Starquest

## Description

Exploring a radioactive planet in the Betelgeuse sector, long desolate after
the self-destruction of a legendary warlike race, you come upon a passageway
leading underground. Much to your dismay, you discover that the aliens did not
entirely self-destruct and that they are belligerent. Your escape is closed
off; the only way to escape and warn Earth is to destroy the alien ships, find
the hidden translocator, and zap to… another alien warbase.

Each maze-like warbase is protected by squads of three or four different alien
ships with different capabilities. The Fighters just shoot at you, where the
Annihilators, for instance, drop a ticking mine canister which wipes out the
entire warbase. The translocator doesn’t appear until you’ve destroyed the
guards, and if you take too long with that, the Vexers arrive, making a
beeline for your ship, walls notwithstanding.

You are far from helpless, however. Your ship can shoot in four directions and
comes equipped with hyperdrive units, which are partially replenished by each
translocator you nab. Hyperdrive zaps you to a random location in the warbase,
a big help when Chasers are zeroing in on you. You can generate an antimatter
field, too; that destroys all the walls, another life-saver when you’re racing
to the translocator with Vexers hot on your tail.

As you might expect, bonus ships are granted at point thresholds, and the
warbases go on and on.

Starquest