RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA
Part 1
This walkthru will not take you through a complete exploration of RAMA but
only touches on the things that you need to learn and acquire before you can
depart for a return to Earth. Be advised that there may be more than one
version floating around, and there may be differences in the layout. This is
based on my copy (issued around May 1, 1985) for an APPLE ][+. Also note that
the southern hemisphere layout may reverse the East-West configuration from
game to game.
1. On board the Endeavor.
a) Go E, N, N, to the bridge. EXAMINE VIEWPORT. YES.
b) Go S, E, to MONKEY HOUSE. PLUG CABLE THREE INTO PANEL (on Simp), then
GOLDIE, COME.
c) Go W, W, to utility room. PUT ON SPACESUIT. GET CASE AND LASER.
d) Go E, S, S, to airlock. OPEN INNER DOOR. ENTER AIRLOCK. CLOSE INNER DOOR.
OPEN OUTER DOOR. DOWN.
2. On the north face.
a) EXAMINE PILLBOX. TURN WHEEL CLOCKWISE. ENTER PILLBOX.
b) GOLDIE, PUSH BLUE BUTTON. (You) PUSH RED BUTTON.
c) ENTER AIRLOCK. PUSH WHITE DISK. PUSH BLUE DISK.
d) GO SOUTH twice (until you reach the hub)
3. At the north hub.
a) OPEN CASE. JOYSTICK (if you have one). BOARD DRAGONFLY. FLY SOUTH. (Move
quickly to upper left corner of screen and make all approaches from there.)
4. At the south hub.
a) Stay away from the grate.
b) W. GET ROMCART2. PRESS DOME. CLIMB DOWN. EXAMINE GREEN GLOBE. PRESS SMALL
DISK. TAKE GLOBE.
c) CLIMB UP. E. CLIMB DOWN.
5. In the south
a) GO NORTH three times (until you have crossed the RED BAND). GO EAST until
you find the crater. Then GO NORTH past the BIRD CAGE and CRABS and are on the
SPONGE SURFACE. Then GO EAST and CUT FURROW WITH LASER. TAKE PIECE (it serves
as a file later).
b) GO WEST (twice) then NORTH (twice). You should now be on a square with a
trellis with a flower in it. If not move north or south until you find the
trellis squares, then east or west until you find the flower.
c) CUT TRELLIS WITH FILE. ENTER TRELLIS. GET FLOWER. EXIT TRELLIS.
d) Now GO SOUTH until you can't anymore. Then EAST or WEST until you again
find the section where you can climb up. CLIMB UP.
RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA
Part 2
6. In the south.
a) BOARD DRAGONFLY. FLY NORTH. Oh, dear, you crashed! Well, that's okay. Wait
for the clean up detail and then follow it until it dumps the debris into the
crater.
b) Now DESCEND WEST RAMP. GO DOWN. EXAMINE TRIANGLE DOOR. I didn't find a
pattern to the triangles, just keep pushing them until they're all on and the
door will open. GET ROMCART1. EXIT.
c) GO UP. DESCEND EAST RAMP. GO DOWN. GET THE ROD. PUT THE FLOWER IN
INDENTATION.
d) (AVOID THE RED SIDEWALK). STEP ON WHITE SIDEWALK. GO SOUTH (OR whichever
way it says the tunnel exit is). You should now be in Moscow. GO WEST (to the
Kiosk). PRESS BAR THREE. GET ROMCART3.
e) You now should have all three ROMCARTS and the ROD. GO EAST (to the tunnel
square). PUT ROD IN KNOB. GET ROD. ENTER TUNNEL.
f) STEP ON MAROON SIDEWALK. GO WEST (or whichever way it says the tunnel exit
is. GO SOUTH. ENTER LIGHT. EXAMINE PLATFORM. PUT ROMCARTS IN INDENTATION. Enjoy
the message.
g) EXIT THE LIGHT. GO NORTH. PUT ROD IN KNOB. ENTER TUNNEL. STEP ON BLACK
SIDEWALK. GO NORTH (or whichever way it says the tunnel entrance is. You are
now in Paris).
h) GO NORTH until you reach ALPHA BASE. GO NORTH to the north hub. Then DOWN
and NORTH until you get back to the RAMAN airlock. PRESS THE WHITE DISK. PRESS
THE RED DISK.
7. Back on the north face.
a) Return to Endeavor's airlock and cycle through.
b) Go immediately to the ENGINE ROOM.
c) GIVE GOLDIE THE GLOBE. DROP GOLDIE. GOLDIE, ENTER BLUE HATCHWAY.
c) So now GOLDIE, PRESS BLUE DISK.
d) Now go W, N, N, to the bridge and the end game is automatic.
e) And that's it. Of course, the whole intent of the game is to "explore Rama"
and there are vast areas that I didn't touch on here. To really "complete" the
game you must map as much of the interior of Rama as you can before it crashes
into the sun (well, actually, before it makes its closest approach to the sun).
RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA
Part 3
On board the Endeavor, examine everything you can in all the rooms. Be sure to
take everything from the utility room.
For the Northern part of Rama (from the Cylindrical Sea to the North Hub)
block out a grid 30 squares north to south and 48 squares east to west (or
around if you prefer, since that is the number of squares between Alpha base
and Alpha base). Number the rows 1 to 30 going from the base to the sea. Square
number one in each row is the first square described after you leave the base
of any of the stairways. Label the columns with letters starting with A at the
base of stairway Alpha. So Gamma base is at square Q1 and Beta base is at is at
G'1. Given that as a basis we can then describe where some interesting things
are.
I first ran into spiders at grid A3. If you are persistant you can throw the
net at a spider and catch one. Then you can cut the spider with the knife.
Ooow, that was a shock, wasn't it. I also ran into spiders in several other
places. They all behave the same.
The first time I ran into a Basin and Podium combination was at grid R4
(although there are others). Push the button on the podium. Wan't that fun?
What do you thing would happen if you but something in the basin and pushed the
button? Nothing? Could be. I never was able to put anything in the basin.
The first Cube and Platform I encountered was at B'9. Drop everything but
Goldie and stand on the platform. (Be careful about dropping Goldie, if you do
you can't get her back.) Oh, boy, a prize. I wonder what I can do with a
tetrahedron? Put it in the basin? Nope. Oh, well, it's neat so I'll keep it.
A real treat waits for you at R'10. A gleaming metalic pod. Gee, I wonder what
it does. No openings. No controls. I'll climb on top of it to see if I get a
better view. Oooooh, nooooo. Wow, what a ride. So here I am at the sea. Hmm,
still frozen. Maybe I can walk to New York. Well, so much for that idea, huh?
Well, let's check out the cities. The very center of Paris is at grid A8.
Paris itself covers an area of 5 squares by 5. Seems pretty blah, doesn't it?
Wonder what you can see from atop the buildings. Approach a rectangular
building. Examine the indentations. Hmm, don't seem to be able to do anything
with them. How do I get up there. Goldie seems pretty agile, I'll bet she could
climb it. Give Goldie the line. Goldie, climb. Goldie, tie line to post. Okay,
now I'll climb the line. Hmm, pretty boring view. Wonder what's inside. Look
through the roof. You can do this on all of the rectangular buildings in all
three cities. I never was able to get inside any of the buildings. If you find
a way, let me know how. There's a tunnel in the center square but you can't do
anything with it yet. You need the rod from the south to open the tunnels.
Next we come to Moscow. Moscow is 5 squares east to west but only 4 squares
north to south. The square with the tunnel in it is at Q16. At Q17 is a kiosk.
Examine it. Press the bars. Examine the machine. Examine the bin. Too bad you
can't get anything here (except for the ROMCART, of course).
London is the same size as Paris. The center square is at grid G'23. Not much
to do here, either.
For the south use a grid 10 by 10. Label rows south to north A thru J. Number
the columns 1 thru 10. Row A is the Copper band. Row B is the Red band. Row J
is the edge of the cliff. Row I is dirt fields (the whole row is the same in my
version). Row H is covered fields with trellises (again the whole row in my
version). The south hub is described in the "need to do" section above.
Descend to the base and go north to row C. Then go east until you come to the
crater. I labeled that grid C4. Not much you can do here until after you crash
the Dragonfly. Then you can follow the cleanup squad to the top of the crater
thus gaining access to the descending spirals and the doors. You could descend
the south ramp to the round door, but you can't get through the door so why
bother?
Going east again brings you to grid C3. A solid blue square, which will mean
nothing to you until you crash the Dragonfly (this is where you land then). And
there is nothing here of interest until then.
Grid C2 is cute. Very black surface and a podium with a black button. Let's
push the button. Gee, wasn't that exciting?
Moving north now to D2 we find some columns. Cute tune, huh? Examine the
columns. Push one of the colored columns. Try another. Gee, I could play a
tune...now how did that go...? Oh, well, push them in this order: red, orange,
yellow, green, blue. Nice concert, eh? But it doesn't seem to do anything (even
doing it three times doesn't accomplish anything).
D3 is a crystal delight. Take the crystal. Pretty isn't it? Non- functional,
but pretty.
D4. A cage, uh-oh, could be trouble. Wouldn't want to get locked inside,
right? Gee, I wonder how you open it? Push door, pull door, kick door. Nope!
Ah, pull door down. That did it. Now what's inside? Looks pretty safe. Go in.
Oh, no, the door closed! Can I re-open it? Whew, yes. Okay, look around. Hmm,
another button. I'll push it. Wow, a concert and light show. Well, time to move
on. Pull door down and leave.
E4. Crabs?! I came all this way just to get crabs? Ah, a podium. More buttons.
A button for each crab. Hey, dig that! Hoe, Hoe, Hoe.
E3. Wow, tiles. Examine them. Step on center tile and examine it. Try turning
the wheel counter clockwise. Nope! Try clockwise. Hey, a chance to get a good
look at Rama. And a podium. Examine the podium. Hmm, doesn't make much sense
does it. Oh, the tile quit going up. If you held on to the handrail so did you,
if not...bye. Turn the wheel counterclockwise to get down.
E2. A wire rug? How odd. What? Who's that? Will, is that you. Good to hear
your voice. Nows a good time to ask all three of them for advise. In fact you
should do that whenever you encounter something new (assuming they can hear
you, of course).
F2. Fences?! Don't fence with me. Or try to fence me out. I can climb fences.
But I can't jump into craters. Maybe if I throw something into the crater I'll
get a reaction. Don't you wish it knew how to say more than "You can't do that
here."? Oh, well, climb back over the inner fence then climb over the outer
fence and move on.
F3. Plowed field. Pretty hard dirt, ain't it. I'll bet you could use it as a
file. Cut the furrow with the laser and take a piece.
F4. Spongey surface and platform. Goldie, go to platform. Goldie, examine
platform. Can I give her something to put in the indentation? Nope, guess not.
The only other thing out here of interest is the flower at grid H5 which you
need to get to open the square door.
Speaking of the square door. That leads to the room with the sidewalks. Have
you tried taking the Red sidewalk? Bad idea, isn't it? The black sidewalk takes
you to the tunnel in Paris. You can go out through the tunnel and, if you have
the rod, back in (don't leave the rod in the knob). The trap door leads back to
the sidewalk room (in all cases where there is a trap door). The grey sidewalk
takes you to London, the white to Moscow, and the maroon to New York.
In New York you can go north to the harbor or south to the large oval building
with the light shaft and that's about it. Of course if you have the ROMCARTS
you can enter the light shaft, put them in the indentation in the podium and
get a message.
And that really is about all there is to it. If you find a way into any of the
buildings or any significance to something that I missed, please leave me a
message either on the SIG or by E-mail.
Baron Greystrom
