MAILSTROM SPECTRUM 48/128 Ocean Picture an English town at the dawn of the 21st century. Oil from the North Sea ran dry years before; leading to riots and revolution. A coup took place resulting in major criminal figures governing the country. From the debris of this anarchy emerged a familiar yet unexpected sight; a bright red post van. This was, however, no ordinary van: Bristling with weaponry and equipped with a highspeed propulsion unit, the van stood as an ironic reminder of the way things used to be. At the heart of this armoured postal delivery vehicle is the latest Special Knowledge and Information Terminal (S.K.I.T.), a sophisticated computer system which controls the vans surveylance, weapons and propulsion systems. The driver of this formidable machine is postman Michael Nasty: Rooted in better times, he continues to deliver the post, nothing and no-one will be allowed to stand in his way. “The mail must get through"! DIAGRAM OF SCREEN SHOWING VARIOUS ICONS --------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------- | BOV ---->O O<---- VAN | | PAWS ---->O O O O<---- OUT | ------------------^-^------------------ | | DAMAGE POSTMAN KEY BOV (BACK OF VAN) - To store an item you have collected. While in this mode, and after collecting a case, press FIRE to discover what weapon or device you have just collected. If you have collected either armoury or Super Pursuit mode device then the below will apply. ARM - This allows you to select the weapon at your disposal. SPM - Allows your van to reach great speeds. PAWS (PAUSE) - Allows you to pause the game. While in pause mode you can quit the game by pressing O. DAMAGE - Gives you report on damage sustained plus the number of sacks collected. POSTMAN - Exit mail van. VAN - Enter mail van. OUT - Exit icon menu. LOADING ======= 1. Place the cassette in your recorder ensuring that it is fully rewound. 2. Ensure that the MIC socket is disconnected and that the volume and tone controls are set to the appropriate levels. 3. If the computer is a Spectrum 48K or Spectrum + then load as follows. Type LOAD""(ENTER) (Note there is no space between the two quotes). The " is obtained by pressing the SYMBOL SHIFT and P keys simultaneously. 4. Press PLAY on your recorder and the game will load automatically. If you have any problems try adjusting the volume and tone controls and consulting Chapter 6 of the Spectrum manual. 5. If the computer is a Spectrum 128K then follow the loading instructions on-screen or in the accompanying manual. PLAYING ======= You are Michael Nasty and your objective is to maintain the last outpost of a formerly proud postal service in a crumbling society. Collect letters from the "OUT" chute in the sorting office, this will cause several numbers at the bottom of the screen to light up. These numbers correspond to the numbers of houses to which you must deliver letters. Open post boxes (by any means at your disposal) to find sacks which must be stored in your van for later. when a sorting office appears deposit the sacks (stored in the back of your van) in the ‘IN’ section. At any sorting office the number of sacks you deposit in the 'IN' chute will determine the number of sorted letters you can retrieve from the 'OUT' chute, of that office on the following day. At the end of each day you will be told how many sacks you must store in the sorting offices on the next day in order to continue the game. If you fail to deposit at least that number of sacks, the game will end. CONTROLS ======== Mailstrom may be controlled by either joystick or keyboard. Pressing FIRE when touching an object in the road will cause Michael to pick up that object and drop any object he might already have been carrying. Pressing FIRE when touching the van will cause the main Icon window in S.K.I.T. to open. Control is now transferred to the Icon cursor. JOYSTICK UP ^ | LEFT <- -> RIGHT | v DOWN Use Kempston compatible ioystick interface. Press any key to start. Joystick is detected automatically. From pause mode: Fire - continues game Q — returns to title page NOTE Use 'UP', 'DOWN', 'LEFT' and 'RIGHT' controls to position the cursor over the desired Icon. Press "FIRE" to select. S.K.I.T. will explain the function of each Icon as it is selected. N.B. Experimentation with the Icon is recommended in order to become familiar with their operation. KEYBOARD UP — Keys Q to P (SECOND ROW) DOWN — Keys A to ENTER (THIRD ROW) LEFT — CAPS SHIFT and alternate keys (BOTTOM ROW) FIRE — Keys 1 to 0 (TOP ROW) HINTS and TIPS ============== 1. Avoid delivery to the wrong house. 2. Points are substracted at the end of the day for undelivered letters. 3. It pays to deposit as many sacks as you can. 4. The minimum number of sacks allowed for the first day is one. MAILSTROM ========= Its program code, graphic representation and artwork are the copyright of Ocean Software Limited and may not be reproduced, stored, hired or broadcast in any form whatsoever without the written pemission of Ocean Software Limited. All rights reserved Worldwide. Mailstrom runs on the Spectrum 48/128 micro computers. This software product has been carefully developed and manufactured to the highest quality standards. Please read carefully the instructions for loading. IF FOR ANY REASON YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY IN RUNNING THE PROGRAM, AND BELIEVE THAT THE PRODUCT IS DEFECTIVE, PLEASE RETURN IT DIRECT TO: MR. YATES, OCEAN SOFTWARE LIMITED, 6 CENTRAL STREET, MANCHESTER, M2 5NS. Our quality control department will test the product and supply an immediate replacement if we find a fault the product will be returned to you, at no charge. Please note that this does not affect your statutory rights. Game Design Reptile Industries. Produced by D. C. WARD. (c) 1986 Ocean Software Limited This product contains only one cassette tape. The larger packaging has been introduced as a standard for this and future products. We may from time to time incorporate two tapes or possibly a disk.