Hints, Tips, & Tricks
Compiled by Sandy Kettenhofen and Tuncer Deniz

Jump Raven
• When a repair bay, weapons ’copter, or fuel truck shows up, turn your navigation over to your co-pilot. Even if your direction finder or your distance indicator is blown up, they know where it is. Caution: let some time pass between your alert signal and navigation delegation. If you go immediately to the site, then all your enemies converge on you.

• If you’re stuck in a crossfire with a bunch of enemies, move. Dodging with hover does you no good. Fly ahead some and circle back.  Strafe ’em all, and you should have it cleared up in no time.

• You fire much faster than your co-pilots do (more accurately, too.  Maybe.). Co-pilot arms control is fine for melee combat, but when going after a number of tanks or the pod base, take over arms control, leave him/her the hover, and wail away. Save your missiles for the base.

• If you are about to run out of fuel, or need a lot of repairs, just kill as many enemies as you can before you die. Repairs and fuel cost too much, and chances are you won’t have enough money to do much.  Save your money for weapons for your next ship.

Trivia:  The Da Kuan are actually speaking bad Mandarin Chinese.  Here are a couple translations:

“hahahah, ni da yen jing tai lei.”--”Ha ha ha, your eyes are too tired.”
“wo hui lai la, Jump Raven.”--”I have returned, Jump Raven.”
“ai yah, wo diao la.”--”Ayee!  I’m falling!” Jeffrey Chen 

Sword of Sodan
• At the end of a level like the city or the graveyard, be sure to jump before you walk to the end of a screen. If you don’t, a rolling item may appear from nowhere and take away some more of your strength.

• When you die in the graveyard, flying vomit, the kind which the zombies hurl at you, often appears mysteriously in the air right where your character is reincarnated. Be sure to duck as soon as you come back to life to avoid getting nailed.

• In the graveyard, it’s often impossible to avoid the rolling heads if there’s flying vomit above you.  It’s often best to just stay kneeling and take the damage from the head.  Otherwise you often take damage from both the head and the vomit.

• As far as damage inflicted is concerned, there is no difference between a “stab,” a “strike,” and an “overhead blow.”

• The key to getting through the “between the city walls” area is to run to meet the guard as quickly as possible, distancing yourself from the spikes as much as you can. Richard Rouse III 

Crystal Caliburn
• Instead of shooting the ball out onto the playing field at full-force every time, try pulling the plunger only back a bit.  It’s possible to receive the “Camelot 25k” from this, and if the right “Quick Move” lights are lit, you can get a good 200k.   

• Nearly every time the ball shoots out of the Merlin Hole it bounces into one of the side out lanes.  To avoid this, use the tilt to get the ball to bounce elsewhere.

• Learn how to make the ramp shots from either a stationary ball (from the hold position) or from a ball rolling down the return lane.  This is the only way to get anywhere in this game.

• It’s possible to shoot the ball from the left flipper up the right return lane and vice versa.  This is more easily accomplished from a rolling ball then from a held one.  This is helpful if one of the shields is out:  you can shoot the ball from the opposite flipper up the return lane and hit the light shield roll-over.  

• When the ball is up near the three circular bumpers, hitting tilt carefully can consistently get the ball up into the lock, especially important if the lock light is lit. Richard Rouse III 

Flight Commander
• Very few aircraft, even those specifically labeled multi-role by their designers, can accomplish more than one task on the same mission. An F-16 is an excellent strike aircraft and an excellent air superiority fighter. But it would be hard pressed to fight to the target through a screen of competent interceptors while carrying its bomb load. This applies in FC as well. If a mission calls for a strike against a SAM site, and intel indicates the presence of enemy fighters, assign specific roles to your aircraft. Assuming that there are four aircraft available for the mission, equip two in the air superiority role, while the other two carry a strike load out. Chances of success are much higher than if all four fighters carry both air-to-air and air-to-mud ordinance.

• When attacking SAM sites, take any Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARM) which are available, but don’t forget to take some rockets or dumb bombs. SAM sites can shut down their radars, which will leave your ARMs useless. They are still vulnerable to an old fashioned 500 lb bomb. 

• The AI has a tough time dealing with lead-trail formations (those where your fighters are intentionally separated in range from the enemy). These are considered defensive formations, but they can be highly effective. The range separating your fighters is a question of effective weapons range, since the trail element must be able to shoot at enemy fighters converting to the tail of your lead group. Frequently the AI converts on your lead group, exposing themselves to the missiles of the trailers. If the AI pulls this tactic on you, attempt to bracket the enemy formation from both sides. This tends to break up a lead-trail formation, and overwhelm it.

• If you can get your hands on an ECM pod, take it! The Probability of Kill for current generation Radar Guided Missiles is so high that you need all the help you can get. The pod will typically reduce the number of missiles which can be carried, but the tradeoff is worth it.

• Launch Heat Seeking missiles from fairly close in. Those launched a considerable distance away from the target will allow your opponent to shield his heat source and set up for a High-G break turn. Karen Kaye 

Deliverance
• Throwing an axe in mid-air will make you jump slightly farther.

• In the Fire Room (Level One): In order to exit the room, climb the ladder one step at a time until the sound of the fire disappears. On this very step jump up and to the right. You should just land on the platform. Douglas Kiang 

• -Each enemy has a weak point that  you can exploit, destroying them with a swing or two of the axe. Knucklewalkers (my name for those Geiger-style baboons in the castle) are easily destroyed with a couple hits if you catch them jumping or falling, devils and satyrs can be hacked while they are materializing, branches are vulnerable while still transforming, etc.

• Use battle-mode (space bar/up key combo) often; it limits your mobility but protects your back as well as your front and seems to do more damage per swing. You can destroy tarantulas while in battle mode, as well as deflect fireballs, spears, eggs and even dragon breath.

• To get out of the fairy room (the one with the fireplace), jump from the fifth rung down from the top of the ladder. It seems to be easier if you climb and jump without stopping.

• If you get Fairies taken from you in the Enchanted Forest, go up as high as you can (without leaving the level) and they may be hovering around the treetops, after you kill the insect that took them.

• To defeat the poisonous gas machine, throw axes until you hit something solid (it will make a loud sound) then go to work on it.

• The Guardians have extremely rigid patterns of movement that are easily learned, and cannot turn around to attack you if you manage to get behind them (though that might not help.) Michael Eilers 

Civilization
• Develop writing as early as possible and then keep a diplomat in all of your cities.  When you see a barbarian raiding party, have your diplomat go and pay them off.  Barbarians will desert for much less than other enemy units.

• In advanced games develop literacy as early as possible.  Build the great library and raise your taxes to 100%.  You will get almost all of the technology available until the development of the university while you build up a significant cash flow!

• If you have a large city that produces slow, change some of the land that doesn’t produce any shields to forest. John Friday 

If you have a Hint, Tip, or Trick, we will include it in the magazine. Send it to Sandy Kettenhofen on CompuServe (75020,512) or Tuncer Deniz on America Online (IMGames) or the Internet (imgames@aol.com).