As the game begins, you are summoned to the Briefing Room, but have no idea
where one would be. It is your job to find your way through the catacombs of
Plastic Factory K. If you do not in enough time (10-15 turns), you will be
found by an escort bot who will ensure your arrival at the briefing for the
mere price of one of your lives. You are warned you have six in all, and so
to be extra careful around Alpha Complex.
In order to preserve one of your clones, the secret path to the Briefing Room
from your position on the Assembly Line is {s,e,u,e,e,s}.
During the briefing you learn that you are to lead your stalwart band of six
on a delivery of "Zah boxes," ie, pizza to an undisclosed location. Thus
begins frustrated task number two. Actually, it is your final goal, so once
you deliver the Zah the game will end. All the other puzzles are merely ways
to run your score up in the meantime. The final destination of the Zah is
one of six locations, randomly chosen by The Computer. North of rooms
beginning with the trigram SSR is room called CMT SCM in which is a slot for
you to place the boxes into. Pick up the boxes and let's get started.
You'll notice once you leave the Briefing Room you have to go to PLC and to
Research and Development, neither of which do much for you except provide
color-text and potential amusement. To endure these, head e,e,s,w. Once you
head west, there is no way to get back to PLC or RND. In fact, once you return
to the location of the Briefing Room you'll discover it's no longer called
"Briefing Room," instead taking on the name "NOM ORE." A dossier is on the
table, which contains a coded message. It can be decoded with the decoder ring
found {n,e,n,w} of the ex-Briefing Room. Turn the left dial on the ring to
'K' and the right dial to 'S' for the message. My wife is named Kristin and
my name is Stephen, hence the correct labels on the dials.
In LSD DSL {e,s,s} of NOM ORE you will find a bottle of HapE PilZ. To get one,
hand the bottle to your Morale Officer. It is yet another way to gain a little
happiness, if only temporarily. From now on, the {*} notation is a series of
directions from NOM ORE, the central staging area of the game.
Be careful eating the slop that drops from the chute in the Dining Hall {e,n},
for it may be food poisoned. To get the slop, place the lunch tray on the
target. The button summons a serve-bot, but alas Red troubleshooter, it is not
your place to be served. Red herring.
In PUR PLE {s,s,s,w,s}, is an old man who dies before your eyes. It is
possible that one of your fellow troubleshooters will turn you in for failing
to report the death. Alternatively, you can dispose of the body in the trash
can in 4MO SSS {n,e}. Remove the gloves from the old man and put them on to
get the Tube o' Goo in KMI KIL {n,w,w,d}. The goo doesn't really do anything,
but if you ever need to lube a bot, you'd be set.
You can try to go north of B17 46G, but every time you do a laser will try to
shoot you. It is a wonderful way to waste clones.
The laser pistols you are equipped with by the tricky dwarf in PLC doesn't do
anything either. They're just Plastic Factory K's reject guns.
The paperwork exists to occupy a space in your inventory. Isn't that always
the case!
The trusty purbotnitz is merely a metaphoric representation of your pride. It
is not necessarily needed for anything, especially in Plastic Factory K.
Never return to the Assembly Line if you are summoned over the loudspeaker! It
is merely a plot to kill off one of your clones.
If you are summoned to Atomic Restructuring, make sure you report at least five
things to The Computer beforehand. As a Troubleshooter, it is your job to
report traitors.
The screw in 218 IMO {n,w,w,d,s,w} is also not really for any real use. But
it is another way to deliver a demeaning passage to the player, which is part
of the point of the world. I don't personally like the idea of turning players
off to games, but for this particular world it is necessary.
The orange phone in {n,w,s} is for Orange level cleared personnel only. Do not
lift the receiver.
There are more little secrets in the game, and you'll have to find most of them
to receive the full 60 points. Be pleased to score 50 or more.
