Space Mines

Groups of deadly mines that crisscross the narrow cavern passageways. Their movements are unpredictable and you must destroy or dodge them. Any contact with a space mine destroys your fighter.

Fusion Bomb

The ultimate Martian weapon hidden deep within the caverns. You will be able to land on it to arm it without being destroyed. Its timer, once set, cannot be deactivated.

Refueling

Caverns 1 Through 5

At the beginning of each life, you are given 99 units of fuel. Your fuel amount is shown at the bottom of the television screen. As you travel through the caverns, you use up units of fuel. If you run out of fuel, you lose one life.

Your ship is equipped to absorb the dissipated fuel from any Martian fuel tank or Pyxias rocket you destroy. As you are cut off from any friendly bases, this is the only way you can get fuel.

Note: The maximum fuel load your spaceship can carry is 99 units.

The Base Level

There are no objects to destroy in the Base level. Depending on your skill level, you are allocated a certain amount of fuel for your escape. You will use one unit of fuel every second during your escape with no way to accumulate more.

Skill Level

Fuel Allocated For Escape

Novice

30 Units

Pilot

55 Units

Warrior

75 Units

Commander

98 Units

Controls/Game Play

Use your Joystick’s fire button to start the game.

Your Joystick is used to move your spaceship through the caverns by pressing your Joystick up, down, left or right accordingly.

Press the fire button to launch your laser torpedoes.

Understanding The Screen And Your Mission

Your spaceship is positioned at the cavern entrance near the top of the screen. The score counter,

cavern level, fuel counter, and the number of remaining lives are displayed across the bottom of the screen.

SCORE counts points during an invasion, and “1 2 3 4 5 BASE” shows the different cavern levels (of which the rightmost black number designates the current cavern level). The ship icons show your number of lives, and FUEL shows the amount of fuel left to complete your mission. You are allocated 99 units of fuel at the beginning of each life.

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Atari CX-2600 manual Refueling, Understanding The Screen And Your Mission