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Air Warrior Instructions

1. Read Manual
2. Version Notes


Air Warrior

Version 1.4
November 1988






Copyright 1987
Kesmai Corporation


1.  Preface

Air Warrior is a  multiplayer  aerial  combat
simulation. Using sophisticated  software  on
both the user's microproces- Press  <RETURN>,
or <S>CROLL?S

sor  and  the  GEnie  system,   Air   Warrior
provides the level of  graphical  detail  and
responsiveness expected from  a  video  game,
yet at the same  time  the  scope  and  large
number of participants of an online game.

Players of Air Warrior belong to one of three
national- ities. These three small  countries
are continually at war,  primarily  waged  in
the  air  (though  it  is  rumored  they  are
building armies as well).  Each  country  has
several primary airfields  and  a  number  of
secondary  fields,   including   air-   craft
carriers in nearby bodies of  water.  Because
these countries are so poor,  the  best  they
can afford is surplus World  War  II  planes,
which their highly skilled mechanics keep  in
excellent  working  order  despite  difficult
condi- tions. They  take  whatever  they  can
get, be it used Ameri- can, British,  German,
or even Soviet  planes,  stealing  them  from
each other whenever  possible.  Thus  a  wide
variety of planes are available to pilots  of
each country.  Sometimes  even  World  War  I
vintage planes show up.

In addition to  aircraft,  Air  Warrior  also
models ground  support  vehicles  and  ships.
Players can drive around in a jeep with a .50
caliber machine gun mounted on  the  back  to
fend off low flying attackers.  A  half-track
with a large  anti-aircraft  gun  is  in  the
planning stages. Players will also be able to
control small ships such as PT boats.

Air  Warrior  is  currently   supported   for
several popular microcomputers. Each  version
of Air Warrior is customized specifically for
the hardware it is running on, to  take  full
advantage of each machine's capabilities. For
this reason, there are some minor differences
in the user interface between  the  versions.
Likewise,   differences   in   the   graphics
hardware of the various  machines  mean  that
some versions of Air Warrior render  the  3-D
graphical  images  faster  than   oth-   ers.
Despite   these   differences   in   hardware
capabilities,  the  aerodynamic  and   combat
performance of the different  ver-  sions  is
identical.

2.  Obtaining the Air Warrior Software

To  play  Air  Warrior,  you  will  need   to
download several files that are  specific  to
your particular  brand  of  com-  puter.  The
supported machines are limited  currently  to
the Apple Macintosh (512KE and up,  including
the Macintosh II), the Commodore Amiga  (with
at least 512K of memory), and  the  Atari  ST
(Color Systems only).

Your first step will be to obtain  some  sort
of Xmodem file transfer program, so that  you
can download the Air War- rior software  from
GEnie.   Most    commercial    communications
packages have  Xmodem  capability,  and  many
excellent free  and  shareware  programs  are
also available. Macintosh users will need  to
have a program that  supports  the  MacBinary
transfer protocol, which  is  a  superset  of
Xmodem used to transfer icon  information  as
well as the data in the file. In  addi-  tion
the StuffIt program, available as  shareware,
will enable you to  download  the  compressed
version, which will save somewhat on download
charges. Amiga and Atari ST users  will  need
the Arc program, which does  compression  and
bun- dling of binary data.

Once you are online on GEnie with  your  file
transfer program, type AIR (or M 870)  to  go
to the Air Warrior  page.  Select  option  4,
Download Software, to see the download  menu.
The first entry on  this  page  will  contain
detailed   up   to   date   information    on
downloading the various versions of  software
available. You should read  this  information
online before proceeding further. You  should
make sure  you  under-  stand  the  licensing
agreement under which you are  download-  ing
the game software, which  is  also  available
online.

The Air Warrior package consists  of  two  or
more files: the program, terrain  data  base,
and   possibly   some   additional   aircraft
customization files. You  will  have  several
down- loads to do, a long one to  obtain  the
program (roughly half an hour at  1200  baud)
and a relatively  short  one  to  obtain  the
terrain  file.  If  the  version   for   your
computer has additional data files, they  may
need to be downloaded  separately.  Also,  if
your   computer   supports   directories   or
folders,  you  should  place  both  the   Air
Warrior program, the terrain  file,  and  any
data files into the same one. In the  current
versions,  the  terrain  data  base  must  be
called terrain.dat, so if your file  transfer
method does not set the  name  properly,  you
will need to rename it.

The reason you need to  download  a  separate
file for the terrain is that we are thus able
to alter the map of the  world  periodically,
and all that  is  required  is  a  relatively
short download to obtain the  latest  version
of the data file. You should keep an  eye  on
the  banner   going   into   the   game   for
information on when you will  need  to  do  a
download, although the  program  itself  will
inform you if you enter  the  game  on  GEnie
without the latest file.

If you encounter difficulties downloading the
software, or  getting  the  program  to  work
after downloading it, you  can  get  help  by
sending GE mail to KESMAI, using the Feedback
option there on the  main  Air  Warrior  menu
page. Also, if you encounter what  you  think
is a bug in the program or one  of  the  data
files, do NOT  just  re-download  it  without
check- ing with us first. If StuffIt  or  Arc
do not give an error unpacking the file,  the
download  was  OK  and   the   problem   lies
elsewhere. Before wasting  money  on  another
download, ask a question and we may  be  able
to solve the problem.

For  further  details  on   the   downloading
process see the Appendix for your machine.

3.  Software Updates

Every  once  in  a  while,  we  may  find  it
necessary to make a change in  the  software,
either to fix a bug or to add a new  feature.
Generally we will  be  able  make  sure  that
existing  versions  of  the   software   will
continue to work,  but  this  is  not  always
possible or desirable. If you are  told  your
software is out of date when you try to enter
the game on GEnie, this means a major  change
has been made that requires another download.
When this happens there  will  always  be  an
explanation  of  what  has  happened  in  the
Version Notes, which can be found  under  the
Instructions menu on page 870.

In addition, changes will often  be  made  to
the GEnie  end  of  the  program  to  enhance
performance or add  new  features.  The  date
that the program displays on the banner  when
you enter page 870 can tell you  whether  the
GEnie software  has  been  changed  recently.
Again, details of any changes will be  placed
in the Version Notes. You should  make  it  a
practice to watch for  changes  in  the  host
version date, and to read the  version  notes
whenever it changes.  Quite  often  important
changes to the game will be explained  there,
and you will be at a significant disadvantage
if you do not read  about  them.  It  is  the
nature of online games to evolve  over  time,
continually  improving  in  response  to  new
ideas.

4.  Operation in Single-Player Mode (Local)

The  microprocessor  program  starts  up   in
practice mode.  In  this  mode  the  Control,
Planes and Options menus are enabled. You can
practice flying a plane by selecting the  one
you want from  the  Planes  menu.  Everything
works in practice mode except the  guns,  but
there is nothing to shoot at  anyway.  You'll
always start out at Airfield 1 of  Country  A
(generally denoted as  A:1),  but  the  other
airfields are all present if you want to  fly
to them (some versions  may  let  you  change
your starting point with a menu option.). The
practice mode is primarily designed  for  you
to learn to fly the plane well, and hopefully
to land it safely. Once you have the hang  of
flying, its time to get  on  GEnie  and  test
your mettle against other pilots.

Practice is the most important thing you  can
do to learn to fly and fight  well.  Use  the
Practice  Mode  of  the  program  to   master
landing, as getting a  landing  or  ditch  is
vastly superior to bailing out at the end  of
the mission. Aerobatic skills can  also  come
in handy in eluding a plane on your tail,  or
making a fancy maneuver  to  get  on  someone
else's.

5.  The Display

The graphical display on the computer  screen
contains all the information you need to  fly
your plane. The largest part of  the  display
is taken up by the graphical  picture,  which
shows what you can see from your  plane.  You
will   see   runways,    roads,    buildings,
mountains, other planes, and  sometimes  guns
or vehicles on the ground. Part of  the  pic-
ture will be  obscured  by  your  own  plane,
which may be represented by a silhouette,  or
may be drawn in detail depending on the plane
and the version  you  have.  If  you  do  see
another  plane  or  ground  target  which  is
within  5000  yards  (less  for  some   small
targets),  the  program  will   textu-   ally
display the id number or plane  type  of  the
target, the range to the target in yards, and
a small unique  icon  used  to  identify  the
target. This  small  icon  will  also  appear
below  the  picture,   directly   below   the
corresponding target. The different icons can
be used to distinguish small images of  other
planes on the screen,  compensating  for  the
small  size  of  the  computer  screen.   The
country  of   the   indicated   aircraft   is
represented by the shape of the icon  on  the
Macintosh and by the color of the icon on the
Amiga and the Atari ST.

Below  the  picture  on  the  screen   is   a
representation of the  aircraft's  instrument
panel.  The   major   instruments   are   the
altimeter,        rate-of-climb        gauge,
accelerometer, compass, fuel, oil,  and  ammo
indicators, and the airspeed  indicator.  The
altimeter  has  three  needles,  representing
tens, hun- dreds, and thousands of feet,  and
a small knob that travels around  the  inside
rim of the gauge to show tens  of  thousands.
The  following  description  applies  to  the
stan-   dard   Macintosh   instrument   panel
arrangement.  Amiga  and  Atari  ST   control
panels differ slightly, and it is possible to
customize the arrangement for each plane,  in
some cases radically altering the appearance.

The digital compass reads  in  degrees,  with
zero as north and ninety due east. Fuel, oil,
and  ammo  indicate   in   percentages.   The
accelerometer measures  how  much  force  the
airframe is being subjected to by the current
maneuver. In straight and  level  flight  the
accelerometer will read 1  "g",  meaning  the
wings are exactly supporting  the  weight  of
the plane. If the plane executes a  level  or
climbing turn, the wings will have to provide
more lift, and the accelerometer is  used  to
monitor how much more is being produced.

The velocity gauge displays airspeed, usually
in knots, or nautical  miles  per  hour.1  By
default, the gauge indi- cates true  airspeed
(TAS). By selecting  the  appropriate  option
from the  Options  menu,  Indicated  Airspeed
(IAS) can  be  displayed  instead.  Indicated
airspeed is what the pilot of a real aircraft
generally sees; it is measured by sam-  pling
the air pressure outside  the  plane  with  a
Pitot tube. IAS will go down as the the plane
climbs  to  higher   altitude,   because   of
decreasing air density. A plane that does 300
knots at sea level (where IAS and TAS are the
same) may only do 250  knots  IAS  at  20,000
feet, whereas  it's  TAS  may  have  in  fact
increased substantially with altitude. IAS is
an accurate indication of how close the plane
is to  stalling,  and  how  close  it  is  to
exceeding one of  its  maximum  safe  speeds,
because IAS is a direct measure of the  force
being exerted on the plane by the air.

Other indicators on  the  control  panel  are
aircraft con- trol indicators. The large  box
in the center of  the  panel  is  the  "stick
box", or stick position indicator.  Below  it
is the rudder position indicator (The  rudder
on an Amiga or Atari ST is located inside the
stick box at its top.) The throttle indicator
shows the  current  throttle  setting.  Small
icons indicate whether the landing  gear  are
up, down, or in motion, and the  position  of
the flaps. A stall indi- cator shows  whether
the airflow over the wings is stalled or not.
If this  light  comes  on  during  flight,  a
audible stall horn will sound also.

5.1.  Mouse Controls

The basic controls of the plane  are  on  the
mouse. Pushing the mouse forward or  backward
lowers and  raises  the  nose,  respectively.
Moving the mouse from side to side will  bank
the  plane,  which  will  turn  it  in   that
direction.  The  Amiga  version   will   also
support an analog joystick, and the Macintosh
version  has  an  option  to  configure   the
program for use  with  a  joystick  that  can
emulate a mouse.

There are two basic modes of  mouse  control,
expert mode and autopilot mode.  Expert  mode
is designed to give realis- tic responses  to
mouse or joystick  motions,  whereas  autopi-
lot mode is designed to provide a simple  and
stable control system at  the  cost  of  some
realism.  In  autopilot   mode,   the   mouse
controls the actual  position  of  the  plane
rather than  the  positions  of  its  control
surfaces. Moving the mouse to the right banks
the plane to the right, the  farther  to  the
right it goes the steeper the bank. To make a
right turn, move the mouse to  the  right  to
bank the plane. When it reaches  the  desired
course, move the  mouse  back  to  center  to
straighten the plane out. Unlike  the  expert
mode, the  mouse  motions  here  bear  little
resemblance to  the  actual  motions  of  the
stick in  a  plane,  but  they  are  easy  to
understand and easy to fly with. The  variety
of maneuvers the plane can  perform  in  this
mode is basically limited  to  level  flight,
climbs, dives, and turns. Autopilot mode  can
only  be  engaged  when  the  plane   is   in
basically stable  flight.  Loops,  rolls  and
more complex maneuvers  require  the  use  of
expert mode. We do not  recommend  using  the
autopilot mode  in  combat,  because  of  the
serious limitations it  imposes  on  aircraft
tactics and maneuver.

In expert mode, a mouse motion to  the  right
causes the plane to bank to  the  right,  the
more the mouse is moved the faster the  plane
rolls to the right. If you move the mouse  to
the right and keep it there, the  plane  will
execute a full roll, and  keep  rolling  till
you move the mouse back to  center.  Likewise
pulling the mouse back and keeping  it  there
will put the plane through  a  full  vertical
loop. To execute a  controlled  turn  to  the
right, you would move the mouse to the right,
causing the plane to roll to the right.  Once
it reaches an acceptable angle of bank,  such
as 45{ or so, move the mouse back  to  center
to stop the roll. A plane  can  make  a  slow
shallow turn merely by being banked  in  this
manner, but if it attempts to  make  a  steep
bank, it  will  sideslip,  that  is  slip  in
towards the  center  of  the  turn  and  lose
altitude. In order to make  a  fast  turn,  a
large force is needed to bend the flight path
of the plane into  a  curve.  This  force  is
provided by increasing the angle at which the
airflow is striking the wings (known  as  the
angle of attack), causing  them  to  generate
additional lift. Thus, to make a fast turn in
Air Warrior without losing altitude, you pull
back on the stick  (mouse)  just  the  amount
needed  to  balance  the  force  of   gravity
pulling the plane down with the lift  of  the
wings pulling the plane up along the angle at
which the plane is banked. A  glance  at  the
accelerometer and  rate-of-climb  gauges  can
help you to judge  the  force  required.  Air
Warrior always performs what is  known  as  a
coordinated turn, meaning  that  the  program
automatically  provides  the   rudder   force
necessary  to  compensate   for   the   stick
deflection  you  make,  so  that  the   plane
remains prop- erly aligned  with  the  flight
path. The rudder control in  Air  Warrior  is
used only for deflecting the plane away  from
this condition.

On the Atari ST and Amiga  (with  appropriate
option  selected)  the  left   mouse   button
activates a feature called roll  lock,  where
the stick is constrained to  move  only  for-
ward  and  backward  along  its   centerline,
making it easy to push the stick  forward  or
pull   it   back   without   introducing   an
inadvertent roll. This feature can  be  quite
handy when executing a hard turn or  a  loop.
Roll lock is activated from the  keyboard  on
the Macintosh.

On the Macintosh and Amiga (if the roll  lock
option is  not  activated),  with  the  mouse
button held down, moving the mouse forward or
backward will adjust the throttle up and down
(note the throttle gauge on the  screen  that
tracks the motion of the mouse.) The throttle
on the  Atari  ST  is  con-  trolled  by  the
keyboard. You'll want to  use  full  throttle
for take off and steep climbs, with maybe 70%
throttle for level cruising, and will usually
shut the engine down  to  40%  or  so  for  a
descent for landing.

Double-clicking the mouse button will  center
the stick, extremely useful for trimming  the
plane to fly  straight  in  expert  mode,  or
leveling the plane out in autopilot mode.

On the Amiga and Atari ST,  the  right  mouse
button can be used to fire the guns.

5.2.  Keyboard Commands

There are a number of keyboard commands. They
fall into three categories,  those  that  are
pressed  once  to  ini-   tiate   an   action
(immediate commands), those  that  are  line-
oriented  commands  (command-line  commands),
and those that you hold down  to  perform  an
action (hold-down  commands).  The  following
keys of the first type are the ones  used  by
the Macintosh version. The Amiga and Atari ST
versions uses  some  different  keys  on  the
keypad to achieve a more logical  arrangement
(since  these  machines   have   a   standard
keypad), although the Amiga version  supports
many  of  the  Macintosh  keys  as  well.  In
addition the Macintosh and Atari ST  versions
allow re-mapping of the immediate style keys.

5.2.1.  Immediate Commands

Starting the Engines
The * key is used to start the engine(s). Hit
the * once for each  engine  the  plane  has.
With all the engines running, hitting * again
will shut them off.  On  the  Atari  ST,  F10
(function key 10) performs this operation.

Braking On the Macintosh and  Amiga,  holding
down the space bar  will  push  down  on  the
brake pedal, in order to stop a plane on  the
ground. On the Atari ST,  the  same  function
is accomplished by holding down the Alt  key.
On planes so equipped, the air brakes or dive
brakes are also activated with this key.

The Rudder
The a, s, and d keys are used to control  the
plane's rudder. The  rudder  control  is  not
needed  for  ordinary  turns,   because   the
program always assumes competence on the part
of the pilot and adjusts the rudder

automatically   for   properly    coordinated
flight. The rudder control is used in  expert
mode to push the plane away from  the  normal
steady flight condition. Hitting  the  a  key
will move the  rudder  one  position  to  the
left, causing the plane to turn to the  left.
Hitting the d key will move the rudder to the
right one position. Hitting the  s  key  will
immediately center  the  rudder.  The  rudder
will move up  to  five  positions  to  either
side. On the Amiga, the rudder  can  also  be
controlled by the  0,  3,  and  keys  on  the
keypad, preforming  equivalent  functions  to
the a, s, and d keys mentioned above.

Emergency Power
Pressing e on the Macintosh, 7 on the  Amiga,
or control c (c with  the  control  key  held
down) on the Atari ST,  will  turn  emergency
power on and off. Generally This  is  limited
to a total of 10 minutes in Air Warrior.  You
can turn Emergency Power off by  hitting  the
key again or throttling back from  100%.  The
F4U-1D Corsair and Me 109 G-6  use  water  or
water/methanol injection, the Fw 190 A-8  has
nitrous oxide injection. For the other planes
Emergency Power is just pushing the engine to
its limits.

Landing Gear
Pressing ; (or F9 on the Atari) will raise or
lower the landing gear. Make sure  your  gear
are down before you try to land. Landing with
the gear  up  can  be  dangerous.  Note  that
leaving the landing gear down  will  generate
excess  drag,  which  may  be  good  or   bad
depending on whether you want to slow down or
speed up. On the F4U-1D Corsair, the  landing
gear key may  be  used  for  dive  brakes  by
lowering them before a dive (the  doors  open
and trail in the  airflow,  generating  drag,
but the gear themselves will not come down if
the airspeed is too high.) Be sure  to  close
the doors as soon as the dive  is  completed,
or the gear themselves may come down and lock
into place, where they can be damaged by  the
high speed.

Flaps
Pressing > will lower the  flaps  one  notch.
Lowering the flaps is used  to  increase  the
lift and the drag of the airplane, especially
for  landing  or   maneuvering   in   combat.
Pressing the < will raise the flaps a  notch.
The w and e keys on the Atari ST and Keypad 7
and  1  on  the  Amiga   perform   the   same
functions. The flaps will often  not  operate
above a certain plane specific airspeed.

Guns
Pressing the f key will fire the machine guns
in a 1 second burst. If you  are  within  500
yards or so of the target you may see  debris
coming off as you hit. On the Amiga and Atari
ST the right mouse button will also fire  the
guns.

Dropping Bombs
Hitting a b will drop a bomb  or  cluster  of
bombs. You should not do this while  you  are
sitting on the  ground!  Multiple  keypresses
will release successive bombs for planes that
can carry more than  one.  The  bomb  release
must be armed prior to this command.

Expert Mode
Pressing x will toggle  expert  mode  on  and
off. You can go into expert mode  freely,  as
the situation war- rants,  but  can  only  go
back to autopilot mode if the plane is  close
to level

Picture Range
The  distance  at  which  terrain  items  are
displayed can be controlled to allow the user
to get rid of distant objects  during  combat
thereby   reducing   screen    clutter    and
increasing frame rate. The keys 1  through  5
specifty the range with 1 being full  picture
display and 4 being combat  display.  Display
mode 5 is an extreme  mode  which  eliminates
almost all terrain, requiring  the  pilot  to
keep a sharo lookout for dangerous objects!

Text Buffer
Pressing - on the  Macintosh  or  F4  on  the
Atari ST will replace the graphics display on
the screen with a text  buffer,  where  radio
messages and other text that has scrolled off
the  small  in-flight  text  window  can   be
reexamined. On the Macintosh, hit the  -  key
again to return to the graphics  display,  on
the Atari  ST  hit  any  of  the  other  view
function keys. On the Amiga,  holding  the  p
key will replace the control  panel  with  an
expanded text buffer. Releasing the key  will
put the control panel back.

5.2.2.  Looking Around

The  keyboard  commands  that   control   the
direction  of  view   are   hold-down   style
commands  on  the  Macintosh  and  Amiga  and
immediate-style commands  on  the  Atari  ST.
This largely due to a lack of vision  on  the
part of the Atari OS designers. The Macintosh
allows the  user  to  select  immediate-style
view keys  as  an  option  (the  Sticky  Keys
option).

On the Macintosh and Amiga, holding down  the
h key will cause you to  look  out  over  the
left wing of the plane. As long as the key is
held down, you'll look to the left. The l key
does the same thing, to the right. The m  key
is used to look directly behind  you.  The  k
key looks straight up, and the  j  key  looks
straight down.The g key is used as a  forward
key, although you do not need  to  hold  that
key down, as forward is  the  normal  default
view. Holding down the h and  m  or  l,and  m
keys in combination will give you an over the
shoulder and leaning to the side view,  which
can be use-  ful  in  a  plane  with  a  high
fuselage behind the pilot. There are a number
of combination  views,  accessed  by  holding
more than one key down at once. On the Amiga,
a series of keys on the keypad  will  perform
the same actions. On the Atari  ST,  pressing
the desired view direction  key  will  change
the  display  until  another  view   key   is
pressed. To use the com- bination  views  the
keys  are  pressed  in  sequence  instead  of
simultaneously.  All  the  default  view  key
definitions  are  summarized  in  the   table
below.

Table of View Directions

View Direction  Macintosh     Amiga   Atari ST
Left                 h         4          7
Right                l         6          9
Rear                 m         2          5
Up                   k         8          *
Down                 j         5          +
Left Rear            h and m   2 and 4          4
Right Rear           l and m   2 and 6          6
Up and Rear          k and m   2 and 8    * and 5
Down and Rear        j and m   2 and 5    + and 5
Up and Forward       g and k   7 and 8    * and )
Down and Forward     g and j   7 and 5    + and )
Up and Left          h and k   4 and 8    * and 7
Up and Right         l and k   6 and 8    * and 9
Down and Left        h and j   4 and 5    + and 7
Down and Right       l and j   6 and 5    + and 9
Forward and Left     h and g   4 and 8          (
Forward and Right    l and g   6 and 8          /


Amiga and Atari ST views are located  on  the
Keypad. All the Macintosh view keys also work
on the Amiga.

5.3.  The Radar Screen

Air Warrior has what may loosely be called  a
"radar" mode built into each plane.  This  is
not radar in the  usual  sense,  and  is  not
intended  to  represent  a  realistic   radar
display. It is instead  intended  to  provide
the pilot with a quick overview of  the  area
around  his  plane,  so  that  he  may   most
economically  locate  targets  to  attack  or
friends to aid. It compensates to some extent
for the small size of the computer screen and
the lack  of  depth  perception  and  detail,
which make it difficult to know  whether  the
little dot on the horizon is worth chasing or
not. During World

War II, very few fighters were equipped  with
radar, but  fighters  were  often  guided  to
targets  by  a  steady  stream   of   radioed
instructions. This is what  the  Air  Warrior
radar  mode  simulates.  Radar  may  not   be
available at all times or in all  areas,  and
usually if radar  is  available  it  will  be
centered on some building located in friendly
territory.

5.3.1.  The Macintosh Radar Screen

Holding down the = key  is  used  to  request
radar mode, to tell  you  whether  any  enemy
planes are nearby. The map display, like  the
above illustration, shows several things.

Your plane is represented by a small + in the
center of the picture. North is always to the
top of the screen. Gray lines  represent  map
grids (see the discussion of the Map).  Short
horizontal  or  vertical   lines   show   the
positions of the various runways.  Small  x's
represent nearby fighter  planes,  and  small
boxes bombers,  within  about  8  miles.  Any
plane you can see out the window, either with
or without a range and tracking icon, will be
displayed on the map, with  a  tracking  icon
enabling you to identify it. In  addition  to
these  true  position  indicators,  each  map
sector within a radius of  two  sectors  will
have a set of small  icons  along  its  sides
telling  you  how  many  friendly  and  enemy
planes are within the  sector.  Up  the  left
side,  small  black  boxes  represent   enemy
planes. Up the  right  side  of  the  sector,
small  diamonds  represent  friendly  planes.
Note that these  counters  are  only  updated
every 45 seconds  or  so,  whereas  the  true
position indicators are updated continuously.

5.3.2.  The Amiga Radar Screen

Holding down the Enter key on the  keypad  on
the Amiga is used to request radar mode.  The
Amiga radar mode is similar to the Macintosh.
The same information  is  presented  but  the
format is slightly different. Your  plane  is
indi- cated by a white dash which  is  always
centered on the display. Nearby aircraft  are
indicated  by  either  dashes  (fighters)  or
t-shapes (bombers). The dashes  and  t-shapes
are appropriately colored for the  allegiance
of the aircraft they represent.  Grid  lines,
airfields, and tracking icons are essentially
equivalent in nature to  those  available  on
the  Macintosh.  The   information   on   the
Macintosh which is  indicated  by  the  black
boxes  and  diamonds  on  the  Macintosh   is
represented on the Amiga with  colored  boxes
occupying the upper portion of the grid  box.
Enemy aircraft  are  represented  with  light
green  boxes,  friendly  aircraft  with  dark
green.

5.3.3.  The Atari Radar Screen

Pressing the F2 key on the Atari ST  is  used
to request the radar  display.  .The  display
format is similar  to  the  Macintosh.  Small
plane shapes depict fighters and larger  ones
represent bombers. The relative  position  of
your plane is  indicated  with  an  X.  Small
black  boxes  at  the  top  of  each   sector
represent the number  of  enemy  planes  (all
types) in that sector; and diamond shapes are
friends. Press the F1 key to return to normal
viewing.

6.  Line Oriented Commands

The line oriented keyboard commands are  used
primarily    for    things    that    require
communicating to GEnie, such  as  talking  to
another  plane.  To  enter   one   of   these
commands, hit the esc key (or the ` key on  a
Macintosh that does not have an esc key.) A >
prompt  will  appear  on  your  screen,   and
anything you type will be echoed back next to
the prompt. All of the line oriented commands
should  be  entered  just  by   their   first
character. These commands  are  ter-  minated
with  a  return,  and  can  be  canceled   by
entering a control X (-X on the Macintosh).

Ending
The e (end) command  is  used  to  leave  the
plane and return to the conference area.  You
must be stationary  on  the  ground  to  end,
which implies a successful landing on or off
the airfield.

Bailing Out
The p (parachute) command can also be used to
leave the plane and return to the  conference
area. The p command can be entered  anywhere,
and will rapidly eject you from the plane (on
most planes the pilot leaps to the  right  to
use  the  propeller  slipstream  to  aid   in
clearing the tail, on the P-38 Lightning  the
pilot goes out the  door  on  the  left  hand
side.)  You  will   find   yourself   falling
rapidly. A second p  command  will  pull  the
ripcord, allowing you to float  gently  down.
The mouse may be used to steer. You may  find
it useful to free fall to within 1000 feet or
so of the ground before pulling the ripcord.

Tuning the Radio
The t (tune) command is  used  to  tune  your
in-flight radio. Just enter t, then a channel
number from 1 to 999. Channel 1 is  a  public
channel,  the  others  are  private  to  each
country.

Using the Radio
To talk on the radio, hit a slash  /.  You'll
see a : prompt, which means you can type your
message. It'll

be sent out over the radio channel  you  have
tuned when you hit return.

Using the Intercom
To talk on the intercom p