The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

WARP ONE

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Alias          : TREK II

Game Type          : Arcade; Strategical Space Adventure

Authors            : D. Crofts and I. Elliott

Standalone Release(s)   : 1984: WARP ONE, Icon, £7.95

Compilation Release(s)   : None

Stated compatibility    : Electron

Actual compatibility    : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128

Supplier            : ICON, 65 High Street, Gosforth, TYNE & WEAR

Disc compatibility     : CDFS E00, DFS E00

Instructions

"Space...the final frontier. As commander of a federation starship, your mission is to seek out a fellow captain who is lost in space. You must explore strange new galaxies, fight and destroy the enemy, search through six quadrants and 48 sectors with endless confrontations and exciting on-board simulations. Take command and boldly go where no man has gone before."

Initially you will be prompted for SOUND and DIFFICULTY LEVEL (1 - Easy, 6 - Hard). Your starship will then come into sight on the viewing screen.

The Quadrant display shows 48 sectors.

The first character in each sector can be "O", "X" - which indicates a possible position for the WARP ZONE (mentioned later) - or "*" indicating the position of the star base.

The second character indicates the number of klingons in the sector.

You have five main command controls:

COMMAND 1:

SHIELDS - When activated, your shield will reduce the amount of damage incurred when you are hit by a klingon phaser blast.

Note: You cannot initiate warp drive when your shields are up.

COMMAND 2:

WARP DRIVE - Once the warp drive is activated, you will be asked to NAVIGATE. This is achieved by the use of the cursor control (arrow) keys. You will notice that as these are depressed, the position indicator will move to other sectors. You may move up to three sectors in any direction from your point of origin. When the indicator is at the desired sector, hitting the RETURN key will send the starship into hyper-

space.

COMMAND 3:

ION DRIVE - When entering the sector where the starbase is located, command 3 will activate the Ion Drive.

After a few seconds, a tone will sound and you can navigate your ship using the cursor keys into the docking bay indicated by the rectangle below the starbase.

You have a limited time to do this and if you fail, the docking will be aborted. You must then leave the sector and return to it for another attempt.

When successful, your Energy levels will be restored.

Note: Your Shield, Ion and Damage levels will only be restored when all the kingon in the current Quadrant have been destroyed.

COMMAND 4:

PHASER - When activated the phaser sights appear in the lower section of the Viewing Screen. You manoeuvre your sights again by use of the  cursor keys. Position the sights over the bridge of the klingon ship (indicated by the yellow dot on the front of the vessel) and hit the COPY key to fire. Your time is limited and when exhausted, the remaining klingons will return fire.

Your Damage indicator will increase each time you are hit and if this reaches maximum, your ship will be destroyed.

Watch your Phaser Energy Levels!!

COMMAND 5:

QUADRANT UPDATE - This will revise the number of klingons in each sector during the course of a game.

When you have destroyed all the klingons in a Quadrant, you have to find the WARP ZONE which will be located in one of the sectors showing and "X" on the Quadrant Display. When this sector is entered, you will automatically warp to the next Quadrant. Your mission is over when the klingons have been destroyed in all six Quadrants and you have found the Warp Zone in the sixth Quadrant, in which the lost Space Captain is hidden.

COMMANDS [Quick Reference]

1. SHIELDS

2. WARP DRIVE

   NAVIAGATE : Cursor keys, RETURN

3. ION DRIVE

   Use to dock in space station

4. PHASERS

   COPY to FIRE

5. QUADRANT UPDATE

Instructions' Source   : WARP ONE (Icon) Back and Inner Inlay

Review (Electron User)

The cassette insert describes WARP ONE as "a strategical space adventure", which is handy as I can't think of any other way of describing it. It's like no other game I've played, a cross between Battleships, Space Invaders, an adventure and Lunar Lander.

You're commander of a Federation Starship, your mission to seek out a fellow captain who is lost in space. As you work your way through the six quadrants and 48 sectors of deep space, the Klingons attack.

When you engage your phasers, the Klingons appear on the starship's viewing screen. As you fight them off inevitably you incur damage and use precious energy, necessitating a risky docking manoeuvre with the nearest starbase.

If it sounds complicated that's because it is. Despite three full pages of excellent instructions in the cassette inlay, it took three games before I understood WARP 1 fully. Having said that, the controls are easy to use and the screen layout is excellent - once you get used to the amount of information coming at you.

It's very easy to forget that you're running low on energy, and docking can be tricky. So if you are tired of space action but don't want a game that's too hard on your brain, then you have to look at WARP ONE. It's different.

Norman Keynes, ELECTRON USER 2. 5