By Peter Vitray and Lajos Palanki
Amstrad CPC 464, CPC 664 and CPC 6128
As captain of the submarine called Nautilus, the player has to destroy the enemy freighters – carrying supplies to the enemy infantry and the destroyers escorting the unarmed freighters. The time to carry out the job is limited to 18 hours. Otherwise the enemy troops on the islands get enough supplies (arms, oil etc) to win the war.
Amstrad CPC 664 and CPC 6128 users should connect a cassette player to the computer and enter tape and press the ENTER key. Place the cassette in the player, rewind if necessary and press the the CTRL and ENTER keys. Press the Play key on the cassette player and then any key on the computer keyboard. The game takes a few minutes to load.
Determine your rank and set the level of difficulty by the L key. Captain is easiest. Admiral the most difficult. Choose fog is you wish (making the game more difficult) by pressing F. Press Return to commence the game.
The top third of the screen shows a view through the periscope of the submarine. Immediately below in the centre of the screen is the Main Instrument Panel and below that again is the Radar Display. To the left of the Main Instrument Panel is the Weapon Status Display with the scoreboard and the Docking Guidance Display below it. To the right of the Main Instrument Panel is the Submarine Status Display.
The periscope view occupies the top third of the screen. The full playing area contains four freighters, eight destroyers, ten islands, four drilling rigs and four lighthouses. In addition two of the islands have a dock at which you can repair, refuel and rearm. The periscope magnification can be set up to times eight but fog may reduce visibility.
Press the M key to show a map of the playing area in the top left section of the screen. In the centre a table shows the current coordinates of the four convoys and two docks. To the right is a more detailed map of the area immediately around the submarine. Press M to return to the periscope view. The map view automatically appears when the submarine submerges.
The submarine travels at about 22 mph and the playing area is very large. The passage of time can be accelerated to about 30 times normal by pressing the Shift key. A symbol appears between the thrust and speed indicators when the time is accelerated. To return to normal time press Shift.
Accelerated time is automatically selected when in dock and cannot be selected during a battle.
The weapons have a range of about 1.5 miles. To aim the torpedoes turn to place the enemy directly ahead. The torpedo tubes can be adjusted to point up to 6 degrees away from dead ahead by turning the periscope. A small meter below the periscope crosswires shows the current angle. The torpedoes can be fired provided the tick mark on the meter is visible. Torpedoes travel twice as fast as the submarine and eight times as fast as freighters.
Anti-ship missiles are also aimed and guided using the periscope but they can be fired in any direction. When a missile is in the air two indicators appear. The left indicator shows the amount of fuel remaining in the missile and the right one shows its height above the water.
The submarine is submerged either by allowing water into the ballast tanks (press key W) or by pushing the nose down using the hydroplanes so that the submarine “flys” downwards. Pressing key W a second time stops the inflow of water so that the submarine settles at a particular depth.
Compressed air is used (press key S) to empty the ballast tanks so that the submarine rises to the surface. If there is no compressed air left then the submarine cannot return to the surface. The diesel motor is used to operate the air compressor but it may only operate when the submarine is on the surface. It is also used to recharge the batteries which drive the electric motor for use under water.
Holds six instruments as follows:-
| BTTM | Bottom indicator. The depth of water in feet below the submarine. Initially 1000 |
|---|---|
| PA | Periscope Angle. The angle of the periscope in relation to the bow in degrees. Initially 0 |
| MAGN | Magnification. The magnification of the periscope. Initially times one. |
| BRG | Bearing. The bearing in degrees clockwise from north. Initially 90. |
| RDD | Rudder. The angle of the rudder in degrees. To the right a sign illuminates if the rudder is locked. Initially 0 and unlocked |
| VSI | Vertical Speed Indicator. Rate of climb or descent. Initially 0. To the left a sign illuminates if the radar/sonar display is set to five miles. |
Range five or ten miles, initially ten miles. Revolves at one revolution every 7.2 seconds with an after lighting time of two seconds.
Shows four torpedo tubes and the guided anti-ship missile launcher. Initially each tube and the launcher is loaded and there are ten further torpedoes and six further missiles.
Outline of submarine shows damage status. White indicates everything is in order, coloured areas indicate hits and red indicates fatal damage. Outlines of destroyers and freighters show number of enemy ships eliminated.
Shows distance from nearest dock if less than one mile. Docking is perfect when bearing (BRG) is 90 degrees and EO and NO are displayed. Limits of tolerance are EO – W10, N2 – S2, BRG 89 – 91.
Cursor keys – left, right5/8 operate the rudder. Up, down6/7 operates hydroplanes
Plug your joystick into port
When a missile is in the air, the joystick controls its movements:
© Rack-It 1988
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