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- Polar Rescue
- ------------
- Journey to the icy waters beneath the North Pole. As commander of a
- powerful and highly maneuverable submarine, you must rescue the survivors of
- an ill-fated expedition.
- Seek out the survivors on your sonar screen and pilot your sub to their
- rescue! To complete your mission, you must avoid deadly mine fields, enemy
- submarines and the terror of the maelstrom! Monitor your oxygen supply
- carefully and hurry! Lives are at stake!
-
- Controls
- --------
- Joystick: Push forward to dive, backward to surface, left to rotate your
- sub left and right to rotate your sub right.
- Button 1: Pause. Press to resume game play again.
- Button 2: Reverse thrust.
- Button 3: Forward thrust. (Note: pressing buttons 2 and 3 at the same
- time will maintain your sub's current speed.)
- Button 4: Torpedo fire.
-
- Skill Level Selection
- ---------------------
- You can being Polar Rescue at any of four different skill levels. Level 1
- is the least difficult; Level 4 is the most difficult.
-
- Game Play
- ---------
- Your goal in Polar Rescue is to successfully maneuver your submarine in
- the icy waters beneath the North Pole and rescue the survivors of an ill-
- fated mission. You'll battle enemy subs, blow up and avoid mine fields and
- ice chunks, even experience the powerful maelstroms -- turbulent underwater
- whirlpools that throw you off course. There's no escape from a maelstrom...
- you get out only when it throws you out of its powerful center! As you
- become more proficient and advance to higher skill levels, your sub will have
- to travel further to get to the survivors and you may encounter more and more
- enemy subs!
-
- Instrument Panel
- ----------------
- [My words- the manual has a little drawing...]
-
- Sonar Display- The center of the instrument panel.
-
- Oxygen Indicator- Gauge on left side of Sonar. Needle to the right is full,
- and it travels to the left as you use up oxygen.
-
- Torpedoes Remaining- The number directly above the Oxygen Indicator. Starts
- at 10.
-
- Speed Indicator- Gauge on the right side of the Sonar. Needle on the center
- line indicates no movement. Needle to the right of the center line
- indicates forward speed, to the left of the center line indicates
- reverse speed.
-
- Damage Points- The number directly above the Speed Indicator. Starts at 00.
-
- Ships Remaining- Located beneath the Speed Indicator.
-
- Sonar Display
- -------------
- The sonar display at the bottom center of the screen is used to locate the
- survivors, maneuver around obstacles and detect enemy subs. Your sonar range
- is about TWICE as far as you can see out of your viewing window. Your
- viewing window is represented by the "V" portion of the sonar screen.
- All obstacles within your sonar range are represented by blips of light
- that reach full brightness when passed by the rotating scanning arm of sonar,
- and then reduce in brightness. There is one exception to this rule: a blip
- representing an enemy sub always remains at FULL brightness. This is how
- you'll be able to tell the difference between an enemy sub and another
- object.
- The survivors' pod is represented by an arrow rather than a blip of light.
- The brightness of this arrow will pulsate and you will hear a series of
- beeping sounds that will get faster as you get closer to the survivor's pod.
- To head toward the survivors, use the joystick and buttons 2 and 3 to
- maneuver your sub so that the arrow appears at the top center area of the
- sonar screen.
-
- Oxygen Supply
- -------------
- At the beginning of the game, you are provided with a full tank of oxygen.
- During the game, you constantly use oxygen. The faster you travel, the more
- oxygen you use... so keep a sharp eye on your oxygen supply on the instrument
- panel. Oxygen may be replenished when you destroy enemy subs (see Enemy
- Subs). If you run out of oxygen, you will lose a sub.
-
- Speed and Direction
- -------------------
- You can control the speed and direction of your submarine's movement with
- buttons 2 and 3. Press and hold button 3 to increase speed in a forward
- direction. Press and hold button 2 to increase your speed in a reverse
- direction. If you release buttons 2 and 3, your sub will soon come to a
- standstill. By pressing buttons 2 and 3 at the same time, you can maintain
- your current speed. Your speed and direction are shown on the instrument
- panel -- the center line indicates no movement, forward speeds are to the
- right and reverse speeds are to the left.
- Use your joystick to maneuver your sub -- push it forward to dive deeper
- into the water, push backward to surface, push to the right or left to change
- the direction of your heading.
-
- Obstacles
- ---------
- MINES- [Four pointed star shapes floating on the end of a cable (line).]
- Mines are stationary... but very sensitive as you draw close. If you
- pass mines too quickly, they will explode and destroy you instantly!
- You can shoot and destroy a mine with your torpedoes, but if you are
- too close to it when you shoot, you'll get damage points. (See Damage
- Points).
-
- ICE CHUNKS- [Seven-sided abstract shape.] If you collide with an ice chunk,
- damage points are collected (see Damage Points). The number of points
- against you is determined by the speed of the collision. If you
- "bounce" off an ice chunk, your direction of travel is reversed.
- Watch out for ice chunks directly overhead... if your sub sits under
- one, it will continuously "bonk" on top of your vessel, causing
- continuously increasing damage. You can disengage yourself from this
- "bonking trap" by simultaneously diving and moving either forward or
- backward. You can also shoot and break up ice chunks with your
- torpedoes.
-
- MAELSTROMS- [Large spring-like things...] Maelstroms -- turbulent underwater
- whirlwinds -- always throw you off course. There's no way to avoid a
- maelstrom. All you can do is wait until it hurls you out of its
- powerful swirl!
-
- Enemy Subs
- ----------
- Each enemy sub has five torpedoes, so it can fire at you only five times.
- When YOU shoot and destroy an enemy sub, you receive all the enemy's
- torpedoes remaining at the time you fired the hit. You also receive extra
- oxygen! Plan your strategy and shoot enemy subs when your oxygen supply and
- your torpedoes are low, as shown on your instrument panel.
- If an enemy sub becomes "aggressive," you will enter into Battle Mode (see
- Battle Mode). An enemy sub will become aggressive if you shoot one or more
- of your torpedoes at it while it is in your sonar range. An enemy sub can
- also become aggressive if you are traveling at high speed within its range...
- or even if he sights you in range without any provocation at all!
-
- Damage Points
- -------------
- Damage points are collected when objects are struck by your sub. The
- number of points increases with the speed of your sub on impact. Damage
- points are also collected objects explode within close range of your sub and
- when you shoot a mine at close range. As you collect damage points, some of
- your sob's functions become non-operational. These are as follows:
-
- Damage Points Resulting Damage
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
- 0-10 No damage
- 10-19 You lose your upper left torpedo tube
- 20-29 You lose your upper right torpedo tube
- 30-39 You lose your lower left torpedo tube
- NOTE: If you have 40 or more damage points, it is impossible to
- dock with the survivors' pod.
- 40-49 You lose your lower right torpedo tube
- 50-59 You lose your survivors' pod arrow on the sonar
- screen
- 60-69 You lose your sonar display
- 70-79 You lose control of speed
- 80-89 You completely lose your engine speed and you're
- dead in the water
- 90-99 You lose your sub
-
- Your crew repairs the damage over time, so your damage points will get
- lower if you are able to stay alive.
-
- Battle Mode
- -----------
- Battle Mode is entered whenever there is at least one aggressive sub in
- your sonar range (see Enemy Subs). While in Battle Mode, the words "BATTLE
- MODE" will appear on your instrument panel, and your maximum speed is greatly
- reduced. An aggressive enemy sub will try to destroy your sub but will NOT
- fire until he is in front of you AND is pointing at you. Be extra alert in
- Battle Mode because the enemy sub can fire even if he is too far in front of
- you for you to see him from your viewing window. Aggression is canceled when
- an enemy sub fires... but it may be re-triggered immediately, so be careful!
- Docking with the survivors' pod is not possible while in Battle Mode (see
- Docking Mode).
-
- Docking Mode
- ------------
- Docking Mode enables you to successfully reach the survivors. You enter
- Docking Mode when the survivors' pod is in sight of your sub. While in
- Docking Mode, the words "DOCKING MODE" will appear on your instrument panel
- and a new sonar display, which shows a "cross" and a "sight," will guide you
- in this very sensitive docking maneuver.
- In order to successfully dock with the survivors' pod, you must line up
- the "cross" in the exact center of the "sight"... WHILE MAINTAINING A VERY
- SLOW SPEED. If you are successful, you will see special docking sequence on
- the screen during which the survivors will return to your ship. The game
- will then continue with a new search and rescue mission.
-
- Number of Submarines
- --------------------
- In each game you start with 5 submarines. A bonus sub is awarded when you
- score 25,000 points.
-
- Scoring
- -------
- Points are awarded as follows:
-
- Action Points
- ----------------------------------------------
- Docking 5,000
- Destroying an Enemy Sub 1,000
- Destroying an Enemy Torpedo 750
- Destroying a Mine 500
- Destroying an Ice Chunk 275
-
-
- z_morganrw@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
-