tomcat by john b. Graham
                  (c)opyright 1995 all rights reserved




I. Introduction to the f-14 tomcat fighter .................... 1

II. Getting ready for flight .................................. 2

IiI. Flight displays and controls ............................. 3

Iv. Entering combat and evasive maneuvers ..................... 4

V. Re-arming the f-14 tomcat .................................. 5

Vi. Miscellaneous notes and information on tomcat ............. 6



* I. Introduction to the f-14 tomcat fighter

You on the characteristics, flight controls, tactics,
and combat systems of the f-14.  This is one of the most capable
fighter jets you will ever have the pleasure of flying.

We will brief you now on the simulation's particular weapon systems and
general information.

Your tomcat is equipped with air-2-air missiles, and air-2-ground missiles.  
Both are self guiding once they are locked
onto a target.  You will need to master the locking system in order
to prevail in tomcat.  Basic instructions for the weapon
systems are included later in this manual.

In your f-14 tomcat all radio communications and reconnaissance cameras are set
to automatic.  Pay attention to when they activate.

Following are more details of tomcat and the weapons systems.  Good luck out 
there, it's tough, now go get'em!






* iI.  Getting ready for flight

This software is comprehensive and will require at least 12 megabytes of free 
space on your hard drive. Installation is simple.  Click on the hd_installer 
icon from the workbench and follow the on-screen prompts.  Advanced amiga owners 
can bypass the helpful installer by unarchiving the files themselves straight 
to the hard drive using the lha compression program.

Once installed, you are ready to begin tomcat, open the tomcat drawer on the 
workbench and then double click the tomcat icon.  When you see the title 
screen, simply press the joystick fire button and your ready to play.
(Oh ya, to see a pic of me and my setup, press the left-mouse button instead
of the joystick button.)



* iiI. Flight displays and controls

The first screen is your waypoint selection screen.  Here you may choose where 
you wish to fly your tomcat to.

Control stick to move the selector to the waypoint of your choice.
The choices are designated with standard two letter abbreviations:


            Aa = air-2-air             ca = carrier landing
            rs = rescue mission        rc = recon missions
            ag = air-2-ground



Air-2-air combat - this combat will take you against numerous enemy migs. To 
complete this mission, you must destroy all enemy migs.  Air to air missiles 
will automatically be selected for you for the duration of the mission.  Air 
to air combat can be very tricky - be careful!

Air-2-ground combat - you must destroy the surface-air missiles (sam) and other 
ground targets.  All silos must be destroyed before this mission will be 
complete.  This mission is a little easier than the air to air combat.

Rescue mission - a c-17 crew has been shot down in enemy territory. The 
airspace is packed with hostile migs and ground fire.  The rescue crew can't 
get to the downed crew without your help.  Destroy all migs and ground targets 
to clear a path to the c-17

Recon mission - the recon crew is on assignment over enmy territory. Deadly 
migs are closing in on your recon boys.  Go in and clean off the scum before 
they destroy your recon ship.

Carrier landings - *remember* you are using up your weapons and fuel during 
every mission.  You *must* land on the carrier between every single mission 
to re-arm and refuel your tomcat if you are to succeed.

If you should pick up a mig during the mig selection or waypoint selection, 
you will get a *warning* flashing in the middle of your screen, you may 
attempt to outfly your enemy by selecting another mig (or even the same one).  
If you are successful, you will get away and fly to the new waypoint.  If 
*not*, you are a worm feast.

Remember, you are also outfitted with flare decoys to counter the enemy 
missiles.  More about that in the next chapter of this manual.




* iv. Entering combat and evasive maneuvers

Once you have selelcted a waypoint, a long range radar will be displayed, 
showing you the location of all the migs in the area. Move the selector 
quickly to a mig and select its waypoint.  Be careful to select either *on* 
or *behind* the mig or you will fly right into his sights!

As usual, if you wait too long to select a mig to attack, they will detect 
you and one will come and scratch your back for you. You will get a warning 
sound (as you always will when an enemy is on your tail).

If you were successful on selecting the mig's waypoint, you fly there and 
your wingman will cry out 'bandit bandit!'.  You will then see a first person 
view from the cockpit of the fighter. Quickly move the selector to the mig 
to lock in on him.  When the selector turns red, you have a dead lock.  Now 
pop that trigger and vaporize him!  Note that sometimes you may fire a missile 
without
a lock that will ring true and blow your enemy away.  You still have to have 
your selector very close to the mig.  This principle also applies to the ground 
targets.  The target will appear in your heads up display.  Destroy them.

Should you miss, the mig will turn around and *you* will be subject to lock.
As with the radar screen, you may attempt to outfly the mig by selecting a 
different mig (or even the same one) to fly to that waypoint note you have 
a 50/50 chance to outfly a mig!.  You may also elect to shoot a flare to  
countermeasure.  To shoot the flare, move the selector to the lower right 
box flanking the display screen and press fire!!


Once you have avoided or destroyed a mig, you may then select another one 
to go turn to junk.  Follow the above procedure until all migs (or *you*) 
are destroyed.  Remember to return to the carrier after each mission.

Some notes regarding combat. First, you may *not* always be able to get a 
lock on a mig before he turns on you.  Hey, that's life.  Better learn to live 
with it.  Hope your luck holds up.  In many cases, you must make a very fast 
choice as to whether to outfly the enemy or shoot a flare.  Remember, it is 
not always possible to get to a flare.  In this case, target the closest mig. 
It is your only chance.



* v. Re-arming your tomcat

As stated before, you must make a carrier landing after each mission to re-arm 
your tomcat for the next mission. Failure to do so will result in your untimely 
and pointless 'death'.

The programmer of tomcat has been known on occasion to leave backdoors in this 
simulation software to assist their old college buddies in completing the 
simulation quickly. The department of the navy ordered the programmer to 
remove these backdoors from the scaled down versions of the software, but 
we
suspect that some still exist in the game.  Should you discover these 
'backdoor cheats', please notify your chain of command immediately.  Under 
no circumstances should you utilize these backdoors to complete the simulation.  
This action is punishable under the uniform code of military justice article 
121.



* vi. Miscellaneous notes and information on tomcat

Tomcat is the result of many long hours (and a huge pizza bill) of work and 
effort on the part of the programmer and the development crew of dark unicorn 
productions.  It has been extensively beta tested on every different model and 
configuration we could lay our hands on, including the cd32/sx-1 combo unit.  
Hundreds of manhours have been expended to bring you this new and exciting
entertainment title to your awesome amiga.


To contact john b. Graham, the programmer of tomcat, his internet address is:
virtuality@bix.Com

If you are a genie user its:
j.Graham48