K240 CHEAT MODE: Type in any of the following cheats whilst playing and then press the [Return] key. After you have typed in a cheat you should hear the sound of a beep, if you don't, type it in again. 'SKYSCRAPER' - Quick build on/off. When on, all buildings build in a single day. 'ICEMAN' - Freezes asteroid so they never move. Repeat to unfreeze. 'WIDGET' - Gives you all the blueprints from Sci-Tek. 'LOADSADOSH' - Gives you 100,000 Cr money. 'ICBM' - Gives you 4 of every type of missile (even those you haven't bought from Sci-Tek!) on the current asteroid. It also gives you 4 spy satellites on that asteroid. 'TELESCOPE' - All asteroids on the map become visible, though you can not travel to ones you don't yet know about. Use again to turn feature off. 'LEMINGS' - Gives extra 50 people to current asteroid. 'NASA' - Creates ship over current asteroid. Asked for number 1-8: 1 - Assault fighter, 2 - Combat eagle, 3 - Scout, 4 - Destructor, 5 - Terminator, 6 - Transporter, 7 - Battleship and 8 - Space dock. 'PANEL' - Brings out standard buttons onto screen for ease of play. After typing 'PANEL', rotate asteroid once to activate the buttons. 'TRACEY' - Turns speach on/off. 'BJORK' - Speech test. Asked for letter A-U, each plays one of the speech samples. Press [Esc] to return to the game. 'NOISES' - Sound effects test. Asked for letter A-W, each plays a sound effect. Press [Esc] to return to the game. PLAYING TIPS: The first stage is to establish your base, allocate all your money to construction, build a command centre, construction yard, gravity nullifier and sort out the resource stuff such as power and water. You also need a weapons factory, a landing pad, four mines, four deep bore mines and a protected storage tower to put the ore in. If you want some other stuff just build it. The military buildings can wait until you've got more money. Warning: do not put the resource producing buildings together because a direct missile strike would cripple the asteroid. Once your asteroid complex has been built and the ore is coming in, it is time to explore. Build three scouts with no weapons - due to their low armour, if they come under attack they will die anyway. Set them out exploring and after you have found a few asteroids call up Sci-Tek. It is worth buying the two second generation blueprints and, if you have the money, the construction droids are also worth getting to speed up ship production. When the scouts return, send them out to survey the newly-discovered asteroids - you need to know the best one for when you start expanding. If you are playing on the easy levels then the empire should send you reinforcements, otherwise you have to build your own. Organise your forces into offensive and defensive fleets. Try using five assault fighters with Plasma or Photon Cannons in each fleet for each asteroid, and one attack fleet with three or four combat eagles with a Photon Cannon and a Chaos Bomb plus some heavier ships after building an orbital space dock. By now the Imperial Ore transporter will have arrived. Check out the mining report and sell all the ore in stock. Aim to keep one or two units for yourself depending on demand. Start to build up military installations on your asteroid. By now it is worth stockpiling missiles for the first enemy encounter. Once an enemy asteroid has been spotted dispatch a satellite to have a look. Here's a hint: On the asteroid field screen, define all your asteroids as 'F1', 'F2' and so on. Define the enemy's asteroids as 'F10', 'F9', etc. This allows you to switch between them a lot quicker. If you are on the main asteroid screen and you press an enemy function key, you get a view of that asteroid for a couple of seconds even if you haven't got a spy satellite, and even if you don't know where it is. This allows you to estimate the state of the enemy. Now save the game. It is important to discern how the enemy reacts to your attacks. Try both missile and spaceship attacks and note the response. The defensive responses are usually the same. If you can destroy the enemy asteroid easily then go for it, but try not to attack more then one at a time because it splits your resources and you run out of money. Feel free to reload the game if things go wrong. If you cannot destroy the enemy asteroid and the enemy take a passive stance then reload and expand your colony. If you find a colony in the process of being built with an alien transporter there, then send a defensive fleet to destroy it followed by a missile to wipe out the colony. If you destroy the transporter then the aliens can't colonise any more asteroids until it builds another. During this period you should have little money. Concentrate on building up your defensicve fleets within reason and exploring for new asteroids. Unless you have a specific requirement ignore Sci-Tek. You can usually live without it. Now put four or five spacecraft into a fleet with the transporter and go off and establish another colony. You can then use the fighter escort to defend the new colony. Each new asteroid colonised takes between 300,000 and 400,000 credits, pick the one with the greatest amount of ore away from the enemy. Set up all the basic buildings as you did before, but ignore the ship yard and build up the military installations. When the ore comes in, it won't be much use unless you sell it. The Imperial Ore transporter appears above the asteroid with the most ore. To maximise profits pick a central depot for your ore (usually the first asteroid colonised) and build some more storage towers. Use the transporter to shift ore to it. When it comes to selling your stocks, remember to keep some back for yourself. Keep expanding until you occupy three or four asteroids. If you have access to a supply of traxium or nexos then buy the blueprints for the seismic penetrator. These ores sell at a tremendous price. When the money starts rolling in buy the anti-missile pod and the ore teleporter - these allow you to construct a proper network. If you can afford screen generators then set them up protecting all your asteroids, but remember to provide enough power to keep exanding to new asteroids and buy blueprints as required. You should eventually reach a crucial stage in the game where your asteroids are running out of ore and the enemy is becoming increasingly aggressive. When a type of ore becomes exhausted then destroy the relevant mines - they merely consume power. Choose an asteroid relatively near the enemy and collect enough ore to build an orbital space dock. Equip it with the best equipment and remember to include some shields. Buy the terminator and battleship blueprints and start to build up an attack fleet. Remember to include some ship-to-ship weapons to take out enemy fighters. Keep building up your missiles in preparation for the final conflict. Once you feel ready, save the game, and then prepare to attack the enemy. Target the secondary asteroids first because this minimises the attack response. Each attack should consist of a massive missile assault. Keep up the bombardment and dispatch an attack fleet. The alien asteroid should be destroyed. Rest for a bit to build up your stocks of missiles then carry on to the next asteroid. You must be prepared for massive missile attacks as you target each asteroid, and even if you lose a colony it may be best to press on with the attacks. The game only requires you to destroy the enemy and does not take into account the state of your colonies. If all goes well you should wipe out the enemy and complete the level. Carry this on to finish the game. --- Source: Amiga Future GTT BABYLON 5 SECRET: Load a saved game and leave disk 2 in the drive. You can now load a position called "Babylon 5" where you face a very strong new opponent. MISSILE SELF-ATTACK TRICK: When you spot an enemy asteroid, zoom in and activate missile systems. Target the asteroid (shows 100%). When you fire the missile, the enemy opens fire on itself. INFINITE WEAPONS TRICK: Pull out the rocket button and select all weapons of a specific type. Choose an uninhabited or enemy asteroid and fire at the target until the remaining quantity bar disappears or collapses. You now have infinite ammo for that weapon type. Works for all weapon types. FREEZER ADDRESSES: $C368D7 = Money