order to attack supply and movement networks. If interdiction aircraft are discovered in enemy territory, there will be a chance that the side will respond with a retaliatory nuclear strike. The remaining three aircraft options are to attack a single unit, strike enemy territory, and attack railways in order to disable enemy reinforcements, respectively. The game allows the player to request chemical and nuclear tactical strikes against the enemy. A chemical attack is automatically targeted at an enemy capital city, and will conclude with a readout announcing the outcome of the attack, such as civilian casualties. In order to launch a strategic nuclear attack, the player is given 30 seconds to call a dedicated 1-800 telephone number and obtain a special authorisation code from the automated answerphone message (the authorisation code was 'Midnight Sun'). Once the authorisation code has been received, the player will be given three separate options on how to proceed. Standby mode will postpone the nuclear launch, whereas a strategic launch will involve one nuclear warhead targeting a city. The third option, known as "Fire-Plan", will issue a full-scale nuclear strike across Europe and results in a nuclear holocaust, which will end the game. Background and release Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry, West Midlands, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company were known for creating games that revolved around historic battles and conflicts, such as Battle of Britain, Bismarck and Falklands '82. The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique, and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom. In 1986, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit consoles such as the ZX Spectrum lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. The decision was falsely interpreted as "pulling out" from the Spectrum market by video game journalist Phillipa Irving. Following years of successful sales throughout the mid-1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties; Cockayne admitted in a retrospective interview that "he took his eye off the ball". The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987, and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt. In an interview with Your Computer magazine, Gary Mays stated that Theatre Europe received heavy criticism from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The CND accused the developers of "bad taste", despite Cockayne claiming that