[Intro] K37-D is a science fiction action/adventure game that is mostly in first person, but has a third person tank portion as well. It has some survival and stealth elements and also puzzle-solving. It's not the kind of game that holds your hand all the way through, you have to learn things for yourself and determine your own goals. [Controls] The controls are fairly basic and straightforward. Movement - W,A,S,D or the Arrow keys will move. Aim - You aim with the mouse. Shoot - You can fire with the left mouse button or with left ctrl. Note that your weapon will overheat if fired continuously. This will also click buttons in console navigation, like a regular mouse. Confirm - Right mouse button or left Alt. This will open consoles and advance dialogue. Flashlight - Left shift or middle mouse button. Your weapon will overheat slightly faster while the flashlight is activated. Player Menu - Esc or P will bring up the player menu, which contains your inventory, a map screen and game menu options. [Tutorial Sequence] When you begin the game you will go through a tutorial sequence with helpful dialogue (unless you turned off the tutorial sequence). You begin the game in the administration section and you will be guided to the tank rover, which you will drive around the outside of the facility to get to the utility section. In the utility section, you may want to activate your flashlight so you can see better until the main power is on. You will be guided to the main CPU, where you have to install the data core. After that you can activate the power and turn off your flashlight. You will be instructed to look at power unit panel to determine which components are needed to repair it. You will be instructed to do the same with the comms unit. After that you can leave utility and head to extraction in the tank. When you leave utility you will have your first encounter with the mutated creatures. It's really easy to kill the creatures in the tank, either with the cannon or just by running them over. Drive to extraction and enter that area. When you get to extraction Aleska tells you she has no idea what those creatures are but she is analyzing some data about them. When you get to the extraction console you are instructed to set drone 1 to collect a resource. Next you need to head to manufacturing and see what components you can make and what resources are needed to make them. After taking a look at the manufacturing console you're directed to the control console to get familiar with that. Aleska tells you that the creates expel toxic gas when they die and that you should go get a toxicity meter in the research area; she also says that you can call for the transport ship after you repair the comms unit. Once you go to research and pick up the meter, the tutorial sequence is essentially over and Aleska suggests that you remember to collect resources from extraction and that you explore the facility for more helpful info. At this point it's up to you to decide what you should be doing. Figuring out what resources you need to make the repair components is one thing you should do. Then make sure to set the drones to collect those resources. While you wait for the drones to collect the resources, you should really start looking around on all of the computers in the facility. [Basics] -The Facility K37-D is a facility with 7 different areas; administration, housing, storage, utility, extraction, manufacturing and research. The south portion of the facility is comprised of admin, housing and storage; utility is on its own in the center; and extraction, manufacturing and research make up the north portion. If you open the facility map in the player menu, you will get basic information about each section along with indicators for breaches and high toxicity. This screen will also remind you of basic goals. -Creature Attacks After your initial encounter with the creatures, they will continue to attack the facility at random time intervals. This is usually between 2 and 4 minutes time. You will get a warning when the attacking creatures are approaching and a timer counting down to a possible breach. The best way to defend against these attacks is with the tank rover; if you can get to it in time you can easily kill the attacking creatures without having to worry about the toxic gas they disperse. However if the breach timer reaches zero, the creatures will breach whichever section of the facility they were attacking; unless the auto-defense turrets stop them. It's up to you how/if you want to defend against these attacks, but they are a lot more difficult to deal with if they get inside the facility. However if you don't need to go to that section of the facility, or if you're just doing something more important, you don't necessarily need to worry about every incoming attack. [Facility's Systems] The facility has a variety of computer systems which you access through the control, extraction, manufacturing, research and personnel consoles. -Control Console Each area of the facility has a control console and they all grant access to the same systems; communications, utility and turrets. *Short-range communications won't be available until after the Ion Coil is repaired. Short-range comms allow you to scan the radio waves for local communications and record position data for any signals you find. *Long-range comms won't be available until after you repair all three components of the comms unit. Long-range comms allows you to call the transport ship to escape the facility and end the game. *Power allows you to choose which systems to route power to in the facility. When the power unit is first activated it will only have 8 bars of power available for use, which are set to each area's turrets and drone 1. You can select each area of the facility on the left side and see which systems have power and which do not. You can click on an active system to deactivate it and make a bar of power available for another system. This is how you reroute power to the various systems (note that the research console requires 2 bars of power). *Enviro let's you monitor and filter the environmental conditions in the facility. If you have to kill creatures inside the facility, they will release toxic gas and the enviro systems are how you remove that gas. To activate the environmental systems in any area, you must route power to those systems via the power screen. Each area's enviro systems require 1 bar of power to remain active. Once the area is clear of toxins you do not need to maintain power to those systems if you do not wish to. The enviro systems also allow you to inject aerosol into an area; this requires you to have the aerosol injector and at least one aerosol in your inventory. It also requires you to have power running to that area's environmental systems. Aerosol will be further explained later in the guide. *Auto-Defense Turrets allows you to monitor the status of the facility's turrets.The turrets defend against incoming attacks and each area needs to have power and ammunition to function. The turrets use carbon or ionized carbon as ammunition. Each area's turrets can be set to either burst fire or full-auto mode. Burst fire will help conserve ammo but isn't as effective; full-auto is totally effective as long as it's supplied with ammo. Ionized carbon is more effective ammunition and you can set any or all turrets to use it if you have enough supply. If the creatures attack the facility, the functional turrets will fire on the enemies. This means that when the breach timer counts down to zero, you will be notified if the turrets stopped the attack or if they breached the facility. You can rely on them for defense to a certain degree while you take care of other tasks in the facility. -Extraction Console The extraction console is very important to understand because it is how you get resources in the game. It controls 3 mining drones that automatically gather elements for you while you go and do other work. Each of the 3 drones requires 1 bar of power to operate, and by default power is routed to the first drone. You click on which drone you want to control then you click on which element you want it to collect. Each resource takes a certain amount of time to collect and you will see the timer count down on the bottom right. When the resources are gathered you can collect them with the collect button. Drone 3 requires a CPU before it will become functional, which you will need to manufacture first. Also take note that each drone can function more efficiently if you manufacture a RAM upgrade for them; the upgrade reduces extraction time. -Manufacturing Console The manufacturing console is where you use resources to craft components. Once you decide what components you want, you need to come here and see what resources they require; this will give you an idea of that you want your drones to be collecting. When you have enough resource simply make sure the console is powered on and craft your component. It will go into your inventory where can can view a brief description of the item if you forget what it's for. -Research Console The research console is the most advanced and complex console in the facility, thus its requirement for 2 power bars rather than 1. It has 4 functions; signal analysis, genetic analysis, ionization and synthesis. *Signal Analysis lets you triangulate the origin of a radio signal with data recorded from local short-range comms. Before you can collect signal data, you need to have repaired the Ion Coil on the comms unit. With the Ion Coil repaired you have access to short-range comms; if you scan the frequencies you will find 2 separate signals. You can record the data for each signal at any control console in the facility. In order to triangulate the signal you need 3 unique data for that signal, which means you need to record the signal from 3 different control consoles. Once you've done this you can triangulate the source of the signal and it will show up on your mini-map when you are in the correct area. The signal can then be deactivated. *Genetic Analysis lets you analyze a genetic sample and compare it for a match with one in the systems database. In order to collect genetic bio-samples from deceased enemy creatures, you will need to find the Bio-Sample Case first (which is located behind the locked door in the research area). Once you have the Bio-Sample Case, the creatures will randomly drop bio-samples when they die for you to collect. You can bring the samples to the research console to test for matches. On the genetic analysis screen you select a sample in the database to test against by entering a number on the right side of the screen. When you enter the number that sample's genetic profile will be shown below. Each time you analyze a genetic sample the computer will begin to build a genetic profile for that sample. This means that even if you don't find a match, you're still making progress towards revealing the sample's profile. If you reveal the sample's genetic profile you can visually compare it against that of a sample loaded from the database and try to find the correct match that way. Of course this might be time consuming and it would be a lot easier if you could just discover which sample in the database would be a match right away. *Ionization is a very simple process that allows you to ionize resources or an Ion Coil. You just select which item you want to ionize on the input screen then press the ionize button. The items will go directly into your inventory. *Synthesis allows you to create certain items but requires you to know what combination of resources to mix in order to make those items. You choose which resources to insert on the input screen and you will see if it creates anything or not on the synthesis screen. If you're wondering how/where to get aerosol, this is it. -Personnel Consoles The personnel console hold files and e-mails which have all of the vital information in the game, so you better make sure to check all of them out. Even though they all look the same, you'll quickly see they all have different users/areas associated with them. If you need information about one of the other consoles, there is always a personnel console close to it that will explain how that console works. Most (but not all) of the employee's personnel consoles are in the housing area; this means you could spend a considerable amount of time here searching the files and e-mails for information and hints. There is also a lot of narrative and generally useless information in these files too, so you'll have to figure out what you need and what you don't need. It's really fun just going through all of the silly references and stuff in the files though, so you might like to do that. ---If you'd like to try and figure out the rest of the game for yourself, you should stop reading this guide now; otherwise keep reading for some detailed strategy.--- -Strategy Ok, so if you've got the basics down you can go to the options and check the "skip tutorial" option and start a new game. Take the tank straight to the utility section, install the data core and turn on the power unit. You don't need to check anything else here for now. Head directly for extract and just run the bugs over on your way; they are really easy to kill if you just run into them. Enter extraction and head to the control console first. Open the power screen and take power away from the turrets systems in utility or one of the southern areas. Reroute that power to drone 2 in extraction, then exit the control console. Go to the extraction console right next to you and set one drone to collect uranium and one drone to collect silicon. Close the console and go through manufacturing then enter research. Grab the toxicity meter from research then head back to extraction and see if the drones have collected 1 silicon and 2 uranium. Collect the resources then set the uranium drone to start collecting carbon. You may have to deal with an attack by now, so it's really up to you how you want to handle it. I would recommend being ready to defend in the tank. Anyway once you have the silicon and uranium go back to manufacturing and make sure you route power to the manufacturing console. Make a Drone CPU then bring it back extraction and repair drone 3. Now it's up to you how you want to route power and if you want to have all 3 drones powered on right now, but your drones should hopefully have collected 4 carbon and 1 uranium by now so collect those resources then set one drone to collect silicon and one to collect mercury; after that go back to manufacturing. With 4 carbon and 1 uranium, make a Zeta Amp at the manufacturing console then take it to the utility section. In the utility section open the power unit panel and repair the Zeta Amp, which will give you 3 more bars of power to work with. Now you should be able to power all of the drones and all of the turrets; this gives you a good foundation to work from. Go back to extraction and collect as much silicon and mercury as the drones have gathered, at least 2 of each. Back at the manufacturing console, make as many Drone RAM as you can then use those to upgrade the drones at the extraction console. This will make them collect resources faster. From here you should be in a good position to explore the facility and discover your own goals. There are 9 possible endings in the game so what you discover and what you choose to do makes a lot of difference; as long as you don't get the lazy ending that is. -How not to get the Lazy Ending If you want to know how not to get the lazy ending, you should go looking around on the personnel consoles in research, and figure out how to open that locked door. Some very important information is behind that door... One day I'll probably come back and update this guide, unless someone else makes a better one. For now I just wanted to set people on the right path; if you're looking hard enough to find this guide then you deserve some help. I hope you figure out how to get the non-lazy endings and have fun!