The Planets (c) 1986 Martech Games Ltd -------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION The year is 2007, Life on planet Earth is coming to an end. A series of monumental natural disasters has thrown the Earth's climate into a deadly spiral - a second Ice Age has already begun. The skies are black with volcanic dust. Massive earthquakes hamper the world's futile attempts to cope with the changing environment. All seems doomed. Into this darkening chaos an Alien life force makes its presence known. CONTENTS (48K Spectrum) Program Summary Spacecraft Main Program Weird Alien Game Planets 1. Mercury Venus Data to be loaded into the Spacecrafts navigation system. You Earth can then travel to any of the three planets currently held in 2. Mars the computer. Jupiter Notice that Earth is always resident. Earth 3. Saturn Uranus Earth 4. Neptune Pluto Earth CONTENTS (128K Spectrum) Program Summary Main program including all the planetary data necessary for Spececrafts navigation system. Weird The Alien Game THE GAME Your Spaceship is a 'Type 224' space explorer, ideal for the hazardous task you must undertake. You are on a routine mission within the solar system. For the past month the problems which beset Earth have intensified. As each day passes the news which reaches you worsens, Is life on Earth coming to an end? News of the signal from deep space and the mysterious capsule are communicated to you. The capsule has landed in mountainous region of Switzerland. A robot has examined the capsule. It has one word engraved on its surface, ENIGMA. There is a combination locking mechanism. You have a hunch that the word LIFE will open the capsule. Your superiors order your immediate return to Earth. You are given clearance to land your unmanned surface lander near the capsule so that your hunch can be put to the test. Besides, you are the most experienced and highly regarded Space Pilot alive. As you travel to Earth the alien game codenamed WEIRD is transmitted to you. You will have to find time to look at this and hopefully solve the secrets it contains. You have arrived at Earth, Your surface lander must land near the capsule and attempt to open it. If you manage to open the capsule your spacecraft will be made ready for hazardous journey to come. 'TYPE 224' EXPLORER The 'Type 224 is ICON DRIVEN. The control panel displays the six main ICON OPTIONS. Use the space bar or joystick to move the pointer to the desired icon and press ENTER or FIRE to select that option. Selecting some options will open a window providing you with further SUB-ICONS. These options can be selected in the same way. If you change your mind or wish to quit any option, press the key 'Q'. In other words, 'Q' always de-selects. CONTROL PANEL |------------|----------------------------------------------|------------| | | MESSAGES | | |------------|----------------------------------------------|------------| | | | | | | | | | MANIPULATE | | MAPS | | | | | | | | | |------------| |------------| | | | | | | | | | EXPLORE | VISUAL DISPLAY | DATA | | | | | | | | | |------------| |------------| | | | | | | | | | TRAVEL | | DATABASE | | | | | | | | | |------------|----------------------------------------------|------------| | | | INSTRUMENT PANEL | | | |------------------------------------------------------------------------| ICON OPTIONS 1. Manipulate If you manage to retrieve an alien capsule choose this option to allow examination of the capsules surface and manipulation of the locking system. It is a good idea to make note of the contents of any capsules you manage to open. Joystick Keys Action Left N Selects the position Right M Up A Turns the combination Down Z Fire Space Attempts to open the capsule 2, Exploration Systems SUB ICONS (a) Surface Lander, (b) Robot Explorer. (a) Surface Lander Select this option if you wish to launch the planetary surface landing craft. The lander is an unmanned craft but it is controlled by the mothership and is able to send back information and pictures on its surroundings and status. It is controlled by one verticle VARIABLE THRUSTVECTOR and four directional THRUSTVECTORS. Joystick Keyboard Left Left N Right Right M Forwards Up A Backwards Down Z Verticle Fire SPACE The instrument panel display will change to that of the lander once you are ready to launch it. Once launched, the lander will travel towards the planet under TRACTOR BEAM CONTROL. At a height of 10 kilometres (1000 metres) you must take direct control. The lander now falls towards the planets surface under the influence of gravity. The greater force of gravitational attraction the greater will be the acceleration of the lander as it falls. On planets with a high gravity therefore, you will need to make greater use of the VERTICAL THRUST to control your rate of descent or ascent. On planets which have atmospheres the lander may encounter strong winds and hence you will need to make greater use of the directional thrustvectors. Once the lander is launched the visual display will be split into two sections. The right hand second will show a representation of the side view of the lander falling towards the planets surface. The left hand section will show a computer generated SURFACE GRID. This device enables you to assess the effects of wind and drift. The approximate position of the capsule on the planets surface has been programmed into this system and a box symbol will appear on the screen to show you where this is. If you cannot see this symbol you will need to explore the planets surface. Once you have found the capsule, try to land as near as possible to it. Your surface lander cannot survive landing at a speed greater than 20 metres per second. If it is destroyed, you will have failed in your mission to save the Earth. To leave the planet choose the surface lander option more. To allow the TRACTOR BEAM CONTROL to lock onto the lander you must be travelling at less than 20 metres per second at 10000 metres altitude. Once locked on, the lander will be accelerated automatically to the required escape velocity and will dock safely with the mothership. If however, you miss the beam, the landing craft will be lost and you will have failed in your mission to save the Earth. (b) Robot Explorer This robot is a highly sophisticated search and retrieve surface explorer. Select this option if the capsule is within range of the landers detectors, It is controlled by selecting four possible operations which will appear as icons at the bottom of the screen. Anti-Clockwise One unit represents a 90 degree turn in an anti-clockwise direction. Move One unit represents a move in a forward direction by one surface unit. Clockwise One unit represents a 90 degree turn in a clockwise direction. Grab One unit represents one attempt to retrieve the selected target object. The robot explorer is able to operate efficiently even in the most hostile environments. The signals which it sends back to you will be shown on the visual display and are from its SPECTROVISOE. The Spectrovisor can operate in virtually any known conditions, even in the complete absence of light. It analyses a 90 degree arc of the immediate terrain which it is facing. A trained operator can understand the resulting visual display and navigate the robot accordingly. All Space Pilots are skilled robot explorer operators, but when did you last take a refresher course. Terrain Colour Plain Yellow Hole Black Rock Magenta Mountain Cyan Liquid Blue Turbulent Liquid Black Ice White Lava Red Target objects--| eg Capsule | Green Lander --| You must try to find the capsule, retrieve it using the grabber, and then get it back to the surface landing craft for examination. The capsules are too large to take with you when you leave the planet so you must use the MANIPULATE option whilst you are still on the surface. The robot explorer has a limited fuel cell, if it runs out of power or is destroyed, the signal from the SPECTROVISER will cease. You only have three robot explorers, so look after them. 3. Travel Select this option if you wish to travel to the destination planet i.e, the planet currently shown as the destination planet on the instrument panel. To change the destination planet see 4(a) long range map. If necessary, load the relevant program data into the COMPUTER. Messages will inform you when to do this. Once the navigation systems are ready the IONDRIVE will be engaged. Your 'Type 224' will be accelerated through the space time continuum towards your chosen destination. How long this journey takes will obviously depend on the distance. If hazards are encountered you may need to control the LASER DEFENCE SYSTEM (L.D.S) LASER DEFENCE SYSTEM Joystick Keyboard Left N Right M Up A Down Z Fire SPACE A window will open displaying a measure of any damage suffered. Damage can only be repaired by landing on EARTH. 4.Maps SUB ICONS (a) Long Range Map, (b) Short Range Map (a) Long Range Map Use the 'N' or 'M' keys or the joystick to move the cross hair over the desired planet. The name of the planet and its distance from you is shown on the instrument panel. Press FIRE or SPACE to select this planet as the destination planet i.e. the planet you wish to travel to next. (b) Short Range Map Displays current planetary system, showing that planets moons. 5. Planet Information SUB ICONS (a) Gravity (b) Sidereal Rotation Period These options may give you vital information on the current planet. (a) Gravity Compares the rate of descent under the influence of gravity of two spherical objects, one on Earth and one on the current planet. (b) Sidereal Rotation Period Compares the time taken for Earth and the current planet to orbit the Sun i.e. one year for each planet measured in Earth days. 6. Database Martech Database System (MDS) V2.1 This database contains useful information about the solar system and also enables access to some important commands. It was updated on your last visit to Earth. Unfortunately in your eagerness to get underway you forgot to bring the instruction manual. Summary To save the world you will need to understand the capsules and their contents. The alien game will help you do this. The entire Solar System is a clue. If you solve the capsules, you will know what you must do. The 'Type 224' is able to do this. If you are successful you will discover how to prevent the end of life on Earth. You will also discover how to claim an exciting prize. The first person to correctly claim this prize - wins!!! (c) SOFTWARE COMMUNICATIONS LTS. 1986. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Complete Instructions type in by Paul Thompson, March 2003