Press 1 on the alpha-numeric keyboard. You have just arrived at your post in the Battle Control Central at the heart of the United Planets Interstellar Galactic Empire.Your TV screen is monitoring activity in the twin solar systems of Terien and Lorien forty-three billion light years away. Two remote controlled robot battle cruisers also appear on your screen. The right hand control maneuvers the lighter colored space ship at the right hand side of the screen. The left hand control activates the darker colored space ship at the left of the screen. Push the joy stick forward to gain altitude. Pull it toward you to lose altitude. Push left to go left. Push right to go right. Press the action button to fire your lasers. These weapons are located in the front end of the battle cruisers and will fire in the direction the space craft are heading. One point is scored for every invading space craft disintegrated by your lasers. No points are scored for destroying another player's battle cruiser. The enemy space craft are programmed to attack the nearest Imperial battle cruiser. If your space ship is destroyed, you can launch another one from a planet of your own color. Push the joy stick in the direction you want your battle cruiser to travel and press the action button to launch. If there is more than one planet of your color, the next space craft available will signal its presence by a blinking light. If there are no planets of your color, you must wait for a planet's color to change. A planet changes color each time it is hit by laser fire. The invasion fleet is programmed to fire on the planets when they are not attacking the Imperial battle cruisers. If a space craft crashes into a planet of a different color, both are destroyed. An exploded planet will not return to the screen. The central planet of each solar system is invulnerable and cannot be destroyed. The battle cruisers can evade enemy attack by landing on planets of their own color. The enemy space craft will not waste ammunition against battle cruisers protected by the sophisticated energy shields available on their home planets. They will concentrate their fire only on airborne space craft. A landed space ship will signal its presence on a home planet by a blinking light. If no Imperial battle cruisers are on the screen, the two ships from the invasion fleet will turn on each other. They will fire their lasers at each planet and try to conquer it. A planet is conquered when it is changed to the invading space ship's color. The first player to down ten enemy space ships wins the game and receives an electronic salute for making the Empire once again safe for humanity. Single player version I: See how many planets you can keep in orbit after downing ten enemy space ships. Single player version II: Play against the clock. Try to shorten the time it takes to down ten enemy space craft. Spectator sport: Leave the hand controls unmanned and watch the invasion fleet fight it out for control of the twin solar systems! To play again: A new game will automatically start at the end of each ten point battle. Or - press RESET and then press 1 on the alpha-numeric keyboard.
