Star Fighter 3000 requires a computer with RISC OS 3, 4 or 5 (minimum OS 3.1). It is compatible with StrongARM and the Iyonix PC.
An ARM 3 or better processor is recommended to use the higher detail levels. A fast ARM 7 machine is generally sufficient to play the game in full-screen mode at 'max' detail and 'medium' speed. For desktop play a StrongARM is recommended.
The 'nested' Window Manager (i.e. version 3.8 or later) is required for the game's desktop interface. This is available as an upgrade for RISC OS 3 machines, but only as part of Acorn's Universal !Boot.
On older machines the game may need to load various modules from your !System directory, including the Toolbox and 32-bit shared C library.
[top]The game uses a graphics resolution of 320 x 256; to run in full screen mode you require a suitable mode definition. The game will run at the correct speed regardless of the frequency of the mode, but for best effect a 50 Hz or 100 Hz mode is recommended. Mode definitions for a non-letterboxed 320 x 256 100 Hz display on a VGA monitor are available from various sources.
For optimal performance in the desktop it is best to use a screen mode where neither colour translation nor scaling is necessary. This implies 256 colours with standard palette and a display scale of 50% (assuming standard eigen factors of 1,1).
[top]Upon being loaded the game will automatically decide whether to use (in order of preference) SharedSound, 16-bit sound or 8-bit sound.
If the SharedSound module is detected then the game's sound will be mixed with any other sound sources, such as an MP3 music player. Otherwise the game will attempt to claim exclusive use of the sound system. If this claim fails then the game's sound will be disabled.
N.B. It is strongly recommended that SharedSound be used on machines with 16 bit sound, since this eliminates the possibility of conflict with other applications.
[top]Where possible, configuration and high scores are stored in the standard location for program choices rather than inside the application directory. This means that the game can be run from CD-ROM (or other non-writable media) so long as you have a !Boot structure or external !Choices directory (part 19990915-001 from RISCOS Ltd).
[top]The game can be installed and run from hard disc; simply drag the !Star3000 application icon to the directory viewer where the game is to be installed. Early versions of Star Fighter 3000 required the insertion of the original floppy disc before the game would run. This version is not copy protected in that manner.
[top]Welcome to Star Fighter 3000, The highest rated gameshow ever on a Fednet universal satellite channel. The year is 3037, and peak-time TV has acquired its most successful audience participation show ever.
A result of the intensified battle for advertising revenue and military hardware between the two rival broadcasting companies, Fednet and TrashTV, lucky viewers were selected from thousands of applicants to take part in the Star Fighter UEP [Ultimate Expansion Programme].
The idea was simple ... Assemble an enormous military attack force around progressively difficult strategic locations (mostly belonging to TrashTV), invite viewers to take part in the ensuing battle, and broadcast the results ...
Unfortunately, the battle soon escalated into a universal conflict. TrashTV quickly made a number of allies, (mainly on the promise of cheap advertising), each being a powerful military force in the galaxy.
[top]The Dark Lord, 'He who is master of all that is evil' as he likes to be called. The commander in chief of a synthetic super-race based on several artificial death stars and leader of a brutal regime.
Thorg, an egotistical tribal warlord and leader of a primitive civilisation, hell-bent on sculpture and universal destruction. Intelligence reports indicate he is highly unstable as the result of generations of inter-breeding, and likes to dress up in a squirrel costume and play conkers in his spare time.
The I.C.T. Corporation - Pioneers in experimental terraforming for military research. Previous customers include both Fednet & Trash TV.
It's your job to eliminate them, and everybody else that stands in the way of Fednet's rightful position as the only purveyor of quality entertainment through the known universe. Destroy their buildings, Exterminate their armies, Grind them into the dust, all for points and prizes.
[top]This version of Star Fighter 3000 runs under the Window Manager, allowing you to return to the desktop at any time to continue with other work. You can even play the game in a window, whilst other applications continue to run in the background! Interactive help is provided on all aspects of the desktop interface, and in most cases this should be sufficient.
[top]When you run the game its application icon is installed on the icon bar. Clicking SELECT on this icon will open the main game window, whilst clicking ADJUST will open the Configure dialogue box.
The icon bar menu provides the following options:
The main window displays the same graphics that you would see in full-screen mode. Mouse clicks (except for MENU) and key presses are passed on to the game, though the latter only when the window has the input focus. You can give the window the input focus by clicking in it.
If the mouse is being used for flight control then the pointer will be hidden and all mouse clicks (including MENU) will be claimed by the game. You can free the pointer by pressing F12 to remove the input focus from the game window; this will also pause the game if 'auto-suspend' is configured.
The game window provides a menu:
This dialogue box is split into several pages in order to keep it to a manageable size. Use the radio buttons down the right-hand side of the window to control which page is displayed.
The 'Cancel' button discards all changes. The 'Set' button confirms any changes and configures the game appropriately. The 'Save' button acts like 'Set', with the addition that it writes the new configuration to file so that it is remembered next time the game is run.
You can keep the dialogue box open by clicking any of these buttons with ADJUST rather than SELECT. This is particularly useful with 'Cancel', to reset the dialogue box from the internal configuration.
The game will only run up to the configured speed if your computer is fast enough. In full screen mode it will also be restricted by the monitor frequency (typically 1 to 2 cs per frame).
The lower button will insert the current game window scale into the writable field; clicking this and then 'Save' is the easiest way to save the current scale.
This window lists the keyboard controls used by the game, all of which may be redefined (except for return to desktop, which is always F12). The current key definitions are displayed down the right-hand side, adjacent to their function name.
Click SELECT on one of the displayed keys to redefine it - the icon will be highlighted to show that it is awaiting your input. You may press any key except F12. When a key press has been recorded the highlight will move on to allow rapid definition of multiple keys. You can de-select the highlighted icon by ADJUST-clicking on it.
The flight control keys may only be used when neither mouse nor joystick control is enabled.
(Note: Users with a non-UK keyboard configured will see only key numbers rather than key names. Foreign keyboard layouts may be defined by adding a suitable message file to the !Star3000.Keyboards directory.)
[top]The sensitivity of flight control using the mouse can be varied from very low (takes a long time to react) to very high (reacts quickly, but can be difficult to control). This slider allows finer adjustment than selecting one of the pre-set levels from the in-game menu.
Note that control sensitivity will also be affected by the OS's configured mouse pointer speed, unless mouse driver interception is enabled (see above).
Configuration of mouse buttons works on the principle of tying actions to buttons. A display field shows the action currently configured for each mouse button. To choose from a list of available actions, click on the adjacent pop-up menu icon.
Some actions replace the flight control keys ('Fire weapon', 'Thrust') whilst others give access to commonly used commands. 'Change weapon' cycles through your available weapon systems (skipping any that have been exhausted) so that you don't have to reach for the keyboard in the heat of battle. 'No action' does nothing.
All options on the menu can be selected / altered using the return key or clicking the mouse. Use the cursor arrows or move the mouse to select different options
Selecting 'Pcode' displays the password for the last completed mission and allows you to enter a new code, which if correct, will select and set up the correct pyramid to a previous setting and start the game.
Although the original in-game Configure menu has been retained in this version of Star Fighter 3000, it does not give access to all the options available from the Configure dialogue box and often a more limited range of settings is available.
Some earlier versions of the game saved configuration to file every time it was updated. You now have to explicitly save configuration (using the desktop interface) if you wish to retain settings between sessions.
There are 3 levels of competition, Easy, Medium and Hard. Each level is represented by a separate pyramid with 36 missions to complete over 8 sub-levels.
Completion of a mission will award you a performance based credit bonus and allow you to select one of the two missions directly above it. Completed missions are indicated by red squares, with an arrow pointing up from the last mission. Missions completed at the top of the pyramid return selection to unfinished missions at the bottom.
Every time a game is started the score and ship status is reset, and you will get enough cash to see you through the first mission, 1200, 1400 and 1600 credits for the first mission on each pyramid, with increments of 100, 200 and 300 credits for every sub-level up.
Selecting 'New Game' from the main menu will clear all progress on the current pyramid and return you to the bottom.
|
- Highlighted missions indicate bonuses available |
|
- Missions select cursor |
|
- Completed missions indicated by red squares / arrow |
Each level has 12 bonuses spread randomly throughout the pyramid, and each bonus may earn you :
| Gamble | - Gamble with your ship's equipment ¹ |
| Sponsorship | - Earn cash from companies eager to advertise ¹ |
| Cash Prize | - Complete a mission in 1 life to receive cash |
| Bonus Level | - 1 minute of parachute drops ² |
| Upgrade Ship | - Randomly upgrades ship ¹ |
| Multiplier | - X all bonus coins and end-of-mission score |
| Penalty | - Downgrade ship ¹ |
¹ You will not get these when flying special spacecraft.
² You will not get this on enclosed levels (e.g. I.C.T.
hyperspace facilities) or when flying special spacecraft.
Note that most key controls and the action of mouse or joystick buttons may be redefined from the defaults listed here.
| Z | - Roll left |
| X | - Roll right |
| ' | - Dive |
| / | - Climb |
| 'Return' | - Fire selected weapon |
| 'Right Alt' | - Thrust |
| Mouse Left | - Roll left |
| Mouse Right | - Roll right |
| Mouse Up | - Dive |
| Mouse Down | - Climb |
| Left Button | - Thrust |
| Middle Button | - Cycle weapons:
|
| Right Button | - Fire selected weapon |
| Joystick Left | - Roll left |
| Joystick Right | - Roll right |
| Joystick Up | - Dive |
| Joystick Down | - Climb |
| Button 1 | - Thrust |
| Button 2 | - Fire selected weapon |
| Button 3 | - Cycle weapons (as above) |
| S | - View ship status |
| M | - View map |
| E | - Release ECM |
| P | - Pause game |
| R | - Re-group your formation |
| A | - Break formation for attack |
| T | - Toggle head-up display |
| 'Escape' | - Quit game and return to the main menu |
| f12 | - Return to desktop or lose input focus |
| f1 | - Lasers |
| f2 | - Air to ground missiles |
| f3 | - Air to air missiles |
| f4 | - Cycle super weapons |
| f5 | - Reset normal view |
| f6 | - Tracking camera |
| f9 | - Reset view to player |
| f10 | - Cycle through view types:
|
| f11 | - View next instance of type |
| 'Up Arrow' | - Forward view |
| - (+ Right Ctrl for up) | |
| 'Down Arrow' | - Rear view |
| - (+ Right Ctrl for down) | |
| 'Left Arrow' | - Camera left |
| 'Right Arrow' | - Camera right |
| 'Page Up' | - Zoom camera in |
| 'Page Down' | - Zoom camera out |
During gameplay, the following information is shown on screen:
| - Green |  |
Shows shields power out of total (red). |
| - Orange |  |
Shows ship is under attack. |
| - Flashing |  |
Ship is damaged and repairing. |
 |
Laser |
 |
A-T-G missile |
 |
A-T-A missile |
 |
Freefall cluster bomb |
 |
Wide area laser |
 |
Multiple A-T-A missile |
 |
Aerial mine |
| - Red | 
|
Enemy ship |
| - Green | 
|
Friendly ship |
| - White | 
|
Missile / Unclassified |
| - Orange | 
|
Credit |
The detail map (large) displays the complete combat area in varying detail and scale, showing all ships' locations, type and status. All ground objects are shown, including mission targets. To scroll the map use the cursor keys, or move the cursor to the edge and click the mouse. Selecting an area in the global map (small) will also move the detail map to that area.
To control the map cursor, use the mouse or alternatively the current flight controls (either keys or joystick, if configured).
The 1st letter indicates type:
![[E]](../ManualPics/Enemy.gif){kind=small} |
Enemy |
![[F]](../ManualPics/Friendly.gif){kind=small} |
Friendly |
The 2nd indicates status:
![[A]](../ManualPics/Attack.gif){kind=small} |
Attacking |
![[P]](../ManualPics/Patrol.gif){kind=small} |
Patrolling flightpath |
![[F]](../ManualPics/Format.gif){kind=small} |
Flying in formation |
' symbol, and their current direction.
This applies to all large craft except Fednet motherships which
show up as an '
'.
indicates that the ship has to be destroyed (or be
destroyed prior to it reaching its destination).
indicates that the ship must survive (or be safely
escorted to its destination).
) + direction.| GREEN | 
|
- Friendly ships. |
| RED | 
|
- Enemy ships. |
| WHITE | 
|
- The player's ship. |
'.
'. Clicking on one of these will
give a detailed briefing on a particular location or target area.
(Only in zoom X1). To close the location briefing, de-select the
main briefing icon.General principles (1) - "Do not spread your attack force too
thinly. If there is something to attack, it is safe to assume that
it may attack you. It is more important to finish a mission at a
steady pace than to waste licence payers fees on scrap metal."
(Advanced pilots manual Pg 56, Vol II)
Most of the missions will require you to re-dock with the mothership when finished. If this is so, and the mothership is under enemy attack, you must defend it to the death to avoid being stranded on an enemy planet.
[top]On some missions, you may have to locate members of your attack force and request they join from a patrol. A close fly-by the leader of the friendly formation will signal a request to join the attack force, and all following will join. It is good defensive practice (and good manners) to allow the formation to settle behind you before moving into dangerous areas.
[top]Pressing 'A' will send your formation in to battle with the nearest airborne targets. They will always attack on a one to one basis (ie. 2 enemy craft nearby, 2 will break formation), the rest stay with you for defence.
If you wish to raise the stakes, pressing 'A' again, will send in more of your formation, increasing your chances of victory, but also your potential losses.
[top]Keep a careful eye on your attack force - Fednet military advocate the use of C&C (Care and control) at all times.
General principles (2) - "Care and Control - Every pilot lost
to the enemy increases their strategic advantage. Do not abandon
your fellow pilots unless it looks dodgy, in which case, leg it
back to the mothership and let them fight it out."
(Advanced pilots manual Pg 5, Vol I)
You will receive radio updates from time to time from your attack force. If things get too rough, 'R' will re-group your formation. However, be careful not to force your wingmen into retreat if it puts them in a vulnerable position as they leave the battle scene. If consistently fired upon while trying to re-group, they will return to combat.
[top]When an enemy target is destroyed by a friendly craft, the nearest enemy targets to the player will always be selected for attack. If none are found, the friendly ship will attempt to rejoin your formation. This serves 2 main purposes:
Friendly pilots will tolerate a certain amount of friendly fire before switching sides and trying to kill you. This can however lead to some quite exciting battles as the formation you have left will leap to your defence. You will also receive points for attacking your own team, it is a game show after all ...
In the sad event of a friendly pilot dying in combat (while he / she is still on your side), it should be remembered that it is extremely bad manners to pick up the bonus coins left behind.
[top]The ship you will be flying for most of the missions is the Predator Mk IV standard issue combat fighter. The Predator is fitted with two FedEng hyper drive thrusters with built in gyroscopic stabilising units. These can be upgraded to provide better acceleration and faster turning speed.
To further assist the ship's turning capabilities there are also stabilising wings on either side of the ship engines. These are designed to use the ship's aerodynamic properties to increase the turning speed where the atmosphere is dense enough. Consequently the turning power of your ship is reduced when you are at high altitude or the atmosphere of the planet is thin. However as air friction is reduced your ship will be able to attain higher velocities.
The standard ship's engines and control power have 6 upgrades available. Fednet combat research suggest that engine power is more useful when the atmosphere is dense (eg. Earth, Ice Planets etc.) and the control rate more useful for planets with a thinner or no atmosphere (eg. Deathstars etc.)
When your ship is turning there is a reduction in speed which can be used to your advantage to slow down quickly by rolling with the engines off. This speed reduction can also be a disadvantage to you if you are being attacked by ground fire, it's best to keep moving in these situations.
[top]The most important defences are your shields which have 7 upgrades available. The shields are slowly replenished by the ship's CFG (Central Fusion Generator), however if you are docked with the mother ship your shields will be charged at a higher rate.
ECMs (Electronic Counter Measures) are your only other defences. Known to the troops as the ADD (Annoyed Duck Device), these work by sending a high frequency energy wave from your ship destroying all missiles in the immediate area. ECMs require very high quantities of power to be activated and consequently drain a small amount of energy from your shields banks.
'The best form of defence is attack!', quote from Ohlan Farn's best selling paperback, 'Star Fighter Pilot - Man or Mouse ?'.
[top]The Predator can be fitted with a wide selection of weapons including Lasers, Air to Ground missiles (A-T-G), Air to Air missiles (A-T-A) and a selection of currently classified super weapons.
Laser Cannons have 7 upgrades available which will increase the number of beams fitted and the destructive power of each beam.
A-T-G missiles, when selected, will highlight the currently locked onto object with green outline. Once fired they will identify and home into the most vulnerable point. A-T-A missiles highlight the currently locked onto ship in red.
Note - Missiles only have a certain amount of fuel and will detonate if they don't reach their target within a certain time.
In addition, when using missiles on ground guns, satellites or large star cruisers, there is a possibility that the missiles will be shot down by the laser fire. It is good combat practice to try and draw the laser fire away after you have fired missiles at these targets.
[top]When your ship is hit by laser fire the power surge generated can temporarily jolt the gyroscopic stabilising units causing the ship to roll. This effect can be more dramatic when hit by missiles or crashing into objects.
If your shields are critical and you take a hit, the C.C.S. (Central Control System) may shut down in order to route all available power to charging the shield banks. Whilst the C.C.S. is down, the ship is very hard to control and very vulnerable. With the damage critical there is a possibility that further hits might damage your engines, control or shield banks or cause a total system overload destroying your ship, doing you serious injury in the process.
[top]The Fednet mothership will accompany you on most missions. If there are any enemy fighters in the area the mother ship will attack, but cannot deviate from its pre set flightpath. It's also necessary that you are docked before you can purchase any ship upgrades.
The docking bay is situated to the rear of the ship and uses the FedEng matter tractor beam to help secure safer docking.
It's a good idea to follow the mothership slowly and wait until it's on straight level flight before attempting to dock. Do not attempt to dock too quickly or at a steep angle as this might prove fatal.
Note: During dock, any enemy fighters that you were engaged in combat with will automatically attack the mothership.
On entering the docking bay the camera will change to an internal view of the mothership and all pilots controls will be overridden. To initialise the launch sequence when docked engage your thrusters and you will be automatically released from the tractor beam.
[top]FedEng are responsible for manufacturing over 70% of the known fighters in the universe and on certain missions you will have the opportunity to fly new ships as they are developed, or customised versions of the Predator. It is important that you read the mission brief to get an idea of what these ships are capable of.
[top]When you destroy a ground object or a ship, bonus coins will be left in its place for you to collect. These bonuses consist of cash awards, extra missiles or extra lives. There is also the occasional 'damage' coin thrown in by Fednet master control, to keep you on your toes; these coins will instantly drain all your power if collected.
Strategic command will occasionally drop parachutes into the combat arena and you will receive the message 'Parachute Drop Detected'. Parachutes are marked on the map and if you are quick to respond you can collect yourself a mystery prize.
[top]END OF PILOT BRIEFING
GOOD LUCK
This program uses CBLibrary, which is © 2003 Chris Bazley. This library and its use are covered by the GNU Lesser General Public Licence. The 'Extras' directory contains source code for CBlibrary and materials for linking modified versions with the main game code.
[top]Star Fighter 3000 is published by APDL.
| Address: | APDL, 39 Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London, SE26 5RN. |
| Phone: | 020 8778 2659 |
| E-mail: | info@apdl.co.uk |
| Web site: | http://www.apdl.co.uk |
Visit the home of Star Fighter 3000 on the world
wide web:
http://starfighter.acornarcade.com