Letters from Terra - Programming - Trooper II

		Monsters There are various unpleasent nasties employed by the great controlling power, 'Macrosoft', to hinder Fred in his quest for the destruction of the global dominion of the computer industry. Most of these will bite; killing Fred if he comes too near (sadly production deadlines meant the "bite back" option was never implemented. Role on Trooper III!); and several of them can shoot, shover Fred, Freeze Fred up, or blow him to smithereens. This section of the guide gives a short description of each monster, and the stategies that can be employed against them
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Red Monsters, or "reds". These are the pawns of Gates' defence, and they'll be thrown at you by the bucket load. Take one balster shot to die; and will blow up spactacularly if ignited (Reds are flamable). The best way to deal with these things is to pick them off with explosives; grenades and the like; or to wade through them with them blaster. Individually, they're unlikely to kill; but in congregations are the most common cause of death. Have legs, so can climb stairs.

Green Monsters, or "greens". Bizarre, LSD fueled green fluorescent hedgehogs on rollerskates. As a result, can't climb stairs, but hey; you can't have everything. Nevertheless, are rather more dangerous then their red brothers and sisters; take two shots to kill, and move somewhat faster on their little skates. Wading in with the blaster where there are more then around 4 would not be advisable. Explosives are far more efficient; but landmines are ineffectual, since this monster is easily smart enough not to walk strait into these and other hazards. Beware.

Immobile gunners. These sit, watching backwards and forwards or concentrating on a strategic point, and will shoot you with a blaster if you make yourself apparent. When facing the wrong way can be sneaked up on; but if you stand on the gunner itself, its self defence systems will kick in and kill you. It is possible to engage one in a shoot out; but more than one makes for a difficult battle, with a blaster at least. Missiles or machine gun are the prefered way to despatch of these unpleasent, and all too prolific guards. Will overlook you if you're crouching in cover, or sneaking behind their backs. Can ride vertical platforms, and are good markspeople. Since they don't have to move, are heavily armoured - 3 blaster hits will finish them; but explosions quickly damage their circuitry.

Tanks. These are enormous, heavy, and extremely slow moving mobile rocket launchers. Make youself too obvious, and a heat seeking missile is very likely to find you. Extremely heavily armoured - resisting five blaster hits; but their main defence is the missiles they launch rapidly at a moments notice. The best strategy with these guys is to use stealth; creep behind their backs; but taking them on with light of day or some missiles is always an option. Far too expensive to be as expendable as to walk into mines; but as a result, are thankfully badly distributed.

Windows monsters. These are the least lethal, but the most blasted irritating monsters in the game. A direct creation of Gates himself, these windows monsters are spawned from the operating system and exist only to crash! When they make contact with Fred, you will be frozen for a matter of 5 seconds before you are reanimated. Their strange, eratic flight makes them very difficult to hit, even with the machine gun; and so can prove incredibly hard to kill, although they can only sustain one blaster hit. The best was to avoid them is to duck; which renders you immune; but this can prove difficult in many situations. Don't bother wasting missiles or machine gun on these blighters; have a blast with the blaster, but don't be surprised if they keep coming. Nausiatingly regular.

Flying bombers. These are the long distance worriors, dropping bombs far above. Unless you are in the fortuitous position demonstrated in the picture, are not usually worth killing; since their metal carapace can resis three blaster hits, and often you have to aim upwards whilst avoiding the dropping bombs. These bombs fall downwards and explode when they hit you, a monster, or a platform; with the same power as a grenade. The key to avoiding these bombs is the rhythm; there is a regular interval between the impact of each incendary.

Shunting monsters ("blues"). These are the other non-lethal monster in the game; and exist merely to bar your way. Literally impossible to penetrate, these will block off you path unless you blow them away. Their shunt makes tham very resistant to damage; surviving 20 blaster shots; and so this is definetly a case where grenades, or possibly missiles, should be used. Can be a pain if they push you off platforms.