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50 Mission Crush Guide and Walkthrough V 1.00
An informative FAQ written by Frankomatic
Copyright 2006 Frankomatic
All Trademarks and Copyrights contained in this guide are owned by their
respective Trademark and Copyright holders.
Any extra questions, corrections, or concerns can be sent to
Frankomatic@gmail.com.
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Table of Contents
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i. Version Information
I. Introduction
II. Getting Started
III. Playing the Game
-Initial Setup (IS)
-The Briefing (TB)
-The Mission (TM)
-Fighter Attack (FA)
IV. Debriefing
V. The Crew
VI. Damage
-System Damage (SD)
-Drag (DR)
VII. Scoring
VIII. Possible Outcomes
-Emergency Landings (EL)
-Bailing out (BO)
-Ways to End the Game (EG)
IX. Strategies and Tips
X. Future Additions
XI. Credits
==============================================================================
i. Version Information
==============================================================================
1.00 First Released Version (1/06/2006)
==============================================================================
I. Introduction
==============================================================================
Greetings friends, Frankomatic back again after yet another long, long, -long-
break from writing. With college almost complete and a wedding come up, my
life's been painfully busy as of late, but I've found a bit of spare time to
drop another bit of life into the GameFAQs C64 community. This time, we're
takng a look at 50 Mission Crush.
50 Mission Crush is something that could be called a strategy game, or a really
odd flight sim. You don't control your plane with a joystick or even in real
time. You can think about every single move you make for as long as you like,
nothing happens until you type in a command on your keyboard. You also get to
name your pilot whatever you like, as long as your entire crew.
The game can also end very suddenly and at almost any given moment, so you'll
really want to take advantage of that time to think.
Unplug your joysticks for this one, friends. You won't be needing it!
==============================================================================
II. Getting Started
==============================================================================
Beforewe actually move on to the delicious meats of this game, there's actually
a little bit of prepwork I suggest doing if you happen to be someone with a
rare, working C64 nowadays, and happen to have a blank disk lying around for
it. (Hey, don't laugh. My uncle had one running up until near 2000 before it
finally burned out. They were well made.) This prepwork is to make a save disk,
since you'll be rather hard pressed to get through this in one sitting.
To do this, put a blank disk in the drive. Next, type in "OPEN 15,8,15" without
the quotes, and press return. Then, type in "PRINT #15,"N0:SAVE,01"" without
the -outermost- set of quotes. The ones around "N0:SAVE,01" are needed. When
the red light turns off, your disk is made, take it out and label it
appropiately.
Now to get into the game itself, put in your program disk and load it up as you
normally would. Congratulations, you're ready to begin!
==============================================================================
III. Playing the Game
==============================================================================
Once all that loading is finally done, you'll be presented with with the title
screen, followed by a little waiting screen. Pressing space takes us to...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial Setup (IS)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The game will first ask you if you have more than one person playing. The only
thing this really does is have you alternate with another player's pilot
between missions, so feel free if you've got a friend around. No matter how you
answer, it'll ask for your save disk. Remove the program disk and put in your
save one. It will now be updated with your pilot's records automatically
throughout the game.
Or, depending on how you answer the next question, it will load your game. You
will be asked if this is your first mission. If you don't have a save, type Y
and go to the next paragraph. If you do have one, type N and skip past all of
this.
For those of you that are still here, you'll be prompted for a name for your
pilot. You can name him whatever you want, just make sure there's at least one
character in there or you could have issues later. Everything comes out
capitalized, so no shifting is necessary. Doing so anyway, however, leads to
some interesting characters.
You'll immediately become a lieutenant and after a short bit of diskwork, be
asked to type in names for your crew. Once again, you can name them whatever
you like. Try not to get too attached though, you'll probably be cycling
through quite a few of them. Once again, put in at least one character for
everyone or things might get buggy. This completes your initial setup.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Briefing (TB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next thing you'll be presented with is The Briefing. This is a simple blue
screen that lists your rank, your total points, what mission number you're on,
your target, the mission altitude, and your aircraft's name. Let's look into
the significance of this imformation before moving on to the prompt that's
waiting for you.
Rank
-----
This, mainly, is just some ego stoking for you if you've been doing well. This
is directly tied to your total mission points. When you pass a certain
threshold, you're promoted. Don't worry if you flub a mission though, as you
won't be demoted if you drop back below the minimum again. Here are the ranks
and the points you'll need for them:
7000 points -- Captain
15000 points -- Major
25000 points -- Lieutenant Colonel
38000 points -- Colonel
55000 points -- Brigadier General
Total Points
-------------
How many points you've gained to date. I'll be going into the details of this
in the Scoring section. Mission number is rather self explanitory, as is the
target, so let's skip them.
Mission Altitude
-----------------
This is probably the most important thing to take note of on the briefing
screen. The mission altitude is what you have to be at in order to be flying
with your bomber squadron. This, in turn, means you'll be hassled by fighters
less often, which is always a good thing. If you only take one piece of
information from this screen, make it this.
Aircraft Name
--------------
This is just to let you know how many aircraft you've lost. The names are set
and always come in the same order, starting with the Impatient Virgin. A rather
fitting name for your first flight. What significance does this hold? Well, if
you lose your tenth plane, you're sent home in disgrace, so try to keep from
crashing if at all possible. In my experience, however, it's really difficult
to lose ten planes without getting killed first, so I wouldn't get too worried
about it.
With all of that information out of the way, we can move on to the prompt
that's been waiting for us. The game asks you how much fuel you want to load
up, in terms of a percentage. This decision has some weight to it, actually. A
full load, or entering 100 at the prompt, is 2520 gallons of fuel. Anything
less with give you a percentage of that amount.
Obviously, the less fuel you have, the less time you can spend flying about.
However, the more fuel you're carrying, the less bombs you can bring with you,
which will result in a worse score for a successful bombing run. Taking less
fuel in favor of bombs also carries an added risk if you get hit and spring a
fuel leak, for obvious reasons.
In my experience, a fuel load of 75% is more than adequate to get you to any
target on the map and back, and has enough flex room for a fuel leak or two.
This also gives you a 45% bomb load normally, which has a good chance of
getting you the maximum points for a target hit. Feel free to experiment for
yourself, however.
After answering this, you'll be asked if you wish to overload. Answering yes
will pack 20% more bombs into your load, making a 45% load into a 65% one, to
use the previous example. This has the obvious benefit of allowing for more
target points, but it carries a significant risk as well. Sometimes on takeoff,
one of your engines will feather. This can happen at any time, but if you
happen to be overloaded when it does, your plane will be forced to make an
emergency landing immediately, which may result in a crash.
After this decision, all that's left to do is to type T to take off. When you
do, you'll see a small scene of your plane taking off. This may be followed by
a 'Engine (#) feathered' message, which I'll explain in the Damage section.
Now, unless you were overloaded and had an engine feather, you'll move on to
the mission proper.
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The Mission (TM)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the game proper! This can be split up into two sections rather
easily, so... that's how it's going to be done.
The Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is where you'll arrive first, a map of England and some of Europe. The
things that should immediately stand out are the red place on the map, and the
small blinking dot in England. The red place is your target, the small blinking
dot is you. What you're here to do is to get to that target, drop your bombs,
and get home in one piece.
How do you move, you ask? Simple, you use the number 1-8 and 0 to make your
moves. What, you don't understand? Oh, alright. I'll explain it to you. Here's
how it works:
1 - North
2 - Northeast
3 - East
4 - Southeast
5 - South
6 - Southwest
7 - West
8 - Northwest
0 - Hold Position
Now, what you'll do is pick one of these options, and then we move to the next
screen... or you might get attacked by fighters or flak, depending on where you
are on the map. Fighters are somewhat complicated, so look to the Fighter
Attack section for more information.
Flak, however, is simple enough to be covered right here. If you pass over one
of those tank looking structures on the map... or just about anything else,
actually, there's a chance you'll get shot at by anti-aircraft fire, also known
as flak. This 'chance' isn't random, though. If your altitude is under 30000
feet and there's no cloud cover at your level or below you, you'll get shot at.
What happens when you get shot at is that you'll see the picture of your plane
from the next screen, and little explosions will happen randomly about the
screen. Note that while they'll seem to take out parts of your plane, you
haven't suffered any damage unless it actually says so at the upper left part
of the screen.
Lastly for this part, every move you make will take some of your fuel. So,
here's a quick list of how many gallons it takes:
move diagonal 37
move non-diagonal 25
hold present position 20
NE, SE, SW, and NW are considered diagonal moves, for clarification. Lastly,
your icon on the map will become a large dot when you're at the mission height.
This shows that you've joined the squadron.
The Plane
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After each move, you'll be taken to this screen with your plane on it. There's
a lot of information here, so let's take it one piece at a time.
Altitude
---------
The current altitude you're flying at. This will increase or decrease by 5000
immediately if you raise or lower your altitude, which can be done from this
screen. You start initially at 5000 feet, and can go up to a maximum of 35000
feet. If you move down from 5000 feet, you'll either land at your home base if
you're over it, or attempt an emergency landing at sea or the ground, depending
on if you're over land or water at the time.
Fuel
-----
How much fuel you'll have left. You'll want to keep an eye on this, as running
out will immediately cause an emergency landing attempt, which is generally
bad.
Engine Fire Extinguisher (1-4)
-------------------------------
Sometimes when you're hit, an engine will start on fire. When this happens,
you'll come to a red version of this screen after the battle or flak salvo
ends, and your only options will be the various extinguishers. Press the
appropriate engine number to douse the flames. You only get 2 per engine,
though, so try to stay out of trouble as much as possible.
Also note that if this happens due to flak, you'll immediately be bombarded a
second time after putting out the fire. If one is unlucky, you can get locked
into this situation until you're forced to bail out due to excessive damage or
killed by a stray shot.
Hand Fire Extinguisher (5)
---------------------------
If a fire happens that isn't in the engine, the same sort of thing happens as
above. In this instance, however, you hit 5 to use a hand held extinguisher on
the fire. You get five of these per flight.
Alt (U/D)
----------
Pressing U on this screen will increase your altitude by 5000 feet. Pressing D
will lower it by the same amount. This is used primarily for reaching your
mission altitude and for landing back at home. It takes some fuel to do this,
of course.
climb 5000 feet 15
dive 5000 feet -10
Yes, that's right, you gain ten gallons of fuel back for diving. This is to
account for the fact that you use less fuel during the maneuver.
Salvo (S)
----------
Pressing S will cause you to drop your bombs. If you have no bombs, this
changes to 'Bombs Away'. You'll want to do this over your target, obviously.
However, if you try to drop your bombs while there's cloud cover underneath
you, you'll miss and be stuck with a target score of -1000. So, try not to do
that.
Map (M)
--------
Takes you back to the map so you can move again. Simple enough!
Target Points
--------------
You'll notice that this starts at -1000, which means you'll lose 1000 points
for starting a mission and then immediately landing or crashing. When you make
a successful bomb drop on your target, you immediately get 1000 points to put
it to zero, and then a formula kicks in to give you your actual score. This
will be explained in more detail in the Scoring section.
Total Points
-------------
Your total earned points to date, minus the target points for the current
mission. This is shown because a few events during the mission can cause
changes to this number. These will be explained in the Scoring section.
Abort (A)
----------
Pressing A will cause you to drop your bombs, and will set the target score to
0. This is your safeguard in case things start to go really, really poorly. If
that is the case, just cut and run for home with no penalty or gain to your
point total. This will also disengage you from the squadron even if you're at
the right height, so be careful.
Weather Readout
----------------
Don't see it, you say? Yes you do, it's the set of seven numbers at the bottom
left corner. Each number corresponds to a 5000 foot interval, 5000 at the left
and 35000 at the right. A 0 in a given spot means that there's no cloud cover
at that level (or ground fog, in case of the 5000 foot spot). A 1 or higher
indicates clouds of varying intensity, but that doesn't really matter.
If there's anything other than a 0 between your height and the ground, flak
will not fire on you, but you won't be able to bomb your target, either. If
there are clouds at your level, no fighters will attack you. Cloud cover seems
to be entirely random, as holding your position will result in weather changes,
so it's possible to wait out the clouds over your target if necessary.
The Diagram
------------
A picture of a plane takes up most of the right side of this screen. It's
covered in various letters, which represent your crew. The A is your pilot,
which is important because if your pilot dies, the game is over. If any of your
crew are seriously hurt or killed, the appropriate letter will be covered by a
red square.
The other thing you can glean from this diagram are what engines are feathered
or windmilling. If there's a mark coming off one of the engines (the bumps in
the wings), that engine is malfunctioning in some way. The effects of this will
be covered in the Damage section.
And that covers everything you need to know about this screen. The game plays
by switching between the map and this screen until your plane either lands
somewhere or is shot down.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fighter Attack (FA)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time you move on the map, there's a chance that you'll be attacked by
German fighters. This chance drops to nothing if you're currently flying in
clouds, however.
If you get attacked, you may have fighter cover depending on how far away from
the base you are. If you have cover, the fighters might be driven off entirely,
or you'll face less than you might normally have. If you're flying with the
squadron, your fighter cover is better. If you're way out over the continent,
you'll have no cover at all.
If you moved diagonally before the attack, or if you're suffering from a lot of
drag (covered in the Damage section), you may end up fighting more fighters
than you would have normally faced.
No matter what happens, if you engage fighters, the screen will change to a
small picture of your plane. If they break through your fighter cover, you'll
see a small fighter somewhere on the screen as well, and the guns that can
target it will be listed in the upper left corner, along with their ammo.
Here's a listing of your guns, who works them, and their starting ammo:
Identifier Name Type Ammo Crewmember
N NoseGun Single 30 cal.* 15 Bombardier
R RightCheek Gun Single 30 cal.* 10 Navigator
L LeftCheek Gun Single 30 cal.* 10 Navigator
E TopTurret Guns Twin 50 cal. 20 Engineer
P PortWaist Gun Single 50 cal. 10 Port Gunner
S StbdWaist Gun Single 50 cal. 10 Starboard Gunner
B BallTurret Gun Twin 50 cal. 20 Ball Gunner
T TailGuns Twin 50 cal. 20 Tail Gunner
* After each mission, these have a 5% chance of becoming 50 cal. guns. If you
get the 50 cal. upgrade and lose the aircraft, the next will be equipped with
30 cal. initially, but will have a 10% chance of upgrading after each mission.
To fight the fighters, just push the identifier key of one of the guns that can
fire on the target. Depending on a number of factors, including the gunner's
experience and random chance, one of three things will happen:
Miss - You missed, the enemy fighter will fire a return round on you which may
cause damage or injure a crew member.
Fighter Breaks Attack - The fighter immediately breaks off the attack, no
return fire.
Fighter Destroyed - Your attack completely destroyed the fighter, no return
fire and you'll gain some mission points.
If you have no ammo or just don't wish to fire, press any other key. This, of
course, means that the enemy gets a free shot off at you. Each fighter pass
will last a maximum of seven volleys, which can be rather painful if you're
unlucky.
Every shot you fire takes one ammo unit from the used gun. Note that the screen
does -not- immediately update to reflect this, but it happens. You'll have to
keep track of your shots yourself if your low on a gun, otherwise you might
give the enemy a free shot without realizing it.
As for the fighters opposing you, there are three types that each vary slightly
from each other. Here's the list:
FW-190 -- This plane is the hardest to hit and has average firepower.
ME-109 -- This plane is average on defense and has the weakest firepower.
ME-110 -- This plane is the easiest to hit but has the greatest firepower.
With a seasoned crew, the ME-110 tends to be destroyed more than forced off the
attack, which is handy for some extra points. They can be deadly with a green
gunner, though, so don't get complacent.
==============================================================================
IV. Debriefing
==============================================================================
After returning home, either through landing or ditching your plane and being
rescued, you will come to the mission debriefing screen. This is a very simple
screen which just tells you your target points, and a somewhat mysterious
mission evaluation. It also gives you your total points, total missions to
date, and the option to save.
The mission evaluation is dependant on how well you followed the mission, and
is also what is checked to see if you get a medal awarded to you. From my play
experience, performing your mission quickly and accurately will raise this, as
well getting back home with a mangled plane.
If you get over 700 points for your mission evaluation, you'll be given a
medal. So far, I've not noticed a trend as to order or reasoning behind which
is given, so here's a list of what you can earn:
The Legion of Merit
The Distinguished Service Medal
The Air Medal
The Distinguished Flying Cross
Oak leaf Cluster
You can also earn a Purple Heart if the pilot is wounded during the mission.
This screen is also where you'll be promoted if you pass the minimum score for
the next rank.
As for the save option, if you want to quit for a while, this is the time to do
it. Hit Y, then you can end your game. If you end your game at any other point,
your pilot is automatically killed, so I wouldn't reccomend it if you want to
see the fabled 50th mission.
If you decide not to save, you'll move right on into the next mission briefing.
==============================================================================
V. The Crew
==============================================================================
Your crew is the lifeblood of your bomber, and there are several things that
can happen to the poor people flying with you. The most beneficial of which is
that they become better at their jobs the more missions you complete with them.
Experienced Gunners will help you destroy or drive off enemy fighters more
quickly. An experienced Bombardier will get you more points for your bomb
drops. An experienced Radioman will help you survive after ditching better,
while an experienced Copilot will help you avoid crashing on your landings.
Unfortunately, many bad things can happen to your crew due to fighter attacks
and flak, so turnover rates can be rather high. Here's a list of the things
that can happen and the consequences of the events:
(Crew member) Oxygen hit: This will make you lose 5000 feet a turn until you
hit 15000 feet, and then you won't be able to climb above that point for the
rest of the mission. This can mean that you'll be forced out of the squadron
formation, and also means that you'll take heavier flak fire. If it's a low
alitude mission, however, this isn't too bad.
(Crew Member) Heater Hit: If this happens, every turn you stay above 10000 feet
will give the affected crew member a chance of getting frostbite. If this
happens, you lose some mission points and the crew member is incapacitated for
the rest of the mission. Once again, this will lead to heavier flak and
possibly loss of squadron formation.
(Crew Member) Hurt: This is probably the luckiest thing you can get. One minor
injury has no effect on your crew member at all. If this happens a second time,
however, it'll become a serious injury.
(Crew Member) Seriously Hurt: No matter if it happens the first go or become of
two minor injuries, this is bad news. You'll lose some mission points for this
one, and on top of that, the crew member will be gone entirely after the
mission, leaving you to replace them. The only person that can recover from a
serious injury is the pilot.
(Crew Member) Dead: Muchly the same as a serious injury for all crew members
aside from the pilot. You lose the person immediately, lose some mission
points, and need to replace them after the mission. If this happens to the
pilot, however, the game immediately ends. Do not pass Go, do not collect two
hundred dollars. Because you're dead.
Now, no matter how it happens, losing certain crew members will have an effect
on your plane. Losing any crew member that mans a gun will cause you to lose
the use of that gun, obviously, but here are some additional things to watch
for as well:
Loss of Navigator: This is a double whammy. Without a navigator, you'll use
more fuel when you're not flying in formation. And if that wasn't deadly enough
on its own, you'll also have a lessened chance of survival after ditching.
Loss of Radioman: No radioman means that you can't send out an call for help if
you're going down, which means there's a lessened chance of survival after
ditching.
Loss of Copilot: No Copilot means that you have a higher chance of crashing
when you move to land, which can lead to more deaths if you do crash.
Loss of Bombardier: While this won't stop your bombing run entirely, it'll make
it less effective and net you less points for dropping your bombs onto your
target.
And that's about everything that really needs to be said about the crew. It's
fun to pretend to ressurect the dead by putting the same person back into a
vacant spot, but they won't get their experience back. Nothing but success can
replace that.
==============================================================================
VI. Damage
==============================================================================
In this section, we'll cover the damage that your plane might take as well as
some possible outcomes of all this damage.
Whenever you take a hit from an enemy fighter or from a flak burst, there's a
chance that a crew member will be hit, or a system on the plane will be hit.
The things that can happen to the crew are found in the last section, so this
time we'll focus on the plane itself. Also, I'll cover the concept of Drag and
how it will effect your flight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System Damage (SD)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The introduction says pretty much all that needs to be said, so let's just move
on to the list!
Norden Sight damaged: This will make your bombing run less effective, resulting
in less Target Points for a successful bombing.
Gun Hit: Simply takes the affected gun out of service for the mission. Shown on
screen by lowering its ammo to zero.
Fire in (Non-Engine area): Forces you to use a Hand Fire Extinguisher to put
out the fire. If you're out of extinguishers, you'll be forced to bail out.
Bomb Controls Damaged: Just like taking Norden Sight damage, and will stack
with it if you get both.
Autopilot Out: A double whammy for system damage! Not only will this reduce
your bombing effectiveness, it increases the chance that you'll have a crash
when you attempt a landing.
Control Damage: Increases the chance that you'll crash when you attempt a
landing. This can be damaged multiple times, and I assume the effect grows
worse with each successive hit.
Wing/Stabilizer Root Hit: This, on a singular hit, is no danger whatsoever.
Multiple hits to the same root will remove that part of the plane entirely,
though, causing a bail out.
Fuel Tank Hit: This can be a killer. If you spring a fuel leak, you'll lose 12
gallons of fuel each turn on top of whatever other fuel you use. The real
dangerous part, however, is that you can spring multiple fuel leaks, each one
causing you to lose 12 more gallons of fuel per turn.
Landing Gear Hit: Increases chance of crashing while landing. This can be hit
multiple times, presumably making the effect worse each hit.
Raft Destroyed: Lessens chance of survival if you have to land in the water.
Bomb Release Damage: Reduces the effectiveness of your bombing run, also
reducing your total gained target points when you drop the bombs.
Bomb Bay Doors Hit: This, unfortunately, is a mission killer. If the Bomb Bay
Doors are damaged, you can no longer drop your bombs, Your only option if this
happens is to head back home. Seems to be rather rare in my experience.
Radio Out: Reduces your chance of survival after ditching, since you can't call
for help.
Bombs Hit: This seems to be the rarest damage type in the game, and for very
good reason. If something hits your bombs, they immediately detonate and
destroy the plane, killing the entire crew in the process. Instant game over.
Very abrupt game over.
Engine Runaway: The engine rips from the wing of the plane, causing an
immediate bail out. Fairly rare.
Engine Feathered: Adds 1 point of drag to your plane.
Engine Windmilling: Adds 1.5 points of drag to your plane as well as causing
you to lose 7 additional gallons of fuel per turn.
Engine Oil Leak: This does nothing immediately, but after a few turns the
affected engine with feather out.
Engine Fire: Causes you to need to use one of your engine fire extinguishers.
If you can't extinguish the affected engine, you'll need to bail out.
That, as they say, is all the damage that can be done to the plane. Now to
cover the rather interesting conept of Drag and how it will affect your plane.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drag (DR)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you may have seen above, certain types of engine damage will add drag to
your plane. Drag is, essentially, how much resistance there is to your plane
moving through the air smoothly. Too much drag makes your plane less
aerodynamic, meaning that it could eventually cause you to drop out of the sky.
First off, a list of things that add drag, and how much drag they add:
Carrying a bomb load = .5 drag points
Engine feathering = 1 drag point
Engine windmilling = 1.5 drag points
Yep, carrying your payload along adds .5 points of drag to your plane. It also
causes you to use 5 extra gallons of fuel per turn. The maximum drag your plane
can take is 3.5. Why can you only have 3.5 points, you ask? Well, let's go into
that in detail.
What happens when you have drag increases as you gain more points, obviously.
Up to 1 point will have no effect on your flight at all, so you have a little
bit of buffer room.
1.5 or 2 points, however, will cause the first effects. Your speed will be
reduced, meaning that you won't be able to keep up with the squadron even if
you're at the correct altitude. This means you'll have more fighter encounters,
and on top of that, you'll have more planes attacking from the speed reduction.
2.5 points of drag just means that there might be even more planes attacking
you in an encounter. 3 points just makes this problem worse, along with the
added effect of your plane losing 5000 feet of altitude each turn. This means
you'll eventually hit the ground with only 3 points.
If you manage to get 3.5 points of drag or more (three windmilling engines),
you are immediately forced down into an emergency landing. If you're over the
water or enemy territory, you've just lost your plane. Congratulations.
And now you understand Drag and its effects on your gameplay!
==============================================================================
VII. Scoring
==============================================================================
Ah, the scoring. A lot of the scoring in this game is rather randomly done, and
as such I don't fully know the parameters behind how many points you get for
certain actions. I do, however, know what things give you points and what
things take them away, as well as one formula. Let's start out with the
formula, as it's rather ugly.
The Target Points you get for dropping your bombs can sorta be understood by
looking at this. First things first, if you make a successful drop on the
proper target, you get an automatic 1000 points to put your score to 0. The
same happens if you abort the mission anywhere. If you choose to drop a salvo
on anything other than the target, you'll still get some points, but not as
many. After that first 1000 is added, the following formula is used to
determine how many points you get.
(OT * BOMB LOAD * BOMB LOAD * RANDOM NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 100) / (ALTITUDE /
100)
OT is a value between 0 and 1 that depends on your plane and crew damage, with
a value of 1 meaning no damage at all. If you're dropping a salvo on something
other than the target, this is set to .2 by default. Obviously, lower level
bomb drops are worth more points via working out the division, as well.
This may be the biggest increase for your points, but there are a few other
things that'll give you minor points as well. They are as follows:
Destroying an enemy fighter (not driving it off)
Mission Evaluation
Destroying a fighter seems to get you a random number of points in the general
range of 100. I really have no idea what all effects the mission evaluation,
but when I've brought home a dangerously crippled bomber after a mission
success, I've gotten near 1000 points for it, so that must play some role.
There are a few ways to lose points as well, and aside from one of them they
all seem to be completely random. Here's a list of what they are, and the value
for the one that's set.
Landing or Being Grounded before Salvoing or Aborting (-1000 points)
Having a Crew Member incapacitated or killed (Not counting the Pilot)
Interestingly, damage to the plane's systems do nothing to your points, nor do
minor crew injuries. Losing your plane after a successful bombing run doesn't
seem to affect your total points either.
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VIII. Possible Outcomes
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This section will go over the ways that your missions can end, as well as the
ways you game can end. There are three different ways to end you mission
prematurely, if you count the two types of emergency landings. The third way is
by bailing out, which is only an option if your plane gets extremely damaged.
Let's get right into the thick of things, shall we?
An emergency landing can be caused in a few ways. If you're overloaded and have
an engine failure on takeoff, you'll immediately have a land based emergency
landing. If you run out of fuel, have 3.5 or more Drag points, or move
downwards from 5000 feet for any reason while not above your home base, you'll
have an emergency landing as well. Now, on to the emergency landing screens!
Over Land
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When you have an emergency landing over land, the first thing you'll see is a
green screen with various black structures on it. Your plane will enter from
the bottom in the middle and move up the screen, stopping fairly near the top.
If any of the black structures are touched by the plane in the process, you
crash. You have no control over the plane, so you just have to watch as it
happens, and you'll know if it's going to as soon as you see the screen.
If there's nothing in the way and you're over England, you're fine and so is
the plane, and everyone that's alive will make it back to base just fine. If
you're over enemy territory when you have to land, and land safely, you'll see
a few messages. If any crew members make it back to England, you'll see a
number of messages equal to how many make it. After the crew has all been
checked, your pilot makes a check. If he makes it back, everything is fine. if
he doesn't, the game is over. Your plane is considered lost if you make it
back.
If your plane crashes, all the crew members and the pilot make seperate checks
for survial. If the pilot fails, the game ends. If you happen to be over enemy
territory at the time, you'll have to make a check for getting back to base
after the survival check. In either case, the plane is lost.
Over Sea
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In the case that you happen to make a water landing, the plane is lost. Then
you'll just have to wait a few minutes to see if a rescue party finds you. If
they do, everyone who was still alive at the time of the landing gets home. If
they don't, the game is over. That's all there is for this version, and all
there is for emergency landings in general.
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Bailing Out (BO)
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Bailing out isn't an option that you're given very often. If you have a runaway
engine, lose a wing or the stabilizer, or have a fire you can't deal with,
you'll be forced to bail from the plane. After bailing, every living crew
member will make a check to see if their chute opens. The pilot comes next, and
if his doesn't open, the game will end.
Of course, if you're over enemy territory when this happens, and you likely
will be, the check to get home again follows with the same possible results as
shown above. Lastly, the plane is always lost in the event of a bail out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ways to End the Game (EG)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three ways to end the game, and they're all pretty self explanitory.
I will list the ways here and now.
Death of your Pilot (In any form, including not returning from enemy territory)
Losing your tenth plane
Completing your 50th mission alive
No matter how the game ends, the last thing you'll be shown is a screen
documenting your total mission points and any awards you had earned throughout
the game. You're then dumped to the good old C64 prompt.
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X. Strategies and Tips
==============================================================================
This section will just be a collection of strategies and little tricks to try
and maximize the life of your pilot, as well as the points you earn.
* Your plane is remarkably sturdy, and Flak is remarkably inaccurate. Even with
no Copilot and multiple Controls and Landing Gear hits, you're very unlikely to
crash if you make it back to base. Really, the only hits you should worry about
are wing/stabilizer root hits and fuel leaks. If the bombs are hit, you're dead
anyway, so no need to worry.
* Speaking of fuel leaks, it's generally safer to just Abort the mission and
run for home if you take more than one or two of these. Your fuel will drop
alarmingly fast, and if you were heading to a far away target you'll be lucky
to get back if you try to complete the mission anyway. You also might take more
fuel leaks, which will definitely spell the end.
* Keep track of your Drag. This isn't counted up and displayed anywhere, but
keep it in mind. If you still have your bombs, one feathered engine, and a
windmilling one, Abort and head home as any more damage will put you to the
ground. Aborting in this case will both keep you from losing 1000 points, and
will keep you from losing altitude each move.
* The lower you are, the heavier Flak fire will be on your plane. Flak is so
amazingly inaccurate that this isn't much of a concern, so don't feel obligated
to break from formation on those low altitude missions.
* To get the most points, you'll want to complete your mission successfully.
And ideally with little to no damage. Always try to get to the target and
successfully hit it. The only things that should make you abort are two or
three fuel leaks, or a few hits to the same wing/stabilizer root that hasn't
destroyed it yet.
* When fighters attack, always try to use the gun manned by the most
experienced gunner that can target them. They'll be much more likely to get
them off your case with less rounds for them to shoot back in.
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XI. Future Additions
==============================================================================
I'd like to figure out the scores gained and lost for the stuff I don't
currently know, and I'm always willing to take user submitted strategies, if
anyone out there actually plays this aside from me.
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XII. Credits
==============================================================================
CjayC for running GameFAQs and for hosting this FAQ.
fealu_bryne for always being there, and for agreeing to become my wife in the
near future.
And lastly, Life, for finally giving me a chance to write another guide for
this wonderful sight.
