Copyright © 1987 John Schultz
circa 4/8/87
Alien Duel
v1.0


Inside a strange spaceship in earth orbit, April 1986...
(all word-sentence structure, eg "air craft", intentional)

A hand of unknown origin waves over a smooth-edged grey-white round table. 
On the left corner a label reads "A9000".  A holographic image appears above
the table.  A small water craft can be seen approaching a group of much 
larger water craft.  Two air craft are approaching the two smaller water 
craft.  A bright flash emanates from one of the air craft and a small 
airborne device can be seen flying towards the water craft.  The mysterious
hand waves again and the image zooms in on one of the small water craft.
Humans can be seen throwing small items into the water and then jumping 
into the water and moving away from the water craft.  An instant later, 
the small airborne device impacts with the small water craft and a brilliant
flash fills the hologram.  The water craft is destroyed and sinks. The 
hand waves again, and the view zooms out.  The other air craft then turns 
and heads toward the other small water craft approaching the larger water 
crafts.  It too is destroyed in the same fashion.

"This is not a fair game!", exhorts the being.  It waves its hand again.  
The view is now of land.  Many air crafts are seen destroying land 
structures.  Small devices are rising from the surface, following the air 
crafts. One by one, the devices flash and cease to exist.  The air crafts 
head out to sea, the structures destroyed and in flames, lighting the 
early morning sky.

"Savage creatures, these." the being ponders.  "They need a more efficient 
method of having fun.  No more of these unfair advantages, wanton 
destruction.  Yes, I have an idea.  They can settle their disputes in a 
much more efficient way.  I will create a simulation, whenever the feel 
they must battle, their leaders can run the simulation.  The winner of 
the simulation wins the argument.  Both sides will have equal equipment, 
equal advantages, and can practice without an opponent at any time.
I'll set it up in space, utilize their latest destructive toys, model it 
after the confrontation I have viewed, and Voila! Yes. I like it. 
A9000, bring up the simulation generation file." "Very well, Dave. You 
know how much I enjoy working with humans.", responds A9000.














Simulation Instructions


Use all of the weapons provided to destroy your opponent.  You have limited 
funding, based on millions of US dollars.  The winner will have the most 
currency at the end of the simulation. Equipment cost:

Jet/Helicopter -> $40 million
Frigate        -> $250 million
Cruiser        -> $500 million
Carrier        -> $1000 million

Damage is measured as a million dollars a hit. Ships can repair themselves, 
Jets cannot.  Jet can repair and reload themselves by picking up the 
necessary devices, or landing on their respective carriers.

Controls

Jet/Helicopter: 

Motion: Move the joystick left/right to turn, forward/backward to control 
velocity. Press button while flying over Carrier to land on Carrier and 
repair/reload.

Weapons: Press the fire button to fire a continuous charged particle beam, 
release the button to fire the charged particles at target.

Simultaneously press the fire button and pull back on the joystick to 
fire a guided missile.

Ships:

Motion: Same as jet/helicopter.

Weapons: To fire a high-intensity chemical laser, press fire button, move 
joystick left/right to rotate laser towards target. While the fire button 
is pressed, the laser is controlled and not the ship. To control ship 
direction, release fire button.

Guided missiles are launched as per the Jet/Helicopter.

Vehicle selection:

Alien:

1 -> Jet/Helicopter
2 -> Frigate
3 -> Cruiser
4 -> Carrier

USNavy:

8 -> Jet/Helicoper
9 -> Frigate
0 -> Cruiser
- -> Carrier

Guided Missile Target Selection:

To select a target, simply press the key directly below the corresponding 
control key of the type of enemy target you wish to hit.  For example, 
for the USNavy to hit the Alien Jet/Helicopter, press the key below the 
"8", or "I". To hit the frigate, press "O", etc. Thus the target selection 
keys for the Aliens are "Q","W","E", and "R", for the USNavy,     "I","O",
"P", and "[".

Each vehicle has its own independent target selector.

Miscellaneous controls:

Autopilot on/off:

Alien: "`"  (to the left of the "1")
USNavy: Backspace (to the right of the "\")


Jet/Helicopter rotation sensitivity:

Alien: increase with "5", decrease with "6".
USNavy: increase with "=", decrease with "\".


Jet/Helicopter toggle:

Alien: "F".
USNavy: "'". (single quote, to the left of RETURN)


Fast mode, score toggle: Spacebar.

Pause: ESC (Escape, upper left corner).

Advance one game sequence: Control-C (Press the CTRL key, to the left 
of CAPS LOCK, at the same time as "C").

Restart: Control-R.

When entering options, "1" means yes, "0" means no. Use the keypad for 
easy entry, as the minus key, "-", can be used to back up in addition 
to BACKSPACE.


Enjoy my simulation of Alien Duel. And may no argument, no matter how 
small, go unresolved...