This update to Mantis adds support for the ProAudio Spectrum line
from MediaVision as well as support for all DMA and IRQ channels of
the Sound Blaster Pro.

    The largest change is that the mines (x-ray and proximity) have
been removed and replaced with a laser and a Hydrogen Plasma Cannon
(HPC).  The laser becomes available about a dozen missions into the
game.  It has no range limit, but can lose some accuracy when fired
over long distances.  You can only carry one laser at a time (due to
the interference that multiple chargers cause with each other), and
it takes up two small hardpoints, one for the laser and one for the
charger.  It can fire 36 full power shots before being depleted.

    The HPC replaces the mass driver.  It fires a burst of
superheated plasma and can fire two shots per second.  Its shots
have a shorter range than the MDC (due to the dispersion of the
plasma cloud), but they do a lot more damage (from the plasma melting
through the hull of the ship it hits).  It's limited to 500 shots
because the injection chamber where the plasma cloud is generated
deteriorates.  The weapon gets hydrogen directly from the fuel tanks.

    The radar display has been changed (you'll probably want to leave
it in a front view) and several other indicators have been added to
the HUD, primarily an indication of what other wingmen are targeted
on the same ship as you are.

    Some of you will be glad to hear that the flight logic has been
improved so that the other three members of Blue Squad are now
useful.  The damage system has been modified slightly, as well
(things now break more often).  The flight computer on the Mantis now
automatically reduces the throttle when the G force would get too
high (around 7G).  This is to avoid turning the pilot into a pancake.

    There have been several additions to the keys.  These are:

	G - toggle the speed dots (grid) off and on
	< (or comma) - zoom out (from 8x down to 1x)
	> (or period) - zoom in (from 1x to 8x) (the game starts at 1x).
	alt-1 - pick Warrior as current target
	alt-2 - pick Tigereye as current target
	alt-3 - pick Joker as current target
	ctrl-T - target on nearest ship

    In addition, the Alt-Q (quit) has been removed (you can still hit
ctrl-break to quit), and the land key has been changed from L to
ctrl-L.

    The update will work either with or without the speech pack.  If
you don't have the speech pack now, but get it later, you will have
to re-install this update after installing the speech pack.

    I hope that you'll like the changes we've made.

				- Glenn Dill
				  Mantis Programmer
				  January 21, 1993