SPACE FORTRESS v1.7 Freeware --- Copyright (C) 1999 Kris Asick (Gemini)
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For more games by Kris Asick, Check out http://www.pixelships.com

--- What is Space Fortress? ----------------------------------------------------

	Space fortress is a game of defense. Your job is to command the base. 
You need to allocate resources, manage powerups, issue repair orders, and blow 
the enemies to pieces.

	Although unlike in a REAL fortress, you can do all of these things 
through your little MFD computer.

--- What do I need to play the game? -------------------------------------------

	A Pentium 90 or faster really helps since it's 16-bit code. A fast 
graphics card works too. My computer is currently a P120 and the game runs 
perfectly on it.

	The game will also run smoothly inside Windows 98, so long as you run 
it full-screen, and don't switch tasks while running it.

	If your VGA card isn't standard, you may experience either speed, 
palette, or other strange anomalies. The best way to check, is to run the 
game.

--- I want to jump right into the game. What should I know? --------------------

	H key will bring up a help screen. Some of the more critical features 
are explained here.

--- How do I play the game? ----------------------------------------------------

	Once you run the game, the title screen appears. Press a key to bring 
up the high scores list. Press another key and the game begins.

	Presented in front of you are your MFD, sensors, integrity gauges, 
warnning lights, and scores. It may seem overwhelming at first, but stick with 
me as there's much to learn.

	First of all, you have your integrity gauges. The red one with the "S" 
is you shields gauge. They represent how much shielding you have left. The 
next one down, which is green, is your hull integrity. If this hits zero, your 
base is done for. The last yellow one is energy. Energy is what makes your 
weapons work.

	Beside those gauges is an empty, vertical gauge marked "T". This is 
your temperature gauge. At first, if it goes up, it will be blue. This is 
normal when firing weapons. If it goes into the yellow, then you had better 
watch out. If it starts to go red, you're in critical levels, and systems will 
begin to decay. The higher into the red it goes, the faster your systems will 
degrade. Heat is constantly being cooled so usually only firing your weapons 
like a madman or getting hit by heat enducing weapons will send it this high.

	Before moving on, notice the two dark lights in the corner of the
screen. One says O2, the other says REACTOR. If the O2 light comes on, it
means your base is running out of oxygen because of a life support system
failure. To remedy this problem, set your damage control to life support. More 
on that later. If the light starts flashing, your oxygen will soon run dry and 
you will die! If the REACTOR light comes on, then your reactor is taking 
damage. If it starts flashing, then hits to the reactor could send it critical 
and cause it to explode! Usually, but not always, your reactor will go before 
your hull integrity does.

	The last thing to note for now is the sensors at the right side of the 
screen. The bottom shadded strip represents the edge of the base. If an enemy 
appears and starts shooting at you, damage will be recieved when the shots hit 
the strip at the bottom.

--- Teach me how to use the MFD and work the base. -----------------------------

	The MFD is the black box that takes up most of the screen. Here you 
can bring up several panels that will help you by using the following keys:

	H = Help Screen
	A = Allocation Grid
	D = Damage Control
	T = Targeting & Weapon Controls
	R = Powerup Retrieval Systems
	P = Powerup Status

	TAB = Accelerate Time (When no enemies are attacking.)
	SCROLL LOCK = Pause/Unpause Game

	The help screen is designed for those wishing to either jump right 
into the game, or want to see the credits. Key controls are also listed here 
in case you can't remember them.

	The allocation grid is used to determine how much juice your systems 
get. Normaly the marker is in the center of the grid, meanning that each 
system will get equal amounts of power. Now, the amount of power given to a 
system is determined by how close the marker is to it. Right up to the marker 
means 195% of normal power, while the opposite end recieves only 5%. This can 
have drastic effects on how well the base runs, so find a suitable position 
for you. Note though that the resources are not calculated by drawing a 
diagonal line to the marker. They are calculated by drawing a horizontal, then 
vertical line to the marker. So lets say you put it all the way into WEAPONS. 
This would give SHIELDS a very low amount of energy, but ENERGY and DCON would 
still be at 100%. Get it?

	Although your base will handle damage by itself, the Damage Control 
computer is critical if you need parts of your base repaired as soon as 
possible. There are 20 systems which can be damaged:

	REACTOR: If this goes below 50%, it may explode!
	LIFESUP: If this goes below 50%, your oxygen levels will begin to
		 fall!
	SMATRIX: Affects your maximum shield levels.
	EMATRIX: Affects your maximum energy levels.
	SHIELDS: Affects how fast your shields recharge when damaged.
	E-COILS: Affects how fast your energy recharges.
	COOLING: The lower this goes, the slower your heat levels disapate.
	DISPLAY: If this starts to go out, you wont be able to see what's on 
		 your MFD. The systems will still work, you just wont be able 
		 to see what you're doing.
	TRG-COM: Affects how well your targeting computer works.
	STABLIZ: If this starts to go, your turret in targeting mode will
		 begin to stutter, and eventually go haywire.
	DAM-CON: Affects how well your damage control systems work.
	   HULL: This is your hull integrity. If it hits zero, you die.
	RBOTCON: Affects how well your retrieval robot works.
	RBOTDAM: Affects how quickly your retrieval robot is repaired.

	The last 6 systems are determined by the weapons you get.

	To select a specific system to repair, use the arrow keys to select
the system and hit spacebar to begin repairs. If you choose not to interrupt
the automated system, damage control will repair the most damaged system when 
it is done the system it is repairing.

	Your Targeting systems are crucial to survival. When you access the
targeting system, a turret will appear outside your base. This affects where
you're aiming. You can move the turret with the arrow keys left and right. In 
the MFD, you will see which weapons you are equiped with and your current 
target information. You will always get a Laser and a D-Gun, but the other 
four weapons are randomized out of about 16 others. You will have to discover 
on your own which weapons you like and which ones you hate, and how they work. 
To select a weapon, use the 1 through 5 keys. To fire your weapon, push 
SPACEBAR. To fire the D-Gun, push 0INS on the keypad.

	Now, unlike the other weapons, the D-Gun is special as it is designed 
to destroy the enemy's attacks. To use it, fire it at enemy shots. Your 
attacks with the D-Gun need to be fairly accurate, so be careful when firing 
it.

	To target an enemy, use the E key. Your computer will automatically
target an enemy if none is targeted. In the upper box, the enemy's name,
picture, hull integrity and weaponry is shown. Brackets will also appear
around the targeted enemy in the sensor box. There are two homing weapons in 
the game which will lock onto the targeted enemy.

	Throughout the game, you will eventually see powerups. To use them,
you first have to get them. Go to your Retrieval Bot screen. There you will
see how many RBots you have left, and the hull integrity and movement of the 
current one. To launch an RBot, push spacebar. The RBot will show up on the 
sensors as an orb or sorts. Use the arrow keys to pilot the orb. To pick up a 
powerup, simply fly over it. When that's done, simply pilot the orb back into 
the metal strip. This will cause the orb to dock back inside the base. Once 
docked, a powerup will be automatically inserted into your collection. Note 
that if an RBot is being repaired from it's previous excursion, you will not 
be able to release it.

	On your powerups screen, you are presented with your current powerups. 
You are allowed to have three at once, and will not see any more powerups 
until you have a free spot. To each powerup has a timer bar. If this bar runs 
out, the powerup will disappear. To activate and deactivate powerups, push the 
1 2 and 3 keys, corresponding with the appropreate powerup. Note that the ??? 
powerup cannot be deactivated.

	The idea of the game is not to win, but to survive as long as 
possible. The only end to this game is your demise, and trust me, it can
easily occur if you don't watch yourself. If you can get 40 kills, you're
doing good. 60 kills and you're doing great. If you somehow get over 80 kills, 
you are doing very good. If somehow you live to see triple digits, you can 
consider yourself a master.

	To make the game progressively more difficult, the enemies will get 
stronger the more kills you have. The longer you survive, the harder the game 
gets until you finally go out in a blaze of glory.

	Finally, if there are no enemies on the screen and you don't want to
wait, hold TAB to accelerate time. (It will go as fast as your computer can
muscle.) Pushing TAB wont do anything if there is an enemy on the screen.

--- The game runs slow or choppy. ----------------------------------------------

	You need a faster computer or a better video card.

--- The game runs too fast. ----------------------------------------------------

	Either you have bad reflexes or a strange VGA card.

--- Any neat little things I should or could know? -----------------------------

	* There are a total of 32 different enemies you can encounter!

	* The ??? powerup can have one of seven different effects.

	* The laser is the most energy efficent weapon in the game.

	* The biggest weapon in the game uses over 200 particles in just a 
	single shot!

	* The weakest enemy in the game is the Niko. It wont be a threat to 
	you unless you somehow live past 150 kills.

	* The most devistating enemy in the game is the Mercenary. Just one of 
	these ships can blow up your base in a few hits, when you have just 0 
	kills! Imagine its power when you're a little farther!

	* The Mercenary has a 1 in 3,200 chance of appearing when an enemy 
	appears!

	* The Drish has been noted by many as the most annoying enemy in the 
	game since it moves fast and does incredible damage with simple 
	lasers!

	* In v1.0, there were 12 enemies, no randomized weaponry, and no 
	powerups.

	* The source code for the actual game is 3500 lines long. The keyboard 
	routines add another 80.

	* This is my FIRST ever completed C++ game. All my other ones either 
	sucked or were never completed... because they sucked.

	* There are 8 different kinds of powerups.

	* Although all of your systems read 100%, they really mean 10,000
	units.

	* Heat levels will hit a maximum of 18,000 kelvin. Past 12,000 you 
	enter the red zone.

	* Your RBots have 2000 units of hull integrity.

--- Could you please tell me about the weapons in this game? -------------------

	(P) - Only the player can have these.
	(E) - Only the enemies can have these.

	LASER - Default on every base. Fast and efficent.
	PHASER - Like a doubled up laser.
	DISRUPTOR - More powerful and rapid, but higher energy than lasers.	
	ION GUN - Spreads a verticle line of particles, good for fast targets.
	TRIASER - Fires a spread of three lasers straight forwards.
	VULCAN CANNON - Low damage yet very rapid and fast.
	BLASTERS - Low damage but rapid and efficent.
	PARTICLE BEAM - High damage stream of energy.
	CHAOS GUN - Spreads bouncing particles everywhere.
	PLASMA CANNON - Good damage but high energy usage.
	NEUTRON CANNON - Extremely powerful and energy efficent, but slow.
	FUSION CANNON - More powerful than neutrons, but need more energy.
	SPREADER - A blast of 6 moderately powerful photons spread out.
	PHOTON CANNON - An efficent weapon that takes inertia from your turret.
	LASER BOMBS - A single dot of intense laser energy. (About 4 lasers.)
	
	(P) OMEGA DISC CANNON - Just like blasters but aim towards the target.
	(P) BEAM LASER - A high energy beam from point A to B. Follows turret.
	(P) HOMING ROCKETS - Medium damage rockets that lock on target.
	(P) SWARMERS - Blast of 5 small homing charges.
	(P) STREAMERS - Rapid fire swarmers at low damage.
	(P) TRI-FOCAL LASER - You have to see this one for yourself.
	(P) DEFENSIVE GUN - Destroys enemy weapon particles.

	(E) HEATER GUN - Builds up heat levels and does no damage.
	(E) EMP CANNON - Powerful weapon that does no damage to your hull.

--- What about the enemies? ----------------------------------------------------

	There are 32 enemies. Find them out for yourself. :)

--- Any bugs? ------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sometimes a couple pixels around the sensor box near the
top of the metal strip will blacken out. Aside from that, not a single bug
in this game!

	If you ever fire a shot though and end up seeing a black spot in
your shot, this is actually a bug with the way graphics are drawn up. There
is actually a particle there, it just isn't being plotted correctly.

--- What is the history of this game? ------------------------------------------

--- New to Version 1.7!

	* You can now accelerate time (as fast as your computer can go) by
pushing and holding TAB. This feature only works when there are no enemies on
the screen and will immediately go back to normal time if an enemy appears.
This key is useful when your systems are perfect and you're waiting to kill
something.

	* Three new weapons for the player!

	* Plasma cannon is now worth using.

	* You can finally pause the game with the scroll lock key!

--- New to version 1.6!

	* Homming weapons now do half-decent damage.

	* Some weapon modifications for better gameplay.

--- New to version 1.5!

	* Keyboard routine added! Now you can hold more than one key at once!

--- Is there any legal stuff I should read but probably wont? ------------------

	Yes. This game is copyright to Kris Asick, as of August, 16, 1999.
This game is freeware, meanning that you can distribute it to anyone you want 
so long as it has not been modified. This game may not be sold in any way for 
cash value, or included on a shareware CD without prior written permission. 
Kris is in no way responsable for anything that happens to your computer by 
running this game. Although if run properly, shouldn't cause any. Source code 
is not available. Direct-Y, the graphic routines used in the game, were 
designed by Jason Gill, and full permission has been given to use these 
routines...

	...Besides, I had to rewrite a good chunk of them so they would WORK 
corectly. (A LOT of them, with little thanks to Jason for that...)

--- Anything else I should know? -----------------------------------------------

	Nope. That's it. Have fun.




































































































	If you found this, type NOBUGS the moment you start a new game to
activate a counter that tells you how many particles are active!
