Contents

Many more than just the following Help Topics are available, but here are the highlights:

3D Accelerator Video Cards

Introduction To Air Warrior

Air Warrior Features

Minimum Requirements

Main Menu

Setup Hangar

Mechanic's Clipboard

Selecting Flight Controls

Flight Controls - Configuring

Joysticks

Throttles

Rudder Pedals

Preferences

Joystick Drivers

Cockpit View Preferences

Sound

Solo (Offline) Flight

Instant Action

Quick Start

Offline Missions

Offline Campaigns

Multiplayer Air Warrior

Online Arena Selection Screen

Historical Online Missions

Network Speech

Navigating the Air Warrior Interface

Officers Club

Player List

Roster

Situation Map

After Action Reports

Headquarters

Killboard

Radio Room

Aircraft Selection - Online

Realism Settings

Aircraft Instrumentation

Online Briefing Room

Briefing Room Tools

Dueling

Capturing Airfields

Crewing a Bomber or Vehicle

Forming a Squadron

Air Warrior Geography

Radio Procedures

Radar

Gun Camera Films

Bomber Basics

Strategic Bombing

Friendly Fire

Network Delay Effects

Head to Head Play

Air Combat Maneuvers

Air Warrior Jargon

Troubleshooting Tips

Exiting the Game

Keyboard Controls

Macros

For Help on Help, Press F1


Introduction To Air Warrior

Air Warrior is the ultimate challenge for lovers of air combat simulations. First and foremost, Air Warrior features the most informed, detailed, and advanced flight models available on a home computer.  Each aircraft’s behavior is based on extensive flight test data and, as in real life, each plane’s performance and handling characteristics are unique and authentic.  In the course of playing the game, you will learn the historic strengths and weaknesses of many legendary war planes, and how to employ these distinctive traits to your advantage.

Air Warrior reinvented online multiplayer gaming nearly 10 years ago by offering the first fully graphical, real-time air combat simulation open simultaneously to players around the world.  Air Warrior III reinvents the online air combat gaming once again by offering the world’s first full-time online World War II simulation, as opposed to generic countries fighting an imaginary forever war.

Players from across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan have enjoyed the excitement of meeting each other in simulated battle.  They connect to each other through Kesmai’s host computers, which are accessible through most of the major online service providers.  No other air combat game offers such an extensive opportunity for real-time action against other human players; and no other game has developed such an interesting community online.  This is a true multiplayer environment, in which hundreds of players interact, performing roles as diverse as their own interests.

Now, with the introduction of Air Warrior III, you can enjoy the excitement of air combat action off-line, as well.  With Air Warrior III, you can fly in simulated combat without being connected to the Kesmai host.  In addition, you may use the same software for connecting online.  Some characteristics of the game will vary for off-line or online play, but once you have learned the basics of flying the aircraft and maneuvering in combat, you should feel right at home in either environment.  A head-to-head feature also has been added, enabling you to connect directly with another player by modem for one-on-one dueling.

This help file covers both the stand-alone and multiplayer features, though you will have access to the multi-user environment only if you use an online service that offers Air Warrior III.


Air Warrior Features

3D Accelerated Gameplay

•	All new, fully texture mapped aircraft exteriors

•	Realistic water textures

•	Improved land terrain - with farms and rugged mountains

•	Lifelike sky with special effects (fog, sunburst, etc.)

Online, Continuous Historical Action

Unlike the ongoing melee among generic countries that has typified online air combat simulation, you will be able to logon to Air Warrior III and fly in a historically based engagement from World War II with over 250 other human pilots.  Scoring, in this environment, is based on your ability to accomplish your mission, and the missions themselves can be created in the Air Warrior II mission editor.  Thus, these online campaigns can be created by the players themselves, not just the scenario designers at Kesmai.

Real-time Network Speech

With no special equipment, other than a SoundBlaster compatible sound card, and a microphone and headset, you will be able to talk with up to 16 other pilots in the air.  No longer will pilots have to take their hands off of the controls to type warnings or instructions to their group or wingmen.  Bomber crews will be able to call out those bandits with voice, rather than with typed words.

Real-time multipilot network play:  You can play Air Warrior with over 200 people from all over North America, Great Britain, Japan, and Australia at the same time.

Choice:  Fly 40 different World War II era fighters and bombers from 5 nations.

Advanced, adjustable levels of realism:  Air Warrior’s dynamic flight model offers realism never before available on a personal computer, including accelerated stalls, G effects, red-outs, blackouts, and uncontrolled spins.

High resolution cockpit artwork:  You'll find cockpit art with up to 16 separate cockpit views for every aircraft and armored vehicle, all of it based on photo studies taken in actual existing examples of these classic fighters and bombers.

The most comprehensive viewing system of any air combat simulator:  Air Warrior does not send you hunting for your function keys just to have a look around your airplane.  There are no frame rate devouring gimmick view schemes.  In Air Warrior, you have access to 15 cockpit views right from your keypad or keyboard, or multi-function joystick.

Multichannel, digital sound from authentic sound samples:  Air Warrior employs sound samples from actual World War II aircraft and weapons.

ThrustMaster, CH, SunCom, Gravis, and rudder pedal support:  Air Warrior fully supports the CH line of joysticks , ThrustMaster Weapons Control and Flight Control features, SunCom Talon and Eagle, as well as most makes of rudder pedals.


Minimum Requirements

•	IBM compatible Pentium computer operating at 133 MHz or faster

•	24 megabytes of RAM

•	Windows 95 operating system

•	A hard disk drive with at least 30 megabytes free

•	A DirectX compatible video card with 2 megabytes of video memory on the card

•	A mouse and a joystick  (though a plane can be flown with just the mouse)

Recommended Equipment:

•	166 MHz Pentium

•	Direct 3D compatible hardware accelerated video card with 4mb of video ram

•	SoundBlaster compatible Sound Card

•	Dedicated game port

•	Throttle  and rudder   controls

•	Multi-function Joystick , such as ThrustMaster FCS, CH Pro, Wingman Extreme, etc.

•	14.4K BPS or faster modem (14.4K BPS is the minimum required for online play)


Multiplayer Air Warrior

Online Play

Air Warrior online arenas offer a true multiplayer air combat simulator where people from all over the world compete nightly in World War II era aircraft.  Online play comes in the following forms:

Arena Melee - three countries (A-Land, B-Land, or C-Land) are engaged in a free-form forever war.  Each country has access to the same, featured aircraft set, based on the theater of operations.  For example, if the theater is Europe, all three countries have access to European fighters of World War II; they are not restricted to just the aircraft of a combatant nation of World War II.  Arena play can be in Europe or the Pacific, and in Relaxed Realism or Full Realism.  The former has spins, black-outs, red-outs, and stall buffeting disabled.  The latter has the complete set of Air Warrior realism features.

Though open ended, melee play is not simply an endless dogfight.  You can bomb important targets and, thus, deny the enemy certain airfields or strategic facilities .  You can also capture enemy airfields.  You can even serve as a gunner aboard a bomber if you’d like.

Historical Missions - these are based on actual engagements from World War II in which you select a side and a group, and everyone participating begins their mission at the same time.  Another major difference between historical and melee play is if you die or crash in historical missions, you’re done for that mission.  In melee play you can take off again as often as you wish.

Connecting to the Air Warrior Host

Air Warrior III can be launched from most internet service providers (ISPs) via GameStorm (www.gamestorm.com), Delphi (www.delphi.com), Earthlink (www.earthlink.com) or CompuServe (www.csi.com).  Connect to the Air Warrior area on these services, using your web browser, and Air Warrior will be launched when you click the Play or Play Now hotspots.

When the main menu - an airfield with several buildings and aircraft - appears, click on the flight of planes overhead.  This will initiate a connection to the Air Warrior host computer, and present you with an online arena selection.


Arena Selection

This screen show you a list of the active online arenas, how many players are there, whether an arena features relaxed or full realism, arena , or historical play , and what terrain and plane set (Europe, Pacific, WWI) is active there.  If you’re trying to meet up with someone, you can use the Find User  button at the bottom of the Arena Selection screen.


Find User

Available from the  screen online, clicking the Find User button brings up a dialog.  Enter the Custom Player ID (CPID)  of the player you’re looking for.  If he’s online, you will be told where he’s located.


Navigating the Air Warrior Interface

Air Warrior offers two fundamental methods of navigating its interface: single left mouse button clicks on available hotspots, and right mouse button menus.

Hotspots

A hotspot is an active area of the screen that you can click on with your left mouse button to perform a function.  In most interface screens, when your mouse cursor passes over a hotspot it will change from an arrow to an airplane.

Tooltips

When you first run the program, all hotspots will also be labeled with brief descriptions of their function, known as tooltips.  You can turn these tooltips off, or set them to appear only when your mouse pointer lingers over a hotspot.  To see all the tooltips for an interface screen, hit the Alt key.

Right Mouse Button Menus

From any interface screen, if you click your right mouse button, you’ll see a menu of pertinent options.  These options vary from room to room, but certain ones are always available from the right button menu:

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Air Warrior - as you might expect, this allows you to exit the program.

As noted above, there are additional functions available from the right mouse button menu, depending on the room you’re in.  For example, in the ready rooms there is a right button option for adjusting your fuel and bomb load.  This option would not be particularly useful anywhere else other than a ready room, just prior to flight.  Similarly, other right button options will be available in other rooms, depending on their pertinence.


Online Quick Start

After the initial startup screens are displayed, you will be presented with main airfield screen .  If you move you mouse around slowly, you will get "tooltips" which indicate the hotspots you may press to get you into the game.  Hitting the Ctrl key will show you all the tooltips on any screen. You may disable these "tooltips" in the future by going into SETUP->User Preferences.

You should first go into SETUP and configure your controls.  This is done by clicking on the SETUP hangar and then clicking on the mechanic's clipboard. To check to see that your sound card is working with the program, click on the loudspeaker on the upper right-hand side of the setup hangar.  Here you can set the volume and test it.

After configuring your controls, you may either fly "Solo" or "Multiplayer".  At the main airfield screen, the three planes at the top represent multiplayer mode.  The Solo hangar represents solo mode.  Note that if you came through the Web and are connected to our service, you will not be allowed to play Solo mode (off-line).  If you have not launched the Air Warrior program from the Web, and are not connected to our service, then you cannot fly in multiplayer mode.

If you go into Multiplayer mode, you first must choose an arena.  This will take you to an Officers Club  (OC).  Once in the Officers Club, you can talk to other players , go to Headquarters  (HQ), etc.

To fly, you have to select an airfield.  You can do this either by clicking on the Spitfire at the OC, or the map on the table in HQ.  Either action brings up the Situation Map , centered in your country.  Select an airfield by double clicking on it.  This will only work with airfields your country owns.  Avoid the airfields in yellow, as they are damaged.  Selecting an airfield takes you to its Ready Room .  Here you can click on the aircraft ID silhouette on the wall to select a plane.  To fly it, click on the Airfield door on the left-hand side of the ready room.

Once in the cockpit, hit "8" to start your engines, upper case "C" to throttle up, and off you go!  To raise your landing gear, hit the semicolon key.  To engage war emergency power, hit the 7 key.  To return to full military power, hit the 7 key again.  To throttle back, hit the v key, and to apply wheel brakes hit your spacebar.  To fire your guns, use either the f key, or button 1 on your joystick.


Main Menu

The airfield you see, after the title and credits screens have displayed, is the Air Warrior main menu.  Hotspots in the scene represent menu items.  When your mouse cursor is over a hotspot, it will turn from an arrow to an aircraft.  A single click of your left mouse button over a hotspot will activate the menu item.  Here is the list of hotspots, from left to right on the screen:

•	Instant Action - if you click on the P-40 fighter in the foreground, you are immediately launched into an instant action offline mission.

•	Sheep:  brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Jeep:  by sheer coincidence, rhymes with sheep.  Click on this to exit the program.

•	Setup Hangar : takes you the setup screen where you can configure your flight controls, cockpit display, user preferences, and sound.

•	Fly Online:  this is represented by the aircraft flying overhead.  You must launch the program from an online service that offers Air Warrior for this item to be active.

•	Credits: shows you who created this game, with some images and music attached.

•	Film: select and playback gun camera films.


About Box

This tells you the version of the Air Warrior software you have running.  It’s available by clicking on the sheep in the main menu , or from any of the pop-up right mouse button menus.


Setup Hangar

In the setup hangar you can do the following:

•	Select  and calibrate  your flight controls.

•	Select your cockpit view options.

•	Setup and test Sound .

•	Set your user preferences.


Mechanic's Clipboard

Airspeed

The choices here are indicated or true airspeed.  Despite the reassuring ring to the term, true airspeed, you’ll probably want to use indicated airspeed.  Air becomes thinner with increased altitude, and the maneuvers you could perform easily at 200 knots at 1000 feet might become impossible at 10,000 feet.  Indicated airspeed adjusts for altitude and reports speed based on the airflow over the wings.  Most pilots prefer to use indicated airspeed and this is the default setting.

Cockpit Display

This gives you several options governing how Air Warrior looks from your cockpit.

Difficulty Level

This governs offline, solo flight only.  At the Cadet level, your plane is far more durable, you have lots more ammunition, and accelerated stalls, uncontrolled spins, blackout, red-outs, and stall buffeting is disabled.  Veteran level is the same except you’re no longer in a flying take with tons of bullets.  Ace level has all the realism features  enabled.


Realism Settings

Realism options are set automatically, by the Air Warrior host, in online arenas.  Full realism has the entire suite of realism features, detailed below, enabled.  Relaxed realism has only real-time enabled; all the realism features listed below are disabled.

Even with no extra realism settings active, there are realistic limits to Air Warrior flight.  Plane performance will very with altitude, planes create drag during normal flight (parasitic drag), and extra drag (induced drag) when maneuvering.

Difficulty Level settings on the Mechanic's Clipboard  apply only to offline solo play. At the Cadet level, flight proceeds at half normal speed (although your airspeed indicator reflects full speed) and accelerated stalls, uncontrolled spins, blackout, red-outs, and stall buffeting is disabled.  Veteran level is the same except flight proceeds in real-time.  Ace level has all the realism features enabled.

Real-time

Air Warrior has been played online for ten years.  In its early days, to improve network performance and playability on the networks of the time, Air Warrior calculated action at half speed, although your airspeed indicator reflects real-time full speed.  Although no longer played in half-time, this realism option exists as a vestige from days, thankfully, gone by.

Buffeting

In actual flight, maneuvers fight against the atmosphere and create turbulence.  If you select the Buffeting realism option, you will see visible effects of maneuvering induced turbulence.  You screen display will shake if you pull more than 3Gs in a maneuver.

Stalls

This option enables accelerated stalls.  Unlike low speed stalls, where airspeed is too low for flight sustaining airflow over the wings, an accelerated stall happens at if the wing’s angle of attack is severe enough to disrupt airflow.

Spins

In a low speed stall, if the plane was maneuvering, one wing may stall before the other and the aircraft will spin. Selecting this option enables this possibility if you stall.

Lethality

If you turn this option off,  overall lethality is reduced and ammunition loads are tripled from what they’d be on the actual aircraft. Selecting this option gives you the realistic lethality; your gunfire will do more damage but you will have the smaller, realistic ammo load.   Gunnery and lethality are explained in greater detail later in this manual.

G Effects

The human body is accustomed to 1 G: the normal force of the earth’s gravity.  Dramatic maneuvers fight inertia and create G forces that can be many times the force of gravity.  If you pull more than 5 positive Gs, you draw blood away from your brain and this can lead to a blackout.  Negative Gs do the opposite, forcing blood into your head.  This can cause a red-out if the negative G-force is severe.  Selecting this option enables a realistic accumulation of these effects.

While G effects, buffeting, and real-time options work the same on all planes, accelerated stalls, spins, and lethality are individualized based on the actual characteristics of a given aircraft.  Some carried more lethal armaments than others, and each type of fighter behaved differently as it was pushed to its limits.

SURVIVING FULL REALISM

The nature of air combat in World War II was often dictated by the limitations of the aircraft.  When you select realism options in Air Warrior, you encounter many of the foibles of piston engine fighters, and you have to take the same measures the actual pilots did to recover when you push a plane beyond its limits.

Recovering From a Spin

The problem here is that airflow over the wings and control surfaces is insufficient to support sustainable, controlled flight.  Push the stick forward and try to work the plane into a dive to regain airspeed and airflow.  At the same time, apply rudder in a direction opposite that of the spin. Also, it may be essential to cut throttle, because the engine’s torque can drive the spin.  When the plane stops spinning, center the rudder.  As airflow over the wings returns, ease back on the stick and increase throttle.  A quick way to determine the proper direction to apply rudder, opposite the direction of the spin, is to look at your compass; move your rudder in the direction the compass is spinning.

Since recent changes in rudder control were implemented, many pilots prefer to recover from spins using opposite aileron (rolling the plane in the direction opposite the spin) control alone.

Recovering From an Accelerated Stall

Again, you must restore lift sustaining airflow over the wings in order to restore control over your aircraft.  Try to pitch the nose forward in order to reduce the angle of attack of the wings.  As your aircraft begins to recover, be extremely gentle in your stick movements until you’ve regained full control.

Dealing With Red-Outs and Blackouts

Here too you lose control over your aircraft, but with red-outs and blackouts the pilot, not the plane, has been pushed beyond tolerance.  You must wait until you regain consciousness before you can recover stick and rudder control.


Flight Controls - Selecting

Air Warrior supports a wide array of Joysticks ,Rudder Pedals , and Throttles .

If you do not have a joystick, you can use your mouse as your primary flight controller.  You cannot, however, use your keyboard in this role.  You can use your keyboard as your secondary controller - throttle, flaps, landing gear, rudders, etc.

From the setup hangar, click on the mechanic’s clipboard.  Then choose Controls.  You’ll then get a screen where you can select your joystick, throttle, and rudder pedals.  Just click on the text window below each control screen and select the device you have installed on your computer.  A picture of the selected device will appear.

If you use the right mouse button menu, select Setup and you’ll go directly to the Controls screen.

After you’ve selected your controls, click the Test and Calibrate  button.

Note: If you use a joystick and/or rudder pedals, you will need to install a Joystick Driver  to support it.


Flight Controls - Configuring

Configuring Your Controls

You can setup your joystick and other flight controls anywhere in the Air Warrior program, except inflight.  The most obvious route is through the Setup Hangar  on the Main Menu .  Setup is also available from the right mouse button menu.

NOTE: If you do not have a joystick, you can use your mouse as your primary flight controller.  You cannot, however, use your keyboard in this role.  You can use your keyboard as your secondary controller - throttle, flaps, landing gear, rudders, etc.

From the setup hangar, click on the mechanic’s clipboard.  Then choose Controls.  You’ll then get a screen where you can select your joystick , throttle , and rudder pedals .  Just click on the text window below each control screen and select the device you have installed on your computer.  A picture of the selected device will appear.

If you use the right mouse button menu, select Setup and you’ll go directly to the Controls screen.

Once you’ve selected your controls, click on the Test and calibrate button.  Select the appropriate calibration routines and go through them.  After you’ve calibrated your stick, you should see a green cross in the center of the black test screen.  If you’ve calibrated rudders, you will see a green line in the rudder test box - a narrow, rectangular black area below the joystick test box.

Setting the Deadband

If the green cross or green line move when you’re applying no control input to your rudder or stick, move the deadband slider for the appropriate device to the right.  Deadband controls are in the upper right hand side of the calibration dialog box.  Increase deadband until the green cross or line is still.

As a final check, if you have a stick with a hat switch, find the small black box with the green square in the center, to the upper right of the joystick test box.  Move the hat around.  The green square should turn into a line, pointed in the direction you’ve moved the hat.  Also, check the green line for the rudder when you move the hat.  If it moves, then increase rudder deadband still further.

Damping

Whereas the deadband reduces control sensitivity over the initial portion of a device’s movement range, the damping slider reduces control input sensitivity over the entire range of device movement.  Some control devices generate “noise” meaning that they can generate unintended or exaggerated inputs.  Increasing your damping can help minimize these effects.

Calibrating Your Throttle

There are two fundamental types of throttles used in computer flight sims: a wheel or lever located on the joystick or control yoke, and dedicated, multifunction throttle devices such as the ThrustMaster Weapons Control System.  The former type can be calibrated in the Air Warrior program - just click Calibrate Throttle and go through the routine.  However, the latter type must be calibrated using software that comes with the device.  When you select a throttle that requires separate calibration software, the Calibrate Throttle button in Air Warrior is unavailable.

Joystick Scaling - Scale Stick Inputs Button

Whereas the deadband controls joystick sensitivity over the initial portion of its range of travel, and damping adjusts sensitivity uniformly over the entire range of the stick, joystick scaling allows you to control stick sensitivity over specific portions of the stick's travel.

You can change sensitivity on the pitch axis of your joystick. Your roll axis is lateral movement of the stick; the pitch axis is forward/backward stick movement.  Players want roll response to be as crisp as possible, thus there is no sensitivity option on this stick axis.  Reducing pitch sensitivity, however, helps many pilots control the G forces created during high speed maneuvers.  If you don't intend to fly under full realism, you'll probably want to use the default sensitivity settings.

To reduce stick sensitivity, you can either move the realism slider to the right, or you can custom tailor your sensitivity range.  To do so, click on the upper line corresponding to the portion of the stick's range you want to change.  The line is divided into ten segments, each representing 10% of the stick's total range of movement.  Thus, the portion of the upper line to the far left represents the first 10% of your joystick's movement.  By holding down the left mouse button and dragging the line down, you reduce the stick's sensitivity over that portion of the sticks range of travel.

Joysticks and Sound

There is a strong interdependency between the joystick and sound in Air Warrior.  In particular, sound makes a significant impact on joystick calibration on most systems.  It may be necessary to calibrate your joystick in Air Warrior even though you have already calibrated it in the Control Panel.  This is usually just fine tuning, but it's always recommended.

If you calibrate with sound enabled, the joystick may go out of calibration in flight if you subsequently elect to disable sound.  Likewise, if you calibrate with sound disabled, you will need to recalibrate if you later enable sound.  Recognizing this problem, sound is playing in the joystick calibration screens, albeit at the lowest possible level, unless you've decided beforehand to disable sound.  Players who have boosted the input gain on their sound cards will hear an aircraft engine running when they go to calibrate their controls.  This is not a bug; it's not a feature either; rather, it's an odd necessity.


Joystick Drivers

Although Air Warrior may be executed with only a mouse, a joystick is recommended to fly Air Warrior.  To use a joystick in Windows, you need to install a joystick driver.

For Windows 95, you will need the VJOYD driver, which is distributed with Windows 95.

Windows 95

The required Windows 95 joystick driver, VJOYD, is provided with Windows 95, and will be installed when your sound card is auto-detected.  Users of separate game cards may have to perform the installation manually by first removing the joystick (add/remove hardware option under Control Panel) and then adding the dedicated game card.

How to Setup Your Driver

The Windows 95 joystick setup is much more intuitive than in earlier versions of Windows.  Go to the Control Panel and find the joystick applet.  Normally you just select the option that most closely matches your hardware.  One exception is the ThrustMaster FCS, and compatible sticks, which sometimes work better with the hat as a third axis, rather than as a POV switch.

It is important that you calibrate and test your joystick in the Control Panel.  If it does not work there it probably will not work correctly in Air Warrior.  If you are treating your FCS hat as a third axis, be sure to move it to all possible positions when it asks you to calibrate your throttle, odd as that sounds.

If you have a joystick, a throttle (or a ThrustMaster FCS or a Wingman Extreme), and rudder pedals, you have two 2-axis devices.  Set-up joystick 1 and joystick 2 as 2-axis, 2-button joysticks.

If you have a joystick and a throttle (or a ThrustMaster FCS or a Wingman Extreme), you have one 3-axis device.  Set-up joystick 1 as a 3-axis, 4-button joystick.

If you have only a joystick, you have one 2-axis device.  Set-up joystick 1 as a 2-axis, 4-button joystick.

Do not use the ThrustMaster Flight Control System option.  If you do, your hat switch will not work.

Do not check the rudder option.  If you do this, rather than following the instructions above, your rudder will not work.

Joysticks and Sound

There is a strong interdependency between the joystick and sound in Air Warrior.  In particular, sound makes a significant impact on joystick calibration on most systems.  It may be necessary to calibrate your joystick in Air Warrior even though you have already calibrated it in the Control Panel.  This is usually just fine tuning, but it's always recommended.

If you calibrate with sound enabled, the joystick may go out of calibration in flight if you subsequently elect to disable sound.  Likewise, if you calibrate with sound disabled, you will need to recalibrate if you later enable sound.  Recognizing this problem, sound is playing in the joystick calibration screens, albeit at the lowest possible level, unless you've decided beforehand to disable sound.  Players who have boosted the input gain on their sound cards will hear an aircraft engine running when they go to calibrate their controls.  This is not a bug; it's not a feature either; rather, it's an odd necessity.

Game Ports

Most joystick vendors now recommend the use of a dedicated speed-controlled game card on fast PCs, such as Pentiums.  If you use the game port on most typical sound cards, you may not be satisfied with the results.  Common problems include excessive noise or an inability to sense part of the right or back movement of the joystick.  The Air Warrior controls calibration attempts to compensate for such problems, but the best solution is to use the best hardware.

Dedicated Game Ports in Windows 95

Windows 95 often has problems with auto-detecting game cards.  The usual symptom is the joystick buttons work but the joystick does not.  One solution is to uninstall the driver for the game port on your sound card and manually install the driver for your game card using Add New Hardware.

Both ThrustMaster and CH Products have additional help on their web sites.

Joystick Information and Support on the Internet

ThrustMaster

http://www.thrustmaster.com

CH Products

http://www.chproducts.com


Joysticks

Generic 2-Button Joystick

The Generic 2-Button Joystick can be any standard joystick device with at least2 buttons that are not programmed to send keyboard commands.  Any other buttons or switches which are programmable will work normally; any other buttons or switches which are not programmable will be ignored.

ThrustMaster XL

The XL is functionally equivalent to the FCS.  See below.

ThrustMaster Flight Control Stick (FCS) or Pro Flight Control Stick (PFCS)

Castle Switch

The Castle Switch controls views.  There are two sets of views, toggled from one set to the other by the pinkie switch.

Set 1           Forward: up/forward view

        Left: left view         Right: look right

        Back: back view

Set 2           Forward: up view

        Left: left/back view    Right: right/back view

        Back: back/up view

Thumb Buttons

The upper thumb button, near the castle switch, is your bomb release switch. The middle thumb button deploys dive brakes on planes equipped with them (P-38 Lightning, F4U Corsair, F-86, and MiG-15).

Trigger Button

The trigger button, as you might imagine, fires your guns.

The TM FCS in Windows 95

In Windows 95, the FCS hat may be treated as either a POV switch or as a third analog axis.  Although the POV switch may seem to be the more obvious choice, you may find that it works better in Air Warrior as a third axis.  Try this if you find that some of the views will not work.

CH FlightStick Pro

The FlightStick Pro has a trigger, 3 buttons, and a 4-way castle switch.  It is not a programmable joystick.

The FlightStick also has a rotary throttle control.  Select the Generic Throttle Control to use it.

Due to limitations of the standard Windows joystick driver, the castle switch and two of the buttons on the FlightStick Pro will be unusable under versions of Windows prior to Windows 95, unless you have rudder pedals, or a CH Pro Throttle.

CH Combat Stick

The Combat Stick has 2, 4-way switches, 5 buttons, and a trigger.  It is not a programmable joystick.  Air Warrior currently supports only 4 buttons (including the trigger) and one 4-way switch.  The trigger and any 3 buttons may be used when calibrating the 4 button functions.  The top 4-way switch is normally used for view control, but you may choose either.

Used in conjunction with the CH Pro Throttle, this becomes a programmable joystick and all buttons and switches become available.

The Combat Stick also has a rotary throttle control.  Select the Generic Throttle option to use it.

Due to limitations of the standard Windows joystick driver, the 4-way switch and two of the buttons on the Combat Stick will be unusable under versions of Windows prior to Windows 95, unless you have rudder pedals, or a CH Pro Throttle.

CH Fighter Stick

The Fighter Stick has 4, 4-way switches, a trigger, and three buttons.  The 4-way switches are programmable using the CH utilities.

The Fighter Stick also has a rotary throttle control.  Select the Generic Throttle Control option to use it.

Due to limitations of the standard Windows joystick driver, two of the buttons on the Fighter Stick will be unusable under versions of Windows prior to Windows 95, unless you have rudder pedals, or a CH Pro Throttle.

CH Force Feedback Stick

Not only does this stick have nearly every button under the sun, it also gives you rather dramatic physical feedback effects for various game conditions.  When you set this stick up in Air Warrior you also have the option to enable/disable various feedback effects.

Gravis Firebird/Phoenix

The Phoenix is a fully programmable control system with a joystick, throttle, and rudder, two triggers, and 22 buttons.  We recommend that you start with the programming in airwar.phx .

Air Warrior assumes that two controls are programmed as joystick buttons 1 and 2.  Out of the box, the Phoenix has the lower and upper trigger programmed as joystick buttons 1 and 2, respectively.  All other buttons should be programmed to keyboard commands.

The throttle may be programmed to be analog or key mapped.  Out of the box the throttle will be analog.  Select the Generic Throttle Control to use the analog throttle.

The rudder may be programmed to be analog or key mapped.  Out of the box the rudder will be analog.  Select the Generic Rudder Control to use the analog rudder.

SunCom Raptor

This stick will operate with Air Warrior much the way the CH Pro does.

SunCom Talon

This joystick has 4 buttons, a 4-way castle switch, and a 4-way hat switch.  The buttons may be treated as joystick buttons or mapped to the keyboard.  The 4-position switches are strictly mapped to the keyboard.

Air Warrior assumes that the buttons are mapped to the keyboard (not joystick mode).  You should use the key mapping test rather than the button test to verify their operation.

Follow the directions in the SunCom manual to program the Talon.  If you prefer to use the buttons in joystick mode, select the Generic Joystick option.

The SunCom joysticks are not fully compatible with the ThrustMaster WCS-II or RCS.

SunCom Eagle

The Eagle is similar to the Talon but has expanded programmability. Use the SunCom utilities to program the Eagle.

Logitech Wingman Extreme

The Wingman Extreme has 4 buttons and a 4-way hat switch.  It is not programmable.  Functionally, it is a clone of the ThrustMaster FCS and is compatible with the WCS-II and RCS.

Microsoft Sidewinder Pro

The SideWinder 3D Pro is a multi-functional controller with a joystick, view switch, throttle, rudder, eight buttons.  The twist axis of the stick is the rudder control.  It is not programmable.  It supports three mode of operation: ThrustMaster emulation, CH FlightStick Pro emulation, and digital.

When used in ThrustMaster emulation mode, select an FCS and RCS.  The throttle slider and four base buttons will not function.  The view switch is a 4-way 4-position hat switch.

When used in CH FlightStick Pro emulation mode, select a CH FlightStick Pro, Throttle, and Pedals.  The four base buttons will not function.  The view switch is a 4-way switch.

When used in digital mode, select a Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro, generic throttle control, and generic rudder control.  Up to four of the eight buttons are currently supported by Air Warrior.  Air Warrior currently treats the 8-way view switch as a 4-way switch.

Joystick Information and Support on the Internet

ThrustMaster

http://www.thrustmaster.com

CH Products

http://www.chproducts.com


Throttles

Keyboard/mouse

The keyboard and mouse are the default throttle control.  Moving the mouse forward and back with the right button depressed will move the throttle, as will the C and V keys.

Generic Throttle Control

The Generic Throttle Control is any standard throttle input device.  This could be a wheel or slider attached to the joystick, or a stand-alone device not discussed below.

ThrustMaster WCS-I (Weapon Control System Mark I)

The WCS-I is throttle designed especially for use with the FCS.  This is purely a keyboard emulator and is not connected to the game port.  This is not a programmable device.

Since the WCS-I is not connected to the joystick or rudders, there should be no compatibility problems.

ThrustMaster WCS-II (Weapon Control System Mark II)

The WCS-II  is a throttle designed especially for use with the FCS.  It has 6 buttons and 1 rocker switch, all of which are programmable.  Use the ThrustMaster utilities and the AW20WIN.ADV file distributed with Air Warrior to program your WCS-II.

If the WCS-II is used with the FCS, red throttle rocker switch should be set to digital and the black hat rocker switch should be set to analog.  When properly programmed, throttle movement will send keyboard commands and hat movement will be passed through normally.  In this configuration the WCS-II will not show up as an analog throttle on the test and calibrate dialog, but you should see the key inputs.

The WCS may also be used with the FLCS.  The WCS-II may also be used as a normal analog throttle.  In this case, set the red throttle rocker to analog and the black hat rocker to digital.  If you joystick is an FCS, you will have to create a new WCS-II programming file to program key commands for the hat.  In this case you should select one of the generic stick types, rather than FCS, and you will not see the hat switch on the calibrate and test dialog.

The WCS-II makes up to three joystick buttons programmable.  The trigger will be passed through normally but the other buttons will be programmed with key commands.  Only the trigger will show up as a digital input on the calibrate and test dialog.

Some users prefer to cable their WCS-II to a second game port and the keyboard, so that it functions as a keymapped device but does not affect the operation of their stick and/or rudder pedals.  This may be recommended if the other devices are not ThrustMaster products and may not be compatible with the throttle.  In this case, you should select "keyboard/mouse" as your throttle option and program the WCS-II as you would for use with the FCS.

The WCS-II is not fully compatible with the CH Pro joystick.  If the CH Pro is connected to the joystick input on the WCS-II, the buttons and 4-way switch will not function correctly.  The WCS-II may be used with the CH Pro only if it is used as a purely kemapped device, as described above.

WCS MkII Default Key Assignments

The following are the WCS assignments.  You can, of course, edit these if you wish by using the Thrustware that comes with the WCS.

Three Position Switch

Forward: radar view       Middle: normal cockpit view        Back: text buffer

Buttons 1-6

Button 1: start/stop engine     Button 4: raise flaps one notch

Button 2: autopilot             Button 5: lower flaps one notch

Button 3: raise landing gear    Button 6: gun camera on/off

ThrustMaster TQS (Throttle Quadrant System)

The TQS is a throttle designed exclusively for use with the FLCS.  It has buttons, switches, and a track ball, all of which are programmable.  Use the ThrustMaster utilities to program your TQS and FLCS.

The TQS can only be used with the FLCS, and requires an FLCS to function.

CH Throttle

The CH Throttle has a 4-position switch, a rocker switch, and 6 push buttons, all programmable.  Use the CH utilities to program the Throttle.

CH Pro Throttle

The CH Pro Throttle has 4, 4-way switches and 4 buttons, all programmable.  In addition, it makes the buttons on any CH Product joystick programmable.  Use the CH utilities to program the Pro Throttle.


Rudder Pedals

Keyboard

The default rudder control device is the keyboard.

Generic Rudder Control

The Generic Rudder Control is any standard rudder input device.  This could be a wheel or slider attached to a joystick, or a stand-alone device not discussed below.

ThrustMaster RCS (Rudder Control System)

The RCS is a rudder pedal system designed for use with the ThrustMaster joysticks and throttles.

CH Pedals

The Pedals are designed for use with the CH joysticks and throttles.

CH Pro Pedals

The Pro Pedals differ from the standard pedals in that they have toe brakes.  Air Warrior does not, at the moment, support the toe brake function of most CH pedals, mostly because the game allows you to steer on the ground with your rudder pedals rather than with differential braking.


Cockpit Display

This governs several in-cockpit viewing options.

Instruments

An artificial horizon shows your orientation in relation to the ground.  The stick box indicates movement of your flight control device.  You can choose one or the other.

View

This controls how much cockpit is displayed.  Full shows all cockpit view details; partial removes canopy obstructions from your forward/up, up, and back/up views.

Distant Planes as Ts

Normally, Air Warrior renders distant planes as dots.  For people having a difficult time seeing these dots, this option will show distant planes as T shaped icons.

Track

This option governs how your tracking icons are rendered. When an aircraft is within 5000 yards of you, an icon representing it will appear above the screen to show its relative position, and a matching icon will appear on one side of your screen next to a read out of the plane's distance from you.

Icon

This renders icons as graphic symbols.

Numbers

Icons will be rendered as numbers.

Invert

This will place icons or numbers in a small colored box and render them in reverse video.

Gunsight

Lead Computing Optical Sight (LCOS)

Selecting this option enables your Lead Computing Sight (LCS).  See the Gunnery section for an explanation of how the LCS works.  The color you select for your LCS, no matter if you use the sight or not, will also be the color of your CCIP dive bombing sight (see Dive bombing section).

Fixed

This draws a fixed diamond for your gunsight.

Boresight

The Boresight is a fixed centerpoint in your gunsight.

Detail Level

This determines how much world detail the Air Warrior program will draw inflight.  The lower your detail setting, the higher your frame rate.  You can also choose to go to a lower detail level inflight by using the view mode keys (numbers 1-4 on your keyboard).

If you wish to pick and choose your detail options, select Custom  and you’ll get a list of all your detail choices.


Custom Detail

To improve frame rate in Air Warrior, you may wish to reduce the amount of detail the program draws inflight.  From the Mechanic's Clipboard in the setup hangar , off of the main menu (opening airfield screen) , choose cockpit display .  Then, under Detail, you can choose low, medium or high.  If you’d prefer to select detail options individually, choose Custom.  These are your options.

•	Terrain shadows - the shadows cast by terrain objects and features.

•	Plane shadows - the shadows cast by aircraft.

•	Horizon shading - the distant horizon fog.

•	Plane shapes - the complex aircraft shapes you see when you’re close to another aircraft or vehicle.

•	Plane markings - insignia (e.g. German crosses on Messerschmitts) on aircraft.

•	Garond shading - this provides distance gradient shading of the ground and water.

•	Damage effects - pieces/parts breaking off of aircraft receiving damage.


Sound

You can adjust your sound in the Setup Hangar  by clicking on the loudspeaker, or though the right mouse button menu.  Options here are to turn sounds on or off, select specific sounds - Custom  - to turn on or off, adjust the overall sound volume or the volume of individual sounds.  The Sound Setup window contains two slider controls to set the general volume level.  The Sound Effects control adjusts sounds you will hear in your plane during flight, while the Incidental Sounds control affects ambient noises in the various Air Warrior III rooms and other non-flight screens.  After you have made a volume setting, you can check it by using one of the Test buttons next to the sliders.  If you have a stereo sound card, some sounds will be rendered in stereo for spatial effects.  Mono boards will play all sounds, but without stereo, though it’s doubtful anyone has a monaural sound card on a computer capable of running Air Warrior III.

In addition to the volume settings, you may choose which sounds will be active during your game sessions.  Incidental Sounds may be turned on and off by selecting the appropriate button.  For in-flight sound effects, you may select from three options: ALL SOUNDS ON, ALL SOUNDS OFF, and CUSTOM.

Selecting the CUSTOM option opens an additional configuration window where you can turn on specific sounds and set their volume individually.  Use the SET ALL button to select all sounds; your custom volume settings will not be affected.  CLEAR ALL deselects all sounds, also without affecting the volume controls.  The slider control for Max. Audible Distance sets the number of yards at which you will hear sounds generated by other planes in your flight environment.

Network Speech

Air Warrior supports real-time network speech voice transmissions, up to eight players per voice channel.  There is also an intercom channel for multiplayer crewed bomber and vehicles that allows you to talk to everyone onboard.  It can also be used in two player, head-to-head play.  Speech is recorded when you make gun camera films.  Thus, you can even use network speech in offline missions if you wish to provide running, spoken commentary in your offline gun camera films.

As this is being written, live speech in Air Warrior IIII was just entering final testing.  Thus it may not be available in all Air Warrior IIII online arenas when you first logon to play.  Also, some of the procedures detailed here may have changed.

NOTE:  If your sound card uses the ESS chipset, or if you have the Sound Blaster AWE 64, enabling network speech could create instability in Air Warrior IIII.  To find out if your sound card uses the ESS chip, consult the documentation that comes with your sound card.  In some cases the ESS chip will be identified in Windows 95.  Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Multimedia, Audio, and note the driver displayed under Preferred Device.  If it says ESS, then you might want to avoid using network speech.

Network speech requires your sound card to operate in full-duplex mode.  Some sound cards do not handle full-duplex well.  For these cards, such as the Vibra 16, enabling network speech will degrade the quality of all game sounds.


Custom Sound

This option allows you to turn on/off specific inflight sounds.  If you’re having problems with the sound in Air Warrior cutting out, or causing WAIL32.DLL errors, you may want to disable some of the sounds effects from the rather lengthy list.

•	Gear - landing gear up/down sound

•	Flaps - raising/lowering flaps

•	Guns - rather obvious

•	Stall - the stall horn, when your airspeed does not support your angle of attack

•	Oil - warning sound when your oil pressure is too low

•	Explosions - aircraft exploding, bombs landing

•	Crash - played when nearby aircraft crash

•	Bombs - the whistling sound when you drop bombs

•	Bail - a series of sounds that play when you bail out of your aircraft

•	Hits - played when your aircraft is hit by gunfire

•	Engine - your aircraft’s engine

•	Wind - background sound of the relative wind as you fly

•	G-stress - plays when you stress your airframe

•	Buffet - not a collection of entrées, but the shaking of your aircraft as it approaches a stall


Preferences

A broad variety of user options are lumped into the Preferences category.

File Locations

In Air Warrior III, the default name for the main directory is C:\Airwar.  If you have installed the game to a different directory, the correct name should appear in the table.  Other directories listed will normally be subdirectories of the main directory.  These include locations for sound files (\sound), interface art (\dibs), plane art (\art), films (\films), and missions (\missions).  The “temp” directory normally will be the one listed in your Autoexec.bat file, in the line that starts “set temp =”.  Air Warrior III will write files there that are needed during your game session and which will be erased when you exit the game.

The correct drive letter for your CD-ROM drive should appear in the box labeled “CD-ROM location.”  If the drive is not correctly identified, then deselect the DISABLE CD-ROM SEARCH box.

Flight Window Resolution

There are four framed areas on the Flight Window Resolution page.  In addition to setting the screen resolution, you may set view caching options, screen modes allowed, and view optimization.

Screen resolution

Select from the three resolution settings, depending upon the capability of your video card and monitor.  If your computer has fewer than 16 megabytes of memory, the display will work more smoothly at lower resolutions.  The setting you make here determines the resolution of your flight window.  Non-flight screens in Air Warrior III will be displayed at whatever resolution you have chosen in the Windows control panel.  You may not set the flight window resolution higher than your Windows setting.

View caching

In addition to the forward view, Air Warrior III allows you to look out from the cockpit in 12 different directions.   Holding down the left arrow key while in flight, for example, will change from the forward view to a left side view.

The view caching feature is designed to increase the smoothness and speed of the display by storing in memory the fixed elements of some or all of the available alternate views.  Thus, for example, when you call for a side view, the game will not have to read from the disk to get the picture of the cockpit from that view.  The game will cache the views you use the most, up to the maximum number you set.

To use this feature, select the ALLOW VIEW CACHING box.  For Maximum number of Views Cached, select a number from the drop-down list.  If your computer has fewer than 16 megabytes of memory, view caching may cause a reduction in the smoothness of the display; if so, set view caching to a smaller number or disable it.

Screen modes allowed

Your choice of screen modes allowed will enable or disable in-flight selection from among three screen modes: normal, combat, and full screen.  Changing the screen mode changes how much of the cockpit you will see in your view from the aircraft.  Select one of the option buttons to enable NORMAL MODE ONLY, NORMAL AND COMBAT MODES, or ALLOW ALL MODES.  If all three modes are enabled, then in flight you may hit F5 to select normal mode, F6 for combat, or F7 for full screen.

Screen modes are different from cockpit detail levels (see Section 2.1.3 for information on setting up the cockpit display).  While the detail level setting changes the realism of your plane’s appearance from the cockpit, your choice of a screen mode adjusts how much of the cockpit you see as you look out through the plane’s canopy.  It also affects your range of view on the radar map.

Normal mode is the most familiar view: you will see the plane’s instrument panel as well as the full range of information in the tactical display on the left and right sides of the windscreen.  Combat mode eliminates the instrument panel, though some instrument readings are displayed below the tactical display at the sides of the screen. Hit the <Tab> key to show a different set of instruments, and to change the appearance of the tactical display.  Full-screen mode eliminates most of the plane’s interior, while maximizing the view out through the canopy.

The main purpose of the combat and full-screen modes is to help you concentrate on battling your adversaries as it reduces other information in your view.  These modes are most useful in close combat situations, since they will reduce your ability to see a wider combat area.  If you are using the mouse to control the aircraft, flying will be more difficult without the instrument panel, making the alternate screen modes less useful.

View Optimization

Make a selection under View Optimization for the screen mode you intend to use most intensively.  Active options depend on your choice of screen modes allowed, including OPTIMIZE NORMAL MODE, OPTIMIZE COMBAT MODE, or OPTIMIZE FULL-SCREEN MODE.

When you are starting out with Air Warrior III, you probably will want to see the instrument panel, and thus you will rarely use combat or full-screen modes.  In this case, the best setting for View Optimization will be OPTIMIZE NORMAL MODE.  If you find you are using the other modes frequently, you may consider changing this setting.  You will see that the appearance of the cockpit view will change, depending upon your selection.  If you have optimized for normal mode, for example, then the artwork will have to be stretched in full-screen mode, with some visible degradation of quality.

Keep in mind that higher-resolution images use more of your computer’s memory, and thus may affect the smoothness and speed of the display.  If you have less than 16MB of RAM, you probably will want to use the OPTIMIZE NORMAL MODE setting.

Interface

In the top part of the Interface page, select an option for the Tool Tips feature.  Your choice will affect the labels that appear on the non-flight screens to indicate hot spot controls.  Remember that even if you disable the Tool Tips’ automatic function, you can display all the labels on the current screen by holding down the ALT key.

Other interface adjustments available include the following:

Language

Select your user language from the drop-down list.

Click in the selection boxes to enable other options:

Show Guide

The game will show on-screen help messages when you enter a new area.  This feature is useful for beginning players.

Show Scores After Flight

This feature pertains to online play only, and enables/disables a display of your score after each online mission. .  In stand-alone play, scores are displayed in the Debriefing Room at the end of missions and campaigns.

Clear Text Buffer Between Rooms

These options refer to Air Warrior III’s online multi-user environment only.  The text buffer, which is used for communication between online players, does not appear in off-line play.  See Section 4 of this manual for more information on the multi-user environment.

Show Cockpit Art Warnings

When you select an aircraft, Air Warrior III displays artwork to represent the view from the cockpit.  If you have not installed all of the art files, the game may not find the file it needs for your plane selection and will use a generic artwork.  Also, not all cockpit artworks sets are, as yet, complete.  Checking the SHOW COCKPIT ART WARNINGS box will enable a message box to tell you when the game finds that an art file is missing.


Tooltips

Tooltips are those brief text boxes that tell you what an interface hotspot does.  You can have them appear when your cursor is over a hotspot (an you can specify how long your cursor must be over a hotspot before the tooltip appears), appear all the time for all hotspots, or shut them off altogether.  To see all tooltips on any screen, press the <ALT> key.


Directory Options

This lays out the directory structure of the program - where your root directory sound files, cockpit art, films, and temporary subdirectories are located.  The default structure is created by the installation program, but some users may wish to modify these.


Resolution - Inflight

Resolution

This option under preferences   determines the resolution of your flight window.  If you run Air Warrior, for example, in 1024x768, the interface and conference room screens will be displayed in that resolution, but the resolution of the inflight window will be what you set here.  You cannot set an inflight resolution higher than the resolution of your interface and conference room screens.  In short, you setup your overall Air Warrior resolution in Windows, but choose your inflight resolution here.


Solo (Offline) Flight

Solo checkrides are available from the Mission hangar by selecting the Aircraft Reference book hanging on the wall.  From the Aircraft Reference, bring up the plane of your choice and click on the keys at the bottom of the screen to take for a solo flight.   A checkride is a solo flight, without combat, in one of the Air Warrior III aircraft.  Taking a checkride is a good way to learn the feel of the various aircraft and improve your skills as a pilot.  For ground vehicles, the equivalent solo ride is called a test drive.

At the start of your solo ride, you will find yourself in the cockpit, on the ground.  You must start the engine and use the aircraft or vehicle’s controls to take off (or drive).  To return to the reference manual screen at any time from the cockpit, press <ESC+ e>, followed by <ENTER>.  All aircraft controls and instruments are active during a checkride flight.  For more information on controlling your aircraft or vehicle, see Section 5: The Flight Interface.  The keyboard and numeric keypad functions for flight control are listed in the Command Reference accompanying this manual; or press <F1> from the cockpit for an on-screen list.

Choices you made in the main Setup hangar also will be active during your solo ride.  These may affect the appearance of some of the aircraft or vehicle controls, and the operation of some parts of the game interface.


Cockpit Artwork

Cockpit artwork is the interior art of the aircraft you’re flying.  Your cockpit instruments  are generic so that you know where to find each gauge readily, no matter what aircraft you are flying.  Cockpit artwork, however is very specific - it is based on photographs taken in existing examples of the actual fighters and bombers featured in the game.

Unfortunately, not all the artwork for all the resolutions of all aircraft and vehicles available in the game is available as if this writing.  As new art files become available you can download them from any online service that features Air Warrior III - GameStorm, CompuServe, Earthlink, and Delphi - or from our web site at http://www.kesmai.com.

Choosing the Use Generic Art option, when you select an aircraft for which you don’t have specific cockpit art, will substitute artwork for the Mustang, if you’ve chosen a fighter, or the A-26, if you’ve selected a bomber.

In some cases the reason you may be getting the generic artwork message is because you may not have installed the artwork on your hard disk.  If you didn’t perform a full installation, double check to make sure Air Warrior is looking for art on your CD.  To see how your directories are setup, go to preferences, either in the setup hangar, or via the pop-up mouse button menu.


Aircraft or Vehicle Selection - Online

Aircraft selection, online, can only take place in an airfield’s ready room .  On the right wall you’ll see a poster with an aircraft identification, 3-view silhouette.  This shows you your last aircraft selection or the default selection (P-51 Mustang).  One left mouse button click on the silhouette will bring up a complete list of the 3-views of planes available at that field.  Click on one and you’ll get the silhouettes for that group of aircraft or vehicle choices.  You can hit <esc> at any time to exit these selection screens and return to the main airfield.

Selecting an Airfield, Fuel Load, and Bomb Load

Once you’ve made your selection, you will see a dialog that allows you to set your airfield, fuel load, bomb load, and type of bomb delivery.  If you simply wish to take off in a plane and fly it around, the default country and airfield settings should be fine.  If you’ve selected a multi-engine bomber, you can also broadcast a bomber crew request .

Vehicle Selection

To select a vehicle instead of an aircraft, click the folder on the situation map table nearest the 3-view poster.  This will bring up the 3-views of available vehicles.  Once you select one, you can specify your fuel load or whether you wish to recruit a crew to join you.


Film Playback

Film Room

Playback and review of gun camera films is usually done off-line.  From the Main Menu, click on the Film sign just beneath the command center.  This will bring up the Film Playback Window.  Select the film you want to view, and click on the "Play" button to begin playback.  Once the film is running, you may enter any of the following keyboard commands:

Commands During Viewing:

p	Pause film

n	External view mode

F1	Help

F3	Rewind to the last break

F4	Fast-forward to the next film break

- (minus key)	Decrease film speed

+ (plus key)	Increase film speed

F7	Target Selector

F8	Enter the film

F9	Show position of the original camera plane

F10	Radar/Map display

ESC	End film playback

[ and ]	Zoom in/zoom out

External View Mode

Pressing the <n> key during a film allows you to view the action from outside your plane.  You can use the normal in-flight view keys or your joystick or mouse to examine the action from various angles, and the bracket keys ([ and ]) to zoom in or out.

Target Selector

One problem most new players have is keeping track of an intended victim in a target-rich environment.  The film Target Selector allows you to highlight a plane so that you can more easily follow its movements during a fight.

Hitting the <F7> key during playback activates the Target Selector.  The first visible target is surrounded by a red box and its tracking information is displayed in reverse video. Pressing <F7> again selects the next visible target, and hitting <F7> twice in quick succession turns the Target Selector off.

Entering Films

You can enter the film and gain control of your plane by hitting the <F8> key.  You will be able to shoot at aircraft in the film, but the recorded participants will follow their destined flight paths and the film will end when it did originally.  Also, if there are breaks in the film - moments when you stopped and restarted the film while you recorded it - you will be returned to conventional playback.  Press <F8> again if you wish to resume flying within the film.

If you enter a film but want to keep track of your original flight path when you recorded it, press <F9>.  This will create a camera plane that follows your original route and maneuvers .  It will have an icon labeled CAM.

Adjusting the Speed of Film Playback

The Air Warrior film viewer can accelerate playback by up to ten times, or slow down playback to as little as one tenth original speed.  The <+> key speeds up playback; <-> slows it down.  The degree of acceleration or slow motion depends on how many times you press the plus or minus keys.


Saving Films

When you complete a flight in which you’ve made a gun camera film, Air Warrior prompts you to enter a name for a film.  If you don’t enter a name, a default one is assigned, beginning with FILM0000.CAM, and subsequent films during a game session receive sequential numbers (FILM0001.CAM, FILM0002.CAM, etc.).  When you exit the program, the next time you run Air Warrior and start the gun camera, the first film will be recorded as FILM0000.CAM, overwriting any previous film by that name.  Thus, if you wish to save a film, and you did not elect to rename it during the game session during which it was made, be sure to rename it before you start up the program again.


Online Arena Selection Screen

Online Arenas

Air Warrior offers you two types of arenas - relaxed or full realism - and three types of theaters - Europe, Pacific, and World War I.  If you’ve launched Air Warrior from an online service that features the game, clicking on any of the three aircraft at the top of the Main Menu Screen will bring you to the Arena Selection Screen.  There you will see a list of available arenas and the number of players currently in each arena.

Find User

This allows you to see if a player you know is online in an Air Warrior arena, and where you can find him.  Click on the Find User button, and enter the Custom Player ID (CPID) of the player you wish to find.

Go to Arena

Click on this button to go to the arena you’ve highlighted on the arena list.

Return to Main Airfield

Clicking this button takes you back to the main menu  and logs you off of the Air Warrior host.

Relaxed Versus Full Realism

Relaxed realism arenas have several realism features  disabled, such as blackouts, red-outs, accelerated stalls, and spins.  This mode does, however, have realistic limits.  Planes are subject to induced drag, changes in performance with altitude, limits on G loading, and so forth.  Also, aircraft are not allowed to pull enough G's at low speed that would result in an accelerated stall.

Many players prefer relaxed realism because they want more game and less of a simulation.  As one player put it, summarizing this matter of taste, "Realism is exciting but I'm not sure that it's fun."  For the more hard-core simulation fan, however, full realism adds immensely to the veracity of the simulation.

Right Mouse Button Menu in the Arena Selection Screen

•	Refresh - this updates the information on the screen, useful if you want to see changes to an arena’s player count.

•	Reset column widths - this allows you to move the grid lines and format the screen to your tastes and system fonts.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Return to main airfield - this logs you off the host and brings you back to the Air Warrior main menu.

•	Exit Air Warrior - this allows you to exit the program.


Player List

Conversing in the Air Warrior Environment

Flexible conversations are a mainstay of the Air Warrior environment.  Upon entering any room, you are immediately placed in communication with all present, and you can see who’s there by looking at the player list on the right side of the screen.  "Talk" to other players by composing your message in the outgoing message area, at the bottom of the screen, and then press <ENTER> to make yourself heard.

Your message will appear in the incoming message area of all the other players in the room, identified by your handle.  For example:

Blue Baron to All: So, what's it to ya?

In a room with only two or three other players, this mode of conversation is fine.  Remember, talking to the ALL group is the same as talking out loud to everyone in the room.  If the room gets crowded, you may, however, want to "keep your voice down" and converse privately with just a few people at a time.

Private Conversations

Rather that speak to everyone in a room, you can send messages that will be seen only by designated individuals or groups.

To speak privately to a player in the room, click on his entry on the player list with your left mouse button.  Then, using the right mouse button menu, select Group Ops, and then Create Group.  Or you can select him with your left mouse button, hold the button down, and drag his entry to the Group List below.  Either way, his entry on the private list will be automatically highlighted.  Any messages you type and send, while his entry is highlighted, will go only to him.

To resume conversation with everyone on the room, simply click on All.  If you wish to resume your private conversation, highlight the entry on the Group List of the player you wish to communicate covertly with, and you can send your messages to only him once again.

Private Groups

To create a group of players you wish to talk with privately, hold down your Ctrl key and click on all of the entries on the player list you wish to add to the group.  Then, using your right mouse button, select Group Ops, and Create Group.  Or, after selecting the players you wish to have in your private group, you can simply hold your left mouse button down and drag them all to the private list.  You’ll then see a new entry in the private group area of the player list: Group 1.  To speak to everybody in that group, click on it.  All messages you send while the group is highlighted will go only to them.

As you create several private groups or individuals, a scroll tool will appear in the Group List if the number of groups exceeds the display area.

Whenever you’re sending a private message, be it to a designated group or individual, your message will be formatted like this:

Blue Baron [private]: So, what's it to ya?

Temporary Private Groups

By default any private group you create is temporary, meaning that the group designation disappears once you leave the room.

Permanent Private Groups

You may wish to create permanent groups, particularly if you belong to a squadron.  That way, you always have the option of speaking privately with only the members of your squadron who are in the room with you, even if you’re in a public area, such as the Officers Club.

To make a private group permanent, highlight the group with your left mouse button.  Then click your right mouse button.  You’ll see the menu item, Temporary Group, with a check mark in front of it.  Select it, and the check mark disappears, thus making the highlighted group permanent.  Also, if the Temporary Group option is turned off, all subsequent groups you create will be permanent as well.

Deleting Groups

To delete a group, highlight it with your left mouse button, select Group Ops from the right mouse button menu, and click Delete group.

Adding/Removing Players to Existing Private Groups

To add a player to an existing private group, click on the group you wish to add players to.  Then, holding down your Ctrl key, click on the player(s) you wish to add.

You can also click on a private group, and bring up the right mouse button menu.  Select Group Info, click Add, and enter the Custom Player IDs (CPIDs) of the player(s) you wish to add to your private group.  Using this method also allows you to add players to your private group who may not be online at the time.  You can also remove players from private groups using the Group Info feature.

Uploading/Capturing Text

If you wish to capture the text of conference room conversations, or upload text (prepared mission orders, for example), click on the incoming text buffer with your *right* mouse button.  This brings up the upload or capture text menu options.

If you’re capturing text, you’ll be prompted for a file name for the capture file.  If you’re uploading text, you’ll be prompted for the name of the text file you wish to send.  The text will then appear on the screen as if you had typed each line.

NOTE: Uploaded text file can be a *maximum* of 2k in length (2000 bytes).  The text will appear to the players in the room you were setup to talk to when you initiated the upload.  For instance, if you’re setup to talk to All, the uploaded text will go to all; if you have a private group highlighted when you upload text it will go to them.  This may seem all too obvious, but there are certain to be cases where someone sends mission orders to All that were intended for a private squadron group.

Right Mouse Button Menu from the Player List

•	Player info - this tells you the players Internet or online service email address.

•	Player score - brings up a score summary for the player.

•	Group Ops - this allows you to create discrete groups that you can communicate with privately.

•	Sort - you can sort the player list by handle, ID, or country.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - allows you to exit the program.

Right Mouse Button Menu from the Group List

•	Group info - tells you who is in the group, and allows you to add or delete group members.

•	Delete group - allows you to delete a highlighted group.

•	Temporary Group - when this option is checked, all private groups you designate, while this option is checked, will disappear when you leave the room.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - allows you to exit the program.


Roster

Player Rosters are present in the Officers Club , Headquarters  and Ready Room ; each Roster Board is a listing of who is present in that entire arena environment, along with pertinent information about the player (handle, Player ID, etc.).  All Rosters show player information for all players present in the arena. Players are grouped by their country affiliation.

Right Mouse Button Menu in the Roster Screen

•	Refresh - this updates the information on the screen.

•	Reset column widths - this allows you to move the grid lines and format the screen to your tastes and system fonts.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - as you might expect, this allows you to exit the program.


Situation Map

This shows you a map of the active arena.  The map has a grid overlay designating sectors, 12 nautical miles across.  Your country’s airfields appear in your country’s color.  Damaged airfields in your country are yellow.  Enemy airfields appear in the color of the country that owns them.  Capturable airfields  that are not owned by your country are red.  Double clicking on an airfield, with the left mouse button, takes you to that airfield’s Ready Room .  A single, left mouse click gives you a comprehensive status report on the field.  To get a complete list of airfields and their status, use the right mouse button menu.

You can move the map around using the triangles on each side of the map.  Use the magnifying glasses on the lower left to zoom in and out.

Counters

You can gauge the relative strength of friendly and enemy forces in a given area, by observing the counters on the situation map.  A small red square in the upper left hand corner means that an enemy plane is in that sector, though it does not give the position of the hostile plane.  Yellow squares signify friendly planes.  Larger color squares signify 10 enemy planes.  Thus, if you want to find the action, take off from an airfield in the midst, or near, a sector with many counters, or high value counters, in it.  If you care to survive the experience, make sure there are friendly counters there too.

Strategic Summary

This gives you two summaries, actually: a comprehensive list of all countries total sorties, victories, losses, and bombing strikes for the entire evening’s action, and a summary of your country’s strategic facilities  and their status.

Right Mouse Button Menu in the Situation Map

•	Display airfield list - this gives you a listing of all airfields in your country, along with their status.

•	Toggle text window size - this will replace the artwork in the OC with a text buffer; quite useful if you have, for example, been away from your computer for a bit, and you want to catch up on the conversation.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - this allows you to exit the program.


Airfield List

If you would prefer to simply have a listing of airfields, rather the graphical selection of the situation map , use the pop-up right mouse button menu from the situation map screen.  This brings up a list box of airfields, along with the status of each.


Strategic Summary

This gives you two summaries, actually: a comprehensive list of all countries total sorties, victories, losses, and bombing strikes for the entire evening’s action, and a summary of your country’s strategic facilities  and their status.


Radio Room

In the Radio Room, you may tune the airfield's radio  and make radio announcements to, and communicate with, players in your country's aircraft and vehicles, and in other airfield Radio Rooms.  You may also make radio announcements to, and communicate with, any players in the arena (regardless of country) whose radios are tuned to Channel 1.  To get to the Radio Room, click on the radio in either a Ready Room  or in Headquarters.  When you enter the Radio Room you are tuned to channel 1.  To tune to a different frequency, click on the radio and enter a different channel.  Leaving the Radio Room - click on the Exit sign - returns you to the conference room you entered it from.


Officers Club

You will always go to the Officers Club when entering an arena.  This is a general "conference area" for the arena, where players from all three countries can meet, talk, exchange ideas and gather information about each other, and about activities elsewhere in the arena.  You can view the Player Roster and change countries here, too.  Eight adjoining Officers Club rooms are available from Officers Club #1, for "private conferences."

Spy (change country)

There are three countries in Air Warrior: Country A, B, and C.  When you play Air Warrior online for the first time, you are assigned a country randomly.  If you wish to change countries, click on the Spy, standing at the bar at the Officers Club.  You can only change countries once every 24 hours.

Flight jacket (set handle/callsign and CPID)

You have two things that set you apart from all the other pilots in the game: your handle (also known as your callsign), and your Custom Player ID (CPID).  The former can be anything you’d like - so long as it’s not obscene - but the latter must be a unique combination of up to 5 characters (either letters, numbers, or a bit of both).  The host automatically assigns you a CPID but until you specify a handle, you show up as New User on the player list.  To set your handle and changed your CPID, click on the flight jacket in the foreground of the Officers Club.

When you enter a CPID, the host checks to see if it’s unique in the player database.  If it’s not, the host will inform you and you can try again.  The combinations you have tried will appear in this dialog box.

Right Mouse Button Menu in the Officers Club

•	Toggle text window size - this will replace the artwork in the OC with a text buffer; quite useful if you have, for example, been away from your computer for a bit, and you want to catch up on the conversation.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - as you might expect, this allows you to exit the program.


Headquarters

Each country has its own Headquarters Room, which is accessed from theOfficers Club ; here, countrymen can discuss strategies, plan combat air patrols, and form squadrons.  Players can check the Roster  for their own score, the scores of their countrymen, and the cumulative scores of squadrons; both fighter and bomber information is posted.  Each HQ also contains a Situation Map , which displays the current wartime situation, and allows players to select an airfield from which to fly.  You also have access here to the Killboard  where you can view player and team scores  .

Right Mouse Button Menu in Headquarters

•	Toggle text window size - this will replace the artwork in the OC with a text buffer; quite useful if you have, for example, been away from your computer for a bit, and you want to catch up on the conversation.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - as you might expect, this allows you to exit the program.


Killboard

The killboard gives you information on scoring.  The Air Warrior host assigns Scores  for accomplishments in fighter combat and bombing, on an individual, squadron, and country basis.  Scores are tabulated in the main arena and are reset every three weeks.


Scoring

Individual Scoring

You can examine the current scores for the online arena you’re in, by going to Headquarters  and bringing up the Killboard .  Scoring is weighted to reward pilots who survive their missions.  If you land after shooting down another aircraft, for example, you will receive full credit for the kill.  If you get shot down, you will get only 25% of the points you would have earned had you survived.

Bailing out over friendly territory is worth one third credit, and ditching your plane (landing on something other than the runway) in friendly territory is worth half credit.  Also, you’ll get more points per kill if you survived your previous mission. This bonus grows as the number of missions you survive increases.

Finally, you gain more points for kills over enemy territory because usually they’re more difficult than those made close to home.

Bomber scoring follows the same pattern of credit based on how your mission ends, but the survival streak bonus does not apply to bombing.  Bombing, by its very nature, happens over enemy territory and, thus, there is no bonus for strikes over hostile lands.

Scores are tabulated and reset every three weeks.

Squadron and Country Scores

A squadron’s score is simply the cumulative score of all members of a squadron.  Similarly, the score for a country is the sum of all its pilots’ scores.

Squadron Ops\Squadron Info

These file cabinets represent features that will be added at a later date.  Air Warrior supports squadrons   and these cabinets will assist players with squad nights and with gathering information on other squadrons.


Ready Room

Selecting an airfield on the Situation Map  at Headquarters  places you in the Ready Room for that airfield.  In the Ready Room, you may confer with other players in the Ready Room, choose an aircraft or other combat vehicle and begin combat, assemble a bomber or vehicle crew , or return to HQ.  The Ready Room, like HQ, has a Roster  and Situation Map available.  Each Ready Room has an adjoining Radio Room .

Aircraft Selection

Click on the 3-view, aircraft ID silhouette on the wall of the ready room to select an aircraft.  You’ll be presented with 3-views of all the aircraft available at that airfield.  Move your mouse pointer over the silhouette you want - selected 3-views are presented in reverse video - and click on it to select it.  You’ll then see a fuel load and bomb load selection dialog.  Enter the values you want and click Ok.

Vehicle Selection

Click on the appropriate folder on the table in front of the 3-view silhouette poster to choose a vehicle.  One folder is for planes; one is for vehicles.  As with aircraft selection, you’ll then get a selection of vehicles that are available at your airfield.  Click on the silhouette of the vehicle you want.

Right Mouse Button Menu in the Ready Room

•	Toggle text window size - this will replace the artwork in the OC with a text buffer; quite useful if you have, for example, been away from your computer for a bit, and you want to catch up on the conversation.

•	Change fuel/bomb load - this allows you to change your fuel or bomb load without having to reselect your aircraft.

•	Setup - this provides you access to the complete array of setup options: flight controls, cockpit view options, and user preferences.

•	Tooltips - this allows you to turn tooltips on or off.

•	Show Guide - this turns on/off a screen-by-screen walk through of the Air Warrior program.

•	Help - this opens the comprehensive help file.

•	About - brings up the version number of your Air Warrior software.

•	Exit Arena - this brings you back to the arena selection screen.

•	Exit Air Warrior - as you might expect, this allows you to exit the program.


Keyboard Controls

Inflight Keyboard Controls

These controls work strictly from the keyboard, not the keypad:

8	Start/stop engine

7	War Emergency Power (WEP)

Semicolon (;)	Raise/lower landing gear (raise/lower dive brakes on the F4U 	Corsair - see spacebar for P-38 and jets)

Right bracket ( ] )	Decrease LCOS range 100 yards

Increase the level bombing bombsight magnification

Left bracket ( [ )	Increase LCOS range 100 yards

Decrease the level bombing bombsight magnification

c 	Increase throttle by 7%

SHIFT + c	Full throttle

v 	Decrease throttle by 7%

SHIFT + v	Minimum throttle

9	Turn gun camera on/off

f	Fire guns

b	Bomb release

Spacebar	Wheel brakes (dive brakes on the P-38 and jets)

1	Full view range (all objects visible)

2	Medium view range (default view - all but the most distant objects 	visible)

3	Short view range (only objects within a few miles can be seen)

4	Combat range (only immediate objects will appear,
and horizon shading disabled)

5	Abridged range (no terrain detail whatsoever)

Keypad - Flaps and Rudder

*	Center the rudder

7 (home) 	One notch of left rudder

9 (pg up) 	One notch of right rudder

1 (end)	Raise flaps one position

3 (pg dn)	Lower flaps one position

Keyboard - Flaps and Rudder

s	Center the rudder

a	One notch of left rudder

d	One notch of right rudder

<	Raise flaps one position

>	Lower flaps one position

Function Keys - In-flight

F1	Help Screen

F2	Replace view with text buffer

F10	Turn radar screen/map view on/off

Radar Map Display

These apply only when viewing the radar map display:

Right bracket ( ] )	Zoom out

Left bracket ( [ )	Zoom in

Escape Key Commands

For these commands, press the following keys, followed by <ENTER> :

ESC + a	Arm bombs

ESC + e	Exit the plane (when online, you must be on the ground
and stopped for this to work).

ESC + p	Parachute from your airplane.  You must hit <ESC + p>
again to pull the ripcord.

ESC + sd	Switch on the CCIP dive bombing sight.

ESC + sg	Switch to gunsight.

ESC + z	Switch to level bombing sight (medium and heavy
bombers only).

ESC + oj	Toggle flight control between joystick and mouse.

ESC + t[channel]	Tune your radio to the specified channel (online play
only - see the Radio Procedures section).

ESC + j[position]	Move to another position on bombers, or crewed vehicles.

Available positions depend on the bomber or vehicle

selected:

<T>ail

<U>pper

<L>ower

<C>hin

<B>all

<LW> Left Waist

<RW> Right Waist

<G>un (jeep, tank or flakpanzer)

<D>river (to go from gun back to driver’s position)

<H>ull (hull gun in tanks or flakpanzers)

Views

Many keyboard controls can be used right from the keypad.

Keypad - Views

8 (up arrow) - Look forward

4 (left arrow) - Look left	5 - Straight up view 	      6 (right arrow) - Look right

2 (down arrow) - Rear (mirror) view

0 (ins key) - Look down, but only into the cockpit

Combination Views - Keypad

You can combine two or more keys to acquire various angle views.  For example:

8+5 	Forward/up view

0+6+2	Down/right/back

4+0	Down/left

Dozens of combinations are possible.  Experiment while flying to find your favorites.  Note: Some of the more esoteric view combinations do not have artwork, and will show your plane as a gray outline.

Keyboard View Keys

       	G - Look forward

H - Look left 	  	K - Straight up view	 	L - Look right

J - Look down

M - Rear (mirror) view

The two and three key combinations (as on the keypad) are available here too.


Macros

Air Warrior supports recorded keystroke combinations (Macros) while in-flight or during film playback.  Macros come in two forms: ‘Timed’, and ‘Fast’ playback.  The first will execute at the rate it was recorded, while the second executes as fast as possible.

To record a macro, you MUST be in-flight, either online or off-line.

a) To Record a macro, press <CTRL+ALT+F19>.  Follow the instructions displayed in the message window.

b) You first have to select the key or key combination that will trigger the macro.  You may use any combination of keys including <CONTROL>, <ALT>, or <SHIFT>.  The only combinations not allowed are <CTRL+ALT+F9> or <CTRL+ALT+F10>.

The macro program is ready to record as soon as you release all the keys.  If you are recording a timed macro, the timer will not start until you press the first key.

c) Press <CTRL+ALT+F9> again to end recording.

If the key combination is already attached to an existing macro, the new sequence will replace the old one.  If the new macro contains no key presses, then the old macro (if any) is erased.

d) If you run into major problems, delete the macro file (AIRWAR.MAC) and start again.  If you can reproduce a bug, please send it to us!

Caveats

Pressing any key that initiates a macro while another macro is playing will terminate the running macro.  You must hit the macro key a second time to start the new macro.  Pressing keys while a macro is running can produce unusual results. This is due to interaction between the keys being "pressed" by the macro program, and those pressed by the user.

Be careful when assigning macro trigger keys.  If possible, choose key positions that are not near an existing command key; for example, assigning a macro to the keyboard <9> key, which is adjacent the "start/stop engines" key <8>.  Hitting the wrong key could have unpleasant results.

Finally, do not create macros that require the ctrl or alt keys - these are reserved under Windows.


Aircraft Instrumentation

This is the main cockpit instrument panel for World War II fighters and bombers.  For those of you familiar with aircraft cockpits, most of these gauges and controls will require little explanation.  However, as with all simulations, some of these instruments are unique to Air Warrior or may be employed in a manner unfamiliar to you.

The instrument panel for a WWII aircraft.

The stick box reflects how much stick control you are applying.  It’s particularly useful in gauging pilot control movements when you’re watching films.

When you enable the artificial horizon, it replaces the stick box.

The throttle lever - shown here at full throttle.

This is your altimeter and it indicates how far above the ground you’re flying.  The “second,” “minute,” and “hour” hands show tens, hundreds, and thousands of feet, respectively.

The warning indicator lights are out in normal flight.

Your engine is suffering oil starvation due to negative Gs or inverted flight.  Apply positive Gs to restore oil pressure.  Oil pressure may be lost permanently due to battle damage.

Airflow over the wings is insufficient to sustain flight.  Try to lower the nose to build speed and create better airflow.  If the stall results in an uncontrolled spin, push the stick forward, apply rudder in a direction opposite the spin, and cut throttle.

Your compass shows the direction you’re flying.

This gauge shows your climb or dive rate in thousands of feet per minute.

This is your airspeed indicator.  It gives readings in knots (1 knot = 1.14 miles per hour).  You may select indicated airspeed (speed of air past your plane), or true airspeed (with respect to the ground).  Jets have a digital display mach meter in their airspeed indicators as well.

Your accelerometer, or G-Meter, indicates how many positive or negative Gs you are pulling.  In normal flight it will read 1 G.

Your flaps indicator shows whether your flaps are deployed and how many degrees they are deployed.

This indicates how much rudder control you are applying.  Neutral rudder is shown here.


Air Warrior Geography - Online Melee Arena Play

Countries

There are three countries in Air Warrior arena play, named, simply enough, Country A, Country B, and Country C.  In the theaters, each country has an equal number of airfields and facilities, and roughly equal territory.  Each country has access to the same airplane types, and no country represents a nation that fought in the Second World War.  As noted earlier, Air Warrior is a game that employs World War II aircraft; it is not, in the main, a simulation of World War II.  Players are assigned a country affiliation at random the first time they play Air Warrior;  thereafter, country affiliation can be changed in the Officers Club.  You must maintain a country affiliation for a minimum of 24 hours.

Airfields

Although you will find the same airfields in the main arena as are available during off-line Solo Flights, there are additional distinctions between the fields that apply only during online play.  At first you may think the field names are quite odd.  This is because they are named after the callsigns (handles) of notable Air Warrior players over the years.  At the time, it’s doubtful that players were choosing their handles based on their suitability as airfield names ten years hence.

Main Fields

There is little meaningful distinction in between main and secondary airfields, except that main airfields are farthest from the action and are more heavily protected by anti-aircraft batteries and take a goodly number of troops to capture.

Sovereign Fields

These are owned by a country but can be captured, but with significantly more troops that the forward capturable fields.  The actual number required varies with host settings.  As  the case with all airfields, they can be damaged or knocked out of action due to bombing.

Capturable Airfields

Any airfield can be captured by any country.  Extreme forward fields - those in the center of most online theaters - require only one plane load of paratroops to capture, after the field has been prepared by knocking out its command center and anti aircraft guns.  Fields further from the center - deeper in enemy territory - can require anywhere from 4 to 6 plane loads of paratroops.

Vehicle  Garages

These are like miniature airfields and they only support vehicles.


Radio Procedures

"Radio" communications are an important aspect of play in Air Warrior.  Actual voice communications are not supported, but full communications capability is provided via your keyboard.  You may radio from ground to air, air to ground, or from plane to plane.  In addition, bombers and other crew vehicles may communicate in a similar manner over a non-broadcast intercom.

Using the radio may seem confusing at first because there are several ways to broadcast.  Three sets of radio channels are defined in Air Warrior, enabling players to communicate with everyone in their online environment, with everyone aligned with their country (A, B or C), or with selected countrymen on semi-private channels.  These are defined as follows:

Channel 1

This is the one open channel all countries can hear.  Your radio is automatically tuned to Channel 1 when you begin your mission. Although Channel 1 is an open channel, you can only pick it up if your radio is tuned to it.

Channel 2

This is the open channel for a country.  Each country has its own separate Channel 2 and members of a country will receive radio traffic on this channel regardless of what channel they’re tuned to.

Channels 3-999

Each country has these channels available and, like Channel 2, radio traffic on these channels can only be exchanged by members of a country.  Unlike Channel 2, you have to be tuned to one of these channels to receive it.  For instance, if a C-land pilot is broadcasting on Channel 175, only C-land pilots tuned to Channel 175 can hear him.  If he broadcasts a message on Channel 2, every fighter pilot in C-land will hear his message no matter what channel their radios are tuned to.  If he broadcasts a message on Channel 1, it will be broadcast to all players whose radios are tuned to Channel 1.

The purpose of Channels 3 - 999 is to allow groups within a country, such as a squadron on a coordinated mission, to communicate privately

Prior to flight departure, pilots should coordinate frequency assignments with both ground and flight personnel.  Should a pilot take off without coordinating specific frequencies, contact can be made by calling the pilot on Channel 2.

As mentioned above, this call will be received by all of your country's Channel 2 radios in the arena.  Receiving a "Blue Goose, please phone home" message could be a distraction to pilots involved in combat, so be sure to coordinate communications beforehand.

Broadcasting on the Radio

I don’t know about everybody else, but I find it pretty hard to use the radio when I’m doing real-time.  Stuff just happens too fast.  If I do try to send a lot of messages, I usually end up daid because I’m spending too much time typing and not enough time watching for boogers.

Broken Arrow

The human brain still works faster than you can type (with a few exceptions I could name, of course).  If’n ya know what ya should do, ain’t much reason to type.

DoKtOr GoNzO

Tuning the Radio

In-flight, you tune your radio by entering the following keyboard command:

 <ESC> + t + [channel #]	(followed by <ENTER>

There will be a brief delay while the channel changes.  To broadcast a message on the channel your radio is tuned to, begin the message with a slash (/).  You can broadcast on Channel 2, no matter what channel your radio is tuned to, by beginning your message with an apostrophe (‘). After typing any radio message, you send it by pressing the <ENTER> key.

Bombers  and Vehicles

Bombers and vehicles operate a bit differently if they have crew members onboard.  In a crewed bomber or vehicle, you have an intercom, which only broadcasts to crew members inside.  To use it, precede your message with a backwards apostrophe - the ` key (usually the key to the left of the keyboard number 1).

Radio Rooms

From Headquarters or an airfield Ready Room, you can go into the Radio Room, by clicking on the radio, and communicate with pilots in the air.  Once in the Radio Room, you are automatically tuned to channel 1.  To tune to a different frequency, click on the radio and enter a different channel, or you can type "/tune [radio channel]"; and press <ENTER> to tune to your desired channel.

Identifying Radio Transmissions

In-flight radio communication is formatted, to a limited extent, to let you know its origin.  Channel 2 communication is preceded by an asterisk (*) and the sender’s Player Custom Player ID (CPID); intercom messages from crew members are formatted with parentheses surrounding the player’s CPID; messages from players on the ground show their full handle prior to the message.

Formatting, however, fails to differentiate between the open Channel 1, and country specific traffic on Channels 3-999.  Both contain the sender’s plane number, followed by his message, with no added identifying cues.  Still, this is not as confusing as you may think.  You cannot hear messages on Channels 3-999 unless you’re tuned to one of  those channels, and  if you’re tuned to a channel other than 1, you cannot hear Channel 1.  Thus, if you’re tuned, say, to your country’s Channel 69, you know that all radio messages beginning with just the player number and the message were also broadcast on Channel 69.

For example, a message from a friendly pilot on Channel 2 would look like this:

*MUSKE: Is that you in the 109, Bluie?

If he were broadcasting over the intercom on a bomber, it would look like this.

(MUSKE): How did I get here?

If he were broadcasting on a country’s channel other than 2, it would take this form:

MUSKE: What are you doing back in A-land?

Over Channel 1, it would look the same as if he were broadcasting on any other tuned channel other than 2.

MUSKE: FEED ME!

And if he were broadcasting from a Radio Room, here’s what his message would look like (if his "handle" was Stiletto):

-)-STILETTO—: Goodnight all!

Because people cannot identify what channel a Radio Room message is broadcast on, it’s a good idea to provide that information when you use the radio from the ground.

-)-STILETTO—: (on 2) Poof!

Colored Radio Messages

Often you'll see radio messages that appear in the country color of the player sending them.  This means that the player is within the maximum radar range of your position.  This does not mean that the player will also appear on radar.  Rather, if max radar range is set, for example, to 17,000 yards, then all the colored radio messages you receive have been broadcast within a radius of 17,000 yards of your position.

Summary of Important Radio and Intercom Commands

Type these commands in your outgoing message area, and press <ENTER> to execute:

/tune [radio channel]	Tune to a radio channel from a conference or
briefing room.

ESC + t [radio channel]	Tune to a radio channel in-flight.

/ [radio message]	Broadcast on the radio channel you're tuned to.

' [radio message]	Broadcast on your country's main radio channel.

` [radio message]	Broadcast over your bomber or vehicle intercom to

crew members onboard.


Air Warrior Radar

Air Warrior does not have radar resembling the equipment World War II day pilots had in their aircraft.  During most of the Second World War, pilots received radar information over the radio from radar stations on the ground.  In the interest of game play, however, each pilot in Air Warrior is given a combination radar and map display showing the terrain being flown over and what the pilot's home country’s ground-based radar is receiving.  Understanding how radar works in the game is an essential skill.

The Range of Radar

Radar is based at each individual airfield's radar center and covers whatever range the arena is set to - usually around 17,000 yards.  Planes flying below 200 feet cannot be detected by radar at ranges over 5,000 yards.

Radar Map and Grid

When you bring up the radar/map display you see a map of the nearby terrain on a grid representing sectors 12.5 miles wide.  These sectors are charted and fixed.  As you fly and move across sectors, the grid moves; it’s not a static overlay.   Airfields are labeled on this map, and the cross in the center is your plane.  No matter which direction you fly in, the top of the screen is always north.  The cross representing your plane is centered in the screen by default.  You can zoom in or out of the map by using your keyboard’s bracket keys ([ or ]).

Radar Counters

When you’re flying Air Warrior online, you will see colored boxes in the upper left hand portions of sectors that have air traffic.  These are your plane counters and they tell you how many enemy and friendly aircraft are in a sector.

Tracking Icons

If an aircraft is within range of your country’s radar and is also within 17,000 yards of your plane, it will appear as a tracking icon (in full realism play, radar range may be shortened somewhat).  The tracking icon will appear on both the tactical display surrounding your radar screen, and on the screen itself as a short line, colored to reflect its nationality .  The former reports its existence and distance from you, and the latter reports its position.  If your country’s radar has been destroyed or you are flying out of radar range, tracking icons will not appear.  Planes can be shown as icons or as numbers, in normal or reverse video, depending on the selections made in Pre-Flight Setup.  See Section 2 of this manual.

Radar View Range

In a target rich environment, plane counters become less important than simply being able to follow the flow of the action nearby.  Shortening the radar’s view range helps you cut down the clutter.  By hitting the bracket keys ([ and ]) you can zoom in and out - very useful in putting hostile skies choked with airplanes into a manageable focus.

Biased View Modes

You can track a maximum of 12 airplanes on radar.  Biased view modes allow you to choose which sorts of aircraft you want among those 12.

The default "unbiased mode" will show you the 12 aircraft closest to you, no matter if they’re friendly or enemy planes.  Normally, this setting will work fine.

If you select "enemy biased mode", and there are more than 12 nearby planes, enemy planes will receive first priority for display.  Likewise, if you choose "friendly biased mode," the display priority shifts toward showing you nearby aircraft from your country.  "Bomber biased mode" will give display priority to bombers (both friendly and enemy).

For example, let’s say there are 16 planes within range of your radar: eight enemy and eight from your country.  In unbiased view mode, the nearest 12 aircraft will show up on your radar, regardless of nationality.

If you set your radar to enemy biased mode, your radar will track all eight enemies, plus the nearest four friendlies.  On friendly biased mode, all eight friendly planes will appear on your radar screen, along with the nearest four enemy aircraft.

Bomber biased mode is useful when flying cover for a bombing raid, or when intercepting incoming enemy bombers.  In bomber biased mode, if 16 planes are in radar range, and eight of them are bombers (either friendly or enemy), the radar display will show all  of the bombers, plus the four nearest non-bomber aircraft, regardless of nationality.

Setting Radar Bias Modes

Setting biased view modes is much like sending a radio message.  You type a slash (/) followed by an asterisk (*) and the mode: ru (radar unbiased), re (radar enemy), rb (bomber biased), or rf (radar friendly).

If you find this confusing, keep in mind that most Air Warrior pilots never change their radar from the unbiased default mode.

Important Radar Commands

Keyboard commands:

F10 	Turn radar screen on/off

[	Zoom in

]	Zoom out

Command Lines (follow with <ENTER>):

/*ru	Unbiased radar/icon mode (default)

/*re	Enemy biased mode

/*rf	Friendly biased mode

/*rb	Bomber biased mode


Gun Camera Films

As in real combat, you can activate in-flight gun cameras to make films for review later.  Gun camera films are reviewed by clicking on the Film sign on the Main Menu.  Several sample gun camera films are provided with Air Warrior for your review.  Note: For reasons of economy, reviewing gun camera films is usually done off-line.

Recording Films

To activate the gun camera during flight, press the <9> key on the keyboard; press the <9> key again to stop your gun camera.  You can start and stop your camera several times in a mission if you only want to capture the choice moments.  Filming your missions and replaying them is a great way to learn what you’re doing right or wrong in combat.

Saving Films

Air Warrior records film as a temporary file, beginning with FILM0000.CAM, and will save each subsequent film in a session under sequential numbers (FILM0001.CAM, FILM0002.CAM, etc.).  However, once you exit the program, the next time you run Air Warrior and start the gun camera, the first film will be recorded as FILM0000.CAM again, overwriting any previous film by that name.  Thus before you exit Air Warrior you should use the film renaming feature on the Film Playback Window to save films you want to keep under a new name.  Note: Films will take up space on your hard disk; be sure to delete old films when you are through with them.

Film Playback

Playback and review of gun camera films is usually done off-line.  From the Main Menu, click on the Film sign just beneath the command center.  This will bring up the Film Playback Window.  Select the film you want to view, and click on the "Play" button to begin playback.  See Film Room  topic for special film playback commands.


Dueling

Dueling in the Multi-user Environment

While you are online and not in an aircraft or vehicle, you may challenge other players to a duel, either one-on-one or as a group.

Any number of players can join in a duel as long as they have all accepted the dueling invitation from the same person.  If you receive an unexpected invitation to duel, check the roster and find out where the player issuing the challenge is located.  When offering to duel other players, it is best to do so from an Officers Club, where you can meet and arrange the terms of the duel.

To issue a challenge, right-click on another player’s name in the player list, and select DUEL from the pop-up menu.  Your opponent will see a dialogue asking him or her to accept or reject the challenge.  Accepting the invitation places all members of the duel in dueling mode.  You will share the same arena space with the regular players, but you will not see them and they will not see you.

Duelists will hear Channel 1 radio traffic from the arena, and damage previously inflicted on the terrain and facilities will be present.  Players engaged in a duel are not limited, however, to the aircraft normally available in that arena; thus, they can do battle in planes that have never encountered each other in the actual skies.  For example, Zeros can duel Spitfires despite that these planes do not normally fly in the same theater.  You cannot fly a bomber in a duel.

Ending a duel

When you land and exit your airplane – or crash, bail out, or get shot down – you leave dueling mode.  To continue the duel, you must go through the invitation and acceptance process again.  If you decide to end a duel before the end of your flight, you must land and exit your plane before returning to arena play; otherwise, you will remain in dueling mode, and everyone else will be invisible to you (and you to them).

Duel communications

If you fly a duel with several players and need to communicate with the pilots on your side, be sure to agree on a particular radio channel beforehand.  Your opponents will hear all communications on Channel 2, as well as on Channel 1.  The results of duels apply to your arena score, and the rules for country defection also apply to duels: If you defected as part of your duel, you may not return to your original country affiliation for 24 hours.


Capturing Airfields

In Air Warrior, airfields may be captured and placed into operation under the capturing country's control.  In order for a capture to take place, the field must be prepared for capture, and between eight and 32 paratroops must be successfully placed at the airfield, depending upon how deep the field is in enemy territory.  "Virtual troopers" are provided by the host computer - actual players do not sign up for paratroop duty.

Field Preparation

Known in Air Warrior jargon as, “prepping the field,” this consists of destroying the command center and ack batteries (usually only one) at the airfield.  Once destroyed, the center and ack will return after 30 minutes.  Acks can be destroyed with one bomb; some can be strafed and killed.  Command centers can take anywhere from one to four bombs to destroy.

Delivering Paratroopers

Transporting paratroops begins in the Ready Room with the choice of the C-47 from the Aircraft Selection poster or folder.  The paratroops are automatically loaded onto the plane when you select the C-47.  Use the dialog box to specify fuel load.  C-47's carry no weapons, so it’s best to coordinate with fighter cover.

After an airfield has been prepped, troops have to arrive within 30 minutes.  Dropping troops requires at least 500 feet of altitude (they refuse to jump otherwise).

You, as pilot, specify when each of the paratroops is to jump.  In effect, you use the radio to order each of your troops to hit the silk.  The command key sequence is an apostrophe, followed by an asterisk and the command "go" followed by <ENTER>:

'*go + ENTER	Causes one paratrooper to leave the plane (non-functional 	below 500 feet)

Repeat this command until all eight troops have jumped.  You must drop your paratroops within approximately one-half mile of the airfield for them to be able to seize it.


Bomber Basics

Piloting Medium and Heavy Bombers

Flying a bomber is much like flying a fighter except that bombers are slower and less maneuverable.  With medium and heavy bombers, bombs are loaded onto your plane automatically when you select it with the Aircraft Selection Folder at the airfield Ready Room.

There are two fundamental mistakes new pilots often make when they fly a bomber for the first time.  First, you have to remember to turn on all of your engines; it’s surprising how many people forget to do this at first, accustomed as they are to single-engine fighters.

Second, they use the apostrophe (‘) preceding a radio message, believing this sends an intercom message to crew members on their aircraft.  It will, but it will also broadcast the message to everyone in your country.  You should use the reverse apostrophe (`) to chat with crew members alone.

The most important tool of a good bomber pilot is a comprehensive map.  Maps can be downloaded from network software libraries, and will soon be available in hard copy form for sale.

The most important skill of a good bomber pilot is the ability to navigate to the target in a manner that provides a good approach for a bomb run.  Approaching an east/west oriented rectangular target, such as a factory, from the north or south is not a winning strategy.  Your bombs don’t drop all at once; rather, they fall sequentially and land in a spread.  Thus the approach is crucial.

You might want to fly to various targets off-line to get the hang of bombing and the use of your bombsight.  As with any skill mastered in Air Warrior, proficiency comes with a lot of practice; and while off-line bombing practice may not be especially exciting, it is inexpensive.

Bomber Defense

“With fighters you are looking for a fight.  With bombers you are looking to avoid fights because if you get in one you will probably die.”

- Da Sloth

There are five basic methods of defending bombers in Air Warrior.

Stealth - Radar Evasion

They can’t kill you if they don’t see you.  If you fly below 200 feet, you will not show up on radar.  You will, however, show up as a tracking icon if you get within 5000 yards of an enemy plane.  Thus, the stealth approach works best if you also pick a flight route that avoids enemy planes.

  Escort

Fighter escort can be arranged from the very beginning of a mission, but usually it’s organized on the fly.  After you’ve taken off, get on Channel 2, tell your countrymen what you intend to do, and ask if anyone is available to escort you.

Friendly fighters can also serve as escort without their even knowing it.  If you see that your side has achieved numerical superiority in a sector, you might want to capitalize on that and fly your bomber through while your fighters have the enemy tied up.

Gunners

Before you take off you can enlist players to fly as gunners on your bomber.  Bomber gunners receive a lethality bonus and can be effective against enemy fighters, just so long as there are not too many.

High Altitude Defense

Flying at 20,000 feet or more not only keeps you above most enemy fighters, it also gives you a method of escape by enabling you to dive and build up speed.  There are two major drawbacks to high altitude bombing, however.  First, bombers do not have outstanding rates of climb, and just getting to 20,000 feet is expensive.  Second, as your altitude increases, so does the difficulty of hitting your target.

Low Altitude Defense

 SEVERAL feet??  I get nosebleeds at several feet.  I like to stay  at about 5ft or so up.  Of course, that’s the altitude of my cockpit...... Not only do less experienced pilots go SMACK, but experienced  ones do it every once in awhile.  Going that low gives your gunner an even  better chance to kill enemies (with an assist from a nearby planet ;) and  gives the gunner a better chance to see somebody to shoot at in the  first place.

- Da Sloth

This is largely a desperation tactic if your attempt at stealth by flying under radar fails.  If you are at low altitude and are attacked by enemy fighters, drop your bomber down to extremely low altitude - 10 feet or less above the ground.  Often, an enemy fighter will crash trying to kill you, though many Air Warrior pilots are wise to this tactic.

Crewing a Bomber

Air Warrior bombers all accommodate multiplayer crews, consisting, primarily, of gunner positions.  Gunners sign onto a bomber in the ready room prior to flight and take off in the bomber when the pilot decides to take off.  In the bomber, the pilot and all crew members can communicate over the intercom by preceding their typed transmissions with a reverse apostrophe (`).

Players who wish to sign aboard your bomber can ask to join up as crew members by clicking on your player list entry and using their right mouse button menu.  They will then see a list of available positions and can click on the one they want.  This sends a request to you that you can accept or decline.  As the positions are filled you will see a list of who occupies which position.  Click on the Begin Mission button, and you, and your crew, will be loaded into your chosen vehicle in the combat environment.

Broadcasting a Request for a Crew

When you select a bomber you are offered the option of broadcasting a crew request to everyone in the ready room or everyone in your country who is not inflight.  Your player list entry in the ready room will then have a bomb icon next to it, indicating that you’re the pilot of the bomber.

NOTE: You can move to another ready room after you’ve signed on crew members.  However, only those crew members who are the ready room with you when you decide to enter flight will be loaded into your bomber.

Moving Around a Bomber

Crew members can jump to other positions on the bomber, so long as someone does not already occupy that spot.  This can also be useful if you’ve run out of ammunition at a gunner position.  The pilot, however, cannot jump to another position.  Use the following command keys (followed by  <ENTER>):

B-17 Flying Fortress

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to navigator position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jb	Jump to ball turret.

ESC + jch	Jump to chin position.

B-25 Mitchell

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jco	Jump to copilot position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jn	Jump to nose gunner.

A-26 Invader

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jlo	Jump to lower gunner position

Junkers Ju-88

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to nose gunner.

ESC + jlo	Jump to lower gunner position

G4M Betty

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to navigator position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jc	Jump to chin position.

Using the Bombsight - Medium and Heavy Bombers

Air Warrior’s level bombsight is patterned after the famous Norden Bombsight from World War II.  It allows the bombardier to control the plane during a bomb run and it computes the likely place your bombs will land, given your altitude and velocity.  You don’t have to lead the target with this sight; just drop your bombs when the crosshairs are on it.  When bombing from medium to high altitudes, you will probably need to adjust magnification (<[> and <]> keys) to see your target and line it up.  You also might want to slow down to near stall speed when you drop on a target from high altitude and, thus, reduce bomb spread.

In the example below, a building seems to be lined up in the crosshairs.  However, using 3x and then 8x magnification, you can see that this is not the case.

Moving from the pilot’s cockpit to the bombardier’s position (<ESC + z>, followed by <ENTER>) switches on the autopilot.  You can switch it off if you choose, by hitting the <x> key, but generally you only want to make slight adjustments to your course when you’re on a bomb run.  If you’ve set yourself on a good bomb run angle before switching to the bombsight, you should only need to apply rudder controls to line up your target.

Be sure to open the bomb bay doors (using the command <ESC + a>, followed by <ENTER>) before attempting to drop your bombs, and remember to close them afterward; open bomb bay doors create considerable drag.

Dive bombing

Choosing a Fighter Bomber

All fighters can carry at least one bomb; the Mustang, Lightning, Thunderbolt, Hellcat, and Corsair can carry two.  No fighter carries bombs unless you load them before you head out on the runway.  You can load bombs on your plane with the dialog box in the Aircraft Selection Folder in the Ready Room, or you can type /bomb at the airfield Ready Room before you take off.  You cannot load bombs once you are in the airplane.

The plane you choose as a fighter bomber is generally a matter of experience and personal preference.  Keep in mind that you’ll probably be flying it as a fighter at some point in the mission and, even if you don’t, dive bombing usually pushes an aircraft to its performance and maneuverability limits.  Therefore you should probably avoid choosing a plane you’ve never flown before, simply because it carries two bombs.

Dive Bombsight

Air Warrior employs a bit of post World War II technology for dive bombing: the Continually Computing Impact Point (CCIP).  This sight appears as an illusive X where your pilot’s gunsight would normally be, and it’s the same color as the one you chose for your LCS gunsight.  Like any bombsight, it shows you where your bombs would land if released. However, if you enable the CCIP you will rarely see the magic X.  Why?  Because in most flight situations if you drop a bomb, its impact point will be below you.  Thus, to use the CCIP you have to be flying at an angle or at a speed that will place your bomb’s impact point in front of you.

Arming bombs

In a dive bomber, you have to arm your bombs (<ESC + a>, followed by <ENTER>) before you can drop them.

High Angle Dive Bombing

If you dive at a steep angle the CCIP’s X will appear. You want to maneuver your plane in order to put the X on your target and then hit the <b> key to release a bomb.  The hazard here is that you may not be able to pull your plane out of the dive before you too become an impact point on the ground. Start high angle dive bombing runs from at least 7,000 feet (10,000 feet in the Realism arena).  Also, you can improve an airplane’s handling in a dive if you reduce throttle, or lower flaps before you enter a steep dive.  On the F4U Corsair, P-38 Lightning, F-86, or MiG-15 you can deploy dive brakes as well.

Low Angle Dive Bombing

I like a shallow, very fast delivery myself, approx. 350-375 ias.  Level at 300-400 ft (the dive sight will just register).  When the sight is where you want the bomb to hit, pickle it off and get outta Dodge.

Gray Eagle

This is often referred to as strafe bombing because you approach your target as if you were strafing it.

You begin a low angle dive bomb run from a greater distance away from your target than you would for a high angle strike.  As you get close to the ground at high speed the CCIP will appear.  Maneuver your plane until the X is on your target and release your bomb.  The primary hazard with this approach is getting blown up by your own bomb.  Make sure you’re at least 300 feet above the explosion.

Important Note for All Forms of Dive Bombing: Remember that it takes a full second after you’ve hit the <b> key for your bomb to actually release.  Thus, if you immediately yank the stick after hitting the <b> key, your bomb may be pulled off target.

“Bombing the ceiling is not allowed!"

This peculiarly phrased error message means that you have attempted to release a bomb under negative G's - a common occurrence if you push forward on the stick to make a last second flight adjustment just as you're dropping your bomb. You must release bombs under positive G's.

Weight and Drag from Bombs

Each bomb adds 550 pounds to your fighter.  Not only will the added weight and drag reduce your aircraft’s climb rate and speed, it will impair its maneuvering ability as well.

Dropping Bombs Over Friendly Territory

If you get jumped by enemy fighters and you want to ditch your bombs over friendly territory, do not fear; your bombs will do no damage to your own country’s ground facilities or in-flight aircraft, though they will destroy friendly aircraft on the ground.  Be careful that you don't destroy yourself by jettisoning your bombs while you're too close to the ground (usually less than 300 feet).

Dive Brakes

In Air Warrior, four fighters are equipped with dive brakes: F4U Corsair, P-38 Lightning, F-86, and MiG-15. On all, except the Corsair, you deploy them by pressing the <Spacebar> and holding it down. The dive brakes stay deployed until you release the <Spacebar>. The 38’s dive brakes are actually a specialized flap designed to modify the airflow over the wings and restore pilot control at speeds above 375 knots.

Corsairs used their landing gear doors as dive brakes. Hitting the semicolon key (<;>) opens them and hitting it again retracts them.


Crewing a Bomber or Vehicle

Air Warrior bombers all accommodate multiplayer crews, consisting, primarily, of gunner positions.  Gunners sign onto a bomber in the ready room prior to flight and take off in the bomber when the pilot decides to take off.  In the bomber, the pilot and all crew members can communicate over the intercom by preceding their typed transmissions with a reverse apostrophe (`).

Players who wish to sign aboard your bomber can ask to join up as crew members by clicking on your player list entry and using their right mouse button menu.  They will then see a list of available positions and can click on the one they want.  This sends a request to you that you can accept or decline.  As the positions are filled you will see a list of who occupies which position.  Click on the Fly button, and you, and your crew, will be loaded into your chosen vehicle in the combat environment.

Broadcasting a Request for a Crew

When you select a bomber you are offered the option of broadcasting a crew request to everyone in the ready room or everyone in your country who is not inflight.  Your player list entry in the ready room will then have a bomb icon next to it, indicating that you’re the pilot of the bomber.

NOTE: You can move to another ready room after you’ve signed on crew members.  However, only those crew members who are the ready room with you when you decide to enter flight will be loaded into your bomber.

Moving Around a Bomber or Vehicle

Crew members can jump to other positions on the bomber, so long as someone does not already occupy that spot.  This can also be useful if you’ve run out of ammunition at a gunner position.  The pilot, however, cannot jump to another position.  Use the following command keys (followed by  <ENTER>):

B-17 Flying Fortress

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to navigator position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jb	Jump to ball turret.

ESC + jch	Jump to chin position.

B-25 Mitchell

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jco	Jump to copilot position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jn	Jump to nose gunner.

A-26 Invader

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jlo	Jump to lower gunner position

Junkers Ju-88

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to nose gunner.

ESC + jlo	Jump to lower gunner position

G4M Betty

ESC + jt	Jump to tail gunner position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper turret.

ESC + jn	Jump to navigator position (not often used)

ESC + jlw	Jump to left waist gunner position

ESC + jrw	Jump to right waist

ESC + jc	Jump to chin position.

T-34 Tank

ESC + jg	Jump to tank gun position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper machine gunner position

ESC + jh	Jump to hull machine gunner position.

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.

Flakpanzer IV

ESC + jg	Jump to anti-aircraft gun position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper machine gunner position

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.

Jeep

ESC + jg	Jump to machine gun position

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.


Vehicle Operations

In addition to aircraft, Air Warrior contains the following vehicles, which may be used by any player:

T-34 Tank

Flakpanzer IV Whirlwind Anti-Aircraft Weapon

Willys Jeep

Supply Truck

All are equipped with various armaments, except the supply truck.  Players will find that many of the command keys are similar to those in aircraft, such as using the <8> key to start/stop the engine.

Crewing a Vehicle

The T-34, Flakpanzer and Jeep all accommodate multiplayer crews , consisting of a driver and gunners for any available weapons.  It is possible for one player to operate a crewed vehicle, but you will probably want to leave the vehicle in a stationary position when firing a weapon, as you can't drive and fire at the same time.  Vehicle crews are assembled in the Ready Room of an airfield, and loading of fuel, ammo and supplies is accomplished at the same time, using the Vehicle Selection Folder.

Moving Around a Vehicle

The driver or crew members can jump to other positions on the vehicle, so long as someone does not already occupy that spot.  This can also be useful if you’ve run out of ammunition at a gunner position.  Use the following command keys (followed by  <ENTER>):

T-34 Tank

ESC + jg	Jump to tank gun position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper machine gunner position

ESC + jh	Jump to hull machine gunner position.

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.

Flakpanzer IV

ESC + jg	Jump to anti-aircraft gun position.

ESC + ju	Jump to upper machine gunner position

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.

Jeep

ESC + jg	Jump to machine gun position

ESC + jd	Return to driver position.

Driving a Vehicle

Vehicles are driven with key commands, and the joystick or mouse.  In most instances, the mouse will provide better control.  You must be in the vehicle's driver position to steer, shift gears, etc.

Steering

A small steering wheel is indicated on the control surface, and it will rotate when steering with the mouse or joystick.  A compass is available for specific directional information.  Switch between mouse and joystick control with the command keys:

ESC + oj	Toggle control between joystick and mouse (followed by <ENTER>)

Shifting

Air Warrior vehicles feature three-speed transmissions with a reverse gear.  The engine and transmission behave as in real life - to move a vehicle, you will have to achieve the correct engine RPM when shifting, or the engine will stall.  No clutch action is needed.  Shift gears in a vehicle with the following command keys:

Keypad:

9	Upshift one gear

7	Downshift one gear

*	Shift to neutral from forward or reverse gear; shift to reverse from neutral

Keyboard:

d	Upshift one gear

a	Downshift one gear

s	Shift to neutral from forward or reverse gear; shift to reverse from neutral

Throttle

Throttle use is the same as on Air Warrior aircraft.  Avoid extended periods of operation with the RPM indicator in the red zone.

c 	Increase throttle by 7%

SHIFT + c	Full throttle

v 	Decrease throttle by 7%

SHIFT + v	Minimum throttle

Using the Intercom and Radio

Your vehicle radio  works the same as those in aircraft.  However, you also have an intercom to talk to people who are in your vehicle with you.  To broadcast on the intercom, use the reverse apostrophe (`) that’s usually found to the left of a keyboard’s number 1.

Vehicle Gun Sighting

Vehicles equipped with guns and/or cannon feature gunner positions, from which a player can track and fire the weapon.  Ammo load is specified prior to departure in the Ready Room, using the Vehicle Selection Folder.

T-34 Tank

To operate the T-34's main cannon, you must be in the tank gun position (<ESC + jg>).  The following command keys and controls apply:

raise gun   	Joystick or mouse movement

lower gun 	Joystick or mouse movement

a	Rotate turret left

d	Rotate turret right

f	Fire one round (or use joystick button or right mouse button)

Rt bracket ( ] )	Decrease sight magnification 1X

Lt bracket ( [ )	Increase sight magnification 1X (maximum 8X)

The T-34 tank’s cannon has a range of 9000 yards, but its range is reduced as you increase the gunsight magnification. When you first try tanking, it’s best to shoot at targets considerably short of maximum range.  You can judge if the explosion is in front of or behind your target, and can adjust the elevation of the gun to compensate.  For this sort of adjustment, the mouse offers much finer control than a joystick (fire with the right mouse button).  Press <ESC + oj> (followed by <ENTER>) to toggle between joystick and mouse control.

     Using tank gunsight magnification to zero in on a target

Players may also move to and use the T-34's hull-mounted machine gun, or the single upper machine gun mounted on top of the turret.  These guns are directed with the joystick or mouse (fire with the right mouse button).  The <f> key will also fire the gun.

Flakpanzer IV Whirlwind

To operate the Flakpanzer's main cannon, you must be in the main gun position (ESC + jg>).  The following command keys and controls apply:

a	Rotate turret left.

d	Rotate turret right

f	Fire one round (or use joystick button or right mouse button)

e	Raise guns

c	Lower guns

The main gunner position of a Flakpanzer puts you behind the Flak’s battery of four 20mm cannon.  The Flakpanzer is primarily an anti-aircraft weapon with a maximum range of only 600-700 yards and, thus, does not have the elaborate gunsight of the tank.

The Flakpanzer’s cannon can be effective against tanks and other Flaks as well as paratroopers.  Players can also move to the single top-mounted 7.92 mm machine gun.  This gun is directed and fired with the joystick or mouse (fire with the right mouse button).  The <f> key will also fire the gun.

Note: When you take a Flakpanzer, be sure you drive at least a short distance from the takeoff point, or you might inflict unintentional friendly fire  on players in your country.

Jeep

The jeep is equipped with one .50 caliber machine gun.  The gun is aimed and fired using the joystick or the mouse (fire with right mouse button).  You must move to the gun position to direct and fire the gun (<ESC + jg>).

Other Vehicle Functions

As in aircraft, the following functions are available:

9	Turn gun camera on/off

Spacebar	Wheel brakes

1	Full view range (all objects visible)

2	Medium view range (the default view - all but most
distant objects visible)

3	Short view range (only objects within a few miles can be seen)

4	Combat range (only immediate objects will appear,
and horizon shading is disabled)

5	Abridged range (no terrain detail whatsoever)

F1 	Help key

F10 	Radar screen

ESC + t[channel]	Tune your radio to the specified channel (followed by <ENTER>) 	(online play only - see the Radio Procedures section)

ESC + os	Turn sounds on/off (followed by <ENTER>)

Views

The following views are available in some vehicle positions; not all views are available in all positions.  Combinations views are not supported in vehicles.

Keypad - Views

        8 (up arrow) - Look forward

4 (left arrow) - Look left       5 - Straight up view 	6 (right arrow) - Look right

        2 (down arrow) - Rear (mirror) view

Keyboard View Keys

       	G - Look forward

H - Look left 	  	K - Straight up view	 	L - Look right

M - Rear (mirror) view

Exiting a Vehicle

You may exit a vehicle at any time with the command keys <ESC + e> (followed by <ENTER>).  You will return to the Ready Room of the airfield you are operating from any time you exit the vehicle, or if you are killed as a result of hostile action.


Tactical and Strategic Bombing

Europe

Newcomers to Air Warrior will find both strategic and tactical bombing being employed on a regular basis.  Strategic bombing is usually carried out by medium and heavy bombers, and is aimed at infrastructure and support facilities such as refineries and factories, with the strategy of reducing the enemy's ability to carry on the fight.  Strategic bombing strikes are planned and coordinated to destroy multiple, related targets in a short period of time, for maximum effect on the enemy.

Tactical bombing is more immediate in scope, and is generally carried out by fighter bombers in support of an immediate mission.  Tactical bombing missions are generally aimed at the suppression of enemy offense or defense capability, such as anti-aircraft installations, ground troops or airfield runways.

Airfields

In Relaxed Realism arenas, you can knock a secondary airfield out of action for 30 minutes by dropping eight bombs on the main runway.  All eight must land within five minutes of each other.  Thus if you miss and land fewer than eight, chances are you will fail to take out the field unless you are flying with other friendly bombers.  Main airfields in Relaxed Realism are much harder targets, requiring at least 32 bombs to destroy.  In real-time, destroying an airfield is done quite differently.  Instead of bombing the runways, you must destroy the field's local facilities: its hangar, ammo dump, and all three fuel tanks.  Successful destruction of an airfield forces the enemy to take off elsewhere.  Sometimes, it can be more useful to impair an airfield’s facilities rather than take out the field altogether.

Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA or Ack)

Killing the ack at an airfield will leave planes taking off from the field far more vulnerable to attack.  The ack is the smallest and hardest to hit of all bombing targets, but they take only one bomb, or a good strafing run, to kill.

When you destroy an ack online, the host broadcasts a message that the ack has been shot down and a kill has been recorded. These look similar to the messages you see when a player has been shot down; the difference is that ack “player” IDs begin with a lower case “z.”

Fuel

Every airfield has a group of gasoline storage tanks clustered together.  Each tank takes two bombs to destroy, yet the explosion of one may take adjacent tanks with it. When an airfield’s fuel supply is damaged, the quality of the gas available at the field diminishes.  The standard 100 octane fuel becomes 90, affecting the performance of aircraft that subsequently take off there.

Damage to an airfield’s fuel usually results in host efforts to resupply it.  A drone C-47 transport plane is dispatched from an affected country’s nearby airfield bound for the injured field.  When the C-47 arrives, the field’s fuel is restored to full potency.

Oil Refineries

A country needs its oil refinery to replenish its stores of gasoline at airfield gas storage facilities that have been destroyed by bombing.  If you destroy the enemy’s “refer” you make fuel resupply impossible until the host can rebuild the refinery (about 30 minutes).  However, if an airfield’s fuel is damaged BEFORE the refinery is, then resupply planes and trucks will already be enroute to the damaged field.

Each country has one refinery and it consists of four buildings next to three cracking centers.  The centers are the important structures here, and each one requires two bomb hits to destroy it.

Ammo Dumps

These solitary structures contain ammunition for the airfield, and are tough targets.  They are short buildings, sitting by themselves, one at each airfield.  You need to hit one with four bombs to destroy it.  Destruction of an ammo dump reduces the ammo load - usually cannon shells - of airplanes taking off from the affected field.

Ammo Factories

Each country has one of these as well. Destroying it takes four to six bombs.  As is the case with a refinery, if a country’s ammunition factory is gone, and one of its airfield’s ammo dumps is destroyed shortly thereafter, resupply cannot begin for at least 30 minutes while the host rebuilds the factory.

Radar

Nothing annoys the enemy quite the way losing his radar does. He can keep on fighting effectively - veteran pilots know how to operate very well indeed without radar - but with a distinct inconvenience.

Radar is locally based in each airfield's command center.  Generally, it takes between one and four bombs to kill a command center, though there is a random element to all bomb damage.  Once destroyed, a command center stays out of action for 30 minutes.

Radar can be a tough target to hit.  The center will call out to friendly aircraft, warning them of an enemy attack, as you approach.  Further, main airfields are protected by three anti-aircraft batteries that can chew any attacking aircraft to pieces in a matter of moments.

You’ll have to fly at an altitude of at least 5280 feet (1 mile) to avoid the “ack,” although many of them - particularly those protecting main fields - possess a range up to 20,000 feet.  Problem is that the higher you fly, the tougher it will be to drop your bombs accurately on a target as small as a command center.

Aircraft Hangars

Aircraft hangars are the buildings with curved roofs at airfields.  It takes three bombs to destroy one, and its destruction reduces the ability of the airfield to maintain its planes properly.

As aircraft hangars are destroyed, airplanes taking off from that field have poorer maintenance, reduced durability, and may even be leaking gas or oil on takeoff.

Spare Parts Factories

Yes, this works the same way the ammo factory or refinery does.  When it’s destroyed, resupply of airfields with bombed out hangers is retarded.  And, like other factories, it takes four to six bomb hits to destroy and 30 minutes to rebuild.

Aircraft Factories

Each country has an aircraft factory producing one type of aircraft and if it is blown up, then all airfields lose their supply of that aircraft type.  There is a loophole to this rule however.  If your country loses, say, its Spitfire factory and you land your Spit at an airfield, you can rearm and refuel, and take off again in the same plane.

Pacific

Given that airfields in the Pacific tend to be more spread out, support facilities are associated with the shipping just offshore of each airfield.  There is, however, a central aircraft factory that can be hit, knocking out a specified aircraft type for that country if it’s destroyed.

Oceania - Campaign Pacific

Each major landmass (one for each country) has a set of factories similar to Europe - an ammo factory, refinery, spare parts factory, and aircraft works.  Supply to island fields following the Pacific model; supplies are based in offshore shipping.

Player Resupply

You can resupply a damaged airfield yourself by flying a C47 transport plane, loaded with the cargo you need, from an undamaged field to the wounded one.  Upon landing there, the damaged commodity will be restored to 100%.  To repair bad fuel, load fuel, for bad ammunition, load ammo, and for poor maintenance, load supplies.

Cargo Commands

When you choose a C-47 Gooney Bird, you get the option to load paratroopers or cargo.  You can also load cargo manually from the Ready Room, after you’ve selected the C-47.

/cargo <type>	Loads a C47 transport with <f>uel, <a>mmo, or <s>upplies.


Friendly Fire

Your bullets can damage friendly aircraft.  If you shoot down two friendly planes within 24 hours your country will no longer allow you to carry live ammunition.  Your status is reduced to persona non grata (PNG).  You can either defect to another country or return after 24 hours and your PNG status will be reset.

Note: One of the easiest ways to unintentionally kill friendly aircraft is by taking a Flakpanzer anti-aircraft vehicle, and begin firing before you drive away from the takeoff point.  Friendly planes, subsequently taking off from that airfield will be literally sitting on top of you, but you won’t be able to see them.  When you fire, you will destroy them.  Thus, when taking a Flakpanzer, always drive at least a short distance from the takeoff point before you go to your guns.

In the last Pac campaign, I’m coming in to 19 with three kills.  My Ki is smoking and I’m on fumes.  Gear down, speed 100kts and I’m 100ft off of the threshold.  “Bonk!”  I check rear view and there is a Bz 38 hosing me.

 I died, checked my score and popped back out at 14 to hunt one of  my own countrymen.  I asked him why he shot me and I get the message  XXXX crashed.

 I popped back into HQ and asked him why the hell he shot me down????

 He apologized 5 or six times the first minute.  It seems that he  had just switched countries, and when he saw the “red Ki” fill his sights ... it was reflex.  He said he would make it up to me etc, and told me that  he augered when he realized what he did.

 We both had a good laugh about it.....cause.....it can happen to anybody!

 - Specter Rear View


Network Delay Effects

When many pilots are flying simultaneously, the online network has to distribute copious quantities of data over the phone lines.  This can delay the communications between your computer and the host.

One result is a phenomenon known as "warping," where planes seem to change positions suddenly.  Hitting warping targets is difficult and you will have to apply, to a greater degree than normal, the principles of deflection shooting.

When your target begins to freeze and then warp to another position, keep in mind that the target itself is still flying normally, even though it appears erratic to you.  Try to visualize the target's true flight path and anticipate its position when it stops warping.

To evaluate the status of your network connection while flying, type <ESC + d> (followed by <ENTER>).  If the delay is 2 or greater, chances are that you will be seeing warps.

Distance Distortion

I'm adding a message to my rear view - WARNING: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

- Ironman

Due to the nature of network play, distance information in your rear view is not always accurate.

Depending upon the speed your aircraft and a pursuing aircraft are traveling, the reported distance will be longer than it really is. So, at high speed, you should subtract 400-800 yards from the distance you’re seeing on your computer.


Air Combat Maneuvers

Basic Air Combat Maneuvers

Energy is the most important concept in Air Combat Maneuvers (ACM).  It’s best understood as a dynamic combination of airspeed and altitude. Airspeed is a measure of an aircraft’s instantaneous ability to maneuver; altitude is a measure of an aircraft’s potential ability to gain speed quickly by diving.

Together, they comprise a plane’s energy state.  Think of airspeed as cash in your pocket, and altitude as money in the bank.  Climbing reduces your airspeed but increases your stored, potential speed; diving withdraws speed from your account to be spent maneuvering your airplane.

Higher [altitude] does not mean better e state, lower and faster can be a better position sometimes. Keep yer speed, gain e as your enemy slowly loses it, and then he’ll be ripe for the up and wack lead turn, or he’ll run away.

- Holmes

E-fighting is the art of maintaining your plane in a favorable energy state. “Favorable” is in the mind of the beholder.  If you're in a FW it means enough E to extend past gun range for another pass.  If you mean in a 38 it means maintain enough E to get over the top quickly, use flaps effectively and hit the “sweet spot” on the corner for a P-38.  When I hang myself out to dry or spin I have made a mistake and don't have E anymore.

Don't confuse E fighting with speed or altitude.  They are related but not the same thing.  E relates to managing your options and position.

- DeadDuck

Equating BnZ with a “runaway” tactic assumes that the initial target of the attack is the only focus. When dealing with a broader front, and multiple incoming enema groups, BnZ allows one to engage more target groups than would otherwise be possible. What this requires is control - control over Greed. It is very tempting after a run where you see hits to go back and try to finish it off. But if you do - if you burn up the zoom and extension - you can’t go after the next wave.

Remember - there’s _always_ something stoopider up in the air you can go kill.

- DoK GoNzO

E fighting (to me anyway) can do anything because you are maintaining the correct amount of E for the _proper_ situation. That can range from anything to extending in a spit to taking a 51 and looping with a spit long enough to kill it. Know the enema’s E, maintain yours.. and use whatever plane you have to its advantage.

-HardRock

The Energy Market of Air Combat

Maneuvering is the process of exchanging energy for position. Classic ACM are proven moves, perfected over decades, designed to gain you the most maneuverability for the least cost in energy.

Air combat is perhaps the only contest where it’s both honorable and desirable to shoot someone in the back.  This is the goal of ACM - to spend your energy to gain a tail shot.  There are three good reasons for this:

1. The enemy’s guns will not be pointing at you.

2. With tail shots you do not need to lead the target as much when shooting.

3. The tail offers the best position from which to adjust to a target’s evasive moves.

Classic Air Combat Maneuvers

Many air combat simulations cite classic air combat maneuvers (ACM) to create an atmosphere of realism.  Knowing authentic ACM in Air Warrior, however, is not a quaint touch; rather, it is an essential skill you will need to become successful in the game.

Simple Aileron Roll

Sideways movement of the stick causes your plane to roll. The aileron roll is a basic component of every air combat maneuver.

Loop

This is a full loop and is more an air show maneuver than an air combat maneuver.  The loop is most effective against very slow targets, such as heavy bombers, or against fighters that are just taking off from an airfield.

Break Turn

Frankly, any pilot whose first move is a flat turn should be as good as dead within 2 minutes.

- DoK GoNzO

The break turn is a hard, flat turn of last resort when you’re under attack, and it depletes your energy rapidly. It’s an aileron roll followed by sharp, backward pressure on the stick.  The idea is to get out of the way of an attacker’s bullets as quickly as possible.  Usually pilots employ the break turn when caught by surprise, and it’s a short-term solution at best.

In this illustration, defender B uses the break turn against attacker A.  If you use this maneuver, make sure you turn INTO the attack, if possible.  Breaking away from an attack presents your tail to the enemy.

Immelmann Turn (Half Loop)

I’ve found it dangerous to begin a half-loop in the same direction as your entry.  When I blow through a furball, and begin my zoom, I always do it with a slight turn.  This loses you more energy than a pure half-loop, but saves you from being tracked easily as you egress.

- Vossman

An energy-efficient method of reversing your course, usually to set up a subsequent shot after making a high speed firing pass, is the Immelmann turn.  This is a half loop - a vertical 180 degree turn - with an aileron roll at the top.

While it may preserve your energy, it can make your plane an easy target.  Generally, you should avoid using this maneuver when enemies are within gun range.

Split - S

Called the Split Arse by the British, due to how the maneuver feels to the pilot, it is a half loop in reverse.  You use it to attack a target below you and you need a fair amount of altitude to execute it.  Roll the plane inverted, then pull back on the stick until level.

New players often dive right at lower targets head-on.  Not only is this a bad angle from which to hit the target, it also affords the target an equal opportunity to hit you. With the split-s, you allow the bandit to pass below you and then you dive onto his tail.  This requires timing, but it’s an effective move.

Vertical 8

One technique I like a lot is to get the enemy to follow me into vertical maneuvers when I have more speed than he does.  This can be a bit tricky to judge and if you are incorrect, you get a tail full of lead.  When it works, though, it is really fun.  The enemy follows you up, probably firing the whole way when you are just out of gun range, then stalls out.  When he does, you pull into a dive and hammer him as he is floundering at low speed.

- Brooke

The Vertical 8 is two half loops performed one right after the other.  You can accomplish this only if your airspeed is very high.  If a slower bandit tries to follow you, and he isn’t watching his airspeed closely, he will stall below you, giving you an excellent opportunity to attack him.

Many players use this principle far more simply.  They pull into a zoom climb after they've drawn the interest of a slower bandit.  If the latter is not paying attention, he'll stall and become a helpless target.  In Air Warrior this is called the rope-a-dope.

High Yo Yo

This is perhaps the most difficult maneuver for new players to understand and use.  Attacker A makes a high speed pass on slower defender B who attempts to evade with a break turn. The attacker converts his speed into altitude by pulling his fighter into the vertical.  While he does this he rolls his plane so that his cockpit points in the direction his quarry fled.  By pulling back on the stick as he rolls, he steers his vertical momentum toward the attacker, allowing him to dive onto the defender’s tail.

Low Yo Yo

Here, attacker A is moving slower than defender B.  The attacker closes on his target by diving to convert altitude into airspeed to cut inside the defender’s turn.  This uses the same principle as the high yo yo, but in an opposite fashion.

With the high yo yo, the attacker converts speed to altitude in order to reduce his closure rate; in the low yo yo, the attacker converts altitude to speed to increase his rate of closure.

Barrel Roll

I know two definitions for barrel roll.  One is an aerobatic maneuver where you pull the stick back and to the side.  Viewed from behind, the plane travels in a circle (up and down) with the canopy toward the middle.  Heading doesn’t change.  That’s only occasionally useful in combat.

There’s also a combat maneuver going by the name of barrel roll which is in the same family as lag rolls and high yo yos.  Establish lead, pull up, float over the target, roll toward him, and pull down in behind him, rolling to lead him. You need speed for that.

- Warlock

Similar in principle to the High Yo-Yo, the barrel roll attack is a climbing turn designed to prevent overshoot, and reacquire an evading, lower energy target.


Air Warrior Jargon

There is a language to air combat.  Given that people using the radio in Air Warrior are typing and flying at the same time, most terms are abbreviated or become acronyms, and some are creations of the game entirely.

AAA	Anti-aircraft artillery.

Ack	same as AAA.

AFK	away from the keyboard.

Alt	Altitude.

Angels	Another term for altitude, in thousands of feet

(i.e.: “Angels 10” means 10,000 feet).

Auger	Crash landing.

B4	Before.

BRB	Be right back.  This means you’ll be away from your computer for

a moment.  It’s followed by “back” when you return.

Bandit	Enemy plane.

Bingo	Used if you’re out of or short on something, followed by the item

you lack (i.e.: “Bingo ammo”)

Blue Corsair	Slang for having lost your connection to the Air Warrior host.  This refers 	to the picture of a Corsair on fire that comes up when you lose contact with the 	host.  Usage: “I got the [blue] Corsair.”

Bogey	Unidentified aircraft.

Buff	Bomber.

Bug	To run away.

B&Z	Boom and zoom; a style of fighter attack.

Cat jumped on my keyboard.....No abbreviation or acronym for this common

excuse has yet been devised.

CC	I understand.

Con	Short for icon, meaning you are close enough to pick up a local

tracking icon (i.e.: “Con C Spit!”).

CR	Climb Rate.  When flying formation it’s useful to let people know

what your climb rate is or to conform to theirs

(i.e.: “CR=4” means your climb rate is 4,000 feet per minute).

Deadstick...Flying without the aid of engine power.

DeathStar...Heavily gunned bomber on the full realism page.

Dien	Dying.

Ditch	To land safely somewhere other than a runway.

Drone	A computer controlled aircraft/player.

Drunks	Paratroopers

Dump	You were disconnected from Air Warrior against your will.

Dweeb	An unskilled player.

E	Energy.

Efighter	A type of fighter aircraft suited to high speed attack, but not

dogfighting (i.e.: “Grab an efighter”), or a pilot who practices boom and

zoom energy tactics (i.e.: “He’s a pure efighter”)

Egg	Bomb.  Sometimes this is used as a verb meaning to bomb

(i.e.: “I egged him on the runway”).

Fiter	Fighter.

Frog Auger	..When you crash, sometimes it takes the host a few moments to process

your virtual demise.  From your cockpit it appears, for a second or two,

that you’ve hopped off the ground, hence the term.

Furball	A thickly populated dogfight.

<g,d,r>	Grinning, ducking, and running.

Glider	Same as deadstick.

hehe	Laughter.

Hdg	Heading, usually followed by what heading it is (i.e.: “Hdg 090”).

Icon	Same as Con above.

IMHO	In my humble opinion, yet rarely is there much humility involved with

this acronym’s use.

In	Means you are engaging the enemy.  This is often said with a bit more

enthusiasm, such as “In In In!”

Jabo	German term for fighter bomber (Jagdbomber).  Although it is seldom

used in the game, the author of this help file likes the sound of it when used as

a verb (i.e.: “I jaboed the sucker!”).

K	One thousand (i.e.: “Bogey at 5k”)

Kts	Airspeed in knots.

L8r	Later, meaning see you later.

No Joy	You don’t see the plane that someone has pointed out to you.

Off	You are disengaging.

OiNk........I remembered this time, DoK ;)

One hit [system].....Means that a single hit from gunfire has taken out a critical

system (i.e.: “One hit engine!”)

OTW	On the way.

Out	Same as “Off” except sometimes “Out” is followed by your exit heading

(i.e.: “Out 245”).  Out can also refer to how far away you are from

something you’re trying to reach (i.e.: “Hang on!  5k out”)

OTOH	On the other hand.

Ping	Feedback, on your end, of a hit you’ve suffered.  For example, a

ping-less death means that you’ve been shot down without

hearing bullets hit your plane.

Poof	Tells people that you are logging off immediately; a last good-bye before

exiting the game.

Prep	To prepare an airfield for capture.

Refer	Refinery.

Rgr	Roger, same as CC.

ROFL	Rolling on floor laughing.  It means you think something is very funny.

This has many variations, from LOL (laughing out loud) to ROFLASTC

(Rolling on floor laughing and scaring the cat).

RTB	Return to base.  Sometimes this is followed by the name of the field

where you plan to land (i.e.: “Rtb Moggy”).

SBL	Surrounded by Lostness.  A confused player.

Smoke	Generally used as a verb in Air Warrior, it means to leak oil or fuel due

to hits from gunfire or to cause the same to happen to someone else (i.e.:

“I smoked him!”).

Stallfight	A dogfight occurring near stall speed.

Vis	I see (i.e.: “Vis C Stang”).  This is similar to “Con” except it includes more

distant planes that you may have identified with your radar.  Generally,

“Vis” is less urgent than “Con.”

Vulch	From the noun, vulture, in Air Warrior it becomes a verb, meaning to

prey upon a nearly or completely defenseless victim.  “Nice vulch!” it is

not entirely a compliment.

Warp	Network delays causing planes to appear as if they’re jumping around,

rather than flying around.

:)	A sideways happy face.

You will see many, many variations on this.  Here are a few:

:-)	this one has a nose

8-)	this one is wearing glasses

;-)	this one is winking

:^)	tongue in cheek

:(	A sideways, unhappy face.  Usually, with this one, you are spared the

variations.

There are communications customs that don’t contain words.  Many pilots count out their kills over the radio. Some pilots, when they urgently need assistance, will issue three blank radio messages to signify a distress call.


Forming a Squadron

AIR WARRIOR SQUADRONS

For many Air Warrior players, squadrons are an essential part of the game.  In some cases they define a theme and a style of play for a group of pilots, but generally an Air Warrior squadron is just a loose collection of people who enjoy flying together.  Most squadrons fly together one night of the week.  This works well for people who want to budget their playing time, and it ensures that they will have people to fly with when they play.

There are no easily defined rules for joining squadrons, because each squad has its own attitude toward recruitment. Some will recruit anyone and everyone while others are quite selective in whom they’ll allow in.  One thing is certain: you cannot play Air Warrior for very long without receiving an invitation from at least one squadron.

Graphical squadron recruitment is not yet supported in Windows Air Warrior.  For the time being, you will have to employ the following text commands.  Squadron Command lines given in the following sections must be followed by <ENTER> to execute the command.

Creating and Asking Players to Join Your Squadron

Any player in Air Warrior who is not currently enrolled in a squadron may form a squadron of his own.

Creating a Squadron in Headquarters

The Headquarters for your country has files cabinets for Squad Info and Squad Ops.  The Squad Info will bring up information of your squadron, if you have or belong to one.  To start a squad, click on the Squad Ops hotspot.  If you have no squadron affiliation, you will be asked if you wish to create a squadron.  Answering yes brings up the Squad Ops dialog.

The first thing you want to do is give your squadron a name, by entering it in the entry field at the top.  Motto, Description, URL (the address of your squadron’s web page), and Squad Night are all optional.  You can fill these out later once you get some members and have developed a identity as a group.

Transfer Leadership

This allows you to designate another member of your squadron to be its Commanding Officer (CO).  Squad COs often do this when they know they are going to be away from the game for a period of time, or if they wish to give another squadron member the power to recruit more members.  Highlight the person on your roster whom you wish to transfer to, and then click the Transfer Leadership button to do so.

Expel Member(s)

A self explanatory feature, you expel members by highlighting them on your roster and then clicking the Expel button.  This isn’t always used to kick a troublesome of unpopular player off of your squadron, though it comes in handy for that purpose.  It’s also a necessary step in disbanding a squad.

Disband Squadron

Clicking on this button does as advertised - it disbands your squadron.  Don’t worry about clicking on this by accident.  You must first expel all of your squadron’s members first.  This is to make sure that disbanding a squadron is something you really meant to do.

Squadron Recruitment

A squadron CO can recruit any player:

•	Who is a member of your country

•	Who does not currently belong to a squadron

•	Who has not turned off recruitment in his player options

Issuing an Invitation

You do this by clicking, with your right mouse button, on a player’s entry on the conference room player list.  This brings up a menu.  Select Invite to Join.  This issues an invitation to that player.  Actually this is also an alternative way to create a squadron if you haven’t already- simply by inviting someone to join.

Accepting an Invitation

When you are invited to join a squadron you get a message informing of you of the invitation, with the option to reply yes or no.  If you’re already a member of a squadron, you will still be informed of the invitation, but you will not receive the yes/no dialog.  This allows you to politely tell the courting squad CO that you are already a member of a squadron without having to click no on a dialog box..

There is a check box on the acceptance dialog to auto-decline all invitations without displaying the invitation dialog.  There is a similar check box in User Preferences under Interface properties.

Verifying Your Membership

When you accept an invitation to join a squadron, the Squadron Information dialog comes up.  Here you can see the other members of your squad, along with the motto, description, squadron web site, and other aspects mentioned earlier.

Withdrawal

There are two ways to withdraw from a squadron you’re a member of.  You can go to Headquarters, select Squad Info, and then select Withdraw.  Or you can do it the old Air Warrior way by typing /withdraw in any online conference room.

Posting and Receiving Orders

As squadron CO, you can leave orders, including online briefings (see next section), for your members by uploading them to the host for your squaddies to download later.  To upload orders and/or briefings, click on the Squadron Ops hotspot in Headquarters.  Clicking Upload will bring up a file browser you can use to select a file you wish to send to the host.  There is also a discard button for you to use to remove out of date orders and briefings.

As member of a squadron, clicking on the Squad Ops hotspot in HQ brings up a similar dialog.  Difference is that here your option is to download your COs orders and briefings.

You can view mission briefings in either the online briefing room or offline in the Air Warrior mission editor.

The host will store up to one set of orders one online briefing for each squadron.


Troubleshooting Tiips
Troubleshooting Tips

The most common problems involve frame rate, sound, and joysticks.

Frame Rate

If you have the minimum recommended machine, yet experience extremely low frame rates, chances are the Air Warrior program is employing Windows virtual memory - otherwise known as a swap file.  This is an area of your hard disk configured to emulate computer memory (RAM).  Regular computer memory operates at a sharply higher speed than can be achieved through a hard disk.  Unfortunately, real and virtual memory cannot be distinguished by programs operating under Windows.  The answer is to free up as much memory as possible to prevent virtual memory from coming into play.

Make sure no other programs are active, other than your web browser, before you launch from the web.  To check hit <CTRL> <ESC> at the same time - this will bring up a list of programs that are active in Windows at the moment.

Second - and usually most likely - culprit is disk caching.  Disk cache programs speed up access time to a hard disk, but the consume system memory.  From your File menu in Windows, select Run, and enter the program SYSEDIT.EXE and Ok.  This will bring up your system’s configuration files.  In the AUTOEXEC.BAT window, look for a line like this:

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 2048 1024

The first number is your disk cache size under DOS; the second is your disk cache size under Windows.  Deleting the second figure frees up the memory it consumes.

Another potential problem could be the Windows drivers for you video card.  Air Warrior employs the graphics capabilities of Windows in ways few programs have.  Thus, you may encounter problems with Air Warrior that you’ve never experienced in Windows before.  In many cases the answer is to get newer versions of your Windows drivers.

Diamond Stealth 64

Earlier versions of Diamond’s Win95 drivers simply perform more slowly than subsequent versions.  You can get Diamond’s latest drivers from the web at http://www.diamondmm.com.

Sound

Several beta testers have reported sounds cutting out, or WAIL32.DLL errors.  Best strategy here is reducing the total number of sounds played in the program, but going into sound setup  (right mouse button menu or setup hangar ), choosing custom .

Joystick

Chief problem here involves setting up your joystick drivers .  Jump to this topic for tips on setting up your joystick driver, and circumventing certain known problems under Win95.

Contacting Us

If you are experiencing problems, send us email at awsupport@kesmai.com.


Custom Player IDs

Flight jacket (set handle/callsign and CPID)

You have two things that set you apart from all the other pilots in the game: your handle (also known as your callsign), and your Custom Player ID (CPID).  The former can be anything you’d like - so long as it’s not obscene - but the latter must be a unique combination of up to 5 characters (either letters, numbers, or a bit of both).  The host automatically assigns you a CPID but until you specify a handle, you show up as New User on the player list.  To set your handle and changed your CPID, click on the flight jacket in the foreground of the Officers Club.

When you enter a CPID, the host checks to see if it’s unique in the player database.  If it’s not, the host will inform you and you can try again.  The combinations you have tried will appear in this dialog box.


Exiting the Game

From the Officers Club, click the exit sign to leave an arena, or type /exit and hit enter.  From the arena selection menu, click the button for main airfield.  Then click the jeep on the left-hand side of the screen.  Or you can use the right mouse button to exit Air Warrior from anywhere in the game, except inflight.


Online Briefing Room

The Briefing Room screen

The Briefing Room will have the same general appearance for all players in the meeting, though the BO will have additional controls with which to manage the briefing.  The following elements will appear in the room:

Briefing Officer: Unless you are the BO yourself, click on his image to “raise your hand” when you want to speak.  The BO’s player list will indicate that you have your hand raised.  To lower your hand, click on him again.

Situation map: The BO can manipulate this 4x3 aspect ratio situation map.  All players in the room can see his changes.

Scroll arrows: Scroll the situation map by clicking on the arrow buttons.

Zoom hot spots: Zoom in and out on the situation map with the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons.

Toolbar: Provides controls you may need during the briefing.  The BO will have a more extensive selection of tools to use.

Light switch: The BO may turn off the lights to dim the room. When the lights are off, only the BO or pilots recognized by him may speak.  The default condition is with the lights on, when anyone may speak.

Incoming and outgoing message buffers: The BO always has use of both text areas, while pilots attending the meeting have only an incoming message buffer.  They can send outgoing messages only if they have been given control by the BO.

Exit: Click on EXIT to go back to the Ready Room.

Player list

As the Briefing Officer, your screen also will contain a player list, with which you can drag and drop players into the flight groups you have created in your prepared mission.  The BO will have a set of wings next to his own name on the list.  Right-click on a pilot’s name to access a menu for the following actions:

EJECT: Expels the pilot from the briefing.

TRANSFER: Gives control of the briefing to that pilot.

RECOGNIZE: Enables a pilot with his “hand raised” to speak.  Pilots who are allowed to speak will have a green light next to their name on the player list.

Group list

As the Briefing Officer, you may assign pilots to flight groups by a process similar to that used to create other groups: by dragging and dropping pilots’ names into group lists.  Each flight group has several important properties, including its name, the type of plane it will fly, fuel and bomb loads, and starting and ending airfields.  You can edit these parameters by right-clicking on a group in the list and selecting Group Info.  To edit waypoints for the group’s role in the mission, right-click on the group’s name and select Waypoint Properties.


Briefing Room Tools

Briefing Officer’s toolbar

The Briefing Officer’s toolbar enables him to create or modify the mission.

Pointer tool: Deselects any selected tool and returns the cursor to its normal state.

Waypoint insertion tool: Inserts a waypoint.

Group tool: Adds a group to the mission.

Door: Toggles between an open door for open briefings, and a closed door for closed briefings.

Map/briefing mode tool: Toggles between the map and briefing icons to represent whether a map view or text view is displayed in the briefing drawing area.

Load mission: Opens a standard Windows dialogue, which the BO may use to select and upload a saved mission file (with file name extension *.msn) from your hard disk.  All players in the briefing room will see it.

Upload mission: If the BO makes changes to the mission in the Briefing Room, he must upload it manually to make it visible to the other players.  Press this button to update the pilots in the room.

Save mission: Saves the current mission to disk.


After Action Reports

This gives you a written summary of recent online action as seen and recorded by the Air Warrior host computer.

Here’s the info contained in the after action report:

•	Who was shot down.

•	Who shot the victim down.

•	Who assisted in the kill.

•	Where (over friendly or enemy territory) the kill took place.

•	What strategic facility was destroyed.

•	Who hit that facility.

•	What airfield was destroyed.

•	Who participated in its destruction.

•	What important commodity at an airfield was destroyed.

This can be useful intelligence for you when you first log onto the game, and can be fun to view after you’ve had an especially successful sortie.  You can save an after action report to a file for later viewing or for debriefing your squadron.


Theaters Of Operation

Your selected era and region is called a theater of operations.  In the stand-alone environment, you will fly for one of the national forces that was part of the historical conflict in that theater.  Your choice of aircraft will depend upon the national identity you have selected for your game session.  You will discover that each theater calls for a different type of action.  The available theaters and forces include:

World War I, Europe	Germany

World War I, Europe	Allies

World War II, Europe	Axis

World War II, Europe	Allies

World War II, Pacific	Axis

World War II, Pacific	Allies

Choosing a theater of operations

The first time you click on the Mission hangar from the opening screen, you will see a theater of operations selection screen.  You can choose from Allied or Axis settings in World War II Europe or Pacific, or World War I settings for Germany or the Allies.  The next time you enter the Mission hangar, you will go to the Operations Room for the side and setting you last chose.  Single missions are available in all theaters; campaigns are available in World War II Europe.

From an Ops Room, you can select a different theater by clicking on the map table in the center of the room.  This brings up the theater selection screen.


Aircraft or Vehicle Reference

Aircraft and vehicle manuals

Click on the Aircraft Manual or the Vehicle Manual to open a full-screen reference about the available aircraft or vehicles in your selected theater.  Each aircraft or vehicle manual is displayed as an open book, and will open first to a table of contents.  To see more information on a particular plane or vehicle, click on its name in the list.

The reference section on each plane or vehicle is arranged in several pages.  Choose from one of the tabs at the top of the screen to see technical data and performance specifications.  At the left you will see pictures of the equipment, from three views; click on one of the images to enlarge it to full-screen (hit <ESC> to return to the manual, or right-click for a menu and select BACK).  In addition, each reference section offers an animated 3-D view of the plane or vehicle.  Drag the mouse in the picture to rotate the image, or use the controls to the right of the picture.

To turn to the next section of the manual, click on the dog-ear at the lower right corner.  Or go back to the Table of Contents by clicking on “ToC” at the upper right corner of the screen.  To close the book, select the EXIT button at the bottom.  Closing the book will send you back to the Operations Room.

Reviewing the aircraft reference manual before flying will help you to become familiar with the various planes’ characteristics, and how they stack up against other types.

Solo Rides

From the Aircraft Reference, bring up the plane of your choice and click on the keys at the bottom of the screen to take for a solo flight.   A checkride is a solo flight, without combat, in one of the Air Warrior III aircraft.  Taking a checkride is a good way to learn the feel of the various aircraft and improve your skills as a pilot.  For ground vehicles, the equivalent solo ride is called a test drive.

At the start of your solo ride, you will find yourself in the cockpit, on the ground.  You must start the engine and use the aircraft or vehicle’s controls to take off (or drive).  To return to the reference manual screen at any time from the cockpit, press <ESC+ e>, followed by <ENTER>.  All aircraft controls and instruments are active during a checkride flight.  For more information on controlling your aircraft or vehicle, see Section 5: The Flight Interface.  The keyboard and numeric keypad functions for flight control are listed in the Command Reference accompanying this manual; or press <F1> from the cockpit for an on-screen list.

Choices you made in the main Setup hangar also will be active during your solo ride.  These may affect the appearance of some of the aircraft or vehicle controls, and the operation of some parts of the game interface.


Missions - Offline

In the stand-alone environment, you may participate in organized missions, in a flight group made up of computer-generated drone pilots.  Pick your mission or campaign, get your orders and then fly in large operations such as bombing runs over enemy territory.  You can choose your role in the mission – fly with the group or lead it. Single missions must be completed in one game session; you cannot save an incomplete mission and finish it later.

If you would like to write missions of your own, use the Mission Editor – a separate program supplied with Air Warrior III.

A group of missions, following a larger strategic plan, is  called a campaign. You probably won’t be able to finish a campaign in one game session, so Air Warrior III allows you to save partially completed campaigns when you exit.  Campaigns eventually will be available in all theaters; in this release, however, they are available only in World War II Europe.

You must select a single mission or campaign from the available choices, listed on one of the two large chalkboards in the Operations Room.  Theaters that do not offer campaigns will display only the missions chalkboard.

The Missions chalkboard

Click on the left chalkboard to open a full-screen list of single missions available in your selected theater.  Click on the MORE and BACK erasers at the bottom of the screen to see more choices, or to page back toward the top of the list.

Select a mission name from the  chalkboard to bring up detailed orders for that mission.  ACCEPT the orders to go on to the Briefing Room (see below); or DECLINE to go back to the missions chalkboard.

The Briefing Room

After you have accepted your orders for a mission or campaign, Air Warrior will send you to the Briefing Room where you can receive detailed orders.

Playing in the Air Warrior III stand-alone environment, you will fly your missions alongside drone pilots supplied by the game.  These pilots are assigned a place in the flight group.  All pilots in a group will fly the same type of aircraft from among the planes used by your national force.  The group will leave from an airfield assigned by the mission orders.  Some missions will begin in the air.

The purpose of the briefing is to give pilots (including you) their group assignments for the coming action.

To fly your mission

After accepting your group assignments and returning to the Briefing Room, click on FLY to begin your mission, or EXIT to return to the Operations Room.


Mission Debrief

Scoring missions: The Debriefing Room

At the end of every mission, a debriefing chalkboard appears.  On the right, you will see your numerical scores, and on the left a few notes describing the success of your mission (or the lack of it).  Click on OK to go back to the Operations Room, or REPLAY THIS MISSION if you want to try again.

Scoring is based on how well you carried out your mission objectives.  For example, if you’re assigned job was to protect bombers, and the bombers suffer heavy losses, the mission will be a failure, no matter how many interceptors you shoot down.  Similarly, you may achieve an outstanding success and yet have few kills to show for it.


Campaigns

In the stand-alone environment, you may participate in an organized series of missions, called a campaign.  An Air Warrior III campaign is not a fixed chain of events, but rather an event driven dynamic path that changes depending on your performance.  Along the way you may achieve notable success or even “notable” failure.  You may even die, only to return to the campaign as a new pilot.  In Air Warrior III, the campaign need not end because your point of view character meets a virtual demise, and you needn’t fly a given mission over and over again to experience the full scope of the campaign.

The Campaigns chalkboard

Pick your campaign from the campaign chalkboard in either the Allied or Axis World War II European operations room.  Click on it to open a list of available campaigns, which appear in white at the top part of the chalkboard.  Saved campaign sessions are listed in yellow at the bottom part of the board; a checkmark will appear next to available campaigns that have been previously played and saved.

Navigate the campaign list using the MORE and BACK hotspots, and click on one of the available or saved campaigns to bring up a full-screen description of the campaign orders.  After selecting a campaign or a saved campaign state, click ACCEPT to go on to the Briefing Room, or DECLINE to go back to the campaign chalkboard.

The Briefing Room

After you have accepted your orders for a campaign mission, you go to the Briefing Room where you can receive detailed orders.  You can also, if you wish, make flight assignments.

Playing in the Air Warrior III stand-alone environment, you will fly your missions alongside drone pilots supplied by the game.  These pilots are assigned a place in the flight group.  All pilots in a group will fly the same type of aircraft from among the planes used by your national force.  The group will leave from an airfield assigned by the mission orders.  Some missions will begin in the air.

The purpose of the briefing is to give pilots (including you) their group assignments for the coming action.  You may let the game make these assignments for you, or take control and make them yourself.  You may enjoy taking the role of a commanding officer, managing your group’s resources and personnel to get the job done.

Group assignment

The briefing officer’s description of your mission will be in a text format that gives you information on the various mission elements: flight groups, waypoints and targets.  Navigate through the briefing using the PREVIOUS WAYPOINT and NEXT WAYPOINT buttons.  Click on GROUPS and ROSTER to open a full-screen work area for group assignments.

The first thing you will see when you open the assignment screen is the complete list of groups in your theater of operations.  Each group consists of a list of pilots assigned to a single plane or vehicle type.

Start the assignment process by selecting a group.  Click on its name in the group list box to open a  clipboard on the screen, showing the name of the group, the pilots currently assigned to it, and the type of plane they will fly.  You can select and display a different group by clicking on it in the group list, or click on the dog-eared lower right corner of the clipboard to turn the page to the next group in the list.

Assigning pilots to a group

To assign pilots, first highlight a name (or a blank line) on the clipboard.  A chalkboard containing the roster of available pilots will open on the screen.  The erasers at the bottom of the chalkboard can bring up more names on the roster, or send you back to the previous page.  Clicking on a name in the roster will replace the highlighted pilot on the clipboard.  Or click on names in the roster and then drag them to the clipboard until you have the list the way you want it.  The first name on the clipboard list will be the group leader. To place yourself into a group, click on FLY WITH THIS GROUP, on the clipboard.  To make yourself the group leader, click on LEAD THIS GROUP.

An alternate way to make the assignments is to right-click on a pilot’s name.

Fuel and bomb loads

Entries for fuel and bomb loads also are made from the group assignment screen.

Back to the Briefing Room

When you have finished making group assignments, save your group list by clicking on CLOSE at the bottom of the chalkboard or clipboard.  Air Warrior will send you back to the Briefing Room.

To fly your mission

After accepting your group assignments and returning to the Briefing Room, click on FLY to begin your mission, or EXIT to return to the Operations Room.

Scoring campaign missions: The Debriefing Room

At the end of every mission, a debriefing chalkboard appears.  On the right, you will see your numerical scores, and on the left a few notes describing the success of your mission (or the lack of it).  Click on OK to go back to the Operations Room, or REPLAY THIS MISSION if you want to try again.

NOTE: Air Warrior III has mission objective based scoring, meaning that the chief goal is to accomplish mission objectives more than it is an exercise in shooting down lots of aircraft and staying alive.  Thus, you can shoot down many enemies and still fail in your mission; you can die, and your group may be slaughtered, and yet the mission may well be an outstanding success.

Saving campaign missions

If your completed mission is part of an extended campaign, a SAVE option will appear on the debriefing chalkboard.  Saving serves to preserve your game state as of the moment the mission ended.  This is something you generally want to do before you end your game session, unless you were not especially satisfied with your last mission.


Saving Campaigns

Saving campaign missions

If your completed mission is part of an extended campaign, a SAVE option will appear on the debriefing chalkboard.  Saving serves to preserve your game state as of the moment the mission ended.  This is something you generally want to do before you end your game session, unless you were not especially satisfied with your last mission.  In that case, exit without saving.  When you resume the campaign you will begin where you left off before the last time you saved.


Capturing Text to an Existing File

If you’re capturing text online, and specify a filename of an existing file, you have two options: you can either overwrite the file or add to it.


Requesting a Crew

Whenever you select a bomber online, you have the option of broadcasting a crew request to other players in your country who are online, but not yet inflight.  You can choose to issue this request to everyone in your country, or just the players in the ready room with you.  The former is useful if you have not arranged a crew in advance, and you’re simply looking for players who are interested.  The latter makes more sense if you know you have interested players in the ready room to begin with.

You can also ask other players to sign on aboard your bomber by clicking on their entry in the player list with your right mouse button, and choosing from the pop up menu list.


Non-Fatal Errors

If you receive a non-fatal error dialog, it means that the program may continue to operate, but some portion may not work correctly.  In most cases you’ll receive an indication of a problem.  Most common errors of this kind are disconnection from the online host, or component files the program has failed to locate.  In the former case, exit Air Warrior, and attempt to reconnect by launching the program again from your online service provider.  In the case of missing files, check your directory settings (setup hangar user preferences or setup from the right mouse button popup menu) to make sure the specified directories are accurate for program, art, sound, and mission files.


Fatal Errors

When your receive a fatal error it means, as the name implies, that the program can no longer function.  You’ll need to exit, if you can, or reboot your computer.  Usually you’ll get some indication of what the trouble was.  If a needed file could not be found, try running the program again.  Then, from either the setup hangar or the setup entry on the popup right mouse button menu, check user preferences.  Under directories, make sure all the directories specified are valid.  In many cases, if you have performed a limited installation, the problem may be that the program is searching for files on the Air Warrior CD, and the CD is not present.


Briefing Room Waypoint Tool

This tool  is available to Briefing Officers in the online briefing room. .  It allows them to manipulate waypoints in a given mission.


Instant Action

Click on the Focke Wulf in the left foreground of the main airfield screen to enter an instant action mission.  In instant action, you will find yourself in the air immediately, and in the thick of battle.  It’s you against the world, as Air Warrior III sends enemy planes against you.  These missions vary as to the type of plane you will fly, and the opposition you will face.  They are a good way to pass a few memorable moments when you don’t have time to get involved with a full-blown mission or campaign.


Campaign Aviator Rosters

Group assignment

The briefing officer’s description of your mission will be in a text format that gives you information on the various mission elements: flight groups, waypoints and targets.  Navigate through the briefing using the PREVIOUS WAYPOINT and NEXT WAYPOINT buttons.  Click on GROUPS to open a full-screen work area for group assignments.

The first thing you will see when you open the assignment screen is the complete list of groups in your theater of operations.  Each group consists of a list of pilots assigned to a single plane or vehicle type.

Start the assignment process by selecting a group.  Click on its name in the group list box to open a  clipboard on the screen, showing the name of the group, the pilots currently assigned to it, and the type of plane they will fly.  You can select and display a different group by clicking on it in the group list, or click on the dog-eared lower right corner of the clipboard to turn the page to the next group in the list.

Assigning pilots to a group

To assign pilots, first highlight a name (or a blank line) on the clipboard.  A chalkboard containing the roster of available pilots will open on the screen.  The erasers at the bottom of the chalkboard can bring up more names on the roster, or send you back to the previous page.  Clicking on a name in the roster will replace the highlighted pilot on the clipboard.  Or click on names in the roster and then drag them to the clipboard until you have the list the way you want it.  The first name on the clipboard list will be the group leader. To place yourself into a group, click on FLY WITH THIS GROUP, on the clipboard.  To make yourself the group leader, click on LEAD THIS GROUP.

An alternate way to make the assignments is to right-click on a pilot’s name.  The pop-up menu will contain the following options:

1.	Assign to Group (places the highlighted name on the clipboard in “drag and drop” state)

2.	Pilot Info (displays a detailed score for highlighted pilot – active in online play only)


Head to Head Play

Head-to-head play involves a duel between two players in smaller versions of either the Europe or Pacific terrains, connected directly to each other by modem or across a network.  Duels conducted in this way resemble the online dueling available when you are connected to the Kesmai host in the multi-user environment.  Some features of a head-to-head session are similar to those used in other multiplayer sessions: nationality, for example, is defined by the online convention, in which there are three countries, named A, B, and C.

To begin a head-to-head game session from the opening screen, first click on the M2M (modem-to-modem) command center.  If you have previously established a dueling setup with your opponent, you may click on the PLACE CALL hot spot (the radio microphone or the phone book) to initiate the call.  If you are calling a new opponent, or you want to change the terms of the duel, click on the image labeled FLIGHT SETUP.

Setting up a head-to-head session: The Head-to-Head Setup window

Clicking on FLIGHT SETUP will open the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Here you may set the parameters for the duel before making the phone connection.  The window  is divided into two sections: one for yourself and the other for your opponent.  If you are the player initiating the call, you must enter setup information for both players; your opponent will have a chance to accept or modify the terms of the duel later on.

Options and controls in the Head-to-Head Setup window include:

Continuous Battle

With the Continuous Battle box checked, the duel will continue until one of the players quits by hitting the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  If one of the players dies, the battle will continue anew from the starting locations after a five-second pause.

Theater

Select either Europe or the Pacific as the location of your duel.  The era is left undetermined so that you may use aircraft which normally would not have fought against each other in the same historical period.

The Map button

Click on the MAP button to open a situation map for the area where the duel will take place.  Use the <ESC> key to hide the map when you no longer need it.  The map will display the correct landscape for the theater you have selected, showing the locations of airfields as well as terrain features such as mountains and lakes.

Plane

The PLANE button opens a full-screen Aircraft Selection area.  First, you must choose from three general categories, including  biplanes from World War I,  piston-engine aircraft from World War II, ground vehicles or jets from the Korean War era.  When you have made a choice, a second screen will display the available planes (or vehicles) in silhouette.  Make a selection (or press <ESC>) to return to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Realism

Select either Relaxed or Full realism for your duel.

Start

Your selection of a starting position sets the location of the aircraft at the start of the duel.  If the plane is to take off from the ground, you must name an airfield.  Choose from the available fields shown in the situation map.  If the duel is to start in-flight, set the altitude (in feet) and the distance from the opponent (in yards).  In-flight duels begin over a lake, with the exact location selected at random by Air Warrior III.

Accept, Fly, and Modify buttons

Before the connection is made, ACCEPT serves as an OK button, closing the setup window and allowing you to make the outgoing call.  FLY and MODIFY are disabled during the initial setup process.

After the modem (or network) link is established, the Head-to-Head Setup window will be displayed to both players so they can negotiate the terms of the duel.  The player receiving the call will have control of the screen first; when this player has accepted or modified the terms, control will pass back to the initiating player before it can begin.

The MODIFY button gives either player the option of changing the terms as they appear in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  If one player clicks on MODIFY, then the screen is turned over to that player for changes.  If you decide you want to modify the terms of the duel during flight, press the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  Both players will go back to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Both must click on ACCEPT  to set the terms of the duel.  After this condition is met, the battle will begin when both click on FLY.

Making the connection

As the initiating player, you may start the connection process by accepting the terms you have established in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Or click on the image of the radio microphone to connect with a previously established setup.

If your computer is on a network, your next step in making the connection will be to choose a connection type.  A drop-down list will appear on the screen; make your selection.  Once the connection type is set, the screen will display the phone dialog, where you may choose an established opponent by name or enter the information Air Warrior needs to connect to an opponent who is not already listed.  If your computer is not on a network, you will go straight to the phone dialog from the Head-to-Head Setup window.

The phone dialog

If you are using a modem connection, you must enter a valid phone number and baud rate for your opponent.  If you are calling an established opponent, his or her name will appear in a list.  Simply select the name and click on PLACE CALL.  Your opponent must be ready to receive the call by having placed Air Warrior III  in auto-answer mode on his or her machine.

Other options from the phone dialog include:

OK and Cancel

OK will save any information you have entered and send you back to your previous screen: either the command center or the Head-to-Head Setup window.  CANCEL works like OK, except that it does not save any information you may have entered on the phone dialog.

Receiving a call

Click on the RECEIVE CALL hot spot (the radio in the command center) to place Air Warrior III in auto-answer mode.  If your computer is on a network, you will need to choose a connection type, just as you would when placing a call.  Then enter a name and five-character Custom Player ID (CPID) for yourself.  The text buffers will appear at the bottom of the screen with the text: “Waiting for Incoming Call.”  If you want to cancel auto-answer mode before making a connection, click on the EXIT sign in the command center.

When the call comes in, you will see the text: “Establishing a Connection.”   On a successful connection, both players will see the Head-to-Head Setup window, which now serves as a negotiation screen.

After establishing a connection

Once the two players have connected, the original Head-to-Head Setup window used by the player who placed the call appears on both players’ screens.  ACCEPT and MODIFY are active only for the receiving player, who must either accept or change the terms of the duel.  Once he or she accepts, the player who made the call will have control of the screen, to accept or modify the terms again.  Both players must accept the duel setup before FLY becomes active on either screen.  When both have accepted, and one player has clicked on FLY, the second player will see the message “Your opponent is ready.  Click FLY to begin duel.”

Ending the duel

If either player presses the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination during flight, both will return immediately to the Head-to-Head Setup window.


Head to Head Screen

To begin a head-to-head game session from the opening screen, first click on the M2M (modem-to-modem) command center.  If you have previously established a dueling setup with your opponent, you may click on the PLACE CALL hot spot (the radio microphone or the telephone) to initiate the call.  If you are calling a new opponent, or you want to change the terms of the duel, click on the image labeled FLIGHT SETUP.

Setting up a head-to-head session: The Head-to-Head Setup window

Clicking on FLIGHT SETUP will open the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Here you may set the parameters for the duel before making the phone connection.  The window  is divided into two sections: one for yourself and the other for your opponent.  If you are the player initiating the call, you must enter setup information for both players; your opponent will have a chance to accept or modify the terms of the duel later on.

Options and controls in the Head-to-Head Setup window include:

Continuous Battle

With the Continuous Battle box checked, the duel will continue until one of the players quits by hitting the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  If one of the players dies, the battle will continue anew from the starting locations after a five-second pause.

Theater

Select either Europe or the Pacific as the location of your duel.  The era is left undetermined so that you may use aircraft which normally would not have fought against each other in the same historical period.

The Map button

Click on the MAP button to open a situation map for the area where the duel will take place.  Use the <ESC> key to hide the map when you no longer need it.  The map will display the correct landscape for the theater you have selected, showing the locations of airfields as well as terrain features such as mountains and lakes.

Plane

The PLANE button opens a full-screen Aircraft Selection area.  First, you must choose from three general categories, including  biplanes from World War I,  piston-engine aircraft from World War II, ground vehicles or jets from the Korean War era.  When you have made a choice, a second screen will display the available planes (or vehicles) in silhouette.  Make a selection (or press <ESC>) to return to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Realism

Select either Relaxed or Full realism for your duel.

Start

Your selection of a starting position sets the location of the aircraft at the start of the duel.  If the plane is to take off from the ground, you must name an airfield.  Choose from the available fields shown in the situation map.  If the duel is to start in-flight, set the altitude (in feet) and the distance from the opponent (in yards).  In-flight duels begin over a lake, with the exact location selected at random by Air Warrior III.

Accept, Fly, and Modify buttons

Before the connection is made, ACCEPT serves as an OK button, closing the setup window and allowing you to make the outgoing call.  FLY and MODIFY are disabled during the initial setup process.

After the modem (or network) link is established, the Head-to-Head Setup window will be displayed to both players so they can negotiate the terms of the duel.  The player receiving the call will have control of the screen first; when this player has accepted or modified the terms, control will pass back to the initiating player before it can begin.

The MODIFY button gives either player the option of changing the terms as they appear in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  If one player clicks on MODIFY, then the screen is turned over to that player for changes.  If you decide you want to modify the terms of the duel during flight, press the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  Both players will go back to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Both must click on ACCEPT  to set the terms of the duel.  After this condition is met, the battle will begin when both click on FLY.

Making the connection

As the initiating player, you may start the connection process by accepting the terms you have established in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Or click on the image of the radio microphone to connect with a previously established setup.

If your computer is on a network, your next step in making the connection will be to choose a connection type.  A drop-down list will appear on the screen; make your selection.  Once the connection type is set, the screen will display the phone dialog, where you may choose an established opponent by name or enter the information Air Warrior needs to connect to an opponent who is not already listed.  If your computer is not on a network, you will go straight to the phone dialog from the Head-to-Head Setup window.

The phone dialog

If you are using a modem connection, you must enter a valid phone number and baud rate for your opponent.  If you are calling an established opponent, his or her name will appear in a list.  Simply select the name and click on PLACE CALL.  Your opponent must be ready to receive the call by having placed Air Warrior III  in auto-answer mode on his or her machine.

Other options from the phone dialog include:

OK and Cancel

OK will save any information you have entered and send you back to your previous screen: either the command center or the Head-to-Head Setup window.  CANCEL works like OK, except that it does not save any information you may have entered on the phone dialog.

Receiving a call

Click on the RECEIVE CALL hot spot (the radio in the command center) to place Air Warrior III in auto-answer mode.  If your computer is on a network, you will need to choose a connection type, just as you would when placing a call.  Then enter a name and five-character Custom Player ID (CPID) for yourself.  The text buffers will appear at the bottom of the screen with the text: “Waiting for Incoming Call.”  If you want to cancel auto-answer mode before making a connection, click on the EXIT sign in the command center.

When the call comes in, you will see the text: “Establishing a Connection.”   On a successful connection, both players will see the Head-to-Head Setup window, which now serves as a negotiation screen.

After establishing a connection

Once the two players have connected, the original Head-to-Head Setup window used by the player who placed the call appears on both players’ screens.  ACCEPT and MODIFY are active only for the receiving player, who must either accept or change the terms of the duel.  Once he or she accepts, the player who made the call will have control of the screen, to accept or modify the terms again.  Both players must accept the duel setup before FLY becomes active on either screen.  When both have accepted, and one player has clicked on FLY, the second player will see the message “Your opponent is ready.  Click FLY to begin duel.”

Ending the duel

If either player presses the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination during flight, both will return immediately to the Head-to-Head Setup window.


Head to Head Phone

To begin a head-to-head game session from the opening screen, first click on the M2M (modem-to-modem) command center.  If you have previously established a dueling setup with your opponent, you may click on the PLACE CALL hot spot (the radio microphone or telephone) to initiate the call.  If you are calling a new opponent, or you want to change the terms of the duel, click on the image labeled FLIGHT SETUP.

Setting up a head-to-head session: The Head-to-Head Setup window

Clicking on FLIGHT SETUP will open the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Here you may set the parameters for the duel before making the phone connection.  The window  is divided into two sections: one for yourself and the other for your opponent.  If you are the player initiating the call, you must enter setup information for both players; your opponent will have a chance to accept or modify the terms of the duel later on.

Options and controls in the Head-to-Head Setup window include:

Continuous Battle

With the Continuous Battle box checked, the duel will continue until one of the players quits by hitting the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  If one of the players dies, the battle will continue anew from the starting locations after a five-second pause.

Theater

Select either Europe or the Pacific as the location of your duel.  The era is left undetermined so that you may use aircraft which normally would not have fought against each other in the same historical period.

The Map button

Click on the MAP button to open a situation map for the area where the duel will take place.  Use the <ESC> key to hide the map when you no longer need it.  The map will display the correct landscape for the theater you have selected, showing the locations of airfields as well as terrain features such as mountains and lakes.

Plane

The PLANE button opens a full-screen Aircraft Selection area.  First, you must choose from three general categories, including  biplanes from World War I,  piston-engine aircraft from World War II, ground vehicles or jets from the Korean War era.  When you have made a choice, a second screen will display the available planes (or vehicles) in silhouette.  Make a selection (or press <ESC>) to return to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Realism

Select either Relaxed or Full realism for your duel.

Start

Your selection of a starting position sets the location of the aircraft at the start of the duel.  If the plane is to take off from the ground, you must name an airfield.  Choose from the available fields shown in the situation map.  If the duel is to start in-flight, set the altitude (in feet) and the distance from the opponent (in yards).  In-flight duels begin over a lake, with the exact location selected at random by Air Warrior III.

Accept, Fly, and Modify buttons

Before the connection is made, ACCEPT serves as an OK button, closing the setup window and allowing you to make the outgoing call.  FLY and MODIFY are disabled during the initial setup process.

After the modem (or network) link is established, the Head-to-Head Setup window will be displayed to both players so they can negotiate the terms of the duel.  The player receiving the call will have control of the screen first; when this player has accepted or modified the terms, control will pass back to the initiating player before it can begin.

The MODIFY button gives either player the option of changing the terms as they appear in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  If one player clicks on MODIFY, then the screen is turned over to that player for changes.  If you decide you want to modify the terms of the duel during flight, press the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  Both players will go back to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Both must click on ACCEPT  to set the terms of the duel.  After this condition is met, the battle will begin when both click on FLY.

Making the connection

As the initiating player, you may start the connection process by accepting the terms you have established in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Or click on the image of the radio microphone to connect with a previously established setup.

If your computer is on a network, your next step in making the connection will be to choose a connection type.  A drop-down list will appear on the screen; make your selection.  Once the connection type is set, the screen will display the phone dialog, where you may choose an established opponent by name or enter the information Air Warrior needs to connect to an opponent who is not already listed.  If your computer is not on a network, you will go straight to the phone dialog from the Head-to-Head Setup window.

The phone dialog

If you are using a modem connection, you must enter a valid phone number and baud rate for your opponent.  If you are calling an established opponent, his or her name will appear in a list.  Simply select the name and click on PLACE CALL.  Your opponent must be ready to receive the call by having placed Air Warrior III  in auto-answer mode on his or her machine.

Other options from the phone dialog include:

OK and Cancel

OK will save any information you have entered and send you back to your previous screen: either the command center or the Head-to-Head Setup window.  CANCEL works like OK, except that it does not save any information you may have entered on the phone dialog.

Receiving a call

Click on the RECEIVE CALL hot spot (the radio in the command center) to place Air Warrior III in auto-answer mode.  If your computer is on a network, you will need to choose a connection type, just as you would when placing a call.  Then enter a name and five-character Custom Player ID (CPID) for yourself.  The text buffers will appear at the bottom of the screen with the text: “Waiting for Incoming Call.”  If you want to cancel auto-answer mode before making a connection, click on the EXIT sign in the command center.

When the call comes in, you will see the text: “Establishing a Connection.”   On a successful connection, both players will see the Head-to-Head Setup window, which now serves as a negotiation screen.

After establishing a connection

Once the two players have connected, the original Head-to-Head Setup window used by the player who placed the call appears on both players’ screens.  ACCEPT and MODIFY are active only for the receiving player, who must either accept or change the terms of the duel.  Once he or she accepts, the player who made the call will have control of the screen, to accept or modify the terms again.  Both players must accept the duel setup before FLY becomes active on either screen.  When both have accepted, and one player has clicked on FLY, the second player will see the message “Your opponent is ready.  Click FLY to begin duel.”

Ending the duel

If either player presses the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination during flight, both will return immediately to the Head-to-Head Setup window.


Setting Your Callsign in a Head to Head Session

When you either initiate or receive a head to head connection, you have the opportunity to enter a name and five-character Custom Player ID (CPID) for yourself.  This is how you will be identified in the setup screens , and on the radio when you’re inflight.


Head to Head Setup

To begin a head-to-head game session from the opening screen, first click on the M2M (modem-to-modem) command center.  If you have previously established a dueling setup with your opponent, you may click on the PLACE CALL hot spot (the radio microphone or telephone) to initiate the call.  If you are calling a new opponent, or you want to change the terms of the duel, click on the image labeled FLIGHT SETUP.

Setting up a head-to-head session: The Head-to-Head Setup window

Clicking on FLIGHT SETUP will open the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Here you may set the parameters for the duel before making the phone connection.  The window  is divided into two sections: one for yourself and the other for your opponent.  If you are the player initiating the call, you must enter setup information for both players; your opponent will have a chance to accept or modify the terms of the duel later on.

Options and controls in the Head-to-Head Setup window include:

Continuous Battle

With the Continuous Battle box checked, the duel will continue until one of the players quits by hitting the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  If one of the players dies, the battle will continue anew from the starting locations after a five-second pause.

Theater

Select either Europe or the Pacific as the location of your duel.  The era is left undetermined so that you may use aircraft which normally would not have fought against each other in the same historical period.

The Map button

Click on the MAP button to open a situation map for the area where the duel will take place.  Use the <ESC> key to hide the map when you no longer need it.  The map will display the correct landscape for the theater you have selected, showing the locations of airfields as well as terrain features such as mountains and lakes.

Plane

The PLANE button opens a full-screen Aircraft Selection area.  First, you must choose from three general categories, including  biplanes from World War I,  piston-engine aircraft from World War II, ground vehicles or jets from the Korean War era.  When you have made a choice, a second screen will display the available planes (or vehicles) in silhouette.  Make a selection (or press <ESC>) to return to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Realism

Select either Relaxed or Full realism for your duel.

Start

Your selection of a starting position sets the location of the aircraft at the start of the duel.  If the plane is to take off from the ground, you must name an airfield.  Choose from the available fields shown in the situation map.  If the duel is to start in-flight, set the altitude (in feet) and the distance from the opponent (in yards).  In-flight duels begin over a lake, with the exact location selected at random by Air Warrior III.

Accept, Fly, and Modify buttons

Before the connection is made, ACCEPT serves as an OK button, closing the setup window and allowing you to make the outgoing call.  FLY and MODIFY are disabled during the initial setup process.

After the modem (or network) link is established, the Head-to-Head Setup window will be displayed to both players so they can negotiate the terms of the duel.  The player receiving the call will have control of the screen first; when this player has accepted or modified the terms, control will pass back to the initiating player before it can begin.

The MODIFY button gives either player the option of changing the terms as they appear in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  If one player clicks on MODIFY, then the screen is turned over to that player for changes.  If you decide you want to modify the terms of the duel during flight, press the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination.  Both players will go back to the Head-to-Head Setup window.

Both must click on ACCEPT  to set the terms of the duel.  After this condition is met, the battle will begin when both click on FLY.

Making the connection

As the initiating player, you may start the connection process by accepting the terms you have established in the Head-to-Head Setup window.  Or click on the image of the radio microphone to connect with a previously established setup.

If your computer is on a network, your next step in making the connection will be to choose a connection type.  A drop-down list will appear on the screen; make your selection.  Once the connection type is set, the screen will display the phone dialog, where you may choose an established opponent by name or enter the information Air Warrior needs to connect to an opponent who is not already listed.  If your computer is not on a network, you will go straight to the phone dialog from the Head-to-Head Setup window.

The phone dialog

If you are using a modem connection, you must enter a valid phone number and baud rate for your opponent.  If you are calling an established opponent, his or her name will appear in a list.  Simply select the name and click on PLACE CALL.  Your opponent must be ready to receive the call by having placed Air Warrior III  in auto-answer mode on his or her machine.

Other options from the phone dialog include:

OK and Cancel

OK will save any information you have entered and send you back to your previous screen: either the command center or the Head-to-Head Setup window.  CANCEL works like OK, except that it does not save any information you may have entered on the phone dialog.

Receiving a call

Click on the RECEIVE CALL hot spot (the radio in the command center) to place Air Warrior III in auto-answer mode.  If your computer is on a network, you will need to choose a connection type, just as you would when placing a call.  Then enter a name and five-character Custom Player ID (CPID) for yourself.  The text buffers will appear at the bottom of the screen with the text: “Waiting for Incoming Call.”  If you want to cancel auto-answer mode before making a connection, click on the EXIT sign in the command center.

When the call comes in, you will see the text: “Establishing a Connection.”   On a successful connection, both players will see the Head-to-Head Setup window, which now serves as a negotiation screen.

After establishing a connection

Once the two players have connected, the original Head-to-Head Setup window used by the player who placed the call appears on both players’ screens.  ACCEPT and MODIFY are active only for the receiving player, who must either accept or change the terms of the duel.  Once he or she accepts, the player who made the call will have control of the screen, to accept or modify the terms again.  Both players must accept the duel setup before FLY becomes active on either screen.  When both have accepted, and one player has clicked on FLY, the second player will see the message “Your opponent is ready.  Click FLY to begin duel.”

Network Speech

You can talk with your opponent in a Head-to-Head duel, if you have a microphone and a sound card that supports network speech in Air Warrior III.  For information on setting up your computer for network speech, click here.

Ending the duel

If either player presses the <ESC+e><ENTER> key combination during flight, both will return immediately to the Head-to-Head Setup window.


Multimedia Credits

Okay, so nobody really likes to sit through the credits.  Knowing this, we’ve spiced them up a bit with images and music.  The folks responsible for bringing this product to you are many, and they get upset if we don’t stick their names in there.


Force Feedback Joystick Options

CH Force F/X Stick Setup

This is essentially the Combat Stick with the addition of I-FORCE force feedback.

NOTE: AWIII does not support the discrete button mode for the CH Force F/X joystick.

Configure force feedback in the AWIIII program from the first controller setup dialog.

Serial Port:

This section allows you to specify how the serial cable from your force feedback stick is connected to your PC.  For most people this will be one of the standard PC serial ports, COM1 through COM4.  For those with an add-on communications board can select 'other' and enter the appropriate address and IRQ.  Use the test button to verify your settings.

Effects:

The controls in this section allow you to set the level of each of the individual effects supported.

Airspeed:

This controls the resistance of the stick at increased airspeed.  Set it higher if you like a stiff joystick.

Stall:

This controls the buffer when in or approaching a stall.

Spin:

This controls the wild stick movement when in a spin.

Ground and Gear:

This controls the effects or wheels on the ground and gear down in flight.

Guns:

This controls the vibration of the machine guns.  It also affects the tank cannon and bomb release.

Hits and Explosions:

This controls impacts on your aircraft, and the concussion of nearby explosion.

Engine:

This controls engine hum.

Crash:

This controls the wild stick movement when you are killed.

Select OK to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro Setup

This is essentially the 3D Pro with the addition of DirectInput force feedback but without the emulation modes.

Configure force feedback in the AWIIII program from the first controller setup dialog.

Serial Port:

This section does not apply to this joystick, as the FF Pro uses the MIDI port to control FF effects.

Effects:

The controls in this section allow you to set the level of each of the individual effects supported.

Airspeed:

This controls the resistance of the stick at increased airspeed.  Set it higher if you like a stiff joystick, so to speak.

Stall:

This controls the buffer when in or approaching a stall.

Spin:

This controls the wild stick movement when in a spin.

Ground and Gear:

This controls the effects or wheels on the ground and gear down in flight.

Guns:

This controls the vibration of the machine guns.  It also affects the tank cannon and bomb release.

Hits and Explosions:

This controls impacts on your aircraft, and the concussion of nearby explosion.

Engine:

This controls engine hum.

Crash:

This controls the wild stick movement when you are killed.

Select OK to save your changes, or Cancel to discard them.


Network Speech

Air Warrior supports real time network voice transmissions, up to eight players per voice channel.  There is also an intercom channel for multiplayer crewed bomber and vehicles that allows you to talk to everyone onboard.  It can also be used in two player, head-to-head play.  Speech is recorded when you make gun camera films.  Thus, you can even use network speech in offline missions if you wish to provide running, spoken commentary in your offline gun camera films.

As this is being written, live speech in Air Warrior IIII was just entering final testing.  Thus it may not be available in all Air Warrior IIII online arenas when you first logon to play.  Also, some of the procedures detailed here may have changed.

NOTE:  If your sound card uses the ESS chipset, or if you have the Sound Blaster AWE 64, enabling network speech could create instability in Air Warrior IIII.  To find out if your sound card uses the ESS chip, consult the documentation that comes with your sound card.  In some cases the ESS chip will be identified in Windows 95.  Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Multimedia, Audio, and note the driver displayed under Preferred Device.  If it says ESS, then you might want to avoid using network speech.

Network speech requires your sound card to operate in full-duplex mode.  Some sound cards do not handle full-duplex well.  For these cards, such as the Vibra 16, enabling network speech will degrade the quality of all game sounds.

Requirements

All you need are:

•	A SoundBlaster 16 compatible sound card with current Windows 95 sound drivers

•	A microphone

Your best bet would be a microphone/headset combination.  This need not be an aviation quality rig.  After all, given the limited network bandwidth available for sound, the quality will not be high fidelity.  Rather, a simple mike/headphone combo that you can pick up in most mainstream electronics stores will do just fine.

Setting up your Microphone for Network Speech

First, of course, you must plug your microphone jack into the microphone input on your sound card.  Some people reasonably confuse this with the line input, and this will not work.  You must select the microphone input.

Setting up Windows 95 for Network Speech

If you already use a microphone in Windows 95, with satisfactory results, you can probably skip the following and go directly to Enabling and Using Network Speech in Air Warrior IIII.

There are three steps to setting up your microphone in Windows 95:

1.	Set the Recording Quality

2.	Enable Automatic Gain Control

3.	Adjust Volume and Input Sliders in the Audio Mixer

Setting Recording Quality

As noted above, network speech is not what you would call CD quality.  What you want is Radio Quality.  Here is how you specify it:

•	Click the Start button, then choose Settings, and choose Control Panel

•	Double-click the Multimedia icon

•	Under Audio, you will find a drop down list at the bottom under Preferred Quality.  Select Radio Quality.

•	Don’t bother with the volume level for recording - this pertains to MIDI recording only.

•	Click OK

Enabling Automatic Gain Control

This will help boost the gain on most microphones automatically.

•	Double-click the speaker icon on the clock in the Windows 95 taskbar.  If you don’t have a speaker icon on your taskbar, try the Start menu, Programs, Accessories, Multimedia, Volume Control.

•	You should not have the Sound Mixer panel.  Click Options and made sure the Advanced Controls option is checked.  If not, check it.  If it appears unavailable, ignore it and proceed with the following anyway.

•	Select Options, Properties, and under the heading, Adjust volume for, select Playback.  Then scroll down the list below and make sure the Microphone box is checked.  Click OK.

•	You should now have a volume slider for Microphone on your Sound mixer panel.  Click Options again, then Properties, and under Adjust volume for, select Recording and OK.

•	This will bring up your Recording Control mixer.  Under Microphone, make sure the select button is checked.  You will see a button for Advanced.  Select it.

•	Under Other Control at the bottom, select Microphone Gain Control.  Click OK and, at last, you’re done setting Automatic Gain.

•	Leave the Recording Control mixer open and proceed to the next series of steps.

Adjusting Microphone Recording Level

If you thought you were through with all of this when you managed to enable Automatic Gain Control, you were mistaken.  Not to worry, though; there is one more fairly easy series of steps.

If you didn’t leave the Recording Control mixer open, open it using the steps outlined above

•	Click the Start menu, choose Programs, Accessories, Multimedia, and Sound Recorder.

•	On the Recording Control mixer, move the Master Volume slider to the middle of its range, and move the Microphone Volume slider close to the top of its range.

•	Choose New from the Sound Recorder's File menu.  Click the Record button (the button on the far right of on the Sound Recorder) and begin talking into the microphone in your normal tone of voice, with the microphone positioned close to your lips, but in a manner that is comfortable for you when you will be flying Air Warrior.

•	Note the recording volume level next to the Recording Volume master slider on the left of the Recorder Control mixer as you speak.  This should enter the red only when you are uttering a sharp word loudly.

•	Adjust the Microphone volume until your speech stays largely in the yellow region most of the time, with occasional peaks in the red.

•	If the sound level stays strictly in the red, no matter where the microphone level is set, disable Automatic Gain Control and run through these steps once more.

Enabling and Using Network Speech in Air Warrior IIII

Enabling speech in your Air Warrior IIII front end software is quite easy.  From the Setup hangar on the main airfield (main menu) screen, select Sound Setup and check the box at the bottom for Network Voice Communication.  You can also get to Sound Setup using the right mouse button menu, selecting Setup, and Sound.

To use network speech in the game, you and the players you wish to speak to inflight, need to decide on a voice frequency.  Channels 701-999 are reserved for network speech.  Once you and your friends are tuned to a common speech enabled frequency, do the following to talk to one another:

Push to talk key - hit and hold down the q key on your keyboard, and begin speaking.  Keep these radio transmissions short - fewer than 7 seconds in all cases.  When you are done speaking, release the q key.

To talk on the intercom on multiplayer crewed bombers or vehicles, the push to talk key is <shift> q.  Everyone in your bomber will hear an intercom transmission regardless of whether they’ve tuned to a voice channel.

Your voice will be processed by the Air Warrior IIII software, sent to the host computer, transmitted to other players on your voice frequency, and then will be unpacked and played on their computers.  Players on that frequency will receive a text message informing them that radio traffic is being transmitted.  Players experiencing significant network delays will not receive these voice packets, however, as this could severely overtax their already labored connection.

Network Speech in Head-to-Head Play

When flying head to head, simply press q to talk.  There is no need to tune to a voice channel.

Adding Spoken Commentary to Gun Camera Films

Online or offline, you can use network speech to add your spoken commentary to your gun camera films.  You have to add it during the filming however; you cannot add commentary to a film after it’s made.  If you wish to record your comments in a film, simply use the push to talk (q) key.  There is no need to tune to a voice channel beforehand.

Tips

Speak as clearly as you can.  The sound quality is limited.  Increasing the volume of your voice will not help, though you will be tempted to if players say they cannot understand you.  Strive instead for clarity, by speaking evenly and distinctly, and by avoiding rapid speech.

Develop a spoken shorthand with the pilots you fly with regularly.  For example, you can use the short, three letter airfield names and standard aviation phonetic alphabet to improve radio communication clarity.  Instead of saying “Meet me over Centurion” say “Meet Charlie, Echo, November.”  This is what the phonetic aviation alphabet and terse radio procedures were created for - to be understood when radio connections are less than perfectly clear and many people are using the same frequency.

Here is the current phonetic alphabet employed in aviation today:

A	Alpha

B	Bravo

C	Charlie

D	Delta

E	Echo

F	Fox-trot

G	Golf

H	Hotel

I	India

J	Juliet

K	Kilo

L	Lima

M	Mike

N	November

O	Oscar

P	Papa

Q	Quebec

R	Romeo

S	Sierra

T	Tango

U	Uniform

V	Victor

W	Whiskey

X	X-Ray

Y	Yankee

Z	Zulu


Historical Online Play

Full Time Online Scenarios

In addition to the open melee mode, featuring three generic countries engaged in no holds barred arena play, Air Warrior IIII also offers historically based multiplayer air combat missions.  These are similar to offline Air Warrior IIII missions and campaigns.  Difference is that everyone in your group is a live pilot, as are all other friendly and enemy planes.

In these arenas, you choose a side in an historical engagement, choose a group to fly with, and the host will launch you into the mission at a designated scramble time.  Squadron leaders can reserve slots for their pilots if they wish.  Scoring for each mission is tied, directly, to the ability of your group to accomplish the mission’s objectives.  The missions that follow will also reflect the ability of each side to achieve mission goals.

Benefits for New Players

Although the concept of large scale, group oriented historical play could seem, at first, intimidating to a newcomer, this is actually the easiest way for new players to being their online Air Warrior careers.  Unlike the melee arenas, you know, from the first, what you goal is, what plane you’ll be flying, and what your initial flight path will be.  Plus you will be flying with other players who are motivated to help you, as success of the overall group is stressed here.  Even if you don’t know how to fly a plane in Air Warrior, you can participate in the historical arenas.  You can fly as a crew member on a bomber, manning a machine gun.  You can even serve as a staff officer on the ground, monitoring radar and radioing this vital information to your pilots in the air.

Benefits for Veteran Players

Although exciting, melee play can lose its luster once you’ve mastered air combat maneuvers.  Historical play gives veterans focused goals, along with the opportunity to use what they know to make their flight group perform better.  Here, the “old hands” can exercise an ability seldom drawn upon in the melee arenas: leadership.

Logging Onto an Historical Theater

You make the initial connection to online Air Warrior IIIID from your web browser (e.g. GameStorm, Earthlink), or from an online service featuring the game (e.g. CompuServe).  No matter which service you use, from their Air Warrior IIIID area, you will click on a Play button to launch the game.  After Air Warrior loads, you will see an airfield, graphically depicting first level game options.  Click on the aircraft flying overhead to go to the online arena selection screen.

Arena Selection Screen

In addition to the selections for Full Realism and Relaxed Realism arena play, you will see options labeled Historical Scenarios.

Scenario Selection Screen

Here you will see a series of multiple featured engagements, along with the next take-off time, whether the arena is available for practice, how many players are there, and the results of the last mission.  For example:

Battle of Britain - Eagle Day

Take-off at 5:00PM EST Saturday.

Now accepting recruits.

Last mission was a decisive Axis victory.

Status of a scenario can be, as in the example above, accepting recruits, or it can be open for practice, meaning that the mission’s plane set and airfields are available for unstructured use, or mission in progress.  Missions in progress will always be displayed as FULL.

Officer’s Club

After you have selected a mission, you will go to the Officer’s Club, and view further details about the mission.  Here you select the side you wish to fly for.  If the scenario is becoming severely one-sided, there will be a note requesting that the player select the underdog.

If the arena is in practice mode, the terrain and plane sets will be appropriate to the scenario, but otherwise will provide normal arena play (see The Online Multi-User Environment section for instructions on how to select an airfield and an aircraft in normal arena mode).

Headquarters

Once you’ve selected a side in the mission, you will go to your selected side’s Headquarters.  Here you select a group to fly with.  Each listed group will also contain information on its status: how many slots are available and how many pilots currently occupy available slots.  The first group which is not full or reserved will be selected by default.  Clicking the Back button will return you to the OC; Next takes you to the airfield for your selected group.

Ready Room

Here you receive a choice of roles to play with your chosen group.

Pilot

Pilot, of course, is an obvious role.  You fly the airplane, assigned to your group, in the mission.

Gunner

If a gunner role is offered, you would serve as a crew member aboard a multiplayer bomber.  Gunner slots, even for bomber groups, will only open as pilots for the bombers become available.  If you’re flying with a group of single seat fighters, the gunner slot will always be full regardless of the number of pilots who have signed up.

Staff Officer

Staff Officer is not, as its name implies, the commander of the group.  Rather, this role is for a non-flying group member who will assist his group from the ground - usually offering reports from radar facilities to pilots in the air.  The Staff Officer has access to the situation map and the radio room, and can talk on the radio.  He can also return to the HQ, but at that point is considered to have ended his mission since he will be mingling with dead guys (see Life After Death below).

If you’re new to online historical play - as is likely, if you’re reading this - choose the pilot role.  If you’re new to Air Warrior, or if you don’t have a joystick and are not confident in your ability to pilot an aircraft with a mouse, choose a bomber group and a gunner position.

Briefing Room

Here’s where you get the details of your upcoming mission.  Before you look over the map and waypoints, a dialog box will explain how the map works, and how many minutes are left before the mission launches.

Although the map shows you your waypoints, you will not see waypoint orders as you do in offline play.  The reason: the space used to show waypoint orders offline is used for the online player list.  To get your waypoint details, right click on a waypoint and then select Waypoint Properties.  Using the Waypoint Properties box, you can scroll through the mission waypoints and see your altitude and orders for each one.

If you’ve selected a gunner position, you will receive a crewing dialog box, showing your position on the airplane.  If you would prefer a different gunner position, you can select from the other slots still open.

Reserving Groups

If you are the leader of a Squadron (see Squadrons section), your squad has at least 8 members, and there is more than 15 minutes to go before the mission launches, you can reserve group slots for your team.  The final dialog box in the Briefing Room will include a check box labeled, “Please reserve space in this group for my squadron”.  The reservation will lock others out of the group until T-15.

Group Command

Except for groups reserved by Squadron Commanding Officers (COs), the first player who enters a group briefing become the group leader by default, and will have command pilot wings next to his entry on the player list.  If you do not feel comfortable or qualified to assume this duty, feel free to transfer leadership of the group to another pilot.  Simply right click on the pilot’s entry on the player list and select Transfer Leadership.

Take-off

You will receive notice of how much time remains before the mission launches.  This message appears once every five minutes until T-5, and then once every minute until scramble.  At take-off time, players are automatically launched into flight and the gunners will follow.  Players who have not yet selected a role and been added to the briefing at takeoff time can only be staff officers.

Flight

Waypoints from the mission briefing will appear on your overhead map (F10), along with the heading you need to fly to reach your next waypoint, and the estimated time it will take for you to get there.  As you reach each waypoint, your waypoint orders will appear in the text buffer.  If you miss these instructions, or any other radio traffic, hit F2 to look at an extended text buffer.

Don’t become too fixated on waypoints, however, because you will not see these waypoints if you land and replane later in the mission.  Try and become familiar with your route as you fly it.  This is good advice for flight leaders as well.  Depending on the mission, you may well be leading your pilots on a second sortie.

Show Me The Way To Go Home

Often you won’t be flying to all of your waypoints.  Waypoints, after all, are merely serving suggestions designed to put you into position to accomplish your mission.  Often you’ll have to bypass waypoints altogether due to getting low on ammo or fuel, or due to battle damage.  To skip waypoints, hit <CTRL> F1.  To get the most direct heading back to your home airfield, cycle through your waypoints until you reach the final one.  Your overhead map will then show the heading home.

After the Mission

There are six ways a sortie can end.  In all but the last of these possible cases the mission is over for you, except in those rare instances where your side has been issued multiple lives.

•	you die, either in combat or due to a collision with the ground

•	you lose your network connection to our host computer

•	you ditch or bail out and are captured

•	you ditch or bail out over friendly territory

•	time in the mission runs out and the mission is over

•	you land safely at your home airfield with time remaining in the mission.

If you land safely at your home field or another friendly field, hit <ESC> E after coming to a stop, and you will find yourself in the Ready Room for that airfield.  Your aircraft needs to be rearmed and refueled.  Thus you cannot take-off immediately.  You will be informed, however, of how much time remains before your aircraft is ready.  When the refuel/repair time has passed, you will receive a “You may now take-off, sir.” message.  Launch, in this case, is not automatic.  You will have to click the Fly hotspot on the left side of the Ready Room.

Life After Death

As a dead pilot, you will find yourself in Headquarters rather than Valhalla.  Postmortem activities are:

•	Chatting with your fellow dead aviators

•	Listening to the radio (click on the radio hotspot).  You cannot, however, speak to the living.

•	Looking at the Situation Map.  If friendly and/or enemy map counters are active, you might get a sense of how the battle is going.

•	Checking the After Action Reports.  This is available from the Sit Map as well and provides a running summary of the action in the air.

Or, if you’re not interested in hanging around to see how it all comes out, you can exit and find another mission to fly.

Assignment of Multiple Lives

Occasionally the side you fly for will be allowed multiple lives for its pilots.  This happens when once side is more outnumbered than the mission allows.  You will receive a message to this effect before takeoff.  If this is the case, and you perish, you will be able to choose an active airfield (from the Sit Map in HQ), and take-off again immediately.  If you’re a new player, and you have been given another life, you might want to go back to your original airfield and wait for other “Vampires” from your group to show up, so that you don’t have to go out there alone.

Mission Cancellation

If mission enrollment is unbalanced to the point that it would be hopeless for one side, the host computer will scrub the mission.  We don’t want to send you out there with no hope of success whatsoever.  Before a mission is scrubbed, however, the host will issue a warning, reset the mission launch clock to T-2, and issue instructions to players on how they can correct the imbalance and allow the mission to run.  If the odds are still grossly out of balance after ten minutes of resetting the clock to T-2, then the mission will be canceled.  If this happens, players will be returned to the scenario selection screen, and the arena reverts to practice mode.

End of the Mission

Each mission will have a preset time limit.  While the mission is in progress, all players will see “Mission ends in [time remaining] minutes” radio messages.  The first will be shortly after take-off, then every ten minutes, then every minute during the last ten.  The host will ‘crash’ all players when the frame ends.

Mission Scoring

At the end of the mission the final results are sent to all players and displayed in a dialog box.  The first line will, of course, be which side won the mission.  You will also see details, including kills and assists you achieved, kills and losses for each group, and status of all groups.  There may also be an historical addendum, describing what took place in the actual battle the mission is based on.  Many of these missions are but a single frame in a multi-night, multiple mission scenario.  Included in the scoring details for these will be a summary of which side is winning thus far, along with cumulative combined kills, losses and targets hit for each side.

A short ‘who won’ message will also be added to the Scenario Selection Screen.

Until the Next Mission

After a mission is completed, the arena where it took place will then revert to practice mode until recruitment for the next mission held there begins again.


Top Ten Scores

Air Warrior III keeps track of the top ten high scores you have achieved in offline play, and the missions in which you achieved them.  At first, of course, every score you get will qualify as making the top ten, though this will become a more rare event as you play.  If you would rather not be prompted for your initials each time you achieve a noteworthy score, you can turn this feature off in the User Preferences section under the Interface tab.


Campaign Debriefing

This chalkboard appears at the end of every offline campaign mission.  It lists a variety of details regarding the campaign mission you have just flown:

•	The score you achieved.  This is based not just on the quantity of aircraft shot down, bombs drops, or targets destroyed, but on the importance of these achievements in meeting mission goals.

•	The success of the mission.  If you and/or your group achieve your primary and secondary objectives, then the mission was an outstanding success.  Keep in mind that this can be achieved even if you and your group perish in the effort.

•	Next mission - either the next mission in the campaign or another attempt at the mission you’ve just flown.  Some campaigns will require you to have at it again if a mission goes badly.

•	Mission results.  This is a list of outcomes by group - how friendly and enemy groups fared that day.

•	Campaign totals.  On the right side of the chalkboard is a numerical summary of how the campaign has been going.

•	Extended debriefing.  Many campaign missions have an account of the result of the actual mission from history on which the mission you have just flown was based.  Some campaigns offer insight into the mission you flew, along with suggestions on how to improve your group’s performance in future missions.


Scenario Debriefing

This dialog box appears when an online historical mission concludes, and lists a variety of details regarding the mission.

•	Which side won the mission

•	Kills and assists you achieved

•	Kills and losses for each group

•	Status of all groups

There may also be an historical addendum, describing what took place in the actual battle the mission is based on.  Many of these missions are but a single frame in a multi-night, multiple mission scenario.  Included in the scoring details for these will be a summary of which side is winning thus far, along with cumulative combined kills, losses and targets hit for each side.


Custom Takeoff Settings

If you want to choose an airfield to take a solo flight (or, in the case of ground vehicles, a solo drive) from, right click on the keys in the aircraft or vehicle reference manual, and select Custom Takeoff Settings.  This will bring up a dialog box you can use to choose any terrain in Air Warrior, and any airfield.


Performance

This confusing little user preference can actually prove quite useful once you know what it does.

Performance, in this case, means only one thing - frame rate.  Frame rate depends on how much of the world is drawn inflight.  You can reduce world detail automatically, by specifying a minimum frame rate, or in the cockpit by selecting different view detail modes.

Adjust for a minimum frame rate

This is the simple way to handle it - if you check this box, you can also specify a minimum frame rate at which the game will play.  As you get into situations that could force your display below this minimum, less and less of the world is drawn to try to meet the minimum you’ve specified.  This is, not, however a guarantee.  While the program will make every effort to reduce the detail of the world to keep the frame rate up, there are limits to what can be turned off.  Once this limit is reached you will be left with a frame rate that may be below your desired minimum.

NOTE: if you specify a minimum frame rate you many get a lot of distracting detail switching.  Where this can be especially annoying is if you get caught between two detail levels and the program keeps bouncing back and forth between them.  In these cases, switch to a lower overall terrain view mode (keyboard numbers 3-5) inflight.

Regular Rendering Mode - 2D

Air Warrior II can render to the screen in more than one manner.  Regular mode works dependably on most popular makes of video cards that support Direct X.

3D Hardware Accelerated Mode

As you might expect, Air Warrior III looks entirely different in 3D hardware accelerated mode, but you must have a true 3D card, and in many cases you also need drivers for the card written to be compatible with Direct X 5 or later.

View Mode Customization

This is, by far, the most obtuse feature of Air Warrior II.  Inflight, the 1-5 keys on the keyboard (as opposed to the keypad) govern your terrain view mode.  1 is full view - everything in visible range is rendered.  On the other extreme is 5 - abridged view mode, where only very close objects are drawn, and only in their lowest resolution forms.  This feature allows you adjust what those view modes display.  Basically it involves what shapes in the inflight world will be displayed at what distance in what view mode.

To understand this better, let’s look at the dialog box itself.

Next to detail level 1 you see a Max Detail of 1.  This means the full, high resolution terrain shapes will be displayed.  Looking at Max Distance, we see that the shapes will always be displayed, regardless of distance.  The overall Detail Setting associated with this mode is High.  Before we get to Detail Setting, let’s address the other categories.

Under Max Detail you see, depending on Level, 1, 1/2, or 1/4.  These represent high resolution shapes, medium resolution shapes, and low resolution shapes, respectively.  Each shape in the terrain - every mountain, building, airfield, and sheep - has a high, medium, and low detail (resolution) version of itself.  The lower the resolution or detail of the shape displayed, the higher your frame rate.

Now let’s look at the lowest detail setting - Level 5, corresponding to the 5 key inflight: abridged mode.  Max Detail is 1/4, meaning that the lowest resolution terrain shapes will be displayed.  Max Distance for this level is 1, meaning that you have to be within 1 mile of an object before its low resolution shape will be displayed.  The Detail Setting associated with this level is, as you might expect, low.

Finally, let’s look at Detail Setting.  This covers all the details and effects that can be displayed in the inflight world.  To get an idea of what’s covered, select one of the Detail Setting drop down lists and choose custom.  This is what you’ll see:

This is the high detail setting.  Everything is selected, except Local hits, which a vestige of old Air Warrior online play and is better left turned off in all cases.  Plane shadows are the shadows cast by planes flying near the ground, and displaying them does consume a significant amount of graphical horsepower.  Hi-res Plane Shapes are, as the term implies, the highest resolution planes shapes available in the game.  Plane markings is self explanatory.

Under Terrain-Related, Ground/Water Shading is the shading based on increasing distance - the world seems darker or lighter toward the horizon to give you a sense of near/far.  Terrain shadows are shadows cast by objects in the terrain.  Farms and Trees are optional objects that you don’t have to display, but the world looks nicer if you do.

Under Other, you have Damage Effects - the pieces and parts of damaged objects or aircraft - and Horizon Shading which is the gradient effect near the horizon.

If you’re using a 3D accelerator card, your custom detail options will allow to you turn on/off texture maps, and turn on/off special effects (the series of setting in the lower right).  Experiment with these if you’re suffering low frame rates.  Some 3D cards can handle various effects well, whereas others do not.  You may find that your card will go from so-so to splendid if you don’t make it display fog, for example.

Basically, Detail setting is the number of special display effects present at each View Mode level.  At the highest detail level (Level 1), everything is turned on; at lower levels, everything is turned off.  High, Medium, and Low are simply default Detail Setting packages.  The whole point of View Mode Customization is to adjust inflight terrain detail view modes to suit your taste.


3D Accelerator Video Cards

The following is a list of the cards that have been thoroughly tested with Air Warrior III, along with some comments about the cards.  These tests were done on a 133Mhz Pentium, Windows 95 build 950, and DirectX 5.0 Release 1.  This is the minimum required for playable performance in hardware mode.

For more in-depth information on using 3D accelerator cards with Air Warrior III, refer to README3D.TXT.  This file was installed in your root AWIII directory and it also lists the driver versions used during testing of this product.

Name: ATI 3D Turbo Pro PC2TV; Chipset: ATI RAGE II

All effects are supported.  Turning off plane textures can substantially increase frame rate.  The current release version of the DX3 drivers will work with the game, but until ATI releases DX5 drivers, performance will be sub-optimal.

Name: ATI XPERT@Work; Chipset: ATI RAGE Pro

Performance is marginally better than the RAGE II. Since the card does not support fog and alpha at the same time, you will not get smoke trails or other effects with the card when fog is on.

Air Warrior III will not run with the drivers shipped with the card.  This problem has been fixed in the latest internal BETA drivers, which should be available for download soon.

Name: Diamond FireGL 1000; Chipset: Permedia NT with Glint Delta coprocessor

Excellent texture mapping, excellent frame rate.

Name: Diamond FireGL 1000 PRO; Chipset: Permedia 2, built in Delta

Best texture mapping that we have seen so far on any card.

Name: Diamond Monster3D; Chipset: 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics

Best overall performance of the cards we have tested with, though a numerical error in texture perspective correction causes large textured polygons to flicker and stretch.  Problems have been reported with fog and various other effects with Diamond's drivers version D3D1.08.  These problems are eliminated when upgraded to the reference drivers from 3Dfx.

You MUST reinstall updated drivers when you reinstall DirectX 5.0 because the DirectX installer will automatically write over the installed drivers and there is no known way to stop it.

Name: Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 2MB; Chipset: ViRGE

Air Warrior III requires at least 4MB of VRAM if textures are used and the frame rate is unacceptable for game play, even on a fast machine.  This video card is not recommended for Air Warrior III.

Name: PowerVR Reference Board; Chipset: PowerVR PCX-2

Good frame rate, but the emulated vertex fog is not very convincing. Effects will have white squares around them because some of the alpha/colorkeying isn't supported properly in the driver.  Before Flying with a PowerVR Card, you must set up the driver specifically for the game.  Refer to README3D.TXT for detailed instructions on how to do this.

Name: Sierra Screamin' 3D; Chipset: Rendition Verite' V1000

Works well, supports all the effects used in the game.  However, the current DirectX 3.0 drivers, version 1.13 supplied by Sierra don't work  well with Air Warrior III.  As of this writing, Sierra would not give an ETA on updating their drivers to DX5.

Name: STB Velocity 128; Chipset: NVidia RIVA 128

Compares favorably with 3Dfx chips. Excellent frame rate, there is a lot of overhead in the driver so it really slows down when there are several textured planes on the screen. This problem should disappear on faster machines. All effects supported.


Replacement Aviators

If the campaign you’ve been flying has become especially bloody, it’s possible that the Air Warrior program has run out of aviators on the active (living) roster.  You can provide more aviator names, or you can let the program auto-assign them for you.


Selecting a Side - Online Historical Play

After you have selected a historical online mission, you will go to the Officer’s Club, and view further details about the mission.  Here you select the side you wish to fly for.  If the scenario is becoming severely one-sided, there will be a note requesting that the player select the underdog.


Selecting a Group - Online Historical Play

In historical online Air Warrior play, once you’ve selected a mission, and have selected a side in the mission, you will go to your selected side’s Headquarters.  Here you select a group to fly with.  Each listed group will also contain information on its status: how many slots are available and how many pilots currently occupy available slots.  The first group which is not full or reserved will be selected by default.  Clicking the Back button will return you to the OC; Next takes you to the airfield for your selected group.


Selecting a Role - Online Historical Play

After you’ve selected an, online historical mission a side to fly for, and a flight group on that side, you move to the ready room and receive a choice of roles to play with your chosen group.

Pilot

Pilot, of course, is an obvious role.  You fly the airplane, assigned to your group, in the mission.

Gunner

If a gunner role is offered, you would serve as a crew member aboard a multiplayer bomber.  Gunner slots, even for bomber groups, will only open as pilots for the bombers become available.  If you’re flying with a group of single seat fighters, the gunner slot will always be full regardless of the number of pilots who have signed up.

Staff Officer

Staff Officer is not, as its name implies, the commander of the group.  Rather, this role is for a non-flying group member who will assist his group from the ground - usually offering reports from radar facilities to pilots in the air.  The Staff Officer has access to the situation map and the radio room, and can talk on the radio.  He can also return to the HQ, but at that point is considered to have ended his mission since he will be mingling with dead guys (see Life After Death below).

If you’re new to online historical play - as is likely, if you’re reading this - choose the pilot role.  If you’re new to Air Warrior, or if you don’t have a joystick and are not confident in your ability to pilot an aircraft with a mouse, choose a bomber group and a gunner position.


Briefing Room in Online Historical Play

Here’s where you get the details of your upcoming mission.  Before you look over the map and waypoints, a dialog box will explain how the map works, and how many minutes are left before the mission launches.

Although the map shows you your waypoints, you will not see waypoint orders as you do in offline play.  The reason: the space used to show waypoint orders offline is used for the online player list.  To get your waypoint details, right click on a waypoint and then select Waypoint Properties.

Using the Waypoint Properties box, you can scroll through the mission waypoints and see your altitude and orders for each one.

If you’ve selected a gunner position, you will receive a crewing dialog box, showing your position on the airplane.  If you would prefer a different gunner position, you can select from the other slots still open.

Group Information

If you double click on the entry for your group at the bottom of the player list, you will get a summary of group members, the aircraft you’re assigned to fly, your fuel load, bomb load (if any), and the group radio frequency.


Squadron Operations

Creating and Asking Players to Join Your Squadron

Any player in Air Warrior who is not currently enrolled in a squadron may form a squadron of his own.

Creating a Squadron in Headquarters

The Headquarters for your country has files cabinets for Squad Info and Squad Ops.  The Squad Info will bring up information of your squadron, if you have or belong to one.  To start a squad, click on the Squad Ops hotspot.  If you have no squadron affiliation, you will be asked if you wish to create a squadron.  Answering yes brings up the Squad Ops dialog.

The first thing you want to do is give your squadron a name, by entering it in the entry field at the top.  Motto, Description, URL (the address of your squadron’s web page), and Squad Night are all optional.  You can fill these out later once you get some members and have developed a identity as a group.

Transfer Leadership

This allows you to designate another member of your squadron to be its Commanding Officer (CO).  Squad COs often do this when they know they are going to be away from the game for a period of time, or if they wish to give another squadron member the power to recruit more members.  Highlight the person on your roster whom you wish to transfer to, and then click the Transfer Leadership button to do so.

Expel Member(s)

A self explanatory feature, you expel members by highlighting them on your roster and then clicking the Expel button.  This isn’t always used to kick a troublesome of unpopular player off of your squadron, though it comes in handy for that purpose.  It’s also a necessary step in disbanding a squad.

Disband Squadron

Clicking on this button does as advertised - it disbands your squadron.  Don’t worry about clicking on this by accident.  You must first expel all of your squadron’s members first.  This is to make sure that disbanding a squadron is something you really meant to do.

Squadron Recruitment

A squadron CO can recruit any player:

•	Who is a member of your country

•	Who does not currently belong to a squadron

•	Who has not turned off recruitment in his player options

Issuing an Invitation

You do this by clicking, with your right mouse button, on a player’s entry on the conference room player list.  This brings up a menu.  Select Invite to Join.  This issues an invitation to that player.  Actually this is also an alternative way to create a squadron if you haven’t already- simply by inviting someone to join.

Accepting an Invitation

When you are invited to join a squadron you get a message informing of you of the invitation, with the option to reply yes or no.  If you’re already a member of a squadron, you will still be informed of the invitation, but you will not receive the yes/no dialog.  This allows you to politely tell the courting squad CO that you are already a member of a squadron without having to click no on a dialog box..

There is a check box on the acceptance dialog to auto-decline all invitations without displaying the invitation dialog.  There is a similar check box in User Preferences under Interface properties.

Verifying Your Membership

When you accept an invitation to join a squadron, the Squadron Information dialog comes up.  Here you can see the other members of your squad, along with the motto, description, squadron web site, and other aspects mentioned earlier.

Withdrawal

There are two ways to withdraw from a squadron you’re a member of.  You can go to Headquarters, select Squad Info, and then select Withdraw.  Or you can do it the old Air Warrior way by typing /withdraw in any online conference room.

Posting and Receiving Orders

As squadron CO, you can leave orders, including online briefings (see next section), for your members by uploading them to the host for your squaddies to download later.  To upload orders and/or briefings, click on the Squadron Ops hotspot in Headquarters.  Clicking Upload will bring up a file browser you can use to select a file you wish to send to the host.  There is also a discard button for you to use to remove out of date orders and briefings.

As member of a squadron, clicking on the Squad Ops hotspot in HQ brings up a similar dialog.  Difference is that here your option is to download your COs orders and briefings.

You can view mission briefings in either the online briefing room or offline in the Air Warrior mission editor.

The host will store up to one set of orders one online briefing for each squadron.


Inviting Players to Join Your Squadron

Issuing an Invitation

You do this by clicking, with your right mouse button, on a player’s entry on the conference room player list.  This brings up a menu.  Select Invite to Join.  This issues an invitation to that player.  Actually this is also an alternative way to create a squadron if you haven’t already- simply by inviting someone to join.

Accepting an Invitation

When you are invited to join a squadron you get a message informing of you of the invitation, with the option to reply yes or no.  If you’re already a member of a squadron, you will still be informed of the invitation, but you will not receive the yes/no dialog.  This allows you to politely tell the courting squad CO that you are already a member of a squadron without having to click no on a dialog box..

There is a check box on the acceptance dialog to auto-decline all invitations without displaying the invitation dialog.  There is a similar check box in User Preferences under Interface properties.

Verifying Your Membership

When you accept an invitation to join a squadron, the Squadron Information dialog comes up.  Here you can see the other members of your squad, along with the motto, description, squadron web site, and other aspects mentioned earlier.

Withdrawing From a Squadron

There are two ways to withdraw from a squadron you’re a member of.  You can go to Headquarters, select Squad Info, and then select Withdraw.  Or you can do it the old Air Warrior way by typing /withdraw in any online conference room.


Best Scores - Offline Missions and Campaigns

Air Warrior III keeps track of the top ten high scores you have achieved in offline play, and the missions in which you achieved them.  At first, of course, every score you get will qualify as making the top ten, though this will become a more rare event as you play.  If you would rather not be prompted for your initials each time you achieve a noteworthy score, you can turn this feature off in the User Preferences section under the Interface tab.


Squadron Information

The Headquarters for your country has files cabinets for Squad Info and Squad Ops .  The Squad Info will bring up information of your squadron, if you have or belong to one.  To start a squad, click on the Squad Ops hotspot.  If you have no squadron affiliation, you will be asked if you wish to create a squadron.  Answering yes brings up the Squad Ops dialog.

To get information on other squadrons, click on the Killboard in Headquarters.  Sort by squadrons (fighter or bomber), and then right click on a squadron listed to bring up the information option.  You will then get a listing of members in a squad, along with their scores, squadron web page (if they have one), squad motto, and the squadron’s commanding officer (CO).


Torpedos
Torpedoes

The TBF Avenger, B-25 Mitchell, Betty and Kate can each carry a single torpedo.

Loading:

Any place where you can set the bomb load there will be check box for torpedo.

Delivery:

Just like a bomb - escape-a to arm, b to drop.

Technique:

The torpedo must be gently placed in the water.  For best results you must be low and slow.  You must also be level, no dive or toss bombing.

Altitude:

Best results below 200'.  From 200' to 400' there is an increasing chance of failure.  Above 400' it will always fail.  It will also fail if you have ditched.

Speed:

Best results below 150 kts.  From 150 kts to 300 kts there is an increasing chance of failure.  Above 300 kts it will always fail.

Range:

The torpedo will run up to 2000 yards at a speed of roughly 10 kts.  It must run at least 350 yards to be properly armed.  It will not explode if dropped directly on the target.


Theaters of Operation - Offline Missions and Campaigns

Your selected era and region is called a theater of operations.  In the stand-alone environment, you will fly for one of the national forces that was part of the historical conflict in that theater.  Your choice of aircraft will depend upon the national identity you have selected for your game session.  You will discover that each theater calls for a different type of action.  The available theaters and forces include:

World War I, Europe	Germany

World War I, Europe	Allies

World War II, Europe	Axis

World War II, Europe	Allies

World War II, Pacific	Axis

World War II, Pacific	Allies

Korean War	United Nations

Korean War	North Korea

Choosing a theater of operations

The first time you click on the Mission hangar from the opening screen, you will see a theater of operations selection screen.  You can choose from Allied or Axis settings in World War II Europe or Pacific, or World War I settings for Germany or the Allies.  The next time you enter the Mission hangar, you will go to the Operations Room for the side and setting you last chose.  Single missions are available in all theaters; campaigns are available in World War II Europe.

From an Ops Room, you can select a different theater by clicking on the map table in the center of the room.  This brings up the theater selection screen.


Online Briefing Room

Here’s where you get the details of your upcoming mission.  In historical missions , the waypoints and waypoint orders are set and cannot be changed.  In regular arena play, however, you can create briefings for pilots flying with you.

Although the map shows you your waypoints, you will not see waypoint orders as you do in offline play.  The reason: the space used to show waypoint orders offline is used for the online player list.  To get your waypoint details, right click on a waypoint and then select Waypoint Properties.

Using the Waypoint Properties box, you can scroll through the mission waypoints and see your altitude and orders for each one.

If you’ve selected a gunner position, you will receive a crewing dialog box, showing your position on the airplane.  If you would prefer a different gunner position, you can select from the other slots still open.

Group Information

If you double click on the entry for your group at the bottom of the player list, you will get a summary of group members, the aircraft you’re assigned to fly, your fuel load, bomb load (if any), and the group radio frequency.


Offline Mission Briefing Room

The Briefing Room

After you have accepted your orders for a mission or campaign, Air Warrior will send you to the Briefing Room where you can receive detailed orders.

Playing in the Air Warrior III stand-alone environment, you will fly your missions alongside drone pilots supplied by the game.  These pilots are assigned a place in the flight group.  All pilots in a group will fly the same type of aircraft from among the planes used by your national force.  The group will leave from an airfield assigned by the mission orders.  Some missions will begin in the air.

The purpose of the briefing is to give pilots (including you) their group assignments for the coming action.  By clicking on Next or Previous, at the top of the mission map, you can cycle through your waypoints and get an idea of you flight path and mission instructions.  In campaign missions you can also call up group rosters and assign aviators to groups.

NOTE: Waypoints are intended to put you in a position to accomplish your mission.  In the vast majority of Air Warrior III missions, you do not need to hit every waypoint in order for your mission to succeed.  In short, do not become a slave to waypoints, except in close bomber escort missions, or missions where you are a pilot in a bomber group.

To fly your mission

After accepting your group assignments and returning to the Briefing Room, click on FLY to begin your mission, or EXIT to return to the Operations Room.  Once in the air, hit F10 to call up a map, along with your waypoints.  To review your waypoints in the air, cycle through them by hitting <CTRL> F1.  You can also use this feature to skip waypoints.