<p>Interdictor II uses the mouse and keyboard as default controls. Optionally a mouse joystick (e.g. Voltmace DeltaCat) can be used, this provides more intuitive but less accurate control. A true analogue joystick may also be used (with the games card). An analogue joystick provides both an intuitive input and very fine and accurate control.</p>
<p>The mouse is used to represent an aircraft joystick. Imagine that the mouse is the top of a joystick. Pushing the mouse away lowers the nose of the aircraft, pulling it towards you raises the nose. Moving the mouse left rolls left and moving right rolls right.</p>
<p>The neutral position is wherever the mouse started and it must be returned to this position for no control input. The joystick position indicators on the display are useful for fine centring of the mouse. It takes a while to get used to using the mouse, but once mastered the extra control and precision makes keyboard or switched game joystick control seem inadequate.</p>
<p>The mouse buttons are used for throttle and firing weapons. The left button increases power and the middle button reduces power. The right button fires the selected weapon. An easy way to use the buttons, for a right handed pilot, is to have the second finger always on the fire button and to move the index finger from the left to the middle as required.</p>
<p>The other aircraft controls use keys on the keyboard. The keys have been chosen, where possible, to use the first letter of a word describing the key's function. Becoming familiar with the layout during training makes it easier to hit the right key while in the heat of action later.</p>
<p>The aircraft has computer enhanced stability. This makes it tend to return to straight and level flight, although you can still fly in the normal way. You should use the autostabiliser, autostab for short, while you gain experience. It is always useful for long distance straight and level flying. The autostab is designed for flying at half throttle. If you fly faster than half throttle in the stable position this results in the aircraft climbing and if you fly slower you slowly lose height. For combat autostab hinders acrobatic manoeuvres and should be switched off. When the autostab is switched on the elevator and aileron are returned to the centre and it is therefore useful when you become disorientated. The easiest technique is to let go of the morse and switch the autostab on and leave the aircraft to right itself.</p>
<p>The wheel brakes work on all wheels and are needed for slowing down after landing. You have to release the brakes before starting your takeoff. A useful technique is to throttle up to full power before releasing the brakes as this reduces your takeoff run. The wheel brakes will not work if you are landing with hydraulic system failure.</p>
<p>The airbrakes provide extra drag (hence the use of 'D'). This helps you to reduce speed which can be useful while in a steep ground attack or when you are going too fast on a landing approach. Slowing down also reduces your turning circle, which makes the airbrakes useful in dogfights. They operate using hydraulic power and therefore get stuck in the current position when there is a hydraulic system failure.</p>
<p>The landing gear produces a lot of drag and should be raised for normal flight to increase performance. You cannot lower or raise the landing gear after a hydraulic system failure. It is possible to land with the gear up if the descent rate is very low and the wings are almost level.</p>
<p>You will find the rudder controls most useful for steering on the ground. In the air the rudder turns the aircraft without roll, but is very ineffective. It is useful for making coordinated turns where aileron and rudder are both needed to prevent sideslip. You can use the rudder for small aiming corrections while attacking ground targets and for final heading correction while landing.</p>
<p>The engine must be started before the throttle controls work. The RPM dial shows minimum when the engine is on at low power and zero when the engine is off. You must switch the engine off after landing to refuel and rearm.</p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>Pitch trim up: 'Keypad +'</strong> </font></p>
<p>Moves the centre position for the aircraft joystick back towards the pilot, this has the effect of bringing the nose of the aircraft up when the joystick is centred. It is essential when using an analogue joystick to use the trim controls.</p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>Pitch trim down 'Keypad -'</strong> </font></p>
<p>Moves the centre position for the aircraft joystick away from the pilot, this has the effect of pushing the nose of the aircraft down when the joystick is centred.</p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>Reset pitch trim 'Keypad Enter'</strong> </font></p>
<p>Reset pitch trim to default.</p>
<p><font size="+1"><strong>Mouse control power: Main keyboard '1', '2', '3'</strong> </font></p>
<p>You can choose the mouse control response that is best for your flight mode and experience. Low power (1) is useful for training, normal power (2) is useful for most flying, high power (3) is best for dogfights but makes precise control difficult. The overall mouse response is also affected by the mouse speed settings you make before running Interdictor. This is deliberate as you will probably prefer the mouse gearing that you use for other programs.</p>
<p>The gun is a general purpose 30mm cannon. It fires tracer rounds to show you its trajectory. The gun is the default weapon on start up. As soon as you take off the gun is armed. To fire press the right mouse button. You only have 250 shells so it is unwise to use very long bursts. Cannon shells will destroy enemy aircraft, trucks, SAM sites and gun emplacements.</p>
<p>The sidewinder is an air-to-air heat seeking missile and your aircraft is equipped with four of them. When you select sidewinders the heat seeking head in the next missile to be fired is activated. When it has detected a target you will hear a locked sound and the sidewinder locked light flashes to indicate that you are locked onto a target. Pressing the right mouse button launches the missile, but only if it has detected an enemy air target. The enemy aircraft may use flares to decoy the sidewinder or may turn tightly, causing the sidewinder to miss. The sidewinder detects the heat from the hot exhaust of the aircraft, so the sidewinders can only be launched from behind an aircraft.</p>
<p>The rockets are gyroscopically stabilised but unguided. This means they have a flat trajectory. They have a contact fuse on the warhead which causes them to explode on contact with another object. They</p>
<p>are most useful against ground targets although you can destroy an aircraft with a direct hit. Bridges and buildings can only be destroyed by rockets. Trucks can also be destroyed but this is a case of overkill. You have 36 rockets, which are fired in pairs.</p>
<p>You will need to use infra-red flares to decoy heat seeking enemy air-to-air missiles. When you hear the missile approach warning you should fire flares. They only work against heat seeking missiles, so they are useless for radar guided surface-to-air missiles. Four flares are dropped each time and you only have 60. This means that you have to be careful not to waste them when the enemy missile is too far away.</p>
<p>Chaff is a cloud of fine metal strips designed to scatter radar signals. Enemy surface-to-air missiles are radar guided and can be confused by chaff. However it disperses slowly and works best if dropped before a SAM is actually launched and the chaff is between you and the SAM. You have 40 units of chaff and two units are dropped each time.</p>
<p>The radar starts with a range of 30 Km. You can change the range to zoom in to 15 and 8 Km. You should approach hostile territory with the radar on full range and reduce it for air combat.</p>
<p>Pressing the ';' key cycles through the four waypoints shown in the Navigation display. The currently selected waypoint is highlighted in yellow. The heading indicator, called BUG, is shown on the HUD as a yellow vertical line. To head towards the currently selected waypoint ensure that the BUG lines up with the inverted T sight.</p>
<p>Each head down display can show one of 4 modes. These are: radar, weapons, navigation and situation. You can choose which mode you prefer on each display. You cannot have the same mode on both displays.</p>
