Galaxy Conflict

Sinclair User

BLAST FROM THE PAST We continue our look back at classic ZX-81 programs. ZX Compendium Memory: 16K Price: £6.90 Lynchmob Memory: 16K Price: £4.95 Ephemeris Memory: 16K Price: £6.90 Airline Memory: 16K Price: £5 Autochef Memory: 16K Price: £5 Pioneer Trail Memory: 16K Price: £3.95 Ocean Trader Memory: 16K Price: £3.95 Galaxy Conflict Memory: 16K Price: £11.95 If you own a new ZX-81 and are wondering what you can do with it, Carnell Software might have the answer, a ZX Compendium of games ranging from the traditional to the completely alien. The two-cassette package contains six programs, two of which are adventures. The first, Alien intruder, displays graphically the advance of the spaceman-eating lifeform through the various levels of your starship as you load supplies frantically on to the shuttle craft which is your only means of escape. In Wumpus Adventure you track the fearsome and smelly Wumpus through a maze of caverns, swamps and pits. The game can be played by one to four players. The other programs on the cassettes are Numerology, Movie Mogul, Hieroglyphics and the ubiquitous Hangman. Of those, Hieroglyphics is the most interesting, a word game depicting a hieroglyphic message which must be deciphered before the intrepid explorer, Wullie Makeit, is buried alive. Another version of Hangman, gruesomely titled Lynchmob, is produced by Bridge Software and provides a graphic animated hanging sequence. The game can be played by up to six people while the computer acts as referee. Bridge Software still produces a number of 16K and 1K cassettes and one of the most popular is Ephemeris, an astrology program which provides comprehensive information on the sun, moon and planets, including local sidereal times, rising and setting times, distances from Earth and much more. There is a COPY option for the ZX printer, a necessity for astrologers. Bridge Software can be contacted at [redacted]. CCS has quietly been producing excellent strategy games for some time. Two of the earlier ones for the 16K ZX-81 are Airline and Autochef. In the former the aim is to take over British Airways - if the Government has not sold it in the meantime - while coping with a series of hazards such as staff disputes and PLO hijackings. Autochef simulates the business of managing a chain of fast food outlets and in the limited time available you must increase your £1 million pound capital to £25 million, overcoming setbacks and dealing with annual inflation. The distinctions between adventure, strategy and simulation games are often vague and open to publishers' interpretations. Occasionally software falls into all three categories. That is true of both Pioneer Trail and Ocean Trader from Quicksilva, though both are advertised as adventure games. In Pioneer Trail you set out with your family to conquer the untamed west in a covered wagon drawn by two decrepit horses, and with only $700 with which to buy supplies. The program combines adventure and arcade graphics and the hazards to be faced range from patchy fog to Apache Indians. Contemporary with that is Ocean Trader, set on the high seas in the 19th century and featuring pirates, sea mists and freak storms. An interesting development in software is that of computer-moderated board games and it is surprising that few publishers have recognised the potential in that market. Martech has produced Galaxy Conflict for the 16K ZX-81, which comprises game board, counters, markers and program. The two players build and maintain battle fleets of Eoncruisers and fight for the supremacy of the galaxy. Galaxy Conflict can be obtained from Martech Games, [redacted]. Another war strategy game, Conflict, is also available.

Micro Adventurer

Simon Langston

ALL ABOARD FOR WAR GAMES MICRO: ZX81, Spectrum 16K, CBM 64, Atari 800, BBC B, Dragon 32 PRICE: £11.95 on the Sinclair machines, £14.75 on the rest FORMAT: Cassette plus board and counters SUPPLIER: Martech Games, [redacted] Both of these games are different from most adventures as a separate playing board is included with each, and consequently most of the action takes place off the computer screen itself. The games come in fairly large boxes by computer game standards, and look like ordinary board games at the first glance. Indeed, once the box is opened the similarity continues, until you notice that among the board, counters and other paraphernalia there is a cassette tape. On one side of the tape is recorded a program for the ZX81, and on the other a program for the ZX Spectrum. The appropriate program for the players' computer has to be loaded before the game can start. Both games are two-player only, so you will have to grab a sibling, spouse or gullible friend as well. Conflict, the first game, is set in the present or near future, and is a war between two countries. Each player is in control of the resources of one country, and the winner is the first to march an army into his opponent's city. As an alternative, if time is limited, both players can agree on a number of moves after which the game will end. Most of the game is spent trying to earn the money necessary to purchase and maintain army units (mercenaries?). This can be done by dealing on the stock market, surveying and drilling for oil, and pirating neutral ships carrying precious metals. At each turn the players have to decide how much of their available revenue to spend on buying shares, armies, warships, oil prospecting, etc. In this sense the game is about resources management, not unlike the many other such games available on most microcomputers (eg Dictator, King, Hammurabi and Stock Market). However, the game also has the feel of a more traditional board game, since armies, warships and the like are represented by counters which are moved around the board. Galaxy Conflict, the second game, has a much more futuristic setting. This time each player is the leader of a fleet of battle eoncruisers, and the object is to defeat the enemy and become ruler of the galaxy. The game is very similar to Conflict, except that this time the limited resource is energy, and at each turn the players must decide how much of the available energy is to be used to build new eoncruisers, refit damaged eoncruisers, attack enemy planet stations, and the rest. However, the game is not as simple as it sounds, as there are also crew to think about, who will starve unless their supplies are replenished at fairly regular intervals, and of course there is the element of the game which involves moving counters round the board, as in Conflict. Also, there is the problem of defending each planet station's mineral moons, which provide the only source of regular energy input. The programs vary little between the Spectrum and the ZX81 versions, since only very limited use of colour and sound is made on the Spectrum versions. However, although they are not very impressive from a programming point of view, they do the job that they have to do. However, I do have a criticism of the programs - they do not keep track of where everything on the board is. Instead this information has to be entered every time the computer requires it. The boards themselves are very clear and well laid out. Both are divided into grids, with Conflict also being divided into regions which are identified by colour. The boards certainly have a much professional feel to them than the programs. However, the instructions do not receive such high praise. There seemed to be essential details missing from both sets, such as how to move the neutral ships in Conflict, and when the game actually ends in Galaxy Conflict. Still, as long as both players can agree on a convention, this needn't actually spoil the fun. In general, I found both these games enjoyable, and sometimes even quite intellectually taxing to play. However, rather than saying that they are computer games which also use a board, I think that it would be more accurate to say that they are board games in which a computer program replaces the dice and paper money.

Sinclair User

GALAXY BATTLE SETS A NEW TREND Galaxy Conflict is one of the first games to be produced following a new trend in ZX-81 software, called computer moderated gaming. Two people can play the game. They make their moves with plastic counters on a playing board which has on it a map of a fictional area in space. The object is to become ruler of the galaxy by building Eoncruisers and maintaining them on planet stations if theyI are damaged during conflict. A player may take command of any planet station or can take over the bridge of one of the Eoncruisers. The game played by the computer is a very complex one. Even the amount of wear taken by a mesongun during firing is taken into account. Players must be very careful to preserve sufficient energy on their planet stations. Martech, which produces the game says that a leader must have the ability to think clearly, plan ahead and develop a tactical approach to the conflict which will win the prize of galactic control in the end. Galaxy Conflict, for the 16K ZX-81, is available from Martech Games, [redacted]. It costs £9.95.