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FIGHTER COMMAND:-AIR SUPREMACY- FULL ENGLISH DOC ORIGINAL SUPPLIED & TYPED BY ARCATRONIC ================================================= The /\/\ighty \/\/izzy =========================================================================== FIGHTER COMMAND INTRODUCTIONS Fighter Command (C)Impressions 1991 Thank you for buying this game. It has been developed over many months, and is the result of an awful lot of game testing. We certainly enjoy the end product- and hope that you do, Too. We are well aware,though,that our games are not perfect- please fill in the enclosed registration card, or write to us, with any comments(good or bad) that you may have. We want to hear what you think, so that we can try to produce better for ypu in future. GAME CREDITS: Game design: David Lester Simon Bradbury Game Code: Simon Bradbury Game Graphics: Steve Redpath CONTENTS Introduction Getting Started The Scenarios Game aims/objectives Main display/controls The 3 maps Giving orders Unit statics and Resource Managament Saving Games The various squadron types Strategy Notes & Hints INTRODUCTION Fighter Command is a sophisticated simulation of air combat. Complete whit this game is the first Combat Module- consisting of over twenty scenarios set in the Middle East in the modern day. The objective of the game is to defeat your opponent- to do which you will need to first secure you own defences, and then launch attacks against enemy targets. Once you have wiped out the enemy's offensive capability, or done so much damage that they surrender, you have won. It is not quite as simple, however, as that might seem. you can only attack targets you know about from your radar coverage (you can in fact make blind attack, but that is a poor use of your resources)- so you need to make good use of mobile radar units. Resources will also limit what you can do- you will have a set number of bobmbers, interceptors, ecc., and each will require an amount of resources to run. The more units you use, the quicker you resources will run out- which would then leave you open attack. While playng,it is easy to become too bogged down with intercepting specific enemy attacks; we suggest that you try to avoid this- and keep an eye on your resource usage, as well as political and media opinion. Fighter Command is far more than just a combat simulation- you ignore the resource and other factors only at your peril! GETTING STARTED Startig Play To start the game, simply select the scenario you wish to play and then click on "OK" We suggest that to start with you play Qatar V United Arab Emirats scenario- this has been specially designed to assist learning the game. Be warned- the game plays in real time, so once you have started,time is ticking- and the enemy will be on the attack. It will probably take a few games and early defeats before you are familar enough with the control mechanism to start holding your own. Once you can win this scenario, you are ready to tackle some of the more complex ones. 1. Scenarios There are 28 different scenarios included in this "Middle East" version of FighterCommand and they vary tremendously in both difficulty and complexity. Some are based on recent historical conflicts such as the Gulf War, the Iran /Iraq War on the 1973 Yom Kippur War, whilst others are based more along "what if..." lines. They range from the local bickering of small oil rich states up to the Anarchy Scenario when the whole region explodes. The possible scenarios are as follows. Each may be reversed and played from the opposing perspective. Kuwait verses United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Lebanon verses Jordan Qatar with British support from Bahrain verses U.A.E. Egypt verses Sudan Israel verses Iraq Iran verses Iraq Egypt verses Israel Iraq verses Saudi Arabia with support from U.S.A. (Southern Command) Iran verses Kuwait,Qatar,U.A.E. and Bahrain Israel verses Jordan and Lebanon Iraq verses Syria,Jordan and Lebanon Israel with support of U.S.A(Northern Command) verses Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt Iraq verses Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Kuwait with U.S.A. support (Northern Southern Commands) Iran,Iraq,Syria,Jordan and Sudan verses Saudi Arabia Qatar, and U.A.E. with U.S.A. support (Southern and Northern Commands) You will notice that the complexity and difficulty of each scenario is graded from zero to nine. Obviously,the speed at which battle is joined in any one scenario can depend on a number of different factors. For example, Israel and Syria, being relatuvely small countries and very close neighbours, are quickly into each other's airspace. In contrast, it takes a while for Egyptian planes to reach targets in Sudan and thus the game is played with more of a time lapse. In addition, please note that you can play the game in either FAST mode, or normal mode. To toggle between these two game speed modes, use the command on the SAVE & LOAD command screen. GAME AIMS/OBJECTIVES Your selected engagement can be won or lost on various criteria dependant on the scenario you have selected. Below are the 3 main conditions for victory/ defeat. a) Population demoralisation - When 40% of a country's population becomes ungovernable, overthrow of the government is assumed and the game is up. Only the populations based in towns and cities are influential and their mood is dependant on the state of city and its vital services. Food, power. water, damage to the city and tpresence of working hospitals all contribute to the general mood of a city whichis in turn transmitted to the country as a whole. The state of your country's morale can be monitored on the Intelli- gence Briefing Screen (seesection 3). In addition, a message will be posted at the top of your screen if and when thediscontent of your population reaches certain points (10% unrest, 20% unrest etc.). It should be noted, however, that it is only the morale of your own country- 's population that can lose you a game, and not that one of your allies. If the population of an ally reaches "breaking point", they will withdraw their support and their forces will disappear from the map. You will be free to continue with whatever forces you have left. b) Media option - In certain scenarios, one side may have to contened with increasing international and domestic pressure which will mount over the length of a prolonged campaign. Eventually this will result in withdrawal from the conflict becoming a political expediency. Whetherthis happens sooner or later in the conflict depends upon the way it is fought - i.e whether you have consentrated on destroy enemy units or have kept a close eye on your domestic situation. The state of world option can be monitored on the Internationla Media Opinion Screen (Section 3). c) Air supremacy/superiority - Since this game isabout the aerial part of a war (i.e it does not cover the ground and sea forces) when you have won the air war, you have won the game. iF after acertain time period the enemy has failed to put a plane in the air, air superiority is assumed and a message will be posted at the top of your screen to that effect. If after a further period the skies are still cler, air supremacy is declared and the battle for air operations is won. THE THREE MAPS Play takes place over three maps; the strategic map, the radar map and the satellite map,each of which is a magnification of the previous one. Clicking the left button will zoom in to the next most detailed map while clicking the right button will take you out again to a wider view. a) The strategic map: - a geographical map of the whole region. This map is also used for the computer generated overlays (i.e. the radar and unit consentration maps produced by pushing buttons 1-4 on the main display.) There is agrid on the strategic map which is used on the Communications Screen (button 5) to give a reference for each engagement recorded. From this map it is possible to zoom in on a certain region by positioning the target box over the desired area and clicking. This takes you to- b) The radar map: - gives a view of the tactical playing area with coastlies, rivers, towns and cities shown, along with national boundaries (dotted yellow lines) and major roads (green lines). The target box on this map has a set of co-ordi- nates (in red) which refer to the top right hand corner of the box. On this map, it is possible to see the current active units in the area. Ground units are shown as coloured dots:- white dot = airbase orange dot = military installation blue dot = civil installation green dot = ground unit green circle = or town An air unit is shown as a dotted marker, the height of which corresponds to the unit's altitude. For the purposes of aiming and locating on the satallite map, the plane is actually situated at the buttom of this marker. The units are colour coded according to type. However, since you obviously have less information about an enemy plane than you do about one of your own, all enemy planes are the same colour. The plane dotted markers are as follows: red and white = enemy plane black and white = missile of either side-tell whether friend or foe the direction it is heading ! red and yellow = your interceptors blue and white = your strike aircraft green and yellow = your ground attack aircraft red and green = your helicopters red and blue = your long range bombers blue and green = your AWACS You should note that the area shown in the radar picture is completely dependant upon your radar coverage. If you have no units with radar functions operational you will see nothing but green interference patterns. Certain units, air bases, radar stations etc. give varying ranges of radar coverage and your total radar picture will depend on how many you have working and where they are. Indeed if, for example, the only such unit you have working is a E3 A W A C plane the area visible to you on this map would vary as the plane moved on its flight path. You can move around the map using the directional (19 on the main display) or by clicking on the right button which will return you to the strategic map where you can re-position your area box. Alternatively you can click on the small region map (13) which allows for a rough re-posotioning. Finally,you can zoom in still further by placing the co-ordinate marker over a region you wish to examine and clicking. this takes you to- c) The satellite map: - gives a more detailed image of a much smaller area. It is available for the whole region, i.e. it is not limited by radar coverage as the radar map is. It is theoretically possible to scroll the map over the whole playng area (if you have the time!).In practice, you will need to find units on the radar map and then focus down onto them. You would be very lucky to stumble upon anything useful simply by scrolling the satellite map at random. Using this map it is now possible to identify the images that represent the individual units and thereby to get information about unknown/enemy units. Your target box now has a "SATellite ENHance" facility. By moving the box over a particular unit and clicking, you will make that unit CMU and thus be able to check on the identity, origin, current operational capacity etc. of both your units and the enemy's. The only slight exceptoion to this regards the changing of the CMU for cities. In the middle of most areas of black/green roads and buildings will be a building with a kidney shaped lake next to it. This is the City Admin- istration Building and you will need to clock on it to bring up the city's CMU. Some units (fighters,missiles etc.) travel quite quickly across this screen and unit identification can be quite tricky. This can be overcome by using the slow search mode, If you click on the map and are not over a unit, the slow search mode is entered and is indicated by a flashing cursor. This means that the plane or missile will move more slowly, enabling you to catch it with your target box. Clicking again will resume normal search mode. Movement around the map is again by the directional buttons or by returning (right mouse button) to the radar map and re-positioning the co-ordinate marker. GIVING ORDERS You can only give orders to the unit which is currently displayed on your screen this units is known as the Currently Monitored Units, or CMU. To change the CMU to a different unit, use the + and - icons (which changes to a different unit of the same type), or click on the unit type window (which change to a different type of unit). The order scree for a CMU can be brought up by clicking on either the dis- play panel (12b) or the pictorial representation (12a). The command screen will show at least a set of orders down the left hand side, superimposed on a digitised picture. Moving the cursor over an order will highlight it and clicking on it will execute it. There is also a text and bar graph representation of the unit's resource cost (c) and current efficiency (e). Depending on the unit type, there will be an auto lauch on/off switch (click the mouse button to toggle), which should be engaged only after the aircraft has been given an order. Finally, there may be a set of operational rating statistics referring to the unit's ability to perform in certain roles: B - high level bombing rating (0-10) GS - ground strike rating AS - armour strike rating (e.g. anti aircraft units) AA - ariel combat ratin ALT - operation ceiling altitude Most of the orders are fairly self explanatory and the computer will respond to any illogical/forbidden requests. a) activation - brings a unit into use or mothballs it, saving valuable resources. b) repair - puts a unit into repair/rest mode, gradually increasing the unit's efficency, but at a cost in resources. c) circular sweep - puts an A.W.A.C. plane into a wide circular flight path around its airbase. d) flight path - allows you to set a specific route for the plane. This is the first command to use the Extended Radar Courvage Map. This uses the whole screen, in radar mode, to enable you to position (or elsewhere target) units more effectively. The map can be moved by taking the cursor to the edge of the screen in the direction of the desired map movement. The flight path can be set using the left button to set up to six target points. The unit will then take off,fly to each of the points in the order set, and then return and land. e) abort mission - does just that, curtailing any mission and returning the unit to base. NB - ground based forces require an abort mission to re - fuel at base before they can be repositionen. f) transfer base - allows you to move a squadron to a new base, either out of harm's way or else into the combat zone. Again, this uses the extended radar coverage map. Once you have give the order to transfer, the airbase closest to the current cursor position is indicated at the top of the screen. The squadron will transfer to that airbase if the left button is clicked. Thus you can select a new airbase by moving the cursor close to it. For the purposes of airbase transfer (and air coversee later) the planes are considered be flying with refuel support planes allowing them to fly greater distances than normal. g) patrol - sets up a tight circular patrol around the base, mainly for air defence purposes. The patrol will continue until the fuel runs out and the aircraft may be re-directed in flight. h) air cover - When you order a plane to go on air cover, you will be give contents screen of the home airbase so that you can click on the unit that you want to be covered. As such, this other unit has to be from the same airbase. The aircraft providing cover will then shadow this unit on its combat mission, providing air defence and diverting to intercept enemy aircraft in the vicinity. i) intercept - lauches (or diverts if in air) a unit to close on and attack an incoming unit, providing it is able to reach the required altitude. The extended map is again used to select a target; the sight will turn red when a units is target. Once it has destroyed its target,the interceptor will search for any other enemy aircraft in the vicinity and divert to intercpt them as well. Please note that it is perfectly possible to issue commands to intercept a friendly unit (or indeed to bomb friendly installation): becareful!! j) pick squadron - select a unit from an airbase k) altitude drop - sets a high level bombing mission (out of anti-aircraft range) - use the target sight to select a target - alt- hough this is not actually necessary and bombs can be dropped anywhere. l) ground strike - sets up a low level strike against buildings or ground installations, but not armour units. m) armour strike - sets up a low level strike against armoured units, S.A.M. units etc.. n) import ordinance- allows you to import ammunition (at expensive rates) if your own ammunitions network is failing. o) import fuel - as above but for fuel p) transit - moves a ground unit (by helicopter) to a selected land position where it makes itself operational. q) lauch missile - targets and lauches a missile. Note however that a certain time gap must be left after lauch before another missile will be ready for firing. TARGETTING AND COMBAT RESOLUTION: When targeting, whether it be missile, bomber or interceptor, once the aimer has turned red it is locked on to ist target and outcome of the encounter will be decided automatically. In other words, the succes of a mission does not depend upon how accurately you line up the red locked-on box. Further- more , it is possible to lock on to a target that you cannot see on your radar picture because it is hidden by green interference. If you know where a target is, you can move the aimer about over the area and it will turn red if you find the right spot. UNITS STATISTICS AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Your CMU display will show certain indicators, depending on the type of unit monitored. x,y - unit co-ordinates e - unit efficiency (%) f - units fuel p - no of planes remaning in a squadron a - units ammunition x.n.n.n - squadron number If the units is a city however, a different set of indicators are are used P - shows the % of the city supplied with power W - shows the % of the city supplied with water F - shows the % of the city supplied with food D - with 0=none to 100=complete destruction The efficency of a unit is very critical as it affects its ability to per- form its duty, whether that is supplying water to a city or air combat. In the case of ground units it is affected by bomb damage and when the efficen- cy drops to zero the unit is destroyed. For mobile units, efficency is also dependant on the rest period in between missions, although a mobile unit is only destroyed when the number of planes in the squadron falls to zero. (the number of planes in a squadron varies depending upon the aircraft type). Unit efficiency is monitored in two ways. On the hand, by making a unit your CMU you can see exactly what state it is in. However, to go round each unit in this way would obviously be laborious. On the other hand, you can keep a general idea of what damage may have been inflicted on various units by monitoring your Communications Screen (button 5) This will tell you when and where an attack took place and who was damaged or lost a plane. When an installation is totally destroyed or a squadron is wiped out, the message will appear in inverse type. RESOURCES The supply of fuel and ammunition to an airbase is important as a plane will not be able to re-fuel or re-arm at an airbase that has an insufficient sup- ply. The amount of fuel taken on by a plane is determinated by its range and governs the distance it can fly. When fuel drops to zero the plane will switch to its rescue tanks and return to its base, aborting any missions or, inthe case of a missile, just packyng up. Each city will, periodically, take a look at the best avaiable source of food, water and power(eg a food warehouse). This is determined by a source's efficiency rating and its distange from the city. This process is automatic and thus the supply of facilities to a city is entirely dependent on your succes in protecting and maintaining the various sources. Similarly, every twelve hours an airbase will take new supplies of feul and ammunition from the best source(i.e from a 100% efficent unit close by in preference to one further off working at 50%).All excess fuel and ammunition produced by factories will be transported to dumps, again the amount depend- ing on the dump's efficiency. While you do not directly control the distribution of supplies, you do need to manage the resources with which your supplies are provided. the amount of resources avaiable to you at the beginning of the game and the rate at which more become avaiable are fixed by which country you are playng. In other words, Saudi Arabia has more resources than Lebanon and will replenish itself at a faster rate. Thus, on the Resource Management Screen (button 8), "resource in" is the fixed amount that your country has coming in each hour. However, you can control the "resources out". This refers to the resource cost of all your active units for the previous hour. it is thus dependent on how many units you have active, which type of unit they are(i.e. an ammuni- tion factory will soak up more resources than a helicopter squadron),and what they are doing (e.i. a unit under repair will use double the resources of one operating normally). You must therefore be aware of the relative resource costs of the different units- and be quick to shut down units that are out of the combat zone or that are duplicated. Your "resorces" as shown on the Resource Management Screen is the amount of spare or "banked" resource. When this drops to zero, ground installations will automatically start to close down. This will in turn lead to airbases and their aircraft being taken out of the game- and thus lead almost certainly to yuor defeat. Unit Types Hare is a brief list of the various mobile unit types and a brief descrip- tion of each. E3 A.W.A.C.S. - long range, high flying radar coverage plane B52 - very long range strategic bomber Tu16 - long range Soviet strategic bomber F117 - invisible to enemy radar - use high precision, laser guided bombs - very effective in ground attacks F111 - long range modern tactical strike aircraft Phantom - medium range strike aircraft F15 - modern medium range strike aircraft with air to air combat role F16 - high performance air interceptor F14 - short range fighter Harrier - limited range armour strike aircraft with uses in air defence Tornado GRI - good short range strike aircraft Tornado F1 - excellent air defence interceptor Jaguar - versatile aircraft with ground strike and combat abilitie Mirage F-1 - air defence plane with good range and a ground strike ability A-10 - very limited range attack plane with excellent strike rate against armour Mig 29 - superb Soviet built air combat plane Mig 25 - air defence plane with ability to intercept even highest flying craft Mig 21 - a robust fighter with strike ability Su 7 - short range Soviet strike plane Tu 22 - medium range Soviet bomber Apache - very effective armour strike helicopter Hind - Soviet built armour attack helicopter Lynx - short range attack helicopter UH - 1 Huey - old limited armour strike helicopter Mobile Scud - medium range surface to surface launcher missile unit Mobile radar - provides medium range radar unit coverage Patriot S.A.M. unit - excellent air defence missile unit Mobile exocet - land based variant of effective launcher missile SA8 S.A.M - Soviet made surface to air missile unit STRATEGY NOTES & TIPS One of the most important aspects of the game is radar coverage - not just yours, but the enemy's as well. Try to maintain radar coverage over your own airspace and then try to encroach on your adversary's to see what he's doing and to allow you to target his units effectively. You can see your enemy's radar cover using the relevant function button (2) and it is a good tactic to try and damage his radar units - if the enemy cannot see what you are doing it makes it very hard for him to launch missions against you. There will be a radar unit at the centre of a square radar area in the Radar Coverage Map. Your city's population must be kept happy. Basically this is done by moni- toring the supply of power, food and water and the presence of working hospitals. Watch your resources expenditure extremly carefully- do not keep unnecessary installation going in non-combat zones, although it can be very detrimental to close down utilities, especially if they are the only ones in the area. If the right number of aircraft are kept on auto launch and are rotated regularly to give each a rest period, you can maintain good coverage of your airspace. It is also thereby possible to mount a sustained bombing attack on a particular target (such as an airbase or a radar installation) in order to take in out of the conflict. However, be careful about putting squadrons on continuos auto launch. They will soon become tired and in need of maintenage and their efficiency will drop accordingly making them lose effectiveness in air combat or strike missions etc.. Good air defence cover is vital in most scenarios and you will often need to think about this aspect before decoding on a strike missions. Air to air combat is decided chiefly by a plane's ability and efficency, although luck also plays a part: things can go wrong and even a lowly helicopter could get a lucky strike on your nice new Mig 29! It is very tempting to send specific aircraft on missions to intercept specific enemy aircraft. While this can be a good move at times, remeber that Fighter Command is above all a strategy game, less concentred with individual dog-fight than with the overall war. You should try to secure defende of your installations using regular patrols of interceptor - class aircraft, rather than commanding planes separately every time an enemey aircraft is on an offensive raid. Watch your opponent's strategy carefully and try to observe a pattern. Respond accordingly- in most cases a headlong charge into enemy territory with all guns blazing is disastrous. you might shoot down a lot of his aircraft only to run out of resources and lose a war that you thought you had almost won. Watch the situation in your own country most carefully (as opposed to you allies'). If your allies' population fail, you only lose support- but if your own population revolts, you lose the game. FIGHTER COMMAND: Objective: Air Supremacy (C) IMPRESSIONS 1991 FEATURES: * 3 LEVELS OF MAP * MASSIVE PLAY AREA * 20 MISSIONS * EXPANDABLE * EASY-TO-USE CONTROL SYSTEM * VARIABLE DIFFICULTY LEVELS * WIDE VARIETY OF WEAPONS & AIRCRAFT Original supplied & cracked by ARCATRONIC Docs typed by The /\/\ighty \/\/izzy GREETS: TO ALL FRIENDS AND CONTACT