MORPHEUS (c)1987 Graftgold Ltd. AUTHOR: Andrew Braybrook (designed and programmed) Music and Sound Effects: Steve Turner Additional Graphics: John Cumming Publisher: Rainbird Software, Telecomsoft (England) -----------------------------------------------------Revision 2------- Transcription of the original manual with corrections. The System Reference Card is provided in a separate set of two JPG files. [Manual anonymously transcribed in June 2000] [Some errors (scientific or otherwise), inconsistencies and duplications of text have been eliminated, while some rearrangements have been made to clarify certain obscure parts. This text refers to the pictures found in the Reference Card in a more precise manner than the original text did. The on-screen introduction of the game has been linked to the text.] CONTENTS 1. Introduction Author's Introduction A Quickstart Guide Loading the Game High Score Save to Disk Saving Your Position 2. The Game Overall Objective The Scenario The Importance of Timeslices Basic Control Modes Sequence of Play The Charge Cycle 3. More Detail Ship Upgrade Facility Update Ship Options Objects of the Aither The Morphai Score Table 4. Reference Section Replacement Hulls Systems Initial Hull-Mounted Systems Systems Reference Guide Brightness Coding Weapons Weapons Reference Guide 5. Morpheus - The Program Pre-game Controls During Game Controls High Score Entries Inter-game Funds Two Player Strategy Game Variants 6. Additional Information Author's Hints and Tips Credits ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION Author's Introduction The Morpheus Project began in December 1986 and was finally completed on 2nd December 1987. Its development was chronicled in Zzap! 64 as a series of diaries. The game was designed as a more advanced type of arcade game, without the constrictions of an actual coin-op which basically has the function of getting your money, giving you just enough enjoyment to get you interested, and then getting rid of you so that it can obtain some more money. Morpheus is more of a long-term game, a game that you can return to more often. It was never intended to be a simple, fast action game. It started with an ambition to produce a game system that could allow the building of huge spaceships that were functional, with plenty of options open to the player on how to design their ship. As you can see from the instructions, there is a lot of information associated with this, but it doesn't all need to be digested at once. Much of it is reference information which is not intended to be read from beginning to end, it's just for looking up points of interest as they crop up in the game. Another ambition was to design a system that could run different life forms that would behave as if they were alive, following behavior patterns rather than strictly choreographed dance steps. The Morphai as I have called them attempt to behave intelligently, they have no wish to be killed, and are not suicidal maniacs. They begin in a slightly sleepy state and so are a little clumsy at first, but they will quickly become agile, worthy opponents. They all show different personalities, some will attempt to escape, some show curiosity, some will more blatantly attack. They also react to their surroundings, they can be wounded by hitting the ship or by a close shot, and will behave quite differently depending on how hurt they are. They also learn, and so even though you may meet the same creature again later, it may well behave differently. Some even try to impersonate other elements in the game in order to escape detection! The names of many of the Morphai, and indeed the generic term 'Morphai' are all taken from early Greek Mythology. Morpheus was the God of Dreams who would send spirit-like forms, called Morphai, into the minds of sleepers. Although not as fast and immediate as many arcade games, Morpheus is more than a five-minute wonder, it will take many plays for you to see even a quarter of the things that it can do. Experiment with different tactics and ship configurations. I have found this game quite intense at times, much more so than you immediately realize, but it's a real feeling of relief to clear some of the later levels. Morpheus will therefore tend to offer longer games than many, but the total concentration required to play and plan ahead may make you want to do something more relaxing afterwards - like hang gliding or scrambling! However by the next day you'll be ready to face Morpheus again for another battle. Now read the Quickstart Guide, and Press Fire to Play! ------------------------------------------------------------ A Quickstart Guide This is just a quick guide to help you get into the game. It won't tell you how to win but it will allow you to see just a few of the things that Morpheus has to offer and lead you into the game without having to plow through all the instructions at once. First things first, load up the game and watch the title's sequence, taking note of the nucleus and orbital graphics. If you watch the sequence more than once you will notice that there are two different appearances to the orbital, and others. Morpheus is a joystick-only game. The keyboard is not used during the game. Press fire to play. The game will start in one player, one joystick, either port mode (but it can be set as a two player game). You will see your shiny new ship to the middle left of the screen. Don't worry about the ship upgrade system as yet, you need to earn some money first by shooting a few things. Do as the bottom legend says, and press fire again. You will see a brief display of a circle of dots explode from a central star, which is a map of the orbital's positions in the combat area, with the nucleus in the middle. It's not too important just yet. You will then see your ship leave the docking bay between rows of girders before they fade away as you dematerialize ('demat') into the combat area, otherwise referred to as the Aither, or Universe. Your ship has a rear engine section, or station, and a forward plasma beam section with a connecting corridor of yellow lights. At launch time you are in the forward section as marked by the flashing blue area. You can steer the ship by accelerating it in any direction with the joystick. You can also fire the plasma beam by jabbing the fire button, do not hold the fire button down just yet. If you just bring the ship to a halt for a few moments you will probably be met by roaming Morphai of some kind. They won't be too pleased to see you and may well start to slowly circle your ship. On early levels they will be fairly sleepy and move quite lazily. See if you can move the ship around a little and hit them with the plasma beam. Your energy level is shown by the speed of rotation of the display in the top half of your ship. It will slow down a little if you are hit by bullets or run into the Morphai. The display will flash red when it gets below 20% and your ship will be destroyed if it reaches zero. It's time to stop playing sitting ducks and explore a little. Look at the blue radar display at the top of the screen. Your position is always at the center of the cross-hairs. There should be a single dot to your right, marking the position of the nucleus. Start moving slowly towards it. Blundering around at full speed will only result in crashing into Morphai. Try to line up the dot in the middle of the radar and stop. Even if you can't see the nucleus, you can probably hear it. Just make fine adjustments to your position until the nucleus appears on the screen. Cute, isn't it? Oh, the bullets. Well, yes there are one or two coming out of it. If you hang around long enough you'll see your ship destroyed. The nucleus is the villain but it can't be destroyed by just wading in with all guns blazing, but there is a way. By this time you'll probably be starting again after getting too close to the nucleus. Don't despair, this time we're going to give it a taste of its own medicine. First we have to find an orbital. On level one they appear in a single ring around the nucleus, so heading in any direction away from the nucleus should bring you to one. Remember, don't drive around too fast as you don't want to have to scrape too many squashed Morphai off the windscreen. They really are trying to get out of your way. Try to stop the ship with an orbital in front of it. Use gentle taps of the joystick rather than holding it in a direction for too long. Now the fun begins, fire the plasma beam at the orbital. With practice this can be done on the move. One or more Morphai will exit rapidly from the orbital and what they do after that depends on what type they are. Some will attack, some will stop and wait, others will run away. Use the plasma beam to destroy them or hit the orbital again to produce more Morphai. The orbital will change as it is hit until it finally collapses into a neutron dwarf. No more Morphai will then be produced from it. On level one, only one orbital needs to be collapsed in this way. The radar will turn red as the other orbitals collapse by the will of the nucleus. You'll hear when that happens! On later levels you need to hit more orbitals to cause this. Once the right number of orbitals have been collapsed, the nucleus realizes that it has been beaten and destroys all the others. You then have about one minute to get back to the nucleus. It will release a few 'Bonus Morphai', spinning Morpheus symbols. These may be destroyed by any means, but quickly otherwise they will self-destruct and you won't receive the 2000 bonus points. All this activity will leave you running short of energy. Your energy is restored full after every completed level, but what you really need is a way of keeping the energy level up. It's time to commission a system, i.e. build a device that you can fit to the ship that will generate energy for you. Provided you have at least 5000 G (Guineas) in the coffers, displayed at the top of the screen while docked, you can buy an energy replenishing system, called IC4. You'll have to read up on part of the ship update function of commissioning a system. You need to select part IC4 in the Commission System facility while docked, play the game for about two minutes, then check up on it using the Install System facility. If the part is ready, install it on your ship. Part IC4 is an inertia converter, which means that it converts your movement into energy, so provided you are moving your energy will be continually charged up. If you also now read the 'Basic Control Modes' section you will find out how to demat back to base at any time to escape trouble or check on the progress of systems or weapons under construction. Later you will find the need for extra weapons, larger hulls and other specialized systems that you can incorporate into your ship. I don't recommend just reading all the instructions at once, try playing the game a little and look things up as you need to know about them. The game begins fairly simply and introduces more control modes and things to deal with later. Remember that this is not a five- minute fast arcade shoot-em-up, a good understanding of the spare parts catalogues is essential to make real progress, along with developing a strategy to deal with the various Morphai that you will encounter. --------------------------------------End of Quickstart Guide--------------- Loading the Game Tape [Nothing out of ordinary except the following:] ...press Play. The game will turbo load in about three minutes. The loading screen will appear after about one minute and drop a total of six orbitals down each side of the screen. The screen will then go black for about ten seconds before Morpheus begins... Disk [Ordinary disk loading. The disk version text does not mention the orbitals screen of the tape version.] ...Do not remove the master disk once the game has loaded as Morpheus will save your high scores to this disk, see below. High Score Save to Disk The Disk edition of Morpheus is able to preserve an All-time Heroes (and Heroines but the character set is too big to print this on one line, sorry) Top Ten on the Morpheus master disk. This table is loaded in as the game is initially loaded. In order to keep this table up to date, the Morpheus master disk should be left in the drive. Any new entry into the All-time Top Ten will result in the table being updated on the disk. If you do not wish the table to be updated then you may remove the disk once the game has loaded. Note that the game will still attempt to update the table, resulting in the drive LED flashing. Do NOT put any other disk in the drive while playing Morpheus, it may be overwritten irreparably. Saving Your Position Whenever you manage to attain a high score and provided you reach level (Aither) eight or above, Morpheus (disk version) will remember the highest level (Aither) that you have reached. If you start a new game of Morpheus, you will be allowed to start from any level from one up to the highest level that you have previously reached. You can alter this level by moving up or left to decrease level and down or right to increase level. Selecting level one will start a normal game but you will begin with any funds amassed from a previous game. If you start on any other levels, then Morpheus will credit you with a generous amount of guineas for the particular level that you are starting on. If you are skilled enough to reach beyond level forty (Aither forty) then Morpheus will not allow you to restart at any level above forty. Unfortunately, Morpheus can only remember your highest attained level while the computer is on. Only disk users can save their level to disk and this is automatically done whenever the high score table is saved. 2. THE GAME Overall Objective To build and maintain a ship capable of reaching and destroying Morpheus in the final level, level fifty. Points scored are converted to money (Guineas) with which to buy larger, better ships, extra onboard systems and better weapons. The Scenario A Aither or Universe is created by The Intelligence from nothing by creating two equal and opposite areas of space. These phases are joined only by the central nucleus which maintains the Aither by ferrying charge from the negative phase through to the positive phase. It then distributes this charge around a number of charge orbitals which stabilize the Aither. The Intelligence is growing stronger and is able to create larger and larger Aithers each time. It is learning how to protect the Aither by creating Roaming Morphai. The Morphai generated by charge disturbances also learn quickly how to defend themselves. Soon the Aithers may grow so large that they will expand infinitely. The Intelligence must not be allowed to achieve this. A commercial operation has been set up to destroy each Aither in turn by sending a ship into one or other of the two phases with a view to collapsing enough charge orbitals that the nucleus cannot maintain the balance of the Aither. The nucleus itself is so active that it cannot be approached while it is controlling the Aither without serious damage. Teams of researchers are constantly working on systems and weapons to ensure the success of the mission. As the Morphai become immune to older weapons, new ones must be developed. As systems become unable to cope with the demands of ships under heavy attack, new ones must be designed. Being a commercial operation, the High Supervisor will only reward results, so your funds allocation is directly indexed to your performance. A limited timescale has also been imposed by the High Supervisor, the task of destroying the fiftieth Aither must be completed by Timeslice fifty or all research into new weapons and systems will cease. The Importance of Timeslices Timeslices are a measure of time spent actually in the Aithers or Universes. One timeslice is equivalent to about two minutes of play. The weapons and systems catalogues show the ten current units available for purchase starting with the entry equivalent to the current timeslice. After timeslice fifty (100 minutes of play) no more entries are added to the catalogues so at timeslice sixty there will be no entries available for purchase at all. It is thus imperative that the Intelligence is beaten before you run out of new weapons and systems. Your old weapons will become obsolete and no more systems can be replaced once your order book is fulfilled. Basic Control Modes This is an area which begins quite simply and gets more complex as the game goes on. Each hull (or ship) has at least two control stations and linking corridors between them. Your position within the ship is shown glowing blue and you may only move within the ship along the lit corridors. Each station on the ship has its own major function, which may be firing a weapon or dematting back to base, and most allow movement of the ship as well. In addition it is also possible to leave the station, travel along the corridors and enter another station at any time. The first, smallest hull is the simplest. It has a rear engine station and a forward weapon station with a single straight corridor between them. ***Forward Weapon Station*** The ship may be steered in any direction by accelerating the ship in the direction of the joystick. The main plasma beam can be fired by jabbing the fire button. The button should not be held down. The ship may be steered while firing. To leave the forward station, press and hold fire, then move the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor i.e. to the left. In order not to accelerate the ship to the left while doing this, ensure that the fire button is held down with the joystick initially centered, then after about half a second move the joystick to the left, keeping the button pressed until you actually leave the station. This sounds more complex than it is, just practice it a few times and it becomes second nature. After launching, you begin in the forward weapon station so you will seldom need to leave it with the smallest hull. ***Rear Engine Station*** The ship may be steered in any direction by accelerating the ship in the direction of the joystick. Press and hold fire with the joystick centered to demat back to the base. The button must be held down for nearly one second. To leave the station, press and hold fire with the joystick pointing in the direction of the exit corridor, i.e. to the right. ***Between Stations*** Hold the joystick in the direction you wish to move along the corridors. If you move into a station at the end of a corridor you will automatically be locked into it until you wish to leave, always by holding down fire and then pointing the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor. Note that the ship cannot be steered from the corridors. Sequence of Play Before visiting each of the fifty combat areas (Aithers) of Morpheus it is possible to access the ship upgrade system. Once you have completed all the transactions that you wish to perform it is time for battle. Press fire at option one: deploy ship. You will see a map of the charge orbitals expanding from the nucleus in the center. Any already collapsed orbitals from a previous visit will not be shown. On initial entry to an area all orbitals will be active. You will see your ship leave the docking bay and accelerate out of the station before dematting in close to the nucleus. You can demat back to base at any time to check whether recently commissioned systems and weapons have been built or to switch phase, but remember that the shield matrix is switched off for dematting so you must allow a short time for the shields to be raised to full strength on returning to the combat area. To destroy the nucleus you must collapse some of the orbitals around it. On level one it is only necessary to collapse one orbital. Level two requires that two orbitals collapse, and so on up to a maximum of ten orbitals. Orbitals are collapsed by draining the positive phase ones of charge or overloading the negative ones. The procedure is the same for each, fire the forward plasma beam at the orbital. When the required number of orbitals have been destroyed the nucleus will shut down the remaining orbitals and has only a brief time to live. You have about one minute to locate the nucleus before it dies, freeing its life-giving 'Bonus Morphai' which may be destroyed by any means for extra points. The empty nucleus shell finally collapses itself and you are automatically dematted back to base. If you demat back to base yourself after the Aither has died in order to save 'timeslices' you can proceed to the next level without trying to get bonus points. This is a key strategic decision! The Charge Cycle The combat area, or Aither, is split into two halves, the positive phase and the negative phase. You can only visit one at a time, which one depends upon the amount of positive charge currently on board your ship. These two phases mirror each other with the nucleus being the gateway between them. The central nucleus is surrounded by over thirty charge orbitals which emerged from it when the Aither was created. The orbitals begin in a half-charged state. They decay slowly in the Aither, and as they do so they emit a beacon which lasts just enough to signal the current state of decay to The Intelligence within the nucleus. The beacon then dissolves. The nucleus contains a supply of charge with which it can recharge the orbitals. It also controls two servants, the charge rejuvenators, which can carry charge from the nucleus to each of the orbitals in turn. They are periodically dispatched to an orbital and on arriving they deposit the charge that they are carrying into the orbital, replenishing it. Sometimes, rej- uvenators cannot resupply orbitals quickly enough and so the orbitals decay from 'charge starvation' and hence the nucleus automatically collapses the orbitals and shuts itself down. The converse of this, is that rejuvenators can become 'too efficient' thus overcharging the orbitals and the nucleus will shut itself down once more. An orbital and its mirror-image in the opposite phase can be collapsed and destroyed by either draining it of charge or by overloading it. However the disturbance caused by the sudden change in its charge results in the production of Morphai, the semi-intelligent inhabitants of the Aither. 3. MORE DETAILS Ship Upgrade Facility While in dock, prior to visiting the combat area, the current hull with all added systems and weapons is shown along the legends: 1. 'Deploy Ship' and 'Press fire to play'. To enter the combat area just press the fire button. This is just one of eight options possible at this stage. To access one of the other options, move the joystick down (or up) and flip through the list. Repeated moves of the joystick are necessary to do this. The other options are: 2. Replace Hull 3. Commission System 4. Install System 5. Scrap System 6. Commission Weapon 7. Install Weapon 8. Scrap Weapon As each option appears, a brief summary of that option's situation is displayed. This may be just a reminder of that option's function or information as to what is available should that option be selected. To select an option for more detail move the joystick right (or left). Options two to eight contain lists of items. Each list may have one or more entries, or none at all. To flip through the entries in a list, move the joystick right (or left). To return to the menu list without selecting or changing anything, move the joystick up or down. To enter the combat area, keep moving the joystick up (or down) until entry one: deploy ship is shown, then press fire. In summary, pressing fire is always a positive action to play or select an item, joystick down (or up) flips between options or quits from an option, and joystick right (or left) flips between items in an option. For a color graphic description see the system reference card, "The Morpheus Menu." Here is a reproduction showing the given example of a game at a certain point in the play: 1. Deploy Press fire to play | Ship | 2. Replace HL1 HL2 HL3 HL4 | Hull | 3. Commission BA1 VP2 CD2 IC4 CP5 NF6 ...| THE MORPHEUS MENU System | Move up and down to change 4. Install IC4 BA1 SG7 | between your options back System | at base. When you have 5. Scrap IC4 VP2 NF6 | selected the option you System | require, use left and right 6. Commission FW1 FW2 FW3 FW4 RM5 FW6 ...| to select the item that you Weapon | require. 7. Install EW7 RF9 | (Note the number after the Weapon | system symbol letters, it 8. Scrap FW1 | is the item's timecycle of Weapon | production - see below) Update Ship Options 1. Deploy Ship There are no sub-items in this option, so joystick left or right has no effect. This is the option to launch the ship into the combat area, press fire to play. 2. Replace Hull As more systems and weapons are required for survival, it is necessary to purchase a larger hull to accomodate them. Use joystick right (or left) to peruse the available hulls. Their cost is shown in the bottom legend along with their I.D. code. Press fire if you wish to purchase the hull shown, or use joystick up or down to return to the menu without selecting a new hull. If you attempt to purchase a hull while not having enough cash to do so, credit will not be granted, this is strictly a cash-on-delivery transaction. Any systems and weapons on your old hull will be automatically placed in your order books. 3. Commission System To purchase a new system, it is necessary to access the system catalogue. Up to ten different items may be available for purchase at any one time. Systems in the catalogue are identified by a two-letter I.D. code indicating their type, followed by a unique catalogue entry number 1-60. The first entry that can be viewed corresponds to the current timeslice, so in timeslice one, entries 1-10 are available. In timeslice fifteen, entries 15-24 may be ordered. Earlier systems have become obsolete and are no longer available, usually having been replaced by better later ones. Entries beyond the last viewable have yet to be invented! To see the currently available systems, use joystick right (or left). To buy a particular system, flip through the entries until the required one is shown in the display box to the right of the ship, then press the fire button. Assuming that the cost can be met, the part will be built. It will appear now in the Install System list as 'Under Construction'. The system will take a while to build and cannot be installed on your ship until it is ready. To return to the menu without buying a system, use joystick up or down. Most possible error messages are self-explanatory. One limitation is that only twenty systems can be in the order book (the Install System list) either under construction or ready. Should the message 'Order Book is Full' be displayed when you try to buy a system you must install at least one of the queued systems using option 4 below, then commission the required part again. 4. Install System Systems newly commissioned move into the order book and may be viewed here. A brief summary appears in the bottom legend as this option is selected to tell you whether any systems are ready to be installed. To view systems in the order book, use joystick right (or left). A system ready for installation will display its I.D. code, otherwise it will show 'under construction' and will take a while to build. To install a system that is ready, press fire. It will be placed in the first available free slot from the back of the current ship. Naturally there must be an empty slot in which to install it. To return to the menu without installing a system, use joystick up or down. The 20-entry limitation discussed in the 'Commissioned System' option still applies so any systems transferred from an old hull into a full order book will be lost. 5. Scrap System As new, better systems become available through time it will sometimes be necessary to remove old systems from the hull. Also, spent batteries or shield generators may need to be replaced, or systems removed to make way for a specialized system. To enter this facility use joystick right (or left). Provided there is at least one scrappable system on the hull, an arrow will appear pointing to the first system. Use joystick right (or left) to move the arrow through the systems until it points to the one that you wish to scrap. Note that the system's I.D. code appears in the bottom legend to aid selecting the correct one. This facility can thus be used to review the current systems on board. To scrap the system currently being pointed to, press the fire button. Any system except the energy display may be scrapped. The arrow will never point to this. To return to the menu without scrapping a system, use joystick up or down. 6. Commission Weapon To purchase a new weapon, it is necessary to access the weapon catalogue. This catalogue is laid out in the same way as the system catalogue (option 3 above), and the order book has the same limitation in the number of orders (20) for weapons as for systems. As time goes by, the Morphai develop an immunity to older weapons, you are therefore recommended to purchase the latest weapons that you can, i.e. the highest catalogue entries possible, in order that they have maximum effect on the Morphai. Using weapons that they are fairly immune to will only annoy them! 7. Install Weapon Weapons newly commissioned move into the order book and may be viewed there in the same way as systems (option 4 above). Important Note: Additional weapons can only be added onto larger ships. Hulls HL2 to HL4 have extra perpendicular corridors to allow access to these weapons. 8. Scrap Weapon As for systems, new, better weapons become available and old ones must be scrapped. The facility for scrapping weapons works the same way as the one for scrapping systems (option 5 above). Objects of the Aither Collisions with charged objects, i.e. the nucleus or orbitals causes damage only to the ship as it is forcibly repelled by the charge contained within them. Watch the introduction of the game to get a visualization of each of the objects found in a given Aither. Among the objects below the only ones worth hitting are the orbitals. ***The nucleus - the center of the Aither, gateway between the two phases and controller of all that you see. Impervious to attack. Its 'heartbeat' is audible and gets faster the closer you are to it. ***Charge orbital - maintains stability within the Aither, holds charge. Impervious to all but plasma beam attack. ***Rejuvenator - carries charge from nucleus to orbitals to replace charge lost through natural decay. The carried charge is protected by an energy field which renders the rejuvenator invulnerable. ***Beacon - emission from orbital as it decays signalling to the nucleus that charge is being lost (or gained in the negative phase). The beacon itself dissolves after its message is sent. The Intelligence knows that an orbital has been destroyed by the absence of beacon messages. ***Neutron Dwarf - result of destroying a charge orbital. The orbital collapses in on itself and shines brightly. They emit no beacon and are otherwise inert. The Morphai Morphai are the inhabitants of the Aithers, or Universes. They may be attacked with the plasma beam, additional weapons, or disruptors. They can be hurt or killed by these weapons, depending on how much immunity they have built up. Collisions with the ship may also injure or kill them. The various strains of Morphai are (all worth hitting): ***Bonus Morphai - held within the nucleus, these are freed as the nucleus dies after all of the orbitals have collapsed. Worth 2000 points. ***Morpheus - God of Dreams (merely one of the Morphai strains. It is not The Intelligence... which you will never see!) ***Phobetor - brother of Morpheus. ***Ubique - they are everywhere. ***Phantasus - brother of Morpheus. ***Uridimine - home sweet home. (Details in the System section, ECM's) ***Hypnos - God of Sleep, father of Morpheus. ***Erebos - darkness, son of Chaos. ***Caligo - darkness and fog. ***Nix - the Goddess of Night. ***Kratos - force. ***Keres - executors of the will of the Fates. ***Bia - violence. ***Cautes - a sharp and jagged rock. ***Thanatos - death. ***Tyche - bestower of fortune indiscriminately. The Morphai awaken slowly from their long sleep, at first unsure of their reason for being. Initially slaughtered, the survivors of each strain of Morphai grow and learn, returning to destroy those who killed their forefathers. They become faster, more agile, learn how to fire, learn how to survive, and learn how to kill. Watch the introduction of the game to get a visualization of the various strains of Morphai. Score Table Points scored for Morphai kills are variable and depend upon the degree of difficulty, e.g. a defenseless rock ("Cautes") scores 10 points, but an enraged Morpheus scores 250 points. ***For you to find out the value of each of the strains in general!*** Discharging or overloading an orbital scores second only to destroying the Bonus Morphai released by the nucleus once the Aither begins to collapse. Morphai 10 - 500 points Orbital 500 points Bonus Morphai 2000 points 4. REFERENCE SECTION Replacement Hulls The four types of hull are available at all times. For convenience however it is assumed that a replacement hull of the same type as that in use is not required and so is removed from the catalogue. Manual demat to base is initiated from the rear station of all hulls, and the charge extraction/ deposit plasma beam is fired from the forward station. Damaged systems are removed and the hull repaired on return to base. When a new hull is selected it is supplied with full main energy banks and all systems and weapons that were fitted to the old hull are returned to the order book ready for installation on the new hull. The four possible hulls vary in capability and are detailed in the following section: ----------------------------------------------------- Light Hull I.D. Code: HL1 Initial Cost: 10000 G Classification: Replacement Hull Fixed Systems: 1 - Energy Display Empty System Slots: 1 Fixed Weapon: Charge Extraction/Deposit Plasma Beam, 40% efficiency Empty weapon slots: none Shield Matrix Output: 15 Posimips The smallest of the hulls, this has no room for extra weapon pod expansion and only one slot for system expansion, which is usually an energy replenishing device. -------------------------------------------------------- Medium Hull I.D. Code: HL2 Initial Cost: 25000 G Classification: Replacement Hull Fixed Systems: 1 - Energy Display Empty System Slots: 3 Fixed Weapon: Charge Extraction/Deposit Plasma Beam, 60% efficiency Empty weapon slots: 2 Shield Matrix Output: 30 Posimips The first hull to offer the possibility of extra weapon pods, this hull is the natural choice for a first upgrade. The three empty system slots can be configured in a number of ways, allowing at least minor customization. This is the first really viable opportunity to install shields on a hull. ----------------------------------------------------------- Heavy Hull I.D. Code: HL3 Initial Cost: 75000 G Classification: Replacement Hull Fixed Systems: 1 - Energy Display Empty System Slots: 5 Fixed Weapon: Charge Extraction/Deposit Plasma Beam, 80% efficiency Empty weapon slots: 2 Shield Matrix Output: 50 Posimips A reasonable balance between system flexibility and firepower is offered by this hull. The increased shield matrix supported by two shield genrators and one shield replenisher keeps the ship fairly well protected, and still leaves two free system slots for energy acquisition and maybe a more specialized system. Additionally two weapon pods may be incorporated for extra firepower. ------------------------------------------------------------- Deluxe Hull I.D. Code: HL4 Initial Cost: 150000 G Classification: Replacement Hull Fixed Systems: 1 - Energy Display Empty System Slots: 7 Fixed Weapon: Charge Extraction/Deposit Plasma Beam, 100% efficiency Empty weapon slots: 4 Shield Matrix Output: 65 Posimips The largest available hull offering maximum system configuration possibilities. The increased hull size has allowed fitting extra shield matrix units for a very high protective force field. The plasma beam has also been perfected and offers 100% efficiency. Fitting extra weapon pods is recommended for extra protection should the shields ever collapse to help prevent damage to the vulnerable systems on board. ----------------------------------------------------------- Systems Systems are available through the process of commissioning a unit by paying the asking price and installing that unit into the current ship once it has been built. Systems are all referenced by a two-character I.D. code indicating their nature of operation, followed by a one or two digit catalogue entry number. [See system reference card "Morpheus Systems" for a picture of each system.] Initial Hull-Mounted Systems The systems that come readily attached to each hull are listed in the following section. 'First catalogue entry' refers to the first timeslice the system is available. ---------------------------------------------------------- Main Energy Bank I.D. Code: ES Status Display First catalogue entry: supplied with hull Initial Cost: free Classification: Combat Aid The main energy banks are the most important item on the ship. The energy they contain is used to run many onboard systems, all the weapons, and ultimately keep the ship alive. If the energy banks are drained completely the ship can no longer exist in the Aither and will 'wink out'. Since hits on an unshielded ship by projectiles or lifeforms will cause energy to be lost it is imperative that a close watch be kept on the energy level. The energy level is shown by the speed of the two rotating elements, the higher the level, the faster they move. In addition, the display will flash red with an accompanying warning sound should the level drop below 20%. [See system reference card "Energy Acquisition & Usage" for a graphic description of the relation between the main energy banks and the IC, SC and BA systems below.] ----------------------------------------------------------- Medium Range Radar I.D. Code: MR First catalogue entry: supplied with hull Initial cost: free Classification: Combat Aid To aid charge orbital location a medium range radar is supplied with each hull. It shows only charged objects, namely orbitals and the nucleus. Provided that at least one charge orbital exists somewhere (not necessarily in radar display range) the radar will appear blue. As the Aither collapses and the orbitals are ordered to self-destruct by the nucleus then the radar will only show the nucleus, and will change to a brighter red display to indicate this. Diagonal cross-hairs show the center of the radar and thus any radar trace at the center should be in view or very close to the ship. The radar has a high- retention slow-update display as the radar takes time to track each charge orbital. For best results it is recommended to stop the ship and wait for about one second to obtain a static radar display. ------------------------------------------------------- Systems Reference Guide The different systems available for purchase are listed in the following section. 'First catalogue entry' refers to the first timeslice the system is available. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Inertia Converter I.D. Code: IC First catalogue entry: 4 Initial cost: 5000 G Classification: Energy Replenisher One of the earliest developments into the generation of useable energy was the Conversion of Inertia Project. The inertia produced by a large hull moving at high speed is so high that the requirements of this device cause virtually no drop in performance of the ship. Early units did not have a particularly fast rate of energy production but later ones were more efficient than the first solar cells, which eventually caused the demise of the inertia converter. Note that for the inertia converter to work properly it is necessary for the ship to be moving at a minimum of 50% speed. ----------------------------------------------------------- Solar Cells I.D. Code: SC First catalogue entry: 20 Initial cost: 5000 G Classification: Energy Replenisher Development of the solar cell began in timeslice five as the need for a constant energy supply became clear. The research was carried out by the Pearce Barratt Conglomerate (PBC) which had a prototype running as early as timeslice seven. Using a vast bank of photon coupling devices a steady, albeit small flow of energy is produced. Early units took virtually a whole timeslice to construct and deliver and were not particularly efficient, producing far less energy than inertia converters of equivalent times. Their advantage is, of course, that the flow of energy is constant. Production of these devices ceased when the much more efficient Anderson Mega-Cells took over the market at around timeslice forty (see below). -------------------------------------------------------- Energy Batteries I.D. Code: BA First catalogue entry: 1 Initial cost: 5000 G Classification: Energy Storage Auxiliary energy supply had long been a requirement of commercial freighters and the energy battery was the first Space product of PBC. The accompanying integrated controller draws energy from the main energy banks into a partially-full battery provided the main banks are at least half full. Should the main banks run lower than 50% the battery will begin to drain at a steady rate. Early batteries had a capacity of just under half the maximum carried on a commercial hull. They may be used in multiples or in conjunction with other energy storage and replenishing devices. Batteries are all supplied in a fully-charged state. Their advantage over energy replenishing devices is that they are fairly simple and thus much quicker to build. Production of these devices ceased shortly after the introduction of another Anderson product, the high energy battery. -------------------------------------------------------- High Energy Batteries I.D. Code: HB First catalogue entry: 23 Initial Cost: 7500 G Classification: Energy Storage The High Energy battery was developed after calls for greater quantities of backup energy. Early standard batteries were unable to hold large enough quantities to justify carrying them at all. Many ships were destroyed through reliance on energy replenishers alone. The initial production batteries were costly but could hold about 75% of the capacity of a main energy bank. Towards the end of their development they could hold a full energy bank. The energy flow rate of these batteries is considerably higher than standard batteries although they function in a similar manner. ----------------------------------------------------------- Remote Drone Locator I.D. Code: DL First catalogue entry: 9 Initial cost: 3000 G Classification: Combat Aid Almost immediately after remote drones (I.D. code: RM - see Weapons section) came into operation it was clear that a high loss rate was occurring due to their relatively short range of control. This sonar-related device was produced to give the user some audio indication of the drone's distance from its landing and control pad should it leave visual range. The sonar 'blip' bounces off the drone and the delay between the original signal and the returning echo gives an indication of its distance. Drone locators remained in production most of the time, getting cheaper and faster to build. ------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Counter Measures I.D. Code: EC system (ECM) First catalogue entry: 14 Initial cost: 10000 G Classification: Combat Aid 'Uridimines' (one of the Morphai strains) have become a hazard, first appearing in Aither Nine fitted with a homing device. A few seconds after launch, they scan the area for alien matter and lock onto it. Once locked they pursue their target relentlessly. The ECM unit attempts to confuse this lock- on of mines by emitting constant electromagnetic signals, producing false 'ghost' images. If successful, the mine will follow a random pattern. Early units proved about 35% successful on their own but may be combined for more effective results. The ECM unit is imported and so only takes a short time to assemble from its modular components before it is ready for fitting. The unit is nearly always available although supply can be a little erratic at times. The import taxes on this unit make it somewhat expensive for what it is. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Charge to Energy Converter I.D. Code: CE First catalogue entry: 49 Initial cost: 20000 G Classification: Energy Replenisher Almost too late a better understanding of charge allowed the production of this charge to energy converter. Its benefits are two-fold: 1) charge carried is absorbed allowing more to be extracted, 2) energy is supplied at a high rate, equivalent to that of an Anderson Mega- Cell at first, later versions surpassed it. The mirror effect of the negative phase actually causes the production of charge AND the generation of energy so the unit functions equally well in either phase. The one disadvantage of this device is that it does require some charge in order to function. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Mega Solar Cell I.D. Code: MS First catalogue entry: 41 Initial cost: 7500 G Classification: Energy Replenisher Produced as the need for faster energy recovery grew, the Anderson Mega-Cell, as it is commonly known, doubled the rate of photon-energy conversion. The device quickly became popular and ultimately caused the demise of the PBC solar cell. The main improvements made to the device were in speeding up its production time rather than improving its performance greatly. ------------------------------------------------------------ Emergency Demat Unit I.D. Code: ED First catalogue entry: 8 Initial cost: 10000 G Classification: Combat Aid This device acts as a safety valve and cuts in automatically if the main energy bank falls below a preset level, usually around 20%. In this event the demat unit is automatically activated causing an immediate return to base. Additionally the unit supplies a brief surge of energy to the main banks to ensure that they can handle any immediate power requirements. This instant surge is however sufficient to ensure the total burn-out of the device. This makes it a run-once system. In the event of multiple ED units being fitted, a crisis situation should only cause one unit to kick in. The power surge being immediate will prevent subsequent units from detecting low energy. ------------------------------------------------------------- Nucleus Finder I.D. Code: NF First catalogue entry: 6 Initial cost: 1000 G Classification: Navigation Aid Collecting a good harvest of 'Bonus Morphai' requires fast and accurate locating of the nucleus once the Aither begins to collapse. This simple device is an eight-directional indicator enabling easy navigation to the nucleus. These devices are available at almost any time. The direction to the nucleus is indicated by the flashing element of the display. -------------------------------------------------------------- View Port I.D. Code: VP First catalogue entry: 2 Initial cost: 200 G Classification: Embellishment A once-in-a-lifetime never-to-be-repeated offer of this modern sleek observation port. Improve your ship now, be the envy of all your friends. Last few days, only limited stocks remain. You won't be disappointed. So read the sales brochure in the final days of the House of Glass double glazing sale. This is a simple observation port to seat up to twenty people. It allows all- round vision for astronomical or sight-seeing purposes. It serves very little purpose in a combat situation, and as soon as this was realized, production ceased. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Charge Proximity Indicator I.D. Code: CP First catalogue entry: 5 Initial cost: 3000 G Classification: Navigation Aid The charge proximity detector picks up the interference waveform present at all concentrated areas of charge, namely the nucleus and the charge orbitals. It can detect positive or negative charge activity. The indicator tower on the device will glow if charge is detected close by. The use of this unit is limited as its function is largely duplicated by the medium-range radar supplied with all ships, although the C.P.I. reacts much faster. ----------------------------------------------------------- Charge Display Unit I.D. Code: CD First catalogue entry: 3 Initial cost: 2500 G Classification: Combat Aid The current charge being held in the ship's charge banks can be seen by fitting one of these handy devices. The amount carried is proportional to the brightness of the display, and is color-coded. See the section on 'Brightness Coding' below for more details. If the charge bank is less than half full at deployment time, the ship will demat into the positive phase to collect more charge. More than half full will cause entry into the negative phase to discharge it. This display unit is useful during combat for selecting the best time to demat back in order to switch phase. -------------------------------------------------------------- Shield Generator I.D. Code: SG First catalogue entry: 7 Initial cost: 4000 G Classification: Defense System Shield generators are the first line of defense for any ship under attack. A defensive shield can be projected around the ship by its inbuilt shield matrix provided it is fed by one or more shield generators. The strength and size of the matrix depends upon the hull size. Shield power is drawn from all shield generators on board, which behave as batteries. An individual shield generator's strength is indicated by its color, again using 'Brightness Coding'. Early shield generators have a relatively low capacity and so will never show fully bright. Once completely used a shield generator becomes useless unless a shield replenisher is fitted, otherwise it must be replaced. New shields are installed fully charged. Note that the shield matrix is discharged during demat so on arriving at the combat area the generators will begin to build up the matrix at the cost of some of each generator's power. This build-up could take a few seconds. The shield power lost during discharge of the matrix is not recoverable. Shield generators may be 'ganged up' for faster shield matrix recovery in the event of attack. --------------------------------------------------------------- Shield Replenisher I.D. Code: SR First catalogue entry: 16 Initial cost: 10000 G Classification: Defense System The long-waited energy to shield power converter. Provided the main energy banks are at least half full the replenisher will draw energy and produce shield power, which will be fed to any available shield generators requiring power. One replenisher can supply one generator at a time, two can recharge two generators simultaneously. The replenisher shuts itself down automatically once all shield generators are fully charged. the replenisher is a necessary complement to a ship fitted with shield generators, although early units caused quite a heavy drain on the main energy banks. Later models are considerably more efficient. ----------------------------------------------------------- Shield Display Indicator I.D. Code: SD First catalogue entry: 10 Initial cost: 1000 G Classification: Combat Aid This device gives a 'brightness-coded' display of the overall strength of the ship's shield matrix. All the shield generators fitted to the ship that have power feed it into the primary shield matrix which actually creates the protective force field. The status of the matrix is displayed by this unit. The matrix is activated after demat into the combat area and will begin to draw power from all shield generators onboard. It takes a few seconds to reach full strength. This is shown by the indicator going through its brightness sequence until it reaches the matrix maximum. Larger hulls have a greater shield potential. Any hit to the shields usually causes the destruction of whatever hit them, and also causes a drop in the matrix output, which is recovered by taking further power from the shield generators. These behave like batteries and will be discharged eventually. They display black when they get very low on power. Shield generators can only be recovered by fitting at least one shield replenisher, which converts energy from the main banks. [See system reference card for a "Shield Protection" graphical description of the relation between the main energy banks and systems SR and SG.] ************************************************************************** Brightness Coding I.D. codes: SG, SD and CD. The following onboard systems use a color-coded display as their output: Shield Generators (SG) Shield Display Indicator (SD) Charge Display Unit (CD) Their output is a color in a series of colors which have been arranged in order of brightness to ensure that they can be read in a monochrome situation. The colors displayed are listed here: Status Color Brightness -------- -------- ---------- 100% White Brightest Yellow Cyan Green 50% Purple Red Blue Black Darkest 0% ************************************************************************** Weapons Additional weapons are available to be commissioned for future installation on all hulls except HL1, which is too small to accomodate them. Weapons come in three basic classes: 1) fixed position weapons, 2) remote control drones, 3) disruptors. Note that with fixed position weapons, you will only see a small jet of flame burst out of the gun barrel fired. A bullet will still fire across the screen (and harm anything in its path) but it travels so fast that it cannot be seen. The three weapon classes will now be explained in details: ------------------------------------------------------------ Directable-fire Weapons Stations ID codes: FW, EW and EF. These weapons are directable weapons, i.e. the direction of fire is controlled by the joystick direction at the time of firing. The ship may be steered in any direction by accelerating the ship in the direction of the joystick. The weapon may be fired by jabbing the fire button. It will fire in the direction of the joystick, unless it is centered, in which case it will fire in the same direction as it previously fired, initially set to forwards. The four-way guns cannot fire diagonally but will fire in a 'best-guess' direction if diagonal is selected, see the reference card diagram referred to below. To avoid conflict between movement of ship and firing, the ship movement control will not respond for a very short time after firing. This reduces the chances of firing at a target and rapidly chasing after the bullet fired. [See system reference card "Weapons" for pictures of fixed weapons and diagrams of their controls.] To leave the weapon station, as with leaving any station, press and hold fire, then point the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor, either up or down. To avoid accelerating the ship when leaving, always press the button before pointing the joystick. --------------------------------------------------------------- The Remote Drone ID codes: RM and DL. Being maneuverable in its own right, the remote drone's station is the only one from which the main ship cannot be steered. The joystick instead controls the drone's movement. The drone on the landing pad is automatically launched as you enter the station. It will then hover above the pad. It may be steered using the joystick and has an operating range of about four screen-widths in any direction. Naturally it is impractical to fly the drone blind, beyond visible range, but due to its large turning circle at high speed it is often necessary to temporarily lose sight of it. The drone locator (I.D. code DL) is a useful tool for judging the drone's distance from the ship. Should the drone stray beyond its operating range, contact will be permanently lost. In this case the landing pad remains empty and the main ship may be steered from his station. The remote drone may carry any weapon unit from the simple four-way guns to the simultaneous eight-way weapons. Control of these weapons is exactly as if they were mounted in their own station. The remote drone is fitted with the weapon immediately following its own entry in the weapon catalogue. Each remote drone is controlled from its own landing pad and must be landed only on this pad. Position the drone over the pad so that the glowing blue indicator can be seen through the hole in the center of the drone. Press and hold the fire button until you hear the hiss of the drone's landing thrusters, about half a second. Then move the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor. This is exactly the same procedure as for leaving any other station. It is also possible to land the remote but remain in control of its weaponry. This is a hybrid control mode in that it behaves as a normal weapon except that steering the ship (or the drone) is not possible. This has the advantage that if the ship is stationary to start with, it will never drift, it becomes a solid platform. To enter this mode, land the drone as above but keep the joystick centered, then release the button when you hear the drone settle on the pad. To leave this mode, just exit the station by again holding down the fire button and pointing the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor. You may also leave the landing pad station while the remote drone is still in flight. Use the usual method to leave while the drone is not above the pad. It will glide to a halt relative to the ship, although the ship and drone may be moving. Re-entering the landing pad will resume control of the drone. Note that steering the ship while a drone is active may cause it to stray outside its sphere of operation and become lost. It is not possible to have two remote drones active at one time. Entering a second drone's station while the first is still active will allow control of the main ship as if it is a normal station. However, should the first drone become lost, the second will immediately lift off and steering of the ship will switch to controlling the remote instead. [See system reference card "Remote Drones" for a picture of such mobile weapons.] ------------------------------------------------------------ Non-directable-fire Weapon Stations ID codes: RF, RE, SF and SE. These more advanced weapon units do not require to be given a direction to fire in as they will fire in all possible directions, either sequentially or simultaneously. The ship may be steered in any direction by accelerating the ship in the direction of the joystick. Jab the fire button to fire the weapon, do not hold the button down. The weapon will either fire immediately in all its possible directions or release a series of bullets, clockwise or anti- clockwise, until each gun port has fired once. Joystick direction has no effect on the guns. To leave the weapon station, as with leaving any station, press and hold fire, then point the joystick in the direction of the exit corridor, either up or down. To avoid accelerating the ship when leaving, always press the button before pointing the joystick. [System reference card does not show these weapons.] -------------------------------------------------------------- Disrupter Station ID code: DR. The disrupter is a slow build-up, mass devastation weapon. It will affect any Morphai in visible range. Since it takes a while in accumulating sufficient energy to fire, and because this may be a large quantity of energy, it is possible to abort firing during the build-up with no loss of energy. The ship may be steered in any direction by accelerating the ship in the direction of the joystick. To build-up and fire the disrupter it is necessary to press and hold fire with the joystick centered for the entire duration of the builtd-up until it either fires or aborts due to insufficient energy. To abort firing manually, either release fire or move the joystick in any direction. To leave the weapon station do as for leaving the other stations. [System reference card does not show these weapons.] ---------------------------------------------------------- Weapons Reference Guide The different weapons available are listed in the following section. 'First catalogue entry' refers to the first timeslice the weapon is available. ----------------------------------------------------------- Four-way Directable I.D. Code: FW First catalogue entry: 1 Initial cost: 2500 G Classification: Fixed weapon The first weapons built were of the four-way only firing type. Although relatively fast to build and deliver, these units began with very slow reload times and were fairly inefficient due to their four direction limitation. The last FW weapon is catalogue entry FW24. Development by this time had reached the stage of very fast reload times and they could be built very quickly as the manufacturers were only too glad to clear stocks of parts before the takeover of the eight-way weapons was complete. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Eight-way Directable I.D. Code: EW First catalogue entry: 7 Initial cost: 2500 G Classification: Fixed weapon Eight-way weapons were the logical extension of their clumsy four-way predecessors. Early units were hindered by slow reload times but eight-way units remained in production until development was cancelled and the catalogue closed after timeslice sixty. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Four-way Rapid Fire I.D. Code: RF First catalogue entry: 9 Initial cost: 4000 G Classification: Fixed weapon To extend the life of the four-way weapons by a few timeslices a simple sequencer was built into them, along with extra cooling systems to allow all four gun-ports to fire in quick succession. Having fired all four gun ports the reload time is naturally slow in comparison to single shot weapons. ----------------------------------------------------------- Eight-way Rapid Fire I.D. Code: RE First catalogue entry: 22 Initial cost: 20000 G Classification: Fixed weapon The eight-way rapid fire series of weapons began with similar problems to the RF series with appalingly slow reload times as all eight gun ports required cooling and recharging before another sequence of fire was possible. ----------------------------------------------------------- Extended Angle Fire, I.D. Code: EF Directable First catalogue entry: 30 Initial cost: 3000 G Classification: Fixed weapon A breakthrough in cooling system technology allowed the simultaneous firing of three out of eight gun ports. Priority is given to the primary selected direction of fire with the ports to either side also being triggered. This provides very good coverage of fire, especially at close range. Further development eventually led to the simultaneous eight-way weapons. -------------------------------------------------------------- Simultaneous Four-way I.D. Code: SF First catalogue entry: 17 Initial cost: 30000 G Classification: Fixed weapon The simultaneous four-way weapons had a very brief history, only two catalogue entries existed, SF17 and SF25. They were both prohibitively expensive for a limited direction weapon and although SF25 was a considerably better weapon, both suffered from lengthy reload times. ------------------------------------------------------------- Simultaneous Eight-way I.D. Code: SE First catalogue entry: 48 Initial cost 20000 G Classification: Fixed weapon The ultimate in fixed weapon design, this was the logical conclusion to the development of the RE series. Reload times had been reduced considerably by the time SE48 was designed and although slower than conventional EW weapons of the time, they were considered fast enough. The all-round coverage that they provided far outweighed any arguments against them. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Remote Drones I.D. Code: RM First catalogue entry: 5 Initial cost: 10000 G Classification: Mobile Weapon Platform The development of the remote drone was begun as the need for a mobile weapons system was realized. This stemmed from the limitation of fire coverage of a fixed weapon and the relative immobility of a large ship. The drone is little more than a remote-controlled shell built around a standard weapon unit. The weapon actually fitted is the catalogue entry following the entry for the drone, e.g. drone RM34 is fitted with weapon SE35. The cost of the weapon is included in the price of the drone. The drone has a limited operating range from the ship but it does still function outside visible range. If it strays beyond this limit it is lost. Control is administered from the landing pad that the remote was launched from. To recover it, the drone must be landed on its own pad, although it may be left in flight while other operations are carried out. Note that this is best done while the main ship is stationary as otherwise the drone will continue to drift at the launched speed once released. This is due to nothing more complex than the law of inertia. Due to control signal interference, only one remote drone may be in operation at once, although more than one may be carried on the ship. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Disrupters I.D. Code: DR First catalogue entry: 11 Initial cost: 25000 G Classification: Global Effect Weapon The disrupter will affect all projectiles and Morphai within the local area of the ship. Depending upon their immunity to it, they may only react against it rather than being destroyed. The disrupter requires a very large quantity of energy from the main banks to fire and should not be used if energy is running low. The sequence of firing is as follows: 1) a request to build up and fire is received, 2) the energy necessary for firing is slowly allocated from the main banks, 3) the request to build up must be continuous until all the energy required to fire has been allocated, which may take a couple of seconds, 4) upon successful build up, the energy is used for a short burst of global disruption, 5) the weapon may then take three or four seconds to recycle before build-up can begin again. If the request to fire is cancelled at any time during build-up, or if insufficient energy is available, all allocated energy is freed and returned to the main banks immediately. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 5. MORPHEUS - THE PROGRAM Pre-Game Controls During the titles sequence it is possible to moderate the forthcoming game and the music volume using the function keys as follows: F1 - One player, one joystick, either port. A joystick symbol appears next to the 'Player 1' legend. F2 - Two players, sharing one joystick, either port. A joystick symbol appears next to the 'Player 2' legend. F3 - Two players, two joysticks, player one in port 1. Joystick symbols appear next to both 'Player X' legends. F5 - Music volume louder. F6 - Music volume quieter. F7 - Zero inter-game funds. F8 - Restore inter-game funds. Press and hold down RUN/STOP and then tap the RESTORE key - Return to BASIC. This allows you to reset the machine without switching off or using a reset button. Note that the RUN/STOP and RESTORE keys, when pressed together, will still reset the machine during the game. Be careful not to press them by accident - there is no going back! Press fire on either joystick to play. The game shuffles the Morphai inhabitants for the first eight levels on each game, thus you may meet any one of eight different adversaries on level one. During Game Controls All game functions can be carried out from the joystick. In addition the game may be paused by pressing RUN/STOP on its own. To resume the game, press RUN/STOP again or press fire. To quit the game and return to the titles screen, press 'Q' while paused. Also, when you are paused, you can press and hold down RUN/STOP and then tap the RESTORE key to reset the machine to BASIC. High Score Entries Morpheus has two high score tables, a Todays Top Ten, and an All-time Top Ten. In the tape edition of Morpheus these tables will always be the same since the All-time table is not saved. Should you attain a high score, Morpheus will skip through the entries that you have overtaken and allow you to enter three initials. Change the letters to those required using the joystick, then press fire to select them. Morpheus remembers the initials for both players in a two-player game, and the disk edition will preserve them along with the All- time Top Ten if this table is altered and saved to disk. Players may input their initials for the Today's Top Ten, and the entered initials are copied for entry into the All-time table. Inter-Game Funds For greater between-game continuity, any funds still unspent upon the ship's demise are preserved and available at the start of the next game. This value is displayed between the scores during the titles sequence. There is a maximum value that can be carried across however, so any funds above this ceiling will be lost. It is not always desirable to start with funds, for example, if two players wish to start from the same financial state to see how far they can get. Thus there is a key to press zeroing this value if desired, see 'Pre-game Controls'. Two Player Strategy When two players are playing, they take alternate visits to the combat area and share the same funds. The current player has the joystick symbol next to the 'Player X' legend. Either player (or both in two joystick mode) may operate the ship upgrade system, as indicated by a joystick symbol next to both legends. Players should combine their efforts to defeat Morpheus. Game Variants Although Morpheus loads into a C128 in C64 mode, it can take advantage of its surroundings. On a C128, Morpheus is able to generate 15% more Morphai at no extra cost. The PAL (European) tape edition is unable to operate properly on an NTSC (USA) C64 as its demands on the CPU are too high, but will operate in a slightly cut-down form on an NTSC C128. The disk edition of Morpheus will operate on either NTSC or PAL machines, configuring itself for optimum operation on the host machine. 6. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Author's Hints and Tips The ship's energy is the key to survival. Try to ensure that you always have at least one energy replenishing device on board and another one in the order book at all times. When attempting to locate an orbital, just stop nearby and wait until it releases a beacon, you should hear it and then see it, giving you a pointer to the exact location of the orbital. Early Morphai strains may attempt to escape rather than fight, you should give chase rather than let them run away. Points are valuable as they are converted into funds, and it takes a lot of Morphai to pay for an Inertia Converter. Always attempt to get back to the nucleus as the last orbital collapses, a lot of points can be gained by destroying the Bonus Morphai. Beware of roaming Morphai still. It is essential to have an awareness of what is just off screen around you. Morphai can follow you from off screen and then take you by surprise as you stop at the next orbital. Just because you can't currently see them doesn't mean that they aren't there. A battery unit takes a relatively short time to build and is thus a quick supply of small quantities of energy for emergency use. Using at least one shield generator is the only way of protecting the onboard systems effectively. On large hulls try to always have weapons fitted, even if they are obsolete, they will cushion you against bullets and maybe prevent unnecessary system destruction. The rear system slots are safest. Since new systems are assigned to the rearmost slots first, your most valuable systems should be installed first. Fit a nucleus finder (NF) device if you're having difficulty locating the nucleus after it shuts down. Get used to not straying too far from it and noting its approximate direction as you destroy the orbitals. Upgrade to a larger ship fairly quickly, the larger the hull, the more efficient it is. If you are in real dire straits with low energy and no energy systems in the order book ready, new hulls are supplied with full energy banks, and are immediately available. Drastic, but it is a way out! All the ships are very fast for covering huge distances, but it is not advisable to use all this speed all the time, especially when not flying forwards. The Morphai, who will try desperately to get out of your way, really are not fast enough to clear your path. While appreciating that you get points for killing them with this method, it does little for your overall shield or energy status. If you are using additional weapons a lot, keep them up to date. Nothing annoys a Morphai more than shooting at it with a pea-shooter, which is what older weapons become to them as they develop immunity. They also begin to build up a resistance to the plasma beam in time, so you will definitely need extra weapons. Flying a remote drone tends to confuse the Morphai a little, they are slightly unsure of what to attack first, so get out there and dogfight with them. The Morphai do get more vicious the longer you take to clear a level, so be quick! Credits [Summarized at the head of this document] -END-