Hints, Tips, & Tricks
compiled by Tuncer Deniz

Railroad Tycoon
Tip: Want to make a fast $500,000? Highlight the "World View" window and press the "$" key. -Tuncer Deniz

Hint: At the beginning of the game make very long railroads that cut off all the other companies. This leaves you with the biggest area to operate in and keeps the other companies from expanding into your area. -Tuncer Deniz

Spectre 1.0
Tip: If you hold down the option key while you click on the "play" button you can choose your starting level. - Tuncer Deniz

Tip: Type GOD when playing the game. You'll get a really cool top view. - Tuncer Deniz

SimCity
Tip: Type FUND, you've won the lottery, $100,000. - Tuncer Deniz

SimEarth
Tip: Type JOKE, you'll get a joke and some funds. - Tuncer Deniz

Tip: Type ERAD to get rid of all life forms. - Tuncer Deniz

Armor Alley
Trick: If you have played Armor Alley you are aware that there are ten levels, each called a battle. Also there are four practice battles that are found under the FILE menu, but did you know there are several other battles that can only be played over a modem or network. Well, here is a hot tip on how you can play those battles. With the use of ResEdit here's how:

1) Open ResEdit and select Armor Alley v1.1s1.
     Note: never use your original, only edit a copy, enough said.

2) Next select LEVL, here you will see a list of all the missions
     along with size and ID.       

3) It would be a good idea to go up to the menu, click VIEW and    

     select "by size.” This will give you a hint to how complex each      
    
     battle may be. The bigger the size, the more complex.

4) Now you have the choice of interchanging any of the battles for 
     another. An example would be to replace one of the practice 
      battles with a more interesting modem battle such as exchanging
     "Cake Walk" with one of our favorites, "Balloon Fun.”  

    a. First high light "Cake Walk" then go up to the menu, click 
        RESOURCE and select "get resource info.” Now write down the
        name and its ID which are "Cake Walk" and “12357.”
    b. Next, without closing Cake Walk's window, return to LEVL and 
        do the same thing for “Balloon Fun.” Name- Balloon Fun and 
        ID-14533.
    c. While still in the Balloon Fun's window replace the name 
        "Balloon Fun" with "Cake Walk.” Then replace the ID "14533"
        with "12357." Do just the opposite in the Cake Walk's window. 
        Replacing "Cake Walk" with "Balloon Fun" and "12357" with
        “14533.”

5) Close ResEdit and save.

6) Start up your edited copy of Armor Alley and go to practice 
    battles. Choose "Cake Walk.” You will now see a new battle instead of the old one! 
    
Now that you understand what to do try out some other battles. Have Fun! -Reginald B. Milton

Hellcats over the Pacific (HOtP)
compiled byTed Wagner

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

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

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

Tip:You can't ditch with your gear down.

Tip: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 to expect to go back home (or whatever,) try to crash your 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 lose the aircraft.
 
Hint: There is a small village in the southeast of Henderson Field -- three houses and a small lake -- try these out for target practice.

Hint: South of Henderson Field there is a bridge that can be "sunk."

Hint: In the northwest quadrant there are several strange, small islands and a field right in the middle of the sea.

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

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

Tip: 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: 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, however, if you take a direct hit by a bullet. Then you're dead immediately.

-Tip: 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: To keep from overshooting 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: Don't waste ammunition! You only get a certain amount! 
a) If you see flames, break off 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: 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: A technique to use when dogfighting 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" -- that 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.

Ted Wagner: trwagner@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu

Look for more Hellcats Tips in a future edition of Inside Mac Games.