Anyone play Colony?

[dtwaide]

Just wondering if anyone else ever plays the old Bulldog game Colony? There doesn't seem to be much information about it online but it was one of my favourite games in the lates 80's. I find the frantic maintenance of the base while trying to grow the mushroom crops at the same time to be very exciting. I loved the idea of starting in a colony and building it to become self-supporting. I know there are different games now with similar ideas, such as tower defense games or maybe Factorio, but I still love Colony!
There is a bug in it, however, where the game freezes if the supply ship arrives after more than 1 hour. Does anyone else like this game? And do you know a way around this bug?

[TFM]

Can you post a .DSK please. [nb]Actually you gotta ZIP it, else the system refuses it.[/nb]

[dtwaide]

Added to the downloads section.

http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=dldir;sa=details;lid=3941

[||C|-|E||]

I did not know this game but it does not seem bad at all. I tried it yesterday with Winape running at 300% (because I am compiling stuff with it) and it was crazily fast. Then, I tried at normal speed just find that it is really responsive anyway. I kinda like it 

[Phantomz]

I remember that I used to love this game back in the day, I purchased it from Tesco's with my pocket money the same day I got Feud. 

I can't remember how to play it these days, but I'll probably check it out again soon.

I did try and convert this game to the gx4000, but I had trouble finding shift to remap to button 2 on the control pad.

I gave up in the end as when I tried the game in the gx4000 I couldn't start the game, It seems to be one of those games that don't like the plus keyboard. 

[Puresox]

My experience of Colony , has been that I was initially impressed at the complexity of the game for a budget effort , I have never really got hooked into it, despite liking resource management type games, I think whenever I have looked at it , I have been overwhelmed at the sheer amount of stuff you have to work out and manage straight away, also found the positioning a bit finicky, when placing fences or seeds.  (admittedly as usual instructions have taken a back seat) Until the day I properly want to understand it.
How about giving us a few pointers into what too prioritize in this game.

[dtwaide]

The positioning is a little bit of a pain but it helps when you know that your robot must be properly located in the square next to the one in which you want to place an object. It doesn't seem to matter so much in the vertical direction as when you overlap two grid squares then the object is placed in the one nearest the top of the screen.

I always liked the game because for a resource management type game it has a real arcadey feel to it and you don't need to put too much thought into it, just rush from one job to the next!

When the game starts there are already mushrooms planted and the perimeter is made of wooden fencing. Solar panels are already laid out and as long as you don't leave the beacon on its enough to keep the power level charged. So, the first thing I do is order a battery for the droid sitting in the landing area; when installed it will automatically move around the base shooting aliens. Also I order some more seeds, and spend the rest of the starting credits on steel fencing. Then while the mushrooms are growing I just patrol around the perimeter replacing the wooden fence with steel and trying to prevent the ants getting through. There are cannons mounted on the walls at the top of the base to help.

Just remember to turn the beacon on before the ship arrives, and turn it off immediately afterward to save power. I prioritize by making sure the perimeter is secure upgrading fence as you go, then check that the power levels aren't too high or low (around 1000 is good), then harvest/plant mushrooms.

I think its a great game, esp. since it was budget, I just think they didn't realize its full potential as its seems like the goal is to become more independent since the supply ships become more infrequent. Hope this helps people getting into it for the first time. Cheers.