TAU CETI

The story begins in 2047 with the invention
of the Interstellar drive. Using hydrogen
scoops mankind could collect fuel from the
thin spread of hydrogen between the stars.
This made it possible for the exploration and
colonisation of nearby systems.

In 2050 the first wave of colonists left
Earth for four nearby G type stars, Alpha
Centauri, Tau Ceti, Van Maanen's Star and
Beta Hydri. Seven months later the first wave
of colonists arrived at Tau Ceti and began to
build a civilization on the third planet, an
inhospitable desert world with very little life.
For over 90 years the colony grew and
prospered. The Cetans built over 30 cities
across the planet and a strong trade based on
mining, robot technology and hydroponics.

Then, in 2150, disaster struck this and
one other of mankinds four growing
colonies. A vicious plague, Encke's
syndrome, swept across the planet. Once
contracted the disease was invariably fatal
and as it swept from city to city the few
remaining colonists finally admitted defeat
and fled, leaving the planet to the robot
maintenance systems.

Two years passed and on Earth a cure for
the disease was found, and links between the
two remaining colonies, Alpha Centauri and
Beta Hydri, were resumed. About this time
all radio contact was lost with the automatic
systems remaining on Tau Ceti III as a
massive meteor smashed into the planet.

As the remaining starbases recovered
from the loss it was decided to recolonise Tau
Ceti and Van Maanen's Star. In 2164 the first
expedition left for Tau Ceti. A single
ramscoop entered the system and safely
landed on the planets surface. Minutes later,
a mayday message was received, followed by
total silence. Experts decided that the robots,
so skillfully designed by the first colonists,
had run amok after the meteor impact. After
seven years, and the successful
recolonisation of Van Maanen's Star, a
second expedition was organised. The only
way to stop the defence systems without
destroying the remaining buildings was to
send in an armoured ground-skimmer to shut
down the massive Fusion reactor in the
planet's capital city, Centralis. A single
skilled pilot might be able to succeed where
fifty would surely fail, and like a fool, you
volunteered!!!

CONTROLLING THE SKIMMER

The Gal-Corp armed skimmer is a
powerful and dangerous craft and
challenging for even the most experienced
pilots. The skimmer is equipped with....

A single mounted ruby laser

Defensive shields

Eight (8) heat seeking missiles + target-
ing system

Eight Anti missile missiles (AMM's)

Eight starlight flares

Infra-red night sights

A Hoffman 360 degree scanner and 4-
way selectable viewscreen to avoid
blind spots

Planetary compass and computer ADF
(automatic direction finding) beacons

A JCN command computer (guaranteed
fully debugged for normal use)

On loading the program you will be
presented with a view of the skimmer's
instrument panel. The screen is divided into
three areas. The large window on the left is
your viewscreen, below that is a long blue
area. This is your contact with the skimmer's
powerful built-in computer. Finally on the
right of the screen are five information
windows. At the top is a compass and real-
time clock along with a message showing the
view selected, the city you are in and the
ship's flight state. Below that is the scanner,
and below that three more smaller windows.
The first gives the pilot's name and the
scanners complement of missiles/AMM's
and flares. The second shows speed, shield
energy, fuel remaining, laser temperature
and height and the third displays 2 ADF's: -
the upper one locked onto the city and the
lower onto your LANDER (if in the same city).

The skimmer operates in two modes,
flight mode and ground mode. In flight mode
control of the program is via single keys or a
joystick. In ground mode you are in direct
communication with the crafts computer via
the computer window. On loading, the
program will go into a demo sequence. To
stop the demo press BREAK.

The commands available are given
below along with a short description.

HELP
Lists commands as below.

LAUNCH
Normally ground mode is only active
when docked. Launch will send the
skimmer out onto the planets surface and
activate flight mode.

MAP
The computer will display a map of the
planet showing information about the cities.
Use Left, Right, Up, Down and Fire keys to
move the cursor over the map and fire to
select a function.

RODS
This will allow you to assemble cooling
rods found throughout your mission.

REACTOR
When docked with the Main Central
Reactor on Centralis will give you access to
the reactor room.

LOOK
Shows a view inside the building. Also
any objects of use there.

WAIT
Waits 5 Earth minutes (about 1/12 of a
Cetan "spin")

STATUS
Gives a damage and progress report
(also available in flight)

EQUIP
Allows access to building repair,
refuelling and rearming facilities (if any).

NAME
Used at the start of the game to give the
computer a pilot's name.

PAD
An on-screen note pad. Allows you to
make notes of progress etc.

NEW PAD
Selects a fresh page in the note pad

SAVE
Saves game to tape

LOAD
Loads a game from tape

KEYS
Allows you to totally redefine the single
key commands in flight mode

QUIT
Abandons a game

SCORE
Gives a rating of your progress so far

PAUSE
Freezes the game (fire restarts)

SIGHTS ON
SIGHTS OFF

To start the game type LAUNCH (and
press ENTER).

Your skimmer will leave the safety of the
lander and venture onto the surface of the
planet.

Exploration of the planet is carried out in
FLIGHT MODE. When first loaded the
following keys are used (but you may
redefine any or all of these for your own
preference/Kempston or cursor joysticks
etc.).

Left..... O
Right..... P
Increase thrust S
Decrease thrust X
Fire laser N
Fire missiles M
Fire flare F
Fire AMM A
Status report R
Infra red on/off I
Increase height H
Decrease height G
Jump (if near jump pad) J
Land L
Pause BREAK (Fire restarts)


A MESSAGE FROM GAL-CORP CENTRAL
TAU-CETI III GENERAL INFORMATION

The planets day.
----------------

Tau Ceti III has a very short day,
approximately equal to one Earth hour.
The cetans call this period a 'SPIN' and
group 16 spins to a "DAY". As the planet
has no moon you will have to use the
Infra-red equipment to see anything after
sunset.

Docking on the planet.
----------------------

Many of the buildings on the planet's
surface are equipped with DFP's latest
model energy screened airlock,
recognisable by the characteristic
flickering pattern, and your craft will
allow you to dock with these buildings if
you wait for the airlock to open to full
aperture and fly in SLOWLY!
Once inside a building the computer will
return you to ground mode giving you full
access to any facilities available.

Navigation on Ceti III
----------------------

The planet has the now standard
system of JUMP PADS to allow easy
transport from one city to the next.
Unfortunately the pads are of the old non-
programmable 'Super Traveller' type and
each pad is mapped to a single destination.
Luckily your ships computer has a
complete map of the jump network, to
jump from one city to the next simply find
the correct jump-pad (they are found at
the NORTH, SOUTH, EAST and WEST ends
of the city) and press J.
Gal-Corp recommends caution on exit
from a jump as reports indicate that small
'sand hoppers', a native life-form, tend to
cluster around the feeder pipes of jump
pads and lives have been lost in the past
due to collisions.

Defence estimates.
------------------

It is known that many of the cities will be
defended by late-model robot hunters
marks I, II and III, sophisticated and well
armed hunter-killers and reports indicate
that land-based guardian crawlers and
heavily armoured fortresses may be found
in larger cities. Radar scans also detect the
presence of proximity mines. An identi-
fication chart for known robot defences is
given at the end of this report...

[The original document have diagrams at this
point. They're a bit difficult to re-create
in ASCII, so the following are _rough_
outline versions...]

/^\
_/ \_ _-=-_
/ \ / \
/ \ / \
MAIN CENTRAL REACTOR REACTOR SUBSTATION

|
_--"--_ _--^--_
\ / \ /
\ / \ /
SUPPLY CENTRE (CIVILIAN) SUPPLY CENTRE (MILITARY)

____^____
(____ ____) _==_
___| |___ \ /
(____ ____) \/
___| |___ ||
(____ ____) ||
| | ||
FORTRESS CONTROL TOWER


_---_
/ \
( )
\ /
DOME SPHERE


____ __
___/ \___ __---/ \---__
(____________) ---____---
HUNTER MK I HUNTER MK II

||
||
_____ ||
____/ \____ ________ ||
/_______________\ / \ ||
HUNTER MK III JUMP PAD COMPLEX


FINALLY A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM
OUR CHAIRWOMAN....

Please try to avoid wanton destruction of
unarmed buildings. Gal-Corp central do
want to COLONISE this world after you've
finished with it and each undamaged
dwelling will save millions on next
years budget!!

GOOD LUCK

.....................
Message ends.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re-edited Alessandro Grussu's work with correct instructions by Frode Tenneb�, 20061202.