xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx FAQ TITLE: The Optimized Straightforward Walkthru for Starcross COPYRIGHT INFO: This FAQ is copyright 2009-2010 by Stanley E. Dunigan (dunigase@yahoo.com). This FAQ may be posted and used anywhere by anyone as long as it's unaltered, but always check one of the official websites listed below for the latest version. GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) SuperCheats (www.supercheats.com) Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com) Cheat Happens (www.cheathappens.com) FAQ DESCRIPTION: Like all of my optimized straightforward walkthrus, this FAQ is a complete walkthru for the game that has been optimized and organized to make it as fast and easy as possible to complete the game. I don't give any reference-style information, like a list of all rods, or encourage you to do unnecessary things. In true walkthru fashion, I just tell you the answers without explaining or rationalizing them. VERSION 1.0 (4/20/2009) NOTES AND CREDITS: This is the original release of this FAQ, so I have no special notes or credits to report yet. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx NOTE: This FAQ was written while playing the Starcross version that came with the Lost Treasures of Infocom package that was released in 1991 by Activision. As far as I know, everything will be the same for other game versions. *** STEP 1: Set course for the alien artifact. *** Get out of your bunk (GET UP), then get the tape library and go east to the bridge. Press the red button to cancel the alarm, then check the mass detector's screen (READ SCREEN) to see which UM you're supposed to set course for. Find it on the chart below to learn its R, Theta, and Phi coordinates. UM# R THETA PHI -------------------- 08 150 210 17 12 100 345 107 24 100 285 87 28 250 45 178 31 150 105 67 52 175 165 35 70 100 135 101 91 50 15 121 To enter those cooordinates, use the following format: COMPUTER, R IS #. THETA IS #. PHI IS #. If you got UM08, the command would be COMPUTER, R IS 150. THETA IS 210. PHI IS 17. After you get that entered, confirm it with the COMPUTER, CONFIRM command, then sit down on the control couch (SIT) and put on your seat belt (FASTEN BELT). *** STEP 2: Board the alien artifact. *** Use the WAIT command until your ship gets pulled in by the alien artifact. After it does, get up off of the safety couch (UNFASTEN BELT. GET UP). Go east to the storage room, then get the space suit and safety line. Go back west, then open the inner airlock door (OPEN INNER DOOR). Enter the airlock with the OUT command, then close the inner door. Put on the space suit (WEAR SUIT), then open the outer airlock door. Use the OUT command again to get to the red dock, then examine the metal sculpture that's on the artifact's airlock door (EXAMINE SCULPTURE). The ten circular bumps represent Earth's solar system (the sun plus the nine planets), and the artifact wants to make sure you're from Earth before it lets you in. Why? I don't know. Just press the bump that represents the Earth (PRESS FOURTH BUMP), then push down on the tiny column that rises up (PUSH TINY COLUMN). Get the black crystal rod to open the airlock door, then use the IN command to enter the red airlock. Close the outer door, then take off the space suit and open the inner door. Go up to enter the red hall. *** STEP 3: Get the red and yellow crystal rods. *** Go north, west, and north to find the artifact's zoo. Go east to the nesting room, then destroy the rat-ants' nest with the tape library (THROW LIBRARY AT NEST). Get the library and the red rod, then go west and south to exit the zoo. Go west and south, then open the blue airlock's inner door. Go down, close the inner door, and open the outer door. Go down again to reach the blue dock, then use the AFT command twice to enter the spider guy's spherical ship. Give him your tape library (GIVE LIBRARY), then get the yellow rod that he tosses toward you. *** STEP 4: Repair three vital systems. *** Use the FORE command twice to return to the blue dock, then go up. Close the outer door, then open the inner door and go up twice, then south. Open the metal hatch, then go down to find the repair room. Get the metal and ceramic square, then use the yellow rod to repair the yellow hallway's lights (PUT YELLOW ROD IN YELLOW SLOT), and the red rod to fix the air circulation system (PUT RED ROD IN SECOND RED SLOT). Go up, north, and down to return to the blue hall. Go east, north, east, north, east, and south to reach the computer room. Open the computer's access panel (OPEN PANEL), then put the metal and ceramic square into the empty slot (PUT SQUARE IN SLOT). Close the access panel, then boot up the computer (TURN COMPUTER ON) and get the gold rod that falls onto the floor. *** STEP 5: Get three more crystal rods and a rod-carrying basket. *** Go north, east twice, south, and west to find the observatory. Locate the clear crystal rod inside the projector (LOOK IN PROJECTOR THROUGH BLACK ROD), then take it (GET CLEAR ROD). Now drop the black rod since you won't ever need it again. Go east, south three times, and west, then pick up the ray gun. Look in the ray gun's barrel (LOOK IN BARREL), then take the silver rod that you find there. Go east, north, and west, then open the yellow airlock's inner door. Go down and get the metal basket, then put all of your rods into it (PUT ALL RODS IN BASKET). Close the inner door and wear the space suit, then open the outer door (OPEN OUTER DOOR. AGAIN) and go down. Tie the safety line to yourself and the nearby hook (TIE LINE TO SUIT. TIE LINE TO HOOK), then go west and get the pink rod. Go back east, untie the line from the hook (UNTIE LINE), then go up. Close the outer door, remove the space suit, drop the safety line, and open the inner door. *** STEP 6: Get four more crystal rods. *** Go up, south twice, and east to find the laboratory. Get the red and blue disks, then save your game in case a maintenance mouse shows up and makes off with something before you're done here. Put the red disk on the floor underneath the silvery globe (PUT RED DISK UNDER GLOBE). Drop the blue disk, then set the ray gun on top of the globe (PUT RAY GUN ON GLOBE). Turn the machine's dial to 4 (TURN DIAL TO 4), then turn it to 1. You can now type GET ALL to reclaim the ray gun and two disks, plus the blue rod. Use the PUT ALL RODS IN BASKET command again, then go west, south, and west. Drop the red disk, then go west, north twice, and east to enter the weasel village. Go east again to the village center, then wait until the weasel chief shows up and "asks" for your space suit. Give it to him (GIVE SUIT), then point at the brown crystal rod he has (POINT AT BROWN ROD) to choose it as your reward. The chief takes off right after giving you the rod, so follow him with the FOLLOW CHIEF command. Use the AGAIN command until the chief leads you to the center of the warren, where you can go down to enter the green airlock. Close the inner door and open the outer door, then go down and west twice to enter the weasel ship's cargo hold. Use the FORE command to enter the control room, then touch the weasel skeleton (TOUCH SKELETON). Use the LOOK command to see that the object that slid out of the skeleton's space suit is the violet rod, then take it. Drop the blue disk, then save your game. Get onto the blue disk (STAND ON DISK) to be teleported to the red one. You'll hopefully end up in the garage, where a maintenance mouse took the red disk that you dropped earlier. If not, restore your save and wait a few turns, then try again. When you make it to the garage, start searching the trash bin (SEARCH BIN). Use the AGAIN command until you find a green crystal rod, then take it. *** STEP 7: Fly the artifact to Earth. *** Use the PUT ALL RODS IN BASKET command, then go north to exit the garage. Go west, north twice, up, east, and south twice. You'll be at the base of a giant tree, so do the obvious thing and climb it (CLIMB TREE). Go up to the top of the tree, then jump over to the drive bubble (JUMP). Put your silver rod in the silver slot, then enter the drive bubble with the IN command. Get the white rod, then put it in the white slot to reactivate the artifact's stardrive. Leave the bubble with the OUT command, then go up. To get over to the control bubble, first jump toward it (JUMP), then shoot the drive bubble three times with the ray gun (SHOOT DRIVE BUBBLE. AGAIN. AGAIN). Go down to the control bubble's entrance, then put the gold rod in the gold slot. Enter with the IN command, then put the clear rod in the clear slot. This causes five other colored slots to appear, so repeat the rod-inserting process with the brown, green, blue, violet, and pink rods (in any order). Remember that you'll have to specify the slot color since there's more than one, as in PUT BROWN ROD IN BROWN SLOT. Now you can select your destination. Press the pink screen's large square once (PRESS LARGE SQUARE), then press the brown spot. Use the AGAIN command until the screen shows Earth, then press the violet spot to set course for the center of the Earth. That's not good! Use the AGAIN command twice to get the ellipse orbit option, then press the green spot to adjust the artifact's speed. Use the AGAIN command once to get the dots to flash rapidly, then press the blue button to "make it so" and win the game.