STARCROSS 185

STARCROSS in 185 moves
----------------------

This route allows beating the game STARCROSS in 185 moves, as measured by the "moves" counter displayed in the victory text. Tested on Release 17, using FROTZ interpreter on DOSBox.

This route contains a large number of random factors which must coincide to achieve 185 moves. This does not play nicely in combination with another factor: SAVE (and other meta-commands such as VERBOSE, SCORE etc) increments the move counter! (And it doesn't use any in-game time, so you can't even sneak in a SAVE while you're passing time waiting for an in-game event to happen) This is a "feature" that is unique to STARCROSS, as far as I can tell from testing my other early Infocom games. As such, SAVE and RESTORE cannot be used to force a good result from the randomness, as is the usual strategy. Instead I resorted to using the Frotz interpreter - rather than the original Infocom one - to allow me multiple UNDOs to force optimum results at each random moment in the route. This allowed me to complete the route while maintining my sanity. If you feel like chancing it without use of UNDO, I reckon the chance of getting a 185 on this route on a single playthrough is about 1 in 1000. Good luck.

A note about moves: most actions in the game increment the move counter by 1, including meta-commands. Multiple commands on a single line increment the counter by the number of commands, including when giving multiple commands to an NPC (the computer is a special case, see notes below). Some actions, such as TAKE, DROP, and PUT {items} IN X, allow multiple objects to be taken, dropped or put in a single move. Implied actions do not take a move, but STARCROSS has very few of these compared to later Infocom games. WAIT causes three moves to pass, unless something interrupts it. In-game time progresses with the move count (in most cases, see notes below on WAIT), although meta-commands like SAVE do not progress in-game time.

A note about deaths: if you die you are resurrected, up to three times. The fourth time you die, the game is over. If you die before reaching the Red Hall, you reincarnate on the bridge of the Starcross, with your inventory moved into the storage room. If you die after reaching the Red Hall, you are reincarnated in the Red Hall (above the airlock), with your inventory placed inside the Red Airlock. Any rods you were carrying are left at the place you died, but any rods inside something else (the basket or the ray gun) will stay there, with the rest of your stuff.

The numbers before commands refer to the number on the move counter at the time you type each one.

0> KILL ME
[yes, kill me]
[this death warps us to the bridge, without us having to spend two turns to STAND and then go SB]
1> COMPUTER, R IS 100. THETA IS 285. PHI IS 87. CONFIRM
[this takes 5 moves to give the computer 4 commands. For some reason it always takes n+1 moves to give the computer n commands, hence it's important to give them all at once]
[magically, we know the coordinates without looking at the screen. It's a 1/8 chance. Or, just look at the screen then undo]
6> SIT ON COUCH
7> FASTEN BELT
[and we're off! Whatever we do from now on won't get us to the artifact any sooner or later (unless we're foolish enough to use SAVE or another non-time-advancing move eater). So we just do everything we can to get us out the door as soon as possible once we get there]
8> UNFASTEN BELT
9> STAND UP
10> PUSH RED BUTTON
[we don't need to push this, but who likes alarms?]
11> SB
12> TAKE SUIT AND SAFETY LINE
13> P
14> P
15> TAKE TAPE LIBRARY
16> SB
17> OPEN INNER DOOR
18> SIT ON COUCH
19> FASTEN BELT
20> WEAR SUIT
[I'm impressed by the player character's ability to don a spacesuit while strapped to a couch]
21> TIE SAFETY LINE TO SUIT
[saving us a move waaaaay later on]
22> WAIT
[WAIT acts strangely in this game: it causes three turns to pass, or fewer if something interrupts it. But if nothing interrupts it on any of the three turns, it eats up an extra non-time-advancing move, i.e. the move counter increments by four, but only three moves of in-game time have passed. It's safe to use WAIT during the journey, as the computer's interruptions are frequent enough to never let WAIT run its full course and waste a move]
23> WAIT
25> WAIT
27> WAIT
29> WAIT
31> UNFASTEN BELT
32> STAND UP
33> OUT
34> CLOSE INNER DOOR
35> OPEN OUTER DOOR
36> OUT
37> PUSH FOURTH COLUMN
38> PUSH TINY COLUMN
39> TAKE BLACK ROD
40> UP
41> CLOSE OUTER DOOR
42> OPEN INNER DOOR
43> UP
44> P
45> OPEN INNER DOOR
46> D
47> CLOSE INNER DOOR
48> OPEN OUTER DOOR
49> D
50> AFT
51> AFT
52> GIVE TAPE LIBRARY TO SPIDER
53> TAKE YELLOW ROD
54> F
55> F
56> U
57> CLOSE OUTER DOOR
58> OPEN INNER DOOR
59> U
60> U
61> AFT
62> OPEN HATCH
63> D
64> PUT YELLOW ROD IN YELLOW SLOT
[we never get the red rod and fix the air. We have air enough to beat the game, and the game doesn't check for it in the victory conditions]
65> TAKE SQUARE
66> U
67> F
68> D
69> AFT
70> P
71> TAKE RAY GUN
72> SB
73> AFT
74> P
75> AFT
76> SB
77> TAKE RED DISK AND BLUE DISK
78> PUT RED DISK UNDER GLOBE
79> DROP BLUE DISK
80> PUT BLACK ROD ON GLOBE
81> SET DIAL TO 4
82> SET DIAL TO 2
83> TAKE RED DISK AND BLUE ROD
[we leave the blue disk here for the mouse to pick up. Hopefully. It's a good long time before we need to teleport, so there's a reasonable chance it will]
84> P
85> F
86> F
87> OPEN INNER DOOR
88> D
89> TAKE BASKET
90> CLOSE INNER DOOR
91> OPEN OUTER DOOR
92> AGAIN
93> D
94> TIE LINE TO HOOK
95> P
96> PUT PINK ROD AND BLUE ROD IN BASKET
97> KILL ME
[death warp #2, putting us right where we need to be next, and even removing our suit for us]
98> D
99> TAKE SUIT, RAY GUN AND BASKET
100> U
101> E
102> E
103> LOOK IN RAY GUN
104> PUT SILVER ROD IN BASKET
[this section is extremely random, starting with the time it takes for the chief to appear. He can appear anywhere between 4 and 6 turns after entering the Village Outskirts, and obviously we need him to appear as soon as possible. If he doesn't, you need to UNDO back into the Red Hall]
[with the best luck, we get only two turns standing around waiting for him. We use these to do something useful with the ray gun]
105> GIVE SUIT TO CHIEF
106> POINT TO ROD
107> FOLLOW CHIEF
108> AGAIN
109> AGAIN
110> AGAIN
111> AGAIN
112> AGAIN
[this is horrible. It can take anywhere between 6 and 10 FOLLOW CHIEFs to get through the warren. In addition, the chief has a chance of stopping and wasting a turn before EVERY movement. So for the optimal run, you need him to not only get through in six moves, but not to stop on any of them. If he stops or takes too long, you need to UNDO back to move 106 to reset the RNG]
113> D
114> CLOSE INNER DOOR
115> OPEN OUTER DOOR
116> D
117> P
118> P
119> TAKE GLASS
120> F
121> TOUCH SKELETON
122> PUT BROWN ROD AND VIOLET ROD IN BASKET
123> KILL ME
[it doesn't matter, in terms of move count, if we death warp here and teleport later, or if we teleport here and death warp later. But this way round gives the maintenance mouse a little longer to find the blue disk]
124> D
125> TAKE ALL EXCEPT SAFETY LINE
126> U
127> P
128> F
129> F
130> P
131> LOOK IN PROJECTOR THROUGH GLASS
132> TAKE CLEAR ROD
133> SB
134> F
135> P
136> P
137> AFT
138> OPEN PANEL
139> PUT SQUARE IN SLOT
140> TURN ON SWITCH
141> PUT CLEAR ROD AND GOLD ROD IN BASKET
142> DROP RED DISK
143> STAND ON IT
[and hope you end up in the garage...]
144> SEARCH TRASH
145> SEARCH TRASH
[it takes a random number of SEARCHes to find the green rod; the minimum number appears to be 2]
146> TAKE GREEN ROD
147> F
148> P
149> F
150> F
151> U
152> AFT
153> AFT
154> P
155> U
156> U
157> JUMP
158> PUT SILVER ROD IN SILVER SLOT
159> IN
160> PUT WHITE ROD IN WHITE SLOT
161> OUT
162> U
163> JUMP
164> SHOOT RAY GUN AT DRIVE BUBBLE
165> AGAIN
166> AGAIN
167> D
168> PUT GOLD ROD IN GOLD SLOT
169> IN
170> PUT CLEAR ROD IN CLEAR SLOT
171> PUT PINK ROD IN PINK SLOT
172> PUSH LARGE SQUARE
173> PUT BROWN ROD IN BROWN SLOT
174> PUSH BROWN SPOT
175> AGAIN
176> AGAIN
177> AGAIN
178> PUT VIOLET ROD IN VIOLET SLOT
179> PUSH VIOLET SPOT
180> AGAIN
181> AGAIN
182> PUT GREEN ROD IN GREEN SLOT
183> PUSH GREEN SPOT
[have you mixed up your slots and your spots yet?]
184> PUT BLUE ROD IN BLUE SLOT
185> PUSH BLUE SPOT

Thus completing Starcross in 185 moves with 345 out of 400 points (we lost 10 each time we died, and 25 for not fixing the air system).