When you start Battle Bugs, you come face to face with two surly rhino beetle sentries. You will be asked to enter the symbols on a given page number in the manual. Turn to that page, click on the correct symbols in sequence, and then click DONE. If you click the wrong symbol, use BACK UP to remove it, and then re-enter the correct symbol. You want very much to be correct - once annoyed, rhino beetles stay annoyed.
Enlistment Screen
Once you have started Battle Bugs and made it past the sentries, select a play mode in the Enlistment screen.
The default mode is General vs. Computer, which lets you play a solo campaign. With this option, you take on varied computer-controlled enemy forces in a series of battles for specified objectives (the first being survival). Enlist as a new general or select an existing general to go to the Campaign screen.
If you want to play in two-player mode, click on General vs. General on the chalkboard. This option lets you play head-to-head with a human opponent commanding the enemy forces. You will then go to the Campaign screen and choose a battle.
Enlist: This option lets you create a new general name for solo campaigns. Click Enlist, and you will be prompted to type in your new general's name. When the name is typed correctly, click OK or press ENTER, and the name will be enetered on the Duty Roster. Battles won by your general are automatically saved as a campaign.
Retire: This option lets you remove an existing general (and campaign) from the Duty Roster. When you click RETIRE, you will be prompted to select the general on the Duty Roster to retire. Simply click on the general's name on the Duty Roster, and the name will be removed along with all of its saved games.
Exit: To exit Battle Bugs from the Enlistment screen, click the EXIT sign. When prompted "Quit Battle Bugs?" click OK, and you will go directly to DOS.
Campaign screen
Once you have selected a play mode and a general (for General vs. Computer mode), you choose a specific battle in the Campaign screen. In General vs. Computer mode, you fight a solo campaign. The battles grow progressively more difficult. While you may go back to any battle you have won or saved previously, you cannot skip a battle until you have lost it at least three times. Battles you have skipped are shown in red until you win them.
In General vs. General (two-player) mode, there are no campaigns: each battle is separate. This allows you and your human opponent to select a battlefield to contest your skills. See "Choose Battle" below.
Begin Campaign: This is where you start with a new general. Click BEGIN CAMPAIGN to go to the briefing for Boot Camp 1: Dirt Simple. This is the first battle in each new campaign.
Continue Campaign: Your general's victories are saved automatically. If your selected general has already won at least one battle, you will have a t least one campaign in progress that you can continue. Click CONTINUE CAMPAIGN to begin the next battle in the campaign.
Resume Saved Campaign: You may save multiple campaigns for each general at any point - even in the thick of battle. If you have saved at least one campaign already, you can select and resume that campaign at that point. Click RESUME SAVED CAMPAIGN, select the saved campaign from the list, and click OK. You will re-enter the campaign at the exact point it was last saved.
Choose Battle: You may replay any battle that you have already won or skipped in a solo campaign. To replay a battle, click CHOOSE BATTLE, select a battle from the Battle Record and click OK, and you will begin that battle from the initial briefing.
For General vs General (two-player) mode, you click CHOOSE BATTLE to select a battlefield for you and your human opponent. You may choose any battle already won or skipped by anyone on the Duty Roster. When the Battle Record opens, simply click on a battle you want, and you and your opponent will go to the Battle screen.
Review Decorations: Click this option to see the decorations awarded to the current general by Queen Elizabug. With continued success, the sash across your thorax will go from blank to fully festooned.
Save Campaign: You save campaigns from the Battle screen (via channel 3 Save Campaign option or the F3 key.) You will pop out of the Battle screen to the Campaign screen, and then be prompted to name your saved campaign. Type a campaign name into the text box and click OK to save it. You will then return to the battle.
To delete an existing campaign, click on the campaign name from the list and then click DELETE. When prompted to "Delete the campaign...?" click OK.
Enlistment Office: To return to the Enlistment screen to select a different general or player mode, click ENLISTMENT OFFICE.
Exit: To exit Battle Bugs from the Campaign screen, click the EXIT sign. When prompted "Quit Battle Bugs?" click OK, and you will go directly to DOS.