When loading the game and if you want you can skip the credits by pressing the right mouse button,this will take you to the first options screen. This gives you the choice of creating a new pilot or continuing a previously saved game.
The first thing you do then is enter your full name and your call sign a nickname that's used for clear communication. Next you need you need to select a game save slot for your new alter ego. Double click any of the blank ones,you can now take your pick from the list of five game types.
Arcade mode drops you into a dogfight situation for some instant action.
Training is the sensible option and the one that starts you off on your career as a top gun pilot.
This breaks you into the game and acts as a kind of qualifying stage for the real deal missions.
The simulator option is good for checking out the five different scenarios [Europe, Middle East, Atlantic, West Africa, and Central America]
This also gives you the option of selecting six different weather and time settings. The cloudy scenario has real cloud cover - try flying up through it to the blue sky above.
The night time and storm settings are surprisingly realistic too.
You'll find plenty of things to do here but wont have any hard and fast missions to carry out.
Tour of duty is reserved for those who have passed through the training ranks.
Finally there's flash points which also requires training to have been completed. Training might sound a bit boring but its not and its worth earning your wings as soon as possible so as to get on with the tour of duty.
You'll also find the training schedule is quite addictive with a variety of mini missions to be taking care of based in various scenarios.
You can take a short cut into a full game by selecting load previous game from the initial option screen.
This allows you to select one of a few previously saved game positions from disk.
Select one of the Dirk - Inferno - Loose Cannons slots to be dropped straight into a "Hop".
You'll have the mission briefing displayed for a short time only,so make sure you jot down the basic gist of the mission and any co-ordinates that are mentioned.
Watch out for further messages and updates appearing on the scrolling text display in the cockpit.
These also appear on external views.
Getting airborne is pretty easy once you know what to do,but blowing up before you've left the runway can be a bit embarrassing,not to mention annoying at first.
Follow these steps.
If there's one essential skill you need for TFX this is it. Fortunately the first training session drops you into what is virtually a no lose situation to get you into the swing things.
Your armoury of air to air missiles brings a clinical edge to the proceedings although once you get into a real dog fight situation you'll find its not quite as simple as it was in training.
Escape .................................. Eject/Quit.
F Keys .................................. Views.
F1 ...................................... Cockpit.
F2 ...................................... Virtual Cockpit Left.
F3 ...................................... Virtual Cockpit Right.
F4 ...................................... Rear View.
F5 ...................................... Tracking Camera 1.
F6 ...................................... Flyby Tracking Camera.
F7 ...................................... Tracking Camera 2.
F8 ...................................... Missile View.
F9 ...................................... Enemy View.
F10 ..................................... Virtual Cockpit Centre. 1 ....................................... VDU 1 DISPLAY.
2 ....................................... VDU 2 DISPLAY.
3 ....................................... VDU DISPLAY 3.
4 ....................................... SAVE GAME POSITION.
5 ....................................... AUTO STICK PRESSURE.
- ....................................... DECREASE THRUST.
+ ....................................... INCREASE THRUST.
B/SPACE ................................. GROUND TARGET.
TAB ..................................... AUTO RECOVERY.
SHIFT + Q ............................... QUIT.
W ....................................... WHEEL BRAKES.
R ....................................... RADAR SCALING.
T ....................................... TIME WARP.
I ....................................... INFORMATION.
P ....................................... PAUSE.
[ ....................................... ENGINE 1 ON/OFF
] ....................................... ENGINE 2 ON/OFF
RETURN .................................. WEAPON SELECT.
A ....................................... AUTO PILOT.
S ....................................... STEALTH.
G ....................................... LANDING GEAR.
H ....................................... HOOK.
L ....................................... LANDING SYSTEM.
B ....................................... AIR BRAKES.
M ....................................... MAP.
* ....................................... MAX POWER.
9 ....................................... COCKPIT UP.
3 ....................................... COCKPIT DOWN.
HELP .................................... PAL/NTSC.You can change the amount of detail in a number of ways in order to get the best trade off between speed and visuals.
Press the ~ key (above tab) to access the configuration menu.
From here you can you can make a few general set up changes,such as joystick sensitivity, music,sound effects,world detail,and the flight model.
Click the detail menu button to change specific aspects of the display.
This allows you to specify the graduation of the sky colouring,turn the texture maps on/off enable or discard gouraud shading and decide whether the weapons will be visible under the planes.
You can also choose whether to have the different views snap from one to the next or to have the camera pan to the new view.
Try cranking all the detail levels up to maximum at first then if you would like some more speed take out the aspects that you think are the least important.
One of the many innovations in TFX is the virtual cockpit,this gives you a feeling of actually being there that's just not possible with the usual fixed position cockpit view.
Accessed with the F2/F3 keys it allows you to look around from left to right as you would be able to if you were sitting there yourself.
Turn the texture maps maps off if it causes the game to run to slowly.
Not to be confused with the graphical detail settings,as the realism settings control how harsh or forgiving the game is.
These are reached via the the same overall configuration menu that leads to the details control.
For example you can set the game up so that its impossible to crash.
In the real world flying at high speed with your landing gear down would damage them,if not rip them off altogether,but you can opt for
unbreakable landing gear. There's variable wind,rain and temperature conditions too,which can be enabled or disabled. You could turn all of these off for a more arcade style affair,or to make the game more playable for anyone less proficient at flight sims. Turning off crashing is a bit of a cop out but can be useful if you find yourself continually plummeting earthwards.
No decent flight sim would be complete without a range of different view points and TFX has a stack of them.
Never before has an amiga flight sim had such detailed and realistic planes,and comes consequently these are the best exterior views your ever likely to see on in an amiga flight sim.
You can switch from one to another using the function keys. As well as being good to look at and impressing your mates with (especially the F6 fly by view which comes complete with "swoosh " sound effects) these are often very useful for getting a better idea of your surroundings. The rear view comes in especially handy for gloating at a ground installation you've just reduced to rubble as you power off up into the sky or at least checking that you've hit the target on a close range ground base attack.
You can scroll through the arms on the menu then drag and drop them on the plane to load up manually.
Alternatively use the default arming button.
Your head up display (HUD) includes a compass to show which way you are facing.
0 degrees is north , 90 degrees is east , 180 degrees is south , 270 degrees is west.
All the planes come complete with advanced tracking devices and maps of the areas which your missions take place.
Its essential that you know how to read and use these devices if your to be able to find your prey,avoid being hit and find your way back home after a successful mission.
You can view the maps anytime by pressing (M)
The maps you'll see in the game also show blips to indicate friendly and enemy activity.
The green and blue blips are friendly while the enemies show up as red.
Flashing red dots indicate primary targets
You often be giving a grid reference during the mission briefing to tell you were your target lies.
Check the grids overlaid on the maps opposite for a quick idea of were you should be headed.
Your weapons fall into two basic categories air to air and air to ground.
Use the return key to cycle through you air to air missiles and use the backspace key to activate air to ground missiles.
You also have a cannon for when al else fails.
This can be used to shoot down planes and also to destroy ground based target,but ammunition is limited and so is its range.
If you have a target in view,the currently selected weapon will attempt to lock on to it. You'll know if you've got a lock with an air to air missile as the floating diamond on the HUD will meet up with the square around the target.
You should also hear your onboard computer announce that its tracking the enemy.
The air to ground weapons work in a similar way, If you cant get a lock on your ground target for any reason a bit of sharp shooting with the cannons will normally do the trick. Once you've got your lock you can hit the spacebar to the sound of "MISSILE AWAY" from your friendly in flight computer.
If you don't need to take any immediate evasive action you could switch to the enemy view or even better the missile view to watch it home in.
Getting a lock doesn't necessarily mean you will get a direct hit.
A good bit of flying from the enemy can shake off a missile although the missiles themselves don't give up without a fight.
An incredibly versatile plane,the Lockheed F-22 was designed to scramble from both land and sea via aircraft carriers as and when required.
Its strike potential is equally varied with the ability to take out air and land based targets with a range of modern "fire and forget" missiles and bombs. While not the most attractive of the three on offer its the only one capable of seas based missions.
The famous F-117A Stealth Fighter also comes from the Lockheed camp and marked a significant step forward in Stealth technology.
It has since spawned the Stealth Bomber,which was used most publicly in the Gulf War,with the precision of its air to ground strikes making the headline news.
Although harder to detect than other planes the F-117A is by no means totally invisible.
Based on the French Mirage jet,the Eurofighter 2000 was commissioned as a cost effective state of the art jet fighter for European security.
Like the Lockheed it too is very versatile in its ability to carry out a wide variety of strikes effectively.
It also offers Stealth properties with short take off and landing abilities,high agility and extremely configurable payload options.
The initial training missions don't require you to actually land your kite after you have hit your targets,but once you get further down the line,and and also in the Tour of Duty, you will need to return to your airbase or your aircraft carrier to complete the mission.
Landing is a tricky business,you can not just go hurtling towards the strip and hope that slamming your anchors on in the last minute is going to be enough,so lets take a look at landing on an airstrip.
The first thing to do is get lined up with the strip.
One of the best ways to do this is to take a flight over the airfield in order to get a good look at the airway.
Once you know the lie of the land get some distance between yourself and the runway (using the timewarp function if your impatient) and then turn back and level up with the runway.
Take your altitude down to around 500 feet and hold it steady.
As you get closer,put the airbrakes on and reduce the thrust to about 60% If you don't use the airbrakes you run the risk of stalling the plane.
Next put the nose down slightly and start the final descent.
Remember to put the landing gear at this stage.
Aim to make contact with the runway at as shallow an angle as possible,and once you have touched down,put the wheel brakes on and cut the thrust totally.
The plane should come to a halt safe and sound on terra firma.
Now this is a bit more difficult,just about all of the land-based procedures applies here but now you have a much shorter landing area, and you also have to contend with it being stuck in the middle of the sea.
Judging the correct descent altitude is the hardest thing here.
As before,buzzing the aircraft carrier is helpful,if for no other reason than to make sure you're not attempting to land on one of the fleets battleships.
Since the danger of overshooting is obviously very high when you are landing on such a small area,you need to employ your "HOOK" to bring the plane to a stop before falls off the end of the ship.
Remember to put your hook down when you lower the landing gear.
Also beware of coming in too low and crashing into the end of the boat.
In case you had not realised yet,TFX really is amazing! Here's a quick tour of some of the best and most unique bits of the game.
Sure we have all seen little pyramid hills before in the likes of Gunship.
But you have never seen anything like these before :
Snowcapped peeks and extensive ranges of mountains and foothills give the landscapes more realism then ever before.
They are not just here for show either.
Make sure if you set your sights on a waypoint and go off to make a cuppa that you are not headed for a collision with one of them.
Now common on other platforms,texture mapping is still rarely seen on the Amiga outside of 3D rendering packages and pd demos.
TFX uses them mainly for its virtual cockpit,in which you can see limbs and the cockpit move around your field of vision as you bank and climb through the skies.
There's also a natty little UN logo on the tail fin of the Eurofighter 2000.
When combined with the models of the planes,the ground installations and the mountains,the shading gives everything a convincing solidity that's missing in most paper dart flight sims.
Its this which caps the mountain ranges with snow,creates realistic washes behind the battleships and even brings the explosions to life.
You thought you had seen before didn't you ?.
Well we are not talking about two dimensional polygons that sit up at 5,000 feet like some kind of magic carpet.
No these are proper,real clouds made up of lots of little clouds.
Go into a climb on a cloudy day and watch as your view fades to grey.
Keep going a little further and you will emerge into the clear blue sky.
You might think that being assigned a night mission would be a bit tedious, nothing to see except the inky blackness "right " ?. Well that would be true in most flight sims in which the scenarios consist of a plain,two roads and a shed,but TFX goes out of its way to bring you full illuminated cities. You could almost believe that you were flying over Las Vegas,except Las Vegas is not one of the scenarios.
And another thing there's over 3 million square miles of terrain and airspace to cover in the game,all taken from real official map data.
That adds up to 1/40th of the worlds surface area.
Trees islands,deserts,cities,rivers,bridges,roads,convoys..you just keep discovering more every time you play.
