Jason Aller Floppy Collection

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Text File | 1990-08-01 | 27.0 KB | 511 lines

Well, Mikey Mouse is scanning again. Got a Microtek 300g this time, so i shouldn't get sick of it quite so quick this time. Leave me any comments or requests at EAC. This is a GREAT GAME!! If you tried it before without the instructions, read THE WHOLE FILE, then READ THE DAMN THING AGAIN, then give it a try. Makes a big difference when you know what's what. BTW, if you have spent much time in flight simulators, the r option is HIGHLY recommended. MM Loading Instructions. IBM PC and compatibles (note: all Millennium PC titles are provided on 3.5" & 5.25" disks) 1. Insert the boot disk into the drive and from the MSDOS prompt, select the correct drive specifier. 2. Type ts and press RETURN. The game will now begin to load. 3. Once the game has loaded you will be confronted with a menu system to select the graphics mode and the control method that you require. To quickly bypass these menus in future, it is possible to type ts followed by a space and then the letter(s) that you would normally select in each menu and then hit RETURN, then you boot the game. It is also possible to add the letter r to this command line which will alternate the up/down controls. This is useful for players more use to flight simulator type controls. (Like: 'ts vmr' for VGA, right hand mouse, & reverse movement - MM) 4. Note: This game can be installed to your harddisk but you will require your boot disk to use as a key disk whenever you wish to play the game. (Yea, right.) Let the Games Begin Welcome to the 2238 MegaCorp Industries annual 'Ground Defence Games' brought to you exclusively by the Century 23 Television network! I'm sure you're all familiar with the games by now but for those of you who have been in a different galaxy over the past century I'II briefly tell you what these games are all about. Pilots from all over the galaxy are invited here by MegaCorp Industries to survive in lethal combat in a variety of hostile arenas especially prepared for the games. Each pilot is allowed to select one ship from the five approved by the MegaCorp Referees Committee. The pilot must choose carefully because he will be required to fly this craft throughout the whole of the games. This year, the five craft approved by the committee are: ThunderStrike 18 - The original and some would say the best ThunderStrike. A good all rounder with good speed, acceleration and handling. StrikeHornet 22 - The StrikeHornet is a relative newcomer to the arena but is already establishing a following. It's top speed is undeniably poor but excellent acceleration and good handling make Hornets worth a try. StrikeHornet 24 - This newer model of the StrikeHornet class suffers the same speed problems of earlier models and is hampered further by poor acceleration but no other strike craft in history comes close in manoeuvrability. ThunderFly 10 - No strike craft can beat a Thunderfly for speed. This model handles well in a tight turn but suffers from poor acceleration. ThunderFly 25 - This is the latest model in the ThunderFly class it offers unbeatable speed and acceleration but its handling leaves a lot to be desired as its slow turning speed can be a problem. The committee also considered allowing the use of vintage craft this year but this idea was abandoned after engineers failed to recondition a vintage Retaliator F29 craft. This was a very slow craft that was soon put out of service once the ThunderStrike class came in. It has very poor manoeuvrabiliiy, velocity and acceleration. It is even rumoured that some people used to play computer simulations based on this old fashioned 'museum-piece' back in the late 2Oth Cenlury but this is generally regarded to be highly improbable - no-one could be that boring! Once the pilot has chosen his craft, a standard energy shield will be fitted to it and the drone generators and ground installations for the first round will be set up around the arena. The pilot must then enter the arena in his craft and wait at the centre for the games to begin. The object of the games is for the pilot to defend the ground installations and knock out all of the enemy drone generators and enemy drones in each round. The pilot will lose the game and his contract with MegaCorp will be terminated if he loses all of the ground installations on any single round. At set intervals, referees will fire a variety of robotic drones into the arena from drone generators. These drones are armed with all the latest in military hardware and will try to destroy the pilots craft and destroy his ground installations. The pilot must destroy the drone generators to win the game. Referees cannot fire drones from destroyed generators and it is in the pilots interest to incapacitate the generators as soon as possible. The crafts energy shield will be depleted every time that it collides with a drone or is hit by enemy fire. If the crafts energy shield is exhausted then any more hits sustained on the pilots craft will destroy the craft and the pilot with it - just one of the many hazards that pilots come to expect from the games. Sometimes, when a pilot destroys a drone, a pick-up pod will appear. Pick-up pods contain military hardware to aid the pilot and if he picks a pod up, it will be installed into his craft to aid him. Many new items of military hardware will be available in the pods this year. As well as defending the ground installations, the pilot must attain a good hit rate and play a good exciting game to keep the network TV ratings high. If a piiot manages to destroy all of the generators then no more drones can be despatched into the arena and the pilot need only destroy any remaining drones to win. Pilots call this 'clearing a round' and they will often perform a victory roll before leaving the arena. Before starting his next round, the pilot will have his round performance assessed by the referees. A good hit rate will be scored for the efficient use of ammunition and will result in the pilot having his craft upgraded by the referees. A poor defence rate (thats anything under 100%) will result in the pilot having his craft downgraded. Pilots who complete an entire arena will be awarded a trophy before being promoted to the next arena. The referees then set up a new set of installations and generators for the next round and more drones will be loaded into the drone generators. Any number of installations and generators can be set up on each round and they can be positioned anywhere in an arena. The pilot must then re-enter the arena ready for the next round to begin. If a pilot clears all of the arenas he will win the supreme accolade of 'Defender of the Ground'. Okay, thats enough of the rules! Viewers at home should note that the Century 23 network has now programmed the correct score table information into their TV's central control system and if you look at the telefax panel on the lower part of your TV set, you will see the relevant score information for the games being dispiayed there. To take you through each display one-by-one, in the lower left you will see two score panels. The panel marked 'lnstallations' shows you how many ground installations the pilot has left to defend in the arena for this round. If this ever reaches zero, the pilot is in real trouble! The panel marked 'Generators' shows you how many drone generators are still in play in the arena for this round. Only once a pilot has destroyed all of these, will he have stopped any more drones from being fired into the arena. Also displayed on your telefax panel, you will see a red and a yellow bar. The yellow bar indicates the pilots shield energy protecting his craft from the deadly firepower being thrown at him by the drones. If this bar reaches zero, the pilots a goner for sure! Finally, and l'm sure this needs no explaining, the red bar indicates how many of you, the viewers at home, are tuned into the Century 23 network. Last year, a record 59.6 billion viewers scattered across the galaxy watched this program LIVE as 76 pilots died trying to gain the coveted title of 'Defender of the Ground'. Only 3 pilots claimed that title last year - how many will claim it this year? Also, last year, as l'm sure you'll all remember, the contestants only had to survive for eight rounds in three arenas. Well, this year we thought we'd make things interesting by making the contestants survive for ten rounds in a total of five wholly different arenas. Our cameraman, Bob, has indicated to me that he is now positioned and ready in his fully shielded, all terrain vidiunit inside the arena! Bob's unit is also equiped to receive information from the pilots on board computer and he'll be sending us back Heads Up Display data so that we can really get an idea of whats going on inside that arena. Well, over to Bob in the arena now, where I believe our first contestant is from Earth... Getting Started When you first load the game, the title credits will appear and the title tune will play. Press Space to continue. You will now be presented with the game options. If you do not touch a key for a short while, ThunderStrike will go into quadravisual testflight mode. Press any key to return to the game options. Press the relevant key on the keyboard to select the option that you require. If you have a mouse connected then you can also use the mouse buttons to click on the option that you require. Options (Control and Video) This option is also available from Time-out mode during the game. When selected, further options will appear. These options are Menu (returns to main menu or time-out menu), Keyboard or Mouse (depending on which option you selected on boot-up - see below), Miscellaneous Control and Presentation Options. Keyboard (PC only) - If you are operating from keyboard In control, this option will enable you to redefine the keys. Mouse (ST/Amiga and PC) - If you are operating from mouse control, this option will enable you to do one of as four things: i) Alter the mouses left/right sensitivity. ii) Alter the mouses up/down sensitivity iii) Switch between up/down and dive/climb control. A cross in this box represents dive/climb control and will be more suitable to pilots used to aircraft controls. iv) Switch between left or right handed mouse button control. A cross in this box represents left handed control. Selecting Your Strike Craft You start the game with the ThunderStrike 18 craft but if you wish you can change this for one of the craft from the StrikeHornet or ThunderFly ranges. Using this option enables you to see the five craft in the MegaCorp hangars. Using the keyboard press Space to change the sA highlighted craft and RETURN to select it. Alternatively, if you are using a mouse, click on one of the craft in the background to highlight it and then click on it again when it is highlighied to select it. In the Arena You start each arena from the centre. The games will start as soon as the camera view of your ship appears and the referees will immediately start to launch drones from the generators. If you have just entered the arena it is always wise to take a look at the terrain map (press F4) to determine your situation. Your position is shown on the map as an encircled 'T'. The positions of active installations appear as small, red, pulsing squares and active generators appear as larger, chequered blue/red squares. Note that the game is now paused. Press any key to return to camera view. Inside the arena, ground installations are the red pyramids, pulsing to show that they are active. They will turn grey and flatten out if they are successfully attacked and destroyed by a Saboteur drone. When Saboteur drones attack installations, they mount the installation and turn red. It then takes them about ten seconds to destroy the installation. Drone generators are the blue/red mounds, pulsing to show that they are active too! They will turn blue/grey and flatten out if you manage to destroy one. If you repeatedly press fire, a number of yellow shots will spray forward from your craft. These are low powered shots (indicated by yellow) and it takes about five direct hits with this weapon to destroy a generator. For information on high powered ammunition, please read the section on Power Pods. Do not fly over a generator or your ships energy shield will rapidly deplete. Note that when your ships shield is being damaged, your ship will flash red. Drones - five different drone types can be launched from the drone generators. As you progress from round to round, the action will really heat up as referees fire more and more of these at an even faster rate. The drones also become tougher from arena to arena and will take even more shots to destroy in ihe later arenas. If a drone collides with your craft, your energy shield will take massive damage. The five drones in this years arenas are: Saboteurs - these drones appear as blue/cyan spinners that move slowly along the ground and are incapable of firepower. The Saboteur drone will try to attack your ground installations. They are the only drones capable of this and as such they represent a great threat. As soon as a Saboteur drone is launched, it will target on one of your installalions and head for it. If the drone manages to reach the installation, it will mount it and try to destroy it. If you destroy a Saboteur whilst it is mounted on an installation, the installation will be saved. If the Saboteur succeeds in destroying the installation, it will either turn into a mutated Saboteur or re-target on another installation. Mutated Saboteurs are highly dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. They appear as red spinners and will home in on your craft, tring to collide with it and damage it. Fighters - these drones appear as fighters flying in the air at high speed with cyan nose-cones and red afterburners. The Fighter drone will try to attack your craft by firing shots at it. Once launched, the Fighter drone will head straight for your craft. As soon as it is within range of you it will fire at you. If you manage to tail a Fighter, it will take evasive action to try to shake you off. As you progress from round to round, the referees will increase the firepower of Fighters. Gliders - these drones appear as dark blue, wide-winged gliders flying in the air at slow speed and turning in large arcs. The Glider drone will try to attack your craft by firing shots at it. Once launched, the Glider drone will roam around in wide arcs. If the Glider sees your craft in its sights, then it will fire at you though it is only capable of small amounts of firepower. If the Glider drone senses that all of the generators have been destroyed, then it will slowly home on your craft in an attempt to impact with it. Lungers - these drones appear as cyan/blue rocks that float along slowly through the air and require a number of shots to destroy. They are incapable of firepower but when they are destroyed, they will emit shrapnel in all directions in an attempt to damage your craft. When the Lunger Drone is launched, it will determine a random direction and float in that direction. If the Lunger drone senses that all of the generators have been destroyed, then it will directly home on your craft in an attempt to impact with it. Bombers - these drones appear as yellow/blue craft flying in the air at slow speed. The Bomber drone will try to attack your craft by leaving trails of 'floating mines' for your craft to collide with. Once launched, the Bomber drone will head straight for your craft. As soon as it is within range of you it will start to drop large numbers of 'air-mines' close to you and then slowly take evasive action leaving a trail of mines. Tailing a Bomber is extremely difficult. The Heads Up Display (HUD) The HUD is an intelligent, sophisticated piece of equipment that is essential to the pilot. It will actually anticipate the data that the pilot requires and throw it up on screen. This saves the HUD from being constantly cluttered wiih unneeded data. The system is split into two halves, image data being displayed on the right and textuai data being displayed on the left. The image systems include: Turning Angle Indicator (TAI) - this appears as a straight line within a square box. The angle of the line indicates the turning angle of the craft to the left or right. Tracklock Direction Indicator (TDI) - this only appears when in a TrackLock and it replaces the TAI system. The TDI appears as a box with two triangles either side of it pointing left and right. If the box is highlighted, the craft will pass straight on at a TrackLock intersection. Otherwise, the craft will turn left or right according to which triangle is highlighted, so long as the craft is able to turn in that direction. Compass - this appears as a triangle that rotates. The triangle shows the direction in which your craft is facing. The compass is extremely useful if used in conjunction with your position on the MOR. Main Overview Radar (MOR) - this is probably the most vital part of the HUD. The MOR shows the position of all drones and installations on the map and should be used in conjunction with the relief map. Saboteur drones are shown as cyan/blue 'blips'. All other drones are shown as yellow 'biips'. Your position is shown as a white 'blip'. Finally, active installations are also shown on this radar as red 'blips'. A warning sound followed by a red 'blip' flashing indicates that a saboteur is attempting to deactivate that installation. Attack Radar (ARi - this radar will only switch on when at least one drone comes within close vicinity of your craft. Unlike the MOR, this radar will rotate around you, with your craft always being positioned at the centre of the radar. Saboteur drones are shown as cyan 'blips'. All other drones are shown as yellow 'blips'. Drone fire is shown as purple 'biips'. Note that installations are not shown on this radar. The textual data systems include: Pod Tracking Indicators (PTI) - any pick-up pod that appears on screen will have a PTI attached to it indicating what pod type it is. TrackLock Indicator (TLI) - the message 'TrackLock' will appear if the player enters a track and the TDI will switch on. Turbo Indicator (TI) - if the craft has a turbo pod installed, this indicator will display the number of Turbos left whenever the pilot presses the thrust button. It also indicates when Turbo is Engaged. Defence Pod Indicator (DPI) - if the craft has at least one defence pod installed, the message 'Defence Pod Active' will be displayed. Twin Fire Indicator (TFI) - if the craft has a twin fire pod installed, the message 'Twin Fire Exhausted' will appear when the pod runs out. Power Fire Indicator (PFI) - if the craft has a power fire pod installed, the message 'Power Fire Exhausted' will appear when the pod runs out. Pod Installation Indicator (PII) - whenever the craft picks up a pod, an indication sound will be heard and a message will appear indicating the pod type collected. Shield Critical/Exhausted Indicator (SCEI) - when the shield energy of your craft runs dangerously low, a warning sound will be emitted and a 'Shield Critical' message will flash. If your shield runs out, the message 'Shield Exhausled' will appear. If your craft sustains another hit it will explode! Impact Indicator (II) - if your craft collides with a drone, you will take massive damage and a message will appear indicating which type of drone you collided with. Round Cleared Indicator (RCI) - when a round is cleared, this indicator appears in large red letters across the HUD showing which round has been cleared while your craft does a victory roll. Shutdown Imminent Indicator (SII) - if all of the installations are deactivated then the 'Shutdown Imminent' message will appear in large red letters across the HUD giving the pilot ten seconds to clear the round - otherwise the pilots contract will be terminated! Military Hardware Pods Sometimes when you destroy a drone, a purple/blue pod will appear - bouncing up and down in the air. Pods contain the very latest in military hardware and may be collected by the pilot to aid him. The pod will remain in the arena until it stops bouncing, so the higher above the ground it appears, the longer it will be available for. The HUD will let you know what type of pod it is via the PTI. You can pick it up by simply flying into it at which point it will be instantly installed in your craft. The pods available in the games this year are: Defence Pod - The very latest in craft defence - another fine breakthrough invention from Professor Cardomans Laboratories. When installed a blue energy capsule will spin around your craft, protecting it until it collides with and destroys an enemy drone. Up to three pods can be collected for your defence. Twin Pod - Double your firepower with this ingenious invention from MegaCorps very own research laboratories. When installed, this pod will give you twin fire capability for a set amount of shots. Power Pod - Really turn up the heat on your firepower with MegaCorp's Power Fire Pod. When installed your shots will turn red and will equal the strength of five standard yellow shots. This is very useful for destroying generators faster and for later arenas when some enemy drones will require a higher number of shots to destroy. Shield Pod - Top up your shield. When collected, your shield energy will be replenished by one-fifth of full capacity. Turbo Pod - MegaCorp's creation will give you that extra burst of speed. When collected, the Tl will be activated on the HUD. Each pod contains four Turbo's and you can never have more than four Turbo's installed at one time. To activate the turbo, quickly double-click/ press the thrust button - the turbo will be active for about five seconds. Beware when Turboing because the trailing camera unit can be thrown high up into the air behind you and you won't be able to see your craft for a few vital seconds. In this instance use the AR or MOR to guide you 'blind'. Various HUD messages will appear as you collect pods to show that they have been installed in your craft. The Arenas You must surive through ten rounds in each of five arenas. The five different arenas are: Deinon - Rounds 0 to 9. Xerxes - Rounds 10 to 19. Polloi - Rounds 20 to 29. Canton - Rounds 30 10 39. Synaps - Rounds 40 to 49. lf you clear all fifty rounds, you will be awarded the supreme accolade 'Defender of ihe Ground'. Tracklocking Black tracks run around each arena and a skillful pilot should be able to use these to his advantage. To enter a track you should line yourself up with the track and pull your craft down into it. You will now be TrackLocked and the track will drag you along at high speed. This is quite difficult for novice pilots to do first time but you will soon pick it up. Examination of the terrain map will show you the position of your craft on the tracks. You should use the TDI on your HUD to guide you around the tracks. Note that TrackLocking should only be attempted by skilled pilots and should only become necessary from round nine onwards if you do not have any Turbos fitted. Flight Controls The game can be played using a keyboard or mouse (keyboard option not available on ST/Amiga). Using a mouse; left, right, up and down will move you left, right, up and down. Use the left mouse button to thrust you forward and the right mouse button to fire. You must repeatedly press this button to maintain your fire. During the Game (Keyboard players - PC only): Z Left. X Ri9ht. L Up. < Down. P Thrust. Space Fire. During the Game (Keyboard and Mouse players): F4 Show detailed terrain map. Game is paused in this mode. F10 Pause/Unpause picture. ESC Enier Time-Out mode. Turbos - Pushing the thrust button twice quickly when you have a turbo installed will initiate the turbo. From Time-Out mode you can access Options (control and video), Abort the games or return back to the games.