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- In this game you will attempt to put out fires started by lightning in a
- forest. The forest is 25 areas square, and con- tains lakes and houses.
- Your goal is to save as many houses and as much forest as you can.
-
- The symbols used on the game screen are: Forest House Lake Fire
- Firebreak Once a fire starts, it will burn for a number of turns, and
- then burn itself out. When this happens the area goes black.
-
- While a fire is burning it may spread to adjacent areas. The spread of
- fire is controlled by the wind's direction and speed. These are
- displayed on the game screen and will change throughout the game.
-
- Lakes cannot catch on fire (this is an unpolluted forest), and so they
- form a natural firebreak.
-
- A house adjacent to a fire will blink to show that it may be in danger.
- Each turn of the game you do something in an area of the forest; after
- your turn the game screen is updated. To do something you move the
- cursor to the desired area of the forest, using the arrow keys, and then
- type a letter:
-
- D - drop water
- F - build firebreak
- B - start backfire
-
- Dropping water on a fire will make it burn out sooner, though not
- necessarily in that turn. The water's effectiveness will vary, and
- sometimes some water will blow downwind to the next area. Drop- ping
- water on a house or forest area that is not burning will help keep it
- from catching fire.
-
- Building a firebreak in an area creates a barrier through which fire
- normally cannot burn. Once in a great while, however, if the wind is
- high, a fire might jump one. Firebreaks are hard to build, and you have
- limited work crews, so you can only build a limited number. You start
- the game with two, and every few turns you can build another. Your
- firebreak status is shown on the game screen.
-
- A backfire is a fire you start to create a burned-out area, which will
- block fire spread. It will spread like a normal fire, but will burn out
- twice as fast. Once all the fires are out the game ends and you get
- your score, based on how many houses and forest areas you have saved.
- You get a perfect score if you stop all the inital fires before they
- spread. (This is almost impossible.) The game has three difficulty
- levels. As the level goes up there are more houses to save, more
- initial fires, few- er lakes, and a greater possible score. Once the
- game has started, you can quit by typing Q instead of D, F, or B.
-
- One hint: WATCH THE WIND. Good luck.
-
- This game was written by Eben Sprinsock, Shrader St., San Francisco, CA
- 94117 as Freeware. The author requests $10 for every copy made of the
- game.