This is a short tutorial on how to play NetHulk. It was made some time ago, so the screenshots aren't current any more. However, they're still very similar to what's going on in the game, and you should have no trouble following it.

It is possible to follow along playing with an online opponent, but you might have more luck in "Hotseat" mode, controlling both sides and getting a feel for how the controls operate, before trying to jump right into a game.

If you want to follow this tutorial at the same time as you play, you might find it convenient to play NetHulk in a window instead. If you wish to do this, simply edit your nethulk.ini file (in Notepad or the like) and change the value of Windowed from 0 to 1.

To start a practice game, click "Hotseat Game" on the main title screen. On the configuration screen, choose "Next" until "MISSION1" is the currently selected mission. Leave everything else the default, and click "Start Game."

You should then be put into the game, where you will be able to place the marines in their starting positions. At the bottom of the screen, you will see a row of marines. Click the sergeant, on the far right. A box will highlight him.

When a unit is highlighted, you will see upgrade options on the right, but don't worry about that right now. Click on one of the glowing yellow tiles-- try the rightmost one, and the sergeant will be placed into position. You will then be given a chance to press a key to decide the direction the unit is facing. Press right, and the sergeant will face right. You can then place the rest of the units in the same fashion.

  

Now, the Marines' actual turn will start. Right-click on the front-most marine, and a green selection ring will appear around. You will notice that various options appear for commanding him, as well as an indicator that he has 4 Action Points (AP), as well as whatever number of Command Points (CP) you had. Command Points are randomly determined at the beginning of every turn. The difference between AP and CP is that each unit receives a fixed allocation of AP to spend, where CP can be used by the whole squad.

Click the arrow just to the right of the AP and CP indicators. It will change from green to yellow. You have now enabled the unit to move. The sergeant is now ready to receive your marching orders, but before he can go anywhere, you'll have to do something about the closed door in front of you. Click on the door to open it. Then, click in that space again, and the marine will advance. You should now have 2 AP left, as both of these actions cost 1 AP.

  

Please also note that after your sergeant took a step forward, the border surrounding the explosion icon on the right turned blue. When an attack icon has a blue border like this, it means that the action may be undertaken for a cost of 0 AP. In this case, marines with guns are able to move and fire as one action, so, after the unit has moved, you have the chance to fire for free. Since it's free, why not take a shot at something? Click the explosion icon. You will be then given the chance to choose what to shoot. Since there are no enemies around, we'll have to amuse ourselves shooting at doors for the time being.

  

You might miss the door, or you might successfully shoot it out. Don't worry about it too much right now. Now, let's walk down towards the door by clicking the square diagonally down and to the right of the sergeant. It only costs 1 AP to move diagonally, too, and you cover more ground, so, take advantage of this style of move whenever possible. Don't forget you can take another free shot once you've advanced, in case you weren't able to shoot out the door the first time. If it still won't budge, you might as well just open it. Once you are in the doorway, click the rotate icon, directly to the right of the move icon. You will be given the chance to choose a direction for the unit to face by pressing keys, just like when you originally placed the unit. The difference here, of course, is that to turn costs AP: 1 per 90 degrees. After a turn, you're given the same chance at a free shot as when you moved, so go ahead and take it, and hopefully blow out the second door, too.

  

You've got the basics of marine movement down, so go ahead and advance the rest of the marines, moving them into the room, or, if you've got enough AP and CP, into the next corridor. Don't worry too much about positioning right now. Once you've learned the capabilities of the aliens, it'll be a lot easier to see where good positions for the marines might be. Once everyone's been moved, you're ready to end your turn. In order to protect against accidental clicking, "End Turn" must first be right-clicked to enable it (it will light up), and then left clicked.

The alien turn will start, and you'll see a display like this one on the bottom of the screen. Aliens do not initally appear on the board as anything but "blips" on a marine scanner, so these blips are how alien reinforcements will always arrive. As the sensors cannot distinguish between a single life form and multiple life forms traveling in a close pack, blips may contain more than one alien. The first indicator, with a picture of an alien, shows how many (and, in games featuring different types of aliens, what kind of) aliens are contained in the blip currently being placed, and the second indicator, with a picture of a blip, shows how many blips you have left to place.

Aliens sneak onto the map via the green entrance arrows, scattered throughout a typical map. Choose a green arrow and click on it, and a blip will be placed there. Repeat this for the rest of your blips. It's a good idea to spread your blips around the map, so the marines have to worry about threats from all sides. Once all your blips are placed, right-click a blip to select it. A blip is moved much like a marine, except it has 6 AP and does not have to worry about facing. Also note that aliens, unlike marines, have no CP.

What's this? The blip has 1 AP left, but it can't advance? This is because there is a marine standing right there. Being only a reading on a scanner, a blip can never advance into the line of sight of a marine. In order to attack, you'll have to convert the blip into aliens. Click the icon in the upper right corner of the screen, showing a blip turning into multiple units, in order to do so. You'll then place and face your aliens much like you did for the marines before.

  

Note that if you convert a blip into aliens, you will lose any AP that were left in that move. Had you converted the blip before you moved it, you would've had 6 AP for each alien. It's not really a big deal for the purposes of this tutorial, however, it is something useful to keep in mind for real games.

If you don't convert a blip, and the marine happens to catch sight of it, it will convert automatically.

Go ahead and move your other blips around, and convert them if you want to, but there's no reason to convert a blip if it's not anywhere near a marine, as it hides the true strength of your force and allows you to fit more aliens in a smaller space. When you're done, end your turn.

Back as the marines, now that you've seen what the aliens can do and how far they can move, it might be time to start considering some strategy. Those aliens in the south room are looking a bit menacing. The sergeant should take some steps to protect himself. Select him, and click the icon on the right that looks like a target. This will place the sergeant into "Overwatch" mode for 2 AP. This means that he will automatically shoot at anything that happens to come down the hall during the alien's turn. Such a useful mode has its price, of course: Taking any other action will break Overwatch, and there is a chance that his gun will jam, also breaking Overwatch and leaving him open to attack.

    

Advance your marines, and End Turn again. It's time to see how the aliens fare against Overwatch. Choose an alien, and advance. Often enough, the marine will miss... but never often enough for the alien player.

  

A good plan for the marines is to guard long corridors and other strategic points where the aliens have to advance several spaces through overwatch fire. Aliens should come in force, so that there is a chance of a jam, and to break through when it happens.

Should an alien manage to make it all the way to the sergeant, click the knife icon (the only attack icon a standard alien has) to attack. This will launch a melee attack. Marines can also initiate a melee attack, but their odds are much worse, so it's not recommended!

    

Go ahead and spend a few turns playing with moving and shooting, and advancing your forces. Even though in this practice game you're playing both sides, try to consider what would be the best move for each side, regardless, and you will begin to get a feel for the strategy each side must employ. Along the way, try to line up some aliens with the flamethrower marine, that is, the marine with the nozzle and the large yellow backpack. Don't attack him just yet, we want to show him in action!

The flamer is a powerful, effective weapon for clearing out large numbers of aliens, and can also be used to temporarily block their advance. It has 12 Ammo, and can be reloaded-- albeit at the hefty cost of 4 AP, and with a limited number of reloads, typically one. It costs 2 AP each time you wish to fire the flamer, but multiple flames can be created each time you fire it. The flames are limited to line-of-sight, but as you kill aliens with it, they will be marked with an X and you can create additional flames as part of a single burst.

  

Flaming a square a single time consumes 1 ammo, and will usually kill anything there, but you can also flame a square a second time for an additional unit of ammo, if something survived. Another benefit to flaming a square a second time is that the flames will then last all through the opponent's turn, as well as through your own. This can be important in blocking the flow of enemy reinforcemetns.

This is the basics of how to play the game, but it is exactly that: the basics. Hopefully it should be enough to get started, though. The game's README contains more information, but, of course, it might also be fun to just jump in and experiment. Have fun! :)