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Rescue on Fractalus
Flight Training
Manual
Issued by Black Cat
Distributed by Sam Houston
Galactic Command has sent out hundreds of probe craft in serch of life
in the universe. These probes have gone to every corner of the galaxy.
Some have found barren worlds, others have found advanced civilizations.
Some never returned...Being one of the hot shot fliers in your squadron
you were selected to help carry out the search for the lost pilots of
the probes. The exclesior craft (your ship) are the best equiped search
ships around. Let's take a look at the controls of the ship you will
soon fly...
On your console keyboard you have these keys to use. L-=>Execute landing
sequence S-=>Main systems off/on A-=>Airlock open/close B-=>Ignite
orbital booster rockets Ctrl-S-=>Sound system on/off Ctrl-R-Abort your
mission Esc key-=>Pauses the mission Left & right arrow keys-=>Throttle
Left arrow key-=>Select level (before the mission begins)
On your control column (joystick) you have these controls to use.
Stick-=>Flight direction Button 0-=>Fire photon cannons Button
1-=>Start/stop landing sequence and power up systems for flight.
Your instrument panel dispalys a great deal of information in a small
amount of space. Let's examine it in further detail.
There are 3 quadrants to it. Quadrant 1 displays your throttle position,
it is a very good indication of speed because your ship responds well to
the engines. It also gives you a warning when the ship gets too close to
the ground. The second quadrant (center) displays positional status and
general performance. You have an artificial horizon indicator labled
"AH" to show the ship's attitude when you are flying "blind" like at
night or when the ground is not visible. There are two red bars at the
top of the quadrant to indicate the distance to mountains. the larger
the bars the farther the obstruction. They are incuded due to limited
sideways visibility. Next you have your altitude guage which is labled
"A". The purple bar shows your ships altitude from the ground. The
orange bar indicates distance to large mountains directly in your flight
path. Use it to avoid slamming into a steep mountain. In the center you
have a screen, this screen shows when a target is centered on the
gunsights and when you are heading toward a pilot's ship. Use this
screen to determine what that point of light is in the distance. Is it a
friend or foe ? Now, to the right of that screen is another bar graph,
this important indicator is labled "E", the bar indicates your energy
level. It starts flashing red when you run low on fuel, pay attention to
it! Below the screen you have a set of lights. Those lights tell the
condition of the ship's systems, they are not too important for
immediate attention. The last thing in the center quadrant is the long
range radar scope. It picks up the emergency beacons from stranded
ships. It plots the friendly ships relative to you, with you being at
the bottom of the scope. Its range is about 9 units. That is near the
visual limit. It will not pick up enemy installations due to clever
jamming techniques. The last quadrant is on the right. This section
gives you mission data. There are three indicator lights at the top.
One tells when your ship has made contact with the ground. The second
light flashes on when your base is near enough for docking. And the
third one indicates whether the airlock on the ship is open or closed.
Then there are 3 digital readouts...The first one marked "R" displays
the range to a friendly pilot to be rescued. The second one labled "E"
keeps track of how many pieces of alien armament you blew up. And the
third one labled "P" reminds you of how many pilots you need to save
before your base comes out to you. There are some other things to know
about like the autosights, these are projected on your windshield when a
target to blast is nearby. Your total mission score is printed on the
top right of the screen. Messages from the ship's master computer are
flashed on the upper left side of the screen. Last but not least is a
good old magnetic compass mounted right above the windshield. Sounds
like a lot to learn, but it is really easy and you should have no
problem. Many cadets have mastered it and there are thousands of them
flying around in these ships. Now on with the mission objective and
profile.
The objective of the mission is to rescue as many stranded pilots as you
can without getting obliterated. Also, try to blow up every enemy craft
and installation that is possible.
The mission profile is as follows: Boot up your flight disk and board
your spacecraft. Once aboard, you'll be facing a screen that shows what
level you have selected. Use the arrow keys to change it, the range is
1-16. Then press the space bar to return and launch out to a planet.
You'll see the screen split in two. Seconds later you are shot into
space. The computer finds a suitible planet and then begins a short
re-entry sequence. That only takes a few seconds too. You are now
skimming the planet and looking for stranded pilots. Pay close attention
to your two scopes, they are very useful and always reliable. When you
see an enemy, blow him out of the sky with your photon cannons. When you
spot a pilot's ship get ready to land near it. You shold reduce speed to
around 2 or 3 notches and fly close to ground, heed the warning of the
micro-altimeter in quadrant 1. Look at your range display and make sure
it is less than 3 units for the distance to the ship. If not, the pilot
won't run that far. When it reads 2 you should start the landing
sequence. If you are too high the computer won't land the ship. Upon a
successful landing shut down your systems and wait for the pilot to
salvage any fuel he can from his ship. He'll then give it to you upon
boarding your ship. Be sure to open your airlock for the pilot.
Sometimes it is best to leave the airlock shut till the pilot comes and
knocks on it. There may be an alien instead of a pilot, in that case
quickly power up systems and fly away. Usually the neutrino blast from
the engines will kill the alien, it will also kill a pilot as well, we
don't want a dead pilot. When the pilot is safely aboard, takeoff and
continue with the mission. When you have enough pilots call your base.
It'll give the computer the co-ordinates for a quick rendezvous in
orbit. Then you are ready for another mission, the next one is harder.
The higher ones have bad weather and changing between day and night.
Your ship is durable, but try to avoid crashes and brush-bys, they drain
energy. If your mission was well done you'll be able to record your name
on a plaque with other pilots. When you are done with rescue operations
give Space Station One a call at these galactic co-ordinates:
312-893-7346. Also check out Time Travle Ae at this location too:
312-529-6779. If there are any errors in this manual please report them
at once, your co-operation is greatly appreciated.