mcewan@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU (10/27/85)
> I have been playing Epyx's Impossible Mission game off and on for last > couple of months. I am lucky if I can get two puzzles solved! > > I have been calling the computer to orient all pieces correctly, and this > does cost some time, but the main problem is those #$@%&* robots. > The manual claims you can detect wether or not they have 'sight' and if > they will 'zap' you, but they all look the same to me. It's not that hard. I won the first weekend I had the game. The best way to tell if a robot sees, hears or zaps is through observation. A robot which sees will move towards you whenever you are in sight. Flipping moves you out of their field of vision, so, unless there normal path is towards you, when you flip, the robot will turn around and move away. A robot the hears will always move towards you when you are on it's level and will stay above or below you when you aren't. A robot that zaps will zap towards you whenever it can. Some can only zap when they are at either end of their available path. Some can't see or hear, but zap at the ends of their path (these can easily be leaped in the middle of their path as they are moving towards you), and some just zap every second or so. Often, there is some safe place where you can stand to observe their behavior. You can stand 2 lift platform-width from the end of a robot's path to see if it zaps. If it stops at the end of the path, it can see or hear you. If it stays there when you flip, it can hear. If there is no safe place to observe, and a non-zapping robot is moving towards you, you can just run out and leap it. If it keeps going, you know it's blind and deaf. you can also see if it zaps at the end, so you know whether you have to look out for that. I hope this helps at least a little. Scott McEwan {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan "Analysis, Spock?" "Very bad poetry, sir."