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Zone 66 for the PC
General Strategy Guide
Created by Desert Gunstar (aka Shadow2099)
desertgunstar@hotmail.com
Completed Jan. 8, 2004
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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction
2. Choosing and Preparing your Ship
3. General Game Tips
4. Answers to Questions you Might have
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1. Introduction
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Welcome to the world of Zone 66, an arcade flying shoot-em-up where you must
save the world from total nuclear devastation.
You were once part of the Global Security Agency, a united front that seeks to
rid the world of all terrorism. What exactly was the reason these terrorists
were lashing out upon the world? It is unknown to you, but it doesn't matter.
These terrorists were destroying the world for some nefarious reason, and it is
the GSA's task to stop them. You are an ex-GSA ace pilot. One time, when
engaging the enemy aircraft, you downed 5 planes. Unfortunately, one of these
planes landed in a populated area, and having nothing else to, you were to blame
for the incident. Unable to withstand this pressure, you decided to leave the
GSA for good. Your duty as a pilot was not over though, as a mysterious man
contacted you. He showed you a medal decoration, which denoted that he was a
GSA agent, and a very highly skilled one at that. He warned you of an incoming
terrorist bomb strike on your hometown. You heeded his words and rushed home to
evacuate your wife and child, but it was too late...
This FAQ will offer some general playing tips, as well as some minor tidbits
here and there. With that out of the way, let's get started.
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2. Choosing and Preparing your Ship
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Normally, a well-rounded ship will work well in nearly every situation. But if
you'd like, you can select a ship to tailor to a particular gaming style. There
are 3 main types of ships available to you: heavy bombers, quick fighter planes,
and the hybrids in between. Ships like the D.F.A. Bomber and Big Boom fall into
the heavy bomber category. The Zoom and the Stiletto are examples of quick,
maneuverable strike flyers.
Setting up your equipment is usually dependant on what your type of ship is.
Fast flyers are built for dogfights, and thus do not have a particular need for
stockpiling missiles. Bombers, on the other hand, may stand no chance in the air
without that edge. As for the types of bombs to use, a whole payload of Cluster
Bombs is efficient and effective for every type of plane in the game. Fighters
might want to use a whole stack of Bombs or Firebombs and just fly into the
enemy targets, destroying the ground in a line below them. Bombers can load up
on Megabombs and dispose of everything in sight, and maybe a few Bombs to finish
off any missing targets. Remember, the payload for each bomb is 1 for Missiles
and Bombs, 2 for Clusters, 4 for Firebombs, and 10 for Megabombs.
When you are scrolling through the ships, you will see a list of data on your
highlighted ship on the bottom of the screen. They are as follows:
Armor: The ship's armor rating. Obviously, the higher, the more of a beating it
can take.
Top Speed: The fastest speed the ship can move at. At speeds of 7, your bombing
cursor will be a bit off screen when you travel vertically.
Acceleration: The rate at which the ship can increase/decrease its speed.
Turning: The ship's rotation speed.
Engines: The number of engines the ship has. No usefulness whatsoever as far as
I can see.
Fuel Capacity: The amount of fuel the ship can hold. Good for using the 2
special flying modes.
Payload: The amount of space to hold bombs/missiles on the ship.
Guns: The weaponry the ship possesses. The strength of each gun from worst to
best is Laser - Phaser - Particle Gun - Machine Gun. Overall, your gun type
won't make too much of a difference.
For comparison's sake, here is a table of all the available ships. To choose
the enemy ships, simply press the right arrow key at the ship selection screen.
Overall, the enemy ships pale in comparison to yours.
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3. General Game Tips
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Bombing Enemy Targets:
All you generally have to do is to take out the enemy turrets and missile
launchers surrounding the main structures, and then destroy the main structures
with your remaining bombs. You can even ignore the enemy ground defenses and go
straight for the main targets. Land at a nearby base when you need to re-arm and
re-fuel. For the different types of ships, there are slightly different ways of
going about this task.
Bombers can simply fly over the targets and let loose their payload. You might
want to take advantage of a heavy bomber's fuel capacity and use the Shadow mode
while in the middle of enemy gunfire. Flyers can chip away at the enemy defenses
by lining up with the targets on the radar, drop their bombs when they've soared
by, and circle back for the next row of targets. Flyers must be careful when
doing this though, as relying solely on the radar won't exactly line your ship
up with the targets 100% of the time. Consider tuning your game speed with
F9/F10 (slow down/speed up) until you are able to compensate precisely.
If you miss a target, make sure to circle back without decelerating. If you slow
down in the middle of enemy territory, you will most likely be shot down.
Engaging Enemy Aircraft:
Depending on your ship's abilities, you may have to escape enemy air attacks
using different methods. Escape mode can come in handy, but you don't buy that
much time after you slow down. Even on the Bad pilot skill setting, the enemy
eventually catches up. Hopefully, you'll be next to a landing base after you
burn your fuel.
On the lowest difficulty setting, the enemy pilots will rarely ever engage you
in combat. But anything over that, you will be constantly swarmed and tailgated
wherever you go. Emerging victorious in these dogfights is all a matter of what
tactics you employ. Your basic manuever for escaping and possibly counter-firing
is to circle around the enemy. That won't always work, though, and you'll have
to resort to whatever you can do with your ship.
Flyers excel at air combat, of course. Ships with a good turn rating can just
circle behind the enemy air force and let 'em eat it. If that doesn't work, you
can make use of the ship's acceleration. While trying to get behind the enemy
aircraft, smack the brakes and reach your slowest speed. This will shake off the
enemy planes, allowing you to get behind and shoot them down. This doesn't
always work though, and if you try it on the highest skill setting (Argh!), you
will definitely become scrap metal not fit for third rate paper clips.
Bombers, on the other hand, have very little air control. As a result, they are
constantly overran by mass fleets of ships. That doesn't mean bombers have a
defense of their own, though. With the advantage of a bigger payload, bombers
have more space to store missiles for air defense as well as bombs. All you have
to do is make an attempt to circle behind the enemy, and while the enemy
struggles to keep you in their sights, let your missiles rip. Also, bombers
usually have a greater fuel capacity, so you can make more use of the 2 special
flying modes. Just activate your Shadow mode and run the enemy through, or use
Escape and make it to a nearby base.
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4. Answers to Questions you Might have:
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Q: I can't get this game to run! How is it possible to?
A: The way this game was designed, Zone 66 will not run on Pentiums or higher.
You will have to run the game in pure DOS (Shift+F5 before the Windows OS starts
for Windows 95/98) or search for a DOS emulator.
Q: The 2nd campaign is unbeatable. How can I advance the story?
A: You will have to do some criss-cross clicking. In your Zone 66 folder, there
are three foldiers names MapBdat.z66, MapBdat2.z66, and MapBdat3.z66. Copy these
files to some other folder, and then delete them from your Zone 66 folder. Now,
make a copy of these files: MapCdat.z66, MapCdat2.z66, and MapCdat3.z66. Rename
these files as MapBdat.z66, MapBdat2.z66, and MapBdat3.z66. Now play the 2nd
campaign and destroy all the main targets. Notice that everything is out of
place in the game area, so you'll have to rely heavily on your map/radar. Once
you've attained the next piece of the story, restore the MapBdat files with the
ones you copied before.
Q: I destroyed all the enemy targets, but the game won't give me the next piece
of the story. How can I do so?
A: Make sure to turn off all in-game cheats before playing. You will have to
beat all the campaigns in order. Once you finish a level, the game will give you
the next piece of the story, allowing you to continue in the next one.
That's about it on my end.
Do you have any problems on your end? Does this 'guide' help you in no way
whatsoever? Fire an e-mail at DesertGunstar@hotmail.com if you wish to speak
your mind.
This Document is Copyright(c) 2004 by Desert Gunstar
