                             ALIANTS:
                  The desperate battle for Earth


                   Story with Game Instructions
                        by Craig Morehouse


     You  are  about to be transported to a strange  time  in  the 
future history of the human race, well over 300 years from now.

     You  have arrived at a major crisis point for the  people  of 
Earth. More than 100 years before, a strange, hostile race arrived 
in a huge armada of ships from beyond the Sun. Ironically, by that 
time,  the peoples of Earth had finally learned to live  together, 
joined  in  the common goal of exploring the stars  to  house  the 
growing populations of the planet.

     For the first time, the human race had realized that it would 
take the entire scientific resources of the planet to develop  the 
technology needed to explore the stars.  The exciting prospect  of 
finding  new  resources  and discovering new  inhabitants  of  the 
Galaxy  spurred  the research to greater and  greater  heights  of 
technology.   The  existing  military  forces  were  scrapped  and 
converted  to become the tools of space exploration.  The  planets 
and  their  moons  had  been  turned  into  enormous  engines   of 
production, readying the space vehicles to explore the stars.

     Since no other intelligent races had been found in the  Solar 
System,  Earth's  guard  was down.  After all,  who was  going  to 
attack?

     Unfortunately,  the  answer came all too soon.  The  invading 
force was on them in a moment,  and just like that, it seemed, the 
people  of Earth were under the yoke of a strange and bizarre  set 
of rulers.  ( You may see this scenario in illustrated form in the 
prelude of ALIANTS where it begins " IN THE 24TH CENTURY..." After 
you  have  seen the scenario in that form,  you may bypass  it  in 
future  games  by  pressing  the RETURN  key  while  the  text  is 
scrolling (after the drumbeat starts).  While you are watching the 
prelude you may stop and start the text by pressing the SPACE BAR. 
We  think you'll find it interesting.  We at StarSoft believe  you 
should  know  what's going on in the universe you have  been  sent 
to!)

     The  Earth and its colonies were subjected to the harsh  rule 
of  the  ALIANTS,  creatures too strange looking to  be  described 
here.  The ALIANTS had a plan... they had crossed the Galaxy using 
planets  like  Earth  for breeding  new  generations  of  workers, 
soldiers and rulers.

     In Earth's case,  they had yet another purpose... they wanted 
the cheap slave labor of the planet to build their new  generation 
of ships.  They took over the manufacturing facilities they  found 
and chuckled,  if such beings are capable of chuckling, at finding 
a planet that suited their needs precisely, and one that gave such 
little resistance.

     In  their  overconfidence,  they simply began  refitting  the 
factories to produce their new ships,  and ignored the possibility 
that  these  "simple beings" might have outposts  off  the  planet 
itself.  They  started their usual scheme of producing  ships  and 
weapons  in  the factories,  and set up on the planet  the  liquid 
memory  tanks that had allowed the ALIANT race to progress  at  an 
accelerated  rate.  Every 100 years these memory tanks produced  a 
new set of fully developed members of their race, totally trained, 
educated and ready to conquer and work. ( See the prelude for more 
details)

     That  overconfidence was the only crack in the armor  of  the 
ALIANT  plans,  for most of the planetary government of Earth  had 
been off-planet on a mission to review the mining sites out in the 
Asteroid belt a month before,  and they were still there when  the 
attack began.

     Powerless to return and resist it,  the leaders of Earth used 
one of the largest mining stations in the asteroid belt as a  base 
of operations,  and proceeded to plan the recapture of their  home 
planet while waiting for the opportunity to arise.

     That wait took 99 years.

     In 2301 A.D., an ALIANT deep-space message was intercepted by 
the Earth asteroid base known as Valley Forge.  When  decoded,  it 
was found to contain the coordinates of where and when the  ALIANT 
shipment  of  Power Crystals would enter the  Solar  System,.  The 
Power  Crystals  were  the  last step  in  making  the  new  ships 
functional.  Once received and installed,  the ALIANTS could never 
be  stopped.  The  100 year incubation of the new ALIANTS  in  the 
liquid memory tanks was almost over. The new ALIANTS would man the 
ships and begin the further conquest of the Galaxy.

     The  time to retaliate was NOW!  The Valley Forge  commanders 
knew that their only hope was to STOP THAT CRYSTAL SHIP! There was 
only one vulnerable point,  the exact time when the ship  appeared 
out of warp.  To capture it would take pin-point shooting in order 
to  disable  the  ship without blowing  it  up.  The  Earth  Force 
commandos,  as  they called themselves,  could then use the  Power 
Crystals to launch their OWN attack!

     It  would require extraordinary courage and skill to  capture 
that  ship.  The  Earth Force leaders sent out the call  to  every 
pilot  to  come to Valley Forge and try to qualify  for  the  most 
desperate mission in the history of the human race.

     That's where YOU come in!

     As one of the finest pilots in the asteroid belt,  you accept 
the call, and set your ship's course for Valley Forge.

     As  you  approach Valley Forge,  after  having  absorbed  the 
information in the Prelude on the way,  you are checked by ID scan 
and given permission to enter the base.  This is not easy.  Valley 
Forge is quite large for an asteroid,  and to enter,  you have  to 
overcome  the gravitational turbulence caused by the force  fields 
holding in the atmosphere.

     To  do this,  you must concentrate on keeping your  joystick,  
keyboard or Mouse sensor centered in your viewscreen. Veer too far 
off, either up, down, left, or right and you will crash your ship. 
You  will  see  different screens as you make  your  approach  and 
attempt a landing. 

           KEEP THE SENSOR IN THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN!

     If you do this successfully,  (and believe me,  you will know 
it  if you  don't),  you are greeted by the  base  commander,  and 
shown to the briefing room where the other pilots are gathered.

     In the briefing room,  you are told about the threat and  are 
shown the Simulator.  The Simulator has been constructed to be  as 
close  as  possible  to what the pilot will see  when  the  ALIANT 
Crystal ship comes out of warp. Your computers will tell you where 
the most vulnerable points on the enemy ship are.  Your task is to 
attack  only  those points.  If you  hit  them  successfully,  the 
computers predict you will disable the ship.

     There will probably be 3 weak spots, and you will only have 5 
shots  to use to hit them with.  YOU MUST HIT AT LEAST 2 OF THE  3 
WEAK SPOTS.  Track the ALIANT ship with your sensor, and fire when 
you have one of the spots in your sights. You'll need to "lead" it 
a bit because you are firing from a long distance,  and are seeing 
through the computer's magnification view.

     The  Earth Force figures that the enemy ship will be able  to 
fire back,  even though it is a carrier and not a formal  warship. 
The Simulator will be showing the enemy firing back,  so you  must 
not waste time. Take too many hits and YOU are disabled!

     If  you  fail,  you will have to come back  to  Valley  Forge 
at another time,  land your ship,  and try again to qualify.  Only 
the  pilot who scores high enough in the Simulator will go out  on 
the mission itself.
 
     If  you are that pilot,  you will be promoted to Captain  and 
sent  off  to capture the Crystal Ship with all of  Earth's  hopes 
with  you.  With  luck,  the  Earth  Force  scientists  will  have 
anticipated  accurately the situation you will  face,  but  you'll 
never know unless you get to go out on the mission itself.

     If  you do,  and succeed in capturing the Crystal  Ship,  you 
will  be promoted again and will be requested to marshall  Earth's 
forces in the attempt to regain Humanity's home ground.

     Should this happen, you will be given a code word to use when 
entering  the  LEXINGTON,   the Earth Force command  ship,  and  a 
special  disk  containing  instructions  on  conducting   training 
maneuvers  with  the new Earth Force ships powered by  the  ALIANT 
crystals.  BE SURE TO ENTER THE CODE WORD CORRECTLY WHEN YOU ENTER 
THE LEXINGTON!

     These  orders  show you how to communicate  with  your  other 
ships from the War Room Battle Grid.  On the bottom of the screen, 
you will see the list of ships under your command.

     Use  the <RETURN> key to move through the list of  ships  (on 
C64, use the up and down arrows).  When you want to give orders to 
one of your commanders, move to the one you wish to speak with and 
press  the  <SPACE> bar.   Your communications  screen  will  then 
appear.

     When  fighting a battle in the War Room Grid,  any  Earthship 
that encounters an enemy and wins will remain in that sector until 
given new instructions.

     There,  your  computer will tell you the location and  status 
of the ship you selected, along with its remaining Bullet fighters 
and  probes.   Each ship has a number of fighters with it and  all 
contain 2 probes.   The Bullets accompany each Carrier wherever it 
goes,   and  the  number  of  Bullets  remaining  determines  each 
commander's strength.

     When  you enter the Main Deck display,  the Carrier you  have 
selected is awaiting orders.  Enter the coordinates for the chosen 
destination.  When they are correct, press the <RETURN> key. Then, 
Probe  1  is awaiting orders.   Type in the  coordinates  and  hit 
<RETURN>. Then, Probe 2 is ready for orders. Hit <RETURN> to enter 
new orders or keep the existing ones. Now, the Carrier is awaiting 
orders  again.  You may change your orders as much as you wish  in 
this  display by hitting [RETURN] until the Carrier or the  Probes 
are  going where you want them.  When you have no more orders  for 
that  ship  or its probes,  hit the <SPACE BAR> to return  to  the 
Battle Grid.

     Probes  are  the only source you have of  knowing  where  the 
enemy might be.  Your ships are highlighted on the grid,  but  the 
ALIANT's are not.   You will only know for sure where they lie  if 
they enter one of the sectors scanned by one of your Probes.

     Your  goal  is  to  capture and occupy  the  4  sectors  that 
surround  the  Earth,  seen  at the top of  the  Grid.  These  are 
numbered A3,  B4, B5, and A6. Once you have secured those sectors, 
and ONLY then,  can you launch your attack on the ALIANT leader in 
orbit around the Earth itself.

     If the ALIANTS do the same thing by surrounding Valley  Forge 
before  you surround the Earth,  the Earth force is cut  off  from 
supplies  and  information,  and Valley Forge will  be  destroyed.  
This is the end of humanity, my friend.  Given that advantage, the 
ALIANTS will mercilessly exterminate all remaining  humans.   THIS 
time, they won't leave anyone around to foil their plans.

     Your  command ship,  the LEXINGTON,  remains in orbit  around 
Valley Forge until the Earth Force has occupied the sectors around 
the Earth (A3  B4  B5 A6).   Only then will the LEXINGTON join the 
fray,  for only the LEXINGTON has Pulsar blasts AND Heat  Seekers.  
These will be needed to defeat the ALIANT flagship. 

     Once the sectors surrounding the Earth have been occupied and 
Valley Forge is still surviving,  you can begin the attack on  the 
ALIANT  emperor.   The  number  of carriers  and  Bullet  fighters 
remaining  determines  your  battle  strength.  From  the  command 
console of the Lexington,  you will use your joystick Fire  Button 
to  send  pulsar blasts.  Once you have made several hits  on  the 
Emperor,  you  can then fire your Heat Seekers by using the  Space 
Bar. The more you hit the Emperor's ship, the slower he will move.

     As  for the Lexington itself,  it will report your  available 
battle  strength  to you by a bar indicator on the bottom  of  the 
screen.  When it turns completely red, you are done for. So is all 
hope for the Planet Earth. Need I say more?

     Obviously,  to  stack the cards for the final battle in  your 
favor,  you  want to keep your losses to a  minimum,  arriving  in 
Earth orbit with the strongest force you can muster. The amount of 
strength  you have at the end of the final Battle,  (assuming  you 
win,  which is a big assumption),  as well as your performance  in 
the Simulator and Capture Mission,  will determine what your final 
rank  when  the Earth is liberated and Peace is  restored  to  the 
planet.


     To play ALIANTS all the way to its conclusion requires you to 
have many skills.   You have to have guts just to attempt it,  and 
to   do  well,   you  must  show   excellent   timing,   accuracy, 
coordination,  and a well-developed tactical sense of battle.  Not 
very many of us have all these traits.


                    DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

     P.S.  This transmission comes to you from the headquarters of 
StarSoft  Development Laboratories in Orlando,  Florida,  an  area 
which is one of the Star Wars research capitals of the world.   We 
very  much wish that things like this never happen to our  planet.  
WE hope that you, like us, are constantly thinking of ways to KEEP 
them from happening.

                       LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

     Requires  one  double  sided drive,  MSDOS (PC  DOS)  2.0  or 
higher, and Color Monitor.

	Boot DOS, Version 2.0 or higher, then insert Aliants Game
Disk in drive A. Type A:  then type ANTS to begin play.
