THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE TAU CETI PUBLISHER CRL AUTHOR Pete Cooke YEAR 1985 DESCRIPTION A 3D exploration/action/puzzle game which puts you at the controls of a skimmer vehicle on the planet Tau Ceti III. KEYS Redefinable, but the defaults on loading are: O - Left P - Right S - Increase thrust X - Decrease thrust N - Fire laser M - Fire missiles F - Fire flare A - Fire AMM R - Status report I - Infra-red on/off H - Increase height G - Decrease height J - Jump (if near jump pad) L - Land BREAK - Pause (fire restarts) INSTRUCTIONS (Inlay text) The story begins in 2047 with the invention of the Interstellar Drive. Using hydrogen scoops mankind could collect fuel from the thin spread of hydrogen between the stars. This made it possible for the exploration and colonisation of nearby systems. in 2050 the first wave of colonists left Earth for four nearby G-type stars, Alpha Centauri, Tau Ceti, Van Maanen's Star and Beta Hydri. Seven months later the first wave of colonists arrived at Tau Ceti and began to build a civilization on the third planet, an inhospitable desert world with very little life. For over 90 years the colony grew and prospered. The Cetans built over 30 cities across the planet and a strong trade based on mining, robot technology and hydroponics grew up. Then, in 2150, disaster struck in this and one other of mankind's four growing colonies. A vicious plague, Encke's Syndrome, swept across the planet. Once contracted the disease was invariably fatal and as it swept from city to city the few remaining colonists finally admitted defeat and fled, leaving the planet to the robot maintenance systems. Two years passed and on Earth a cure for the disease was found, and links between the two remaining colonies, Alpha Centauri and Beta Hydri, were resumed. About this time all radio contact was lost with the automatic systems remaining on Tau Ceti III as a massive meteor smashed into the planet. As the remaining starbases recovered from the loss it was decided to recolonise Tau Ceti and Van Maanen's Star. In 2164 the first expedition left for Tau Ceti. A single ramscoop entered the system and safely landed on the planet's surface. Minutes later, a mayday message was received, followed by total silence. Experts decided that the robots, so skillfully designed by the first colonists, had run amok after the meteor impact. After seven years, and the successful recolonisation of Van Maanen's Star, a second expedition was organised. The only way to stop the defence systems without destroying the remaining buildings was to send in an armoured ground-skimmer to shut down the massive fusion reactor in the planet's capital city, Centralis. A single skilled pilot might be able to succeed where fifty would surely fail, and like a fool, you volunteered!!! CONTROLLING THE SKIMMER The Gal-Corp armed skimmer is a powerful and dangerous craft and challenging for even the most experienced pilots. The skimmer is equipped with.... A single bow-mounted ruby laser Defensive shields Eight (8) heat-seeking missiles + targetting system Eight anti-missile missiles (AMMs) Eight starlight flares Infra-red night sights A Hoffman 360 degree scanner and 4-way selectable viewscreen to avoid blindspots Planetary compass and computer ADF (automatic direction finding) beacons A JCN command computer (guaranteed fully debugged for normal use) On loading the program you will be presented with a view of the skimmer's instrument panel. The screen is divided into three areas. The large window on the left is your viewscreen, below which is a long blue area. This is your contact with the skimmer's powerful built-in computer. Finally on the right of the screen are five information windows. At the top is a compass and real-time clock along with a message showing the view selected, the city you are in and the ship's flight state. Below that is the scanner, and below that three more smaller windows. The first gives the pilot's name and the skimmer's complement of missiles/AMMs and flares. The second shows speed, shield energy, fuel remaining, laser temperature, and height, and the third displays 2 ADFs - the upper one locked onto the city and the lower onto your LANDER (if in the same city). The skimmer operates in two modes, flight mode and ground mode. In flight mode control of the program is via single keys or a joystick. In ground mode you are in direct communication with the craft's computer via the computer window. On loading, the program will go into a demo sequence. To stop the demo press BREAK. The commands available are given below along with a short description: HELP Lists commands as below. LAUNCH Normally ground mode is only active when docked. Launch will send the skimmer out onto the planet's surface and the active flight mode. MAP The computer will display a map of the planet showing information about the cities. Use Left, Right, Up, Down, and Fire keys to move the cursor over the map and Fire to select a function. RODS This will allow you to assemble cooling rods found throughout your mission. REACTOR When docked with the Main Central Reactor in Centralis will give you access to the reactor room. LOOK Shows a view inside the building. Also any objects of use there. WAIT Waits 5 Earth minutes (about 1/12 of a Cetan "spin"). STATUS Gives a damage and progress report (also available in flight). EQUIP Allows access to building repair, refuelling, and rearming facilities (if any). NAME Used at the start of the game to give the computer a pilot's name. PAD An on-screen note pad. Alows you to make notes of progress etc. NEW PAD Selects a fresh page in the note pad. SAVE Saves game to tape. LOAD Loads a game from tape. KEYS Allows you to totally redefine the single key commands in flight mode. QUIT Abandons a game. SCORE Gives a rating of your progress so far. PAUSE Freezes the game (Fire restarts). SIGHTS ON Switches on the laser sights. SIGHTS OFF Switches off the laser sights. To start the game type LAUNCH (and press ENTER). Your skimmer will leave the safety of the lander and venture onto the surface of the planet. Exploration of the planet is carried out in FLIGHT MODE. When first loaded the keys used are as detailed earlier. A MESSAGE FROM GAL-CORP CENTRAL: TAU CETI III GENERAL INFORMATION The planet's day: Tau Ceti III has a very short day, approximately equal to one Earth hour. The Cetans call this period a 'SPIN' and group 16 spins to a 'DAY'. As the planet has no moon you will have to use the Infra-red equipment to see anything after sunset. Docking on the planet: Many of the buildings on the planet's surface are equipped with DFP's latest model energy screened airlock, recognisable by the characteristic flickering pattern, and your craft will allow you to dock with these buildings if you wait for the airlock to open to full aperture and fly in SLOWLY! Once inside a building the computer will return you to ground mode giving you full access to any facilities available. Navigation on Ceti III: The planet has the now standard system of JUMP PADS to allow easy transport from one city to the next. Unfortunately the pads are of the old non-programmable 'Super Traveller' type and each pad is mapped to a single destination. Luckily your ship's computer has a complete map of the jump network. To jump from one city to the next simply find the correct jump-pad (they are found at the NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST ends of the city) and press J. Gal-Corp recommends caution on exit from a jump as reports indicate that small 'sand hoppers', a native life-form, tend to cluster around the feeder pipes of jump pads and lives have been lost in the past due to collisions. Defence estimates: It is known that many of the cities will be defended by late-model robot hunters marks I, II and III, sophisticated hunter-killers. Reports also indicate that land-based guardian crawlers and heavily-armoured fortresses may be found in larger cities. Radar scans also detect the presence of proximity mines. An identification chart for known robot defences is given at the end of this report... [The original documents have diagrams at this point. They're a bit difficult to re-create in ASCII, so the following are _rough_ outline versions...] /^\ Main Central Reactor _/ \_ / \ / \ _-=-_ / \ Reactor substation / \ _--"--_ \ / Supply centre (civilian) \ / | _--^--_ Supply centre (military) \ / \ / ____^____ (____ ____) Fortress ___| |___ (____ ____) ___| |___ (____ ____) | | _==_ \ / Control tower \/ || || _---_ / \ Dome ( ) \ / Sphere (pretty self-explanatory!) ____ ___/ \___ (____________) Hunter Mk1 __ __---/ \---__ Hunter Mk2 ---____--- _____ ____/ \____ Hunter Mk3 /_______________\ || || Jump Pad complex || ________ || / \ || FINALLY A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRWOMAN... Please try to avoid wanton destruction of unarmed buildings. Gal-Corp central do want to COLONISE this world after you've finished with it and each undamaged dwelling will save millions on the next year's budget!! GOOD LUCK ..................... Message ends. CHEATS RE-RELEASES URLS SEQUELS Academy - which made a great game even better. NOTABLE FEATURES Absolutely stunning game when it came out - a true Spectrum classic! Incredibly atmospheric (for their day) graphics, with shadows and light moving as the sun rises and sets... FACTS Sinclair User wrote a complete players guide to Tau Ceti in one of it's issues around 1984. I think it was the one with Asterix on the front.