Name: Air Support
Platform: Atari 800
Region: USA
Media: Executable
Controller: Joystick, Keyboard
Genre: Strategy - Action
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1984
Developer: Synapse Software
Publisher: Synapse Software
Players: 1
Programmer: Richard Carr
_________________________

AIR SUPPORT
by Synapse

condensed by;
NIGHTHAWK

INTRODUCTION:

     You are in command of a chopper, and control both the blue army and 
the yellow special squad. the enemy controls the white opposing army and 
in the ARCADE VERSION also controls missile launchers and twirlers. Your 
chopper can drop bombs by pressing the trigger button. Also you control 
your ground robots through different commands. your robot army is 
divided into squads of 16 robots each. you can control the entire army 
or individual squads.

    When a robot engages in combat with an enemy unit, it will begin to 
move its arms and legs rapidly. The program determines your strength by 
scanning a 5x5 matrix around your robot in combat, the more robots you 
can bring into combat to support your fighting robot the greater the 
odds of defeating your enemy.

TO START GAME:

     The game begins in demo mode. Pressing start once shows the SCORE 
screen. Pressing start a second time will begin game. Pressing the 
option button will the score screen is showing will give you the option 
menu. use option to select options and select button to modify choices 
of play.

THE ENEMY:

     The number of enemy robots can vary from 250 to 999 in increments 
of 50. However only 256 robots can appear on the map at any one time. 
the remaining robots will back up the original as they are destroyed.

DIFFICULTY:
     See Chart for Differences.

TERRIAN:

     This option controls the # of lakes, mountains, trees etc. that are 
randomly generated on the map.

AIRLIFT/BOMBS:

     You may choose to play with these options on or off. BOMBS allow 
you to drop bombs on enemy robots. AIRLIFT allows you to drop and pickup 
troops anywhere on the map. These options allow different war conditions 
to simulate civil, world, or modern wars with very fast troop transport. 
These options are basically for the STRATEGY game, but could act as 
interesting handicaps in the Arcade Version.

ROBOTS (16-144):

      This option determines how many 16 robot squads will be in your 
army.

STATUS Lines:

     Used when the game is in progress it doesn't appear on the SCORE or 
OPTION screens.
     Starting from the left review the following numbers.

     The 1st number is the squad # assigned to the yellow robots on the 
screen. You have direct control over movement of this squad. If the 
number is blinking, then you have pressed the "0" key. you commands will 
now be displayed by the entire army.

     The 1st letter is the combat level of thesquad selected from a-c.

     The number after the hyphen is the # of robots in the selected 
squad.

     The next symbol is the direction the squad is responding to.This 
position on the STATUS line will show H,N,G,V,v,S,s. If your Squad is 
retreating, then the symbol "R" will appear after direction indicator 
symbol.

     When playing the ARCADE game ver. the # of choppers will precede 
the chopper symbol.

     The # of chopper passengers appear after the chopper symbol.

     Next is the Blue robot symbol that show the # of blue robots 
remaining.

     After the White robot symbol is the total # of robots in the White 
opposing army.

     After the bomb symbol is the # of bombs you chopper has left.

     The last number in the STATUS line is the elapsed game time.

COMMANDS:

   Basic Commands:

   F key freezes the game.

   # keys determine which squad is selected for command mode. If for 
example thw "2" is pressed the second squad will turn color to 
yellow.Only if the "0" key is pressed will the whole army respond.

   Arrow keys tell the selected army which way to move. robots that are 
in combat will not respond to arrow keys until combat is resolved. The 
"u" and "r" keys are the only keys robots in combat will respond to.

   "G" key tell the selected squad to go to where the chopper was when 
the key was pressed and form a tight group in that location. g stands 
for group.

   "S" key tells the squad to go where the chopper was when the key was 
pressed and form a non-moving horizontal line. s stands for forming a 
straight line.

   "U"key causes the chopper to pickup the selected squad (yellow) that 
are in a 7x7 matrix around the helicopter. the chopper can hold up to 16 
robots.

   "D"key will drop the robots in a 4x5 matrix. they can only be dropped 
in a clear area. Obstructions will cause some robots to remain aboard, 
with the # of remaining robots being shown on the STATUS line.

   "SPACE BAR" selects the next highest # squad.

   "RETURN" key selects the next lowest # squad.

   "INSERT" key in the ARCADE ver. game gives you a new chopper if any 
remain. this would be used when your chopper has used up its payload of 
bombs.


ADVANCED COMMANDS:

   "O,P,L" keys are the diagonal direction keys.
  "O" is up/left
  "P" is up/right
  "L" is down/right

  "h"key tells the squad to go where the chopper was when the key was 
pressed and form a horizontal line around that point. h stands for 
horizontal line.
î
  "S" key combines the g+h commands. It allows you to form a 
concentrated line.

  "v" key tells the squad to go to were the chopper was when the key was 
pressed and form a non-moving vertical line. v stand for vertical line.

  "V" key combines the g+v commands. to form a concentrated vertical 
line.

  "n" key tell the selected squad to stop moving.

  SHIFT-D will drop up to 4 robots from the chopper in a 1 row by 4 
column line.

  CTRL-D will drop up to 4 robots in a 4 row 1 column line.

  "a,b,c" keys select combat rate.

  "a" is the fastest with the odds of the blue robots winning are 
reduced.
  "b" is for normal combat.
  "c" is the slowest and if you are out numbered this would give you 
time to dig in and get reniforcements.

  "r" is command to retreat. Pressing the "r" key will cause the letter 
"R" to appear on the STATUS screen. Pressing "r" again will end the 
retreat. Note that it will take some time for army to retreat if engaged 
in combat.

  "0" key selects all squads to respond to your command. with this 
command activated the squad # on the STATus will blink.


ARCADE:

     In the Arcade game in addition to the enemy robot army the enemy 
has missile launchers that can shoot down your chopper. you have 5 
choppers with a 30 bomb payload each. for each minute of play your 
chopper will receive 10 additional bombs. the enemy also shoots ground 
with a 30 bomb payload each. for each minute of play your chopper will 
receive 10 additional bombs. the enemy also shoots ground to ground 
missiles approx. 1 each minute. destroy the launchers by dropping bombs 
or moving robots near them.
     Twirlers are a deadly force that destroy your robots. they must be 
neutralized through bombing.
the arcade game is quick game with emphasis on fast reflexes. the    
STRATEGY game allows more time for planning and strategy.
î
GAME VARIATIONS:

     Game 1+3 the enemy launches an all out effort to get to the bottom 
of the map. In game 1 all of your robots are between the enemy and 
bottom of map where as in game 3 you have the enemy surrounded the enemy 
wins if they get 10 robots to bottom of map.

     Game 2 the enemy must hold occupied ground.

     Game 4 you must protect you bases (3 towers with blue flags) from 
being overrun by enemy robots. To destroy a base the enemy must get 
within 4 spaces(robots) of the flag at base and hold the base for 15 
seconds then the base disappears. There are no robots on map at the 
beginning of thig game. They enter the screen in groups of 32 appearing 
on top, bottom, and left of map.

     Game 5 allows you to position your bases in the middle 2/3 of the 
map.

     Game 6 is like game 4 but the enemy starts by holding bases that 
you must obtain. The longer it takes to regain control the lower your 
score.  The color of the bases will indicate which army has possession 
of the base.

     Game7 is like 6 but with game 5 option.


DIFFICULTY CHART: 

                      A    B     C  
# Missile launchers   10   20    30
# Twirlers            1    2     4
Missile speed      normal  +50%  +100%
Reinforcement         50   100   150
robots/min
game 1-3
Reinforcement         32   64    128
robots/min
game4-7
Ground to Ground missile launch is 1 per min all levels.


TATICS:

     One of your robots is equal in strength to 11/2  enemy robots. 
Combat is randomly timed the more robots you have in a battle in one 
location the better your odds of victory.
Since combat is resolved in a 5x5 matrix you can maximize your odds by 
attacking in 3 rows or columns of robots.
î
SCORING:

     Final Score is computed as follows:

10 pts for each enemy robot destroyed
20 pts for each twirler destroyed
40 pts for each launcher destroyed
2000 pts for winning arcade game.
3000 pts for winning strategy game
500 pts for each surviving chopper in arcade game.


Good Luck YOU WILL NEED IT.
