Armalyte - Competition Edition

Scenario

MISSION BRIEFING

Two hundred years ago, war broke out between the H’siffian Khanate and the Terran Empire, after it was proven the H’siffians were responsible for acts of piracy in the region of space known as DELTA.

Earth finally won after 50 years of conflict. Things were in a mess, but out of the ashes Armalyte Industries emerged and seized power. In the years that followed, the DELTA incident was forgotten, although the re-established trade routes steered well clear of Delta space.

Five years ago, a patrol in Delta space stumbled into what appeared to be an abandoned H’siffian research outpost. Armalyte Industries established a research base on the ruins of the old H’siffian outpost where scientists were accompanied by a token force of light armour because H’siffian resistance was low.

Four months ago, Armalyte Industries received a message that the scientists were on the verge of a massive breakthrough, but shortly afterwards all contact was lost with the outpost. Communications haven’t been reestablished since, and no patrol can get near the place. This suggests the outpost has been overrun by invading forces.

According to transmissions received just before the loss of contact, the H’siffians had made a similar breakthrough to that of Armalyte Industries’ scientists. They had discovered a power source of near-infinite potential, but they weren’t ready to tap the source. Armalye Industries have decided to hire independent fighting forces to disguise their military involvement - for such risky manoeuvres would surely alert their clients around the galaxy and seriously damage their business reputation.

Your mission is to enter Delta space and reclaim the outpost. According to intelligence, much of the surrounding area of space is under H’siffian control; be careful out there!

The H’siffians, utilising the resources at the base have an almost limitless supply of ships and firepower far more advanced than we know. To counter this we can equip you with state-of-the-art weaponry and the very last in military transport. We will be on hand to ferry replacement craft although your ships are expensive and supply is short.

To get the ship into Delta space, it has to be stripped of all heavy weaponry, but throughout the deep space battlefield there are munitions pods(crystal-like formations in space) to collect. These provide the ship with a massive energy surge activating the in-built shield and rendering you invulnerable for a while. Continually shooting this crystal-like munitions pods provides the ship with weaponry; the more shots the pod takes the better the weapon received. In two-player mode additional pods appear, providing enough power for both fighters. If you’re fighting alone there is a remote unit which fires as you do and follows your every move, unless you detach it from your ship.

Playing the Game

Controls

On the title screen:

Press FIRE to start the game.

In the game:

The Scoreboard

This shows your current Generator Type, Generator Status, Converge Status, Battery Status, Super Weapon Indicator (A, B or C), Reserve Craft remaining and your Score.

Ship Enhancements

MUNITIONS POD: Collecting a shield makes the ship invulnerable for five seconds (ship flashes). When shot pods change shape to indicate the enhancement that can be bolted on.

EXTRA FORWARD FIRE: At the start of each level you have two forward shots which can be increased to four.

TAIL FIRE: Gives the craft a formation of backward-firing bullets.

VERTICAL CANNON: Adds vertical fire to your arsenal.

TRIDENT: Enables two flanking guns to complement your main weapon.

CONVERGE: Adds two more shots to the main guns by diverting them from the tail gun (if you already have one). Two extra fore gun enhancements are needed.

GENERATOR: Increases the class of generator on board. The higher the class, the faster the recharge rate.

BATTERY: Adds one extra energy storage cell to your craft (up to a maximum of four). Each stores six charges, for use by the superweapons at the required time.

SUPER WEAPONS

Both ships have three super weapons, selected by either player using the keyboard. They are fired by holding down the fire button for a few seconds. When fired they use up energy, which is supplied by the ship’s on-board generator system. This, on its own, stores six energy charges, and once fired you have to wait until the generator builds up to full power again. If, however, you have some batteries, the energy is dumped to an available battery and can be used later.

TYPE A: Discharges a long sustained blast, which passes through solid matter, destroying aliens or installations otherwise impossible to destroy. Uses two charges to fire; low availability.

TYPE B: Releases a swarm of laser fire around the craft, protecting you from two directions. One charge per blast; medium availability.

TYPE C: Fires a rapid burst of pulsed energy, ideal for close encounters in any environment. One charge per blast; very high availability.

THE REMOTE

In one-player mode, the second ship is replaced by an automatic drone. This follows you and can act as a shield against most enemy shots. It can also be detached from your craft (press space bar) and glides along its own trajectory until you recall it (press space bar again).

Credits

Armalyte was designed and programmed by CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS who are:

JOHN KEMP (systems programming)
DAN PHILLIPS (main programming)
ROBIN LEVY (all graphics, attack waves, level design)

With help from:

MARTIN WALKER (music, sound effects and test pilot)
MR. & MRS. KEMP (office premises)
PAUL COOPER (production, love, truth and honesty)
DAVID BIRCH (hard sell)
FRANCO FREY (festive financial favours)
OLI and DAVID (the noise of art)
RICHARD (not just PR)
ROGER (and his dirty Mac)
STAVROS FASOULAS (for DELTA ONE - his pride is still intact).