The aim is simple: trade, amass money and progress from Harmless to Elite via Mostly Harmless, Poor, Average, Above Average, Competent, Dangerous and Deadly. During your voyages between planets you will encounter numerous pirates. The level of piracy surrounding a planet is closely linked with its political status. There are:
Generally speaking, piracy is lowest around corporate worlds. You start with little money and basic armaments. To become elite you must arm your ship to the hilt and complete 5 missions.
Your first game might proceed as follows:
On the other end of the intergalactic jump:
Originally, the game asked for a word taken from a specific place in the novella. The following table lists some of the commonly requested words, it shouldn't take more than a few attempts to start the game. Words are referenced by page number, paragraph number, paragraph line number and position within the line.
Page | Paragraph | Line | Word | |
---|---|---|---|---|
06 | 1 | 1 | 1 | welcome |
07 | 1 | 1 | 3 | fire |
07 | 4 | 1 | 4 | fills |
08 | 3 | 2 | 4 | banks |
09 | 3 | 1 | 1 | the |
09 | 3 | 1 | 2 | rating |
14 | 3 | 4 | 2 | for |
14 | 3 | 4 | 4 | favourable |
15 | 1 | 1 | 5 | return |
16 | 1 | 3 | 3 | favourable |
17 | 1 | 1 | 1 | on |
27 | 1 | 1 | 2 | pirate |
29 | 1 | 5 | 3 | for |
33 | 3 | 2 | 4 | sequence |
34 | 4 | 1 | 1 | an |
34 | 4 | 2 | 7 | the |
36 | 2 | 1 | 2 | is |
37 | 1 | 1 | 2 | it |
37 | 2 | 4 | 1 | pressing |
44 | 1 | 1 | 3 | cobra |
44 | 1 | 4 | 2 | may |
46 | 1 | 1 | 4 | under |
Action | Key |
---|---|
Cancel roll | Right mouse button |
Fire retro-rockets | R |
Front view | F1 |
Rear view | F2 |
Left view | F3 |
Right view | F4 |
Hyperspace | H |
Intergalactic jump | G then H |
Jump drive | J |
Distance to system | D |
Cursor cross home | B |
Galactic chart | F5 |
Local chart | F6 |
Target missile | T |
Fire missile | M |
Unarm missile | U |
ECM | E |
Energy bomb | Tab |
Escape capsule | Q |
Docking computer | C |
ID computer | I |
Radar magnify | Z |
Increase speed | Space Bar |
Decrease speed | / |
Game status | W |
This appeared in the October 1990 issue of ST Format. When asked for a word from the novella type SARA and continue. At any point in the game you can press '*' on the numeric keypad to enter 'Hacker v1'. You can now use the following codes:
Old | New | Result |
---|---|---|
33 | 35 | Cloaking device |
30 | 31 | ECM jammer |
20 | 21 | Escape capsule |
28 | 30 | Galactic hyperspace |
23 | 25 | Energy bomb |
25 | 30 | Energy unit |
26 | 30 | Docking computer |
19 | 30 | ECM system |
17 | 30 | Large cargo bay |
1F | 30 | Fuel scoop |
2F | 30 | Retro rockets |
13 | 4E | 7.6 light years fuel |
15 | 17 | 17 missiles |
71 | 80 | Sell this for cash |