Damocles - Mercenary II - 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.

 BRIEFING
 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 Anti-Grav 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.

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 Typed by ???  Edited by PARASITE.