Flying Corps - Playing Guide GENERAL FLYING TIPS Many people scoff at flight sims, claiming that they are all the same. However, Flying Corps exposes this myth better than any other. Air-to-air combat in biplanes is very different from all this modern business with jets, radar and HUDs. The low power of these aircraft makes gaining altitude while manoeuvring extremely difficult. Therefore having a height advantage over your opponent gives you the chance to decide when and how to initiate combat. As a result, tactics and dogfighting are more important in historical fighters than their technology-led modern-day counterparts. The lack of radar means you can literally fly up to the enemy if you know where his blindspot is, and as for a HUD, well, you have a few dials, a compass and gun- sight - not much really. But without the advanced technology it becomes a battle of wits, skill and instinct as opposed to loosing off a couple of Mavericks and turning for home. This is why men such as Von Richtofen and Albert Ball were able to win so many battles and stand out against the backdrop of carnage that was the First World War. The aircraft in Flying Corps are among the first real fighter aircraft ever built, and their designs reflect the different tactics that the pilots used in combat. The two most important properties in a fighter are speed and quick turning, but an improvement in one will limit the other. Knowing your aircraft’s abilities and the abilities of your opponent will mean the difference between life and death. DOGFIGHTING In a dogfight you have to keep your head. There is no point in rabidly chasing one enemy plane when you have another enemy about to dive on to your tail. These are frail planes, so try to spray as many of them as quickly as possible - just a few bullets are needed to affect the performance of your opponents, and many pilots will turn for home as soon as they are hit. Learn to turn (both vertically and horizontally) without losing height and then see how far you can ease down the throttle while keeping your nose up. This is the key because the slower you’re going the smaller your turning circle is. Always make saving your wingmen a priority. If you see an enemy closing in on one of your men, join the chase and try to save him. The slower, more agile aircraft like the Camel or the Fokker DR1 are perfect for dogfights because they are able to turn on a sixpence and therefore quickly shake off (or shoot down) their opponents. Squadron fighting may seem a random mess at first, but there is a semblance of order to it. At the point when the formation splits up it is vital that you don’t start to pull sharp turns as you could go ploughing through your wingmen. A neat tactic is to dive under the approaching planes and then pull up and spray them as the two formations collide. Use your speed to climb your way to the top of the fight and find the enemy CO. Take him out (he is always the most skilled) and then work your way down, forcing the enemy aircraft lower and massing your squadron above them. GROUND ATTACKS When bombing a ground target you put yourself at great risk as you have to give up all your height and run the gauntlet of anti-aircraft guns that will almost certainly be guarding your victim. There are two different tactics I use, depending on what I’m aiming at. For buildings and stationary targets I dive bomb my victims. This involves climbing and approaching the area at around 3,000 feet, then cutting your engines and diving at the target almost vertically. At 1,500 feet I power up again while still heading for the target. This is the tricky part now. You must release your bombs at the last moment possible while pulling up and away but not passing too low over the explosion. You’ll damage your own plane if you go too low, so try to keep at least 100 feet away from the target. For the convoys or trains you should fly up behind them at around 150 feet and strafe them. This is always dangerous, but if they don’t blow you out of the sky by the time you reach them, drop one bomb off and fly away at least 1,000 yards before you turn for another run. The tanks in Flying Corps generally drive along in lines next to each other, so a different approach is necessary. Fly at them from the side and let off no more than two bombs on each pass from a low altitude. They are normally so close together a hit is guaranteed. ZOOMING Zooming is a technique used by the faster and less manoeuvrable aircraft like the Spad. Using the superior climb rate of your fighter, climb above your opponent until you are around 1,000 feet above them. Position yourself behind them and then slow your engines as you dive on your helpless victim. As you begin to get close to them pull up hard, put on full throttle and climb back to a safe distance where you can prepare for another dive. If you’re doing it right, you should be yo- yo-ing up and down just behind them. Care must be taken not to stall or overshoot your opponent, because you’re likely to become the helpless target. Any of the fighters can use this technique against bombers as they are extremely slow. GREED OR GENEROSITY When leading a squadron you can make your job a lot easier by examining the mission briefs in detail first and then deciding on a formation. I use the above formations for the two very different jobs of hunting for kills to increase my personal score or trying to win a squadron vs squadron encounter while minimising our losses. Often the missions will contain much more than is shown in the description and this may mean that you get separated from your squadron or lose them to enemy fire. When alone you must climb as high as possible, because if you contact an enemy squadron that is above you, then you’ll be at their mercy (and they don’t have any). If, however, you are a few thousand feet above them, you can continue to fly to your destination and they will not be able to catch up with you - when they climb they lose speed and you pull away from them. If you’re on your way to a target, then remember that they’ll be waiting for you on the way back. One general tip when you’re trying to rack up as many kills as possible is to try to get damaged enemy aircraft as they fall out of the dogfight - whoever puts the last bullet in gets the kill. Also, try spraying bullets at a whole formation, because even though only a few bullets hit each plane there is always a chance they will hit the pilots or disable the plane and force a crash landing. If an enemy manages to pull off a crash landing and you don’t see their aircraft explode, dive down and strafe them till they blow up. This is war, after all. THE CAMPAIGNS Flying Corps’ campaigns are the heart and soul of the game. Their dynamic progression and small differences make it impossible to provide a foolproof walkthrough, but the following will certainly help you take out the worst the enemy has to offer. Flying Circus In this campaign you lead Jasta 11 at a time when they were the undisputed rulers of the sky. Fearless and spirited, they became famous for their complete disregard for camouflage, which gave rise to the flamboyant, colourful paint schemes that earned them their nickname, The Flying Circus. Von Richtofen painted his plane red so his enemies would recognise him and immediately drop their loads. You play Lothar Richtofen, and have to deputise for the man himself while he takes a month off. Your objective is to take your kill score from 16 to above your brother’s score of 52, as well as having a squadron left at the end of the month to hand back to your brother. During the campaign you may be able to attract some aces from other squadrons and turn some of your novices into aces. In the first mission you scramble as four bombers pass over the airfield without an escort - you should have no problems clocking up three or four kills. After the debrief you will get a choice of three missions, each in a different area. Cambrai is definitely where the action is, but it’s a risky place to go and is often patrolled by the 56th squadron, which is led by the British ace Albert Ball. If you take all your wingmen, you risk losing the lot and being relieved of your command. If you take only a few, then you’ll almost certainly be outnumbered. The usual way to deal with this would be to save your position just before you take off and then if you did badly, you could go back to your save and change stuff round before trying again. Unfortunately, you can’t do that in Flying Corps because there are lots of versions of each mission and you won’t know the situation until you’re in the middle of it. So play it safe and stay away from this area until you are confident that you can take a few losses. Douai is the second mission area and here you can take a few more flying risks and concentrate on your squadron management. The combat can still get intense but there’ll be plenty of opportunities to get easy kills, which will improve your score and the morale of your men. You should be the dominant force in this area. Douai is also an easy place to go hunting, but the lack of enemies may make it hard for you to attain a high enough score of kills while keeping the other pilots happy with theirs. Tank Battle In the Tank Battle campaign you are set the task of surviving a huge assault on the German lines by the British tanks backed up by artillery and the Royal Flying Corps. The campaign takes place over three days and your squadron is driven to the limit flying five missions per day and only returning to base to re-fuel and re- arm. When you start the first mission in this campaign you will be thrown into the middle of a surprise attack by the British against your airfield. Forget the buildings; you won’t be able to save them. Concentrate on the trucks, which you see to your right as you take off, because they’re evacuating your supplies to a safer airfield and the more trucks you keep alive, the more planes you will have for the rest of the campaign. The trucks’ main threat is from the tanks, which are so close that if you don’t take off immediately, you’ll ram them. Use up your bombs as soon as possible doing one or two low passes over the tanks. Then turn your attention to your wingman Otto Konnecke. Being a hero, Otto is trying to take out all the camels alone and will get himself killed unless you help him. You can either help him and have a killer wingman for the rest of the campaign or save the trucks and get more aircraft for the rest of the campaign. Nobody here has managed both... yet. After the evacuation, your missions will all be planned on the map screen, where you have to position your squadron’s waypoints. If you make that waypoint a group of enemy tanks, then your squadron will attack them automatically. When choosing waypoints try to defend the German anti-tank guns as they’re able to kill a few stray tanks but cannot withstand a full-on assault. If they’re also being bombed by the enemy fighters, you should engage these on sight. About halfway through the campaign things will probably start to look worrying. If the tanks reach the middle of the map, you must take out the bridges to prevent any of the tanks finding an easy path through the guns. Your superiors will start to encourage you to hit the enemy bases, but even if you have Otto, you’ll have to be in and out. Going in alone in an Albatross, diving vertically out of the clouds directly over the base and dropping my bombs on the enemy airfield is a tricky but effective way of bombing the large enemy hangars. After your dive you will have a lot of speed, which you should use to get out of there sharpish. Don’t try to climb if you’re being chased by camels. By the third day you should be either picking off the remaining enemy ground units or frantically defending your last line of defence. If the latter is the case, then take as many planes up with you as you can and just attack the tanks, because they will have little air support. Hat In The Ring The Hat In The Ring campaign is all about glory-flying. As pilot in the American 94th squadron you must work your way up the ranks until you take command of your own flight and eventually the squadron. The objective of this campaign is to win the Congressional Medal Of Honor. You get this by equalling the exploits of Eddie Rickenbacker, the American Ace of Aces. At the start of this campaign you don’t have control of your missions. You’ll find the main difference is that the other planes will follow the squadron leader rather than yourself, and you must therefore do the same. This forces you to play the game differently because you have to stick with their plan and play as a team rather than steaming in and letting them clear up. But, as I’ve said, this one is about glory, so when the fighting does kick off, go in as fast as you can and try to take out a few extra enemies while your more cautious wingmen manoeuvre for position. Another good way to show how glorious you are is to dive to the rescue of any aircraft that are being attacked. Protect your bombers, but don’t get distracted trying to finish off crippled opponents. When you do this, you may notice that your squadron is continuing to fly to its next waypoint, offering you no backup at all. The squadron leader’s priority is to complete his mission successfully and safely rather than charging off to take on a squadron of Fokkers alone. Strange that, because after getting yourself promoted you may well be flying off into the distance and leaving your more reckless wingmen to fend for themselves because the missions get harder and much longer. As you advance through the ranks, a small icon becomes active on the left-hand side of your mission-selection screen. This takes you to the volunteer missions, which are in four separate groups. The Balloon Busting is perfect for the lone pilot. Try to dive down below the balloon about 1,500 meters away from it, slow down and pull up to shoot at it. By doing this you get enough time to finish off the balloon in the first pass while not letting the man jump out. The ‘Three Fingered Lake’ is a good mission to accept once you have access to Spads. With the superior speed of the Spad it’s possible to zip around the lake taking out all three balloons and leave the enemy patrols behind before they can get close. The AA around the balloons is intense, to say the least, so keep up your speed. If you try to climb while you’re still in range, you’ll be an easy shot. In the escort missions use a Nieuport because you’ll be able to manoeuvre quickly at low speed. Take your cavalier pilots with you in a separate flight with orders to engage all enemy aircraft on sight and they should be able to get a few kills in before the enemy aircraft get close to the aircraft you’re defending. As the war and the campaign near their end, you’ll have to take up more and more dangerous missions. Whichever type of missions you choose to fly, make sure you finish the assigned tasks before you go glory-hunting. SPRING OFFENSIVE In the spring of 1918 the Germans launched a huge attack against the Allied lines to gain as much ground as they could before the Americans could deploy their full force to bolster the Allied lines. After the collapse of Russia, the Germans were able to recall large numbers of ground troops and nearly 1,700 aircraft were used against the British in an offensive so devastating that they were pushed back ten miles and suffered 38,000 casualties in just the first day. After landing you’ll receive your two most important training missions. This first is staying within 100 meters of your CO’s tail, while he’s pulling extreme manoeuvres for three minutes. To be honest, the only tip here is practice. The second is stalking your prey, and here you’ll want to climb above the clouds, cut your engines and dive down when the CO is about halfway to the base. For this one use the padlock views and information bars. The outcome of each of these missions determines the forces available to each side in the final battle of the campaign. You must take the initiative in every battle and hit your assigned targets and the numerous enemy patrols on sight. As you gain control of the squadron, try to save the best pilots for ground attack missions. This will make a major impact on the outcome of the campaign. The hardest mission is a suicidal attack on the home airfield of Jasta 11, deep behind enemy lines and swarming with Fokkers. I would seriously advise you to stay above the clouds until you get right over the airfield; even if your wingmen drop away into combat, you’ll have enough bombs to take out the two main hangars. Resist the temptation of helping your boys out and get rid of your bombs and the airbase in one go. Then try to fight your way back to the remains of your squadron. By the time you reach the last battle you should have a pretty good idea of how the war is going from the news and messages you receive. If the war’s going badly, you’ll have only yourself to blame. It’s an awfully large responsibility, but you’ll get a chance to level the scores in the final battle. On the final mission, you’ll have to stop the German tank and infantry attack on Amiens. Take everything you have and give at least three of your wingmen orders to attack any free enemy aircraft that enter the area. Don’t bother with the infantry, just concentrate on the tanks. Ammo is a major issue in this battle as the tanks just soak up your machine gun fire. It’s possible to get two tanks with one bomb by dropping the bomb dead in the middle between them. This battle is make or break: win, and win the campaign; lose, and lose all that hard work. But that’s war. AIRCRAFT THE PLAYER WILL FLY German aircraft Fokker DR1 This triplane is a good dogfighting aircraft because of its sharp turning abilities and its fast climb rate, but this comes at the expense of top speed. I found the triplane excellent for strafing, bombing tanks and ground positions. They are also good for escort missions, as you can stay close to the aircraft you are defending and recover height quickly after a fight. Albatross D111 A fine and reliable plane, and a good choice for a beginner. Its speed and manoeuvrability can be combined at low to medium altitudes, enabling it to outperform most of the Allied aircraft. It also carries twin synchronised machine guns, which fire between the propeller blades cutting down enemy aircraft at a reassuring rate. Allied aircraft Nieuport 28 This is the weakest of the Allied planes offered to the player. Although it has reasonable speed and manoeuvrability, it has the disconcerting habit of shedding its wings in a fast dive, leaving the player piloting an oversize dart. Sopwith Camel Vicious to the enemy and a loyal friend to you. The aircraft’s ability to turn tight circles or dive and climb better than any of the enemy aircraft make it a great all- rounder. The Camel has very light controls which need to be nursed constantly, meaning only an experienced pilot can bring out its full potential. SE5a This is my personal favourite. It has greater speed and stability than the Camel and can still turn and dive well. This aircraft can engage in a turning dogfight or use zooming to great effect. When damaged, the stability of the SE5a means a good pilot can often glide down to a safe landing. Spad The Spad is the fastest of the biplanes available and can dive at speeds in excess of 200kph. The ultimate zoomer, this plane is superb for one-man missions because you can take control of high altitude combat through being able to out- dive or out-climb your opponent. Do not try to dogfight in this plane as it takes ages to turn, and if you slow down, the plane will become tail heavy, resulting in a dive. It takes a long time to recover from a stall in a Spad so don’t take any risks under 3,000 feet. TOP TEN TIPS 1. Check that there are no other enemy squadrons lurking around before committing your squadron to a confrontation. 2. Make sure you get close enough to identify potential targets. Friendly fire is the last thing your countrymen need. 3. Get rid of your bombs if you get into a dogfight, as their weight will put you at a disadvantage. 4. Always save 100 rounds of ammo for the journey back home. 5. If you can’t shake an enemy pilot who is stuck to your tail, dive for the ground and put on an aerobatics display under 1,000 feet. He will probably follow you but be unable to follow your stunts. If he fluffs one and stalls, he will have no space to recover. 6. Always be aware of your airspeed when diving, because even the Spads shed their wings when they go too fast. 7. Let your wingmen bomb a target while you cover them from above. After they have finished, you can clean up the leftovers. 8. If you don’t have a joystick, then use the SHIFT+K feature to change the keyboard sensitivity and increase the abilities of your aircraft. 9. Don’t get too close to your victims as debris from their aircraft could fly back and damage yours. 10. Always try to land your aircraft. If it’s damaged, try to glide it down to a gentle landing. If you’ve had a piece of wing shot off, you will need the rudder (‘Ins’ and ‘Del’ on number pad) to hold it level. You’ll be amazed at what you can land.