PLUNDER ======= A game of Elisabethan strategy. The year 1587 and Spain is preparing a massive Armada. To finance the enormous fleet the Spaniards are running gold from the american continent back to Spain. Your task is to patrol the seas and prevent the gold reaching Spain in the time allocated. Ferocious sea battles are enacted. After each salvo, damage and casulty reports are shown so that you may decide to reengage the enemy or retreat. If you win you will need the gold you plunder to pay for the damage to your ship and shanghai more crew. You are determined to be more successful than your head rival Sir Francis Drake. There are three levels of difficulty and 3 types of game. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- The procedure for loading a program into your Spectrum is given on page 146 of the manual. Please follow these steps for loading a program. 1. Connect the ear socket of the computer to the ear socket of your tape recorder. 2. Set the volume control as per Sinclair manual. 3. Adjust the tone control to maximum. 4. Type LOAD "PLUNDER". 5. Start the tape recorder. The program will RUN automatically once loaded. 6. The program takes 5 minutes to load. INSTRUCTIONS ------------ 1. OBJECT OF THE GAME --------------------- You are the captain of a British galleon. You habe been commisioned by Her Majesty to stop the Spaniards running gold from the New Lands to Spain. To earn a knighthood you must achieve one of the following: Gold pieces stopped Short Game Level 1 35.000 (60 tuns) Level 2 50.000 Level 3 65.000 Medium Game Level 1 75.000 (100 turns) Level 2 90.000 Level 3 105.000 Long Game Level 1 115.000 (140 turns) Level 2 130.000 Level 3 145.000 2. INFORMATION AVAILABLE ------------------------ A high resolution chart of the Atlantic Ocean is displayed showing your position. Continuous reports showing: GOLD ST - Numer of gold pieces stopped. TURNS - Number of turns elapsed. GOLD - Number of gold pieces on board. WEATHER - Weather conditions in the sea of your ship. VICTORS - Number of victories. This factor will affect the moral of your crew and their fighting effectiveness. DEFEATS - This shows number of defeats suffered and will actively affect the moral of your crew. Note: If you retreat or withdraw form a battle it is counted as a defeat. WEAPONRY - The number of cannons operational. Note: Maximum number allowed is 30. MEN - Number of men on board. Note: Maximum number allowed is 400. SHIPS - A measure of the soundness of the ship. CAN LOST - Number of cannons destroyed in last attack. MEN LOST - Number of men lost in last attack. D.P. LOST - Number of Damage Points list in last attack. 3. DECISIONS REQUIRED --------------------- When to attack or not. Whether to fire cannons or go alongside and board the enemy vessel (if the enemy is too damaged the enemy will sink and the gold will be lost). When to return to a port to make repairs an replenish the crew. Whether to explore uncharted islands or abandoned ships. Whether to trade in the bazaars of the port. 4. PLAYING THE GAME ------------------- When the game starts you are in the command of a ship which appears on a high resolution map of the west of Europe, the Atlantic, nortwest Africa and the east coast of America. Through use of the cursor movement keys your ship is manoeuvred about the map. What the weather is like determines how easy it is to find the Spaniards. When one is found though (and there are four types of ships) the lookout informs you that one has been spotted. You are then given the option of attacking/retreating and then firing/boarding. If you decide to attack a graphic display of your choice of combat is then enacted. The fight is conducted over a number of rounds. At the end of each a result of the action is shown. Dotted around the map are seven ports marked in red. On entering the location of a port a graphical representation of the harbour is displayed. The player must then manoeuvre his ship through the other ships in the harbour and land against the dock. At the dockside is a marketplace where various services/goods can be purchased. The various prices are all set up at the start of the game and vary from port to port. Trading goods from one port to another one is one way of obtaining gold to finance repairs. 5. HINTS ON PLAY ---------------- If your ship has less than 11 Damage Points left, it will sink. If your crew falls below 20 then the crew will loose control of the ship and the ship will sink. Spanish ships are easier to find when the weather is calm or mild than when seas are stormy. Spanish warships have more fire power than galleons or merchant ships or troop ships. Avoid engaging in early stages of the game. (c)1983 D. G. Evans Copies of this recording may only be made for the sole use of the purchaser unless written permission is obtained from the publisher. CASES COMPUTER SIMULATIONS LTD., 14 Langton Way, London SE3 7TL