Basic Train-ing
By bpsp
For Z-code interpreters
Solution by Garry Francis
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This is a minimal solution. You'll need to EXAMINE lots of things for this solution to make
sense. It's very hard to work out what's going on from the in-game descriptions, so a
fuller explanation is given below. All the significant moves are given in the solution, but most of
these are only necessary to kill time.
You start the game as a toy soldier travelling aboard a toy train, along with two other characters,
a toy robot and an action man figure. Your first objective is to find the source of the light
overhead. You need a mirror-like object to see what it is. The secret is to look in the reflection
in the railway carriage window when you pass through the dark tunnel. This reveals that you're
wearing a crown. Once you know this, you can pass the crown to one of the other two characters in
the carriage. You take on the persona of whoever's wearing the crown. Each of the three
characters has a part to play. You need to be the soldier for his gun and knife, the robot for its
strength and the action man for his grappling hook.
Timing is crucial. The train takes 10 moves to complete a loop of the railway track. It enters the
tunnel on the 5th move, leaves the tunnel on the 6th move and passes the tree on the 7th move. You
must anticipate these events and act before they occur. Later in the game, you can reverse the
direction of the train (so that the events occur in reverse order) and slow down the train (so that
the loop takes 20 moves and the events happen on the 10th, 12th and 14th moves).
If you can open the front door, you'll see that the engine has a direction switch, a coupler
and a panel. If you can release the coupler, the engine races off and leaves you behind, but as the
engine is on a circular track, it soon starts pushing your car from the rear, rather than pulling it
from the front. If you now open the back door, you'll see that the engine also has a speed
switch. If you can move the speed switch, the engine travels at half the normal speed (as described
above). You'll need to do this so that you can get the tree. However, you can no longer open
the panel while the engine is at the back of the car. If you can move the direction switch, the
engine reverses, does one loop of the track and starts pushing the car backwards from the front. You
can now access the panel again.
Got all that? Now, on to the solution...
I (you're carrying a knife and gun)
X ROBOT (it's made of plastic)
X PRISONER (he's made of plastic and has a grappling hook)
X PRISON (there's a label on back)
X LABEL (grappling hook fires to attack foes, train enters tunnel)
X WINDOW (you're wearing a crown, train leaves tunnel)
I (crown is now shown as being worn, train passes tree)
X CROWN (experiment with the crown)
CUT PRISON (you can now reach the prisoner)
GIVE CROWN TO ROBOT (you're now the robot)
HIT FRONT DOOR (reveals engine, coupler, direction switch and panel)
HIT BACK DOOR
X ENGINE (it's a direction switch)
X DIRECTION SWITCH (it's in forward position, but out of reach)
X COUPLER (attaches car to engine)
GIVE CROWN TO PRISONER (you're now the prisoner)
SHOOT COUPLER (car releases, engine completes loop and pushes car from rear)
X ENGINE (you can now see a speed switch)
X SPEED SWITCH (it's set to fast and out of reach)
GIVE CROWN TO SOLDIER (you're now the soldier)
SHOOT SPEED SWITCH (engine slows down, robot can now get the tree)
SHOOT DIRECTION SWITCH (engine reverses, completes loop & pushes car backwards)
GIVE CROWN TO ROBOT (you're now the robot)
Z (repeat until you see tree)
GET TREE
OPEN PANEL WITH TREE (you find a battery)
GET BATTERY (train stops)
OUT
***THE END***
