In this game, you direct the actions of the evil Captain Chaos, a young villian whose specialty is building robots and who is currently sleeping in his massive floating airship above San City. In five minutes, the ship will clip a tree, lose power, and start to crash unless you can help him fix everything.
At turn 5, the ship clips a tree, and Chaos wakes. There's now a branch lodged in the landing gear doors, and Choas orders an emergency override from the computer.
> s.
Hallway
> x runner-bot.(It's hamster-like.)footnote 3.
> take runner-bot.
> x pet-bot.(Dog-like, lifeless, cover plate.)
> s.
Engine Room
CAUTION: There's an awkward way you can put the game into an unwinnable state by running in the wheel yourself and then telling the runner-bot to run in the wheel soon afterwards. Because you ran in the wheel, power will "run out" a handful of turns later, even if the runner-bot is running in the wheel. And unfortuntely, the game won't let you turn the runner-bot off and on again, so you have no way to give power to the ship after that point.
So, um, just have the runner-bot generate power from the start. Or, if you must try out the wheel yourself, wait for the power you generated to run out before installing the runner-bot.
> x battery. x control-bot.
> x wheel. x block. take block. drop block.
It's not at all obvious to me that you can talk to the runner-bot.
> put runner in wheel.
> runner, run.(+10)
> w.
Closet
> take all. x head. x headset. x gear.
> x toolbox. x crowbar. x screwdriver.
> e.
Engine Room
> attach head to control-bot.(Using the screwdriver)
Control-bot needs to be caliberated.
> push button.(+6)n.
Hallway
Fixing pet-bot is completely optional, but you get points for it.
> pry pet with screwdriver.(+1)
> footnote 4.
> put new gear in pet.
> screw screw with screwdriver.
> w.
Left Room
This room is empty, but its description tells you about Chaos's plans for it. Also, the game is counting all the rooms you're visiting, so you should try to visit them all.
> e. e.
Right Room
> x marbles. take marbles. w.
Hallway
> put marbles in pet.(+4)
> xyzzy.
> d.
Stairwell
> u. s.
Engine Room
> s.(Chaos isn't opening the airlock personally.)
> n.
Hallway
> wear headset.
Engine Room (as the control bot)
> s.
Outside the Airlock (as the control bot)
> x ducks. x city. u.
Above the Ship (as the control bot)
> d. d.
Below the Ship (as the control bot)
> pull branch.(+3)
Gear Room (as the control bot)
> u.
Hallway (as the control bot)
Caution: Don't re-wear the headset after this point. The game gets confused.
> remove headset. d. u. n.
Cockpit
> turn on autopilot.(+2)
> touch touchpad.(A map overlay appears, but we can't examine it.)
> push gear release.(+5)
*** You have won the game! ***
The author thanks you for playing and thanks people who helped him create the game.
Would you like to read the list of amusing things to do? Type just a single "y". If you type "yes" or anything else, you don't see the amusing list.
> y
Extras
Amusing
Look at the scenery. Almost every object mentioned in a room description can be examined. Just a few of the items you can observe:
The various things outside the ship
Chaos's machines and gadgets (look at it more than once!)
Just before the control-bot removes the tree branch, have Chaos move into the stairwell.
Fix all the robots! They're kinda fun to play around with; they don't do a lot, but they do something.
Can you find the one item, decoration, or scenery in the game that can be referred to as “Phil”? (This is a silly in-joke with Natalie.)
And one final question: Can you figure out how to win without Chaos ever waking up, i.e. within the first five turns?
By the way, "Phil" is the tree branch, if you were wondering.
Characters
Captain Chaos is a self-proclaimed evil villian intent on world domination. He's in his early twenties and has some aptitude for robotics.
The runner-bot is very hamster-like. It's in the hallway and okay. All it can do is run.
The pet-bot is very dog-like. It's in the hallway but inert.
The control-bot has a trapezoidal body, four wheels, thin arms, a drawer, and a button. But it's missing its head! It's in the engine room, and when it's working, you control it by wearing a headset.
The computer can be talked to, but it's not obvious what commands it will respond to.
Credits
From game's end, omitting everyone's email-addresses:
I'd like to extend thanks several people who, knowingly or not, helped me out with this game. To wit:
Chad Elliot, a fellow IFcomp entrant and quite a friendly guy.
Stephen Granade, the orchestrator of the fifth IF Competition (boy, it's changed hands a lot, hasn't it?). He's obviously put quite a bit of work into this whole thing. He deserves an award of his own, I feel.
Mike Roberts, the creator of the TADS programming language, without which this game would never have come into being.
David Baggett and David Haire, respectively the creator and current maintainer of WorldClass, the class library I much prefer to “adv.t”.
Best Brains, Inc., and everyone no longer with them. They are the creators of MST3K, for which I'll always have a soft spot in my heart. You may have noticed a reference or two.
John Berry, a good friend of mine and a fellow MSTie, whom I've recently helped to get into the world of IF. You can thank me later.
Megane 6.7, talented MSTing author and originator of the hairdo-changing device Chaos supposedly “created”.
And last, but not in any way least, Natalie Port, doubtless my best friend; she's been very encouraging, and she comes up with some excellent ideas. *secret handshake*
From copyright-notice.txt:
From: gleemoth@aol.com (Shay Caron) Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction Subject: [IFComp] Chaos: Two Announcements Date: 14 Oct 1999 00:12:21 GMT
1) I didn't write the Evil Overlord list that Captain Chaos has, but the way it was put in may have made it seem that way. The official location of the list, written by Peter Anspach, is at: http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Here's the copyright message I forgot to include:
This Evil Overlord List is Copyright 1996-1997 by Peter Anspach. If you enjoy it, feel free to pass it along or post it anywhere, provided that (1) it is not altered in any way, and (2) this copyright notice is attached.
Apologies to Peter for my inadvertent theft of credit, and thanks to Mark Musante and Irene Callaci, both of whom gently pointed out my error. [embarrassed smile]
-- Shay Caron (Shay_Caron@letterbox.com or gleemoth@aol.com) | Game author
(Remainder of post deleted. VB)
Endings
You have missed the point entirely.
if Captain Chaos earlier turned on the autopilot in his sleep, before turn five.
You have won the game!
if Captain Chaos restores the ship's power, dislodges the tree branch, and lowers the landing gear.
Footnotes
Reading footnotes doesn't take up any game time.
(re footnotes in intro) [1]: By George, I think you've got it!
(re south wall) [2]: I'm going to stick with the compass directions in this game, despite the fact that it's set in a spaceship (well, airship, at least). There really aren't any other options that work for me.
(re runner-bot) [3]: For those of you not familiar with “Sonic the Hedgehog”, a “roboticizer” is a machine that turns living creatures into robots. Nice for purposes of longevity, but for some strange reason, it happens to remove a person's free will, leaving him/her a mindless slave of whoever controls the programming. Odd, that.
(re pry pet-bot) [4]: That's “axes” as in the plural of “axis”, not “axes” as in the plural of “axe”.
Inventory
a Evil Overlord list. He's carrying it. Read it.
the runner-bot. It's in the hallway and is the only bot that Chaos can carry. Go to the engine room, put the runner-bot in the treadwheel, then tell the runner-bot to run.
a block of wood. It's under the treadwheel in the engine room. Take it so the treadwheel can turn.
control-bot's head. It's in the closet. Attach it to control-bot with the screwdriver.
a headset. It's in the closet. Wear the headset to control the control-bot as if you were the bot. Remove the headset to return to your own body.
a toolbox. It's in the closet. It contains the crowbar and screwdriver.
a new gear. It's in the closet. Put it in pet-bot.
a crowbar. It's in the toolbox. You don't need it, although you could pry the pet-bot open with the crowbar instead of the screwdriver.
a screwdriver. It's in the toolbox. You don't need to hold it directly to use it.
Pry pet-bot with the screwdriver.
Screw the loose screw inside pet-bot with the screwdriver.
Attach control-bot's head to control-bot with the screwdriver.
some marbles. They're in the Right Room. Put them in pet-bot.
Score
In a total of several turns, you have achieved a score of your-score points out of a possible 31. This gives you the rank of ranking.
You have seen item-percentage of the items, and location-percentage of the game locations.
5 points for temporarily restoring power by running in the treadwheel.
5 (or 10) points for getting the runner-bot to supply the engine power. (You only get 10 points this way if Chaos never ran in the wheel himself.)
6 points for fixing the control-bot.
1 point for prying open the pet-bot.
4 points for fixing pet-pot.
3 points for removing the branch from the landing gear door.
2 points for turning on the autopilot.
5 points for pushing the gear release button.
Also:
1 point for turning on the autopilot in your sleep. But if you earn this point, you'll bypass the rest of the game.
Rankings:
Goody Two-Shoes.(0 to 1 points)
Nameless Crook.(3 to 5 points)
Unworthy Underling.(6 points)
Disney Villain.(10 to 11 points)
Brainless Brute.(12 points)
Cycloptic Colleague.(16 points)
Right-Hand Henchman.(19 points)
Nasty Master.(21 to 22 points)
Hero Wrangler.(26 points)
Lord of Mayhem.(27 points)
True Evil Overlord.(31 points)
Thank You to my Patreon supporters
This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!
I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.