Aviation Adventure

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Text File | 1994-11-02 | 24.0 KB | 530 lines

Welcome to F4U Secret Sortie. Copyright 1994 Pie in the Sky Software Table of Contents $( type a number using your keyboard )$ ----------------- 1) Getting Started 2) The Story so Far 3) Hardware Requirements 4) Inflight Keys 5) Keyboard Play and How to Handle the Rudder 6) Missions: Theaters-of-Operation 7) Training Missions 8) How to Take Off, Fly Level, and Land 9) How to Turn Your Plane 10) The Corncob Other Worlds Campaign Order Form 11) Technical Information and Disclaimer Getting Started --------------- Welcome to F4U Secret Sortie! F4U Secret Sortie is an easy game to use. Just make up a name for your 'pilot' when asked. This will be the name to reference for accumulated score, etc. You can create many pilots, and fly them on missions. The only effect this has is that each pilot has his or her own stats and records. If you just want to get in the cockpit and fly, then type <CR> at the main menu. Doing so will bring up the Training Missions menu. Just type <CR> again, and you will receive the pre-flight report, which gives information the mission. Hit <CR> again to begin the mission. Once in the plane, the blinking message reminds you that the F4 key gives inflight help. Storyline --------- The game takes place near the end of World War II. The Allied forces have intercepted a message from Hitler to his top field General concerning an all-out offensive that the Germans are planning in a desperate attempt to break through Allied lines. The German plans must be foiled, or the war will be lost. The message contains details that will enable the Allies to stop the offensive, but unfortunately the message is encoded. The Allies must put their top code crackers on this case immediately. These individuals are located in five European cities located in strategic underground hideouts behind enemy lines. You have been selected as the courier to take copies of the message to these top code crackers. To undertake this dangerous mission you will fly the most advanced plane of the day, the F4U Corsair. To make your Corsair lighter in order to conserve fuel, the guns and gun mounts have been removed from your aircraft. Hardware Requirements --------------------- In addition to the other requirements of Aviation Adventure, F4U Secret Sortie requires 520k free RAM. An Adlib-compatible sound card and a joystick are both optional. Inflight Key Definitions ------------------------ F2 - Intelligence Info escape - end mission now (for best score, use near your airstrip tower) cntl-c - abort mission (end mission, pretend mission never happened) Keypad arrow keys (NEVER use cursor keys, use KEYPAD arrow keys only!) 7,9 - left, right rudder control (Must use these for taxiing on ground) (Tap lightly; Don't hold rudder keys down continuously in flight!) 8,2 - nose down, nose up 4,6 - roll counterclockwise, roll clockwise numlock - toggle between {keypad arrows = views} or {keypad arrows = controls} left cntl key - use with keypad arrow keys for views left shift key - apply brakes f - flaps toggle g - ground detail dots toggle on/off i - ignite rocket booster (15 second burn, 120 seconds recharge) m - map mode (arrows, pgup=move down, pgup=move up, shft arrows=change angle) p - pause toggle, (use spacebar to go through help screens when paused) r - toggle reverse window on/off s - toggle sound on/off, also use for reseting sound board in case of glitch t - hold down for accelerated time x,z - left/right rudder (Tap lightly; Don't hold rudder keys down continuously in flight!) keypad +/- increase/decrease throttle Keyboard Play ------------- A great deal of effort was put into F4U Secret Sortie in order to make keyboard play work well. The keyboard is interrupt driven, and your key presses are timed to within 1/1000 th of a second. Also, F4U Secret Sortie has no problem detecting keystrokes even when 3 keys are held down at once. Remember that to apply gentle tweaks to the control, you must press keys on and off rapidly, with the average time spent down being the desired roll/pitch rate. You have three displays on the front panel which show you what you are presently sending to the control stick. These meters are just to the right of the ALT light. NOTE: if the keypad arrow keys suddenly appear to be not functioning properly, perhaps you have bumped the numlock key. See the 'inflight keys' section for the function of the numlock key. REAL MISSIONS: -------------- This menu is where you select your flying mission. There is one training mission and five actual missions. You must complete the training mission before you are allowed to fly actual missions in enemy territory. To fly the training mission, choose the $"\Training mission"$ selection from the menu. In the training mission, you must take off and weave between some tall rotating markers like a slalom skier. Start at the marker closest to your airstrip, and fly past in on the left side. As you do, you will see the '1' in your training instrument light up. Then switch to the right side as you pass the second marker. The '2' will then light up. Continue weaving through markers until your whole training intrument is lit up, and the complete light on your dash goes on. If you miss a marker, or you go past the markers out of order, you will have to start over. If your wheels touch the ground before you complete the slalom, you will have to start over. You can fly a combat mission in one of the theaters-of-operation by choosing the $"\Fly mission"$ selection. Most Theaters-of-Operation consists of several airfields. Surrounding these airfields are enemy buildings and equipment. You must stay away from these to avoid detection by the enemy. If you get too close, your radar warning light will go on, and you will hear the warble alarm. The alarm has four stages. When the light is grey, you are far enough away from the enemy structures that you are in no danger. When it is blue, you are getting dangerously close, but you are not close enough to be detected. When the light is yellow, you are very close to being detected. When the alarm warning light turns red, you will be sighted in a matter of seconds! There are three types of enemy structure that can detect you. 1.) Red buildings All the red buildings have enemy personnel inside. If they hear a plane go overhead, they will run out and try to identify it. These structures have the smallest detection range, and are therefore the least threatening to your mission. Your altitude affects the ability of the building personnel to detect you as hostile. The higher you are, the less likely that they will spot you. These buildings will show up as dark blue dots on your radar display. 2.) Enemy planes Since you are behind the lines, all aircraft are hostile. They can detect you when get within a certain range. You are most likely to be spotted when you are at the same altitude as the enemy plane. Since enemy pilots are always observant, the range of detection for planes is twice that of buildings. Enemy planes show up as light blue on your radar. 3.) Radar installations Radar buildings have maximum range. Most of the time you cannot see the radar before it detects your presence. Keep a careful eye on the your radar detection instrument. The green dots are radar units. No matter how high your altitude, the radar installations can still detect you. Low flying, however, is a different story. The radar installations are not capable of detecting planes that are flying very low. There is no fixed lower ceiling for radar. The closer you get to the radar, the lower you must be to pass under it's detection field. By the same token, at the maximum range of the radar you can be over 1000 feet high and still avoid detection. Radar has twice the range of enemy aircraft. Airstrips --------- There are both friendly and unfriendly airstrips in the game. Friendly airstrips always have a tall grey tower next to them. When you land at a friendly airstrip, your fuel tanks are refilled after you come to a complete stop (by lowering the throttle to zero, and applying brakes), and then raising the throttle again. You can land on the roads, or the grass if you like, but grass landings are much trickier! You may choose to play with an invulnerable plane with the $"toggle$ $invulnerable \Plane"$ selection. When flying with an invulnerable plane, you will be detected by any enemy forces but not forced down, nor will you any damaged by any collisions. Flights taken with an invulnerable plane are never counted toward a pilot's record. While you are inflight, F4U Secret Sortie can put text messages up to guide the new user until he/she becomes familiar with the game. After the user learns that you must fly back to the airstrip to get points and so on, these messages become an annoyance. Also, some non- IBM compatible VGA cards may cause this text to come up with '*' characters replacing every letter in the message. If this happens, be sure and turn off inflight comments! Use $Inflight \Comments$ menu selection to turn off these inflight messages. New pilots who just start playing F4U Secret Sortie tend to fly into the ground frequently, and have much trouble learning to turn. Therefore, the game contains two aerodynamic flight models. The beginner flight model gently pushes the nose to the correct attitude for level flight. This helps prevent crashes, and also causes the plane to turn without the player having coordinate the use of the elevators. The advanced flight model is much preferred for real combat. Loops, flying upsidedown, and dives are much easier with this flight model. Choose between these two flight models with the $Flight \Model$ menu item. TRAINING MISSION ---------------- You must complete the training mission before you are allowed to fly actual missions in enemy territory. To fly the trainging mission, choose the $"\Training mission"$ selection from the menu. In the training mission, you must take off and weave between some tall rotating markers like a slalom skier. Start at the marker closest to your airstrip, and fly past in on the left side. As you do, you will see the '1' in your training instrument light up. Then switch to the right side as you pass the second marker. The '2' will then light up. Continue weaving through markers until your whole training intrument is lit up, and the complete light on your dash goes on. If you miss a marker, or you go past the markers out of order, you will have to start over. If your wheels touch the ground before you complete the slalom, you will have to start over. How to Take Off, Land, and Fly Level ------------------------------------ The key to success in Aviation Adventure is to become a good flyer. Only when a pilot learns the abilities and limitations of his plane can he make the complex maneuvers required to make it to the rank of General. Takeoffs -------- Pulling your plane up into the air is the easiest part of flying. Merely put the throttle to the maximum, and pull up on the stick when you reach over 150 mph. However, there are some details to be aware of. If your plane is not lined up on the runway, you will have to maneuver on the ground. The joystick controls the tilt of the plane, it cannot turn the plane. Therefore, use the rudder controls to steer while on the ground. To bring the plane to a stop you must use the brakes. These are the left shift key, the '.' key, or the '0' key on the keypad. The brakes must be used to bring the plane to a complete stop. (The plane must be brought to a complete stop to qualify as a landing.) Once you are lined up, bring the throttle up to max. When you reach 100 mph the tail of your plane will rise off the ground. Keep the plane on the runway by tapping the rudder keys if needed. When you surpass 150 mph, pull back gently on the stick. If you pull back too hard the tail will swing down so quickly that it will slam back down onto the runway, thus kicking down your nose due to the bounce. This can cause a crash, so be careful. Level Flight ------------ When in the air the most important thing is to avoid crashing into the ground. To achieve level flight you must keep your leveling sight above the horizon. How high you must keep your nose depends on your airspeed. Near the stall speed of 100 mph, the nose must be kept much higher above the horizon than when you are flying at 350 mph. There is an altimeter and a climb rate meter to help you fly level. A warning light will flash if your altitude drops below 150 feet. When climbing, keep an eye on your airspeed. If this drops below 100 mph, then you may not have enough airspeed to fly. This makes a stall possible. Stalls and Advanced Aerodynamics -------------------------------- A stall occurs when the air traveling over the wings becomes turbulent. This results in a dramatic loss of lift, and unless corrected, the plane will invariably fall to the ground. Stalling can be brought about by letting your airspeed drop below stall speed, or it can also occur as a result of an imprudent aerobatic maneuver. In a computer sim, the joystick tension does not reflect the flight situation. Therefore, Aviation Aventure has in it an automatic stall preventer that limits the stick travel to the maximum attainable without causing a stall. This does not mean that it is impossible to stall. The stall preventer simply limits the control stick from causing a stall which would be the result of pulling back too hard. The most common cause of a stall is simply that the airspeed has dropped too low to sustain flight. Another common cause is excessive sideslipping. Also, a damaged plane is much more likely to stall. Wing damage will lower the lift of the wings, and control damage can make the stick jitter beyond what the automatic stall preventer can handle. Of course engine damage will lower airspeed, and rudder damage will increase level flight sideslip. How to get out of a stall ------------------------- To get out of stall means getting your forward airspeed up. Since your direction of motion is invariably down when stalled, it is best to get the nose pointed down. Of course your throttle should be place to maximum also. Note that when the stall is so bad that your airspeed is nil, then you have lost the ability to control the plane with the control surfaces. In fact, it is even possible for your plane to fly backwards with the controls operating in a reversed fashion. Even backwards airspeed is better than zero. If you are falling backwards, pull the stick back to push the nose down. Once the nose is down, hold it there until you get some forward airspeed. The emergency rocket booster can also be useful in getting out of a stall. Landing ------- This is one of the hardest parts of learning to fly. The biggest problem for beginners is to get lined up properly. One point to remember is that you must not fly toward the middle of the runway. Fly towards the close end of the runway, or a point on an imaginary line running the length of the runway and beyond. Once you are over that imaginary line, then turn your nose to point towards the end of the runway. Getting lined up is especially difficult in Aviation Aventure, due to fact that the plane may be slipping sideways. When you get close enough to the runway so that it no longer looks like a line, but instead looks like a black rectangle, engage the flaps, and drop your throttle to zero. (But don't let your airspeed drop below 100 mph.) At this point you should be no higher than 1000 ft. Your plane has automatic landing gear that pops down as required. Now let the plane drop, shedding altitude before you reach the end of the runway. When you get to 100 or 200 feet, level the plane out for the final drop to the runway. If you are not perfectly lined up, but are low and over the runway, then drop and steer with the rudder once your wheels touch. The gear of your plane is quite tough, and on the runway surface you can have your rate of climb meter almost pegged negative and still survive. Landing on the grass can be done, but requires a much more sensitive touch down. It is a good idea to hold down the brake key throughout the whole landing process. The left shift key is situated conveniently for the left hand to operate the brakes and rudder controls. For those that use the left hand on the joystick, use the keypad rudder and brake controls. Once you have solidly touched down you may taxi about using your rudder. Be careful to keep your speed down while taxiing (especially if your flaps are down) because it may cause you to lift into the air inadvertently, and then cause a crashlanding. Please remember than on the ground, the stick is useless, and you must steer with the rudder keys. Pulling the stick over on the ground may cause your plane to flip. Crashes ------- There are two different types of crashes. One is a fatal wreck. The other is a crashlanding. A crashlanding is where your plane is brought down too hard, and the landing gear fails. The plane then spins to a stop on the ground. When it stops, your plane is dead and will not fly again until repaired. If you were close to your airstrip, the repair crew can fix it. The other type of crash is the fatal crash. This happens if you slam into the ground too hard, or if your plane is so tilted during landing that your wing tip hits. Midair collisions ------------------ There many types of objects which will destroy your plane if you collide with them. When this happens your plane bounces, and the damage indicators immediately max out. The screen border turns dark red, and the eject light begins to flash. At this point you should bail out, since it is likely that you will die if you try to land the plane. Don't bother trying to make it back to base. (Although landing such a plane has been done on occasion, it most often proves to be a fatal mistake.) How to Turn Your Plane ---------------------- Please note that Knowledge Aventure's advanced flight model makes turning different than on many commercial flight games which have simpler models. With a little practice however, you will find the plane is just as maneuverable. To turn your plane, simply move the stick left or right. The plane will begin to bank. Don't be too shy, give the plane a nice 45 degree bank. Now that wing's lift is no longer pulling straight up, you will lose some lift, and your nose may drop. Pull back on the stick to keep the nose above the horizon. You will notice that as you pull back on the stick, your nose will be pulled into the turn. To make a typical turn, place the plane on its side, so that the horizon forms a vertical line. Then pull all the way back on the stick, and hold it there until you have the compass reading you desire. Then simply flatten your plane back to the level. Be careful not to let the nose drop during the turn. You can always bring it up by unbanking the plane a little, and the nose will lift since you are holding the control stick back. This method of turning is actually easier than a slow coordinated turn. The price for the fast turn is airspeed. The fastest turns are done with the flaps engaged, since this greatly increases the lift from the wings. Be careful not to let your airspeed drop too much. Flaps increase drag also. Note that the amount of time required for the turn depends very much upon your airspeed. (Just like in an automobile, when moving fast you cannot make tight turns.) CORNCOB OTHER WORLDS CAMPAIGN ORDER FORM Name ________________________________________________________________ Address _____________________________________________________________ City _______________________________ State ______ ZIP _______________ Country (if outside USA) ____________________________________________ CIRCLE DISK SIZE: 5-1/4"(1.2M) or 3-1/2"(720K) Price of Corncob Other Worlds Campaign $20.00 Shipping and Handling in the US 3.00 Shipping and Handling to Canada 4.00 Shipping and Handling everywhere else 5.00 Michigan residents add sales tax 1.38 -------- Total enclosed: $ Master Card/Visa information (credit card orders only) Card number __________________________________________ Expiration Date ______________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VOLUNTARY QUESTIONS: Please help us determine what features you would like ==================== in future products. Circle what type of equipment you have: 8088 286 386 486 Circle the speed of your computer(Mhz): 12 16 20 25 33 40 50 66 ___ Circle any that apply: Joystick Mouse Modem_____ Super-VGA card____________ (speed) (type) Sound Capability: PC speaker only AdLib SoundBlaster SoundBlaster Pro SoundBlaster 16 SoundBlaster AWE32 Other __________ Where did you buy Aviation Aventure: Approx # of commercial games owned: ____ #Registered shareware games: ____ Circle preference: Beautiful Graphics Game Complexity Circle preference: Solo against computer -OR- Modem 2-Player Circle preference: Strategy Action Simulation Other_________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send this order form and your check to: MVP Software 1035 Dallas S.E. Grand Rapids, MI 49507-1407 The F4U Secret Sortie game -------------------------- F4U Secret Sortie was designed for Knowledge Adventure by Kevin Stokes, with a lot of additional programming by George Welch. The program documentation was written by Kevin Stokes. Original music was written by Jim Collymore, A.S.C.A.P. All music in the game is copyright 1986-1991 James L. Collymore, and the use of the three music files for any purposes other than use in Aviation Adventure is strictly illegal. The music is contained in the following files: DESTINY3.ROL, RIDINGT.ROL, and DREAMS0.ROL. These files cannot be legally copied or distributed without the author's permission. The VGA directory (created the first time Aviation Aventure is run) contains all the digitized artowrk in the game. These photos were extensively retouched using the excellent program MVP Paint, by David Johndrow. You can order your own copy of this extremely useful program from MVP Software. F4U Secret Sortie was written in assembler and C. The excellent library of routines Spontaneous Assembly was used in developing the program. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. THIS SOFTWARE IS DISTRIBUTED ON AN AS IS BASIS. MVP SOFTWARE AND PIE IN THE SKY SOFTWARE MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY. ACCORDINGLY, THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE USE, RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY THE USER. IN NO EVENT WILL MVP SOFTWARE OR PIE IN THE SKY SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVIN IF MVP SOFTWARE OR PIE IN THE SKY SOFTWARE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF SUCH DAMAGES. IF ANY OF THE PROVISIONS, OR PORTIONS THEREOF, OF THIS DISCLAIMER ARE INVALID UNDER ANY APPLICABLE STATUE OR RULE OF LAW, THEY ARE TO THAT EXTENT DEEMED TO BE OMITTED. ALL OTHER PROVISIONS, HOWEVER, REMAIN IN EFFECT.