STARFIRE
(Virgin Games)
by Martyn Charles Davis


Instructions

* You are Commander of the only remaining EARTH SPACE AGENCY ship in
the entire galaxy. The rest of your fleet has been wiped out by a
powerful alien force, leaving YOU to navigate the galaxy and destroy
the alien fighters SINGLE-HANDED.
The future of civilization depends on you. YOU MUST SUCCEED!

* Determine the degree of difficulty of your mission by selecting a
skill level from android (1) to impossible (10). Your Galactic War
Report will now detail the task ahead: the number of aliens you must
wipe out, how many starbases you may land on to recharge your energy
supplies, and the number of stardates (time) allowed.

* Now climb aboard and press key C to call up your computer. It will
list all the commands available to you:

* Navigate - key N
The galaxy consists of a grid of 10 x 10 squares or quadrants,
making 100 quadrants in all. The quadrant in the top left-hand
corner of your screen has co-ordinates 0,0 - the first representing
the number of quadrants down, the second being the number of
quadrants across the grid. By pressing 'N', your ship can move from
one quadrant to another. But remember, navigating uses up both time
and energy.

* Should "Red Alert" flash on your screen when in this mode, you have
entered a quadrant where there is an alien fighter.

* Battlestations - key B
Move into this mode only when in the same quadrant as an alien. Now
manoeuvre your laser torpedo sight over the alien ship by pressing
keys B, H, F and T. Then press 4 to release your torpedoes.
Beware, the alien can fire back, or worse, can self-destruct, taking
your ship with him! So as soon as you see the flashing light marked
SD on the bottom left of your display, stop flashing, you have only
TWO SECONDS to abort the attempt by pressing key A, or to destroy
the alien.

* Galactic War Report - key R
This gives an immediate update of your mission: how many aliens you
have yet to destroy, the number of starbases and stardates left.

* Computer Call - key C
Not only will your computer list all the commands available to you,
it will also provide you with an all-important energy allocation,
and damage report. Energy is allocated for three functions:
defensive shields, reactors and smart bombs. It is up to you to
decide how much energy you wish to award to each of these functions;
this will vary according to your plan of action.
The damage report gives you a detailed account of your ship's damage
and will show the percentage of your ship destruction factor.

* Long Range Scan - key L
This allows you to see if there are any aliens or starbases in the
quadrants adjacent to your own. Nine two-digit numbers will appear
on the screen, the middle quadrant always being your own. The first
of the two-digit numbers indicates the number of aliens in that
quadrant, the second shows the number of starbases.

* Smart Bombs - key S
These can only be used in the command mode, to destroy aliens in the
same quadrant as your own, and in each adjacent one. (WARNING:
Consumes a great deal of power, so use sparingly.)

Periodically it will be necessary to dock with a starbase to refuel,
re-arm and to repair any damage. Make sure that there are no aliens in
the quadrant first however, and note that your shield value must be
less than 2000 if you are to dock. Press key D to enter the docking
mode, and enter the required amount of retro-thrust from 0 to 100, to
avoid being drawn in too quickly by the force of gravity, and crashing
into the base. You must dock with a velocity of less than 10 m/s. It
at any time you think you are being sucked in too quickly, press A to
abort your attempt.
The galaxy is full of surprises designed to stretch your skills as
Commander to the limit. If you come across a time portal, use keys 6
(down) and 7 (up) to steer your ship. Move through an asteroid storm
by waiting until you see a clear path through the field, then press
any key to get across.


CONTROL SUMMARY:
A - ABORT
B - BATTLESTATIONS (THEN B,H,F,T TO MANOUEVRE & 4 TO FIRE)
C - COMPUTER CALL
D - DOCK
L - LONG RANGE SCAN
N - NAVIGATE
R - GALACTIC WAR REPORT
S - SMART BOMB


* Martyn Charles Davis - born 1965, Longfield, Kent - moved to
Loughborough 15 years ago. Studying Biology, Chemistry, Physics and
English Literature 'A' levels and planning to study medicine at
university, but is now working on a series of adventure programs.
* Started serious computing in 1981 with a ZX81.
* Games likes include Backgammon and Chess.
* Hobbies, apart from computing, are book collecting and playing the
guitar. Musical interests vary from classical music to heavy rock.
* Until recently, very interested in wargaming. During 1982 had an
article published in "Military Modelling Magazine" on wargaming with
the ZX81.
* 'STARFIRE' was written in three solid weeks of programming. The
purpose was to create a complex, yet entertaining, game to last over
an hour.


(p) 1983 Virgin Games Ltd.
(c) 1983 Virgin Games Ltd.