Games PC STAR CONTROL II User Manual

4.5 (14)

1

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction

5

Starting the Game

25

Confirm System Requirements

25

Installing Star Control II

25

Start-up

26

Play Controls

27

Menu Controls

27

Keyboard Menu Controls

27

Joystick Menu Controls

28

Combat Commands

28

Default Keyboard Combat Controls

28

Joystick Combat Controls

29

Navigation

29

The Effects of Inertia and Gravity

29

Interplanetary Travel

30

Encounters in Interplanetary Space

31

Entering Planetary Orbit

31

Planet Types and Descriptions

31

“Pushing” Up into HyperSpace

33

HyperSpace Travel

34

Fuel Use in HyperSpace

34

Encounters in HyperSpace

35

Returning to TrueSpace

35

Ship Commands

35

Starmap

35

Alien Spheres of Influence

36

Using the Autopilot Feature

36

Scanning a Planet

37

Specific Scans

39

Mineral Scan

39

2

 

Biological Scan

40

Energy Scan

40

Dispatching a Lander

40

Planet Surface Exploration

41

Lander Status Display

41

Returning to the Flagship

41

Gathering Minerals

41

Planetary Hazards

42

Collecting Life-form Data

43

Flagship’s Manifest

43

Checking Cargo

43

Using Devices

44

Ship’s Roster

44

Game Options

45

Saving a Game in Progress

45

Loading a Saved Game

45

Changing Game Settings

46

Changing Names

47

Quitting the Game

47

The Earth Starbase

47

The Starbase Commander

48

Transferring Minerals to the Starbase

48

Outfitting Your Flagship

48

Flagship Characteristics

49

Fuel

49

Flagship Enhancement Modules

49

Adding and Removing Modules

50

The Shipyard

51

Adding and Removing Crew

51

Combat Vessels

52

Leaving the Starbase

53

3

 

Encountering Alien Races

54

Combat Sequence

54

Conversing with Aliens

55

Attacking Aliens

56

Combat

56

Selecting a Ship

56

The Battlefield

56

Navigating Your Ship in Combat

57

Collision with Asteroids and Planets

57

Ship Status Displays

57

Crew

57

Batteries

58

The Basics of Blasting

58

Victory and Defeat

59

Running Away

59

Analyzing Enemy Wreckage

60

Appendix I: Known Alien Races

61

Races in the Alliance of Free Stars

61

Races in the Ur-Quan Hierarchy

65

Appendix II: Play Tips for Star Control II

70

Maximizing Available Memory

70

Enhancing Game Performance

70

Solving Possible Conflicts with TSRs

71

Known Conflicts

71

Specifying Sound Card on the Command Line

71

Loading Problems

72

Garbled Graphics or Blank Screen

73

Graphic Adapter Fix

73

Booting Clean

73

Technical Support

76

Online Support

76

4

 

Appendix III: Instructions for SuperMelee

77

Starting SuperMelee

77

The SuperMelee Main Screen

78

Creating a SuperMelee Team

78

Game Settings

79

Who Controls Each Team

80

Input Device

80

Computer Opponent’s Skill Level

80

Leaving Settings Menu

81

Saving and Loading SuperMelee Teams

81

Fighting in Melee

81

Picking Ships

81

Fighting a Battle

82

Winning SuperMelee

82

Replaying Melee with the Same Teams

82

Returning to the Team Edit Screen

82

Appendix IV: Keyboard Configuration Utility

83

Appendix V: Combat Vessel Descriptions

83

Appendix VI: Flagship Modules

98

Game Credits

101

Legal Mumbo Jumbo

102

5

INTRODUCTION

Welcome aboard. Star Control II will take you on a far journey, a space odyssey encompassing the realms of science-fiction and role-playing. This epic adventure spans hundreds of light years, and evokes a history reaching back over 250,000 years. As you travel out among the stars, your decisions and actions will directly affect the destiny of 18 intelligent, star-faring species, including the inhabitants of Earth. Star Control II is only in part a sequel to Star Control, which focused exclusively on the strategy and tactics of the bitter Ur-Quan Slave War (known by the philosophical as the Great Crucible of Sentience). You need not have played the first game to enjoy this one. However, if you have never fought a Star Control space-battle, you may wish to practice with the SuperMelee game before facing enemy forces. The evil aliens you will encounter are adept at the art of war, and unforgiving of weakness. The history that follows details the critical involvement of Earth in the conflict between the Alliance of Free Stars and the villainous Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Study what happened, learn from the mistakes of those that went before.

Only in this way will you be prepared for the mystery, the intrigue and the blazing action of Star Control II.

6

In the Beginning

The time is in the year 2155. Yet the story begins over two centuries before, in the 1930’s, a time when surface vehicles on Earth burned fossil fuels. It’s all hard to imagine now, of course, getting from place to place in a dangerous noisy machine with an engine that set fire to spurts of prehistoric goo. Makes one shudder. Humans had another quaint oddity in those days; it was a little box called a radio that transmitted a mindless mix of music and speech. The radio was a harmless diversion, really, until the radio towers got taller and the broadcasts got stronger. Until the transmissions began to pulse out into the vacuum of space, riding electromagnetic waves throughout the universe. It wasn’t long before the broadcasts from Earth reached distant stars, and several alien races took notice of this new evidence of life on the far-off blue planet. One of the species listening was the Ur-Quan, a life-form devoid of conscience or character, a race genetically compelled to conquest. As early as 1940, the Ur-Quan began to formulate sinister schemes to attack Earth. Other aliens, meanwhile, benign species that wished only peace, lay plans to warn Earthlings of the Ur-Quan threat.

The Scrutiny of Earth Intensifies

From their strange worlds many light years away, both good and evil aliens watched with growing interest as Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the planet in 1961. Less than a decade later, a tremor swept through the advanced life-forms beyond the solar system as American Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men to tread Earth’s satellite moon.

Alien scrutiny of Earth intensified. Meanwhile, the fratricidal conflicts that had scourged mankind since the species evolved continued unabated. The Small War of 2015 came close to obliterating civilization on Earth when

7

nuclear combat broke out between several Middle Eastern countries. Fortunately the exchange was relatively small, limited to less than a dozen warheads, and a global conflagration was narrowly avoided. Even so, nearly a million people died. The terrible loss of life and the near-thing of a planetwide Armageddon sobered heads of government around the world. The leaders of the industrialized nations and the Third World met at the United Nations headquarters in New York and agreed to cooperate in an immediate strengthening of U.N. authority. Within six months, the U.N. Security Council had assembled a large Peace-Keeping Army and assumed worldwide control over all weapons of mass destruction. “Mass-kill” devices were gathered up from every country that possessed them. The weapons were then dismantled and their components stored in huge subterranean bunkers that came to be known as “Peace Vaults.” Simultaneously, the U.N. outlawed the sale of smaller arms. It took nearly a decade to end all armed conflict on earth. Yet the goal was finally achieved. Ten years after the U.N. summit, in 2025, the Earth experienced its first year without war.

To ensure the total destruction of the arms trade, the United Nations prohibited future weapons research, including the development of nuclear fusion and fission technologies that might be adapted for bomb-making purposes. Laser applications were also closely monitored to prevent the design of “Star Wars” like weapons.

Despite these restrictions, science continued to advance across a wide spectrum of disciplines, especially in bio-technology. Brilliant Swiss Scientist Hsien Ho combined the now-complete human genome map with sophisticated genetic-engineering techniques and perfected the artificial parthenogenesis – cloning – of humans at the Zurich BioTeknik in 2019. Though the clones were, to all external appearances, human, Hsien Ho modified their genes so that they were not capable

8

of producing offspring.

Meanwhile, a new religious order, known as Homo Deus, or “The Godly Men,” was founded in the aftermath of the Small War and the emotional turmoil caused by the destruction of the Holy Lands. Its charismatic founder, former car salesman Jason MacBride, built his worldwide following on the thesis that the Millennium was near. MacBride even predicted a specific date, March 11, 2046, when Heaven and Earth would join, and each devout person would be elevated to a divine status. The movement captured the imagination of millions of poor and disillusioned individuals worldwide. Within a few years, “Brother Jason” was one of the most powerful and influential people on the planet.

For most people on Earth, the following two decades were a golden time of peace and prosperity. This was not the case for Hsien Ho’s now adult clones. Seeing Ho’s creations as a threat to his “Godly Men,” Jason MacBride fought to have the clones declared sub-human. Calling them “Androsynths,” or the “fake men,” he used the vast resources of his Homo Deus organization to strip the clones of their human rights. Sadly, as the years passed, the Androsynths became little better than well-treated slaves.

Not unexpectedly, March 11, 2046 came and went without the arrival of Jason MacBride’s promised Millennium. Citing a “lack of genuinely devout people,” MacBride withdrew from public life and faded into obscurity, his power and fortunes rapidly declining.

By the middle of the 21st Century, Earthlings had begun to colonize their solar system. Planet orbiting factories led to lunar bases and soon there were mining and research outposts scattered across the Asteroid Belt. Yet the expansion of mankind into deep space was limited by the relatively slow speed at which spacecraft could travel. Research began in earnest to develop a ship that could warp toward distant stars faster than the speed of light.

9

The Androsynth Rebellion

In retrospect, the Clone Revolt of 2085 was inevitable. Stronger, smarter and more adaptable than normal humans, the Androsynths despised and deeply resented their status as slaves. By the late ‘70’s there were

tens of thousands of Androsynths distributed across the planet, many of them doing sophisticated scientific and technological research. Then, in the spring of 2085, the Androsynths staged a worldwide rebellion, throwing off their chains with the help of a sympathetic human underground.

The uprising had been exquisitely planned. Within 24 hours, the clones had captured nearly every spaceflight facility on the planet. Androsynths working at the centers had secretly fueled and readied over a thousand spacecraft to carry their people off this hated

planet. Two days after the rebellion began, the freed clones

took over all orbital and lunar bases, leaving not a single Androsynth on the face of the earth. “Star Control,” the recently established wing of the United Nations’ military forces, made several attempts to evict the clones. Each time the Star Control ships approached, the craft were burnt to ashes by colossal MASER weapons that Androsynth scientists had fashioned out of formerly benign energy broadcast units.

After two months of futile strikes on the Androsynth strongholds with conventional weapons, the U.N. leadership decided to use the means of mass destruction stored in the Peace Vaults. Yet before the nuclear bombs and laser rays could be reassembled, Star Control scoutships watching the orbiting bases reported an amazing sight. Eight of the largest space stations were accelerating out of Earth orbit, heading towards the periphery of the solar sys-

10

tem. The Androsynths had somehow modified the huge space-stations for flight, including the recently finished StarLight Hilton.

Though Star Control chase ships were never able to catch the space-stations, a ten thruster ore freighter on its way home from an Asteroid Belt mining base with a hold full of titanium was able to make a high-V interception of the ragtag fleet. As the freighter pilot approached the fleeing space-stations, they suddenly began to glow with a bright energy field that spun around the ships with blazing speed. According to the pilot’s recorded testimony, a “great red hole” over 500 meters across appeared in front of the space-stations. As he watched in disbelief, the stations flew into the hole one by one and vanished in a starburst of white lights. When the last of the Androsynth strongholds had disappeared, the hole collapsed rapidly inward, imploding finally to nothingness.

Over 30 years would pass before humans encountered the Androsynths again.

Aliens Contact Earth

In 2112, the largest and most remote space installation, Ceres Base, was built on the 700 kilometer-wide asteroid of the same name. Three years later, Ceres Base would be the site of mankind’s first official contact with an alien life-form

– the crystalline Chenjesu. The alien vessel suddenly appeared out of nowhere, a scarlet flash of light announcing its presence as it took up a position 3 kilometers above the asteroid. Almost immediately, the alien ship began broadcasting this message:

People from Earth: We are the Chenjesu. We mean you no harm. We come in peace with an urgent message. Heed these words: there is a horde of conquering warriors advancing toward your solar system from deep space. They

11

are called the Ur-Quan. They know you are here. They will make slaves of you as they have made slaves of a thousand races across the galaxy. They will enslave both our species, Chenjesu and Human, unless we stop them now.

We are not alone in our struggle. There are others who will fight with us against the Ur-Quan. Together – in an alliance with the remaining free stars – we may yet turn back the enemy, defeating the Ur-Quan and its Hierarchy of Battle Thralls.

We beseech you to join us, for we desperately need your help. But we do not have much time. What is your answer?

For over a week, the answer from Earth was stunned silence.

The Alliance of Free Stars

The Chenjesu representatives were patient. Beings of vast intellect and perception, they understood the psychological shock their sudden appearance had on the inhabitants of Earth, a people who, amazingly, had never before had contact with a species other than their own. The aliens remained in the solar system for several months, conferring with the political, military and scientific leaders of Earth. Meanwhile, the Chenjesu’s starship transported U.N. observers through HyperSpace to visit several worlds that had been attacked by the Ur-Quan and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. The sad evidence of wholesale slaughter and devastation, and the accounts of dazed survivors, proved that the Chenjesu account was true. On August 1, 2116, Earth joined the Chenjesu and their other allies – the Mmrnmhrm, the Yehat, the Shofixti, and unofficially, the Syreen – to form The Alliance of Free Stars.

Following formal ratification of the pact by the United Nations, Star Control

12

was placed under the direct authority of the Alliance Command Council. The Chenjesu expected Earth to play a major role in the Alliance, both as

combatants and suppliers of war material. Even though Earthlings were technologically primitive, their civilization had thousands of huge modern factories and millions of skilled workers able to manufacture both munitions and spacecraft. The tens of thousands of thermonuclear weapon components stashed away in the Peace Vaults were an additional bonus which surprised even the Chenjesu.

On the day following Earth’s formal induction into the Alliance, an alien race known as the Ariloulaleelay appeared, landing first on the Earth’s moon. They transmitted a request to meet with Alliance representatives, and a delegation of human and Chenjesu diplomats journeyed to the lunar surface to establish contact. The Arilou explained that they too were threatened by the Ur-Quan and had come to join the Alliance of Free Stars. Alliance headquarters was consulted, and soon afterwards the Arilous were welcomed into the coalition. Although the Arilou were extremely secretive – being unwilling to discuss even the locations of their homeworlds – they provided additional strength to the Alliance. This strength was to be tested almost immediately.

The Course of the War

There were many great battles between the Alliance of Free Stars and the UrQuan and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. Both the Alliance and the Hierarchy built hundreds of asteroid forts all across the spiral arm of the Galaxy. Only a small fraction of these fortified positions, and the colonies and mining bases that surrounded them, survived the fighting.

As the war spread, new alien races were drawn into the conflict until finally there were 14 separate species at war. On the Alliance side there were the Earthlings, the Chenjesu, the Yehat, the Mmrnmhrm, the Ariloulaleelay, the Syreen, and the Shofixti. Fighting with the Ur-Quan were the Mycon, the

13

Spathi, the Androsynths, the VUX, the Ilwrath, and the Umgah.

By 2134 it was becoming clear to both sides that the Ur-Quan and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls were slowly but surely winning the war.

Captain Burton’s Discovery

On March 16, 2134, Star Control Captain I. Burton, a highly respected 28-year old female Earthling, was leading a task force of heavy cruisers on a deep recon into what was believed to be a friendly sector near the Zeeman-Vela star cluster. Burton was brilliant and beautiful, with wide-set deep blue eyes, a white even-toothed smile and silky strawcolored hair. She also had a figure that turned heads, even aboard a warship hurtling through deep space. She had just taken a navigational star fix when the ships from Earth were suddenly ambushed by an elite force of Androsynth Guardian combat vessels. The Androsynth ships had been modified for

extended blazer mode, giving them increased speed and range. The task force

was cut to shreds and only Burton’s vessel, the Tobermoon, escaped immediate destruction. Knowing the Tobermoon could not outrun the Guardian ships, Captain Burton engaged in a des perate ploy to save the ship and crew. Fear crinkling the corners of her deep blue eyes, she warped

her craft toward the heart of Zeeman’s Star, a nearby supergiant sun. She had a desperate plan, a last ditch ploy she prayed would confuse the pursuers’ sensors. The bridge crew began to panic as heat in the cabin climbed to ovenlike temperatures. Two enlisted men finally broke under the pressure and came for Burton, terror in their eyes and sweat pouring down their faces. But the captain had guts as well as beauty. She drew her sidearm and held the mutineers off, gaining the precious minutes she needed. Finally, the cabin temperature now nearing 150 degrees Fahrenheit, she judged they were close enough to the titanic star for her plan to work. As the Tobermoon’s outer hull

14

began to liquify, Burton jettisoned the ship’s entire stock of nuclear missiles and detonated them. From the Androsynths’ perspective, the vessel they were chasing had exploded when it flew too close to the superhot sun.

As the Androsynth task force warped out of the system, a severely damaged Tobermoon slowly emerged from its hiding place behind Zeeman’s Star. Burton ordered a damage report. As she’d suspected, the craft sustained severe damage. Worse, the ship’s engineers informed her they couldn’t make repairs without a planetfall on a world with a breathable atmosphere. Like most supergiant stars, Zeeman did not have any Earth-like planets in orbit around it. The Tobermoon limped through space for almost a week before Hyper-Radar reconnaissance located a hospitable planet orbiting the dwarf star Vela. The planet was called Vela II, and it proved to have both an oxygen rich atmosphere and deposits of metal ore the humans could refine and use to repair their ship.

After a successful landing, Burton ordered the engineers to begin repairs. She sent the rest of the crew off to explore their surroundings. It was only pure chance that a young ensign chose to enter an unremarkable cave in a nearby hillside. What he found within the cave was the most remarkable discovery of the century – a huge underground installation, the size of a small city, built in the distant past by an extinct race known only as the Precursors. The cave was massive, over 2500 meters long and averaging 50 meters from floor to ceiling. Off the main tunnel were countless side passages and hidden niches, almost all crammed with futuristic equipment and hundreds of long-dormant robots. Halfway down the main gallery, a deep crevasse sliced across the tunnel floor, evidence of a tremendous prehistoric earthquake that had offset the adjoining walls by more than ten meters. Over the centuries, water trickling into the cave from the planet’s surface had carried countless minute traces of calcium carbonate that settled out as lime. As the limestone sediment built up, the deposits covered much of the Precursors’ wondrous machinery with a smooth

15

coating called flowstone that was now five to ten meters thick in places. Artifacts of this powerful and technologically advanced alien species had been found in every quarter of known space. Yet this was the first time an entire Precursor base had been discovered. Captain Burton recognized that the wealth of advanced technology could bring the Alliance victory over the UrQuan – but only if scientists could be brought to Vela II to study the fantastic find.

Realizing that the surrounding region of space could fall under the control of the enemy at any time, Burton accelerated repairs to the Tobermoon and rocketed back to Earth at emergency warp speed to report her findings to her superiors at Star Control. Within a week, the Tobermoon was on the return leg to Vela II, crammed full of hastily assembled scientific equipment and experts on both the Precursor’s civilization and their advanced xenotechnology.

Expedition to Vela II

The most respected but least liked Precursor expert in the expedition to Vela II was Professor Jules Farnsworth. The professor was well known for his formidable intellect and his extensive knowledge of the Precursor civilization. Though recognized as a great mind, Farnsworth was also widely disliked for his flamboyant egotism and rude impatience with peers who did not hang on his every word. The man was simply impossible to work with for anyone with a modicum of self-respect.

It wasn’t long before both his fellow scientists on the mission and Captain Burton rued the decision to bring Farnsworth along, for the professor did little but complain during the voyage from Earth to Vela II. Yet, as irksome as he was, Professor Farnsworth proved his worth almost immediately upon his arrival at the Precursor installation. Within hours he located the base’s deactivated central control computer. While the professor worked feverishly on the ancient aliens’ computer, Captain Burton received a fateful message from the

16

Star Control High Command.

As feared, the Ur-Quan had smashed through the defensive lines drawn between the Mira and Indi constellations. Star Control reconnaissance ships reported that a large Hierarchy task force was hurtling toward the Vela star system. Captain Burton was ordered to evacuate all personnel from Vela II and return to Earth immediately. Burton’s heart beat like a hammer in her chest as she read the rest of the message. Star Control was paranoid that the Precursor’s advanced technology would fall into the hands of the hated UrQuan. To prevent the Hierarchy from obtaining these ancient secrets, Burton was ordered to install nuclear devices throughout the Precursor installation. Once the Tobermoon was in orbit, she was to set off the weapons and destroy the entire complex.

The non-military members of the Vela II research team were stunned by the order. Destroy the most significant discovery of the century? It was unthinkable! Professor Farnsworth was especially distraught for he was in the middle of several critical research projects that promised to unlock ancient Precursor technical secrets. In an uncharacter-istic display of courage, Farnsworth offered to remain behind, promising to detonate the nuclear bombs if the UrQuan found the Precursor caves. The majority of the other scientists and engineers also asked to stay on Vela II and continue their research. Finally, Captain Burton was persuaded that saving the treasure trove of advanced Precursor technology was more important than obeying a direct order from the High Command. Still, she didn’t trust Farnsworth to det-

onate the nuclear bombs should the Ur She decided the only logical thing to do to remain behind herself.

On August 11, 2134 Captain Burton gave over command of the Tobermoon to First Officer Chi, with orders to

17

leave the star system immediately. He was to return to Earth at best speed and brief the High Command on the expedition’s desperate attempt to save the Precursor installation. Chi promised to return with a relief party and supplies as soon as the Ur-Quan attack was repulsed. After the Tobermoon had lifted-off, the team quickly moved all their equipment deep into the cave system and obscured all signs of their presence from the planet’s surface. Now, if an Ur-Quan reconnaissance ship scanned the terrain, Vela II would appear uninhabited. The weeks turned into months as Captain Burton and her team

of 200 waited for the return of the Tobermoon.

Marooned

six months in the caves, food reserves grew critically Captain Burton imposed strict rationing. Professor Farnsworth found a data bank in the computer memory describing Vela

II’s flora and fauna. Burton felt her spirits soar as Farnsworth pointed out several plants and animals that could be harvested for food. The most likely sources of meat were the red-brown Libixx, animals that looked like winged rabbits, and the six-legged Ortogs, 2,000 pound beasts with pendulous udders that resembled a cross between a cow and a lizard. Both had cell structures, internal organs and flesh remarkably similar to mammals on Earth. The Precursor data also indicated that several plant species – especially the giant blue-flowered Iccamullon – had the same proteins, sugars and starches as crops humans had been raising for centuries. Captain Burton assigned teams to hunt wild animals and harvest food plants, allowing them out of the caves only under cover of dark for the first year they were there. Then, gradually as the years passed, the marooned Earthlings grew confident they were safe from discovery by the Ur-Quan on this out-of-the-way little planet. They began to see themselves as colonists and most moved out of the caves to settle on the surface. Still, with Captain Burton prodding them, the humans remained cautious, building camouflaged houses and planting crops in purposefully chaotic patterns. Eventually they gave their planet a name: Unzervalt. It meant, sim-

18

ply, “our world.”

Ten years slipped past, marked by the deaths of a dozen colonists from accidents or old age, and the birth of 42 children. Several of the scientists had now become full-time farmers. Others fabricated old-fashioned bullet-firing rifles and disappeared into the Unzervalt wilderness, appearing months later clad in Ortog skins and bursting with tales of strange landscapes and even stranger life-forms.

Farnsworth’s Breakthrough

After more than a decade of hard work, Professor Jules Farnsworth announced with con-siderable fanfare that he had finally succeeded in unlocking the secret of the Precursor Control Computer. Without Captain Burton’s permission – indeed without even knowing what would happen – Farnsworth commanded the computer to initiate its prime function. The resulting near-disas- ter almost got the professor put in the stockade.

Suddenly, the immobile machinery within the cave roared to life. Huge electrical arcs shot between massive electrodes, incinerating a wooden storage shack. Robotic vehicles began tearing across the cavern floor along pre-pro- grammed paths – paths which led them right through several man-made buildings. A 30 meter tall crane-like machine detached itself from one wall and swiftly rolled through the cave, nearly crushing a group of panicked scientists. It was a miracle that no one was killed in the ensuing chaos as humans fled the caves in terror.

The next day, robotic vehicles emerged from the cave, and cut down a nearby forest. They levelled the ground, covered the surface with some kind of metallic plastic, and then returned to their cave.

Bronzed from the Vela sun, her straw-colored hair pushed up under her commander’s cap, Captain Burton led a squad of volunteers back into the caves on

19

a cautious reconnaissance mission. Inside the main cavern, the squad came upon the robots assembling the spine of a huge ship – a starship! Although the robots clearly knew the humans were there, turning to focus benign scanners on the volunteers several times, they obviously did not consider the Earthlings a threat. Captain Burton decided it was safe for humans to return to work in the caves, so long as people kept out of the robots’ way.

Days later an abashed Farnsworth was finally coaxed back to the Precursor Control Computer to continue his research. Almost immediately, the professor discovered two significant facts. First, the construction process would soon transition out of the caves and assembly of the starship would continue on the planet’s surface. Second, as far as Farnsworth could tell, the construction was going to take a long time.

The “long time” that Farnsworth predicted turned out to be nearly a decade. The colonists grew accustomed to the framework of a great starship looming above their tiny village. Day after day, a hundred robots moved across the surface of the vessel, welding and fitting, assembling and fabricating.

Then one day, without warning, the construction robots stopped work and returned underground. They assumed their original positions in the cave and shutdown completely. The cave was exactly

the way the research team had first found it – silent, motionless. A flustered Professor Farnsworth frantically asked the Control Computer for an

and got an immediate answer. There were enough raw materials left to finish the nor were there suitable substitutes anywhere on the planet. A week of tests

by Burton and her team proved the ship

20

was complete enough to blast off from the surface of Vela II. But it would have to cruise slowly through HyperSpace, lightly armed, and with only enough room for a skeleton crew.

There was another problem. The controls for the vessel were not designed for humans. It became obvious from the interior layout of the starship that the Precursors were giants, and seemingly not bipedal. Levers were almost impossible to move, three people were required to actuate a single switch, and the chairs, beds and other furnishings were better suited for a wooly mammoth than a human.

Some kind of automated control system was needed. After mulling over the problem for several days, Captain Burton decided that the only answer was to remove the Central Control Computer from the cave and configure it to run the ship. Surely Professor Farnsworth knew enough about the Precursor computer system to give it whatever commands were necessary to take the ship back to Earth. Despite vehement protests from Farnsworth, the Captain ordered the Precursor’s computer installed in the vessel. After 20 years marooned on Vela II, the colonists were at last ready to return to Earth.

Or were they? Pressed to begin programming the computer, Farnsworth broke down and admitted he didn’t have the foggiest idea how to do it. It turned out he had never understood the incredibly complicated system. Instead, for years he had secretly employed the natural computer talents of a precocious young genius. This gifted child, now a young man, had been born on Unzervalt – the son of an officer from the Tobermoon and a Research Team engineer. Each night, after Farnsworth left the Control Computer console, the young boy had crept into the caves and tinkered with the computer. Within a few months, the child had established a rapport with the computer far beyond anything Farnsworth had accomplished. When the Professor discovered the boy’s nocturnal activities, he used gifts and phony promises to win the child’s

Games PC STAR CONTROL II User Manual

21

confidence, then talked the young genius into activating the entire complex. This time, the Captain did throw the Professor into the stockade.

Then Burton called the young man into her office and proposed a plan. She would command the starship, and he would serve as pilot, acting as the interface with the starship’s Precursor computer.

With trepidation, you accepted.

The Return to Earth

After 3 months of intensive crew training, Captain Burton felt it was finally time to leave Unzervalt. You weren’t so sure, weren’t entirely comfortable with your new role as a starship officer. Burton listened as you expressed your doubts, then put an arm around your shoulders and re-assured you. You’d make a fine pilot. She’d trust a ship to you any time.

Besides, all the plans were set. The two of you would lead the return to Earth, and once there send back a rescue ship for the colonists left behind. If necessary, Burton vowed, you would fight your way through the forces of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy.

You, above all, will remember that trip, for during the journey you went through a rite of passage. You left Unzervalt a boy and soon found yourself forced to be a man – to lead bravely and boldly and wisely. Think back. Do you recall the exhilaration of blasting off from

the tiny planet where you were born – and the sheer terror later? Three days out, as you approached the perimeter of that cursed Oort Cloud, you found the Tobermoon – derelict and tumbling through space. The deep burns along her hull were mute evidence she’d seen combat. And lost. The discovery was, of course, a great shock to Captain Burton. Unconsciously she chewed her bottom lip, and for the first time her handsome face showed the awful strain

22

of the past twenty years. She’d been engaged to Captain Chi. Through two decades she’d clung to the hope she’d see him again, kept alive the dream they’d shared of marriage and children and a life together. Now the dream was shattered. She knew he was gone, even though there was no body to mourn over. Strangely, there were no bodies at all on board. And most of the important ship systems were intact. Do you remember how Burton wondered, tears brimming in her blue eyes, if Officer Chi and the other crew members had been taken prisoner? How her words conjured up a picture in your mind of the Earthlings being tortured – their ordeal provoking mirth in the soul-less Ur-Quan. With a few days work, the engineers brought the Tobermoon back to life. What came next changed your life forever. With Captain Burton the only one aboard qualified to pilot the Earth Cruiser, you were put in command of the Precursor starship. Admit it. Standing on the bridge – those epaulets the grieving but bravely smiling Captain Burton pinned on gleaming from your shoulders – you felt proud, sure of yourself. Hey, truth be told, at that moment you thought you were invincible.

Your confidence didn’t last long, did it? With the Tobermoon leading the way, you and Burton pushed your ships out into HyperSpace – the parallel dimension where distances are fantastically compressed and interstellar travel feasible. Blazing white flashes surrounded your vessels and everything took on a crimson hue. Something up there wasn’t right. Remember? Your body felt like it was in a vise and your head was spinning. You fought for control, forcing yourself to focus on the soft voice of Captain Burton radioing a command from the Tobermoon: “Set course for Earth.”

A day later – you think it was a day, but now, looking back, you can’t be sure – a sinister shadow began following you through HyperSpace. It moved fast, real fast. Within a couple of hours it had approached close enough to interact with your ship’s hyperdrive field, pulling you both back into TrueSpace. At close range, the enemy ship looked like a pair of spinning red globes sur-

23

rounded by a crackling energy field. Some kind of glowing rod or energy beam connected the red globes. The alien craft built up speed rapidly as it zeroed in on the starship you commanded. Burton saw the attack coming and signalled you to warp out of the area immediately. A moment later you watched on your command console monitor as the Tobermoon flashed away on a trajectory to intercept the alien ship. As you pushed up into HyperSpace, you saw a crackling bolt of energy lance out from the alien vessel and strike the Tobermoon. Burton’s craft wobbled violently, then veered off on an erratic course in the general direction of Unzervalt. The Alien craft was apparently satisfied with disabling the Tobermoon, for the strange ship made a 180 degree turn and rocketed at warp speed toward deep space.

Once your starship reached HyperSpace, you radioed the Tobermoon, only to learn that Captain Burton had been killed by the alien’s unexpected attack. You felt sick to your stomach. Then you wanted to punch the bulkhead. You’d been half in love with Burton, you knew that now. Life stunk!

Captain Burton’s death left you in full command of the mission to find Earth. You navigated the Precursor starship back on your original course, your mind swirling with all that had happened. A terrible doubt overtook you, gnawing at the edges of what had always been your strong self-confidence. Could you pull this off? You, a son of Unzervalt, born in a cave, raised on Ortog milk and Libixx meat. You, a man who’d never set foot in a university, never had formal space flight training beyond the crash course from Burton? You’d taught yourself everything, learning from reading computer programs and watching how engineers and scientists did things. The question ate at you now; had you been both a good teacher and a good student? Good enough at both to prepare you for the awesome task that lay ahead? Time would tell.

And time did tell. Five days after the alien attack you arrived at a stellar vortex leading out of HyperSpace. Your scanner showed the vortex spiralling down

24

to a brilliant yellow star. You knew at once that this was the great star that had given life to your ancestors, the star your Earthling progenitors called the Sun! You warped down out of HyperSpace and took a navigational fix. You were just beyond the orbit of the ninth planet of the yellow star. Earth was the third planet out from the Sun. With all thrusters on, you can reach the blue planet in two days. A horrible thought flits across your mind. Had the Ur-Quan broken through the Alliance defense lines and attacked your ancestral home? Was there devastation? Had the cities been obliterated by nuclear weapons and the survivors left irradiated mutants, genetic freaks roaming the ashen landscape like primal apes? You’ll know in 48 hours.

25

STARTING THE GAME

It shouldn’t take much more than 5 minutes to install the game and begin playing Star Control II. Although we salute the expression of free will, you will get started faster if you follow the steps below.

Confirm System Requirements

An AT-class IBM-PC compatible computer with a hard drive and 2x speed CD-ROM drive is required. A 20 MHz 386 machine or better is recommended. If you have a slower machine see Appendix II.

Star Control II supports VGA and MCGA graphics only.

You will need at least 580,000 bytes of low DOS memory available when you start the game.

You will need at least 9.2 megabytes available on your hard disk if you want to play Star Control II from your hard drive rather than play off the CD-ROM.

Installing Star Control II onto your hard drive

Star Control II can be installed on your hard disk. Here’s how:

1Turn on your computer.

2Insert the Star Control Collection CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive (usually D or E).

3In DOS, a DOS Window, or MS-DOS mode, make a directory for the game on your hard drive (usually C). Change to the root directory by typing CD\ <Enter>.

4At the DOS prompt, type MD STARCON2 <Enter> to create the “STARCON2” directory.

5Change to your new directory by typing CD\STARCON2 <Enter>.

6At the new prompt, type COPY D:\STARCON\STARCON2\*.* <Enter>,

26

where D is the name of your CD-ROM drive. This will copy the game from your Star Control Collection CD-ROM to your hard drive, and install Star Control II on your C drive, in a directory called C:\STARCON2.

After you launch the game, you will be presented with choices:

Start New Game: The game starts at the very beginning, prompting you to enter your captain’s name.

Load Saved Game: You are presented with a list of saved games to choose from. If you change your mind and want to start from the beginning, press the Spacebar.

Start-up

Follow these steps to start the game:

1Make sure your computer is on.

2Place the Star Control Collection CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive.

3If you have Windows, exit from Windows to DOS. If you have Windows ‘95, restart in MS-DOS mode. If DOS is your operating environment of choice, you should already be where you need to be.

4Change to your CD-ROM drive by typing the drive name (usually D) and a colon. Press <Enter>.

5At the CD-ROM drive prompt, type STARCON <Enter>.

6Choose Star Control II in the introductory menu. When you are shown the picture of a star, hit the <Space Bar>.

If you have copied the game to your hard drive, exchange the following steps for their equivalents above:

2Since the game is on your hard drive, you don’t need the Star Control Collection CD-ROM in the drive.

3Follow Step 3 above.

4From the root directory of your hard drive (usually C:) change directories to the STARCON2 directory by typing CD\STARCON2 <Enter>.

27

5At the C:\STARCON2> prompt, type STARCON2 <Enter> to launch the game.

6When you are shown a picture of a star, hit the <Space Bar>.

PLAY CONTROLS

Star Control II can be played entirely from the keyboard, or you can use a joystick for most game activities. Joysticks are automatically detected and calibrated at runtime, so keep your joystick centered and motionless until the game begins.

Menu Controls

Many aspects of gameplay are accessed by a system of menus. Each menu will list various options which allow you to give a command, select a ship, pick a phrase, etc. To select menu items with the keyboard, use the cursor arrow keys to highlight the item you want, then press Enter. In some cases, when you pick a menu item, you will be given a new submenu of options. To leave a sub-menu and return to the previous menu, press the Spacebar.

Keyboard Menu Controls

When selecting menu items, the joystick acts just like the cursor arrow keys. Pressing Button #1 is the same as pressing Enter, and pressing Button #2 is the same as pressing the Spacebar.

Button #1 selects the highlighted option, and Button #2 returns you to the previous menu.

28

Joystick Menu Controls

Up

Button #2

Button #1

Left

Right

Down

Combat Commands

In combat, you can control your ships with either the joystick or the keyboard. You can redefine the control keys with the separate program, KEYS.EXE. The KEYS configuration will not be saved unless you are playing the game from your hard drive. In the SuperMelee bonus game, there can be two human players, and each uses a separate joystick or area of the keyboard.

Default Keyboard Combat Controls

 

Keyboard #1

Keyboard #2

Use Special Power

N

1

Rotate Counter-Clockwise

M

2

Rotate Clockwise

,

3

Thrust

.

4

Fire Main Weapon

?

5

 

 

29

Joystick Combat Control

 

 

 

(Up)

 

 

Thrust

Up/Counter-Clockwise

Button #2

(Up/Clockwise)

Thrust & Rotate Counter-

Special Power

Thrust & Rotate Clockwise

Clockwise

 

 

Button #1

 

 

 

Fire

(Clockwise)

(Counter-Clockwise)

 

 

Rotate Clockwise

Rotate Ctr-Clockwise

 

 

 

NAVIGATION

The core of Star Control II is space flight, both in combat and exploration. Whether you are traveling from planet to planet or from star to star, or engaging in combat, the controls are the same. To go somewhere, you rotate your ship in the direction you want to go, and then press the

Thrust key.

The Effects of Inertia and Gravity

When ships are navigating in Star Control II, they are under the influence of two physical forces; inertia and gravity.

Inertia is the tendency of an object in motion to remain in motion. All moving objects have inertia, and the faster they go, the more inertia they possess. When you let your foot off the gas in an automobile it slows and comes to a stop because there are many forces of friction acting against your motion, like air-resistance, the roughness of the road, and the car’s mechanical parts rubbing against each other.

30

In normal space, these resisting forces of friction are virtually nonexistent. Any object in motion (like a spaceship) will keep moving at the same speed until something stops it. The only way for a spaceship to stop itself is to turn in the direction opposite its line of travel and thrust until it comes to a stop.

Gravity is the natural attractive force that exists between all objects. This force is usually too small to be noticeable, unless an object is terrifically massive – like a sun or planet. In Star Control II, the only situation in which your ship will be affected by gravity is in space combat. As you approach a planet, its gravity will begin to affect the course of your vessel, bending your path toward the center of the planet.

Inertial ships can make use of planets’ gravity fields to achieve higher than normal velocities by performing the Leyland Gravity Whip maneuver. To use this trick, simply move past a planet, and while you are close to the planet, thrust continuously without rotating your vessel. Then, as you fly away from the world, stop thrusting and coast at high velocity.

Note: Use caution when performing this maneuver to avoid striking planets, which can damage your vessel.

Interplanetary Travel

Interplanetary navigation is travel between planets within a single star system. The interplanetary navigation screen is represented as a sun surrounded by a number of planets, each situated on an ellipse describing its orbital path around the sun. As you navigate your ship toward the center of the star system, the view expands to show you a more detailed view of the inner planets. When you approach a planet, the view will expand once more, showing you a close-up view of the world, plus displaying any moons which may be orbiting the main planet.

Loading...
+ 72 hidden pages