Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://crydee.sai.msu.ru/ftproot/pub/rec/games/unsorted/faqs/confirmed-kill.faq Дата изменения: Tue Aug 8 18:13:00 1995 Дата индексирования: Mon Dec 24 11:05:11 2007 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: m 101

A lot has been written about Confirmed Kill (CK for short) but it has been
over a span of a couple months. I thought I would gather this information
into a FAQ. Where I directly quote people I give credit but be aware that I
may have made small editorial changes (like correcting spelling or grammar).
As such, all mistakes are my responsibility. Some areas are still not nailed
down and are subject to change. Nothing in this FAQ should be considered as
written in stone and this FAQ is unofficial. This is version .6 of the FAQ.
I have taken material that Brian Walker of Domark put into his .42 version
of the FAQ and combined it in. Other additions include a section on how
to turn faster. We were at version .91 of the FE when this FAQ was written.
This file was last edited on August 1st, 1995.

Dave Chaloux french@cris.com



Table of Contents

1.0 What is Confirmed Kill?
2.0 What Aircraft will be Modeled?
3.0 What kind of system do I need to run it?
4.0 Where do I get the FE software?
4.1 How do I connect to CK?
5.0 What does it cost to play?

6.0 Its slow on my system. What can I do to help?
6.1 Why do S3 cards have special support?
6.2 What does this error message mean?
6.2.1 "Domain Error in ACOS"

7.0 Will CK have...
7.1 a 1/2 time arena?
7.2 multiple-player/crew member planes?
7.3 Modeling of collisions?
7.4 TCP support built into the FE?
7.5 A historical arena?
7.6 H2H offline play?

8.00 How do I...
8.01 Lock the tail wheel on takeoff?
8.02 Get the easier flight model?
8.03 Check how good my internet connection is?
8.04 Recover from losing updates to all players?
8.05 Recover from being grounded?
8.06 Stop the rapid jittering in the planes position?
8.07 Recover from a Spin?
8.08 Tell what country I am from?
8.09 Use the radio?
8.09.1 What are all those abbeviations I see people using on the radio?
8.09.2 What are those voices I keep hearing?
8.10 Make my joystick work with my GUS?
8.11 Capture airfields?
8.12 Set my fuel level?
8.13 Load Bombs and Rockets?
8.14 Turn faster?

9.0 Do ...
9.1 Bombs and other ordinance affect the flight model?
9.2 Flaps and gear down have any affect?
9.3 Planes burn any fuel?

10. Why ...
10.1 Do I need to trim my plane?
10.2 Do some planes seem to warp and others don't?

11.0 Should I use Error Correction and Data Compression?
12.0 Where is the action?
13.0 What is good etiquette?
14.0 What are all the various . commands?
15.0 When is the boxed version coming out?



1.0 What is Confirmed Kill?

Confirmed Kill is a World War II flight sim that can be played online against
scores of other players at the same time. "Wait a second", you may be saying.
"That sounds just like Air Warrior" (AW for short). It does have many
similarities to AW and that is no accident. The people who wrote this game cut
their teeth playing AW. Some of the features of this game are its force based
flight model, gunnery and damage model, and full screen view. The graphics of
other planes in flight are quite detailed and include texture maps for
nose art and other insignia.

The force based flight model means that the way aircraft behave is based
more closely on the various forces that act on the airplane instead of being
derived from a bunch of tables. Tables are still used but the nature of them
is somewhat different. For example, instead of a table of speeds at various
altitude, you might have a table of propeller efficiency at various altitudes.
If you suddenly change your throttle, you better be prepared to deal with
the change in torque. Flat spins, tail slides, torque and rudder/roll
coupling are all part of the game. Accelerated stalls can throw you upside
down or into a spin if you are not careful. Because some people may find
that the flight model is too realistic to be fun, a somewhat less realistic
flight model is available (for a separate arena).

The gunnery and damage model are also quite realistic and detailed.
Instead of shooting at a hit bubble that surrounds a plane, you actually have
to hit a particular part of the plane and the damage you do is based on the
part you hit. Hit the fuel tank and the plane explodes. Hit the right wing
enough and it falls off. Chew up the rear end and the horizontal stabilizer
will come apart. Partial damage is also possible .Individual guns are modeled
for rate of fire, ammuntion capacity, muzzle velocity, and even
"convergence," an adjustable range where the bullet streams from the guns
meet in front of the aircraft. Machine guns can be fired independently of
cannons so they can be used to zero in on the prey and the cannons can
be used to finish them off. Other weapons such as rockets, torpedoes, and
different types of bombs can also be employed.

The full screen view is another nice feature. 90 degrees of view is mapped
to the full screen. What this means in practice is that the planes are large
enough to show the nice, detailed, texture mapped shapes in combat without
artificially making the planes bigger than they should be. When you take that
right wing off the other guy, you can see it!

All this attention to detail on the part of the designers would be wasted if
the game was not fun. The attention to detail helps immerse the player into
the game. What really makes or breaks the game is its players. The
satisfaction that can be had when you enter a furball out-numbered against
real people and you survive is a rush that is hard to equal. The sight of your
arch-rival spinning out of control with his left wing missing is its own
reward.





2.0 What Aircraft will be Modeled?

According to GunJam, the first 15 aircraft to be modeled will be:

A6m5 Zero P-39C JU-87G2 & B2
KI-84 Frank F4U-1D ME-110C
VAL Spit Mk. VIII IL-10
P-51D Me-109G B-17G
P-38J FW-190A4 A-26B

The first Historical Scenario will be the Solomon Islands campaign.
These aircraft will be present there:

KI61 - Tony B25
G4M - Betty F4Fs, and/or F6Fs
D4Y2 - Judy SBD-3 Dauntless
B6N - Jill TBF-3 Avenger
PBY Catalina

Of the first 15 aircraft, all significant variants will be modeled.





3.0 What kind of system do I need to run it?

The stated minimum requirements are:

486 *DX* 33 MHz
VGA Graphics adapter
8 megabyes of RAM
Soundblaster-compatible sound card
9600+ baud modem
DOS "shell" internet account required to play online

A good VLB video card with 2MB of DRAM or VRAM is recommended

As Adrian has pointed out (twice to me in e-mail), a VLB card
is NOT required. However, in my estimation, it is realistically
a necessity if you want to fly in 640x480.

** It is important to note that the system uses floating point
calculations in its flight model so a 486 Dx is required. DO NOT EVEN
BOTHER trying to run on a 486SX or NexGen 586 without a math coprocessor
installed. (NexGen is planning on having a math coprocessor available
later this year.) **





4.0 Where do I get the FE software?

The best place to get the software is ICI's ftp server. Its ftp address
is ici2.infohwy.com. Go to /pub/ckfiles

The software can also be gotten at cactus.org in /incoming/ConfKill

Web Surfers can download the CK front end from Domark Software's home
page at

http://www.domark.com/domark


4.1 How do I connect to CK?

Brian Walker writes:

You must us e a "shell" TELNET connection to run CK. It runs through
DOS, so using SLIP, America Online, WinCIM, or other Windows-based
Internet access methods won't work. We recommend that you use a
locally-based Internet provider service that runs high-end hardware
such as Sun Sparcstations or Silicon Graphics machines.


5.0 What does it cost to play?

During the current beta testing process it is free!

When it actually goes commercial, it will be 2$ an hour. There will
also be a monthly fee of 10$.

John "Killer" McQueen, Vice President of ICI, had this to say about that
fee:

"Actually the $10 will get you 5 hrs of flight and unlimited access to
the BBS on our system Fletch, no mail servers, no community split between
umpteen services, you pay $2 [an hour] to fly and have nice community BBS
free to use for everyone."





6.0 Its slow on my system. What can I do to help?

Actually, there are a couple of things you can do. First, if you have
an ISA motherboard instead of a VLB motherboard, you can upgrade to a VLB for
under 160$ even if you get one of the higher end replacements. (VLB or Vesa
Local Bus, is a system architecture designed to provide a fast 32-bit
pathway straight to the CPU of the PC, and radically accelerates a
machine's performance.)

Second, you can get an S3 based video card. *THIS MAKES A BIG
DIFFERENCE.* I have heard complaints about how Dx66s were running so poorly
under SVGA that they had to drop back to VGA. My Dx66 with an S3 based card
could run 800x600 smoothly!

Using special video drivers by Domark Software, systems with the S3 864,
964, or Trio chipsets can nearly double their framerates in CK, and can
also run resolutions of 800x600 and 1024x768 at 15-25 frames per second.
Domark Software is now working on drivers for the new S3 868 and 968
chipsets, and hope to include them in CK very soon. (Keep in mind that
the new Diamond Stealth 64 Video cards use this chipset.) [Brian Walker]

My card is a STB Powergraph 64 with 2 Meg for VLB. This was a good choice for
me because it also runs fairly well in OS/2. It is S3 Trio based.

Another card which works are the variations of the Diamond Stealth 64.

Brian Holland (Rolo) says that his #9 GXE 64 Pro with 2 Meg VRAM is also very
smooth.

My advice with any video card is buy it where you can take it back if
it doesn't work out right. You may pay more but it can save you some
heartache.


Brian Walker also has this to say:

You can also speed your system up by trimming unnecessary memory
managers from your CONFIG.SYS file. Confirmed Kill uses a 32-bit
protected-mode "DOS Extender," that eliminates the need for memory
management software such as EMM386 or QEMM. By making a boot disk that
only loads the necessary sound and mouse TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident)
programs, you can increase the speed of the game, and cut down on some
annoying system crashes.

A CK boot disk can use an AUTOEXEC.BAT file that looks like this:

@ECHO Off
PROMPT $P$G
PATH C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE;C:\VM300
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
SET LMOUSE=C:\MOUSE
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
rem ************************
rem * Sound Driver Section *
rem ************************
SET MAD16=C:\VM300
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
C:\VM300\M16INIT /B
rem ****************************
rem * End Sound Driver Section *
rem ****************************


A CONFIG.SYS file only needs this:

BUFFERS=30
FILES=30
LASTDRIVE=C
FCBS=16,0
STACKS=0,0
BREAK = OFF


6.1 Why do S3 cards have special support?

Because the newer S3 cards have built in polygon rendering accelerators
in them that take much of the graphics load off the CPU.


6.2 What does this error message mean?

6.2.1 "Domain Error in ACOS"

This error is shown when you try to run CK on a machine without a
functioning math coprocessor. CK must have one to run. 486SX machines
don't have math coprocessors built in, so can't run CK without an
additional math coprocessor chip installed on the motherboard. The
NexGen 586 machines also don't have math coprocessors, and won't have
them available for a few months, according to NexGen, Inc. [Brian Walker]


7.0 Will CK have...

7.1 a 1/2 time arena?

Killer writes concerning the less strict arena being planned:

Less strict as in a fly by wire applied to the model to help out those
that can't or won't stay in the flight envelope.

1/2 time? nope, no, no way, no how, not ever, over my dead body...

Won't it be enough to fly in a full screen 640x480 warpless
environment, hitting planes and doing damage relative to what part you hit?
blowing off parts of planes like wings and tail structures and watching them
spiral into the dirt to explode into hundreds of pieces??(and the enemy may
not be able to bail out ) popping chutes of bailing pilots (they can
shoot back with that .45 too) Firing rockets and dropping bombs and
torpedoes?

Angling in on your target, fire off a stream of MG till the lead is close,
then open up with cannon and cut him to ribbons?



7.2 multiple-player/crew member planes such as the B-17?

Yes according to Robert "GunJam" Salinas, President of ICI.


7.3 Modeling of collisions?

Killer writes:

Nope sorry, no collisions. When everyone has fiber in the house and we
can have latency down to minuscule numbers maybe. Till then we probably wont
do it.



7.4 TCP support built into the FE?

No. However, Killer wrote:

We are seriously considering offering TCP/IP as we have received more
interest in it than I had expected. For at least the short term we will be
modem access only, which is to say the FE looks for a standard COM port.
There may in fact be a way to fool the FE into "thinking" its talking to a
comm port instead of TCP/IP, maybe ComT. That's about all I can say on it
for now.



7.5 A historical arena?

Killer wrote:

We have discussed this exact idea many times. We will build one and see
how people like it, It would take maybe a whole hour to set up a axis vs
allies arena with the stock terrain. Maybe a day or two for a realistic
English channel terrain.



7.6 H2H offline play?

Bryan Walker, Simulations Producer at Domark Software wrote:

"The initial online version will allow offline play, but only
to the point of flying the individual planes. The boxed version of
CK, due late this year or early '96, will allow modem and 16-player
IPX Network play, as well as some interesting tutorial features and an
adjustable Artificial Intelligence system."


8.00 How do I...

8.01 Lock the tail wheel on takeoff?

Killer wrote:

Right now you can lock the tail wheel by holding the stick full back.
Keep it full back till you hit 50 IAS or so then you can center the stick
and avoid a lot of the yaw on powerup.



8.02 Get the easier flight model?

Killer wrote:

There already is an easier flight mode. The host can control this or
you can enable it on or off line. Try the .dweeb 1 command and try to spin
one.



8.03 Check how good my connection is?

You can check this by using the

ping -s ici2.infohwy.com

command from your shell account. Be warned that for some reason on CRIS, this
continues forever instead of being killed with a [CTRL]-C. Therefore,
you may want to use a different form of the command.

ping -s ici2.infohwy.com 56 10

This will ping ICI's machine 10 times and then summarize the
statistics.

Doing this from CRIS I got:

CRCINET 1> ping -s ici2.infohwy.com 56 10
PING ici2.infohwy.com: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=0. time=128. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=1. time=99. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=2. time=136. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=3. time=97. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=4. time=95. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=5. time=94. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=6. time=94. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=7. time=94. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=8. time=94. ms
64 bytes from ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10): icmp_seq=9. time=114. ms

----ici2.infohwy.com PING Statistics----
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 94/104/136

Numbers below 200 are fine and will yield a good connection. The higher
the numbers, the worse the connection and if the go high enough, the game
becomes unplayable and the host will ground you.

You should be aware that normally low numbers can be ruined if you get
occasionally very high ones. I was flying one night where I could go
for minutes with a ping time of around 50. However, every once in a while the
system would basically just stop and I would get numbers like 1800. When
actually flying, I could fly for a couple of minutes and then I would get
grounded.

The next question is, "Would switching providers help?". In order to
answer that question, we need to know a bit more about how your messages are
getting sent to ici2.infohwy.com. We can use the traceroute command for this.

traceroute ici2.infohwy.com

I get the following:

CRCINET 5>traceroute ici2.infohwy.com
traceroute to ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 router-sprint.cris.com (199.3.12.1) 4 ms 3 ms 3 ms
2 sl-chi-1-S17-T1.sprintlink.net (144.228.128.129) 13 ms 13 ms 16 ms
3 sl-chi-6-F0/0.sprintlink.net (144.228.50.6) 14 ms 14 ms 22 ms
4 sl-chi-nap-H1/0-T3.sprintlink.net (144.228.56.10) 23 ms 19 ms 24 ms
5 198.32.130.227 (198.32.130.227) 15 ms 16 ms 20 ms
6 border2-hssi1-0.Chicago.mci.net (204.70.25.5) 21 ms 18 ms 16 ms
7 core-fddi-1.Chicago.mci.net (204.70.3.81) 25 ms 21 ms 16 ms
8 core-hssi-2.KansasCity.mci.net (204.70.1.17) 29 ms 25 ms 25 ms
9 core-hssi-3.Houston.mci.net (204.70.1.22) 45 ms 48 ms 56 ms
10 border1-fddi0-0.Houston.mci.net (204.70.2.98) 205 ms 117 ms 195 ms
11 sesquinet.Houston.mci.net (204.70.36.6) 44 ms 40 ms 39 ms
12 HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181) 40 ms 46 ms 40 ms
13 HOU2-F0.SESQUI.NET (128.241.200.82) 53 ms 40 ms 39 ms
14 SCCSI-S0.SESQUI.NET (128.241.5.146) 43 ms 49 ms 43 ms
15 com4.houston.sccsi.com (198.65.128.45) 41 ms 41 ms 42 ms
16 cisco1.houston.sccsi.com (198.65.128.2) 62 ms 43 ms 83 ms
17 i3t1.sccsi.com (198.65.144.214) 60 ms 48 ms 46 ms
18 ici2.infohwy.com (198.65.146.10) 53 ms * 48 ms

By the way, those numbers are individual times and do not represent a
minimum, average, and maximum like with ping.

This gives me all the steps in the route needed to get internet traffic
from my provider to ICI's machine. The times show will give you some idea
about how much time it took to get to each step along the way. By the way,
those numbers are individual times and do not represent a minimum, average,
and maximum like with ping. However, to get a better idea, use ping again.

CRCINET 8> ping -s HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET 56 10
PING HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=0. time=359. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=1. time=39. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=2. time=42. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=3. time=41. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=4. time=40. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=5. time=41. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=6. time=40. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=7. time=44. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=8. time=41. ms
64 bytes from HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET (192.67.13.181): icmp_seq=9. time=112. ms

----HOU1-F10.SESQUI.NET PING Statistics----
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 39/79/359

You can do this every step along the way and you should be able to isolate
exactly where a problem is occurring if you are having one. Remember,
the problem may not be your provider (and then again it might). If it is,
you now have the ammo to shoot at their tech support people.

If you don't mind a somewhat messy display, you can also use the
traceroute -q nqueries form of the command. However, ping is better for
doing large numbers of queries (the reason will be obvious if you try with
traceroute).


***IMPORTANT*** - Ping statistics do NOT tell the entire story. Big ping
delays or large numbers of dropped packets are of course BAD news.
However, you can have relatively good numbers and still have problems
with warping and such. For example, if the host you are on occasionally
locks your telnet process out, bad things are going to happen. By all
means use ping and traceroute, but what really matters is what you, and
the people fighting against you, see.


8.04 Recover from losing updates to all players?

This can be the results of a known bug, bad network delays, etc. For
now, your best bet is to just fly through it. Usually, the other planes
will show up again. If it becomes obvious that things are not coming back,
exit the game and get on again.


8.05 Recover from being grounded?

First, this happens because the host received nothing from you for 4+
seconds. This can be because of a temporary burp in the system or because
the load on your internet provider is just too high at the moment. You might
want to see the section of the FAQ on checking how good your connection is.

You recover by doing a .abort followed by a .login at which point you can
select your field and plane.

If this happens a lot, you are going to have to find a different
provider (or learn to live with it).

Note that currently, the host is not grounding people like this but
eventually, grounding will probably be turned back on.


8.06 Stop the rapid jittering in the planes position?

The rapid jittering is caused by the fact your joystick does not usually put
out one consistent value for a particular position of the stick. What you
should do is adjust the deadbands for your stick and rudder pedals (if you
have them).

You should be aware that the oscillations back and forth that occur on a
somewhat slower and smoother basis are normal and are part of the
flight model. Real planes behave the same way.

For some people, their are two other causes:

a) Try using a different stick mode.

b) You may be calibrating incorrectly. Some people are trying to calibrate
their joystick and then calibrate their rudder. The program wants you to
calibrate them at the same time. If you calibrate them separately, you
undo the first calibration. Say you did your joystick first and your
rudders second. What you will have done is told the game that the center
position is both the minimum and maximum position for your joystick. This
is going to give you an EXTREMELY bumpy ride.



8.07 Recover from a Spin?

Pyro writes:

I've been playing around offline with the really nasty spins. I did a lot
them in all the planes and I definitely believe that there is no such thing
as an unrecoverable spin provided you have enough alt and have not had flight
controls shot off. At least, I recovered from all my test spins(probably
about 50 of the nasty sort). Most of those were done using the F4U.

I'll try to explain the technique. It may be hard to visualize but if you
watched it once, it would be very clear.

First off, if you get into a flat spin at high alt that is particularly bad,
recovery can be impossible until you get down around 7K. It seems that for
those spins, you just can't get enough bite into the air until you get
down in the denser stuff. You still have plenty of time to recover though.
I've spun 15k and couldn't do a thing until I hit the lower alt where
recovery was made without much problem.

Throttle is very important. I found that spins can be unrecoverable if
you throttle all the way back. Realistic or not, stay throttled up.

The whole trick of spin recovery in CK is get your nose pointed straight down.
You want to get your nose aimed at the point on the ground that everything
appears to be spinning around. The first thing to do is get the nose down a
little. Use opposite rudder, forward stick, and some opposite aileron.
Monitor your airspeed and watch for gains in it. The object at this point
is to get from a flat spin to at least a slightly nose down attitude.

Hold down opposite rudder and adjust stick input to aim your nose down
at the center of the spin. If you use too much stick input, your nose will
shoot past that point. As your nose gets closer to center, ease up on your\
stick input. Sometimes rudder input needs to be adjusted a little, but for
the most part, it is held down all the way. Stick input will differ
according to the attitude you are in. Just using forward stick alone will
not do it in most cases. Use your stick input as if you were flying your
plane towards the center of the spin. And go into the direction of the spin,
not with it.

Sometimes, you get in an attitude that is very flat and hard to get any
input into it. If you give a quick kick of rudder going into the spin
followed by max opposite again, it can sometimes put you in a more favorable
spin attitude that you can get out of quicker.

Use the airspeed indicator as a feedback to what you are doing also.
Speed increases as long as you are doing something good. Once you do get
nose down and stabilized, watch your speed and allow it to build some.
If you try to pull out before doing this, it is very easy to reenter a spin.

Once you do it a few times, it will click and you will be able to get
out of any spin as long as you haven't lost any flight controls and have a
few k of alt between you and the ground. It's pretty hard to explain in
words, but it really isn't that difficult although they do take some work.
It ain't textbook spin recovery but it works here.

Bryan Walker writes:

"The easiest way out of a spin is not to get in one. Use smooth
control inputs, and try to keep the aircraft in trim as much as
possible. If you try to yank a foul-tempered Corsair around like
you may be used to with table-based flight models, you fall down, go
'boom.' Finesse is the key."


8.08 Tell what country I am from?

Your color of country depends on the country that you selected (the
default is country 1).

The countries are: 1 - Red 3 - Gold
2 - Green 4 - Purple

Another way is to do a roster command (.ros) when on the ground. This will
give you a list of who is flying, their color, handle, etc. Look for the
entry listing you and it will tell you your color.



8.09 Use the radio?

c==)--Katana----- writes:

"Since it seems to be the most asked question online at the moment, I've
decided to post some instructions on how to use the radio commands/channels
on CK. Grab a copy and pass it on.

There are 4 radio channels. You can send and receive on all 4 channels
simultaneously. At the moment, the message does not indicate what
channel the incoming message is on, which is what is causing most of the
confusion out there. You transmit on the various channels like so:

Channel 1 - /
Channel 2 - Shft /
Channel 3 - Ctrl /
Channel 4 - Alt /

Makes sense when you look at it on the keyboard.

Channel 1 is best left tuned to the common channel, which is it's
default (channel 100).

Each country has it's own private channel, corresponding to it's
country number:

Country 1 (Reds) - 101
Country 2 (Greenies) - 102
Country 3 (Golds) - 103 [Katana called then Smurfs - French]
Country 4 (Barneys) - 104

You tune the radio by using the format:

.radio # ###

As an example, if I am a Red (country 1), I might tune channel 2 to the
country private channel by typing:

.radio 2 101 (which is activated by Shft /)

Now, whenever I transmit by typing Shft / only my country-mates can
hear me. Easy, eh? If you want to use Alt / to talk to your country rather
than Shft / you'd type:

.radio 4 101

Tuning to enema country channels allows you to transmit on their
private channel, but you cannot hear their transmissions on that channel.
Better to just use the common channel to talk to enemas.

You can also tune any of your radio channels to individual pilots for
private plane-plane conversations. This is very useful for wingman tactics.
The format is the same, but instead of a numbered channel you use the 4
digit plane id of your wingman:

.radio 4 kat-

This would tune your channel 4 to my plane only, and nobody else would
hear your transmissions to me. Note that your message won't echo when you
use this method, but rest assured it was sent.

On my first flight, I generally tune my channel 2 to whatever country
channel I'm flying for (.radio 2 101 for Reds). Then I tune my two extra
channels (3 and 4) to whichever squad mates are up (.radio 3 cash and .radio
4 feet). That would
mean:

/ - talks to everyone
Shft / - talks to Reds only
Ctrl / - talks to Crash only
Alt / - talks to Fletch only

Well, that's longer than I meant it to be, but it should cover all of
the possible problems you may face concerning the radio system. Hopefully
this will reduce the "how does the radio work" questions on the air so I can
fly instead of type. ;)"


8.09.1 What are all those abbeviations I see people using on the radio?

Brian Walker writes:

"Since dogfighting and typing don't mix well, most folks have adopted
some abbreviations to cut down on the distraction in the heat of battle:

bingo: I'm out of fuel/ammo.
btw: By the way
bz: I'm busy fighting someone, can't talk now.
b&z: Use high-speed passes on the enemy, instead of getting into
turning fights.
cap: defend an airfield or other aircraft.
cc: I understand/I copy/Roger
otw: I'm on the way
rgr: Roger
6: Check your six.
6! Clear MY six.
vulch: (Vulture) To attack a plane taking off, or fly over an
enemy airfield and attack planes trying to use it.
wing: The bad guys shot my wing off!"

Here are some more:

8): Smiley
8(: Frown
in: Entering a fight
l8r: Later
nite: Logging but some radio traffic might be possible.
out: Exitting a fight
poof: Logging out immediately - no further radio traffic will be
possible.
thnx: Thanks


8.09.2 What are those voices I keep hearing?

Brian Walker writes:

As of version 0.90, the CK programmers are experimenting with
new software that allows the players to transmit VOICE radio messages
to one another. Right now, only the Sysops are using this while the
code is being tested and tuned. ICI hopes to have this code fully
functional by version 1.0.

(However, if you're playing CK and drinking tequila, there could
be other voices you're hearing that aren't related to this new feature.)


8.10 Make my joystick work with my GUS

Shaky Stick writes:

To all GUS owners...do NOT select GUS when choosing a sound card for
CK. The drivers hosed. Choose Sandblaster, or whatever else you can with
your system setup.



8.11 Capture airfields?

a) You have to take out the tower and the HQ. (The HQ is the small
orange shack. The tower is the gray building with blue windows).

b) You have to land on the runway. Note that a bug in the graphics can
make it look like you are still on the runway even after you are well
past it. Use your side views to be sure you are still on it.

c) Do a /.e to exit. You should get the exited rather than ditched
message.

d) A certain amount of time will pass before the field comes alive.
You must prevent some other country from landing and exiting at the field.


8.12 Set my fuel level? [Brian Walker]

Typing .FUEL # while in the HQ sets the fuel level of your
airplane in percentages of its maximum internal fuel load.


8.13 Load Bombs and Rockets? [Brian Walker]

Typing .BOMBS # and .ROCKETS # while in the HQ will load this
ordnance on your plane.


8.14 Turn faster?

Some people have a reputation in the arena of being able to turn their
planes almost unbelievable fast. Here are a few pointers:

a) A plane will turn fastest at corner velocity. This is the velocity
at which it is just possible to black out.

b) In order to get a plane at corner velocity, you may want to either put
your nose up or down. People often turn nose down in a fight because they
are trying to maintain speed.

c) Flaps may help in a turn. Each plane will differ somewhat with regards
to this. I personally have a stopwatch that I use to time turns in the
aircraft and find the flap position that turns best. Full Flaps is NOT
necessarily the best setting to use.

d) There are various maneuvers that are designed to make use of the fact
that planes can usually roll 360 degrees faster than they can turn 360
degrees in a flat turn.

e) Judicious use of high and low YoYos can give you an edge.

f) Remember that turn rate does not always when a stallfight. Turn
radius can also be very important.

g) The ability to ride the edge of a stall can be important to winning
turn fights.


9.0 Do ...

9.1 Bombs and other ordinance affect the flight model?

Yes. Starting with version .90, weapons weight and drag is modeled.



9.2 Flaps and gear down have any affect?

Both of these now DO have an effect. In fact, I would go so far as to
say that using flaps is a necessity to fly at top form with the
current models. Note that different aircraft have differing
flaps sizes, lift factors, and drag factors, as well.


9.3 Planes burn any fuel? [Brian Walker]

Yes, in proper relation to their actual consumption in reality.

Note that when setting your fuel level with the .FUEL # command, it's
in percentages of maximum internal capacity. A P-51 with fuel set to
30% can fly for over an hour, where a P-38 set at the same level can
barely last 20 minutes. Also note that full throttle consumes a great
deal of fuel for a moderate increase in speed over cruise throttle
settings. (Around 70%)


10. Why ...


10.1 Do I need to trim my plane?

Mike "Boomer" McCoy writes:

"An aeronautical engineer is probably gonna have a heart attack, but
here goes ;)

If you were flying a real airplane that was designed to cruise at, say,
250 mph, flying it at 150 (fuel econ, whatever..) you would quickly tire from
holding the stick back to maintain the angle of attack (AOA), etc.
Trim tabs allow you to 'fine tune' the Horiz Stab airfoil via little
'elevator' tabs set into rear of stab. For older planes, these tabs were
mechanically set via a wheel in the cockpit (in this case WWII). Later, they
became electrical with a small up/down switch.

Turn the wheel one way, the tabs went down, pushing the nose down a
bit, Turn it the other way raised the nose. In the example above, you could
set the trim so the stick was neutral, i.e. needing no force to keep the
plane in the right attitude to fly a high speed plane at low speeds.

It's important to note that trimming the plane is only good for the
speed it's trimmed at. If you trim your plane level at 200, it will be OUT
of trim at 250. Of course the design of the plane would determine just how
much."


10.2 Do some planes seem to warp and others don't? [Brian Walker]

If you see one plane warping, or jumping around the screen, while
others in view are staying steady, this is almost always the result of
an excessive latency from that player's provider. If you see ALL the
planes warping, it's either YOUR provider causing delays, or the CK host.
(The CK host is under little strain, and rarely causes warping.)


11.0 Should I use Error Correction and Data Compression?

Go ahead and set your modem for Error Correction. You should probably
turn Data Compression off. (Many claim this doesn't matter for this game.
I seem to get somewhat better results however). Your modem may vary
but with mine I initialize with:

atz
at&K0


12.0 Where is the action?

First, you should get and print a copy of the map for the arena you are
flying in. When first getting in, do a .fields command to find the
fields that are currently open. Then choose one that is reasonably close
to the center of the map and near an enemy open field. Fly towards the
enemy field and chances are very good you will find some action.




13.0 What is good etiquette?

I am not about to get on a podium and dictate what you can and cannot
do in this game. The following are my opinions and you can do with them what
you want. That said, a total disregard for etiquette is going to get you a
reputation you might prefer you could lose at some later date. Dweeb hunts
for bad offenders in AirWarrior have been organized in the past and this will
undoubtedly occur in CK as well. Still, if you disagree with some of what is
below, simply ignore it! My object in writing this is to help some dweebs
avoid doing things they have no clue would get people upset.

o Don't shoot down your own countrymen. The anti-fratricide code generally
prevents this but it is not always turned on. (This code assigns you any
damage that you would have done to a friendly aircraft).

o If you have been waved off of a fight by someone in your country stay
away. In my opinion (and this differs from some others, you do NOT have to
ask before joining a 1 on 1).

o Do not constantly wave off countrymen from a fight. Reserve this for
when you are actually dueling someone.

o Don't boss people around in the arena. Instead of, "All greens follow
me to F3." try "I'm headed to F3. Anyone else want to come?".
Brian Walker adds, "Though CK will eventually provide additional "command"
priveleges to expert players, being overbearing will generally
get you ignored, or viewed as a jerk."

o Don't make excuses on the radio for every time someone shoots you
down. An occasional, "Man, you were warping" is ok but if this become a
litany, people are going to notice (and the problem is probably your
connection anyway).

o Don't expect other people to bail you out of your dumb decisions.
They are not obligated to help you out (see don't boss).

o Do NOT bail on someone in a fight just to avoid giving them the kill.
(Bailing after you are hit is OK). This will earn you a reputation in a
hurry. Brian Walker continues, "If you lose a plane in such a fashion,
you still are considered "shot down," and those who were fighting against
you can be credited with a kill. In addition, that parachute is a VERY
tempting target."

o Don't take advantage of quirky bugs in the software to kill people.
For example, there was a bug that allowed you to take off from another
countries field. Any idiot could take advantage of that and hose people
as they took off.

o Don't use long Kill macros. Also, Don't monopolize the radio
channels.

o Don't just stay at home waiting for others to come to you. This may
be good for your K/D ratio, but if you develop a reputation as a homer,
people aren't going to think much of your K/D ratio anyway.

o Don't play joust. Any idiot can get kills by taking up a fast
airplane and extending long distances and taking headons. This is not
saying you should not take headons. It is saying that making them your
staple diet is a bad thing.

o Don't steal someone elses' handle. If they have a handle that you
absolutely must have, the normal protocol is to duel for it.

o Don't game the scoring system (when eventually there is one). Using
two accounts so that your one account can shoot up immobile airplanes
from your other account is NOT cool. This sort of thing led to a very
memorable dweeb hunt in AirWarrior.

o Don't use profanity online if you can absolutely help it. [Brian Walker]

o Don't take this game too seriously. If you find yourself getting
exceptionally angry about a lost dogfight or bad break, take some
time off from playing and reset your priorities. Play because
it's FUN, not because you've got a chip on your shoulder. [Brian Walker]

Of course there is the flip side.

o Do occasionally compliment your opponents for a good fight. A little
sportsmanship goes a long way.

o Do help your countrymen out when they are trying to accomplish
something or are outnumbered.

o Do try to help the dweebs out. A new player treated with respect
can become a good wingman in a hurry.

o Do feel free to vulch people on the ground if you have flown to get
there.

o Do give ICI and Domark constructive feedback, itemized if possible.



14.0 What are all the various . commands?

Well, to be honest, I don't know. Here are some of them.

.abort - Sometimes helps to abort your session when in HQ when things
aren't working right. Follow this with .login to get back to
HQ and ready to fly.

.bombs # - This sets the bomb load of your aircraft.
If you select more than is possible
for an aircraft, it will load the max. Bombs DO now
effect the flight characteristics of the aircraft. The
maximum load varies by aircraft with most fighters capable
of carrying a maximum of 4.

.conv ### - Sets your convergence setting for your guns at ### many
yards. [HQ - only now]

.cou # - Is equivalent to using the country buttons.

.dweeb 0 - Sets the standard, high fidelity, flight model.

.dweeb 1 - Supposedly sets up the easier fly by wire flight model
to avoid things like spins. The last time I checked,
it did not work.

.e - Typed on the radio when you want to exit the plane when
you have landed. [Runway and stopped]

.exit - When in HQ returns you to the menu on ICI2 from which
you selected b to fly.

.fields - Gives a list of all fields, their ownership, whether
they are open, etc. [HQ]

.fly - Is equivalent to hitting the fly button. This takes
off in the default direction for an airfield. It is
equivalent to the ".fly a" command.

.fly a - take off from an airfield in the default direction.

.fly b - take off from an airfield 180 degrees from the
default direction.

.fuel ### - load ### percent of the maximum fuel load. You probably
do NOT want to load maximum fuel since the way effects
the flight characteristics (such as turn rate) of the
aircraft. See section 9.3 for more details.

.handle XXXXX - Would set your handle to XXXXX. Note that there is not
currently a command to change your 4 letter call sign
which is fixed when you first setup an account. You should
use this command right away when getting a new account unless
you want to be known by one and all as a dweeb.

.help - Gives a list of some of the . commands

.login - Used in combination with the .abort command.

.mov F## - Is equivalent to using the field buttons.

.plane - This will give you a list of valid plane numbers

.plane # - Can be used instead of the buttons to select the plane
you are flying.

.radio - Will list what channels are tuned to what frequencies

.radio #a #b - Sets radio channel #a to be frequency #b. #b can also
be the 4 letter call sign shown with F2 in flight.

.rock - short for .rockets

.rockets ## - loads up to ## rockets. If more than the maximum for
the aircraft is specified, the maximum load will be
taken. Weight of the rockets does effect the flight
characteristics of the aircraft.

.rost - Will give you a partial listing of the players who are
up, the country they are flying for, and where they are
(in flight or HQ, or some field).

.show - This gives a listing of some of the current settings on
the host. For example, this command can be used to check
the frag and lethality settings.

.speed ### - This sets the speed that the plane will seek when you
hit speed trim. One use is that best rate of climb is
sometimes specified as a speed that you should hold at full
throttle.


15.0 When is the boxed version coming out?

Late this fall, or early '96 according to Bryan Walker.