Vectronix 1/VECTRONIX1.iso/area.3/803.lzh/803.MSA/DAMOCLES.DOC

Text File | 1990-07-25 | 12KB | 274 lines

Damocles
--------

Cracked and Packed file version by : The Mighty Clog

Cracked during Scotland's immense 2-1 defeat of Sweden.... and packed the
following day.... about 5 hours work (Including packing time) !!!

Thanks to Mike of Trend for the Original, and also to Hal for offering to send
me his original the day after he bought it !!!!

Also thanks to Tosh for typing in some of this Doc file, and finally thanks
to Agnostic Front and my stereo for supplying music while I type this text !!

This game had one of the best protections I've yet seen on the ST !!!
The disk was unformatted (apart from a couple of tracks at the start), and
obviously couldn't be copied !
The protection was mainly encryption, self-modifying code and trace-decoding.
The load routines had to be de-crypted every time they were called as they
re-encrypted themselves during execution !!
Most of the other encryption routines would execute a few pages of code using
a trace decoding routine, then when they entered the next encryption routine
the previous section of code was erased... Making dumps almost impossible !!!
The loading routines ended up at $68000, and the main game code went to $140.
Once you got through all that, and actually had everything loaded in and
decrypted, you still had to get past a final series of encryption and trace-
decoding routines before you actually got into the main game !

Well, it's now packed and into files.... so tough luck to whoever coded the
protection routines....  better luck with your next attempt.

Could I please encourage everybody to forget (or even lose) my phone number,
as I'm getting pissed off with people who have a phone permanently stuck to
their ear !!


Game Description
----------------
Damocles is a game of exploration and discovery in which you are a 21st century
soldier of fortune.
You have been invited, by the State President, to the planet Eris for work that
offers a rich reward. The comet Damocles, in it's present trajectory, is on a
collision course with Eris and will destroy the planet. You will be asked to
present this catastrophe.
When those originally charged with finding a solution were seen to be failing,
the President called for your assistance. Unfortunately, you were delayed en-
route and now, on your arrival, there are only a few hours remaining before the
comet hits !
And so the game begins - with you having landed at Eris Capital City Spaceport.
Your car awaits. The key, which you need to pick up, is in the spaceport
building. Board the car and drive along the exit road. The state office is the
first building along this road that you can see. For a full briefing, walk in.
It's up to you. In Damocles, you choose the action !

.... I've been playing the game for a while, so I'll add a few lines to the
above to get you started into the game a bit.
Once you've got the key, boarded your vehicle and driven along to the State
Office, you should go in through the front door, then through the door to the
left. Pick up the document, and read it now if you wish. Leave this room and
go to the lifts. Press '2' for the second floor, now go into the rooms on the
second floor.... the President will now ask if you want to accept the mission.
Press 'O' (for OK), to accept. He will now tell you to collect the key from the
basement. It can take a while of just walking around the building before the
President contacts you... so be patient. Now go to the lifts and Press 'B'
for the basement. The door will now be unlocked and you can enter to get the
key. Now go back to the lifts and press 'G' (for Ground). You can now leave the
building and try to find your ship.


Gameplay
--------
In Damocles, the player is never 'Killed'. Your ability to play the game never
ends, even if the comet hits Eris.

Playfield
---------
The Damocles playfield is the Gamma solar system of 9 planets and their 19
moons in orbit around the star Dialis. All of the planets and moons are
available to you by flying to them in a suitable spacecraft. Some have seas
and islands, others are barren but are cratered or have other features, some
are featureless and there are 2 gas giants on which you are not able to land.

Transport
---------
You arrive in the game able to walk from your craft, which is not refitted for
further flight. All transport in the game requires you to be holding it's
matching key for you to be able to use it. There is one exception (See 'Quit'
later).
There are 3 types of craft: 1. Cars and other ground based vehicles
                            2. Aircraft, which are restricted to the planet or
                               moon they are actually on.
                            3. Spacecraft for interplanetary flight. All craft
                               have varying capabilities, some are good, some
                               not so good.

Objects
-------
Your interaction with the game is principally through the objects that are
found. Many of these have a use. You can pick up and hold objects to relocate
or use at any time by taking these into your inventory. You can generally hold
up to a maximum of ten objects at a time.
Please note that there is no limit to the number of objects that you can drop
in any one place but an excessive concentration of objects will significantly
slow down the graphics.

Clues
-----
Following from the 'State Office' briefing, there is a straight forward 'trail'
that leads to a solution, for which you are suitably rewarded. It is rewarding
to play and affords a useful insight and experience of some of the gameplay
available, but occupies only about 20% of the full gameplay installed. There
are a number of interlinked ways to varying solutions and rembering that your
objective is to maximise your fortune, the experienced player will want to
investigate these other options.

Exploration
-----------
The Damocles playfield is vast. You can of course explore everywhere, and might
eventually find all there is to find. However, this approach is not recommended
for example, there are over sixteen million individually numbered but
identical pyramids on Midas. Even the most ardent adventurer would find a
simple search of these somewhat tedious.

In exploring, look for differences. Certainly significant buildings are well
worth a look inside, but also a structure that may be commonplace elsewhere,
if sited individually, could also be interesting. Similarly, one pink building
among many of the same type of green would have a purpose.

Trading
-------
An important feature of the gameplay is the value of many of the objects that
you can find. You must sell an object to be credited with its value. This can
be accomplished at any of the Trading Posts that you can find that do not
already have an object for sale in the window. You can of course buy the
displayed object, if you can afford it. The price is shown on the wall panel.
Where you can sell, the money shown on the panel is that offered at these
premises for the object currently selected in your inventory. Drop the object
and leave the room for the transaction to be complete.

Time
----
Your panel clock is tuned to the time countdown to Damocles impact with Eris.
If Eris continues to exist when this clock reaches zero, you will have
succeeded. Your space travel around the system is at speeds near to the
speed of light. Very quick and convenient for you, but note the rapid decay of
your Eris based time clock!
Compared to the speeds that you can attain, the planet and moon rotations and
even the comet, appear to move at a leisurely pace. But beware! This can be
misleading. The comet is moving relentlessly.

In-Flight Effects
-----------------
In space flight, an ecliptic plane operates to encourage your flight to remain
within the plane of the system. During rapid space flight, Benson ,in your
helmet PC, affords a playable view by compensating for the effects of acceler-
ation and for relativistic distortions.
Similarly to provide you with simple flight controls, in space your engine
speed and direction are regulated to take account of gravitational fields and
appropriate decelaration is applied for you to enter above the planets and
moons. Above their surfaces, you will move faster at high altitudes. A red
panel light shows ground proximity.


Controls
--------

Communication
-------------
With Benson in communication mode, you may be asked to respond. This is
indicated by a question mark (?) following text.
Press 'O' to respond Yes (OK), otherwise No is assumed.

Walking
-------
Walking is initiated by use of the joystick.
You are able to RUN by pressing the 'R' key. To return to walking pace, press
'R' again. A white panel light indicates 'run' mode.

Transport
---------
To board a vehicle or craft press 'B'.
To leave parked transport (to walk away) press 'L'.
POWER forward is selected by pressing a number key on the main keyboard, from
1 to 9 with 0=max. For reverse, select Function key F1 to F10. For fine
adjustment to selected speed, press keypad '(' and ')' keys. To stop, or hover
in flight press the Space Bar.
Ground vehicles are steered by the joystick.

Aircraft need sufficient speed to take off. Landing too heavily will result
in a crash. On the ground they behave as ground vehicles (above).

Spacecraft are flown as for aircraft, but can attain escape velocity. To
activate escape sequence, in flight, press the ESCAPE key.

Elevators
---------
Elevators (lifts) in buildings are generally indicated by a floor number being
shown. Stand centrally and select a floor number on main keyboard keys '1' to
'9'. 'B' for basement and 'G' for return to ground level. If the number
selected does not exist as a floor number, the lift will not operate.

Objects and Inventory
---------------------
All objects and Inventory controls use the Keypad and the cursor keys.
To pick up an object, stand near to it and press the cursor up key. Provided
you have inventory capacity available, its name will be shown on your
inventory. To review names of objects held, toggle the left and right cursor
keys. To drop an object, select its name and press the cursor down key.

Where an object has a player controllable use, it can be activated if it is
shown selected in the control window and the ENTER key is pressed.
An auxilliary central 'control panel' will scroll on giving instructions to
operate the object via the keypad keys. The panel will remain active unless
the object is dropped, or an alternative object selected.

Combat
------
Craft have a defensive missile capability. In general play, you do not have an
enemy, but if you do provoke an attack, this is relentless. Unless you can
destroy the enemy ship, it will find you and home in for the kill. Depress the
joystick 'Fire' button to fire a missile.

Quit
----
In all events, bar one untenable situation, you can extricate yourself from any
difficulty (eg. loss of a craft) by quitting. You will be re-located near to
Dialis in a craft (that does not require a key).

Press HELP key.
F1 = Save  F2 = Load  F10 = Quit  Other = Return to game

You can save 10 games on each disk (first format a blank disk), by pressing the
keys 0 to 9.
If you want to load a saved game from 'Mercenary', you must load it BEFORE you
pick up the key for the car. Follow the re-load procedure, but instead of
selecting F2, press F3 for an 'Escape from Targ' save game and F4 for a 'Second
City' save game.


Keyboard Summary
----------------
O              OK (yes)
R              Toggles run/walk
B              Board vehicle
L              Leave vehicle
Cursor Up      Pick up an object
Cursor Down    Drop an object
Cursor Left    Select an item
Cursor Right   Select an item
ENTER          To reveal control panel for controllable
               item selected from inventory

In Elevator
-----------
1-9            Floor number
B              Basement
G              Ground floor


In vehicle
----------
1-9            Power
0              Max power
F1-F10         Reverse power
)( (keypad)    Fine adjust power
Space          Stop

Help           Load/Save/Quit

Return         Pause