Flight Commander 2 is available in Macintosh and Windows versions, on 3.5" floppy disks and CD-ROM. It is sold at most major retailers. If you are unable to locate a copy in your area, you can call Computer Express at (800) 228-7449 or Avalon Hill at (800) 999-3222 to order.
-----------------------------------
MEMORY REQUIREMENTS:
The Flight Commander 2 Demo comes preset to use 3MB of RAM, so people using large color monitors will have no difficulties running the program. If you are low on RAM and are using a normal-sized or smaller monitor, or are running in black and white, you can set Flight Commander 2 Demo to use less memory. Just go to the Finder and click once on the Flight Commander 2 Demo icon to select it. Then select "Get Info" from the "File" menu. A window will pop up. You can change the "minimum size" and "preferred size" to the value below that matches your setup:
black and white: 1200K
color, 13" monitor 2700K
color, 16" monitor 2900K
-----------------------------------
QUICK-START INSTRUCTIONS:
Flight Commander 2 is a tactical simulation of multiple-aircraft combat in the jet age: 1950 to the near future. It's played in a series of turns, on a battle map, and you are given a "bird's-eye view" of the action from above. Flight Commander 2 gives you a squadron-level perspective on modern air combat quite unlike that provided by a flight simulator program.
The full version of Flight Commander 2 allows you to play fixed battles, campaign games, or to create your own battles with the Battle Generator. This demo, however is limited to playing the one battle scenario included, called "Demo Battle". You can see the various screens and options provided by the Battle Generator by clicking on the "Create Battle" button from the startup screen, however.
At the startup screen, click on the "Open Battle" button and then select the "Demo Battle" file in the dialog window that appears. You'll be asked to choose whether to play the attacking (American) side or the defending (Iraqi) side. For your first game, pick the Americans. After that, the map is generated and the main screen will appear.
A Mission Briefing window appears with a description of the battle you're about to take part in. Read it and click the OK button. A Navigator's report will follow. Click OK.
In the center of the screen you'll see your aircraft. One of them has a shimmering "marquee" around its border. That's the "current aircraft" and is the one who is taking orders at the moment. The on-screen flight controls all apply to this plane, until you select a different plane to receive orders.
Since Flight Commander 2 is a turn-based game, the idea is to give maneuver and combat orders to your pilots and then watch as they carry out those orders. Click the mouse on the "flight stick" on the left-hand side of the screen. It will side left and right, and as it does so, you'll notice the flight path of the "current aircraft" (the red arrow extending from it) changing left and right accordingly. This arrow represents the path the aircraft is planning to follow. (The combat option for altitude is turned off by default so in this game you'll be flying in a "flat" world for simplicity, but you can turn it on for your next game if you like).
If you want to see more of the battlefield, go to the upper left corner and click on the "-" button. This will "zoom out" the battle map. Your target (the SCUD missiles) lies to the left of your aircraft, perhaps off the screen. You may need to scroll over to see it. You can see a miniature view of the whole battlefield in the little blue floating window titled "Overview". Click on the little dots you see in the Overview window to move the focus of the battle map onto them. Find the red-colored jets. These are the Iraqi fighters!
Combat takes place by clicking on an enemy aircraft or ground unit to target it. If the "crosshairs" that appears is red, you can fire at that target. Click one of the buttons near the center of the top of the screen (e.g. "Fire HSM", "Bomb", etc.) to fire weapons.
Move from plane to plane, giving orders and shooting weapons, by clicking on your other aircraft or pressing the space bar or clicking the "Next Pilot" button. When you're finished, click the "Action" button (in the lower left corner) and your jets will fly along the paths you chose for them. (So will the enemy jets - and they'll probably fire missiles at you too).
That's the gist of it. Each turn you go from plane to plane, giving maneuver orders and firing weapons, and then clicking the Action button to carry out the moves. Head toward the SCUDs (off to the left) and bomb them once you're in range. Your F-15 fighters (gray, in the lead) are armed with air-to-air missiles and should attack the enemy fighters, while the F-111 aircraft (mottled tan and green, following the F-15s) are armed with bombs and should concentrate on the SCUDs.
If your aircraft survive combat, and have used up all or most of their weapons, it will be time to head home. Break clear of enemy antiaircraft units and fighters if possible, preferably heading toward home base off to the left (as shown in the Navigator window that you can access from the Radio menu). Then select the Head For Home item from the File menu. The mission will either end immediately or the computer may take over briefly to extricate your aircraft from immediate danger before ending the game. A description of the losses on both sides will appear, and a winner chosen.
At some point you should check out the Data Library, from the Windows menu, to see all the aircraft and weapons that are in the full version of Flight Commander 2.
Flight Commander 2 contains a group of options that will increase the realism and complexity of the simulation. At the startup screen, click the "Combat Options" button for a list. Options include altitude, realistic missile movement/tracking, stalls, maneuvering limitations, and more. I would recommend trying the Missiles Track option, which allows aircraft to maneuver against incoming missiles. A tip: the best way to avoid a missile is to maneuver so it intercepts you from the side AND you're pulling a "high-G" maneuver (a turn of ninety degrees).
A few abbreviations that you should know:
• SAM: Surface-to-air missile
• HSM: Heat-seeking missile (air-to-air weapon)
• RHM: Radar-homing missile (air-to-air weapon)
• Rkt: Rocket (air-to-ground weapon)
• ARM: Antiradiation missile (air-to-ground weapon, only kills SAM sites)
• FT: Fuel tank
• F-15C Eagle: An American fighter jet
• F-111F "Aardvark": An American fighter-bomber
• MiG-23 Flogger: A Soviet-built interceptor used by Iraq
• AIM-9 Sidewinder: A heat-seeking missile
• AIM-120 AMRAAM: A radar-homing missile
• AA-8 Aphid: An older heat-seeker than can only be fired at a target's rear
