Ruins of Doom

"The Ruins of Doom" is the misison assigned to players by Trader empires, and is one of the many adventure missions that the player can accept during the Space Stage.

Summary
In the ruins of a temple deep in the jungle hides the famed Golden Llama, an artifact that no creature has yet been able to retrieve from its maze-like surroundings. The Llama is protected by stone gateways, bloodthirsty creatures, and a legendary Guardian within the ruins--all of which the player must navigate in order to find the Golden Llama and bring to the extraction point.

The captain, beamed down alone, begins the mission atop a multi-level stone temple somewhere near the location of the Llama. At the foot of the temple is a small enclosure sealed off by a stone gateway that can only be opened by the twenty-five gems scattered around the enclosure. Tomb spiders and Gem Collectors stand between the captain and the gems needed to advance to the next similar enclosure, and will attack the player immediately if not dealt with instantly. Once twenty-five gems have been collected, the player must examine the stone gate and insert the gems into the slots to open the way into the next enclosure.

The next enclosure is identical to that previous, as are the objectives: Collect twenty-five gems and open the gate to get another step closer to the Golden Llama. This gate, however, bears a warning: "The Guardian Sees All", a fair sign that the objective is near.

From this point, the player must cross a rope bridge to reach another ruin, guarded by a stone archway bearing a stone skull. Giant, fire-breathing hogs and larger tomb spiders guard a passageway that leads to yet another area sealed off by a stone gate, also requiring twenty-five gems. Once this has been passed, the Golden Llama, seemingly unguarded, is revealed. However, when the player collects the Llama, the Guardian is released and chases the player all the way to the extraction point at the foot of the first temple. If the player makes it successfully past the hordes of spiders and the Epic guardian, he/she is beamed back up and can return to the empire that assigned it for the reward.

Trivia

 * The Ruins of Doom seems to be based on the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indiana Jones navigates the traps of an ancient temple to reach the famed Golden Idol. Like the ruins of GA, none have returned alive from the temple; similarly, a trap is activated when the Golden Llama is collected. The title of the adventure is similar to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.


 * Once the captain has returned to the Trader empire to receive the reward, the representative from the species debates aloud whether the relic the player has retrieved would better fit in with a collection of golden items or with a collection of llamas--an allusion to the running Maxis joke humorously portraying llamas.