WANDERER ======== 3D GLASSES ENCLOSED EXCEPT CBM64 Featuring Three Dimensional Stereo Action. Money isn't everything, or so they say - unless, of course, you happen to be the WANDERER! The WANDERER is a space rebel, an intergalactic soldier of fortune who fights other people's battles for cash. He can be hired - for the right price. But don't expect any favours! YOU are the WANDERER! You cruise the spaceways battling against everything the evil VADD can throw at you in a desperate attempt to save the Galaxy and liberate the planets under his domination. Have you the wit and resources to succeed? It's all up to you. WANDERER! INTRODUCTION Money isn’t everything, or so they say - unless, of course, you happen to be the WANDERER! The WANDERER is a space rebel, and intergalactic soldier of fortune who fights other peoples’ battles for cash. He can be hired - for the right price. But don’t expect any favours! THE PLOT VADD, an intelligent android, uses his army of WAR DRONES to rule over a vicious union of ten planets. The planets are offering a reward for the destruction of their evil overlord, and the WANDERER intends to claim it. VADD lives at the centre of the galaxy, heavily protected by WAR DRONES. The WANDERER needs a powerful DISRUPTER that will confuse the WAR DRONES and allow him to challenge VADD. The WANDERER has a choice. Either he can try to build his own MEGA-DISRUPTER or he can prove himself to the planets so that they supply him with their only remaining one. You are the WANDERER! LOADING INSTRUCTIONS: 8 Bit Machines: Amstrad Cassette - Press CONTROL and ENTER keys Amstrad Disc - Run "ELITE" Spectrum 48K Cassette - LOAD " Spectrum 128K Cassette - Use Loader Spectrum Disc - Use Loader Commodore 64 Cassette - Press SHIFT and RUN/STOP Commodore 64 Disc - LOAD "*",8,1 PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS: 8-Bit Machines: Joystick or redefinable keyboard PRE-DEFINED KEYS 8-Bit Machines: Amstrad - 1 = Mono/3D Escape = Quit Spectrum - 1 = Mono Viewing 2 = 3D 3 = 3D Caps Shift & Space = Quit (128K) Caps Shift & Break = Quit (48K) Commodore 64 - Q/A = Accelerate/Decelerate Space = Fast Turn Run/Stop + Restore = Quit Run/Stop = Pause Quit on Map = Load/Save CONTROLS: UP | | LEFT --*-- RIGHT JOYSTICK CONTROLS - SPACE SEQUENCES | | DOWN CANNON UPWARDS | | ROATATE TURRET --*-- ROTATE TURRET JOYSTICK CONTROLS - PLANET SEQUENCES TO THE LEFT | TO THE RIGHT | CANNON DOWN Amstrad and Spectrum - user-defined key controls C64 - controls described on post-loading screen PRE-DEFINED KEYS Spectrum 1 = Mono viewing 2 & 3 = 3D viewing Amstrad 1 = Mono or 3D viewing You begin the game on a Galactic map which shows the ten planets, three Black Holes and central VADD sector which represent the WANDERER’S sphere of operations. On your first turn you can select any sector or planet to travel to: thereafter your movements are restricted by your ability score - the higher your score, the more sectors you can cover in one go. After loading, you will be offered a choice of joystick or user-defined controls. Saving the Game You can save your game by pressing the "quit" option when on the Galactic Map Screen. The quit options are as follows: SPECTRUM 128K Cap Shift and Space SPECTRUM 48K Cap Shift and Break COMMODORE 64 Run/Stop and Restore AMSTRAD Escape Loading a Previously Saved Game You can load a previously saved game by pressing the quit option on the FIRST Galactic Map Screen. On-screen prompts will tell you what to do next. HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR AIMS The ten planets want to destroy VADD and his army of WAR DRONES who control them: to achieve this aim they have hired you, the WANDERER. Your task is to assemble the components of a MEGA-DISRUPTOR, without which you cannot hope to enter the dreaded VADD sector. There are two ways you can do this: 1. 8000 MEGS By moving DISRUPTER UNITS from planet to planet, you can earn MEGS (the universal Galactic currency). When you have 8000 MEGS, you will have proved yourself to the planets and they will give you a MEGA-DISRUPTER. 2. Collecting Variable Units The ten planets have five DISRUPTER units each, and you, initially, have two. The three black Holes each contain one VARIABLE DISRUPTER UNIT. If you can retrieve these you, too, will have 5 UNITS. If, at this point, you hold a MEGA-DISRUPTER (made up of the 4 most valuable UNITS plus one VARIABLE DISRUPTER UNIT), you may enter the VADD sector. HOW TO PLAY The Galactic Map The GALAXY is divided into 49 sectors arranged in a 7x7 grid. The central sector contains VADD and you cannot enter it until you have your MEGA-DISRUPTER. There are ten PLANETS and three BLACK HOLES at fixed positions on the grid: the remaining 36 SECTORS are SPACE SECTORS. On first entering the game, you can choose any of the SPACE or PLANET sectors as your starting point by moving the cursor to that point and pressing FIRE - note that you will not be able to select areas such as Black Holes and the VADD sector until you have the necessary Ability score or a MEGA-DISRUPTER. When you have selected a sector your ship will travel through space on auto-pilot to your destination. Select the sector you wish to visit using the joystick and FIRE, but note that you can only select legitimate sectors. For a sector to be legitimate, it must fulfill the following criteria: 1. It must within range - your range in sectors depends on your Ability score. 2. If a sector contains a Black Hole, you must have more than a certain ability rating to enter it (see below). 3. If you wish to enter the VADD sector, you must have either 8000 MEGS or a MEGA-DISRUPTER. Space Sectors These may contain any of a variety of enemies who will attack you, and whom you must pursue and destroy before returning to the Galactic Map to select a new sector. If all your shields are destroyed but you still have some ENERGY left, you will be sent to LIMBO. If you run out of energy the game is over. If you are lucky, the loss of a shield will return you to the Galactic Map. Clearing the sector of enemies with a minimum number of shots will result in your ABILITY rating and SHIELDS being increased. You will also absorb all your enemy’s remaining energy. The more enemies you can destroy, the more powerful you will become! Black Hole Sectors You will not be allowed to select a Black Hole Sector unless you have the required ability rating. Black Hole of the North 4 Black Hole of the East 7 Black Hole of the West 10 To complete a Black Hole Sector, you must guide your ship down a tunnel formed by hexagons floating in space. If you hit the edge of a hexagon, you lose a shield. If you lose all your shields, or completely miss 3 hexagons, you are put into LIMBO. Planet Sectors Stage I - Landing Planets are defended by a variety of WAR DRONES, all of which you must destroy (shooting from your rotating gun turret) before control is passed to the EXCHANGE screen. Stage II - Exchange Now is the time to test your skill in strategy to the full. You have 3 options: to buy shields from the planet, to buy energy, or to exchange any number of your DISRUPTER UNITS with the same number of the planet’s UNITS. EXCHANGING DISRUPTER UNITS are valued in MEGS. If you give a planet one of your DISRUPTER UNITS in exchange for one of its UNITS of a lower value, it will pay you the difference in MEGS. Because certain combinations of UNITS have a very high value, you can also earn MEGS by giving a planet one or more UNITS that make a valuable combination. The DISRUPTIVE VALUE of a planet is the sum total of the value of its DISRUPTER UNITS. The way to calculate their value is shown below. NB. A planet will not accept an EXCHANGE that would result in its DISRUPTIVE VALUE decreasing. DISRUPTER UNITS: There are 13 different DISRUPTER UNITS, 4 of each type - 52 in all. Each type of UNIT has a different value. There are also 3 VARIABLE DISRUPTER UNITS. TYPE ▣ + ⋃ ◼ ◢ ◣ ◿ ◺ ◯ . ⊃ ⊂ ◻ VALUE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 200 ♦ - VARIABLE DISRUPTOR UNITS have a value of 2000 MEGS NAME VALUE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE QUAD-MAR 3000 4 UNITS THE SAME PLUS A UARIABLE UNIT ▣▣▣▣♦ QUAD 1000 4 UNITS THE SAME ◿◿◿◿ TRI-MAR 500 3 UNITS THE SAME PLUS 2 UNITS THE SAME ◿◿◿.. SEQUENCE 350 5 UNITS IN SEQUENCE ie. ASCENDING VALUE +⋃◼◢◣ TRIAD 300 3 UNITS THE SAME ⊃⊃⊃ BI—MAR 100 2 PAIRS OF UNITS ⋃⋃◺◺ BIO 50 2 UNITS THE SAME ⊂⊂ Each planet has 5 DISRUPTER UNITS throughout the game. When the game starts, you have only 2, but you can get more by collecting VARIABLE DISRUPTER UNITS. MEGA-DISRUPTER: This will be exchanged for a QUADMAR (ie. a QUAD + 1 VARIABLE DISRUPTER UNIT). MAKING THE EXCHANGE The joystick is used to highlight menu options. Pressing FIRE selects the highlighted option. 1. BUY SHIELD - It costs 100 MEGS to buy a shield and you can have up to 10 shields. Trying to buy more than 10 shields results in an error tone, as does trying to buy a shield with less than 100 MEGS. 2. BUY ENERGY - Energy costs 50 MEGS per unit and you can have up to ?? units. Trying to to buy more than 10 shields results in an error tone, as does trying to buy energy with less than 50 MEGS. 3. EXCHANGING UNITS - when you select this option, the Exchange Menu is replaced with a display showing the "Planet" and "Wanderer" units. Select the unit you wish to give to the planet using the joystick and pressing FIRE. If you select DONE, control reverts to the EXCHANGE Menu. Next, select the unit you wish to have from the planet, using the joystick and FIRE. If the exchange is accepted, the units are swapped and arranged in ascending order of value from left to right. If the exchange is rejected, an error tone is given. Limbo Section If you have lost all your shields, this is your last chance to get back into the game. If you complete the LIMBO section, control will revert to the Galactic Map, but your Ability will decrease by one. Failure to complete the section is IT. FINIS. KAPUT. DEAD. NB. If you have an ability rating of 0, you are not eligible for LIMBO. In LIMBO, your ship is shown flying through a series of squares. There are 10 WAR DRONES in LIMBO which you must destroy without being hit yourself. If you are hit, you are DEAD and the game is over. © Elite Systems Ltd. - 1988 All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorised copying, lending, broadcasting or resale without express written permission from Elite Systems Ltd. is strictly prohibited. Guarantee This software product has been carefully developed and manufactured to the highest quality standards. Please read carefully the instructions for loading which are included. If for any reason you have difficulty in running the program, and believe that the tape or disc is defective, please return it directly to the following address: Customer Services Dept., Elite Systems Ltd., Eastern Avenue, Lichfield. WS13 6RX. England. Our Quality Control Department will test the product and supply an immediate replacement at no extra cost. Please note that this does not affect your statutory rights.