| XENON
From the moment that Captain Xod's face appeared out of the static on the communicator, Darrian knew he was in trouble. As the only other Federation fighter in the sector Darrian had to go to the captain's aid. It would have to happen to Darrian, everything seems to happen to Darrian. Maybe it came from him being the youngest ever man to have graduated from P.E.d'E., the Panterran Ecole d'Espace, he had used up all of his good luck there and now the gods were out to extract their revenge. Of course it did not help that he had been born when he was. The universe was in chaos, war had returned and now no travel was safe. For five hundred years there had not been a single major conflict, and space had been completely safe, apart from the odd rogue pirate and the risk of collision with space debris. Mind you, with all travel over any distance occurring in the unreal world of hyperspace the chance of meeting another ship was slight in the extreme, even on the busiest routes between the suns of the galactic cluster, and as for the chance of hitting space debris, as there is no debris in hyperspace, at lease not yet, this was only a problem when coming to a system to dock, and it was the space port's duty to keep the lanes clear. At least there were some advantages to living now, he mused. He could count his blessings that he had not lived through the Arachnid War itself, now that had been totally unreal. They had been shown holo's of the war during their training in the P.E.d'E., and it had given him nightmares after each and every time that he had seen them, he still woke up screaming sometimes when something reminded him, and now he knew exactly why he was frightened of spiders. The war had been such a close run thing as well, if it had not been for the skill and bravery of the allied pilots, and the superb judgement of their Admiral, the great Ziggy S, the universe would now only be peopled with purple furry things with eight legs. It was no wonder then that Ziggy had received the highest accolades the Governments of the eight allied empires could bestow. Having recovered from the devastation caused by the traumatic Arachnid War, which had been fought over half the galaxy and lasted well over fifty years, humanity had its spirit severely dented and its passion for war completely removed. Through the fighting it had learned to live with itself and with the other races that had stood side by side with it in the terrible battles against the spiders. No-one wanted to see death and destruction return, they had seen too many pictures of colonies completely ruined by the Arachnids' suicide soldiers, heard too many stories of cruisers destroyed in the bleak cold of space, the frozen bodies of their dead crews slowly orbiting their blackened hulis. Now was the time for peace, reconciliation and rebirth. It was hard to say quite how the other allies had reacted to the war, four of them had made their first contact with humanity during the war, and the other three had always been something of a mystery to the people of Earth, how do you know what is really going through the mind of a mile long gas bag, or even the mind of a hive insect? Still, the eight allies, the remnants of the Arachnids and their now freed slave races, all appeared bowed by the experience. Life would never be the same again. In the peace following the Arachnid War, trade and artistry both flourished reaching peaks never dreamed of before, as the victorious allies rebuilt their shattered empires and once again pushed out into the stars. The cross cultural influences that came from the close contact with the allies during the war brought about new forms of art never seen before by any of the races. The archaeologists set about to reconstruct the ancient pre-space civilisations and artists harked back to the glory days of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Several of the greatest composers used themes from the ancient days as the starting point of their new works. Tallemarcs 13 Variations on a theme by Ian Anderson was hailed by critics across the thousand worlds as one of the greatest pieces written for a thousand years. The Pax Terra kept the space ways clear of pirates, much more of a threat in those days before Professor Hamylin had done her pioneering work into the theory of charmed life quark interactions, that had led eventually to the creation of the Quark/quark power unit, which meant that it was finally possible to put into practice the latest developments in simultaneity theory, which meant that the Markov boundary to Hyperspacatial pseudo-acceleration was finally broken, allowing the allies and their trading ships to finally break free of the Andromeda Galactic Cluster and reach out into the vast depths of space that lie beyond and reach into the furthest corners of the universe. Not that there were any corners, for as had been predicted long before mankind had even achieved the stars, the universe was closed and eventually one of the new craft succeeded in circumnavigating it, and in being tracked all the way round, with full coverage on the Supra-Spatial Holo Networks of their visits to twenty of the furthest colonies, proving for all time that they had not faked their voyage. The knowledge that the universe was indeed closed, and would finally collapse in on itself seemed to act as a spur to its inhabitants to achieve as much as possible before then, even though no one living could even imagine the number of lifetimes that would pass before the collapse came. As more and more of the universe became settled it was thought that no more intelligent species would be found, for surely if they existed they would have made themselves known long ago. Even a religion started claiming that their were seventeen sentient species as seventeen was the most perfect number and the number of the children of Garstragh the creator. The discovery of the Xenites a mere century after the religion's founding caused it to disappear even more rapidly than it had risen, leaving Thrice reformed Wodenism as the only religion surviving with any of its tenants not yet proven to be false. The Xenites appeared overnight. One day no one had even heard of them, the next their ships and bases had appeared on fifteen different planets. Suddenly war had returned, and merchantmen once again had to travel armed, but when civilisation grows so large, it takes many years for the great trading fleets to re-equip. For nearly a decade merchantmen took their life in their hands never knowing if they would be attacked, or if there would be a friendly warcraft available to rescue them. Even now a decade after Xenites first appeared there could be calls like this one, Darrian cursed yet again, before he finally rolled out of bed and moved over to the control panel. He switched on the speech channel, saluted and then ran his fingers through his tousled hair, not that the captain could see him yet, and Darrian was not going to switch on the vision channels unless he absolutely had to, there was no need for the captain to see him undressed. "Urgent Mayday, Repeat Urgent Mayday, all units in the sector WQD145FF report at once. The fleet is under attack. We need support. There is heavy Xenite activity. Proceed to a rendezvous at Tarsus Nebula, make all possible speed. We are in extreme danger" "Message Repeats..." Darrian relaxed, he had not realized just how embarrassed he had been at the prospect. Still it had only been a recording. He pulled on a pair of trousers and moved over to the controls, he had to get this craft into order and go and help the captain, he was going to be the first craft to arrive, there could not possibly be anyone closer than he was. This meant that he was going to be the one that had to clear the way. A minor problem if it was not for the fact that he had to cut right through Xenite occupied territory. Fortunately there was some hope, at least he could plot a route that would take him past three refuelling stops on the way, he would be able to refuel and replenish his shields at least, if only he had the skill to get through. "There is np peace for the wicked" he thought. "Why did this happen to me? By all the warriors in Valhalla, I must get through to the captain, either that or join in the feast. Let's just hope that the Gods like me today." GAMEPLAY You have to negotiate four sectors, each divided into four zones. You have a choice of two craft, which you can change between at will. You have a ground craft, capable of eight way movement, and a faster jet fighter. You need to select the appropriate craft to negotiate the obstacles facing you and be prepared to change between them rapidly. Certain of your opponents are ground based and some are at altitude, you need to be in the correct craft to shoot the alien that you are facing. Certain weapons can only be collected and used by the fighter craft. You can only use the ground craft on the ground, you cannot land on the top of buildings, you need to fly over these in the fighter. Shooting the aliens and their weapon emplacements reveals power cells. Collect these by moving over them, to give your craft extra power. There are eleven types of power pill:- A ARMOUR Makes your ship invincible for 15 seconds F FUEL There are two types of fuel cell those with one orange band restore five units of fuel, those with three restore all your lost fuel H HOMING MISSILE Shoots homing missiles for 15 seconds L LASER Arms your fighter with lasers G GUN Cancels the lasers and reverts to normal bullets P POWER Increases the distance/our shots travel R RATE Speeds up your ground craft S SIDE Arms fighter with side lasers W WINGS Gives you wing tip weapons Z ZAP Again there are two types of zap pills. Those with a single orange band zap the aliens and screen, those with a triple band zap everything, aliens and emplacements. Balls Collect up to three rotating balls that follow you and mimic your fire pattern Each time you are hit by the aliens' weapons you lose at least a unit of fuel which is used to recharge your shields. If you collide with any of the aliens you will suffer substantially more damage and consequently use more fuel. If your fuel runs out you lose a life and have to restart from the beginning of the zone. Some aliens will require more than one hit to kill them, these flash every time you successfully hit them. Some of the aliens are invulnerable. Half way through each section you will be faced with a single large opponent. This is a 'Sentinel' so called because they are set to guard the path and they are fully sentient, that is smart. You need to find out where they are vulnerable and concentrate your fire on the appropriate points. Colliding with a 'Sentinel' is fatal. At the end of each section you will have another larger and more dangerous 'Sentinel' opponent. These are only vulnerable to certain attacks, and completely invulnerable to all others. If you succeed in defeating this you will be refuelled and re-equipped ready for the next section. You lose any weapons you had collected on the previous section. THE SECTIONS In the first section the domes and aliens are either ground or air based, as are their bullets. When you shoot the lift domes, they are then replaced by either another dome, nothing or a power pill. You need to pick up the power pills to add extra weapons and abilities to your ship, be careful though, as picking up some pills switches off the bonuses you have already collected. You need to use the fighter to fly over the obstacles and the ground craft for close combat with the aliens. The second section uses only the fighter craft. You must avoid the sides and the various weapon emplacements mounted in the side walls. Once again there will be power pills to pick up. The third section is similar to the first, in that you have the use of both of your ships. You have to make the correct decisions as to which ship to use. Using the wrong craft can prove fatal. Finally you must negotiate section four. You are nearing your goal. Time is of the essence. Fly your fighter at speed through this section to achieve your goal. THE ALIENS In order to complete your mission successfully it will probably be necessary for you to read the following notes on the various enemies that you will be facing. Ladybirds These are standard Xenite craft. They are used in several defence operations, as they are cheap and effective. They are small ground based craft. They are equipped with a low power unit and basic enemy identification, detection, and tracking equipment. They are armed with a forward firing missile. Pods These are basic self-destruction type guards. They are equipped with an array of sensors enabling them to track and intercept intruders. They are not armed but explode on impact. Eyes An upgrade to the design of the pods. These have a superior powei plant and computer, giving them greater speed and the ability to track intruders at a greater distance. They will attempt to follow anc collide with your ship. Spinners Fly in either arrowhead or a single diagonal line across the screen. They keep to their place in formation as they are not equipped with sensors. They're, however, equipped with very powerful engines allowing them to attain high speeds. Launchers Sitting on the side walls of the passageways. These are heavily armoured doors. They periodically open to launch a single rotator, h has been noted that the rotators launched from these show greate intelligence in their movements than the normal rotators that appear in packs. Rotators These appear either as single craft launched from the launchers described above or in patterns of four or sixteen that attempt to block the passageway. No rotator has been known to be armed with any weapons, they are self-destruction craft relying on collisions fo their effect. Sidewinders These are among the largest of the flying Xenite ships. Equipped with lasers they have a nasty habit of lurking at the side of the passageways and coming out into the middle when they detect intruders. Sideshooters Another large flying ship. These are equipped with two lasers. The have slightly less armour than the sidewinders, and fly in patterns rather than having sensors. Middleshooters Earlier version of the sideshooter, these only mount a single laser, and again move in a variety of patterns to cover the whole of the passageway. Side Guns There are quite a number of different types of gun emplacements that sit on the side walls of the passageways. They vary in the amount of detection circuitry and movement that they are equipped with. Some rely on shooting a constant stream of missiles across the passageway, so that there is no way that an intruder can pass without taking a large amount of damage, others can track intruders and aim their guns or even follow intruders along the passageway itself. You will have to learn the differences between these types yourself as it has not been fully documented. Spinners An upgrade on the simple ground based pod, spinners fly in patterns. Later models are equipped with missiles. They have some extremely nasty habits in their flight patterns. Watch out for these. Cells These most often appear in groups of four. They have basic sensors and will move along the passageways until they detect an intruder, when they will switch into a pattern mode firing their missiles along the length of the passage. Kites These move down the passage at very high rates, they are not armed with missiles. Pumps More of a hindrance than anything else. These expand and contract regularly, blocking the entire passage at their greatest extent. They are heavily armoured and therefore require an extremely large number of hits to destroy them, it is simpler to avoid them instead. Blinkers Similar to the side guns that you will already have encountered. These fire salvos of three missiles at a time. They also have more armour than most of the other side weapons and will require several hits before they are neutralised. Hearts These move in a variety of patterns. They come in a range of models with different power packs and ornaments. Circle Moulds Fast moving craft armed with missiles. Brain These are highly intelligent, heavily armoured powerful craft, among the most powerful in the Xenite armoury. They are armed with smart missiles. Stalks These are invulnerable. They will either launch a large number of missiles, or if shot enough times they release the bubble that they hold at the top of the stalk. Bubbles These come in two varieties. Some are equipped with an intelligent sensor and will try their best to collide with any intruder. Others are simply fast moving and launched in large groups to provide blanket cover. Lip Guns Highly armoured, these are only used in defending important Xenite Colonies. They are armed with both lasers and normal guns. Besides these there are the Sentinels that appear at the end of every section. These are unique creatures or at least there have never been previous reports of the Xenites using the design of any Sentinel more than once, and a large number of these have been reported from other sectors. You will have to find out for yourself the particular method of destroying the Sentinels that you are faced with. They are definitely the most feared of all the Xenite weapons met so far. STATUS PANEL Down the right hand side of the screen there is a status panel. This displays all the information you need to know about the state ofthe game and of your craft. At the top of the display there are four numbers. The top number is your score. Underneath this there are two single digit numbers. To the left is the number of lives you have left, to the right the sector number. Underneath these is your altitude. Beneath this there is your long range communicator screen. Most of the time this is blanked off, but at the start of each section Captain Xod will appear and tell you which section you are starting. Underneath this there is a bar display showing your fuel level. Underneath this there are two bargraphs. The left hand one is your rate or sped, and the right hand one your power - the distance your shots travel. At the foot of the display there is a weapon panel. This has ten letters on it. Weapons active are highlighted in red. The weapons are:- W Wing L Laser S Side Shot H Homing Missile A Armour B Ball X Extra ball making two X Extra ball making three O Time left on homing missile O Time left on armour LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Atari ST The disk auto-boots. Simply turn the computer off. Make sure the disk-drive is switched on. Insert the disk into the drive. Switch the computer back on and the program will load and run automatically. Commodore Amiga Insert Kikstart disk if required. At request Workbench disk, insert program disk. Program will load and run automatically. CONTROLS When the program had finished loading your will see the main control panel. Your protective shield is down, and the mission screen is switched off, so the main display is covered in static. Press F1 to select one player option F2 to select two player option Fire to start play In two player mode the players alternate at the controls. If no button is pressed within a short space of time, the game will enter demo mode. You control the ship's movement with the joystick. To change craft press space or rapidly wiggle the joystick. If you do not move the joystick for a short while the game will pause. To force the game to pause press F3. Press fire to restart play. To quit press F10. Amiga Player One uses a joystick in Port 2, Player Two uses a joystick in Port 1. Atari ST Both players use the same joystick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retyped in 2013 by hERMOL Visit my website at http://CPCRULEZ.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------e players alternate at the controls. If no button is pressed within a short space of time, the game will enter demo mode. You control the ship's movement with the joystick. To change craft press space or rapidly wiggle the joystick. If you do not move the joystick for a short while the game will pause. To force the game to pause press F3. Press fire to restart play. To quit press F10. Amiga Player One uses a joystick in Port 2, Player Two uses a joystick in Port 1. Atari ST Both players use the same joystick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retyped in 2013 by hERMOL Visit my website at http://CPCRULEZ.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |