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