Jason Aller Floppy Collection/199.img/EDGE-SLV.ZIP/CE1

Text File | 1990-05-29 | 9.8 KB | 183 lines

                             Circuit's Edge
                                 Part 1

There's nothing like living in a crime-ridden slum to keep you on your toes; if
you're not careful, you could end up on your back in the morgue, like several
of the characters in this game. Fortunately, Marid Audran is pretty savvy.
That, plus your brains (and this walkthru) should get you safely through the
game.

Circuit's Edge is an adventure with three phases. In the first, there is
little time pressure; you can move around and explore and make investigations
without worrying too much about the time.

In the second phase, the kidnapping of Abdul-Hassan, you have to move very
quickly to save the boy before the deadline (and it is very much a DEADline).

The third phase is much like the first; there is no specific time by which
you have to do things (except at the very end in the warehouse, but you will
be well-prepared for that anyway).

One thing you will quickly learn in this game is that you need plenty of kiam.
Some of it is used to purchase needed items such as chips and equipment; some
must be handed out as baksheesh (bribes) to obtain information. You will also
need to eat periodically, and on occasion you may require the services of the
medical clinic.

Money can be obtained in several ways. After your initial meeting with Papa,
you can try calling him on your belt phone. He won't be there, but a little
while later his men will visit you with several hundred in cash. You can only
do this once in the game.

From time to time, you get jumped by muggers; killing them will provide you
with whatever money they had, plus various weapons and chips. These you can
take or leave as you like; however, you should pick up a knife when the
opportunity arises, as you will need one later in the game.

There are some merchants in the Budayeen who will hire you to do errands for
them; aside from moving along the plot of the game, these will also net you
some extra money.

Finally, you can visit the Gambling Den in your spare time and try to increase
your kiam at the baccarat or roulette tables. Baccarat is better; not only
does it take less time, but you can make larger bets than you can in roulette.
Gambling is best done in the first phase, when you have plenty of time at your
disposal to build up your cash reserve.

My basic method for gambling was to save the game, go to the Den, and play to
win at the house maximum bet of 125 kiam. After winning 3 or 4 hands above my
starting stake, I nipped back to the Five Pillars, saved the game, and went
back for more. With a little patience (and occasional restore if the run of
cards was bad), a couple of hundred kiam was parlayed into well over 1500.
That plus Papa's largess came to quite a tidy sum.

Once I built up the cash, a visit to Laila's was in order. My favorites to
have chipped in were Kung Fu Master and Alpine Jack. Not only did they do
terrific things for my stats, the Kung Fu Master made me really deadly in
combat, with no need to worry about weapons. There are other chips you need
to buy from Laila; you'll learn about those as you read the walkthru.

So, chip in your bio-scanner, check out your inventory, and hit the streets
to see the layout of the Budayeen. You may find it helpful to note some of
the establishments of "the street" on the map that comes with the game.

In a short while, your old buddy Saied will call and ask you to pick up a
package for him. Supposedly, Fuad is at the Cafe de la Fee Blanche, but in
fact he has moved on to Chiri's, so that is the place to be. Get the package,
call Saied to find where he's hanging out, and go there. After he obtains the
package, he will give you a time chip. Very handy item; chip that in now.

Now you can hang out until you get a call from Papa directing you to the
Bougainvillea Apartments. Unfortunately, the person you were supposed to see
is dead, and dead in a very unpleasant way. Whoever killed Kenji Carter would
have made Jack The Ripper proud. Get used to these gruesome descriptions; there
are more to come.

Dragging your eyes away from the remains of Carter, you notice a couple of
interesting objects. As soon as you try to get either, the cops will show up
and arrest you...but not for long: you have a friend in high (or is that low?)
places. Hajjar releases you and sends you to see Papa. It's a good idea to go
right away; Papa doesn't like to be kept waiting.

After your chat with Papa, head for the police station. Ask Hajjar about
Kenji and the Morgue (so you can get the pass). There's nothing you can do
about the computer now, so return to the Budayeen, show the pass to the
attendant, and pick up the wallet and holodisk.

Inside the wallet is a pawn ticket for an item at Mustafa's Pawn Shop. Too
bad Mustafa went out of business. But if you ask around on the street, at
AAA Secured Loans, for instance, you can find out that Friendly's bought out
all of Mustafa's stock. The disk can be viewed at Adult Video Holos.

In any case, a visit to Friendly's with the tag and 20 kiam gets you a half
ring. This isn't much use yet; you need the other half to read the complete
inscription. Or, if you're feeling cheap, you don't have to redeem the half
ring, since you have this walkthru (grin).

Stop by Chiri's and ask her about MCDIX; she'll mention a certain Mack Dixon
who's bopping around the Budayeen. Actually, this is something of a red
herring (although you must follow it through), as MCDIX is really Roman
numerals representing the number 1409. Unfortunately, there won't be much you
can do with this information in the game.

While you're there, check out the stock of any street dealers who show up. One
of them has a detective badge for sale, pretty cheap, too. If he's not at
Chiri's, try the other clubs. You need that badge.

Somewhere along the way, a hooker will come up and ask for your commcode. She
isn't on the make, so give her your number. Hang out for awhile; eventually
you'll get the call, telling you to go to the Salah Ad-din Apartments.

Guess what? By the time you get there, she's horribly dead. For a guy who does
such a thorough job, this killer works darned fast. Look her over again (try
not to lose your supper) and you will see a small tattoo with the letters KC.
Obviously, she knew Kenji Carter, and perhaps she knew too much. Whichever,
she isn't going to be telling you anything. Time for some detective work.

This is pretty simple: a quick visit to the Tattoo Parlor will turn up the
information you need. Around about now, you're probably feeling tired. No one
is running away, so go back to your apartment for a well-earned rest.

After your sleep is a good time to take an hour or two to make some money at
the gaming table. Fortunately, the Gambling Den is open twenty four hours a
day (call Papa for some extra kiam if you haven't already). So try your luck
and build up that cash.

It's probably still too early for most places to be open, but the police
station never closes its doors, and now that you have the badge, you can get
on the computer and search for info. Not that you learn all that much right
now, but at least it's something.

You may wonder about the Red Dunes, since it's not listed in the directory.
Possibly the name of the building changed. Dunes...kinda reminds you of a
desert, huh? Do we have anything like that in the dir? How about the Sahara?
See how easy it is?

Ok, maybe not that easy, since Tamara moved out and didn't leave a forwarding
address. Looks like her trail has come to a dead end, at least for the time
being. But take heart (not literally!); perhaps later on another clue will
turn up.

Around about now is a good time to visit Laila (she opens at 4:30 PM) and
stock up on chips. Aside from Kung Fu Master and Alpine Jack (which you will
need later), also buy Rad Hacker, The Phantom, English 101, Super Spy, and
Outlaw. The other chips she has aren't needed in the game, although if you have
the kiam to spare, you can buy those, too, and see what they do for you. Just
remember that your chip rack only holds 10 chips at a time, so some may have to
be dropped off in your apartment.

Let's concentrate on Mack Dixon and get him out of the way. You can spend time
running around the Budayeen asking about him, but it's much simpler to go to
Eyes of Texas and inquire there (did you ask about Mack on the cop computer?
Did you notice he comes from Texas?). For 50 kiam, the shopkeeper will give
you Mack's commcode. Chip in English and make the call.

Well well, he's home and willing to see you. Better move fast, Marid. Oops!
Not fast enough; poor Mack has really been carved up, hasn't he? And nothing
really special to be found here, either....looks like yet another dead end.

Now what? How about a visit to Friendly's? With all the cash you have, you can
now afford the answering machine. While there, also buy the timer and the
Uplink cables. The other stuff he has isn't important.

So you listen to the answering chip, only to discover it's mostly in a language
you don't know. The trick is to figure out which one. That's not hard. For one
thing, the holo should clue you in; go look at it if you haven't already.

Ok, where would you get the chip? Try asking Laila, who knows more about such
things than anyone. It's not your day, Marid; seems she's already sold that
one to the jeweler. Since there's only one in the Budayeen, tho, you can hop
right there and ask him about it.

He's not too willing to part with it; on the other hand, he really wants his
sapphire back. So you're going to have to track down the thief if you want the
chip (and the kiam).


Circuit's Edge is copyrighted 1990 by Infocom.
This walkthru is copyrighted 1990 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.

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