THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE



STONKERS



PUBLISHER

Imagine (Before Ocean)



AUTHOR

Game design: D.H. Lawson & John Gibson.

Programming: John Gibson.

Screen graphics: Paul Lindale.



YEAR

1983



DESCRIPTION

Stonkers is a real-time strategic wargame.



CONTROLS

You can either use keyboard or joystick.



LEFT - CAPS, X, V, N, or SYMBOL SHIFT.

RIGHT - Z, C, B, M, or SPACE.

DOWN - A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, or L.

UP - Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U, I, O, OR P.

FIRE - Any key on the top row.





INSTRUCTIONS

The idea of the game is to defeat the computer controlled

opponent in a strategic land battle.  Both sides can control foot

infantry, artillery, tanks and supply trucks.  When play begins,

you are presented with a map of the full playing area.  The areas

of the map with the "BRIGHT" attribute set are were units of your

army are located.  You can zoom in for more detail anywhere on

the map using the fire key.  This will expand the area under the

cursor. (The cursor is the cross-hatched, rectangle that responds

to the movement keys).  In this expanded view you can scroll the

map, and see individual units of yours, or the enemies army.  If

you move the cursor on this screen (This is a cross-hair cursor)

onto one of your units, statistics will be displayed for that

particular unit.  If you then move the cursor, and press fire

again, this will issue orders for that particular unit to move

to the new location.  It is by this method that you advance.  If

opposing units move close together, a battle will commence, the

outcome being decided by the statistics of each unit at that

time.  The game is over when one of the teams has lost all it's

units, or advanced into the enemy HQ (Top right of map for yours,

bottom left for computer).  Whilst moving, units use up energy

and the way to replace this is via the supply units - they need

to be ordered to the same location.  Supply units are then

replenished every time a ship enters the port (There is a port

for each team).  Throughout the game, an update of events is

shown in a message bar beneath the map.  There are 2 skill

levels, Easy Game and Difficult Game, and these dictate how

stategic the computer player is.





CHEATS





SEQUELS/PREQUELS





INLAY CARD TEXT



                                  STONKERS



You are poised on the very brink of battle.  Your forces are

marshalled to overcome the enemy bastion.  As Commanding General

it is now up to you to out think, out manoeuvre and out fight the

enemy.



Your army has had the enemy port and H.Q. under siege for weeks,

now is the time for battle to commence.



It is you and you alone who must decide the strategy to adopt in

order to defeat your formidable foe.



As you scan your battle map and endeavour to deploy the tanks,

infantry and artillery under your command skillfully enough to

capture your objectives, you can't help but feel apprehension as

to the outcome of this decisive engagement.



Suddenly you are locked in mortal combat; problems and decisions

are heaped upon your shoulders; ammo and supplies are running

low, can you spare another tank division in the eastern sector?

The enemy are thrusting forward on your left flank, will you find

that vulnerable spot? Will victory be yours......





LOADING: Place the cassette into your tape recorder with the

printed side facing upward. Ensure that a lead goes from the EAR

socket on the SPECTRUM to the EAR socket on the recorder and that

the MIC socket is disconnected.  Rewind the tape to the

beginning. Type one of the following:-



LOAD "stonkers" ENTER.



The word LOAD is obtained by depressing the J key, and the quotes

by depressing the SYMBOL SHIFT and P keys simultaneously. ENTER

means to press the key marked ENTER. Also note that there is no

space between the two quotes in this method. Press play on the

recorder. If loading is successful a flashing message will appear

on the screen in several seconds. The process is entirely

automatic from there on.



If problems are experienced adjust your volume control and try

again or re-read chapter six of your introductory manual.



Stonkers will only work with a 48K ZX Spectrum.



A map of the total war zone will appear on the screen: the two

purple shaded areas on the left are the enemy Port and H.Q.; the

two purple shaded areas on the right are your Port and H.Q.



The strength of both armies is also shown: each armoured division

is depicted by a tank; each artillery division by a gun and each

infantry division by a man.  Your four supply units are depicted

by trucks. The enemy forces are coloured blue, yours are black.



Also on the screen will be a diagonally striped cursor which can

be moved over the battle zone by using your Joystick or -



  LEFT - CAPS, X, V, N, or SYMBOL SHIFT.

  RIGHT - Z, C, B, M, or SPACE.

  DOWN - A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, or L.

  UP - Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U, I, O, OR P.



CHOICE OF BATTLES: Stonkers can be played on two levels, one more

difficult than the other.



On pressing joystick fire button, or any key on the top row, the

area immediately below the cursor is magnified 64 times; it is

on this scale map that the battle is fought.  Press fire button

again (or any top row key) and you are back on the small scale

total war zone map. The bright areas of the small scale map show

the displacement of your divisions, and the small black dots the

position of your two supply ships.



On the larger scale map you have an X shaped cursor, which is

moved in the same way as the diagonally shaped cursor on the

total war zone map.



INFORMATION: Whilst the battle is in progress you will be kept

up to date with constant news flashes on your 'ticker tape'. You

are also reminded on regular intervals how long you have been

engaged in combat.



DEPLOYMENT: To deploy your divisions place your X cursor directly

over the division required and press 'fire', the cursor will then

adopt that division's shape and your strength status will be

displayed below.



Move cursor to the position you want your division to occupy,

press 'fire' again; and your division will deploy to that

position.



As you deploy your forces the large scale map will automatically

scroll over the entire battle zone.



Remember, as your forces are advancing on the enemy strongholds

their forces are advancing on yours.



Whilst playing the more difficult version you can only see the

enemy divisions when one of your divisions is in the same

vicinity. You must be constantly on your guard.



COMBAT: When opposing forces meet, whether by accident or design

they will engage in combat; and remember, an armoured division

is superior in strength to an artillery division which in turn

is superior to an infantry division.



Whilst engaged in combat your forces turn yellow and the enemy

a light blue.



The forces remain in combat until one of the divisions is either

destroyed or retreats. To retreat from combat use the same method

as deployment.



SUPPLIES: Your four supply units are non combatant and are used

to keep your combat troops supplied with food and ammo; to do

this you must deploy your supply unit to the same location as a

battle division.  Once your supply unit arrives the battle

divisions supply strength will increase.  You must not allow any

divisions supply strength to drop to zero or that division will

be lost for good.



A depleted supply unit will be replenished when your supply ship

docks.



Capturing enemy supply units will be to your advantage; but don't

let yours fall into enemy hands.



MOBILITY: The speed at which a division or unit moves is

determined by the terrain it is travelling over; fast on the

plain and slower by varying degrees in the mountains, woods and

marshes.



PAUSE:  Whilst your X cursor is directly above one of your

divisions or in the process of 'issuing orders' the game is

suspended.



OBJECTIVE: To gain victory you must destroy all the enemy combat

divisions or occupy the enemy port and H.Q.



SURPRISES: Yes there are quite a few; but it's up to you to find

them.



Good luck, and good hunting!



GAME DESIGN: D.H. Lawson & John Gibson.

PROGRAMMING: John Gibson.

SCREEN GRAPHICS: Paul Lindale.

ILLUSTRATION: Gordon Brooks.





HINTS/CHEATS

The easiest way to win this game is to organise your whole army

around the port, as close as possible, but spread about enough

to enable you to supply specific units without them accidently

supplying other ones.



Each time you get a round of supply units, send each of them

immediately towards a group of units of the same type, so that

you know which ones have been supplied and which ones not, since

it is easy to lose track.  If you manage to supply a unit before

the ship has left, the supply unit will immediately be replaced

for you to supply another type of unit.  Sometimes you may be

able to supply up to three units with one supply unit if you can

do it quickly.



Simply keep doing this until the enemy arrives (it may take some

time, so speed up your emulator).  Then simply attack the enemy

in force as they come to you.  You will be able to easily

resupply your units, and eventually the enemy will be overcome

through lack of supplies.



SCORES RECEIVED



URL

ftp://ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/s/stonkers.zip



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES

This game although 48k, was allegedly coded on paper, and entered

via a hex-editor.  If you have ever typed in a magazine program

in this manner, then you will appreciate it is no mean feat.

