Astrocade, The Professional Videocade (TM), Cartridge SOLAR CONQUEROR 2018 You are in deep space, test-piloting the latest in space technology, when your home planet Libnah learns of a surprise attack of the diabolical, war hungry DEMENS from the NATIS galaxy. A radiation death-ray threatens to wipe out your entire race. It's up to you to conquer the enemy solar systems! Copyright (c)1982 Astrocade, Inc. All Rights Reserved Page, Cover SOLAR CONQUEROR #2018 Design & Audio by Scot L. Norris Programmed by Thomas McHugh Graphics by Julie Malan Developed by Action Graphics LOADING INSTRUCTIONS 1. Turn on your Astrocade and TV set, then select channel 3 or 4. 2. Connect the hand controls by inserting control #1 into the first jack on the back left side (as you face the front of the Astrocade). From left to right, the jacks connect to players 1, 2, 4 and 3. 3. Insert the game cartridge, label side up, into the cartridge slot. Press it down firmly to lock it into position. 4. Press the RESET button and the menu of games will be displayed. Page 1 SOLAR CONQUEROR (1-4 players) As the dreaded DEMENS death-ray gets closer and closer, your computer has classified their solar systems from lightly defensed to almost invincible! It will guide you through harder and harder systems until you have conquered their entire civilization. STARTING THE GAME Choose Solar Conqueror by pressing 1 on the keypad or by using remote game selection (pull the trigger on hand control #1, turn the knob until 1 appears on the screen, then pull the trigger again). Select the number of players (1-4). As the player proceeds from one solar system to another, the game becomes increasingly more difficult. Players can start at a more difficult level by choosing a higher number solar system to begin with. This serves as a handicapping for better players. PLAYING THE GAME The hand control functions for Solar Conqueror are: Joystick Steers the ship and controls its speed Knob Has no function Trigger Shoots the bullets The object of the game is to score the most points by destroying enemy defenses, defeating their planets, and conquering their solar systems. Each player starts by selecting the number of ships on the menu. Ships have 8 possible directions and a maximum speed controlled by the joystick. A ship decelerates when no direction is selected, but it is always in motion. The trigger shoots 1 of 8 possible "in-air" bullets. You have defeated a planet once you destroy all its weapons. When you have conquered all the planets in a solar system, you advance to the next. Whenever a player is hit, he loses a ship and he gives up his turn to the next player. If a planet is defeated and the player dies, he still moves on to the next planet. Solar System Number of Planets 1 and 2 2 3 and beyond 4 Planets appear on the right side of the screen, numbered in decreasing order as you get closer to the sun, e.g. in Solar System 1, which has 2 planets, Planet 2 appears first, followed by Planet 1. The more gravity a planet has, the more difficult it is to control your spaceship. The larger the planet, the stronger the planet's gravity. The higher a planet's solar system, the better its defenses. As you fly closer to the planet, the effect of its gravity increases. The alien defenses have 3 types of weapons: 1. Kamikaze combat ships 2. Ground-to-air missiles 3. Super fighting (killer) satellites Planets also have dangerous asteroids floating around them. Page 2 All alien forces appear near the planet and travel toward the player. Kamikaze ships are essentially flying bombs. True to their name, they will try to crash into you. Missiles are fired from the planet's surface. If a missile launcher is left after all other weapons and asteroids have been destroyed, it will launch its last missiles and disappear. If there are alien defenses remaining, the launcher will rebuild. A timer appears in the upper left corner to time the rebuilding process. Rebuilding is quicker in higher systems. Killer satellites have minimal weaponry range but excellent timing and accuracy. And they change size depending on how close they are to the player. In higher systems there are two at once of every weapon! Whenever you are ready to enter the space vortex to reach your next planet, or to enter hyperspace to reach a new solar system, the pulsating aura near the left edge of the screen surrounds your ship and makes you invisible until you are in range of the next planet. The moment you become visible to each other, the fighting begins! SCORING The number of points you score depends on the type of enemy force you destroy: Type of Defense Points Asteroids (large to small) 4, 6, 8, 10 Kamikaze Ships 20 Missiles 10 Missile Launchers 50 Killer satellites (large to small) 10, 20, 30, 40 Conquering a planet gives you bonus points equal to the solar system number times 25. Conquering a solar system awards the player a free ship and bonus points equal to the system number times 100. When playing System 9 and beyond, the same scoring applies, except you are given 2 free ships instead of 1. STRATEGIES FOR WINNING Learning to control your spaceship against the ever changing forces of gravity is the most difficult aspect of the game. There is also a SLIPPER built into the ion drives of the ship, which enables you SLIP in one direction and face another without accelerating in the direction of the ship; e.g. accelerate up, then face right for an instant and let go of the joystick. The ship will continue to slide up while the player faces right and strikes a target. Becoming skillful at the SLIPPER will prove a powerful advantage over the enemy. If you begin at the lowest system, it will be easier to gain extra ships, but you will accumulate points slower and you risk losing ships. Starting higher gives you more points sooner, but be careful: they won't come easy! PLAYING AGAIN To play Solar Conqueror again, press the RESET button, and follow the instructions for starting the game. Page 3 [last page] Typed by Rob Mitchell 02-FEB-99 Restructured April 2, 2002 - Adam Trionfo, www.ballyalley.com Notes: Page number appear AFTER each page.