DOME TROOPER
Matand Software, 1986
=====================
Solution by Exemptus - April 2026
Overview and general hints:
---------------------------
The scenario in this game is a distant future where most people live in domes
except for outlaws and rebels that dwell in the deserts outside. You are one of
the armed troopers tasked with keeping the peace in the dome. Your job is to
find out how the rebels are planning to sabotage the dome and stop them. Intel
suggests that some rebel agents have infiltrated the dome and plan to taint the
water supply with a new and dangerous drug called HAD (Highly Addictive Drug).
Other types of sabotage may be going on as well. We have plenty of authority to
shoot rebels and miscreants on the spot. No doubt the author was familiar with
Judge Dredd.
The dome has six levels connected by transporter discs (levels are 0 to
5, with level 0 being the outside) and a defence perimeter surrounds the dome
grounds.
The game is a classic Quill affair, with a few illustrations, but the first
version has a number of bugs: many actions are not correctly closed and this
may end up corrupting the game state. Fortunately there is a bugfixed version
that can be safely finished.
There are no significant vocabulary quirks, except one: EXAMINE, SEARCH, READ
and even STUDY are synonyms, but there is a sign in the reactor antechamber that
requires LOOK SIGN instead. The game is otherwise easy, but the player needs to
know two things in advance:
(1) Fifty turns after the start of the game we will be told that the dome's
nuclear reactor has exploded and vapourised everything, and of course the
game ends. This tells us that we need to get to the reactor and stop it from
melting down before we do anything else.
(2) During the game we will find three rebel agents carrying data wafers, but
these are protected by passwords. The passwords are always anagrams of the
agents' code names (or the plain code name). This is frustrating because
we get only one shot at guessing, and the wafer self-destructs if wrong.
This is not as annoying as might be because the game has a RAM SAVE facility
and the longest code name is 5 characters, so we can bruteforce the thing,
but it's not something I'd expect anyone to guess unless told about.
The game allows us to carry 15 objects, so inventory capacity is not a problem.
Walkthrough:
------------
[We start at Level 0, just outside the dome but within the perimeter defence
wall. We need to take care of the reactor ASAP (although the game gives no hint
that anything is wrong). A nuclear reactor core is not a safe environment so we
need to find some protection first.]
I [We carry a blaster and an ID card]
S [Transport disc]
PRESS 4 [The habitat level]
S [A long street]
[Level 4 is where most of the population lives. It has a city and also the Dome
Troopers HQ, where we are headed.]
S
S
E [Housing building]
E [Outside the Trooper HQ, by a security door]
INSERT ID [The door opens and we go in]
GET SUIT
GET PACK
[We pick up a neoprene suit and an oxygen pack. The latter is empty, but we can
refill at an oxygen station and there is one in the hypermarket nearby.]
W
W
W [Street again]
S
S
E [Automated hypermarket; there's an oxygen machine here]
FILL PACK
[Now we need to leg it to the reactor, which is on Level 3.]
W
N
N
N
N
N
PRESS 3
N
N
E [Noisy chamber with an entry inlet to the reactor and a sign]
LOOK SIGN [Says to use all standard protection]
WEAR SUIT
WEAR PACK
ENTER INLET
U
W [Reactor core, with a power level unit]
EXAMINE UNIT [It has a setting disc turned to a dangerous level]
TURN DISC [The reactor is safe now, score is 7%]
[That is it, we can now go on with the game with no concerns about time. The
first thing we need to do is to look for the rebel agents. Back to Level 4.]
E
D
W
REMOVE PACK
DROP PACK
REMOVE SUIT
DROP SUIT [We won't need these anymore]
W
S
S
PRESS 4
S
S
S
S
W [Junk shop]
EXAMINE JUNK [A screwdriver, radio and rusty hammer turn up]
GET SCREWDRIVER
GET RADIO [The hammer is not useful for anything so we'll leave it]
[Note that the radio is off. This is because it has no power, although there is
no hint of that. We'll fix that bit later.]
E
S
W [Andy's Place restaurant, where we find a man pointing a blaster at us]
SHOOT MAN [Score is 14%]
EXAMINE MAN [A data wafer falls out; note that the man has a scar on his cheek]
GET WHITE WAFER [There are others, told apart by colour]
E
N
N
N
N
W [Housing complex, a junkie is here]
LISTEN TO JUNKIE ["Want some stash?"]
SAY YES [He offers a tablet]
GET TABLET [Score is 21%]
SHOOT JUNKIE [Score is 23%]
[Yes, we shoot the junkie in a supreme act of gratitude. The liberal
apportioning of lethal force is the norm here. Life is tough in the dome.]
E
S
W [Arms shop; an uneasy young man is behind the counter]
GIVE TABLET [Score is 30%]
[He swallows it and tells us that some HAD is stashed in Level 5]
SHOOT MAN [Eat laser, rebel scum; score is 37%]
[We notice that his ID name tag is MART 012A. Make a note of this as it will be
needed later.]
EXAMINE MAN [Another wafer]
GET BLACK WAFER
[We have two wafers now; let's go to the HQ to see what's in them]
E
S
E
E
INSERT ID
E [Computer terminal]
INSERT WHITE WAFER [Enter code]
[This is the one we got from the man with the scar, and the code is SCAR]
TYPE SCAR [Score is 44%]
[We learn that these are instructions from Agent E00 to Agent EA1 (the one with
the scar, no doubt). It says that the supply is hidden in a craft on Level 1 and
to meet him there. It also says that there is a new trooper and needs to be
terminated: that's us.]
INSERT BLACK WAFER [Enter code]
TYPE TRAM [Anagram of MART, score is 51%]
[This is an instruction for Agent 2FF (Mart) saying that the stash of HAD is in
a fighter among the electronics. We have some drugs to find now, so let's get to
it. First let's go to Level 5 where Mart said there would be a small stash of
the stuff.]
W
W
W
W
N
N
N
PRESS 5 [This is the hydroponics level]
S
W [There are some flowers here]
EXAMINE FLOWERS [A package of drugs is here; score is 58%]
GET DRUGS
S [There is a watering can here]
GET CAN [Will need it later]
E
E
N [A robot is tending to the plants here]
EXAMINE ROBOT [We notice an energy module]
GET MODULE
INSERT MODULE [Into the radio, which buzzes into life]
W
N
PRESS 1 [The spaceport level]
N
W
W [At the west bay, where water is flooding into a drainage system]
FILL CAN [We now have a can full of water]
E
E
E
E [East bay, where a tall man stands by a craft's entrance]
SHOOT MAN [Score is 65%]
EXAMINE MAN [The name tag is Steve, and has grey wafer]
GET GREY WAFER
ENTER CRAFT [It has a security door]
[So the craft is locked, but we have the means to find the key. Let's visit
Level 2, which is the one dedicated to cattle and pastures.]
W
W
S
PRESS 2
S
S [A 10 credit coin is here]
GET COIN
E [A patch of uneven ground]
[We'd like to dig, but the ground is too hard, so we have to soften it a bit]
WATER GROUND [Something in it sparks and fizzes; score is 72%]
DROP CAN
DIG GROUND [We find a security key]
GET KEY [We can now enter the craft]
N
W
N
PRESS 1
N
E
E
ENTER CRAFT [Score is 79%]
EXAMINE BOX [The electronic data boards box has four screws]
UNSCREW BOX [We find a sample of HAD; score is 86%]
DROP SCREWDRIVER
GET SAMPLE
[Right, let's examine the last wafer now]
S
W
W
S
PRESS 4
S
S
S
E
E
INSERT ID
E
INSERT GREY WAFER
TYPE TEVES [Anagram of Steve; score is 93%]
[This is a message for Agent ED2 (Steve) to be given the HAD to contaminate the
water supply, says to listen to the radio. Immediately after we should receive a
message asking either of agents EA1, ED2 or EZZ to mee the contact outside the
dome for injection of HAD in city, and that a code will be needed.]
W
W
W
W
N
N
N
PRESS 0
N
[At the start again. We can't get the outside door open because it clearly says
that it takes more than one man, so we need help.]
W
S
S
E
E [There is a group of troopers here]
SAY HELP [One shouts "Money talks"]
GIVE COIN [They now follow us; score is 95%]
E
E
N
N
N
W
W [By outside door]
SAY OPEN DOOR [The troopers open the door]
N [Score is 97%]
[A man is waiting outside pointing a blaster at us. He says it's a good idea to
use a trooper disguise and asks us for the code, which consists of the first
letter of Scar's ID, the second of Mart's and the third of Steve's. He will
figure out we are a real trooper and shoot us very soon, so we need to get this
right.]
SAY EDZ [He holds a case out]
SHOOT MAN [We should have started the conversation this way, but oh well]
[That is it: we have stopped the terrorists and our score is 100%. End of game.]
