
Battle Command - Manual

The World:

The world of Battle Command is depicted in solid-3D. The realistic landscape is
populated by hills, trees and buildings, criss crossed by rivers, roads, railway
tracks and electric pylons.
The game is played at 24 times real time, one day of play time is one hour of
real time and there is a day/night cycle lasting 1 hour. One `mission`, however, 
does not follow immediately after another - you could finish 1 mission at dawn 
and start the next at midnight. `Missions` can take place at any time of the day 
or night.


Playing Battle Command:

The action in battle is split up into a number of seperate misions, each with a
different objective that is outlined in the mission briefing at the beginning
of each encounter.
The nature of the missions vary from requiring straight forward arcade
skills (such as the starter mission) to those of a more complex nature, where you
will be expected to use reasoning and deductive skills, in addition to a quick
trigger finger.
You will find that, while there is no set order in which to attempt the
missions, some may require equipment to be fitted to your mauler that is not
available to you until earlier missions have been completed.
The format of each mission is the same, however, after making your mission
selection and Reading the briefing, you equip your mauler and click on the
`start mission` box.
An animation will now be displayed showing the helicarrier carrying your mauler
flying in to drop you at the beginning of the mission.
The screen view changes to the view of the mauler - you now have full control.
To complete the `mission` successfully you have to achieve your mission objective
and then rendevouz with the helicarrier again at map co-ordinates shown on the
mission briefing.
At this point an animation is displayed of the helicopter flying in to pick you
up, and you are shown a report on the mission which also informs you of the
score you have achieved.


Controls:

The Battle Command user interface has been designed to be as intuitive and as
flexible as possible, allowing you to choose exclusively keyboard control, a
combination of keyboard and mouse (or joystick), or predominatly mouse (or
joystick).
The majority of the functions in Battle Command can be accessed using mouse
only. On pre-mission screens, the cursor is moved by the obvious up/down,
left/right movements, with the left hand mouse button being used for
selecting or de-selecting.


Active mode:

During actual missions, the actions outlined above are the same actions that
control the movement of the mauler itself and the firing of the weapons
systems. So how do you select a function without using the keyboard? This is
solved by switching between active and passive modes.
Active mode is a default during a `mission`, where there is no cursor shown on
screen and the movements of the mouse correspond with the movement of the
mauler. At this time all other functions can be accessed via single keyboard
strokes as shown in the key guide system.

In active mode the left mouse button acts as a fire button for your weapons
systems.


Passive mode:

Pressing the right mouse button while in active mode takes you to passive mode.
The mouse now controls the cursor that has appeared on screen, and you can
activate devices on the console by clicking with the left mouse button. During
passive mode you have no direct control over the movement of the mauler. You can
return to active mode by pressing the right mouse button again.
If using a joystick or the keyboard only see the key guide section (later on in
this text) for details of how the control system works with these devices.
For a step-to-step guide on how to select a Battle Command mission and
arm-equip and run your mauler, read through the `your first mission` section of
this manual.


The mauler:

You under take Battle Commands missions in a mauler class assault tank, a
heavily armoured but highly mobile general purpose weapons platform, because all
missions take place behind enemy lines-due to a stalemate that has long
developed in the ultr war-you are delivered to the vicinity of the mission
objective and retrieved from a pre-arrabged pick up point by a helicarrier, a
fast stealth helicopter with a large payload capacity.

The mauler itself is designed primarily for flexibility. In addition to its
standard equipment it has secondary equipment slots that enable specialist
devices to be fitted to the tank when needed - these will be fitted by the
maintenance crew automatically before the mission starts.

The weapons systems themselves are totally undedicated with 4 weapon modules
that allow the tank to carry any selection of weapon payloads, limited only by
its payload capacity. The mauler can therefore be configured to meet almost any
mission requirement.

******************************************************************************

The mauler control panel.

Top left window (weapon control window)

2nd/3rd/4th/5th Windows top left (numbered-1/2/3/4) these are weapon pods

Bottom right of screen (highest of the two) is the pick up button

Bottom right of the screen (bottom of the two) is the binoculars magnification

Third gauge along (bottom right) is the fuel gauge

Fourth gauge along (bottom right) (next to fuel gauge) is the speed gauge

Middle bottom screen (next to speed gauge) is the auxilliary monitor

Middle bottom screen (underneath the aux monitor) 1st panel left is the
binoculars.

Middle bottom screen (underneath the aux monitor) 2nd panel is the night-sight

Middle bottom screen (underneath the aux monitor) 3rd panel is the rear view
camera.

Second from end right of bottom screen is the radar display

Underneath the radar display is the compass.

******************************************************************************

Standard Equipment:

This is the basic equipment always available on your mauler.

Engine: This delta dynamica gas turbine developing around 2000 brake horse
power at maximum output, gives the mauler a speed of around 90 mph, note power
can be lost through damage by enemy fire.

Velocity guage: This gauge appears on the control panel as a vertical bar
indicating the velocity of the mauler. Green denotes speed... red reverse.

Fuel gauge: As with the velocity gauge this appears on the control panel as a
vertical bar graph. There is nowhere, officially, to refuel behind enemy lines-if
you run out, you`re stuck...unless you know different that is!!

Compass: This is a display on the console with the symbols `n`..`s`..`w` ..`e`
marked on it. As the player turns, the display moves left or right to show the
direction the player is facing. The display wraps around as the player turns a
full circle.

Radar: The radar is an advanced type, with a built in recognition system that
assigns a type to every different object on the basisi of its threat to the
mauler. These object types are displayed as different coloured dots on the
radar screen on top of the map of the local area retrieved from the radar
computers memory.

The colours assigned to each object are:

                 [-Amiga/ST/VGA-]   [-ECA-]         [-CGA-]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roads              Light Grey        Grey            White
Rivers             Dark blue         Blue            Cyan
Electricity        Dark Grey         Dark Grey       White
Railway tracks     White             White           White
Vegetation         Green             Green           White
Hills/rocks        Brown             Brown           White
Major buildings    White             White           Cyan
Minor buildings    Medium Grey       Grey            Cyan
Mobile enemy       Red               Red             Magneta
Fixed enemy        Light blue        Cyan            Cyan
Enemy aircraft     Yellow            Yellow          Magneta
Shells/missiles    Fiery Orange      Fiery Orange    Fiery Orange

The position of the player is shown by a small cursor in the centre of the
radar display.

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Secondary Equipment:

This is equipment that is not always fitted to the mauler. If a particular
piece of equipment is required in a mission, it is automatically fitted.

[Rear View Camera] : Shows a view from the back of the mauler in the aux
monitor. The only control is on/off button below the aux monitor. Eyes in the
back of the head are sometimes useful!!

[Night-Sight] : Allows you to see at night and Low levels using infra red
sensitive optics, normal 3D views on the main console display and the aux
monitor, if appropriate, are replaced by a Lower resolution display in shades of
grey... Using the night sight during the day will overload it and you will be
unable to see any detail-as all objects and the ground will be shown in a
single shade of White silhouetted aagainst the horizon.
Overloading the nigh sight will also damage its sensitive optics. The control
for this device if fitted is a single on/off switch below the aux monitor.

[Binoculars] : Magnifys your main view screen onto the aux screen by a factor of
2,4 or 8 to show greater detail on objects and objects too small to be visible
normally. The device can be enabled and disabled using an on/off switch under
the aux monitor. There is also a rotary switch to the left of the aux monitor
to adjust the magnification.

[Homing Scanner] : This is locked onto a particular object at the start of the
mission, just like a compass is permantly locked onto North. It shows you if the
mauler is currently heading towards this object, and if not, which direction to
turn in order to be doing so.
The device is very similar in operation to the compass in that it has a bar
that is centred in the display when the mauler is heading directly for the
object. As you rotate away from the correct heading, the scanner rotates to show
the arrow pointing in the direction the player has to turn to Line up on the
object again. There are No specific controls for the homing scanner and the
display appears in the top right of the mauler control panel.

[Pick-up Button] : Once you have completed your mission objective, you must make
your way to the pick-up point specified in your mission briefing and summon the
`helicarrier` to take you back safely to the northern lines. Click on the button
on the control panel or use the keyboard controls specified.

Weapons:

Weaponary is what its all about!..the mauler has 4 weapon pods, any number of
which you can fill up with lethal devices before you go on a mission, see your
first mission section for details on equipping your mauler.

Only one weapon pods can be active at any one time, selectable from the keyboard
or by clicking on the appropriate weapon pod at the top of the mauler control
panel..when in passive mode.

This will activate the selected weapon pod, as shown by the weapons icon
appearing in the weapon control window of the control panel, along with any
particular controls for the weapon (up/dowm-left/right). The weapon pod itself
also shows the number of rounds left in the magazine plus its current damage
status.

A description of each munition follows, but remember that you wont have access
to all weapon types on all missions, you`ll also be limited to how much you can
put on-board your mauler by weight and weapon design constraints.

All weapons also have a magazine size, which is the number of rounds that weapon
system carries. Run out of rounds and you`ll be firing thin air until you select
another weapon pod containing live rounds.

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                             Offensive Weaponary:

[Turret]

The most Basic armament provided for the tank is the `pulveriser` 120mm battle
cannon, which fires shells directly forward. The barrel is a simple launching
tube for shells which are powered,in effect unguided missiles. They are
unaffected by gravity, but they travel quite slowly, so you have to aim where the
target is going to be when the shell arrives.
The barrel of the pulveriser battle cannon is an integral part of the mauler`s
turret and so is not removed even if the pulveriser weapon system is not
fitted.

The weapon head up display simply shows the number of cannon shells
remaining, only one cannon can be fitted to the tank at once. The magazine size
is 60 shells.

[Pulveriser] Weapon Status

Muzzle speed    210 m/s
Burn duration    16 seconds
Range          3300 m
Shell weight      4 kg
Lenght          0.7 m
Calibre         120 m/m
Warhead type        k.e.p

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[Banshee Surface-to-Surface Missiles]

When a weapon of this type is selected a sight appears in the centre of your
view allowing you to Line up on hostile targets, when the fire button is pressed
the missile launcher locks-on to the closest target in a cone directly in 
Front of the mauler. The cursor will change shape and a flashing `locked on`
message will appear in the H-U-D (head up display). This locked on state lasts
for a limited and the launcher continually tracks the target during it. If you
press the fire button again while the launcher is locked on, a missile is
launched against a target. The missile will follow the target until it hits or
runs out of fuel and explodes, if no target can be found then no missile will be
launched.

There are 2 versions of this missile, heat seeking and radar guided, heat seeking
missiles will only lock onto targets that produce a lot of I.R radiation such
as aircraft or vehicles, while radar guided missiles will lock onto all targets.
Heat seeking missiles have a much simpler guidance and targeting system than
radar guided ones, as a consequence they are smaller and lighter and can fit
more in a magazine. The magazine size is 8 for heat seeking missiles and 5 for
radar guided.

[Banshee] [I.R version] Weapon Status:

* Speed              150 m/s       * Length        1.5 m
* Flight duration     15 seconds   * Calibre       160 mm
* Minimum range      125 m         * Warhead type  H.C
* Max..range        2200 m         * Control       Areodynamic surfaces
* Weight            31.5 kg        * Guidance      Radar or I.R (fire + forget)

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[Phoenix Surface TI Air Missiles]

These are similar to the surface to surface missiles but they have a more
complex targeting system.
When the player presses the fire button a view from the launcher appears in the
`aux monitor`. The player now has control of the elevation and yaw of the
launcher, within limits, if a target comes within the launchers view it can be
locked on and fired in the same way as the banshee missile.
The player remains in control of the launcher until they press the right mouse
button, which returns them to active mode and control of the `mauler`
again these missiles come in 2 types, heat seeking and radar guided.

[Phoenix] (IR Version) Weapon Status

* Speed              190 m/s       * Lenght        1.1 m
* Flight duration     12 seconds   * Calibre       120 mm
* Minimum range      200 m         * Warhead type  H.C
* Maximum range     2200 m         * Control       Aerodynamic surfaces
* Weight              25 kg        * Guidance      Radar or I.R
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[K-40 Mortar]

This throws a shell forwards and upwards. Unlike cannon, shells from the mortar
are unpowered and affected by gravity, travelling in a ballistic arc, exploding
when they reach the ground or hit an object. The mortar allows you to fire at
targets behind other objects or targets sunk into the ground.
The buttons in the weapon control window are assigned functions to raise and
lower the elevation of the mortar tube, and the current elevation, range and
mortar remaining are shown in the H-U-D beneath the window. Only one mortar can
be fitted to the tank at once. The magzine size is 20.

[K-40 mortar] Weapon Status:

* Minimum range      200 m         * Calibre       100 mm
* Maximum range      750 m         * Warhead type  H.E
* Shell weight        10 kg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Sleeper Time Bomb]

This device is a bomb that the player can drop from the mauler and set to
detonate after a delay of between 0 and 120 seconds, it has a large blast area
and does massive damage to anything within it. It is intended for use in
destroying large installations such as supply dumps. The weapon control buttons
allow you to decrease or increase the time before detonation. The H-U-D shows
the time delay set while the player is still acrrying the sleeper and the time
remaining to detonation after it is dropped. The magazine size is 1.

[Sleeper] Weapon Status:

* Explosive force          2 tonnes (TNT equivalent)
* Effective kill radius  200 m (Depending on armour)

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[Dragon-Fly -- Wire Guided Missiles]

When you lunch one of these missiles a view from just behind the missile
appears in the aux monitor and you now control the movement of the missile
rather than the mauler. You can switch back to controlling the mauler by
hitting the right mouse button, but you lose control of the dragon fly, which
simply continues on the path it was on.
The missiles have a limited range and can fly for approx 20 seconds before
detonating, although, they will detonate before this on contact with any
object!!

[Dragon-Fly] Weapon Status:

* Speed                   180 m/s
* Flight duration          22 seconds
* Max range              4000 m
* Weight                   80 kg
* Length                    2 m
* Calibre                 250 mm
* Warhead type                H.E  
* Control                     Jet defelction
* Guidance                    Wire guided (mclos)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[K-90 Cluster Bomb]

Like mortar bombs are thrown forwards and up, but have a fixed range. At the top
of their arc of travel they release a parachute and then eject 8 sub munitions
downwards in lethal cones.

[K-90] Weapon Status:
 
* Range                   200 m
* Shell weight             20 kg
* Sub-bomb calibre         50 mm
* Number of sub-bombs       8
* Warhead type                H.E
* Scatter radius           50 m

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                             Defensive Weaponary:

[Spectre I.R Decoy Flares]

These are flares that you can launch to decoy heat seeking missiles. If a flare
comes within the field of view of an enemy missile there is a high probability
that it will change course to follow the flare rather than the mauler. If used
while you are also using heat seeking missiles they may interfere with the
operation of them as well!!

The flare launcher has 2 modes of operation,single-shot and automatic. In the
single-shot mode you launch a flare on demand by hitting the fire button. In
auto mode, mauler launches a flare every minute or if the current flare has
been destroyed, to give continual protection.

Flares last about 1 minute before they fall to the ground and are extinguished.
A flare is destroyed once it has been hit by a missile. The weapon control
buttons control the mode the launcher is in, clicking on one puts the launcher
into automatic mode, the other puts it onto single-shot mode. The H-U-D shows
the current mode, wether any flares are in the air and the number of flares
remaining, the magazine is 12.

[Spectre Flare Dispenser] Weapon Status:

* Flare detonation height       55 m
* Effective decoy radius        25 m
* Minimum effective wavelength   3 microns
* Maximum effective wavelength  14 microns

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Phantasm Decoy Chaff Dispensers]

Similar to the decoy flares except that it launches a cloud of chaff that
confuses radar guided weapons. The chaff cloud does not rise as high as the
flares and remains stationary where it was launched. It lasts for 2 minutes and
weapons do not detonate on it but fly straight through. The controls and
display are the same as for decoy flares except that the repetition rate in
automatic is every 2 minutes. The magazine size is 8.

[Phantasm Chaff] Weapon Status:
 
* Detonation height        20 m
* Bloom radius             15 m
* Bloom time              1.5 seconds
* Minimum effective freq  1.2 ghz
* Maximum effective freq   18 ghz
* Minimum strand length     8 mm
* Maximum strand length   125 mm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Skeet Anti-Armour System]

Clicking on fire launches a skeet from the rear of the mauler that flies across
the battle field, and which, if passes above another object-detonates and fires a
shell downwards at that object. The skeet stays in the air for approx 30
seconds. The display shows the number of skeets remaining. The magazine size is
12.

[Skeet Anti-Armour] Weapon Status:

* Operating height         20 m
* Flight time              30 seconds
* Projectile velocity    9500 km/h
* Warhead type                Explosively forged warhead
* Sensor type                 Infra Red
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Slam Laser]

This weapon sits on top of the mauler and when activated will lock onto any
incoming missile and shoot it down with laser fire. It can only cope with one
missile at a time and,as it is chemically powered, has a limited number of
shots. The only control is an on/off switch on one of the weapon control
buttons, the fire button has no effect on this weapon. The display shows wether
the gun is active and a baragraph of the amount of chemical reactants left. The
laser will usually take several shots to down a missile, the number depending on
the size of the missile. The magazine holds enough for 80 shots.

[Slam Laser] Weapon Status:

* Fire rate               250 pulses/minute
* Power                   200 kw
* Wavelength             3000 angstroms
* Pulse length            3.5 milli-seconds
* Joules/pulse            460
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Auxiliary Monitor View: (Aux Monitor)

The auxiliary monitor is used to display several secondary, but important visual
displays in `Battle Command`, such as rear view and the wire guided missile
view. Pressing F2 will give you an expanded and more detailed view of this
monitor - with the disadvantage that will be more deprived of your normal
display for the duration. To return to the main display press F1.
                   ------------------------------
External Views:

Your on board computer can on request, provide you with an external view of your
mauler, constructed from a combination of visual and radar data. The absolute
view (F3) will keep in a fixed position relative to the scenery. That is, steer
your mauler to the left and you`ll see it spinning around in the external view
and the scenery stay, more or less still. Conversely choosing the relative
view (F4) will keep the view fixe relative to your mauler. Both these views can
also be rotated and zoomed in/out by using the numerical keypad and (+/-) at
any time, you can return to the main view by pressing F1.
                   ------------------------------
Damage:

At some point in `Battle Command` it is highly likely that your mauler will
aquire some damage either from enemy fire-or by you driving into something
solid, when any damage occurs, you will be informed of its exact nature by a
message on the H-U-D, a graphical representation of which can be viewed by
pressing F6.
At the top left of this screen is a 3D display of your mauler showing where and
what extent it is damaged. Damage to any part of the mauler is shown by the
relevant area changing colour. The colours range from light green through
yellow to dark red, light green indicates no damage, dark red indicates that an
area is so heavily damaged that another hit at that location will destroy the
`mauler`.
The rest of the screen shows icons for all the equipment fitted to the
mauler, next to each icon is a small bargraph showing the repair state of the
equipment.
If you start to accumalate damage, there is a likelihood of equipment
malfunctioning, either by reduced funcionality or intermittent operation.
                   ------------------------------
Mission Review:

At any time during a `mission` you can get a recap on your `mission
objective`, pick up co-ordinates, and your current position by press F5
                   ------------------------------

Key Guide:

Battle Command can be operated entirely from the keyboard, although the use of a
mouse is recommended.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cursor Control
--------------
The cursor is moved about the screen and the mauler is controlled by using the
mouse or joystick. Cursor control with these device is obvious.
The joysticks fire button`s perform the same functions as the left and right
mouse buttons. If the joystick only has a single button then this acts in the
same way as the left mouse button, the functions of the right mouse button can
be accessed using the Enter key on the keyboard.

Controlling the Mauler..
------------------------
Mouse left/joystick left..........Rotate mauler left
Mouse right/joystick right........Rotate mauelr right
Mouse forward/joystick forward....Accelerate mauler
Mouse back/joystick back..........Decelerate mauler
Left m/button/fire button 1.......Fire weapon

The Keyboard can be used as an alternative to a Mouse or Joystick.
------------------------------------------------------------------
ESC...........Quit when paused
F1............Mauler control panel
F2............Auxiliary monitor
F3............External view absolute
F4............External view relative
F5............Mission review
F6............Damage screen
F7............Game options
F10...........Pause (use Escape to quit when paused)

Space.........Fire button 1 (equivalent to left mouse button)
Enter.........Fire button 2 (equivalent to right mouse button)

Shift 1-4....Select weapon module 
+(Main keyboard)....Upper weapon module button
-(Main keyboard)....Lower weapon module keyboard

Q............Up
R............Rear view camera
O............Left
P............Right
Return.......Fire 2
A............Down
S............Sound
J............Joystick
K............Keyboard
C............Centre controls
B............Brake
N............Night sight
<............Decrease magnification binoculars
>............Increase magnification binoculars
?/...........Binoculars

Shift and T..transmit pickup request

Keypad Commands.

7...........External view controls
8...........Rotate up
-...........Zoom in
4...........Rotate left
5...........Centre view
6...........Rotate right
+...........Zoom out
2...........Rotate down

Miscellaneous Keys.

S...........Toggle sound on/off
Shift & 1-4.Set graphics complexity level
F10.........Pause

When Battle Command is paused the following functions are available:

ESC.........Abort
K...........Select keyboard (Amiga/ST only)
J...........Select joystick ...............
M...........Select mouse    ...............

---
Typed by Scooter

