********* Welcome to Project 64! The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore 64 related documents in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8- bit computers on the part of the general population. If you would like to help by converting C64 related hardcopy documents to electronic texts please contact the manager of Project 64, Cris Berneburg, at 74171.2136@compuserve.com. Extensive efforts were made to preserve the contents of the original document. However, certain portions, such as diagrams, program listings, and indexes may have been either altered or sacrificed due to the limitations of plain vanilla text. Diagrams may have been eliminated where ASCII-art was not feasible. Program listings may be missing display codes where substitutions were not possible. Tables of contents and indexes may have been changed from page number references to section number references. Please accept our apologies for these limitations, alterations, and possible omissions. Document names are limited to the 8.3 file convention of DOS. The first characters of the file name are an abbreviation of the original document name. The version number of the etext follows next. After that a letter may appear to indicate the particular source of the document. Finally, the document is given a .TXT extension. The author(s) of the original document and members of Project 64 make no representations about the accuracy or suitability of this material for any purpose. This etext is provided "as-is". Please refer to the warantee of the original document, if any, that may included in this etext. No other warantees, express or implied, are made to you as to the etext or any medium it may be on. Neither the author(s) nor the members of Project 64 will assume liability for damages either from the direct or indirect use of this etext or from the distribution of or modification to this etext. ********* The Project 64 etext of the Battle Command manual. Converted to etext by by "Frank" Jeno E. Kontros , the Non Stop Cracker. BATCOM10.TXT, September 1996, etext #74. ********* So here original manual for Battle Command. The game supports C=1350 joymouse and C=1351 proportinal mouse in joy mode. Playing it, I was find a cool cheat. Enter GINGERBEER as passcode in LOAD GAME screen. After this you don't have any damage and 3 hidden missions appears: RAILWAY, ESCORT DUTY, GRAND FINALE. INTRODUCTION Set in the near future alternate reality, Battle Command is a arcade/strategy game which allows you to command a single Mauler assault tank in one of a series of scenarios (Missions) in the Ultra War, fought between the two dominant races in the New World. The latest phase of the North/South war has been going on for over 10 years, with a World War 1 situation eventually developing -- standoff between armies massed over a long dug-in battle front. Such are the defensive capabilities of each side, full scale attacks are suicidal, so any offensive moves are, by necessity, small behind the lines actions performed by elite troops in specially designed vehicles. The Mauler is the latest such machine -- an Armoured Fighting Machine capable of being lifted in and out of hostile territory by a fast Stealth Chopper (the Helicarrier) and armed with the most advanced weaponry science can devise. Try reading through the Your First Mission section to get the hang of how to play Battle Command. Above all, remember that you're fighting behind enemy lines on your own, with only quick thinking, and several millions of Credits worth of military hardware to protect you. LOADING Commodore Cartridge With your computer switched off, insert the cartridge label side up into the slot labeled EXPANSION PORT. This slot is on the rear of the computer at the right hand side. When the cartridge is fully inserted, switch the computer on. The Battle Command title screen will appear, and the game will load automatically. Commodore Disk Select 64 mode (if using Commodore 128). Turn on the disk drive, insert the program into the drive with the label facing upwards. Type LOAD"*",8,1 (RETURN) the introductory screen will appear and the program will then load automatically. Save Game Option To save your current mission(s) select STATUS and then select SAVE option. You will then be given a code (write this code down). After the game has been saved the game may then be continued. To load a previously saved game select LOAD at the start of the game and then, by using the joystick, enter your code, then press fire button to start. THE WORLD The world of Battle Command is depicted in solid-3D. The realistic landscape is populated by hills, trees and buildings, criss-crossed by rivers, roads, railway tracks and electricity pylons. The game is played at 24 times real time, one day of play time is one hour of real time, and there is a day night cycle lasting 1 hour. One Mission, however, does not follow immediately on from another -- you could finish one mission at dawn and start the next at midnight. Missions can take place at any time of the day or night. PLAYING THE BATTLE COMMAND The action in Battle Command is split up into a number of separate Missions, each with a different objective that is outlined in the Mission Briefing at the beginning of each encounter. The nature of the Missions vary from requiring straightforward arcade skills (such as the Starter Mission) to those of a more complex nature, where you will be expected to use reasoning and deductive skills, in addition to a quick trigger finger. The format of each Mission is the same, however. After making your Mission selection and reading the Briefing, you equip your Mauler and click on the Start Mission box. The screen view now changes to the view from out of the Mauler -- you now have full control. To complete the Mission successfully you have to achieve your Mission objective and then rendezvous with the Helicarrier again at the map co-ordinates shown on the Mission Briefing. This cycle is repeated until all of the Missions have been completed and the Northern forces have successfully overrun the South! CONTROLS The Battle Command user interface has been designed to be as intuitive and as flexible as possible, allowing you to choose between a combination of keyboard and mouse (or joystick), or predominantly mouse (or joystick). The majority of the functions in Battle Command can be accessed using mouse only. On pre-Mission screens, the cursor is moved by the obvious up/down, left/right movements, with the left hand mouse button being used for Selecting/Deselecting. Active Mode During actual missions, the actions outlined above are the same actions that control the movement of the Mauler itself and the firing of the weapon systems. So how do you select a function without using the keyboard? This is solved by switching between Active and Passive modes. Active mode is the default during a Mission, where there is no cursor shown on-screen and the movements of the mouse correspond with the movement of the Mauler. At this time all other functions can be accessed via single keyboard strokes, as shown in the Control Guide section. In Active mode the left mouse button acts as a fire button for your weapon systems. Passive Mode Pressing the right mouse button while in Active mode, takes you to Passive mode. The mouse now controls the cursor that appear on-screen and you can activate devices on the console by clicking with the left mouse button. During Passive mode you have no direct control over the movement of the Mauler. You can return to Active mode by pressing the right mouse button/SPACE again. If using a joystick with keyboard see the Control Guide at the back of this manual for details of how the control system works with these devices. For a step-by-step guide on how to select a Battle Command Mission and arm, equip and run your Mauler, read through the Your First Mission section of this manual. THE MAULER You undertake Battle Command's Mission in a Mauler class tank, a heavily armoured but highly mobile general purpose weapons platform. Because all of the Missions take place behind enemy lines -- due to stalemate that has long developed in the Ultra War -- you are delivered to the vicinity of the Mission Objective and retrieved from pre-arranged pick-up point by a Helicarrier, a fast stealth helicopter with a large payload capacity. The Mauler tank itself is designed primarily for flexibility. In addition to its standard equipment it has secondary equipment slots that enable specialist devices to be fitted to the tank when needed -- these will be fitted by the maintenance crew automatically before the Mission starts. The weapons systems themselves are totally undedicated with four weapon modules that allow the tank to carry any selection of weapon payloads, limited only by its payload capacity. The Mauler can therefore be configured to meet almost any mission requirement. THE MAULER CONTROL PANEL WEAPON WEAPON PODS CONTROL WINDOW o o o o o / | | \ | / | | \ +----------|-----------/-----|--|-----\--------------+ | | | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | | | |\ /-+ /o\ +--------------------------------\ /| | \/ \---/ \/ | | | | | | | | | | AUXILIARY | | MONITOR | | o | | | | | +------|------+ | |--\ /-------------| | |------------\ /--| | |_/ /-\ |=||=| | || /------\ | \_| | PICK-UP o---------|O| |=||=| |_____________||| || | BUTTON | +-+ |=||=| o o o || || | | /----\ |=||=| +--+ +--+ +--+|| \ || | | |248 | |=||=| | | | | | ||| \ || | | | / | |=||=| +|-+ +-|+ +-|+| \------/\| | | /----/ /- | | | | \ N..E..S /\ | +---/-------/----|----|-----|----|-------|-------\---+ / / o | o | o o o o SPEED |NIGHTSIGHT| COMPASS RADAR BINOCULARS FUEL GAUGE o | DISPLAY MAGNIFICATION GAUGE REAR VIEW o CAMERA BINOCULARS STANDARD EQUIPMENT This is basic equipment always available on your Mauler. Engine -- This Delta Dynamics Gas Turbine developing around 2000 Brake Horse Power at maximum output, gives the Mauler a to speed of around 90 miles per hour. Note power can be lost through damage by enemy fire. Velocity Gauge -- This gauge appears on the Control Panel as a vertical bargraph indicating the velocity of the Mauler. Green denotes forward speed, Red reverse. Fuel Gauge -- As with the Velocity Gauge this appears on the Control Panel as a vertical bar graph. There is nowhere, officially, to refuel behind enemy lines - if you run out, you're stuck...unless you know different, that is. Compass -- This is a display on the console with the symbols N, E, S and W marked on it. As the player turns, the display moves left or right to show the direction the player is facing. The display wraps around as the player turns full circle. +---------------+ | . . N . . . E | Compass +---------------+ Radar -- the radar is an advanced type, with a built-in object recognition system that assigns a type to every detected object on the basis on its threat to the Mauler. These object types displayed as different coloured dots on the radar screen overlaid on the top of a map of the local area retrieved from the radar computers memory. The colours assigned to each object type are: Roads Light gray Rivers Dark blue Electricity pylons Dark gray Railway tracks White Vegetation Green Hills/Rocks Brown Major buildings White Minor buildings Medium gray Mobile enemy Red Fixed enemy Light blue Enemy aircraft Yellow Shells/Missiles Orange The position of the player is shown by a small cursor in the center of the radar display. SECONDARY EQUIPMENT This is equipment that is not always fitted to the Mauler. If a particular piece of equipment is required in a mission it is automatically fitted. Rear View Camera -- Shows a view from the back of the Mauler. The only control is an on/off button bellow the auxiliary monitor. Eyes in the back of the head are sometimes useful! Nightsight -- Allows you to see at night and at low light levels using Infra Red sensitive optics. The normal 3D views on the main console display, if appropriate, are replaced by a lower resolution display in shades of gray. Using the nightsight during the day will overload it and you will be unable to see any detail - as all objects and the ground will be shown in a single shade of white silhouetted against the horizon. Overloading the nightsight will also damage its sensitive optics. The control for this device, if fitted, is a single on/off switch bellow the auxiliary monitor. Binoculars -- Magnifies your main view screen onto the main console display by a factor of 2, 4 or 8 to show greater detail on objects and objects too small to be visible normally. The device can be enabled and disabled using an on/off switch under the auxiliary monitor. There is also a rotary switch to the left of the auxiliary monitor to adjust the magnification. Pick-up Button -- Once you have completed your Mission Objective, you must make your way to the Pick-up point specified in your Mission Briefing and summon the Helicarrier to take you back to the safely of the Northern lines. Click on the button on the Control Panel or use the keyboard controls specified. WEAPONS Weaponry is what it's all about! The Mauler has four weapon Pods, any number of which you can fill up with lethal devices before you go on a Mission, see the Your First Mission section for details on equipping your Mauler. Only one of the Weapon Pods can be active at one time, selectable from the keyboard or by clicking on the appropriate Weapon Pod at the top of the Mauler control panel when in Passive Mode. This will activate the selected Weapon Pod, as shown by that Weapon's icon appearing in the Weapon Control Window of the Control Panel, along with any particular controls for the weapon (up/down, on/off). The Weapon Pod itself also shows the number of rounds left in the magazines plus. A description of each munition follows, but remember that you limited to how much you can put on-board your Mauler by weight and weapon design constrains. All weapons also have a magazine size, which is the number of rounds that weapon system carries. Run out of rounds and you'll be firing thin air until you select another Weapon Pod containing live rounds. OFFENSIVE WEAPONRY TURRET -- The most basic armament provided for the tank is the Pulveriser 120mm Battle Cannon, which fires shells directly forward. The barrel is a simple launching tube for the shells which are powered, in effect unguided missiles. They are unaffected by gravity, but they travel quite slowly, so you have to aim for where the target is going to be when the shell arrives. The barrel of the Pulveriser Battle Cannon is an integral part of the Mauler's turret and so is not removed even if the Pulveriser weapon system is not fitted. The weapon head-up-display simply shows the number of cannon shells remaining. Only one cannon can be fitted to the tank at once. The magazine size is 60 shells. PULVERISER Muzzle Speed: 210 m/s Burn Duration: 16 seconds Range: 3300 m Shell Weight: 4 kg Length: 0.7 m Calibre: 120 mm Warhead Type: K.E.P. BANSHEE SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILES -- When a weapon of this type is selected a sight appears in the center of your view allowing you to line up on hostile targets. When the fire button is pressed the missile launcher locks-on to the closest target in a cone directly in front of the Mauler, the cursor will change shape and a flashing a "locked-on" message will appear in the head-up-display. This locked-on state lasts for a limited time and the launcher continually tracks the target during it. If you press the fire button again while the launcher is locked-on, a missile is launched against the target. The missile will follow the target until it hits it or runs out of fuel and explodes. If no target can be found then no missile will be launched. There are two versions of this missile, heat seeking and radar guided. Heat seeking missiles will only lock onto targets that produce a lot of I.R. radiation such as aircraft or vehicles, while radar guided missiles will lock onto all targets. Heat seeking missiles have a much simpler guidance and targeting system than radar guided ones, as a consequence they are smaller and lighter and can fit more in a magazine. The magazine size is 8 for heat seeking missiles and 5 for radar guided. BANSHEE (IR version) Speed: 150 m/s Flight Duration: 15 seconds Minimum Range: 125 m Maximum Range: 2200 m Weight: 31.5 kg Length: 1.5 m Calibre: 160 mm Warhead Type: H.C. Control: Aerodynamic Surfaces Guidance: Radar or IR (Fire and Forget) PHOENIX SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES -- These are similar to the surface to surface missiles but they have a more complex targeting system. When the player presses the fire button a view from the launcher appears in the auxiliary monitor. The player now has control of the elevation and yaw of the launcher, within limits. If a target comes within the launcher's view it can be locked-on to and fired in the same way as the Banshee surface to surface missile. The player remains in control of the launcher until they press the right mouse button, which returns them to Active Mode and control of the Mauler. Again these missiles come in two types, Heat Seeking and Radar Guided. PHOENIX (IR version) Speed: 190 m/s Flight Duration: 12 seconds Minimum Range: 200 m Maximum Range: 2200 m Weight: 25 kg Length: 1.1 m Calibre: 120 mm Warhead Type: H.C. Control: Aerodynamic Surfaces Guidance: Radar or IR (Fire and Forget) K-40 MORTAR -- This throws a shell forwards and upwards. Unlike the cannon, shells from the mortar are unpowered and affected by gravity, traveling in a ballistic arc, exploding when they reach the ground or hit an object. The mortar allows you to fire at targets behind other objects or targets sunk into the ground. The buttons in the weapon control window are assigned functions to raise and lower the elevation of the mortar tube, and the current elevation, range and mortar shells remaining are shown in the head-up-display beneath the window. Only one mortar can be fitted to the tank at once. The magazine size is 20. K-40 MORTAR Minimum Range: 200 m Maximum Range: 750 m Shell Weight: 10 kg Calibre: 100 mm Warhead Type: H.E. DRAGONFLY WIRE GUIDED MISSILES -- When you launch one of these missiles a view from just behind the missile appears in the auxiliary monitor and you now control movement of the missile rather than the Mauler. You can switch back to controlling the Mauler by hitting the right mouse button, but you lose control of the missile which simply continues on the path it was on. The missiles have a limited range and can fly for approximately 20 seconds before detonating, although, of course, they will detonate before this on contact with any object! DRAGONFLY Speed: 190 m/s Flight Duration: 22 seconds Maximum Range: 4000 m Weight: 80 kg Length: 2 m Calibre: 250 mm Warhead Type: H.E. Control: Jet Deflection Guidance: Wire Guided (MCLOS) DEFENSIVE WEAPONRY SPECTRE I.R. DECOY FLARES -- These are flares you can launch to decoy heat seeking missiles. If a flare comes within the field of view of an enemy missile is a high probably that it will change course to follow the flare rather than the Mauler. If used while you yourself are also using heat seeking missiles they may interfere with the operation of them, as well! The flare launcher has two modes of operation, single-shot and automatic. In single-shot mode you launch a flare on demand by hitting the Fire, in automatic mode Mauler launches a flare every minute or if the current flare has destroyed, to give continual protection. Flares last for about 1 minute before they fall to the ground and are extinguished. A flare is destroyed once it has been hit by a missile. The two weapon control buttons control the mode the launcher is in, clicking on one puts the launcher into automatic mode the other puts it back into single-shot mode. The head-up-display shows the current mode, whether any flares are in the air and the number of flares remaining. The magazine size is 12. SPECTRE FLARE DISPENSER Flare Detonation Height: 55 m Effective Decoy Radius: 25 m Minimum Effective Wavelength: 3 microns Maximum Effective Wavelength: 14 microns PHANTASM DECOY CHAFF DISPENSERS -- Similar to the decoy flares except that it launches a cloud of chaff that confuses radar guided weapons. The chaff cloud does not rise as high as the flares and remains stationary where it was launched. It lasts for two minutes and weapons do not detonate on it but fly straight through. The controls and display are the same as for the decoy flares except that the repetition in automatic mode is every two minutes. The magazine size is 8. PHANTASM CHAFF DISPENSER Detonation Height: 20 m Bloom Radius: 15 m Bloom Time: 1.5 seconds Minimum Effective Frequency: 1.2 GHz Maximum Effective Frequency: 18 GHz Minimum Strand Length: 8 mm Maximum Strand Length: 125 mm SLAM LASER -- This weapon sits on the top of the Mauler and when activated will lock onto any incoming missile and shoot it down with laser fire. It can only cope with one missile at a time and, as it is chemically powered, has a limited number of shots. The only control is an on/off switch on one of the weapon control buttons, the fire button has no effect on this weapon. The display shows whether the gun is active and bargraph of the amount of chemical reactants left. The Laser will usually take several shots to down a missile, the number depending on the size of the missile. The magazine holds enough reactants for about 80 shots. SLAM LASER Fire Rate: 250 pulses/minute Power: 200 kW Wavelength: 3000 Angstroms Pulse Length: 3.5 milliseconds Joules/Pulse: 460 CONTROL GUIDE The cursor can be moved with the joystick in port 2 and the Space Bar as the Select button. If on a Commodore Games Console holding down the second fire button will activate the menu bar. This allows the player to select and enter other screens. The tank is controlled by using UP for acceleration, DOWN for deceleration, and LEFT and RIGHT steering the tank in the appropriate direction. Pressing the keys 1, 2, 3 or 4 will activate the appropriate weapon slot. The active slot will then be highlighted in the upper console display. The different weapon types are controlled as follows: Pulverizer Press fire to launch a single shell Cannon: Surface to First sight your target, then press fire to obtain Surface lock on. The cursor will change shape to indicate Missiles: this. Pressing fire again will now launch the missile. Dragonfly: Use fire to launch. When the missile has been launched, its main display will show a view from just behind the Dragonfly. This missile is controlled by using the same method as the tank. Pressing fire a second time will result in control switching back to the Mauler. Surface to When fire is pressed a view of the launcher Air appears in the auxiliary monitor. The player now Missiles: has control of the yaw and height of the launcher. Then press fire to obtain lock on. The cursor will change shape to indicate this. Pressing fire again will now launch the missile. The following weapons are controlled by clicking on the weapon control buttons. These are referred to as the upper and lower module buttons. Mortar: Use upper modules button to increase the elevation angle and the lower module button to decrease the angle. Press fire to launch a mortar shell. Spectre Press fire to launch a single flare or use the Flares: module buttons to switch automatic mode off or on. Phantom Press fire to launch a burst of chaff or use the Chaff: module buttons to switch automatic mode off or on. SLAM Laser: Use this module buttons to switch this weapon on or off. It only operates in automatic mode. The other equipment is operates as follows: Nightsight: Pressing N toggles this view mode on or off. Binoculars: Pressing B toggles this view mode on or off. Rear View: Pressing R toggles this view mode on or off. Helicarrier: Pressing H toggles the Helicarrier request transmission on or off. The various game screens are accessed by the following methods: Review Press F5 will enter this screen. Briefing: On the map display a small tank indicates the Mauler's current position. The letter X marks the Helicarrier pickup and a letter O shows the main target. Damage Pressing F3 enters this screen. The various levels Screen: of damage to Mauler and equipment are displayed. Auxiliary Pressing F7 enters this screen. Monitor Screen: Pressing F1 will return you to the main view. YOUR FIRST MISSION This section is hands-on guide to getting started in Battle Command. We recommend you start here to get an instant feel for the thing. As game players ourselves, we guess most users would rather not read a 150 page manual to begin with, but just want to get themselves a piece of action - and fast! The Battle Command user interface has been designed to be as intuitive as possible, but the following should serve as a guide to allow even the novice gamer to get into the thick of things with the minimum of fuss. First off, follow the loading instructions for your personal hardware format. After this procedure, you should now be seeing a title screen with music. Press any key to move to the Start Screen. There's a cursor on screen. You'll find you can move this using mouse or joystick. Put the cursor over the 'Start Game' box and 'Click' (that's left mouse button or 'Fire', depending on your control method) to move on. You now should be on the Mission Selection screen. Click on the Status Box and you'll find a screen that gives you your current progress in Battle Command. Hardly surprisingly, you've completed no Missions and have earned no points whatsoever. That will change later -- if you're good enough! Return to the Mission Select Screen by Clicking on the Mission Selection box. On the left side of this screen are the different missions you'll have to complete to finish Battle Command. Click on the different mission titles and you'll find that you highlight the text -- and cause a short description of the Mission Objective to be displayed on the view screen to the right. You'll want to try the Blast Em first, so now click on that. You notice that two more boxes have appeared above the Status Box. Clicking on Briefing will take you to next screen. This Briefing Screen is a short text description of your Mission objectives. In the Blast Em it's all quite simple -- if it moves, shoot it! Be warned however, other Missions require considerable thought and ingenuity to be completed -- not just a quick trigger finger! Very importantly, this screen also lists your Pick-Up co-ordinates, the location where you have to be in order to get your lift back to enemy lines, after you've completed your objective. You and your Mauler are behind enemy lines, remember -- and there's only one way back.... From here, clicking on the Map box gives you an outline map of the Mission Area. You'll also see icons that denote your set-down and pick-up points, your Mission Objective (if any) and the current position of your Mauler. Clicking on the Stores box will show you what munitions are available for this Mission. Recommended stores have their boxes outlined in red, those not available crossed out. From any of these three screens, you can click on Close to return to the Mission Selection screen. Now you know what you're doing, go back to that screen now and click on Select -- from here there's no turning back! You now should see a Fitting Screen. The window on the left is a 3-D animation of the current selected munition. Browse through weapons you can use on this mission by Clicking on the 'Forward' icon. In this Mission you can choose from the 'Pulveriser' Battle Cannon and the 'Banshee' Surface to Surface Missile in Infra Red and Radar guided form. Move back so as the Pulveriser is selected on the left and click on the Weapon Pod 1 box towards the middle right of the screen. You'll should now see that this Pod is now filled with the Pulveriser cannon icon. Move to display the Banshee IR Missile in the weapon selector, by clicking once on the 'Forward' icon. Now click on the empty Weapon Pod 2 box. It'll now be filled with a magazine full of Banshee Infra Red Heat Seeking Guided missiles. Now click once on 'Forward' again so you have the Banshee in its radar guided form selected in the left window and click on Weapon Pod 3. That's now full of Banshee Radar Guided Missiles. We'll leave Pod 4 empty for this mission. Hint When playing, remember that Infra Red guided missiles go for targets with a heat signature but Radar guided will lock onto any object. You're now fully equipped and ready to start this Mission -- let's Party! Click on the Start Mission box and the fun begins... Now it's all up to you! Control of movement is completely intuitive with mouse forward/joystick up to accelerate the Mauler forwards, back to accelerate in reverse. You can see how fast you're going from the Speed indicator on the control panel. Green lights mean you're going forwards, Red denotes you're going backwards. Left/right steers you in the expected direction. You are currently in Active Mode. You can change into Passive Mode by pressing the Right mouse button/Second joystick fire button/SPACE. This will cause a cursor to appear on screen which is controlled by the mouse/joystick movement. (The Mauler's current movement vector will stay at whatever it is now, until you go back into Active mode by pressing Right Mouse button/ Second joystick fire button/SPACE again). In Passive Mode the cursor can be used to control many of the game features by clicking on different parts of the Mauler's control panel. In fact, in Battle Command, all of these functions can also be accessed using the keyboard as well, while remaining in Active Mode the whole of the time. You, the Player, have the choice whether to use the combination of keyboard and mouse/joystick or just use mouse/joystick control only. Use whatever seems right for you. For the moment though, we'll assume you're using the keyboard and mouse/joystick combination to start off. The first thing to do is select which weapon pod you want to be currently active by pressing the corresponding number key on the keyboard. Let's try the Banshee Infra-Red guided missile out by pressing number key '2'. You'll now see the Banshee icon appear in the top left of the 3-D display to denote that the Banshee is the currently active weapon. OK -- now start moving out at the medium speed by moving your mouse forward or joystick up. Keep a sharp eye on the radar which dominates the right of the control panel. Enemy units will show up as red dots -- it won't be too long before they turn up. Go get'em! You should be able to spot the unit on the main console 3-D display, once you get close enough. Check again that you've got the Banshee as the active weapon by looking for its icon in the top left of the display. It would be embarrassing to press Fire and have nothing happen -- wouldn't it? Try to maneuver so that the enemy unit within the cross hairs of the head-up display. Press Fire once -- and the missile is locked on. The cross hair display will change shape and there will be an on-screen message to confirm this. While Banshee remains locked on it'll automatically track the target unit wherever it goes. Press Fire again within a short time to send the missile on its way. Just Fire and Forget! If the lock becomes broken, it's probably because you waited too long before pressing Fire again to launch the missile -- or maybe the target was using Electronic Counter Measures (ECM's). Just get a unit in your sights again and go through the same procedure. Fire once to lock and again to send. The IR Banshee might not be able to lock onto some enemy units. If this seems to be so, try switching to Banshee Radar Guided Missiles by pressing '3', using the same firing procedure of Fire once to lock on, Fire again to launch. If you want to save up your missiles, or maybe you've run out of Ammo (check the number of rounds left shown on the pod's display), press number '1' and you'll be firing the Pulveriser. This requires a little more skill -- you have to get the enemy within the cross hairs and press Fire to launch a shell. Remember, a 120mm shell is a dumb projectile -- it won't home in on a target, like guided missiles do. You fire off a round and hope that by the time your shell reaches the target, the unit is still there... Hint If you're firing at a moving target, try firing just in front of the vehicle, anticipating its movement vector. Try to keep your Mauler moving at all times. As a static target you'll be much easier to hit! Strike fast and hard -- fool around and you'll just get swamped by numbers. Go get'em! The Blast Em mission has been designed to be quite simple -- just cruise around and destroy your quota of enemy units (you'll be told when you achieve this) then high tail it back to your pick-up point. You can always check your Mauler's current position, and your Mission Objective, by pressing function key F5. Pressing F1 will get you back to the main view. When you've reached the pick-up area summon the Helicarrier by pressing the 'H' key. Easy wasn't it! But be warned, in the other Missions you'll expected to use your brains as well as your reflexes in order to come back in one piece. And you can expect the opposition to be much smarter and much better equipped. Enjoy! BATTLE COMMAND Its program code, graphic representation and artwork are the copyright of Ocean Software Limited and may not be reproduced, stored, hired or broadcast in any form whatsoever without the written permission of Ocean Software Limited. All rights reserved worldwide. THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT HAS BEEN CAREFULLY DEVELOPED AND MANUFACTURED TO THE HIGHEST QUALITY STANDARDS. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR LOADING. If for any reasons you have difficulty in running the program you may contact The Ocean Helpline direct by telephoning 0626 332533. However if you believe that the product is defective, please return it direct to: Mr. Yates, Ocean Software Limited, 6 Central Street, Manchester M2 5NS. Our quality control department will test the product and supply an immediate replacement if we find a fault. If we cannot find a fault the product will be returned to you at no charge. Please note that this does not affect you statutory rights. CREDITS C64/C64 GS programmed by Steve Caslin. Music by Jonathan Dunn Produced by D.C. Ward (c) 1991 OCEAN SOFTWARE LTD. /-----------\ | Childline | Childline is the free national helpline for | /-------\ | children and young people in trouble on danger. It | \ /+-+\ / | provides a confidential counselling service for | / \_/ \ | any child with any problem, 24 hours a day, every | \_____/ | day of the year. Childline listens, comforts and | 0800 1111 | protects. \-----------/