BBS in a Box 2/BBS in a box - Trilogy II.iso/Files/Game/H-L/Hellcats-over-pacific-tips.txt

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-08 | 41.1 KB | [TEXT/MSWD]

Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 10:57:33 -0500
From: Ted Wagner <[e-mail]>


    Please replace the former Hellcats_over_Pacific.txt with this
updated version.  The last version had a text wrap problem in the text
formating.  A few errors were fixed as well.

------------------< cut here >---------------------------------------



Hellcats Over the Pacific FAQ/Tips
Version 1.1  UPDATE  August 29,1992

Ted Wagner

[e-mail]


************Introduction***************************************

    I saw a lot of questions on this game and felt that a FAQ/Tip
document would be useful.  This document is not intended to replace
the manuals.  It is meant to enhance the novice HOtP gamer's pleasure
and skill in the game.
    I fully support all efforts to complete the missions without
cheating and to buy this product from Graphic Simulations or a licensed
software retailer or mail order company.
    Hellcats Over the Pacific FAQ/Tips was created with the HOtP
enthusiast in mind.  It is my hope to expand this document in the
future to accommodate the new scenarios to be released in a few months
and the new Hellcats version next summer.  This document will include
FAQ's, Tips and Hints while playing this game, easy 'cheat' methods,
neat stuff to try or see, and an appendix with a list of all the gracious
people who were instrumental in the completion of this document.  A couple
people had sent some reproductions of the HOtP manual typed by hand.  Thank
you for your contribution, however, I cannot print what is in the HOtP
manual without permission from the author.  (And besides, as I will mention
many times, this is a game worth buying...if you buy the game, you have
the manuals.)
    I hope this document is useful to everyone who reads it.  If you have
any suggestions for changes to this document, please e-mail me at the
address above.

    I tried to get everything in here that everyone sent.  This will grow
in the future, there is no doubt about that!  Some of these look like
redundant questions.  Some of the hints, tips, and FAQs do look the
same...but are subtly different.  I left it that way because of the way
people read and understand things.  Some things click for some people,
some other things click for other people.
    This was a rather rushed job as I completed this while on vacation here
between August 13-August 26.  The updated version which will be released
this fall will promise to be a bit more organized with sub-categories
beneath sections.  This should make it much easier to find things.
    If you get the new scenarios or just have some stuff to add that is
not included in this document, please e-mail me at the address at the top
of this page.


************Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)*****************

Q:What does HOtP stand for?

A:Well, it is the acronym for the game  Hellcats Over the Pacific.

Q:I've completed many carrier landings (both regular and sinking) but I have
not always been able to take-off again.  On a non-sinking ship, I have never
had enough room to either turn my plane around, or get up to take-off speed.
Is it possible to turn around on a carrier to gain runway space ?

A:The answer to your question is provided in Tip # 29.

Q: I can't ever win the 'Bomb the Base' mission even though I plant a bomb
directly on the rising sun flag in the middle of the runway.  What am I doing
wrong?

A:The flag is actually on the grass between two runways.  This is hard to tell
on B&W screens.  If you hit the flag, you miss the runway.

Q:What's wrong with my plane?  The Zeros run circles around me!

A:If you try turning with your flaps down, you'll find that you can keep up
with the zeroes.

Q:Why does the plane seem to over react to stick movements?

A:Your mouse speed is set too fast. Use the control panel and set mouse
speed to "tablet".

Q:Why don't I get credit for bombing the enemy's runway?  I know I dropped
the bomb right on it!

A:Again, you dropped the bomb on the Japanese flag.  You need to make sure
you drop a bomb right in the middle of the runway.  Try to drop the bomb in
the center (width) and the middle (length) of the runway.  Once you get the
hang of it, you will be able to plant the bomb anywhere on the runway.

Q:Why is my Hellcats program growing in size?

A:Each time you use it on a new size of monitor or 1/2 or 1/3 size, then
Hellcats generates a picture of the cockpit and other stuff to match this
size, and stores it in the program for faster redraws.  So using it on a
21" monitor may add significantly to the program size.

Q:How can I visit or look around the hellcats scenarios real quick?


A:There is a hidden command that put you in the 'Superman chair' and allows
you to move all around at a great speed.  Just type 'Control S' while playing.
Your plane is now immobile, you can move it around with the key pad. for
example, '7' to go up, '8' to go forward, '5' to stop.  You can press
repeatedly on the keys to accelerate, but be careful with the speed, it
will lead you outside the game !  You can fire when in this mode, but the
point will not be added to your score. if you try to bomb, that bomb will
fall when you resume the game. Be careful when resuming the game, the
plane will be nose DOWN and the engines will be OFF ! so remember to gain
a lot of altitude! (ctrl-s will get you back).

Q:I can't get the hang of getting behind the zeros, how can I improve...is
there a quick way to learn?

A:Well, no.  Practice with the training mission.  Practice tight turns
using your flaps, gear, and decreased throttle.  OR, you can uses the
'a' key.  It will put on the 'autopilot' and your plane will lead to the
nearest zero around.  When you have a plane in sight, hold down the 'a'
key while in flight.  Keep track of your altitude and pull out if you
are down to 100 feet.  The autopilot locks on to the nearest plane on
radar and follows the zero around and tries to get behind it.  Autopilot
will not work in Flight Training.  Neither will the 'e' (enemy view).

Q:Can I hide from the radar from the Zeros or the Japanese ships?

A:Yes.  You have to stay very low; you can see the effect when you fired on a
zero and somehow it disappeared from your radar at some point in it's fall.
You just need to do the same.  Stay up off the trees around 200-300 feet!
You can do this if you are short of ammo and there are still zeros around.
Just make sure the zeros are not in sight.  Chances are that they can see
you if you can see them.

Q:How can I sink a enemy carrier?

A:You must put 3 bombs on it.  One method is to fly very low on the same
heading as the ship.  Use rudders to fly in a zig-zag pattern when approaching
the ship to escape the AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) fire.  Another method is
to climb to 9,000 feet and dive bomb the carrier or ship.

Q:How can I outrun a zero that's behind me?

A:You can use the flaps ('f' key) as an air brake to slow your plane.  Then
you can do a tight turn to the opposite heading from your original heading.
When your heading is where you want it, then retract your flaps and gear (if
down) and increase the throttle fully.  It will never be able to follow you,
and you'll be behind it soon!

Q:What happens if you jump and a plane hits you? Does the plane explode?
Are you killed?

A:Well, when a plane hits,  it has only happened to a few pilots as of
this date, you die.  The plane explodes.  The same thing happens if you
run into a parachute from a Japanese pilot.

Q:Where is the second F6F Hellcat going in 'The Duel?'

A:The other pilot is heading toward the carrier.  He usually runs into other
Japanese pilots and they end up in a dog fight.  If you follow your wing-man,
then you are bound to end up in a dog fight.

Q:How much time has elapsed if you resume a mission after loosing the first
hellcat?

A:It depends.  If you live, and are close to your base, not long.  It is hard
to tell since there is not clock or game timer which is visible.  In
'Scramble,' if you lose your plane and you are close to the base and are
found, it is not very long. You can usually see the other planes on radar
when you are in your new plane.

Q:Can you land on the bridge in 'Bomb Base?'

A:Yes.  It has been done.  However, watch out.  The bridge is in enemy
territory.  Many pilots report that if they come to complete stop on the
bridge or near it, then they are captured by the Japanese.

Q:How does the collision detection work? Only in the middle?

A:This author is not 100% sure.  But, it seems to be the way it works with
naval objects.  If it is the ground, then the first contact of your plane
and the ground usually results in an explosion.

Q:Sometime in the play back, after crashing, it seems that the hellcat
literally falls in the sea the last few meters. What happens ?

A:Refer to the question above.  The water seems to be treated as a transparent
object to a certain depth.  (sort of like what happens in REAL water)  When
you hit a certain depth after penetrating the water, the Hellcat will always
explode.

Q:How is it possible to have enough fuel to go in the extreme north-west of
the map (and see the north directional arrow)?

A:Don't forget the previously mention 'cheat' key.  (ctrl-s)  Also, this
author has been able to do this on a full tank of gas at 70% throttle at
Triple speed.  However, I run out of fuel and cannot get back to a base.
You can also Island hop.  Pause the game, do command-m for map, and look
for the nearest airfield.  Most are friendly.  You can fill-up, take off
and reach an island closer to the directional arrow, then take-off again
with full tanks, then return to that nearest island and fill up again!

Q:Why is it so easy to crash on landing contrary to what films show of actual
landings from WWII?

A:Hopefully, if you are having troubles with landings, you have purchased this
game.  If so, you can refer to the manual for landing tips for tail draggers.
Also, if you have Flight Simulator 4.0, refer to their manual section on
landing the bi-plane.  (Besides, nothing is as easy as it *looks*).  ;-)

In a nutshell, make sure you are straight and level when you land the plane.
Make sure your Artificial Horizon instrument indicates that you are parallel
to the ground.  Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy.

Q:Why, in frontal passes, do the zeros seem to always damage the hellcat
engine, also contrary to actual experience.

A:Try evasive maneuvers when you are approaching the Zeros.  If your radar is
scanning on '1 mile' mode, and you are one square away from the Zero,
use your rudder and weave to the Zero.  It also helps to be at a slightly
higher altitude than the Zeros and to have the sun at your back.  Engine
damage will commonly influence the outcome of your mission.  So, don't
stay on a straight path.  Most combat pilots don't unless they are flying
F-16's.

Q:Why if you pause the Flying Fortress mission when the hellcat is still in
the hanger, does the B-17 still take off?  This makes it a little difficult
to catch up and protect it.

A:Well, you are pausing it for you.  If you pause the game in 'Scramble' and
pay attention to your radar, it does move.  If you pause, it is wise not
to pause that long.  Pausing in the air seems to not have this same effect
for some reason.  It is best to have all your settings as you want them
before you begin and saved.

Q:If I try to dogfight with another pilot using the autopilot key a', half
the time the autopilot drives me into the ground.  Am I doing something wrong?

A:Yes.  Your autopilot is not smart enough to know when you are too close to
the ground.  Watch your altimeter.  If you are getting down to 300 or so feet
and are above 180 knots, get the hell out of dodge!  Pull up on the stick or
make a steep climbing bank.  If you don't, you will auger into the ground and
will go home in a pine box.

Q:What is the "ultra" cheat key?

A:Well, it depends on how you want to cheat.  The 'e' key will give you the
enemy's viewpoint.  'a' is the autopilot key, as you already know.  'crtl-s',
as you again know, is the speed key to travel all over the scenario at high
speeds.

Q:How do I resurrect a dead pilot & modify other scores 'n' stuff?

A:Well, there is a utility called 'Hellcats Rescue.'  It will resurrect
your pilot from his death.  You may also edit your copy of Hellcats with
Res-edit.  There is a section explaining how to do that.  Don't use res-edit
unless you have done so before and know how to use it correctly.

In order to really appreciate this game and earn rank ethically, most Hellcats
pilots do *not* cheat.

Q:What hardware is needed to run Hellcats?

A:You need 2megs of RAM, system 6.0 or higher, and a microprocessor of 68020
or higher.  The best machine to run this on is a Quaddra, fx, or an si.  It
will work on others, but these are best.  It runs much faster if installed
on a hard drive.  If you are using system 7, do *not* increase your virtual
memory above 50% of what the real memory is or the game will be sluggish.

Q:Does it use color?

A:Once you use color, you will never want to go back to B&W.  It is better
to use color because you have *MUCH* better visibility.

Q:Is the flight simulation fairly accurate?

A:It is not perfect.  Reality will be hard to see on computers in the near
future.  Like most games, this is a simulator.  It simulates the real thing.
The programmer researched the physics of the F6F Hellcat and the Zeros.  The
action and reactions, sounds, and other items are as realistic as you can
get at this time.  This is one game that is bound to improve with time!

Q:Does Hellcats run under System 7?

A:Yes.

Q:Can two or more people play using networked Macs?

A:No.  The current version of Hellcats does not allow this.  There is a new
version *expected* to be released next summer that may incorporate network
flying and combat.

Q:Does it support the creation of general mayhem on the ground, or can you
only shoot down other planes?

A:Oh yes.  You can take out AAA batteries, other aircraft, bomb hangars, and
other ships.  Many people report completing a mission and getting their
mission award and resuming the mission to go back and take out the AAA
batteries and any planes on the ground.

Q:Is it possible to collide with another plane?

A:Yes.  If you slam into a plane, you will explode and, of course, die.  This
is another reason for evasive maneuvers when coming directly at another
plane at the same altitude.  This is another danger of autopilot.  Try not
to use autopilot when coming head-to-head.

Q:Is it possible to shoot down the pilot after he ejects?

A:No.  Don't even waste your ammunition.

Q:Is it possible to collide with the pilot after he ejects?

A:Yes!  Colliding with a parachute, as discussed before, or the pilot, or
the lines, will result in immediate death.  Besides, shooting a pilot in a
parachute is a war crime.  If you could do it, you would probably be
discharged for unmilitary conduct and a bunch of other stuff and probably
be executed.

Q:Is it possible to fly under the bridge?

A:Yes.  It has been done.  Upside down and some have landed on the bridge.

Q:What's in the "off limits" area to the west in "Flight School"?

A:A lake with two sailboats enjoying a relaxing afternoon.

Q:What happens if you shoot or bomb your own carrier, base, other Hellcat,
etc?

A:You usually get a warning that you destroyed a friendly unit when you land.
After two more occurrences, you are discharged.  In "The Duel" someone shot
down Lt. Cmdr Herbert *and* sunk the carrier, then  bailed out of my plane.
He was given a court martial and executed.

Q:What is the highest score anybody has made?

A:The sky is the limit.  That has not been recorded as of yet.  That would be
a little trivia.  If you are a 'net-person' you could find out in
comp.sys.mac.games.

Q:Has anybody successfully completed all of the missions without cheating,
i.e., without using ResEdit to resurrect a dead pilot?

A:Yes.  Many have.  This author has completed all but 'Divine' without
cheating.

Q:Are the planes in the training mission SUPPOSED to be shot down?

A:Yes.  Please feel free to do so.  You should decide to either practice
bombing or downing the drones.  The drones are good practice for attack
angles.  They are not that good in evasive situations and do not attack you.
When you first load up with bombs in the training mission, you get six!
You will only get two if you reload after that.

Q:Just because I see something on radar, does it see me? Will they
immediately come after me, or do I have some time to pursue my mission
before I worry about the Zeros?

A:Maybe, maybe not.  Most likely yes.  Unless you are in 'Scramble' or
'Flying Fortress,' you can take your time.  Usually Zeros are easy points
and it is fine to try and take them out.  You *DO* need to worry about
the Zeros in 'Scramble' and 'Flying Fortress' as your objective in those
missions is to protect.

************Tips and Hints*************************************

Tip 1: In Bomb Base you get credit for shooting the planes that are on the
ground.

Tip 2: You rarely (if ever) need a full tank of gas, and the difference in
performance is amazing.

Tip 3: Engage the enemy bomber in "Scramble" from above and to the front.
You can usually get him smoking on the head-on run.

Tip 4: You can't ditch w/ your gear down.

Tip 5: Another approach to the bomber in scramble is to fly very fast at
about 100 feet until almost (<1/3 mile) directly under it, then pull up
and roll around.  You'll be approaching it from slightly behind and almost
directly below it, giving you  about 10 seconds of good shot time and
putting you directly behind it after the maneuver.

Tip 6: I learned about the "tablet" mode for mouse movement speed only after I
installed a Gravis mouse stick. I was playing Hellcats with my normal
mouse setting, and was getting  jerky flight movement. Using a mouse set
to "tablet" speed, from the control panel, did wonders for flight control.

Tip 7: The Setup:  To get a direct hit on a pinpoint target (as in the test
target in the training mission) fly at the point you want to hit low
(500 feet or less) and fast (200 knots IAS as target is likely to be HOT
as in Battleships).  Zoom straight down when target goes below your panel
view.

Tip 8: The Climb and the Flop:  When target appears at the edge of your
view, pull up sharply until you are vertical, climb until you are about to
stall and pull over so that as you stall, your plane flips over and you
are pointing straight down at the target.

Tip 9: Timing the Drop:  Watch your shadow on the ground.  Give this a
couple of tries on the training mission target to get a feel for how the
shadow indicates your position and the time to drop your ordinance.

Tip 10: Pulling Out (or Popping your Rivets)

A:  BETTER OFF DEAD METHOD:  After the drop, cut the engine, continue
to fall until you hit 500 feet, put down your flaps and simultaneously pull
back hard.  Immediately re-throttle. You'll scrape the ground and
bounce up to around 600 feet again.

B:  MOMMA, I WANNA GO HOME METHOD:
Hit the flaps the moment you drop the bombs and pull back to a steep dive.
Hold this attitude till you reach 200 feet and then pull level and retract
the flaps.  You'll be out of AAA range quickly.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Never attempt this bombing
maneuver when there are enemy fighters (smoking or not) around.  They
WILL hit you when you slow down for the stall.


Tip 11: Dodging AA:

Never underestimate the view from behind, from this vantage point you
can see the AAA machine gun fire before it crosses your plane, and thereby
dodge potentially mission ending bullets.


Tip 12: Fuel Levels:
Most of the Missions (except "Divine Wind") are fairly short in flying time
as compared to your fuel capacity.  Especially in the carrier missions you
should keep your fuel at half and only make one pass at the target.  Once
you have eliminated fighter support, you can always land, refuel and rearm.
This works great with "Bomb Base" and "The Duel".  I keep my fuel at just
over half for both and my takeoffs are easier.  "Flattop" is also a good
example.  You should lower your fuel levels each time you fly a mission
and see how close you come to "dead-stick"/BINGO landings.

Tip 13: Desperate kill :
If your engine is out or you are out of fuel after the first pass of a carrier
(with two hits) and you are too low for expecting going back home (or
whatever), try to crash you plane into the carrier (and don't forget to jump
before and high enough).  That way you can kill the carrier and you have a
reasonable chance of being rescued (anyway it has worked several times
with me). Anyway, you won't get a medal for your mission as you lost the
aircraft.

Tip 14: There is a small village in the south-east of Henderson Field--three
houses and a small lake--try these out for target practice.

Tip 15: South of Henderson field there is a bridge that can be "sunk."

Tip 16: The north west quadrant there are several strange, small, islands and
a field right in the middle of the sea.

Tip 17: Put the gear in the down position to dramatically decrease your speed.

Tip 18: Flaps can be used as air-brakes to slow your speed down and to make
tighter turns.

Tip 19:  How to land on a listing carrier:
Land like you usually do, but keep the Hellcat on a horizontal plane *with*
the listing carrier and use the rudders to maintain your heading and
position relative to the horizontal plane of the carrier.

Tip 20: When your machine (Macintosh) crashes during a landing, or your
aircraft gets flamed or something like that, just hit <Esc> and end (or
is it abort) mission.  You will then survive keeping the points from previous
missions, plus what you have added to your permanent score on the
current mission. This does not work if you get hit direct by a bullet though.
Then you're dead immediately.

Tip 21: Getting someone off your tail:
Plan A: start a tight turn, drop the gear, reduce thrust, and kick in
the flaps.

Plan B: build up as much airspeed as you can, go level, kick the flaps in and
pull up into a vertical position.

(Plan B may not be a good thing to try with a sick engine).

Tip 22: To keep from over pursuing your target (aircraft):
Reduce speed quickly: lower the flaps, drop the gear and reduce the thrust.
If necessary, climb.  If you get really close, the zeroes will turn, so
take a guess and turn in that direction. If you guessed wrong, just
complete the circle and pick your victim up again.

Tip 23: Don't waste ammunition!  You only get a certain amount!
a) if you see flames, break of the attack and move on to another target
b) lots and lots of quick bursts are better than a couple of long ones,
especially at long range.

Tip 24: In most of the scenarios, you most likely don't require a full tank
of gas--half at most.  Take what you need, but not more!  If you don't
need bombs, don't take them.  In some of the scenarios, if you do a good
job of protecting the carrier, you can land back on the carrier and rearm,
this time with a bomb load.

Tip 25: A technique to use when dog-fighting is a "skidding turn." (This,
generally,is not a good idea when actually flying a real plane but in HOtP
it can work.  All you have to do is keep constant power (I use around 60-70%)
bank in the direction of your turn and keep constant rudder pressure in the
same direction.  You can alter your bank and pitch to keep from stalling,
just keep the rudder pressure!  Using this you can out turn a zero!  Watch
for a stall (too slow) and your altitude.  Also watch for "cross-controlling"
this is, right rudder--left bank (or vice versa).  If you stall while
cross-controlled you can spin the plane.  You can recover from a spin by
pitching down (to increase airflow over the wing--it seems weird, i know)
and holding opposite rudder to the direction of the spin.  The Hellcat in
HotP does not recover from spins very well and don't try this too close
to the ground.

Tip 26: Another trick when going after a carrier is to dive at the red-dot
on the deck.  Go up to around 8-10K feet, cut power to 60-70%, and head
directly for the nice red dot on the deck.  At about 1000-1500 feet (a higher
percentage hit occurs at 500-800 feet...but the chances of being shot down
are higher) drop both (or one) bomb, break away from the escort (if there
is one), and go to full power like a bat out of hell!

Tip 27: When dog-fighting, it is usually better to come in low, a little off
to the side, and start turning BEFORE the enemy fighter flies past you.
Put the flaps in the up position so you can turn faster, and if you're
about to crash, use your rudders to pull you up without having to un-bank
(actually, this rudder technique works for all turns).  If you do this, you
come up behind the enemy, relatively close, and you just have to shoot at
him until he gets hit.  Make sure you don't go too fast and fly past him
(or worse, crash into him if you're not careful).

Tip 28: When attacking any target that shoots back, other than fighters,
their shots always seem to go in bursts.  Just stay out of the stream when
the burst starts, and then get back to business.  This is especially helpful
against that stupid bomber.

Tip 29: Steering your Hellcat:
This  took a lot of people a while to learn.  If you're on a runway
(especially on a carrier runway),  hold the brake (space bar) down and
increase, decrease your throttle, and steer with your mouse.  This will
enable you to turn in circles without moving.  This is especially helpful
on the carrier when you have little room.  When on the carrier, make
sure you are in the middle of the deck.

Tip 30: Another helpful landing tip:
Use the rudder to line yourself up with the runway, when landing, rather
than ailerons.  This will keep your plane level but still allow you to move
left and right.  If you have a Gravis Mousestick, try the setting the other
two buttons to control the rudder.

Tip 31: Tip within a tip:
If you don't have a Gravis Mousestick, get one!! It makes quite a difference,
and feels more realistic too (Whoever heard of using a mouse to control a
plane?).

Tip 32: In 'The Duel,' Try to hit one or both of the leading zeroes as you
go into them head on, and even if you miss, go after them immediately,
otherwise they'll ignore you and go straight for the carrier.

Tip 33: In 'The Duel,' after you've shot down all the zeroes, follow the other
Hellcat to the enemy ships, and wait for him to bomb them, after which you
can finish them off.

Tip 34: In 'Scramble,' one way to minimize exposure to the gunners is to
attack in a steep dive from 4 or six o'clock--there is a gap in the coverage
there.

Tip 35: In 'Divine Wind,' keep an eye on long range radar after the fourth
or fifth zero...if there is no others in sight, land and reload as quickly
as possible, as a whole bunch more will show up, and you'll need the ammo.

Tip 36:In 'Flying Fortress,' fly ahead of the B-17 on the way there, and
behind it on the way back.

Tip 37: When your Hellcat is damaged, its a lot easier to ditch in water
than it is to land, even at an airfield.

Tip 38: In 'Bomb Base' and 'Capture Island,' after bombing the runway its
possible to take out the AAA batteries on either end of the enemy runway,
after which you can strafe the airfield to your heart's content.

Tip 39: Another fun HotP thing to do:
In "Flying Fortress" mission, when returning, let the B-17 get well ahead of
you (10 miles or so) and configure your Hellcat to fly strait-and-level.  Then
use the "e" cheat to see what the "enemy" sees.  What you will see is the
bomber base and final approach and landing!  Keep swapping back-and-forth
to be sure that your Hellcat is doing what you think it's doing.  Then, you
can land, refuel, and take off and go try to sink both ships that where near
the island!

Tip 40: Change the Gravis joystick's settings so that instead of the gear
and flaps on the base's buttons,  place the throttle controls there.  It
makes the plane a lot easier to fly with the speed controls handy.  If you
are right handed, the flaps and gear are easily accessible on the left side
of the keyboard.

Tip 41: The biggest mistake people make in all flying games is to simply
cruise  around with the throttle wide open all the time.  Use your throttle
wisely. Drop down to about 80% once you get behind the bogey and shoot that
sucker out of the sky!

Tip 42: Make liberal use of the rudder controls, <shift><z> and <shift><x>.
With these you can out turn the zeros. In fact, with good airspeed you can
turn faster with the rudders than by banking. They also provide excellent
attitude control when you are on your side in a turn. I find this very useful
when turning close to the ground. They can be used to do snap rolls. When
flying slowly, bank one direction then hold hard opposite rudder. This
takes a little fooling around.  The most important use of rudders is to
line up a target, either on the ground or in the air.

Tip 43: In 'Flattop' where you take off from a field and try to sink a
carrier, I've found that the most effective technique is as follows:

1. Fly directly north (? or whatever the direction the runway is pointed) at
50-100 ft. altitude till you get to the ocean.

2. Turn left and fly directly at the midsection of the carrier (again as
low as possible about 50 ft.).

3. Fire the machine guns constantly, spraying the carrier as you approach.

4. At the last second, release the two bombs and pull up sharply to avoid
slamming into the side of the carrier.

5. Get the hell out of Dodge.

6. Gun down the Japanese plane while returning to base.

Tip 44: Be careful using the autopilot down close to the deck.  If you've
damaged the Zero, and there aren't any more in range, the autopilot will
release when it crashes.  If you happen to have the controls "hard over"
in some way, you could crash yourself before you realize what's happening.

Tip 45: Points of targets.

[This *is* in the manual, but this has been included as a quick reference
type of thing.  I will not, at this time, re-type anything else that is in
the manual.  If you bought the game, you should have it.  If not, then buy
the game so you have the documentation.  At $36, this game is well worth
the price].

Fighter           500
Bomber              1000
AAA battery       50     (anti-aircraft artillery)
Carrier           2500
Battleship        1500
Cruiser           750
Runway            100

Points to advance in rank

Ensign               0
Lieutenant, JG     2,000
Lieutenant         5,000
Lt. Commander     10,000
Commander         20,000
Captain           40,000

To sink ships
Carrier            3 bombs
Battleship         2 bombs
Cruiser            1 bomb


Tip 46: The bomb indicator is striped when you are on the ground.

Tip 47: If your mission doesn't need them, leave bombs behind.  They are
heavy  and decrease performance.  Take as little fuel as possible for the
same reason.  A full tank is 1500 pounds and is good for 3 hours at 70%
throttle.

Tip 48: Pressing tab switches radar range from 15 to 3 to 1.  You are at
the center of the radar screen.  If it is set at 15 it means it 15 miles
from the center to the edge.

Tip 49: If the radar says an enemy is very close but you can't see it, it
is above or below you.  Autopilot can usually tell you which.

Tip 50: Command T is the triple time option.  It makes the game go 3 times
as fast when you are over 500 feet.  It is good for long trips to bomb a base.

Tip 51: You have enough ammo to fire for 45 *continuous* seconds.  It is best
to fire  in short bursts.  The manual suggests 2 to 3 seconds.  You can re-arm
and refuel when you land.  You must be at a full stop (brake with space bar),
and your engines must be off (hit "m").

Tip 52: To take off go to full throttle by holding down the "=" key.  The
manual says you must be going 80 knots to take off.  That's about right.
Just pull back slowly and your up.  When you approach lift speed, the nose
of the plane dips due to lift on the tail.  You won't necessarily be able
to take off at this point.  You do not need flaps for takeoff but they help.
You may need them on a carrier if you have a lot of fuel and bombs.   If you
need to get off the ground in a hurry and have bombs, use flaps.

Tip 53: If you drop a bomb while flying level it will have forward momentum
and will be VERY inaccurate.  That is why we use a technique called dive
bombing.  The manual suggest you climb to 8 to 12 thousand feet.  This is
about right, as any lower any you will get shot up by flack (AAA fire) and it
will be hard to line up the shot.  The ideal angle of a dive is 60 to 80
degrees.  A good technique is to make sure you're level and look strait down.
The field should be about 1/3 the way down the screen (this only works if you
are level).  To look down hit the down arrow twice.  If the "Pan Cockpit
View" option is checked the view will sweep the area, if not the change is
instant.  I keep it on.  You should drop the bomb between 1 and 2 thousand
feet to 500 to 800 feet.  Any higher is inaccurate, any lower is too
dangerous.

Tip 54: If you are damaged you have 3 options in landing.  You can attempt a
disabled landing, a ditch (water landing- make sure gear is up), or bail out.
Landing is the preferred option since you will keep the plane and get
mission credit.  Bailing out loses the plane, and mission credit.  Also if you
successfully land, you are much more likely to live than the other two
options.  Bailing out is the most risky.

Tip 55: To land normally on any surface the manual gives 6 guidelines:
1.  lower landing gear
2.  line up a few miles behind intended touchdown point
3.  reduce throttle to maintain a speed between 70 and 120 knots
4.  allow altitude to decrease until just above the surface
5.  reduce throttle to 0 when touchdown point is made
6.  level the altitude of the airplane (flare) and let the landing gear touch
the ground.  After you touch down hold down the spacebar to brake.  Move the
mouse forward to cause more friction on the ground.  Landing in Hellcats
isn't nearly as hard as in other flight sims.

Tip 56: To land on a carrier you must catch an arresting wire.  They are  on
the back half of the carrier.  That is the side with the numbers.   The tower
should be on the right.  Using flaps will give a steeper decent.  If you miss
the wires, gun the throttle and try again.  Don't  land on a damaged carrier.
If you do, reload quickly, and take off quickly or you will go down with the
ship!

Tip 57: If your Hellcat is on fire and you have no control, *bail out*!

Tip 58: When dog-fighting, try to get behind the zeros.  Try not to let them
get behind you.

Tip 59: The first time you play a new copy of Hellcats it will take about
a minute to "build instrument panel".  This needs to be done only  once,
but makes the file bigger.  If you decide to play a game with  a different
number of colors, or a different screen size, it will  also construct the
instrument panel and get bigger.

Tip 60: When attacking enemy targets, try to hit them as you fly over them
length wise.  This way, you don't have to time your bombs exactly to hit if
you're coming in to your target on a perpendicular angle.  This is also very
good because many times, you can sink an enemy carrier with only 2 bombs if
they hit near the middle of the carrier.

Tip 61: You can actually sink a carrier with one bomb!  If you can manage to
drop the bomb in such a way that it goes under the flight deck and explodes on
the main deck (under the flight deck), then the carrier will sink.  It looks
great in instant replay because after the bomb explodes within the carrier,
you see debris fly all over the place.

Tip 62: In 'Flattop,' the enemy fighter is going after your cruiser.  Kill
it before you attack the enemy carrier, it's an easy 500 points.


Tip 63: Make sure the "Triple Time" setting is turned off if you are trying
to attack targets.

Tip 64: Everyone has their favorite scenario and has his/her own opinion of
which one is easiest.  This author started out with 'Scramble.'  I died
several times.  However, it taught me a lot about combat flying....
approaches, attack angles, general strategy, evasive maneuvers...etc.
Pick the scenarios at random.  This makes it more fun, and realistic.

****************Cheating************************************

It is hard to 'cheat' per se.  We have already discussed the 'e,' 'a,'
'ctrl-s,' and 'command-t' keys.  We are now getting into more sophisticated
cheating.  Most game pilots don't do this.  Please be warned again, if you
have *NOT* used Res-edit before, please do not try this stuff.  If you still
want to try, MAKE SURE YOU MAKE A BACKUP COPY AND EXPERIMENT ON YOUR BACKUP
COPY!

****************Hellcats and Res-edit (APPENDICES)*************************

To resurrect a pilot:

For the ResEdit-headed, the 'HEL1' resource contains the pilot data.  The
first resource ('HEL1') is unrelated to the second one (I forget the ID's,
but they do have names).

In any event, the HEL1 resource containing the pilot data is a list of 20
records 64 bytes each.  The first 32 bytes seem to be reserved for the
pilot's name.  These are Pascal-style strings with a preceding length-byte.
The 32 bytes of data following the space reserved for the name appear to be
shorts (integers of 2 bytes in length each).  The first word is whether you
are alive or dead (0=alive, 1=dead).  Changing this to 0 can resurrect the
dead pilot.

The integers that follow are rank, # of fighters downed, bombers, etc.  There
are a few bytes in there that appear to do nothing.  Some seem to increase
your score but have no mention of how or why (perhaps reserved for subs and
other targets in future scenarios).  The rank can go from 0-5, the others
don't appear to have a cap.  Explore, have fun.

The score is not stored in the resource - instead it appears to be calculated
on the fly based upon # of various targets you've downed.  Rank however is
not calculated.

(Information from by John Calhoun)

Q: Is there a Hellcats patch?

A: Yep.  However, this author does not support patches ethically.  Again,
this is a first rate game.  It is worth buying.  You won't be sorry if you
do.  I know some do not want to wait for their unlock code and still want
it for that reason.  Whats the big deal with waiting 2 weeks?  It *is* a
pain.  But, I think if we get high quality games like this one, we should
support the efforts of the programmer and his company or distributor.

****************Try this stuff!********************************

* Try to ditch and take off after a loooooong slide (possible)

* Try to land on a enemy carrier (possible ??)
[This can be done, if you make it you are lucky.  Do not come to a full stop
or you will be a POW]

* Fly and dogfight inverted [upside down]

* Try to follow one zero without killing it. (very good practice)

* Try to land on the mountain, or a wounded carrier.

*  Bomb everything in flight training.

*  Place a bomb on the top of the control tower in flight training.

*  Bomb all the bases (friendly or enemy) on your map after completing
'Scramble.'

*  In 'Scramble,' take off with bombs and kill one Zero and the Beatty.  Let
the other Zero go.  Stay a good distance away and follow it on radar.  See
where it goes!

*  Fly upside down at 200 feet when flying over the runway at Henderson Field.
Buzz the control tower!

*  Fly your plane, fully loaded with fuel and bombs, straight into your
carrier or friendly ship.  Bail out at 200 feet!  See what happens!

*  Fly by the bunkers in 'Bomb Base.'  See if you can see the doors.

*  In 'Bomb Base,' try to get a bomb to hit the doors on the bunkers.
[use replay as soon as you know your bomb hit so you can see how it went].

*  Try to get right over the Beatty in 'Scramble.'  When you are maintaining
the same speed as the Beatty, try to maintain a height of about 100 feet
above it.  Push your down arrow twice to get a bottom view.  You can sit
there and watch as the Zeros try to shoot you down....they will put their
machine gun fire into the Beatty!  Also, if you are at LEAST 100 feet above
the Beatty, you can drop a bomb right on top of it.  As soon as you release
the bomb, lower the flaps and go to full throttle and go vertical.  By the
time the bomb hits the Beatty, you should have climbed at LEAST 400-500 feet.

****************Credits***************************************

I wasn't sure if I should credit certain people.  So, I credited a lot of
you.  Below are the names of about everyone who contributed.  If you did
contribute and your name is not below, your item was a repeat and I
apologize.  I used the first of each suggestion.  I do wish to thank
EVERYONE on the net who contributed either with wish-lists, suggestions,
or just undying support to see the finished product.

I want to thank all of you.  Without your help, this project would have
taken several longer weeks than it has.  Without all of your contributions,
this never would have come about.

[Order of contributors is not in any particular order.  It is merely random.
Order of names has no significance on the amount of material provided to
this author].

If I misspelled anyone's name, I apologize.  I just cut and pasted names
so they are spelled just the way they were when they were cut from the mail
messages that were sent.

Charles Lamonte
Babak Gohari
Howard Berkey
Jim Hogue
Derek LeLash
Povl H. Pedersen
Michel Pollet
Mathieu Lafourcade
Bob Lesser
"Mike"
Brad Ward
Peter Newton
Mike Tanner





























John Hirsch
Jim Melton
Howard Berkey
[e-mail]
James Stricerz
Joe Mac
Ramiro Sarmiento
Jon Pugh
Erik Hoel
Wile E.
Steven John Knezevich
Peter Rigsbee