GRAVITY LOADING PROBLEMS Should you experience loading problems with this product, please pop the faulty disk or disks (hang on to the packaging) into a jiffy bag or padded envelope and send it to: The Quality Control Manager, Dept GR, Mirrorsoft Ltd, 118 Southward Street, LONDON SE1 OSW. We will endeavour to provide a replacement within 28 days of receiving your faulty disk(s). This in no way affects your Statutory Rights. CAUTION! Diskettes are magnetic media. Do not expose them to x-rays or intense magnetic fields as the data they hold will be erased. Do not attempt to 'back-up' this data as it may be destroyed in the process. Mirrorsoft accepts no responsibility for disks damaged as a direct result of infringement of copyright. 2 You had all the time in the universe with a mission to colonize it. But your time's just run out. Now the Outies are out to play it's got serious. It's become a mission of... GRAVITY In 2320, interstellar travel has become as commonplace as intercity, and man's mission to colonize the universe is well underway. But then the Outies appeared. No-one knew where they came from, but it was obvious what they were after...energy. And they'd stop at nothing to get it. They favor charged Black Holes. And they just turned your latest colony into one... It's pay back time. A spiral arm wrestle. But this galaxy's not big enough for the both of you. Something's got to give. Just make sure it's the Outies on the receiving end. 3 CONTENTS LOADING GRAVITY 5 YOUR OBJECTIVE 6 THE ENVIRONMENT 7 CONTROL 7 WHAT'S WHAT (WHERE AND WHY) 8 MODULES 10-11 SCOUTCRAFT 12-13 EQUIPMENT 17 STATUS DISPLAY 17 DAMAGE CONTROL 19 RADARS 20 DRIVES 21 WEAPONRY 23 DEFENCE 27 TOOLS 29 WELCOME TO STARCOM! 33 MISSIONS 34 YOUR SHIP-BOARD COMPUTER 36 COLONIZING 42 GRAVITIC ENGINEERING 44 TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 48 THE GRID: EINSTEIN-MINKOWSKI FOUR-SPACE 48 THE CUBE: THE HOLO TANK (TM) 50 ORDERS 54 COMMUNICATION 57 THE OUTIES 58 KEYBOARD SUMMARY 64 A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION: ABOUT THE AUTHOR 73 4 LOADING GRAVITY ATARI ST Disconnect all external peripherals except the monitor or television. Insert Gravity Disk One into the disk drive and turn on your ST. Gravity will now load (don't mind the Wyvern). When the title screen appears, wait for a few seconds until the music plays. You can now sit back and enjoy the turn or press any key to load the remainder of the main program. When prompted, eject Gravity Disk One and insert Gravity Disk Two to begin your mission. AMIGA Disconnect all external peripherals except the monitor or television. Insert the Gravity Disk into the disk drive and turn on your Amiga. Gravity will now load (don't mind the Wyvern). When the title screen appears, wait for a few seconds until the music plays. You can now sit back and enjoy the tune or press any key to load the remainder of the program and begin your mission. 5 NB! For the purpose of saving your progress in the event of being unable to continue play, we recommend you have a Game Save Disk to hand. Please ensure it is blank and has been formatted. YOUR OBJECTIVE Eradicate the entire Outie fleet...or die trying. The only way of permanently removing the Outies from the galaxy is to turn their system's Black Hole back into a sun and destroy their home base. Preferably before they turn your sun into a Black Hole... GAME OVER When all your forces are lost at the hands of the Outies or your home system's sun is turned into a Black Hole and your home base is destroyed...that's Game Over. NB! ATARI ST ONLY...Eject Disk Two and insert Disk One when requested. To start afresh once the Game Over screen has been displayed and the title screen reappears, follow the loading procedure from the relevant point. 6 THE ENVIRONMENT Gravity concerns a small fragment of the Milky Galaxy: a Spiral Arm comprising 128 randomly generated Solar Systems from 65536 permutations. This vast system is yours to explore and you'd better. Get out and colonize as many planets as possible, then use your technologically developing colonies to keep track of Outie activity and ultimately trace its source. The Dateline is January 01, 2321. With the United Nations Scout Ship Hawking under your direct control, and 15 other Scoutcraft at your disposal, your mission begins. CONTROL The mouse is used extensively, so plug it into its usual hole - ie: Port Zero (ST) Port One (Amiga). The keyboard also has its uses, mainly as an alternative to the mouse (see Keyboard Summary). LET YOUR FINGER DO THE POINTING The mouse moves the 'handy' pointer around the screen. Use the pointer's finger as a point of reference. Two quick presses of the left hand mouse button (ie: a double click) more often than not selects a function. 7 WHAT'S WHAT (WHERE AND WHY) PANE SAILING The Gravity environment is primarily icon-driven through windows. Open a window by moving the pointer to the relevant icon and double clicking the left hand mouse button. Close a window by double clicking the left hand mouse button with the pointer on one of these... 8 This is often found in the top left hand corner of a window, or failing that in the center of the panel at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, don't bother to close windows - just select another function to close the one in action. Should you need to move the window elsewhere on screen, simply touch a 'clean' area of its border with the pointer and press and hold down the left hand button. 9 MODULES A series of Modules are used to make decisions and maintain your existence. Select a module by (PICTURE) 10 touching the respective icon with the pointer and double clicking the left hand mouse button. (PICTURE) 11 SCOUTCRAFT The United Nations Scout Ship featured in Gravity first entered service in 2116. There have been improvements made since, but all have been minor and not worthy of mention. The 16 Scoutcraft at your disposal all come identically equipped it's up to you to improve them where necessary. (PICTURE) 12 FLEET ROLL Bell Columbus Einstein Euclid Hawking Gagarin Herschel Lovelace Magellan Minkowski Newton Podolski Riemann Rosen Sally Ride Tereshkova (PICTURE) 13 DIMENSIONS LENGTH: 1800m HEIGHT: 500m WIDTH: 100m DRIVE Three Drive Slots are available. INITIAL CONFIGURATION SLOT ONE: ION DRIVE SLOT TWO: ORION SYSTEM SLOT THREE: EMPTY WEAPONS Four Weapons Slots are available the top usually contains an energy weapon, with missiles often stored in the other three. The contents automatically shuffle 'down' to Slot One when a weapon is either exhausted or damaged. Eight spare missiles are proved as standard. INITIAL CONFIGURATION SLOT ONE: NOVA GUN SLOT TWO: MISSILE SLOT THREE: MISSILE SLOT FOUR: MISSILE DEFENSES Four Defence Slots are available. As with the weapons, the contents shuffle 'down' to Slot One when a defence system is either exhausted or damaged. INITIAL CONFIGURATION SLOT ONE: DRONE SLOT TWO: DRONE SLOT THREE: DRONE SLOT FOUR: DRONE 14 COMPUTER Five key systems are housed here... COMMUNICATIONS Prepares and receives Jump Sound transmissions and messages. NAVIGATION Calculates Collapsar Jumps and planetary orbits. DISPLAY Responsible for creating the strategic and tactical displays, ie: the Holo Tank (TM), the Grid and Radars. PROGRAMMING For Drones, Tools and Missiles. DAMAGE CONTROL Provides limited repair to other computer sub-systems. POWER UNITS Powered by nuclear fusion. FUEL TANK Refuel with hydrogen, either by calling at a colony or skimming a Gas Giant. 15 CONTROLLING A SCOUTCRAFT Move the mouse in the direction you wish the Scoutcraft to face. Depressing the left hand button activates the Scoutcraft's drive, ie: applies thrust. Pressing the right hand button activates Weapon Slot One, with Slot Two activated via the keyboard. Just be careful not to shoot other Terran Scoutcraft, Drones or even your own missiles! Alternatively, use the keyboard (for further details see Keyboard Summary). 16 EQUIPMENT (PICTURE) STATUS DISPLAY Shows Ship Time, Real Time, Current Location, Battle Data, Nominal Status, and Elapsed Time, plus any other relevant information regarding the Scoutcraft currently under your control. A single click of the left hand mouse button with the pointer on either of the Computer Display Keyboards cycles through this information. SHIP TIME Shown in hours, minutes, month and year. 17 REAL TIME Not real Real Time, as in the Real World, but time relative to StarCom, also shown in hours, minutes, month and year. CURRENT LOCATION The position of the Scoutcraft under your direct control. BATTLE DATA Any information regarding damage to the Scoutcraft currently under control. NOMINAL STATUS The current status of the Scoutcraft you control shown as a percentage of full capacity. Remaining fuel is also displayed in lbs. ELAPSED TIME This is the real Real Time, shown in seconds, minutes and hours. Just to let you know how long play's been in progress. 18 DAMAGE CONTROL (PICTURE) This rotating three dimensional view of the Scoutcraft you currently control allows you to see at a glance any damage incurred. All damaged functions flash red. Non-modular damage is self repairing the replacement of lost drives, defenses, weapons and tools on the other hand, is not. The top slots of these modules are filled by any available back up systems, but when they run out, it's time to visit your nearest stockist - ie: a colony. 19 RADARS A double click of the left mouse button with the pointer on this icon opens and closes the two radars. Both radars cannot be open at once, which is why one closes as the other opens. LONG RANGE RADAR The shades of color represent differing depths of gravity well. To help you find your way around, lines emitted from the craft point to stellar or planetary bodies... GREY SUN GREEN PLANET BLUE SINGULARITY (BLACK HOLE) SHORT RANGE RADAR Used primarily for combat. The grey plateau represents the immediate vicinity of Four Space around the Scoutcraft you currently control. 20 DRIVES Decide how to drive your Scoutcraft. A choice of five systems are available. A single click on the drive of your choice puts it in the top (active slot.) SHORT RANGE ION DRIVE A reaction drive which gives low but constant acceleration by accelerating particulate matter to close the speed of light. Preferred by many pilots as a back up drive. LIGHTSAIL Less common than Ion Drive as a back up, but has the advantage of requiring no internal power as its motive force is pressure of the solar wind against a giant reflective Mylar Sail. 21 THE BUSSARD RAMJET Can be found more or less anywhere, which is an indication of its quality. The Bussard Ramjet uses a large magnetic field to gather hydrogen, which is then fused and used as a reaction mass. THE ORION SYSTEM Detonates small fission bombs some 440 times a second behind a large sprung plate cum radiation shield which channels the blast to provide thrust. Looks impressive, too! GRAVITIC WARPER Only available from the more technologically advanced colonies. The Warper is the workhorse of interplanetary travel, and is often backed up by other systems in case of damage or malfunction. Basically, a difference in gravitic potential between points in space in front of and behind the device is created. It then finds itself sitting halfway up the slope of a gravity well and accelerates down it in free fall. The gravity well moves with the warper, which means this process may continue indefinitely. LONG RANGE COLLAPSAR JUMP The craft falls into a singularity and continues in a straight line in zero time until another singularity is reached, whereupon the ship reappears with the same velocity it originally had. The curvature of space means that should no other singularity lie on the craft's line of flight, it simply reappears at the same singularity into which it disappeared. Subsequently, you ship board computer can calculate the collapsar of origin of any craft seen emerging from the jump, and you can track the Outies to their home system. 22 WEAPONRY Four types available from two general categories... ENERGY WEAPONS LASERS The least powerful weapon system. Lasers are capable of rapid fire and extremely useful for close quarters panic action. NOVA GUN Another development which wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Hawking's Grand Unification of Forces. The Nova Gun is superficially similar 23 to a laser, however after a period of time determined by its user, the energy in the beam forms a quantum black hold which immediately evaporates and results in an enormous release of energy in a very short period of time. Keep out of its range! MESON CANNON Creates high energy mesons and directs them at targets. The short lives of mesons are prolonged to precise durations by accelerating them to relativistic velocities. If the point of decay is forced to occur within a target vessel, the result is a high energy explosion and extensive radiation damage. The nature of the meson means that it passes through all shields and matter without resistance. 24 MISSILES To pick up a missile and place it into an empty Weapons slot, simply point to the missile icon at the bottom of the window (the quantity available is shown to the right) and depress and HOLD DOWN the left hand mouse button. Missiles can be tailored to your specifications. A single click of the left hand mouse button with the pointer positioned on the missile slot calls up this diagram, allowing you to tweak the missile. NB! Not all missiles parts work together, which is why you sometimes can't select certain items. For example: a Short Burn missile only explodes on Contact (as opposed to a Timed run). 25 WARHEAD FUSION BOMB Standard high explosive. SHAFTER Creates a point of infinite gravitational potential at its point of detonation. Any matter within the very steep gravity well produced is torn apart by tidal forces. DRIVES SHORT BURN Limited thrust. CONSTANT ACCELERATION The missile thrusts 'til it busts. GUIDANCE FREE FLIGHT The missile travels in the direction it was launched. HOMING The missile locks on to the nearest available target and chases it relentlessly. DETONATOR CONTACT For touch sensitive missiles. TIMED Detonates after a period of time. 26 DEFENCE DRONES Small robot craft intended to harass and confuse the enemy. Their behavior is pre programmed with the Combat Orientated Language (COL) (See PROGRAMMING DRONES). DRIVE ION WEAPONRY LASER To view and select a Drone's available Drone Control Programs, firstly pick up and place the required Drone icon in the top (active) slot. A single click of the left hand mouse button calls up the Drone's four program slots, allowing you to point to the desired DCP and 'activate' it with a further single click of the left hand mouse button. 27 BLACK GLOBE GENERATOR Projects a barrier which absorbs all energy and transfers it to on board capacitors for storage. The barrier prevents all transit across it, and so a ship with its Black Globe activated may not manoeuvre, fire its weapons or communicate. Should the glove overload and the capacitors fail, a large explosion occurs which almost certainly destroys the ship. A single click on the left hand mouse button with the pointer on the Defence icon toggles the Black Globe on and off. 28 TOOLS Intelligent machines constructed for the purposes of terraforming and gravitic engineering. In order to colonize, you need to launch a colony module, for which this module is required. The display shows three hatch covers of launch tubes, with (above) windows displaying the tube's contents. TOOLS INVENTORY (PICTURE) 29 A single clock on 'I' a list of tools available. Top left corner shows how many modules are available. Move pointer to tool required, and pick it up by pressing and holding down the left hand mouse button. You can now move the tool to the required window. Tools shuffle down to the next tube when a tube is launched or damaged. To replace a tool, simply pick up the replacement and place it in the tube. The old tool is then replaced in the stores. COLONY MODULE Launch one in the vicinity of a suitable planet to create a colony. Each Scoutcraft comes initially equipped with four. CYGNUS Forms a Collapsar from any sun or Gas Giant. Only one Cygnus is supplied as standard. REMOTE ENGINEERING DEVICE Or RED for short. The Black Hole in the Outies' home system is evaporated by using an appropriately programmed RED. It's the only programmable gravitic engineering device, and six of them feature in each Scoutcraft's basic Tools inventory. GENESIS Remote terraforming device which terraforms any Rocky planet. In fact it's the only tool capable of actually creating a planet, which is why at first you only have one to play with. 30 EXAMINING TOOLS (PICTURE) Open a tube and call up Tool Data Form by double clicking the left hand mouse button while pointing to a hatch cover for information on the tool inn the tube selected (for further information regarding the following terms, see GRAVITIC ENGINEERING). Only the RED data can be changed - a single - click of the left hand mouse button while pointing to the arrows either side of the 'No Change' icons cycles through the data. 31 (THIS PAGE IS BLANK) 32 WELCOME TO STARCOM! STAR COMmand is your home base - lose it and you lose the game. It's also the main center of strategy, acting as a form of computer aid by offering advice in the form of missions. StarCom Activity (ie: the level of its interaction) is initially set at 50% but if you feel the need you can alter it to anywhere between 0% (minimum) and 99% (maximum) activity via the ship's computer (see SHIP BOARD COMPUTER for further details). With StarCom Activity at maximum, the computer gives orders to your Scoutcraft fleet. Minimum StarCom Activity means that all orders given are by you and you alone. Any values in between determine the ratio of computer and player orders. Whatever the value of StarCom Activity, you are free to override any computer given orders (see ORDERS for further details). 33 MISSIONS No sooner has the game begun than mission details arrive courtesy of StarCom. To accept the mission, simply get out there and do your stuff (the destination is automatically set on the ship's computer, and can be viewed in the HoloTank see HOLOTANK for further details). If, on the other hand, you want to embark on an alternative mission, access the ship board computer and simply discard it (for further details, see SHIP BOARD COMPUTER). Just for the record, StarCom missions include... EXPLORATION Discover information about a system, such as the size and types of any planetary bodies or Outies present. TERRAFORMING To prepare the way for colonization by further expeditions, you need to tidy up the planetary system beforehand by removing problems such as asteroid belts, and terraforming as many planets as possible for later colonization. MILITARY ACTION Visit an Outie occupied system, either to hassle them or to remove them for good. This occasionally includes the conversion of Outie-produced Singularities into more useful suns, and certainly requires plenty of tactical skill. COLONY PROTECTION Protect a convoy of colonists on its journey to the colony worlds, and maintain interdiction for a time while the colony sets up its defenses. 34 ROUTE CONSTRUCTION Some areas of the Spiral Arm are unreachable with the Singularities available, which means sending a Scoutcraft through normal space to establish another Singularity, which may then be used for transport. These missions take time, and you are advised not to take personal charge. 35 YOUR SHIP BOARD COMPUTER A single click of the left hand mouse button while pointing to either keyboard cycles through the Status Display information. A double click however opens this window of options. (PICTURE) DISCS Load or Save your progress. NB! This option is only available at colonies of Tech Level 4 and above. PROGRAM Determine your Drones' behavior with the Combat Orientated Language. 36 COMMS Review orders or restock equipment. OPTION Game trimmings. DISC When prompted, eject Gravity Disk Two and insert your Game Save Disk. Press any key to begin. A directory of saved games is shown in the window move the list up and down by pointing to the respective arrows to the right of the window and single click the left hand mouse button. A single click of the left hand mouse button with the pointer on the top name slot allows you to enter the name of your saved game via the keyboard. To load or save a game, point to the relevant icon and single click the left hand mouse button. 37 COMMS (PICTURE) ORDERS View current orders. DISCARD (PICTURE) 38 Discard present orders and request more from StarCom by pointing to this icon and double clicking the left hand mouse button. RESTOCK Not only refuels your ship but calls up the colony's stores of Drives, defenses, Tools, and Weapons, along with your current equipment status and bank balance. The cost of equipment is displayed in the Cost window by pointing to the item of interest and single clicking the left hand mouse button. Pick up an item by pointing to it and depressing and holding down the left hand mouse button. Buy it by moving it to the Store Data window and releasing the mouse button. NB! You cannot purchase equipment if you have neither the room to store it nor the necessary cash (see BUYING EQUIPMENT for further financial details). 39 OPTIONS (PICTURE) BINDINGS Most of the keys used throughout can be redefined to your requirements (for a complete list of keys see KEYBOARD SUMMARY). A single click of the left hand mouse button while pointing to either of the arrows to the right of the window cycles through the current key definitions. To redefine the key displayed, simply point to the entry and single click the left hand mouse button then press the key of your choice. 40 STARCOM Alter the degree of autonomy of StarCom, ie: how much of the game strategy you are allowed to 'oversee'. ABORT Start all over again, with all settings reset to default. NEW GAME Leave all settings as defined and start afresh. PROGRAM (PICTURE) Create Drone Control Programs (see PROGRAMMING DRONES for further details). 41 COLONIZING The only place you buy supplies is at a colony. Colonies are also used for receipt of information and missions, R'n'R and for saving your current status (NB! This option is only available at colonies of T4 or above). Obviously, colonizing is of the essence. CREATING A COLONY Before you can dispatch a Scoutcraft on a colonizing mission, you must first discover or create a suitable planet or planets orbiting a suitable sun or suns. GRAVITIC ENGINEERING Should you come across a body which fails to meet your requirements, simply transform it. Tools are used to change the three variable characteristics of stellar and planetary bodies. The greater the change, the more energy is required and hence more Tools. Genesis and Cygnus devices perform their respective functions irrespective of the values detailed below, but neither item is widely available. The abundant REDs on the other hand are limited to five units of energy for the purpose of change, which means in some instances you may need more than one (see TOOLS for further details). DIAMETER Altered at a cost of three energy units for every 1000km difference. 42 BIOSPHERE The Atmosphere Type and Hydrographic Percentage of Rocky bodies. It only takes a single unit of energy to effect a change. COMPOSITION Stellar and planetary bodies exist in one of the four following states... HYDROGEN Suns and Gas Giants. ROCKY Earth, Venus, Mars, Asteroids and the like. NEUTRONIUM Neutron Stars. Very dense. SINGULARITY So dense it doesn't actually exist. The table below shows the quantity of energy required to convert a body from one state to another. Hydrogen To Rocky 2 Rocky To Hydrogen 2 Rocky To Neutronium 10 Neutronium To Rocky 10 Neutronium To Singularity 35 Singularity To Neutronium 35 Once a colony is established, its Technological Level (ie: ability to restock and equip any Scoutcraft that care to drop in) develops independently. The greater the number of Terran planets in a sector, the faster their Tech Level (represented by 'T') advances. 43 Successful Outie attacks reduce a colony's Tech Level. Once a colony is lost to the Outies though, that's its lot. TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT A colony's Tech Level develops as follows (available items are highlighted in bold)... T3 DRIVES None DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY None MISSILE Drives TOOLS None T4 DRIVES Orion System DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers MISSILE Drives Guidance TOOLS REDs Colony T5 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Gun MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators TOOLS REDs Colony 44 T6 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet Light Sail DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Gun Meson Cannon MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators Warheads TOOLS REDs Colony T7 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet Light Sail Ion Drive DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Gun Meson Cannon MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators Warheads TOOLS REDs Colony Cygnus T8 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet Light Sail Ion Drive Gravitic Warper DEFENSES Drones 45 WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Guns Meson Cannon MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators Warheads TOOLS REDs Colony Cygnus Genesis T9 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet Light Sail Ion Drive Gravitic Warper DEFENSES Drones WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Gun Meson Cannon MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators Warheads TOOLS REDs Colony Cygnus Genesis T10 DRIVES Orion System Bussard Ramjet Light Sail Ion Drive Gravitic Warper DEFENSES Drones Black Globe 46 WEAPONS ENERGY Lasers Nova Gun Mesonn Cannon MISSILE Drives Guidance Detonators Warheads TOOLS REDs Colony Cygnus Genesis 47 THE GRID: EINSTEIN-MINKOWSKI FOUR-SPACE The active gridwork (or solid contoured plane at the press of the F3 key) in the center is Einstein-Minkowski Four-Space - your view of the currently occupied singularity. Also known as The Grid, this scrolling isometric-perspective view is where the action happens. The plane of the grid represents the three spatial dimensions (x, y, z), and the height represents gravitational potential - and hence time. All suns, planets, singularities and the like impose their gravity wells on the web of Four-Space, while spacecraft and other small objects react to gravity 48 wells and other gravimetric phenomena in terms of Newtonian mechanics. NB! Due to memory restrictions, the starfield you see here does not appear on machines with less than 1Mb. WHAT THE COLORED GRID MEANS Green Four-Space represents Deep Space, but this and colors of Four-Space represent the presence of stellar or planetary bodies. GREEN SUN Surrounding Four-Space is GREEN in color. RED SUN Surrounding Four-Space is RED in color. TERRAN PLANET Surrounding Four-Space is CYAN in color. ROCKY PLANET Surrounding Four-Space is BROWN in color. BLUE STAR Surrounding Four-Space is DARK BLUE in color. GAS GIANT Surrounding Four-Space is MAGENTA in color. Gas Giants are used to refuel Scoutcraft. Simply run through one for approximately 1000lbs of fuel. 49 THE HOLOTANK Also affectionately known as The Cube. A strategic display of the spiral arm of the galaxy you occupy - ie: a form of three-dimensional map. (PICTURE) ROLL Rotate Cube about z axis. MAGNIFY Concentrates on the area around the red marker. YAW Rotate Cube about y axis. 50 CLOSE Shut Window PITCH Rotate Cube about x axis. All functions except CLOSE are blue in color, representing one direction of operation, and orange the other. A single-click of the left hand mouse button while pointing at the respective icon changes its color and reverses the direction of operation. Depress and hold down the left hand mouse button to perform the operation. When the contents of the Cube is magnified, you may still wish to view your immediate surroundings. Point to the colored bars at the edges of the Cube and press and hold the left hand mouse button. You can now slide the bar held and view the surrounding star field. STAR SYSTEMS GREEN Terran Occupied RED Outie Occupied YELLOW Unknown OR Unoccupied CYAN BLIP (TOP LEFT OF STAR) Singularity & Black Hole Present 51 SYSTEM DATA Call up information about a system by pointing to one in the Cube and double clicking the left hand mouse button. SHOW SYSTEM A single click while pointing here calls up further information about the system. FLEET DATA FORM Point to either an Outie or Terran fleet to call up this form. 52 FLAGSHIP Transfer direct control to the selected Scoutcraft by pointing here and single clicking the left hand mouse button. The Scoutcraft then becomes the Flagship, with you as Flag Admiral. A Single click of the left hand mouse button while pointing here reveals any other fleets at this location either Terran or Outie. Four colors of marker are used for reference. The first star selected is highlighted with a red marker. And select a third star and an amber marker is displayed. Should a fourth star be selected, then the (now) amber marker on the first selected star disappears, and then priorities of the other two markers change accordingly - ie: the red marker becomes green and what was green becomes amber. 53 A cyan marker shows your home system, while a flashing marker shows that the Outie home base has been discovered. CONTROL PANEL The two pairs of colored buttons to the left of this panel correspond to the colors of the markers in the Cube. Point to the desired color of buttons and double click the left hand mouse button to view the names of the selected stars and the distance between them. STATUS Double click the left hand mouse button while pointing here for information concerning the percentage and Tech Level of Terran and Outie occupation, along with the number of remaining Scoutcraft. ORDERS Double click the left hand mouse button while pointing here to call up the Order Form and send orders to StarCom to effect. 54 CARRIAGE RETURN Send a completed order to StarCom by pointing to this icon and single clicking the left hand mouse button. Recognition of the message being sent is displayed in the window at the bottom of the screen. DELETE Point here and single click the left hand mouse button to remove the last word selected. PROBE Order StarCom to send a small Probe craft to check for Outie occupation in a sector. Single click the left hand mouse button with the pointer on PROBE to call up the 27 sector names. Now point to the desired system and single click the left hand mouse button to select if (don't forget to select Carriage Return to send the order). EXPLORE Selected as above, but orders StarCom to send a Scoutcraft (which gives more detailed information than the Probe) to the designated sector. MOVE Orders StarCom to move a Scoutcraft to a newly selected star and act on further orders when it gets there. With MOVE selected, the Scoutcraft is then directed by using the three buttons wither side of the form which are colored red, amber and green to correspond with the previously positioned markers in the Cube. Point to the desired color of box and single click the left hand mouse button to select the destination. Six further actions are now displayed point to the one desired and single click the left hand mouse button to select it. COLONIZE colonize any Terran planet in the selected system. 55 FORM HOLE Some stars do not have Black Holes, which are needed for Faster Than Light travel. A complete Move: Form Hole orders a Scoutcraft to travel at sub light speeds to designated star and create a singularity. Unfortunately, sub light travel takes years of Real Time! TERRAFORM Creates a Terran planet in the designated system. SKIRMISH Orders attacks on Outie craft at the selected location. Fortunately Scoutcraft have the sense to run away when threatened with total destruction. CONQUER Similar in effect to Skirmish, only the Scoutcraft attempt to return the system to an unoccupied state or die trying. CONVOY The only action which requires that at least two stars are selected in the Cube beforehand. They Convoy command orders StarCom to send a Scoutcraft to collect colonists from the first named star and transfer them to the second, in order to colonize, Skirmish or whatever. NB! A colonization as a result of a Convoy order results in a higher Tech Level than as the result of a straightforward Move: colonize. 56 COMMUNICATION All radio communication is limited to traveling at the speed of light, so the only practical means of passing information is via Multiple Collapsar Jumps. Small, missile like craft called Jump Sonds are programmed to perform a series of Collapsar Jumps, broadcasting messages in specified systems for reception by any colonies or spacecraft present. But even Faster Than Light communication takes time, which means that it is possible for the data displayed in the Holo Tank (TM) to be out of date. Your ship board computer attempts to extrapolate information held in the HoloTank (TM), but even so, you may find that seemingly safe missions turn out to be a little less safe than they look! 57 THE OUTIES No one knows from where in hell they came. But it's time they were sent back... The Outies are unconcerned by the wishes of organic life, and as such they stop at nothing to get what they want. What they want is energy, and their favorite means of acquiring it is by harnessing the x-rays produced by charged Black Holes. Bad news for any life forms in the vicinity of the sun they choose to turn into a Black Hole, really. The first Outie sighting was in 2320 in the Canopus Sector, where they turned Tau Carinae into a Black Hole and consequently wiped out an entire colony. +++RESULTS OF ANALYSIS OF OUTIE ACTIVITY+++ Outie technology, particularly in the fields of gravitic engineering and travel, isn't as advanced as humanity for example: they don't possess the Warper. It takes the Outies considerably longer than you to engineer their systems to suit them. On entering a new system, the Outies first build a deep space platform from which further activities within the system take place. They then set about turning the system's sun into a black hole. This entire process takes in excess of a year depending on the stellar type with which they deal. 58 IDENTIFYING OUTIE SPACECRAFT All Outie ships are powered by Ion Drives, making them slower and less manoeuvrable than human ships. There are three distinct categories of craft. ENGINEER Not a combat craft. Only serves to convert suns into singularities. ARMOUR Heavy WEAPONRY None SPEED Slow MANOEUVRABILITY Poor 59 WARSHIPS There are plenty of them patrolling the Spiral Arm, but when it boils down to it there are only(!) eight different types. FIGHTER Similar to a Terran Drone in every aspect. ARMOUR Good WEAPONRY Lasers SPEED Fair MANOEUVERABILITY Good DECOY Looks like a Fighter but only serves to draw fire. ARMOUR None WEAPONRY None SPEED Fair MANOEUVERABILITY Good KAMIKAZE Attempts to ram attacking craft. ARMOUR None WEAPONRY None SPEED Fast MANOEUVERABILITY Fair 60 BOMBER Aggressive! ARMOUR Heavy WEAPONRY Fusion Bombs SPEED Slow MANOEUVERABILITY Poor SWARMER Little more than an intelligent missile. ARMOUR None WEAPONRY None SPEED Fast MANOEUVERABILITY Excellent HEAVYWEIGHT Basically a very large Fighter. ARMOUR Good WEAPONRY Lasers, Fighters, Decoys SPEED Fair MANOEUVERABILITY Fair 61 CARRIER Watch out it carries a squadron of Fighters. ARMOUR Good WEAPONRY Laser, Fighters SPEED Slow MANOEUVERABILITY Poor NOVA A very large robot fusion bomb. Avoid! ARMOURY Poor WEAPONRY Itself! SPEED Slow MANOEUVERABILITY Poor 62 CONTROL/ENGINEERING PLATFORMS Carry Engineers and Warships and come in four sizes. C/EP1 C/EP2 CONTENTS ENGINEERS 2 WARSHIPS 8 ENGINEERS 1 FIGHTERS 3 WARSHIPS 4 HEAVYWEIGHTS 2 FIGHTERS 3 SWARMERS 1 HEAVYWEIGHTS 1 KAMIKAZES 1 C/EP3 C/EP4 ENGINEERS 4 ENGINEERS 8 WARSHIPS 16 WARSHIPS 32 FIGHTERS 2 FIGHTERS 4 HEAVYWEIGHTS 2 HEAVYWEIGHTS 4 SWARMERS 2 SWARMERS 4 KAMIKAZES 2 KAMIKAZES 4 BOMBERS 2 BOMBERS 4 CARRIERS 2 CARRIERS 4 DECOYS 2 DECOYS 4 NOVAS 2 NOVAS 4 63 KEYBOARD SUMMARY F1 OPEN DRIVE WINDOW F2 OPEN DEFENCE WINDOW F3 OPEN FOUR-SPACE DISPLAY & TOGGLE F4 VIEW DAMAGE CONTROL F5 OPEN WEAPONS WINDOW F6 OPEN HOLOTANK (TM) F7 TOGGLE RADAR ON/OFF F8 OPEN TOOLS WINDOW F9 ACCESS COMPUTER HELP TOGGLE MOUSE CONTROL OF SCOUTCRAFT ON/OFF REDEFINABLE KEYS: DEFAULT SETTINGS RIGHT SHIP 'Up'/Activate Scoutcraft Drive (Thrust) CAPS LOCK 'Down' Z 'Left'/Rotate Scoutcraft Left (Anti-Clockwise) D Activate Defence R Recall Drones T Activate Tool S Swap Drive SPACE BAR Activate Weapon Slot One M Activate Weapon Slot Two P Pause (Unpause: Press Any Key) 64 COMBAT ORIENTATED LANGUAGE COL is an icon driven programming language used to determine the behavior of Drones. It takes time to master, but it isn't too difficult to learn especially with the examples provided. PROGRAMMING DRONES Having selected the Program icon with a double click of the left hand mouse button, insert your Game Save Disc and press any key when prompted. Four Drone Control Programs are supplied as standard - FlyFree, Interdict, Local, and KamiKaze. Studying them will give you an idea of how a DCP works. To call up a DCP into the Program Window, simply point to the relevant slot (except the red one) in the Storage Window and double click the left hand mouse button. STORAGE WINDOW Displays a directory of your Save Game Disc and is used to load and save Drone Control Programs. PROGRAM WINDOW This is where programs are created. 65 ICON WINDOW All command icons are stored here. DCP Transfer the Drone Control Program shown in the red slot in the Storage Window to the Drone number displayed to the right. Move the Program Window around the DCP to view it. Alternatively, use the cursor keys. CLR Clear the program window of the DCP to allow input of a new program. A single click of the left hand mouse button while pointing to 'SaveName' clears this strip and allows you to enter, via the keyboard, the name under which you wish to save the program to disk. If the program name already exists on the list, simply move it to the yellow slot and single click the left mouse button to place it in the red slot. Shows the number of the DCP-slot ready to receive the DCP shown in the red slot in the Storage Window. Cycle through the slots by pointing to either pair of arrows and single clicking the left hand mouse button. Point here and apply a single click of the left hand mouse button to load from disk the program in the yellow slot in the Storage Window. 66 CREATING A PROGRAM A Drone Control Program is constructed via two windows: Icons and Program. The icons in the lower window are COL's fundamental commands-by picking them up and placing them in the Program window, a program is created. An icon is picked up by pointing to it and pressing and holding down the left hand mouse button. As icons are added to the program window, they are connected to previous icons by a green line to signify the course of program control. However, when an icon is placed on a previously existing line and the new icon is inserted on that line, dragging conditional icons (eg: IF) sets up the course of program control if the condition is fulfilled. Single clicking on the left hand mouse buttons and holding down the right-hand mouse button while pointing to an icon in the Program Window allows you to remove and delete that icon from the window. A double click of the left hand mouse button while pointing to an icon allows you to set its parameters. Point to either pair of arrows to the right of the parameters and single click the left hand mouse button to cycle through them. NB Although up to four Drone Controls Programs may be held in the ship board computer's memory, only one may be in use at any time for each Drone. ICONS There are 14 commands in the form of icons. A green spot in the top right hand corner of an icon shows it has variable parameters (shown between ). 67 ORBIT ORBIT The Drone orbits an object at the chosen radius. IF IF A conditional command: the Drone acts accordingly if an event occurs, ie: the existence of an object (be it craft, planetary or stellar body or the subject of a LOCK), whether an object is close to the Drone (with the same conditions as an existence), whether is Drone damaged, or a previous LOCK has failed. The False and N/A parameters should be ignored. FIRE FIRE Having locked onto an object, the Drone fires at it. HOLD HOLD Holds the position [x, y] relative to the LOCK. 68 APPROACH APPROACH Approach a craft, planetary or stellar body or the subject of a LOCK. Whatever the object, the APPROACH is relative to MODE. LOCK LOCK Lock onto an alien, a planetary or stellar body or a piece of equipment, e.g.: a missile. FLEE FLEE Order the Drone to flee from a craft, planetary or stellar body or the subject of a LOCK. MODE MODE Determines the flight mode as used by APPROACH. The flight patterns are... LINE The standard mode of flight. RT ANGLE Forces the Drone to move at right angles to the course set by APPROACH. REVERS Reverses the Drone's course. 69 DO DO Denotes the beginning of a loop, ie: a sub-section of commands which can be repeated as often as required. ENDDO ENDDO Denotes the end of a loop. EXIT EXIT Exit a loop. NOP NOP Stands for no OPeration and is used primarily to 'waste time'. 70 GOTO GOTO Go to a section of DCP. To determine the destination, simply point to the GOTO icon and click and hold down the left hand mouse button to move the blue line around the DCP. When the blue line touches the required position in the DCP, release the left hand mouse button. LAND LAND Land on a stellar or planetary body. 71 DRONE CONTROL PROGRAMS: AN EXAMPLE KAMIKAZE Once launched, the Drone is ordered to orbit a singularity at a radius of +10. While the Drone orbits the singularity, it's constantly checking for the existence of an alien of any type. If no alien is present, the GOTO directs the program back to the beginning, and the Drone continues to orbit the singularity, constantly checking for the existence of aliens. With the presence of an alien detected, the Drone is ordered to lock onto it. The Drone is ordered to approach the subject of the lock, ie: the alien. This GOTO forces the Drone to pursue the alien until contact is made...hence the title KamiKaze. 72 A STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR ROSS GOODLEY 73 "I've always been fascinated by the subject of gravity especially with the rubber sheet model, " confesses Gravity designer and programmer Ross Goodley. "I wanted to produce an experience based around that, but I also wanted to write a bigger game which wasn't just a shoot 'em up." Gravity was around a year or so in the making, with the only major problem encountered being aesthetic: "I ended up changing the main display about five times I just didn't like the earlier versions." Other than Gravity, Ross has written all manner of games for all manner of home computers, including the BBC, MSX, Amstrad CPC and now of course the Atari ST and Amiga. His 16 bit portfolio compresses only his debut Bombuzal, which he wrote in conjunction with Tony Crowther. For Ross' next project he's looking to utilize filled vector graphics: "It's a technique I haven't used that often, but I like it so I want to use it for something. It's probably going to involve small unit combat in the same universe as Gravity takes place." When Ross isn't programming, his choice of leisure software is clear: "I like interphase, mainly because of the sheet speed of the graphics and the beautifully implemented map. And Dungeon Master: now that approaches what I'm looking for in a game!" 74 A STEP BY STEP START FROM THE AUTHOR Don't change any options until you are used to getting around. Wait until an order is given, then head straight for your local singularity and go to where you were told. Call up the Cube and see what's happening. As soon as the Outies start to appear, launch a couple of Drones. In the meantime, get on with your mission. Always execute three or four COLONIZE orders. Remember that Outie expansion is global, so to find their colonies, issue EXPLORE orders for a sub-sector. If you are lucky enough to find Outie colonies in the very early stages, look out for their singularity in the vicinity and turn it into a sun. GRAVITY (IT'S THE REAL THING) Of all the universal forces at work, gravity is without doubt the most attractive. It's just so...fundamental. Not only does it keep you firmly planted on Earth it's also responsible for holding together the universe! The Earth is part of a solar system, ie: a system of planets centered around a sun. This solar system is one of many in our galaxy. And our galaxy is one of 75 many in the universe. As you can see, the universe is a very big place much bigger than you could possibly imagine. It's so big it probably never ends, and the number of stars and planets it contains is just so vast it doesn't bear thinking about. But there's more to the universe than stellar and planetary bodies. Like Black Holes... The existence of Black Holes was predicted as early as the 18th century by French astronomer Pierre Laplace. However it wasn't until earlier this century that Albert Einstein provided a more definitive source of information and even then it took significant advances in radio astronomy in the 1960s and '70s' before skeptics could actually 'see' a Black Hole. Since then, many scientists have given their two pence worth on the subject, but perhaps the most significant contribution has come from Stephen Hawking a man who has arguably done more for the understanding of gravity than anyone since Einstein. So what exactly is a Black Hole? Stars are 'powered' by nuclear 'fuel'. And like all fuel supplies, this eventually runs out. When this happens, the star undergoes a major change: its core shrinks, and its outer layers expand to hundreds of times the star's original size. This temporary state is known as a Red Giant until the outer layers of gas are ejected and the core settles down as a small and very dense star called a White Dwarf. Heavier stars consume more fuel so their stocks deplete faster. They eventually go through much the same process as above, but from the Red Giant a Neutron Star is produced. This is even smaller and more dense than a White Dwarf. In fact a Neutron Star is tiny about 15 miles across and yet even a drop of matter from it weighs over a million tons! 76 The death of the heaviest stars form the most dense 'offspring' of all: Black Holes. A Black Hole is literally a hole in the fabric of space. And surprisingly enough, it's black. Not color, simply because it can't be any other color: a Black Hole has such an immense gravitation that not even light can escape from it! At a Black Hole's heart lies a Singularity, surrounded by a few miles of nothing but not nothing as in an empty jar: this is nothing as in the non-existence of space. But if this large gravitation is strong enough to stop light in its tracks, what about time? And where does this hold lead to? Well, seeing as how the nearest Black Hole isn't anywhere near as close as your local corner shop (unless your nearest corner shop's 6000 light years, ie: billions of miles, away), no one's likely to find out what's on the 'other side'. Fortunately, scientists have managed to come up with some educated guesses, based on astronomy and Einstein's Theory Of Relativity. They reckon Black Holes can be used to travel: either within our Universe or, better still, to other Universes. And instantaneously, too. It's actually been suggested than in a few hundred years man might save himself a trip by actually making his own Black Holes! But of course, none of this would be possible without gravity. Sir Isaac Newton was the first to really notice it, prompting him to 'pass' Newton's Law Of Gravitation. This states that the force of attraction between two particles depends on how heavy and how far apart they are. However in 1915, Albert Einstein took this law several stages further with his General Theory Of Relativity, which explains why the Universe is the 'shape' it is. He said that the distribution of matter determines the structure of the 77 Spacetime Continuum (Albert's four dimensional description of the Universe, combining the three traditional space dimensions with the dimension of time). Suddenly gravity became not a force of attraction but a property of Spacetime. This is best illustrated thus... Take a large rubber sheet and stretch it out over a horizontal frame: this represents Spacetime. Now let's add some planets: a few balls of different sizes and weights. Notice how each ball sinks into the sheet to a different depth, depending on it size and weight. Now place a very small, but extremely heavy object on the rubber sheet so that it stretches the sheet to an infinite extent without tearing. This represents a Black Hole. Roll a small ball across the sheet: it's 'attracted' to the others as it rolls down the slope towards them. This is the principle of General Relativity: gravity causes Spacetime to warp, and in turn Spacetime dictates the behavior of matter. More often than not, Spacetime is flat, but it becomes curved near large bodies, thus influencing the movement of the smaller bodies and time itself. Gravity slows down time. The best way to illustrate this is to reproduce an experiment first performed in 1960. Take two identical accurate clocks, synchronize them and place one on the top floor of a very tall building and one on the ground floor the clock at the top ticks more slowly as its region of Spacetime is more strongly curved by gravity. Now that's gravity! 78 ============================================================================ DOCS PROVIDED BY RAP AND -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D. ============================================================================