Paradroid 90
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On the title screen hit <F3> to bring up an options menu.

The extra ship is the Pirate Mothership. To reach it, collect the Grafgold
Key hidden on every ship. (The Grafgold Keys are usually found under crates
and so on. Collecting a key keeps the Pirates at bay for a further three
minutes. A 5000 point bonus is given for completing a ship with Grafgold
key.) Complete the final ship with every Grafgold Key to be beamed aboard
the Pirate Mothership.

DROID INFORMATION

CLEANER (123):  A weak, weaponless droid that's difficult to control.

SERVANT (296):  Another weak, weaponless droid, only this one's easier to
control because it moves so slowly.

MESSENGER (302):  A third weak and weaponless droid, although it's the
fastest available.

MAINTENANCE (476):  A very dangerous droid.  It's weapon has limited range,
but it's powerful and shoots at any angle.

SENTINEL (614):  Winner of the Best Droid Award 1990.  This particular
Sentinel is moderately fast with good rapid-fire weapon.  Note that it can't
damage the Mine Layer (734) or Command Cyborg (999).

SENTINEL (683):  Unlike it's 'brother', this one's difficult to control.
It's rapid-fire smoke gun has a limited range but it is good for destroying
weak droids.

BATTLE TANK (729):  This beast fires three shots in succession at anything
that shoots in it's vicinity.  It's a shame you can't transfer to it really.

MINE LAYER (734):  It's slow to control and using your mines effectively is
difficult.  Your best bet is to take advantage of it's strong armour by
ramming droids.

BATTLE DROID (742):  It may be slow to move and fire but it's a hardy devil.
The Battle Droid has good armour and a powerful triple laser weapon with a
good range.

SENTINEL (783):  Like the 683, this Sentinel is difficult to control.  It's
flamethrower is similar to the Maintenance Droid's weapon.

SECURITY (821):  Don't catch this one on the wrong side of the bed.  It's
very fast, with good shields and isn't damaged by Disruptors.  It's powerful
weapon has a good range and fast reload.

SECURITY (852):  A fast, tough droid with a powerful Disruptor ('Smart Bomb')
weapon.  However, it only damages droids it can 'see' when disrupting.

COMMAND CYBORG (999):  The cream of the crop, although you can't control it
for long because it has a fast decay rate.  The 999 is fast, easy to control
and isn't damaged by explosions.  However, its very powerful weapon is
difficult to aim.


Even though you can't see the enemy droids all of the time they are still
moving around each deck along their patrol routes.  The sound effects play an
important part here - enemy shots can sometimes be heard even though you
can't always see the droid which is firing.
On the Amiga, the stereo sound capabilities are used to good effect,
producing sound on the relevant channels depending on the position of the
droid on the deck.  For example, if a droid is travelling on the left-hand
side of the deck then the sound will be produced on one of the left-hand
channels.  This is especially important when attempting to deal with the
Command Cyborg (999).

Droids are only visible on screen when they are in your line of sight.
Similarly they can only 'see' you when you are in their line of sight.  As
with other features in Paradroid 90, if you can do it, so can the enemy
droids.  This means you must be more careful when close to the Shuttles.  If
a droid enters a Shuttle, don't get too close to the engines.  You can, of
course, use this tactic to your advantage, but it isn't very effective and
gives you nowhere to hide if the enemy decides to attack you.

Learning the enemy patrol routes is very important since you can avoid some
of the more hazardous droids if you are in the Influence Device.  it's also
easier to destroy a droid if you know where it will go and what it will do.
This saves valuable time and energy.  Keep moving - once an enemy droid has
targetted on you it keeps firing.  Even after it has been destroyed there may
be some shots heading for you and these damage droids.

Shooting around corners is very useful.  It's possible to destroy some droids
in this way without them shooting back, either because they can't 'see' you
or, usually, because they have been destroyed before they could react.

Don't move into explosions - you lose energy.  Most of the enemy droids are
also damaged if they are close to an explosion.  This can be used to your
advantage - shooting AlertBlocks or, if you are really daring, an Energiser
causes explosions and damage.
Remember that some droids have very good armour, so explosions, and your
shots, have little or no effect.  The Mine Layer is a prime example of this
as it's heavily armoured.  In situations like these the only way to defeat
them is by transferring to them - and even then that's something not so
useful.  The sound effects are used to good effect here indicating whether a
shot has damaged the enemy droid or not.  Most droids fire with their right
arm so it's possible to avoid most of their shots by keeping to the left of
them.  This technique works well on the Battle Droid (742) and the Sentinel
(614).

A good tactic is to destroy the more powerful droids first, leaving the
weaker ones to clear afterwards.  It's usually necessary to transfer to
another droid after a skirmish with something like the Sentinel (614) or
Battle Droid (742).  This means you will have a few more Pulsers in the
transfer situation, giving you more chance of successfully transferring to
another droid.

Never run in the opposite direction of an enemy shot (you won't outrun it)
It's best to turn and move away from the line of fire.  The range of each
weapon is dependant on the host droid so learn which weapon is used by each
droid - they all have their own movement, attack and defence characteristics.

If your host droid is blown up use the four seconds of armour protection
wisely.  It's better to escape and return to fight later than struggle on.
Remember that you cannot transfer while armoured but you can ram some of the
weaker droids which is always good fun.

Try to clear a deck of droids before moving to another deck.  A systematic
approach to clearing a ship saves both time and energy, which is specially
useful when you are on the last few decks with Raiders on their way!  Use the
computer terminals to check which decks are clear and how many droids left on
the current deck.   Picking up the Graftgold key delays the arrival of the
Raiders by three minutes.  There is a key on every ship, but some may be
hidden.

If you want to transfer to another droid it's a good idea to move around in
transfer mode.  It takes a little while for you to get in transfer mode, and
attempting this while being shot at by a Sentinal (614) does not prolong the
life of your droid!  When attempting a transfer it's best to spiral towards
the droid that you wish to transfer to, getting closer and closer.  The shots
should miss you until you get so close that you can transfer.  In the
transfer situation, try and wait until the enemy has fired all of its Pulsers
before you fire any of yours - unless you can fire a Pulser that cannot be
counteracted.  This usually results in a successful transfer.  If you don't
beat the enemy droid in the transfer situation both of you are destroyed,
which is fatal if you only have the Influence Device.  if you want a really
high score then you need to play with the transfer sequence on.

end.