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V-Wing
File Summary
| File | V-Wing | |
| Version | 1.95 | |
| File size | 329 KB | |
| Release date | ||
| Release year | 1997 | |
| Type | Video game | |
| Platform | DOS | |
| Requirements | 386+, VGA compatible video card | |
| License | Shareware | |
Game Summary
| Developer | Simo Siiriä | |
| Publisher | Simo Siiriä | |
| Original release date | ||
| Original release year | [[:Finnish games:|]] | |
| Genre | Action | |
| Subgenre | Cave-flying | |
| Series | [[:Finnish games:|]] | |
| Article | V-Wing | |
| Website | {{{Website}}} | |
Screenshots
[[Image:|center|300px]]
[[{{{More screenshots}}}|More screenshots]]
README
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VERSION 1.95
Documentary
Documents compiled by Kalle Ojala
Table of contents:
I. Introduction
II. Requirements
III. Game Controls
i. Menus
ii. Bars
iii. Control Keys
IV. Weaponry
i. Main Weapon
ii. Auxiliary Weapons
V. Survival
i. Levels
ii. Criticals
iii. Gun-Turrets
iv. H-wings
v. Pilot
VI. Options
VII. Winning
i. Who's the winner?
ii. Hints
iii. Single Player Game
VIII. Troubleshooting
IX. Why Register???
X. Why Read Documents ;-)
XI. Creators' Comments
What's New?
This section was created so that those of you that have already
read the documents can figure out the changes to this version
without having to read all these 30+ pages, again.
New things in version 1.91:
-Two more levels added (Duh Cave, Sky City)
-Gun Turrets added
-Five more Auxiliary Weapons (see Weaponry)
-New graphics mode (320*200) option
-Some options moved to the function keys (see Controls sec-
tion)
-You now can make six helicopters with a full hold (was
three)
-Wraithcannon does less damage (was a huge spoiler)
-Megabomb explosion changed a bit (bigger!).
-Smoke (missiles, both types, produce smoke). Also, if you
have an Engine Core critical, your MECU will create smoke
whenever you thrust forward (see Criticals)
-Pilot doesn't die in water (he/she can swim and dive;
yipee!)
-New documents (some vital elements were left out from the
last ones: see Controls section for function keys and the
new heading; VII. Options)
-New effects like splashing!
New things in version 1.95:
-Sound effects (wohoo!)
-Additional pilot effects (rope use, digging: see Pilot and
Control Keys)
-Five more Auxiliary Weapons (see Weaponry)
-One new Critical Hit (see Criticals)
-Wide Screens option
-Playable one-player game
-H-wings
I. Introduction
---------------
Greetings, and congratulations, it seems you are about to read
the documents :-).
V-wing (The Game) is a game that has basically a simple idea
(even though some weapons can make this hard to believe), and
concentrates purely on action rather than strategy, roleplay or
something like that. You just get yourself in your V-wing (ex-
plained in the next chapter) and take off and shoot your
friend(s) until there is nothing that moves in space except you
(and maybe a few birds).
V-wing (The Ship) is the latest and greatest of all MECUs (Multi
Environmental Combat Unit). It is fast, tough and maneuverable,
and can move (like all MECUs) in space, air and water. Besides,
V-wing is the MECU which ended the Galactic War I (read the text
at the beginning of the game).
II. Requirements
----------------
386+ (for good game play 486/33+)
VGA compatible video card.
2.0 meg Hard Disk, or any other space (HD disk etc.)
0.7 meg XMS memory
595 Kb conventional memory
III. Game Controls
------------------
i. Menus
In menus: arrow up and down, moves through menu options. Arrow
left and right, or ENTER changes current selection. Sometimes
numeric keys alter some option too (like player number). In the
WEAPONS and LEVELS menus, pressing 'r' will generate random
auxiliary weapons and levels, respectively. BACKSPACE or ESC
returns you to previous menu.
(In the game, there is no place from where you could not get out
by pressing the ESC key.)
To save the options, press 's' key.
-You can have up to nine sets of options saved. Option set
number one will be loaded automatically when you start the
game.
To load the options, press 'l' key.
If you want to set the default options, press 'd' key.
ii. Bars
There are two bars under each players' screen. The green and
the white.
The green bar shows the general condition of your craft. When
the bar is still green, it means you still have some shields
left to protect you. When the bar changes to yellow, all of the
shields are gone, and the following hits start pounding at your
armor. When you sustain armor hits, there is a small (usually:
the chance can be altered from the MISCELLANEOUS menu) chance
that the hit penetrates the armor and damages one or more of the
internal systems of your V-wing (critical hits explained later).
When you have one or more critical hits, this bar is red.
The lower bar, the white one, shows the amount of stuff there is
left in your cargo hold. Using your auxiliary weapons system
most often uses some of this ... um ... duh ... stuff. Basically
it is the amount of ammo, mines, soldiers, or whatever you have
left for the use of your auxiliary weapon.
When you eject, both of the bars will drop to zero. That is,
they will both be all black. Now if the lower bar starts filling
with light blue, it means that your pilot has started using up
his in-suit air supply. If the blue line fills up the whole bar,
you have no more air and your lungs will explode (literally).
The lower bar may also start to fill if you are covered with
napalm (see Weaponry). If it fills up, your pilot is fried to
crisp.
iii. Control Keys
Each player has five (5) buttons, or a joystick for controlling
his/her ship:
Pl 1 Pl 2 Pl 3 Pl 4
Turn left: A Arrow lft J 6
Turn Right: D Arrow rght L T
Thrust: W Arrow up I U
Main Weapon: TAB Rght Shft B F
Auxiliary Weapon: S Arrow Dwn K Y
(Note: If you are experiencing trouble in the form of the key-
board not responding, try changing the keys for players 1 and 3.
In some cases, their keys may cause trouble. Specifically, you
can test this by holding down both the thrust and auxiliary
weapon buttons. These have been know to jam the keyboard.)
These keys can be altered from the CONTROLS menu. There is an
access to the joystick options too, and in three or four player
game the usage of at least one joystick is recommended.
In some situations it is necessary for even a good pilot to
eject and travel in the play area without a V-wing. Ejection may
take place when your ship is a wreckage (gray colored, and rolls
somewhat). Just push your auxiliary weapon button. A pilot
ejects from your ex-ship, and you are now in control of a small,
(but troublesome) pilot. Controlling him/her differs from the
controlling of a V-wing, even though the keys are still the
same.
Following shows the controls of a pilot:
Keys: TL=Turn Left, TR=Turn Right, THR=Thrust,
FIR=Fire Normal, AU=Auxiliary
Joyst: JL=Turn Left, JR=Turn Right, JU=Thrust, B1=Fire, B2=
Auxiliary, JD=Joystic Down.
When the pilot is on the ground: Key: Joystick:
Walk left............................TL JL
Walk right...........................TR JR
Jump left............................AU+TL JD+JL
Jump right...........................AU+TR JD+JR
Shoot (if target in range)...........FIR B1
Shoot left(no target in range).......FIR+TL B1+JL
Shoot right(no target in range)......FIR+TR B1+JR
Throw rope up........................THR JU
Throw rope up-left...................THR+TL JU+JL
Throw rope up-right..................THR+TR JU+JR
Dig..................................AU B2
When the pilot is in the water:
Swim left............................TL JL
Swim right...........................TR JR
Dive up..............................THR JU
Dive down............................AU JD
Shoot (if target in range)...........FIR B1
Shoot left (no target in range)......FIR+TL B1+JL
Shoot right (no target in range).....FIR+TR B1+JR
Throw rope up........................THR JU
Throw rope up-left...................THR+TL JU+JL
Throw rope up-right..................THR+TR JU+JR
When the pilot is in the air:
Shoot (if target in range)...........FIR B1
Shoot left (no target in range)......FIR+TL B1+JL
Shoot right (no target in range).....FIR+TR B1+JR
Throw rope up........................THR JU
Throw rope up-left...................THR+TL JU+JL
Throw rope up-right..................THR+TR JU+JR
Open parachute.......................AU JD
When the pilot is on parachute:
Glide left...........................TL JL
Glide right..........................TR JR
Shoot (if target in range)...........FIR B1
Shoot left(no target in range).......FIR+TL B1+JL
Shoot right(no target in range)......FIR+TR B1+JR
When the rope is in air:
Draw the rope back...................AU B2
When the pilot hangs on the rope:
Swing left...........................TL JL
Swing right..........................TR JR
Climb up.............................THR JU
Climb down...........................AU JD
Shoot (if target in range)...........FIR B1
Shoot left(no target in range).......FIR+TL B1+JL
Shoot right(no target in range)......FIR+TR B1+JR
Release the rope.....................(TL/TR)+THR B2
When the pilot on a V-wing:
Drop down on the rope................FIR+AU B1+B2
Note: The pilot cannot shoot or use his/her rope UNDER water.
That is, he/she can still shoot or throw the rope as much
as he/she likes when on the surface.
There are certain in-flight controls that can be accessed
through the function keys. Here they are:
F1: Eject player number one. This can be useful if you want
to leave your ship, before it is a wreckage. If your
ship is not destroyed, it will just lie there, empty. It
can then be taken over by ANY pilot.
F2: Same as above for player 2.
F3: Same as above for player 3.
F4: Same as above for player 4.
F5: Changes the graphics mode (from 320*200 to 320*400 or
vice versa). May speed up the game.
F6: Turns the "radar" on/off. It will reveal the location of
other MECUs. Small colored lines originating from your
MECU will point towards the MECU of each respective
color. The line disappears if you are close enough to
see the MECU in question.
F7: Causes the bases to start/stop glowing. This will great-
ly assist in finding bases in a new or unfamiliar level.
F8: Turns the cross-hair on/off (Note: The cross-hair points
to where your craft's nose is pointing. When aiming, you
still have to take speed into account).
F9: Pause.
F10: Aborts the game. Useful when you, say forgot to change
one option, and remember it when playing the first level
of a total of eight (ESC only quits the current level).
IV. Weaponry
------------
i. Main Weapon
The V-wing fighter is fitted with one liquid-cooled, fast-firing
high-powered automatic cannon. It fires a stream of bullets,
each equipped with a small explosive warhead. Upon impact, these
will create sizeable holes into the landscape, or inflict con-
siderable damage to other crafts' shields and armor.
ii. Auxiliary Weapons
In addition to the main weapon, a V-wing has room enough for one
additional weapons system (well, not necessarily a weapon...).
Various options are available. These are called auxiliary weap-
ons. A great many have been developed, most of them adding to
the destructive power of the V-wing. Being a small MECU, the V-
wing doesn't have all that much free space inside it. So, the
effectiveness of certain weapons is limited by the amount of
ammunition (or battery cells for energy weapons or whatever the
system uses) that can fit into the V-wing.
Following is a list of the most common and widely available
auxiliary weapons systems. They are not in any particular order,
so weapon number one is NOT the best and so on...
1. Grenade Launcher
This is a basic MECU weapon. In addition to them main weapon,
this MECU has a larger cannon-type weapon. The Grenade Launcher
fires small shells, that have great destructive potential. The
muzzle velocity of these shells is even greater than that of the
main weapon's bullets'. The ammo storage in the V-wing can hold
16 shells for the Grenade Launcher.
The shells will explode when they impact. The explosion creates
a high pressure shock wave in the immediate area. It also cre-
ates extreme heat in the vicinity. The exploding shell also
creates some shrapnel that shower the ground around the explo-
sion. This makes the weapon hazardous for nearby troops. The
total effect creates a hole the size of a house, or severely
damages a MECU. The V-wing, for example, can only withstand a
few direct hits before turning into scrap metal.
2. Missile
The missile is a basically a big warhead fitted onto a propul-
sion system. It is much faster than the V-wing, and it's turning
rate is also superior. The missile is dropped from a MECU, and
after a moment it will start speeding towards the nearest tar-
get. It only tracks MECUs, and not infantry or helicopters. If
no targets are present (=no enemy MECUs around), it will start
speeding in the direction the MECU was facing when it dropped
the missile. It has enough fuel to run for hours on at a time.
The only problem is that it goes straight at its target, ignor-
ing everything else. So, it is possible to lure the missile into
crashing into the ground.
The fact which makes the missile even more dangerous is it's
ability to travel underwater. And it can outrun (swim?) all
MECUs underwater, where avoiding it is even harder than it is
normally. The V-wing can 9 missiles.
3. Waypoint Missile
This weapon is a missile, one that differs a lot from the "usu-
al" missile. It does have a guidance system, or rather not. The
ship has the guidance system, and the missile only has a receiv-
er that takes orders from the MECU's computer.
When you use the weapon, your MECU's computer will mark the spot
in space that you are in. Actually it just saves the coordinates
of the spot. (This will show on your screen as a flashing red
dot. It will not, of course, show on the other players'
screens). You can designate as many spots in space as you wish.
These are the way-points of the missile. It is a good thing to
remember the order you left them in, for it does not show from
the dots themselves.
When you fire the missile, it will start flying the path that
the computer has calculated for it, traversing the way-points
starting from the one you left last, and going in reverse order
until it gets to the one you left first. If it has not hit any-
thing by then, it will continue in a straight line. While your
missile is in the air, you cannot leave more way-points, or fire
more missiles. The ship's computer is concentrating on guiding
the existing missile. (The missile is fired by pressing the main
gun and auxiliary weapon buttons at the same time. If it does
not work, be patient, and press them both down for maybe two
seconds. If you just quickly press them, you might not have
pressed the two buttons at the same time, and thus your missile
will not fire.)
The missile itself has a large warhead, and an engine that has
an afterburner (see below). Thus, it has a lot of destructive
potential. The lack of a guidance system has allowed for more
fuel and explosives. The V-wing can have up to 16 missiles in
it's cargo hold.
4. Megabomb
This weapon is the most powerful, as far as destructive poten-
tial goes, available to the MECUs. Intended primarily for use
against immobile ground targets, it is dropped from a MECU fly-
ing over the target. The bomb itself has horizontal velocity
stabilizers, which enables the bomb to drop straight down, re-
gardless of the horizontal velocity of the MECU dropping it.
This goes a long way to ensuring that the bomb hits it's target.
The drawback, of course, is that you have to get above your
target, which is more hazardous than bombarding it from afar.
The explosion itself is HUGE. Not only does the blast and heat
wave burn everything in sight, but the sheer number of shrapnel
and explosive particles flying around tears everything apart.
The effects of the explosion reach far, as the shrapnel are
thrown with great force. Soldiers located anywhere near the
blast are as good as dead, unless they have a thick protective
cover or are EXTREMELY lucky. In the unlikely event that a V-
wing will be hit by a falling bomb, the V-wing will be destroyed
instantly, even if it's shields and armor were at full strength.
The hole created by the blast is extreme. The explosion can
easily demolish even a large building or a medium sized base.
The hole is so deep that it will blow up the roof of even a deep
bunker, and it will uncover underground tunnels.
The bombs are not of great size, but they weigh a lot. This is
why only 4 of them can be fitted into the V-wing.
5. Shotgun
Another basic MECU weapon, this one is similar in use to the
Grenade Launcher. The effect, however, is totally different.
This weapon's shots are similar to the landmine (see below). It
shoots a concentrated burst of micro-explosives to the front of
the MECU. Because the initial charge that gives the explosives
their speed is detonated inside the MECU instead of in the
ground, the effect is smaller than that of the landmine. Other-
wise the MECU would be torn apart. Still, the recoil created by
this weapon is substantial. The V-wing's hold has room enough
for 12 shots.
The weapon is extremely effective at close range, where the
small explosives are still in a tight group. The damage inflict-
ed upon other vehicles lessens quickly as the range grows. Aim-
ing is not as important as with other weapons, because the area
of effect is larger.
6. Targeting System
This device was specifically developed for the V-wing, and does
not fit very well into other MECUs. The V-wing's main gun is not
firmly attached, but rather mounted on a mechanism that can turn
it around into any direction.
The ships computer constantly monitors the nearest enemy MECU.
It calculates the direction the gun should point to, in order to
hit the enemy. All this while the gun points forward, like in
all other MECUs. Now, when the device is activated, the gun
instantly swings to the predetermined position and starts firing
away. The computer adjusts the gun as the enemy moves.
The problem with the targeting system is the ammo feed of the
main gun. While it is in its standard position, everything is
ok. But when it is swinging around in myriad of directions, the
rate of fire has to be slowed, because otherwise the gun might
jam. Technicians are constantly trying to improve the ammo feed
system, so that the swivelling gun might also fire at full
speed.
While the system is active, it requires additional energy. This
is to move the heavy gun around, and to make precise adjust-
ments. Not much energy, but none the less so much that one can't
use it for ever. If there are no targets, the gun will swing to
a preset position (rear) when the targeting system is used.
7. Firebomb
This weapon fires command-detonated shots that burst into blaz-
ing infernos when they explode. The shots travel in a straight
line, at a certain speed, regardless of how or where they were
fired. As said, they detonate on command or when they impact
with ground or water.
Firebomb shots are somewhat similar to mines. They contain an
anti-gravity system, as well as a small propulsion system that
keeps the speed of the shot steady. They are armed with a small
explosive, and filled with thick fuel, that burns at an extreme-
ly high temperature. The shots are covered with a layer of gas
that is constantly undergoing a chemical reaction, that keeps it
very hot. This further enhances the destructive potential of the
weapon. It also gives the bombs their flaming appearance. This
weapon does not function underwater, because water ruins the
ammunition (bombs). And also, what good is a flame weapon under-
water?
When the bomb detonates, the fuel is lit. The shell of the shot
shatters, and the fuel reacts with the layer of gas. The result
is hot flames bursting into the surrounding area, spread even
further by a pressure wave. The farther from the detonation
point one is, the more dispersed the flames will be. The flames
will damage any MECU, or fry any infantry or helicopters that
are caught in the blast. The blast is very destructive, but even
a thin layer of inflammable material will protect any units from
harm.
The ship's computer constantly tracks the bombs, or rather,
bomb. Each MECU can only have one shot in the air. If you try to
fire the weapon when you still have a bomb flying about some-
where, you'll only succeed in detonating the existing shot. The
bombs are quite heavy, and also take up a lot of space. A V-wing
can carry eight bombs of this type.
8. Electro-Zapper
This is a close range weapon. The MECU has a machine that cre-
ates a powerful electrical discharge in front of the MECU. While
it's range is indeed limited, this compensated by the massive
damage that it inflicts. The V-wing, for example, is fried to
crisp in just a few seconds. This weapon will char the land-
scape, and set fire to anything flammable. The drawback is, that
the V-wing's hold can only fit so many batteries. In effect, you
can't zap very long before you have to go to a base to get some
more power.
9. Wraithcannon
This weapon is a spectacular, if not rather odd weapon. The MECU
is fitted with an additional cannon, in addition to the main
weapon, that is. This cannon does not fire conventional bullets,
though. Instead it fires small bursts of energy. The good thing
is that these bullets can travel unhindered by terrain or gravi-
ty. So, you can shoot at enemy MECUs from, say, behind a wall or
some other obstacle. The bad thing about them is that they to-
tally ignore terrain. Huh? Well, you can't use these to blast
open any blocked corridors, just to make an example. These bul-
lets also totally ignore helicopters, infantry, and the like.
They are only usable against other MECUs.
The MECU uses small amounts of energy to generate the bullets.
I say small amounts, because a V-wing's hold can have enough
energy stored to shoot 144 shots. These also a bit less damaging
than the normal shots. The technology it uses has not been
perfected yet.
10. Sonic Bomb
Unlike most other weapons, this one does not rely on explosives
or enormous impact force to destroy it's targets. It is quite
unique, and still undergoing testing.
The bombs themselves are filled with energy cells. They also
contain a small high-tech device. This device converts energy
into powerful ultrasonic vibration. When the bomb impacts, all
of the energy is channelled through the device. The pulse the
follows disintegrates the microstructure of all nearby material.
Well, at least, almost. The pulse weakens dramatically as it
expands, and all too soon, it disappears. Even though it's range
is limited, the effect is rather spectacular. MECUs in the area
of effect suffer immense damage, depending on how near the point
of impact they are. All ground, buildings, and such turn into
fine dust, that gently floats down and settles into heaps. What
is left is a sizeable hole with smooth edges. Because the bombs
do not create explosions, they can be used to eliminate targets
without endangering nearby friendly troops. Well, almost (see
next paragraph).
Unlike megabombs, sonic bombs do not have any sort of movement
stabilizers. They are just released from their holding rack
within the MECU. Thus, aiming with these is more difficult than
with the megabomb, and requires some practice. Sonic bombs also
weigh a lot less, and take up less space. A whole dozen can be
loaded aboard a V-wing.
11. Soldiers
These fighting machines are the result of hundreds of years of
genetic engineering. Their fighting capabilities are raised to
incredible heights (at the cost of some brain power). Only
through their incredible strength and endurance is it possible
for them to carry their battle gear for days on. Protected by
the latest heavy combat armor, they are armed with an anti-
vehicle, harness-mounted cannons. They also carry single-shot
missile tubes, with which they can decimate the enemy. They are,
unfortunately, unable to survive even one hit from a MECU scale
weapon. Their suits have pincers on the arms, which enables the
men to grab onto enemy crafts. Unfortunately, the suits weigh a
lot, and have not life-support mechanism. So, the men drown in
water.
The MECU carrying these men is actually an armored personnel
carrier. When commanded, the soldiers jump out of the MECU and
start patrolling the area. With the help of their stealth abili-
ties and their detection deterring suit, they are able to hide
from the sensors of MECUs, and are only seen from close by.
The men don't have parachutes, only small thrusters in their
suits, so dropping them from too high an altitude may prove
fatal. The V-wing has room for 24 soldiers and their equipment.
12. Helicopter
The MECU is fitted with a small flightbay where helicopters can
be assembled. These are loaded onto the MECU in parts, compo-
nents which take up less room than the final product. They have
robot pilots. The V-wing has room enough in its cargo hold for
6 complete helicopters. Only one will be assembled at any time,
because it takes up a lot of space.
After assembly, the helicopters can be launched from the flight-
bay. They will then proceed to patrolling the area, attacking
enemy in sight. The helicopters are armed with one cannon, much
the same kind as the one on the V-wings, only it's firing rate
is considerably smaller.
13. Landmine
This MECU is equipped with a device that plants command-detonat-
ed mines into the landscape. These mines are planted to the rear
of the craft. The MECU will refuse to plant the explosive if its
sensors indicate that the ground is too far away. Once in the
ground, the mines can be detonated a will. They will explode
into a concentrated burst of micro-explosives, capable of in-
flicting lethal damage to V-wing, for example. The V-wing can
carry 9 of these explosives.
(The mine is planted just to the rear of the craft, six pixels
to be exact. It will be "facing" the direction the craft was
facing when is was planted. Pressing the auxiliary weapon button
a second time will detonate it. Thus, you can only have one mine
planted at any given time.
Hint: To try this one out, land the V-wing on any bigger piece
of land. Press the auxiliary weapons button. Move a bit to ei-
ther side. Press the button again. KABOOOOOM!!! In time, you
will learn to plant these mines while in flight, and so it will
be extremely difficult for the enemy to notice where you have
left them.)
14. Mine
This MECU has a device that drops off floating mines. These
mines have a limited cloaking ability, and can only be seen from
close up. After they are dropped, the mines will be inactive for
a few moments. This is to allow the ship that dropped them to
get to a minimum safe distance. Once they are active, they will
explode when in the vicinity of ANY ship. They will not, howev-
er, be set off by helicopters.
The device will refuse to drop off mines if the MECU is in wa-
ter. Water destroys their cloaking systems and short-circuits
them. The V-wing can fit up to 16 of these mines.
15. Dividing Mine (Destroyer of Worlds)
Though it may not be obvious at once, this mine is the most
destructive of them all. It is not actually a mine, but rather
an alien life-form, that has been stolen from a galactic storage
(jail). Once the MECU releases this thing, it will immediately
start to reproduce. So, from one comes two, then four, then
eight... you get the picture. If these creatures are disturbed
in any way, for example a MECU crashes into them or they are
shot, they explode into many small fragments, which themselves
may incite others to explode. Fortunately, they are unable to
survive underwater. The V-wing can have up to 6 of these
aboard, but you only need one...
16. Magnetic Mine
This craft has yet another kind of gadget that lays mines. These
mines, unlike all others, come to you. They have a powerful
electro-magnet inside them, and will start accelerating towards
any craft that comes too near. So that the MECU may lay them
safely, they have a short activation time. They are also shot
some distance to the rear on the MECU. They float like normal
mines, but they can be seen at all times. This is because the
cloaking system has been torn out to fit the magnet in. But, if
can see them, you are usually close enough for them to start
homing towards you...
These mines are the same size as the conventional ones, so the
V-wing can carry 16 of them. They can't dropped in water, and
will be rendered inactive if they come into contact with water.
Water tends to mess up the electrical systems in them.
17. Grav-Mine
This weapon leaves a sort of floating gravity well in the air.
It is actually a mine-like device, just without any explosives
inside. There is a mechanism inside that burns special fuel to
generate a strong gravitational pull. Once the fuel is all used
up, this "mine" will simply disappear, being a useless, empty
shell. This pull it exerts is stronger than the normal gravity
of the planet, and so it will "lift" MECUs of the ground. Like
normal gravity, it also affect all sorts of shots, and severely
hampers aiming in the nearby area.
These mines are unaffected by each other, or by the shots of the
grav-gun (see below). Once left, they will stick to the position
oblivious of all happenings around them. They will, however,
create a combined pull. Sometimes this pull is so strong that it
is impossible for a MECU to break free. When this happens, the
only thing possible is to wait for the grav-mines to burn up all
their fuel.
Unlike most other mines, these can be left underwater. They will
function there just the same as in air. The V-wing can hold 12
of these devices.
18. Grav-Gun
This weapon shoots a gravity concentration, very much like the
one created by the grav-mine. There are some very distinct dif-
ferences though. This grav-shot is fired to the rear of the
craft, and travels slowly throughout the world. It does NOT
affect the MECU that fired it, although it does affect ALL bul-
lets. The grav-shot is not really a shot, but rather a ball of
energy. It can, thus travel through water, earth, stone, and
everything else. It will fly straight, no matter what, and is
not affected by other grav-shots or grav-mines.
The reason this weapon does not affect the MECU using it is that
the ship's computer constantly "concentrates" on the shot. The
gravitational pull is so focused that it completely ignores the
MECU, having a sort of "blind spot" there. This is why there can
only be one shot in the air at any time (per MECU using this
weapon, of course). Computing the energy flows of two shots is
simply impossible. So, if one shot is in the air, and the same
MECU fires again, the first one will cease to exist.
When fired, the amount of energy dumped into the shot is enough
to last several minutes, so once in the air, no additional ener-
gy is required. The V-wing's storage can hold batteries enough
to fuel 8 shots of this type.
19. Antigrav-Shield
Because MECUs get fired at a lot, it has been necessary to de-
velop some sort extra protection beyond that which is offered by
the MECU's normal shields and armor. This device uses immense
electrical currents to generate anti-gravitational "push". When
active, all other MECUs and all bullets will be pushed away from
the MECU. Please note that there is a small circle in the middle
of the field where everything is normal. This is to allow the
MECU using this device to fly about unhindered. This also cre-
ates another interesting effect associated with this device. The
effect is only on the others, so to say. The MECU with the
shield is not pushed anywhere, if for example an enemy is pinned
to wall.
There have been some allegations that the system used is unsta-
ble. Some say that using such massive amounts of energy is haz-
ardous, because an overload might cause the device to collapse.
There is no proof of such failure. It is true, though, that the
shield sucks up huge amounts of energy, and so suffers from the
same power shortage problems as the electro-zapper (see above).
20. Worm-Hole Generator
This is one of the latest inventions in MECU technology. A rela-
tive of those gravity weapons (Grav-Gun, Grav-Mine, Antigrav-
shield), this too creates a kind of gravity distortion vortex.
It does not, however, draw or push anything to or from it. This
one creates an effect which is called a wormhole between two
places (yes, you need to use this weapon twice, for it to have
an effect). Ships can move between these two vortices faster
than light, almost instantly.
Because this thing was not developed by the travelling agencies
but by the military, it is tuned precisely for the V-wing that
created it. Nothing other than a V-Wing can even pass through
the hole, and V-Wings other than the one that originally created
it suffer a small amount of damage, for each passage.
The MECU uses small energy charges to create these vortices.
Luckily only small amounts (relatively) are needed, which means
that a larger number of them can be created with the amount of
energy that can fit into the V-wing. The V-wing's cargo hold has
enough room for 12 charges (six complete worm-holes).
21. Ghostship
This device is one of the few MECU systems, which is defensive
rather than offensive. It somehow alters the dimensions in which
the MECU is located. When it is on, the MECU can travel through
any solid matter, or could if the device could totally change
the dimension in which the V-wing is located. Actually it only
shifts a bit this dimension, so the V-wing still remains par-
tially in the actual dimension, and so it can still be hit by
some things, in the real space (bullets, for example...).
The designer of the system didn't want to take any chances.
Because the MECU is not totally out of this dimension, bullets
might detect it, and detonate themselves INSIDE the MECU. This
could cause some serious and irreparable damage. So, whenever
the MECU is about to be hit by a bullet, the device materializes
a part of the MECU's shields or armor to block it. This prevents
severe internal damage.
Like most all energy-based systems, this one consumes a lot of
power. So, the small V-wing can only maintain the "out-of-phase"
status for a limited time before it's energy supplies run out.
22. Afterburner
This device gives the MECU momentary bursts of speed. The in-
crease in speed depends on the MECU type, but at least the V-
wing can outrun almost everything else, with the exception of
the D.A.R.T. The afterburner accomplishes this by injecting
additional fuel to the exhaust of the MECU's engine. This causes
a small explosion that shoots the MECU forward.
The afterburner leaves a trail of fire behind it. The fuel used
by it is a special mixture. The gel-like fuel burns long, and a
lot hotter than normal fire. It can damage MECUs or instantly
kill any infantry, or other small units that get too close.
This aspect of the afterburner was invented by mistake: While
developing the device, the testing crew once accidentally got a
batch of fuel meant for the construction of firebomb munitions
(see above), instead of the normal fuel. When they fired up the
afterburner, the sky lit up with bright lines of fire. Some
unfortunate nearby birds were instantly incinerated. Seeing that
the wrong fuel had no adverse effect, the designers decided to
develop the idea further. The result is what we have today.
The MECU's storage is filled with the thick, near explosive
fuel. The afterburner doesn't use up much fuel, so one can use
it a lot before having to go to a base for a refill. And, con-
trary to common belief, the afterburner can be used underwater.
The fire is instantly doused, but the speed increase is still
there.
23. Magnetic Disrupter
This weapon fires energy pulses to the front of the MECU. These
pulses are very strong initially, but weaken dramatically as the
distance grows. The pulses disperse quite quickly, creating a
cone-shaped area of effect. Once again, being an energy weapon,
this one is unaffected by gravity, or by the speed of the MECU
while firing.
The purpose of this weapon is to indirectly damage an enemy
MECU. The bursts of energy pass right through shields and armor
and create short-circuits and overloads in the electric systems
of the enemy MECU. This will result in small explosions in the
control systems, and will shut down or seriously damage one or
more of the controls. Erratic behavior of the MECU will follow.
Unlike other energy-based weapons, this one uses up relatively
small amounts of energy. So the V-wing can fit enough batteries
to generate up to 36 pulses without a refill.
24. Remote Control
This MECU has an antenna, and an device that jams and overloads
an enemy MECU's control system. The antenna is normally inside
the MECU, because knowing most pilots' flying habits, it would
be broken within a day if not protected.
When used, the antenna moves out of the MECU, and attempts to
make contact with another MECU. If an enemy MECU is with a cer-
tain range (which is not quite far, I'm afraid), the jamming
device will come to effect and the target MECU's pilot will
loose control. Next, the device will establish a link and you
are now in control of the other MECU.
Note that maintaining the link is REALLY difficult. First of
all, the remote control device eats up a lot of energy. You
won't have much time fool around with the other guy's ship (you
really don't need that much time). Second, you will loose con-
trol of your own ship because all of the commands are relayed to
the other ship. Thus, commonly your own ship will fall down (no
engine power) and sustain some damage. Third, firing the other
MECU's auxiliary weapon will break the contact. This is because
the computer you have can only control so much information.
25. D.A.R.T.
This MECU has a retractable metal spike in its bow. All of the
MECU's engines and turning thrusters are built so that they can
be activated for a maximum forward velocity. The Dart is a weap-
on that fires a very special missile: the MECU itself. When
activated, the spike will jump out and all of the MECU's engine
power will be spent on forward movement. The speed of the MECU
is far greater that achieved by any other means. Acceleration is
almost instant. If impact with another MECU occurs, horrendous
damage will be inflicted. The speed and force of the impact is
so great that only a few lucky V-wings will be able withstand to
two direct hits.
There is a down side, though. While darting, the MECU is not
maneuverable. It will go in a straight line, until it hits some-
thing solid. This something is way too often ground. This will,
of course, inflict some damage to the MECU using the Dart. Some
people have gone so far as to say that is a suicidal device.
Well ... um ... it is. But the huge amount of damage it inflicts
has ensured that it is still in use today.
The MECU uses a small amount of fuel to generate this extra
burst of speed. The MECU's hold is full of this fuel. The V-wing
has enough fuel to dart 24 times (though usually it turns to
scrap a long time before this limit is reached).
26. Plastic Explosives
This weapon is quite extraordinary. It coats the ground sur-
rounding the MECU with a highly volatile explosive. This explo-
sive is in the form of compressed goo, and when released will
harden upon the ground. When it is hit, even by the smallest of
bullets, it will explode into many small shrapnell, which, by
the way, will explode any nearby patches of this explosive.
To "plant" the explosive, the MECU must move close to the ground
and spray the ground with the stuff. The ground will change
color to indicating that it is now covered with explosives. The
explosive will remain there until someone sets it off by firing
at it.
The V-wing can hold quite a lot of the stuff, because it is
efficiently compressed. For example, if you were to dump all of
it in one location, the following explosion would be the biggest
ever seen.
27. Claybomb
This weapon shoots small packets of highly pressurized and com-
pressed clay. Upon impact, with either the ground or an enemy
MECU, the clay will instantly decompress, creating a huge mound
of dirt.
The shot is big enough to ignore helicopters. It simply sweeps
them along with it. Infantry who are unlucky enough to be caught
within this clay will perish. This is due to the fact that their
combat suits do not have a breathing device, and so they will
suffocate. The pilot is different in this respect. His suit does
have a breathing device, so he'll just be stuck inside the mound
of clay.
Due to the fact that the shots are made of compressed matter,
they weigh quite a lot. For this reason, the V-wing can only
stock eight shots.
28. Snowball
The snowball is actually the name invented by the pilots for the
shots of this weapon. It shoots small spheres, made of an ex-
tremely fragile material. These spheres contain an instant
freeze agent, so powerful that it can turn men into solid ici-
cles. When the shots hit anything, even water, the agent is
released. As a result, ground near the spot of impact is covered
with a frosting, water freezes, and so on.
When a MECU is hit with this weapon, it is instantly covered
with a layer of ice. This prohibits the use of thrusters, en-
gine, and any weapons what so ever. This unfortunate MECU is
then a sitting (or actually a falling) duck. When the MECU hits
a solid surface, the ice is broken and the rest of the agent
drains off.
This weapon relies on pressure to propel the projectile (the
"snowball"). This takes up some space. So, the V-wing can only
hold 12 shots for this weapon.
29. Repair Droid (RD-22)
This droid is a rather new invention, not so because of the
technology required, but because of the way of thinking. Before,
all pilots (and most of them still today), thought it only rea-
sonable to create and research more weaponry, in order to make
MECUs more destructive. Only recently, somebody dared mention
that it could pay off to be able to repair the MECU outside of
bases, and not just hope that you'll be able to kill the enemy
before it kills you. So, the repair droid was created.
The newest model of this droid is the model 22. It uses up ener-
gy to create localized deflector shields, to patch up places
where the armor is blown off. It is also hooked onto the MECU's
shield system. Whereas the shield does not normally replenish
itself, with this droid, you can use energy to strengthen it.
A really big advantage of the droid is that it fixes critical
hits, all by itself. The droid has long extendable arms with
which it can reach out and do repairs on the ship. As said, this
does not consume any energy.
The only problem with the droid is that it is quite slow. With
the MECU's hold filled with energy cells, there's enough energy
for the droid to operate a long time. It slowly patches up the
bullet holes on your ship, an reaches out with it's arms to make
repairs. Only, the enemy is NOT going to just wait there until
you can get your right turn thruster operational again.
30. Watercannon
This weapon is, well, as it's name states, a watercannon. It has
a very powerful mechanism that propels water into a long arc in
front of the MECU. Well, so what, you ask. It can, um, uh, ...
distract opponents.
The watercannon causes physical pressure on opposing (or friend-
ly) MECUs it hits. This may cause the MECU in question to flip
around, hampering it's maneuverability. This may even cause the
MECU to crash into the ground.
The good thing about the watercannon is that it can be refilled
really easily and really fast. Just plunge into any body of
water and fill 'er up. Even with the MECU's tanks all empty, the
refilling only takes a few seconds.
31. Pulse Laser
This weapon is, as it's name states, a laser. It "shoots" a
short-lived laser beam, from the tip on one of the MECU's wings.
This distracts the pilot less than if it were fired from the tip
of the craft, and is just as accurate. After being fired, it is
inactive for a short while. This allows the device to cool down,
for generating the powerful beam also generates a lot of heat.
Thus, when the weapon is used in battle, it will look like a
multitude of sequential streaks across the sky. This has caused
it to be named Pulse Laser, instead of the original Laser Mod.
#817-A.
The Pulse Laser is, as one might expect, a very accurate weapon.
There is no need to lead, to take into account your own move-
ment, and the like. Just point and shoot. The beam hits it's
target at exactly the same time that you press the trigger. The
beam is also very destructive, and burns holes into the ground,
AND inflicts serious damage to a MECU (not to mention helicop-
ters or infantry).
The big problem with this weapon is the heat it generates. It's
use is regulated, which causes it to pulse, but experience has
shown that this is not always enough. Therefore, until a better
solution is come up with, the laser trigger overrides the main
weapon fire control. That is, if you are using the laser, your
main weapon will cease firing. This is to prevent accidents,
like ammunition explosions, which were too frequent before this
limit was imposed.
This weapon does not use much energy, for the laser pulses are
short lasting. The V-wing can hold enough batteries to generate
72 pulses.
32. Napalm Spray
Now HERE is REAL weapon! The famous words of an U.P.G. command-
er, when he first saw this weapon in action. He was, though,
standing in the middle of a blazing inferno that had just a few
seconds ago been a target practice field. Anyway, he was im-
pressed, and in two weeks time the device started mass produc-
tion for the U.P.G.'s combat MECU.
The weapon propels super-heated napalm (a special mixture) in a
long cone in front of the MECU. The napalm will stick to any
MECUs it hits, and will set ablaze anything it contacts. Infan-
try and helicopters are slowly fried, and MECUs will continue to
take damage as long as they are covered with the stuff. It will
burn out eventually, but in the meanwhile the damage it inflicts
is horrendous. Because of it's long range, the weapon can be use
to rain fire (literally) on ground targets or bombard MECUs from
a distance (less effective since the spray is more dispersed).
The best use of the weapon, is, however, in close combat, dog-
fight. There, you can flood your enemy with the napalm, cover
him/her with it. This spells almost certain doom.
The only way to rid yourself of the burning slime is to dunk
yourself in water. The water cools down the napalm, which needs
a high temperature to burn.
The V-wing's tanks can hold quite a lot of napalm, for it is
stored in a compressed form. When heated, it expands, and this
further increases the speed with which it is propelled from the
MECU.
33. Shadowdancer
This device was first discovered in a wreckage of an alien ship.
The ship had been buried in ice on the far off Qatarr world of
R'Qahga. No one knew how long it had been there. No one cared.
No one knew how to operate the ship, so it was looted, stripped
of anything that was potentially valuable.
It took a long time for the Qatarr scientists to learn how to
operate this device, and only recently did they manage to manu-
facture duplicates of it. They are still at loss at how the
device does what it actually does.
When the device is activated, it will produce a shadow image of
the MECU using the device. This shadow, as we shall call it,
will drift about, doing absolutely nothing. It cannot be harmed
in any way. After a while, it will disappear.
Now, when the second function of the device is used, something
spectacular will happen. The MECU will switch places with a
random shadow, so to speak. That is, the real MECU will appear
where there was a shadow, and it's previous location will be
replaced by a shadow.
There is talk that the device creates additional dimensions, one
for each shadow, so that by manipulating probability, the MECU
can appear where it is not (was not) supposed to be. However,
this is all just speculation. No one knows the truth. All the
scientists know is how to feed energy to the device. It consumes
a certain type of biomass. Anyway, the only fact that interest
pilots, is that the V-wing can fit enough "fuel" to create 9
shadows.
(When you press the Auxiliary Weapon button, a shadow will ap-
pear (if you have enough energy). By pressing both turn buttons,
or pulling the joystick down, you will swap locations with one
of your shadows.)
34. Inertia Nullifier
This device is a rather interesting one. It was just recently
developed by the Qatarr, and in the eager fuss, no one remem-
bered to ask, why. The scientists are proud of inventing some-
thing new, and the military commanders are happy to have a
"weapon" that does something spectacular and is not available to
the enemy. And so, the pilots that are made to use it, have no
idea what to do with.
Okay, so what does it actually do? The Inertial Nullifier, when
used, releases a charge on nullifying energy, that sucks up all
of kinetic energy in the surrounding area. This has the effect
of stopping all movement. Bullets stop in midair, MECUs stop
moving, everything "freezes". After the discharge of the Nulli-
fier, particles that cannot propel themselves will start to
drop, as the gravity starts accelerating them. Other things,
like MECUs and missiles, will continue their movement, acceler-
ating normally.
You can use the Nullifier to protect yourself. If, for example,
a Shotgun blast is heading for you, you can stop it, after which
it will drop harmlessly to the ground. Clever pilots often use
the device for other things, but those have to be figured out
individually for each case.
This is (obviously) an energy "weapon". But, it does not use a
lot of power, so the V-wing can have enough energy to generate 9
discharges.
35. Death Spinner
The MECU that houses this machine is modified so as to facili-
tate (or actually enable) the use of the Death Spinner. The
cockpit is built into a ball, that has a gyroscope. So, the
Spinner is activated, the cockpit will always be upright, an
enable the pilot to control the MECU.
The Spinner itself creates a plasma shield, or actually a blast,
around the MECU. This gives the MECU enormous speed. It also
causes the MECU to spin wildly. Because of this, the cockpit is
stabilized. If the spinning MECU hits ground, it will take no
damage, as the plasma shield dampens the impact and protects the
MECU from harm. If the MECU hits other MECUs, or helicopters or
the like, it will cause a lot of damage to them. Unlike the
Dart, this does not causes the Spinner to go off. The device
will be on for as long as the one "charge" lasts, regardless of
what it hits on the way.
The "charges" that the device uses are a mixture of reaction
fuel, and energy to start the whole thing. The fuel is measure
so that the effect last a 10 seconds. The V-wing has enough room
for 12 of these charges.
V. Survival
-----------
i. Levels
Surviving requires a lot of knowledge, not only of your ship,
but of the flying areas too. Here are all of them explained
shortly (not that the information helps all that much).
City Greyend:
This city is the capital of the United Planets of Greyend. As
in every big city, here too you get lost all the time. In the
middle of the park, there is a statue honoring the Emperor.
There is a military zone in the city. It is said that they
are testing a new kind of mine here, but no one knows, what
kaaargg...
Twilight Zone:
This zone is between the ex-Qatarr imperium, and the U.P.G.
area. There are few things of human make here, and few people
want to come here anyway. There are few stabilized bases in
the area, and no civilians, not counting one certain Count
Twilight, who complains about MECUs flying over his castle.
Twin Cities:
A former free state, now two free states. The former was
known as the city of Q'an. The water level of the nearby
ocean started to rise, and the people were forced to move to
the upper islands. Two warring factions rose, and so were
founded two cities: Zhur and Zh'äx. After a brief war, a
ceasefire was agreed on, and buoys water made to mark the
border. Each city sports a spaceport, and both have lower
status citizens living on the lower islands. A church is
built between the two cites, in a neutral area. The ruins of
Q'an are still there.
Colossus:
The greatest, and most remarkable landmark in the area is the
Colossus, financed by the citizens of Winorg. By looking at
this monument, you can guess that the crystal mines near the
city are profitable (the Colossus happens to be about ten
times as big as the whole city).
Abyss:
This level is a bit different from the others: it is almost
totally immersed in water. There is a U.P.G. military deep
sea research base, and a small town for the crew of the sta-
tion. There is also a massive underwater mountain, and there
are rumors of humans living in confined air "holes" and other
underwater civilizations who may have advanced technology.
This is the reason for the U.P.G. government interest.
Jungle:
Like the Twilight Zone, this area is quite lightly inhabit-
ed. The U.P.G. has founded only one base in the area, but it
is told that deep in the jungle, there are a few research
stations, examining the weird kind of funguses growing there.
In the middle of the jungle, is one primitive village. It is
told that its inhabitants fear MECUs.
Citadel of Yoqu:
This place is owned by the Emperor's cousin. He has built a
small keep to demonstrate the power he wields. He owns a
small qerztite mine and has a number of serfs working for
him. He treats his subjects quite badly, and so they have re-
belled once already. Because of this, a small tower and a
moat have been built to guard the serfs' village. The serfs
have permission to try out lighter-than-air platforms. They
are, however, secretly developing a MECU base deep in the
mines, in order to overthrow their tyrant. It is rumored that
he has built secret passageways under his keep.
Old Space Station:
In the early years of the GW I one spacestation crashed on
this planet. Luckily, it did not explode, as is usual in
these situations. Nowadays, some rich guy has developed a
tourist trap out of this station. There are hotels, space-
stations and all that kind of stuff above the station. The
station itself, however is not actually stable. Some scien-
tists say, that it can still explode, but as long as the
tourists are paying, who cares?
Duh Cave:
The Qatarr are building an underground MECU base on the
desert moon of Duh, in a single-planet system near the heart
of the U.P.G. empire. They are trying to disguise the base as
a simple village of serfs. This, of course is against their
peace treaty with the U.P.G. While digging, they ran into an
advanced civilization living underground. The Qatarr promptly
decided to wipe them out, being a "serious threat" to their
project. They managed to destroy the city of Ngar, but the
other two cities are putting up a respectable resistance. The
Qatarr also want access to the ground water supply, as trans-
porting food and water to the planet (without arousing suspi-
cion) is getting to be quite costly.
Sky City:
Another insanely rich man got to fulfill his dream. Yes, this
whole thing started with one man who wanted a flying castle,
that looked like it was floating on a cloud. This has become
a fad, and people are inventing new and original floating
homes (or summer cottages), like the ones that look like huge
trees. All of them have gathered into a flying city, that in-
cludes a park, and lots on other cool things. One more float-
ing home is currently under construction, alas, it is just
another boring keep. The U.P.G. military wanted to make sure
that the flying platforms wouldn't be used to do anything
"unsuitable". Thus, they sent a light carrier to "protect
the civilians of the town".
ii. Criticals
To survive, you need to know your weaknesses too, so read care-
fully the following list of possible critical hits, and their
effects.
Criticals with "*" are cumulative:
Critical: Effect:
Turn Left/Right:......................Lft/Rght thruster ceas-
es to operate.
*Control:..............................Turning thrusters start
to operate erratically.
*Engine:...............................Engine damaged, engine
power is diminished.
*Engine Core:..........................Fusion engine shielding
is breached. Whenever
you thrust your ship is
damaged.
*Fuel Control:.........................Fueling system gives
sudden bursts of fuel
to the engine, creating
a hiccup-like effect
for your ship.
*Main Weapon:..........................Main weapon damage
makes the gun unreli-
able.
Auxiliary Weapon:.....................Auxiliary weapon be-
comes useless (does not
function).
Firing System:........................Both your weapons sys-
tems start firing them-
selves at will (their
own).
*Hold:.................................The latest hit blasted
open your cargo hold,
causing everything
inside to slowly drop
out.
Ejection Seat:........................Your ejection system is
broken. The hatch is
jammed shut. The seat
won't launch. You have
to BREAK out.
If your ship has an Engine Core critical, it will produce smoke
whenever you thrust forward. We feel that this is perhaps the
single most dangerous critical, and so you will be additionally
warned if you have it.
For the sake of playability, it has been set so that you cannot
have BOTH Turn Left and Turn Right criticals. It didn't take all
that much playtesting to see that having both turn criticals
isn't fair, nor is it fun.
iii. Gun Turrets
The gun turrets are, well, just that. They are designed to pro-
tect the area where they are deployed. They will fire at ALL
nearby MECUs. They will, however, ignore infantry and helicop-
ters (who in turn ignore them). Most turrets can be seen before
they start firing, but some are more devious.
There are the five types of turrets:
Type 1: This is the weakest of them all. This turret fires
normal bullets, at a slow rate. Doesn't pose much of
a threat, unless deployed in large numbers or your
MECU is in bad shape to begin with.
Type 2: This is your basic turret. It has a high velocity
anti-vehicle gun, quite similar to the one that the V-
wing is equipped with. Can cause noticeable damage,
and is usually quite troublesome.
Type 3: This turret is has a big gun for weaponry. It fires at
a reasonably slow rate, but its shots are large explo-
sive shells, similar to the one fires by the Grenade
Launcher. Can pose a serious threat, and can inflict
lots of damage.
Type 4: This one is a missile launcher. It cannot be seen
from far away, because it is situated underground.
When a MECU come near, a missile tube will rise from
the ground and fire a SAM. The missile will track the
MECU until it impacts. It causes a lot of damage. That
combined with the fact that this turret can not be
seen from afar, makes it very dangerous.
Type 5: This turret has the biggest damage-inflicting capabil-
ity. It has a high power particle beam projector as a
weapon. The blast inflicts enormous damage. Luckily,
this weapon has to track the MECU, and is quite slow
at that.
Turrets of types 1,2,3 and 5 look the same. There are differenc-
es in the barrels of types 1,2 and 3. Type 5 doesn't have a bar-
rel. You'll recognize type 4 when you see it. In time you will
be able to tell the turret type quite easily.
That which kinds of turrets appear, can be changed from the
MISCELLANEOUS|ENEMIES menu, from the option TURRET ARMAMENT.
There are five different settings for this option:
Feeble: Only type 1.
Weak: Type 1 and 2.
Normal: Types 1,2 and 3.
Strong: Types 2,3 and 4.
Killer: Types 2,3,4 and 5.
The amount of beating that the turrets can take can altered from
the same menu as above, from the option TURRET ARMOR. When the
damage limit is exceeded, the turret will explode. Note that
this affects ALL types of turrets.
The number of turrets can also be changed. This is done from by
toggling the AMOUNT OF TURRETS option. You can vary it anywhere
from 1 to 40.
The turrets will be randomly placed in the levels. They can be
on the ground, on cliffs, on even hang upside down. They also
can appear in some weird or stupid-looking places.
iv. H-wings
H-wings are a new type of MECU, developed by the U.P.G. Their
primary function is to act as guards. They are unmanned, piloted
by an artificial intelligence. A bit lighter in build and a bit
slower than V-wings, but much more maneuverable. With guns AND
thrusters built on two sides, they make formidable enemies.
Options for the H-wings can be found in the MISCELLANEOUS|
ENEMIES menu. Here is explained what they do. Note that they do
not do anything if you only have one player. See "Single Player
Game".
AMOUNT OF H-WINGS: determines how many H-wings there will be
in each level. The range is one to eight.
H-WING ARMOR: is a flexible option that determines how much
beating each H-wing can take before it is destroyed. The color
of the H-wings will change according to how much damage they
have taken. H-wings can have anywhere from 33 to 190 points of
armor (for reference: V-wings have 144 armor).
H-WING WEAPONRY: chooses how deadly the H-wings are. There are
three settings for this option: poor, normal and good. Poor
H-wings have twin guns, with a slow rate of fire. Normal H-wings
have twin guns with a reasonably high rate of fire. Good ones
have the mentioned guns, and a Grenade Launcher. Ugh!
v. Pilot
This section describes the pilot, what he/she can do, cannot do,
and will never ever get to do. Just kidding. But seriously, the
reason this section is under "Survival", is because life as a
pilot is a constant struggle to stay alive. Some pilots have
even shot down enemy MECUs, but these are not-so-very-likely
happenings.
The controls of the pilot are in the "Controls" section. Read
them carefully, because different keys do different things de-
pending on where the pilot is or what he/she is doing. The con-
trols also tell you what the pilot CAN do in different places,
for example on the parachute.
All pilots have a full body combat armor suit. This suit, unlike
the ones the soldiers have, has a built-in life support system.
This allows the pilot to survive inside a claybomb "blast" and
in water. The armor has a harness-mounted cannon that is slung
to one side so that it can be operated with one hand. In the
other hand the pilot has pincers and controls for the rope the
he/she uses to move around. The rope can be used to swing around
or to CATCH ONTO other MECUs. The pincers are used to grab onto
enemy, and friendly, MECUs. The armor suit also has a jetpack,
that allows the pilot to make those incredible jumps.
You first see your pilot (yourself?) when he/she ejects from the
wreckage that used to be your ship. The ejection seat will
launch the pilot up, and if your wreck was moving horizontally,
in the opposite direction. This is all to help the pilot sur-
vive. Still, by far the most common cause of death for ejected
pilots is the explosion caused by their own ship when it hits
the ground. When a V-wing explodes, it creates a huge amount of
shrapnel. And, if by some miracle, the pilot survives the first
onslaught, another wave will be coming soon from the ones that
flew up (what goes up, must come down). So, if at all possible,
eject long before the wreck hits the ground and/or use the para-
chute to steer away from the explosion.
Okay, so now your pilot is safely on the ground. He/she needs to
avoid enemy HELICOPTERS and INFANTRY. They spell DOOM. Gun tur-
rets are a pilot's friends, since they don't shoot at him/her.
The nastier the turret, the better. Try to get the pilot into
places where stray shots or shrapnel flying by won't hit
him/her. This can be acomplished by DIGGING. A hole won't shield
the pilot from the wrath of an angry V-wing, but it will protect
him/her from random shots. And, make sure your pilot is not
underwater for too long, because he/she will suffocate.
Usually, it is faster to travel by jumping, rather than running.
This does, though, make your pilot much easier to hit than if
he/she were on the ground.
VI. Options
-----------
This section describes what the various options in the various
menus actually do.
MAIN MENU
From here you can access all of the options and menus. The nu-
meric keys here will alter the number of players (range 1-4).
See "Single Player Game" for further info.
WEAPONS Menu
Here you can choose an auxiliary weapon for each of the four
players, even if you are playing a with fewer people.
You can alter the amount of damage inflicted by the main weapon.
The range 1-20. The default is four. This affects all normal
bullets, like the one fired by soldiers and choppers, shrapnel,
turret shots (and most of all, the Shotgun).
From here it is also possible to change the main weapon to semi-
automatic. That is, you have to press the button once for each
shot. This is probably a good idea if the main weapon damage is
high.
Pressing the 'r' key in this menu will generate random auxiliary
weapons for each of the four (possible) players.
LEVELS Menu
Here you can choose eight different levels, in order of play
(number one is the first one, and so on). Again, you can choose
all of the eight levels even though you are playing with less.
Here the numerical keys will change the amount of levels (range
1-8). Pressing the 'r' key here will generate random levels for
each "slot".
CONTROLS Menu
From this menu you can alter the keys for each of the four play-
ers. This may be necessary to ensure a good game (see trouble-
shooting). Also, having NumLock on may cause some trouble.
You can also calibrate both of the two possible joysticks. Do
this before you assign the joystick(s) to a certain player.
You can also change the manual eject keys. By default, they are
side by side, so in the midst of combat it is possible to
accidentally eject someone else.
MISCELLANEOUS Menu
Whereas the other menus have been rather straight forward, this
one is a jumble (jungle?). You can find all sorts of weird op-
tions here, including three sub-menus.
The three flexible options are GROUND COLLISION DAMAGE, NUMBER
OF CRITICALS, and SHIP TURNING RATE:
-The collision damage is quite self explanatory. If at the
highest setting, the damage done by a crash is more than
half the maximum damage that the V-wing can withstand.
-The Critical switch actually affects the chance to get a
critical, every time damage is inflicted after your shields
are gone. So, it does indirectly affect the number of crit-
ical hits a ship has at any given point.
-The turning rate affects how fast ships turn. No matter how
high this is, when you first start turning, the ship will
turning slowly for a short while. This is to allow precise
adjustments.
The other options are as follows:
-SHIP WRECKAGE: If this is off, there will be no gray spin-
ning wreckage. Ships will explode when their damage thresh-
old is crossed. If wreckage is off, the EJECTION SEAT
option is automatically set to inactive.
-CRITICAL HITS: This option determines whether or not ships
sustain (or at least have a chance to) critical hits. If off
there will be no critical hits.
-GUN TURRETS: This option determines if there are turrets in
the play areas (affects all of the eight levels).
-H-WINGS: Determines if there H-wings in the world.
-GRAVITY: This changes the gravitational pull exerted by the
planet. Affects all ships and bullets (not energy weapons).
-AIR VISCOSITY: Changes how much air slows down ships (does
not affect bullets of any sort).
-EJECTION SEAT: To have this active, you must also have
wreckage on. If active, your pilot may eject from the gray
remnants of your V-wing and continue the fight (although at
this point your chances of winning are quite low). If inac-
tive, the wreck will just continue spinning and will explode
when it hits the ground.
-TEAMS: There are two team options. Both are two against two.
If you set the teams on, the number of players will automat-
ically be set to four. The team options are players 1&2 vs
3&4 and 1&3 vs 2&4 (top screens vs bottom; left vs right).
MISCELLANEOUS|RANDOMIZING Menu
This menu deals with the randomizing of weapons and levels.
There are four yes/no options:
-RANDOMIZE WEAPONS AT BEGINNING: This determines if random
auxiliary weapons are generated for each player when the
game starts.
-RANDOMIZE LEVELS AT BEGINNING: Same as above, but for levels
for each of the eight "slots".
-RANDOMIZE WEAPONS BEFORE LEVELS: If this is on, a random
auxiliary weapons will be generated for each player before
each level. If this is off, the game will ask you before
each level (except the first one) whether you would like to
change weapons. You can bypass this screen by pressing any
other key but 'y'.
-ALLOW SAME WEAPONS AT RANDOMIZING: This determines if it is
possible for the random weapon generator give two or more
players the same auxiliary weapon.
The last option, which we call banning (BAN SOME WEAPONS FROM
RANDOMIZING), removes auxiliary weapons from the list which the
random weapon generator uses. That is, those weapons will never
show up when random weapons are selected. This does not deter
you from choosing them manually from the WEAPONS menu.
MISCELLANEOUS|BASES & ENEMIES Menu
This menu contains the options concerning bases and gun turrets
and H-wings. Only the base options are discussed here. The
turret options are covered in the "Turrets" section and options
for H-wings in their own section.
BASE WORKING RATE: This option affects how fast the techni-
cians (or robots, or whatever you like) working at a base do
their job. It determines how fast a craft is repaired of damage
and criticals, and how fast the hold is refilled.
The following options determine what the bases actually do and
don't do:
-BASES REPAIR: This determines if the base fixes damage or
not.
-BASES RESUPPLY: This determines whether the base refills the
ship's hold with whatever is needed for the auxiliary weapon
to function.
-BASES FIX CRITICALS: Well, this is quite obvious. Yours
truly urges you to keep this option a 'yes'. Otherwise the
game becomes rather ridiculous.
The last option is not really related to the bases, but is here
anyway. Well, it is related, but rather indirectly. If it is set
to "WINNER MUST LAND TO WIN", the last pilot needs to get to a
base, with or without a craft, to win. Otherwise the winner is
determined instantly when there is only one pilot alive.
MISCELLANEOUS|DETAILS & EFFECTS Menu
This menu has, well details in it. Also some environmental ef-
fects, and such. Changing some of these may speed up the game.
So, here they are:
-FIRE: Whether or not flammable things burn. Fire looks rath-
er nice, but may slow down the game.
-SNOWFALL: Well, if this option is on, there will be constant
snowing in all of the levels. Given enough time, the snow
will pile up into big banks.
-SLIPPERY LAND: Determines if the land (terrain) is slippery
or not. If yes, ships will slide on along surfaces (really
irritating!).
-STARS: Turns the background stars on/off. Stars look nice.
-BIRDS: Allows/disallows birds. Birds generally do nothing,
except explode into feathers and blood when shot. They will,
however, peck your ship if you shoot at them (that is, if
they survive). They can also be used for travelling purposes
(huh? ;).
-BLOOD: This option determines how much blood is splattered
when birds or infantry bite the dust. There are three set-
tings: no thanx, normal, a lot. Try it out, you'll see the
difference.
-PELLET HOLE: This changes the size of the hole created by a
normal bullet. If you have set to small, the landscape will
be less beaten, but it will be considerably harder to make
holes, tunnels, and the like.
-RESOLUTION: Changes the resolution between 320*400 and
320*200. The later mode is faster, but the first one is
looks a LOT nicer. Can be toggled during the game by press-
ing F5.
-WIDE SCREENS: If this is on, in one or two player game, the
screens will be twice their normal size. This looks a lot
nicer, but slows down the game.
VII. Winning
------------
i. Who's the winner?
The winner is the pilot who has one unique characteristic:
he/she lives.
Usually it is required that he/she (but not necessarily his/her
ship) gets to a base (this requirement can be turned off from
MISCELLANEOUS|BASES menu).
In team play, (set from the MISCELLANEOUS menu) there can be two
winners, assuming that they are from same team of course. Anoth-
er difference between team play and normal play is, that some
weapons count your team mate as a friend, for example missile
and soldiers.
ii. Hints
Here are a few hints for winning:
In non-team play:
-Fly fast.
-Avoid bullets.
-Aim.
-Kill everything in sight.
-Visit bases whenever it is safe.
-Trust no one.
-Try to get the other players to kill each other.
In team play:
-Fly fast.
-Avoid bullets (yes, the ones which are from your team mate
too).
-Aim (but not at your team mate).
-Kill everything in sight (except your team mate, his chop-
pers or soldiers).
-Visit bases whenever it is safe, and if possible protect
your team mate.
-Gang up against one enemy, so that you are two against one.
-Trust not too much on your team mate.
-Some weapons are really great when they are combined, here
are just a few examples:
SNOWBALL+MEGABOMB.
CLAYBOMB+ZAPPER.
REMOTE CONTROL+PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES.
etc.
iii. Single Player Game
If you chose only one player, the game will differ quite a lot
from the multi player mode. A lot of the options will be
rendered useless. The game will automatically set up most of the
options. About the only option that works in one player mode is
the choice of weaponry, and the details. You can mess around
with the options, they just won't do anything. The weapon you
choose will be the same for all of the levels.
The idea in the single player game is to destroy gun turrets and
shoot down H-wings. You advance through different levels, with
both turrets and H-wings getting tougher as you go on. You get
points for destroying enemies, for time, and for completing a
level. If you eject, and make it to a base, you will advance to
the next level, but will be awarded no points for time or level
completion.
If, for some unfanthomable reason, you need to visit a base, it
will cost you. Repairing will drain your points. At higher
levels, bases may not even repair.
VIII. Troubleshooting
---------------------
Problem: V-Wing sometimes runs too slowly.
Solution: Some situations in the game require a great amount
of the processor speed. You can make these situations
less frequent by:
-Turning the Fire off ( MISCELLANEOUS|DETAILS &
EFFECTS menu).
(flammable things do not burn anymore)
-Turning the SnowFall off ( MISCELLANEOUS|DETAILS &
EFFECTS menu).
(no more snowfall)
-Turning the Birds off, or by killing them ( MISCELLA-
NEOUS|DETAILS & EFFECTS menu).
(no more birds, or feathers)
-Changing the graphics mode. The 320*200 mode will be
faster (especially in three or four player game), but
at least yours truly thinks the 320*400 mode is MUCH
better looking (press F5 or go to the MISCELLANEOUS|
DETAILS & EFFECTS menu).
-Removing the Old SpaceStation from your level selec-
tions (LEVELS menu).
(this level explodes when there is too much
shooting, and the explosion does require a
really fast processor so as not to slow down the
game)
-Not using these two special weapons:
Dividing Mine
(usually if one player has this, it does not slow
the game so much, but when multiple players have
it, it can slow the game quite a lot)
Grav-Mine, when snowfall is on.
Problem: When I am choosing my keys, the do not work!
Solution: Quit the game, turn NumLock off, and try again.
Problem: The keyboard is not responding!!!!!
Solution: Change the control keys. This may differ from comput-
er to computer, but at least the default keys for
players 1 and 3 have been known to cause trouble. Try
holding down the thrust and auxiliary weapon keys for
these players. This may cause trouble, and will let
you know if you need to alter the keys. This can be
done from the CONTROLS menu.
Problem: I do not get the weapon that I chose from the WEAPONS
menu.
Solution: You either chose wrong, and did not notice it, or you
have forgotten the option RANDOMIZE WEAPONS BEFORE
LEVELS on, from the MISCELLANEOUS|RANDOMIZING menu.
Turn it off.
Problem: I put that RANDOMIZE WEAPONS BEFORE LEVELS on, and
now I got a weapon about which I haven't the slight-
est idea of what it does, it seems to do nothing!!!
Solution: Watch your energy bar (the white one). If it does not
drop, when you use your gun (and you are not in wa-
ter) then it is either landmine, plastic explosives,
or the repair droid. (Read their descriptions.
Besides, it is a good idea anyway.)
Problem: The game has sounds, or so I hear. Not my game
though. What gives?!?!
Solution: Buy a GUS. If you already have one, then we cannot
help you.
IX. Why Register
----------------
You get much more out of the game, for example:
- 30 special weapons, 26 of which are not in the shareware
version.
- 10 levels, 8 of which are not in the shareware version.
- You don't need to watch the credits every time you quit the
game (just press ESC).
- You can alter gravity, ground collision damage, and all of
those cool other options ;).
- You can have awesome, feathered, flying birds!
- You get to control gun-turrets.
To register, send 50 FIM or $ 13 to:
Simo Siiriä, **********tie 6 A 13 Fin 00*** Helsinki, Finland.
Make sure your name (the one you want to read from the main
menu) and your address are included.
X. Why Read Documents
---------------------
Hmm.. that's a tough one ;-).
How about this: you get some idea of those weird weapons and of
the game in general. You could for example read the "Controls"
chapter and check out why your pilot took a dive just after he
landed.
XI. Creators' Comments
----------------------
Hi there!
The game has been thoroughly playtested, however, it might be,
that some weapons seem overpowered. So, pleeeease do not immedi-
ately start complaining that "Ghostship is unfair!" or something
like that. We know.
Please notice, that, if you don't like some weapon, or other
thing or effect, you can turn it OFF or BAN it!!!
Simo Siiriä.
******@rock.helsinki.fi
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