AFTERMATH OF THE ASIMOVIAN DISASTER Ballantine Books (by Tim Hartnell), 1983 ======================================== Solution by Exemptus - September 2022 Overview and general hints: --------------------------- BASIC game, multiplatform, really a variation of "Werewolves and Wanderer", by the same author, which is a text-based RPG based on random combats. There are no puzzles and no objects per se, although there is equipment the player can buy in order to increase the chances of survival. Input is single letter entry. It is chiefly random, but I have decided to do a write-up anyway because the layout is based on a fixed map and there are undocumented quirks. The scenario is: The intergalactic liner, The Isaac Asimov, met with an unexplained disaster when on its way, with over 1,000 passengers, to the terraformed planets of the Seuxarian System. When out on your regular patrol of the space lanes, two centuries later, you come across the drifting hulk of The Isaac Asimov. You decide to explore, to see if you can determine what went wrong. However, no sooner have you entered the hold of the wrecked ship than your own ship, which you left tethered outside, explodes. You must find a Safety-Pod on board the Asimov, or die. So the player must explore the wrecked ship, fight off androids and aliens, and face a few other problems. Commands are as follows: N, E, S, W, U, D: The usual directions. P: Pick up treasure F: Fight an enemy R: Run from a fight I: Take inventory (and call up the supply android) B: Replenish oxygen H: Help (lists commands) In addition, there is an undocumented command: M: Matter teleporter Despite the fact that the author says "there are several tricks and traps in this new Adventure, which make it relatively hard to solve", the sad reality is that it is trivial to solve: the biggest trap is that some versions of the program include bugged additions, particularly the PC version that can be found online. The original listing looks fairly bug-free. I have provided a fixed PC version which works with both BASICA and GW-BASIC and incorporates the enhancements, but feel free to type in the original listing if you're really hardcore or want to play the game on a platform without a ready listing. You begin with a random amount of credits, oxygen and strength, and all the rooms are dark. First, some advice: if you start with less than $80 or there is an enemy in the starting room, just restart the game until none of these conditions apply (unless there is treasure in the starting room, in which case you can bypass the money aspect). It may not be very sporting, but everything goes. Enemy difficulty is rated on a "difficulty factor" scale. It is useless, as you don't have any control over how fights go: once you fight, you do so to the end. So don't pay attention to it. What you need to have in mind is you need exactly three objects in order to have a good chance: the combat suit ($50), the laser ($30) and the nucleonic light ($15). At any time, a supply android will show up if you use the I command, allowing you to buy what's needed. Oxygen is needed to top up strength: you can buy it and replenish your tanks if your strength gets low. There is a matter transporter as well, but you don't need it: if you have it, you can use the M command to be transported to a random location (other than the Space Pod). If you use the M command without the transporter, you die. All good fun. Walkthrough: ------------ [The walkthrough just consists of walking to the end room while surviving the random fights on the way. First, we need a light] I [Inventory and call supply android] 1 [Buy Nucleonic light] [If you have the cash, also buy at this point items 3 (laser) and 6 (combat suit). If not, just pick up all the cash you see on the way and buy these as soon as possible. Any leftover cash should be spent in oxygen. If you come across any enemies, don't run - just fight. Of course, I will assume all fights end up with a victory. This may take several attempts.] S E S S W U N W N W [End of game.]