STRONGHOLD Destroy the Galactic Trap! Space-security approaches the abandoned asteroid Stronghold activating a volley of defense drones. Skillfully you must pilot your attack ship through the explosive space-waste; a single scrape will pierce the skin of your fragile ship. Without warning the bleak surface of the heavily fortified Stronghold is energized by three moving force-shields that protect a lethal asteroid-crawler. The automatic systems of the seemingly derelict Stronghold are functioning perfectly, heat sensor interceptors launch to track and destroy your spacecraft. Survival depends on blasting through the whirling forceshields and devastating the crawling command center as it fires repeatedly trying to eliminate your frail ship. The diabolical Stronghold has one last defense mechanism; a magnetic mega-field that forms at the outer limits of the asteroid's atmosphere. Slowly it expands towards the surface trapping you within a diminishing combat zone. Can you fight off the interceptors, blast through the force-shields and exterminate the armored command crawler before your time expires? Tension mounts as hair-trigger reflexes and unerring accuracy are mandatory for survival. Only you can annihilate the Stronghold and move on through the galaxy to neutralize another, more deadly, space menace. Stronghold is the latest in a series of video challenges brought to you by CommaVid. GETTING STARTED Turn off your game console. Insert the Stronghold game cartridge. Be sure the left joystick controller is firmly connected to the console (this is the only controller used). Turn on your game console, you will see a nearly blank screen. Set both difficulty switches to "b" (Note: On Sears TeleGame, the difficulty switches are called skill switches and the "b" position is called novice). To play game variation #1, the basic game, start the game by pressing the game reset switch. After a brief pause, your attack ship will appear and a volley of defense drones will rise to meet it. To select any one of the 16 possible game variations, repeatedly press the game select switch until the desired game number appears in the score area at the top right of the screen. Press game reset to begin playing the selected game. You must pilot your attack ship through the defense drones, destroying or dodging them. When the shields close, blast through them and destroy the command crawler to neutralize the Stronghold. Consult the appropriate sections of this booklet for a complete explanation of the game features and play variations. USING THE JOYSTICK Hold the base of the joystick in your hand with the fire button in the left corner nearest the TV. Pushing forward and backward on the joystick moves your attack ship up and down the screen. Pushing left and right moves your attack ship left and right across the screen. Pushing the joystick in any of the four diagonal directions will move your attack ship diagonally on the screen. Push the fire button on the joystick to fire your attack ship's gun. The gun always points in the direction your attack ship last moved. However, the gun can never aim or fire directly to either side of your attack ship. In games with "rapid fire", your attack ship will keep firing as long as the fire button is pressed. In other games, you must press and release the fire button for each shot. You can refire at any time by pressing the fire button. Any blast already in flight will be instantly recalled and a new one fired. PLAY FEATURES When the game begins, you have five attack ships; one in play and four in reserve. The reserve ships are displayed in the upper right corner of the screen, below the score. A new reserve ship is earned each time you destroy a command crawler and neutralize an asteroid. Up to six attack ships can be held in reserve. For each section of shield you knock out, 10 points are scored. Destroying a drone, patroller or interceptor scores 20 points. Destroying a Command Crawler scores 90 points. Collisions with the drones, patrollers or interceptors will destroy your attack ship. In addition, when you have broken a hole through the shields, the Command Crawler will be able to fire deadly bolts through the opening. In game versions with the Mega-Field, it will begin to appear at the top of the screen shortly after the shields close and the Command Crawler emerges. The MegaField is a dull red region into which your attack ship cannot move. As it moves down toward the asteroid's surface, your maneuvering room is diminished until you are forced into the patroller zone, where it can be very difficult to survive . PLAY TIPS Remember that you can't shoot directly to either side. Don't get "outflanked" by an attacker coming from the side. Watch out for rapidly entering attackers. Stay away from the top and bottom of the screen when new attackers are likely to come in. To keep track of the position of the Command Crawler without looking down at it, listen to the sound as it moves on the asteroid's surface. The louder the sound, the nearer it is to your ship. When it is directly beneath and locked on to fire, a shrill warning alarm is given. Opportunities may arise to dive under the patrollers and blast the shields, but a poorly timed attempt is likely to be fatal. To survive the faster drone assaults, shoot a few to break up their pattern and then concentrate on dodging them. GAME VARIATIONS The difficulty switches allow you to select the first asteroid you will attack. The higher asteroids have much better defenses than the first ones. Asteroid # Left Difficulty Right Difficulty 1 b (novice) b (novice) 9 a (expert) b (novice) 17 b (novice) a (expert) 25 a (expert) a (expert) [BACK COVER] In STRONGHOLD you control a small spacecraft which you pilot on an assault against a well defended asteroid. Your goal is to neutralize the asteroid's defenses by destroying the Command Crawler that controls them. First you must survive a barrage of drones launched from the surface. As you maneuver to blast through the shields that protect the Command Crawler, interceptors home in on your ship and patrollers hover above the shields. When the shields are breached, the Command Crawler itself begins to return your fire. If you can destroy the Command Crawler, a new and better defended asteroid awaits. STRONGHOLD is a video game cartridge for the ATARI Model 2600 Video Computer System, the Sears Tele-Game and other compatible video game consoles and adapters. The next time you are shopping for fun and games, remember to look for CommaVid. -------------------Atari 2600 Instructions Archive-------------------