Codename MAT by Derek Brewster Codename MAT - MISSION: ALIEN TERMINATION - the desperate plan to place in the mind of a teenager the combined tactical skills of all the planetary leaders in the solar system. MAT is mankind's last hope. For decades the Myons have sought to dominate the Solar System, whose fleets are now ragged and depleted. They have launched an all-or-nothing attack, knowing that Earth is developing revolutionary space-craft. Only the prototype - USS Centurion - has been built, and it must be pressed into immediate service as both battle-cruiser and tactical command centre. Piloting the craft in battle and controlling the Planetary Defence Fleets is beyond any normal human... MAT is created. Now your mind is MAT's mind. Take control of the Centurion and blast off on the greatest adventure of all... (C) DEREK BREWSTER FROM MICROMEGA. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Reset the computer by holding down CTRL+SHIFT and ESCAPE keys together in that order. Place cassette into Datacorder. Rewind tape to beginning, then press STOP/EJECT once. Press CTRL and small ENTER keys simultaneously then press PLAY followed by any key. This program will take about 10 minutes to load. GETTING STARTED Select control option as requested on loading 1 - keyboard, 2 - joystick. Select game level (1 - 3) 1. Short practice game 2. Full game, medium sized Myon invasion fleet. 3. Full game, large fast-moving Myon invasion fleet. Select game type (1 - 2) 1. Commander: you control deployment of Planetary Defence Fleets. 2. Pilot: deployment of fleets under computer control. The forward cockit view will appear. You are stationary in the outmost planet's system. Press D to activate shields. Press 4 to come to cruising speed of 30%. Pressing R will give the rear view. Pressing K activates the visual tracking computer which selects forward/rear views to face any object being tracked. Pressing S puts up the sector scan, other fleets, satellites, etc. Pressing C puts up the solar chart, showing all planet sectors in less detail, allied fleets strengths and Centurion's star systems status. The bottom screen Battle Computer display remains at all times. This is also where the Subspace Receiver gives information about planets under attack, damage reports are made, and alerts are given of Myons in your area. Pressing L puts up the long-range scan, giving a scale display of all objects in your area in relation to you. To move to another area in the planet's sector you must warp into an area containing a Stargate, find it and fly through it (red one for system outbound, cyan inbound). If 'Commander' was selected you can transmit commands to your conventional fleets by pressing 'T'. All displays and functions are described in detail further on. Each area may contain any combination of three types of Myon Ship. * Fighter - will attack Centurion the moment the two are in the same area. Top speed 70%. No shields. * Cruiser - Will only attack when within range 3000, otherwise follows a steady course. Top speed 60%. No shields. * Base Star - Will attack immediately. Top speed 80%. When its shields are gone it turns red and runs until they have regenerated (about 2 mins.) A planet or satellite is under attack when four of the adjacent eight areas are occupied by Myon craft. You have about 3 minutes to clear one of these areas before the Myons have destroyed their target. They construct two fighters and a base star from a planet, or two fighters and a cruiser from a satellite. It is sometimes best to destroy a planet yourself to prevent this. Myons delay attacking planets, rather than carry on through Stargates to get towards Earth, except when they are losing really heavily. Damage suffered by Centurion in battle can be repaired, and energy restored, by reaching a planet or satellite. Orbit is achieved by stopping between ranges 400 and 500 with vertical and horizontal angles less than 5 degs. Centurion will be drawn down and destroyed if you get too close. Do not forget to reactivate shields, etc., and turn away before getting under way again! Damaged impulse engines will operate raggedly if you hold the relevant control key down. All other systems cease to function when destroyed. Loss of several systems can seriously affect your ability to navigate. Warp drive is not vulnerable to damage. If Centurion runs out of energy, or it or Earth is destroyed then the war is lost. The destruction of the last Myon craft signals victory. You will be scored accoring to the time, planets or satellites saved, level of play and efficiency of tactics. DISPLAY TYPES: Permanently on-screen Angle from straight ahead of tracked object Energy * = +46 E = 08721 * = -17 V = 030 Angle up/down to tracked object Shield status Object range SH - ON R = 15721 TR - OFF N = 2 Tracking Computer Object number status Long-range scan 3-Dimensional global representation of your area of space. Each area behaves as a circular universe. A craft disappearing behind will reappear ahead, for instance. You look down from above. Centurion is represented by the fixed central blot, its nose towards the top of the screen. Thus, if you turn to the left the entire display will appear to revolve to the right around your position. If you loop the loop the display will rotate vertically as if you were looking down through a revolving cylinder. It is worth playing with this until interpreting it is second nature - it will need to be! Sector Scan Shows a 10 × 7 grid, each part of which represents one area as above. O Main planet in system. o Satellite F1 Planetary defence fleet (dots show ships left in fleet) * Stargate (RED - outer-system/CYAN - inner-system directions) E Fleet of 3 Myons = Fleet of 2 Myons - 1 Myon [] USS Centurion + Warp Cursor Solar Chart The solar chart is made up of all seven sector displays miniaturised and rotated anticlockwise 90-degrees. - Myon Fleet + USS Centurion x Planetary defence fleet [] Planet [] Satellite Fleet's strengths are shown below thus. Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto F1 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 F2 3 3 3 2 1 0 0 Centurion's systems status is shown below thus: PH1 PH2 SHE IME Photon Shields Impulse Tubes Engines BCO SRE STR LRS Battle Subspace Subspace Long Range Computer Receiver Transmitter Scanner (Flashing = DAMAGED: Red = DESTROYED) WARP DRIVE To warp into another area select Sector Scan with S. Use the direction control to position the warp cursor at your destinations. Press W to engage warp drive. The display will return to forward view, with the diamond of the Warp Channel Marker in your sights. As you race through the warp channel you must follow it by keeping the marker in your sights, as if chasing another craft. Otherwise you will go off course. You can set and leave the warp cursor position and use Warp Drive later. STARGATES To reach another planet's sector you must pass through a stargate. A cyan one will take you inwards in the system and a red one outwards. You first warp into the Stargate area, then track it down with your displays or battle computer. It is visible at about range 2500. You must fly thraugh the centre to achieve transfer. The faster you are travelling, the more accurate you must be. You will arrive in the next planet's system in the area of the other end of the Stargate. If both you and a Myon are present at a Stargate you cannot use it until the Myon is destroyed. SUBSPACE TRANSMITTER In 'Commander' mode you need to issue instructions to the Planetary Defence Fleets to use them in your strategy. To do this press T. You will be prompted for the name of the fleet you wish to transmit to. Respond with the letter of the planet to which it belongs, followed by the fleet's number, and press ENTER. S2 would be Saturn fleet no. 2; U1 would be Uranus fleet no. 1 etc. Then enter message and press ENTER. A message comprises the first letter of the direction to move and the distance, repeated as needed, followed by any suffix desired. Suffix R will cause it to remain at its new position. Suffix D will cause it to Defend the perimeter of the destination area. A message E2N5R means 'Go East 2, North 5, and Remain there'. W5D means 'Go and Defend the perimeter of the area 5 to the West'. Each fleet remembers its previous R or D command and will apply it to any new instructions if neither suffix is present. A fleet cannot travel through a planet or satellite area. It can be useful to just transmit R first to make a fleet stay still while you are composing its message. If a fleet runs into Myons on its journey it will normally enter combat and ignore the rest of its orders. Using the suffix A will make it avoid combat en route - if used, this suffix should be the very last item in the message. The Sector Scan is correctly oriented North-upwards for the directions used in issuing commands. TRACKING COMPUTER K switches this on or off. It will automatically switch between forward and rear views to face any object being tracked. You always fire in the direction of view. The object being tracked is indicated by the 'N = readout'. 'P' indicates a planet or satellite, 'S' a Stargate, '0' no objects present, '1', '2' or '3' which number Myon of those present is being tracked. You may switch between attackers by pressing A. The Battle Computer's readouts of range and angle are for the item being tracked. When first entering a Myon-occupied area it is wise to switch between attackers to determine which is the closest or you may be taken by surprise. GENERAL INFORMATION In battle, knock out fighters first, trying to stick with the one you are tracking, otherwise you may get one in your sights just as the tracker switches view to follow another. Chasing cruisers can be time-consuming. It is sometimes best to leave them for later unless they are a threat to a planet. Space always has lumps of rock floating through it. You cannot track these, but they can cause damage, so keep your eyes peeled! It is unwise to continue battle when either the Battle Computer or Long Range Scanner is damaged. Either can be used effectively for finding planets or Myons, but loss of both will leave only the fore-aft switching of the tracking Computer to indicate an object's locotion. Keep an eye on energy - Shields, Warp Drive, Impulse Engines and Photon Tubes use varying amounts. Hits by Myon photo bolts cause the most serious drain. The display will flash below 1000 units. (C) DEREK BREWSTER FROM MICROMEGA.