K240 FULL MANUAL

==================
TYPED BY SHARD - N&B
Part 1
CONTENTS
--------
Playing the Game
Finding Your Way Around This Manual
Zone 001 - Tutorial
Zone 002 - Colony Management
Zone 003 - Spacecraft Construction
Zone 004 - Spying
Zone 005 - Fleets
Zone 006 - Button Selection Panels
Zone 007 - Terracorp and Sci-Tek
Zone 008 - Hints
Zone 009 - Background
Zone 010 - Building Reference Section
Zone 011 - Sci-Tek
Zone 012 - Spacecraft
Zone 013 - Hardpoint Weapons
Zone 014 - Missile Warfare
Zone 015 - The Enemy
EPILEPSY WARNING
----------------
Please read before using this video game or allowing your children to use
it.
Some people are susceptible to epileptic seizures or loss of consciousness
when exposed to certain flashing lights or light patterns in everyday life.
Such people may have a seizure while watching certain television images or
playing certain video games. This may happen even if the person has no
medical history of epilepsy or has never had any epileptic seizures.
If you or anyone in your family has ever had symptoms related to epilepsy
(seizures or loss of consciousness) when exposed to flashing lights,
consult your doctor prior to playing.
We advise that parents should monitor the use of video games by their
children. If you or your child experience any of the following symptoms:
dizziness, blurred vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of consciousness,
disorientation, any involuntary movement or convulsion, while playing a
video game, IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your doctor.
PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE DURING USE
------------------------------
Do not Stand too close to the screen. Sit a good distance away from the
television screen, as far away as the length of the cable allows.
Preferably play the game on a small television screen.
Avoid playing if you are tired or have not had much sleep.
Make sure that the room in which you are playing is well lit.
Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game.
CREDITS
-------
Programming: Graeme Ing
Graphics: Pete Daniels
Game Design: Graeme Ing and Pete Daniels
Music: Patrick Phelan
SFX: Patrick Phelan and Neil Biggin
Intro Programming: Michael Hart
Intro graphics: Paul Green and Syd Franklin
Produced by: Mark Glossop
Manual Copy: Kai MacMahon and Graeme Ing
Manual Design: Kai MacMahon,
Edited by: Steve Mckevitt
Manual Artwork: Dave Lewis and Alan Batson
Voice of the Computer: Tracey Park
Additional Help: Graham Stone, Kevin Dudley and Damian Hibbard
Quality assurance: Simon Short, Robert Millington, Tony Howe
PLAYING THE GAME
----------------
From Floppy disk:
1) Turn on your Amiga,
2) Insert disk 1 in your internal disk drive, (DF0:)
3) The game will automatically boot and run
From Hard Disk:
1) Turn on your Amiga,
2) Wait for the Amiga to boot into Workbench
3) Locate the directory you have previously installed K240 into, (see
"Installing onto Hard Disk" below) and double click on the K240 game icon,
4) The game will run.
It is recommended that you install K240 onto a hard disk if you have one.
The game will be easier to play due to do data and screens being loaded
almost instantaneously.
On Machines with more than half a Meg of chip ram K240 uses sampled speech
to announce important events. This can cause excessive disk swopping on a
single drive system. If you do not have a second drive, we suggest you
disable the speech option from the Tetracorp screen. On the Floppy disk
version, all saved games are made to the internal disk drive (DF0:), IT IS
IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE A PRE-FORMATTED DISK FOR USE AS A SAVE-DISK BEFORE
YOU BEGIN TO PLAY THE GAME! The save disk must be formatted in standard
Amiga format. If you are unsure how to format a disk, follow the
instructions given in the manuals that came with the Amiga. Each saved
game requires approximately 180K of space.
Apart from the save-disk, which will always be in DF0, K240 will recognise
any of the game disks in any Floppy disk drive, internal or external.
On the Hard Disk version, all saved games are made to the Hard Disk, in the
same directory as the game has been installed.
Installing Onto Hard Disk
1) Turn on your Amiga.
2) Wait for the Amiga to boot into Workbench.
3) Insert K240 disk 3 into any Floppy disk drive. Wait for the disk icon
to appear on the screen.
4) Double click on the K240 disk icon.
5) Double click on the "Install K240" disk icon.
6) Follow on screen directions.
FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND THE MANUALS
-----------------------------------
This manual comes in three distinct sections.
a) Tutorial:
K240 is a complicated game. Once you are familiar with the basics it is
actually quite straightforward to play. The tutorial forms a painless
introduction to the basic elements of the game, and gives you an idea where
to start. We strongly advise that you follow it.
b) Main Reference section:
This explains in detail all of the game. It is divided into sections so
that you can easily find out about any subject. It is not necessary to
read this part of the manual before you commence play; you can refer to the
sections when you need them; but it is worthwhile skimming through it so
that you are familiar with what you can do in the game.
A hints section is included to assist you if you are unsure of how you
should go about developing your mining colony.
c) Technical section:
This contains technical details on the various weapons, spacecraft, alien
races etc, as well as some notes on Imperial history. The bulk of this
material is for background only, and is not necessary to play the game, but
an understanding of these technical details may help you to develop better
strategies.
ZONE 001 : TUTORIAL
-------------------
This section of the manual is designed as a full tutorial. Over the
following pages you will be taken step by step through the initial parts of
the game. The more complex aspects of the game will be easier to
understand when you have this basic knowledge.
For a painless introduction to the game, we strongly advise you to follow
this tutorial.
Because you will be playing a proper game during the tutorial (Alien level
1 in fact) events are bound to happen that are not documented here. The
most noticeable of these will be windows that pop up to report certain
events. For now if any message window appears that is not explained by the
tutorial, simply ignore it and click with the left mouse button on the Exit
button that will appear in a little box beside the message window. The
message will go away and you can continue with the tutorial.
THE MAIN ASTEROID VIEW SCREEN
-----------------------------
When you start the game select your language by picking the appropriate
flag. When you reach the Tetracorp screen click on "END" to begin Alien
Level one. You will now find yourself looking at your initial asteroid, on
the Asteroid View Screen. Before we go any further let`s take a look
around this screen.
In the centre is a 3-D representation of your asteroid showing rocky
terrain and the sole building in your colony (A Colony Preservation Unit in
green.)
In space above the asteroid is the transporter ship that you used to reach
Sector K240.
At bottom right is a building icon. This indicates which of the many
buildings is currently active for construction. You`ll see how it`s used
when we look at Colony Construction in a moment.
Below it is a blue button. This is explained in the section of the manual
about "Time Saving Techniques".
Below that is the status line. Messages will appear here from time to time
but usually it flashes between two important pieces or information:
a) your money in Imperial Credits
b) The date in the format: E2.yyy.dd
Where E2 marks the 2nd Millennium AD, yyy the year and dd the day. Each
year has 100 standard Imperial days. The game begins in E2.380.01, which
is the year 2380 AD.
USING THE MOUSE
---------------
Before we go any further, lets look at the 3 different mouse modes as it is
important that you are in the correct mode for an operation.
a) Hand:
This is the default mode used for most operations. Whilst in this mode you
can click on the asteroid to construct buildings and click on buildings to
obtain information.
b) Arrow:
This is the Ship Selection mode. In this mode you can ONLY click on any of
your spacecraft (or Orbital Space dock) to obtain information about them
and control them. You can perform no other function.
You enter this mode by clicking on the Ship Mode button (see later), or
pressing the "S" key. Do so again to return to the normal "hand" mode.
c) Bomb:
This is the demolish Mode. In this mode you can ONLY demolish your
buildings should you desire to do so. Simply click with the left mouse
button over any building to destroy it.
You enter this mode by clicking on the demolish Mode button (see later) or
pressing the "D" key. Do so again to return to the normal hand mode.
You carry out most operations by clicking with the Left mouse button, eg
selecting ships, selecting buildings, clicking on the asteroid, clicking on
buttons, etc.
Clicking the right mouse button anywhere on the screen brings up one of the
several Button Panels. A different button Panel appears for each different
screen. Some buttons also lead to other Button Panels.
Most buttons are explained in the appropriate section in the manual but
there is a separate card provided which identifies the purpose of every
button.
Try it now: Click with the right mouse button. The Asteroid Screen Button
Panel appears with 3 rows of three buttons.
Notice the button in the bottom right. This is the Exit button and
clicking on it takes you back to the game. Every button Panel or
information window has an Exit button and in each instance it will resemble
the return key on your computer.
Note also, that whilst any information window or button Panel is visible on
the screen, the game is paused so take as long as you like.
THE ASTEROID FIELD SCREEN
-------------------------
Let`s have a quick look at this before we continue. This and the Main
Asteroid View Screen will be the screens you will use most.
From the Asteroid View Screen bring up the button Panel as shown above
(Click the right mouse button.)
The centre button will take you to the Asteroid Field Screen. Click on it
now.
Your starting asteroid is the one rotating with a little green dot an it.
The green dot indicates that the asteroid is owned by you. Those with a
red dot belong to the enemy, and those without a dot are uninhabited and
free for the taking.
Around your asteroid is a small black circle. The rest of the screen is
grey. Grey indicates uncharted space, and you only know about ships and
asteroids within the black circle which marks the extent of your sensors.
At the start of the game it is likely that the only asteroid you know about
is your own, though there are one or two others visible.
There are two ways you can discover more asteroids:
a) Sensor Range:
If any asteroids move into your sensor range (the black circle) then they
will become visible. You can extend the range of your sensors by building
a Sensor Array and by colonising other asteroids.
b) Scout Ships:
You can instruct Scouts to head into uncharted space and Discover new
asteroids outside your sensor range.
Other information will be laid over this screen at various points in the
game but these will be explained later.
Below your asteroid is the acronym PAFW. This is a status summary of your
asteroid and will appear below all asteroids owned by you. It is used as a
quick means of seeing which of your colonies needs attention.
P Power supplies
A Air supplies
F Food supplies
W Water supplies
A green letter indicates that all is well.
An orange letter indicates that you are using more than you are producing
on that asteroid and will be using up your surplus.
A red letter indicates that you are producing none at all and are existing
(or maybe not!) off surpluses alone. Time to do something!.
These factors are explained more fully a little later in the tutorial. In
the section about the Colony Summary Window.
Finally, at the bottom right is the date/money indicator.
Notice that the mouse pointer is now an orange cross hair.
Let`s return to your asteroid now and look at building it up a bit.
Click with the right button to bring up the Button Panel. Notice that this
is a different button Panel to that on the Asteroid View Screen since it
has functions applicable to this screen. Notice again that the bottom
right button is the Exit button.
The bottom left button will take you back to the Asteroid View Screen.
Click on it now.
CONSTRUCTING A COLONY
---------------------
We`re now going to construct a small colony an our starting asteroid to
give you a feel for colony construction.
As already mentioned, you begin with a single CPU.
There are a range of buildings available to you and more are available for
purchase from the Sci-Tek Corporation. You select the building you want
from the Engineering Window.
As we showed you earlier click the right mouse button to bring up the main
Button Panel. You access the Engineering Window by clicking on the button
at bottom left. Click there now.
The Engineering Window
----------------------
You can browse through the buildings available by clicking on the Left and
Right arrow buttons. Have a look now at whats available. The later
section on buildings gives more detailed information about each building.
Since we are operating a Mining Colony let`s get things started. Cycle to
the "Mine" building. Click on the Exit button to select this building. As
you return to the main Asteroid View Screen, notice that the Mine building
graphic appears at bottom right reminding you of your selection. Until you
select another building every time you click on the asteroid you will build
a Mine.
Find a piece of flat land on the asteroid and click there with the left
mouse button, to build.
Notice the error message? Good. We have not yet allocated any funds to
the Engineering Section. To do this, bring up the Button Panel and click
on the Information button (middle top). This in turn brings up another
Button Panel. Click on the Financial Funds button top-right)
You are now in the Financial Funds Window. Before we proceed we`ll explain
how this works.
Financial Funds Window
----------------------
You have 5 different budgets to manage:
Money - spare cash not assigned to any budget
Construction - used for constructing buildings
Vehicles - used for constructing spacecraft
Intelligence - used tor financing spying
Missiles - used for constructing missiles
The number at the far right gives the amount allocated to each budget.
There are also 3 bar charts for each budget.
Green - Each block = 5,000 credits (heading is "5k")
Orange - Each block = 100,000 credits (heading is "100k")
Red - Each block = 1,000,000 credits (heading is "1M")
To add some money to a budget simply click somewhere on the appropriate
line, under any of the three columns. So if you click on the VEHICLES line
between the 5K and 100K headings you will add one or more blocks of 5,000
credits. Clicking between 100K and 1M will add one or more blocks of
100,000 credits. The further to the right you click the more blocks you
will add. To fine tune the amount, click and hold down the left button and
drag it either left or right - this will add or remove a block.
Go ahead and experiment, its easier to use than to describe!
To remove some money from a budget click and drag left to remove one or
more blocks.
Notice that all money is given to or taken from the Spare Cash line (called
MONEY) at the top, so you cannot directly move money from one budget to
another, you have to delete it from one budget (making it spare cash) and
then add it to another budget. If you are trying to add money to a budget
and nothing is happening, its probably because you have no spare cash and
you`ll have to reduce another budget first.
Continuing our tutorial return all your money to the Spare Cash line at the
top. We need to put some money into CONSTRUCTION so add some in by
clicking on the CONSTRUCTION line. Anything over 100,000 Cr should do for
now. Add the lot if you like. If during the rest of the tutorial you find
that one of your budgets has run out, simply return to the Financial Funds
Window and allocate some more money.
Now exit from this window (using the "exit" button) and return to the game.
Construction
------------
You can now build some Mines by clicking on the asteroid. Build 2 or 3
Mines. Notice that scaffolding appears as your men begin work.
If you click on the scaffolding with the left mouse button and hold the
button down you will be told what is being built and how many days until
completion.
Go back to the Engineering Window and move on a few buildings until you
come to a Storage Facility. Exit the store and build a Store on your
asteroid.
You may want to build a couple of Solar Generators too, to ensure you have
enough power.
Interrogating Buildings
-----------------------
If you click on an existing building with the left mouse button it will be
identified. Certain buildings also pop up information or control windows.
As an example click on one of your finished Mines. There is no information
window for a mine just it`s name at the bottom of the screen.
Click on the Store and you are presented with a listing of all the ore
being held in your Stores at this time. For further details see the entry
on Stores in the buildings section.
We suggest that you now construct a few more buildings on your asteroid and
when they are built, click on them to see what information you can obtain.
For now simply exit any information windows and refer to the Buildings
section for more details. Build what you like but we suggest the
following:
4 or 5 Solar Generators
Command Centre
Weapons Factory
Decontamination Filter
Medical centre
2 or 3 Mines
2 or 3 Deep Bore Mines
Storage Facility
Sensor array
Tactical Mode
-------------
If you were having difficulty locating a flat piece of land to build on
there are two ways around this:
The first is to rotate the asteroid around so you can see behind existing
buildings. To do this bring up the main Button Panel. Click on the middle
left button which will take you to the Asteroid Control Button Panel.
There are two yellow arrow buttons. Clicking on them will rotate the
entire asteroid left or right by 90 degrees.
A quicker way of doing this is to use the left and right arrow keys on the
keyboard.
Notice how the Transporter in orbit rotates as well since you are viewing
the entire asteroid from another viewpoint.
The other method to assist you is the Tactical Mode. Bring up the main
Button Panel and then the Asteroid Control Button Panel just like above.
The bottom left button (a blue cube) toggles the tactical mode on and off.
Solid box with "N" indicates normal mode
Outline box with "T" indicates tactical mode.
The button will not take effect until you exit out of the button panels
(Later we`ll show you a quicker way to access buttons!)
Notice that when you exit the button panels all the buildings and terrain
have disappeared to be replaced by colour coded squares. You can now see
every part of the asteroid and selecting a site to build upon is easy.
You can also click on buildings to obtain information just as you can in
normal mode.
The various colours represent the following features:
Light Grey - Flat land
Dark Grey - Terrain unsuitable for building
Light Blue - Buildings
Red - Landing Pads
White - Buildings protected by a Screen Generator
Green - Asteroid Virus deposits
Dark Blue - Anti Virus deposits
We`ll explain some of these later.
A quicker way of changing between normal and tactical mode is to press the
SPACE key on the keyboard.
Tutorial Conclusion
-------------------
You should now have an understanding of the basics of the game: How to
access button Panels, view your asteroid, access the asteroid Field Screen,
select and build a building, manage your budgets, and so on.
The rest of the manual is a reference section and will explain the
important features of the game in depth. We would recommend that you read
the reference sections. In the order they appear, as they have been
structured in such a way as to be chronologically correct ie they appear in
the order that you are going to need them in.
ZONE 002 : COLONY MANAGEMENT
----------------------------
Your prime directive is to extract and sell as much ore as you can but the
most successful and productive mining colonies all rely upon a strong and
stable colony infrastructure. It is vital to regularly monitor the
colonies on all your asteroids and to keep them running smoothly.
There are four main aspects to successful colony management:
a) Population
b) Security
c) Life Support
d) Power
a) Population
Though many parts of your mining equipment are robotic,the robots usually
only undertake the tasks that are most dangerous to human life. Human
employees are required for many important duties and to oversee and control
the robots. To support the mining and technician employees there is an
entire Service Industry offering training, relaxation and participation in
other leisure activities. Shifts are long and hard and as a result
Tetracorp encourage their employees to play hard too.
Procreation is outlawed on mining colonies for safety reasons but your
colonies will slowly grow in population as your personnel department
entices more men and women out from the Home Worlds. The more successful
and smoother running your colonies the easier recruitment becomes. In
general your population will grow slowly to fill all avaiable living space
so you can directly control your population by building fewer or more
Living Quarters. The Colony Summary Window (see below) indicates the
number of surplus employees you have. These are employees available for
backup roles and to operate alternate shifts with technical employees. For
stability attempt to keep the surplus positive but not too high. If the
surplus is negative then your employees are stretched and may be working
double shifts to complete necessary work morale will deteriorate. If your
surplus is too high, boredom can effect those not currently working and
trouble can break out.
b) Security
Morale can fluctuate quickly on a mining colony. Spaces are cramped and
employees work and play with the same faces day in and day out. Tempers
can flare, fights are commonplace and employees are quick to anger at
management failures. There would be mutiny every day were it not for your
dedicated and highly paid security team.
Security will keep your employees under control but only if their presence
is large enough. Each Security Centre can easily manage 150 employees and
often many more but don`t stretch your security too thin or you are
inviting big trouble.
You will be issued with reports when (if?) trouble breaks out but don`t
wait for these reports monitor the Security status in the Colony Summary
Window (see below)
c) Life Support
Each asteroid colony must be self sufficient and that means producing its
own Air, Food and Water. Each employee uses 1 unit of each every day so it
is necessary to produce at least as many units per day as you have
employees but it is also wise to produce and store a surplus.
Initially each asteroid colony begins with a single Colony Preservation
Unit (CPU) which provides living space, power, air, food and water but only
for a limited population and time. (see description of the CPU in the
Buildings section) To back up the CPU you need other support buildings.
BUILDING PRODUCES
Life Support AIR
Hydroponics FOOD
Hydration Plant WATER
In addition Environment Control continues where the CPU left off by storing
all three of the above in vast quantities.
The Colony Summary Window (see below) details how much of each resource you
are producing, using and storing, so monitor it often and keep production
ahead of population growth.
More information is given for each of the above buildings in the Buildings
section.
Remember also that the PAFW display on the Asteroid Field Screen provides a
quick summary of the status of your asteroids. PAFW was explained in the
tutorial pages.
d) Power
Clearly nothing can operate without power. The Buildings section of the
manual details the power requirement of every building. There are several
power production buildings and more efficient ones are available from
Sci-Tek. Like Life Support it`s vital to use the Colony Summary Window and
PAFW to monitor the status of power to each colony and keep production
ahead of usage.
Should you suffer power shortages some buildings will fail before others.
In general the most vital buildings like Life Support and Hydroponics will
fail last. To see which buildings have failed simply click on any power
generating building and those buildings without power will be listed.
RADIATION
---------
Each asteroid has background radiation some higher than others. Radiation
is expressed as a percentage. 0% means the radiation is immeasurable above
the radiation given off from the local star. Any value of 50% or lower is
acceptable but higher radiation is harmful and will result in sickness and
even deaths amoungst your employees. Use Radiation Filters to provide them
with the necessary protection. (see the description in the Buildings
section).
Factors that lead to high radiation values are the use of Nuclear missles
extensive combat and the presence of rare ores such as Traxium and Nexos.
When mining these ores you must be very careful to protect your employees
using Radiation Filters.
COLONY SUMMARY WINDOW
---------------------
You can access this by clicking on any of the colony support buildings such
as Living Quarters Life Support, Hydroponics and CPU etc. Remember that
you must be in Normal (hand) mode. You can also access it via the button
in the Asteroid View Screen Button Panel.
This information gives you an important breakdown on the status of your
colony on that asteroid.
You are told your current population, your maximum population, the total
space in all your Living Quarter) and Surplus Population. As explained
above in Colony management try to keep the surplus a positive number to
allow for growth but if you overpopulate your asteroid you risk running
short of food, water and air.
Keep an eye on the Radiation reading (see Radiation above).
The most important part of the Colony Summary Window is the breakdown of
Power, Air, Food and Water. You are told how much you are producing, how
much is being used daily and how much is stored for later use.
The colour codes give you an instant indication of which of these factors
may need attention:
Green - No problems
Orange - The asteroid is using a commodity faster than it is being
produced. Your reserves are being used up.
Red - The asteroid is no longer producing a commodity and you are
running entirely from reserves (or maybe none at all!) you
must rectify the situation quickly!
The Security line provides a summary of employee morale on the asteroid.
If the message suggests that the asteroid is not secure you would be wise
to construct another Security Centre.
The final line reminds you which fleets are present at this asteroid.
There are also some options available by using the supplied buttons:
RENAME INVENTORY EXIT
Clicking on RENAME allows you to rename the asteroid. You can personalise
all your asteroids and give them a name that reflects their function, like
MAIN MINE or ORE DEPOT or SPACE DOCK etc.
Simply delete the existing name using the backspace key and enter your own
name up to 15 characters.
Clicking on INVENTORY will provide a detailed listing of how many of each
type of building you have. The listing is broken down into pages - simply
use the Arrow Buttons to cycle through the pages.
ASTEROID MINING
---------------
The purpose of your colony in sector K240 is to locate and extract ores for
sale to Tetracorp and the Empire. The more you sell, the larger your
profits and your fame in the mining fraternity. This section details how
to mine ore, what to do with it, how to transport it and how to sell it.
DISCOVERING ORE
---------------
The first step is to locate asteroids rich in ore deposits. This
Exploration Phase requires the use of one or more Scout Ships. To go in
search of new asteroids dispatch the Scout with orders to Explore. For
details of how to do this see the section on Controlling Spacecraft and pay
particular attention to the subsection on Scouts.
Each asteroid has different amounts of each type of ore. To determine
which asteroids are the most abundant in ore you must use a Scout with the
orders to Prospect for ore. Again see the section on Controlling
Spacecraft.
When the scout has examined the asteroid it will return to its departure
asteroid and present you with an ore report. You can obtain this report at
any time for any at the asteroids you have prospected, by clicking on the
Geology button.
The Ore Report simply details how much of each type of ore remains on the
asteroid to be mined. The most common are shown at the top and the rarest
at the bottom.
ORE EXTRACTION
--------------
To extract ore you must have one or more mines. There are three types of
mine each mining a particular range of ores. The table below indicates
which mines you require to mine particular ores by colour coding them:
Selenium Red Red requires a mine
Asteros Red
Barium Red
Crystalite Red
Quazinc Orange Orange requires a deep bore mine
Bytanium Orange
Korellium Orange
Dragonium Orange
Traxium Green Green requires a Seismic Penetrator
Nexos Green obtainable from Sci-Tek
As well as providing adequate power for the mines you must build one or
more Stores to hold the ore. Clicking on a Store building provides you
with a listing of what ores you have in ALL the stores on that asteroid.
Each mine extracts one unit of ore about every 8 to 16 days. You have no
control over which units are extracted.
The main thing to remember about mining is to keep it running smoothly and
consistently. Here are a few other points to bear in mind:
Make sure there is enough power for all mines.
Keep a constant track on the population of your asteroid and try and
maintain a positive surplus.
Make sure you have enough storage space for the ore.
ORE USAGE
---------
What do you do with ore?
1) Use it for ship construction
2) Use it for missile construction
3) Sell it to the Empire (see later)
This is a summary of most of the cases in the game when you wil need ore:
ORE NEEDED FOR
Selenium Explosive Missile, Scatter Missile, Assault Fighter,
Combat Eagle, Scout Ship, Destructor, Terminator
Transporter, Fleet Battleship
Asteros Nuclear Missile, Powerplant
Barium Area Explosive Missile, Anti Virus Missile, Spy Satellite
Crystalite Vortex Missile, Assault Fighter, Combat Eagle
Scout Ship, Destructor.

Quazinc Napalm Missile, Hellfire Missile

Bytanium Space Dock

Korellium Stasis Missile
Dragonium Space Dock, Terminator, Transporter, Fleet Battleship
Traxium Virus Missile

Nexos Mega missile
SELLING ORE
-----------
It is necessary to retain some ore for your own use but the remainder can
be sold to Tetracorp and the Empire. The Empire offers prices for ore that
vary each Imperial year. You may attempt to play the markets and wait for
a high price before you sell ore but don`t speculate for too long or the
price may drop again.
To obtain the Imperial Ore Prices click on the Command Centre building.
These are the prices that the Empire will pay for each unit of ore.
Sometimes the Empire will guarantee prices for a number of years for a
particular ore type that it needs badly. In this case the letter "H" will
appear after the ore price to indicate that the price has been held. The
number after the "H" indicates the number of years that the price is held
for.
The Prices window also indicates the number of days before the next
Imperial Ore Carrier arrives at your colony. This is important because you
can only sell ore when the Imperial Ore Carrier arrives.
The Imperial Ore Carrier will always arrive at whichever of your asteroids
has the most ore in its Stores. You can use this fact to ensure that you
transport ore in from your other asteroids. Tetracorp recommends that you
have a central asteroid that acts as a major storage depot and that all
other asteroids regularly ship their ore to this depot.
The Imperial Ore Carrier remains in orbit about your asteroid for a short
time before returning to the Imperial Home Worlds. 5 days before it leaves
the crew will radio down with the appropriate message.
Click on the Imperial Ore Carrier (whilst in Ship Selection Mode) and you
will gain access to the Ore Transfer Window. This lists all the ore you
have in the asteroids stores and the contents of the Ore Carriers cargo
bays. The current Imperial Prices are listed for convenience.
To transfer ore to the Ore Carrier click over the name of the type of ore
with the right mouse button. A quantity of ore will be transferred. This
quantity depends upon which ore type you have selected. Since you usually
have large numbees of the cheaper ores the transfer quantity is large. For
rarer ores it is small.
Ores marked as red 50 units at a time.
Ores marked as orange 5 units at a time.
Ores marked as green 1 unit at a time.
If you change your mind you can unload ore from the Ore Carrier into your
Asteroid Stores by clicking with the left mouse button. Note that you can
only Unload ore that you have previously loaded: there is no way of buying
ore from the Empire.
You can access the Ore Transfer Window as many times as you like whilst the
Ore Carrier orbits your asteroid. You will be paid for the ore when the
Ore Carrier returns to the Imperial Home Worlds.
TRANSPORTING ORE
----------------
There are two methods of transporting ore between your asteroids:
a) Using a Transporter Ship
b) Using an Ore Teleporter Building
The Ore Teleporter must be bought from Sci-Tek but is a very useful
facility. It enables you to instantly teleport ore between any asteroids
that have an Ore Teleporter installed. This facility is perfect for
transferring ore to your ore depot at the last minute when using a
Transporter may take too long.
For details about how to use the Ore Teleporter see the description of the
Ore Teleporter in the Buildings section.
TRANSPORTER SHIP
----------------
This is the main means of moving ore between your asteroids. The general
procedure is:
a) Load ore onto Transporter from asteroid Stores
b) Move Transporter to another asteroid
c) Unload ore from Transporter into new asteroid Stores
Load Ore
--------
Click on the Transporter (whilst in Ship Selection Mode) to access the
Spacecraft Control Window. (See appropriate section for details) Click on
the LOAD/UNLOAD ORE order button and you will access the Ore Transfer
Window. This lists all the ore you have in the asteroids stores and the
contents of the Transporters cargo bays.
To Load ore onto the Transporter simply use the same process as is used to
load ore onto the Imperial carrier.
Ores marked as red 50 units at a time
Ores marked as orange 5 units at a time.
Ores marked as green 1 unit at a time.
Move Transporter
----------------
See the section on Controlling Spacecraft for details of how to send the
Transporter to another asteroid
Unload Ore
----------
The procedure for Unloading ore is identical for that of Loading ore (see
above) except that ore is transferred from the Transporter to the asteroid
Stores using the left mouse button.
ZONE 003 : SPACECRAFT CONSTRUCTION
----------------------------------
You will not get very far in the game without constructing a ship for one
reason or another. This section describes how to do so.
There are 8 types of ship and each has its uses as suarised here. For
greater details about each ship, see the Spacecraft descriptions in the
technical supplement.
These ships can only be built using a Spacecraft Construction Yard:
NAME USE HARDPOINTS
Assault Fighter Combat 1

Combat Eagle Combat 2
Scout Ship Exploration/Prospecting/Spying 1
These ships can only be built using a Space Dock: (see Space Docks)
NAME USE HARDPOINTS
Destructor Combat 3
Terminator Combat 4
Transporter Colonisation/Ore Transporting 2
Fleet Battleship Combat 6
Space Dock Constructing Larger Spacecraft 4
Spacecraft Construction Yard
Once you have built one or more Construction Yards, you can begin building
the 3 smaller ship types. Before you do so, you must have the following:
A Weapons Factory on the current asteroid
Money allocated into the Vehicles Fund (See Financial Funds)
Appropriate ore in Stores on the current asteroid.
Ship construction will pause if all these things are not present. You can
check the status of the Yard that is currently building ships by clicking
on the Yard. Instead of the options to build ships, you will be given a
progress report. This report will state if any of the above factors are
not catered for.
Each Yard can only construct one type of ship at a time (but up to 6 of
that type) but if you have another Yard then it can be building a different
type of ship at the same time. Each Yard can construct up to 3 ships at a
time or 6 if you have purchased the Construction Droids from Sci-Tek.
Spacecraft Construction Window
This appears when you click on a vacant Spacecraft Construction Yard or on
the Space Dock.
Click on LEFT or RIGHT or use the left and right arrows to cycle through
the ships available to you.
Most of the ship details are repeated in the Spacecraft descriptions given
in the technical section but a few require explanation.
The number in brackets after the ships name equals the number of ships
currently selected for construction. Click on BUILD to Increase this
number.
There are two Armour Figures. The first is the basic armour of the ships
hull. The second figure (in brackets) is the total armour if any defence
hardpoints have been installed in the ship (see below).
The Build Times, both for individual ships and for the whole group are
indicated here.
The Ore Needed is also displayed.
The Cost is the basic Hull cost + the total hardpoint cost (in brackets) to
give the total cost for each ship and for the whole production.
Hardpoints
Each ship has a number of hardpoints into which you can install any of the
available weapons/ defenses. This flexible system allows you to produce
custom ships for specific purposes. Hardpoint weapons fall into 3
categories:
a) Weapon for use against an enemy asteroid
b) Weapon for use against an enemy ship
c) Defence.
Here are a few suggestions:
1) An Eagle with 2 attack weapons for use as an attack ship
2) An Eagle with 1 shield weapon and 1 attack weapon for defensive purposes
3) A Terminator with all hardpoints installed with anti asteroid weapons to
maximise an attack against an enemy asteroid
4) A Terminator with all hardpoints installed with anti ship weapons to use
as part of a fleet intercepting enemy fleets (see later)
Since a ship with all anti asteroid weapons could not defend itself if if
were attacked by enemy ships it may be wise to have a couple of each type
so the ship can attack an asteroid OR a ship.
You must decide the contents of each hardpoint depending upon your own
strategies.
Details on each hardpoint weapon are given in the technical section.
Weapon Installation
To Install a weapon into a hardpoint you must first select the weapon. In
the bottom left window are up to 8 available weapon icons. More are
available by clicking on the NEXT button. There are two sets of 8, but
many are blank until they are purchased from Sci-Tek.
Click on one of the weapon icons with the left mouse button and it will be
selected. Its name and cost will be shown. You can install this in one of
the ship's hardpoints by clicking with the left mouse button over one of
the red boxes on the ship blueprint. The weapon is now installed.
To remove the weapon simply click on it again. To install another weapon
instead, select another weapon from the bottom icons and click over the
already occupied hardpoint. The old weapon will disappear leaving the
hardpoint empty. Click again to install the new weapon.
Do this for every hardpoint on the ship, though you may leave hardpoints
blank if you are really short of money!
When you are satisfied with your ship remember to select the number you
want to build, using the BUILD button. Then click on EXIT and construction
will begin provided you have enough money and ore, and that you have a
Weapons Factory.
You may clear everything at any time by clicking on ABORT.
After Construction
As each ship is completed it will be stored. Smaller ships are stored in
the asteroid Hangers (see the section on Controlling Ships). Larger ships
as constructed by the Space Dock remain in orbit awaiting your commands.
SPACE DOCKS
-----------
A Space Dock is necessary if you want to construct the larger spacecraft.
Since the Space Dock has 4 hardpoints and a large amount of armour it is
also an effective defence against attack by enemy ships.
Constructing a Space Dock
Each asteroid can only support one Space Dock. To construct one you must
have a Command Centre on the asteroid. Click on the Command Centre and
then on the Space Dock Button that appears. You are presented with the
Ship Construction screen and the details of the Space Dock. Notice how
much ore and money is required!
Use the method described above to construct the Space Dock. If you go to
the Asteroid Orbit Screen you will see scaffolding appear in space as it is
built. Eventually this scaffolding will clear and your Space Dock will be
ready for use. To obtain a status report click on the scaffolding.
Using a Space Dock
------------------
To construct one of the larger ships simply go to the Asteroid Orbit Screen
and click on the Space Dock. The Ship Construction Window will appear and
you can proceed as described above.
CONTROLLING SPACECRAFT
----------------------
Ships can be controlled individually or as a group known as a fleet.
Controlling Fleets is dealt with later.
To issue orders to a ship you must click on the ship whilst in Spacecraft
Selection Mode. This is where the mouse pointer is a white arrow, NOT the
normal hand. There are 2 ways to get into Spacecraft Selection Mode:

a) Click on the Ship button
b) Press the "S" key.
Both toggle between Normal Hand Mode and Spacecraft Selection Mode.
When you click on a ship the Spacecraft Control Window appears:
The ship details remind you what the capabilities of this ship are, such as
the contents of its hardpoints and remaining armour points. It also tells
you which fleet (1 to 8) this ship may belong to, or zero if it doesnt yet
belong to a fleet.
Orders are given by clicking on the buttons. You can give each ship one or
two orders to carry out at a time. Most ships revert to Patrol Mode when
they complete their orders, waiting for you to issue new ones.
Each ship has different orders available to it so we`ll examine each ship
individually.
Assault Fighter & Combat Eagle
These ships have the same orders.
Land Land Hanger Patrol Join Fleet Go To Asteroid Exit Abort
LAND:
The simplest order. This simply causes the ship to locate a random vacant
square on the asteroid and land on it.
LAND HANGER:
Similar to LAND except that the ship will locate one of your Landing Pads
and land there. Once on the Pad the elelator will automaticaily lower the
ship into the underground hangers safly storing the ship. See the section
Controlling Hangered Ships for how to gain access to the ship again. The
main advantage at hangering ships is to get them to safety during an enemyttack D
amaged ships are repaired whilst they are in the hangers.
PATROL:
The ship will enter the standard patrol mode. It will repeatedly fly
between the Asteroid View Screen and the Orbit Screen ready for any enemy
attack.
JOIN FLEET:
This order is used to assign the ship to one of the 8 fleets. For details
see the later section on Controlling Fleets. When you click on the button
the order "JOIN FLEET 1" appears in the order window To assign the ship to
another fleet simply click successively on the JOIN FLEET butto
The ship will do one of 3 things depending upon its position relative to
the fleet:
a) If the fleet and ship are in orbit around the same asteroid the ship
will immediately join the fleet and go into Patrol Mode.
b) If the flett is in orbit around the current asteroid and the ships in
the underground hanger it will launch from the hangers via a Landing Pad
and then join the fleet.
c) If the fleet is at a different asteroid to the ship, or travelling in
space between asteroids the ship will automatically leave the asteroid and
travel to join the fleet wherever it is.
Note: Once a ship is in a fleet it can only be controlled via the Fleet
Control Window (see appropriate section). To remove a ship from a fleet
either use the LEAVE option from the Fleet Control Window or simply access
the Spacecraft Control Window and give it new orders. It will
automatically leave the fleet and carry out the new orders.
GO TO ASTEROID:
This order allows you to send on individual ship to another asteroid
friendly or otherwise. It is often easier to send ships in Fleets (see
later) but there are times when you need or want to send a single ship.
When you click on the button you will be taken to the Asteroid Field Screen
with all the known asteroids shown. Simply click with the left mouse
button on the destination asteroid. Back at the Spacecraft Control Window
notice that your order has been entered into the orders window.
EXIT:
Use this to exit the Control Window and initiate the orders you have
programmed if any.
ABORT:
Use this to erase any current orders ready for you to enter new ones, (You
must ABORT current orders first). You can also use ABORT followed by EXIT
to cancel all orders and cause the ship to stop in space.
Scout Ship
This ship has all the orders available to the Assault Ship and Combat Eagle
and three new ones:
PROSPECT EXPLORE SPY
The primary purpose of the Scout Ship is to explore space looking for new
asteroids and then to prospect these asteroids to report what ore deposits
are there.
SPY:
Once you know the location of one or more enemy colonies, you can use the
Scout to gather very basic information about them. For full details see
the section on Spying.
EXPLORE:
Initially your knowledge of the asteroid field is very limited and you will
need to send out one or more scouts to discover new asteroids to colonise.
Use this option.
When you click on the button vou will be taken to the Asteroid Field Screen
with all the known asteroids shown. Space is divided into 40 sectors.
Simply click with the left mouse button on the sector you wish to head for.
Back at the Spacecraft Control Window, notice that your order has been
entered into the orders window.
The scout will head for the chosen sector looking for asteroids all the
while. As soon as it discovers one it will return to the departure
asteroid to report its findings. The asteroid will become visible on the
Asteroid Field Screen and you will receive a bonus payment.
PROSPECT:
It is vital that you prospect new asteroids to discover what ore deposits
are available for mining. Use this option frequently.
When you click on the button you will be taken to the Asteroid Field Screen
where all known asteroids will be displayed. Simply click with the left
mouse button on the destination asteroid. Back at the Spacecraft Control
Window notice that your order has been entered into the orders window.
The scout will travel to the chosen asteroid land take mining samples and
then return. Upon its return it will issue a report of the ore deposits it
has found. You can then decide whether the asteroid is worth colonising or
not.
Destructor & Terminator
These ships have the same orders as the Assault Fighter except that they
can neither LAND nor LAND HANGER.
Transporter
COLONISE LOAD ORE GO TO AST JOIN FLEET ABORT EXIT
The two new options available are COLONISE and LOAD/UNLOAD ORE
The Transporter is primarily used for two functions:
a) Starting a colony on a new asteroid
b) Transporting ore between colony asteroids
COLONISE:
When you have located an asteroid that you wish to colonise you must
dispatch a Transporter to begin the new colony. Starting a colony costs
30000 Cr which must be available in the Free Money Grant. (See the section
On Financial Funds). Upon arrival at the chosen asteroid the Transport
will begin construction of a Colony Preservation Unit. Once this is
complete you may begin to build up your colony to your requirements. See
the section on Colonisation for further details.
To give the required orders to the transporter first click on GO TO AST and
select an asteroid. (See instructions above). Then click on COLONISE and
EXIT.
If you want to start a colony on the asteroid the Transporter is already in
orbit around, simply click on COLONISE.
LOAD/UNLOAD ORE:
Clicking on this button brings up the Ore Transportation Window, and
enables you to move ore between the cargo bays on the Transporter and the
Stores on the current asteroid
See the section on Ore Transportation in the Mining section for further
details.
Fleet Battleship
This has only the following orders available to it all of which are
detailed above:
GO TO AST JOIN FLEET ABORT EXIT
Space Dock
No orders are available to the Space Dock. Clicking upon it will initiate
the Spacecraft Construction Window. See the section on Space Docks for
further details.
CONTROLLING HANGERED SHIPS
--------------------------
When ships are in the underground hanger you obviously can`t control them
by clicking on the ship graphic. Instead you must click on the Landing Pad
whilst in Normal Hand Mode. This brings up the Ship Inventory Window.
This details all the ships in orbit around the current asteroid and in the
underground hangers, but ONLY ships not currently members of another fleet.
All these ships are available for control.
To select one or more ships click the mouse button over the name of the
ship. Click right to select one ship or left to deselect one ship.
Selected ships are shown by green blocks, and non selected ships by red
blocks. You can quickly select more than one of a ship by holding down the
mouse button. The numbers at the right remind you of how many ships you
have selected.
The ABORT button will deselect all selected ships.
The Exit button will exit the window performing no action on the ships.
Clicking on the SHIP button enables to you to access the Spacecraft Control
Window and issue orders to the ships as described earlier in this sectio
You can now issue any order to the ships and they will automatically leave
the hangers via a Landing Pad before carrying out those orders.
A distinct advantage of using the Ship inventory Screen is that you can
issue the same orders to several ships at once. You could select several
ships and tell them all to land in the hangers or go to an asteroid. You
cannot however give them different parameters to the order: so if you
ordered 7 scouts to explore, they would all head for the same sector you
couldn't direct them to different sectors.
Note also that some orders are unavailable to certain ships eg if you
selected a Scout and a Transporter, you could order the Scout to explore
but the Transporter would simply ignore that order. They`re Transporters
you see. For transporting things.
ZONE 004 : SPYING
-----------------
Though the Empire and Tetracorp have extensive databases containing
information about the known alien races, much of this data is interpreted
and assumed from long distance sensors and spy satellites. We know very
little about the physical make up of alien colonies and even less about
their expansion and military tactics.
During your exploration of sector K240 you will need to supplement this
information with more specific details discovered by your own spying
efforts. Obtaining data about the aliens on a regular basis will allow you
to predict their moves and could well give you an edge over them in combat.
There is nothing you can learn until you discover at least one of their
asteroid colonies (It will be marked on the Asteroid Field Screen by a red
dot).
There are two approaches to gathering information:
a) A Scout Spying Mission
b) A Spy Satellite
USING SCOUTS TO SPY
-------------------
This is the easiest approach to spying but the information gained is limited.
Once you have an available Scout click on the SPY button in the Spacecraft
Control Window. You will be taken to the Asteroid Field Screen with all
the known asteroids shown. Click on the asteroid of interest with the left
mouse button. Back at the Spacecraft Control Window notice that your order
has been entered into the orders window.
The scout will head for the chosen asteroid. Once there it will gather as
much information as it can without being detected and return to your
asteroid to issue a report.
The report simply indicates the number of buildings on the enemy asteroid
(not what types), the number of ships observed in orbit around the asteroid
and in particular the number of Transporter ships and Battleships (or ships
of a similar size since exact ship details vary from alien to alien). Be
aware that due to the brevity of the Scouts mission, this information is an
estimation only.
THE USE OF SPY SATELLITES
-------------------------
There are three major reasons for using Spy Satellites rather than Scout
Ships for spying:
a) They offer more detailed information
b) They provide warnings of enemy fleet and missile movements
c) They allow you to examine the enemy asteroid
Once you have a Spy Satellite orbiting an enemy asteroid, it continually
transmits back video information about the surface of the asteroid. This
allows you to use the Asteroid View Screen and actually watch the enemy
colony yourself, to see what buildings they have, how quickly they are
building, what ships are in orbit etc. This information is free and
extremely useful. If you click on an enemy building you can get an idea of
its function.
The only other time you can watch an enemy asteroid from the Asteroid View
Screen is when you have ships or fleets currently attacking it. Then you
can watch the battle take place!
CONSTRUCTING A SPY SATELLITE
----------------------------
You may have as many satellites as you wish. To construct one you need to
build a Satellite Silo on one or more of your asteroids.
When you click on the Satellite Silo with the left mouse button you enter
the Satellite Construction Window. You are told the number of satelites
currently in the asteroid hangers and the number under construction.
BUILD ABORT LAUNCH TARGET EXIT
To construct a new satellite click on BUILD. Each click will order a new
satellite to be constructed. You may cancel these requests for satellites
by clicking on ABORT.
At the present time each satellite costs 10,000 Cr and requires 2 units of
Barium Ore. You also require a Weapons Factory on the same asteroid to
construct the complicated shielding equipment needed by the satellite. The
money is taken from the Intelligence Grant so ensure you have allocated
sufficient funds to that grant via the Financial Funds Window. A status
line will inform you of any problems with construction.
Completed satellites are sent to the main asteroid hangers and are ready to
launch. It is recommended that you construct several satellites before you
actually need them.
LAUNCHING A SPY SATELLITE
-------------------------
To launch a satellite click on the Satellite Silo and check that it reports
that you have a satellite available for launch.
First you must select its destination. Click on the TARGET button. You
will be taken to the Asteroid Field Screen where you can select an enemy
asteroid by clicking on it with the left mouse button. This target will be
remembered by the Satellite Silo until either you change it or the
destination asteroid is destroyed. Thus you can launch further satellites
to the same asteroid without having to select the target again.
To launch the satellite simply click on the LAUNCH button you will observe
the satellite leave the silo and head for the enemy asteroid. You cannot
launch another satellite from the same silo for several days since the
launch mechanism must be reset.
SENSOR REPORTS FROM SPY SATELLITES
----------------------------------
Once a spy satellite arrives at its destination it shields itself and
immediately begins to monitor the asteroid. On the Asteroid Field Screen
you will see a small blue animation indicating that the satellite is
operating normally.
A satellite provides you with warnings of an enemy attack. Normallv you
are only aware of the presence of enemy missiles and fleets when they enter
the range of your sensors. If the satellite detects missiles leaving silos
on the asteroid it will immediately issue a missile Launch Detection. It
will do a similar thing the moment it detects a Fleet leaving orbit.
This warning takes two forms. On the Asteroid View Screen you will see the
missile or fleet warning icons appear in the bottom left corner but with
the addition of the word Launch. You will receive this warning even if the
enemy asteroid is not inside your sensor range. In this case you will
receive a Launch warning and then a short while later you will also receive
the usual warning when the fleet or missiles enter your sensor range. Thus
a satellite can warn you of approaching danger long before your sensors
detect the threat.
The other visual indication is on the Asteroid Field Screen.
Once you recieve a Launch Detect Warning you may need to know which of the
enemy asteroids has launched the attack. A flashing launch indicator (a
red box) surrounds the asteroid from which the launch was detected. This
warning will disappear after a short while
Warning: The spy satellite is not infallible. On rare occasions it will
fail to detect a missile launch or fleet departure. Do not over rely upon
your spy satellites!
SPY REPORTS FROM SPY SATELLITES
-------------------------------
At any time you can interrogate any of your spy satellites and obtain
immediate information about the asteroid it is orbiting. To do so click on
the SPY button from the Asteroid View Screen. You are taken to the
Asteroid Field Screen and asked to select the asteroid that interests you.
You must select an asteroid which has an orbiting spy satellite. After
selecting the asteroid you gain access to the main Spying Screen.
There are 8 categories of information listed on the screen and the cost of
obtaining that information. At the top of the screen is the money you have
available (The Intelligence Fund). Always ensure you have allocated
sufficient money to the Intelligence Fund before entering the Spying
Screen.
To obtain information, simply click on the chosen category. The
appropriate cost will be deducted and a report will be issued. Whilst you
remain in the Spying Screen, you can call up these reports as many times as
you like at no furthur cost. The categories are described below, but
remember that the information is not always accurate, since the enemy are
careful to encode their transmissions and conceal their true plans. For
peace of mind interrogate your spy satelites on a regular basis, perhaps
annually.
Population
----------
This estimates the population on the asteroid
Missile Inventory
-----------------
This estimates the number of warheads stacked in their underground silos.
Since their technology differs from ours the exact types of warheads are
not given. There are three categories estimating the yield (destructive
power) of the warheads. A fourth category marked "Other" indicates
warheads of whose purpose we have no idea at this stage.
Number of Enemy Asteroids
-------------------------
This estimates the number of asteroids occupied by the enemy and may
indicate that they occupy asteroids that we have not yet discovered.
Our Asteroids Known to Enemy
----------------------------
This gives a list of our asteroids that are known to the enemy. It can
give a valuable insight into where they are likely to attack or what
asteroids we need not defend since the enemy are unaware of their presence.
Building Inventory
------------------
This provides an indication of the buildings observable on the asteroid.
There are categories for general buildings, defensive buildings (maybe
Shield Generators or Anti Missile Pods) offensive buildings (Turrets
Missile Silos etc) and power generating buildings.
Make Up of Deployed Fleet
-------------------------
If you have been warned that this asteroid has recently deployed a fleet
you can obtain an estimation of its size. The report indicates the number
of ships and number of Battleships in the fleet.
Destination of Deployed Fleet
-----------------------------
If you have been warned that this asteroid has recently deployed a fleet
you can determine where that fleet is headed. Clearly this is very
valuable information allowing you to prepare a welcoming surprise!
Destination of Missile Strike
-----------------------------
If you have been warned that this asteroid has recently launched a missile
strike you can determine where those missiles are headed.
Remember that spying information can occasionally be in error. Tetracorp
accepts no responsibility for the loss and damage caused by an inaccurate
or incomplete spy report.
LOSING SPY SATELLITES
---------------------
It is inevitable that the enemy will detect our satellites and destrov
them. The longer a satellite orbits an enemy asteroid the greater this
chance is. The satellite can also betray its presence each time you
request specific information from the Spy Screen so don`t ask for spy
information too regularly. Better still dispatch more than one satellite
to the same enemy asteroid to provide a backup.
ZONE 005 : FLEETS
-----------------
A convenient method of controlling ships is to place them into fleets.
Once joined together as a fleet ships can be easily ordered to move between
asteroids. There are advantages and disadvantages to using fleets as
opposed to controlling each ship individually.
The advantages are that you can dispatch an entire battle fleet by clicking
on just a couple of buttons. It is also easier to group ships by their
type so that you know where ships are and what they are supposed to be
doing. There are also some functions such as intercepting an approaching
enemy fleet, that can only be done using fleets.
The disadvantages are that you have less control over individual ships.
There are only 4 orders you can give a fleet though they are powerful.
However you can always remove a ship from a fleet at any time if you want
it to perform more specialised duties. Certain orders can only be done
using individual ship control such as colonisation, exploring or
prospecting.
JOINING A FLEET
---------------
There are two ways to group ships into a fleet:
a) Use the JOIN FLEET option from the Spacecraft Control Window. See the
appropriate section
b) Use the JOIN SHIPS button from the Fleet Control Window described below
In general it you are making a fleet for the first time it is best to use
method b). If you later want to add one or two ships to an existing fleet
you will usually use method a).
FLEET CONTROL WINDOW
--------------------
You can obtain the Fleet Control Window by one of 2 means:
a) Clicking on the Fleet button
b) Clicking on one of your fleet markers on the Asteroid Field Screen
You can control up to 8 fleets. To obtain the details about any fleet or
to create a new one, select the fleet number 1-8 by clicking on the PREV
and NEXT buttons. The fleet number in the top right will alter.
If the Fleet Listing Window is empty then this fleet does not yet exist.
If it does exist, there will be a listing of all the ships in the current
fleet and their current armour points.
To create a fleet or add ships to an existing fleet click on JOIN. The
display will switch to the Ship Inventory Window. This details all the
ships in orbit around the current asteroid but ONLY ships not currently
members of another fleet. All these ships are available to be added to
this fleet. You cannot use this method to add hangered ships to the fleet:
to do that you must use the Spacecraft Control Window and the JOIN FLEET
button.
To select one or more ships click the mouse button over the name of the
ship. Click right to select one ship or left to de-select one ship.
Selected ships are shown by green blobs and non-selected ships by red
blobs. You can quickly select more than one of a ship by holding down the
mouse button. The numbers at the right remind you of how many ships you
have selected.
The ABORT button will de-select all selected ships.
The EXIT button will return you to the Fleet Control Window remembering the
ships you have selected These will be added to the fleet and will appear in
the Fleet Listing Window. These ships will switch to Patrol Mode orbiting
the asteroid until you issue an order to the fleet.
If the Fleet Listing fills its window then you can use the PAGE button to
flick between the various pages of the listing. The current and total page
numbers appear in the top right of the window.
You can obtain more detailed information on any ship in the fleet by
clicking on the ship in the Fleet Listing Window with the right mouse
button. This is useful if you forget the hardpoint assignments of any of
the ships in the fleet.
LEAVING A FLEET
---------------
There are two ways to force ships to leave a fleet, but remember that a
ship can only leave a fleet when the fleet is orbiting an asteroid not when
it is in space between asteroids.
a) Simply issue new orders to the ship from the Spacecraft Control Window.
The ship will automatically leave the fleet to obey those orders.
b) Use the LEAVE button in the fleet Control Window:
First you must select which ship(s) you want to leave the fleet. Do this
by clicking on those ships in the Fleet Listing Window. Their names will
be highlighted in a different colour to show they have been selected.
Clicking on a highlighted ship will de-select it. You can also de-select
all the highlighted ships by clicking on ABORT.
Then click on LEAVE and the highlighted ships will leave the fleet. They
will disappear from the Fleet Listing Window and enter Patrol Mode about
the current asteroid waiting for further orders.
FLEET TACTICS
-------------
There are four orders or tactics that you can give a fleet. These are the
large buttons on the fleet Control Screen
Move Fleet (Non-Hostile Move)
This is used to move an entire fleet to another asteroid. You can only use
this order to move a fleet to one of your asteroids or to an uninhabited
asteroid NOT an enemy asteroid.
Click on the MOVE FLEET tactic button. You will be taken to the Asteroid
Field Screen where you can select the destination asteroid with the left
mouse button. In the Fleet Control Window notice that the Destination has
been entered at the top of the window as well as a summary of the order
selected.
Click on Exit and the fleet will carry out the order. The ships will
depart from the asteroid and then you can monitor the progress of the fleet
from the Asteroid Field Screen where the fleet appears as a numbered
marker.
A fleet using a non-hostile movement can move at a faster rate than one in
attack mode since it does not have to consider the possibility of an attack
whilst it is in transit.
Attack Asteroid (Hostile Move)
This is used to move an entire fleet to an enemy asteroid with the intent
of attacking it upon arrival.
Click on the ATTACK ASTEROID tactic button. You will be taken to the
Asteroid Field Screen where you can select the destination asteroid with
the left mouse button in the Fleet Control Window notice that the
Destination has been entered at the top of the window as well as a summary
of the order selected.
Click on Exit and the fleet will carry out the order. The ships will
depart from the asteroid and then you can monitor the progress of the fleet
from the Asteroid Field Screen where the fleet appears as a numbered
marker.
A fleet using hostile movement moves slower than normal since it must
always be prepared for an enemy attack as it nears its destination.
When the fleet arrives at the destination asteroid it will automatically
enter an attack pattern. Ships will either attack enemy ships or enemy
buildings depending upon the hardpoint weapons at their disposal Since the
attack Is automated you can dispatch several attack fleets and not have to
worry about them, though it is fun to watch your fleets devastate the
enemy.
Intercept Enemy Fleet
This is used to send your fleet to attack an approaching enemy fleet. The
purpose of this is to attempt to destroy or weaken the enemy fleet before
it can do damage to your asteroid.
Click on the INTERCEPT FLEET tactic button. You will be taken to the
Asteroid Field Screen where you can select the destination fleet with the
left mouse button. In the Fleet Control Window notice that the Destination
has been entered at the top of the window as well as a summary of the order
selected
Click on Exit and the fleet will carry out the order. The ships will
depart from the asteroid and then you can monitor the progress of the fleet
from the Asteroid Field Screen where the fleet appears as a numbered
marker.
Your fleet will use hostile movement so it will move slower than normal.
When your fleet arrives at the enemy fleet it will engage it in combat.
The two fleets will automatically fight until one is destroyed or one
retreats. On the Asteroid Field Screen you will see the fleet markers
(yours and the enemies) flashing to indicate that they are in battle. You
can elect to watch the battle by clicking on the flashing fleet markers.
See the Space Combat Screen section for further details
Sentry Mode
This is used to guard one of your asteroids. Simply click on the SENTRY
MODE button and then EXIT. Your ships will continue patrolling your
asteroid as if nothing has happened but they are in constant contact with
your asterold sensors. As soon as an enemy fleet is detected heading for
the current asteroid the fleet will enter Intercept Fleet Mode and go to
Intercept the enemy fleet (as above). If it is successful in defeating the
enemy it will return to the asteroid and go back to Sentry Mode. It will
continue to intercept all approaching enemy fleets until you instruct it
otherwise or it is destroyed.
RETREAT THRESHOLDS
------------------
Each fleet has a retreat threshold which is normally 100%. This reflects
the amount of the original fleet which can be destroyed before the fleet
will abandon its attack and return to a friendly asteroid.
To alter the retreat threshold simply click over the figure at the top
right of the Fleet Control Window. Click the left mouse button to decrease
the figure by 10% or the right mouse button to increase it by 10%.
With 100% the fleet will never retreat. It will fight until it is
successful or all the ships in the fleet are destroyed.
With 0%, the fleet will retreat as soon as a single ship in the fleet is
destroyed.
SPACE COMBAT SCREEN
-------------------
When two fleets meet in space they will pause in their initial orders and
engage in combat. The battle will continue until either side is destroyed
or retreats. The fleet icons on the Asteroid Field Screen will flash. You
can watch the combat by clicking on the flashing icons.
On the Space Combat Screen you can view yours and the enemys fleet in
battle. You cannot examine your fleet listing but there are some buttons
available by clicking with the right mouse button anywhere on the screen.
RETREAT ASTEROID
PAUSE EXIT
RETREAT: Enables you to force your fleet to retreat immediately
ASTEROID: Returns you to the Asteroid Field Screen
PAUSE: Have we really got to explain this?
EXIT: Returns you to the space battle
ZONE 006 : BUTTON SELECTION PANELS
----------------------------------
When the game is playing you can bring up a Button Panel by clicking on the
right mouse button. A Button Pane appropriate to the screen you are on
will appear.
Whilst the Button Panel is in view the game is paused. You can select any
of the buttons by clicking on them using the left mouse button. You can
only select buttons from the Button Panel - any buttons elsewhere on the
screen are inactive until you exit the Button Panel.
This section summarises the major button panels. Use it to locate a button
when you don`t know what Button Panel it is on. Better still use the
Button Extraction technique explained later.
Asteroid View Screen Button Panel
---------------------------------
TETRACORP INFO MILITARY
ASTEROID FIELD DEMOLISH
BUILDING PAUSE EXIT
TETRACORP
Access the Tetracorp Control Screen providing options for changing scenario
loading and saving games etc
INFO
Takes you to the Information Button Panel (see below)
MILITARY
Takes you to the Military Button Panel (see below)
ASTEROID
Access the Asteroid Control Button Panel (see below)
FIELD
Access the Asteroid Field Screen
DEMOLISH
Toggle Demolish Mode on or off
BUILDING
Access the Engineering Window that allows you to select a building
PAUSE
Pause the game. To unpause the game click either mouse button. If you
leave the game paused for more than a couple of minutes then the screen
will dim to protect your monitor from bright colours.
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Information Button Panel
------------------------
SPYING FUNDS
GEOLOGY SCI-TEK
BLUEPRINTS EXIT
SPYING
Access the Spying Control Window
FUNDS
Access the Financial Funds Window
GEOLOGY
Obtain an ore deposit report for the current asteroid
SCI-TEK
Access the Communications Screen which allows you to purchase devices from
the Sci-Tek catalogue
BLUEPRINTS
Obtain a listing of all the blueprints you have bought from Sci-Tek
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Military Button Panel
---------------------
FLEET SHIP
MISSILE EXIT
FLEET
Access the Fleet Control Window
SHIP
Toggle between Normal (hand) and Ship Selection Mode white arrow)
MISSILE
Access the Missile Launch Window
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Asteroid Control Button Panel
-----------------------------
LEFT RIGHT
ORBIT FIELD
TACTICAL EXIT
LEFT
Rotates asteroid left 90 degrees
RIGHT
Rotates asteroid right 90 degrees
ORBIT
Switch to the Orbit Screen
The Orbit Screen represents an area of space above your asteroid. Many of
the larger ships cannot approach the asteroid too closely so they remain in
orbit. The Space Dock is always on the Orbit Screen and never on the
Asteroid View Screen.
This button switches to the Orbit Screen so you can view and select any
ships that are there. Clicking on this button again will return you to the
Asteroid View Screen.
FIELD
Access the Asteroid Field Screen
TACTICAL
Toggles between normal and tactical mode on the asteroid. Tactical mode is
described in the Tutorial.
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Asteroid Field Button Panel
---------------------------
DISPLAY QUICKVIEW SUMMARY
MISSILE PAUSE FLEET
ASTEROID ENGINES EXIT
DISPLAY
Access the Display Options Button Panel. This enables you to select which
information you want to appear on the Asteroid Field Screen (see below)
QUICKVIEW
Enables you to program and use the QuickView method at viewing asteroids
QuickView is described in the section about Time Saving Techniques.
SUMMARY
Access the Colony Summary Window. This provides a summary on the important
elements at the colony on the current Asteroid and is very useful when you
are managing several asteroids simultaneously. Using this option can save
you accessing the Asteroid View Screen to look at how a colonys
progressing. See the appropriate section.
MISSILE
Access the Missile Launch Window
PAUSE
Pause the game. To unpause the game click either mouse button. If you
leave the game paused for more than a couple of minutes then the screen
will dim to protect your monitor from bright colours.
FLEET
Access the Fleet Control Window
ASTEROID
Access the Asteroid View Screen for the current asteroid.
ENGINES
Enables control of the current asteroids Asteroid Engines. If it has any.
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Display Options Button Panel
----------------------------
PAFW EXIT
PAFW
Toggles the PAFW display on and off on the Asteroid Field Screen. If you
are confident of your ability to manage your asteroids you can turn this
option off to avoid cluttering the Asteroid Field Screen
EXIT
Exit the Button Panel
Other options are available. In this Button Panel when you purchase the
Asteroid Tracker Device from Sci-Tek
BUTTON EXTRACTION
-----------------
Most likely you are finding it annoying accessing nested Button Panels all
the time. You can avoid this by customising the Asteroid View Screen
making available all the buttons you commonly use. Note you can only
customise the Asteroid View Screen and Orbit Screen NOT the Asteroid Field
Screen or any other screens.
When any Button Panel is active you can pull out or extract any button
(except the Exit button). Click the left mouse button over the chosen
button and keep the button held down until the button appears in the main
screen at the right or bottom edge. Notice that the button function is NOT
carried out.
There is space for 6 buttons up the right side of the screen and 8 along
the bottom. No button may be duplicated.
It is well worth the time to extract your often used buttons since they are
now available at any time without you having to remember which Button Panel
to access.
You can delete an extracted button from the screen by clicking and holding
in the same way as you extracted the button.
Your customised screen will be remembered if you save the game.
TIME SAVlNG TECHNIQUES
----------------------
Once you are familiar with the game you may wish to use these techniques to
speed up play.
Keyboard Short-cuts
-------------------
D - Toggles Demolish Mode on and off
S - Toggles between Normal (hand) mode and Ship Selection (arrow) Mode
SPACE Toggles between normal and Tactical mode on the Asteroid View Screen
Left and Right Arrows - Rotate the asteroid left or right 90 degrees
QuickView
---------
If you are managing several asteroids and maybe know about a couple of
enemy asteroids as well it can be very time consuming if you are switching
between them frequently.
When you click on the QuickView button you are given a listing of the
definitions of the 10 function keys F1 to F1O. You can define an asteroid
to any of the function keys. Then simply pressing that function key will
take you to the Asteroid View Screen. For that asteroid from whatever
screen you were previously on.
To define a function key click on the line in the listing from F1 to F10.
Then click on any asteroid with the left mouse button. The function key is
now defined. You can redefine it at any stage by the same method.
The listing is colour coded;
Green - asteroid owned by you
Red - asteroid owned by enemy
Orange - uninhabited asteroid
With several function keys defined you can browse through asteroids very
quickly.
Select Building
---------------
You may discover that there is a subset of buildings that you are always
building when you colonise a new asteroid, and that it takes a long time
choosing them all from the Engineering Window. You can program the keys 1
to 9 to specific buildings then to select one of those buildings you just
press 1-9 instead of accessing the Engineering Window.
In the Engineering Window you may have noticed numbers in brackets at the
top left of some buildings eg the Living Quarters. These are the default
definitions of the keys 1-9.
To program any building to a key 1-9 simply locate the building in the
Engineering Window and press the key 1-9. The number will appear at top
left and that building is now programmed. You can redefine a number key
1-9 by the same method.
It is well worth taking time to define the keys 1-9. Your definitions will
be remembered if you save the game.
As well as selecting a programmed building using the kevs 1-9 you can use
the Blue Button situated under the building icon on the Asteroid View
Screen. Each click on the Blue Button will select one of the programmed
buildings 1-9.
You can in fact have a tenth programmed building because key 0 is alwavs
defined as the last building selected by from the Engineering Window
itself, it will of course change every time you select a new building from
the Engineering Window.
TERRAIN APPROVED 2450 THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS FOR EMPLOYEES OF SCI-TEK AND
TETRACORP ONLY.
ZONE 007 : TETRACORP AND SCI-TEK
--------------------------------
TETRACORP
This screen is accessed by clicking on the Tetracorp button in the main
Asteroid View Screen Button Panel (The icon depicting a floppy disk) The
Tetracorp screen provides the facilities for loading and saving games and
selecting which scenario to play.
Along the bottom of the screen is the command line. To select an option
click on one of the commands:
LOAD GAME
---------
Clicking on LOAD allows you to load and continue a previously saved game.
If the game is running off of floppy disk, the game is loaded from a saved
game disk inserted into the internal drive (DF0:) If the game is running
from Hard Disk the game is loaded from the Hard Disk.
Follow the on screen prompts to Load a game.
SAVE GAME
---------
Clicking on SAVE allows you to save a game to continue later. If the game
is running off of floppy disk, you can only save your game to a
pre-formatted disk inserted into the internal drive (DF0:). If the game is
running from Hard Disk the game is saved onto the Hard Disk. In the same
directory as K240.
Follow the on-screen prompts to Save a game.
LOADING AN ALIEN
----------------
Clicking on ALIEN will allow you to load and play any one of the 6 Alien
scenarios. You access the Tetracorp Alien Database which presents each
allen along with some information about them. You can obtain more detail
about the Aliens by reading the section of the manual entitled "The Enemy"
Each Alien is given a difficulty rating and it is strongly recommended that
you play the scenarios in the order of Easy, Medium and Hard.
At the bottom of the Database screen is the command line. To select an
option click on one of the commands:
NEXT
This accesses the next Alien in the database.
PLAY
This enables you to commence play on this scenario. Note that if you were
in the middle of a game that game will be deleted and you cannot return to
that game unless you had saved it to disk.
END
Exits the Alien Database selecting no scenario. You may return to the game
you were playing.
SOUND FX ON/OFF
This option simply turns on and off sound effect
SPEECH
This option simply turns sampled speech on and off
DOS
This option allows you to exit K240 altogether and return to the Workbench.
Any game you were playing will be lost unless you had previously saved it
to disk
END
This returns you to the game
SCI-TEK - THE TECHNOLOGY YOU PREFER
Sci-Tek is available 24 hours a day for you to purchase blueprints. Under
their comprehensive licensing agreement you purchase the rights to
manufacture as many devices as you like from each blueprint you buy. You
must however pay a royalty to Sci- Tek for every item you make but this is
included in the cost presented to you in the game.
You can access the Sci-Tek database from the Sci-Tek button. In some cases
the database may take a few seconds to access even via hi-speed
communication devices.
From the database you can peruse Sci-Teks catalogue and opt to buy as many
blueprints as you desire. All purchased blueprints will be delivered to
you on the next scheduled Imperial Ore Carrier and are NOT available for
construction until then.
On the database screen you are shown one device at a time. At the bottom
of the screen is the command line:
PREV NEXT PURCHASE CLEAR END
Use PREV and NEXT to cycle through the catalogue. Click on PURCHASE to buy
the displayed blueprint, or CLEAR to change your mind. Clicking on END
will break the communication link with Sci-Tek and order any blueprints you
have purchased.
Note: The money available to you is the funds you have in the Basic Money
section of your Financial Funds (See appropriate secton) You cannot use
money allocated to Construction, Vehicles, Intelligence or Missiles unless
you remove money from those funds prior to accessing Sci-Tek.
ZONE 008 : HINTS
----------------
GAMEPLAY TIPS
K240 is an open ended game - there is no one way to win. These notes do
not necessarily represent the best way to play K240 they only serve to
offer some assistance if you have no idea what you should be doing next.
When you begin the game spend about 50% of your money building up your
first asteroid. Build Mines, Stores, Power generation buildings, a Command
Centre, Sensor Array, Ship Construction Yard, Landing Pad, buildings for
producing air, food and water and any other buildings that take your fancy.
Dont worry about military defences just yet.
Once your asteroid is a mass of scaffolding take the time to have a look at
the Asteroid Field Screen to see where you are and whether you know about
any other asteroids yet.
It is often a good idea to enter into communications with Sci-Tek and
purchase one or two cheap devices. A Gravity Nullifier is well worth the
investment at this stage (assuming of course one has not been supplied for
you by Tetracorp). Once you begin to discover asteroids you may find
several of them on a collision course with your main asteroid and it may be
too late then to purchase a Gravity Nullifier and wait for its arrival on
the Imperial Ore Carrier.
Your colony should now be producing ore nicely. Your immediate concern now
is to expand onto other asteroids. You need to build some Scout Ships so
get your Ship Construction Yard building a couple of Scouts. They shouldnt
take long.
If you have already discovered some other asteroids you may wish to
dispatch your new Scouts on a Prospecting mission to see how rich they are
in ores. If your sensors are looking bare send the Scouts out with orders
to Explore.
Once you have discovered a few other asteroids and obtained Ore Reports
about them, you are in a position to decide which asteroid to colonise
first. Pick the one with most ore deposits, particulary the rarer ores.
If you have discovered any send your Transporter ship off to colonise that
asteroid. When the new colony has been established (the CPU has been
built) you are in the position to expand that colony too building Mines and
Stores etc.
There is usually a phase where you run severely short of money so try to
spend it wisely. Dont spread yourself across too many asteroids at once,
dont invest in unnecessary luxuries from Sci-Tek yet and ensure you build
the most important buildings first, whilst you have the money. There is no
point in having 20 Mines on an asteroid if they have no power or the
employees are dying from radiation because you can`t afford any Radiation
Filters.
Once you have sold several shipments of ore to the Imperial Ore Carrier the
situation should improve It is now worth your while beginning to build a
small fleet and lay down a few defences on your asteroids preparing for the
time when you discover the enemy or they discover you.
Maintain a balance. Keep all of your colonies growing slowly. Keep mining
at all costs. As you deplete an asteroids reserves colonise and begin
mining a new asteroid. Build a few ships and put them into a defensive
fleet. Maybe build a few missiles. Purchase a few devices from Sci-Tek.
Everything in moderation.
When you finally discover the enemy start spying at once to gather all the
information you can about him. You may well need different tactics against
each Alien.
MILITARY STRATEGY
-----------------
Not too many clues here! Until you discover the weaknesses and strengths
of each Alien, maintain a varied defence. If it appears that the enemy
concentrate on missile strikes build plenty of Anti-Missile Pods. If you
are constantly plagued by enemy attack fleets maintain a strong defence
fleet which can intercept the enemy fleet as soon as it is detected.
Protect your colonies with gun turrets and Screen Generators.
Your attack tactics will also depend upon what you discover about the enemy
and how they react when they are attacked. Sometimes it is better to build
large and strong attack fleets and back them up with regular missile
strikes. Other times regular attacks by small skirmish fleets may be
enough to keep the enemy at bay whilst you plan something special for them!
Examine the enemy defences carefully before you attack.
Dont leave it too long in the game before constructing a Space Dock. This
will allow you to buy the blueprints for the Terminator and Battleship from
Sci-Tek and to add them to your fleet.
One last tip: Watch where the enemy attacks carefully. It is possible
that he does not know about all your asteroids and attacks the same ones
over and over. If you think this is the case use the undetected asteroids
for the bulk of your mining and ship production whilst they are safe.
INTERVAL:
---------
THERE WILL NOW BE A SHORT BREAK IN THE MANUAL. THERE WILL BE SOMEONE ALONG
IN A MINUTE TO SELL YOU ICE-CREAMS AND COFFEE. PLEASE DO NOT OBSTRUCT THE
WAY TO THE TOILETS. THANKS
ZONE 009 : BACKGROUND
---------------------
THE EMPIRE
----------
The Terran Empire governs a vast area of space, a sphere approximately 300
light years in radius with Earth at its centre. Over 1000 worlds have been
inhabited and are home to countless billions of humans and a minor
population of alien races discovered during the great expansion in the 23rd
century.
The Empire came into unofficial existence in the year 2215 when command of
the homeworlds (the most densely populated worlds nearest to Earth) was
seized by the Commander of the Fleet Parillo, during the 5 year war at
Deneb Markab. Several years of uncertainty followed but most worlds
quickly offered their support for Parillo when he began his Expansion
Policy; promising to push out in search of new worlds to ease overcrowding.
By 2250 he had discovered and opened up many new worlds for colonisation
and established the Industrial Worlds so called because they concentrated
industry away from population areas and maximised productivity. These
advances led to Parillo being formally declared Emperor in the year 2253.
Upon his death in 2274 title of Emperor passed to his son Marcissus
Parillos policies were continued but his xenophobic nature led to many wars
with newly discovered alien races, many of them highly advanced and capable
of inflicting serious damage upon the Imperial Fleet. The Decade of Terror
came about in 2294 when the Tharmaxlons declared war on the Empire. In a
few short years they opened a great gash in the side of the Empire nearest
their homeworlds in the Capella Sector. In 2301 they penetrated right to
the heart of the Empire and attacked and destroyed the Industrial Worlds
orbiting Beta Hydrae. Marcissus was blamed for his refusal to enter into
peace negotiations with the aliens. That and the hatred of even the
friendly alien minorities in the Empire for his open racism led to his
being deposed as Emporer in 2303.
Lynn Salaria, Marcissus daughter and greatest critic was crowned Empress
that very year. Her first act was to push back the Tharmaxions with all
the Imperial might and then negotiated treaty with them which was
incidentally very preferential to the Terran Empire, Peace and prosperity
returned and she is Empress to this day (the year 2380), though she is
expected to abdicate in favour of her eldest son at any moment.
SCI-TEK
-------
Under the prosperity established by Parillo and later Marcissus many
companies grew to immense size and profitability especialiy those directly
linked to the Expansion Policy. One such company was Sci-Tek.
Sci-Tek was founded in 2309 after decades of research into gravitational
theory. It's first products were the much acclaimed Asteroid Engines and
Gravity Nuilifier: allowing complete control of an asteroid independent of
the gravitational influence of other space objects Countless other
corporations bought the devices providing Sci-Tek with enough capital to
channel more money towards R&D.
Within ten years it led the way in the design and manufacture of obscure
but useful devices and facilities. However its legal departments proved as
cunning and resourceful as their technicians. They devised an incredibly
complicated licensing agreement whereby its clients could buy the license
rights to the design blueprints for a particular Sci-Tek product and
manufacture it themselves. The results were phenomenal as were Sci-Teks
profits. Other corporations preferred to use their own manufacturing
facilities and this allowed Sci-Tek to phase out their own industrial
plants and concentrate purely on development. They could put all their
resources into developing a larger product line. Surpisingly, no loophole
has been found in Sci-Teks license agreement and as a result none of their
designs have been stolen. In the few cases where a client has broken the
license agreement the Imperial Administrator himself has stepped in favour
of Sci-Tek
TETRACORP
---------
Another, larger, Imperial company is Tetracorp. It began in 2221,
manufacturing scout ships and sensory equipment for the Imperial Fleet.
Its assets grew and it soon realised the potential of space exploration and
asteroid mining. It began developing new techniques for extracting and
transporting rare ores mined in the depths of space which were so
successful that by the year 2280 it had grown to own and fill the entire
Industrial World of Barnard Five.
By the middle of the 24th century it had cornered the market in mining
franchises. Having manufactured superior mining equipment and support
ships. It offered packages to anyone with the ambition to take over one of
the asteroid fields being discovered every year on the frontier of the
Empire (known as the Fragmented Sectors). It would provide all the
equipment and support required to establish one or more mining colonies on
these ore rich asteroids. In return for a degree of control over the
colonies and full rights to purchase all ore mined at standard Imperial
prices.
THE FRAGMENTED SECTORS
----------------------
As expansion continued in search of habitable worlds and resources the
exploration fleets began to discover an increasing amount of star systems
whose planets had been torn apart to produce huge asteroid fields orbiting
the star. The cause of this widespread destruction in so many star systems
is unknown but it proved incredible good fortune for Tetracorp. The fields
of asteroids made it far easier to extract the valuable ores and several
new and phenomenally valuable ores were discovered such as Traxium and
Nexos.
K240
----
In the year 2380, Sector K240 was made available for colonisation by
Tetracorp. K240 is one of the Fragmented Sector and occupies a cube of
space 50 light years across. As a Tetracorp franchise holder you have
claimed a section of K240 and are ready to begin your mining operations in
the asteroid fields Good luck!
TERRAN APPROVED: 2450 THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS FOR THOSE WITH SECURITY
CLEARANCE BLUE AND ABOVE ONLY.
ZONE 010 : BUILDING REFERENCE SECTION
-------------------------------------
This section describes each building available and its features and purpose
in the game. Some are unavailable at the start of the game but can be
purchased from Sci-Tek. These are marked as (Blueprint).
Note: This data is accurate at the present time but is subject to change
without warning, as manufacturing techniques improve.
Anti-Missile Pod (blueprint)
----------------------------
Cost: 7000 Cr
Power: 3 MW/day
Time: 36 days
These are your major defence against incoming enemy missiles. They
automatically detect enemy missiles and target them though their accuracy
is low. To improve accuracy build several
Asteroid Engines (blueprint)
----------------------------
Cost: 45000 Cr
Power: 0-5 MW /day depending upon speed
Time: 64 days
This is a phenomenally advanced facility that provides the means to control
the gravitational field of the asteroid enabling it to change direction and
speed any time you want
When you click on the building a control window appears:
The current direction and speed of the asteroid is shown. To alter speed
click on the right arrow button (increase) or the left arrow button
(decrease). A speed of zero indicates that the asteroid will remain
stationary.
To alter the direction click on any of the yellow dots in the circle
surrounding the asteroid.
If the Engines run out of power the speed will drop to zero and the
asteroid will no longer move. Power is essential to maintain the gravity
field that moves the asteroid.
Colony Preservation Unit
------------------------
Cost: 30000 Cr to start a new colony
Power: none
Time: 40 days
This building can only be built when beginning a new colony on an
uninhabited asteroid. (See the section on Colonising New Asteroids). The
Transporter ship will automatically construct one when it arrives at the
new asteroid provided enough funds are available.
The purpose of the CPU is to establish a minimum survival colony allowing
you time to construct. Further more specific buildings. To this end it
provides:
Living space for 100 employees
8 MW/day of power
300 units of air per day
250 units of food per day
250 units of water per day
In addition it has storage capacity for:
1000 air units
1000 food units
1000 water units
50MW of power.
The facilities at the CPU will degenerate over time since it is meant to be
phased out when you have your colony up and running. Because of this all
production of air, water and food (NOT power) will decrease by 1 unit/day
until they reach zero. Thus the CPU cannot sustain a colony after about
250 days.
Command Centre
--------------
Cost: 8000 Cr
Power: 3 MW/day
Time: 32 days
This is a very important building and you are advised to have more than one
amongst your asteroids. A Command Centre can control any number of
colonies therefore its exact location is unimportant. It makes all your
asteroids run more smoothly and also offers specific functions when clicked
upon. These are:
a) A window appears listing the prices at which the Imperial Home Worlds
will buy your mined ore. Sometimes the Empire will guarantee prices for a
number of years for a paticular ore type that it needs badly. In this case
the letter "H" will appear after the ore price to indicate that the price
has been held. The number after the "H" indicates the number of years that
the price is held for. This window also indicates the number of days
before the next Imperial Ore Carrier arrives at your colony.
b) By clicking on the Space Dock button you have the option to construct an
orbiting Space Dock around the current asteroid. See the section about
Space Docks.
c) By clicking on the Ship Button you can obtain a list of the location of
all your Transporter ships whether they are around an asteroid or in space.
Use this to manage your transporters more effectively.
Note: You will be unable to command any fleets without at least one
Command Centre.
Construction Yard
-----------------
Cost: 7500 Cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 32 Days
This large building extends underground into huge caverns (accessible via
the Landing Pads). you can construct the smaller spacecraft in the yard,
namely Assault Fighters, Combat Eagle, and Scout Ships.
When ships are constructed they are left in the underground hangers. To
issue orders to the hangered ships, click on the Landing Pads.
Clicking on this building allows you to construct ships or obtain a status
report of ships currently under construction. Full details on ship
construction are given elsewhere.
Decontamination Filter
---------------------
Cost: 8000 Cr
Power: 3 MW/Day
Time: 36 Days
The background radiation on some asteroids is high causing employee
sickness which leads to loss of production. The Company advises the
construction of one or more of these Filters which offer a screen against
the heavier radioactive particles protecting the employees inside colony
buildings.
Deep Bore Mine
--------------
Cost: 5500 Cr
Power: 2 MW/Day
Time: 36 Days
This is a sophisticated mining drill for locating and extracting the more
valuable Ores. It can extract:
Quazinc
Bytanium
Korellium
Dragonium
All mined ores are sent directly to Stores.
Environmental Control
---------------------
Cost: 3200 Cr
Power: none
Time: 20 Days
This facility primarily stores surplus environment commodities for later
use. Each building can store up to 5000 air units, 600 food units and 600
water units. It also monitors the usage and production of these
environment commodities to provide an uninterrupted supply in every section
of your colony.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window.
Protected Environmental Control
-------------------------------
Cost: 8500 Cr
Power: 3 MW/Day
Time: 32 Days
This is an extension to the normal building, with an integral Laser Turret
for colony defence. Bearing in mind the importance of environmental
control, it would seem prudent to protect it.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window.
Gravity Nullifier (blueprint)
-----------------------------
Cost: 35000 Cr
Power: 4 MW/day if on
Time: 52 days
It can take considerable time to monitor the movements of your asteroids
and those nearby and collisions are a constant danger. The Nullifier
generates a gravitational field that stops all asteroids within a certain
range from moving including the one the Nullifier is built on. As long as
the field is active you don`t have to worry about collisions, however any
asteroid using Asteroid Engines will be unaffected by the field. Note that
the field will collapse if you have insufficient power to drive the
Nullifier so regular checks on it`s operational status should be maintained
Clicking on the Nullifier gives the option of turning the field on or off.
Hydration Plant
---------------
Cost: 5000 Cr
Power: 1 MW/day
Time: 20 days
These buildings provide essential water for your employees. Each hydration
plant provides water for up to 500 employees. A very efficiet chemical
process is used to extract water and oxygen from ice crystrals trapped deep
within the asteroid. Surplus water will be stored in Environmental Stores
if you have any.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Hydroponics
-----------
Cost: 7000 Cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 16 days
These buildings provide essential food for your employees. Each one
provides food for up to 400 workers which is grown from a slurry tank of
algae fed with concentrated nutrients. It sounds inedible but the basic
slurry can be moulded into any foodstuff (In tests it was found that 8 out
of 10 employees could not tell the difference and the drastic reduction in
cost when compared to fresh food has made these units a Company Favourite)
Surplus food will be stored in Environmental Stores should you have any.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window.
Landing Pad
-----------
Cost: 300 Cr
Power: none
Time: 16 days
These are the access points for ships to enter and leave the vast
underground hangers. It is advisable to leave unused ships in the hangers
as this keeps them safe from enemy attack and enables damaged ships to be
repaired.
Landing Pads cannot be built too close to the edge of the asteroid where
the rock is at its thinnest.
Clicking on a Landing Pad displays a list of all ships currently in the
hangers or orbiting the current asteroid. You may issue orders to one or
more of these ships from here. For more information see the section on
Controlling Ships elsewhere in this manual.
Laser Turret
------------
Cost: 3400 Cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 24 days
This low powered weapon offers defence against attack by enemy ship(s). It
will automatically track and fire upon any enemy ship(s) around the current
asteroid assuming it has sufficient power.
Life Support
------------
Cost: 13000 Cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 48 Days
This building provides vital air and atmospheric control throughout the
colony buildings. Each life support module can generate a breathable
environment for up to 500 employees. A revolutionary (and top secret)
chemical process is used to extract Hydrogen Oxygen and the various Noble
gasses trapped within the asteroid and render them breathable. Surplus air
will be stored in the Environmental Stores if you have any.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Living Quarters
---------------
Cost: 1000 Cr
Power: none
Time: 32 Days
The basic support building for employees in the colony. Much of the
building is underground and has adequate facilities for about 50. They are
quick to construct but very susceptible to damage from attack.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Medical Centre
--------------
Cost: 5000 Cr
Power: 1 MW/Day
Time: 30 Days
This is a state of the art facility incorporating all the medical equipment
and staff you`d expect to find in a major planetary Hospital. It is
capable of supporting a colony of up to 100 employees, handling both
routine and emergency medical care. It is unwise to have a large colony
without at least one Medical Centre. Having one improves employee morale
and health and in addition lowers the number of fatalities through mining
accidents. It is also invaluable in the rare cases when a virus spreads
rapidly through the close confinement of a mining colony and can also offer
treatment for low doses of radiation
Mine
----
Cost: 4000 Cr
Power: 1 MW/Day
Time: 32 Days
The basic mining drill for extracting the commoner types of ore. It can
extract:
Selenium Asteros
Barium Crystalite
All mined ores are sent directly to Stores
Missile Silo
------------
Cost: 4300 Cr
Power: none
Time: 32 Days
All your missiles are constructed and launched from these silos. For full
details about Missiles see the appropriate section elsewhere in this
manual.
Each asteroid has underground caverns capable of storing 10 of each type of
missile, a total of 110 missiles. Obviously no matter how many missiles
you have in storage you cannot launch them without a silo. The advantage
of multiple silos is that your launch rate is far greater.
Clicking on a silo brings up the Missile Construction Window where you
select which missiles to build. Launching missiles is done by clicking on
the Missile Button (See the section on Missiles for details of both these
operations)
Ore Teleporter (blueprint)
--------------------------
Cost: 45000 Cr
Power: 1 MW/Day
Time: 48 Day
This is a very effective and swift means of transporting ores between
asteroids you must have an ore transporter on both of the asteroids you
want to move ore between. For best results install one on all your
asteroids.
To teleport some ore, click on the Ore Teleport on the asteroid you want to
move ore FROM.
A window appears listing all the ore available in the Stores on this
asteroid both in bar chart form and numerical form
You cannot do anything until you select the destination asteroid. To do
so, click on the asteroid button. You will be taken to the Asteroid Field
screen where you can move the cross hair over the destination asteroid and
click with the left mouse button you must of course select an asteroid that
is owned by you and that contains an Ore Teleporter.
After selecting the destination you will be returned to the Ore teleport
window where you will now see the contents of the stores on the destination
asteroid (The second column of figures).
To teleport ore simply drag the bar charts either left or right (similar to
the means explained earlier in the manual) and Ore will be teleported
instantaneously between the asteroids.
To teleport from the current asteroid to the destination drag the bar
charts to the right.
To teleport from the destination to the current asteroid drag the bar
charts to the left.
Plasma Turret (blueprint)
-------------------------
Cost: 5500 Cr
Power: 3 MW /day
Time: 30 days
This weapon offers greater fire power than the standard Laser Turret. It
automatically tracks and fires upon any enemy ships around the current
asteroid providing it has sufficient power.
Photon Turret (blueprint)
-------------------------
Cost: 7500 Cr
Power: 5 MW /day
Time: 52 days
This weapon offers the greatest fire power of the three turret types. The
Photon Turrets power and accurracy is beyond compare and is only rivalled
by some of the larger intergalactic warships. Having sold this however a
warship moves pretty damn fast whereas a turret is rooted to the spot as
you would expect. It too automatically tracks and fires upon any enemy
ships around the current asteroid providing it has sufficient power.
Powerplant (blueprint)
----------------------
Cost: 10000 Cr
Power: variable
Time: 40 days
This is the major means of power generation upon your asteroids. It is a
large and complicated building to construct but it offers superior power
generation. It extracts Asteros ore direct from the asteroid and uses a
fusion process to turn it into a daily output of 32 MW. Ensure you have an
adequate supply of Asteros before construction since it uses 1 Asteros unit
every 4 days.
If there is an ample supply of Asteros it will generate 32 MW/day otherwise
it will use less ores to give a much reduced output of 8MW/day.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power if any.
Power Store
-----------
Cost: 1500 Cr
Power: none
Time: 32 days
Unused surplus power is channelled into these for later use. They offer a
good backup in the rarer cases where you may temporarily lose some of your
power generation buildings, perhaps during an enemy attack. They will at
least prevent you from being totally out of power for a short while.
Each one has a capacity of 200 MW of power.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power if any.
Repair Facility (blueprint)
---------------------------
Cost: 20000 Cr
Power: none
Time: 36 days
Colony buildings get damaged in the harsh environment of the mining colony
especially during enemy attacks, Normally there are insufficient resources
to affect repajrs. This building controls a fleet of repair robots that
routinely move about the colony and undertake building repairs.
Resiblock
---------
Cost: 3000 Cr
Power: 2 MW/Day
Time: 48 Days
This is a more advanced support building, offering more facilities for
employees especially in the way of entertiainment and leisure. It takes
longer to construct than the basic Living quarters but supports 150
employees and is more space efficient.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Protected Resiblock
-------------------
Cost: 8500 Cr
Power: 5 MW/Day
Time: 56 Days
The standard resiblock is now protected by an integral Laser Turret giving
better protection from enemy attack and subsequently safeguarding your
workforce.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Satellite Silo
--------------
Cost: 5000 Cr
Power: none
Time: 24 Days
Gathering intelligence about the enemy requires the frequent launch of spy
satellites. Satellites are both constructed and launched from these silos.
For details see the section on spying.
Screen Generator (blueprint)
----------------------------
Cost: 20000 Cr
Power: 7 MW/Day if on
Time: 52 Days
Most buildings have very little defence against damage from enemy attacks
and are easily damaged or destroyed. A screen generator uses power to
erect a force screen over one or more buildings to offer greater
protection.
To identify the area of effect of a screen (an asteroid can have several
Screen Generators) select Tactical Mode on the main asteroid view screen.
All buildings shown with a white square are protected.
Security Centre
---------------
Cost: 4500 Cr
Power: 2 Mw/Day
Time: 24 Days
The Company believes in high pay for hard work but sometimes the employees
forget this and become slack or troubled by the long shifts and hard
dangerous work. It is inevitable that there will be regular rebellions and
standoffs between the management and the workers and this is where the
highly trained security team steps in. They possess the power to
discipline employees fine them, and imprison them if necessary. More
importantly they also have guns. It is wise to have a Security Centre for
about every 50 employees to prevent criminal activities taking a foothold.
Clicking on this building will access the Colony Summary window
Seismic Penetrator (blueprint)
------------------------------
Cost: 26500 Cr
Power: 3 MW/Day
Time: 42 Days
This is the very latest mining equipment recently introduced by Sci-Tek.
It takes more asteroid space and power than conventional Mines but is
capable of extracting very valuable ores. It can extract:
Traxium and Nexos
All mined ores are sent directly to Stores.
Sensor Array
------------
Cost: 3500 Cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 36 days
Without a sensor array an asteroid has a very small sensor range. (The
small black circle on the Asteroid Field screen). The array improves this
range (increases the circle) and gives better warning of enemy fleet
movements.
Whenever enemy missiles or an enemy fleet enters sensor range you will
receive an on screen (and audible) warning. In the bottom left of the
screen one or more icons will flash. A missile inside a circle indicates
the presence of missiles and a ship inside a circle indicates the detection
of a fleet. The Asteroid Field Screen will indicate their position as red
dots (for Missiles) or a red logo (for fleets). For as long as these icons
flash you are in danger!
Solar Generator
---------------
Cost: 1500 Cr
Power: gen. 4 MW/day
Time: 10 days
A more effective means of harnessing solar power, this building can output
up to 4MW/Day. It costs more but is more space efficient.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power if any.
Solar Matrix (blueprint)
------------------------
Cost: 5000 Cr
Power: gen 8 MW/day
Time: 32 days
This is an expensive building but maximises space on smaller asteroids by
containing a large tower of solar panels using a very small surface area.
The output is 8MW/day.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power if any.
Protected Solar Matrix (blueprint)
----------------------------------
Cost: 7200 Cr
Power: gen 8MW/day
Time: 48 days
This improved design contains an Integral Laser Turret for defence
purposes.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power, if any.
Solar Panel
-----------
Cost: 500 Cr
Power: generates 2 MW/day
Time: 8 days
This is a very cheap and easily constructed array to harness power from the
sun. It outputs a constant 2MW/day.
Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings currently
without power, if any.
Storage Facility
----------------
Cost: 1500 Cr
Power: 1 MW/day
Time: 20 days
This building stockpiles all types of ore for later use. It automatically
handles ore arriving at the stores from the Mines via underground conveyor
belts and feeds it to Construction yards or Missile Silos as needed. This
small building can store a total of 300 ore units.
Clicking on this building lists the ore stored by category.
Storage Tower
-------------
Cost: 3000 cr
Power: 2 MW/day
Time: 40 days
This is a more space efficient Store capable of holding 600 ore units of
any type.
Clicking on this building lists the ore stored by category.
Protected Storage Tower
-----------------------
Cost: 7500 Cr
Power: 4 MW/Day
Time: 48 Days
This is an improved design of the Storage Tower with an inbuilt Laser
Turret to fend off unwelcome visitors. It should be noted that all ore
storage devices will be prime targets for enemy attacks, as they are one of
the prime requisites of any colony. It would therefore seem wise to
protect them. This is done by putting a huge fake plastic gun on the top
and a fairly pathetic real lasser turret inside it. This is in the vain
hope that any attacking fleet will see the fake weapon and decide they are
outgunned. The reality of course is that they see the tiny laser that it
fires and think oh its another one of those realistic plastic guns I`m off.
Honest. Don`t delay buy one today.
Clicking on this building lists the ore stored by category.
Weapons Factory
---------------
Cost: 4400 Cr
Power: 2 MW/Day
Time: 32 Days
This enables the manufacture of weapons, missile warheads and spacecraft
engines. One of these buildings provides such facilities for an entire
asteroid.
ZONE 011 : SCI-TEK
------------------
Welcome to Sci-Tek!
As you will be aware, at Sci-Tek we only deal in the galaxys most advanced
blueprints. And since we dont waste any of our precious time with mass
production plants, you, the customer, dont suffer in the long run. The
more time we get to spend on our development, the better your equipment in
the end. Here at Sci-Tek we put YOU, the customer first and foremost. And
remember, this sign is your assurance of quality
Sci-Tek
Brochure 2425
To order call 075846653687 and one of our androids will be happy to take
your order.
Quote this ref. (Grem.226) for an extra 10% off.
2nd Generation Mines
--------------------
Cost: 55000 Cr
This is a computer controlled multi-headed drill assembly. It will
automatically be added to all your existing Mines and all Mines built in
the future. It doubles the speed at which a Mine can extract ore.

2nd Generation Deep Bore Mines
------------------------------
Cost: 75000 Cr
This is a computer controlled multi-headed drill assembly for use on Deep
Bore Mines. It will automatically be added to your existing shafts and all
those built in the future. It doubles the speed at which a Deep Bore Mine
can extract ore.
Anti-Missile Pod
----------------
Cost: 250000 Cr
This is a powerful addition to your asteroid defences. The pods will
detect and track any incoming enemy missiles and attempt to destroy them
harmlessly in flight. The pod accuracy is low but can be improved by
building several pods on each asteroid.
Anti-Virus Missile
------------------
Cost: 100000 Cr
This warhead is the only known means of halting the effects of a Virus
missile launched against one of your asteroids, For further details see the
description of this warhead in the Missiles section.
Asteroid Engines
----------------
Cost: 190000 Cr
Engines allow you full control over the direction and speed of an asteroid
enabling you to steer it clear of collisions or even just position it
exactly where you want it in space. For full details see the description
in the Buildings section.
Asteroid Tracker
----------------
Cost: 40000 Cr
This powerful computer works in conjunction with your sensors to analyse
the movement of all known asteroids. It provides data on the direction and
speed of each asteroid, enabling you to anticipate collisions.
Once you have the blueprint you must activate the computer from the
Asteroid Field Screen Bring up the button panel and click on the Display
Modes button. Two new buttons have now appeared in the Display Modes
button panel:
PATHS SPEEDS PAFW EXIT
The PATHS button toggles on or off the display of asteroid paths. Once on
the Asteroid Field Screen will display the path of an asteroid with a green
dotted line. It will always show the path of the current asteroid
(providing it is actually moving) and will temporarily show the path of any
asteroid you move the cross hair over. You can therefore quickly get an
idea of the direction of all the asteroids.
The SPEEDS button toggles on or off the display of asteroid speeds. Once
on, the Asteroid Field Screen will display the speed of an asteroid as a
number next to it. It will always show the speed of the current asteroid
and will temporarily show the speed of any asteroid you move the cross hair
over. You can quickly get an idea of the speeds of all the asteroids. If
the speed is shown in red then that asteroid is caught in some kind of
gravity nullifying field and is not currently moving. The number indicates
its speed should it escape the nullifying field.
Building Armour
---------------
Cost: 110000 Cr
You have purchased the rights to a strengthened construction material. You
can use this in all new buildings you construct making them more resilient
to enemy attacks.
Construction Droids
-------------------
Cost: 20000 Cr
Usually your Vehicle Construction Yards only have the resources to
manufacture up to 3 craft at a time. Once you have this blueprint all your
yards and all future yards will be modified to include a state of the art
robotic assembly line. The sophistication of these droids allows you to
construct up to 6 craft at a time. You can now build larger fleets with
less of your time spent supervising the Yards.
Deflector
--------
Cost: 115000 Cr
This is a hardpoint that can be added to newly constructed ships to improve
their defence. It consists of a generator that pulses energy through the
ships hull all the time that it is in flight using power from the main
engines. The energised hull is more resilient to attacks and can absorb
and deflect most attacks. The Deflector can be used with existing shields
and greatly improves the lifetime of a ship.
Fleet Battleship
----------------
Cost: 150000 Cr
One of the most powerful ships produced in the Empire. Using this
blueprint you can construct these battleships at any asteroid where you
have a Space Dock. For further details see the description in the
Spacecraft section
Gravity Nullifier
-----------------
Cost: 70000 Cr
The Nullifier generates a powerful gravity field about the asteroid it is
built upon. This prevents the asteroid and close neighbouring asteroids
from moving. This is particularly useful to avoid asteroid collisions or
simply to hold several of your asteroids together for quick movement
between them. For further details see the description in the Buildings
section.
Hi-Energy Power Stores
----------------------
Cost: 15000 Cr
This specialised capacitance circuit is automatically installed in all your
existing Power Stores and any built from now on. It simply doubles the
storage capacity of all Power Stores.
Improved Sensors
----------------
Cost: 34000 Cr
Sci-Tek have recognised the reliance most asteroid mining colonies put upon
their Sensor Arrays Without them an asteroid is very vulnerable to an
unexpected collision or surprise enemy attack. They have developed this
device that is installed in all your existing asteroids and also added to
the CPU building so that all future colonies will have this device also it
renders Sensor Arrays unnecessary by hiding the sensors underground and
using new techniques to allow them to probe surrounding space
MEGA Missile
------------
Cost: 500000 Cr
Incredibly expensive but then you are buying the most powerful weapon in
the Empire capable of destroying an entire asteroid upon impact. For
further details see the summary of this warhead in the Missiles section.
Missile Bay Extension
---------------------
Cost: 30000 Cr
Conventional missile Silos can only store a maximum of 10 of each type of
warhead on an asteroid. If they are to be loaded and launched as quickly
as possible. This new loading rack system is installed in all your
existing and future Missile Silos and allows them to store up to 20 of each
type of missile. The rack system is compact but can arm any warhead on any
silo in a matter of seconds.
Missile Guidance System
-----------------------
Cost: 35000 Cr
This device uses your sensors to accurately measure the distance and
relative vectors of the launching and target asteroids. It uses this
information to provide you with an indication of the likelihood of each
missile hitting the target asteroid. By using this device you can maximise
your attacks and avoid wasting missiles by firing them at targets too
distant.
See the Missile section for details about how to use the Guidance System.

Nuclear Missile
---------------
Cost: 300000 Cr
This missile inflicts large amounts of damage upon the asteroid it hits.
For further details see the summary of this warhead in the Missiles section
Ore Teleporter
--------------

Cost: 150000 Cr
Transporting ore between your asteroids via Transporter ships can take a
lot of time and effort You can avoid this by constructing Ore Teleporters
on all your asteroids. Any type of ore can be teleported between
Teleporters instantaneously. For instructions on its use see the
description of the Ore Teleporter in the Buildings section.
Photon Turret
-------------
Cost: 100000 Cr
The most powerful turret on the market today. Very effective against enemy
ships attacking your asteroids. For further details see the description in
the Buildings section.
Plasma Turret
-------------
Cost: 60000 Cr
A more powerful turret than the standard Laser Turret. For further details
see the description in the Buildings section.
Power Amplifier
---------------
Cost: 100000 Cr
This optimises your solar panels allowing them to double their power output
to your colony. The Amplifier is automatically added to all present and
future Solar Panels, Generators and Solar Matrices.
Powerplant
----------
Cost: 40000 Cr
The Powerplant is a very cost effective means of power generation using a
fusion process to convert Asteros ore into power. For further details see
the description in the Buildings section.
Repair Facility
---------------
Cost: 150000 Cr
This building supports a fleet of repair droids that move through your
colony buildings and carrying out repairs of battle damage. For further
details see the description in the Buildings section
Screen Generator
----------------
Cost: 175000 Cr
The Screen Generator produces a defence screen around itself and
neighbouring buildings absorbing some of the damage of an enemy attack.
For furthur details see the description in the Buildings section.

Seismic Genetrator
------------------
Cost: 120000 Cr
This is the only type of drilling assembly capable of extracting the
incredibly rare (and expensive) Traxium and Nexos ores from underground.
It is a large and very complicated building but vital if you have ambitions
of becoming a major ore supplier. For further details see the description
in the Buildings section.
Shield X40
----------
Cost: 30000 Cr
This is a Hardpoint that can be added to newly constructed ships to improve
their defence. It simply adds an extra layer of armour to the ships hull.
Shield X50
----------
Cost: 40000 Cr
This is another hardpoint that can be added to a newly constructed ship.
It provides a state of the art defence system almost guaranteed to render
the ship invulnerable (but not quite) And all for a mere 40000 Cr.
Solar Matrix
------------
Cost: 30000 Cr
This is a more space and cost effective means of power generation than the
basic Solar Panel For furthur details see the description in the Buildings
section.
Static Inducer
--------------
Cost: 80000 Cr
This is a Hardpoint that can be added to newly constructed ships it uses
the ships main engines to concentrate and emit a powerful electromagnetic
pulse that temporarily confuses the electronics of enemy ships. The
blueprint also shows how our own ships are protected against the e m pulse.
During the pulse all enemy ships are unable to move or attack and are
completely vulnerable to our own attacks.
Stasis Missile
-------------
Cost: 250000 Cr
This state of the art missile encompasses the target asteroid with a
temporary field that stops time, freezing the asteroid and all ships in
orbit about it for a period of time. For further details see the summary
of this warhead in the Missiles section.
Terminator
----------
Cost: 90000 Cr
This is a powerful Cruiser warship with 4 hardpoints making it a superior
attack ship to everything but the fleet battleship. For further details
see the description of this ship in the Spacecraft section.
Turret Optimiser
----------------
Cost: 240000 Cr
This devise has been long awaited. It modifies all existing and future
turrets of any type giving them the power to double the damage that they
can inflict in each shot. Quite how the device works is a closely guarded
secret, however the most popular theory is that a huge capacitor is used to
charge the turret up when not in use and the surplus of power increases the
damage it is capable of inflicting.
Virus Missile
-------------
Cost: 350000 Cr
This warhead releases a volatile substance upon impact that causes the very
rock of an asteroid to become unstable. It is impossible for buildings to
stand upon this new, unstable substance. The virus will slowly spread
across the asteroid destroying everything in its path. A very powerful
weapon (hence its price). Upon its initial release the Virus missile was
declared illegal on almost 200 separate worlds however modern thinking
suggests it is a more humane method of warfare: Maximum results with
minimum casualties. Such is the turnaround in the concensus of opinion
that Sci-Teks PR department has won several awards for its work on this
particular project. For further details see the summary of this warhead in
the Missiles section.
Warp Generator
--------------
Cost: 75000 Cr
This is a hardpoint that can be added to newly constructed ships. It is a
limited defence device. A capacitor is charged from the ships main engines
and then the charge is released as a powerful warp field phasing the ship
out of the Spacial Matrix (tm). In its phased out state the ship is
impervious to all damage but may still fire its own weapons. When the
capacitor has discharged the ship phases back into normal space until the
capacators charged again and is thus vulnerable to attack again. This
pulsing warp field happens automatically.
ZONE 012 : SPACECRAFT
---------------------
Assault Fighter
---------------
Imperial Code: 15KC/TC/4158137
Internal Code: KC651910067
Length: 13m
Beam: 8m
Speed: 15,700 km/h atmos.
Speed: 3 FN = 1000 LS/day
Mass: 40 tonnes
Hull: 20 armour
Build 20 days From: Construction Yard
Hardpoints: 1
Ore: 2 Selenium, 2 Crystalite
Cost: 6000 Cr
Engine: Kerell Thruster MKII, x2 KA344325G
Cargo: 10 tonnes
Boost: +3000 LS/day
Crew: 3
Sensor: Nembry Avionics NA6518PD
Life Support: 1 year
Computer: Kerell TR37, 200 MIPS
Landing Gear: triple
EW/ECM: 1 LD fwd & rear only
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 1 LY effective
Inert Damping: none
In use since its initial design in 2232. A proven ship that is cheap,
quick to build and ideal in Combat situations. Developed by the Kerell
Corporation, based on the Industrial World of Tau Ceti III. Its designer
was L.G.R. Riley, Engineer Grade VII at the Kerell Corp. Incredible as it
may sound, Ms Riley is the only female engineer to have ever held a senior
position in Kerell. Ironically, this ship is one of their best selling
ever, and has provided the funding for many of their more recent ventures.
Combat Eagle
------------
Imperial Code: 12TC/B5/8778103
Internal Code: TC86608133X
Length: 10m
Beam: 9m
Speed: 15,700 km/h atmospheric
Speed: 3 FN = 1000 LS/day
Mass: 120 tonnes
Hull: 30 armour
Build: 30 days From: Construction Yard
Hardpoints: 2
Ore: 4 Selenium, 4 Crystalite
Cost: 8000 Cr
Engine: Fortuna Drive V3.4 (x2) MX3321H
Cargo: 32 tonnes
Boost: + 2500 LS/day
Crew: 7
Sensor: XLR array, XLR793 V1.31
Life Support: 1.5 years
Computer: Kerell TX5, 560 MIPS
Landing Gear: triple
EW/ECM: 2.5 LD, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 2.3 LY effective
Inertia Damping: < 2 FN
Designed by Engineer and Pilot R F Drake Stoker at the Morgan Design
Institute on Barnard Five, under license to Tetracorp, in the year 2308.
It has now become Tetracorps standard lowcost assault ship and widely used
throughout the Empire. A general purpose Combat vessel.
Scout Ship
----------
Imperial Code: 12TC/B5/8751113
Internal Code: TC-888132-712-F
Length: 12m
Beam: 6m
Speed: 10,200 km/h atmospheric
Speed: 2 FN = 740 LS/day
Mass: 34 tonnes
Hull: 5 armour
Build: 20 days From: Construction Yard
Hardpoints: 1
Ore: 4 Selenium, 2 Crystalite
Cost: 3000 Cr
Engine: Fortuna Impulse Dome, Mk3 RBW 690421-C
Cargo: 5 tonnes
Boost: + 200 LS/Day
Crew: 3
Sensor: XLR sub array core, XLR-64 V5.2
TN sampling units, code:TN 87991
Life Support: 4.5 years
Computer: SG Imagine os 5.1 910 MIPS
Landing Gear: Triple
EW/ECM: 1.2 LD, fwd only
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 12,8 LY
Inertia Damping: none
Designed by Engineer R Marax at the Tetracorp Central Construction Yards on
Barnard Five, in the year 2345, This is the fourth issue of Tetracorprs
Popular scout ship. Though the Imperial Navy uses the superior Class 7,
this vessel is widespread amongst Tetracorp's franchised mining operations.
Whilst it is near useless in combat situations, it carries superior XLR
sensor arrays tuned to the discovery of ore rich asteroids.
Destructor
----------
Imperial Code: 171GX/B7/3771826
Internal Code: GX48911-8834
Length: 34m
Beam: 48m
Speed: 9,700 km/h atmospheric
Speed: 2 FN = 690 LS/day
Mass: 1033 tonnes
Hull: 40 armour
Build: 48 days From: Orbital Space Dock
Hardpoints: 3
Ore: 8 Selenium, 6 Crystalite
Cost: 15000 Cr
Engine: Gax V2 Hyper drive (7.1c) (x1)
Gax RN35 Thrusters (x2)
GRN35-7133
Cargo: 120 tonnes
Boost: + 340 LS/day
Crew: 16
Sensor: XLR array, XLR 793 V2.17
Life Support: 2.7 years
Computer: Kerell NT-690, 1700 MIPS
Landing Gear: none
EW/ECM: 5.6 LD, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 4.4 LY
Inertia Damping: < 2 FN
Gax Industries are well known for their superior ship design, and this ship
is no exception. It is widely used as a leading attack and support ship,
and is extremely versatile, being capable of interstellar Jump travel,
interplanetary and atmospheric use. Its designer was Y. Inars, working at
the Gax R&D Facility on Brekon 7 , Initially designed in 2278, it was never
built, instead it underwent a redesign and finally became operational in
2316.
Terminator
----------
Imperial Code: 112ST/613922
Internal Code: ST-1D-7791337
Length: 52m
Beam: 32m
Speed: 2,100 km/h atmospheric
Speed: 1 FN = 430 LS/day
Mass: 7814 tonnes
Hull: 50 armour
Build: 80 days From:Orbital Space Dock
Hardpoints: 4
Ore: 8 Selenium, 2 Dragonium
Cost: 34000 Cr
Engine: Sci-Tek InterSpacial Drive
STC-87 revision 4.3 (x2)
Sci-Tek Thrusting Unit
STC-7133 revision 2 (x2)
Cargo: 470 tonnes
Boost: + 60 LS/day
Crew: 38
Sensor: STC-7Y, sweep pattern
Life Support: 4.5 years
Computer: Sci-Tek Tek-16 2500 MIPS
Landing Gear: none
EW/ECM: 9.8 LD, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 16.4 LY effective
Inertia Damping: full
One of Sci-Tek's most popular warships, it is used widely by the Imperial
Navy. Originally designed and built in 2321, this is the latest and
updated version 5, newly built in 2371. Its original designer is unknown,
but version 5 is credited to I. Atkin. He (Atkin) is considered by many
to be one of the greatest naval architects the galaxy has ever seen. It is
also widely believed that he has the worst colour sense of anyone in the
known worlds, hence the Terminator's lurid (original?) colour schemes
Transporter
-----------
Imperial Code: 171GX/B7/3771663
Internal Code: GX42880-7515
Length: 105 m
Beam: 74 m
Speed: no atmospheric
Speed: 1 FN = 400 LS/day
Mass: 14320 tonnes
Hull: 40 armour
Build: 114 days From:Orbital Space Dock
Hardpoints: 2
Ore: 6 Selenium, 1 Dragonium
Cost: 24000 Cr
Engine: Gax V2 Hyper drive (7.1c) (x1)
Gax Drive DC-721603-K (x1)
Cargo: 48000 tonnes
Boost: +10 LS/day
Crew: 8
Sensor: XLR array, XLR-793 V2.17
Life Support: 8 years
Computer: Kerell NT-690, 1700 MIPS
Landing Gear: none
EW/ECM: 2.4 LD, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 14.2 LY effective
Inert Damping: full
Another ship designed by Y. Inara on Brekon 7, Inara obviously had a poor
year when he designed the Gax Transporter as in many areas it is inadequate
and in others it is woefully underspecced. As an example it has far too
powerful a computer which is prone to system crashes when the Impulse
Drives are used to manoeuvre the Transporter into orbit. Many clients have
asked for better armour and longer range communicators and as a result it
is likely that Inara will update the ship for re-release in the next few
years. The reason the Gax Transporter sells is its enormous cargo bays and
the ease of loading. Despite it's slow speed, the XLR Sensor Array is more
than adequate for the ship to be used in an asteroid field. Shame it
handles like a brick though.
Fleet Battleship
----------------
Imperial Code: 112ST/617600
Internal Code: ST-1D-7785581
Length: 92m
Beam: 63m
Speed: no atmospheric
Speed: 1 FN = 580 LS/day
Mass: 45910 tonnes
Hull: 70 armour
Build: 114 days From:Orbital Space Dock
Hardpoints: 6
Ore: 8 Selenium, 6 Dragonium
Cost: 60000 Cr
Engine: Sci-Tek InterSpacial Drive
STC-87 revision 4.3 (x2)
Sci-Tek Thrusting Unit
STC-135 revision 3.1 (x4)
Cargo: 1310 tonnes
Boost: + 180 LS/day
Crew: 74
Sensor: STC-7Y5, sweep pattern, globe
Life Support: 12 years
Computer: Sci-Tek Tek-18 5000 MIPS
Landing Gear: none
EW/ECM: 45.1 LD, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver 38.6 LY effective
Inert Damping: full
One of Sci-Tek's most modern and powerful ships, it was designed by R.
Giggs in 2364. Despite its grand name, it is a mere fraction of the size
of the real Imperial Battleship, but is easily large enough to form the
centrepiece of any independent fleet. Both Sci-Tek and Tetracorp use and
recommend them as their primary warship, and its 6 hardpoints make it a
very flexible vessel.
Orbital Space Dock
------------------
Imperial Code: 12TC/B5?8799145
Internal Code: TC-734403-451T
Diameter: 215m
Speed: 1 FN = 50 LS/day
Mass: 145512 tonnes
Hull: 120 armour
Build: 86 days
Hardpoints: 4
Ore: 10 Bytanium, 20 Dragonium
Cost: 200000 Cr
Engine: Fortuna Thrusting Arrays MX-67-14 (x8)
Cargo: 14400 tonnes
Boost: + 5 LS/day
Crew: 230
Sensor: XLR GlobCon MkIV XLR-GC-71334
Life Support: indefinite
Computer: Kerell NT-690, 1700 MIPS
Landing Gear: none
EW/ECM: 1 LY, spherical
Comms: Sensory Matrix transceiver, 70 LY effective
Inert Damping: <1 FN
Designed by M.D.Glossop at the Morgan Design Institute on Barnard Five in
the year 2338. Tetracorp intended the O.S.D. to be used as a control post
in the Frontier Sectors, keeping each mining colony in touch with the Home
Worlds and Tetracorp. Glossop originally designed larger cargo bays but
altered them at the last moment into a ship construction facility. This is
probably the sole factor that has made the O.S.D. as successful as it is -
the ability to contruct large warships in the depth of space
ZONE 013 : HARDPOINT WEAPONS
----------------------------
This is a summary of the devices available for installation in a hardpoint.
Ones marked with (blueprint) are only available once the construction
rights have been purchased from Sci-Tek
Note: Costs given are correct at the present time but are subject to
change without warning
Ion Cannon
----------
Cost: 1000 Cr
This is the basic (and very cheap) weapon for use against enemy asteroids.
It has a minimum impact area and does little damage
Disruptor
---------
Cost: 6000 Cr
This weapon is another Air-to- Surface weapon for use against enemy
asteroids. It has a greater area of effect than the Ion Cannon but darmage
is still limited.
Napalm Orb
----------
Cost: 4000 Cr
This fires a stream of high temperature plasma gas at an asteroid with its
own Oxygen supply which will burst into flame upon impact. Damage will be
inflicted upon any buildings caught in the flame. The area of effect is
very limited however.
Chaos Bomb
----------
Cost: 12000 Cr
This is an improved version of the Napalm Orb but with a much larger area
of effect. Like the Hellfire Missile the flames from this weapon can
easily spread to neighbouring buildings and devastate huge areas of an
asteroid. Very effective against densely populated asteroids.
Vortex Mine
-----------
Cost: 5000 Cr
An electrical vortex is released upon the asteroid. It will wander at
random upon the surface inflicting damage upon any building it touches.
The longevity of the vortex is indeterminate. It can vanish at any time.
It is possible for the vortex to split into two parts each continuing to
wreak havoc and each with the possibility of splitting again
Laser
-----
Cost: 1000 Cr
This is the standard Ship to Ship weapon based on a focused beam of light.
It does very little damage.
Photon Cannon
-------------
Cost: 4500 Cr
A more effective ship to ship weapon. The twin guns fire packets of energy
held together by a force field.
Plasma Cannon
-------------
Cost: 9000 Cr
The most powerful ship to ship weapon. It fires a focused disruptor beam
housing superheated plasma gas and is capable of ripping through even the
most powerful armour. Caution should be exercised in the use of this
weapon, and the Company is not liable for any damage incurred to the user
should anything untoward happen.
Static Inducer (blueprint)
--------------------------
Cost: 4500 Cr
This devise uses the ships main engines to concentrate and emit a powerful
electromagnetic pulse that temporarilly confuses the electronics of an
enemy ship. During the pulse the enemy ship is unable to move or attack
and completely vulnerable to our own attacks.
Warp Generator (blueprint)
--------------------------
Cost: 9000 Cr
This is a limited defence device. A capacitor is charged from the ships
main engines and then the charge is released as a powelful warp field
phasing the ship out of the Spacial Matrix (tm) In its phased state the
ship is impervious to all damage but may still fire its own weapons When
the capacitor has discharged the ship phases back into normal space until
the capacitor is charged again and is thus vulnerable to attack again.
This pulsing warp field happens automatically
Deflector (blueprint)
---------------------
Cost: 12000 Cr
This devise consists of a generator that pulses energy through the ships
hull all the time that it is in flight using power from the main engines.
The energised hull is more resilient to attacks and can absorb and deflect
most attacks. The Deflector can be used with existing shields and greatly
improves the lifetime of a ship
Shield X10
----------
Cost: 1500 Cr
This extends the armour of the ships hull to give better protection against
damage. This shield adds 10 armour points and may be stacked with other
Shields or defences
Shield X20
----------
Cost: 3000 Cr
This extends the armour of the ships hull to give better protection against
damage. This shield adds 20 armour points and may be stacked with other
shields or defences
Shield X30
----------
Cost: 5000 Cr
This extends the armour of the ships hull to give better protection against
damage. This shield adds 30 armour points and may be stacked with other
shields or defences
Shield X40 (blueprint)
----------------------
Cost: 6500 Cr
This extends the armour of the ships hull to give better protection against
damage. This shield adds 40 armour points and may be stacked with other
shields or defences
Shield X50 (blueprint)
----------------------
Cost: 8000 Cr
This extends the armour of the ships hull to give better protection against
damage. This shield adds 50 armour points and may be stacked with other
shields or defences.
TERRAN APPROVED: 2450 THE FOLLOWING SECTION IS FOR THOSE WITH SECURITY
CLEARANCE ORANGE AND ABOVE ONLY
ZONE 014 : MISSILE WARFARE
--------------------------
Missiles are an integral part of the military might of your colony. You
should rely on neither ships alone nor missiles alone, but use a
combination of both of them. The advantage of missiles is that they are a
long range weapon, allowing you to strike at the enemy deep in space. This
is a disadvantage too since missiles cannot be used to combat enemy attacks
on your asteroids.
BUILDING MISSILES
-----------------
To be able to build and launch missiles you must have one or more Missile
Silos on an asteroid Select these from the Bullding Selection Window and
construct them on suitable asteroids preferably ones with a variety of ore
and not too distant from an enemy asteroid. You need only one silo on an
asteroid but the more you do have the more missiles you can launch
simultaneously for a quicker attack.
To build a missile click on the Missile Silo building. A window appears
detailing each of the missiles available to you at this time. See the end
of this section for a summary of each missile warhead type. Some missile
types are only available once you have purchased the blueprints from
Sci-Tek. At the start of the game you have 6 types available but there are
11 in total
LEFT RIGHT
BUILD ABORT
EXIT
Use the Left and Right Arrow buttons to cycle through the missile types
until you reach the one you wish to build.
Click on the Build Missile button to build a missile and click successive
times to build more than one.
Click on the Abort button to abort the building of any of this type of
missile. Other types will be unaffected.
Missiles will be built over a period of time. Each type takes the same
amount of time to build but clearly the more you want to build the longer
it will take. The cost of each missile will be deducted when the missile
is finally built and delivered automatically to the underground missile
hangers. These hangers can hold up to 10 of each type of warhead on each
asteroid. NOTE: Money must be pre allocated to the Missile Fund in the
Financial Fund Window. See the appropriate section for how to do this.
The type of Ore needed to build the missile is given in the information
window but you will be warned if there is insufficient ore to build any
particular missile. The ore must be held in Stores on the current asteroid
so you may need Mines to extract ore (See the section on Mining) Similarly
you will be warned if the current asteroid does not have a Weapons Factory.
Missiles cannot be built without one.
Even if you receive one of these warnings about insufficient ore, lack of
money or lack of Weapons Factory the Missile Silos will continually check
whether they can build another missile. So as soon as you rectify the
fault (ie mine or transport more ore allocate more money to the Missile
Fund or build a Weapons Factory) the construction will continue
automatically.
LAUNCHING MISSILES
------------------
To launch a missile click on the Launch Missile button either from the
Asteroid View Screen or the Asteroid Field Screen.
A window will list the number of each type of missile you have on the
current asteroid. Each blob on the barcharts represents one missile. At
the bottom of the window the current target is listed, if you have selected
one, and the expected accuracy of any missiles launched against this
target. This accuracy is unavailable unless you have purchased a Missile
Tracker from Sci-Tek. So until you buy a Missile Tracker you will have to
estimate your chances of success for a missile attack (see below)
LAUNCH TARGET ABORT EXIT
SETTING THE TARGET ASTEROID
---------------------------
Missiles can only target asteroids not individual ships or fleets. To
select a target from the Missile Control Window click on the Target button.
You will be taken to the Asteroid View screen (unless you are already
there) and shown all the asteroids known to you.
A circle is entered on the current asteroid and this marks the range of
your missiles. The circle is of little use unless you have a Missile
Tracker. In which case it will be accompanied by a percentage chance to
hit figure. If you don`t use a Missile Tracker you`ll have to experiment.
As you move the cross hair with the mouse the circle will grow and shrink
and the percentage chance to hit will alter. The percentage chance is an
approximate indication of the chance of EACH of your missiles hitting but
remember that even if a missile reaches its target successfully the enemy
may have the means to shoot it down.
To select a target asteroid move the cross hair over an asteroid and click
the left mouse button. You will return to the Missile Control window.
That target is now set and will remain so unless you alter it ot the
targetted asteroid is destroyed
SELECTING THE MISSILES TO FIRE
------------------------------
You can fire as many missiles at a time as you want but remember that the
missiles will take longer to launch if you only have one or two Missile
Silos.
To select missiles move the mouse pointer over the name of a missile.
Click right to add one missile of that type to the launch bay. Click left
to remove one missile from the launch bay. Hold down the mouse button to
add/remove several missiles. The red blobs show available missiles and
green blobs show missiles selected for launch.
The numbers at the right of the window echo this information showing how
many missiles you have selected of each type.
The abort button will clear all selected missiles of all types.
LAUNCHING THE MISSILES
----------------------
To actually launch the selected missiles click on the Launch button.
To quit without launching any missiles click on the Exit button.
You can watch the progress of missiles in flight from the Asteroid Field
Screen. Your missiles appear as yellow dots.
MISSILE WARHEAD DATA
--------------------
The data on each missile type follows. Missiles marked with (blueprint)
are only available from Sci-Tek.
Note: This data is accurate at this moment in time but is subject to
change by Sci-Tek and the other missile manufacturers without warning.
Explosive
---------
Cost: 1000 Cr
Ore: 1 Selenium
This is the basic (and very cheap) warhead. It has a minimum impact area
on the target and several such missiles may be required to destroy enemy
buildings. For best results launch many at one time.
Area Explosive
--------------
Cost: 8000 Cr
Ore: 2 Barium
As an extension to the basic Explosive warhead, this warhead does similar
damage but over a wider area. For best results use against densely
populated asteroids.
Napalm
------
Cost: 6000 Cr
Ore: 1 Quazinc
This warhead has a core of plasma gas which is released at a phenomenal
temperature upon impact. It carries its own Oxygen supply causing the
impacted buildings to erupt into flame. This flame will burn for some time
inflicting further damage. The area of effect is very limited however.
Hellfire
--------
Cost: 20000 Cr
Ore: 3 Quazinc
The chemical substance encased in this warhead is a by product of the
development of the Napalm warheads. Upon impact the core shatters and
spreads high temperature plasma gas over a wide area. Any structure caught
in this blast will begin to burn ferociously and suffer damage over a
period of time. The hellfire substance has the capability to spread to
neighbouring buildings and it is possible for one missile to devastate an
entire asteroid if the hellfire burns long enough. Clearly it is most
eftective against densely populated asteroids.
Scatter
-------
Cost: 10000 Cr
Ore: 3 Selenium
This is a larger version of the basic Explosive warhead. In fact it
contains 25 such warheads. It will explode just above the surface of the
asteroid and the multiple warheads will fall at random upon the asteroid.
The damage is slight but the random pattern is good at weakening many
buildings at once.
Vortex
------
Cost: 9000 Cr
Ore: 3 Crystalite
Upon impact an electrical vertex is released upon the asteroid. It will
wander at random upon the surface inflicting damage upon any building it
touches. The longevity of the vortex is indeterminate and Sci-Tek are
still attempting to develop a Vortex MkII that has a guaranteed longevity.
It is possible for the vortex to split into two parts each continuing to
wreak havoc, and each with the possibility of splitting again.
Nuclear(blueprint)
------------------
Cost: 50000 Cr
Ore: 5 Asteros
This is a multi-megaton warhead capable of inflicting enormous damage to an
asteroid possibly destroyirng every building upon it. Spacecraft in orbit
will also suffer damage from the blast. WARNING: USE WITH CARE! The
radiation effects from a nuclear attack can render an asteroid
uninhabitable for many many years.
Virus (blueprint)
-----------------
Cost: 30000 Cr
Ore: 1 Traxium
This is a very powerful weapon which unfortunately reguires the very rare
Traxium ore for its payload. Upon impact it releases a volatile substance
which begins at once to eat at the fabric of the asteroid itself. It will
alter the molecular consistency of the asteroid material, turning it a
different colour as it does so. No building can stand upon a weakened
section of asteroid, but will simply collapse. The mutated rock becomes
radioactive too. Over time the virus will spread across the asteroid never
stopping until it has affected the entire asteroid which is then incapable
of supporting any colony at all. A virus infected asteroid is living on
borrowed time! There is one way to combat the virus an Anti-Virus missile.
Anti-Virus (blueprint)
----------------------
Cost: 10000 Cr
Ore: 4 Barium
The only known means to enadicate the effects of a Virus missile. Upon
impact it disperses a bacterial agent over the entire surface of the
asteroid. Within moments this will seek out and destroy the virus
substance and halt its spread. It will then begin to act upon the parts of
the asteroid that have been altered by the virus. It takes a long time to
act but will eventually restore the asteroid to a more stable form capable
of supporting buildings again. The only known side effect is an increased
radiation.
Since you will only be firing this missile aganst one of your own asteroids
it is possible to target the same asteroid as the launching silo by using
the same technique explained above.
Mega (blueprint)
----------------
Cost: 65500 Cr
Ore: 1 Nexos
This is the most devastating weapon available! It took Sci-Tek some 40
years of research to perfect it. Quite simply it destroys an entire
asteroid or even a small sized planet - nothing but rubble remains. The
actual process is extremely complicated, relying upon a gravity pulse to
rip apart the target asteroid rather than simply using huge amounts of
explosives.
Stasis (blueprint)
------------------
Cost: 40000 Cr
Ore: 2 Korellium
This is the latest warhead from Sci-Tek utilising their research into
temporal physics. Upon impact it will establish a temporal field around
the asteroid latching it to the Spacial Matrix (TM) of the surrounding
space. The effect is to freeze time itself or at least the local time
inside the stasis field. Nothing will happen on the affected asteroid and
no spacecraft or missiles may arrive or leave. The field will decay and
die over a period of time.
ZONE 015 : THE ENEMY
--------------------
KLL-KP-QUA
Home world: Tau Ceti III
Physical Description: At first glance they resemble a Terran Praying
Mantis, standing just under 1m tall. Their face however bears more
resemblance to a bird than an insect. They have two eyes, two ears and a
single mouth positioned where we would expect a nose to be. It is not
known whether they possess a sense of smell. Atop their heads they wear an
ornate headpiece, whose complexity and colours denote theie social
standing. At all times they dress in exquisite and colourful robes,
usually adorned with large ruffs and gemstones.
Habitat: Their native habitat varies from hot and arid grassland to steamy
jungles. They can adapt to other habitats except they have little
resistance to cold or ice.
Technology: They have adapted to space very well, building well-insulated
structures and large underground caverns, filled with native jungle fauna,
their spaceships are basic and their technology generally barely adequate.
Social Structure: They exhibit remarkable similarities to Terran hive
insects. Each asteroid possesses a single Queen, responsible for laying
and hatching all eggs, the rest of the population is split into two
distinct and genetically different groups. One remains on the asteroid and
fulfils a support role building, maintenance, serving the Queen, etc, the
others operate the spacecraft and are never allowed to return to the
asteroids. They spend their entire life inside the spacecraft. In normal
circumstances a Queen is born every 2 to 3 Terran Years. Once the Queen
reaches maturity, in a few short months, she commandeers a transport ship
and goes in search of her own asteroid. It is not known whether their is a
hierarchy amongst the Queens. Each asteroid appears to operate
independently, but there is regular communication between Queens on
different asteroids.
Power Generation: The primary means of power generation is the burning of
their own corpses. All dead are carefully recovered and taken to the
burners. Secondary power generation is by means of solar panels
Special Weapons: It is known that they possess a special type of warhead,
but its effects are unknown.
Military Strategy: Their actions appear very predicable so expect few
surprises.
LAK`MAJ`TRAAL (ORE EATERS)
Home world: Their exact home world is not known. We beleive they
originated in the M53 galaxy in Sagittarius, which they appear to have
explored extensively.
Physical Description: An adult male stands 1m high at the head and up to
12m long. They are very large wormlike creatures covered in hard scales.
Their fangs and horns have the strength to break up rocks. Their diet is
one of rock. They regurgitate a special chemical that can break down even
the hardest ores, which they then eat hungrily, digesting them with
extraordinarily strong stomach acids. Their heat signature in Infra Red is
enormous. They are slow moving which is why they rely on technology to
assist them.
Habitat: They seem able to exist in any habitat but particularly in the
vacuum of space. Examining the M53 galaxy, we have discovered that huge
areas of it have been destroyed. planet literally eaten apart by great
migrations of these creatures. Their appetite is enormous - an adult male
will eat up to twelve times his own body weight in ores every day!
They are a real threat to the Empire
Technology: Most of their structures are simple domes, protecting areas of
an asteroid from solar radiation and meteorite bombardment while they eat
into the heart of the asteroid in search of food. They possess powerful
spacecraft which have carried them to our galaxy from M53. We know little
of their technology since whenever they evacuate an asteroid they destroy
all remnants of their structures and devices.
Social Structure: We have been unable to determine their heirarchy, other
than the obvious dominance that the adult males have due to their size.
Procreation is via egg laying, but the population grows slowly due to the
longevity of each male. It appears that duties are simply performed by
whoever is in the right place at the right moment. Their must be some form
of overall control, even if it is only the signal which makes them suddenly
board the transporters and head for another asteroid which they do the
minute they have drained it of ore.
Power Generation: They use chemical reactions to break down useless rock,
harnessing the power created.
Special Weapons: No information
Military Strategy: They are vicious when disturbed. We have observed that
they only ever attack our mining colonies and never inhabited planets, as
if they identify that our mining colonies are robbing them of food. Be
prepared for regular missile strikes.
AX-ZILANTH`S
Home world: Beta Hydrae IV, though they are extensive in the Capella and
Arcturus Sectors, where we have fought skirmishes with them on many
occasions.
Physical Description: The bulk of their 2m tall bodies are a hard carapace
that protects their vital and sensory organs The lower part of their body
consists of six extremely sensitive and flexible tentacles which they use
both for movement (fast!) and manipulation of objects. Their eyes see in a
greater spectrum than our own, allowing them access to Ultraviolet and
Infrared light.
Habitat: Varies from sparse desert and rocky badlands to temperate forest
and grassy plains.
Technology: Their technology has developed upon similar lines to our own.
They use smelting processes to produce steel and use silicon and germanium
components in their electronic circuits. Their spacecraft are certainly on
a par with our own, if not superior and many possess cloaking devices.
Social Structure: They operate on a strict hierarchy as does our Empire.
Each asteroid is divided into sections responsible for a particular aspect
such as engineering, food supply spacecraft manufacture, etc. Each section
head reports to an asteroid council which determines overall policy for
that asteroid. The chair being of each council participates in a regional
council that comprises twenty or more asteroids and planets. We conclude
that a representative of these regional councils sits upon a higher council
that governs their entire Empire.
Power Generation: Standard techniques of Fission and Fusion as well as
harnessing solar energy.
Special Weapons: No information. We suspect that they have
Military Strategy: Our skirmishes with them in other sectors have led us
to determine that they are never first to initiate an attack. They parade
a threatening arsenal of weapons and warships but always wait for us to
take the initiative before retailaiting. Try to use this to your
advantage.
TYLARAN EMPIRE
Home world: Deneb Mira III
Physical Description: They resemble hideous lizards, standing over 3m
tall. Though they have no balancing tail, the bulk of their body and their
strong legs enables them to walk easily as a biped. Their clawed hands are
surprisingly dextrous and capable of manipulating very fine objects. They
possess large mouths with fangs, identifying them as carnivores, and their
craniums support a brain larger than our own.
Habitat: Their homeworlds are ice worlds, far from their primary sun and
covered with continual ice and blizzards. They are at home in the cold of
space! We believe that their hide contains special insulating layers to
protect them against temperatures up to -100 degrees below freezing.
Technology: Their technology varies greatly. On the one hand they have
only recently developed spacecraft capable of crossing interstellar space,
(though we have monitored their home world for over a century and know that
their weapons technology is spohisticated). On the other hand we have yet
to understand other aspects of their technology, such as power generation.
Social Structure: They seem to operate on the principle of Imperial
supremacy, where each region of space has a sub Emperor who has complete
control over his region, but reports to the real Emperor on Deneb Mira III.
They are very social creatures and work well with each other. Discipline
is strong and absolute and apparently welcomed.
Power Generation: We can only suspect that they harness power directly
from the Spacial Matrix, which would give the access to practically
unlimited power. We have detected new kinds of radiation from the
buildings that we have called Flux Convertors and Power Collectors and we
suspect that these play an important part in the process.

Special Weapons: One of their structures emits a huge surge of energy at
regular intervals. This could well be a weapon proceed with caution.
Their asteroids also have a screen generator whose purpose is unclear.
Military Strategy: Unknown.
THE RIGELLIAN CONFEDERATION
Home world: Rigel system
Physical Description: We were very surprised when we first identified
their species over a century ago. They corresponded almost exactly with
historical depictions of vampires, which makes it conceivable that they
visited Earth in the long distant past to provide a source for the classic
legends. They appear similar to a human but with bald domed heads, and of
course those legendary fangs. Their eyes glow an eerie red, which we know
to be the reflection of light off their retinas. All their senses are well
developed.
Habitat: Unknown
Technology: Their technology is sophisticated, though not in the area of
power generation. Their devices appear to require vast amounts of power,
and several of our scout ships have been mysteriously drained of all power
after entering Rigellian Space. They are also extremely advanced in the
areas of Warp technology.
Social Structure: From the few communications we have made with them, we
know them to be an extremely ancient race. It is likely that they were
developing technology when dinosaurs walked the Earth. They name
themselves a Confederation, which suggests that they operate as a series of
individual states or worlds that are independently governed but have
allegiance and common laws with each other under the authority of a federal
government. They are highly developed socially, but steadfastly refuse to
open negotiations with us for the trade of materials or information.
Power Generation: Primitive methods of burning fossil fuels. They only
recently aquired the secrets of atomic power, stolen from one of our
research vessels.
Special Weapons: They have the abilility to drain power from our
batteries. Otherwise, we expect few surprises.
Military Strategy: We would best describe their strategies as muddled.
They are very trigger-happy with missiles. We also know that their ships
carry advanced warp engines.
SWIXARANS
Home world: They originate from the densely grouped star systems at the
heart of our galaxy. We have detected their presence in over thirty star
systems.
Physical Description: The Swixarans are one of those rare cases when plant
life has developed intelligence and the ability to develop technology. A
typical Swixaran is between 1m and 4m high and composed of a mass of soft
and pliable shoots and creepers. Constantly moving. Their exact form
varies with their surroundings - if they enter corridors they flatten their
body and use many of their creepers to probe the way ahead. We are unsure
of their sensory organs but it is likely they possess very sensitive touch
sensors in their extremities and maybe motion detectors as well. There is
a small part of their body which we suspect houses their vital organs and
brain, but it is always well protected by the creepers.
Habitat: Unknown, but we suspect either dense jungle worlds or huge
forests.
Technology: Almost incomparable to our own, since much of their technology
is based on biological proteins and DNA encoded, self replicating tissue.
They are very advanced in areas of shield generation and cloaking devices.
Social Structure: Difficult to determine. We suspect that they possess a
group intelligence and there is evidence to support the theory that a great
deal of this intelligence is located in a particular location on each
asteroid. Their aims seem only to be expansion and colonisation.
Power Generation: We do not understand their method of power generation.
It is certainly biologically based and undoubtedly bears more resemblance
to blood sugar levels in their organic structures, rather than the
harnessing of nuclear power.
Special Weapons: Our spies report several closely guarded weapons, the
details of which are unavailable at this time. Be prepared for anything!
Military Strategy: They seem to react to our own strategies and attacks
rather than initiating their own they are especially susceptible to
fire-based weaponry, but otherwise their structures are well protected.
There does seem to be a pattern to their attacks, but we have yet to
understand it.
ANY PROBLEMS ?
If you have prohlems loading K240, then return it to your retailer, or to
Gremlin Graphics at the address on the packaging. If you have any
questions relating to the game, then Gremlin Graphics Helpline is available
between the hours of 09:30 and 17:30 U.K. time Monday to Friday, on 0742
753423
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1994 Gremlin Graphics Software Limited. All Rights Reserved.
This manual and the information contained on the disks are copyrighted by
Gremlin Graphics Limited. The owner of this product is entitled to use
this product for his or her own personal use only. No one may transfer
give or sell any part of the manual or the information on the disks without
the prior permission of Gremlin Graphics Software Limited. Any person or
persons reproducing any part of the program, in any media, for any reason,
shall be guilty of copyright violation and subject to civil liability at
the discretion of the copyright holder.
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* SHARD NUT & BOLT *
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sHARD pROdUCTiONS 1994
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