AERONAUTICAL DOGFIGHT 2 Playing Instructions and Game Controls Reproduced from the text file accompanying the PD release

It is the year 1996. The USSR having been dissolved five years previously by a series of revolutions, resulted in the creation of new democratic states. But with the collapse of the USSR, the arms' manufacturers for the NATO alliance lost their production market.

Therefore, in a bid to avert massive unemployment, a contest was set up to all budding pilots, with a prize of $10,000,000 to the winner - of which there could only be one.

The contest: 'A Trial By Combat'. This is the fifth year of the contest, and you have reached the final round, which is all that stands between you and the prize money...

Flying Manual
A list of all the keys used by each player to control their planes is given on screen. Firstly, the 'Flight' displays are described below:-

Flight Displays
Each planes' display consists of three parts: (i) The Visual Window, (ii) The Instrument Panel and (iii) The Message Area.

The Visual Window
The Visual Window is the main playing window, in which the 'outside world' is viewed. The ground and enemy planes are seen in this large window. Also, at the top of the window, five numbers make up the H.U.D. (Heads Up Display). Of the five numbers, the last one is the most critical. The five numbers are as follows:

The first two are the co-ordinates of the plane as viewed from above. N.B. The base of player #1 is at 0, 0 and the base of player #2 is at 1000, 1000. These bases are where the respective player can land to refuel and re-arm.

The number is the % amount of fuel left (at 0 the plane crashes).

The fourth is the direction (or heading) of the plane. This changes depending upon whether the plane is banking or not (and in which direction). The values are in the range 0-1000 and correspond to the following:

N	=	0+		NE	=	125+
E	=	250+		SE	=	375+
S	=	500+		SW	=	625+
W	=	750+		NW	=	875+

N.B. In order that the enemy plane appears in the middle of your sights, the direction value should be set to the base value of that direction, eg if travelling North, set to as near to 0 as possible.

The fifth number (and most important) is the amount of damage sustained due to enemy action. The maximum damage that can be sustained varies between different planes.

The Instrument Panel
This makes up what is known as the H.D.D. (Heads Down Display) - despite being situated on the side of the Visual Window.

This panel contains all the other important values: speed, thrust, altitude (x0000 ft) and the pod number of the current selected weapon.

Also above this, there is the tracking radar, which shows the relative position of the enemy taking account of the direction you are heading.

The Message Area
This is the thin rectangular box situated beneath the Visual Window. Warning messages appear in this window. One that must be noted, is the message telling the player that the runway is beneath. This warning means that the player is flying too high to land, despite being at the correct location to land. The solution is to descend.

The other message that must be noted is the weapon change notice - this appears and disappears rapidly after changing weapon, and so must be watched carefully.

Weapons Control
When an enemy is in your sights ("Enemy In Sights" in Message Area), your guns will hit the target (if guns selected), but once the enemy leaves the target, the guns will miss, despite still being able to fire.

The missiles when selected will only fire when locked onto the enemy (NB. They can miss - unlike the guns). Once an enemy is in your sights with your missiles selected ("Missile Locked" in Message Area), the missile remains locked on, even if the enemy moves out of your sights.

Finally, the two E.C.M. devices (Chaff flares and the Radar jamming systems) activate automatically (if selected) if an enemy missile is launched - the fire key has no use with these systems.

Good luck!