TERRORPODS STORY: "Some missions have suicide written all over them. And this was one. Again I ask myself - 'What the hell am I doing on Colian?! Stuck out on the edge of System 7, Colian has never been the most hospitable place in the Universe - the only thing this asteroid has going for it is the fact that it is very, very rich in mineral deposits, the kind of deposits that people will kill for. Detonite, a powerful explosive, Quaza, an energy giving crystal capable of regenerating molecular structures, Zenite, a metallic ore capable of storing immensely powerful magnetic fields and Aluma, the hardest metal known to man, almost indestructible and ideal for the construction of the weapons of war. With stuff like this lying around, trouble is never far away. Over the years a sophisticated mining operating had grown on Colian. Ten separate mining colonies, each with its mines, dumps, stores and resource centers inter-linked by a complicated system of shuttles to transport the minerals throughout the network. Mines extract - Resource Centers distribute - Manufacturing centers build components - they all have a function, they all have a purpose and they all depend on the shuttles. Everything was going fine - new wealth being extracted daily. The military arrived to make weapons from the precious Aluma at the manufacturing centers. A track was constructed across the main crater to carry defence and surveillance vehicles to protect these valuable assets. Colian was running like clockwork. Then it happened. It literally dropped out of the sky to bring panic and fear to everyone on Colian - an Empire Mother Ship - the enemy personified - the most awesome invention of destruction ever imagined was in stationary orbit around the most valuable asteroid in the Universe. Things were bound to happen and they did. Pinpoint missile attacks took out the defense systems, the population cowered in fear as they waited for the final destruction....it didn't come! The Empire had other plans - deadly plans. Operators were enslaved but otherwise left unharmed, installations standing. Instead of destruction, occupation was their goal. Occupation in order to manufacture the most deadly of weapons - fearsome Terrorpod fighting machines. Machines the Empire needed for its program of planetary conquest. The purpose of the Mother Ship became clear - the Empire would only make components in the crater, final assembly would take place off the planet surface. This was a chance the Federation could not miss, an opportunity to discover the secrets of Terrorpod manufacture, if only we could obtain the Terrorpod components. And guess who was sent to get them? - Yep, yours truly. I arrived undercover with a fully functioning Defence Strategy Vehicle (D.S.V.), a small trading drover and an incomplete map of the main crater. Before the Empire took control the military defence units only had time to transmit a section of map detailing one of the colonies - this was a good place to land. For the first few months I kept a low profile, trading with the frightened operators, my initial goal to build up an arsenal of mineral resources. Then things started to go wrong, badly wrong. The Mother Ship had learned of my existence - there was an immediate change of strategy - they were determined to destroy the manufacturing base and the secrets it holds - their next priority will be me! Things are now moving swiftly - The Empire has sent down Terrorpods and Spoilers to blast and drain the installations of their mineral wealth. The Mother Ship seems to have a fix on me - I'm out in the open - all around me mines, dumps, resource centers and manufacturing units are being destroyed - I'm being starved of the energy I need! I must protect them, they alone can provide the resources I need, I have to have somebody to trade with! I can defend them from attack using phasers - blasting Terrorpods and Spoilers will only buy me time - they will return. Dare I risk loading a missile and taking out a Terrorpod for good? Have I got enough Detonite to prime a missile? Can I get a clean shot? Will I destroy the installation if I miss? Should I instruct the installation to explode on contact with a Terrorpod? All these thoughts flash through my mind in a split second. If only the Mother ship would stop the barrage of missiles. To make matters worse it was now using homing missiles to take out the shuttles. I have Zenite powered shields to protect me, the installations are at the mercy of the Terrorpods. Down goes another Aluma mine. That was the mine I needed. One more mining cycle and visit from the shuttle and the Terrorpod component would be complete and ready for collection. Have I enough Aluma to trade for it? What an opportunity! Got it - now for the next component - but where? These colonies are difficult enough to locate with a complete map let alone this scrap of paper. Now its me against them - 'suicide missions' are getting to be my speciality. As if my situation isn't desperate enough, they now tell me that even if I do succeed there will be a massive counter-attack from the Empire. Who do they think I am......Flash Gordon!! But the Federation know I'm a survivor - the best survivor in the Universe - and now they are making me prove it. I'll show them, but................... Can I complete the mission? Can I survive the chaos of destruction? I must master the Terrorpod construction technique - I must collect ALL the components of the Terrorpod fighting machine. Only one thing to do now.....................LET'S GO FOR IT!!" SCREEN DISPLAY The screen border displays a number of useful readouts, these will be updated every 2 seconds. __________________________________________________________________________ |\ /| | \ C / | | \ A B B B B D / | | \ / | | \______________________________________________________/ | | | | | | | | | | | | G | | | | | | | | G | | | | | | | | G G | | | | | | | | G G | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |_____________________________________________________| | | / \ | | / \ | | / E F \ | | / \ | |/______________________________________________________________________\| A. Fuel and Detonite levels. The upper reading is Fuel and the lower reading Detonite. B. Damage indicators. Each one will turn red as you sustain a direct hit from a missile or you are blasted by a Terrorpod. (See Shields, 5 hits and you are destroyed!) C. Missile counter status display. This contains the number of missiles which have been primed ready for launch. (See weapon systems). D. Points scored to date. (See points scoring) E. X position in world co-ordinates. (See map) F. Z position in world co-ordinates. (See map). You are limited to 8000 units forward into the crater, at 8000 units a low level defence barrier is operative impeding any further progress. G. Intelligence panel. These are important but you will have to determine their function for yourself. CONTROLLING THE D.S.V. The control functions of the D.S.V. are as follows: "CURSOR KEYS" Movement left, right, forward and backward. (The joystick corresponds to these) "SPACE BAR" Activate shields when held down or lock on to target during missile launch sequence. "E" Loads 'Detonite' into a missile warhead. "A" Commence missile launch sequence. "D" Dispatches the surface drover. "T" Commence trading operation whilst the drover is in contact with an installation. "M" Activate and de-activate high altitude mapping systems. "R" Non target specific radio broadcast. "S" Commodity status display. "W" & "RETURN" Switch between weapon systems and information systems. "F1" - "F10" Warp movement to the selected sector. (F1 sector 1 etc.) "HELP" Access the load, save and game management functions. The mouse moves the sights. The interpretation of the mouse buttons depends on whether the information system or weapon system is selected, this is explained in detail below. In either mode when the sights touch the left or right hand of the screen, the D.S.V. will start to accelerate in the corresponding direction. SHIELDS: To activate the shields, hold the space bar down, whilst active they surround the D.S.V. with a semi-opaque protective field. This field will divert any incoming missiles and Terrorpod blasts. It should be remembered that shields use vast quantities of Zenite and that they only need to be active when the missile strikes. WARP MOVEMENT: By pressing F1 to F10 you will transport immediately to the processing heart of each of the ten colonies. This technique uses considerable quantities of fuel and you should check your fuel level before attempting this operation. MAPPING SYSTEMS: Mapping can be selected by pressing "M". The normal screen display will transform into a high altitude scanner allowing you to view a wide section of the crater around your position. Every activity continues as normal but many of the D.S.V. functions are inoperable in this mode (Shields, Weapons, Warp, etc... will not work). However, this allows you to move more quickly about the crater and the extended field of vision will enable you to pinpoint Terrorpod activity and map your surroundings. This mapping facility cannot be used when the Drover is active. WEAPON/INFORMATION SYSTEMS: You may switch between weapon systems and information systems by pressing "W" or "RETURN". The sights cursor will change accordingly. INFORMATION SYSTEMS: These enable you to both collect and distribute information. The left hand mouse button will interrogate the object under the cursor and report its identity, colony identity and purpose. The right hand mouse button will activate the Radio Transmitter. This allows you to send coded messages to the object you are pointing at. (Object Specific). For non object specific broadcasts, the Radio Transmitter can be activated by pressing "R". Be careful which messages you transmit and when you send them as they all have limits as to how many times they can be used. This list of valid radio transmission codes is as follows: "INDE" ** Installation indestructible "EFRS" Emergency Fuel Rod supply "RACO" ** Re-activate current object "DMTO" ** Defensively mine the object "EDES" Emergency DETONITE supply "EZES" Emergency ZENITE supply "EQUS" Emergency QUAZA supply (** Object specific) WEAPONS SYSTEMS PHASER SYSTEMS: Activated by the left hand mouse button, the phasers appear as a pair of fast moving blasts of energy from the top corners of the video screen accompanied by the shrill screech of the launch systems. These are DETONITE driven and will destroy anything they hit. ENERGY BEAM: Appears as a flickering beam on the screen stretching from the top of the D.S.V. to the sight position. It is activated by the right hand mouse button. The beam can be used to rebuild installations which have been blasted by the Terrorpods or by your stray phaser fire, it operates by pumping QUAZA crystals into the object to facilitate regeneration. The amount of QUAZA required is dependent on the type of object you are trying to regenerate. MISSILE SYSTEMS: Missiles are the only known way of destroying a Terrorpod, use them sparingly. The launch and strike sequence is as follows: PRIMING THE MISSILE: Prior to launching you must ensure that primed missiles are available, do this by checking the missile counter status display. If it is zero or blank, you will need to prime a missile before you can enter the launch sequence. To do this press "E". This removes Detonite from your store and loads it into a warhead. MISSILE LAUNCH: 1. Commence the launch sequence by pressing "A". 2. The launch control screen will scroll into view followed by the sighting window in which horizontal and vertical sighting markers will appear. 3. The upper sighting counter will start to count down. If you launch by mistake, just leave the sighting operation alone, when the counter reaches zero and the launch will abort. 4. Before the sighting counter reaches zero, select a target by scrolling the sighting window with the cursor keys or joystick until you have a clear view of your target and it is centered in the sighting markers. 5. Press the space bar or joystick fire button to lock the sights on target and launch. 6. The lower guidance counter will now start to count down and the horizontal and vertical drift indicators will appear in the sighting window. 7. To keep the missile on course you must try to hold the drift indicators inside the sighting markers. You do this by using the cursor control keys or the joystick. If you manage to keep the drift indicators inside the sighting markers the missile will detonate and destroy the target. If you have drifted off course the missile will self-destruct. TRADING: Trading represents the strategic element of the mission. The purpose is to exchange commodities with other installations, enabling both you and the installations to achieve the commodity levels required to survive and ultimately complete your mission. The colonies cannot complete their process without your interaction and provisions. TECHNIQUE: To trade with an installation you use the surface drover. The drover is a small self contained tracked vehicle. It does not use fuel as it moves about the crater, a useful technique for scavenging. The instructions listed below cover the despatch, docking and trading procedure: 1. Despatch your surface drover by pressing "D". The drover will appear on the surface of the crater. 2. Steer the drover to the installation you wish to trade with by use of the cursor keys or joystick. 3. A message will report when you have made contact with the installation. 4. Pressing "T" will start the trading sequence. You will be presented with one of three options: a. The normal trading screen with two lists of commodities to be exchanged. With this option you can trade with the installation as detailed in 5. below. b. A status screen because the object you have contacted does not have trading facilities. c. A component ready screen when a Terrorpod component is available and the installation has checked to see that you have enough commodities to trade for it. All manufacturing installations have a constant supply of fuel. You must confirm or abort the exchange. 5. Your commodities are shown on left hand side and those of the installation you have made contact with are on the right. Each line contains the name, unit value and quantity of each commodity. 6. Each commodity has a unit value, colonies will regard each commodity differently. For example, Colony 'A' may regard DETONITE as an important and rare and therefore value it very highly i.e., a unit value of 8. However, when moving along to colony 'B' there may well be a surplus of DETONITE production facilities and therefore it will only warrant a unit value of 2. Let us look at two examples of trading using the following unit value and quantity model. Say you wish to acquire ZENITE and you have a surplus of FUEL. OPENING POSITION DETONITE ZENITE FUEL U.Val Qty U.Val Qty U.Val Qty ---------- ---------- ---------- YOU.................. 1 500 1 500 1 500 COLONY 'A'........... 8 500 2 500 4 500 COLONY 'B'........... 2 500 4 500 8 500 Example 1 (a good trading sequence). STEP 1 Go to Colony 'B' and trade 10 units of Fuel for Detonite. POSITION AFTER DETONITE ZENITE FUEL TRADE U.Val Qty U.Val Qty U.Val Qty ---------- ---------- ---------- YOU.................. 1 540 1 500 1 490 COLONY 'A'........... 8 500 2 500 4 500 COLONY 'B'........... 2 460 4 500 8 510 STEP 2 Go to colony 'A' and trade the newly acquired 40 units of Detonite from colony 'B' for Zenite. POSITION AFTER DETONITE ZENITE FUEL TRADE U.Val Qty U.Val Qty U.Val Qty ---------- ---------- ---------- YOU.................. 1 500 1 660 1 490 COLONY 'A'........... 8 540 2 340 4 500 COLONY 'B'........... 2 460 4 500 8 510 This has resulted in the acquisition of 160 units of ZENITE for 10 units of FUEL. Example 2 (opening position as above) STEP 1 Go to colony 'A' and trade 10 units of FUEL for ZENITE. POSITION AFTER DETONITE ZENITE FUEL TRADE U.Val Qty U.Val Qty U.Val Qty ---------- ---------- ---------- YOU.................. 1 500 1 520 1 490 COLONY 'A'........... 8 500 2 480 4 510 This has resulted in the acquisition of 20 units of ZENITE for 10 units of FUEL. Study the above examples carefully and make sure you are aware of how the advantage was gained. This difference in commodity ratings can be used to great advantage as each colony has a unique commodity profile which should be studied carefully. 7. To trade commodities, select one line from each list by pointing with the mouse and clicking the left hand button. When you have selected the commodities, you may increase the quantities to be traded by pressing the '>' rectangle and decrease by pressing the '<'. You may change your selection at any time and all quantities will be zeroed ready for re- calculation. 8. When you have completed your selection, click on 'CONFIRM' and your drover will return to you with your new cargo, having deposited your traded commodity with the target installation. 9. You may abort the operation at any time by clicking on the 'ABORT' rectangle. 10. You may recall the drover whenever no trading is taking place by pressing 'D'. STATUS CHECK: To activate the status display press 'S'. The trading window will scroll into view and you will be shown your commodity levels. POINTS SCORING: Your success is measured in different ways each being interpreted on a points scoring system as follows: For each installation left standing - 50 points For each incoming missile shot down - 100 points For each Terrorpod hit pod hit with a phaser - 100 points For each Tripod destroyed by missile - 1000 points For each Spoiler hit with a phaser - 30 points For your residual 'ALUMA' - 50 points/unit For each intelligence coup - unknown For success in the end game - 5000 points A high score table is provided for your convenience. If you qualify, just type in your name (15 characters max) and press return. HELP SCREEN/PAUSE GAME: Accessed by pressing the 'HELP' key. This covers all game management facilities. Whilst in this mode, the game and its timers are paused. SAVE GAME.......Saves the game on to the resident Terrorpods disk. LOAD GAME.......Load the saved game. SHOW KEYMAP.....Displays a list of the keys and their usage. SET DIFFICULTY..Set the difficulty level (1-Easy, 6-Impossible). You cannot reduce the difficulty level once it has been set. RE-INITIALIZE...Loads an initialized game from disk and restart. RESUME GAME.....Go back into Terrorpods. --- Typed by ???. Edited by PARASITE.