Air Defense
Written by:  Darel Schartman
Player Documentation
As Of:  1 March 1992

1.  Welcome to Air Defense.

        a.  You are the Commanding General of your country's 
Air Force.  You have three kinds of fighters (Retaliators, 
Zephyers, and Spitfires), three kinds of bombers 
(Deliverers, Lightnings, and Eliminators), two kinds of 
reconnaissance aircraft for spy missions (Falcon 1 and Eagle 
II), two kinds of ground based radar (XEP-90 and Grid Plus), 
three kinds of ground based anti-aircraft (Grendle 12, Massh 
33, and Laser/2), and three types of facilities (Factories, 
Cities, and Bases).

        b.  Your mission as the Commanding General is to 
destroy the Factories, Cities, and Bases of other players 
while protecting your own Factories, Cities, and Bases.  You 
achieve this by initiating air raids against them with your 
fighters and bombers and defending when they raid you with 
your radar, anti-aircraft, and fighters.

        c.  The main menu has 8 items and appears as follows:

        1.  Purchase Equipment          T] Today's News
        2.  Aircraft Maintenance        Y] Yesterday's News
        3.  Mission Control
        4.  World Powers
        5.  Diplomacy
        E]  Exit Stage Left

        d.  Everything in this game is real time.  What this 
means is that any raids sent against you arrive during your 
play.  Also, the missions you sent return during your play.  
Scoring is also real time.  Since the objective is to 
destroy your opponents factories, cities, and bases, your 
game score is dependent on the number of these you have (or 
have left).  The "World Powers" menu will reflect the 
current status for your country and your enemies countries.  
This means you can increase your score, and perhaps your 
world standing, by purchasing more factories, cities, and 
bases.

        e.  Aircraft have to be maintained or repaired after 
flying raids or defending.  The Aircraft Maintenance menu 
lets you buy spare parts and repair aircraft, returning them 
to your combat ready totals.  Aircraft in maintenance are 
not useable for either defense or offensive operations.

        f.  You send raids or reconnaissance missions against 
your opponents from the Mission Control Menu.  You select 
the target country, then the target within that country, 
then select which aircraft and how many of each will 
participate in the raid.  Raid targets can be radar, anti-
aircraft, factories, cities, or bases.  If you are 
especially successful in a raid, the President will be 
pleased and will reward you with extra goldbars.  You can 
send as many raids per day as your assets permit.  Just 
remember that you won't get them back until the next day or 
until the player they're targeted against plays.  
Reconnaissance missions can be sent, but are frequently 
either shot down or unsuccessful.  When you do get a report 
on your foe's status, you can save the results and update 
them as you have other successes.  Reconnaissance allows you 
to preserve game statistics for two enemies.

        g.  You can send messages to other players by using the 
diplomatic function.  The message editor works like Forem's 
and there is no limit on length.  Word wrap is automatic.  
Incoming messages are displayed as you enter the game, 
pausing between messages or after 20 lines for a key press.
When you select Diplomacy, you will go to your alliance screen.
You can keep track of your allies by turning them on or off.
You may send a message to a single player or send a message
to your entire alliance.

        h.  The menu item "World Powers" will show you where 
you country stands in comparison to the others.  Remember 
that this score is determined from the number of factories, 
cities, and bases you have and will fluctuate up and down as 
you gain or lose these assets.

        i.  To see what happened in the world today or 
yesterday, check the Today's News or Yesterday's News menu 
items.  These are updated as raids return.

        j.  To stop play, select Exit Stage Left.  Remember 
than you can play as often as you want each day, however, 
you only get paid once.

        k.  You start each day of play by being paid in 
goldbars.  The amount of your pay is based upon the number 
of factories, cities, and bases you have.  If you want to 
earn more goldbars per day, buy more of these.

        l.  You have five days of new player protection from 
raids against you.  However, you can attack at any time if  
the country you select to raid is out of protection.  sending 
an air raid while under protection will void your protection.

2.  Basic Concepts.

        a.  Your facilities (Factories, Cities, and Bases) are 
protected in defense by your fighters, radar, and anti-
aircraft.  The effectiveness of your defense, as in real 
life, will depend on how many of these defensive assets you 
have in relation to the facilities you want to protect.  
Obviously, 50 of each won't do well protecting 500 
facilities.  When you reach a certain proportion of radar 
and anti-aircraft per facility, you will be notified of an 
incoming raid, told how many aircraft are in that raid, and 
given the opportunity to select how many of each type of 
fighter to scramble.  If you don't have more than the magic 
ratio, the game will simply announce an air raid and 
scramble a percentage of your fighters in defense.

        b.  When you send an air raid against an opponent, 
damage to your raid and the target are computed using real 
life factors.  Bombers require fighter escort.  Insufficient 
escort will be paid for in shot down aircraft.  Further, any 
raid has to penetrate the enemy defenses enroute to the 
target, brave heavy defenses at the target, and run through 
them again on the way out of the country.  Losses will be 
assessed for each of these phases and you will also shoot 
down enemy fighters with your escorts.  Remember that part 
of the defenses are radar and anti-aircraft.  Based upon the 
total number of defenses per targets and the numbers you are 
attacking with once you reach the targets, the enemy's loss 
of radar, anti-aircraft, factories, cities, or bases are 
assessed.  Notice the plural used in "targets".  This 
highlights that if you are attacking factories, and your 
opponent has 600 of these, a raid of 200 aircraft can't 
possibly cover all 600.  But this limitation goes for the 
defender as well.  Their ground based defenses of radar and 
anti-aircraft are spread between their factories, cities, 
and bases.  In summary, you will be shown what has returned, 
how many aircraft you shot down, and how much of your target 
was destroyed.  The News will report your enemies claim of 
what he shot down of yours.  The above discussion of how 
damaged is assessed, will help you configure both your 
defense and your raids accordingly.  Spend your goldbars 
wisely.

3.  Tips on Strategy.

        a.  Coordinate alliances with others and then 
coordinate your attacks.

        b.  Reducing radar and anti-aircraft before hitting 
factories, cities, or bases may improve your raid's success 
and decrease your losses.

        c.  Remember that the more expensive an aircraft is, 
the more effective it is.  In short, you get what you pay 
for.  This equates to fewer expensive aircraft being equal 
to more cheap aircraft.  However, numbers do count, so don't 
leave your bombers bare as they enter foreign territory.
