EBONSTAR DOCS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It is the year 3000 A.D. Mankind has reached out out and conquered the 
stars, building colonies on millions of worlds throughout the galaxy. Crime, 
war, and poverty have been abolished by an interstellar computerized 
bureaucracy that tends to the needs of every citizen. Man has even tamed the 
ancient scourges of disease and aging. With advanced medical care, death 
occurs only through the rarest of accidents, or by individual choice. In 
this golden age of leisure and decadence, where every citizen's whim is 
satisfied by machine, a new breed of thrillseeker has arisen. 
 
Now, every galactic cycle, thousands of sportsmen and millions of spectators 
gather at the EbonStar in the hub of the galaxy. There, an immense battle to 
the death evolves around the edge of the EbonStar's synthetic black hole. 
Both the timid and the brash are destined to perish in EbonStar's crushing 
gravitational field. In successive melees, losers are culled out, alliances 
are forged or shattered in an instant and friend becomes foe. As the battle 
escalates, a certain victory can crumble into a sudden defeat. Fame, wealth, 
and everlasting glory await the ultimate victor! Thousands will compete, but 
in the end, there can be only on Champion of EbonStar! 
 
BASIC GAME PLAY 
 
You are a gladiator piloting a small, one-man starship through a series of 
bouts  around the rim of the EbonStar. You have one weapon, an energy bolt 
that repels anything that it strikes. To defeat your opponents you must 
out-maneuver them and drive them into the EbonStar with repeated blasts of 
energy. At the same time, you must evade your opponents missiles while you 
skirt past the relentless tugging of EbonStar's enormous space-time 
curvature. 
 
Every time you hit an opponent with your energy bolt, drive a foe into the 
warp, or destroy the EbonStar, you accumulate points. At the beginning of 
the game, you start with five ships, extra ships are gained every ten 
thousand points. The point values of defeating your enemies grows as you 
battle your way through the higher rounds. 
 
GETTING STARTED 
 
Start up EbonStar the same way you start a standard Workbench disk. If you 
don't know how to do this, refer to the manual that came with your Amiga. 
When the EbonStar title screen comes up a list of options will be displayed. 
The arrow keys on the keyboard are used to select the number of players and 
the type of controls used to pilot their ship. Initially, all four 
spaceships will be inactive except for green which will be set for Keyboard 
Mode. This is the standard configuration for one-player play. Green can be 
made inactive if another color ship is desired. The UP and DOWN arrow keys 
are used to move through the list of ships, and the LEFT and RIGHT arrow 
keys are used to select the controls for each ship. These ships can be 
controlled using the keyboard, "absolute" or "relative" joysticks (see 
controls), or mice. Each method of control has both advantages and 
disadvantages; practice with all of them to find the one that suits you 
best. 
 
Once the controls are selected, pressing the SPACE BAR will start the game. 
A demonstration game can be viewed by pressing RETURN from the title screen. 
Pressing the SPACE BAR from the demonstration game will return you to the 
title screen and selection of ships. 
 
ENERGY BOLTS 
 
Hitting an opponent with one of your energy bolts does not kill then; it 
merely repels them away. Your energy bolts rebound from the perimeter of the 
playfield, so single and multiple bank shots are possible (and a valuable 
tactic). Since you may only have one energy bolt on the play field at a 
time, firing again will "recall" the old bolt and cause it to be refired. 
Therefore, you must not refire if you want a bolt already on the playfield 
to travel far. On higher levels, special weapons will also become available. 
 
ARCH 
 
Arch is the computerized referee and overseer of the EbonStar competition. 
At the begining of each round, it flies on the screen and generates the 
EbonStar. Throughout the course of combat the Arch will release an 
inexhaustible supply of enemy ships and drones that are designed to destroy 
you and your opponents. 
 
DESTROYING THE EBONSTAR 
 
Shortly after the EbonStar is generated, the Arch will project a maintenance 
beam into the center of the EbonStar. A precise shot will disrupt this 
channel of energy, causing the EbonStar to destabilize and explode. For this 
shot to succeed, it must be precisely aligned along the beam of energy. 
Inaccurate shots will rebound, or fall harmlessly into the EbonStar. 
Perfecting this shot requires careful timing, accuracy, and patience. 
Destroying the EbonStar is the only way of advancing to higher scoring 
levels, new opponents, and new obstacles. 
 
ENEMIES AND OBSTACLES 
 
Arch will launch a variety of increasingly dangerous drones and aliens. 
Avoid them or repel them into the EbonStar to gain points. The most 
dangerous of your opponents is Nemesis, a mammoth alien starship that 
originates in an antimatter universe, and arises out of the depths of the 
EbonStar. Any player who collides with it or is struck by its fireball will 
be destroyed. Each time Nemesis is knocked back into warp or destroyed, it 
will be faster and more dangerous the next time it appears. Other enemies 
and obstacles are: 
 
   Rival: Pink. These are the least formidable of your enemies, they turn 
   and move slower than the players and fire regular energy bolts. 
 
   Inflictor: Purple. These are quite a bit more dangerous, as they turn and 
   move faster than the players. They also fire regular energy bolts. 
 
   Assassin: Orange. Assassin turn and move at the same speed as the 
   players, but fire guided energy bolts that are very accurate. 
 
   GravBubble: Blue. This distortion of space cannot be penetrated by 
   anything and serves as an obstacle to both you and your enemies. 
 
   MagnePod: Color varies. Attracted to player of same color. Colliding with 
   MagnePod repels play as if hit by an energy bolt. 
 
   Quark: Color varies. Steers towards player of same color. Colliding with 
   a Quark repels the player as if hit by an energy bolt, but always towards 
   the EbonStar. 
 
   TeslaSphere: Blue. Moves erratically. When a players is first zapped by a 
   TeslaSphere he loses the ability to fire. A second zap takes away the 
   ability to thrust. The controls are regained in a few seconds unless 
   player is destroyed by  a third zap. 
 
   Nemesis: Orange and Red. Chases the closest player, fires lethal 
   fireballs, and explodes upon contact. Nemesis cannot fire, or be repelled 
   into the EbonStar until it is far enough from it & drops its shield 
 
SPECIAL WEAPONS 
 
Certain objects Arch releases are special weapons, that when caught by a 
player temporarily change his weapon from regular energy bolts into the 
special one. These weapons may be accumulated and saved. 
 
   Gyron: Orange and Red. Grants twenty guided missiles. 
 
   Pulsar: Orange and Red. Grants one lethal fireball. If guided missiles 
   are also stored, the shot fired will be a guided fireball. 
 
   Spark: Blue. Grants one lightning charge to player. The lightning charge 
   destroys all enemies within a certain radius around the player. 
 
CONTROLS 
 
Keyboard 
 
Using the keyboard you can control your ship with four controls, Rotate 
Left, Rotate Right, Thrust, and Fire. Each ship has a cluster of keys on the 
keyboard used to perform these actions. As many as four players can play on 
the keyboard simultaneously. It is suggested that you place the index and 
middle fingers of your left hand on the Rotate Left and Rotate Right keys 
and the index and middle fingers of you right hand on the Thrust and Fire 
keys. 
 
   Rotate Left/Rotate Right: Causes your ship to rotate counter-clockwise 
   and clockwise, respectively 
 
   Thrust: Turns on thrusters, pushing your ship in the direction it is 
   facing. To stop, release the thrust key. 
 
   Fire: Fires an energy bolt, or refires an old one already on the screen. 
 
Five other functions are accessed by holding down the Right-Amiga key and 
then pressing the special key desired. They are: 
 
   ^A: Toggle music off/on 
 
   ^S: Toggle other sound effects off/on 
 
   ^Z: Pause game until selected again 
 
   ^Q: Quit game and return to title screen 
 
   ^T: Start game with Tournament Rules 
 
Joystick 
 
Ships can be controlled by joysticks by selecting one of the joystick 
options on the title screen. Joysticks may be used in either Port One or 
Port Two, or in both. There are two options in using joysticks: absolute or 
relative controls. In the Absolute mode, your your ship turns and moves in 
the direction you move the joystick. In the Relative mode, moving the 
joystick left causes your ship to rotate left (counter-clockwise), and 
moving your joystick right causes your ship to rotate right (clockwise). 
Pressing the joystick foward causes your ship to accelerate. Press the 
trigger button to fire. 
 
Joystick Movement           Absolute Mode              Relative Mode 
 
Left                        Face Left & Thrust         Rotate Left 
Right                       Face Right & Thrust        Rotoate Right 
Foward                      Face Up & Thrust           Thrust 
Down                        Face Down & Thrust         No Effect 
 
Mouse 
 
To control a ship using a mouse plug the mouse into either Port One or Port 
Two. Choose th corresponding mouse option on the selection screen. To make 
the shipface a certain direction slide the mouse in that direction. Small, 
steady movements usually give the most precise control. To thrust, press the 
left button. To fire, press the right button. 
 
TOURNAMENT RULES 
 
From the title page you may start a new game under Tournament Rules by using 
the special function key described above. The Tournament setting is desinged 
to allow multiple players to concentrate on competing against each other, 
instead of having to fend off hordes of drones tossed out by Arch. While 
playing a tournament game Arch will not launch any enemies, but will toss 
out special weapons occasionally to make things interesting. Arch, however, 
has no control over the appearance of Nemesis. 
 
KEYBOARD CONTROLS 
 
The following are the keys used if you will be using the keyboard rather 
than a joystick or mouse. 
 
          Left     Right     Thrust     Fire 
                |         |          | 
Yellow     F7   |   F8    |    F9    |   F10 
---------------------------------------------- 
Red        .    |    3    |     6    |    9 
---------------------------------------------- 
Blue     Ctrl   |   Shft  |    Alt   |  Amiga 
---------------------------------------------- 
Green      N    |    M    |     ,    |    . 
                |         |          |

End...........
