 ROADWAR 2000
    Part 1

 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

 ROADWAR 2000 is a science fiction RPG. In the year 2000, foreign
invaders have assailed our country with a deadly disease. Then they
invaded our shores in person. Now, the entire country is in ruins. Some
cities have been annihilated by nuclear war, creating mutants who are

infected with the disease. The cities are ruled by National Guardsmen,
both lawful and renegade, religious groups (some worshipping Satan and
some worshipping God), paranoid survivalists, bureaucrats who try to tax
you for your goods, and gangsters. The roads are ruled by road gangs.
The government has dispatched a group of scientists to find a cure for
the disease. The scientists are now in various cities, waiting for some
way to make it back to the Government Underground Base (G.U.B.).

 You are the leader of a road gang, placed randomly in a city somewhere
in North America. You start out with one sportscar and eight gang
members, including one armsmaster and seven bodyguards. Other types of
gang members whom you might get to join your gang are commandos,
dragoons, and ensigns. Their strength and stamina are determined by
their type with your armsmaster being the best and ensign being the
weakest. Bodyguards through ensigns may be promoted to the next rank if
you have a Drill Seargant. Drill Seargants may be found at military
bases or in certain cities. They may promote people after any battle. 

 To recruit new members without having to risk losing gang members, a
Politician is necesary. Politicians may be found in certain cities and
living with the needy. To cut down the number of people lost to disease
and injury, a Doctor is helpful. One can be found in hospitals and in
certain cities. While drill seargants, politicians, and doctors do not
fight, it is possible for any of them to be killed.

 
    Part 2
 STRATEGIES


 As soon as you start out, scout the city you are in. Do this by hitting
(C). Send in no armmasters and two bodyguards, at first. If you have no
luck, then increase the number of bodyguards by one until you are
successful. Use this method whenever you are scouting since it cuts down
on the number of casualties. If the city is run by nobody or by
reformers, take it over when asked. (If the town was run by reformers,
then some of your men may desert.) If the city is run by anyone else,
then start to build up your gang.
 To build up your gang, you will first need vehicles. Use the (V)ehicle
search command and try to use vehicles which offer a lot of space for
men and supplies. Then, of course, you will need people to help your
gang. Use the (P)eople search command for this. When you find people,
send envoys, consisting of a relatively spread out number of men. At the
beginning, when you only have eight people, send one armsmaster and two
bodyguards. Later, send two or three of each class of fighters. Now, if
you are near any of the cities which are listed in the third part of
this walkthru, go to them and get whatever is there. If the cities are
too far to drive to without losing fuel, then (L)oot cities for fuel.
(Later, when your gang is more powerful, you may also try the oilfields,
but remember that a lot of big gangs hang out there.)
 Once you have a strong gang, go to the nearest city and scout it. If
you can take it over, then do so. If it is controlled by any group but
Invaders, then continually (L)oot the city until you are attacked by the
town's occupants. If the Invaders control the town, then run. If you are
strong enough, you will win the battle. If the town was small, then you
will win the town. If the town was large, then it will take a few more
battles to win. Once you have conquered a town, restock on people and
supplies and head to the nearest town and repeat this process with that
town.
 En route between towns, you will probably be set upon by road gangs. If
you feel up to it, then run a long tactical battle. If you don't feel
like spending an hour on a town, then run either an abstract battle or a
quick one. If you run a quick or a tactical battle, you will gain an
extra vehicle if you win. A tactical battle is the type that you are
most likely to win since you make every decision.
 There are two strategies to winning a tactical battle. If you are
against an everyday road gang like cannibals or renegade national
guardsmen, then deploy all your strong vehicles up front, with smaller
vehicles, like compacts, sportscars, and off-roads in back. Then just
fire away at the enemy, ramming when you have the advantage. If you are
against a strong gang with large vehicles, like the Greyhounds in the
southeast, or the Muthuh Truckers in the northern U.S.A., then use your
faster vehicles to dart in and out of the cover of buildings and trees.
Although you might lose some people and cars this way, it is the best
way to weaken the other gang. After you have depleted their gang (shoot
at the interior since that way you can kill the drivers), come in with
the big trucks, buses, treaded vehicles, and vans and destroy them.
After you win the battle, your number of maximum vehicles will increase
by one. Get a new vehicle ASAP.
 After you have built up a large empire of cities, you will be contacted
by an agent of the G.U.B. telling you that the password is Panacea. In
the next city that you visit, another agent will ask you for the
password. When you give him the password, he will tell you where G.U.B.
is located (this changes each game). Make your way to this city and
(L)oot and search for (P)eople. You will be asked a question about the
rulebook (like Infocom, if you pirate the game, you will have trouble
completing it). After answering this question, the head of the G.U.B.
(who is very similar to Smith of the Destroyer books) will describe the
situation as detailed in the diary in the manual and in the first part
of the walkthru. He will then ask you to help find the scientists. You
should accept this mission, since you know too much to be allowed to
live otherwise. You will then be given a badge which will identify you
to agents and scientists.
 Now go out and search every city, including those you control, for
(P)eople. Any scientists will reveal themselves immediately when you
search their city. Agents will appear randomly to tell you that a
certain scientist was last seen in a certain geographic area (i.e.,
"Donny Dade was last seen in the Northwest."). When you have returned
six of the eight scientists to the G.U.B., you will be given a radio to
help you find the last two. This last part of the game starts to get
very hard, since the Invaders send out their Death Squad to stop you
from saving the world. Once you return the last two scientists, live
forever with the knowledge that you have saved the world (until you
start a new ROADWAR 2000 game, that is).

 ROADWAR 2000
    Part 2

 SPECIAL CITIES
 The following is a list of special cities. They are not listed in any
order, and the list may not be full since in two complete games, I have
not had reason to visit every city.
 New York City-Politician
 Washington, D.C.-Politician
 Indianapolis-Improvements on vehicles
 Detroit-Improvements on vehicles
 Pittsburgh-Improvements on protection
 Mountain View-Politician, doctor, sargeant, improvements on vehicles
 Napa/Vallejo/Fairfield-Wine country (men may either get drunk or raise
 morale)
 Anaheim/Santa Ana/Garden Grove-Amusement park (men may die or raise
 morale)
 Durango-Random temporary disease (some men die, the rest will be
 stronger)
 New Orleans-Mardis Gras-Same as Napa/Vallejo/Fairfield
 Orlando-Amusement park-Same as Anaheim/Santa Ana/Garden Grove
 Cheyenne Mountain-Drill Sargeant
 ROADWAR 2000 is published by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
 This walkthru is copyright (c) 1987 by Andrea Lipkin.