Platoon manual

PLATOON INSTRUCTION MANUAL


OBJECTIVE

You are a raw young recruit in a Platoon of five, deep in enemy
territory.  Unprepared for the challenges that lie ahead, realisation
dawns that you must not only survive the physical ordeals but retain
your sanity amidst the horrors and injustices of war.

As the game progresses, you must overcome the hostilities in the
different environments presented to you and ultimately survive with
your sanity and morale intact.  There are six sections in this
experience, each presenting you with a more arduous problem.  There
will be casualties, as in any war, but the first casualty of that naive
young soldier will be his innocence.

GETTING STARTED

Select 64 mode.  Turn on the disk drive.  Insert the program into the
drive with the label facing upwards.  Type LOAD"*",8,1 (RETURN).  The
introductory screen will appear and the program will then load
automatically.

The game loads in stages, and completion of each successive part is
necessary to proceed to the next.  Leave disk in the drive and follow
on-screen instructions for prompts.

GENERAL CONTROLS

Usual joystick options in Port 2 for UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and FIRE.
SPACE BAR is used to throw grenades.

M        - MUSIC ON FUNCTION
O        - MUSIC OFF FUNCTION (SOUND EFFECTS ONLY)
RUN/STOP - ABORT GAME


SECTION 1 AND 2:
JUNGLE AND VILLAGE

You must lead your Platoon deep into the depths of the Vietnamese
jungle, and ultimately the village.  Once there, you will search the
huts for useful objects and ultimately find a trap door in one of the
huts that will lead you to an underground network of tunnels.

The jungle contains many perils, such as armed patrols, booby trapped
trip wires, assassins in trees and concealed "hides" where deadly
snipers lie in wait.  During your trek, stay vigilant for a box of
explosives left by a previous platoon, as this must be collected before
reaching the bridge, which must be blown up to prevent a large patrol
following your platoon (and effectively wiping you all out).

To destroy the bridge you must have the aforementioned TNT.  When you
cross it the explosive will be automatically planted.

Food, ammunition and medical supplies left by enemy guerillas can be
picked up and used.  For best results, spread supplies equally between
the soldiers in your Platoon.

List of objectives in this section:
1.  Find explosives.
2.  Find bridge.
3.  Place explosives on bridge.
4.  Find village.
5.  Seach huts for a torch and map.
6.  Find trap door.

CONTROLS

You control one man at a time using your joystick.

UP        - JUMP/WALK UP/ENTER HUT/EXAMINE OBJECT
LEFT      - WALK LEFT
RIGHT     - WALK RIGHT
DOWN      - DUCK/WALK DOWN/LEAVE HUT
FIRE      - SHOOT
SPACE BAR - THROW GRENADE

NOTE:  Whether you jump or walk up when pressing UP on the joystick is
determined by whether there is an exit above yoou or not.  The same
rule applies for pressing down.  The EXAMINE OBJECT facility is only
available when inside a hut and in front of the required object.

Keys F1 to F7 call up the STATUS PANEL, which allows you to examine
the state of your platoon, and to transfer control to another soldier.
This is done by pressing UP, DOWN, and FIRE on the joystick.

STATUS AND SCORING

MORALE:  This is a collective indication as to the state of your
Platoon.  Morale decreases every time one of your platoon is wounded
and when an unarmed Vietnamese villager is shot.  When the morale is at
zero then your platoon is considered inactive and the game is over.
Morale can be increased by collecting food and mediccal supplies.

HITS:  Every time one of the platoon is wounded, he will collect a
HIT.  When he as collected four HITS then he will die, signified on the
status panel as "retired in action".  When all five members of the
platoon are dead, the game is over.

AMMUNITION:  Number of grenades left, and rounds of ammunition left.
These can be increased by collecting ammunition left around.

SCORE:  This is increased by removing enemy soldiers, collecting
useful objects, and destroying the bridge as well as any traps.  A
large bonus is obtained when this section is completed, depending on
the number of active members of the platoon left.

HINTS AND TIPS

* Watch out for the enemy jumping out of the trees above you, or
  appearing out of trapped doors near your feet -- a well placed grenade
  will destroy the latter.
* When a member of your platoon is seriously injured (i.e., two or more
  hits), transfer control to anoother soldier to ensure as many as
  possible of your platoon survive.
* When you are about to pick up food or medical supplies, transfer to
  the member of your platoon most in need of them.
* It is recommended that you map out this section in order to complete
  it.


SECTION 3:  TUNNEL NEWORK

Leaving the rest of the platoon in the village, you volunteer to go
down the trap door, whereupon you find yourself in an underground
tunnel system.  You already have a torch and a map to enable you to
find your way round, as shown on the right hand side of the screen, and
your position is indicated by an arrow pointing in the direction you
are facing.

Beware -- the tunnels are densely populated with guerillas who must
be shot on sight.  They usually appear from around the corners, but
some of them have a sneaky habit of swimming through the waters of the
tunnel and springing up in front of you ... and that knife isn't for
decoration!  The tunnel also contains a number of rooms in which you
may find valuable items, such as Red Cross boxes (to heal one of your
"HITS") and ammunition.  It is also essential that you find two boxes
of flares and a compass for the next section (when you enter a room you
may be confronted by a guerilla, or one of the boxes may be
booby-trapped).

CONTROLS

You control your movements and that ove the crosshair (gunsight) with
your joystick.  There are three control modes:

UP    - (A) Walk forwared/(B & C) Move crosshair up
LEFT  - (A) Rotate left/(B & C) Move crosshair left
RIGHT - (A) Rotate right/(B & C) Move crosshair right
DOWN  - (B & C) Move crosshair down
FIRE  - (A & B) Shoot/(C) Examine object

CONTROL MODE A

Moving through the tunnels.  When an enemy soldier appears, control
changes to Mode B

CONTROL MODE B

Moving the crosshair in the tunnels.  Move it over your target and
press FIRE.  If you score a hit, control will revert back to Mode A.

CONTROL MODE C

When you enter a room, move the crosshair and press FIRE to examine
objects.  If needed they are automatically taken.  To leave the room,
press FIRE with the crosshair over the exit icon (bottom right).

STATUS AND SCORING

MORALE:  This is a collective indication as to the state of your
Platoon.  Morale decreases every time you are wounded.  When the morale
is at zero, then your platton is considered inactive and the game is
over.  Morale can be increased by collecting food and medical supplies.

HITS:  Every time you are wounded, you will collect a HIT.  When you
have collected four HITS then you will die, and the game is over.

AMMUNITION:  Rounds of ammunition left.

SCORE:  This is increased with every successful encounter with Viet
Cong, upon finding useful objects, and finding the exit.

HINTS AND TIPS

* There are no villages in this section, so everyone is assumed to be
  an enemy.
* Search all rooms, and remember where booby-trapped boxes are.


SECTION 4:  THE BUNKER

Upon finding the exit in the tunnel system, you find yourself in a
foxhole.  Night has fallen, you are tired and doubtful of the terrain
and position of the enemy, so you decide to rest in the foxhole until
confirmation comes through from base camp.  Unfortunately, a group of
guerillas suspect your location and will have no hesitation in
attacking.  You have your machine gun and a supply of flares to light
up the night sky in order to see the enemy silhouetted against the
horizon, but be prudent:  supplies are limited, as is the time of
illumination.  You must ensure that you do shoot each man you see, as
your own muzzle flash will give away your position, and anyone who is
left standing will find it easy to locate and kill you.

CONTROLS

The joystick moves the gunsight.  A flare is released by placing the
gun sight over the flare gun (bottom right) and pressing FIRE.

UP    - MOVE CROSSHAIR UP
DOWN  - MOVE CROSSHAIR DOWN
LEFT  - MOVE CROSSHAIR LEFT
RIGHT - MOVE CROSSHAIR RIGHT
FIRE  - SHOOT

STATUS AND SCORING

MORALE:  This is a collective indication as to the state of your
platoon.  Morale decreases every time you are wounded.  When the morale
is at zero, then your platoon is considered inactive and the game is over.

HITS:  Every time you are wounded, you will collect a HIT.  When you
have collected four HITS then you will die, and the game is over.

AMMUNITION:  Rounds of ammunition left, and number of flares left.

SCORE:  Your score is increased by shooting attackers.

HINTS AND TIPS

* Shoot attackers immediatly.
* Conserve ammunition and flares by sending flares up regulary, and
  removing each attacker with a hort, well placed burst of gun fire --
  not a long, inaccurate barrage.


SECTION 5:  THE JUNGLE

Having survived a harrowing and sleepless night, you go in search of
Sergeant Elias -- your platoon leader.  However, you meet Sergeant
Barnes who informs you that Elias is dead, killed in combat.  Shortly
after however, you see from a distance that Elias is in fact alive and
being relentlessly pursued by guerillas.  In front of your very eyes
you see your Sergeant moved down in a hail of gun fire and at that
moment a little bit more of your innocence and sanity is eroded.
Pondering on the information given to you by Sergeant Barnes you
realise that in fact he is indirectly responsible for the death of
Elias by not aiding him.

Before you can collect your thoughts more thoroughly you hear a
crackle come over the radio -- a transmission from the General.  An air
strike is planned for precisely 10:00 hours.  That means that that
section of the jungle you are in is to be napalmed in two minutes, as
it is crawling with guerillas.  That just about gives you time to reach
a safe area, and take cover from the airborne onslaught.  You have been
give the compass bearings of a particular safe area and you must make
your way there immediatly.

GAME PLAY

The compass (top right) indicates the direction that you are facing.
Always head in a northerly direction.  Each screen depicts a view of a
portion of the jungle you are in.  Run to the top of each area,
avoiding the Viet Cong fire, snipers, and any other hazards, such as
barbed wire and half buried mines.  There are several routes through
the jungle; some will enable you to make your destination in time,
while others will not.

CONTROLS

Using the joystick, move your man around the obstacles, avoiding enemy
fire.  Take a left or right turn at the top of each area.

LEFT  - MOVE LIFT
RIGHT - MOVE RIGHT
UP    - MOVE UP THE SCREEN
DOWN  - MOVE BACK DOWN THE SCREEN
FIRE  - SHOOT

HINTS AND TIPS

* Find out which is the quickest route and use it every time.  Keep
  moving, as enemy fire is directed straight at you.
* In order to make good time, certain screens will have to be rushed.
  Other, more difficult screens, may be negotiated after you have cleared
  the way of all visible attackers.


SECTION 6:  THE FOXHOLE

Having reached the area you were told was safe, you find that Sergeant
Barnes is in a foxhole.  He realised your suspicions about him and
Sergeant Elias, and sees this as an ideal opportunity to eliminate you
without witnesses or any other evidence.  Ensconsed in his foxhole, he
fires his machine gun and throws grenades at you.  With the air strike
imminent and vengeance for the unfortunate Sergeant Elias playing on
your mind, you realise there is only one sensible course of action.
You must remove Barnes from the bunker in oorder to avoid the napalm.
The cover that is afforded Barnes makes machine gun fire rather
ineffective leaving you with the only option of a frontal assault with
your grenades.  You must, in fact, score five direct hits with your
grenades into the foxhole.  You will find the box of grenades at the
start of the screen and theses must be picked up immediately.

CONTROLS

LEFT  - MOVE LEFT
RIGHT - MOVE RIGHT
UP    - MOVE UP SCREEN
DOWN  - MOVE BACK DOWN THE SCREEN
FIRE  - THROWS GRENADE

STATUS AND SCORING

Your score is increased with each successful hit on Barnes's foxhole,
and with his final destruction should you last that long!

HINTS AND TIPS

Keep moving for reasons already discussed.  Pick up your grenades
immediately.