
SPACE WATCH
by Kate Clements for Sinclair Spectrum
from Computer & Video Games #12 (Oct.82)


U.F.O. sightings have been reported over a large area and the evidence is
pouring into Space Watch headquarters. You are in charge of the search teams
which must be sent out to try and find the aliens before a similar agency
from a foreign power can contact them. The alien sightings are the clue to
how they can be tracked down and the code (a sort of Close Encounters sounds
sequence, except that it is in colour) which must be used in making contact.

There are five alien craft in the vicinity and the information you have so
far received has tempted you to give each craft a name.
* The Mothership is always the same colour as the Watcher and appears in
  the centre of the screen.
* The Chaser is so named because of its speed, it flies rapidly across the
  boundaries of the land but never deviates from a straight line flight path.
* The Hoverer also follows a straight flight path but is slower, travelling
  just half a sector each turn compared to the Chaser's whole sector.
* The Watcher pursues a circular path; either one or a half sector is crossed
  in a day.
* But the enigmatic Destroyer follows no fixed route although it does seem
  to travel just half a sector at a time. This craft is the most easy to
  confuse in sightings as it may sometimes copy the flight patterns of the
  Hoverer and Watcher craft.

The aliens are wary of humans, and unless contact is made quickly there
is a very real fear that the Destroyer will live up to his name. The aim of
the game is to find the alien code of five colours and put them in the right
order; you will then be able to make contact.

Each search you undertake can be across one sector, four sectors or 16
sectors of the board. But each search depletes your energy reserves and
when these drop below six the Destroyer will move in to try and blow up
your Space Watch H.Q.

Each search is also given a colour code, and only that colour of craft will
show up. If you key in red (2), only a red craft will show on your radar scan,
all others will remain invisible. You will also be able to see which areas
your opponent is searching and whether they find any craft.

When you think you know the code of each craft you can try out your
guess. Inputting the information in the order: Mothership, Chaser, Hoverer,
Watcher, Destroyer. So, discovering which of the craft you are tracking, is
which, is vital.

There are a couple of other twists: a red craft will not show up on a red
background. And if you see the Destroyer moving close to your City HQ
(marked with a '1' and '2' for first and second player) you can expend
energy setting up a defensive screen around the HQ.

The game starts with UFO sightings coming in from the cities and these
usually dictate the tactics for the rest of the game.


--
Another Fine Product transcribed by:
Jim Grimwood, Weardale, England
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/
--
