PENETRATOR SCORING Ground missiles: 10 points. Flying missiles: 50 points. Radar bases: 100 points Defending paratroopers: 100 points. Neutron bomb store: 1000 points for the first one, 2000 points for the second one, and so on CONTROLS Up and Down movemant The up and down movement of your fighter plane is controlled by the Q and A keys on your Spectrum console. The minimum height your fighter can fly is obviously determined by the terrain. Your maximum height is determined by the fighter aerodynamics, but may also be limited by the surroundings - for example when you enter the underground defense caverns. Thrust and Brake: Due to the forward momentum requirements of your fighter, you cannot stop the plane for any length of time. It is possible to control your thrust and braking by the use of the P and 0 keys, but note that these can only be imposed for limited periods. Thrust involves holding down the P key Firing control A forward missile launcher is available as a standard on your fighter plane; this launcher enables you to fire missiles directly ahead, and is activated by the use of the P key. Firing involves repeatedly pressing the P key. The number of forward missiles is limited only by your firing rate. If you hold the P key down continuously, you will get thrust instead of firing. Bomb chute You may drop bombs on the enemy landscape, missiles and radar bases. The bomb chute is controlled by any key along the bottom row of the SPECTRUM console. Note that it is possible to only have two bombs in the air at any one time. DANGERS Be especially careful of the danger presented by the enemy radar bases. Although these bases will not fire at you, the information they gather can and will be fatal to your mission unless you destroy them. As the enemy builds up knowledge of your position and flight path, this is transmitted to the missile command centre, thus enabling the missiles and enemy paratroopers to track you more accurately. The danger level is shown on your console, and will continue to build as you penetrate into the enemy territory. There is only one way to reduce the danger level - blowing up the neutron bomb store, and thereby damaging the enemy missile command centre. If you should allow the danger level to reach a critical level, the warning RED ALERT will flash on your console. Once this level is reached, you must assume the enemy has tracked your flight. Evasive action will now be difficult. STRATEGIES * Half the technique of the game lies in having proper control over the maneuvering of your fighter, so learn to do it well. * Use the thrust and braking power of your fighter to your advantage. If you stay too far to the left or too far to the right you will not be able to use that extra thrust or brake to avoid enemy missiles. Keep your fighter in such a position as to maintain maximum flexibility. * Note that the bombs are slowed down by the friction of the atmosphere as they drop. * In Stage Three, where you must maneuver through narrow vertical and horizontal passages, stay as far to the right as your thrust will allow. * In Stage Four, the enemy paratroopers will be hiding and waiting in ambush. Try to lure them out of their hiding place and then either shoot them while braking, or thrust quickly while going up to fly over them. * In difficult situations, use the up/down keys for evasive action, and press the right arrow key and the space bar (simultaneous missile firing and bomb dropping) to destroy the enemy. * If you wish to abort a mission completely, press ENTER and 0 simutaneously. This teleports you back to Control Centre. TRAINING SIMULATIONS Space Research Centre has tried to approximate the conditions of your mission so that you may gain familiarity with your fighter and the dangers you may face. Training mission allows you to start at any one of the four Stages, with an unlimited number of "lives" at your disposal. When you should successfully complete the Stage selected for training, the staff at Space Research Centre will automatically place you in the next highest Stage for your next attempt. Successfully completing Stage Four gives you the opportunity to attempt to destroy the enemy neutron bomb store. Should you suceed in this mission, you will enter the "return mode" - now you must get back to base, evading the defense rings even more eager than ever to destroy you. To terminate training in any one Stage, press ENTER and 0 to return to Training Centre. Pressing ENTER at the Training Centre returns you to the Control Centre. CUSTOMIZING PENETRATOR There is provision in PENETRATOR for you to change the conditions of your mission. This total control allows you to change the shape of the landscape, the number and positions of the missiles and of the radar bases. The screen shows the landscape of the various stages. In the middle of the screen a short vertical line is shown from the top and bottom indicating the maximum height and lowest level the landscape may occupy. Between these vertical dashes, there is a small flashing cursor. The cursor may be moved up and down by the use of the Q/A keys, and the landscape moved left/right by thr P and O keys. Pressing the appropriate number (1 - 5) brings you to the beginning of a stage. Using the shift keys with any of the following commands or with the movement keys causes a repeat function. Removing missiles or radar basis: To insert or remove missiles or radar bases, it is necessary to position the landscape at the correct position using the arrow keys. Pressing "N" deletes any missile or radar base. In Stage Four, the program converts a random number of missiles into enemy paratroopers. If you do not want any, or at least very few, enemy paratroopers you should limit the number of missiles in Stage Four. Inserting missiles or radar bases: Position the landscape as desired . Pressing the letter "M" or "R" inserts a missile or radar respectively. It is up to you to ensure that the missile or radar base does not overlap the landscape. If your missile or radar base overlaps the lanscape, it will merely blow up during the game. Changing the landscape: The small flashing cursor is used to indicate where you would like the new landscape level to be. Pressing the letter "T" places the top of the landscape at that level, while pressing the letter "B" places the bottom of the landscape at that level. The landscape automatically moves one character to the left after you press "T" or "B". Note that it is up to you to ensure that there is enough room for for fighter to fly through the landscape. There is no reason why you should stick to the type of stages in the original version of PENETRATOR when you customize your own version. You could make Stage One part of the underground defend system and Stage Two the open landscape. There is even no reason why you should not be able to mix concrete silos with underground caverns in the same stage! You should give some thought to the effect of flying backwards through the stages you design, because it is necessary to be able to escape after blowing up the neutron bomb store. Saving the customized landscape: Press "S" to save the customi/ed landscape you have just created. Returning to Playing the Game: Return by pressing the BREAK key. Loading the Cassette: Prepare the computer and tape recorder as described in the SPECTRUM manual. Load and run by typing LOAD "PENETRATOR" PENETRATOR is copyright © 1982 by Beam Software The program was written by Philip Mitchell Musical, advice by Ken Schroder Published by MELBOURNE HOUSE 347 Reedwood Drive, Nashville TN 37217, U.S.A 131 Trafalgar Road, London SE10, United Kingdom 4/75 Palmerston Cres., South Melbourne, 3205, Australia