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- This update to Mantis adds support for the ProAudio Spectrum line
- from MediaVision as well as support for all DMA and IRQ channels of
- the Sound Blaster Pro.
-
- The largest change is that the mines (x-ray and proximity) have
- been removed and replaced with a laser and a Hydrogen Plasma Cannon
- (HPC). The laser becomes available about a dozen missions into the
- game. It has no range limit, but can lose some accuracy when fired
- over long distances. You can only carry one laser at a time (due to
- the interference that multiple chargers cause with each other), and
- it takes up two small hardpoints, one for the laser and one for the
- charger. It can fire 36 full power shots before being depleted.
-
- The HPC replaces the mass driver. It fires a burst of
- superheated plasma and can fire two shots per second. Its shots
- have a shorter range than the MDC (due to the dispersion of the
- plasma cloud), but they do a lot more damage (from the plasma melting
- through the hull of the ship it hits). It's limited to 500 shots
- because the injection chamber where the plasma cloud is generated
- deteriorates. The weapon gets hydrogen directly from the fuel tanks.
-
- The radar display has been changed (you'll probably want to leave
- it in a front view) and several other indicators have been added to
- the HUD, primarily an indication of what other wingmen are targeted
- on the same ship as you are.
-
- Some of you will be glad to hear that the flight logic has been
- improved so that the other three members of Blue Squad are now
- useful. The damage system has been modified slightly, as well
- (things now break more often). The flight computer on the Mantis now
- automatically reduces the throttle when the G force would get too
- high (around 7G). This is to avoid turning the pilot into a pancake.
-
- There have been several additions to the keys. These are:
-
- G - toggle the speed dots (grid) off and on
- < (or comma) - zoom out (from 8x down to 1x)
- > (or period) - zoom in (from 1x to 8x) (the game starts at 1x).
- alt-1 - pick Warrior as current target
- alt-2 - pick Tigereye as current target
- alt-3 - pick Joker as current target
- ctrl-T - target on nearest ship
-
- In addition, the Alt-Q (quit) has been removed (you can still hit
- ctrl-break to quit), and the land key has been changed from L to
- ctrl-L.
-
- The update will work either with or without the speech pack. If
- you don't have the speech pack now, but get it later, you will have
- to re-install this update after installing the speech pack.
-
- I hope that you'll like the changes we've made.
-
- - Glenn Dill
- Mantis Programmer
- January 21, 1993
-