Game Description

Star Ranger puts you in command of a scout ship trying to return safely to your moonbase after a reconnaissance flight. You face a lng and difficult journey filled with obstacles to keep you from reaching your destination. You will have to defeat and elude hostile aliens - the Nasties, Bombers, Cibolians, and Invisons - who are determined to destroy your craft.

In addition, you must navigate the treacherous and unpredictable Asteroid Field, where your ship could be smashed if you fail to successfully manoeuvre in and around the moving asteroids. Finally, even if you do reach Moonbase, you're not home free! Entry into Moonbase requires precise piloting, and skilled manoeuvring is needed to dock successfully.

Star Ranger has three levels of difficulty: the "play" version, the "trainee" version and the "arcade" version.

The "play" version is designed for practice and mastering the basic skills involved in the game. In this version, the aliens do not shoot at you, you have an unlimited supply of skips and no score is kept. Also, the "Moonbase" stage is not included in the "play" level.

The "trainee" version is more challenging. Each player gets five ships, and after a player completes a full mission by surviving attacks by the Nasties, Bombers, Cibolians, and Invisions, and negotiating the asteroid field, and successfully docking at the Moonbase, play resumes at the beginning of the "trainee" game with no increase in difficulty.

In the "arcade" version, each player begins with three ships and can earn bonus ships, one at 5,000 points and then at each 10,000 point interval.

When a player completes a mission after docking at Moonbase, the next stage begins at a higher level of difficulty. (After finishing Moonbase level 1, you would then go on to Nasties level 2, which is harder than level 1.) Level 6 is the highest level of difficulty; once a player has reached level 6, that difficulty level is repeated indefinitely. The "arcade" version is by far the most challenging version of the game.

Playing The Game

The game must be started from a title screen display. To get the title screen from the demo display, press any key or hit the fire button.

To start the "play" version, press the P key on the keyboard.

For the "trainee" and "arcade" versions, first press a number from 1 to 6 to set the number of players. The display will confirm the number you have selected. Then press the T key for the "trainee" version or the fire button for "arcade".

When the game starts, the ship will move forward slowly. Moving the joystick in any direction causes a blast of the ship's engine, which powers the ship to move at a greater speed, or in a particular direction. To shoot at the aliens, simply press down on the fire button.

Game Controls

Star Ranger is designed for use with joysticks, which may be plugged into either port.

During gameplay, you may pause the game with F1. (You are allowed three pauses per game.)

You can change the colour of the frame bordering the screen by pressing either the CTRL key or the Commodore key, and a number key from 1 to 8 at the same time.

To stop play and return to the title scren, press X.

To continue a game at the level where your last ship was destroyed, press C at the end of the game when the final score is displayed.

When you use this option, you will start with a zero score at Nasties at the difficulty level reached when your last ship was destroyed.

Playing Hints

1. Maintain a healthy distance from enemies of any kind.
2. Nasties fire when at the same height as your ship, so don't stay level with them for too long.
3. Shoot as often as possible in the bomber stage.
4. Stay high and keep moving against the Cibolians.
5. Move mainly up and down (not left and right) in the Asteroid field.

Scoring

Each enemy destroyed is worth 50 points.

"Frying" an enemy with our exhaust (instead of shooting him) is worth 200 extra points.

Clearing the screen of all enemies scores extra points.

Destroying an enemy without wasting any shots scores extra points.

Bonus points are awarded at the end of each stage. This bonus increases as multiple stages are completed without losing a ship. This bonus also increases as higher levels are reached.

In the Asteroid and Moonbase stages, points are awarded only for survival time and stage completion, as there are no enemies to shoot down.

Score Table

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1. Turn off Commodore 64.
2. Insert cartridge, label side up.
3. Turn on Commodore 64.
4. Star Ranger begins in "demo" mode. Press the fire button on your joystick, or use the keyboard to start the game.