There have been versions of Star Trek written for just about every computer ever made. This says a lot for its attraction as a game and makes this the classic game. Now you can turn your Amstrad into a Federation Star Ship complete with scanners and phasers. Your mission is to clear the quadrant of the evil Klingons, without using up all your energy or being vaporised. This version incorporates a zooming star field and ‘real time' action during encounters with the enemy or when docking with star bases. There follows an extract from the 32.544 page mega-manual entitled: ‘How to be Captain of a Star Ship in 4000 easy lessons': - Keep calm. Remember the most you can lose is: your own life, 20 billion Galactic Dollars worth of hardware and the lives of everyone in the known universe.
- Watch where you are going! Use the ship's eyes to reveal the nature of the universe. Pressing ‘L' for Long Range Scan (LRS) will display the position of your ship and the whereabouts of the enemy. Klingons are represented on the LRS by a circle with an arrow. This is the ancient symbol of Mars, the war bringer.
Star bases are represented by a circle above a cross. This is the ancient symbol for Venus, the bringer of love.
Those sectors which are occupied by both enemy and star bases have a square symbol in them. The square is an ancient symbol for a square. - See what you can do? Pressing ‘S' will activate the short range scanners. This indicates the total number of enemy and star bases in the present sector.
- Keep an eye on your energy. Docking with a star base will give you more. To dock press *D' on your control panel. If there is a star base in that sector the docking sequence then requires you to steer your ship using left and right controls until the star base rests in the centre of your screen. Once docked you will receive 20 extra units to the overall ship's energy bank and a special 20 unit boost to your phasers and shields. Maximum capacity is 95 units. Failure to dock could result in the loss of the base. So be careful out there!
- Zap em' , Cap'n! A Star Fleet Captain has to do what he has to do, and that means eliminating the evil menacing Klingons.
If there arc Klingons around, hitting the 'B' key sounds Battle Stations and you can start zapping. First get your enemy in the centre of the screen using the cursor pad or joystick. When you arc ready, stab the copy key or fire button, sending phaser bolls out to destroy the target.
If you are not successful quickly you will lose the element of surprise and they will start to shoot back, thus draining your shield power. Do not give in, keep zapping until the last one is cleared from the sector. Then move on to win more battles. - Warp carefully. Movement to any sector is achieved by pressing ‘W' followed by a number between I and 5. This is equal to the warp factor or distance you wish to travel.
Next the warp direction is required. This is a number between 1 and 8. Each number corresponds to a point on a compass, starting with one at the top and counting clockwise. Note: clocks have been retained in stardate 2806 to help Captains steer their Star Ships. - The .semi-final frontier. On commencement of mission you can select the level. The easy level has only 10 enemies to seek and destroy. The average level has 20 and the hard level has 30.
As each level is completed, news of your success reaches Central Klingon Control and a replacement force, increased by 10 each time , is sent out to do further battle. The ultimate challenge consists of 200 adversaries to wipe out. Are you ready Captain? Then let programming commence ...
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