				NIGHTDAWN

                            PLAYING NIGHTDAWN

As you explore the artificial world, collect the items that you find on the
planet's surface:

	1.  Long-range cannon.
		Enables you to fire at enemy robots.

	2.  Mine Detector.
		Makes concealed mines visible on approach.

	3.  Exit Indicator.
		Arrow on control panel points to exit.

	4.  Radar.
		Screen on control panel displays exact location of exit.

Items 3 & 4 can be found after you have reached level five.

To pick up items and keys, and to activate switches, move your robot on top
of them and press the fire button.

To open a door, move your robot on top of the tile with that door's number
on it, and press the fire button.

There are ten levels on the planet Nightdawn, you get a maximum of six
robots per level.

On the first five levels of Nightdawn, you will be piloting a
general-purpose utility robot.  At level six, you are given a heavy battle
unit.

Watch for stations marked "E", they supply your robot with extra energy, be
careful - they are heavily guarded!

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                   The History of NIGHTDAWN

"By 2345, the Terran Confederation was at the end of its rope.  Already a
dozen more Confederate systems were under siege by relentless Iron World
shock troopers.  Once they fell, a dozen more would fall, and the
Confederation would become smaller still.  The war had raged for eleven
years, and the toll on the people of the confederate worlds had been high. 
Fathers and sons fought side by side, desperately trying to halt the
progress of the Iron World's hordes.  Yet they were losing the war.

"Every new tactic they employed, the Iron Worlders overcame.  In every
skirmish, the loss of life was too high; trained soldiers didn't grow on
trees.  Soon, there wouldn't be enough troops to man the Defence Grid
protecting the Core Worlds of the Confederation.

"In desperation, the Confederate Forces rapidly

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assembled a top-secret, strike force.  The Research and Development
division of the Coprs of Engineers had developed a weapon which they
thought would turn the tables on the Iron World forces.  For hundreds of
years, man had relied upon remotely-controlled drones to aid him in battle,
and the technology to produce such machines had progressed much.  Yet the
drones had always been used alongside human troops, performing bombing
missions, reconnaissance, espionage, etc...  They had never become a part
of the main fighting force.  This new strike force was made up entirely of
remotely-controlled, battle-ready robots, and the men who operated them.

"The concept was quite simple.  Having established a secure orbit around an
embattled world, drop ships would deposit hundreds of remotely-controlled
robots on the planet's surface.  Each man in the Centari Force, as they
later became known, was in direct contract with one of the robots,
controlling it by satellite from the cruiser orbiting the planet.  If a
robot was destroyed, it was quickly replaced by the drop ships.  Using this
technique, the men of

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The Centari Force were able to become highly skilled at controlling their
robots and, because of powerful shields and a small fleet of escort ships,
the command cruiser was quite safe from enemy attack.

"The test of the new Centari Force was on the conquered world of Proxima 9.
 An early casualty in the war, Proxima 9 was a supply depot for Iron World
ships raiding the Core Worlds.  The last thing the men stationed on Proxima
9 expected was an attack by Confederate troops.  They got quite a surprise.
 The planet was reclaimed easily.

"In the years to follow, the Confederation troops and their Centari

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Force bought back the planets they had lost to the Iron Worlds.  By 2349,
there were eight heavy attack cruisers in the confederate fleet manned by
Centari crews.  The tide had turned.

"The Iron World forces were driven back from every planet they had
overcome.  In the year 2351, after successfully driving a wedge into the
Iron World home worlds, they surrendered their weapons.

"In 2355, on a routine inspection sweep off the Halcyon Nebula, the C.S.S.
Constantinople discovered a smallplanet where one had never been recorded
before.  Moving close to investigate, the Constantinople discovered that
the planet, designated "Nightdawn", was an artificial construct: a man-made
planet.  Their scans of the planet revealed ten concentric layers, each
suspended high above the next.  No life-form readings were detected, but
the planet was by no means desolate.  Nightdawn was crawling with
mechanized robots.  Their purpose was uncertain.  A small team of Centari
robots was dropped to the surface of Nightdawn, to explore the strange,
artificial world..."

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