








                         VAXINE by Kinetic / U.S. Gold


   Note: We skipped the storyline on this one as it didn't add much to
         the dox anyway.  These dox contain all the necessary controls
         and descriptions and even a few play tips towards the end.


     ====================================================================
                               Startup Menu
     ====================================================================

     Before every game, a menu appears to allow you to set up the game
     as you prefer.  Use the cursor keys (up/down to move between
     options left/right to change the option) to select the mode
     (difficulty level).

     Controller and preferred shot type - inertia or no inertia, shots
     fired with inertia have your speed of motion forward, backward,
     left and right imparted to them, shots without inertia will fly
     straight forward.

     The Graphics mode and sound selections can also be made here.  The
     choice is yours.  Players who have never played Vaxine before can
     use PRACTICE mode.  Here, the enemy cells never attack your bases,
     so there is no time pressure.  Use this mode to practice moving and
     firing until you are skilled enough to try the main game.  Players
     who have mastered the first few rounds may prefer to select
     ADVANCED mode which starts the game off at level 10.


     ====================================================================
                            Playing the Game
     ====================================================================
 
     Vaxine starts on a checkerboard grid, upon which the whole game
     takes place.  It is easiest to move around this grid using a mouse,
     but you can use a joystick or keyboard if you prefer.

     The object of the game is to survive each level by destroying all
     enemy cells which appear, before they bond together and destroy all
     of your base cells which appear as half domes on the floor of the
     grid.  The game ends if all of your bases are destroyed, or if one
     of your three ammo streams reaches zero.

     To destroy enemy cells, shoot at them using the left mouse/fire
     button; BUT - you will only destroy a cell if you hit it with a
     shot of the SAME COLOR.

     How do you know which color shot you are about to fire?  Look at
     the ammo readout at the top of the screen: it shows how many shots
     of the currently selected color you have left.  It changes color by
     clicking the RIGHT mouse button or pressing the SPACE BAR.  You
     have three different shot colors to choose from.

     STATUS LINE
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     At the top of the screen are a number of items that provide
     essential information.  On the top left is your score, in the
     center is the ammo bar described above and to the right are two
     numbers.  THe first of these shows the number of enemy cells in the
     currently selected color which are on the grid.  The second shows
     the total number (all three colors) of bases remaining (you begin
     with nine).

     AMMO RECHARGING
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     If you shoot any enemy cell with the wrong color shot, it will not
     be destroyed and will continue its evil business.  However, the
     resulting energy reaction creates a star which bounces on the spot
     three times before disappearing.  If you shoot this star you will
     gain more ammo - 8 shots if shot with the SAME color cell, only 3
     shots if shot with a DIFFERENT color cell.  Nothing comes free
     though; if the star disappears without being shot you will lose
     five shots of that color.  If you fall low on ammo in the middle of
     a level you MUST recharge your ammo levels in this way; if any one
     of your ammo levels fall to zero, then you cannot possibly defend
     your bases properly and the game is automatically over.

     THE STAR TREE
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     To make life slighty easier on the ammo front, there is a short
     "grace" period at the start of every level.  This is shown by a
     timer at the top right of the screen counting down to zero.

     Immediately in front of you is a star tree - a source of free ammo
     to help you through the level.

     Just pick off the stars one by one.  Stars shot with the same color
     scores 80 points and yields 8 extra shots of ammo.  Stars hit with
     a different color shot scores 30 points and 3 extra shots.

     Remember that as soon as the timer reaches zero, the "grace" period
     is over and the bad guys will start to appear.

     THE ENEMY CELLS
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Nasty, evil things with only one aim in life: to bond together in
     groups of three or more, seek out one of your perfectly innocent
     base cells and suck the life from them to make more of their own
     kind.

     Try to destroy enemy cells before they even join together: they are
     harder to hit when they're joined by strings and even harder to hit
     when bouncing around one of your bases just prior to destroying it.

     To help you know what they are up to behind your back, we've
     included sampled sound effects to warn you whenever they:
     Materialize (a rising siren sound), join together (a slurp sound),
     or attack one of your bases (a low resonance sweep sound).

     As well as the normal enemy cells, later levels feature two
     additional species: the HATCHER appears as three differently
     colored cells bonded together.  When any one of them is shot, the
     Hatcher splits up into a whole mess of individual cells.  Worse
     still, if you haven't located and destroyed a Hatcher after a
     period of time, it explodes of its own accord and makes even more
     cells than if it had been shot.

     SPITTERS will also appear if you take too long finishing a level.
     Spitters look like flattened balls that roam around on the floor of
     the play area and can only be shot by positioning yourself so that
     one of your shots lands on top of the spitter. Sounds easy, but
     wait till you try it!  No sneaky waiting until continuously making
     stars.  Spitters, as the name suggests, rome the grid, spitting out
     new enemy cells from time to time.  The longer you take, the more
     spitters appear and the more enemy cells each one of them will
     produce.

     PSYCHIC RADAR
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Another useful way of locating enemy cells is with the radar
     function.  Periodically you will see a word appear on the grid
     ahead of you.  This message is an indicator of the direction -
     (ahead, back, left, or right) of the closest cell whose color
     matches the shot type you are using.  This particular radar system
     also assumes that there are times when you won't want to be
     bothered with it, for example when you are battling with an eight-
     ball cluster.  So, it only shows up when it thinks you are lost.
     It decides this by seeing how long it's been since you last moved
     the mouse, joystick, or pressed a key, so if you need any help wait
     for a second or so and it will appear.

     THE PORTAL
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     When moving around the grid, every so often you will see solid
     black slabs emerge from the ground (or retract back into the
     ground).  These are portals.  If you move through a portal, when
     you emerge on the other side everything will have frozen.  You can
     move around the grid freely, but all the enemy cells, stars,
     fragments of explosion and so on, are suspended in mid-air.  This
     state of affairs continues until either the timer reached zero or
     you fire a shot.  This is so that if things are going terribly
     wrong somehwere, you can use a portal to suspend action until
     you've located the trouble spot.  Naturally there's a price to be
     paid for this.  Everytime you use the portal the enemy cells get
     meaner, as if the action had been shifted up a level.  So if you
     use a portal twice on level three, the aggrestion of the enemy
     cells will be that of level five.

     DNA STRINGS
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Another weapon which can be used in the fight against disease and
     destruction is the DNA STRAND.  To fire a DNA strand using a mouse
     hold down the right button and press the left button, using a
     joystick press and hold down the fire button.  With every press, a
     shot is fired attached by elastic to the previous one.  If you
     pause too long, or let go of the right button the string of cells
     you have fired will be released and wander off around the grid.
     The advantage of these strands is that they appear to the enemy as
     "one of their own."  Every time an enemy cell bonds to the string
     it is destroyed along with the leader cell until the string is used
     up.  There are two disadvantages: the first is that they cost FIVE
     TIMES as much as normal shots (ie. five units gone from the ammo
     readout).  The second is that they have no intelligence of their own:
     they merely wait to be approached by an enemy cell.  So you must
     decide when it is worth launching them.

     SAVED AGAIN
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     Through the miracles of modern science, your job has been made
     slightly easier by virtue of the fact that at the beginning of
     every fifth level, all of your bases are restored and you will have
     the opportunity to increase your ammo levels in the "Shooting
     Stars" sequence.  In this bonus level dozens of ammo-storing stars
     swirl onto the screen in front of you.  get as many of them as you
     can (with the same color shot preferably, for maximum ammo top-up)
     and then continue on.....

     CONTROL SUMMARY
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     CONTROL         FIRE        CHANGE AMMO       FIRE DNA

     MOUSE:       LEFT BUTTON    RIGHT BUTTON   Hold down RIGHT BUTTON
                                                press LEFT BUTTON

     JOYSTICK:    BUTTON A       BUTTON B       Press and hold down
                                 OR SPACE BAR   FIRE BUTTON

     KEYBOARD:    ENTER          SPACE BAR      A Prolonged Press of the
                                                RETURN key.

     In addition: press "P": to pause, SPACEBAR to continue: Press ESC
     to quit game back to title screen.  Press F10 while in the game or
     at the title screen to return to DOS.

     SCORING
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
      Each enemy cell:                       250 points
      Each cell in cluster:                  500 points
      Star shot with same color:             80 points and 8 extra shots
      Star shot with different color:        30 points and 3 extra shots
      Hatcher:                               1000 points
      Spitter:                               2000 points
      Bonus for each remaining
      base after every level:                100 points per base

     PLAYING TIPS
     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     - Levels one and two are relatively easy because there are only a
       few enemy cells - not enough to attack your bases.  The Spitters
       will not appear for a long time.  Use these levels to practice
       moving around the grid and shooting accurately.

     - Spitters are very difficult to shoot because they stay on the
       ground and in the time it takes to line one up and destroy it,
       several cells could have been released.  On the higher levels they
       appear more quick and in greater numbers.  Time is of the essence.

     - When enemy cells attack a base, you have a few seconds to try and
       destroy them.  You have only got to hit one of them, and all the
       others disperse back onto the grid as individual cells.

     - Further into the game your ammo levels will become crucial, so on
       the early levels it is worth amassing as much ammo as possible.

     - A level will not end until your last shot has dissapeared.  This
       feature can be exploited to shoot any stars remaining on the star
       tree at the end of a level.

