COUNTDOWN TO DOOM for the BBC Microcomputer HINTS AND ANSWERS Here is a list of commonly asked questions about Countdown to Doom, together with a set of hints and answers. The hints and answers are arranged in a jumbled order to make it harder to accidentally see the solution to other questions. If you do not want to risk spoiling the rest of the adventure, ask a friend to look up the hint or answer to your question for you. PROBLEMS ARISING and HINTS/ANSWERS TO SOLVE. 1) I cannot get out of the spaceship. Hint 28 Answer 42 2) I keep blowing myself up. Hint 27 3) I blew the door up, but it is still there. Hint 26 Answer 41 4) I keep dying on the swamp. Hint 25 Answer 40 5) I am lost in the jungle. Hint 24 6) I get too cold and die on the glacier. Hint 23 Answer 39 7) The phaser kills me. Hint 22 Answer 38 8) The monster kills me when I try to go past or take the crystals. Hint 21 9) I get the crystals but I am dying from their radiation. Hint 20 Answer 37 10) I die in the desert. Hint 19 Answer 36 11) The pit is killing me. Hint 18 Answer 35 12) I cannot get from beyond the desert. Hint 17 13) The blob kills me when I pick it up. Hint 16 14) The platform runs out of power at the wrong place. Hint 15 15) I die when entering the artefact through its NE entrance. Hint 14 16) I cannot get the artefact through its SW entrance. Hint 13 17) I cannot get out of the curving corridor in the artefact. Hint 12 Answer 34 18) I am lost in the pneumatic tubes maze. Hint 11 Answer 33 19) The robot takes all my objects. Hint 10 Answer 32 20) The flickering screen kills me. Hint 9 21) When I leave the computer room, I die no matter which door I go through. Hint 8 Answer 31 22) The computer spits out my disks. Hint 7 23) I killed the rat and the computer seemed upset. Hint 6 24) I got the present from the computer but died going through a door. Hint 5 25) I sank OK to the bottom of the swamp but died when I moved. Hint 4 26) Below the swamp it is pitch dark. I am lost. How do I get light? Hint 3 Answer 30 27) I die in the volcano. (a) going down: Hint 2 (b) going up: Hint 1 Answer 29 HINTS AND ANSWERS 1) One of the robots out of the machine room is the correct one, but it keeps changing. 2) Yes you do! Always! 3) Yes indeed; you can map the area without light. 4) Look at the state of your spacesuit-it was ancient! Surely there's a time it wasn't! 5) Twit! Haven't you got the order sorted ou by now? 6) Poor old rat! What harm did it to you? 7) Then you are feeding it in the wrong order. 8) Then you did not treat the computer right. It was waiting for input. 9) De-activate the robot by it and see what happens. 10) Yes, he does. Can you de-activate him? 11) You can label the rooms and their orientation. 12) A little muscle helps. 13) Yes, you can. Just don't make anything with you. 14) Yes you do. That's the exit! 15) Yes, it is odd when you need even, or vice versa. There is a route back to the ship which needs one more move than normal. Can you find it? 16) Try catching it in useful receptacle. 17) Really? Head up-river and try using the vine. 18) Acid + alkali=? 19) Remember the warning about quiet! 20) Spend as little time as possible holding them. 21) It is unbeatable as an adult. Can you beat it when it is a baby? 22) It needs to be colder to work. 23) Well you would,wouldn't you? Try warming up the far end of the glacier. 24) You shouldn't be! Each area of the jungle has its own description. Look carefully. 25) There are two distinct puzzles to the swamp. For one, you need to be able to tell which are the safe bits before you tread on them. You'll need some equipment. For the other puzzle, you need to rush in and stay alive. For that, you'll need something with oxygen. 26) How would you move it in real life? 27) Try leaving the explosive behind in a sensible place, and going away! 28) The door is jammed. How would you unjam it? 29) Think of the machine noises as times on a clock, with the 'safe' direction. 30) Try 'dropping' and 'getting' objects to label rooms. INV will tell you which room you're in. You can then map the maze. 31) You should feed it with disks first - in the right order. 32) Use the word hidden in the cryptogram. There are sufficient clues around to make solving easy. 33) Drop objects to identify a room. Their position will show you which way round you are. 34) Push one of the niches. 35) Get the can and throw it first. 36) Try doing something noisy like jumping or shouting or banging. 37) Make taking the crystals the last thing you do back in time. 38) Go to the far end of the glacier. 39) Fire the phaser at the end of the glacier. 40) To cross swamps, find and wear the goggles. To sink into swamps, find and wear a not-to-ancient spacesuit. 41) Push it. 42) Try lighting the fuse!