solution
The Man From DEFRA was written in Inform for the first 24 Hours of Inform mini-comp, and is © 2002 by Kevan Davis.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
Related links: the Baf’s Guide listing for The Man From DEFRA, and the 24 Hours of Inform page.
| Side of House | — | Inside the Farmhouse | ||||||||||
| | | ||||||||||||
| Barn | Corner of the House | — | Farmhouse | |||||||||
| | | | | |||||||||||
| Junction | — | —————— | — | Courtyard | — | Farm Gate | — | On the Road | — | Ruined Field | — | Funereal Pyre |
| | | | | |||||||||||
| Abandoned Pens | The Goat Yard | — | The Goat Shed | |||||||||
| View from the Goat Shed | in → ← | |||||||||||
| look through window | ||||||||||||
[The Goat Shed]
You are a goat, whose goal is to prevent the slaughter of yourself and your herd by health officials from DEFRA. (DEFRA is the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a UK government agency.) Naturally, since you're a goat, you aren't carrying anything.
>x me. x horns. x beard. x herd. x straw. smell.
>x trough. look in trough. x feed.
>x door. kick door.
>x window. look through window.
[View from the Goat Shed]
>x door. x rope. x nail. x hook.
>take rope. [+1 pt]
>in.
[The Goat Shed]
>kick door. west. (or out.)
[The Goat Yard]
>x gate. north.
[Courtyard]
By the way, the vehicle is a truck. Although the game never refers to it as a "truck", you can.
>x vehicle. smell it.
The next part of this walkthrough involves scouting around the farm. If you've already done that, skip down to where we jump over the tape.
>east.
[Farm Gate]
>x bucket. smell it.
>x pit. look in pit. east.
>w. n.
[Farmhouse]
>n. x door. open door.
>x window. x figures. w.
[Corner of the House]
>x kennel. x dog.
Time to learn by death. Trying to go north teaches you that this will cause the dog to bark, and that the farmer to arrive and fix the problem. If the farmer sees you here (or in front of the Farmhouse), you'll be caught, and assumed to be the problem.
>north. undo.
>e. s. w.
[Junction]
>x tape. s. n.
[Barn]
>x chickens. x hay. climb hay. search hay. eat hay.
>south.
[Junction]
Okay, enough with the exploration. Let's start solving the puzzles.
>jump over tape.
[Abandoned Pens]
>x sheet. take it. kick it. g. [+1 pt]
>take sheet. n. break tape.
>n. e. e.
[Farm Gate]
>put sheet on pit. [+1 pt]
Time to learn by death again. By trying to go east, you learn that you need to disguise yourself, and that there's a fire off further east.
>east. undo.
Hmm. Now what? You can't go east as you are. You can't get past the dog. There's nothing you can do with the bucket of disinfectant except carry it somewhere, drop it, and kick it, where it will spill and form a puddle of disinfectant, which hardly seems useful. At least not yet.
That leaves the chickens. And all they want to do is peck at the ground for food. Like the feed in your trough. Oh.
>w. s. e.
[The Goat Shed]
>take feed. w. n. w. n.
[Barn]
>drop feed. z.
Repeat and continue waiting. Eventually, you'll see one of the bolder chickens heading south and returning. Because there's no feed to the south.
So maybe you can lure this chicken with feed to... where? The dog. So you'll need to build a trail of feed between the chicken and the dog.
A few problems. The chicken moves at random times, so you'll have to wait until it moves on its own. Secondly, the chicken will backtrack, which is best solved by eating the feed yourself behind it. Third, you don't want to be caught by the farmer when the chicken bothers the dog, so lay the feed trail backwards, from dog to chicken, and don't visit the Farmhouse or Corner locations until the dog is gone.
>s. e. s. e.
[The Goat Shed]
>take feed. w. n. n. w.
[Corner of the House]
>drop feed. e. s. s. e.
[The Goat Shed]
>take feed. w. n. n.
[Farmhouse]
>drop feed. s. s. e.
[The Goat Shed]
>take feed. w. n.
[Courtyard]
>drop feed. s. e.
[The Goat Shed]
>take feed. w. n. w.
[Junction]
>drop feed. n.
[Barn]
>z. (repeat waiting until chicken goes south and doesn't return.)
>eat feed. s.
[Junction]
>x chicken. z. (repeat waiting until chicken goes east.)
>eat feed. e.
[Courtyard]
>z. (repeat waiting until chicken goes north.)
>eat feed. (don't follow this time!)
>z. (repeat waiting until the dog is taken inside the house.) [+1 pt]
>north.
[Farmhouse]
>eat feed. w.
[Corner of the House]
>eat feed. n.
[Side of House]
>x stick. x door. e.
[Inside the Farmhouse]
>x door. x white door. open white door.
>x coat. wear it. x hat. wear it.
>west.
[Side of House]
>take stick. s. e. s. e.
[Farm Gate]
>east. [+1 pt]
[On the Road]
>west.
[Farm Gate]
>drop stick. take bucket. w.
[Courtyard]
>x green vehicle. drop bucket. kick it. e.
[Farm Gate]
>take stick. e.
[On the Road]
>east.
[Ruined Field]
>east.
[Funereal Pyre]
>x fire. smell. light stick. w. w. w. w.
[Courtyard]
>light puddle. [+1 pt, and win the game]
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