is the minigun turret which is available to the Syndicate in all zones except the final map.

Mortar

In the two zones marked with a star on the campaign map, the mortar will be available to one side or the other. If the star is blue then it’s your team that has it, a red star means the other team get access. To use the mortar select weapon 5 and you’ll see a blue icon instead of a crosshair. This icon shows where the mortar strike will land. When you’ve put the mortar strike where you want it, a left click will fire it. There’s a slight delay then fiery death will rain from the heavens. The area is quite large and the mortar strike is devastating so be careful that you don’t bring it down too close to your own position. Once the mortar has been used it takes a little while to become available again. You can see when it’s ready by the mortar icon on the right hand side.

The Minigun Turret

In each map the Syndicate have the chance to block off one terminal from the CTF completely by setting up a turret weapon there. The turret can be picked up from the Syndicate spawn point at the beginning of each game. While carrying the turret, a mercenary can’t fight - switching to a different weapon will result in the turret being dropped. To deploy the turret, it must be set up on the pad close to each terminal. Carry the turret over and the crosshair will turn into a hand icon, press the ‘Use Item’ button until the turret is deployed and you’re done. Once deployed the turret can’t be moved and it takes a few seconds to come online but, once it’s fully active any CTF operative who goes near it will be turned into paste. Between being deployed and coming online, the turret can be disarmed by a CTF operative. Once it’s online however it can’t be disarmed, also if the Syndicate win the round the turret remains in place so that terminal will be permanently blocked to the CTF (this is shown on the campaign map by a broken path). The turret is very accurate and does a lot of damage, getting in range of it is pretty much instant death.

Final Map

Eventually the campaign will bring you to the final map. This is where the Syndicate have set up the EMP bomb. To begin with the CTF have to order their helicopter to pick the bomb up and move it to one of two locations. To do this they need to press a switch in one of the two offices - the button in office A opens the roof hatch and directs the helicopter to area A and, not surprisingly, office B opens the roof hatch and sends the helicopter to zone B.

Anyone on the CTF team can push the button in an office so it’s a good idea to make sure you’ve all agreed which zone to go for first.

The other thing that the CTF team will need is the defusing kit. This is at the CTF spawn point at the start of every round in the final map and it’s important that someone remembers to pick it up. Whoever is carrying it is marked as the defusing expert and defending them should be the priority of the CTF team. If they die then the defuse kit is dropped and can be picked up by another member of the CTF team. It can also be destroyed by the Syndicate team and if this happens then the CTF lose the round and have to try again.Once the roof is open and the helicopter has moved the bomb, the defusing expert has to get to the EMP bomb and defuse it by pressing the Use Item button when close to the bomb. If they succeed then the CTF win the campaign. If the bomb isn’t defused by the time the timer reaches 0 then the Syndicate win.

As you can see, the campaign offers a lot of tactical options as well as the opportunity for strong teamwork to shine. The CTF must advance quickly and be aggressive while the Syndicate have to mount a solid defence and delay them as much as possible. The campaign changes every time you play it and each side needs completely different tactics to win.

The screen contains several small Windows and values when you enter a game.
1. XP Bar: The small bar at the bottom of the screen displays how close you are to reaching your next rank.
2. Health: The health of your character is displayed in the bottom left corner of the screen. Your character will die when this value reaches 0.
3. Adrenaline: Your adrenaline is represented by the white bar next to your health. This bar grows when you or one of your teammates take damage or dies. The stored adrenaline can be used by pressing the key that is bound to the adrenaline (Q by default) to increase your damage resistance for a limited time.
4. Total Ammunition: The value in the bottom right corner is the total amount of ammunition that your character is carrying for the weapon he is currently equipped with.
5. Current Ammunition: The small white icons on the left of the total ammunition are the amount of ammunition that you have left in the weapon. You will have to reload the weapon when you run out of ammunition.
6. Minimap: The minimap is located in the top right corner of the screen. The minimap displays a rough overview of the map and your character is always located in the center and you can see a rough overview of the map. The blue dots are your team mates and the red dots are your opponents.
7. Round Time: The round time window below the minimap displays the remaining time for a round in the campaign.
8. Match Time: The match time window below the minimap displays the remaining time for the match in TDM and displays the amount of time until the bomb explodes at the end of the campaign.
9. Match Points: During TDM, a small point counter appears in the top middle area of the screen. This counter displays your team’s points on the left and the opposing team’s points on the right side.
10. Kill Messages: These messages will appear in the top left corner of the screen whenever a player kills someone else in the game.
11. Chat: Chat messages are displayed in the bottom left corner above your health.
12. Special Icons: Two special icons may appear on the right side of the screen in campaign mode. One of them is the device icon, which you will see when your character is carrying the gas bomb or the SatCOM. The other is the mortar icon that appears when you can use the mortar to bomb an area of the map. The mortar is only available on predefined maps campaign mode.

You will notice that there are a few icons hovering in the air when you play the game. These icons point at important locations and other characters.

• Device: (1) The device icon only appears during campaign mode and points to the current location of your device. This icon will change to a yellow color when someone in your team is carrying the device.
• A Zone: The A icon always points at objective zone A in the game. This icon will start to flash blue when your team has placed your device or red when your opponents have placed their device.
• B Zone: The B icon always points at objective zone B in the game. This icon will start to flash blue when your team has placed your device or in red when your opponents have placed their device.
• Team mates: (2) You are always able to see the location of your teammates as indicated by the blue icons.
• Opponents: (3) Enemy player’s icons appear in read. You will only see enemy players when you or your teammates are aiming at an opponent.

Players are divided into the CTF and Syndicate teams. Matches can be given either a score limit, a time limit or both. Each team scores a point by defeating a player from the other team and the team that reaches the point limit first OR has the most points at the end of the match wins. Players will continue to re-spawn after they died until the time runs out.

Search & Destroy is a game mode that shares similarities with Campaign, although it takes place on one map, over the course of several rounds. Whichever team has won the most rounds at the end of the final round wins.

Objectives

In Search & Destroy, the syndicate is attempting to plant and detonate C4 on 1 of 2 terminals placed throughout the map (indicated as A and B on the mini-map) before the round timer expires. If the Syndicate successfully plants and detonates the bomb, they win the round. If the CTF defuses the bomb, or eliminates all Syndicate players before the bomb is planted, CTF wins the round.