Rampart Game System: Atari Lynx Cheat Category: Hint Game Company: Electronic Arts Game Category: Puzzle Hint, Cheat, Walkthrough:   Rampart ======= Play a two player game in single player mode: Clear two veteran levels (the topmost and then the leftmost battlefield). At the Map screen, push the joypad left as if you were trying to select a different battlefield than the one remaining. The highlight will disappear. If you then start, you will be on one of the two player battle fields. I think that you actually can choose from any of them, by continuing to move the cursor off screen, but I'm not sure. Playing tip! During the cannon stage, if you click five times on a place where the cannon can't be built, you'll go on ahead to the firing stage. One strategy is to place the cannon over a boat you plan to target and click five times, so that when you start the firing stage the crosshairs will already be over he boat. If it starts getting a little hairy when you try to refortify your castle (ie. to cluttered with wall remnants), then try clearing those pieces away in the next cannon stage by shooting them. Hints and tips: --------------- Don't be afraid to place wall sections INSIDE your castle if the clock is running down and you still have a difficult hole to patch. That's an easier way to patch the hole and you'll still have use of your existing canons (although, you'll probably be eating up space for new cannons -- if it's down to the wire, though, it's worth the trade off.) Also, I find that when you start out with only two canons (i.e. not the very first, first round and not after a continue) it is very helpful to rebuild your walls as quickly and simply as possible and then surround as many other castles as you can just by placing pieces right up against the castle in order to increase the number of cannons you get. If you can surround one or two more, you've got three or four cannons to place, and you should have room for them in the early going. That gives you five or six canons and you can really tear the enemy up. The walls around the other castles will also draw enemy fire. A good thing to do after patching your castle is to build a wall around open space near the shoreline. This gives you cannons close to the enemy and it takes less time for your shots to hit the enemy vessels. However, these are things I've learned in about a weeks time -- I've never played the game before this, so take this advice with a grain of salt. Try it out and see what happens, if it works for you then use it. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' I'd like to add my strategies/observations... * Play the game (Beginner's mode) without ever shooting your cannon, and without ever putting down new cannons, and see how far you can get. You'll quickly learn which castle to choose as home, how to defend against the ground cannons, how to eliminate the ground cannons by surrounding them with walls, etc. I don't think you can win the game without shooting, but I found it very enjoyable, and came to the conclusion that you don't need that many cannons to survive...which leads to my next strategy... * I currently play with at most 3 cannons, positioned around my castle as to form a square. I choose a home castle as far away from the beach as I can, ideally with another castle between me and the beach, to serve as cannon fodder, for the invading ground cannons. My cannon targeting strategy, from highest to lowest priority is (1) ships approaching the beach closest to my castle. (2) any ship approaching my half of the screen (3) fire-ball shooting ships (4) ground cannons approaching really close to my castle. My bricklaying priority: (1) building walls around my (square) castle area. (2) laying a defensive line between the beach and the castle closest to me (3) laying a defense line around the castles on the other side of the screen. My overall strategy is to divert the major invading ground cannon attack to the castle(s) farthest from my home castle, and maintain ground control over my castle and the one next to mine, closest to the beach. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' I stumbled across a hidden feature of Rampart on the Lynx. When playing an "veteran" one player game, it is possible to play on one of the two player battle fields. I'm not sure of the exact circumstances in which you are allowed to do this, but in this particular case, I had played the first round on the battle field at the very top of the map, then I chose as the second battle field, the one on the left (initially, you only have a choice of three.) After finishing that battle, you seemingly can only choose the one remaining battle area, but if you press a direction on the joypad, the cursor (highlighting of a battle area) will dissappear. If you then start, you will be on one of the two player battle fields. I think that you actually can choose from any of them, by continuing to move the cursor off screen, but I'm not sure. I don't know what happens if you finish one of the two player rounds, because I failed to do so! ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''