Game 374: Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed (1992)

Wouldn't it make more sense for the second game to be "Matrix Squared"?

            

Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed

United States

Strategic Simulations, Inc.

Released 1992 for DOS

Date Started: 1 August 2020

              
I have to be up front with you: Matrix Cubed is going to have a tough time overcoming the bias that I have unintentionally built up against it. This is a bias based on my own experience with its predecessor, my general preference for fantasy over science fiction, my ambivalence towards the setting and characters, and my understanding of the history of the brief series as covered by Jimmy Maher in 2017. Matrix Cubed comes across as the ultimate "corporate game"--a sequel that no one wanted to a predecessor that no one wanted based on a franchise that no one cared about. If Lorraine Williams hadn't happened to own TSR and the rights to the Buck Rogers franchise at the same time, it never would have existed.

Nonetheless, it's a Gold Box game, and no Gold Box game is ever terrible. The key problem I had with its predecessor is that the Gold Box combat system was built with magic in mind, and Buck Rogers, being a sci-fi game, doesn't have any magic. Nor did the developers create very much to take the place of magic except for a few grenades with varying properties. But it still GIMLETed in the 40s, so I suppose it won't be a horrible experience. I'll try to approach it with an open mind.
          

I don't think Jupiter even appears in the game.

        

Buck Rogers, in the set of canon used by the tabletop RPG, is a Cold War-era military pilot, lost in space after he blows up a Soviet space weapons platform. He is recovered and revived 500 years later, only to find that little has changed except the technology. Humanity has managed to colonize the solar system, terraforming some planets and setting up colonies on moons and asteroids. The Earth is under the control of the fascist Russo-American Mercantile (RAM). Rogers falls in with the New Earth Organization (NEO) to oppose them. NEO manages to wrest control of Earth from RAM, but their hold on the planet is tenuous. This is where the first game began. The party was a group of NEO recruits who foiled a RAM counter-attack, which would have used a giant laser to scorch Earth.

    

As the sequel begins, NEO is still fighting skirmishes with RAM throughout the solar system. The party, which I imported successfully from the first game, is on a mission from Buck Rogers to protect the new king of Mercury, Lord Berkeley. Berkeley is a proponent of a unified solar system, and thus an assassination target.
           

The standard Gold Box start menu.

           

I spend some time reviewing my characters and re-familiarize myself with the game's mechanics. For attributes, Rogers uses the standard Dungeons and Dragons set (strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma) with the addition of technical ability. Races are Terrans, Martians, Venusians, Mercurians, Tinkers, and Desert Runners. The first four are just varieties of humans, with small (+/-1) attribute modifiers to account for different cultures and gravity levels. Terrans are hardy, tempered by a life of struggle under RAM. Martians are the elites of the system, the nobles (basically elves). Venusians are the working class, miners and herders (dwarves). Mercurians are a weird lot who live under the rule of "Sun Kings" and stylize themselves like 18th-century French aristocrats. 

Tinkers and Desert Runners are both bio-engineered races, the former created to be small and nimble (think intelligent lemurs). They have high dexterity and technical skill. Desert Runners were bred from dogs and cats to herd animals on the Martian surface; they are strong, hardy, and fast.
           

The game begins. Tony has received a promotion, it seems.

         

Classes are rocket jocks, warriors, engineers, rogues, and medics, with associated minimum attribute requirements. The games' primary addition to the standard Gold Box rules is a selection of more than 50 skills, such as piloting rockets, climbing, picking pockets, demolitions, treating diseases, programming, singing, and different types of repairing. Some skills are specific to certain classes; others can be learned by anyone.

My imported party has double the experience as freshly-created characters (about 80,000 points versus 40,000), which only translates to one extra level. I think I named the party after characters in other 1980s science fiction franchises. They are:

      

• Austin, a male Terran warrior. With high strength, dexterity, and constitution, he specializes in leadership, battle tactics, and 0-gravity maneuvering.

• Starbuck a male Desert Runner rocket jock. Strong, smart, and fast, he specializes in 0-g maneuvering, jetpack use, and rocket piloting.

• Dale, a female Venusian engineer. Smart and technically skilled, she can repair anything but life support and also has demolitions skills.

• Bonnie, a female Tinker engineer. Her "repair" hole is in nuclear engines, but otherwise she has engineering skills redundant with Dale. She also has high skills in commo operations and sensor operations. I think my thinking was there were so many tech-oriented skills, I should probably divide them among two engineers.

• Elias, a male Martian rogue. He's quick and charismatic. His skills are concentrated in thieving-related areas like searching, bypassing security, opening locks, sneaking, and tracking.

• Theta Sigma, a male Mercurian medic. His skills are spread among different types of diagnosis and treatment, although I left him at 0 with "Life Suspension Tech"; maybe the skill didn't exist in the first game. I also trained him in library searching.

      

My characters' backpacks are overflowing with weapons, armor, grenades, and other bits of equipment, and as the game begins, we're immediately invited to take from a pool of items. Like its predecessor, Matrix Cubed features a variety of melee and ranged weapons, with ammunition oddly hard-coded into the weapon rather than a separate item. The logbook has a table at the back with relative ranges and damage of each weapon, but I can't remember what's special about the "Mercurian," "Venusian," and "Martian" varieties of the weapons. Anything explosive is to be prized, as it's the only way to cause mass damage.
           

We get our first orders.

        
Matrix Cubed begins in the space port of the Mercurian city of Caloris, as the party emerges from its ship, the Maelstrom Rider. The spaceport is the standard Gold Box 16 x 16, but Countdown to Doomsday experimented with maps of different sizes and shapes, and I expect we'll encounter the same later in this game. Lord Berkeley's chancellor approached as we disembarked, saying that the coronation would begin shortly. He offered no directions, so we began to explore systematically.

Only a few steps into the spaceport, we were grabbed by a Dr. Romney, who begged our assistance in getting an audience with the Sun King. Mercenaries appeared in pursuit, and Romney shoved some papers into our hands as the thugs grabbed him and shoved him into a car. Elias, apparently passing a perception check, noted that the mercenary leader was wearing a distinctive ring with the letters "P-U-R-G-E" displayed prominently.
         

It's hard to believe we're still using a separate paper journal in 1992.

          
Matrix Cubed is the penultimate Gold Box game. One thing that has always bothered me about the evolution of the series is that it never grew to actually depict things in the environments. As you explore, you don't see NPCs, enemies, anything--just textures. You don't generally even get any warning of impending encounters right in front of you--you just get whisked to a dialogue or combat screen when you walk into the appropriate square. This was somewhat forgivable in 1988; Wizardry and The Bard's Tale had been doing the same thing for years, and alternatives like Dungeon Master were only a year old. It is less so in 1992. Even today, the Gold Box is nearly unmatched among combat engines, but its approach to exploration needed an overhaul.

Speaking of combat, it wasn't long before I was in it, first with the remaining P.U.R.G.E. thugs, and soon afterwards with waves and waves of RAM soldiers wandering the base. Apparently, Mercury is neutral to both RAM and the NEO, and its own security forces aren't interested in keeping the two factions from killing each other in their own base. Combat hasn't really changed since Countdown to Doomsday, and barring new weapons or abilities in this game (which I don't see in the manual), it seems unlikely that it will change. However, it does seem to have increased in difficulty. Nearly every soldier that I faced had grenades or other explosives, and I had to learn early to spread out my party to avoid getting several members caught in the same explosion. RAM soldiers were also pretty good about using chaff grenades to block explosives thrown or fired into their own areas. After battle, my party had to keep scurrying to the base's free clinic.
        

This combat isn't going well for the party.

       
I'll discuss the Buck Rogers approach to Gold Box combat in more detail later, but one of its oddities is that aside from life-saving bandages, medical treatment can only be applied immediately after combat. This is done automatically, with the medic character using as much skill as she possesses to heal as much damage as the party suffered. If she can't quite heal everyone--or if the medic herself is knocked out--there are no inventory items to compensate. You have to find your way to a clinic or, paradoxically, another combat, hoping that things go easier this time and the medic has a chance to get to the new and old injuries in the one post-combat healing round. It's very weird. It would make more sense if you could camp every 12 hours or so and try another healing round then.
      

This post-combat screen is the only time you can get healed outside of a clinic.

      
We ultimately found our way to the coronation chambers and watched as the new Sun King accepted his crown. Elias, again passing a perception check, noted some Martian delegates furtively reaching for weapons, so we jumped into action and tackled the new king to the ground just as the Martians fired. A large combat with RAM assassins ensued, at which I took the opportunity to liberally use the explosive and stun grenades I'd been picking up from the miscellaneous battles on the base.
           

This coronation has an interesting mix of styles.

Aiming a grenade at the attackers.

         
The Sun King thanked us after the battle and told us to see his chancellor for a reward. The chancellor gave us some money but wouldn't commit to an alliance with NEO. The chancellor was up to something, because later some Mercurians attacked us, muttering something about the chancellor's orders.
           

Who would have thought we couldn't trust someone named "De Sade"?

         
As we continued scouting the unexplored areas of the base, we learned more about Dr. Romney. He was apparently recently accused of terrorism and was scheduled for deportation. Our ship's AI, SCOT.DOS, told us that he'd learned the deportation was taking place at Berth A. Then Buck Rogers contacted us with the intelligence that Dr. Romney had invented something called Matrix that could transform matter. The entire solar system wants it.

We hustled to Berth A and were attacked again by P.U.R.G.E., which whatever it stands for is apparently anti-alien, since the leader was spouting rhetoric about "sub-human slag" when we arrived. The battle delayed us long enough for a rocket to blast off with Romney on board; ominously, it headed for Earth.
           

Are the Tinkers and Desert Runners that much of a problem?

        
We boarded our own ship and flew to the space station Salvation, the secret headquarters of NEO. There, Rogers took Romney's papers and said he'd have the scientists look at them. In the meantime, he said, we have a more pressing problem: someone is trying to build another doomsday laser on an old RAM base near Ceres. (I thought the point of the doomsday laser in the original game is that it had to be close to the sun.) He asked us to check it out.
          

Is this one even more powerful than the first dreaded doomsday laser?

             
We spent a little time on the base first, which has a medical facility, a training facility, and a shop. We were all due for a level-up at this point. After I finished, we blasted off for Ceres--and then sat motionless in space, realizing that we have no idea where Ceres is. The game doesn't seem to have come with a map. I assumed that it was one of the asteroids in the outer ring and thus headed "north" to intercept one and explore them clockwise.
          

Adding to the confusion, the entire solar system periodically shifts around its center.

           
On my first trip, we ran into a RAM heavy cruiser, which attacked. I vaguely remembered space combat from the first game, and I consulted my own entries to remind myself of the details. It's also turn-based. The pilot is the one who fires the most serious weapons, doing the vast majority of the damage, while the rest of the crew can do small amounts of damage with lasers while the engineers try to repair or jury rig systems damaged by the enemy. Anyway, the RAM cruiser was way out of my league--2000 hull strength compared to my 600--and it wasn't long before it killed us. The funny thing is, I don't remember the ship ever getting any better in the previous game, so I'm not sure how you improve your chances in combat.

On a reload, I made it to the first asteroid, which I think was Thule, and then began circling them, looking for Ceres. I found it on the second or third. As we approached, the RAM occupants apparently thought we were a delayed RAM ship carrying a "Dr. Williams," and we were able to bluff our way aboard. The base tasked Elias's abilities in lockpicking and sneak.

We killed a security patrol and took their uniforms, but that only lasted a short time before some sneaking-related check failed and the entire base was onto us. RAM soldiers started attacking periodically in groups of 3 and 4. Their weapons hit a lot harder than I remember from the first game, and it's not uncommon for one of my characters to be taken out of the action in a single round. To defeat them, we relied heavily on stun grenades and a "sonic stunner" carried by one of my engineers.
          

This didn't last long.

          
Fortunately, the base wasn't very big. We made our way to the rear of the base, where we found a miniature version of the doomsday laser destroyed in the first game. Along the way, we raided an armory for some explosives, which we then planted around the laser. The game warned us that we had only half an hour to escape. On the way out, we had the options to fiddle with the laser's control panel and use it to shoot down a RAM heavy cruiser which had entered orbit during our visit. I must have messed something up because the cruiser was still there when we blasted off.
          

So . . . the size was believable.

         
I took too long a route to the airlock the first time, and the crew got caught in their own explosion. That would have been a good place to end: a noble death while accomplishing the same thing that the first game took a couple dozen hours to accomplish.
        

It was a Pyrrhic victory, but at least we won.

       
But I reloaded and found a shorter route. We sailed off with the base exploding behind us.
          

Of course we didn't "watch." No one cool ever "watches."

        
The RAM heavy cruiser was too much for us, but we simply evaded it. I didn't have enough fuel to make it back to Salvation, so we stopped at Thule for refueling. As with the first game, refueling, restocking ship's ammunition, and ship repairs use a different economy than buying weapons and gear. This economy depends on defeating ships in space battles, but fortunately NEO starts you with a small stipend.
       

You bet I'm retreating. Look at his statistics compared to mine!

          
Upon return to base, Buck Rogers congratulated us while expressing pessimism that RAM was done with its laser project. Fortunately, he had a way that NEO could win the war for good: Dr. Romney's papers describe a method of transmuting matter. NEO is going to build this "Matrix Device," except it needs some cutting-edge technology that hasn't quite been invented yet, including "faster computers, better fusion containers, more powerful gravity fields, and higher heat sources." It appears that our missions for the rest of the game will involve seeking scientists on the verge of breakthroughs in these areas.
         

SCOT.DOS could have been played by the late Wilford Brimley.

          
SCOT.DOS, who had been searching for leads, gave us two missions to start: a fusion specialist named Dr. Chade on Earth, whose jetcar was recently shot down by RAM over the "Losangelorg Sprawls," and someone recently conducting gravity experiments in the Venus lowlands. From context, I gather that "Losangelorg" is the 25th Century name for the Los Angeles metroplex, and the "Sprawls" are the bad part of town.
            

Convince him, or "convince" him?

        
I wrapped up the session visiting the depot and carefully sorting through my equipment and comparing it to the data tables at the end of the adventurers' log. Armor is slightly easier to understand than weapons. The manual lists only five types: space suits, smart suits, heavy body armor, battle armor, and battle armor with fields. Each has Martian, Venusian, Mercurian, and Lunarian varieties, which improve in that order, such that Mercurian and Lunarian varieties of a lower armor type are better than the next-level "standard" armor type. There are no restrictions by race or class, and since proximity doesn't matter in combat (i.e., enemies will target anyone they can see), it makes sense to give the best armor to the characters with the least hit points. My characters had collectively:

• Standard battle armor with fields (AC -2)
• Venusian heavy body armor (AC 0)
• 2 Standard heavy body armor (AC 2)
• Martian smartsuit (AC 3)
• Lunarian smartsuit (AC 0)

The depot didn't sell anything better than that, so I simply shuffled things around as above. It will probably make a difference. For some reason, I had the best armor on my strongest character and the weakest armor on the weakest.

I then took a scan through other bits of armor. Breathing masks protect against gas and protective goggles against light flashes; fortunately, all characters had both except Theta Sigma lacked protective goggles. The depot didn't sell these, so I made a note to look for them in enemy equipment drops. Everyone had a jetpack but Bonnie, and I was able to buy one here. There's something called an "ECM package" that attaches to armor and protects against bullets. Maddeningly, almost all my characters had one but didn't have it equipped. I must have thought it was a demolition or something.

For weapons, you have to consider both the damage and the rate of fire, plus bonuses that characters with high strength get with melee weapons and those with high dexterity get with ranged weapons. Most combats occur quite close to the enemies despite using ranged weapons, and you can move, so the range is a lesser consideration. Bonuses aside, the best regular weapon by damage alone is the rocket rifle at 2d8, but it only fires twice per round, as opposed to the rocket pistol which does 1d10 up to 4 times per round. The best melee weapon does 1d10 twice per round and thus should be discarded in favor of a ranged weapon for a character of average strength, but characters of exceptional strength get both damage and hit bonuses per round. It gets more complicated when you factor in the "to hit" ratings, though. Martian, Venusian, Mercurian, and Lunarian varieties increase the chance to hit but not the damage.
 
I spent a lot of time putting the variables into Excel and testing scenarios with different attributes. For the average character, with no strength or dexterity bonuses, a microwave gun or rocket pistol is the best weapon in its class, although a Mercurian rocket rifle is better than a standard rocket pistol and a Lunarian rocket rifle would be better than a standard or Martian rocket pistol. The highest average damage per round against AC0 is the Lunarian microwave gun or Lunarian rocket pistol at 9.9. If you factor in dexterity bonuses, the average damage increases (to a maximum average of 14.3 per round) but the weapons scale the same.
        

Starbuck has a lot more weapons than he needs.

        
A character has to achieve 19 strength and get no dexterity bonuses before melee weapons outperform ranged weapons in the same class. For a character with a strength of 22, the Lunarian mono sword or polearm would do the most damage, at an average of 20.15 per round. Unfortunately, my characters mostly have high dexterity and average strength. No one has a dexterity lower than 17 or a strength higher than 18. Thus, my Excel work was mostly a waste of time. If Austin, who has 18 strength and 18 dexterity, ever finds a Lunarian mono sword or polearm, that will be better than a standard rocket pistol. Otherwise, any class of rocket pistol or microwave gun will outperform any melee weapon.

There are a few other considerations, however. Almost any armor protects against microwave guns and chaff grenades and ECM systems can thwart rocket rifles and rocket pistols. It would thus make the most sense to carry some of each and switch between them depending on the foe. Anyway, my data analysis didn't result in any major changes in the context of the weapons I already had, but it did help me prioritize what to sell.

Explosives are a different weapon category. To prevail against robots and large parties, you need plasma rifles, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers, none of which I currently have. I remember saying that the lack of such items for sale hurt the equipment, combat, and economy categories of the last game. I hope they're more plentiful here.

When we return, I'll pick up with the next stages. At least taking the time to better understand the equipment system makes me feel that I'm giving the game a fair chance and not simply approaching the sessions in a perfunctory manner.

Time so far: 5 hours