Archipelagos Table of Contents Earth Specs 4 The Earth: A Living Wasteland 3 Getting Started 5 Hoverspace Operations 6 Purifying an Archipelago 7 Purifying Procedures 9 Know Your Botany 10 Creating Land Bridges 11 Deactivating Nodes & Obelisks 11 A Word on Necromancers 13 Beware of the B-90 14 Using Your Maps 14 Energy Maintenance 14 Survival Tips 15 THE EARTH: A LIVING WASTELAND Where humans once danced and played, mutated apparitions now roam in eternal torment. Where flowers and trees once thrived, plant-like viral mutations now ebb their contaminating way across the land. And where massive expanses of mountains, plains, forests and deserts once hosted a myriad of life forms, vast oceans have buried their homes. It was man himself who turned his living playground into a living graveyard - with poisons, plastics, and nuclear waste. He melted the polar caps, flooding the continents. And all that's left are thousands of decaying land masses. Masses known today as the Archipelagos. After most of the Earth's natural resources were covered by water, man turned back to nuclear power. He built obelisk reactors an all inhabited archipelagos. To distribute the power, he connected the obelisks to node stations scattered across each island. It's hardly surprising that this nuclear system eventually began to fail. Rising radiation levels killed what little was left of warm-blooded animal life. The only surviving plants are eerie genetic mutations created in an attempt to clean up the environment. Banshee Air Purifiers howl across many of the islands. And the disembodied souls of lost spirits, called Necromancers, dance their bloodthirsty dance along the water's edge. You will enter this infernal nightmare alone. And alone you'll begin purifying the islands - one by one. 3 EARTH SPECS LOCATION Galaxy Milky Way Revolutionary Center Sun #689 Distance from Center 149,600,000 km Diameter 12,756 km AGE 4.7 billion earth years COMPOSITION Surface Nickel-iron, silicates Atmosphere 89% CO, 1% 0, 9% argon 1% unknown REMAINING PLANT LIFE Viral Trees Eco-Eggs Sand Pods REMAINING ANIMAL LIFE None SUPERNATURAL LIFE Necromancers HUMAN ARTIFACTS Reactor Nodes Obelisks B-900 Air Cleaners (BanShees) 4 GETTING STARTED IBM PC and Compatibles 1. Insert the correct 'Archipelagos' boot disk into the drive and from the MS-DOS prompt, select the correct drive specifier. 2. Type "ARCHI" and press RETURN. The game will now begin to load. ATARI ST and Commodore Amiga 1. Turn off the computer and insert the 'Archipelagos' disk into the drive. 2. Switch the computer on. The game will now begin to load. Entering your Classified Counter-Code You will be asked to type in a classified counter-code from your Hoverspere Activation Codes. You will be given the following information. Codebook Page - 0 Alpha Code - X Numeric Code - 00 First find the correct page. Then look for the designated letter across the top of the chart. Now locate the prescribed number along the left side of the chart. The box that falls where the designated alpha column and numeric row coincide is your counter-code. Type in this number and press the RETURN KEY. 5 Selecting an Archipelago You can select any archipelago provided you have already completed the archipelago preceding it. For example, if you have purified Archipelago #9, you can type in Archipelago #10 and begin there. Once you've completed Archipelago #100, you are then free to select any archipelago from 1 to 9,999. PURIFYING AN ARCHIPELAGO The concept behind purifying an archipelago is really quite simple: deactivate the radioactive node/obelisk power system. In order to shut down an obelisk, you must first eliminate all the nodes scattered about that archipelago. Plus, there must be a direct land connection between all nodes and the obelisk in order to completely drain all radioactivity. Which means that on certain archipelagos, you'll actually have to create land bridges to let the radioactivity flow. 6 Once all your nodes are eliminated, a self-destruct timer will be activated. You'll have 90 seconds to return to the obelisks and shut it down. Or else the entire island will suffer from a major meltdown, taking everything (including you) with it. Coming in contact with contaminated surfaces always means instant death. The oceans the surrounding coastlines have also absorbed high doses of contamination. So hover only above normal land surfaces. HOVERSPHERE OPERATIONS Your Hoversphere is a silicon-plasma ball. It hovers about 10 meters above the ground, to give you an all-encompassing 360 degree viewing and to protect you from most poisonous ground pollutants. Hoversphere operations have been made intuitively easy - to let you focus your energies on the task at hand. A simple crosshair is used to direct all hoversphere movements. The computer display system shows you what remains of the earth's surface. As you can see, it is now sectioned into a grid of squares. This makes it easier for you to target locations and move across the surface. You can move in two ways - depending on how fast and how far you wish to travel. The two wary are: To Move By Squares - If the crosshair is not on the screen, press the right mouse button. Using your mouse, position the crosshair on an empty square. Then press the left button and you'll fly to that square. 7 To Make Sweeping Pans - Press the right mouse button. (The Crosshair will disappear). Then move the mouse left or right. To toggle between the above modes, press the right mouse button. Keyboard users: Use the RETURN KEY instead of the right mouse button, and the SPACEBAR instead of the left mouse button. Move the cursor using the cursor keys. IMPORTANT: Because there have been different models of Plasmic Hoverspheres, operational specs may vary. Be sure to refer to the operational guide specific to your system. Operations for all systems To pan left, move the crosshair to the left edge of screen. To pan right, move the crosshair to the right edge of the screen. To face the opposite direction, press F3 To discharge disinfectant or to create land, press F1 To view map, press F2 To leave map mode, press the right mouse button or the RETURN key. System-specific Operations For IBM PC and Compatibles To change color palette, press F5 To terminate operations, press ESCAPE Moving in keyboard mode, use the cursor (ARROW) keys. To toggle between pan and action modes, press the RETURN key. To move to the square the cursor is pointing to, press the SPACEBAR. For the Atari ST and Amiga To terminate operations, press HELP To turn music ON/OFF, press F7 8 PURIFYING PROCEDURES In observing the earth's surface, you'll immediately notice a pattern of colored squares. The colors themselves may vary depending on which type of plasmic hoversphere your looking through. But the effects - poisonous vs. safe squares - will be the same. Guide to Colored Squares For IBM PC and Compatibles ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLOR TYPE EFFECTS Purple or Blue NORMAL LAND SAFE White NORMAL SAND NO ACCESS Pink INFECTED LAND NO ACCESS Light Pink INFECTED SAND NO ACCESS Cyan THE SEA NO ACCESS For the Atari ST and Amiga ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLOR TYPE EFFECTS Green NORMAL LAND SAFE Yellow NORMAL SAND NO ACCESS Red INFECTED LAND NO ACCESS Brown INFECTED SAND NO ACCESS Blue THE SEA NO ACCESS As you can see from studying the chart above, most of the earth's surface is unsafe. (Which is precisely why you're here.) Your hoversphere's computer will not allow you to move to an infected, or sand square. By removing the obelisk you'll be able to render the entire surface of an archipelago free from hazardous materials. But in doing so, you may have to disinfect certain areas - square by square - to be able to execute your strategy. To Disinfect an Infected Square - Place your crosshair on the infected square and press F1. 9 KNOW YOUR BOTANY Identifying plant life on earth isn't very difficult. But you should be well aware of the dangers surrounding each type of flora. Viral Trees Originally created to help fight pollution, this hearty species now does just the opposite. Not only do these trees move towards you, but they also infect the land around them with a deadly toxin. If a square you're standing on becomes infected, you will too. Eco-Eggs It's egg-like flower was designed to soak up toxic waste. Unfortunately Eco-Eggs are extremely fragile. When one of these flowers breaks open, it can quickly infect an entire island. Sand Pods The chemical resins in these low-growing, clustered plants are not too dissimilar from the disinfectant your hoversphere uses. Since there are no fuel stations currently on Earth, you may wish to use these plants to refuel. (See Energy Maintenance, page 14.) 10 CREATING LAND BRIDGES In order to work your way around an archipelago, there will be times when you need to create land where water or sand now exists. You also need to build land bridges to connect radioactive node points to the obelisk. (See Deactivating Nodes & Obelisks, below) Creating land is a two step process. First you must turn water to sand. Then turn the sand to land. Here's is the procedure: 1. Locate the body of water which you want to change to land. 2. Place the crosshair on the square you wish to convert and press F1. Water will change to sand. 3. To change sand to land, press F1 again. DEACTIVATING NODES & OBELISKS In order to successfully purify an archipelago, you must deactivate its obelisk. But since all radioactive nodes are linked to the obelisk, the nodes must be destroyed first. Also, in order for the obelisk to absorb the energy from a deactivated node, there must be a direct land path from the node to the obelisk. So in certain cases, you'll have to create land bridges. (See Creating Land Bridges, above) from the node of the obelisk. 11 To Deactivate a Node 1. If necessary, create a land bridge to the obelisk. NOTE: the number of nodes remaining to destroy will be indicated in the bottom right corner of the screen. A tone will sound if the node is not connected to the obelisk. 2. Move towards the node until it is in range of your crosshair. (Avoid getting any closer than three squares from the node.) 3. Place the crosshair on the square that houses the node and press the left mouse button. The node will now collapse, and your hoversphere will absorb its excess energy. To Shut Down The Obelisk 1. Once all the nodes have been destroyed, a 90-seconds-to-melt-down timer will be activated. You must approach the obelisk as quickly as possible. 2. Place your crosshair on the obelisk's square then press the left mouse button. (Keyboard users: use the spacebar.) 3. Congratulate yourself! You've just purified an archipelago. 12 A WORD ON NECROMANCERS By now you've probably heard plenty about Necromancers, those other EP's - like yourself - who didn't make it. Necromancers are a very recent phenomena so we haven't had time to do a thorough study on them. But from the reports we've received there are a few things we know for certain: 1. They're dangerous paranormal entities! Direct contact with them is almost certain death. 2. They eat away at island edges. Which means they can quickly destroy land bridges you've worked so diligently to create. BEWARE OF THE B-9000 (BANSHEE) The Banshee is an Air Cleaner placed on earth only a few decades ago. And it's doing a very good job. But its creators didn't forsee our coming and - unfortunately - didn't build a discrimination device into it. Which means that the Banshee attempts to clean up everything. Including you! The best way to handle them is simply to avoid them. A strange moaning sound should alert you to their presence. 13 USING YOU MAPS To help you figure out where you are - and where you need to go, your hoversphere is equipped with a system that can generate a map of any archipelago. To access the map, press F2. ENERGY MAINTENANCE Throughout your mission on Earth, you'll continuously be using precious energy. Disinfecting or creating land drains energy rapidly. Fortunately, every time you destroy a node, you'll absorb its excess energy. But that won't always be enough. So here's another method of energy maintenance: 1. Locate a cluster of Sand Pods. (See Know your Botany, page 10). 2. Place the cursor on a square with Sand Pods and press the left mouse button. 3. Absorb the Sand Pod's energy and your energy bar should increase. 14 SURVIVAL TIPS Remember to point at the square, not the object. Sand Squares - whether infected or not - DO NOT LINK the nodes to the obelisk. But land squares, even infected ones, DO LINK the nodes to the obelisk. When traveling across a vastly infected area (red), disinfect a square to give yourself a safe place to move from. The terra-formed moon you see always hangs low in the norther sky. Use it to orient yourself. Deactivate the node closest to the obelisk last. That way you won't have to worry about having enough time to get to the obelisk when the 90-second self-destruct timer goes off. Necromancers can't cross water. So when confronted with a persistent Necromancer, create an island or peninsula to try and lure him away from the shore. He may then become permanently stranded out there. Fortunately, you can usually hear the screaming Banshees before you can see them. This gives you time to get out of their path. You'll have to act fast, because these are the fastest moving objects in all the Archipelagos. When creating land bridges for the purpose of linking nodes to the obelisk, remember that linked squares must share one side. Diagonal connections will not suffice. Lightning may cause Eco-Eggs to explode. 15 ============================================================================ Downloaded From P-80 Systems 304-744-2253 * Since 1980 * ============================================================================