PC/CD Gamer UK 41/PCGAMER41.bin/walkthru/magiccar.txt

Text File | 1997-01-28 | 13KB | 221 lines

Magic Carpet - PlayerÆs Guide

Those Magnificent Men
Flying isnÆt easy, but then you already know that. There isnÆt any real secret to it,
and a few enthusiastic words from us arenÆt going to make the task in hand less
painful, but a lot can be gained from practice! Levels 1-10 are specifically
designed as practice levels, no matter how difficult they seem at first. Focusing on
various skills and features, these initial levels allow you to adapt to the enemies,
casting spells, handling your carpet and other wizards without too much
opposition, in readiness for the major onslaught facing you from level 11
onwards. Make use of the precious time.
There are a few tactics you should be honing during these levels:
1) With the mouse acting as your general ærudderÆ it is all too easy to forget about
using the keyboard for direction change as well - donÆt! The left and right cursor
keys are not only ideal for dodging incoming attacks, they are an excellent
addition to turning æon a dimeÆ. This follows the same rules as reversing in a car;
to turn quickly to the left press the right cursor key and backwards simultaneously
or to turn right press the left cursor key and backwards - the results are extremely
advantageous.
2) When attacking an opponentÆs castle, to avoid getting hit by the archers use
the left and right cursor keys to fly sideways around the castle walls, thus avoiding
the archers arrows.
3) If you donÆt have the Acceleration spell and you are in need of some extra
æOompfÆ to get you out of a jam, quickly turn 45 degrees to the left and then press
the right cursor key and forward together. This manoeuvre will swing you back
round to the direction in which you were originally facing and catapult you out of
the jam quicker
than if you flew in a straight line. (Note: you can reverse the manoeuvre by
turning 45 degrees to the right and then pressing the left cursor key together with
forward - this has the same effect.)
4) If you are being chased or circumvented by some creature or another, press
backwards, and your adversary will appear in front of you as you scream into
reverse!
5) Sometimes your opponent will build his castle at the foot of a mountain, which
gives you a major advantage. To avoid his Archers use the mountain as cover,
emerging at regular intervals to take pot-shots at the castle - this tactic will also
cover you from your opponentÆs spells if he is shooting at you from within the
confines of his castle.
6) If you find that you canÆt reach a spell because it is located at the bottom of a
steep crater that has too drastic an incline to fly down, you should use the walls of
the crater like a æWall of DeathÆ and spiral gently downwards until you reach the
bottom and whatever it was youÆre trying to reach. Some craters or chasms,
however, are too small to fly down with these or standard tactics. Therefore come
to a perfect halt and hover over the opening of the pit, or whatever, and gravity
will do its thing by pulling you slowly down to the bottom - to get out, simply fly
into one of the walls.


Fly, Be Free!
There is no right or wrong way to play Magic Carpet, youÆve just got to get in
there and work out what your carpet is capable of and how the various creatures
react to attack (See æDirty DozenÆ section). However, we can point you in the
right direction, so hereÆs a few things to take into consideration:

Collecting Personal Mana
If youÆre running low on the old mana front, try possessing as many of the
buildings in the townships as you can. The mana collected doesnÆt get transported
back to your castle but it does bump up your personal count. Surprisingly enough,
other wizards tend to ignore collecting mana in this way.

Collecting Mana
Here are a couple more tips for collecting mana:
1) This tip only applies to the levels where there is more than one wizard
competing for the level. Sometimes you will reach an impasse where you and
other wizards are fighting for one particular pool of mana, constantly clicking on
your Acquire spell to turn the mana back to silver. Forget it, youÆll be there all
day! Instead let the other wizards get on with it and find yourself another creature
to destroy, nothing too fancy mind. As soon as this smaller pool of mana becomes
available steam it back to the large pool of mana and start reclaiming - what
invariably happens is that the other wizards automatically home in on the new
pool, leaving you to claim the big bucks as your own.
2) Sometimes you will find that after collecting an impressive bounty of mana an
opposing wizard will hover above his loot waiting for his balloons to arrive. As
soon as you start claiming it he automatically claims it back as his own, thus
giving your balloons little opportunity to get to the pool. Therefore move out to
the edge of the pool and concentrate on claiming just one ball, the other wizard
will move and turn it straight back to his own colour. Keep doing this until your
balloon arrives and then as he claims it back dash around and acquire all the
mana, firing every which way. This way, even though the other wizard is
repossessing the mana, your balloon is in the area collecting balls one by one.

Building Castles
Build your castle out in the open, away from walls and mountains and most
importantly away from your opponentÆs lair. You need space to expand as you get
more and more powerful, so think big! Also, remember that youÆre a wizard and
can build wherever you damn-well please - the Ocean proves to be a good
location as you have plenty of room to expand, plus land-based enemies such as
riders, skeletons and worms canÆt travel over the water and ultimately attack your
castle.

Using Your Castle As A Weapon
Bees are real buggers, and no matter how powerful you are, a full scale bee attack
is going to cause you numerous problems. However, the construction of your
castle can be used as an effective and often devastating defence. Building your
castle in the midst of a giant swarm will wipe out many of the blighters in one fell
swoop, reaping oodles of mana for you in the process. Your castle may get
destroyed if the swarm is particularly huge, but you can always build again and
take out yet more of them. This tactic not only works on bees but most creatures,
especially those that move in groups. The stronger they are, of course, the more
likely the need for you to build a castle time and time again. This tactic also
enables your balloons to swoop out of the castle and collect escaping mana
extremely quickly, making you powerful very quickly.

Spells
You canÆt use a new spell immediately, so youÆre going to have to remember what
youÆve collected. The best way to do this is to assign your new spells to a specific
key position on the keyboard (1-10) as you never know when youÆre going to
need it and thereÆs nothing more destructive to your well-being than having to faff
around selecting spells in the height of battle!

Attacking Powerful Castles
You will find that, during the latter stages of the game, your opponents build large
and extremely powerful castles very quickly. If this is the case, you can confuse
creatures and lure them into your oppositionÆs base and let them destroy it for
you. Creatures such as Griffins are good for this purpose. Find a reasonably large
group near your enemyÆs castle and wade into the group. As soon as you fire they
will home in on you, following you wherever you move. Now retreat into the
centre of the enemy castle firing some more and, thinking the castleÆs yours, the
Griffins will attack, leaving you free to make a hasty escape. Now, in theory, the
Griffins will blast away until the castle crumbles into ruin and once the creatures
have dispersed you can return and collect the mana.

Forest Fires
Some creatures, such as worms, like to hide in forests and instead of posing a
problem this actually makes your life a lot easier. Simply set fire to the forest and
let nature take its course, more often than not wiping out the creatures leaving
nothing but mana ready for the taking. Very effective on Skeletons and Archers.

Defending Your Castle
There will come a time when nothing you do is going to save your castle, the
enemy hoards are just too strong for you to handle. Drastic situations call for
drastic measures and thereÆs often nothing more you can do than press SHIFT and
L together to level your castle altogether! This not only ceases the attack but if
youÆre quick enough, you can rebuild and trap your enemies in
the construction (See æUsing Your Castle As A WeaponÆ section) allowing you to
reap
the ensuing mana.


The Dirty (BakerÆs) Dozen
YouÆll meet all manner of unfavourable creatures in Magic Carpet, and itÆs not
always that easy to defeat them. Here are a few pointers for all you rug-rats...

Apes
These creatures are cumbersome, so you will have enough time to pick them out
one by one as they are slow to home in on your position and they attack with great
inaccuracy at first. DonÆt steam into a group with all guns blazing, keep moving
and pick out the stragglers first.

Archers
These guys only attack you if you attack them first, but donÆt be too worried
because they are slow in responding and have very little resistance to your
missiles.

Crabs
Crabs are a real pain in the butt. Although they yield little mana and take an
inordinate amount of hits to kill, they can turn into the most malicious creature in
the game, spitting more than just fireballs if left to roam. Kill on sight! When they
are small, a few, well-aimed fireballs will suffice. However, as they grow youÆll
need a combination of fireballs and lightning (remember to attack from behind).
When they are full size, though, youÆll need at least a meteor to get rid of them!

Dragons
Dragons are very easy to kill. Approach them and when they home in on you keep
slightly in front of them and then slam your carpet into reverse, keeping a constant
but safe distance away from them. They will continue to follow you and when
they fire, use your left and right cursor keys to dodge their attacks.
Emu Riders Again, like the Archers these guys only attack when provoked and
have very little resistance but they do move fairly fast.

Genies
DonÆt bother with Genies unless you have the Meteor spell, whereby you can
blow them out of the sky (if you have a good aim) or at least create a good sized
crater beneath them. Try destroying your castle if theyÆre proving to be a real pain
(See æUsing Your Castle As A WeaponÆ section), then rebuild it to collect a
completely stupid amount of mana.

Griffins
Griffins wonÆt attack first but when they do enter into combat, they prove to be
very dangerous. Lightning works very well on Griffins as they manage to dodge
most missile attacks, but only attack when you have the means to destroy them -
Griffins bear major grudges!

Krakens
Krakens are very powerful but they are extremely susceptible to fireballs. If you
get caught in a KrakenÆs Duel Spell, launch a barrage of fireballs when you get
pulled close.

Skeletons
Skeletons are very good at demolishing your castle as this is their only aim in
ælifeÆ, but if you take our advice and build in the ocean, you will save yourself a
lot of aggro! Skeletons multiply if they come into contact with humans, creating a
formidable army.

Trolls
Much the same as Apes, attack them one by one rather than wading into a group
firing aimlessly. Trolls regenerate far quicker than Apes and are extremely
dangerous when in groups.

Vultures
Vultures are extremely easy to kill and you can simply wade into a large group
and fire randomly without too much opposition. However, they can be difficult to
target, so as an effective tactic lure them back to your castle and let them attack
the castle instead of you. They do very little damage but they rather blindly swoop
in formation around your flag-pole, leaving themselves easy for the taking.

Worms
These react in much the same way as the Dragons and can be killed in the same
way. Approach them and when they home in on you keep slightly in front of them
and then slam your carpet into reverse, keeping a constant but safe distance away
from them. They will continue to follow you and when they fire, use your left and
right cursor keys to dodge their attacks. One extra thing though; they canÆt travel
over water, so lure them on to the shore and if you are having particular problems
with a group of them, you can at least use the open ocean as a retreat.

Wyverns
These are the big, bad nasties of Magic Carpet. Only approach them if
you have the means to destroy them, which youÆll fine involves possessing the
Meteor spell - launch about ten meteors one after the other to kill them or just
blast a few craters beneath them.