PENETRATOR TIMEX SINCLAIR PERSON COLOUR SOFTWARE PENETRATOR (C) Melbourne House 1983 Loading time: 3 minutes 50 seconds Load name must be typed in lower case letters. You are about to be sent on a mission through treacherous enemy territory. As commander of the Penetrator, one of the most powerful and advanced ships yet developed, you will travel through torturous landscapes and tunnels on your hazardous expedition. To complete your trek and accomplish your mission, destroy the enemy neutron bomb installation or face certain death against the impassable canyon walls beyond. Once you are able to destroy the installation, return the way you came for yet another (and more deadly) mission. TO LOAD: Press LOAD "penetrator", start the cassette recorder and press ENTER. The program loads in 3 minutes 50 seconds and starts automatically. Once the front screen with the copyright, author and Penetrator logo appears and the lines around the border stop, the game is ready to go and your tape recorder may be turned off. CONTROLLING THE PENETRATOR: The Penetrator can be controlled through the use of either the keys or a joystick with fire button. The control keys: "Q" = moves ship up "A" = move ship down "O" = move ship left (stop) "P" = moves ship right (if held down) "P" = fires (if hit/tapped continually) Any key on the bottom row ("Z" through "M" and "Symbol Shift") drops bomb. The joystick controls are: Up stick = moves ship up Down stick = moves ship down Left stick = moves ship left (stop) Right stick = moves ship right (if held forward) Right stick = fires (if hit/tapped continually) Fire buttons = drops bombs "9" = stops action in both key and joystick game play (any other key continues the game) TO PLAY: Press ENTER to see a small and colorful fireworks display and the game title scroll across the screen (NOTE: They do not occur at the same time), (this may be speeded up by pressing the ENTER key). The game and landscape menu appears next but if you want to see a demonstration game, don't hit any key for 10 to 15 seconds and the computer will automatically begin to play. Press ENTER and you will return to the menu. The menu choices are described below in detail: "1" or "2" keys: Pressing either of these two keys determines the number of players and begins game play immediately, so be sure you are ready. (Pressing ENTER and 0 simultaneously stops the game play). "T" key: Pressing this key puts you into the Traineer mode, where you have a choice of four stages to start at, immediately after you enter your choice, play begins. Another Trainer feature is the endless number of ships to practice or "train" with.(But your score won't get on the top 5 chart). You can also jump to any stage during Trainer by pressing ENTER and 0 simultaneously. You are asked to select another stage. If you want to leave the Trainer mode totally, press ENTER and return to the menu. "E" key: Want to be a Landscape Editor? Raise or flatten mountain ranges, drill caverns and add or remove enemy missile and radar installations at will. The cursor controls for the Landscape Editor are the same as the movement controls for the Penetrator. "O" to move left, "P" to move right, "Q" to move up, "A" to move down. Holding down the "CAPS SHIFT" key while using the above four keys will automatically repeat the movements (with much greater speed). Other commands are: "B" to set the bottom of the landscape to wherever the cursor is; "T" to set the top of the landscape; "N" to remove a missile or radar base at the cursor position (defined by arrows at the top and bottom of the screen); "R" to place a radar at the cursor position; "M" to place a missile at the cursor position; "C" to show a list of the Editor commands. "S" will save a landscape on tape; and "V" verifies the landscape (explained below). Once you have edited the landscape, it remains that way until you either change it again or turn the computer off and reload the game, in which case the original landscape returns. If you become especially fond of your new landscape, you may want to save it for the next time you play. To save a landscape (while you are still in Landscape Editor mode), place a blank tape in your tape recorder. Connect one end of your connector cable to the MIC socket in your recorder and the other end to the MIC socket in the TS2000. Press the "S" key and enter the load name you want for your landscape, ex., "Land 1". Press ENTER, put your recorder on Record and press ENTER again. When the save is finished, the program returns you to the Landscape mode. When you've finished saving your landscape, verify that you've copied it correctly. Without changing the landscape, rewind the cassette you've stored the landscape on, put the connector cables in the Ear sockets, and press "V" on the computer. Then enter the load name of the landscape you saved and then hit ENTER. (Or, merely press ENTER to accomplish the same thing). Press play on your recorder and the computer tells you if it saved correctly. Or, it tells you if it didn't. If it tells you there was an error, you might want to try it again after checking the volume and tone. If it fails again, try saving it again. You may load a landscape from tape by pressing "L", typing the name of the landscape you want loaded and pressing ENTER. Now set up the recorder as if you were verifying and press PLAY. Once it has loaded, start playing on your new landscape. "S" key: This key stops the sirens that sound while the menu is visible. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS: (See Chapter 4 of your instruction manual for detailed instructions). 1, First listen to the tape so you will be familiar with its distinct sections. The tape has a period of silence at the beginning, followed by a high-pitched screechy noise. This is the computer program. The program is recorded twice on the cassette in case one does not load. 2. Set the volume control on the cassette deck to about 3/4 of the maximum. If you have tone controls, set the bass to minimum and treble to maximum. If you have just one tone control, set it to HIGH or MAXIMUM. 3. Rewind the tape to the beginning. Connect the EAR jack on the computer to the EAR jack on the cassette deck recorder. Make sure the plugs are clear and securely in place. 4. To instruct the computer to accept the program you must press the LOAD command and type the name of the program in quotation marks. See the instructions or cassette for the correct loading name. 5. Start the cassette deck, allow a few seconds for it to get up to speed, then press ENTER during the silence before the program begins. 6. The border of the TV screen will alternate between pale blue (cyan) and red, during the time the computer is searching for the program on the tape. 7. When the program has been found, the screen border will show a pattern of lines in the same shades of blue and red, and shortly the name of the program will appear on the screen. 8. Next, as the program itself is being loaded into the computer, the border pattern will become thinner, faster moving yellow and dark blue lines. 9. When the computer has finished loading the program, one of two things will happen: 1. Most commercial programs will begin running automatically, usually with a "title screen" or instructions to the user. (A title screen may tell you that the tape is still loading, if not, you should stop the tape immediately at this point so as to be in the proper position to load the next program if you wish) or 2. The screen will be blank, except for a 0 OK, 0:1 in the lower left hand corner. This is a report code and means that the computer has successfully loaded the program. Stop the tape immediately. To execute the program, you press RUN and ENTER. This will start the program. SOME SUGGESTIONS 1. The volume at which the program is loaded is very important. Usually 3/4 maximum volume works best, but recorders vary and may require experimentation with the volume setting. If you havve a technical background you can check the output level of your recorder's EAR/SPKR jack. It must be at least 4-volts peak-to-peak, although 5 to 6-volts peak-to-peak is best. 2. Clean and demagnetize the heads of the tape recorder. Your ears may not pick up the signal fluctuations due to magnetic flux on the tape heads, but the computer has a much more sensitive "ear". 3. The computer is very susceptible to outside interference. Working on a metal table or near electrical appliances should be avoided. 4. Occasionally, once a program has loaded, the video display will show instability. This can be corrected by adjusting the vertical hold on the televsion. WARRANTY There are no warranties which extend beyond the description on the face thereof. No other warranty, whether express or implied, including the warranty of merchantability, shall exist in connection with the sale of this product. In no event shall Timex be liable for any consequential, incidental or special damages. MODEL NO: 345-064002 - NOTES -