Droid Wars - Max Phillips (Your Sinclair-January 86-Page 101)

They slammed it ... they banned it ... but they couldn't stop the
galaxy's most evil sport. Max Phillips gives you the chance to try it
for yourself ...

The far-flung planet colony Alioth, a tiny unwanted outcrop in the 4th
Spiral of the Nebula, has no place in galactic history. Save for one
little known event - it was here that the settlers, tired of the
tedium of endlessly nurturing the barren planet, first armed their
farm droids and let them fight to the death in the very fields they'd
created.

What should have been an isolated incident spread through the colonies
like the hundred year plague. Watching the barely intelligent droids
fight it out was a new excitement - there was a crazy, mindless
freedom about it. One that provided a release for the tension and
bitterness many felt on finding their promised Edens were to become
endless hells. Droid fighting became regular village entertainment and
tradeships carried the craze throughout the outer worlds. Very soon,
settlers exchanged the meagre living of their farmsets and were
touring the planets, polishing up their own metal gladiators and
preparing for the big fights.

By the time lawships arrived on Alioth, the craze was unstoppable.
Within a year, huge stadia accommodated megacrowds, all willing to
spend their last credits, to give up their homes, to travel across
star systems, to fight and bribe their way to the games just to
witness the spectacle. Ask CENTRA now and it will tell you the Droid
Wars were a long time ago, the sport long since banned and its
exponents jailed. But the government well knows that in the far,
distant reaches of the galaxy, crowds gather in secret and poorly
armed, low intelligence droids are walled in the arena and forced to
fight for their lives. And Droid Wars have no mercy - a droid's only
prize is the chance to fight again ...


CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS

If you can't afford the trip to the other worlds or haven't the
years to spare, you can at least experience Droid Wars by
bashing in the simulation program here. Once it's running,
press the R and B keys and design yourself two war droids
using the available materials - and remember, depending on
the motive unit you fit to your droid, you'll be limited as to the
weapons and defences you can bolt onto it.

When your droids are ready, press F, sit back and watch
the fight! May the best droid win but remember that lady luck
will play her part. You can always fight the same designs          
again or go back and tweak their various features. And if          
you're feeling wimpish, you can hold down the mercy key            
during a fight and save the two gladiators. This is sometimes      
your only option - if two droids are evenly matched you may        
find they run out of ammunition and beat themselves into           
exhaustion. In the outer worlds, the droids are carried from the   
arena, repaired and replenished and then forced to fight           
again...                                                           


DESIGNING YOUR DROIDS

* Vanity Spot: All fighting droids have names - either that of
their master or one of their own!
* The Plasma Bolt is the most dangerous and effective
weapon available - it's so heavy droids rarely carry more
than one but the results can be very effective! Range: 60,
Weight: 5 + 80 per round.
* A Laser Cannon is the basic weapon of fighting droids -
the short, rapid blasts of laser fire are both nasty enough and
light enough to be a very effective weapon. Range: 40,
Weight: 5 + 5 per round.
* Shock Bombs are a hit and miss weapon. Hurling them at
your opponent often misses but is pretty unpleasant when it
hits! Range: 25, Weight 3 + 5 per round.
* The Energy Lance is the only hand-to-hand weapon
allowed - a drill is extended into the body of the opponent
which is then energised. The results, on droids at least,
depend quite where the lance hits. Range: 2, Weight 30.
* Long Range Trackers are the most effective vision system
available and they provide extremely accurate targetting.
Range:100, Weight 20.
* Local Radar is the most popular vision system as it is
reasonably capable while being quite light. Range: 50, Weight
10.
* Thermic eyes provide very limited if reliable vision. Range
30 Weight 5.
* Motive Unit. This is the most important element of your droid
as it provides the basic framework for all other features. It's
usual to pick this first and then set your other choices. There
are four types available as shown below:
Type                       Max Weight     Max Speed
1 HOVVERJET                  180             12
2 WALKERS                    220             8
3 SPEEDTRAX                  200             8
4 MAXITRAX                   240             6

* Shielding is essential if you don't want your droid to die in
the first exchanges of a fight.
* Every modern droid is equipped with a certain percentage
of self-repairing and regenerative circuits to allow it to work
even when damaged. When a droid breaks off from an
engagement, these circuits are put to work repairing any
damage that has been done. What's more, if the droid is 100
per cent healthy, the circuits will top up the droid's energy
supplies.
* Fuel is essential to a droid's survival - moving, seeing and
fighting all use up energy and it's rare that any droid that
starts with less than 50 units of fuel will live to fight again.
However, you can use autorepair circuitry to keep the fuel
topped up.
* Although fighting droids are of limited intelligence, they still
need to be programmed for the fight. Programming can make
all the difference between life and death. This first setting is
how aggressive (from 0-100) the droid is and dictates how
easily it is provoked into retaliation.
* Set your Pain threshold very carefully - too high and the
droid will be dead before it has retreated - too low and it
won't stick around long enough to shoot back!
* Attack Range also needs careful setting - too far away and
weapons are unreliable. Once long range weapons are used
up, a high attack range also confuses the droid!
* When it's had enough, a droid will attempt to retreat and
recuperate. This setting is the time the droid will spend 
running away before it turns around and goes back into the fray ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TYPE: Strategy 

COMMENT: This version of Droid Wars was modified by Jim Grimwood, to make it
faster and to get rid of a few bugs.


This info file was typed by Jim Grimwood

Downloaded from:
Desert Island Disks -- http://www.image.dk/~frankie/
Maintained by:
Michael Bruhn -- frankie@image.dk

