The Buried Citadel
By Sean Conway
Published in Games Computing, issue 15, March 1985, pp. 60–67
For Commodore VIC-20
Solution by Garry Francis
----------------------------------------
It is impossible to finish the original version of the game as printed in the magazine as the end
game is a real mess. You can't drop the lit torch, row back across the river or open, close and
repair the dumb-waiter in the last room. You will first need to apply the following bug fixes,
including a few cosmetic ones:
Line 316: Change 'goto21' to 'goto210'.
Line 330: Change 'goto10' to 'goto210'.
Line 390: Delete colon at end of line.
Line 566: Change 'ob%(34)' to 'ob%(42)'.
Line 881: Change 'or' to 'and' (twice).
Line 1903: Change 'there7s' to 'there's'.
Line 2058: Change string to "in the quarters of the king'sservants".
Line 5020: Change 'print' to 'print:print'.
Line 5175: Change 'ob%(39)=-1thenno=31' to 'ob%(1)=0thenno=39'.
Replace line 788 with:
788 print"the door swings open.":gf=1
789 p$(40)="faced by an open door revealing a dumbwaiter":goto800
Replace line 886 with:
886 print"okee-dokee":gf=0
887 p$(40)="standing in a very small room. thereis a door in the oppo-site wall.":goto210
Replace line 1012 with:
1012 print"you reach the west side of the river.":rb=0:p%(38,2)=0
1013 ob%(11)=38:p%(39,3)=38:goto210
Replace line 2070 with:
2070 p$(32)="standing in the entrance to the mine. the ground "
2071 p$(32)=p$(32)+"slopes away beneath you."
This is a minimal solution to the bug-fixed version. Your inventory is limited to 6 items, so you
need to drop items when you're finished with them. The magnifying glass, pendant and jewels are
breakable, so don't drop these until you're finished with them. You can't drop the
lit torch in the dark regions or you'll fall into a pit when you move to another room. Because
of this, you need to keep the lit torch with you, so your inventory is effectively limited to 5
items.
Strictly speaking, your only objective is to escape from the buried citadel, but that seems a bit
pointless, seeing as the intro says your objective is to find the treasure. Therefore, the solution
shows you how to collect the treasure and then escape. Due to the limited inventory, this will
require a bit of back-tracking that wouldn't be necessary if you left the treasure behind.
N
GET ROPE
W
GET TORCH
E
S
W
GET MATCHES
LIGHT TORCH
DROP MATCHES
E
S
S
GET GLASS
N (the floor collapses)
W
GET PLANKS
E
E
S
S
W
W
(GET PARCHMENT)
(READ PARCHMENT) (with magnifying glass, WAVE and FRUIT are significant later)
(DROP PARCHMENT)
DROP GLASS (it breaks, but you're finished with it)
GET OARS
E
E
N
N
W
S
W
OPEN GATE
(LOOK) (exit added to west)
W
MAKE BRIDGE (with rope & planks)
(LOOK) (exit added to west)
W
GET PENDANT
W
N
SAY FRUIT (door replaced by clear passage)
(LOOK) (exit added to north)
N
W
W
W
GET BULLETS
E
S
S
OPEN CHEST
(LOOK) (you find key & rifle)
GET KEY
GET RIFLE
N
N
E
E
S
S
S
S
SHOOT RODENT (rodent replaced by dead meat)
(LOOK) (exits added to south & west)
DROP RIFLE
W
W
GET SHOVEL
E
E
S
W
W
W
S
DIG RUBBLE (with shovel)
(LOOK) (exit added to east)
DROP SHOVEL
DROP OARS
N
E
E
E
N
N
W
WAVE PENDANT (transparent wall vanishes)
DROP PENDANT (it smashes, but you don't need it again)
GET COINS
GET JEWELS (don't drop them)
E
S
S
S
GET SAW
N
W
GET WOOD
W
W
S
E
MEND BOAT (with saw and wood)
DROP SAW
W
GET WIRE
GET OARS
E
ROW BOAT
(LOOK) (exit added to east)
E
E
OPEN DOOR (it's door to dumb waiter, you fix it with coil of wire and escape)
***THE END***
