DP FAQ

MERCENARY – ESCAPE FROM TARG

1- Solutions

This is a first solution I found on Dejanews, consisting in buying the ship to escape. It was missing a few things (maybe due to 8-bits/16-bits difference), but has been corrected for this page. I finished Mercenary myself in another way (by stealing the interstellar ship, see below!)

sol. for Mercenary From: Nir_Dary (nirdary@pacificnet.net)
Date: 1996/03/15
newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Solution to Escape to Targ: Mercenary 1
A: Buy Dominion Dart after you crash on Targ.
B: Fly to 09-06, get the SIGHTS, ENERGY CRYSTAL, MEDICAL SUPPLIES, CATERING PROVISIONS, LARGE BOX. (N.B go through transporter in the room with the MEDICAL supplies to get the PHOTON EMITTER)
C: Fly to 81-35, get GOLD and KEY (for COLONY CRAFT HANGER)
D: Fly to **_**, get WINCHESTER, and board the CONCORD craft
E: Fly to COLONY CRAFT (08-08). Sell WINCHESTER in LABORATORY, CATERING PROVISIONS in KITCHENS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES in INFIRMARY, GOLD in EXCHEQUER, ENERGY CRYSTAL in POWER ROOM. Get KITCHEN SINK
F: Fly to 09-06. Get COBWEB (with KITCHEN SINK, it will open all doors.) (note from Simon: how on earth did he find that?)
G: Fly to 09-05. Get ANTENNA, NEUTRON FUEL
H: Fly to 03-00. Get ESSENTIAL 12939 SUPPLY, MECHANOID.(if wished, fly to **_** to get the DOMINION DART)
I: Fly to 11-13. Get USEFUL ARMAMENT
J: Fly to COLONY CRAFT. sell MECHANOID in INTERVIEW ROOM, NEUTRON FUEL in ENGINE ROOM, 12939 SUPPLY in CONFRENCE ROOM, USEFUL ARMAMENT in ARMOURY, LARGE BOX in STORES.
K: Fly to 09-06. Go to COMMUNICATIONS ROOM. Rent a spaceship. Fly to 08-08. Board ship and leave TARG! if you dont have any maps of the locatons, do take the time to wander around TARG, if not for the sake of completing the game, then just look about and enjoy the scenery and Paul Woakes' humor. This solution was done by Roy Griffiths and was posted at the New Atari Magazine Issue 58.

And now, the "theft" solution sent by Szymon Ender "Enjo". Instead of buying the ship, find your way to steal it!

1) Buy Dominion Dart after you crash on Targ.
2) Fly to 09-06 and get key. Go through a teleporter in the room with the MEDICAL SUPPLIES to get the PHOTON EMITTER. Get the POWER AMP. Exit the hangar and leave the key.
3) Fly to 81-35 and get COLONY CRAFT key.
4) Fly to COLONY CRAFT 08-08 and get key from the lowest floor.
5) Fly to 03-00, leave the POWER AMP and enter hangar for key.
6) Fly to 09-05 and get key, key. Go north to the hall of teleports and use the first one (random teleporter). Walk through it's door and exit backwards. After exiting make a few steps backwards and take a look around. As soon as you are in a dark-orange room with door on the left and on the right, you will be in the correct location, in the restricted 03-15 hangar (I don't know a better way to get there).
7) 03-15. Walk through door to the right and continue north to get key. Now one door to the south and two to the west to get to the "Ti" two way teleporter which will send you to **-** hangar. Get the NOVADRIVE and return to 03-15 via the "Ti" teleporter. Walk one door to the east and run north past the door with a skull (you won't die :) ). It's a dark room, that's why we still carry the photon emitter. Board the INTERSTELLAR SHIP, exit the hangar. Since you have already collected NOVADRIVE you can press Y and say goodbye to Targ.
THE END !

2- More hints

- There are hangars at: 11-13 ; 09-05 ; 81-35 ; 09-06 ; 03-00 ; 03-15 ; and **-**
- When you're attacked, if you don't manage to destroy the ennemy ship, land and leave your ship, wait to be desrtoyed and board your ship again.
- For the fun, you can wait after your crash at the beginning of the game. Don't press any key, wait for the messages to stop. You'll get a funny message (there are 2 or 3 different ones).
- Note that selling the items to the Mechanoids instead of the Playars brings you more money.

Military solution by Pawel Garycki:
With the help of the Metal Detector (and Sights if you find them helpful) you can recognize those building which belong only to the one of the sites. Shoot them all! If you loose one of them or e.g. don't want to destroy the church (St.Stallards) you can afford not destroying two or three buildings in order to achieve the victory.
If you make a mistake and ruin a building which doesn't belong to the enemy site, you shall rebuild it by shooting at it while carrying the Anti Time Bomb. You'll need it too, if you happen to crash the Author's Advert before leaving the planet.
I've done the work for Palyars and they gave me The Pass! The Mechanoids haven't paid me for the job, but Simon said they did: they gave him money.
Note from Simon: sure I was paid by the Mechanoids in Escape From Targ. Reminder for the Metal Detector: Palyars = green light, Mechanoids = blue light, else it is neutral.