You've just become one of the millions of people whose lives
have been made easier through the miracle of modern robotics!


DANGER! Contains thermonuclear powerplant. Tampering can cause permanent brain and nervous system damage. In case of contact leave the area and get medical attention immediately.

¡PELIGRO! Contiene motor thermonuclear. El uso erróneo que pueden causar daños permanentes al cerebro y al sistema nervioso. Si hubo contacto salga del lugar y consulte inmediatamente con un médico.



WELCOME!
How to Play
The RCX
Winning the Game
Starting the Game
Saving and Loading

PLAYING STORMRUNNER
Building a Robot
Programming Your Robot
Sending Your Robot on a Mission
Finding Things and Getting Them Home

ADVANCED PLAY
Weight, Speed, and Terrain
Environmental Hazards
Salvaging RCX Units in the Field


A. How to Play
When the game begins, your ship has just crash-landed on a strange planet. The only on-board equipment that survived the crash is the RCX Bay, a small robot-manufacturing facility that's built into the ship's cargo hold. Since it's probably not safe to get out and walk around by yourself, you can build and program robots that will explore the planet for you. But be careful not to lose too many: if you run out of robots, you'll be stuck on the planet forever.

B. The RCX
The best friend you have on the planet is the RCX, a powerful robotic assistant that does whatever you program it to do. The RCX is a giant machine that contains a computer, sensor inputs, and transmitters for sending information and receiving new programs. It also contains a low-yield nuclear power plant. By attaching wheels, legs, arms, and sensors, the RCX can be accomplish almost any task.

C. Winning the Game
The goal of Stormrunner is to find a way to get off the planet. Since you don't know what's outside your ship, there might be several different ways of doing this, or maybe none (although it's best not to give up hope yet). Judging by what you can see from the RCX Bay, there are some other wrecked ships in the area; maybe they can be repaired, or maybe they have a working comm system that you can use to radio for help. It might also be handy to salvage some of the wreckage to build more robots, in case the one you start out with gets into trouble.

D. Starting the Game
To begin the game, click on START NEW GAME on the Options screen. You will begin with a view of the interior of the Stormrunner's jettisoned Cargo Hold, your temporary home. By clicking on the BAY, VIEW, and OPTIONS buttons on the lower-left corner of the screen, you can switch between this view, what of the outside world the Cargo Hold's computers are aware of, and the game options screen. If you switch to VIEW mode, you'll notice that much of the planet around the Hold is unexplored, and thus appears in black. The only way to extend your vision into this blackness is to use your robots to explore this unknown terrain. To build your first robot, you must use the controls on the Bay screen.

E. Saving and Loading
At any time you can save your game so that you can return to it later. To do this, click on the Options button at the bottom of the screen. This will bring you to the Options screen. Click SAVE GAME to keep a record of your current position. When you want to restore your game, click LOAD GAME at the Options screen.

PLAYING STORMRUNNER

A. Building a Robot
Robots are built using the RCX Bay, a small but sophisticated field robot repair and construction facility. To make robots the Bay needs two things: a generic material called "polymetals", which are loaded into the hold and melted down, and energy (counted in "energy units"). The polymetals and energy are then recompiled into various configurations that comprise the various parts of an RCX - and combined on site via automated assembly process to form a completed unit.

These components can be combined in various ways around a central RCX core - one chassis, three sensor packages, and up to three tool assemblies (which mount on various sections of the RCX). Each different robot part has a "pattern", which is a computer description of how to make it. These patterns are stored in the Bay's on-board computer. When the game starts, a store of polymetals, energy units and a few different patterns are already available (the portions of the Cargo Hold's stores that survived the crash), but the Bay's equipment is very versatile, and you may be able to salvage more resources by exploring the planet.

The Bay: The right half of the screen gives you a view of the Bay, where your robot is constructed. Here you can watch as chassis, assemblies and sensors are added and removed from your robot. If the Bay has an RCX in it, it is considered "in use" and you must Store, Dismantle or Engage the RCX before you can begin work on another.

The Build Panel: The left half of the screen is the Build Panel. This is the device you use to choose different parts for your robot.

On the build panel, you will see:

  • Operator: This is your name.
  • CES Rank: This is your rank in the Commonwealth of Earth States Space Services.
  • Security Level: Your current security level. Some of the robot parts are not available until you have gained the security level clearance necessary to access them.
  • RCX Name: This is where you name your RCX. Once named, an RCX has been given a permanent identity for the rest of its life and cannot be renamed.
  • Store: Any completed RCX can be Stored for later activation. RCX's that return to the bay from the outside world are automatically stored.
  • Retrieve: This activates a Stored RCX. After clicking here the Status Panel will open, and you are asked to choose a Stored RCX from the list of RCX's under the control of the Cargo Hold's computer. Retrieved RCX's are loaded from the hold into the Bay. If you want to cancel Retrieve, close the Status Panel.
  • Engage: Click this to active the RCX in the Bay and send it out onto the surface. New RCX's need to be named before you can Engage them.
  • Info Display: This is the large screen to the right of the gray control buttons. Look here for information about your RCX and the different components that you can add to it. Instructions and error messages also appear here.
  • Chassis Weight Capacity: This gauge tells you how much weight the currently active chassis can carry (in metric tons). As you add sensors and assemblies to a chassis, the total weight increases. Some chassis can carry more equipment than others.
  • Polymetals: This is a readout of how many polymetal units you have stored below decks. Each different chassis, sensor and assembly requires a certain number of these. If the number of reserve polymetals dips too low, you cannot build any more robot parts. Bringing salvage to the Bay adds polymetals to your reserves, as does dismantling robots or robot parts.
  • Energy Units: This is a count of how much energy you have stored. RCX's and parts require energy to generate, just as they require polymetals. Each piece of equipment you build has a cost in energy units. Bringing Energy Cells and robots back to the bay will add to your Energy stores.
  • Component Icons Display: This is where icons for different kinds of chassis, tools and sensors appear. Icons appear when clicking one of the three Component Buttons (below), and if the lists are long you can use the slim blue arrows to scroll them left and right. By moving your mouse over each icon you can get information on how many polymetals and energy units the item requires, its weight and security level, and also a short description of its uses (in the Info Display). When you're ready to add a component part to your RCX, click on an icon. Icons appear in different colors: Green means the part is active (attached to the RCX in the Bay); Yellow means it's not currently in use but is available; and Brown, which means the computer has a pattern for that component but you need something else (such as a higher security level) to access it. If you find an item in the field and carry it back to the Bay, its pattern will be scanned and stored, and an icon added to the list.
  • Chassis: Clicking this button gives you a list of icons in the Component Icon Display, each representing a different chassis you can attach to your RCX to allow it to move around. Certain chassises are better at handling different terrains, but some aren't available unless you can raise your security level.
  • Tools: Tools represent all of the other assemblies you can add to an RCX. These are generally helpful gadgets that let your robot do more than just drive around. Unlike a chassis, you can add more than one Tool to your robot, but keep your eye on the weight capacity gauge.
  • Sensors: These are your robot's eyes and ears, and some of them can be much more than that. An Achilles-class RCX can have up to three sensors mounted on its front.
  • Generate New RCX: This tells the Bay to composite a new RCX unit. An RCX unit is the "brain" of your robotic assistant, and contains computers, communication equipment, fuel stores and sensor input/outputs, but cannot move or act until you have attached it to a chassis.
B. Programming Your Robot
Once you have ENGAGED a robot, you can control it on the VIEW screen, through two panels: the Status Panel (lower right - which defaults to its raised state on the VIEW screen) and the Program Panel (center left) which is only visible on the VIEW screen.

When you first see the VIEW screen, the Program Panel is open. Both of these panels can be minimized or maximized: the Program Panel by clicking on the purple tab (top right) and the Status Panel by clicking on the orange tab (top right). You will need to close the Program Panel to see - so why not minimize it and have a look around. Then, when you are ready, you may open it up again and begin to create a program.

The Program Panel has four sections on its left side: COMMANDS, SENSOR WATCHERS, STACK CONTROLLERS, and a final section with SAVE and LOAD buttons and a trash can. The first three sections contain the selection of program blocks from which you may build a program for your RCX.

Programming RCX's is done by connecting the blocks in the order you want things to happen.

You can click on any of the first three sections to open them up. Blocks can be dragged from the list and dropped in the black workspace. If one block is dragged so that it is close to connecting with another, it will snap into place.

The green PROGRAM block represents the starting point of your program. Blocks attached to it will be executed in order, from top to bottom.

  • 1. COMMANDS

    Under COMMANDS,you will always find, at a minimum, FORWARD, TURN LEFT, and TURN RIGHT. These are used to make your RCX move.

    FORWARD can be double-clicked on, allowing you to specify the number of squares your RCX will move.

  • 2.SENSOR WATCHERS

    Under SENSOR WATCHERS, you will find sensor blocks that you can attach to the right side of your PROGRAM block, or to each other, extending outwards to the right. When a sensor block is attached, a gray bar will connect it to the rest of your program. Blocks can then be attached to the sensor blocks, telling your RCX what to do in the event the sensor is tripped.

    The Obstacle Sensor (which you start the game with - the "set of arrows" icon), for instance, allows your RCX to execute a series of commands when your RCX encounters an obstacle. Attaching a TURN LEFT block to the bottom of an Obstacle Sensor would make your RCX turn left whenever its current path is obstructed. Attaching blocks as follows: TURN LEFT, FORWARD (1), TURN RIGHT would make your RCX move to the left and then continue to go forward whenever it runs into something. This is an important, and useful technique.

    Not every sensor you can attach to your RCX has a corresponding SENSOR WATCHER block. Some, like the Video Sensor, have other effects, in this case causing your RCX to remember (and leave revealed) terrain it has moved over.

    Some Sensor Watchers are Directional Sensors. This means that instead of executing the blocks attached to them when the RCX bumps into something, they execute when something is within range nearby. These blocks can be used together with two special COMMAND blocks:

    TURN TOWARDS and TURN AWAY: These blocks can only be attached under a Directional Sensor. When the RCX comes near something the sensor was designed to detect, you can use the TURN TOWARDS or TURN AWAY blocks to direct the robot towards, or away from, the object.
  • 3.STACK CONTROLLERS

    Under STACK CONTROLLERS, you will always find REPEAT, and REPEAT FOREVER. If you drag these blocks out into the workspace, you will see that they are actually made up of two parts. Blocks can be placed between these two pieces, and whatever is inside them will repeat.

    The REPEAT block can be double-clicked, and a number typed in indicating the amount of time to repeatedly execute the blocks inside the repeat block. You can also repeat a random number of times by entering in a range of numbers, like "1-5", or "50-100". In that case, the loop will repeat a random number of times, between the low number entered and the high number.

    The REPEAT FOREVER block will cause whatever blocks are inside of it to run over and over again until the program is stopped, either by you, or outside forces. Unlike a REPEAT block, nothing can be attached below it. If you're not sure why, think about it for a minute. It will come to you.

  • 4.SAVE, LOAD, and the Trash Can

    Programs can be saved in the Cargo Hold's computer for use with other robots, or so you can return to them later for reference.

    Clicking on the small save button brings up a prompt for you to name your saved program. Just pressing ENTER will abort the save.

    Clicking on the load button brings up a menu, from which you can choose a program to load, or delete a saved program. You select the program you want by clicking on it. You may click CANCEL at any time to abort.

    Program Blocks are deleted by dragging them over the small Trash Can icon. When you are holding the block over the trash, a red border will appear around it. If you let go of the mouse while the block is over the trash can, that block, and everything attached to it, will be deleted.

    NOTE: You can leave program blocks loose in the black work area, but if they are not attached to the PROGRAM block, they will not be saved with the rest of your program, and the computer may garbage collect them at any time, so be careful.

  • 5. The Status Panel

    The Status Panel, in the lower right hand corner of the screen, has two modes. By clicking on the buttons on the lower-left or -right corner of the panel, you can select Roster or Status mode. Whichever mode you are in, the corresponding button will be illuminated. You start the game in Roster mode.

    Roster Mode lets you choose the RCX you want to control (if you have more than one) as well as select other items that are under the control of the Cargo Hold's computers, such as datalogs you have picked up and carried back into the bay.

    Clicking on an item in the Roster lets you access or control that item. When you have more than one robot, you may click on the robot you want to control in the menu in order to program it (or stop, or start, its program). You may use the arrow keys to the right side of the panel to scroll up or down.

    Each robot has it's own program. Whenever you click on a robot, that robot's program will be visible in the Program Panel.

    Status Mode shows you information about the currently selected robot - what components are attached, what it is carrying, and what part of its program it is executing, if any.

    The Run and Stop buttons start, or stop the current RCX's program.


C. Sending Your Robot on a Mission
There are undoubtedly a variety of tasks you'd like your RCX to perform right away. As you get more familiar with programming them, you will be able to create programs that allow them to operate more independently.

As the Cargo Hold was damaged heavily on landing, you will have to depend on your environment for resources. You will have to collect raw materials that can be converted into Polymetals and Energy Units, and you will need access to a number of robot parts that you do not have.

Your only recourse will be to search them out as you explore your surroundings. But first things first, you will have enough resources to construct one relatively simple robot, and use that to explore what is close by. There appears to be something unusual just outside the cargo bay... You should carefully investigate this, all the while keeping in mind your central goal - to work up the tools and resources to escape the planet!

Use the movement blocks in the COMMANDS to send your RCX to search the area.

D. Finding Things and Getting Them Home
You start the game with access to a powerful tool - a robotic arm which can be attached to the RCX, enabling it to pick up and carry objects.

Throughout the game, you will be transporting raw materials, such as metal scrap and other salvage, as well as fusionable fuel cells, which can be converted by your automated factory into polymetals and energy units; artifacts that may have been left behind by others, such as datalogs; and robot parts, which, if you find any on the planet surface, can be returned to your cargo bay and analyzed, allowing the matter compiler in your cargo hold to recreate them from your raw materials and attach them to your own RCX's.

Your goal will be to find these things, and carry them back to your bay so that you can put them to use.

Suitable scrap metal should be small enough for the arm to manipulate.

Sources of usable energy which can be manipulated by the arm include Type 7 and 8 energy cells - cylindrical, with a semi-transparent shaft containing the nuclear materials and access ports at either end.

The RCX is equipped with a basic data instrumentation package, which can allow it to access and relay information from computers and datalogs it encounters - picking up a device should automatically start the download process.

If you find a suitable specimen, use the PICK UP instruction, and move the robot back into the cargo bay entrance (where the robot starts, when it is engaged).

Returning an object with electronically stored information to the bay will allow its contents to be permanently copied to the cargo hold's computer.

If your RCX enters the bay while carrying suitable raw materials, they will immediately be relayed to the reactor for conversion.

The arm can only hold one object at a time. Of course, standard practice is to equip your RCX with a Cargo Pod, where the arm can store and retrieve objects, allowing the RCX to collect a large amount of materials, including the raw materials that can run your automated factory and allow it to produce more robots, and more tools for them to use. Unfortunately, you don't have a security clearance high enough to allow you to build one yourself - finding a way to increase your security clearance is therefore a top priority! Without it, you will be limited to carrying things back to your bay one at a time - an extremely time consuming process.

Various sensors also exist which can allow your RCX to search out raw materials automatically. However, the patterns for building them aren't in your computer. If you can find a sample of one and get it back to the bay, however, your RCX's can find raw materials for you!



ADVANCED PLAY

A. Weight, Speed, and Terrain
You start the game with access to the all-purpose Achilles chassis - which works like a tank, with two large treads. It is a good cross between speed, weight capacity, and versatility. It isn't too slow, it can cross a lot of rocky and hazardous terrain, and it can carry a lot of weight. As you gain resources, increase your security level, and gain new patterns for building robot parts, you will find that other chassis components you may use have different tradeoffs.

Each new part you attach to your RCX adds weight. Depending on the chassis that the RCX is using to move around, only so much weight can be supported. Faster, lighter chassises will not be able to carry all of the heavy equipment that the Achilles can.

In addition, you must become acquainted with the various roles for which the chassis modules you will encounter were designed. Some were made for speed, but they buy this speed with an inability to traverse rough ground. Others were made to be able to cross truly hazardous terrain, but will be very slow in return, and will not be able to carry nearly as much weight.

Pay attention to the details described on the Info Panel in the Bay screen as you hold your mouse over the various choices in the Chassis menu, and be aware of the various hazards that exist with each choice.

B. Environmental Hazards
You are stranded in a cargo hold on an uncharted stellar body of unknown origin, capable of inexplicably intercepting a modern interplanetary space vessel. You have extremely limited resources and no knowledge of your surroundings. There is evidence of alien life outside.

Proceed with extreme caution lest harm befall your equipment or yourself.

C. Salvaging RCX Units in the Field.
If you happen to encounter a rogue or damaged RCX unit, it may be possible to reassign it to the control of the Cargo Hold computers by clicking on it in the view screen.