


CONTENTS
--------

I -   introduction

II -  menus

IIV - how to play

IV -  game hints

V -   troubleshooting

V1 - thanks

To find a specific topic, have your editor or word processor use the "search"
feature to look up 1., 2., etc.




1. INTRODUCTION
---------------

Welcome to Starhunter! This part will explain how to get Starhunter installed,
and just what you need to do to play this game.

Installtion is usually a snap. Grab your copy of Starhunter. Unzip it, but
make sure you don't do it into the root directory. Now, if you aren't in DOS
already, get in it. Go to your Starhunter directory. Type

        STARHUNT

and the game should roll the title sequence. Press a key at any time to end
it.

Honestly, that is it! If you have a sound card or joystick Starhunter can
access, it will automatically be detected and used.

Okay, now let's say that Starhunter ran a little slow for you. If you would
like a faster version, simply type (instead of STARHUNT)
                                                        
        FASTGAME

and the game will be signifigantly faster. Note, though, that many of the
cinamatic effects (i.e., sound effects, elaborate backgrounds, etc...) will be
disabled. The game will still play fine, it just won't have all the bells and
whistles. Some computers which will not be able to play regular STARHUNT might
have an easier time using FASTGAME.




2. MENUS
--------

After the title, the Main Menu will be displayed. If you want each selection
spelled out for you, here they are:


Start! (Start the game with the options selected)

The Story So Far... (Yes, this game really does have a story)

Sound Volume (Change options for the sound effects)

Music Volume (Change options for the music)

View High Scores (Display a table containing the top six greatest players)

Credits (Stand in awe of those who wasted hours of work on this project)

Quit (Exit to DOS)


Pretty straightforward. After you get into the game, through the Start!
selection, you can have access to another important menu. To put it up, press
the second button for those of you using a joystick or gamepad. Otherwise,
hit the ALT key. This menu has three choices:


Contine Game (Unpause game as though you hadn't hit that key)

Main Menu (Return to the Main Menu. Your name may be recorded on the Top Six)

Quit (Exit to DOS immediatly. No high scores will be recorded)




3. HOW TO PLAY
--------------

The reports are in. A group of hostile robotic terrorists, known as the Phobos
Division, have recently assembled a massive army of lethal drones. Their
target is the newly terraformed Mars. There is only one defense against this
widespread attack. A force of defenders, known as Starhunters, armed with
superior weapons, vessels and shields, might be able to save Mars from a
mechanized fate. You are a Starhunter, piloting an extremely advanced strike
cruiser. With your skill, you are a Phobos Division nightmare.

But you will need all your expertise for this dangerous patrol. You keep your
thumb on the teleport ignition, in case your ship is lost. You will probably
need it.


Controling your craft is simple. Use the arrow keys to move around. Press CTRL
to fire, press SPACE to bring up a menu. If you want to use a joystick or
joypad, use button 1 to fire and use button 2 to bring up the menu.

Your enemies, the Phobos Division drones, are bent on your destruction. To
protect you from the dangers that lurk among the stars, there are five power
crystals that give you special abilities.

        BLUE - Weapons Upgrade (can be upgraded twice)
        GREEN - Extra Life
        RED - Full Energy
        PURPLE - 50,000 points
        YELLOW - Megawarp! (jump three waves)

It also helps to know what you will be facing out there. Here is a breif list:

        MISSLES - The first enemy you will encounter (*)
        SEEKERS - These guys have special sensors to track your Engine Heat
        REPLICATORS - This enemy will literally bounce around your ship.
                      Beware, though. They are capible of replicating more
                      Seekers
        SIDESWEEPERS - A long blue missle that likes to dive out from the sides
                       (*)
        DRIVERS - An enemy that will align itself to your course, then thrust
                  down to collide with you (*)
        BLASTERS - Special mines that inhabit the asteroid fields (*)

The (*) symbols mean an enemy can't be rammed to destroy it. These ships have
special hull stablizer energy fields, which are not affected by shots. 

Every ten waves, you will have to patrol an Asteroid field. Note that the
Asteroids cannot be destroyed!



4. GAME HINTS
-------------

Think carefully before using one of the Megawarps that happens your way.
Remember, the enemies get harder as you go on, and you may decide to wait for
a weapons upgrade before thrusting off into more dangerous areas.

Also, try to destroy all the Replicators as soon as possible. They make more
Seekers, which automatically makes life even more fun.

Every ten waves, you will get an Asteroid Wave. The enemies here usually
don't pose a huge threat. Dodging the asteroids is more important. It would
be wise to avoid getting cocky, frying every blaster that comes on the screen.
Doing so would likely end in an all-too close encounter with an asteroid.



5. TROUBLESHOOTING
------------------

Granted, it is always possible that you will find (gasp! heaven forbid) poor
performance on Starhunter do to your system configuration. There are a few
things you can do to improve the game quality.

First, make sure you are NOT running from Windows, especially that memory
munching monster Windows 95. If this is the case, be sure to try it under good
old DOS. Even in Windows 95, there is a DOS emulation. You may find it
benefical to use it.

If you don't see a better game out of Starhunter, you might try FASTGAME. It
has quite a few features disabled, but it has a higher possibility of running.



6. THANKS
---------

To all the people who came in, tried Starhunter, and were very nice about my
stupid game, giving me some spectacular suggestions. Starhunter wouldn't be
99.99% as good as it is without your help!

        Ted Smith
        Sean Kelley
        Scott Johnson
        Jessica Hall
        Robert McCullar
        Erik Winzeler
        Brent Winzeler
        Brooke Smith

Thanks to Shawn Hargreaves, for taking all the time and trouble to build the
do-all be-all end-all of libraries. Allegro is fantastic!

Also, big huge thanks to

   Charles Sandmann (sandmann@clio.rice.edu),
   DJ Delorie (dj@delorie.com),
   Eli Zaretskii (eliz@is.elta.co.il),
        
for putting togther the Djgpp development system. It is, without a doubt, the
greatest programming utility ever conceived.

I appreciate 

   Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz (gregorio@jet.es)

for making his great Tetris clone, from which I learned a great deal!



                - D.J.S. '98
