********* Welcome to Project 64! The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore 64 related documents in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8- bit computers on the part of the general population. If you would like to help by converting C64 related hardcopy documents to electronic texts please contact the manager of Project 64, Cris Berneburg, at pcgeek@compuserve.com. Extensive efforts were made to preserve the contents of the original document. However, certain portions, such as diagrams, program listings, and indexes may have been either altered or sacrificed due to the limitations of plain vanilla text. Diagrams may have been eliminated where ASCII-art was not feasible. Program listings may be missing display codes where substitutions were not possible. Tables of contents and indexes may have been changed from page number references to section number references. Please accept our apologies for these limitations, alterations, and possible omissions. Document names are limited to the 8.3 file convention of DOS. The first characters of the file name are an abbreviation of the original document name. The version number of the etext follows next. After that a letter may appear to indicate the particular source of the document. Finally, the document is given a .TXT extension. The author(s) of the original document and members of Project 64 make no representations about the accuracy or suitability of this material for any purpose. This etext is provided "as-is". Please refer to the warantee of the original document, if any, that may included in this etext. No other warantees, express or implied, are made to you as to the etext or any medium it may be on. Neither the author(s) nor the members of Project 64 will assume liability for damages either from the direct or indirect use of this etext or from the distribution of or modification to this etext. Therefore if you read this document or use the information herein you do so at your own risk. ********* The Project 64 etext of the Sentinel manual, converted to etext by by Chris Rogerson , taken from British Cassette version. Sentinal by Synsoft (c) 1984, distributed in the UK by US Gold. Zzap 64 Tips, Issue 16. SENTIN10.TXT, March 1997, etext #181. ********* Sentinel, by Brian Brandenberg Commodore 64 Instructions Joystick Joystick should be plugged into port 2 To Start Playing When the title page is on the screen, use (f7) or the fire button to start the game. Difficulty Level (Skirmish, Attack, Battle, Invasion, Armageddon) can be selected with vertical joystick movements. Then push the fire button once and a message from Starfleet Command will appear. Pressing the fire button again brings up the Stellar Grid to start the game. Controls and Options f1 pause the game. Any joystick movement will resue play f7 Starts or re-starts the game. C= Press this key to manually pull up the Stellar Grid Crsr This key aborts the hyperspace jump W Hold this key to engage booster engines for warping A If you have warped manually, this key toggles between Short Range Scan and Long Range Scan Space Launches Proton Helix Charges, from an initial supply of eight. The Stellar Grid The 60 sector Stellar Grid is yoour map of the galaxy, with the world of Jaraloba at its centre. The Grid displays both friendly and enemy forces. Orange Disks are Enemy Base Stars, stationary space forts that periodically launch Gamma Fighter squadrons until they are destroyed. To neutralise a base star, wait until an entrance portal appears and then launch a Proton Helix charge. Note: in advanced levels the devious Garganitor will warp their Base Stars in and out of your continuum. You must time your attacks carefully since Base Stars are not vulnerable at all times. Blue Disks are friendly Base Stations, mighty fortresses that have been tele-transported to your sector by Starfleet. They serve as refuelling and repair bases in your fight against the Gorganitor peril, and are prime targets for concentrated enemy attack. When you dock at a Base Station you will get a ship status report before any repairs are made. The Readout will consist of: 1. Phaser Cannons 2. Long Range Scanner 3. Short Range Scanner 4. Stellar Grid 5. Automatic Tracking Computer 6. Hyperspace Coordinator 7. Long Range Scan Sequencer 8. Communications Module Your ship will then be refuelled and repaired, and one proton helix charge will be added to your armament. Light Blue Ships are swift and stealthy Gamma Fighters with no protective shields. Their mission is to weaken your resolve and destroy you, so if you linger in an empty sector Gamma Fighters will warp in and attack. You must be ever vigilant. Light Green Ships are cruisers. They travel at medium speed and are equipped with Xanthalian sheilds. These are the older variety, relatively weak shields, and can be destroyed by a direct hit from your Phasor Cannons. The Cruisers mission is to track down and destroy Starfleet Base Stations. When a Base Station is destroyed, all Cruisers in that quadrant will mutate into Saucers at a 2:1 ratio, due to the massive radiation imbalance. Purple Ships are Saucers, slow moving and very heavily armed warships with modern Neo-Sophoric Demi-shields. They generally require multiple hits at extremely short range to be destroyed. Monitor Saucer movements carefully, for their objective is total destruction of the planet Jaraloba. Each Icon in a sector represents an enemy squadron of 1-3 ships. The status control panel is at the top of the screen. Shields indicates how many energy shields you have left. Shields can be lost in hyperspace when meteoriods collide with your ship, and enemy Phasor attacks and contact with mines in Base Sectors also destroy them. When your shields are depleted, the next hit blasts you into oblivion. Protons tells you haw many Proton Helix charges remain. They are launched by pressing the Space Bar. You must use Proton Helix Charges to destroy enemy Base Stars, and they can be used to annihilate all enemy ships visible on your screen. Energy displays fuel/energy status. Energy is used for travelling within sectors and making Hyperspace Jumps. Using the meteoroid shield in Hyperspace consumes mass quantities of energy. Sector tells you wheere you are by column and row of the Stellar Grid. Time indicates elapsed time from the start of the mission. Targets displays the number of enemy ships remaining in your sector. At the very centre of the Stellar grid is the world of Jaraloba, which you must protect at all costs. The planet symbol will flash when its surrounded by the Garganitor. If no action is taken, all will be lost. To move around the Grid, use the Interstellar Tracking device designated by a darker square outline. Use the joystick to position the device on your destination sector, then press the Fire button to engage the Hyperspace engines. The Interstellar Tracking Device will automatically plot the flight path to your destination and make the necessary Hyperjump calculations. When your ship reaches the speed of light, the Long range Scanner is engaged. Since the Hyperspace continuum can affect your ships control systems there are two things to remember when you make the intersector jump. 1) your Automatic Deflector System is inoperative in hyperspace because the energy drain is too great to maintain the deflectors continuously, 2) Due to null time variances,the Automatic Navigation Computer cannot function in the altered timewarp of Hyperspace. Therefore, you must manually control direction and deflector shields. When you enter Hyperspace, targets in the destination sector will appear in the Long Range Scanner. You must centre the selected squadron on the Long Range Scan circle and keep it there. Unfortunately, the interstellar meteoriods make this difficult, so navigating in Hyperspace becomes a tradeoff between keeping your destination centred and avoiding meteoroids. You may also use the deflector shields if collision becomes inevitable. To do this, press the Fire Button, which will switch on the deflectors and neutralise the meteoroid on impact. However, this causes severe energy drain. If a meteoroid collides with your ship (without deflection) you will lose a shield. If the meteoroid is deflected, your viewport will turn BLUE rather than RED on impact and you will continue unscathed. Note: to abort the Grid display, once it is on the screen, position the Interstellar Tracking Device over the square indicating your current sector and press the Fire Button. In effect, you stay where you are. Long Range Scan Sequencer. Once in an enemy sector, position the long range scanner (flashing brackets) over the squadron you wish to attack by pressing Fire Button until the desired squadron is selected. This will target the cross hair range readout (under the cross-hair), the X, Y, Z readout (on the bottom of the screen in the message panel) and the tracking cross-hair (in the radar panel to the enemy squadron selected. Long Range Scanner The message panel displays the X,Y,Z coordinates of the squadron you are tracking. The cross-hair gives a range readout from your ship to the target. A WHITE cross-hair indicates that the squadron is in front of you, and GREEN means that it is behind you. Th radar panel displays your position as viewed from above, and it indicates the enemy squadron's position relative to your ship. Use the X,Y,Z coordinate panel to zero out the X and Y readouts (reading from left to right, the first two markers on the message panel). When the squadron is in front of you (Z is +ve) Warp Drive is engaged and your ship swoops in on the unsuspecting enemy.When they are in tracking range, you will automatically shift into Short Range Scan mode and the Auto Tracking Computer will engage. Your radar panel will then display the individual ships in the sector. Short Range Scanner You are in short range scan mode when the radar panel is tracking individual ships. you can simultaneously observe all enemy ship movements and thereby anticipate attacks. Auto Tracking. Auto Tracking locks your ship onto an individual enemy vessel. If not already in the Auto Tracking mode, press the (A) key. When an enemy ship is destroyed, your computer will lock onto the next ship in the squadron. When the entire squadron is destroyed, Auto Tracking will disengage and jump back to Long Range Scan. Note, if there are no more enemy units in your sector, the Stellar Grid will re-appear. Remember, pressing the Fire Button will abort the Stellar Grid if you have not selected a new destination sector. To recall the Stellar grid, press the COMMODORE (C=) key. If your auto tracking unit is damaged, you will have to pilot the ship yourself. This is very dificult, and a novice should head for the closest Base Station immediately. Phasors and Proton Helixes Phasors are your normal tactical weapons and are activated by pressing the Fire button while you are in short range scan mode. The Proton Helix charge is the ultimate defence weapon, and the only way to destroy an enemy base star. Pressing the Space Bar fires a Proton, which will destroy all ships visible on the screen. Minefields Both the enemy base stars and friendly Base Stations are surrounded by protective minefields. These mines can be avoided by adroit flying , or destroyed by phasor fire. Winning the Game All enemy ships and Base Stars must be cleared from the Stellar Grid in order to triumph oover the Garganitor. Warning Messages When Jaraloba is threatened, you will receive an urgent warning message. You must engage the attacking units immediately in order to save the planet. When a base station is surrounded by enemy ships you will also get a warning message, and you only have a short time to respond. Ratings At the end of each mission, you will be rated on your performance. The rating system takes into account time, amount of energy used, shields lost, number of shots fired, enemies destroyed, Base Stations remaining and level of play chosen (Skirmish, Attack, Battle, Invasion, Armageddon). There are eight classes in each of the rankings, from Space Droid to Star Sentinel. Playing Tips. When entering either a Base Station or Base Star sector, make sure that the X and Y coordinates of your Long Range Scanner are Zero, and Z is positive. Once this occurs, you will be locked into your objective and unable to deviate. Note, this applies only in Base Star and Base Station sectors. The message panel will display damage reports as damage occurs. Remember, all your instrumentation is vulnerable. You must decide when repairs would be helpfful, and when they are absolutely mandatory. ********* End of the Project 64 etext of the Sentinel manual. *********