PATRIOTS
FOR THE VECTREX ARCADE SYSTEM
BY JOHN DONDZILA
PROGRAMMING, MANUAL AND ORIGINAL ARTWORK (C) 1996



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OBJECTIVE:

Terrorist missiles are in flight and on route to your country. You 
control the tracking system of the most advanced Patriot missile system 
in the world.

It is your mission to shoot down every incoming missile and protect the 
cities in your country.

 

GETTING STARTED

With your Vectrex turned off, insert the Patriots game cartridge into 
the Vectrex cartridge slot with the label side up.

Inserting the cartridge upside down could possibly damage the cartridge 
or your Vectrex.

Turn the Vectrex on. You will see the familiar Vectrex start up screen 
and shortly the Patriots introduction screen will appear.

 

HOW TO PLAY:

At any time during the Patriots title screen, press button 1 to begin.

You will see a game option screen. Press button 2 to select the 
targeting speed. 1 is slowest, 4 is fastest. Press button 4 to start 
playing.

When the game starts, you will see a crosshair in the center of the 
screen.

Use the joystick control to move the crosshair up, down or diagonally.

If you feel the crosshair moves too slow, you may press button 1 at 
any time during the game to change the speed of the crosshair.

At the bottom left and right corners of the screen you will see two 
rectangular objects. These are the Patriot missile launchers. As the 
site moves around, the launchers will track your site.

Pressing button 3 will fire a Patriot from the left launcher. Pressing 
button 4 will fire a Patriot from the right launcher. The Patriot will 
streak towards the last position of the crosshair at the time it was 
fired. When the Patriot reaches this location it will detonate. When 
it detonates, an explosion will grow in size and intensity.

When that explosion reaches its peak, it will the shrink and fade. Any 
enemy objects caught in the explosion before it starts to fade will be 
destroyed.

Underneath each launcher is a line. This line represents how many 
Patriots that launcher has left. The line will grow shorter each time 
you fire. When the line is gone, you have used up that launchers supply 
of Patriots.

The amount of Patriots that you have in supply will increase during 
each level.

At the bottom of the screen are six diamond shaped objects. These 
objects represent your cities. If an enemy missile detonates too close 
to a city, that city will be destroyed. When all six cities have been 
destroyed, the game is over.

 

THE ENEMY:

Enemy missiles will start at the top of the screen They are represented 
by bright white dots with dim lines showing their vapor trail. They 
will close in on your cities and launchers When they hit the ground, 
they will detonate. Any city or launcher caught in their explosion will 
be destroyed

To destoy a missile, target the bright dot and fire. Any missile caught 
in your Patriot's explosion will be destroyed in the air. Any nearby 
missiles or targets will also be caught in the explosion, resulting in 
brilliant chain reactions.

During the game, enemy planes and spacecraft will pass overhead. If you 
do not destroy them quickly, they will launch more missiles at you and 
your cities.

Smart missiles will also appear during the game These diamond shaped 
objects will home in on a single city or launcher. If a Patriot 
detonates below a smart missile, the smart missile may be able to evade 
the explosion and continue on course.

When you have destroyed all of the enemy missiles in a level, you will 
be awarded bonus points for remaining Patriots in your launchers and 
any cities that have not been destroyed

The amount of enemy missiles that attack will increase after each level

If both of your Patriot launchers are destroyed or are empty, the game 
will speed up rapidly to end the level

 

SCORING:

Your score is shown at the bottom center of the screen.

The game score and level indicator will tell you alot.

The first six levels are score multipliers. Any object hit will score 
points multiplied by that score multiplier. The maximum multiplier is 6.

Hit enemy missiles are 10 points
Hit spaceships/planes are 25 points
Hit smart missiles are 50 points
Leftover patriots are 5 points each
Surviving cities are 50 points each

Everytime your score hits a multiple of 10,000 you will receive a bonus 
city. Any city destroyed will be replaced by a bonus city. You can win 
up to 6 bonus cities per game

 

TIPS AND OTHER NOTES:

Should you need to take a break to do something else, a pause feature 
is also included in Patriots. During game play, you can press button 2 
to pause the game. Press button 2 again to unpause the game.

There is a secret game contained within the Patriots game program. 
There are hints on the box cover and in this manual to help you find it.

For information on other Vectrex and classic video game projects, visit 
the author's web page at:

http://www.monmouth.com/~pcjohn

You can contact John Dondzila via E-Mail at:

pcjohn@monmouth.com