Fighter Duel Pro ---------------- First off, let's go through the setup. You have three options for PlayerMode, 1 Player, 2 Player, and RearView. Pretty obvious. The RearView option is a special feature that allows you (if you have two machines and a "special" parallel cable, which I will have a schematic for later) to have the front AND the rear view on monitors. Makes it easy to watch your six, as the method for the 360 degree view is a little clumsy while trying to fly one of these monsters. We'll assume you have left it on 1 Player mode. The next menu option is PlayerOptions. Theatre is self-explanatory. The difference between Training and Combat is that, in training, you are shooting (or knocking over, as I enjoy doing) a little target about 50 ft. of the ground, whereas in combat, you are shooting something that shoots back. Under Start, it will be a little easier at first to select the Airborne option, as you start at a few thousand feet, full throttle, with the gear up and heading toward your target. If you are playing 2 Player mode, you automatically start Airborne. I recommend this the first few times you play, as taking off is a tad tricky when you have that big ass mountain in your face or are trying to take off from that carrier. Also under Start is North and South. These are used primarily in 2 Player mode, as one opponent MUST start North and the other MUST start South. If you do not do this and you try to link, it will abort and you must change one of your starting positions (there is no advantage/disadvantage to which one, as the computer starts you at a random altitude each time, and as you know from fighter pilot school, altitude is a BIG advantage in combat). I havent't messed with the Standard and Tourney options yet so I will leave that to you. Next is Modem Type. If you are playing 1 Player you needn't worry about it. If you are playing 2 Player in the same vicinity (i.e. within cable reach) put this on NULL. I have not played via modem yet, so I can't help you on connecting via modem at this time. Locale gives you a choice of the (sparse) scenery, or obstacle if you will, your fight will take place near. Under Training this has no effect. The arch is just that (although a bit squarer than the one in St. Louis from what I can remember). Towers is similar to the World Trade Centers, and Isles is kind of like a mountain with a ridge just wide enough for two planes running directly through it. All these can be (and should be) used to your advantage during combat. See which one works best for you. Send Rear is if you have selected 1 Player (or 2 Player if you are fortunate enough to have 4 machines handy) and have the "special" parallel cable that enables you to have the front and rear views displayed simultaneously on two machines. For now, leave this OFF. Next, is Aircraft. I'm not going into detail about the advantages and disadvantages of each plane. Buy a book if you want that. You can choose any one of the 16 aircraft as your own or choose the Random option if you have some phobia about making up your mind. The first five are American (yeah) planes, the next 5 are British, the next 3 are Japanese, and the final 3 are German. That should help you pick your plane, as I know most of you will prefer to fly the plane from your own country. You may do the same for the enemies also. Foe 2 is optional, and if you don't think you're studly enough (like myself, hehe) to fight 2 planes at once, then select None for Foe 2. There are 4 levels of Foe Skill, which are self- explanatory, plus a random option to mix things up. Under configuration, you can temporarily or permanently change any of the options there. The colors are easy to change, (although the current colors are optimized for the least flicker on RGB monitors without a flicker-fixer) as the gadgets for this are set up similar to prefs. Joystick is simple, as you have a choice between analog and digital (most Amiga joysticks are digital, unless you have done a mod to accept the more responsive analog sticks that the IBMs use) and the sensitivity. Digital EZ gradually centers your elevator after a dive or climb, then you have Low, Med, and High. Pick which one suits you. Unless you have rudder pedals (and who does for the Amy), leave the Rudder setting on Mouse. This lets you control your rudder (for steering, and un- coordinated turns) by just moving the mouse during flight. Rudder pedals work much better since you also control your throttle and view with the mouse during the game, and I've more than once cut my throttle and moved my plane out of position when landing. I'd suggest leaving Surface Dots off. As when an enemy is far away, he appears as a dot and is hard to pick up with 50 other dots on the display. Use Save to save your configuration and Default to change it back to the Default setting if they are "Foxtrot Uniform" (fighter jocks know what I mean). After you have set up, you are ready to go. Just click on the big ass "Begin Flight" gadget to fly. If you are playing head-to-head, both players do this when ready. Now we're ready to fly. I'm not going to give you flying lessons (but would be happy to for a fee), so if you want to know the aerodynamics of flight, etc., buy a book. Assuming you started in the air, you will be flying balls out (full throttle) with your gear up and heading toward your target(s). So continue until you see a plane or your target on the horizon. Here's where we can use TURBO to get there quickly. Pull up the special menu by pressing both mouse buttons at the same time. Over your instrument panel, you will see the TURBO option on the right side, click ON, then click on RESUME TRAINING or COMBAT (depending on which mode you were in). The trick is, your crosshairs must be OFF to use this. To toggle your crosshairs (which appear brown with no numbers on the sides when you are near home, and black when you are closer to your target), press the left mouse button and your joystick button at the same time. When your crosshairs are off, you may hold your joystick button to zip along toward your target. I'd suggest flying somewhat level when you do this as you will gain or lose altitude VERY rapidly. When you are near your target (i.e. it's in visual), turn your crosshairs on, then you may use the joystick button to shoot. Your ammo is limited, so don't go Rambo. Let's now go over flight controls: Joystick up: Pitch down Joystick down: Pitch up (kind of counter-intuitive eh? Like backing up a car) Joystick left: Bank left Joystick right: Bank right Mouse up: Throttle up Mouse down: Throttle down Mouse left: Yaw left Mouse right: Yaw right LMB: Brings up pointer to toggle gear, hook, and change flaps. Point to gear (far left) then move mouse up or down to raise or lower. Same with hook and flaps. RMB: Controls view. Hold down the button and move the mouse to look around. Keep in mind your plane is still moving, so don't go nuts looking around and crash. LMB and RMB: Brings up control panel. In 2 Player mode shows Wins/Losses. (which sucks, I'd like to turbo around in 2 player mode myself) LMB and JB: Toggles crosshairs. JB: Shoot! The instrument panel is pretty standard. You have your gear and arrestor hook (where applicable) on the far left. The arrestor hook, if you don't know, is needed to land on carriers since they are so short. You need to put this down to land on a carrier. Next is airspeed, then throttle (watch it if you get shot or fly upside down for too long, these aren't jets), then your pitch indicator, and slip indicator directly below that, then you have your compass (fly due North or 0 upon takeoff to find your enemy), then your artificial horizon, vertical velocity indicator, your altimeter, flap setting (in degrees) and below that your fuel gauge (watch this dwindle if you get shot too much). Let's go through takeoff once. You're sitting on the runway, heading 70 degrees (as indicated by the compass and the runway marker). Give her full throttle by pushing the mouse up until your RPM gauge reads between 2700 and 3000 (depending on your plane, also notice the P38L has TWO needles, one for each engine, God I love POWER). Okay, make sure you didn't bump your rudder while doing this (the needle and dot on the slip indicator should be in the middle), otherwise you will slide off the runway. When you get near the end of the runway (proper speed depends on the plane, 125 to 150 knots U.S.), pull down on the joystick. Your pitch indicator should be between 8 and 12. MAKE SURE you don't pull up so hard yo go into the RED zone on the indicator, or your plane will stall and you will crash. Same goes for when you get in the air. If you hear the stall warning, you need to REDUCE your pitch, not INCREASE it as you would instinctively do. If you are heading down toward the ground in a stall, pitch DOWN and your plane will level when you gain airspeed. This is the most common mistake. Okay, assuming you haven't bounced your plane back on the ground or have crashed into the mountain or fallen off the carrier into the sea at this point, hold your left mouse button and move the pointer over to your gear. While still holding the button in, move your mouse up and the gear should go up. You may do this at about 500 feet. Now change your heading to 0 and you will be flying toward your enemy. You may use TURBO now if you wish or just fly around, don't forget to turn on your crosshairs or you won't be able to shoot. The numbers on the crosshairs indicate how many times you have been hit (the flashing number on the left) and the number of hits you have scored on the last enemy you tagged. GIVE 'EM HELL! That's about it. The Instant Replay feature is easy enough, just pull up the control panel during flight and play in reverse, forward or freeze. Then go back to 00 secs and click on resume training or combat when you are finished. I wish you could change views during this, but I know of no way to. You can change your foe's skill at any time (but apparently not the plane or the number of foes). Also, if you want a different plane or theatre, you may select them, but you must hit RESET for them to take effect (i.e. quit your current mission). Center stick is used for Analog joysticks only. This lets you select a positon of your stick as the "center". You will probably need to calibrate your stick if you are using an analog one. As far as landing goes, you shouldn't need to land, you either get blown up or not. If you do want to know how to land, you may contact me on most popular boards and I will be happy to help you out. Or buy a good book on flight dynamics and that should help you more than I can. That's it. Hope this helps. If you need to know anything else, let me know, but this should take care of it. I got so many requests for docs that I figured I'd oblige. Now for the credz: Hello to (in no particular order), Caddy, MetalliKat, Zelnik, XTC, Wolverine NightWind, Cat Man, Dr. Electron, Edotl, Librarian, The Show Doctor, Merlin, (everyone back home basically), The Panther (duh), The General, Mr. IRQ, ThunderCat, Lucky Lava, Baser Evil, Nosferatu, SpaZm, Mr. Rox, SCSI, Vertigo, Amok, Pioneer, Sorehead, Mercy, The Master, just fuckin' everybody, you know who you are!