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INSTRUCTIONS
CONTENTS
Credits
Loading Instructions
Introduction
The Aim of the Game
Starting Extractors
Playing Extractors
Playing the Game
Mining
Zargon Bank and Shop
Completing a Level
Bonus Asteroids
Further Help and Hints
Credits
Design and Amiga Programming Toby Simpson
Additional Amiga Programming: Rickey Costas
PC Programming at East Point Software: Chris Bradley & Kevin Cook
Additional PC Programming and Testing at East Point Software:
Martin Cook, Neil Beresford, Mark Rundle & Mark Stamps
Graphics: Jason Riley
Additional Graphics: Jon Baker & Tony Heap
Box Illustration: Nik Coole
Art Director: Mark Rafter
Book Text: Martin Oliver
Narration: John Henry Hughes, Pete Searles & Gina Landor
Music and Sound Effects: Richard Joseph
Audio and Video Production: Chris Homer
Audio Post Production: Pete Murphy
Map Design: John Lemming
Additional Map Design: Jason Riley
Quality Assurance: Steve Murphy, Kelly Thomas, Jim Archer & Dave Sturgeon
Production: Gina Blakemore
Associate Producer: Toby Simpson
Producer at East Point Software: Mark Stamps
Producer: Chris Homer
Loading Instructions...
The game should be run from MS-DOS. Log on to your CD-ROM drive and type
SETSOUND. This will allow you to specify your sound card, if any. Then
type XTRACTOR. If your CD-ROM drive is E:, for example:
E:
SETSOUND
XTRACTOR
The game will then load.
Introduction
Many thousands of years ago, the Flinarjian people co-existed peacefully with
the other races upon the Planet Zarg. The Flinarj were very different to the
other extractors on the planet, uninterested in the competitive world of
mining, they concentrated their skills on creating machines and technology
that enabled them to live in comfort on the inhospitable surface of the
planet. However, the wealth brought to them by their capabilities made the
Flinarj a target of the warlike Quarrior nation. Led by General Igneous Crust
with tectonic efficiency, the Quarriors were soon encamped outside the
Flinarjian capital city - their final stronghold. The Flinarj were not beaten yet. Just as the Quarriors were about to launch their final assault, a sound like thunder split the air and the earth trembled. The Quarriors could only watch in amazement as the Flinarjian city shook itself free from the planet and floated up into the sky. At the same time, twenty five other land masses were ripped from the surface of Zarg and joined the capital city in space. Over the years, these lands became known as the Hanging Worlds of Zarg.
The Planet Zarg is almost entirely run by its mining interests. It is a
planet with a rich history, and varied inhabitants who have evolved to take
maximum advantage of their surroundings. The mining operations (and therefore
pretty much the whole planet) are run by the Zargon Mineral Trading
Authority, the ZMTA. The continued mining of the planet resulted in a new
system, introduced several hundred years ago, whereby only one month of
frenzied Digging was allowed each year - the Glorious 412th. Recently,
however, the interests of the ZMTA have risen slightly higher, several
thousand meters higher to be precise, to the Hanging Worlds of Zarg. This is
particularly relevant since the recent invention of the ZMTA's flying
machine. The Flinarj have not been idle, however. Seeing this potential
threat, a vast shield has been installed around their central capital,
powered by many shield generators, one built deep inside each and every
Hanging World. Now the call has echoed through the galaxy for expert
extractors - their goal; to deactivate the shield generators, and then return
the floating lands back to the surface of Zarg. The reward is more money than
an extractor can possibly carry. The reward reflects the risk.
The Aim of the Game
You have to find and de-activate each of the Flinarj's shield generators.
There is one in each of the 30 levels. The levels are made up of 25 Hanging
Worlds, and 5 Bonus Asteroids. The Asteroids are booby-trapped, and will
explode a matter of minutes after your arrival, so it is vital to work as
quickly as possible to locate and destroy the shield generator. The shield
generator is destroyed using explosives, which can be bought at any time in
the game so long as you have the money required.
Having destroyed all of the generators, it will be possible to enter the
Flinarjian capital city. Destroying the final generator here will switch off
the floating land machine, and all the Hanging Worlds will slowly descend
back to the surface of the Planet Zarg, completing the game. Unfortunately
this job is not made easier by the gross inefficiency of the ZMTA's flying
machine. You will need to locate, and mine, enough fuel on each level in
order to fly to the next. The only levels where you do NOT need to find fuel
are the Bonus Asteroids, which sit between Hanging Worlds, so you still have
enough fuel to continue having destroyed the shield generator.
The Hanging Worlds have been left to their own devices now for 2000 years,
and the creatures which have evolved on them are different to say the least.
You will have to defend yourself against all sorts of strange things,
including the Privateers. The Privateers stole designs for the Flying
Machine and are rumoured to already be up there, paid by the Flinarj, to
defend the capital city for as long as possible from the ZMTA's mercenaries
(that is, of course, you!)
In order to make your job easier, the ZMTA have provided access to a varied
selection of mining equipment, available at a competitive price. (The idea
being, that if you fail in your mission, at least you've gone some way to
increasing their vast fortune...).
Starting Extractors
After the Introduction sequence, the game will cycle around between the main
menu, and a demonstration mode, which shows Extractors being played on a
variety of different levels. This can help you to see what sort of dangers
you may be expected to face. The Extractors Main Menu has four options, Start
Game, Load Game, Trainer Mode and Zargon Book. If you are not already at the
Main Menu, pressing the Select button will take you to it. Here is what the
four options do:
Start Game - Starts a new game of Extractors.
Load Game - Allows you to continue with a previous game of Extractors which
you have saved.
Trainer Mode - Playing Practice. Trainer mode allows you to practice playing
Extractors in complete safety, to get the hang of controls without worrying
about dying.
Zargon Book - The Zargon Electronic Book. This is a guide to the Hanging
Worlds of Zarg prepared by the ZMTA with all of the information that they
know. It is invaluable for checking on the sorts of creatures you may expect
to meet, and the environments you will have to work in.
Playing Extractors
When you start a game, you will firstly have to pick your team of extractors.
You have to pick 5 extractors, and you have 3 races to pick from. Each
extractor you pick costs you 100 Zogs of money. You start the game with 600
Zogs, and you don't have to pick all five if you don't want to. The races
are:
Habbish
Strange spiritual characters with little patience. They get bored quickly,
and are prone to sitting down for no apparent reason and praying to the Lord
High Habborg. Performing this act gives them great stamina, but unfortunately
it is totally unpredictable. The Habbish are very intelligent.
Boids
Descended from the ancient F'Targ race, the Boids have exceptional stamina
and heal from wounds very quickly. They are not very fast at digging,
however.
Raldein
The ultimate mining machine! They dig fast, and they are strong.
Unfortunately, they tire quickly.
You can pick any combination of the 3 available races to make up your team,
and it is a good idea to have a mix of them all, as they are all suited to
particular tasks. You pick your team by selecting the race you want with the
Left and Right Selector controls, and then use the Select button to buy an
extractor. When you have finished selecting your team, use the Screen Exit
button.
If any of your team die during play, you will get the opportunity (cash
permitting, of course) to replace your casualties between levels. It is in
your best interest for them to survive as long as possible, as extractors
become more experienced for each level that they survive, gradually becoming
stronger. In later levels extractors can carry their own weight in jewels!
Having picked your team, a scene setter is shown, and the game will commence.
Your extractors will assemble outside your ship and await your first command.
If you leave them for long enough, they will eventually get bored and think
of something to do themselves, which may not necessarily be part of your
master plan, so beware! You now have to control your extractors, and find and
then destroy the Flinarjian Shield Generator. Your ship is your home base,
and provides a gateway to the ZMTA shop and banking facilities.
Your extractors can walk, run and jump, as well as some other duties such as
digging, picking up objects and putting them down. You have to select which
extractor on your team you are controlling, who will be shown with a yellow
animated pointer.
Playing the Game
You use the keyboard to control your extractors in-game. The keys F1 to F5
will select members of your team, F1 will select extractor number 1, for
example. When you have selected an extractor, you can then use the left and
right arrow keys to walk, and space bar to stop. If you hold down SHIFT or
ALT when pressing the left and right keys, the extractor will run instead of
walk. The up arrow makes the selected extractor jump, if you are running when
you select jump you can jump twice as far. The Return key is particularly
important, as it brings up a menu for the object you have selected. If this
is a stick of dynamite, for example, there will be one option to start the
timer. When the menu is shown, you can use left and right arrow keys to
select which menu option you wish to choose, and then the space key to
select. Pressing Return a second time will get rid of the menu. The menu for
an extractor contains the following buttons, reading from left to right;
Teleport
This teleports the extractor to the next telepole. You have a telepole built
into your home base, so you can always use this to return to your ship. You
can buy additional telepoles from the shop.
Wait
Makes the current extractor wait.
Dig
Makes the current extractor dig. You then select the direction of digging
using the keyboard. Diagonals can be selected using the Home button, for up
and left, PgUp for up and right, PgDn for down and right, and End for down
and left. The left, right and down arrow keys allow digging for those
directions.
Search
Instructs the current extractor to wander around and pick up any jewels or
fuel that may be lying around.
Pick up
Picks up the object next to the extractor.
Drop
Drops the current object.
Cycle Object
Cycles through the possessions that the current extractor is carrying. This
is used to choose which item will be dropped with the drop button. Use the
up and down arrow keys to choose which item you wish to drop.
All of the above extractor menu options have keyboard short-cuts, these are:
D Dig
T Teleport
S Search
G Get (Pick up)
R Release (Drop)
W Wait
In addition, the Tab key cycles between objects currently on screen,
selecting each that is available in turn. You can then use the Return or
Enter key to access the menu for that particular object. P or the Pause key
will pause the game. The Escape key can be used to abort your current level
and return to the main game menu.
Other keyboard controls for different areas of the game, such as the shop
and race picking sequence are as follows:
Select Button Space
Screen Exit Button Escape
Left and Right Selector Left/Right arrow keys
The Space bar can be used to skip past some screens also, and abort long
running animations which you do not want to see.
Mining
As you explore the Hanging Worlds, there will be opportunities to mine both
jewels and fuel. The rocks give you clues to where the jewels might be found.
These rocks contain colours, which tell you what sort of jewels you might
find. So a rock with green and blue in it might indicate that emeralds and
diamonds can be found nearby. Any jewels or fuel found can be traded at the
ZMTA bank and shopping facility. There are several kinds of jewels you may
encounter. These range from rubies, the least valuable, up to jennite.
Jennite is the hardest to find, and most valuable jewel which can be found on
Zarg.
The Zargon Bank and Shop
To enter the bank and shop facility, make one extractor walk into your ship,
and jump up. Any fuel, or jewels which that extractor was carrying will be
traded in automatically. Once the trading process has been completed, you can
look through the wide range of items available in the shop. You can buy any
amount of equipment provided that you have the required money and can carry
them. The Electronic Book contains a wealth of information about the
equipment available in the shop.
Completing a Level
When you have found the fuel and blown up the shield generator, you can leave
the level by going to the shop. You can tell that you are ready when the
"Game State" indicator on the control panel goes green. You then have the
option to save the game at this point by pressing the Screen Exit Button.
This is recommended! Waiting, or pressing the Select Button will move on to
the next level. A review of the map follows, allowing you to browse around
the map and see what it looks like. Use the Directional Control Pad and Post
Mortem Accelerator to look around the map. Use the Screen Exit Button to
continue. If you have suffered deaths, then you will have the option to
replace casualties, otherwise you will proceed directly to the next level.
Bonus Asteroids
Every five levels, you will encounter a Flinarjian Storage Asteroid. These
are primed to explode soon after your arrival, so you will have to work fast
to locate and destroy the Flinarjian Shield Generator before your time runs
out. You do NOT have to mine fuel on these levels. A count-down of available
time is shown on the control panel.
Further Help and Hints
The Zargon Electronic Book contains a wealth of information about the planet
Zarg, including a list of all items available from the shop, and details of
the plants and creatures you may expect to find. It also has a list of
helpful hints and tips, gathered by the ZMTA when testing their new Flying
Machine. Indeed, the version of the book given to you contains the special
