Rats_ The
Original title: James Herbert s The Rats
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
_________________________

Based on the novel by James Herbert, The Rats is a game combining strategy elements and a text adventure as you control various characters in the battle to control and kill a huge swarm of rats overrunning London. If the rats spread further than London into the rest of Britain then it is game over. You start the game as Foskins looking at a map of London with white squares flashing showing reported sightings of rats. Here you can see the report, deploy forces or enable research with Howard. 

You have various forces to deploy to infected areas like rat-killers, police, firemen or the Army (a last resort) and these must be managed carefully as you only have a limited amount. You have limited equipment that can be used as well and these include offence equipment like gas, rifles and dogs as well as defences like shields and suits. Certain equipment can only be used by certain types of forces. As you deploy you can initiate research with Howard and this includes origins, defence, offence and nature.

As you battle to save London with Foskins, occasionally the adventure part of the game interrupts and you can take the role of major characters like Harris, Howard and Foskins as well as minor characters from the book like Pauline Blakely trying to save herself and her baby. The situation each character find themselves in, is an encounter with the rats and their battle for survival. The screen has text describing the situation and there are various options to select like goto, take and attack and as this part is real-time you don't have long to make these decisions or face death with graphics of rats attacking the screen.

Letting the rats spread from London, the major characters dieing or your forces depleted means it's game over and you receive your score. The keyboard is used to control the game.

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JAMES HERBERT'S
THE RATS
(Hodder & Stoughton)

It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims
were discovered that the true nature and power of these
swarming black creatures with their razor-sharp teeth
and taste for human blood began to be realised by a
panic-stricken city.
	For millions of years man and rats had been natural
enemies. But now the people of London found themselves locked
in a deadly struggle with the rats, a struggle in which for
the first time - suddenly, shockingly,
horribly - the balance of power had shifted.


Your part in the struggle
You take on the roles of a number of characters who are
locked in the struggle for supremacy between rats and
man. You control the fate of the major characters: Harris,
whose resourcefulness and courage make him a born
survivor; Howard, the young Scientist who is researching
the rat menace; and Foskins the Under-Secretary
of State entrusted with the heavy responsibility of saving
London. You also control minor characters, ordinary
people who suddenly find themselves involved in the
struggle; people like Paula Blakely who tries to save her
defenceless baby from the rats.
	Sometimes you will have to confront the rats eye to
eye in encounters where quick-thinking and fast reactions
can make the difference between the life or death
of the character you are playing.
	At other times, you will have to take Foskins' place in
General Headquarters, in control of London's Emergency Forces.
As you observe the rats' movements you
must try to work out a strategy for stopping their spread.

How you win or lose the war
The rats breed quickly and, unchecked, will soon overrun London,
and spread into the surrounding countryside where you will have
no chance of preventing their spread across the whole nation.
	To win the war you must therefore eradicate the
rats. You lose the war if:
- Harris, Foskins or Howard is killed; or
- the rats break out of London; or
- all of the emergency forces are lost.

Getting a good score
At the end of your game you will be given a score. To get
a good score you need to:
- complete many encounters without getting your character killed;
- make sure that you do not lose too many forces.

The Rats novel
You do not need to read the book in order to play and
enjoy the software. However, many of the characters
and situations in the software will mean more to you if
you have read the book before you play the software.

1 HOW TO START
1 Set up your cassette recorder, computer and TV set
  as instructed in your manual.
2 Spectrum only:  Press J then hold down SYMBOL
  and press P twice. LOAD "" should now appear on
  the screen. Press ENTER and then PLAY on your
  cassette recorder to start loading.
  Commodore only: Hold down SHIFT and press
  RUN. PRESS PLAY ON TAPE should now appear on
  the screen. Press PLAY on your cassette recorder to
  start loading.
  Amstrad only: Hold down CTRL and press ENTER
  (bottom right-hand of the number key pad). Press
  PLAY on your recorder to start loading.
3 After several minutes, an animated title sequence
  will begin. (Spectrum: Stop the cassette.) You can
  now either start a new game or select a demonstration.

Demonstration
Press D while the animation sequence is playing. The
animation sequence will now be repeated continuously
until you press ENTER or RETURN (as described below).

Starting a new game
1 Commodore and Amstrad versions automatically
  load the game after the animation sequence.
  Spectrum only: When the title animation has finished,
  press PLAY on the cassette recorder to load the
  game. Note: If a tape loading error occurs (eg. the
  volume is set incorrectly) the screen border will
  flash black and white. Adjust the recorder, rewind
  the tape and press a key to try again.
2 If you wish to miss out the animation sequence,
  simply press ENTER or RETURN and then PLAY on
  your recorder. Note: you must always load the
  cassette from the beginning.
3 The game begins with Foskins' strategic battle
  against the rats.

Continuing a game
The first screen to appear is the map of London, as
described in section 3. You can continue a previously saved
game whenever this screen is displayed (see section 7 -
HOW TO SAVE YOUR GAME).
1 Commodore and Amstrad: Hold down CTRL and press L.
  Spectrum: Hold down SYMBOL SHIFT and press L.
2 Replace the program cassette with the cassette that
  contains your game, rewind and then press PLAY
  on your cassette recorder.
3 After several minutes the program will start at the
  point which you saved the game.

2 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
You operate the program using only five keys; four keys
move a cursor around the screen (to highlight options,
deploy forces, etc) and the fifth key confirms your choice.
The keys are:
		Spectrum     C64      Amstrad
Cursor UP          Q          Q          Q
Cursor DOWN        A          A          A
Cursor LEFT        O          O          O
Cursor RIGHT       P          P          P
CONFIRM          ENTER     RETURN      ENTER
                   or        or          or
                 SPACE      SPACE      SPACE


3 FOSKINS' STRATEGIC BATTLE AGAINST THE RATS
Foskins sat in his offices at General Headquarters. He
was frustrated and uneasy. No more resources, that's
what the PM had told him. No more resources. They just
didn't seem to realise the severity of the situation. The
reports of giant rats attacking people made him shudder
when he thought how quickly rats breed. How could he
hope to stop them with only limited resources?

	Your job is to try to contain the rats. As the rat
attacks increase, the media will place pressure on the
Government to prevent further attacks, and you will
receive further resources. Eventually the army will be sent
in. Until then you will just have to do your best! Please
note: At the start of the program [you] will have barely enough
time to explore your options, for you will soon be
plunged into your first encounter with the rats (see
section 4). This is signalled by an alarm bell. When the alarm
has finished, you take on the role of the character, about
to meet the rats eye to eye ... After this encounter you
will have much more time to watch the rats' movements
and develop your strategy.

Your resources
To defend London against the rats you have two resources:
  Emergency Forces:
  a Research and Development Centre.
The Emergency Forces can be used to attack the rats.
Initially, however, their equipment is barely adequate to
withstand the rats. Therefore the R and D centre works
on devising new weapons and better defences. Ultimately
the R and D centre will discover the secret source of the
rats' superior strength and intelligence.

The Emergency Forces

Rat-Kill: Professional rat killers; the people you call when
  there's something strange under the floorboards. Not so
  good at attacking the rats, but their knowledge of the rat
  species Rattus Rattus makes them valuable in defence.
Police: Their knowledge of the city, together with their
  experience at riot control, make them good all-rounders.
Firemen: Not really that useful against the rats, but you have
  to make do with what you are given.
Army: The troops will only be called in as a last resort. If
  you can survive that long, their training and advanced
  weapon skills will give you a second wind.

Their weapons
At the start you have:

Protective Suits: These give a measure of protection against
  the vermin's razor-sharp teeth and claws.
Chemical Gas (Rat-Kill only): All-purpose anti-vermin gas. 
  Not that effective against the stronger-than-normal rat
  species.
Dogs (Police only): The traditional method of killing rats.
  They fight savagely and bravely but suffer terrible losses.
Riot Shields (Police only)
Rifles (Police and Army only)
High-Pressure Water Hoses (Firemen only)
Axes (Firemen only)

When the army is sent in, the troops are also equipped with:

Flame Throwers

There are four special weapons that the R and D centre might 
develop for you:

Sonic Locators
Sonic Scramblers
Electric Stun Prods
Anti-Rattus Gas

However you'll have to find out for yourself how effective
these weapons/defences are.

The R and D Centre
The Centre can investigate four aspects of the rat
menace:
Origin  where the rats come from
Defence how to protect humans against rats
Offence new weapons to kill the rats
Nature  the biology of the ratS
Note: investigations into the nature and origin of the rats
may well have valuable spin-offs in the other aspects.

What you do
The screen shows a map of London. On this map are marked:
GHQ (radiation symbol)
Harris' flat (building symbol)
R and D Centre (microscope symbol)

As the rats spread across London you will also see
flashing white and red squares:
White squares  Reports of possible sightings by civilians
Red squares    Reports from the Emergency Forces in the field
Civilian reports can indicate where the rats are going to
strike next; however, not all the reported sightings by the
panic-stricken people will be accurate. Reports from
your Emergency Forces tell the results of their battles
with the rats.
	Monitor all reports carefully both to plan where to
deploy your forces and to keep an eye on your progress
in the war against the rats.
Note:. Eventually the Government will evacuate all civilians
from London. After this point there will be no more
civilian reports.
	When the R and D Centre sends you a report, it
appears at the top of the screen.

Your main options
At the bottom of the screen are listed three options:
Report, Forces, Research. Initially Report is highlighted.
To choose an option, highlight the option you want using
the LEFT and RIGHT keys and then press CONFIRM.

Reading a report
1 To read a report, choose the option Report. All the
  options are replaced with Abort, which is highlighted.
2 Press UP and a cursor appears on the map. Use UP,
  DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT to manoeuvre the cursor
  over the report you wish to read, then press CONFIRM.
3 The report is displayed. Press CONFIRM to proceed,
  after you have read the report. Note: you can only
  read a report once.
4 The report is removed from the screen, and Abort is
  highlighted. You can now either select another report
  to read (as described in 2 above) or press CONFIRM
  to return to the main options.

Deploying forces
1 To deploy forces, choose the option Forces. All the
  options are replaced by Abort,which is highlighted.
2 Press UP and a cursor appears on the map. Move
 this cursor over the area of the map in which you
 wish to deploy forces, then press CONFIRM.
3 The screen displays all forces (if any) and equipment
  in this area. You can now either deploy forces
  in this area or equip them.
4 To deploy a force, choose the option Deploy. The
  screen lists all the forces available. To the right of
  each is displayed a number. This number is the
  number of units of this force available. You can deploy
  a maximum of three units of each force in an area.
  a) Press UP to highlight each force.
  b) Press LEFT or RIGHT tO increase or decrease the
     number of forces.
  c) When you have finished, press DOWN until Go Back
     is highlighted and then CONFIRM.
5 To equip a force, choose the option Equip. The
  screen lists all the weapons available to each type of
  force.
  a) Highlight the weapon you want to deploy and
     press CONFIRM.
  b) A box now appears around the weapon to show
     that this has been supplied to the force.
  c) If you wish to takes weapon away from a force,
     highlight the weapon as above and press CONFIRM
     a second time.
  d) When you have finished, press DOWN until Go Back
     is highlighted and then press CONFIRM.
6 Any forces you have deployed will appear as a yellow
  square on the map.

Deploying R and D resources
1 To deploy R and D resources, choose the option
  Research. The screen lists the four areas of R and D
  research, and to the right of these a box showing the
  number of resources available. You have ten
  resources to deploy across all four areas of research.
2 Press UP or DOWN to highlight each area of research.
  Then press LEFT or RIGHT to increase or
  decrease the resources assigned to the highlighted
  area.
3 When you have finished deploying R and D resources,
  highlight the option Abort and press CONFIRM to return
  to the main options.

4 YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE RATS

The screen describes the character you will be playing
and the situation they are in.

What you do
You can give your character commands which range
from the simple (eg. TAKE TORCH) to the detailed (eg.
TELL NEIGHBOUR TO GET HELP). Your choice of commands
depends upon the situation you are in.
1 At the bottom of the screen are listed three options:
  Command, Inventory and Redescribe, Initially Command
  is highlighted. To choose an option, press the
  LEFT and RIGHT keys to highlight the option you
  want and then CONFIRM.
2 To see where you are and who (or what) is present,
  choose the option Redescribe. Make sure you check
  these regularly.
3 To see what you are carrying or wearing, choose the
  option Inventory.
4 To issue a command, choose the option Command.
  A list of actions (eg. GO, TAKE) is now displayed.
  When you select one of these actions it appears at
  the bottom of the screen and a second list of words
  is displayed.
    For example if you chose to GO, the screen displays
  the list of directions you can GO - eg. DOWN,
  OUT, UP. Or if you chose TAKE the screen displays
  what things you can TAKE - eg, torch, knife.
    When you have selected the second part of
  your command this is added to the first part at the
  bottom of the Screen (eg 'GO' becomes 'GO DOWN').
    The screen may now display options for the
  third part, and so on. When the command is complete,
  your character will carry out the command.
    Note: If you make a mistake, choose Abort to
  move back to the previous part of your command.
5 Note: The commands will always be changing. In
  many situations you must act quickly if you are to
  survive.
6 In your first encounter you will not lose the game if
  your character gets killed. When the encounter has
  finished, you continue with Foskin's strategic battle
  against the rats. If you have completed the encounter
  without getting killed (or without taking the
  opportunity to run away!), important information
  about the rats may be passed on to the R and D Centre.

5 FURTHER ENCOUNTERS WITH THE RATS
As the game proceeds, you will see the nature of the
conflict between man and rats intensify. You will have to
take on the roles of characters in more and more desperate
encounters with the rats. (Remember: If Harris, Foskins or
Howard gets killed in an encounter, you lose the game).
  London's Emergency Forces will find it increasingly
difficult to survive and all will depend upon whether or
not R and D are able to develop new super-weapons to
counter the rat menace ...
  Please note: Because of the large number of encounters
and the complexity of the strategy, the program is actually
stored in several parts. If you survive long enough,
then you will be asked to load more parts of the
program before continuing.

1 Make sure that side B of the cassette is facing upwards.
2 If this is the first time you have had to load another
  part, rewind the cassette. Otherwise DO NOT REWIND: this
  should save you time.
3 Press PLAY on the cassette recorder.
4 When the next part has loaded, you can continue.
 (Spectrum only: Stop the tape).

6 HINTS AND TIPS
1 The rats will act intelligently, sometimes using secret
  ways to make rapid moves from one area of the
  city to another. Prepare for this by keeping a careful
  watch on civilian reports, especially those in areas
  where up till that point there has been no rat activity.
2 You won't play exactly the same set of encounters
  in every game. But don't worry, all that you need to
  defeat the rats will be available every time you play.
3 If your character survives an encounter with the
  rats, you may hand on to the R and D Centre valuable
  first-hand information about the rats, and this
  will speed up their research and may well provide
  London's Emergency Forces with the new weapons
  or defences that will ultimately help you defeat the
  rats. Therefore, even though you do not lose the
  game if any of the minor characters gets killed, it is
  in your interests to keep them alive.
4 The only way to destroy the rats is for the R and D
  Centre to discover exactly where they are coming
  from. Harris will then have to encounter their
  source. If the rats have not been cleared from the
  area when this attempt is made, then Harris will
  have little chance of success.

7 HOW TO SAVE YOUR GAME
1 The game continues until the war with the rats is
  either won or lost. At any time when the main
  strategy screen, offering a choice of REPORTS,
  FORCES and RESEARCH, is displayed, you can stop
  playing the game and continue later.
2 Replace the program cassette with a blank cassette
  and rewind to the start of the header.
  Spectrum only: Make Sure the EAR lead is disconnected.
3 Commodore and Amstrad: Hold down CTRL and press S.
  Spectrum: Hold down SYMBOL SHIFT and press S.
4 Press RECORD on your cassette player.
5 After several minutes your game will be saved on
  the cassette. You will need this cassette when you
  want to continues game from this point.
6 After your game has been saved, you may continue.

8  HOW TO FINISH

Spectrum version: Simply disconnect your computer from the mains supply.
Commodore and Amstrad versions: Simply switch off your computer.

9 USING A JOYSTICK

A joystick may be used instead of, or in addition to, the
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and CONFIRM keys.
  Note: Spectrum only: Remember to plug your
joystick into the Spectrum before you load the program.



Program created by GXT
from the novel "The Rats" by James Herbert
Copyright (c) James Herbert 1974

Program copyright (c) Hodder and Stoughton 1985





http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/james-herberts-the-rats
