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Preliminary Corncob 3d documentation ------------------------------------ Copyright (c) Kevin Stokes, Pie in the Sky Software 1991 Welcome to Corncob, the shareware air combat flight simulator. -------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ----------------- 1.) What is Corncob,and What is different about Corncob? 2.) Getting Started 3.) Hardware Requirements 4.) What to try if Corncob crashes your computer 5.) Inflight keys 6.) Keyboard Play and how to handle the rudder 7.) Why try to become general? 8.) Combat Missions: Theaters-of-Operation 9.) Training Missions: Design-your-own 10.) Friendly structures 11.) Enemy structures 12.) How to take off, fly level, and land 13.) How to use your missiles, bombs, and guns 14.) Defensive Flying, making it home with a shot-up plane 15.) Running Around - Welcome the Assassin 16.) Scoring/promotion rules 17.) Why is it doing that? (Commonly asked questions and answers) 18.) The Scenario 19.) About the program itself 20.) Notes about the mission builder 21.) Contacting Pie in the Sky What is Corncob 3-D? -------------------- Corncob 3-D is an air combat game where you fly a piston engine (non-jet) plane against alien invaders. This shareware program has a projected release date of Dec 91, and has an economy registration fee of $15. (More information about registration at the end of this file.) There are many differences between Corncob and the commercial combat simulators currently available. What's different about Corncob? ------------------------------- 1.) Corncob has a wide variety of active objects which make the combat vary widely from mission to mission. Many of these objects make it possible to have missions that require planning and precise flying ability. Examples of enemy devices include: Force Fields, Missile Sites, Mind Benders, Gravity Orbs, Mortars, AAA, Mobile Ground Vehicles... 2.) Corncob has some elements of 'Virtual Reality'. It is possible to hop out of your plane and run around on the ground. You may then get in other planes, or walk into your control tower for information. Some missions require a landing in enemy territory to accomplish a special forces mission on foot. When on foot you have a hand gun, and can plant bombs to destroy targets unreachable from the air. 3.) Your pilot's history is preserved from mission to mission. IE if you happen to fly over a structure which you had bombed in a previous mission, the destruction is evident as you fly over it on your way to your new mission. You select your mission merely by flying to wherever you want to go. 4.) Corncob was designed with fun as a first priority. Corncob lacks some of the more no-fun constraints such as limited fuel or ammo. You may use your weapons as much as desired, and there are no time limits. 5.) Realistic Flight Aerodynamics. Corncob's flight dynamics are all based on 3-d vector mathematics, and rotation matrices. The behavior of the plane is modeled from the physics of air flowing over the wings and fuselage. Examples: High speed stall, Sideslips, rudder control, backwards flight. 6.) Hi-res graphics. Corncob uses a graphics mode of the VGA which contains 640x350 pixels, which is almost four times the number of dots in the action graphics of other popular combat sims. Corncob also has a large rear view in the instrument panel which makes avoiding missiles and making bombing runs much more visual. 7.) Corncob uses a minimum of disk space. While some commercial games take over 5 megabytes of disk space, Corncob will easily fit on a 1.2 Meg floppy disk. Corncob can be run from a floppy drive with no disk swapping, provided you copy your COMMAND.COM file to the Corncob floppy disk. Getting Started --------------- Welcome to Corncob-3d! Corncob-3d is an easy game to use. When you exit this introduction, you will be viewing the "main menu". From this menu, you can select various sub-menus in order to take ad- vantage of the many features of Corncob-3d. If you just want to get in the cockpit and fly, then type <CR> at the main menu. Doing so will bring up the Training Missions menu. Just type <CR> again, and you will receive the pre-flight report, which gives information about the missions you fly. You can exit the pre-flight report with <CR>, and you will be "in-the-cockpit". The viewscreen of you plane will show some information about how to operate your plane. This information will only appear the first time you fly (although you can still access it later if you want), so pay attention. This information will disappear after you press SPACE-BAR, and you will be looking out of the cockpit at your runway. As your first mission proceeds, several more help screens will appear telling you what to do. These help screens only appear automatically on your first flight. Please note the following: You may get help for the various submenu's by pressing I. You may get help while in flight by pressing p and then <spacebar>. Hardware Requirements --------------------- Corncob requires an IBM PC/AT-type computer with a speed of 12Mhz or higher which is running the DOS operating system. Although the game will run on slower machines, the animation will be too chunky to be enjoyable. The memory required is about 500k of DOS ram. Use CHKDSK to see how much memory is available in your computer. Corncob absolutely requires a VGA adapter. A mono-VGA system may or may not work. A joystick is badly needed, but not required for the successful playing of the game. A hard disk is NOT required. The game may be run from a high-density floppy drive with no disk swapping. What to do if Corncob crashes your computer. ------------------------------------------- Corncob has been tested on a variety of systems and has run reliably with no crashes for weeks of game play. However, Corncob 3D does do some rather unorthodox things which may cause problems with certain TSR programs. Corncob traps the keyboard hardware interrupt, and runs the system timer up to 1kHz. To make a long story short, the easiest thing to try is to reboot with no TSR programs loaded into memory, and no 'MENU' programs including the DOSSHELL. We do know of at least one user who has complained of a 'molasses mode' problem, where every thirty to sixty seconds the game would slow down to a snail's pace for about 5-8 seconds. This has to do with a system timer reset failure. If this happens on your computer, we would like to know about it! Inflight Key Definitions ------------------------ NOTE: You can get key help during flight with by typing 'p' to pause the game, and then using the spacebar to cycle through help screens. F1 - Boss Screen (Customize your own boss screen by editing BOSS.TXT file ) F2 - Intelligence Info ( get mission info from radio ) F3 - Check current score ( gives your current mission score if you land now ) escape - end mission now ( for best score, use near your airstrip tower ) cntl-c - abort mission ( end mission, pretend mission never happened ) Keypad arrow keys ( NEVER use cursor keys, use KEYPAD arrow keys only! ) 7,9 - left, right rudder control ( Must use these for taxiing on ground ) 8,2 - nose down, nose up 4,6 - roll counterclockwise, roll clockwise numlock - toggle between {keypad arrows = views} or {keypad arrows = controls} left cntl key - use with keypad arrow keys for views left shift key - hold down to switch gun mode to cannons left shift key - apply brakes a - autopilot toggle on/off b - drop bomb now c - fire missiles ( Keyboard control only ) e - eject (must press space bar to pull ripcord) ALSO: (step out of plane) f - flaps toggle g - ground detail dots toggle on/off i - ignite rocket booster (15 second burn, 120 seconds recharge) m - map mode (arrows, pgup=move down, pgup=move up, shft arrows=change angle) p - pause toggle, (use spacebar to go through help screens when paused) r - toggle reverse window on/off t - hold down for accelerated time x - rudder right z - rudder left keypad +/- increase/decrease throttle joystick button 1: fire guns joystick button 2: fire missiles Standing on the Ground Key Definitions -------------------------------------- d - detonate your planted assassin bomb m - go to map mode p - pause (same as inflight) t - hold down for advanced time v - radio for a rescue van j - hold down, release to jump. The longer held down, the higher the jump. keypad 2,8,4,6 - turn your head down, up, left, right keypad 5,0 - run forward, backward in direction you are facing. left cntl - changes function of keypad arrow keys to operate views caps lock - toggles remote control mode: fly plane from ground space bar - fire handgun ( Keyboard control only ) joystick button - fire handgun Keyboard Play and how to handle the rudder ------------------------------------------ A great deal of effort was put into Corncob in order to make keyboard play work well. The keyboard is interrupt driven, and your key presses are timed to within 1/1000 th of a second. Also, Corncob has no problem detecting keystrokes even when 3 keys are held down at once. The keys that even joystick players have to contend with are the rudder keys. The problem is how do you command just a little rudder? If you hold the key down the plane will go into a heavy sideslip, and eventually stall. The method of varying the amount of rudder desired is by rapidly pressing and releasing the key. The average amount of time in which the key is down communicates to the game how much rudder is desired. This will take some getting used to, but when you get used to it, it becomes second nature. To operate the rudder, the best finger position leaves the left hand middle finger on the 'z' key for left rudder. This leaves the right index finger on the 'x' key for right rudder. Now your 3rd finger is well positioned for pressing the left shift key down for cannons/brakes. For lefties, the rudder controls are 7,9 on the keypad. For the keyboard player, the plane must be controlled from the keypad. Put your middle finger permanently on the '5' key. Use this middle finger for both the 2,8 nose up/down keys, and use the index and 3rd finger for your left/right roll keys. It's very important to always use the above fingers for best performance. The reason is that in Corncob, you frequently must use more than one arrow key at once to perform a maneuver. If you peck the keys with just one finger, your ability to react quickly and use combinations will be limited. It's best to force yourself to do it the above mentioned way, or else you will be stuck at the harder missions that require more precise flying. Remember that to apply gentle tweaks to the control, you must press keys on and off rapidly, with the average time spent down being the desired roll/pitch rate. You have three displays on the front panel which show you what you are presently sending to the control stick. These meters are just to the right of the ALT light. Don't forget to use the rudder with the left hand. Using the rudder can really help you pick off targets without having to bank and pull back on the stick. NOTE: if the arrow keys suddenly appear to be not functioning properly, perhaps you have bumped the numlock key. Numlock chooses the mode in which your keypad keys operate between control/views. Note that the numlock light will not change state as you switch between views, and control. Why become general? ------------------- The end goal of Corncob is to attain the rank of general. To attain the rank of general, you must have completed all the mission objectives in every relevant theater of operation, whereupon you will be given a special assignment. Upon completion of the special assignment, you may attain the rank of general. When you have attained the rank of general, you have mastered the game and the pilot is retired. Completing your special assignment involves flying an experimental plane (max speed >1000 mph), and experiencing a beautiful graphic effect which you can only see during the special assignment. This 3D graphic effect is unlike anything else in Corncob. Of course if your general has any resurrections then you have sort of cheated, and if you are man enough you should start over and make general with a pure pilot. Combat Missions: Theaters-of-Operation --------------------------------------- To fly a mission a pilot first chooses which theater of operations he wishes to fly in. A theater of operations is a terrain filled with airports and areas of enemy concentrations. A pilot selects his mission by taking off from an airbase, and flying to one of the enemy areas to engage in combat. ( IE the mission is NOT selected from a menu ). For example, in the milkrun theater of operations, there is a mission called 'Devil's Aquarium'. The intelligence report reports that this gathering of enemy forces is located 3 miles west of Dulles International Airport. Therefore, starting from Dulles airport, take off and turn your plane West, and fly for three miles. After you have completed your mission, you can fly back to Dulles, or any other airfield, or you can fly to another enemy concentration to try to up your score for this flight. Most theaters of operation have 9 airbases from which the pilot can take off and land in. Each airbase has intelligence information about the enemy forces in the vicinity. Intelligence info can be gotten from entering the control tower on foot, or by using your radio (F2 key) when in the air. The information you receive will always be from the last airport you were in. One of the most important things about theaters is that they have a history capability. This means that anything a pilot has destroyed will stay destroyed forever. For example, say that yesterday a mission was flown in which the Devil's Aquarium was demolished. If that same theater is flown in today, the wreckage will still remain. This applies to friendly objects as well as enemy objects. Which brings us to the topic of plane conservation. Planes are a precious resource which should not be wasted. Each theater has only so many planes parked at the various airstrips. If pilots are not careful and lose too many planes via ejection, then the unfortunate pilot will find himself with no airplanes left in the whole theater. The method to get the most points, and the way to get through a theater is by nearly always nursing planes back to the nearest airstrip. Even a heavily damaged plane can be repaired simply by landing and strolling over to the control tower on foot. If the pilot cannot land, then ending the mission with a low flyby will assume a safe landing with plane intact, and the next time the game is played the plane will be repaired. If desired, some older model planes can be brought out of storage, but this should be used only when desperate. These planes have reduced performance specs, and are a brown color. Of course, if a pilot runs out of planes in a theater, or would like a fresh start, there is always the option of reopening a fresh theater. A pilot can have up to 15 theaters open at one time, so he may fly one mission in MILKRUN theater, then fly a mission in FLATLAND, and so on. Closing an undesirable theater does not affect the pilot's record. In fact even if a pilot is killed in action, he can be resurrected. The only cost of resurrection is the fact that the computer keeps track of how many resurrections you did, and places this number by your name in all records. Each pilot has records kept both for his total career, and his performance in each theater which he has flown in. Examples of Theaters of Operation: Milkrun: Easy missions for the beginning pilot. Flatland: Medium hard missions, most enemy concentrations spread out on ground. Midnight: Night missions. Quari: Desert missions with distributed enemy forces Iceworld: Winter white landscape with lots of suspended force fields corridors. Training Missions --------------- If you don't want to fight in an actual theater, IE you just want to hop in a plane and shoot at aliens, then the Training Missions are for you. Use the menu to specify the number of enemy KLA sites, AAA batteries, and ground vehicle sites, and you are ready to engage in combat. You will be placed in a universe which is empty except for your airstrip and the enemy field of operations. The basic setup of the enemy territory will always be the same. There will always be an orb protected by forcefields, and 15 fuel storage facilities. The fuel storage canisters (or Ticks, as the pilots call them.) are always the primary mission objective. This Training Missions are NOT just trivial practice. Your pilot scores will be affected by your performance on your flight, and your pilot can be just as easily killed or captured as when you are flying in a theater. This is why it is important to remember to fly the training mission as a trainee, if you just want to bomb around. Friendly Objects ---------------- Airplanes --------- On every airstrip is one or more airplanes which you may fly. To get into a plane, simply walk up to it and enter. To get out of a plane, use the 'e' key. There are three different plane types in the game. The blue-winged planes are the standard front-line ground attack planes. The brown-winged planes are older planes which have been brought out of storage in the case of an emergency. These planes have less engine power. Lastly, there are experimental black flying-wing planes. No information is available about these aircraft. A pilot must have achieved Combat Master status before he may fly these planes. Control Tower ------------- Every airstrip has a control tower. This tower contains the radio equipment and intelligence officers. If a pilot enters the door of the control tower on foot, his plane will be repaired if close enough. If a control tower is destroyed, it may be impossible to get intelligence info on future missions. Radar Unit ---------- The radar tower watches for your safe return to home base. If you want to have your plane on the next mission, you must make sure the radar tower is flashing before ending the mission with the escape key. The radar tower begins flashing when you get to within a certain distance of the control tower. Ending the mission with the radar tower flashing makes a big difference in the computed pilot score. Runways ------- Runways are the ideal location for taking off and landing. Your plane can do both on the grass also, but the risk of crashlanding is much higher when not landing on the runway. Taxiing on the grass bounces the plane about, and can cause a crashlanding even at low speeds. Rescue Van ---------- When a pilot is downed behind enemy lines, he can be rescued by the rescue van. He must first eject from the plane, and then use his handheld portable radio to call for assistance ( Press the 'v' key. ) A rescue van will be dispatched and will appear shortly. The van will approach you and stop when within a few steps of the pilot. When the pilot enters the van, the mission is over, and the pilot is considered home safe. The rescue van is not indestructible. The van will be destroyed if it collides with another object on its way to pick you up. It is up to the pilot to maneuver himself so that there are no obstructions between the approaching van and himself. Enemy Defenses -------------- 1.) Force Fields ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Force Fields are a passive defense system used to protect resources by shielding them from firepower, and preventing our aircraft from flying through. Some forcefields shimmer, some are solid colors. Some fields appear as a rectangular frame which may or may not vary in size with the passage of time. The solid and shimmering force fields require the most power, and therefore only click on when needed. When a bullet or missile, or a plane itself comes near a solid forcefield, it will pop into existence. Almost all bullets and missiles are stopped by the forcefields, as well as bombs. Do not use missiles when your plane is too close to field, as they will explode in your face when launched. A forcefield will cause damage to a plane at a certain rate during the time in which the airplane is flying too close. If a forcefield must be flown through, then to minimize damage, fly through perpendicular to the surface, and the higher the airspeed, the better. Note that the shimmering solid fields are in fact opaque, even though the optical illusion makes them look translucent. The force fields which vary their size and shape with time stay on at all times. The boundary of deadliness of these fields moves with the field's image. You can use this fact to eek in a few shots at protected targets. In almost all cases, forcefields are powered by a local generator orb. Therefore when you take out the orb, all the local ff's will drop. Note that the enemy's fire can be stopped by forcefields also. A favorite technique of our pilots is to lure KLA's into a nearby field. Also AAA shells are stopped by FF's, so sometimes they can work to our advantage. Barrage Balloons ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Barrage balloons are huge membranes filled with a lighter-than-air gas. They float up and down randomly. Their purpose is simply to be in the way. They are organic and self-regenerating, so although they stop all our firepower, they themselves are indestructible. Your plane can fly through them, but at a cost of many damage hits. BB's never go higher than a couple thousand feet. Their colors show something about the speed at which they rise and fall. Bee Swarms ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bee swarms are very similar to the barrage balloons discussed above. They float up and down, but they are much harder to see, and are more difficult to determine their exact position due to their indistinct appearance. AAA Batteries ---------------------------------------------------------------------- These are one of the most threatening of the enemy's active defenses. AAA sites track your plane and send up volleys of explosive shells which burst in the air around you. You do not have to be hit directly to take damage from an AA shell. The shells are designed to explode into fragments which tear through your plane, even if you are hundreds of feet from the explosion. The AAA batteries vary wildly from site to site. We have found that there is a correlation between muzzle color and deadliness. Usually the brown AAA is the least threatening, while the white AAA is devastating. The AAA quality value affects several capabilities. The lower quality sites cannot turn fast enough to track your plane if you are flying past. Also, quality affects the maximum firing rate, the accuracy of the shells, and whether or not the AAA has the intelligence to `lead` the target. Note that AAA shells can explode KLA's. In the early days before the leading technology AAA sites were developed, the classic method of defense against deathballs was to fly past AAA sites at a certain range. All the shells would fall behind your plane to where the chasing missiles were. Note also that ground-mounted AAA sites cannot fire horizontally. If they did, the AAA batteries would be destroying their own forces. You can use this to your advantage, if you have the ability to fly extremely low. The closer you are to an AAA site, the lower you must fly. KLA's Deathballs Spitballs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- These are enemy missiles which lock on to your plane, and attempt to explode when close enough. They are launched either from missile sites or from saucers. These missiles have varying abilities which you can determine from their color. When a KLA becomes active, it will show up as a green dot on your radar screen. When you see one visually you will notice that when it is pointed at you it begins to flash. At this point the KLA has a lock on you. Most KLAs will accelerate forward when they get a lock. Note that deathballs always head directly towards you, and do not lead your plane, like AAA batteries do. Generator Orbs -------------- Generator orbs produce power for force fields, and act as a central (usually) structure to each concentration of enemy activity. The process used by the aliens to generate power has a strange disorienting effect on humans when close to the orb. Usually this effect decreases with distance, but under certain circumstances can become independent of position. The triangular base of the orb is indestructible, but the ball on the top is not. When attempting to destroy it, aim for the center of the flashing ball. These structures are tough. It takes maybe ten missiles or two bombs and a few missiles to destroy one. When an orb is destroyed all the force fields in the immediate vicinity drop. This makes them of extreme strategic importance on some missions. In some situations it is wise NOT to destroy the orbs, since sometimes the alien's force fields can be used to our advantage. There is a special kind of orb which has an attractive tractor beam which exerts a pulling force on your plane. This force is so strong that your plane can be pulled backwards through the air in some cases. This effect decreases with distance, so be careful about flying too close to this type of orb. Some orbs have been designed to be invincible to normal weapons, and the only effective way to take them out is via suiciding the plane into them. Make sure you bail out before contact, or else you will be killed in the ensuing explosion. If you must bail a good way away from the target, hit caps lock to control your plane remotely. TRFRU ----- Tetrahedral Radio Frequency receiving units, or TRFRU, are antenna systems used for spying on all human military communications. They look like small black tetrahedrons spinning in the air. Guns are the weapon of choice for taking out tofu (tofu is the unofficial name). Be especially careful when attacking suspended tofu. They are so small that many pilots wait too long before peeling off to the left or right. This can result in a disastrous collision. Mortars ------- Mortars are simple devices which are mounted on the ground and spew incendiaries when any human is near. They are used to deny low altitude flying. Mind Benders ------------ Mind benders are small tofu-like structures which have a hallucinatory affect on the human nervous system. These devices blaze with flashing colors, and spin slowly about the ball in their centers. They are extremely tough, and can only be taken out with a bomb. In many missions, they are unreachable from the air. In this case a volunteer must land his plane in enemy territory and proceed on foot to plant an assassin bomb on the device, then blow it up remotely from a distance. Aliens ------ Aliens are very light, and like to be in constant motion. They rarely are seen on open ground, and must be approached on foot most of the time. The hand gun is the weapon of choice for assassinating aliens. Upon death, chemical reactions take place which may cause the body to float up into the sky. If an alien touches you while you are not in your plane, you are captured. Ground Transports ----------------- These ground vehicles look like three wheeled radio controlled cars. They are no threat to the airborne pilot, however it is a different story for the pilot on foot. These shopping carts (unofficial name) can capture an ambulatory pilot. Some of the higher quality carts are very persistent. There are two ways to avoid capture while on the ground. One is to use your handgun to destroy approaching carts. The other method is to lead them into some wreckage or other structure which will cause the cart to turn onto it's side and die. Ground vehicles are notoriously stupid, and do not appear to be capable of avoiding obstacles. When a shopping cart comes near, a human on foot feels a force inexorably pulling him towards the cart. At the same time the vision begins to darken. The human must escape this cart or the vision will sink into blackness, and he will be captured. Ground transports are exuded from triangular sites which appear to be nothing but simple triangles lying on the ground. The color indicates the quality of the cart produced. At any one time the number of carts in the area should be roughly equal to the number of sites in the area. Flying Saucers -------------- Saucers are the primary vehicle for alien airborne transportation. They vary widely in self-defense capability. Some have AAA built in, some have missile launchers (KLA) aboard. All but the dumbest have the ability to execute evasive maneuvers. All saucers have the ability to make bombing runs against airfields. The color of the top ball on the saucer indicates its intent. Saucers emanate from saucer sites. These sites look like large square cookie tins with an 'x' in the bottom. Portals ------- The aliens have developed a means of instantaneous travel. Portals are small force fields which look like rectangles with the corners clipped. There are a number of different types of portals. Some are used by saucers to appear directly over the home airstrip. These can be used by the clever pilot as a means of getting home when his plane is not serviceable enough to fly back. Other kinds take you to a random place in the theater, depending on whatever the aliens used it for last. Others are placed as traps which result in a destroyed plane, or worse, instant death. Flying through one of these tiny portals can be difficult. Do not point your gunsight directly at it, especially at a low airspeed. If you do so, you will surely fly under it. Remember that to keep a constant altitude, you must keep your nose above the horizon in order to produce lift. Fences ------ Fences are harmless objects which appear to be a means to keep idiot shopping carts from accidentally destroying other enemy structures. They have no effect on us except that a collision with one will destroy a plane. How to take off, land, and fly level ------------------------------------ The key to success in Corncob is to become a good flyer. Only when a pilot learns the abilities and limitations of his plane can he make the complex maneuvers required to make it to the rank of General. Takeoffs -------- Pulling your plane up into the air is the easiest part of flying. Merely put the throttle to the maximum, and pull up on the stick when you reach over 150 mph. However, there are some details to be aware of. If your plane is not lined up on the runway, you will have to maneuver on the ground. To steer your plane while taxiing, the joystick is useless. The joystick controls the tilt of the plane, it cannot turn the plane. Therefore, use the rudder controls to steer while on the ground. The keys to control the rudder are the 'x' and 'z' keys, as well as the '7' and '9' keys on the keypad. To bring the plane to a stop, you must use the brakes. These are the left shift key, the '.' key, or the '0' key on the keypad. The brakes must be used to bring the plane to a complete stop. ( The plane must be brought to a complete stop to qualify as a landing.) Once you are lined up, bring the throttle up to max. When you reach 100 mph, the tail of your plane will rise off the ground. Keep the plane on the runway by tapping the rudder keys if needed. When you surpass 150 mph, pull back gently on the stick. If you pull back too hard, the tail will swing down so quickly that it will slam back down onto the runway, thus kicking down your nose due to the bounce. This can cause a crash, so be careful. Level Flight ------------ When in the air the most important thing is to avoid crashing into the ground. In order to achieve level flight, you must keep your gunsight above the horizon. How high you must keep your nose depends on your airspeed. Near the stall speed of 100 mph, the nose must be kept much higher above the horizon than when you are flying at 350 mph. There is an altimeter and a climb rate meter to help you fly level. A warning light will flash if your altitude drops below 150 feet. When climbing, keep an eye on your airspeed. If this drops below 100 mph, then you may not have enough airspeed to fly. This makes a stall possible. Stalls and advanced aerodynamics -------------------------------- A stall occurs when the air traveling over the wings becomes turbulent. This results in a dramatic loss of lift, and unless corrected, the plane will invariably fall to the ground. Stalling can be brought about by letting your airspeed drop below stall speed, or it can also occur as a result of an imprudent aerobatic maneuver. Ordinarily one thinks of the wind striking a plane from directly head on. However in real flight the wind must be coming from a direction slightly below the nose. This is required because the wind must hit the wings on the bottom surface in order to push the plane up to counteract the downward pull of gravity. The variation of the wind direction from the directly head on direction is called the angle of attack. The greater the angle of attack is, the more the wind direction appears to be coming up from below the nose. The greater the angle of attack, the more lift your plane feels. When you pull back hard on the stick, you are lifting the nose of your plane. As the nose lifts, you are increasing the angle of attack, thereby increasing the lift, and the plane will begin to rise. Once the plane has accelerated in the upward direction, then the apparent wind angle lessens. This is because the upward speed of the plane has changed the apparent wind direction. ( Sailors are familiar with this effect, the apparent wind direction depends on what direction and how fast their boat is moving. ) Stalls occur when the angle of attack is too great. At this point, the air no longer travels smoothly over the wing. This determines the lowest flying speed of a plane. The lower the airspeed of the plane, the greater the angle of attack must be in order to maintain level flight. If the airspeed is too low, the plane begins to lose altitude, thus increasing the angle of attack. (just as the upward motion of the plane decreased the angle of attack) If the pilot then raises the joystick in an attempt to stop losing altitude, then that angle of attack may go beyond the stall angle, thus causing the stall. In a real plane, a pilot can use his senses to judge when he is close to the stall speed, but in Corncob there are just the instruments. In a real plane, the pilot knows how much force he can put safely on the stick. However, in a computer sim, the joystick tension does not reflect the flight situation. Therefore, Corncob has in it an automatic stall preventer which limits the stick travel to the maximum attainable without causing a stall. This does not mean that it is impossible to stall. The stall preventer simply limits the control stick from causing a stall which would be the result of pulling back too hard. The most common cause of a stall is simply that the airspeed dropped too low to sustain flight. Another common cause is excessive sideslipping. The aerodynamic model that Corncob uses includes sideways motion of the plane through the air. When the rudder is used, it kicks the nose of the plane to the right or left, without necessarily changing the direction of motion of the plane. This changes the apparent wind direction to be either to the left or right of head on. This sideslipping can also result from turning the plane on its side, and letting gravity pull the plane downward. ( You obviously cannot fly level with the plane on its side, since then the wing's lift is not pulling against gravity.) If the plane is in a fast sideslip, and then the plane is quickly righted, and the stick is pulled, the momentum of the plane can result in the effects of left-right wind angle being added to the up-down angle of attack, thereby pushing your angle of attack over the stall angle. Also, a damaged plane can be much more likely to stall. Wing damage will lower the lift of the wings, and control damage can make the stick jitter beyond what the automatic stall preventer can handle. Of course engine damage will lower airspeed, and rudder damage will increase level flight sideslip. How to get out of a stall ------------------------- To get out of stall means getting your forward airspeed up. Since your direction of motion is invariably down when stalled, the best idea is to get the nose pointed down. Of course your throttle should be place to maximum also. Getting out of a stall can depend on interpreting the airspeed direction indicator. The red ball tells which direction the apparent wind is coming from. In level flight it should be riding in the center, but below center. When you yank back on the stick, you will see the red ball drop as the angle of attack increases, and the opposite when you slam the stick forward. When you are slipping sideways, the ball will go to the left or right. Try hitting the rudder keys to watch as the apparent wind direction moves to the left or right, then snaps back. It snaps back because all stable planes are balanced to have the plane automatically turn into the sidewinds. How fast it snaps back depends on your airspeed. So now that we understand the red ball, here is how it can help you. When the red ball is somewhere near the center, you are OK. When stalled the wind direction can be so far off center, that it disappears from the display altogether. To become unstalled involves getting that red ball back on the screen. If you were doing a hairy maneuver at the time, try just reversing the stick to try to undo whatever aerodynamic motion you did last. If you are below 1000 ft, consider ejecting. It takes time and altitude to recover from a stall. Note that when the stall is so bad that your airspeed is nil, then you have lost the ability to control the plane with the control surfaces. In fact, it is even possible for your plane to fly backwards with the controls operating in a reversed fashion. Even backwards airspeed is better than zero. If you are falling backwards, pull the stick back to push the nose down. Once the nose is down, hold her there until you get some forward airspeed. Landing ------- This is one of the hardest parts of learning to fly. This requires much patience, but in time you will be able to swoop down from the vertical direction, and pop the plane down in seconds. The biggest problem for beginners is to get lined up properly. One point to remember is that you must not fly toward the middle of the runway. Fly towards the close end of the runway, or a point on an imaginary line running the length of the runway and beyond. Once you are over that imaginary line, then turn your nose to point towards the end of the runway. Getting lined up is especially difficult in Corncob, due to fact that the plane may be slipping sideways. When you get close enough to the runway where it starts to switch from being drawn as lines, to being drawn with filled black rectangles, engage the flaps, and drop your throttle to zero. ( But don't let your airspeed drop below 100 mph, you may need to bump it up again.) At this point you should be no higher that 1000 ft. In Corncob your plane has automatic landing gear which pops down as required. (Its actually a force field gear using stolen technology) The pilot does not need to explicitly engage the gear. Now let the plane drop, shedding that altitude before you reach the end of the runway. When you get to 100 or 200 feet, level the plane out for the final drop to the runway. If you are not lined up well, be ready to punch the throttle and take off for another pass. This is very important, because with your throttle dropped, once you have leveled out, the plane begins to decelerate. As the airspeed drops below 100 mph, your plane becomes very unresponsive to the stick. If you are not perfectly lined up, but are low and over the runway, then drop and steer with the rudder once your wheels touch. The gear of your plane is quite tough, and on the runway surface you can have your rate of climb meter almost pegged negative and still survive. Landing on the grass can be done, but requires a much more sensitive touch down. It is a good idea to be holding down the brake key throughout the whole landing process. The left shift key is situated conveniently for the left hand to operate the brakes and rudder controls. For those that use the left hand on the joystick, use the keypad rudder and brake controls. Once you have solidly touched down you make taxi about using your rudder. Be careful to keep your speed down while taxiing (especially if your flaps are down.) because it may cause you to lift into the air inadvertently, and then cause a crashlanding. Please remember than on the ground, the stick is useless, and you must steer with the rudder keys. Pulling the stick over on the ground may cause your plane to flip and cause death. There are two different types of crashes. One is a fatal wreck, and the other type is a crashlanding. A crashlanding is where your plane is brought down too hard, and the landing gear fails. The plane then spins to a stop on the ground. When it stops, your plane is dead and will not fly again until repaired. If you were close to your airstrip, the repair crew can fix it. (Do this by entering the control tower through the door on foot.) The other type of crash is the fatal crash. This happens if you slam into the ground too hard, or if your plane is so tilted during landing that your wing tip hits. ( Or if you try to land upsidedown - Sorry, George) Midair collisions ------------------ There many types of objects which will destroy your plane if you collide with them. When this happens your plane bounces, and the damage indicators immediately max out. The screen border turns dark red, and the eject light begins to flash. At this point you should bail out, since it is likely that you will die if you try to land the plane. Don't bother trying to make it back to base. (Although landing such a plane has been done on occasion, it most often proves to be a fatal mistake.) Some of the objects which will destroy your plane in a collision are: Saucers, fuel dumps, TRFRU, generator orb How to use your missiles, bombs, and guns ----------------------------------------- Aiming ------ The main goal of Corncob is to destroy alien forces. You accomplish this by using your guns, missiles, and bombs against enemy targets. In addition, you must sometimes use your offensive weapons for self-defense. (IE your guns can explode approaching AAA shells, and enemy missiles). The most obviously important requirement for successful gunnery is aiming. Your gunsight shows where the bullets will strike a non-moving target. There is much technique involved with holding the gunsight on target, since your plane has to follow the rules of aerodynamics. This technique will have to be developed over time, and cannot be learned by any other way but experience. However, don't be afraid to use the rudder. The rudder is an excellent way of turning your nose fast for a quick shot to the side. An experienced pilot who uses the rudder can destroy twice as many targets as the pilot who uses the stick alone. As far as shooting moving targets, don't forget to lead your target properly. By the time your bullets reach the target, most likely the target will be somewhere else. When attacking a KLA for example, try to judge where it will be when the bullets get there, and fire ahead of it. When shooting at ground targets the most important thing to remember is to watch your altitude. Remember that you must keep your nose above the horizon to maintain altitude, so that means you can only shoot at the ground for a limited time before breaking off to regain altitude. Both your guns and missiles can be used continuously, but after an initial burst, the firing rate will drop to a slow plodding beat. If you want a better chance of taking out something quickly, wait until you are on target, and release a volley. An important consideration when attacking fixed targets is rate of closure. To destroy something in the least amount of time, you would like to make as few passes over it as possible. If you come screaming in over the target at 350 mph, then chances are you will get in only a few shots before you must pull up and around for another pass. That's why it is sometimes a good idea to cut the throttle, and throw down the flaps when engaging a ground target. With an airspeed of 150 mph you have twice the amount of time to pound the target. Many times this gives you enough time to take out the mission objective in one pass. If you do this, however, be sure keep an eye on your airspeed. As soon as you level out or start to climb, your airspeed will quickly fall below stall speed unless you remember to slap the throttle back up. Guns VS. Missiles ----------------- When should you use guns, and when should you use missiles? Guns are fast, delivering a stream of destruction. Missiles take time to accelerate, and deliver isolated punches of firepower. Although missiles have more punch, they have a tendency to blow up in your face if used at the wrong time. Missiles explode when any object is within their proximity. This makes them less sensitive to aiming errors, but also dangerous to use. Never use missiles when close to a forcefield. The fields will often blow your missiles up us soon as they leave their launch tubes, thus causing brutal damage to your plane. This can happen even though your plane is well away from the forcefields. Never use missiles alone to engage AAA sites. The shells from the AAA will be flying so near you that the missiles may explode directly in front of you as they encounter AAA shells. The combination of guns and missiles works well, though, since the guns explode the shells long before they come near your plane. Be sure to open up with guns first, then start the missiles. Never use missiles when you are too close to the target. The explosion will damage your plane. Your guns are almost always safe to use. Although the bullets may also explode when they contact forcefields, they are safer to use. Most explosions caused by gunfire are safe to fly through, so it is the weapon of choice for close engagements. They are particularly good for taking out KLAs, since they are easier to aim when leading the target, and send a stream of firepower, rather than discrete charges. If a KLA is charging down your throat, use guns, not missiles. Most of the time, a combination works well. On tough targets, use the guns first, and when you start getting hits on the target, send a volley of missiles. Bombs ----- Although your plane can create unlimited bombs, they regenerate at a slow pace. Your bomb display shows how many you have available to you. The maximum number of bombs which you can have available to you is 3. These bombs cause an initial impact, and then release clusters of bomblets which cause damage in and of themselves. As you watch your bomb explode in the rear view, you can see the yellow bomblets take to the air, then fall back to earth. So although you need a direct hit to cause serious damage, the bomblets can damage neighboring targets. If the bomb detonates near the ground, a crater is formed. This crater is very hot, and will continue to damage targets in contact with the crater at a constant rate until the crater disappears. (The craters disappear because they soak up too much cpu time to draw many of them) The bombs are very light for their volume and decelerate quickly once they leave the plane. There is a lot of technique for making successful bombing runs. In Corncob, most of the bombing is divebombing, since there is no bomb sight for high altitude bombing. ( Although it can be done) Most of the time your plane is at about 200-300 feet, and just as your target disappears from your view as you pass over it, release your bombs. Then pull up fast to get away from the blast, and to watch the bombs hit in the rear view. The craters will tell how close you were to target. Note that exactly when to release depends heavily on your airspeed and altitude, as well as your direction of flight during the drop. This will simply have to be learned via trial and error. As with missiles, bombs are proximity devices. This means you should be careful in the presence of forcefields or AAA shells. Bombing high-quality AAA sites is not always such a good idea, since the AAA shells can explode the bomb in your belly, and also because you are a perfect target as you fly away. Be careful when dropping bombs at low altitude, especially when your airspeed is low. The bomblets reach hundreds of feet into the air. Bombs have been successfully used against KLA's which are right up the tail, and against saucers, but this sort of bombing is very tricky. Bombing shopping carts is great sport, because you can take advantage of the fact that some kinds of them follow your plane fairly well. Bombs can be dropped from any position, even while inverted. The bomb delivery mechanism is very flexible. Defensive Flying ---------------- Bringing your plane back to base is necessary in order to bring in a good score. Although any clown can make effective suicide runs into enemy targets, it takes a seasoned pilot to weather the enemy storm, and still make it back to base. The two most important air threats are deathballs and AAA sites. To avoid being shot out of the sky by AAA requires some facts about AAA. In Corncob, the alien's AAA shells glide slowly up from the AAA sites, without gravity effects. The shells can be seen as brown dot or spheres fly upwards towards you. Coming near anything will set off the AAA shells, and bullets will certainly do the job. If you are attacking a lone AAA, or a close bunch of AAA, your best defense is a good offense. Blowing those approaching shells with gunfire is the most effect defense. This technique is limited in the presence of KLA's however, since you cannot stay flying a in straight line when deathballs are charging up on your tail. This method will also fail for widely dispersed AAA, since the shells coming from the side will be pounding you as you stay locked on its brother. These shells are equally capable of destroying alien targets as well. As result of that fact, ground based AAA will only fire so low. Anything on the ground should be safe from AAA. It is possible to fly under their range of fire. This means flying under 150 ft. This method is also limited in the presence of enemy KLA's, since you will need room to do evasive maneuvers. AAA sites have the same problem as any other gunner does when the target is moving. This is the problem of leading the motion of the target, so that you are actually firing at where the target will be, not where it is now. The aliens have 8 different qualities of AAA. The lower 4 qualities do not have to ability to lead targets. Therefore, if you can always be flying with the AAA on your side, you will not be hit if you keep your airspeed up. The higher qualities can lead, so to avoid them you must change your flight path often in such a way as to make them anticipate incorrectly. The target leading assumes you will fly in a straight line at your present speed. If the AAA is on your side, and you fly up and down, you may lessen the hits. In the case of high quality AAA, however, the only techniques which work well are the first two. KLA's are not hard to evade no matter what their quality is, provided there is only one of them in the area. Deathballs are enemy missiles which always try to fly directly at you. Since they do not lead their target, they will invariably end up chasing you from behind. When a KLA has a lock on you, it will flash. In addition to flashing, it will also turn on its maximum thrust, and try to come screaming in to finish itself in a blaze of glory against your hapless plane. Although this death charge can be very effective, it can also be used as a defense for you. If you wait until the last second before impact, and then pull up as hard as you can, the KLA cannot turn fast enough to follow due its high speed. The spitball will then pass under you, enabling you to snap your nose down and blow it up with your guns. If there are a number of foes forming a train behind you, this technique will lead to disaster. Although you will have evaded the first in the train, his friends will surely eat you alive when you punch your nose back down. The solution is to pull up, but continue the loop in the hopes of shaking the whole train. In a sky full of missiles, this works for a while, but you must be busy eliminating their sites, because eventually you will become toast unless you can dwindle their numbers. Knife fighting like this with deathballs is very dangerous in the presence of AAA sites. Your airspeed will drop quickly with this much maneuvering, and a fumbling plane in the air is an easy low-deflection target for even the stupidest of AAA. Making it back with a shot up plane ----------------------------------- When you plane has been trashed miles from the nearest friendly, airstrip, don't despair, plenty of pilots have made back to base with planes that were just about as flyable as big stone. ( Landing a plane that has collided with a saucer has even been done, but landing a plane which has more than 100 hits depends a lot on luck.) The two most important factors when you are trying to make it home are airspeed and altitude. The worst possible situation is to be very far from your base flying 100Mph at 500 ft. Usually, there will also be more KLA's in the area, and evading them with a damaged plane can be impossible. But even in the worst situation, hope is not lost. The clever designers of your modern plane have installed a rocket motor, which can give you the altitude and airspeed which you need to make it back. Look at your turbo boost gauge. The needle should be green, indicating the rocket is charged and ready. Hit the 'i' button, and start climbing. If your flaps are engaged, tap them off, but only after engaging the rocket motor, since it is possible you could stall just by pulling back the flaps. Your rocket motor will burn for 15 seconds. The turbo boost gauge needle will be red during the boost, and go to blue when the charge is spent. It will take about 120 seconds to recharge the booster. Now concentrate on keeping the slowest decent possible while maintaining airspeed. If KLA's are screaming up on your tail, it may be best to let them hit you, if you think you will certainly stall. When the turbo boost gauge needle goes back to green, you may want to go for another rocket thrust. Never use the rocket thrust while on the landing approach, since you cannot stop it once you have started a burn. Unless of course you wish to abort the landing attempt, and need airspeed quickly to avoid stall. Running Around - Welcome the Assassin ------------------------------------- Part of your job as a pilot will be special forces missions. In these missions you may have to land your plane in enemy territory and engage the enemy on foot. When you leave your parked plane, and venture into enemy territory on foot, you are taking the risk of being captured or killed. You can be killed by AAA shells or KLA's. You can be captured by shopping carts or aliens themselves. To defend yourself, you take a handgun with 20 rounds of ammo, and one assassin bomb. The plane has an inexhaustible supply of these, so you may always go back to the plane to resupply yourself. You can even retrieve handgun ammo and bombs from crashed planes. To move around when standing, turn yourself with the keypad arrow keys, and move the '5' key and walk in reverse with the '0' key on the keypad. If you want to go far, hold down the advance time key 't' simultaneously. You also have the capability to jump. Hold down the 'j' key, and you will see a magenta bar on the side of your screen. The longer you hold down the 'j' key, the higher you will jump when you release the key. Jumping is a capability which is necessary for some mission which take place on air- based structures, and you have to jump from one pad to another at 20000 ft. You have the unique capability of changing direction or stopping and starting horizontal movement while in the air. When jumping off something down to the ground, be careful not to jump too high, or else you may be killed. Some objects will support your weight, and others won't. Horizontal forcefields, fuel dumps, platforms, and control towers will support your weight. Enemy ground transports seek you out, and when they are close, will start to drag you towards them. You can evade them by defensive gunfire, hopping to safety, or by luring them into your crashed plane or perhaps one or their own structures. Aliens just bumble about randomly and are not much of a threat, but watch your back. Your assassin bomb is planted with the ';' key. When you plant a bomb it will remain where you planted it until it is time to detonate with the 'd' key. The bomb will stay suspended in the air if that is where you have placed it. The 'd' key will not directly detonate the bomb, however it will be armed, and it will begin to drop when the 'd' key is pressed. The most common use for assassin bombs is against mindbenders. These devices are vulnerable only to bombs. Adjust your position until you are standing in the center of the device. Then plant the bomb, and walk away. When you are satisfied that you are far enough away, detonate the bomb with the 'd' key. Scoring and medals/promotion details ------------------------------------ Scoring algorithm ----------------- Your score for a mission is determined by a formula outlined below. Your raw score which depends on how much stuff you killed is multiplied by 3 factors. These three factors depend on what happened during your mission. For example say your raw score for a mission was 1000. Further suppose that you returned from your mission, and landed your plane safely at an airstrip. Then your final mission score would be: 5 * 5 * 1 * 1000 = 25000 But say you ejected in combat, and had to be rescued by the rescue van. 4 * 1 * 1/2 * 1000 = 2000 Here you can see that bringing your plane home increased your score by 10 times. Now let's say you brought your plane back, but didn't have the guts to try and land it. 5 * 1 * 1 * 1000 = 5000 So you can see it is worth it to learn how to land the plane. It may be impossible to get a Stellar Cluster without landing your plane. If you make multiple flights during your mission, the multiplier reflects the worst thing which you did. For example, if you crashland a plane, but then take another into the air,( without quitting the mission) and do a great job, and even land beautifully, your multiplier will reflect the fact that you crashlanded; The fact that you also landed will not affect your score. Therefore you can see that flying against multiply mission objectives may raise up your score, but you are jeopardizing the points you have already earned by flying more without ending the mission. Of course you'll never top the high score list without taking some chances... Technical Score calculation --------------------------- The score is a product of four factors. score = PMSF * MSF * NPLF * MOBF PMSF Present mission status factor (KIA, MIA, HOME, RESCUE) MSF Mission Status Factor (unhome-crshlnd,eject inflt,crsh-home,land-home) NPLF Number of Planes lost factor =1/(# planes lost + 1) MOBF Mission Objective factor ( Raw score which include #kills ) PMSF is calculated by examining the flags below from left to right, if any of these is found set, take the value, and ignore the other flags. Killed Captured Homesafe Rescued (No Flags Found) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 1 5 4 1 MSF is calculated similarly to above. crshlnd-nohome eject-in-flight crshlnd-home landed-home ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 1 3 5 NPLF is simply equal to 1/(#plns lost + 1) Example: if nplanes lost=0, then NPLF= 1/(0+1) = 1 if nplanes lost=2, then NPLF= 1/(2+1) = 1/3 MOBF is the raw score. It is equal to: (#KLA * quality + #AAA * quality + 1)*(Base score) Where #KLA and #AAA are the number of KLA and AAA which were threatening you. The base score is just a sum of the number of kills, each weighted by how important they are. Mission objectives is of course the most important, and therefore has the highest multiplier. More specific breakdown of MOBF ------------------------------- Let obj = # of mission objectives accomplished ticks = # of ticks/tets destroyed aaa[w] = # of aaa sites destroyed of wickedness w sites[w] = # of other sites " " " " orbs[w] = # of orbs " " " " db[w] = # of death-balls " " " " shc[w] = # of shopping carts " " " " DB[w] = max # of death-balls of wickedness w on you at any time AAA[w] = max # of AAA " " " " " " " Also let { } represent a sum over w = [0,7] Then, mobf = 5 * [ 15*obj + ticks + { aaa[w] + sites[w] + orbs[w] } ] * [ 10 + { (DB[w] + AAA[w])*(w+1) } ] / 10 + { (db[w] + shc[w])*(w+1) } PROMOTIONS ---------- One of the most exciting aspects of CORNCOB-3D is the possi- bility of promotions and medals. Once you have started a character, he can progress up the ranks, with the ultimate goal of achieving general. Making general with a "pure" character (i.e. one which has not been killed and resurrected) is the ultimate challenge in the game, and will rank you at the absolute top in bragging rights. Promotions in CORNCOB-3D are based on the number of completed mission objectives (MO), and go as follows: 2nd Lieutenant: 0 MO. (You start at this rank.) 1st Lieutenant: 1 MO. Captain: 8 MO. Major: 20 MO. Lt. Colonel: 20 MO in at least 2 different Theaters-of-Operation. Colonel: 20 MO in at least 3 different Theaters-of-Operation. General: ALL MO in ALL required Theaters-of-Operation, plus successful completion of the Secret-Mission. Note: Required Theaters-of-Operation are marked by a Yellow Block in the list at the upper-right hand side of the Theaters-of-Operations menu. MEDALS Medals are based on a variety of criteria. Medals are listed in the pilot summary shown in the roster, and T-of-O menus when a pilot or theater is "viewed". In this case, the Medal is listed as a short abbreviation, such as "BS" for Bronze-Star. If the pilot has more than one of the medal, the abbreviation is followed by a suffix indicating how many such awards the pilot has, such as BS:2 for 2 Bronze-Stars. A complete list of all the medals and their abbreviation follows: Purple Heart, "PH" Awarded for ending a mission with more than 27 units of damage to your plane, without losing your plane, and without crashing unless at home. Service Award, "SA" Awarded for surviving 10 or more missions. (Actually awarded every 10 missions.) Bronze Star, "BS" Awarded for achieving a score of 10,000-19,999 points in a mission. Silver Star, "SS" Awarded for achieving a score of 20,000-49,999 points in a mission. Gold Star, "GS" Awarded for achieving a score of 50,000-99,999 points in a mission. Stellar Cluster, "SC" Awarded for achieving a score of 100,000 points or more in a mission. (This is REALLY Exceptional!). Distinguished Service Cross, "DSC" Awarded for accomplishing 5 or more mission objectives in a single mission. Theater Combat Medal, "TCM" Awarded for completing ALL mission objectives in a single Theater-of- Operation. Distinguished Flying Cross, "DFC" Awarded for completing ALL mission objectives in a single Theater-of- Operation without losing a plane. This takes a REAL hot pilot, as well as some consistent luck. Combat Master, "CM" Awarded for completing ALL mission objectives in ALL of the required theaters. This is a prerequisite for making general. Why is it doing that? (Commonly asked questions, and their answers) -------------------------------------------------------------------- >Why do you claim it is a VGA game, when it runs in an EGA graphics mode? Corncob uses an EGA graphics mode because it has a nice high resolution, but yet does not have too much information to convey to the screen. Obviously, we could have made the game run in the 256 color VGA graphics mode, but this would contain less than 1/3 the number of pixels, thus reducing far object identification. We could have also chosen the 640x400 256 color mode, but there is so much more info to convey to the screen per frame that the animation would become too chunky for all but 33Mhz 386's and above. Corncob requires VGA because is uses write mode 3, an advanced hardware feature for writing to the screen which is available only on VGA boards. Also, in order to create the mindbender color-cycling, and the blackout effect, Corncob uses color options only available on VGA adapters. > When first lifting off the ground, why does the nose lift for a second, >and then seem to knock back down? If you pull back too hard on the stick while lifting off, your tail wheel will be slammed back down onto the pavement, and when it bounces upward, your nose appears to bounce downward. It is possible to crash and burn as a result of this, so pull back on the stick gently. > Why does the stall light go on sometimes when I'm taxiing on the runway? The stall detector is looking at the airflow over the wings. It is calibrated to detect stalls when the plane is flying. When on the ground, the weight of the plane is held by the landing gear, thus making the stall detector give incorrect readings. Just ignore it. > Why doesn't the plane steer worth a bean when I'm on the runway? Don't try to use the joystick to steer a grounded plane. The control stick left/right controls mostly only the roll (left/right tilt) of the plane. You must use the rudder controls to steer on the ground. These are the 'x' and 'z' keys, or the '7' and '9' keys on the keypad. > Why don't the brakes appear to work? In Corncob, the brakes do NOT toggle on/off. To stop you must hold down the brake key until the plane comes to a complete stop. For joystick play, this is the left shift key, or keypad '0'. For keypad play, it is '.' or keypad '0'. > Why doesn't the 't' key appear to work? In Corncob, the advanced time mode does NOT toggle on/off. To fly in advanced time, hold down 't', and release it to return to normal flight. Note that the time compression is directly related to your computer speed. To advance time to the fastest, increase the frame rate by using 'r' `and 'g' to turn off ground detail and the rear view. > Why does using the rudder in flight just make me stall? Unlike other flight sims, Corncob's flight model includes the capability of your plane sliding sideways through the air. The rudder causes your nose to flip to the side, without necessarily changing the direction of motion of the plane. Using too much rudder (by holding the key down too long), will cause the plane to turn to the point where it is hurling sideways through the air. Note that as soon as you release the rudder, the sidewind makes the nose tend to flip back into the sidewind, thus restoring the original orientation of the plane. The rudder is useful for flipping the nose a little to the side for a quick shot at a side target without the need of negotiating the slow process of turning the plane. > How do I know when to end the mission? A large part of Corncob is bringing your plane back to the base. Therefore you must bring your plane to a friendly airstrip, or else when you go to fly again, you will have one less plane in that theater. In order to exit without losing a plane, exit the program with escape when you are flying low over your airfield (with the radar tower flashing white), or else land on the air strip. Landing on the airstrip will give you a much higher score multiplier, so it is worth an attempt if you think you can do it without crashing. To find an airfield, use the map which is brought up with the 'm' key. > How do I zoom down closer when in map mode? When in map mode, the KEYPAD 9 key will zoom down, and the KEYPAD 3 key will zoom up. Use the joystick or keypad arrow keys to move around. To make the map jump back to your present position, hit the KEYPAD 7 key. > Why do I die every time I eject, regardless of altitude? Ejecting successfully from a flying plane requires two keys. 'E' to eject, and <space bar> to pull your ripcord. If you don't pull your ripcord, you will die when you strike the ground. If you bail out at 20000 feet, wait until you get closer to the ground before pulling your ripcord, otherwise you will be stuck in the air for a long time. > Why are some generator orbs seemingly indestructible? Some orbs have been designed to be invincible to normal weapons, and the only effective way to take them out is via suiciding the plane into them. Make sure you bail out before contact, or else you will be killed in the ensuing explosion. If you must bail a good way away from the target, hit caps lock to control your plane remotely. The indestructable orbs are a light shade of blue/green. > Why does the complete light refuse to go on, even though I know > the mission is completed? The mission objectives have to be given some geometric scope via the mission builder when the mission is created. Almost all mission complete sensing is done via the generator orbs. IE, if you have completed a mission, but the complete light doesn't go, make a flyby of the mission's generator orb, (or it's remains) and many times the complete light will belatedly light up. Note that if your complete light never lights, you will not get credit for accomplishing an objective. > Sometimes my plane goes into a weird mode where my keypad arrow > keys stop working, and something weird happens. Numlock toggles the keypad arrow keys between views, and control of the plane. Note that the numlock light on the keyboard will not change. If you would like to use the views without changing the mode of the arrow keys, hold down the left control key to temporarily change the function of the arrow keys to view, the normal function of the keys returns when you release the left control key. > I can't find any way to put down the landing gear! The plane has landing gear that comes down automatically. From a game standpoint, it seemed unnecessary to have something which doesn't add to the fun of the game, and can cause pilots to be killed. We all get punished in life enough for being absent-minded, why be punished when playing a computer game? > Why can this Corsair do a loop directly after take off? Because the number one priority in this game was to have fun. That meant increasing the thrust of the engine by a factor of four. For those sim buffs who will criticize that, how many flight games keep the realistic figure of 10-15 minutes just to climb to 10000 feet? Who wants to spend 1/4 hour of their life just sitting there watching your computer plane climb? > I have completed all the mission objectives in a theater, but the > computer insists there is still one more. Many times you really have forgotten a mission. Use the map to make sure all the targets are destroyed. Remember that many missions don't show up unless you have zoomed down for a close up with the pgup key. Most things should show up when 1 grid is about the size of the screen. Another possibility is that a mission-objective type saucer has wandered away during the melee, and is now somewhere unexpected, perhaps 10's of miles away from the original mission site. Track it down with the map feature. The 'new tower' screen from the fly mission menu should tell you which airstrip the saucer is closest to. Also, many times a 'secondary' mission objective is mentioned in the mission briefing. This secondary mission also must be completed before a theater is complete. Many times this is a generator orb. All orbs with a black base must be destroyed to finish a theater, whether the mission information directs you to do this, or not. > What is the point of the White Sands theater? When you have successfully completed all of the required theaters of operation, you will attain the Combat Master medal, and receive special orders which involve a mission in white sands. In that mission you will be able to fly the experimental plane, and experience the interesting visual effect upon completing your mission. The scenario ------------ The date is August, 1949. This is not the 1949 that we remember, though. In this 1949, WWII never happened ( this is because among other factors, Adolf Hitler was killed at the age of 19 when hit in the head by a thrown beer bottle ), but all was not peace in this alternate age. In 1939, aliens swept down out of the skies, and began to set up struc- tures. Although many attempts were made to communicate, the aliens did not respond. It soon became obvious that these creatures simply were not interested in us, or any other life on the planet. When human dwellings or cites were in their way, the aliens simply destroyed them and continued their seemingly random construction plans. So in 1941, the world governments agreed to band together in an alliance for humanity. No attacks were launched until November, 1941. The plan was a simultaneous all out blitz against the extraterrestrials in every part of the globe. The results were devastating. The aliens suffered enormous losses, and could put up almost no defenses against our onslaught. It seemed that in a few months, the planet would be ours once again. But as of today, in Aug 1949, the fighting continues. Our enemy learned the lessons of combat quickly. At first they were forced to use their construction equipment as weapons; Burning our ground forces with their earth sterilizers, and ramming our aircraft with forcefield protected saucers. (Yes, saucers. After all, everybody knows aliens fly around in saucers! ) As of now our enemy has constructed defensive weapons such as antiaircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, and mortars. They have also begun using their forcefields as protective structures. But our technology has grown exponentially in the past decade. In part from the cooperation of the world and captured alien technology we have made amazing progress in the technology of warfare. Our latest aircraft is powered by a 6000 hp Rolls Royce Powerplant, running on synthetic high-explosive fuel. The fuel, as well as the bombs and ammo shells are generated onboard the aircraft by an alien-technology monopole flash system, so the plane never requires refueling or ammo loading. The basic airframe is the Vought F4U Corsair. Built with a high-tensile mono-alloy, the Corsair is capable of pulling 15 g's with no trouble. The high output internal combustion engine gives the possibility of climbing almost vertically, and this plane can reach almost 600 mph in a dive. The instrument panel includes a rear-view optical system ( necessary for avoidance of enemy missiles), and also a radar screen for alerting the pilot to the presence of enemy aircraft. Our high-explosive kinetic shells have devastating effects on enemy installations. The high-v Brownings can lay out a swath of destructive power which reaches targets 3-5 miles distant. The avenger missiles carry proximity detonators which can destroy targets even when the aim is not terribly accurate. The Corncob program itself -------------------------- Corncob was written by Kevin Stokes, with a lot of additional programming done by George Welch. It has taken about one year to write, and this process is still continuing. Most of the program is written in assembler for compactness and speed. The game is somewhat modular, as the advanced user can tell from the directory listing. 3.exe, srats.exe and Rimg.exe are written in assembler, with some use of an assembler library called Spontaneous Assembly. The rest are written in Power C. Here is a listing of the modules and their function: Corncob.bat: Batch file which calls 3.exe, and moag.exe. 3.exe: Main code. This is the program which is running during flight. moag.exe: Menu/pilot scorekeeper/theater accounting is done from moag. tower.exe: All intelligence information is reported via tower.exe rimg.exe: This reads dashboard files and help screens during flight. srats.exe: Certain special effects are handled by srats. Notes about the mission builder ------------------------------- All 130 of Corncob's missions were created with the mission builder. The mission builder allows you to create new theaters of operation complete with mission intelligence reports. With the mission builder you have the same tools the author of Corncob used to make all the theaters. When you register Corncob for $25, you get the mission builder along with your registered copy of Corncob. ( The $15 registration does not include a mission builder ). Of course photocopied documentation will accompany the mission builder so that you will know how to use it. Please note however, that the mission builder is a programmer's tool. It was never intended to be offered to customers. You can place any object you please wherever in the universe you like. You can modify the runways, or add extra radar towers, build a latrine out of small colored walls in addition to obvious ability to create enemy strongholds. Along with this flexibility comes the difficulty of use. The MB is difficult to master, and its implementation is very hard to get used to. This mission builder is not recommended for use by any but the most enthusiastic user who has DOS expertise and the patience to learn a non-user friendly setup. To contact Pie in the Sky Software: ( Email Preferred ) ----------------------------------- Pie in the Sky Software BBS ( This is the best method until July, 1992 ) --------------------------- Call our 24-hour BBS (2400,n,8,1) and download the latest version of Corncob on the first call. Also this is the best way to get technical help etc. (919)489-6900 Type full name at the name prompt! Internet: --------- kds@phy.duke.edu ( Valid only until June, 1992 ) Prodigy: -------- DWHC72A COMPUSERVE: ----------- 74040,3526 GENIE ----- K.STOKES1 US Mail: ( Address valid through Aug 1992 ) -------- (Only letters with a self-address stamped envelope enclosed will be answered! We will not pay postage or label envelopes for anything but full registration $25 requests. ) Pie in the Sky Software PO Box 4742 Durham, NC 27707