SNS-WC-USA WING COMMANDER INSTRUCTION BOOKLET ______________________________________________________________________________ Wing Commander is a registered Trademark of Origin Systems, Inc. (C)1991-1992 Origin Systems, Inc. (C)1992 Mindscape, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mindscape and its logo are registered Trademarks of Mindscape, Inc. ______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Introduction....................................................2 Object of the Game..............................................3 Starting the Game...............................................3 Game Controls...................................................4 Onboard the Tiger's Claw........................................6 In the Cockpit..................................................9 Fighter-Craft..................................................15 Basic Tactics..................................................15 Pilot Profiles.................................................19 Know the Enemy.................................................22 Technical Support..............................................24 Credits........................................................26 1 ______________________________________________________________________________ In The Distant Future, Mankind Is Locked In A Deadly War... 2629 A.D. Terran Confederation exploration ship, Iason, penetrates the Vega Sector and encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Iason Commander, Jedora Andropolous, beams the greeting designed by Earth's Committee for Interaction with Alien Intelligences. The alien vessel opens up with all guns, destroying the Iason and all hands. 2634 A.D. The Terran Confederation declares war on the Empire of Kilrah in the Vega Sector. The Kilrathi, a vicious catlike race, retaliate with a punitive strike against the human colony on McAuliffe. After days of intense combat, the Kilrathi spearhead is momentarily broken. 2639 A.D. Kilrathi forces occupy and enslave the human world of Enyo. In Phase I of the Enyo Engagement, a small human attack force drops space mines and engages enemy ships. As the Kilrathi escape the mined region, they belatedly realize that it is the jump point for Phase II of the attack. The Enyo Engagement ends with the Kilrathi forced into retreat. 2649 A.D. Terran ground forces launch an attack on a Kilrathi colonial fortification, but are routed by unexpected Kilrathi fighter-craft support. TCS Tiger's Claw fights a delaying action to give the Terran fleet time to reach safety. The Tiger's Claw is able to jump back into Terran space with most of its engines destroyed and half its pilots listed as casualties. The carrier spends six months in space dock, being repaired and refitted. Today You are a rookie pilot on the refurbished Tiger's Claw. You will learn your mission objectives for attacking and fighting the Kilrathi in secret briefings onboard the mother ship. 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ Object of the Game The game begins on your mother ship, the TCS Tiger's Claw. Onboard, you move from room to room to learn about your comrades-in-arms and your combat mission. Once you know your flight mission, you're off to fight the Kilrathi. If you fail, the dreaded Kilrathi will prevail as overlords on all human worlds. So get out there and kick some tail! Starting the Game To start the game: 1. Put Wing Commander in your Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES). 2. Turn on the Super NES. 3. At the title screen, press Start. 4. Press arrows to select START or CONTINUE, then press the Start button again. Note: If you select CONTINUE, the passwords for higher missions are linked to your handle. You must continue to use that handle for the passwords to work. 3 ______________________________________________________________________________ Game Controls Left Button Right Button X Button / \ / / \ / A Button _____======_________________________________======_/__ / / / / \ / _ ( ) / \ Control / | | / \ Pad -------- == == / / / / ( ) ( ) | | |_| / / / / | | \ | \ | ( ) / \ ___|___________\________ | \ / \ / | \ \ | \ / \______________/ | \ \___|_____\___/ | \ | \ | \ | \ Select Start Y Button B Button Button Button Aboard the Tiger's Claw Start......................Skip to the next part of the game. Control Pad................Move the onscreen pointer right, left, up, and down to select various characters and objects. A/B/X/Y....................Activate the selected object or interact with the selected character. Press again to skip to the next line of dialog. Flight Controls Start......................Pause; press again to resume play. Control Pad................Steer your spaceship right, left, up, or down. Right......................Increase speed. Left.......................Decrease speed. [Left+Right................Instantly reduces your speed to 0.] 4 ______________________________________________________________________________ Left+Select+Start+Right....Eject. Select+A...................Cycle to the next available weapon. A..........................Fire selected weapon. Select+Y...................Engage Autopilot. Y..........................Afterburner. Select+B...................Cycle to the next available gun type. B..........................Fire selected weapon. Select+Left................Select between the weapons display or the damage display in the left VDU. Select+Right...............Select one right VDU function: NAVIGATION, TARGETING, or COMMUNICATIONS. To use a selected function, see below and also "In the Cockpit." NAVIGATION.................Press X to view the Navigation Map; press A to select an available Nav point; press Start to confirm the new objective and resume play. The Nav point appears as white crosshairs on the radar display. TARGETING..................Press Select+X to select a target; press X to lock onto the current target. COMMUNICATIONS.............If there is one recipient, press Select+X to select a message from the list; press X to send it. If multiple recipients are available, press Select+X to select a person; press X to confirm the choice. Then send the message as shown above. 5 ______________________________________________________________________________ Onboard the Tiger's Claw Onboard the Tiger's Claw, you move from room to room, talking to people and learning about your flight mission. There are three interactive areas: the Officer's Club, the Barracks, and the Briefing Room. In the Officer's Club Here's where you relax, meet the crew, and brush up on your basic flying skills. Use the control pad to move the onscreen pointer to a character or object, then press A. Each character likes to tell you about him/herself. Of course, people brag, so the Pilot's Chalkboard displays each pilot's record. If you need training, select the Trainsim, which let's you simulate a fight with any type of enemy ship. To enter the Barracks, select the right door. Barracks In the Barracks select the left door to return to the Officer's Club or the right door to go to the Mission Hanger. Select the lockers to view your medals, ribbons, and rank. 6 ______________________________________________________________________________ Briefing Room Mission briefings take place here. You learn where you're supposed to fly and what you're supposed to do. See "Flight Missions." Flying Your Ship After leaving the briefing room, you get into your first fighter ship. To get a feel for your ship's controls, try these steps: 1. Get familiar with your cockpit, including: Left VDU (Video Display Unit) - weapons and ship status. Armor and Shield indicators (next to Left VDU) - shields regenerate; armor doesn't! Radar Display (middle) - a white diamond is your Nav beacon destination. Fuel Gauge (to right of radar) - don't let this run out! Right VDU - press Select+Right to see the right VDU functions and select NAVIGATION. 2. Press X to see the Navigation Map. You can press X again to select any destination. Press Start to resume play. 3. Press the control pad arrows to get a feel for the ship. Maneuver until the white diamond (Nav beacon destination) is in the middle of the radar. 4. Press Select+Y to put your ship on Autopilot (as long as no asteroids or enemies are in the way) or you can continue to fly manually. For more details about each fighter's controls, see "In the Cockpit." 7 ______________________________________________________________________________ Fighting Your First Battle When you come out of Autopilot, red ships appear on the radar. Those are enemy fighters! To fight the enemy, try these steps: 1. Press control pad arrows until you center the red dots in the radar. 2. Press Y to ignite your Afterburners and bring enemy ships within range. 3. Press Select+Right to select COMMUNICATIONS in your Right VDU. The cursor should be pointing to Spirit, your Wingman. 4. Press X to open a channel to Spirit. Press X again to tell her to "Break and Attack." (You can also press Select+X to select another message or person, if available.) 5. Pick an enemy ship and fly toward it. 6. Press Y to use your Afterburner and try to maneuver behind or beside the enemy ship. 7. Press B to open fire. (Press A to fire a missile. This works best when enemy shields are down.) 8. After destroying all enemies on radar, press Select+Left to select and monitor Damage systems in your Left VDU. 9. Continue toward your current Nav point. If you hit an asteroid field, dodge rocks coming at you. If you meet more enemies, repeat the steps above. After you visit all three Nav points, your destination changes to the Tiger's Claw. 10. When you get close to your mother ship, press Select+Right to engage COMMUNICATIONS, then press Select+X again to select the Tiger's Claw. Press X to open a channel. The cursor should be on "Request Landing;" press X again to send the message. 11. Fly toward the Tiger's Claw, landing is automatic when you are in range. For more details, see "Weapons and Basic Tactics." 8 ______________________________________________________________________________ In the Cockpit The cockpits of the Terran ships are slightly different, so be sure to study the illustrated diagram of each cockpit. Basically, all four cockpits include the same basic equipment, which is explained in this section. Viewscreen The viewscreen and Heads-up Display provide a clear view of outer space directly ahead of you. A circle with crosshairs shows where your ship's guns are aimed. 9 ______________________________________________________________________________ Radar Display The circular screen in every cockpit is the radar display, which shows how far you need to rotate to bring targets into your front viewscreen (rather than how far away they are.) The radar display has six sections: Outer ring: Space behind you. /-----------\ Center ring: Space ahead of you. / Behind \ Middle quadrants: / /-----------\ \ Front: Space above your ship. / / \ Above / \ \ Rear: Space below your ship. / / \ _ / \ \ Right: Space right of your ship. ( ( Left (*) Right ) ) Left: Space left of your ship. \ \ / ~ \ / / \ \ / Below \ / / Contacts appear as colored dots: \ \___________/ / \ Behind / Blue = Terran Fighters \-----------/ Red = Kilrathi Fighters * = Ahead White Diamond = Nav Beacon White Square = Friendly and enemy Capitol Ships Your current target appears as a flashing dot. Tactical Tip: To head toward a target, select its dot on the radar display and maneuver your ship until that dot is in the center ring of the display, which means it is directly in front of you. Armor and Shields Indicator Small bars on this screen indicate the status of your ship's armor and shields. These bars disappear as armor and shields sustain damage. Shields gradually regenerate, unless the shield generator is destroyed. Once damage gets through the shields, armor begins sustaining damage. Unlike shields, armor doesn't regenerate. 10 ______________________________________________________________________________ Fuel Indicator This bar shows how much fuel you have left. The bar becomes shorter as you use up fuel. Afterburners boost your speed dramatically, but use up fuel at a ferocious rate, so use them sparingly. If you run out of fuel, you will only be able to coast on reserves at a speed of 50 KPS. Tactical Tip: To conserve fuel while using Afterburners, tap Y every few seconds instead of holding the button down. Speed Indicator This may be one or two gauges, depending on your cockpit type. SET SPEED shows the speed your fighter tries to maintain on its own, similar to a car's cruise control. KPS shows your ship's current speed in klicks per second. A klick is equal to a kilometer. Blaster Indicator This gauge shows the power level of your ship's active gun. Use of the gun runs down your blaster power. Your guns will not fire if you have no blaster power. Guns recover power gradually, but recovery is slowed if your shields are also regenerating. Eject Warning This light flashes if your ship sustains significant damage. When the eject warning starts flashing, you must decide how serious the situation is and whether to eject. If you eject, the Confederation loses a starfighter, but you may live to fight another day! 11 ______________________________________________________________________________ Left VDU The Left VDU is the Ship's Status Display, which shows your weapons and damage. Press Select+Left to switch between weapon and damage displays. # Ship Damage Report: # Active Gun: # Active Missile: Ion Drive Laser Cannon Dart DF Power Plant Mass Driver Javelin HS Shield Generator Neutron Gun Pilum FF Computer System Spiculum IR Intercom Link Porcupine Target Track Acceleration Absorbers Note: These are all possibilities for guns Ejector Systems and missiles. Each ship carries different Repair Systems combinations. For details, see "Weapons." Right VDU The Right VDU has three major functions: NAVIGATION, TARGETING, and COMMUNICATIONS. To select a specific function, press Select+Right until it appears in the Right VDU. To cycle through the options for a function, follow the instructions below. # NAVIGATION: Press X to pause the game and look at the full-screen Navigation Map safely. There press A to cycle through and select any Nav point in your current mission. Press Start to confirm the selected objective. When you activate Navigation, crosshairs appear on your radar display. The crosshairs represent the location of the current selected Nav point relative to your starfighter. You can manually fly to that destination by maneuvering to center the crosshairs or you can use Autopilot. To engage the Autopilot, press Select+Y. # TARGETING: Press Select+X to cycle through and select an available target. Press X to lock onto the target. The ship's targeting display shows the outline, current damage, and weapons of your targeted ship by color: Green = Undamaged, shield full. Yellow = Light shield damage. Red = Armor damage. 12 ______________________________________________________________________________ # COMMUNICATIONS: Press Select+X to cycle through a list of available message recipients. (This list changes with the situation.) Press X to select a recipient. Press Select+X again to cycle through a list of available messages. Press X to send a selected message. "Break and Attack" - A command to leave formation and engage enemy ships within 12,000 meters. "Keep Formation" - Denies a Wingman's request to break and attack on his/her own initiative. "Form on My Wing" - Return to formation and follow your vessel. "Return to Base" - A command instructing your Wingman to return to the Tiger's Claw immediately. Note: If obeyed, your Wingman will not be available to you for the duration of this mission. "Help Me Out Here" - A command to your Wingman to attack the enemy attacking you. "Attack My Target" - A command to your Wingman to engage the enemy you have currently targeted. This is the only way your Wingman will attack an enemy capital ship. "Radio Silence" - Prevents your Wingman from talking to you until "Broadcast Freely" is sent. "Broadcast Freely" - Let's your Wingman talk to you; negates "Keep Radio Silence." "Never Mind" - Disregard communication. Tactical Tip: You can also communicate with enemy ships and taunt them. This often provokes an attack that draws fire away from a ship you're protecting. 13 ______________________________________________________________________________ Landing When landing, approach the front of the Tiger's Claw and use the Communications system to signal, "Request Landing." If you have traveled to any Nav point, achieved a mission objective, or destroyed at least one enemy ship, you will be cleared for landing. If your ship is heavily damaged, you will be granted emergency landing clearance, unless active enemy vessels are in the same area. In that case, you cannot land until the enemy is destroyed or routed. Landing takes you back to the hanger, where you can see your ship's damage, if any. From the hanger, you go to debriefing, where your performance is evaluated by Colonel Halcyon. Afterwards, you may be in line for congratulations or a chewing out! Flight Missions There are five types of flight missions: # Defend: Guard a stationary position, such as a capital ship, base, or jump point, by orbiting it at a distance of 2,500 meters. Do not break to engage oncoming enemies until they reach 5,000 meters from the position you are protecting. That's not 5,000 meters from you! # Escort: Guard a larger ship on rendezvous assignments. Fly parallel to that ship at a maximum distance of 2,500 meters and keep your eyes open. Do not break formation to attack an enemy until the Kilrathi are within 5,000 meters of the ship you are protecting. # Intercept: Seek out and engage enemy vessels in a particular area, such as an anticipated Kilrathi jump point or a halfway point between oncoming enemies and anything you are protecting. # Patrol: Fly through unsecured territory and decide whether to engage enemies or return to base. Consider your options before making a lethal error! # Strike: Destroy an enemy target, usually a capital ship. The idea is to get in quick, launch missiles, blow the thing up, and get out quicker! Here, the Wingleader/Wingman team is critical. The Wingleader must place the missiles and the Wingman must take out the oncoming enemies before they get to the Wingleader. 14 ______________________________________________________________________________ Fighter-Craft TCS Tiger's Claw is a space carrier with four different type of fighter-craft, the Hornet Light Fighter, Scimitar Medium Fighter, Raptor Heavy Fighter, and Rapier Medium Fighter. The Kilrathi pilots fly the Salthi-Class Light Fighter, Krant-Class Medium Fighter, Dralthi-Class Medium Fighter, and Gratha-Class Heavy Fighter. Basic Tactics When you first encounter a flight of enemy fighter-craft, they are almost always flying in formation. After contact, they break formation in pairs at roughly four-second intervals. Generally, you should also break formation to match and engage them. Over twenty years of fighting the Kilrathi have resulted in the development of some basic maneuvering tactics to improve your chances of survival. 15 ______________________________________________________________________________ Standard Maneuvers Although you learned these basics in flight training, a little review never hurts. In addition to standard turns, dives, and climbs, you should remember the following tactics. Burnout: Hit the afterburners and increase speed until your pursuer is no longer gaining on you or until the afterburners finish their burn. Do as tight a 180ø turn as possible. If your target is within your cone of fire, open up on them. Fishhook: Calculate the heading you want. Turn to a heading that is a 180ø angle off, then almost immediately make a 180ø turn to your course of choice. For instance, if you are on a 0ø course and want to makes a 90ø left turn, first make a 90ø right turn, then follow up immediately with a 180ø turn. Hard Brake: Reduce forward velocity as quickly as you can. If you brake sooner, harder, and better than your pursuer, he will overshoot you and enter your cone of fire. Open up on him. Kickstop: Make a hard 90ø turn in any direction and hold your new course for a moment. If your pursuer overshoots and doesn't turn in your wake, do a 180ø spin back and open fire. Shake: Also called Zig-Zag. Do back-and-forth 45ø evasive maneuvers while closing on a target. Sit-'n'-Kick: An evasive maneuver especially useful against large ships. Make a 90ø turn in any direction. Shut off engines and spin to face your target; open fire. Then, make another random 90ø turn and hit your afterburners. Sit-'n'-Spin: Kill your engines and do a 360ø spin, firing on any targets that enter your cone of fire. Once you've spun to your original course, re-engage engines and continue. Tail: Every pilot knows how to tail a target ship. But don't forget--until you're sure of your most effective tailing range try to maintain a range of 1,000 meters. Tight Loop: Do a minimum-radius turn in any direction until you resume the course you held at the beginning of the maneuver. Properly done, this puts you behind your pursuer, or at least shakes him off your tail for a moment. Turn-'n'-Spin: Similar to the Kickstop, except that you also kill engine power. 16 ______________________________________________________________________________ Weapons of the Terran and Kilrathi Fleets The following excerpt from Borger's "All the Sector's Weapons Systems" is presented as a crash course for those new to the fighting front. Dumb-Fire Missile - The Dumb-Fire missile is a point-and-shoot weapon--just aim it at the target and hope the target can't get out of the way. With no homing capability, the Dumb-Fire is most effective in the hands of a pilot who can anticipate the target's reactions. When possible, it should be reserved for use in close quarters or against slow-moving targets. Heat-Seeking Missile - The engines of a modern space fighter or capital ship generate a lot of heat, a fact the heat-seeking missile uses to great advantage. All a pilot has to do is park himself on an enemy's tail, wait for the heat-seeker to lock, and then fire. (NOTE: If the target shakes a heat- seeker, the missile locks onto the nearest heat source, perhaps even the ship that originally fired it!) Image Recognition Missile - To fire an image recognition missile, the pilot must keep the target in view for several seconds, after which the missile memorizes the ship type in the pilot's sights. Once the image recognition missile locks it doesn't let go--it tracks the targeted ship like a very lethal bloodhound. Friend or Foe Missile - The friend or foe missile locks onto the nearest enemy ship. Capable of identifying the distinctive signal broadcast by all Terran ships, the friend or foe makes a beeline for the nearest ship that isn't broadcasting. (NOTE: This weapon will target friendly ships whose communications systems are damaged. Even the firing ship is not safe!) 17 ______________________________________________________________________________ Porcupine Mines - These deadly devices have limited homing capability and built-in proximity sensors--detonation doesn't require contact. If there's a Kilrathi on your tail, just open your rear doors and drop a Porcupine in his path. He'll be off your tail in no time. Or he'll be dead. If you ever see one of these irregular spheres tumbling your way, punch the throttle and steer clear. Laser Cannon - Lasers don't do a lot of damage. Still, nearly all pilots have at least one story in which the long range of the laser allowed them to get first strike on a foe. Despite their low damage potential, lasers are reliable, versatile, and effective--they have probably accounted for more enemy kills than any other weapon. Neutron Guns - Neutron guns do heavy damage, but only at close range. No other projectile weapon provides an equivalent level of destructive capability. The down side is that neutron guns heat up rapidly and eat up power at an alarming rate. Also, the neutron gun's lack of range has led many fool-hardy or underskilled pilots into close-quarter combat for which they were ill-prepared. Some of those pilots never made it home. Mass Driver Cannon - The basic fighter weapon--medium range, medium damage, nothing special. The mass driver cannon is reliable and accurate. Heat build-up and power drain are minimal. Though lasers and neutron guns are more effective in certain situations, no pilot even went wrong activating a mass driver. Flak Guns - Fighters provide the bulk of a capital ship's defense, but the largest ships in the Terran and Kilrathi fleets lay down heavy flak barrages which can bring down any ship in space. Turreted Lasers - Terran and Kilrathi destroyers, cruisers, dreadnaughts, carriers, and bases are equipped with heavy, turreted lasers linked to advanced targeting systems. Only the most maneuverable ships have any chance of surviving concentrated fire from these formidable weapons. 18 ______________________________________________________________________________ Pilot Profiles In the course of the game, you get to fly with a variety of other pilots. The Unstoppable Force 1st Lt. Tanaka Mariko goes by the tag Spirit. In the cockpit, Spirit is known for her deceptive, defensive piloting, her ability to sense and avoid incoming fire, and the habit of creeping in as close as possible to a target before firing. A native of Sapporo, Japan, Tanaka is a third generation military pilot. Her father, Major Tanaka Shun, died twenty years ago in the brutal McAuliffe Ambush of '34. Loose Cannon on Deck Captain Ian St. John, or Hunter to the crew, is one of the best pilots in the service. He has racked up an impressive number of kills in his years on the Tiger's Claw. Hunter's known as a seat-of-the-pants flier, and Kilrathi opponents tend to be baffled by his unpredictable flying style. The 27-year- old native of Brisbane, Australia is sometimes accused of excessive independence and a casual attitude toward regulations. Leader by Example Major Chen Kien is known as Bossman to the space crews. After replacement crews kept getting blown out of space, he decided to set an example for how to survive. The 39-year-old native of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, has a degree is aeronautical engineering from the Confederation Net university system. He is married to ergonomics engineer Chen Mingxing and, last March, became the father of a baby girl. 19 ______________________________________________________________________________ Ace of Aces Major Michael Casey, or Iceman to the crews, has racked up more confirmed kills while serving of the Tiger's Claw than any other pilot in the carrier's history. In the cockpit, he is known for calm under fire, letter-perfect flying technique, and deadly aim with ship's weapons. Iceman is 31, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia. By the Book--Or Else "I can't stand rebels or hot-doggers or any of these so-called intuitive know- it-alls," explains Captain Jeanette Devereaux, who goes by the cockpit moniker of Angel. "We have nearly eight centuries of combat flying experience to define, refine, and perfect the rules by which we fly. These rules are designed to keep us alive, keep our Wingman alive, and win our wars." The 28-year-old Devereaux is a native of Brussels, Belgium. New Kid on the Block Fresh from the Academy is 2nd Lt. Todd Marshall, known as Maniac by his graduating class. Marshall, 23, tries to live up to his moniker. "Plodding along with a copy of the navel regs is not going to impress the Kilrathi," he says. "They know our regs. We have to outfly them and outfight them...we've got to want it more." Marshall was one of the highest-rated Academy graduates of the '54 class and is from the homeworld of Leto, Proxima Centauri IV. 20 ______________________________________________________________________________ A Professional's Professional Major James Taggart is known as Paladin to the space crews. Taggart, 45, is a native of Aries, the self-sufficient space station built in permanent orbit around the planet Venus; his parents were terraforming engineers from Wick, Scotland. Though an effective Wingleader, Taggart is especially appreciated for his Wingman skills. Reliability Under Fire Captain Joseph Khumalo, known to the crews as Knight, is a Wingman with a reputation of utter reliability in combat. He received his handle during the Enyo Engagement by saving Wingleader Maria Alvarez, who dubbed him "My Knight in Shining Armor." Khumalo, 36, hails from Lubango, Angola. 21 ______________________________________________________________________________ Know the Enemy Keen Competitor Best known among the Kilrathi aces is Bhurak Starkiller. He is the best living pilot among the Kilrathi in this sector. He files a Salthi-Class Light Fighter. Strengths: Bhurak's an excellent pilot and shot. He has optimal reflexes and no serious weaknesses in his flying style. Weaknesses: Psych profiles indicate that Bhurak is addicted to speed, thrills, and sport. He can be panicked into retreat by a sufficient number of opponents or a sudden turn in fortune. Tactics: Bhurak likes the dogfight. He almost always uses his laser cannon, reserving missiles for stationary targets. Recommendations: Put several pilots on him at once. Deny him a fair fight or anything he would consider fun. Don't try to outfly him in single combat. Try going stationary and spinning to keep him in your sight. He doesn't appear to consider that fun and may choose another target. Cold as a Vacuum Khajja the Fang is the most efficient, mission-oriented pilot the Kilrathi have. He pilots a Krant-Class Medium Fighter. Strengths: Khajja's greatest asset is his clear thinking. He never panics or falters and appears to have utter confidence in the Wingmen. He is invulnerable to taunts, goads, or insults. Weaknesses: Khajja's faith in the Wingmen may be misplaced. Some Kilrathi pilots may be afraid of him. He will single-mindedly ignore incoming ships to concentrate on a strike objective, meaning that he might ignore you. Tactics: Khajja prefers straight-in, straight-out strafing approaches. He uses his laser cannon for most encounters, saves his heat-seekers for mission objectives or enemies, and saves missiles for emergencies. Recommendations: If he's approaching a mission objective, you might get a free shot by eluding his Wingmen. If he's moving on you, use classic dogfight tactics--try to outfly and outshoot him or lead him toward unengaged fliers in your squadron. He doesn't like bad odds. 22 ______________________________________________________________________________ Extreme Prejudice Dakhath, whose name translates literally as Deathstroke, is one of the most dangerous pilots alive. He has 55+ confirmed kills on file and pilots a Dralthi-Class Medium Fighter. Strengths: Dakhath appears to be utterly without fear. He never retreats from an engagement until every enemy within 1,000 klicks is destroyed. His courage and lack of self-preservation instincts make him particularly dangerous. Weaknesses: Dakhath lives only to kill and will not retreat or change targets until he destroys his first target. If possible, use his single-mindedness against him...if only by leading him away from strategically important targets so he concentrates on you. Tactics: Dakhath launches missiles at maximum range, then closes for the kill on one target. He will cling to that target until he destroys it, then choose another. Recommendations: Lead him into the path of fire friendly to you and it is possible he won't notice new pursuit until it's too late. Do not eject if you're in his vicinity. His hobby is target practice against ejecting pilots. Danger and Disdain Bakhtosh Redclaw is best-known for sarcastic gloating during combat engagements. Apparently from an aristocratic Kilrathi family, he trained in the politics of superiority from birth. He files a Gratha-Class Heavy Fighter. Strengths: Bakhtosh is the best Kilrathi shot in Vega Sector, bar none. His accuracy with ship's guns is legendary among Terran pilots. He is also a master of the crowning insult, the patronizing remark, and the racial slur. Weaknesses: Bakhtosh's piloting is nothing special. He is an excellent marksman but a mediocre flier. Plus, his insults are not a pose; he believes himself superior to everyone, Kilrathi and human. Tactics: Bakhtosh prefers to fire at a distance. He gets to the maximum range for his weapons and chews his target to pieces. The extra distance gives him time to cope with superior fliers. If forced to close with a foe, he launches a missile. Recommendations: Try getting close, firing continuously, then try to outfly him. Do not be daunted by his reputation. 23 ______________________________________________________________________________ Technical Support For technical support in the USA, contact: Mindscape Inc. A Software Toolworks Company 60 Leveroni Court Novato, CA 94949 Telephone: (415) 883-5157 For technical support in Europe, contact: Mindscape International PO Box 51, Burgess Hill RH159FH, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom Telephone: (0) 444 239-600 FAX: (0) 444 248-996 For technical support in Australia and New Zealand, contact: Mindscape International 5/6 Gladstone Road Castle Hill, New South Wales Australia 2154 Telephone: (02) 899-2277 FAX: (02) 899-2348 24 ______________________________________________________________________________ [Skip Warranty information since it would hardly apply now...] 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Credits Project Manager: Henrik Markarian Programming: Andrew Iverson, David R. Sullivan, Allen Anderson, Michael E. Duffy, Donald W. Laabs Graphic Artists: Peter and Caitlin Mitchell-Dayton Music and Sound Effects: Sam Powell Quality Assurance Director: Jim Molitor Q A Coordinators: Ken George, Jim Gleaves Q A Technicians: Joel Brisgel, Lee Mekelis, Wi Kian Tang Technical Support: Lawrence Coffey, Kevin P. Costello, Stephen Feaster, Milton Hodges, Christopher R. Kosel, Dave Locke, Douglas J. Valente Technical Support Manager: Dave Buoncristiani Senior V P/C T O: David P. Grenewetzki Business Group Senior VP: Mark Beaumont Marketing Producers: Ian McGee, Linda C. Norton Marketing Project Manager: Julie A. Lippold Manual Adaptation: Anne Schwimer Graphic Design: Myrna Peskin, Leanna York Illustration: Michael C. Miller Trafficking: Mary H. Eaves, Shannon Van Scotter Creative Director: Lyaz Swearingen Latham 26 ______________________________________________________________________________ Mindscape A Software Toolworks Company 60 Leveroni Court * Novato, CA 94949 (415) 883-3000 PRINTED IN JAPAN