Copyright D.M. Lock 1985
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away a peace loving race lived and prospered, oblivious to space travel. But this was soon to change when they had a close encounter of the fourth kind. Alien intergalactic craft dropped from the skies and changed the way of the race forever. The aliens brought with them superior technology which they traded freely with the peace loving race so that they could mine and exploit the nearby moons. It was then that the race had a greater shock: that they were not alone in their conquest of the moons. Another Planet in the solar system also held life of some kind which the aliens were trading with as well. From the competition with the other race came conflict and from the conflict came the Killer Satellites.
SATELITTE WARRIOR is a true two player game and plays best this way. A human opponent always gives a more interesting contest. The game centres around the fighting between rival killer satellites for the ownership of the orbiting moons. The game is played in a series of phases which are described below in the order they are played. You will continue to cycle through these phases until one player wins.
You win by gaining control of all the moons or if the situation of your opponent is hopeless.
One cycle of SATELITTE WARRIOR comprises of:
This is where the aliens land on your planet and you can buy or sell PODS.
When the aliens have left your planet you can build one SAT out of PODS and send it to a moon.
This is where you guide the SAT you built to its destination moon and if an enemy is already in orbit around the moon battle with it.
This occurs when two enemy SATS are orbiting around the same moon and continues until one side has lost all its orbiting SATS.
SATS orbiting a moon mine the ore from it and process it into credits and PODS which are sent to the owning player.
Phases 3, 4 and 5 are repeated for each planetary system.
When the aliens visit you they will carry, if possible, these pods for you to buy:
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Four Heads |
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Four Toroids | |
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Four Grabbers |
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Four Missiles | |
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Four Plazma Guns | |
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Four Armour |
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Four ECM PODS | |
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Four Plazma Shields |
If the alien is happy with you he might also carry extra pods chosen at random for you.
The trading screen shows your underground base, with the launch pad on the planet surface and the storage vaults for your PODS underground. The top of the screen shows the credit of player 1 on the left and the credit of player 2 on the right. Note that negative credit is preceded by a minus sign. When you buy or sell a POD hydraulic rams will force it onto or off the elevator. The aliens will leave immediately if your credit is bad so it is always very important to have positive credit if you want to trade.
Use the joystick to move the selection arrow up and down the screen. When you want to finish trading then move the arrow until FINISHED TRADING appears, then press the trigger. To buy or sell the PODS the arrow is pointing to move the joystick left to sell and right to buy.
There are three different alien races that will visit you to trade, each one is slightly different in its attitude to trading so with some skillful bargaining you can profit greatly.
To choose the POD you wish to add to the SAT you use the joystick to move the selection arrow to your choice. To add the POD to the SAT you press the trigger. To start a SAT building select a BASE POD and press the trigger, the SAT will appear on the launch pad with a MAIN ENGINE fitted. The position at which the POD is to be added is shown by a flashing cross. The cross will automatically cycle through all the available spaces on the SAT. If at any time you wish to launch the SAT then move the selection arrow off the top or bottom of the screen and the word LAUNCH will appear. Press the trigger to launch the SAT. Note that you will not be allowed to select certain PODS when building onto specific positions on the SAT. This is because each POD has limitations as to what position it can be added to. E.G. missile PODS cannot be added to diagonal spaces.
When a SAT is launched the destination moon of the SAT must be decided. On launching your SAT the opponents half of the screen will show the tactical readout of the destination moon. To change the destination moon move the joystick up or down and the tactical readout will cycle through the moons. The tactical readout shows:
As well as showing data on the moon the tactical display will show any SATS that are in orbit around the moon and any SATS on their way to the moon. SATS in orbit are shown in the players colour and SATS in transit are shown in Grey. If you do not have enough credit to pay for the fuel cost needed to reach the moon then you cannot launch to that moon. The credit needed will be loaned to you however if the moon is in your own planetary system.
The screen gives a view of the current planetary system with its orbiting moons. Any SATS in orbit around a moon are shown as flashing blips on the left or right side of the moon depending on if it is a SAT belonging to player 1 or 2. Any SATS in transit are shown as small moving dots with a vapour trail behind them. If a player has a SAT in transit then its destination moon is shown at the top of the screen instead of the players credit. If the SATS destination is another planetary system then OUTER-SPACE will be shown and the SAT should be guided off this screen into outer space. The bar charts at the top of the screen show the amount of fuel the SAT has remaining. If a SAT runs out of fuel before it reaches its destination moon then it is lost forever.
When two opposing SATS orbit the same moon then they will battle. The fighting takes the form of SATS with weapon PODS attacking and damaging enemy SATS. When a SAT is damaged it will lose one of its PODS. There are three different weapons PODS and three different defence PODS. The weapons are:
| GRABBER | short range |
| MISSILE | long range |
| PLAZMA GUN | medium range |
At the top of the battle screen the bar charts show the stability of the SAT currently under control by the player. If a SATS stability reaches zero then the SAT will spontaneously explode and be destroyed. The rate at which a SATS stability decreases is faster the more PODS that are missing from it. The battle phase will end when one side has lost all its SATS that were orbiting this moon.
To take control of a SAT move the large cursor over the SAT with the trigger pressed. If it is one of your SATS then the cursor will change to a small square positioned in the centre of the SAT. To move the SAT about the screen move the joystick in the direction you wish to travel, not pressing the trigger. The SAT will first rotate to point in that direction and then move in that direction. Thus turning the SAT is achieved by pointing the joystick in a particular direction for a short time until the SAT rotates.
To move the small cursor within the SAT to select which POD to use press the trigger and point the joystick. To activate a POD, move the small cursor over it and then release the trigger. If the POD is over the pulsing MAIN ENGINE then you will leave this SAT and the cursor will revert to the large cross. If the small cursor is over a weapon POD when you release the trigger then you will activate the weapon and the following happens:
GRABBER: The grabber will extend and start rotating. If it touches any enemy SAT there is a good chance of damaging it. After a short time the GRABBER will retract and stop rotating.
MISSILE: A small target selection cursor + will appear. If this is guided onto an enemy SAT before it disappears then the missile will be launched and will home in on the enemy. After a short while the missile launcher will reload.
PLAZMA GUN: A self sustaining field of energy will be formed at the end of the gun. If this is guided onto an enemy SAT or enemy missile before it dissipates then there is a chance of doing damage.
This is where the long range strategy of the player comes into effect because ultimately the player that produces more will be in a stronger position. There are three different sizes of moon, each with a predominance of a certain type of POD. i.e:
| small moon | weapon PODS |
| medium moon | propulsion PODS |
| large moon | defence PODS |
the base number of PODS a moon produces is shown on the tactical display and is as follows:
| NONE | means it produces 1 |
| LOW | means it produces 2 |
| MEDIUM | means it produces 3 |
| HIGH | means it produces 4 |
The number of PODS a moon produces increases when there is more than one SAT orbiting it and when the player owns moons of the same size.
The credits a moon produces increases when the player owns moons of the same colour.
It can be seen from the above that it is advantageous to collect moons of the same size and colour. Note however that there is a small chance that a moon will not produce anything in a season.
Each POD is limited as to what position it can occupy in the SAT, the limitations are as follows:
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can only be attached to first position to increase size of the SAT |
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not allowed in diagonal position, must be attached to SATS head |
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not allowed in diagonal position |
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any position |
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any position |
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any position |
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any position |
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any position |
BASEThis is the central processing unit of the SAT which is used to control all the other PODS. It is the base onto which all the other PODS are built. SATS can have 1, 2 or 3 bases to allow you to make different sized SATS.
MAIN ENGINEThis directs the thrust of all the toriodal motors and shows you what direction the SAT is pointing. One of these will automatically be added to each SAT you build.
GRABBERA hydraulic rotating claw designed to shred the enemy to bits. Very dangerous at close quarters but it has to physically touch the enemy to do damage.
MISSILEA fire and forget missile that will home in on your enemy automatically and then explode on contact. Missiles can be outrun or they can be shot out by plazma gun fire.
PLAZMA GUNThis generates a self sustaining cloud of plazma gas which can be guided onto the enemy. This weapon is most effective at medium range and can be used to destroy missiles. It has a fast reload rate.