How to Play
Slinus-147 and the RG/GT Stage 3 Flying Disc
Ed.'s Note: The Stage 3 was the last model to have an air-cooled methane propulsion system.
Objective |
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You are Slinus 181 and you have the worst job in your planet's armed forces.
Your mission is to locate all data energy left behind by earlier missions to planet 3. The data energy points are stored in fields around the world. You must locate these points and land on them (using the spacebar) to absorb their energy (leaving an artistic circular impression behind) before you run out of fuel. Once you've absorbed all the data from a particular field you get to go onto the next one until all fields are clear. Once you have cleared the last field, you will be allowed to move up to the second worst job in the fleet.
The lights over the left three controls
let you know that there are three crop circles in the field.
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If you are discovered, captured or photographed...your mission will be declared a failure.
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Movement |
 | Use the arrow keys to move. You may find it easier if you turn your keyboard about 45 degrees clockwise (so it matches the tilt of the tiles). Flying the ship takes some getting used to, but you'll notice that flying is much easier if you don't stop. Your commanding officer feels that you might leave planet 3 before your mission is complete, so he has installed a governor on your ship that only allows it to fly over flat areas.
- Flying around takes up more fuel than idling.
- The ship can only fly over flat ground, thanks to your commanding officer.
- The ship's beam will let you know if you can't fly over something.
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Refueling |
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In order to refuel your craft, you'll need to use the space bar. This activates your beam's lifting power. The beam can only lift things you need. People are unaffected by the beam. When lifting cows, be sure to hold the space bar down until the cow is completely absorbed by the ship and the captain has turned off the seatbelt light or they will fall back to the ground (curiously unharmed). Using the beam takes almost 4 times as much fuel as flying, so don't hold down the spacebar while you're flying around.
As for the Mad Cows...don't absorb them. Your ship can withstand two Mad Cow takeover attempts, but on the third - you will go down. How can you tell the difference? Mad Cows tend to move a little faster than normal cows. They will also stand up on their back legs (a bovine mutation) and ask to be taken.
Do not fall for this trick.
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Special Abilities |
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Your saucer, if properly charged, can perform 1 of 3 special abilities at a time. These special abilities are charged by picking up Bulls instead of Cows (in lieu of checking their undercarriage, bulls are differentiated by having horns and being colored differently). Picking up a Bull is the same as picking up a Cow except that you do not get fuel from a Bull.
Special Ability #1: Warp |
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| The Spotted Bull charges your ship with the ability to warp to a special spot on the map. (Remember Hyperspace from Asteroids?) |
Special Ability #2: Clever Disguise |
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| Picking up a Brown Bull (sans spots) will give your ship the ability to disguise itself as a mylar balloon. In this state, you cannot pick up cows or activate crop circles and your movement will be very slow. The advantage is that farmers, G-Men and Photographers will ignore you. |
Special Ability #3: HypnoRay |
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| And finally, picking up the Black Bull allows you to emit a Hypnotic Beam that drives away farmers and G-Men. |
The Special Abilities, once charged (check your dashboard), can be activated by pressing the CTRL button. Once activated, #2 & #3 will stay active until you hit the CTRL button again, or the space bar.
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Things to be Avoided |
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Farmers will shoot at you. They hate the fact that you're stealing their cows. Fortunately, they're not very good shots. Hovering too close is bound to get you hit. The rule is...if you are within 2 squares of a farmer when he shoots: You're hit. Research has proven that if you keep moving...you're much harder to hit.
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G-Men & G-Women
The Government Agents are out to capture you. They've stripped some parts off a ship they found in Roswell...you remember that guy, right? Anyway...these agents aren't really sure what the parts they have do and they're experimenting on you. The parts they use have an effective radius of 3 squares. Here's the run down:- Blue Agent - He reverses your controls.
- Yellow Agent - She jams your beam.
- Green Agent - He slows down your engines.
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Photographer
The paparazzi are always trying to catch a shot of something to make a TV special out of. The photographers tend to stick to the corn. They pop up (like on Hee Haw) and take a shot in the direction they're facing. If you are in a square next to them...your face (such as it is) is going to be plastered all over the morning news.
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The S.E.T.I. Scientists
Those SETI guys have the best of intentions, but their transmitters are so strong that they block your path. As long as they are transmitting, you cannot fly over them. As soon as they stop, you are free to move along. Do not get caught above one when he starts transmitting!
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Bonus Heads
Slinus finds a Platinum Head!
A previous expedition to planet 3 left some artifacts behind. If you can find them and pull them out of the ground with your beam, you'll get a big bonus. The bonuses are as follows:- Platinum Head - Gives you a full tank of gas and about 10,000 points
- Gold Head - Gives you 3/4's a tank and somewhere around 5,555 points
- Ebony Head - Give you 1/2 a tank and something like 2,222 points
Extra Ships
You will be awarded extra ships at the following score levels:- 10,000 points
- 25,0000 points
- and every 25,000 points after that...
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