OPERATION "JUST BECAUSE" COPYRIGHT (C) 1995 ACCIDENTAL SOFTWARE "If it's good, it's ACCIDENTAL" Table of contents 1. Game features 2. System requirements 3. Scenario 4. Main Menu 5. Player Interface 6. Setting Up The Battle 7. Fighting The Battle 8. Quitting The Battle 9. Scoring 10. Strategy To PRINT A COPY OF THIS MANUAL, you can load this file "MANUAL.TXT" into your word processor (this file is ASCII text with no embedded characters). You can can redirect the manual to your printer by typing the following at the DOS command line. "TYPE MANUAL.TXT > PRN" then push ENTER or select ORDER from the main menu of the program when it is running. GAME FEATURES This manual is written for the full version of this game. Some game options are not available in the demo version of this game. 1. Provides a Classic Battle Ship type game. 2. Play with one of 3 computer generated players. 3. Play against another "Human" player if desired. 4. Use Infrared technology to help seek out your enemy. 5. Use your jet fighter to help kill your enemy in the quickest fashion. 6. Access game information on line. 7. Set up your options for battle and the game will save your options. 8. Sound Blaster voice files are available to full version users who order them. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 1. IBM or 100% compatible computer. 2. EGA or VGA compatible display with 256K RAM on the video card. 3. Hard disk. 4. 550K of free RAM Desired equipment: 1. Mouse. 2. Sound Blaster. DEMO VERSION 1. The game supplied is a demo version. This version is provided as a demonstration of the game capabilities and provides a functioning game. Some game enhancements are reserved for those users who find this game to be a worthwhile investment. The full version has several game enhancements not available in the demo copy. These features are listed below. FULL VERSION 1. Your full version implements all 3 computer generated opponents. 2. Your full version implements the 2 player option. 3. Your full version will save game options and recall them for follow on games. 4. Sound Blaster support is provided. If you have a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible system, you can order the optional voice pack for this game. These files will allow you to hear digital recordings for some computer generated opponents. SCENARIO You command an allied fleet charged with defending your area of responsibility (GRID SQUARE). You have 5 ships plus an addition- al cruiser/command ship. Your aircraft carrier is capable of launching one fighter attack aircraft equipped with radiation and infrared missiles. You have electronic counter measure jamming and infrared jamming available to spoil the enemy's air power attacks. Your infrared jammer will also jam his infrared detec- tion equipment (IR SCOPE). You may play against another person or against one of the enemy's top commanders. You will have to contend with his relentless shelling and possible air attacks. Beware, the waters may be mined. Your mission is to sink all of the enemy ships before he sinks yours. MAIN MENU When the game starts, you are presented with the MAIN MENU listed below. The first 4 menu selections provide much important infor- mation concerning game play. Please familiarize yourself with each of these selections before starting the battle. 1. OPTIONS 2. DETAILS 3. SHIP INFO 4. OPPONENTS 5. START BATTLE 6. QUIT 7. ORDER (demo version) or HERO LIST (full version) 1. OPTIONS - This menu selection allows you to change several features of the game, as desired. They are: KEYBOARD/MOUSE DAY/NIGHT FIGHTERS/MINES 1 OR 2 PLAYERS IR SCOPES Each of these is documented as it is selected. Different game options will dramatically change the intensity of the game. With all options selected, the game can be very fast paced and the outcome will be determined to a large extent on how well you can use your equipment. Any desired game options must be selected before START BATTLE. All game options are OFF unless selected, and are reset to OFF any time the MAIN MENU is entered in the demo version of this game. In the full version, all game options are saved and reloaded with each new game. To play against another person, select 1 OR 2 PLAYERS and chose the desired options from the menu presented. One player will play for the ALLIED FORCES and one player will play for the ENEMY FORCES. NOTE: Two the two player option is not implemented in the demo version of this game. 2. DETAILS - Five pages of game information are presented in this menu choice. 3. SHIP INFO - A list of the ships available to each side is shown. Information concerning the number of hits required to sink a ship and its function in the battle can be found in this selection. 4. OPPONENTS - This item presents a short biography and picture of each computer opponent. Each opponent has a different strate- gy for attempting to sink your ships depending on which options are selected for game play. Each player presents a different difficulty level as listed below. #1 IVAN DEMONIAC - low difficulty #2 PERRY NOIA - medium difficulty #3 ULE SHEVA - high difficulty (not available in the demo version of this game) 5. START BATTLE - This item takes you to the command ship where the battle takes place. 6. QUIT - Use this selection to end the game. 7. HERO LIST - will not be present on this menu in the demo version of this game. Scores are saved when the game is QUIT and the player has earned some points for his/her performance during the battle. PLAYER INTERFACE (GAME INPUT) The primary game input device is a mouse. To select a menu item with the mouse, highlight the desired item by dragging the mouse to the item, then press the left mouse button. If you don't use a mouse, all game input may be done with the keyboard. Keyboard input is accomplished by highlighting the desired item with the arrow keys and pressing enter or by pressing the desired number key. Information for keyboard input is available from within the command ship by pressing [?] if there is no mouse present or keyboard has been selected as the playing option. SETTING UP THE BATTLE The battle takes place from inside your COMMAND SHIP. The com- mand ship is equipped with war status boards that track the number of hits and misses for each side. The ship is also equipped with a cannon used to fire on the other side. If you are playing with the FIGHTERS ACTIVE OPTION, you will also re- ceive information when the allied pilot is firing on the enemy and when the enemy pilot is firing on the allied position. To get started you must "PLACE YOUR SHIPS" in your battle square. The ally's battle square is the one on the left side of the ship and the enemy's battle square is on the right. Move the hand pointer to the ship you want to place in the BATTLE SQUARE and press the left mouse button. The ship will be highlighted with a box (see illustration) to let you know it is the one selected. Move the hand pointer to the grid you want to place the left most end of that ship on (for horizontally represented ships) or the grid you want to place the top most end of the ship on (for vertically represented ships); now press the left mouse button again. The ship will appear in the "battle square" in the posi- tion you selected. You may elect to have the computer select a random placement of the ships for you. To do this move the hand pointer to the [A] and push the left mouse button. Alternately, push the [A] key on the keyboard. NOTE: If you do not have a mouse, a help box will appear at the top of the screen to provide you with information for placing your ships. FIGHTING THE BATTLE Start the battle by SELECTING A TARGET GRID. Move the hand pointer to the enemy BATTLE SQUARE then choose a small square (grid) within the BATTLE SQUARE. Push the left mouse button to select that grid as your target. An X will mark that grid as the selected target and the FIRE and RESET buttons located below the ENEMY BATTLE SQUARE will change color to signify that they may now be used to fire the gun or reset the gun so that a different grid may be selected (see illustration). To FIRE the gun, move the hand pointer to the FIRE button and push the left mouse button. Select DETAILS from the MAIN MENU for a listing of other buttons and their functions. NOTE: If you do not have a mouse, move the flashing cursor to the desired grid then push [ENTER] or [SPACE]. To fire the gun push [ENTER] or [SPACE] again. Push [?] for a help box explaining keyboard input. After firing the gun you will be switched to a view from above the battle where you can watch the action. This view remains until both sides have shot their cannon. The battle will continue until one side has all its ships in the battle square sunk. When a ship is hit, the area hit will be superimposed with a bullseye. When a ship is entirely covered it is considered sunk. QUITTING THE BATTLE The game is quit from the MAIN MENU. To get back to the MAIN MENU, push [ESCAPE] from within the command ship view and select "Y" to the "MAIN MENU? (Y/N)" query. SCORING (Full Version Only) Your will receive a score for your performance during game play if you play at least 1 entire game that does not end in a draw. The highest possible score is 2500. Your score can be improved by: 1. Playing a minimum of 3 consecutive games (providing at least 2 of the 3 games are won). 2. Not missing any shots. 3. Playing against higher difficulty opponents (see OPPONENTS above for difficulty ratings). Human opponents are assigned a difficulty rating of medium. 4. Winning all games played. 5. The highest possible scores are obtained by using the IR SCOPES ON option and selecting the MASTER game level. STRATEGY OPTION: FIGHTERS ACTIVE Attempt to knock out your enemy's aircraft carrier so that his pilot will be forced to leave. Pilots can generally make 3 additional firing passes after that side's aircraft carrier is sunk before they leave the battle area. Air power is usually the deciding factor. If your jammers are out or degraded, the oppos- ing fighter becomes much more effective in finding targets. Target his jammers, as soon as one or more of his jammers are hit or sunk, your fighter becomes much more effective in finding targets. See FIGHTERS/MINES under the OPTION menu for a table that shows fighter effectiveness versus jammer damage. OPTION: IR SCOPES ACTIVE NOTE: Some enemy IR SCOPE technicians are very skilled and seldom miss a shot. IR SCOPE interpretation is an acquired skill. At first it may appear that there is merely a scattering of random false targets on your scope. Click on the gain up button to raise the gain. More targets will appear, you should now look for a series of repeating dots that may represent a ship. See IR SCOPES under the OPTIONS menu for more information concerning IR SCOPE inter- pretation and scope techniques. Try to target the enemy's INFRARED JAMMER (located on his de- stroyer) first. Once his IR JAMMER is destroyed or disabled, your IR SCOPE picture improves markedly and you should be able to target the remainder of his fleet. The IR SCOPE has a mine discrimination feature that may be help- ful. To use this feature, set the gain all the way down. The bottom 2 gain settings will allow the scope to show only possible mine positions and targets that have already been hit. Mines and false mine indications are shown as blue dots, any red dots correspond to ships already hit. Mines are difficult to discrim- inate and you will see many false mine indications. Your job will be to determine which are real and which are false. Use the EP (EMERGENCY POWER) button only when necessary since it will trigger temporary shut down of your IR SYSTEM for cool down. This temporary shut down will last until 3 additional shots are taken by that player. Three game levels are available if you select IR SCOPES ON. When first learning to use the IR SCOPES, you may want to use the RECRUIT setting and play against IVAN DEMONIAC until you gain some proficiency.