Earth is under attack. The rest of the fleet is out on maneuvers, so it's up to you and your four fighters to defend the home planet against a barrage of enemy ships that seems never-ending. Each squad of attackers has a dozen or more ships apiece, and there are 24 squads (1)! The odds seem very bad indeed, but your fighter pilots are fearless and well-trained. Your spaceships are equipped with Hyperdrive, making them faster than any enemy vessel. Each of your command could face a squad and defeat it alone. Just let the enemy come, you'll be ready!
(1) The Commodore 64 release has only 20 levels. The 24 levels is written in the manual but we are unable to confirm this since we didn't get that far in the much harder Apple II version.
Game play
There are 5 ships allowed per flight mission. Your flight is over when your ships are destroyed or when you're out of fuel. You can be destroyed either by getting shot or by colliding into an enemy ship (which also gets destroyed in the process) - beware because some of these ships have kamikaze pilots.
Refueling is done at the mothership which appears after every 4 waves of enemy squads. Leftover fuel counts towards your score, so the faster you are, the higher your score.
An extra ship is given at the score of 50,000 points and every 100,000 points thereafter (2).
The hyperdrive slows down time and speed for a short period, but can only be used once per ship.
If your lasers overheat, you will experience a temporary malfunction of all weaponry. This of course costs time and fuel, so try to avoid it by keeping an eye on the heat meter.
Your mission is complete when you have destroyed the last of the aliens.
(2) The Coleco manual claims an additional ship is provided every 50,000 points.
Controls
Steer left
Stop ship
Steer right
Fire
Activate hyperdrive
Restart
Apple II (keyboard)
F
G
H
0 or 1
Spacebar
CTRL-A
Apple II (paddle)
Stick left
/
Stick right
0 or 1
Spacebar
CTRL-A
Atari 400/800
Stick left
/
Stick right
button
Stick down
Coleco (1)
Stick left
/
Stick right
Left button
Right button
*
(1) Apparently the Coleco release also allows the ship to move up and down with the stick.
