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=                                 THRESHOLD                                   =
*                                COMMODORE 64                                 *
=                            FAQ / STRATEGY GUIDE                             =
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Author: Sashanan
Date: 22 September 2005
Version: 1.1

DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2005. All rights
reserved.

You are granted permission to make copies of this FAQ (electronical or
physical) for your own, personal use. Furthermore, non-commercial, freely
accessible websites are allowed to upload a copy of this FAQ as long as it is
posted in its full, original form (including this disclaimer) and credited
to Sashanan.

You are not authorized to upload this FAQ on a commercial website and/or
charge for its viewing, or make money off it in any other imaginable way,
without my explicit written permission. Furthermore, you are not allowed to
edit this guide in any way, use it as a basis for your own guide, or post it
without giving proper credit. This is considered plagiarism.

This FAQ is protected by international copyright laws and failure to
comply with the terms in this disclaimer will result in legal prosecution.


===============================================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===============================================================================

[1] Overview
[2] Controls
[3] Basic strategy
[4] Advanced strategy
[5] Revision history
[6] Final words


===============================================================================
[1] OVERVIEW
===============================================================================

In a tried and true classic arcade scenario - one often revisited in early
eighties games - it's you against an army of alien invaders, though they take
rather unique shapes this time around. You move your ship left and right along
the bottom of the screen, shooting down a wave of enemy ships before they
shoot you or collide with you. Enemies that disappear off-screen on any of the
four sides reappear on the other side, making things a little more hectic than
you might expect.

Threshold also has a fairly unique way of keeping you from shooting as much
as you want. While your laser shots travel fast and can be followed up very
quickly, every time you fire your lasers will heat up, and they will only
gradually cool down if you stop firing for a moment. Fire too much and your
lasers will overheat and refuse to function until they've cooled down quite a
bit. Needless to say, this makes you pretty vulnerable.

Your goal is to destroy as many waves of enemies as you can. After every four
waves, your mothership will stop by to refuel your craft. Take too long to
destroy four successive ways, and you will run out of fuel and lose the game.
Alternatively, if all your ships are destroyed by the enemy, you will lose as
well. Good performance against the enemy will result in scoring points and
getting extra ships to replace the ones you lose.

Each wave presents a different kind of enemy, though this is mostly just
visual and doesn't affect their behavior. Still, some enemies are a lot easier
to hit than others. If you destroy twenty waves of enemies, you've seen them
all and the game will congratulate you; but after a brief pause the action
will continue, and the waves will recycle forever, for as long as you can hold
out.


===============================================================================
[2] CONTROLS
===============================================================================

Threshold was made back in the day when controlling games was still simple,
manual or not, and games certainly didn't have to come with quick reference
cards. Use the joystick to move your ship left and right along the bottom of
the screen; you can't move up or down. Press the fire button to fire your
laser cannon. You can fire it rapidly by tapping the button, but be careful,
your laser will heat up quickly if you handle it like this. If your laser
overheats, you cannot fire until it cools down sufficiently.

After every four waves, your mothership will come in to refuel you. This
procedure is automatic and you cannot control your ship while it happens.


===============================================================================
[3] BASIC STRATEGY
===============================================================================

The game basically consists of five sequences of four waves each, at the end
of which you meet up with your mothership. The first, second and fourth waves
have enemies moving around in erratic patterns near the top of the screen,
then gradually coming down at you. When they reach the bottom of the screen
they will reappear at the top. The third wave of each sequence works
differently; enemies move from left to right, appearing to the left again when
they leave the screen, and never come down. In this wave, the enemies are far
easier to hit and can't ever collide with you, but they shoot at you far more.
Still, this is the easiest wave of each sequence.

- In the "regular" waves (any but the third of each sequence), quickly take
out a few enemies to reduce the number of counterattacks, then start taking
them out deliberately one by one, pausing about two seconds between shots. Try
to keep your laser from getting too hot. It will cool down a little bit
between waves, but not much, only cooling down completely when your mothership
arrives, or if you lose a ship.

- Your laser will jump into max "overheated" status when your heat bar is about
4/5ths full. It will then remain overheated and unusable until heat returns
to about half full. Clearly, getting your laser overheated will cause a longer
delay than is needed, so keep it from getting there and introduce breaks in
your own firing patterns for better results.

- Enemies will usually (but not always) stay roughly where they are
horizontally. In other words, enemies that start at the right of the screen
will usually stay there, going steadily down, sometimes a little left and
right, but usually hanging around the same spot. Do note that the enemies that
hang around the very edge of the screen will often wrap around to the other
side. The point is, though, that if you focus on enemies in a specific area,
that area will become noticeably quieter. It's a good idea to clear one half
of the screen and then make quick incursions in the other half, sneaking in a
few shots when their own fire isn't so thick. I usually start with the right
side, but that's up to you.

- The third wave of each sequence is easier for the most part. Hold still and
make your shots count. Focus on the enemies that are closest to you as their
shots are harder to avoid. Shoot three or four times in succession and then
let your laser cool down before you continue. Be ready to avoid counterfire,
but otherwise move as little as possible and you'll find most shots pass you
by. The only real danger in this stage is getting triggerhappy (let's face it,
the enemies *are* sitting ducks in this wave) and overheating your laser.

- Your fuel supply effectively puts a time limit on completing each sequence
of four waves. However, it's a rare thing that you really need too long to
clear a wave. Don't hurry - this will only cause your laser to overheat and
cost you even more time, if you don't get killed outright. It's best to just
steadily chip away at your enemies and not worry about fuel.

- If you *are* short on fuel and your laser overheats, let yourself be killed
(assuming it's not your last ship). Your replacement will have a fully cooled
down laser. For some odd reason, fuel supply *is* shared between all your
ships, and running out of fuel is an instant game over.


===============================================================================
[4] ADVANCED STRATEGY
===============================================================================

- Smaller enemies are the biggest threat as they're harder to hit. It's
tempting to just punch the fire button like mad and watch them go down, but
this obviously leads to overheating. Work on your accuracy and strife to never
miss a shot. An added advantage is that the extra time you now need to aim will
be that much more downtime for your laser and let it cool down more!

- It's easiest to let your laser cool down just before ending a wave. Destroy
all enemies except one or two, then wait for the laser to cool down as much
as you think it needs to (doesn't have to be all the way). Obviously, with so
few enemies left, dodging them and their shots will be a simple affair, much
more so than if your laser overheats immediately at the start of the next
level.

- End the second wave of each sequence with your laser up to 1/4th heat at
most. Otherwise you're going to have trouble keeping it from overheating in
the next wave. Remember, the third wave is the one in which you have to shoot
the quickest at the start of the wave.

- At the end of the fourth wave you don't need to let your laser cool down as
it will do so automatically when your mothership comes in.

- In the first, second and fourth waves, be wary of enemies that just left
the screen at the bottom and reappeared at the very top. Due to their crazy
random patterns, they may shoot back up a bit and reappear at the bottom,
resulting in nasty, unexpected collisions.

- You can make great progress against enemies in the first, second and
fourth waves by hugging the edge of the screen and taking out whichever ones
wrap around from the other side. You can often hit the side of their ship
before they're fully back on screen and able to fire back.

- You get a bonus ship at 5000 points and subsequent ones at 15000, 25000,
35000 etc. The number of points you get for shooting down an enemy increase
with every wave, and keep increasing even after the game "resets" when you've
destroyed all 20 waves. You also get bonus points for the fuel you have left
when the mothership appears; this is significant early on but pales in
comparison to what you get for shooting your enemies late in the game.

- Although the game does not have a true ending - the waves keep recycling
forever - it will crash if you earn more bonus ships than fit on the screen.
All sorts of graphical weirdness occurs and eventually the game stops
running entirely. It's a little crude, but you could consider this your
final victory over Threshold. :) Depending on how many ships you lose, this
will easily require you to play the 20 waves through three or four times in
succession. Eventually you will get bonus ships quicker and quicker due to the
ever increasing value of your enemies.


===============================================================================
[5] REVISION HISTORY
===============================================================================

v1.0: (15 Mar '05) First version of the FAQ.

v1.1: (22 Sep '05) Updated contact info.

Barring any corrections, I have no updates planned for this FAQ. It already
reflects the entirety of my knowledge on the game. Nonetheless, if there's
something else you'd like to see in here, please mail me your suggestion.


===============================================================================
[6] FINAL WORDS
===============================================================================

ABOUT THIS FAQ
Threshold's not a complicated game by anybody's definition, and initially I
let this keep me from writing a FAQ for it. Then I realized that if I don't do
it, probably nobody will (hey, nobody did over the past 20 years). And a short
FAQ's better than none at all.

For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, please contact
the author, Sashanan, at [email protected]. This e-mail address is for
FAQ feedback only. Whatever you wish to share about this document or
Galaxian, chances are I'll want to hear it. Any serious mail will be answered.

If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do. When in doubt, you can always mail me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sashanan is a Dutch software engineer who feels that the shorter the FAQ, the
more important it is to keep filler to a minimum. Hence this is all he has to
say about himself this time around.

This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2005. All rights
reserved. Disclaimer at top of document.

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