Falcon Extensive Documentation ================================================================================ KEYBOARD COMMANDS ******************************************************************************** 1. End = Front View (Numeric Keypad) 2. PgDn = Read View (Numeric Keypad) 3. Home = Left View (Numeric Keypad) 4. PgUp = Right View (Numeric Keypad) 5. 8 = Nose Down (Numeric Keypad) 6. 2 = Nose Up (Numeric Keypad) 7. 4 = Bank Left (Numeric Keypad) 8. 6 = Bank Right (Numeric Keypad) 9. + = Throttle Increase 10. - = Throttle Decrease 11. = Air to Ground Weapons Select 12. = Air to Air Weapons Select 13. = Trigger and Move Highlight in options screens 14. / = Military - Afterburner Toggle 15. = Flares (to defeat heat-guided missles) 16. = Chaff (to defeat radar-guided missles) 17. P = Pause 18. R = Radar On/Off Toggle 19. O = LCOS Toggle (LCOS is the HUD mode that appears if an enemy is around) 20. B = Air Brakes 21. W = Wheel Brakes 22. G = Landing Gear 23. V = View Weapons 24. F = Flaps 25. C = Radar/Map Display Toggle 26. R = Radar On/Off Toggle 27. T = Air Target Select 28. E = Emit ECM Radar Jamming Signals (only if ALQ pod is installed) 29. = Menu Select 30. = Landscape On/Off Toggle 31. A = Autopilot, tracks you to MiGs. 32. S = Sound On/Off Toggle 33. X = Clear Locked On Position 34. CTRL-B = Black Box 35. CTRL-C = Jettison Centerline Stores 36. CTRL-D = Demo 37. CTRL-E = Eject 38. CTRL-K = Jettison All Stores 39. CTRL-S = Joystick Control Style 40. = Yawn/Pitch Control 41. = Trim Control 42. = Center Yawn/Pitch Control 43. = Flight Path Ladder On/Off Toggle 44. = ILS Landing Mode 45. = Center/Level Plane 46. = Decreases Sensitivity 47. = Increases Sensitivity 48. = Change Speed to Adjust to Computer CPU Speed PRESS ONCE TO SLOW, AGAIN TO RESTORE. ******************************************************************************** Weapons Descriptions ******************************************************************************** USE THE SPACE BAR TO HIGHLIGHT MISSIONS OPTIONS 1. M61-A1 Vulcan Internal Gun - Also called a cannon, we call the M61 a gun because of the information displayed on the HUDs where its status will appear. Since the M61 is an internal weapon, your F-16 Falcon already starts with 5000 rounds of ammo. The gun is an all purpose weapon (Air-to-Air or Air-to-Ground). 2. AIM-9J Sidewinder - The AIM-9J is a heat-seeking missle used in Air-to-Air combat, with an averageuseful range of 5 miles. It needs a strong heat source to track, and should be aimed directly at the Mig's rear quarters for it to be effective. 3. AIM-9L All Aspect Sidewinder - The AIM-9L is similar to the AIM-9J in that it is a heat-seeking missle. However it's called an "all aspect" missle because it contains filters that block out other heat sources (such as flares). The effective range is 5 miles. 4. AGM-65B Maverick Missle - The Maverick is an optically guided missle used for Air-to-Ground bombing. It must be fired from below 20,000 feet. It has a TV camera in the nose, when it is selected and your radar is on, you can view the ground/targets in your Radar CRT (center bottom of cockpit). 5. Mk 84 2000lb Low Drag Bomb - The Mark 84 is a general purpose bomb. It is used for any Air-to-Ground bombing when you want to make maximum impact. 6. Durandal Anti-Runway Bomb - This bomb is especially made to destroy runways. It propels its self underneath the runway, and then blows. This causes more repair time, and more damage. 7. ALQ-131 ECM Pod - The ALQ-131 pod is an radar scrambler for Air-to-Ground Missions. However, do not use it unless your going to be flying low, the ALQ-131 pod tells every Mig in the world that your coming. ******************************************************************************** Missions ******************************************************************************** Milk Run - Destroy the practice buildings east of your runway. Effective Weapons: Maverick, and Mark 84 Black Bandit - Destroy one MiG. Effective Weapins: AIM-9J AIM-9L Vulcan internal gun. Mig loiters north of your base. Rattlesnake Roundup - Destroy three SAM sights (you will find these when in enemy territory, they look like a mountain with two missle launchers coming out of it). Effective weapons: Mark 84 Maverick Vulcan internal gun Double Trouble - Destroy two MiG's. Same effective weapons as Black Bandit. Dragon's Tail - Destroy the bridge in the middle left quadrent. Same effective weapons as Milk Run. Dragin's Jaw - Destroy the bridge in the upper left quadrent. Note: the only effective weapon is the Mark 84 Hornet's Nest - Destroy the central airport in the upper left quadrent. Note: the only effective weapon is the Durandel Anti-runway bomb. Bear's Den - Destroy the Communication Center north of Dragon's Jaw. Same effective weapons as Milk Run. Venus Flytrap - Destroy all the SAM sights in the lower left quadrent. Hint there are only two. Effective weapons, same as Rattlesnake Round-up. Strike Palace - Destroy the enemies headquarters in the left hand center quadrent. Destroy both buildings! Same effective weapons as Milk Run. Double Dragon - Complete both Dragon's Tail and Dragon's Jaw in the same mission! Use the effective weapons described in those missions. Grand Slam - Destroy four MiG's. Same effective weapons as Black Bandit. ******************************************************************************* RANK ******************************************************************************* 1st Lietenant | Captain | Major | Lt. Col | Col Lowest-------------------DIFICULTY---------------------------Highest EASY---------------------EASE OF FLYING----------------------HARDEST Easy to hit Mig---------GUN ACCURACY-------------------------HARD SUPER ENGINE | NORMAL ENGINE NO ENGINE STALL | STALL POSSIBLE Unlimited Arms |Limited arms but no weight | Full weight + Drag or drag Unlimited fuel | Limited fuel Must monitor it or else No collisions | Collisions possible with ground structures No ground crash |Crash>60 deg. | Normal ground crash Ejecting pilot lives and returns |POW possible| POW or Fatal Always UNLIMITED FLARES | LIMITED FLARES (30) Unrestricted | Must raise and | Full landing Gear and nose wheel system Landing+ Takeoff| Lower gear | Requirements No pilot blackout and Redout | Redout and blackout possible No Mig missiles |No Mig missiles |Migs fair |Guns very | All enemy Weps. or guns |Gun poor |accuracy |accurate |accurate No Mig flares |Poor effect|effective |Totally effective No SAMs |Won't hit you |SA-2 only | SA-2 + 7 |SA-6 and SA-7 ******************************************************************************* FLYING AND USING YOUR WEAPONS ******************************************************************************* TAKE OFF PROCEDURE: START ENGINES + (JFS Light goes on) RELEASE WHEEL BRAKES W INCREASE POWER TO 100% + GENTLY PULL BACK ON STICK AT 150 KNOTS (AIRSPEED INDICATOR IS ON THE LEFT OF YOUR HUD) (The NWS light will switch to DISC when airborne) RETRACT GEAR G You can change the cockpit views with keys 3 4 5 6 8. 3 front 4 left 5 rear 6 right 8 Auto ( switches to view MiG, keep it on Auto when your Radar is off, you can be traced to your radar emissions!, then turn it off in combat by selecting one of the other view angles) Note : At higher ranks (normal engine) when taking off with heavy loads of bombs and fuel, use the after burner for more speed (/). LANDING PROCEDURE: Runway 9 is equiped for ILS (instrument landing system) USE it whenever possible. It's the horizontal runway at your base, approach it from the west. Turn on your ILS (F7), at a 90 degree heading towards runway 9. You will then see "radio" messages from the tower, as well as the Glide slope deviation scale on your HUD. When the lines intersect to form a perfet cross, you are on the right approach. Use your Angle of Attack indicator and indexer. The indexer is the 3 lights on the left side of your HUD, a down arrow head, a circle and an up arrow head. When the circle is light you are on a perfect descent angle. The up arrow means too high and slow, down too low and fast. The indicator is the scale on the right of your CRT radar, at upper ranks it is imperative that the indicator read between 8 and 13 for a safe landing. (Dropping airspeed increases your AOA) Use your airbreaks (B) and Flaps (F) to slow your plane, throttle should be at about 68%. Lower gear at approx. 4,000 feet. NWS RDY (ready) Light goes on. As soon as you touch down, apply Airbrakes , Flaps and Wheel brakes and reduce throttle to 60%. At this point you can press ESC and select "Mission Completed" from the option screen. ******************************************************************************* USING THE WEAPONS ******************************************************************************* At Captain rank and higher you select your own weapons. Use the cursor keys to move from the items, + and - keys to equip or de-equip that item. You can't always get what you want though, the Sarge'll tell ya'. THE GUN: The target designator is a square that wraps around the target when it's on screen. Through the square, you will see a line, this is the LCOS, there is an indicator on the Stores control panel showing when it's active. The Black line is the computers guess of the enemy's heading, the white line is his contrail or engine vapor. ALWAYS aim your weapons and plane at the black line, AHEAD of the target. The large circle is the Aiming reticle, this shows where your rounds will land, when you fire the gun. To hit the enemy wait for the IN RNG (in range) indicator on your HUD (within two miles), keep an eye on the Target distance scale on the left bottom of the HUD, as it moves lower on the scale the closer you are to the target. When you are within 2 miles, line the Aiming reticle on the LCOS line directly in front of the target. Squeeze the trigger (space bar or joystick button) a few times and "Splash" that bogey! Practice at 1st Lieutenant until you get the hang of it. You can hit the P key to pause and refer to your docs at any time. Hitting the Pause/Break key may lock your computer, so don't get confused. AIR TO GROUND STRAFING: Tap Backspace to select the M61 A1 gun, confirm that it's in A to G mode by looking at the Stores Control Panel, the top line should read SRF 999 GUN, the 999 is a rounds count, if you have less you've already done a little shooting. Set your Airspeed to 30 to 40 and your altitude should be about 2,000 feet. Line up the target with the designator (large circle) and 'pickle' the trigger. In other words, tap it once to lock the designator on target, if you lock on to the wrong place tap the X key to clear the lock and re-center the target and pickle again. Once locked on you don't have to continue a dive! The Falcon is a remarkable plane and can adjust it's Yaw and Pitch so that the nose is pointed up or down or left and right and it will continue to fly straight, up or down! To do this hold down the shift key and push forward on the stick, the nose will go down, but the plane will fly straight. The Velocity Vector ( a small circle with a vertical line on it's top) will indicate your true heading, even though the center point on the HUD will point at the target, your V vector will indicate level flight. To re-align the plane so that it points in the same direction it's flying, tap the key. OK, so you're lined up and locked on to target. Your HUD Target Discrete (left bottom of HUD) switches from an ARM indication to LCK it's locked, so squeeze the trigger, an X will mark where your bullets hit. If you want to ignore the Lock on ranging system, pump your trigger in short bursts instead of holding it down in one long burst. The AIM9 SIDEWINDERS: Use the procedure for tracking and closing on your target as with the cannon. Select the sidewinders, with the ENTER key, if you have a combination of AIM9Js and AIM9Ls, switch to the ones you want with ENTER (note: Joystick button B can switch between weapons, but to switch between A to A or A to G you must use BACKSPACE and ENTER keys). Watch your HUD target discrete, as you close, the IN RNG will light up on the right bottom of the HUD, just under the Target Distance indicators. Keep an eye on the right bottom of the HUD, the weapons Discrete. When it switches from ARM to LOCK, a flashing diamond also appears in the target designator, fire the missile. When fighting multiple bogeys it becomes necessary to switch the Designator between targets. Use the T key to switch between bogeys and watch your ass, they like to play carrot and stick. THE MAVERICK MISSILE: Use the same procedure for locking on as with the strafing run. It's a bit easier to lock with the maverick since it has a TV camera in the nose. Switch the COMED to radar mode, select the Maverick and activate Radar. You will now be able the see the ground in the COMED screen. Fly straight and level to the target and line it up in the COMED, right between the two lines. "Pickle" the trigger when in range. You will then get a lock indication. Fire away! You don't have to fly directly at the target anymore just in it's general direction, as long as you see it so does the Maverick, watch your COMED and see the target crumble, if you aimed right, that is! NOTE: WHEN CARRYING BOMBS, FUEL AND PODS AT UPPER RANKS, YOU CANNOT FLY UPSIDE DOWN UNLESS YOU JETTISON CENTER STORES FIRST. THIS IS KNOWN AS A CAT-3 CONFIGURATION. MK 84 AND DURANDAL BOMBS: Practice on the Practice buildings! DIVE BOMBING: Select the MK84 bombs. Fly at the target at an airspeed of of 45 and an altitude of 19.5. Keep the aiming reticle right on top of the target. As you close the bombsight will begin to move into view from the bottom of the HUD, once you see it, "pickle" the trigger(tap it once). Adjust the angle of attack to keep the target designator on top of the building, in other words, DIVE, but do it gently. When the Bomb site is at the base of the building, tap your trigger to release a pair of Mk84s. This will NOT MAKE a sound, the only indication you have of a release is the word REL will replace ARM on your HUD's weapon Discrete (lower left). Pull back on the stick and get the hell out of there if this is a combat mission at higher rank. Select a rear view to see if you were successful, an X marks the spot of impact. In combat never go back to see if you were successful, let intelligence find out for you when you land safely. NOTE: Use Mavericks against SAMs and buildings whenever possible, but you must use MK84s against the Cantelever bridge in Dragon's Jaw. When bombing runways follow this procedure with the Durandal, or use THE FLING BOMBING TECHNIQUE: AKA "POP-UP BOMBING" MK84 OR DURANDAL ALTITUDE SHOULD BE BETWEEN 2,000 AND 10,000 FEET. Maneuver so that the aiming reticle is directly CENTERED on the target. This usually requires a shallow dive. Pickle the trigger, the target designator (small black square)will appear in the reticle. The LOCK discrete will appear in the designator. Make sure that the designator is perfectly aligned with the target, if not clear with the X key and re-lock. If properly locked on, fly straight and level to the target. The release Que and dispalayed impact line will appear when in range. The Queu is a X at the top of the screen, the impact line flows from it to the bottom of the HUD to the bombsight. To stay on course, you must keep the Displayed impact line intersecting the the center point of the HUD and the reticle (circle). As you approach the target, the Queu will move downward, towards the reticle. Once the target disappears below the HUD pull back on the stick and start a shallow climb of about 110 degrees (flight path ladder between 1 and 2). When the release Queu passes through the reticle (circle) hit the trigger to release the bombs. Apply power and go into a 40 degree climb, until you have cleared the impact area. ******************************************************************************* THE BLACK BOX You need at least 384K w/DOS 3.X to have the use of the Black box flight recorder. At any time inside the plane or during the awards screen you can invoke the Box by pressing Control-B. The top left grid is "top looking down". Top right is "Ground level facing north". Bottom left is "Ground level facing east". Your Flight path is Cyan, enemies are white. All controls are invoked using the cursor keys and the enter key. The box records for up to 10 minutes, use it to evaluate your performance. ******************************************************************************* GLOSSARY A-A AIR TO AIR AB AFTERBURNER ACM AIR COMBAT MANEUVER ADI ATTITUDE DIRECTOR INDICATOR AFTERBURNER SPRAYS FUEL OUT OF ENGINE, MORE POWER A-G AIR TO GROUND AGM AIR TO GROUND MISSILE AIM AIR TO AIR MISSILE ALQ-131 JAMMING POD AOA ANGLE OF ATTACK BANDIT ENEMY MIG BINGO LOW FUEL, 2 MINUTES UNTIL YOU MUST RETURN BUSTED COURT-MARTIALED CAT CATEGORY 3, CENTER STORES ON PLANE COMED MAP/ELECTRONIC DISPLAY CONES OF VULNERABILITY AIMING CIRCLES IN HUD DIRECTIONAL INDICATOR ALWAYS REPRESENTS WHERE NOSE IS POINTING GSD GLIDE SLOPE DEVIATION JOKER LOW FUEL, 5 MINUTES UNTIL YOU MUST RETURN LD LOCALIZER DEVIATION NWS NOSE WHEEL STEERING SYSTEM VELOCITY VECTOR REPRESENTS DEGREE OF YAW AND PITCH, ANGLE AND DIRECTION OF FLIGHT