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Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive -- Guide v.0.1
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By: Zander Andrei(andy_j91@hotmail.com)
Date: September 4th 2001
Please excuse me for any grammar mistakes.
If you have something to add e-mail me and I will put it on this guide giving you 
credit for it.

Version History

v.0.1 Completed all the guide. I'm thinking if I'm gonna put a walkthrough in the 
guide.

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. The Original Story (from the manual)
3. The Menu Bar In The Game
4. The Characters
5. Game Tips
6. Cheats
7. Credits


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 1. Introduction

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   This Guide is Copyright (c) Zander Andrei 2001. If you want to post this on 
your website mail me at andy_j91@hotmail.com. You are not allowed to change the 
contents of this guide. Fell free to print it out for your own use. If you post 
this on your site do not remove anything. You are not allowed to make any profit 
out of it.

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2. The Original Story (from the manual)

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El Paso, a typical Wild West town in the south-western United States near the 
Mexican border. It is the year 1881. For the last few months, the trains 
belonging to the famous railroad company, Twinnings & Co. have been the targets 
of a whole series of hold-ups and ambushes. The management of the company has 
decided enough is enough and they have to put an end to the raids. It has offered 
a reward of $15,000 for anyone who captures the leader of the gang responsible

But no one in and around El Paso has the courage to take on the might of the 
bandidos, so the outlaws just keep robbing train after train.Even the local 
Marshall keeps well out of it...

it is only when a stranger rides into town that things start to change. Bounty 
hunter John Cooper pays a visit to the local Twinnings & Co. manager offering to 
end the company's problems once an for all. He gathers together a gang of his old 
partners and declares war on the bandidos. But during his pursuit, which will tak 
him through half of the south-western United States, Cooper discovers that on 
this mission nothing is quite what it seems...

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3. The Menu Bar In The Game

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   The globe in the left of the bar lets you choose the position for your 
character: stand or crouch.
   By pressing the clock you can set up the quick-action and by pressing Space 
you can do the quick-action.
   The pictures of your characters let you select which one of your players you 
want to take control of.
   If you press the flashlight and then click on an enemy you will see his 
viewing range:
Green: "Everything's OK here." --> the enemy isn't suspicious about anything.
Yellow: "Did I see something?" --> the enemy saw you a bit and now he's 
suspicious.
Orange: "You're gonna die!" --> the enemy saw ya'.
Pink: "!Una bonita muchacha!" --> the enemy has seen Kate arranging her garter.
Black: "I'm gonna kill everyone!" --> Mia got him with the blowpipe.
   The map helps you a lot, as it shows every object in the level.
Red Dot - enemy
Dark Red Dot - dead enemy
Yellow Cross - goodies (equipment, ammo, barrels)
Blue Dot - civilian
Red Area - A door you can blow up / a road block you must blow up.
Blue Area (at night) - Places you can't be seen if someone passes by you.
Green Up and Down Arrows - Stairs or rocky wall Cooper can climb.
   The zoom buttons help you set the zoom level: close - normal - far
    
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4. The Characters

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You can control sx characters in Desperados. Here I will describe all of them, 
along with their weapons and abilities.
             
JOHN COOPER

The leader of the group and the fastest shooter in the west. He's a bounty hunter 
assigned by The Twinnings & Co. railroad company to solve the cases of the train 
robberies. Even if he does like to work on his own, Cooper seeks for his trusty 
friends for dangerous missions such as this.

Weapons:

Colt

The Colt is Cooper's gun. Holds six bullets. It's deadly from close range. You 
can set a quick-action able to shoot three times one or more enemies. Cooper will 
shoot three times in less than a second.

Fist

You will always have this "weapon" (well... duh!). This way you can knock out 
enemies silently. If you punch your enemy for about ten times, you can kill him.
You can knock-out civilians and then tie them up with Sam to get them out of 
action.

Knife + Throw Knife

This is the most used weapon when playing with Cooper. You can stab an enemy to 
death with this or you can throw this at your adversaries. Just make sure that 
you are close to the guy cause if you are far, you won't kill him and you may 
also never get your knife back. There are other useful ways of using your knife. 
You can cut the saddles off horses so no one will ride the horse again. However, 
you can take the saddle and putr it on the horse to make him "operable" again. 
You can kill an unconcious enemy too. You can also use the knife to cut ropes 
from life boats and the rope around Doc's neck

Toy Watch

Use this musical toy watch to distract enemies inside the music range. You can 
then stab them, punch them, kill them, tie them, kick them bla, bla, bla...

Cooper's abilities:
 
Cooper can climb brick walls or rocky walls. Also Cooper can cut saddles off 
horses or can saddle the horses also. He can carry dead or unconcious persons and 
he's the only one who can take up to three targets in the Gun Quick-Action mode.


SAMUEL WILLIAMS

Sam is an old friend of Cooper. He is an expert in explosives such as dinamites 
and TNT barrels. He's also good at gatling guns. His only weekness are the 
members of the opposite sex. Because of that, he often got in trouble.

Weapons:

Winchester

Sam's firearm. This weapon has the longest range in normal firing mode and it's 
pretty accurate too (not as accurate as Doc's Buntline though). It holds 12 
bullets but it reloads kinda hard. Good to take three or four lined up enemies. 
It's good to take out those three enemies near that house in Mission 21 (left 
side of the screen).

Dynamite Stick

Sam throws dynamite sticks to kill or knock-out enemies. You can use this to take 
out large groups of enemies. Careful though, because among the scarried enemies 
there might be brave ones who are gonna kick back the deadly stick. A good thing 
is that you can take advantage of the roofs and objects that can keep the stick 
going. Take care because the explosion can allert almost all of the guards in the 
level.

Rope

You can use the rope to tie up unconcious civilians or enemies. Careful where you 
leve the tied ones cause another enemy can set free the tied up one and can raise 
the alarm.

Snake

This poisonous snake is ideal to kill enemies coming from around the corner. But 
if an enemy sees the sack it'll shoot it and the snake. And remember that the 
only one that the snake won't bite is Sam. That means your characters can die if 
they are bitten.
Careful with the civilians too. This snake is also good to scarying horses. If 
he's placed near an unconcious person, this can turn into Sam's easy way of 
killing an enemy. 

TNT Barrel

This TNT Barrel is used to blow up locked doors and road blocks on particular 
levels. After placing the barrel Sam leaves a powder trail that can be the lit up 
by Sam. Kate can also use her mirror on the gun powder to light it up. The barrel 
also blows up if it's shot by Cooper, Sam, Doc, Kate or Sanchez.

Sam's abilities:

Sam can operate gatling guns like Sanchez.


DOC MCCOY

Doc is the doctor of the team. He's also an old friend of Cooper. He fought in 
the Civil War and lost his eye in the battle at Gettysburg. Anyway, Doc's a 
trusty friend.

Weapons:

Buntline

The Buntline has a shorter range than Sam's Winchester. It holds 6 bullets and 
due to his long barrel has a greater range than Cooper's Colt.

Precision Bullets

When in sniper mode, Doc's Buntline has an unlimited range as long as there's no 
object standing in it's way. This sniper is extremely precise. As he says, Doc 
can "shoot a fly off a wall from 100 feet". Only in some missions you will find 
sniper ammo, although I don't understand why the same gun works with a different 
type of bullets. 

Gas Tubes + Balloons

Gas tubes are a good weapon to knock-out a large group of enemies. These tubes 
contain a knock-out gas developed by Doc. Take care because these bottles can 
knock-out your characters too. You can also use the baloon to get a bottle over 
some enemiea. Just program the Sniper to shoot the balloon, by quick-action. When 
the baloon is in the desired spot, shoot it. You can shoot it with any one of 
your characters.

Bandages

Doc can heal himself or any member of his team. A bandage regenerated 50 life 
points. But remember that you have a limited number of bandages.

Scarecrow

Doc can leve his coat in a desired place to draw attention. The enemies will 
shoot at it a while. You then can kill the angry annoyed enemies. To get it back 
simply click on it.

Doc's abilities:

Doc can pick door locks and safes with his skeleton key. There are some doors 
that can't be opened even by Doc. The only solution is TNT Barrel and another 
route. Also Doc can awake unconcious members of his team (Sanchez's swipe, poor 
gas tube throwing, enemy's fist, Sam's dynamite). Of course, he cannot awake 
himself.


KATE O'HARA

The beautiful lady of the team. She's a proffesional poker player. Her incredible 
luck often reveals that she is cheating and that gets her into trouble. However, 
Cooper saved her a lot of times.

Weapons:

Derringer

Kate's firearm. It holds only three bullets. She holds it in case of an 
emergency. It is very silent and pretty accurate, even if the range is short. It 
is a small gun that fits into her garter. You can shoot someboy without drawing 
too much attention.

Queen of Hearts

This small pack of cards is one of Kate's way to draw someone into an ambush. Bet 
is to hide Cooper into a building, lay a trail of card that stops in front of the 
entrance and when someone follows the trail and stops at the door, stab him with 
Cooper. Kate only has 10 cards.

Garter

If an enemy sees Kate playing with her garter he'll slowly approach her with his 
viewing range pink. When he's near Kate, the best way to get rid of him is to 
kick him. However, Cooper can also punch or stab the guy, as Kate also can shoot 
him with the Derringer.

Mirror

Kate's mirror only works at daylight. But if it's night, Kate's in a cave or 
she's standing in shadow. She can blind an enemy for a few seconds, meanwhile 
other member can pass the guy unnoticed. Careful though, if you use that too much 
on that enemy, he'll know something's wrong and come to check out. You can also 
light up the trail of powder from Sam's TNT barrel.

Kick

Similar to Cooper's punch. However, Kate's kick does more damage than Cooper's 
punch. If you wanna have an effective distract + knock-out use the garter 
combined with the kick. You can also kill an enemy by hitting him for about seven 
times. This is Kate's way of killing real silently.

Kate's abilities:

Kate is the only member of the team who can walk silently over any kind of 
terrain. If it's a noisy terrarin, Kate will automatically crawl. Also she can 
change clothes to walk freely around town.


SANCHEZ

Nicknamed "Grizzly" cause he's huge and very strong like a bear. Sanchez is loud 
also. He was the leader of a Mexican band of gangsters. Even if he is tough, he 
has a good-hearted soul.

Weapons:

Shotgun

This is the weapon with the most devastating effect of all. Even if it holds only 
2 rounds and it's range is short, this weapons cleans everything, from people to 
plants. Devastating!!!

Tequila

The bottle of tequila can be used in two ways. Either you let somebody see a 
bottle and you draw him into an ambush, either you let the enemy drink this. This 
will make the enemy lose his accuracy and occasionally make him to take a nap.

Siesta

This work kinda like Kate's garter. When the enemy is approaching you can 
eliminate him by a swipe or by a knife throw.

Swipe

Sanchez can swipe to knock-out everyone near him. Unlike Cooper's punch and 
Kate's kick, Sanchez cannot hit an unconcious enemy this way. Useful if you use 
it in combination with the siesta.

Stone

Sanchez can use the stone to create a diversion or to knock-out an enemy. You can 
find these stones lying on the ground. You can pick up a stone after using it.

Sanchez's abilities

Sanchez is the only one who can clar building. If there are up to three enemies 
in a building, Sanchez can send the flying out the door. Sanchez can also use a 
gatling gun but, unlike Sam, he can carry the gun where ever he wants (except 
ladders and one type of stairs). Because of his strenght, Sanchez can also move 
heavy objects such as statues, boulders and other objects. Also he can carry dead 
or unconcious persons but thanks to his stranght he can carry two persons at a 
time.


MIA YUNG

An 18 year old girl, Mia is now an orphan after the bandidos burned her house and 
killed her father. How her only friends are Cooper and his team and a little 
trained monkey called Mr. Leone.

Weapons:

Blowpipe

Mia is the only one without a firearm. This blowpipe, used like it should, could 
take out three-four enemies at a time. It holds one poisonous dart which drives 
the victim crazy. His viewing range will get black and he'll kill anyone in his 
way, friend or foe. If he's not killed by the other bandidos, he'll faint. Be 
sure to run like hell and hide after the dart went to it's target.

Whistle

Mia's whistle works like Cooper's watch. Just blow to attract enemies or to call 
back Mr. Leone. 

Firecracker

This works almost like Kate's mirror, altough it's capable of blinding more 
opponents.

Peanuts

Mia can use her limited number of peanuts to make Mr. Leone. go to a certain 
point. But Mia can also put Mr. Leone to dance around an enemy to lure him into 
an ambush.

Mr. Leone

Mia's faithful friend. This little monkey can go to dance on a peanut trail or 
arund an oppenet to distract him and tu lure him into an ambush. No nuts needed 
this way.

Mia's abilities.

Mia is so small that she can quickly hide in a barrel. Useful if you just used 
the blowpipe. Also she can hide in middle of ambushes.

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5. Game Tips

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1. Use Sanchez (2 bodies) and Cooper (1 body) to move those dead/unconcious 
bodies.

2. Remember that whenever you want a silent kill use Cooper's knife.

3. With Kate you can attract 2 guards using the garter trick, and you can 
eliminate them really easy by kicking them really fast.

4. At viewing range, dark green means the enemy can see any objects but at the 
end of the range, where you see light green, the enemies cannot see crawling 
members of your team.

5. Use the card trick to lure enemies in front of a door. Then get out with 
Cooper and knife them.

6. At night the enemies cannot see very far, but they can hear really good. Also, 
your fire reange of your guns will be shorter.

7. If you do not want bandits to take your horses, cut the saddle belt with 
Cooper's knife.

8. You can roll and shoot if you are behind the corner. If you see both the red 
cross and the green cross hold LShift and you will see a transparent copy of 
youreself. Press LClick to roll and shoot and press RClick to roll back around 
the corner.

9. You can lasoo horses if one of your character is on a horse and you click on 
an unoccupied horse.

10. You can jump from balconies or roof on a horse which is underneath you.

11.  At night you can hide in dark areas (marked with red areas on the mini-map). 
Then, you figure will be black.

12. Use Sanchez to move big heavy objects, such as boulders, statues or that car 
in mission 19. If anyone's in the mine, you can kill them this way.

13. If you have control of Sanchez, get him into a building, get one of your 
heroes on the roof, shoot in the air and let enemies see you go in the building. 
Sanchez will beat them up in no time.

14. Take advantage of noisy elements of the nature such as waterfalls to shoot 
without getting heard.

15. You can light Sam's powder trail from the TNT Barrel with a big distance, 
thanks to Kate's mirror.

16. In canions, remember that thanks to the echos your noise can be heard from 
long distances.

17. If you wanna go behind a building and you also can go on top of the building 
(roof, balcony), hold LShift and the cursor will become transparent. Now press 
the desired spot.

18. In case of rain you cannot use Sam's dynamite (won't light up) or Doc's gas 
tubes (dissipates too fast).

19. By pressing CapsLock you will reveal the outlines of friends (green), 
civilians (blue) and enemies (red) behind buildings or objects.

20. You can use quick action to kill your opponents easier. Also, remember that 
Cooper can take in target up to three enemies. The quick action is necesary in 
the train station in Mission 18: The Magnificent Six.

21. Move tied persons into buildings. This way, nobody will free them.

22. At the final fight with El Diablo, after he comes to punch you, run quickly 
and take your knife stuck in El Diablo's chair. When he comes up after you, stab 
him and the game ends.

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6. Cheats

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In the game, press LShift + F11. Enter the following codes and press Enter:

hollow man - invisibility
clint - win level
powerman - Doc's sniper mode for Buntline
jackal - ammo
medic - hints
schneider - end level
timeless - allows you to program actions during Pause
epitaph - victory conditions
fidel castro - dialogs
show me all - show all objects
supersonic - shows white circles (noises) and black circles (deafness)
zeus - try to put the viewing range on an enemy and a thunder will kill him
behind the ennemy horse - ???
whats my destiny - objectives completed
 
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7. Credits

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Infogrames and Spellbound Software -- for bringing us this great Real Time 
Tactics game.
You -- for reading this Guide.


