Introduction

Congratulations!

You are now part of the Elite band of Galaxy Raiders, many hours of flight time are ahead of you battling with elusive, but deadly, galactic enemies. The battle ground will be the entire Galaxy, which for your convenience has been divided into "sectors" that are displayed on a Galactic Chart. The Galaxy is literally at your fingertips.

Before you embark on your first mission, some background information in necessary to fill you in on the current state of affairs.

A state of war exists between the Terran Federation and the Evil Arian Empire. Your orders directly from Starfleet are to: destroy all arian starships on sight. Show no mercy.

There are three types of arian ships documented to date: Fighters Cruisers and Carriers

Your tracking computer has been programmed to recognise these and you must keep a careful track on your damage when engaging the enemy in battle.

The strategy of the enemy is simple yet clever. They will avoid contact unless provoked. While engaging you in battle, the rest of the arian fleet will be surrounding and destroying friendly starbases, which are vital to your survival. The enemy is dangerous. Be on your guard at all times.

During battle you will only be concerned with the enemy occupying the sector that you are currently in, although you have the ability to "hyperwarp" to any sector at any time (energy permitting).

As a word of caution, beware of flying asteroids which you may observe during your flight. These can seriously damage your ship (except in level 1) if you are hit with your shields down. With shields up, you may still be damaged, but to a lesser extent. Asteroids are slow moving and may be destroyed by a single phasor or missile hit, at high speed however, you may not have time!

The friendly starbases allow you to stop for repairs. If repairs are carried out to the full, your energy supply is also topped-up; however, this is considered by starfleet against you in their mission analysis. The state of the equipment in your ship can be monitored using the 'Damage Report' facility. Your ship will be destroyed if the hull strength reaches zero, or if you run out of energy, so beware!

The rank you will be awarded at the end of a game depends on how well you develop your skills in space. Play at level 1 will help you get started. The going gets much tougher from there.

As a final note to this introduction it is important that you realise that you never actually see your own starship on the screen. You are sitting at the controls looking out into space. Your television screen is your 'window' into deep space which surrounds your ship.

Good luck. The Galaxy awaits your victory!!

Mission Objectives

Your objectives in space are fourfold. Primarily, your mission is to destroy all the arian starships, without being destroyed yourself. Your secondary objectives are to complete the mission in as little time as possible, with the minimal amount of refuelling, and to protect your friendly starbases.

Rating

At the conclusion of each mission or when escape is pressed your rating is calculated by the computer. The rating is established on the following factors:

1. Mission level
2. Number and type of enemy destroyed
3. Amount of energy used
4. Length of time taken
5. Number of starbases destroyed
   
   The formula used is:
   rating = M+6(Nem) - (energy)/E-(time)/T-18(bases)-3(bas)
   
   Where
   Nem = No of kills during the mission
   energy = Energy used
   time = time taken
   bases = No. of starbases destroyed by enemy
   bas = No. of starbases destroyed by you
   and
   E and T are constants
   
   The value for M depends on the skill level and whether the mission was completed, aborted, or you were destroyed.
   
   The ranks awarded are:
   
   ROOKIE
   NOVICE
   ENSIGN
   PILOT
   ACE
   LIEUTENANT
   WARRIOR
   CAPTAIN
   COMMANDER
   STAR COMMANDER

Skill Level Descriptions

The factors which are skill level dependant are:

Damage per hit
Malfunction threshold
Starbase Threat threshold
Number of enemy
Rating

Survival Tactics

Here are some helpful tactics that you may employ during a mission which will increase your chances of survival, as well as help you gain a higher rating. After you become an experienced Galaxy Raider, you may discover some of your own.

Once a starbase is threatened, you need to act fact to save it, and it is best not to let this situation arise; predict which starbase is under attack and if there is a group of enemy one square away from it, it is best to engage them there. By doing this, you will stop them moving into a threatening position and can battle with them without worrying about the time.

If your shields flicker than immediately hyperspace to a starbase for repairs; if you are hit with your shields down you will probably be destroyed, energy permitting switch to phasors and destroy an enemy missiles or asteroids before they hit you.

If you are low on energy turn off any unwanted systems, e.g. computer, etc.

If you cannot save a starbase, it is better to destroy it than let it fall into enemy hands.

If your engines are destroyed then an aborted hyperspace can be used to move around; however, it costs energy to abort a hyperspace.

Using The Joystick

Your starship's attitude in space is controlled by you moving your joystick. The response of the craft is rather like an airplane:

1. push the stick forward to drive
2. pull the stick back to climb
3. push the stick to the right to turn to starboard (right)
4. push the stick to the left to turn to port (left)

Your starship is very responsive and so to achieve accurate control move the stick gently. Coarse movements will result in your craft becoming uncontrollable!

Keyboard Control

Z - Turn to port, X - Turn to starboard, SPACE - Fire, + - Climb, > - Dive

To return to the instructions, press any key in any of the other modes. To cycle between demonstration press ESCAPE.

A multitude of different features to play with and discover...

Visions are not planning to tell all!

1. How can you dock with a starbase when your engines have been destroyed?
2. How can you set up your hyperspace destination for a fast exit to a friendly starbases sector?
3. How can you get from one end of the galaxy to the other with minimum energy usage...?
4. What are the enemy's tactics for the attack?

Enjoy the game! In Galaxy Raiders you have to think to stay alive. Galaxy Raiders has the feel of an adventure with the nail-biting excitement of a Galactic Mission.

Features

Pure machine code
Realtime interactive graphics
Three different types of enemy
Friendly starbases for refuelling and repairs
Four different information screens: Forward view, Galactic chart, Damage report, Mission report
Two different weapon systems, with auto lock on: Phasors, Torpedoes
Four different skill levels
Rank as well as score awarded
Full instruction manual on tape
Demo mode
Five different damage areas to control
Asteroids to avoid
Uses three different graphics modes
Seven forward speeds
Full warning messages during game
Hyperspace facility
Sound suppression during game
Selectable at any time
Pause facility
High Score chart
Performance-assessed continually and current rank displayed during Pause
Full use made of graphics and sound
Shields/Tracking computer and much much more
Fully proportional joystick steering

Loading

Tape: CHAIN"" (RETURN)
Disc: SHIFT-BREAK

Game Credits

Galaxy Raiders was written by Ian J. Valentine, using an assembly environment which allows the generation of assembly language programs, whose object code can be as large as the entire memory space of the machine.