DAMOCLES

DAMOCLES (?) (?)

On Midas reference (577-341) you can find a pyramid which contains a magic crystal. To use it, you'll need the book from the trader at Eris Capital City (13-5). Reading the book while in possession of the crystal will allow one wish to be granted. You may like to try some of the following wishes.

I WISH I HAD A CHEESE SANDWICH
I WISH I HAD MORE TIME
I WISH I COULD RECIEVE 1,000,000 CREDITS
I WISH I KNOW HOW TO USE AUTHOR'S COMPUTER
I WISH I HAD MERCENARY 3 NOW
I WISH THE UNIVERSE WAS MORE COLOURFUL

Solution:

MISSION 1: SABOTAGE
A frantic dash to recover your Damocles game from an evil influence in under ten minutes!

Professor Hantzen got extra mad when he learned that you were on the way to save Eris. So, just before you arrive, he's accepted the President's offer (after negotiating a very worthwhile reward), and got the ship intended for you. Along with one or two other useful items, this has now been blown up. But not before he set a lump of explosive to destroy the Novabomb on top of the spaceport tower. His intention was to sabotage your game. You have a little less than ten minutes to beat him at his own game!

YOUR MISSION
Starting with the V.I.P. Limo, and no transporter to take you from Capital City, you've got to get a craft that can fly you up to retrieve and disarm the explosive before it blows.

BRIEFING
There's a ship for sale for 9000CR at the trading post at 08:14. Pity you spent 5000CR on Bacchus before arriving. You could sell the car, but there's not enough time to walk about. The only way is some frantic motoring around to trade with what you find until you can afford the Best Cupand.

SOLUTION
Drive to the State Office. Collect the Air Conditioner and Settee and sell these at the Trading Posts at 12:03 and 13:03. Drive on to the Power Station at 14:05, to collect the Heat Resistant Suit and sell this on the way back at 14:03. Drive on up to the Post Office at 12:14 and collect the A-Z Computer, then sell this at 14:15. Now you can afford the ship. It's tight on time. Nigel Mansell could do it. Can you?

MISSION 2: BAD LUCK
By your own doing, you arrive on Eris even later. That's if you can get there at all.

Finding the facilities on Bacchus irresistable, you've called in on your way to Eris. While the State President anxiously awaits your arrival, you've just lost all your money, and your spacecraft, in a 'double or quits' gamble at Uncle's Casino. But all is not lost. The benevolent casino manager has loaned you his car on the understanding that you are not about to use the 'quit' option. It is somewhat unfortunate that a previous visitor from Pan has scrambled most of the regular transporter system.

YOUR MISSION
Check out the modified transporter arrangements and get yourself a new spacecraft. Then fly on to Eris and accept the President's assignment, which you need to complete in the time remaining.

BRIEFING
You'll certainly want a flight craft as soon as possible, even if this is not fitted for space travel. There's an extra-fast spacecraft, the Bullet, parked at the military base on Thalia. Remember, you'll be going into areas where Red Beacons are the indicators.

SOLUTION
Drive to Transporter 8 and collect the Red Beacon Indicator from the airport building. Go through to Transporter 9 and collect the Concord key from Mentor Airport. Return and then fly Concorde to Transporter 7, picking up the Red Beacon as a marker, and fly to the Pan Hades Labour Camp admin office to collect the Bullet key from the first floor. Fly back to Transporter 6 and through to Transporter 5 on Thalia to then collect the Bullet. Off you go to Eris for the new challenge!

MISSION 3: GO FOR GOLD
You arrive on Eris, only to find that another mercenary has got there first.

The main commodity is gold in this trading extravaganza. Once you've got 4,840,000 CR you can readily save Eris, but then with only the Lloyds reward to go for...

A selfish mercenary has arrived ahead of you. Rejecting the President's offer, this oppurtunist has plundered three of the Novatriggers and the Novabomb, and sold these at Eris trading posts. Having arrived late, you feel obliged to pick up the pieces and save Eris knowing that Lloyds will at least reward you for saving the comet. In preparation for this task you've spent your last 9000CR to buy the Best Cupand and flown over to Key Island to swap this for the more versatile Dart II. You've collected some useful and some valuable objects and done a little trading.

YOUR MISSION
Locate the three Novatriggers and the Novabomb to determine how much more you need to earn to buy this back. Together with what you hold, six bars of gold will suffice.

RIEFING
The Lawson Bank Repository on Tolosa holds four bars of gold, with others to be found on Chaldea City and at Solon. Provided you can sell all valuables at the most advantageous prices and then be lucky at Uncle's Casino you will generate sufficient funds for the mission. You'll find the trading post at Mentor 05:03 more than generous, and a firm commodity market in trading posts on Logos, Vesta, and surprisingly, on Eris.

SOLUTION
Use Geiger Counter to locate Novabomb. The three triggers are in Eris Capital trading posts around 13:04. Fly via the Transporter to Bacchus then over to Tolosa. Blow repository door and collect 4 Gold. Return to Bacchus, take Dart then walk through to Transporter 6 at Chaldea. Take this transporter outside. Collect Gold from 06:06. Transport to Eris and fly to Penn School on Solon for the final Gold. Transport to 7, Logos. Sell the Greenhouse Effect at 08:03, Briefcase at 07:00 and Gold at 08:00, 07:03 and 06:02. Back on Eris sell Gold at 15:15 and Beacon Indicator at 14:15. Fly to Vesta and sell Gold at 05:03 and 06:03. Transport to Mentor to sell AntiGrav at 05:03. Transport to Bacchus and at Uncle's Casino, gamesave, then double your money. On Eris, at trading posts with triggers, turn each 'on'. Buy Novabomb. Transport to Chaldea to buy the fourth trigger, then blow Icarus before 1 hr:40 mins.

MISSION 4: NIGHTMARE
Just when you thought you had succeeded, magnificently, you receive some bad news.

You're into explosive action with this alternative to the Novabomb solution.

Congratulations. You've used the Novabomb to save Eris and the Comet. You've gained the reward for both, done a little trading and now have mega-millions in credits. You owe yourself a holiday, and where better than at the Cyclopes IDI Camp? And then the news comes through. The Group 4 scientists have miscalculated. The precise moment that you took out Icarus is not working to the predicted effect. Damocles moves relentlessly on. Lloyds were covered with cock-up insurance, so they won't take the rewards back, and Margaret will come across with an additional 25,000,000 CR for you to now destroy the comet.

YOUR MISSION
With the Novabomb gone, you need to use the explosives equivalent: eight pieces of explosive placed together at setting 9 will blow Damocles. There are nine pieces in their usual locations.

BRIEFING
With just 1 hr:30 mins to go, you'll need to get moving. Boarding your Targ Tourer, take the exit road and go left at the first junction to regain your Dart II. Chart the optimum course to call at Gaea, Eris and Theon to get eight explosives and the Timed Detonator. The penalty if you find just seven at these locations is a trip to Dion.

SOLUTION
Fly to 08-08 Vulcan Island, Gaea, then on to the Industrial Co-ops 1 and 2, at 01-02 and 05-02 Ur City for the first three. Fly over to 08-08 at Chaldea Metropolis to use the transporter through to No. 1, for the timed detonator. Then transport to No. 4, to collect the briefcase. Return to transporter 6, and fly to Eris. The 4th set of explosives is to be found in the basement (yes!) of Hathaway's on Snow Island. At the Hantzen Lab, you increase your holding to seven and then fly to 02-03 on the moon Theon to collect the eighth. You should now have enough time to make it to Damocles!

MISSION 5: THE WISHES SOLUTION
Significant help with one of the oblique solutions to the challenge of Damocles.

The Midas puzzle unravelled - at least as far as finding the pyramid number that you require. But then, to find the pyramid!!! Not recommended for players of an impatient disposition.

One of the more oblique solutions to Damocles is hinted at in the Briefing File with a reference to the Mystical Order of Carpenters. Their Membership Secretary has decided that, if you can collect the President's Reward, you might just afford their joining fee. So a few strings have been pulled to help you on the way. The Novagen Office on Birmingham Island is a good source of clues. This is where you start and you are already in possession of a valuable book!

YOUR MISSION
Check the file in your Inventory display and then read the contents of the Novagen Safe for a spectacular clue. Set off on the trail indicated. Two Red Beacons have been strategically placed to assist. Find the hidden number that identifies the pyramid on Midas that holds the Magic Crystal.

BRIEFING
Now where did you see those twelve star-sign markings? Look an' you should find the means to translate that alien script hidden on Acheron. Given the pyramid number, you should remember that not all scripts read from left to right.

SOLUTION
As well as the LEO clue in the Novagen Cabinet, you'll find helpful information under the titles YOU WISH and MILLIONS in the Novagen Safe. Board the Dart, and fly to 03-14 to use the transporter on the 1st floor. Carrying the Dart, transport to No. 5 (Eris 11-08). Fly to Lucan to find a pair of reading glasses. Return to Capital City 11-08 and go back through to transporter No. 2, once again carrying the ship. Fly from Dion to Acheron, and at the Sphinx at 03-06, a concealed door is indicated by a red beacon. By holding the glasses alien characters are translated for you to give you the number of the Midas pyramid. On Midas, a knowledge of hexadecimal is useful, an appreciation of which number pairings are most significant is almost essential, and a lot of patience is invaluable.

Back