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=                    HOOSIER CITY: ASSAULT OF THE ORCS (PC)                   =
*                              FAQ / WALKTHROUGH                              *
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Author: Sashanan
Date: 18 September 2009
Version: 1.2

DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2006. All
rights reserved.

You are granted permission to make copies of this FAQ (electronically or
physically) for your own, personal use. Furthermore, non-commercial, freely
accessible websites are allowed to upload a copy of this FAQ as long as it is
posted in its full, original form (including this disclaimer) and credited
to Sashanan.

You are not authorized to upload this FAQ on a commercial website and/or
charge for its viewing, or make money off it in any other imaginable way,
without my explicit written permission. Furthermore, you are not allowed to
edit this guide in any way, use it as a basis for your own guide, or post it
without giving proper credit. This is considered plagiarism.

This FAQ is protected by international copyright laws and failure to
comply with the terms in this disclaimer will result in legal prosecution.


===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================

[1] About this FAQ
[2] Basics and controls
[3] Walkthrough
  [3.1] Starting out
  [3.2] Across the lake
  [3.3] The eastern lands
  [3.4] The northern lands
  [3.5] The land of the dead
[4] Reference lists
 [4.1] Items
 [4.2] Weapons
 [4.3] Enemies
 [4.4] Point values
[5] Questions & answers
[6] Revision history
[7] Final words


===============================================================================
[1] ABOUT THIS FAQ
===============================================================================

This document provides a full walkthrough and side information on an old MVP 
Software classic called Hoosier City. First of a trilogy, it's a shareware game 
meant to draw players into buying the second and third title as well, a popular 
approach at the time that especially Apogee was well known for. Nowadays, the 
games are almost impossible to find, but they are around, and the second and
third episodes are freeware these days as wel. For the lucky ones to find it,
this first episode is quite a nice classic action adventure to play through.
The other two...not so much.

This guide will see you through Hoosier City start to end, providing the route 
to take, noting the items to pick up, the enemies to face and what weapons best 
to use against them. After a basic rundown of the game and how it is controlled 
follows the walkthrough, then a full reference list of items, weapons and 
enemies. I have also provided some info I couldn't really fit anywhere else in 
a separate questions & answers section.

It's my hope that this guide will help you get through Hoosier City in one 
piece, and that you'll have as much fun with it as I had writing it.


===============================================================================
[2] BASICS AND CONTROLS
===============================================================================

Hoosier City is played in 2d, non-scrolling screens where new areas are reached 
by walking off the edge of the screen. Nearly every area has enemies wandering 
in it by default, and more entering from the various exits the longer you 
dawdle. Your ultimate goal is to defeat the evil computer controlling the city, 
but to do that you'll not only need to follow a complicated route to open up 
new areas - you'll also need to find health vials to make yourself sturdier and 
a host of weapons and items to arm you against the many enemies you'll face. In 
short, it's one of those lovely classic PC action adventures that remind all us 
gamers at heart why we chose this hobby.

Use the cursor keys to move your character around and the space bar to use your 
weapon. You'll start with only a sword, but more weapons will be found soon. 
Switch weapons by pressing Enter once you have others to choose from. Each 
weapon will be upgraded at one point in the game, making it more powerful and 
usually giving it a bit more range as well.

At various points in the game, you will also find usable equipment. Only one of 
these can be equipped at a time. To switch equipment once you have any, press 
Tab.

You start the game with three lives and a health meter consisting of five 
hearts. Lost health can be replenished by picking up hearts dropped by enemies 
or found in certain locations. Health vials will recover health and extend your 
health meter, too.

Enemies roam most rooms in the game, and will either move around randomly or 
walk up to you to attack depending on the type of enemy. For the most part, 
enemies are affected by all weapons and it's merely a matter of choosing the 
most powerful one you have (or a slightly less powerful one to avoid overkill 
and waste of ammo). A few enemies are vulnerable to specific weapons, however. 
Note that nearly all enemies will respawn if you leave an area and come back, 
and many areas will have endless reinforcements coming in from adjoining 
locations.

Fortunately, not everybody you meet will be hostile. Scattered throughout the 
town are wise old men with advice and sometimes items for you to take. Items 
can also be randomly or sometimes not-so-randomly found on the bodies of your 
enemies.

Finally, in two areas of the game, you'll find stores selling ammo and health 
upgrades. Money, too, is found mostly by killing enemies.

You'll lose health if you take hits from enemy weapons, run into your enemies 
or foolishly touch a pool of lava. You'll die if your health runs out 
completely. If this happens, you'll explode (harming or possibly killing nearby 
enemies) and you will reappear where you entered the room. If you lose all 
lives, you'll be asked if you want to continue. If you do, you'll be given 
three new lives and restart at the beginning of the area. The game's definition 
of an area can be a little flexible - it is usually the last place where you 
entered or exited a cavern consisting of more than one room. You can continue 
indefinitely, thus there is no real game over until either you decide not to 
continue or you finish the game.

The game keeps score based on collecting items (this includes store purchases) 
and a bonus at the end depending on how many lives it took you to finish the 
game.

You can save your game at any time by pressing F4, and reload by pressing F3.
If you reload a save, you will be returned to the start of the area, rather
than appear in the exact spot where you saved. All items and ammo totals are
preserved, and you're given full health and 3 lives. Your score, however, is
reset to 0. You can use/abuse well-timed saving to avoid deaths or to avoid
having to backtrack through an area after you've picked up whatever item you
had to complete it for; but at the cost of resetting your score every time
you do.


===============================================================================
[3] WALKTHROUGH
===============================================================================

This walkthrough will get you through the game beginning to end, picking up all 
health vials that I know of and all weapons and upgrades.

Hoosier City is pretty linear in terms of where to go, so I haven't bothered 
drawing up a crude character-based map. The text should easily get you where 
you need to go. At a few points, slight variations are possible - in these 
cases I've chosen the route that seemed most logical and easiest to follow.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.1] STARTING OUT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'll start out in the middle of an Orc Village, surrounded by blue, sword-
armed orcs, and a couple of harmless guys in brown suits. You are rather 
pathetically armed right now and have very little health to spend before you 
die, so first priority is to toughen up.

Grab the flashlight on the trunk next to you, then explore the three huts in 
this area (dodging the orcs for now). Start with the top right hut, where you 
will be given a better sword. Then explore the other two huts and kill one orc 
in each - both of them drop a health vial which will heal you up fully and add 
an extra heart to your maximum health. When you've collected everything in this 
area, head south - we'll get to the cave entrance later.

In the southern part of the village is a market where you will be able to buy 
ammo (useless now, since you don't have the right weapons yet), and three more 
huts. Explore the huts - in the top right one you will be given an axe, and the 
other two have more orcs to fight and two more health vials for you. The axe 
has a slightly better range than even your upgraded sword, but it's slower to 
throw. Still, it lets you attack orcs from a safe distance, so I know what I'd 
choose.

Now that you have gotten four vials in the two village areas, you're quite a 
bit tougher than when you started out. Head back north and this time, go into 
the cave marked with the green arrow. You emerge in the Orc Underground (you'll 
need the flashlight to see down here). First, head south. Kill the orc down 
here and he'll drop the pistol, your first proper weapon. The good thing is it 
has more range and power than your sword and axe. The bad thing is that it 
consumes ammo, and you start with only 20. More bullets can be bought in the 
shop in the village for $500 per 20 bullets, so from this point on, you may 
find it worth it to regularly return there to stock up. Money can be gotten 
most easily from the various enemies wandering the two parts of the village.

For the moment, 20 bullets is enough to do what we came to do down here, 
though. Head back north and go into the passage to the northeast, marked by the 
arrow. Grab a health vial here and listen to the old man's advice. Head back 
and now walk up to the northwestern part of the room - the wall will disappear 
to reveal a secret room. Head inside and kill the ogre here with five pistol 
shots. Try hiding around a corner to avoid the ogre's own attacks - this is an 
important skill to learn for many enemies to come. Grab the green key that the 
ogre drops, and head back to the village. You can buy some more bullets now if 
you like, but you won't need them yet where you're going next, so it's up to 
you. When you're ready, head west from the northern part of the village.

You'll notice a lake, a church and an area behind a green door here. First, 
head into the church to grab a free health vial, then go back out and open the 
green door. The skeleton behind isn't easily killed with any weapon, including 
the pistol. The axe is the weapon of choice against skeletons but the 
unupgraded one you have now will still take four hits to do the trick. I'd 
suggest dodging the skeleton rather than killing it, and heading west when you 
can. You may consider killing the weaker enemies and hoping for a Z powerup
that'll clear the screen and kill the skeleton too, but since a new one might
wander in from the graveyard after you do this, I don't find this worth the
effort.

The graveyard you'll enter now has three skeletons, so get around them as best 
as you can. The old men at the north exit will warn you not to go there without 
the green orb, and they're not kidding - your life will drain away quickly if 
you go there now. Instead, go into the cave entrance. Just one skeleton down 
here, fortunately; avoid him and head east. The next area has a rather powerful 
and hard to kill ghost, and I'd suggest just running to the other side of the 
room. He teleports randomly and might not get in your way at all, though if he 
does you can expect to be scorched by his fire. Not a whole lot you can do 
about it at this point - the axe works, but it needs four hits. Get through 
as best as you can and head into the passage at the east end to grab the boat. 
Then head back out of the crypt and the graveyard and to the church at the 
lake.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.2] ACROSS THE LAKE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This time, you'll want to buy yourself some bullets. Head into the village, 
kill everything in sight, repeat a few times, then head into the shop to buy 
some bullets. You can hold a maximum of 99 - you don't need that many, but you 
might as well. Money is easy enough to come by in the village. When ready, head 
back to the church and walk up to the edge of the lake. Select the boat (tab 
key to select equipment rather than weapons) and you will board automatically. 
Sail to the south, then get off again by sailing to the edge of the water, 
hitting tab again and selecting the empty space left of the boat. (If that 
explanation seems to be a little too detailed, it's because it took me far too 
long to figure it out.)

Another green door here, which we'll need to get a key for. The only other exit 
is south, so take it. Use your pistol liberally against the axemen as well as 
the occasional blue-clad gunman that'll wander into this area (they'll take two 
hits, incidentally). Don't tangle with the two ogres in the next area just yet, 
but head into the cave to the southwest first. Listen to the clue, grab the 
health vial and head back out, this time going east. You'll probably need to 
kill one or both ogres to get there safely.

The next area, labelled "The Keepers of the Handgun", has three ogres. Between 
the area name and the clue you just got, it should be obvious you are to kill 
these guys - or at least the middle ogre, who holds the upgraded pistol. With 
that, you will only need three hits to down an ogre, and have a longer range 
too.

Heavily injured yet? The worst is still to come. East of here is a lone 
minotaur, a very powerful enemy at this stage of the game, who does a lot of 
damage with his axe and at quite a range, too. You'll need to beat him for his 
green key, and it'll take a lot of hiding behind statues and shooting around 
corners to pull this off. Expect to need a few tries for this. If you're 
running low on ammo (told you to stock up to 99!), you may need to run back to 
the village for more. It'll take about 20 rounds to kill the minotaur and get
the key. Once you do, go back to the village to stock up on more ammo before 
heading through the green door on the south side of the lake. (Unregistered 
versions of the game receive their first registration nag here, press Escape to 
close it.)

Welcome to the Giant Mountain! For starters, head south, a little west and then 
back north to get to the cave entrance and go inside. Another health vial and 
another clue for you. Go back outside and head straight south into the other 
cave.

For a clue (but no health vial this time, unfortunately), walk up to the man at 
the lava pit, then into the lava. You'll find the Brotherhood that was 
mentioned by one of the old men a while ago, and be told about the giant's body 
armor. You've got your work cut out for you. Go back out, and walk up to the 
minotaur statue. It'll disappear and reveal a passage to the north. Unless 
you're at full health or near to it, you'll also want to grab the heart to 
restore all your health - either way, head north into the next room.

The "maze of false walls" as the game calls it is just that, most of the walls 
here will disappear if you touch them. Trial and error will get you through 
just fine, but if you're in a hurry, the route to take from the start is east, 
north, north, west, north, east, east, south, south, east, east, south to grab 
the bullets, then back north and north once more to get to the east exit.

Next up: the room of mighty explosions, referring thankfully not to some big 
new enemy, but to a new weapon, the bombs. Kill the axemen surrounding them and 
grab your new toy. These can be dropped on the ground, and will explode in a 
few seconds, sending shrapnel all around. It won't hurt you, thankfully, but 
there are only a few situations where this comes in handy. You can safely 
forget about them for now as long as you don't forget to collect them. Head 
south afterwards. Here, head into the southwest cave first for a health vial 
(requiring you to beat one measly gunman), then back out and east to meet the 
giant king.

The giant is a completely stationary enemy and as such not very scary. He can 
hurl rocks at you for quite a bit of damage, but only if you willingly walk 
into his line of fire. Head below him and then just far enough to the right to 
shoot his left foot, and he won't be able to hit you (don't go any farther to 
the right, though). Alternatively, if you kill the axeman right in front of him 
and he's kind enough to leave an item (like a money bag), that item tends to be 
exactly in the right spot to block the giant's boulders. Either way, you've got 
an easy way to hit the guy without retaliation, and then it only comes down to 
pumping enough bullets into him to kill him. Grab his body armor when he dies, 
then select it (using tab - it's equipment). You'll now only take half damage 
from enemies, quite an improvement, and you'll be able to open up a new path in 
the village. Head back there (don't forget to put the armor back on after 
getting out of your boat).


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.3] THE EASTERN LANDS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the market in the southern part of the village, restock your bullets. Then 
go back outside and walk up to the rock in the southeast part of the screen. 
With your new body armor, you'll smash the rock and open up a new passage. In 
the next area, head into the cave first for a health vial and a clue, then 
fight your way east through the gunmen. The next area has four of them guarding 
the rifle, a weapon that's about equivalent to your upgraded pistol and at this 
point mostly just provides a little more range. Just wait until you get to
upgrade this baby, though. Once you have the rifle, head south and meet the
tank. Run south  without stopping to take some cover.

The tank will regularly fire a hail of bullets and one rocket which will 
explode and send shrapnel flying. Most of your weapons will do absolutely 
nothing to harm it - the only thing that can kill the tank is the bombs you 
picked up in the giant's lair. Take out the gunmen, then head around the tank 
until you're directly west of it (and still in cover). Switch to the bombs, 
wait for a salvo to pass, then head south and east immediately until you're 
right in front of the tank. You'll probably take a hit or two getting into
position, but that can't be helped. Once you're right next to the tank,
however, all its shots will pass harmlessly over your head, and then you
can start dropping bombs. A handful will be enough to destroy the tank, and
your reward is a flamethrower. Pocket your new weapon (it's not very useful
for combat at this point) and head back to the village.

You can get new ammo for your pistol, your rifle, your bombs and even your 
flamethrower at the store, though anything beyond pistol and rifle rounds is 
pretty expensive. I would stock up pistol and perhaps rifle ammo, but buy no 
more than one set of bombs. It *is* worth it to hang around the village long
enough to save up for this one set of bombs - enemies are coming up that they
are useful against.

Definitely don't waste $4000 on flamethrower ammo. However much ammo you buy,
save at least $1250, or kill some enemies until you have that kind of money.
When  ready, head into the north part of the village, burn the red flower to the
east with your flamethrower, and head east into a new passage behind it. (The
second registration nag pops up here.)

WARNING: if you do want to use the flamethrower in combat, preserve at least one
shot until you're back in the village. If you run the flamethrower dry, you
cannot destroy the red flower on your way back and you'll be stuck forever. In
the village, at least, you can buy new gas for it (if at a ridiculous price).

Now east of the village, the first thing you'll see is a health food market 
that'll sell no less than four health vials at once for exactly $1250. A deal 
if ever I saw one, so grab them. Once you've got them, head further east. New 
enemy here - a gunnery pod which takes quite a bit of damage, and dishes out 
even more. There is a heart behind it, but since you just gulped four health 
vials, I'd leave that right where it is. Don't bother fighting it out with the 
pod, just get into the cave on the other end.

Well, figures there'd be more inside. Three here, and you don't really have the 
firepower to take them out comfortably. You'll need to get rid of the one just 
to the left of you, and I'd suggest bombs. Just drop 'em until he's dead, or if 
you're daring, wait between his salvos, and wander around the corner to drop 
them almost right on top of him. With good timing you can do this without 
getting hit, and it'll take fewer bombs to kill him if they're right on target. 
Your choice. With the pod gone, head west without going into the line of fire 
of the lowermost pod, wait between salvos, then dash through the south exit.

NOTE: the lower pod in this room has a health vial. However, I wouldn't kill it 
just yet - nail it on your way out, when you'll be far better armed.

I sure hope you like your pods, because the next room has four of them in tight 
formation and it's not possible to slip around this time. Use the flamethrower 
to burn some of the mushroom ring around them, then use bombs to deal with them 
as best as you can. (See why I had you buy an extra set?) You can use the pistol
or rifle to mop up, but it'll take a while as you only have time for one shot
between salvos before you need to get back into cover. Thankfully, there is a
reward for this battle - grab the machine gun that was resting between the
pods, and now you have something to match their firepower. The machine gun will
fire a salvo of six with every shot you launch (and still consume only one
ammo!), making it far easier to kill the  bigger enemies from here on out. One
salvo is not *quite* enough to kill a pod, but very close. You only get 20 ammo
in it to start with, though, so don't go trigger happy with it just yet.

Once you go south, you'll be under fire immediately, so keep moving. The next 
room has three more pods - you want to kill the middle one at the least, as it 
carries the upgraded rifle. It fires a salvo of four for each shot now, about
as powerful as the six of the unupgraded machine gun put together, and a bit
more accurate at long range. The rifle is now your best weapon, and its ammo is 
cheaper to replenish than the machine gun's, too. With the pods gone (the 
upgraded rifle will make it easier), you can head into the cave to the 
northwest to grab a probably badly needed health vial.

Almost done down here, don't worry. Go back out and head west into the "room of 
floating death". The mini-pod here is much like a gunnery pod, except it moves 
around. Make good use of your rifle and the natural cover of the room to snipe 
at it and defeat it - you shouldn't have much trouble since it's alone. 
Defeating the mini-pod earns you a red key. In the cave behind him, you'll find 
some rounds for your machine gun and a few extra bombs.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.4] THE NORTHERN LANDS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the red key in hand, head back to the village. Don't forget to kill the 
lowermost pod in the entrance room if you haven't done so yet, it has a health 
vial. If you already took it, kill the pod outside to get the heart it's 
guarding, you'll probably need it at this point. Once back in the village, make 
sure to stock up on rifle rounds. At $750, they're more value for money than 
pistol rounds now, and you won't need to bother much with the machine gun until 
you get its upgrade. If you build up to 99 rifle rounds now, you probably have 
enough to last you the rest of the game (especially since you'll be switching 
to the machine gun once you have the upgrade).

When you're all set, go back to the north part of the village and open the red 
door in the north wall with your new key. You'll encounter another minotaur on 
the other side, but this time, you are far better armed than the last time you 
faced one of these - not to mention clad in body armor. Make short work of him 
with your rifle and grab the upgraded axe, which has better range and damage 
now than before. At least now you can deal with skeletons somewhat effectively 
(the darn things are hard to kill even with the heavier firearms). Head north, 
deal with the minotaurs and the gunnery pod, and grab yourself another health 
vial. Go east from here.

A lake, a giant, a minotaur, and a house. Ignore the giant for now, and head 
into the house (you'll probably have to kill the minotaur to get to it). Inside 
you'll be given the aqualung, which'll let you explore the bottom of the lake 
here. Head back out, kill the minotaur again, and kill the giant this time too. 
Then head to the east part of the lake, use the boat to get in, sail to the 
middle of the lake and switch to the aqualung. You'll be underwater now, where 
you cannot wear your body armor or use any of your firearms. Only the sword and 
the axe will work (choose the axe, obviously, with the upgrade it's a lot 
better).

The first underwater screen has a single harpoon-armed diver. He has quite a 
range on his weapon, so be careful in sneaking up on him, then use the axe to 
take him out. A single hit will be enough, and a bow and arrow will be left 
behind that *can* be used underwater (don't try that at home). Switch to this 
new weapon - the last one in the game - and head west. More divers to deal with 
in the next area, but a single shot from the bow is enough for any of them. The 
westernmost enemy will drop another health vial. Head west again.

The bit of wall around the centre diver will disappear if you swim up to it. 
Take out or avoid all the enemies here - if you choose to avoid, take advantage
of their long reload time (bait them into firing once, dodge the shot and then
slip past). But be warned that their shots travel all the way across the screen,
and quite fast, so be cautious about this. I personally prefer to just kill
them.

Either way, head into the cave to get 40 arrows for your bow and a clue about
the "weapon the penguins fear the most". Once out of the cave, head south using
the right passage. Take out or avoid the divers and swim up to the minotaur
statue, which will disappear and reveal the upgraded bow. Swim back north and
take the left passage south this time, then head west to meet the local boss,
the Crab rider.

Take out the two divers quickly, then lure the Crab rider toward you. Ideally, 
get it to go north of the purple piping and a little east, then be on the south 
side of the rocks and shoot arrows through the space between the pipes and 
rocks. You'll be able to score hits unpunished, and kill the Crab rider fairly 
quickly, he's not that sturdy. Failing this, there are other positions to pull
the same trick from, or you could snipe at long distance - the upgraded bow
can shoot all the way across the screen. The Crab rider will drop another
green key for you upon death. The arrows within the piping can be reached from
the north, an opening will appear for you. Not that you're likely to need them,
the bow isn't much good anywhere on the surface. You're ready to backtrack to
the lake entrance and leave now - don't forget to reequip your body armor.

Head back to the area just north of the village, where you got the magic axe, 
and open the green door here with your key. You can head into the village for a 
little extra rifle ammo if you think you will need it. Machine gun ammo is good 
too, now - you'll get the upgrade soon. Either way, when you go through the 
green door, the third and final registration nag will appear.

In the aptly named "Land of unfriendly doormen", you'll be under attack by a
pod almost immediately. Take it out, then head to the other side of the screen
to take out the second pod and two gunmen. Grab the health vial in the
northeast corner before heading further east. Here, in the land of lava, walk
up to the old man and he'll open up a passage into the lava. Walk into it,
which will hurt - but you'll get the aforementioned weapon that the penguins
are so afraid of, the upgraded flamethrower. Now kill off the mini-pods and
head north.

This next area has two mini-pods and one penguin. Penguins shoot ice bullets 
which hurt and also stun you for a second or two, not good. Most weapons work
well against the penguins, so don't feel obliged to use the flamethrower just
because the game told you to. It requires you to get fairly close to work well,
when the rifle and even the pistol let you kill penguins from afar. As for this
one, he'll drop the green key that you need to head into the cave here.

Inside, kill the penguins and open the door for some extra ammo. Then head 
south. More penguins and a hut where you'll get a clue but nothing more. Head 
west. Get through this "passage of many penguins" quickly or it'll be true to 
its name - lots of penguins will enter from either side. The one penguin that's 
in the room to begin with will drop a health vial if you kill it, and the 
blocks it hides behind can be destroyed by most weapons. To the south, a group
of five penguins will hold the upgraded machine gun, an awesome weapon - but
don't use it against the penguins just yet, stick with the smaller guns for
just a moment more. You'll need the machine gun's ammo soon enough. Head into
the hut to pick up two bonus lives, then go back out and south to face the 
dragon.

The dragon isn't as impressive as you might expect. He's big and his flame can 
do a lot of damage at short range (much like your own flamethrower), but he has 
a hard time getting around the lava pool in the center, and you can sneak in a 
lot of hits around the corner. Which is good, because it takes a lot of hits to 
kill him. Definitely use the upgraded machine gun here and let him have it, and 
if you run out of ammo, switch to the rifle and finish him with that. You can 
dash for the heart in the southwest corner for some extra health if you need 
to. Main thing here is not to let the dragon touch you or catch you in the open 
- you're quicker, so keep your distance. About 30 rounds of the machine gun 
should be enough if you manage to get most shots on target.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.5] THE LAND OF THE DEAD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grab the green orb that the dragon drops, as well as the heart if you haven't 
yet. If there's enough machine gun ammo left, feel free to use it against the
penguins on your way out (if not, the rifle and the flamethrower work fine too).
Head back to the village to stock up on ammo for the last time - machine gun
ammo is your priority now,  followed by rifle ammo if you have any money left.
The penguins tend to drop a good bit of it. When you're all set, head west to
the graveyard, and now that you have the green orb, past the wise men and to
the north. The skeletons here aren't too impressed by your machine gun.
Switch back to the magic axe to take care of them, it'll take two hits per
skeleton. Head north from here again.

Ignore the ghost and most of this area for now and rush into the cave, where 
you'll be given two more lives and a final batch of ammo. This batch also
contains the upgraded bombs, if you happen to care. Once upgraded, they release
a whole lot more shrapnel, but fact is that there's only two real enemies left
now and the bombs aren't a good choice against any of them. Head back out.

You'll want to take care of the ghost first with two axe hits, probably. As for 
the quicksand, it's simple: there is one safe route between the car wrecks to 
the exit. Stray from it, and you'll sink into a room full of minotaurs and have 
to fight your way out to start over. Experimentation will get you through, but 
it'll hurt. A screenshot of the right route can be found at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/933969/43267

If that's not convenient for you to look at right now, consider the wrecks
numbered as follows:

      1
 2          3
    4
5        6   7
   8
          9

Starting from the southwest, pass between 5 and 8, then 2 and 4, and stop just
southwest of 1. Go straight east, under 1, then northeast over 3 until you hit
the northeast corner. Go straight south and pass between 6 and 7, then south
past the east side of 9 and through the south exit. Then head directly east.

There is a sub boss in the next area, a mega pod. It's much like the mini-pods 
you've encountered before, except that it has a lot more firepower and takes 
more damage. Do your usual thing of finding cover and shooting your machine gun 
around the corner, and this battle shouldn't be any trouble. Grab the red key 
the pod drops to open the door to the north and face the final battle, against 
the evil computer.

Not much to say about this battle, either. He's powerful, kills instantly on 
contact and shoots a hail of just about every bullet type in the game at you. 
Only way to go about it is to have your machine gun out and mash that space 
bar, trying to use some cover if you can. I have the best results moving up to 
his cover and to the right of it, then shooting just around that corner. You'll 
still take return fire no matter what, though, and there's the risk that the 
computer will move around and touch you. But with the extra lives you've gotten 
just before (assuming you didn't spend them trying to get through the 
quicksand), you should be able to clear this up even if you get killed once or 
twice. After the computer is gone, take his grey key and head north again to 
finish the game.


===============================================================================
[4] REFERENCE LISTS
===============================================================================

In this section I have listed the various items (including equipment) and 
weapons to be found in the game, as well as all the enemies you will encounter
and the point values of various pickups.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4.1] ITEMS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ammo - ammo for various weapons can be found at set points in the game, bought 
in the shop in the village, or dropped by certain enemies.

Money - money comes either in the form of a bag, contained anywhere between 
about $50 and $150, or in the form of a dollar sign which is worth $1000. Money 
can be spent in two different shops in the game, mostly on ammo.

Heart - hearts restore lost health. They're found as either half or full hearts 
(dropped by enemies), and as dark red hearts which restore all your hearts 
right away. These aren't often dropped by enemies (only by a few of the more 
powerful ones), but found in specific spots.

Health vial - a health vial will restore all your health as well as add a new 
heart to your health meter.

Extra life - these smiley faces are a very rare find, only given to you at two 
specific spots in the game, and add another life to your reserves.

Keys - green, red and grey keys are found throughout the game and open doors of 
the same colour. The map is set up such that there's never a choice to be made, 
each key is meant for a specific door.

Freeze clock - when collected, all enemies on screen will stop moving for a 
couple of seconds, allowing for an easy escape or cheap kills.

Zap - speaking of cheap kills, picking up the Z letter when it appears kills 
all enemies on screen. How come this only appears in areas that have weak 
monsters to begin with?

Flashlight - found right at the start of the game, the flashlight will light up 
underground areas so you can actually see what you're doing.

Green orb - guarded by the dragon, this magical item provides protection 
against getting your life drained away in the Land where the Dead walk the 
Earth, basically allowing you to enter the final areas of the game without 
dying quickly.

Boat - the boat lets you cross a lake early in the game, and get to the center 
of a second lake later on.

Body armor - the giant's armor will cut any damage you take in half, and let 
you smash a boulder in the village to open up a new area.

Aqualung - obtained relatively late in the game, the aqualung lets you dive in 
the second lake to enter an underwater area.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4.2] WEAPONS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sword - short range, low damage, the only thing that's good about the sword is 
that it doesn't use up any ammo. With an upgrade it'll do slightly more damage, 
making it suitable early in the game.

Axe - with a slightly longer range than the sword, this weapon can be used to 
safely engage orcs from a distance. It's slower, though, and you'll need to 
employ hit and run tactics. It's also the only weapon that is remotely 
effective against undead enemies like skeletons and ghosts. The upgraded axe 
has better range and damage. Like the sword, it requires no ammo.

Bow - it's the last weapon you'll find, actually, and it's weaker than the 
other firearms. The bow's advantages are its long range - not much of a point 
in that so late in the game, it's just not powerful enough - and the fact that 
it can be used underwater, which makes it the weapon of choice there, and only 
there. Arrows cannot be bought anywhere, but are fairly frequently dropped by 
divers in the underwater areas.

Pistol - obtained early, the pistol is your first firearm, and much better than 
the sword or the axe. It'll kill many smaller foes with one hit, some with two, 
and has a better range. It does use up ammo, but new ammo can be bought for a 
mere $500 per 20 bullets in the village. Once upgraded, the pistol has better 
range and damage.

Rifle - obtained some time after the pistol gets upgraded, the rifle is about 
equivalent before it gets upgraded as well, firing one shot at a decent range 
with fairly good damage. Once upgraded, the rifle gains a major boost in power. 
It'll now fire a salvo of four every time you press the space bar, and with a 
better range to boot. It'll be your best weapon for quite some time. Rifle ammo 
costs $750 per 20 bullets (or salvos) in the village.

Machine gun - even unupgraded, this baby fires salvos of six bullets each. It's 
a good weapon when you find it and becomes the best in the game once upgraded. 
The upgraded rifle is actually a little bit stronger before then, despite its 
smaller salvos. Machine gun ammo costs $1000 per 20 salvos in the village.

Bombs - bombs are dropped right in front of you and go off after a few seconds, 
sending a ring of shrapnel in all directions. It won't hurt you, but enemies 
can take quite a bit of damage if they were close enough to take several hits 
at once. The usefulness of bombs is limited to only a few specific situations. 
Upgraded, the bombs will release more shrapnel, but at that point in the game 
you have the upgraded machine gun to play with anyway. 20 bombs can be bought 
in the village for $1500.

Flamethrower - initially this weapon will only shoot one pitiful little flame, 
but once upgraded it'll release an entire wave which can be very deadly at 
short range. Until then, the flamethrower is more of a tool than a weapon, and 
can be used to burn red flowers. There is one spot in the game where this opens 
up a new passage. 20 charges for the flamethrower can be bought in the village 
for a shocking $4000 - but at least a free heart is thrown in.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4.3] ENEMIES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poor unarmed bystander - not sure if these are the citizens of Hoosier City 
(the game doesn't suggest so) or just a breed of orcs that forgot to take their 
weapon along. Either way, they wander the village, they are completely 
harmless, and they're great fun to kill. They drop money as often as anybody so 
I wouldn't spare them.

Orc - armed with swords, they are really only a threat early in the game when 
you have nothing better than that. Soon as you get yourself a firearm, these 
are a total joke.

Axeman - armed with axes, they have a bit more range than orcs and are harder 
to kill, but a pistol will fix them just fine, too.

Ogre - ogres become more common as you get further into the game. They are 
armed with swords, not so scary, but take on a lot of damage even if you use a 
pistol. Be careful around these.

Skeleton - found only in and around the graveyard, skeletons are highly 
annoying to kill. They take very little damage from anything except the axe, 
and they'll survive four hits from that (two if upgraded). Even though they 
only have swords, they're so hard to kill that you'll likely take some damage 
in getting rid of them.

Ghost - the good news is that only two of them exist in the game. The bad news 
is that they teleport around and hurl fire at you, and are every bit as hard to 
kill as skeletons. Once again, only the axe will do you any good against them.

Gunman - found in numbers in the mid stages of the game, gunmen do a lot more 
damage at a bigger range than orcs and ogres.

Minotaur - one minotaur is encountered early in the game, and he's a nightmare 
at that point with powerful, long range axe attacks. Later on, you'll encounter 
more of these, but by then you'll be far better equipped to deal with them.

Giant - the two giants in the game aren't that impressive. They can throw 
boulders at you, but since they cannot move at all, it's easy enough to get 
into a position where you can hit them but they can't retaliate. Then it's just 
a matter of what runs out first, your bullets or his health.

Tank - the derelict tank in the desert is immune to everything except bombs. 
Get up in his face so you can place them and he won't be that hard to kill, but 
getting there in one piece is tricky.

Gunnery pod - when you first encounter these, they have you outgunned and are 
hard to destroy with just about any weapon. As your own arsenal grows, they'll 
be more manageable, but their firepower remains dangerous throughout the game.

Mini-pod - much like a gunnery pod except that it moves. Early on, cover is 
important - later on you'll just tear through them.

Diver - found underwater, these enemies are armed with harpoons and can 
actually do a fair bit of damage because you cannot wear your body armor 
underwater. Their range is pretty hefty, too. Fortunately, they too are 
vulnerable and can be dispatched easily with axe or bow.

Crab rider - the underwater boss, he has a lot of firepower and can stun you as 
well, but is awkwardly large and easily sniped at from a safe spot.

Penguin - these unlikely foes shoot ice pellets at you which will stun you, and 
can cause quite a bit of damage if they catch you in a crossfire. While the 
upgraded rifle will work, the upgraded flamethrower is also a good bet at close
range.

Dragon - this boss takes more damage to kill than anything else, but is 
otherwise not that difficult to deal with. His size works against him and the 
lava pool in his room provides natural cover.

Mega pod - Found once just before the end of the game, the Mega pod combines 
the mini-pod's mobility with the tank's firepower, but isn't all that difficult 
to defeat with the upgraded machine gun. He certainly can't take as much 
punishment as the Dragon could.

Evil computer - the final adversary has ridiculous firepower at his disposal, 
so cover is essential here. Make good use of what little is available in his 
room, and you'll be able to take him down with repeated machine gun fire.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[4.4] POINT VALUES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ammo pickups refer to ammo caches and shops - weapon pickups refer to getting
the actual weapon, and the same points are given out a second time for getting
the upgrade. For the sword, you already have the weapon to start with, so points
are given only for the upgrade.

ITEM                           vALUE
Flashlight                     700
Boat                           1250
Body armor                     1000
Aqualung                       1500
Health vial                    250

Green key                      500
Red key                        500
Grey key                       5000
Green orb                      1750

Sword                          100
Axe                            200
Bow                            300
Pistol                         600
Rifle                          900
Machinegun
Bombs
Flamethrower                   2100

Timer                          5
Zap                            10
Half heart                     2
Full heart                     10
Money bag ($50-$250)           1
$ symbol ($1000)               3

Bow ammo                       25
Pistol ammo                    40
Rifle ammo                     60
Machinegun ammo                80
Bombs ammo                     100
Flamethrower ammo              125

Completing the game            5000




===============================================================================
[5] QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
===============================================================================

I suppose this is the section that would most commonly be called the 'FAQ', but 
considering that A) I refer to the entire document as a FAQ already and B) As 
of this writing nobody has ever asked me a question about Hoosier City, that 
term seemed a bit misleading. But I digress. Listed here in Q&A format is 
whatever info didn't seem appropriate for the walkthrough, but is still 
noteworthy.

Q: Where can I find this game?
A: Easier said than done these days, unfortunately. It's a tad more obscure 
than, say, the original Commander Keen trilogy or other fairly famous "1 
shareware, 2 retail" trilogies from its era. At any rate, considering how much 
Googling I needed to find a proper download for this, I decided to upload a 
copy of my own. This was, after all, the point of shareware to begin with. You 
can download the game from my webspace at:

http://www.mastagus.com/sash/1hc.zip


Q: Can I host a copy of this myself?
A: Yep, that's the point of shareware. If you have the webspace and the 
inclination, by all means.


Q: What about episodes 2 and 3?
A: As I found out recently myself, although these episodes weren't shareware
initially, they've been released as freeware since. They are however difficult
to find. MVP Software (still in business, though no longer supporting this
series) has all three episodes for download at:

http://download.mvpsoft.com/attic/registered/

But a word to the wise: neither episode 2 nor 3 is anywhere near as polished
as the original game. They're both short, lengthened some only by very brutal
combat, and feel somewhat rushed to me. Thanks go to Vincent for pointing me
to the above link.


Q: I'm having trouble getting this game to work on a modern Windows machine. 
What do I do?
A: DOS games and newer Windows versions often don't play well together. 
Fortunately, there's help. Get the free DOS emulator DOSBox at 
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net, optionally grab a front-end to make it easier to 
use (I use D-Fend, off the same site), and run Hoosier City through that. It'll 
run just fine, at proper speed, and sound should work too.


Q: What's the best weapon to use?
A: Varies per situation, but for the most part you'll use the pistol once 
you've got it, replace it with the rifle only once it's upgraded, and then the 
machine gun once *that* is upgraded. The flamethrower is good against the 
penguins (but not really any better than the rifle), and bombs are 
specifically of use against the tank and some of the more dangerous gunnery pod 
positions in the eastern lands.


Q: Where is the flashlight? I can't see anything underground!
A: It's right next to you when you start the game. Try not to miss it. :)


Q: I need more money to buy ammo. What's the best place to get it?
A: The two village areas (the one where you start, and the one just south of
it, where the ammo shop is). The enemies here are weak and easy to kill, and
drop money bags quite frequently. My approach is to stock up on new ammo
every time I pass through the village on the way to the next part of the game,
and spend a little time fighting there to get the money for however much ammo
I think I'll need.


Q: Should I kill every enemy I see?
A: I'd recommend sticking to the ones that drop important items (as identified
in the walkthrough) and whatever gets in your way, and leave the rest. There's
no benefit in killing everything that moves, for the most part, except when
you are hunting for money in the village. Especially avoid enemies that are
hard to kill, like skeletons.


Q: Should I pick up every item I find?
A: For the most part, items will remain in the area if you don't take them,
so you can grab them later. So if you see a heart but you're not injured, you
could leave it for when you pass through the area again, if you expect to.
But do pick up anything that killed enemies dropped, and if you find a cache
of ammo, either leave it all or take it all. If you take part of it and leave
the rest, it'll have disappeared too when you come back.


Q: What are some tips for preserving lives?
A: Engage enemies from a safe distance if you engage them at all. Take
advantage of how they tend to fire in a straight line; it is often possible
to take a position where you can hit them, but their return fire will not
hit you. Some enemies have a slower recharge rate on their weapon than you
(the axemen in early in the game come to mind), and with proper timing you
can get in range and kill them between two shots.

You will often find it safer to attack an enemy from above or below rather
than left or right, so that you present a much smaller target. When engaging
vertically, your shots are not centered - they come from your left side
on screen. Oddly, this is true regardless of if you're facing up or down,
making it seem as though your character uses a different hand to fire with.

If there's a handy wall or other obstacle, engaging horizontally from the
other side of it may be your best bet. You can often position yourself so
that your shots pass just over it while the enemies' shots hit the obstacle
instead of you. Alternatively you might be able to do a hit and run, firing
your shot and then quickly taking cover. This approach is pretty much
essential to some of the boss fights.

Don't forget that it is often more efficient to run away if the enemy doesn't
need to be killed. Taking one hit in doing so is often preferable to a
firefight that costs you ammo, takes up more health and may see the enemy
getting reinforcements from off screen. In avoiding enemies, make use of your
higher speed to lure them away from your path to the next room and then dash
around them.

Never forget to reequip your body armor after having taken it off or having
reloaded the game (no equipment is selected by default after reloading).

Consider leaving hearts or even health vials for when you're badly hurt,
if you're going to be passing through this area again.

Remember a replenishable heart can be bought in the ammo store for $4000;
expensive, but money can be raised pretty much safely in the village.

You could also save frequently and reload when you're badly wounded, since
that'll restore your health to full (at the cost of bringing you back to
the start of an area and taking away your points).

Finally, it seems the bigger enemies - starting with ogres - have an
increased chance to drop hearts if you're badly injured. Try some ogre
hunting if you need to restore your health, they're easy enough to kill
once you have some proper weapons.


Q: How do I get on and off the boat?
A: Took me a while to work this out, it's not that intuitive. Walk up to the 
edge of the lake, hit Tab (not Enter, that lets you change weapons only) and 
select the boat. You should automatically get on now. To get off, get to the 
edge of the lake again, hit Tab, and select the empty space LEFT of the boat. 
That's the space for "no equipment selected" and it's the only one that'll do. 
For instance, if you have the body armor, you'd have to get off the boat this 
way first and then press Tab again to equip the armor.


Q: How do I dive in the second lake?
A: Get the aqualung from the house first, then use the boat to get on the lake. 
Then sail to the center and once there, press Tab again to select the Aqualung. 
Getting out is a simple matter of leaving by the arrow-marked exit.


Q: My weapons won't work underwater!
A: You can only use the sword, the axe and the bow (dropped by the first enemy 
underwater).


Q: How do I get through the land of quicksand?
A: Refer to section 3.6 for a link to a screenshot showing the correct route,
or if you're not online right now, a crude ASCII diagram.


===============================================================================
[6] REVISION HISTORY
===============================================================================

v1.0: (12 Jun '06) First version of the FAQ.

v1.1: (18 Jul '09) Minor textual updates, and links to freeware downloads for
Hoosier City 2 and 3 added to the Q&A section.

V1.2: (18 Sep '09) A few more corrections, expanded tips on preserving lives in
the Q&A section, and a new section listing point values of item pickups
throughout the game - thanks go to Andrew Schultz for the latter two.

Another update may follow if I find anything new. Apart from that, the guide's
pretty much done. If there's anything else you'd like to see, don't hesitate to
drop me a mail.


===============================================================================
[7] FINAL WORDS
===============================================================================

Hoosier City is a bit of a pet project for me in FAQ writing. Back when I first 
played this, over a decade ago and well before I had web access, I used to keep 
notes on the games I played in a little notebook, and one of the games for 
which they soon got pretty extensive was Hoosier City. You might say that the 
things I wrote down for myself as I played it were my first baby steps in FAQ 
writing. I've long since lost those original notes (and they weren't that good, 
really), but it's still a trip down memory lane to write a proper FAQ for it 
now, and a thrill to share it with the world this time around. The audience for 
a guide like this will be small, as always, but it's all the more fun to reach 
out to the occasional player. If you're reading this to help you play through 
Hoosier City - or just out of interest or even boredom - thanks. You're making 
all this worth the time.

For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, please contact
the author, Sashanan, at [email protected]. This e-mail address is for
FAQ feedback only. Whatever you wish to share about this document or Hoosier 
City, chances are I'll want to hear it.

Thanks go specifically to Andrew Schultz for this document. For the 1.1 and 1.2
updates, he has provided valuable input, not to mention a standing invitation
to write joint guides for the second and third episodes. He has also created
a world map for this game which can be found at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/933969/56782

If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do. When in doubt, you can always mail me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sashanan is a software engineer, a gamer, and a Dutchman, in roughly that 
order. Having only gotten into console gaming during college, he grew up
mostly on the Commodore 64 and later on classic DOS-based PC games, Hoosier
City among them.

This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2006-2009. All rights
reserved. Disclaimer at top of document.