Alien Breed: Tower Assault - Manual PAGE 1 The Military Research Unit (MRU) on Azarin 2E was not in place of war. Not until the Alien Breed arrived. Their spore ship had been coursing through the vast, intractable wastes of space aeons, since before humans had made their first fumbling attempts at interplanetary trave. Since before humans had made their first step even. By chance the ship, really nothing more than an egg, had landed on Azarin, long before humans had discoverd the planet. Then humans came, at first Tellurinium, a vital element in military space- ship hulls. A Military Research Unit was established. Basically a mining colony, populated by scientists and civilians. The ore was mined and refined and new and better alloys were developed. As the fusion furnace installations grew bigger,and burnt fiercer, their heat awoke something. Something buried deep beneath the surface of the planet. A cold, black finger broke through a chitinous surface.... then another. A third! Then the spore split, and a small unpleasant creature broke loose, and began to burrow for the surface. It was one of the Alien Breed. The creatures' superb senses detected the heat of the furnaces, felt the reverberations of the hydraulic presses, sensed the presence of the humans, savoured the smell of food. Driven by an instinct as keen as any intelligence, the creature headed for the MRU. While the humans slept soundly in their beds, content that the base's powerful security systems would protect them from anything large enough to present a threat. But the creature was no threat, small and silent as a cat... it made its way into the base . There it began to devour the rats that have populated the universe as efficiently as humans ever did, following inman's footsteps, living in his abodes, eating his waste. And now the rats themselves were food. Food for an Alien Breed. After months of scurrying about in the dark (dark that was a clear daylight to the Breed) feeding and growing, the creature stopped, and rested. Its icy-black skin became grey, its smooth surface became pitted, covered in slime, foul. Within days it was a brittle grey lump. And thta's how it stayed, for months, like a daed thing. But it was not dead, it was in cocoon. Months passed, until the shell of the cocoon split, and from it burst hundred of small aliens, each one an exact replica, a genetic clone of the orginal creature. Each one went looking for food, and the cycle began again. For years, the creatures grew, replicated and grew again until a multutude of Alien Breed inhabited the spaces between the base and the planet, the gaps in the walls, the ventilation shafts. Until there were to many to live on waste and vermin, too many to resist. Until they began to spill from the floors and the walls into the human's space, killing whatever came in thier way. The invasion had begun. As the corridors of the MRU were filled with the smoke and debris of the and issued an SOS, message on all frequencies. Coursing throuugh the vast emptiness of space, the Dreadnought Herona inter- cepted the message. The crew responded instantly , and the ship began the manoeuvres necessary to change direction. Manoeuvres like these can take a while for a ship that is some kilometres in length. PAGE 2 But the time was not wasted, in the weeks that it took Herona to reach Azarin 2E. dropships were prepared, crews were briefed and trained. As the huge vessel approached the Azarin system, ten dropships were launched. They set course for the planet, and flew in close formation, taking a low course across the Azarin's spectacular surface. As they crossed the crate rim of the vast extinct volcano that housed the MRU, they were taken by surprise as the defence systems of their own base opened fire. Evasive manoeuvres were taken evasive flight patterns were destroyed, and your vessel was wrecked on crash landing... Now you have to gain access to the giant towers, battle your way through the Alien infested corridors, and locate the alien queen. Destory her, and instigate the base destruct procedures, then make your escape. The Tower Assault has begun! PLAYING TOWER ASSAULT The the begins with you next to your crashed dropship. Collect any pick-ups that you see see - detailed below - but avoid the security land mines. Caution advised as security lasers around the base are active and out of control. Each level of the game has specific missions is. You will be informed by your Personal Data Console what each of these missions is. Follow the instructions to the letter, failure to do so can often result in disaster. Once you have gained access to the base, look out for Imtex Networks computer consoles. These machines are invaluable sources of supplies, ordnance and information. To access the console, stand facing the unit and depress the space bar. You will be admitted to the main menu screen. Beware, in the fighting that ensued with the Alien invasion of the base, some consoles were damaged. LOADING TOWER ASSAULT (AMIGA) To load Tower Assault, simply place disk one in you internal drive and turn on the machine, or perform a reset by the [Ctrl] & both [A] keys. Swap disk when prompted to so on screen. Tower Assault will recognise the external disk drives. (CD32) Simply lift the lid of your CD32 and [lace the Tower Assault disc in the machine. Now close the lid, wait a few seconds and Tower Assault will should automatically boot. If nothing happens - press the reset button and wait a few seconds. (IBM PC) CD to the directory in which you have installed Tower Assault and type TOWER MACHINE REQUIEMENTS Amiga Tower Assault requires an Amiga computer with at least one megabyte of RAM. The program will auto-detect whether you are using the AGA machine, considerable sound and graphical enhancements will be activatd if you are PAGE 3 HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION I(AMIGA) To do this, boot from the ECS data disk (2) and follow the on screen instructions. (IBM PC) Insert disk one into drive A: and type A: Now typy INSTALL and follow the on screen instructions. OPTIONS When you begin to play Tower Assault, you will be presented with the opportunity to access an options screen. On this screen you will be given control of the following parameters: Number Of Players Tower Assault can be played by either one or two players simultaneously. The default mode is one player. Connect another joystick to the mouse port to enjoy two player blasting action. Share Credits This enables you to share any credits you find in the two-player game equally between both players. Two Player Shots Safe or Harmful. This determines wether your shots in the two-player game will do injury to the other player, should you happen to shoot them. If the 'hamful' option is selected far greater caution and skill is required. Skill Level Normal and Difficult. Tower Assault is a pretty tough game at any skill level, but if you are so good that default difficulty is too easy for you, try it on difficult, but you have been warned, it ain't easy! CONTROLS Tower Assault is controlled via joystick (or in two-player mode). Push the stick on the direction you wish you palyer to walk. In the normal game mode, he will fire in this direction too. In retreat modem you character will 'back off' whilst firing in the opposite direction to that of his travel. PAGE 4 As well as the joystick you will need to use these keys: Space - Access the Intex Network database when used in the when used in the proximity of an Intex console. M - Activates hand map. The hand map allows you to see the layout of your innediate proximity beyond the boundaries of the current screen. P - Pauses the game. Press [P] again to restart. When playing from hard disk, pressing [Esc] will return you to the Workbench screen. To return to the game, close the Tower Assualt window Alt - The left alt key cycles through players one's available weapons. The right alt key accesses player two's armoury. Shift - The left [shift] key places player one in Retreat mode. This means 'back off' from a wave of Alien attackers whilst still blasting them with his weapon. The right [Shift] key toggles Retreat mode for player two. IN THE BASE When you are within the MRU towers, and in the area immeadiately outside you will find items that were dropped by the colonists during the struggle with the Alien Breed. Collecting these items wil often be advantageous, and some- times it will be vital to the sucess of you mission. First Aid Whenever a player sustains a hit from a weapon, or comes into contact with an alien, he sustains an injury which is displayed as a reduction in his energy. By collecting first aid pick-ups you can heal your players' injuries and refill his energy level. Credits Collecting credit units dropped by the panicing coloists will enable you to purchase extra supplies and armoury from the computer consoles. Keys When the red alert was sounded, the MRU's security doors automactically closed. Collect security keys to facilitate access between areas. If you cannot find any keys, doors can be forced, but significant fire-power and persistence is required. PAGE 5 Access Passes Some doors protect areas of higher security rating. These doors cannot be opened by a geneal pirpose access key, they require the appropriate pass to be located, Pass/door combinations are identified by the colour coding. Decklift Passes Access to certain levels is restricted from the other areas of the base. In these circumstances you must ensure you have located and collected a decklift pass before attemping to use the lift. Failure to do so can be fatel. Ammunition Carefully monitor you ammunition indicator. Without ammo, even the awesome of weaponary will offer you no protection. Keep a lool out for ammo clips discarded by fleeing colonists. Weapons Most of the time you will upgrade your weapons by accessing the Intex computer system after you have collected enough credits to afford a new gun. But occasionally you will stumble upon the body of colony security officer. These operatives frequently carried powerful weaponary, so you may be able to obtain a new, more potent gun from these corpses. Maps The map range of your PDC is very limited, occasionally you will find a map console belonging to the base, this can be used to get a longer range view of the current level. Personal Data Cards Many colonists kept information about PDCs which they carried with them at all times. Be sure to check the corpses you discover around the bae for these items. Data vital to your success may be found in this way. Survivors On some levels of the base, you will find humans whohave survived the alien holocaust. You must release these humans in order for them to escape. Radioactivity Watch out for this symbol. Some area of the base are comtaminated with Radioactivity from whrn the Alien Breed penetrated the reactor cores. Spend as little time as possible in these areas, while you are in them your energy levels will be depleted more quickly. Use food And first aid to help recovery. --- Typed by LiBrArIaN & KhOaS