CAPTIVE HINTS Supplied by Phil Darke Captive is a quest for freedom. You are imprisoned in a space station that is jointly protected by 10 factions of a warmongering society. In order to rescue yourself you must use the ancient briefcase computer and the four droids that you discover on the 'other end' of the body-mind link control system. The system allows remote control of military standard droids across light years of galaxy via invisible electrosonic waves. Although you don't know it when you start, there are 10 bases to infiltrate and destroy before you can mount the offensive on the space station and rescue yourself. Each base has its own distinct design and layout and is populated by an individual selection of alien hordes. Before you enter a base you will have to find your way 'cross country' in a hostile world from the landing site to the base entrance. LEVEL ZERO The first level is actually fairly simple once you have mastered the operational functions of the droids and of the Attache Brief Case Computer. It involves 10 small to medium sized bases and a relatively easy space station to rescue yourself from. Early playtesting of the game proved that a new user could complete the game on Level Zero after about three weeks of regular play. You have to land on the planet Butre (co-ordinates 008W-072N). Zoom in on the planet (use the right-hand mouse button or the up and down arrows) and click on the large white dot - this is the landing site marker. Click on Orbit, and The Swan (the droids' ship) will make its way across the vastness of space to orbit Butre. While the ship is making its merry way across the void, it's a good idea to initialise your droids. Click with the right-hand mouse button on the droid's status icon to bring up the back pack. Click on the computer chip with the left-hand mouse button and deposit it on the droid's brain (on the left-hand side of the droid's head). This will initialise the naming system where the player can type in a name for the droid. The name acts as a personality generator that creates the droid's Wisdom, Dexterity and Vitality statistics. Repeat the above for all droids and you will have a team ready for action. By this time The Swan should have arrived in orbit around Butre. Click with the right-hand mouse button to bring up the main view again. Click again on the landing site to program the drop destination and then click on the Land icon to start the drop. Once the lander has landed (as they generally do) you will see a picture of the first level's planet. Have a wander around the world and get used to the control system before attempting to enter the base. Don't walk into the water because it's highly toxic here and will damage your droids. To enter the first base, walk up to the door and pick up the clipboard found nearby (use the left-hand mouse button on the object in the main view to put it in the player's 'hand'). Holding it in the 'hand' will allow you to read it on the information screen (the grey section below the main view). This will show the combination of buttons to press in order to open the door. Once it's open, go inside and you now be in the base proper. Pick up the explosives and the clipboard. Walk to the far end of the airlock and use the PUSH control to move the wall and get in the first area of the base (PUSH is achieved by pressing the right-hand mouse button when on the FORWARD icon). There are many ways of completing the game, so here is one way of attacking the problems. You will find a style suited to your skills and it may well be different but still achieve the same results - this just proves how flexible a game system Captive's is. You will find new areas of the base to explore once you identify which walls you can and can't push. The ones with rollers on the bottom are the rolling walls. You will come into the generator room fairly quickly. Avoid the temptation to lob in the explosives just yet, since there is plenty more to do. Generally the first base can be completed once you have done some or all the following things... 1) Explore the level completely, examine every nook and cranny and open up every cupboard you can find. 2) Collect all the gold you can find that is dropped by dead aliens. Use this in the shops to buy, sell and repair objects. If you have damaged an item on the droid's body, repair it at the shops. 3) For the first base it's a good idea to concentrate on increasing your BRAWLING skills only. This makes you a fabulous puncher and is sufficient for the enemies that you will encounter. If you must buy a weapon, then I recommend the use of the BALL - it's re-usable and fun! 4) DEVICES are plugged into the droids and give a read out in the monitor at the top of the screen. A good device to get on this base is the ROUTE-FINDER. This is only available from one shop so you might have to search for it. It's classified as an OPTIC. There are seven types of OPTIC devices. Buy with trial and error until you find the ROUTE-FINDER. If you buy the wrong one you can always sell it back for no loss. 5) The shops in the base operate a co-operative banking system. This allows the player to leave any gold he collects at one shop, and the funds will be available at any. However, remember to retrieve the money BEFORE you blow the base otherwise you will be somewhat out of pocket. 6) Find the Professor in the Computer Room for the clue to the next planet's location. Kill him for the password into the computer. Click on the computer to activate it. Type in the password to reveal the Planet Probe. Collect it (it weighs a lot, so select a droid to carry it carefully) and you are ready for the destruction of the base. 7) The first level is so easy that it's best to use it as a training ground. Kill anything that moves and gain experience. Make sure you spend this experience on the skills for each droid. Use money to buy devices and ball weapons. Mines are good to use as well. Use money also to repair any damaged body parts. Once you have explored all of the first base, go back to the generators and blow them up by simply throwing the explosives at them from a safe distance. After a short pause they will start to explode - I recommend that then is a good time to run like hell! Use the Route-Finder to get back to the door. Click on the door to get into the lobby. Use the same combination as before to get out safely - but don't hang around because the base is exploding around you! Once outside, go back to the ship and press UP to board. You can then Orbit the planet again and go back into space. Put the Planet Probe on the planet map and watch it go to the next base. Land there and continue. - o -