Strategy Guide
This strategy guide will hopefully give you an insight in to how to become a good Motherload player!Starting off
When you first start off, your ship will be inequiped and poorly put together. Some people suggest that when you start, you branch off searching for more valuable materials first, then return to the top and sell. I find it much easier to start right in front of the fuel station, and just dig straight down. This is best for me for a variety of reasons. First, it provides a quick, simple path straight up. Second, it provides a path straight down. You wont have to waste fuel floating down to where you left off, just simply remember your depth and drop. I suggest starting to press up around one hundred to two hundred ft from where you left off. As you get more used to the controls, this will become easier, and you will grasp the concept of the basic controls. Be careful! if you are not centered in the middle of your hole, you sometimes go through solid blocks and are stopped, taking down a decent amount of your HP. Always make sure not to hug one side too much as you could hit the sides! One real benefit to digging straight down is that at different points (500 ft, 1000 ft, and 1500 ft you will get cash bonuses from your boss, Mr. Natas. See the Transmissions Page for more information.) As you descend, collect the more valuable minerals and discard the others. I tend to first start off going for only bronzium, then only silverium, then only goldium and so on. You wont find more valuable minerals until you get deeper, and you'll never get deeper without some of the basic upgrades. After around 500 ft or so, you'll start finding small traces of Platinum which sell for $750 each, which is quite useful when starting out. Another reason for going straight down is the hidden treasures dont really start to appear until somewhere around 1000 ft under. After you get a small amount of wealth established, I like to dig down only going after treasure and valuable materials. This is an easy way to get started, for when you find your first Religious Artifacts its one of the happiest moments of playing MotherLoad. Remember, you cant dig up, and continue after those valuable minerals.
Upgrading
Now that you've gotten a hang of the basic controls and concept for the game, you can start upgrading. I would suggest first going for the upgraded gas tank. Wait until you've gotten your first three cash bonuses from Mr. Natas, then you should have more than enough to afford the $5,000 gas tank. Buy this and the game will instantly become much easier. Use this to continue the same concept of digging deep and collecting more valuable materials. Keep saving and eventually buy the $5,000 drill. Now you will be able to blast through the soil much faster than before, and combined with the upgraded gas tank you can make it to much deeper depths before having to return to the surface. After a while of treasure hunting and mineral collecting, buy a larger cargo bay. This will allow you to collect more materials underground, without having to return to the surface to drop off. Remember, if you have to, dont be afraid to drop less valuable minerals off in exchange for better ones. Use this tecnique to collect more valuable material. Keep doing this and saving up your cash, avoiding upgrades such as the radiators, engines, and hulls for now. Also, remember to save often, almost every time you make over a thousand dollars. Its really upsetting to come back to the surface with thousand of thousands worth in minerals, only to lose it all by falling down your hole and hitting rock bottom!
Continuing Down
As you explore deeper and deeper you begin to get strange transmissions from fellow miners, most of which can be ignored. By this point you should have collected enough minerals and treasure to have a decent stockpile of cash (at least $50,000) Now, I would suggest buying about 5 reserve fuel tanks, maybe some hull repair nanobots, and a Matter Transmitter. While you may be wondering why you're spending all of your hard earned cash, just be patient. (Remember to save!) Keep drilling down, but now you can ignore the straight down strategy. Simply look at the pre-open spots that look like they go the deepest, and keep drilling into them, then falling to the bottom, then drilling into the next one, and falling to the bottom. Do this to get as deep as possible as quick as possible, and ignore all minerals that are rated under Platinum. As you get down to about 3,000 ft, you'll find more and more valuable items. I suggest going for those very common Einsteinium minerals to start, collecting as many as possible. You may notice that as you fill up your ship, you may not be able to fly upwards anymore, but dont head to the surface just yet. Keep dumping your cheaper minerals for the more expensive ones, and continue collecting. By the way, for those of you with a little less Einsteinium in your blood, as your fuel guage alerts you of low fuel, continue filling it up with your refuel kits, and continue descending. When you run out of reserve fuel tanks, its finally time to hit that long awaited "M" button. Hit and BOOM! Instantly you're back home right in front of that ever so pretty refuel station. Head to the Mineral Depot and be prepared... BAM! You should have at least $50,000 (on a bad run) and maybe as much as $1,000,000 (good run) worth of minerals! Continue this deep diving technique, buying the best of your first three upgrades, then the best of hull, engine, and radiator. CAUTION!!!! Heading past -5,000 feet can be extremely dangerous. At this point, your depth meter that displays how deep you are stops working, and begins going through all the numbers very quickly, making it impossible to know what depth you are at. Also, gas pockets are VERY common after this, so be prepared with nanobots and C4. After you have all of your upgrades, its time to head after the fabled boss of Motherload. I'd suggest sticking to the very right side, dumping all minerals as you go down, and packing at LEAST 50 nanobots and 50 packages of C4. Keep drilling your way down using nanobots and C4 to get through those tricky gas pockets, and know that after a certain point, every single piece of dirt will contain a gas pocket. Beware and be careful, and continue on past when your depth meter busts, and until you hit a point where the boulders are so numerous you absolutely cannot continue. Use your C4 to blast through straight to the bottom, where there will be a path to your right, follow it and be prepared for a surprise!!!
The Boss
My only suggestions, stay low and hit him hard with C4. Try your best and be prepared for another surprise once you defeat him!Kindly posted by 'chejrw' on XgenStudios Forums.