USS MOONSWEEPER --ALERT!

Your mission: to reach and rescue miners stranded on hostile moons in Star Quadrant Jupiter!

Warning!  Proceed with extreme caution.  Deadly photon torch and space bullet showers reported.  Aurora flare activity in Quadrant at lethal levels.  Take evasive action, then land on as many moons as you can.  Avoid colliding with lunar landmarks.

Unidentified alien ships patrol moons and launch armed surface destroyers. Survive at all costs or the miners won't make it!
 

GAME OBJECTIVES

- Pilot the USS Moonsweeper around the sun of Star Quadrant Jupiter.  Avoid or destroy aurora flares, photon torches and space bullets.  Land on one of the moons as it passes.
- Rescue 6 miners from the moon.  Avoid towers and shots fired from alien surface destroyers.
- While skimming the moon's surface, shoot towers, surface destroyers, Launcher Ships and Lunar Satellites.
- When you've picked up 6 miners, fly through Accelerator Rings to blast off into outer space.  Then begin another rescue mission.
 

PREPARE FOR THE MISSION

- Pull GAME SELECT switch to pick a skill level from #1 (easiest) through #4 (hardest)
- To start playing, press red button on LEFT joystick controller.
- Whenever you complete a succesful rescue mission and blast off, the game automatically advances to the next higher level.
- In 2-player games, each player's turn continues until he loses a Moonsweeper.  Also, the skill level does not advance unless both player successfully blast off from a moon.
 

GAME PLAY

- To control flight direction, push joystick left or right.  Moonsweeper stays on the same horizontal level.

- Avoid collisions with space bullets, aurora flares and photon torches by moving evasivley, shooting them or using your Forcefield Shield.

- To fire: aim Moonsweeper, then press red button.

- If you are hit, activate a reserve Moonsweeper by pushing joystick left or right.

FORCEFIELD SHIELD

- To activate Forcefield Shield:  Press red button while pulling joystick toward you.

- Using the Shield costs you score points (unless your score is zero.)

- You cannot land while using the Shield.

MOON SELECTION

- Watch for moons that orbit into the vicinity of your spacecraft.  Move Moonsweeper to the moon you want to reach.  The automatic pilot takes over and flies your craft down to the Rescue Altitude.

- The moon color indicates rescue difficulty
   Blue moons: easy, many miners
   Green moons: less easy, fewer miners and more surface destroyers
   Yellow moons: more difficult, scattered miners and more aggressive surface destroyers
   Red moons:  most difficult, miners are far apart and surface destroyers attack very aggressively.

- The higher the skin level the more likely you are to encounter more challenging moons.

THE RESCUE

- JOYSTICK controls speed and direction over moon surface.
  - Pull back to fly slower, push forward to accelerate
  - Move stick left or right to head in those directions

- Pick up MINERS by flying over them.
  - The Radar Spotter indicates where the next miner will appear.
  - Pick up 6 miners to complete your rescue flight and leave this moon.
  - Miner symbols at the top of the screen flash when Moonsweeper has a full load.

- TOWERS appear all over the moonscape.  Avoid or destroy them!
  - If you crash into a tower you lose a Moonsweeper and its passengers and return to the Orbit Sequence

- LAUNCHER SHIPS descend close to the moon and release surface destroyers that attack Moonsweeper and capture miners.
  - To shoot at Launcher Ships, pull back on joystick and press red button.

- SURFACE DESTROYERS are the major menace to your successful rescue mission! Once they land, surface destroyers swing back and forth across your flight path, shooting at you and capturing miners.
  - Watch out for missiles launched from surface destroyers. A hit makes you lose Moonsweeper with all rescued miners on board.
  - Collisions with surface destroyers will also destroy Moonsweeper.
  - To shoot surface destroyers aim Moonsweeper and press red button.

- SATELLITES cross the screen from time to time, and do not attack you; however, shooting them gets you big scores!
  - To shoot a satellite, pull back on the joystick while pressing the fire button.

ACCELERATOR RINGS

- When 6 miners have been rescued, Moonsweeper is full and you can blast off.  Fly through Accelerator Rings to get enough speed to break away from the moon's gravity.
  - Accelerator Rings are placed in a series, if you don't get up enough speed in one series, watch for the next one.
  - The number of rings you must fly through depends on your speed; generally, 2 or 3 rings gives you the necessary momentum for blast-off.
  - Rings are lined up in a straight row only on Blue moons.  Fly a zig-zag course to achieve blast off speed on Green, Yellow and Red moons.

- YOU ARE AWARDED AN EXTRA MOONSWEEPER, TO A MAXIMUM OF NINE, WHEN YOUR SCORE INCREASES 10,000 POINTS.
 

GAME VARIATIONS

NUMBER   MOON COLORS
  1    BLUE and GREEN
  2    BLUE, GREEN and YELLOW (mostly BLUE and GREEN)
  3    BLUE, GREEN and YELLOW (mostly GREEN and YELLOW)
  4    BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW and RED
 

SCORING

IN ORBIT
For each SPACE BULLET, AURORA FLARE, or PHOTON TORCH....10 points
For each use of Forcefield Shield.....The longer you use the shield, the more points you lose.

ON MOONS
                SHOOT
                TOWER,
                SURFACE     SHOOT
        RESCUE  DESTROYER   LANDER  SHOOT      BLAST
COLOR   MINER   OR MISSILE  SHIP    SATELLITE  OFF
Blue    10        10        200       300       980
Green   20        10        200       500      1225
Yellow  30        40        300       700      1470
Red     40        80        300      1000      1960

1983 IMAGIC
All Rights Reserved