Bleat Bleat Bleat Main Menu Info The main menu allows the user to select what he or she wants to do next in the game. To choose a selection from the main menu, use the arrow keys (\\) to highlight the selection you want, and press \<\C\R\>. A quicker way is to press the highlighted letter corresponding to the desired selection. To change pilots, activate or deactivate a pilot, create or delete a pilot, or view pilot records, choose the \("\Duty Roster"\) selection. The \("\Combat Missions"\) selection allows the user to choose between various battle scenarios, or Theaters-of-Operation. This leads to a great deal of variety in the type and quality of opponents. A pilot must prove his proficiency in multiple theaters to advance far in rank. If you want to brush-up on some specific aspect of your flying and fighting skills, then you can choose the \("\Training Missions"\) sel- ection. This allows you to choose the number and quality of a limited array of opponents. By default, a pilot flies an invulnerable plane during the training missions, and thus they are not counted. Note that if a standard plane is chosen, then these missions DO count toward a pilot's career, and a pilot can still be killed or captured in these missions. You can see who the hottest pilots are by choosing \("display \High score\) \(list"\). \(CORNCOB-3D\) is shareware. If you continue to use the program, you should consider registering it. You can find out more about this by choosing \("\Registraion"\) from the main menu. The \("keybord/\Joystick setup"\) selection allows the user to choose how the plane will be controled. The current choices are shown at the bottom of the main-menu screen. The authors of \(CORNCOB-3D\) have recorded a few demo flights to demon- strate the variety of situations which can be encountered. You may view these demos with the \("\Watch a demo flight"\) selection. Please note that due to the compression used to record the flight character- istics, the demos will not be as smooth as the actual game. When you have finished playing \(CORNCOB-3D\), you may exit the program by choosing \("e\Xit to dos"\). You may also type \<\E\S\C\>. Note that this selection does NOT ask for user confirmation, because that would be silly. Duty Roster Menu Info When \(CORNCOB-3D\) is first run, the pilot flying is considered to be a trainee. The trainee does not have a record, and his exploits and current selections are erased each time the program is run. The \("\Duty\) \(roster\) menu allows users to create pilots which can be used in re- peated missions. Also the current choices (such as theater of operation) for each pilot is saved when the program exits. It is very satisfying to build up a career in this way. Also, it is more challenging, because keeping your pilot alive is one of the main points of strategy! Having a pilot with a great record definitely is grounds for bragging rights when you discuss the game with your friends. On the left is a list of selections which you can choose from by using the arrow keys (\\) to highlight the selection you want, and press \<\C\R\>. As usual, a quicker way is to press the highlighted letter corresponding to the desired selection. On the right is a list of the currently known pilots. Many of the selections require the user to choose a pilot from the list on the right. When you do this, one of the pilots in the list will be highlighted. Move the highlight to the de- sired pilot with the arrow keys (\\), and press \<\C\R\>. While a pilot in the list on the right is highlighted, the menu on the left will be replaced by a box summarizing that pilots career. This is to aid in choosing the desired pilot. You create a pilot with the \("\Create Pilot"\) selection. When you choose this, a box will pop up prompting you for a pilot's name. You may choose any name you want subject to a 20 character limit. After you type in the name, the program will ask you if you want to activate the pilot. The \(active\) pilot is the pilot which is used when a mission is flown, which is probably what you want so just press \<\C\R\> for yes. You can change the active pilot with the \("\Activate Pilot"\) selection. When you choose this, one of the pilots in the list will be highlighted. Move the highlight to the desired pilot with the arrow keys (\\), and press \<\C\R\>. You may deactivate the active pilot with the \("\Deactivate Pilot"\) se- lection. When you do this, no pilot in the list is considered active, and the active pilot will be "trainee" as discussed above. You may delete a pilot with the \("de\Lete Pilot"\) selection. When you delete a pilot, his record is permanently removed. If your pilot is killed or captured during a combat mission, he will be deactivated, and cannot be activated. You can override this, and bring a pilot back to life with the \("r\Esurrect Pilot"\) selection. Beware though, the program keeps track of the number of resurrections, and dis- plays this information prominently in the pilot's record. It is hard to brag about what a great career your pilot has when he has been resurrec- ted several times! If you don't like the name you chose for your pilot, you can change it with the \("re\Name Pilot"\) selection. This changes the pilots name with- out affecting his career. If you want a detailed view of your pilot's record, choose the \("\View\) \(Pilot Records"\) selection. Move the highlight to the to the desired pilot, and press \<\C\R\>. This will bring up a full screen display of that pilot's record. You can then move through the list of pilots with the arrow keys, or return to the menu with \<\C\R\>. Combat Missions Info \(CORNCOB-3D\) allows a pilot to choose between several different battle scenarios, or \("Theaters-of-Operation"\). The theaters vary in dif- ficulty and in the type of opponent. You can fly a combat mission in one of the theaters-of-operation by choosing the \("\Fly mission"\) selection. Most Theaters-of-Operation consists of 9 airfields. Surrounding these airfields are enemy targets, which you must kill. If you fly from one airfield to another, then the next time you fly that theater you will begin at the new airfield. As you fly in a Theater-of-Operation, the state of the universe is preserved. Thus enemy sites and targets that you kill in one mission will still be dead when you continue in a later mission. In the upper-right is a list of the various Theaters-of-Operation. You select one of these with the \("\Open a new theater of operations"\) selec- tion from the Theaters menu. This highlights one of the theaters, and you can change the highlighted name with the arrow keys. Pressing chooses the highlighted name. Pressing or aborts the choice and returns you to the Theaters menu. You may open as many different theaters as you wish. In the lower-right is a list of the Theaters you have opened. This list changes according to the current selected pilot. Each pilot has a current Theater-of-Operations. When you fly a mission from the main menu, you fly in your current Theater-of-Operations. The current theater is indicated by a \(\) in the list at the lower-right as well as being shown at the upper-left of the theaters menu, underneath the current pilot. You can change the active theater with the \(\Activate an open theater\) menu item. Pressing this item will highlight the current theater in the list of open theaters in the lower-right, and give a brief status of theater on the left. Choose the desired theater with the arrow keys and press to activate that theater or or to abort. You may choose to play with an invulnerable plane with the \("toggle\) \(invulnerable \Plane"\) selection. When flying with an invulnerable plane, you will not be damaged by any alien forces, or by any collision. How- ever, if you leave your plane you are still quite mortal and can be killed or captured. Flights taken with an invulnerable plane are never counted toward a pilots record. Registration Menu Info \(Information on Registration\) Thank you for considering registration. There are two registration options available. Economy registration is $15, and full registration is $25. Economy registration will enable to you to run the Corncob program which you already have on one (and only one) computer without trial period notices etc. With the full registration you are sent a floppy disk with the latest unprotected version of Corncob with mission builder, a photocopied manual for the MB, and telephone support. \(Information on Full Registration\) With full registration, you need only send Pie-in-the-Sky your name, address, and a check for $25. You will be sent a floppy disk contain- ing the latest version of Corncob, along with a mission builder with photocopied documentation. Fully registered users will be entitled to telephone support. The version of Corncob which you will receive will have no copy protection, or shareware interruptions. Please print out the file ORDERFRM.DOC, and fill it out. If you have no printer, just send a note with same information that is re- quested in the order form. \(Information on Economy Registration\) When you play \(CORNCOB-3D\) for the first time, you will be issued a registration code. This code is unique to the computer which is running \(CORNCOB-3D\). To register your copy of Corncob, send this code, and $15.00 with a self-addressed stamped envelope to Pie in the Sky, and you will receive via mail a meshing code number with instructions which will enable you to run Corncob on your computer with no registration interruptions. Pie in the Sky offers this low cost registration by minimizing the time required in order to process the registration. Therefore, only registration requests which follow the requirements will be processed. The easiest way to get the requirements correct is to print the file ORDERFRM.DOC, and fill the information out. \(Make sure you include a self-addressed stamped envelope!!!\) This is so that Pie in the Sky can mail the reply back to you in the envelope you provide. No economy registrations will be processed without a self-addressed stamped envelope!!! Note that economy registrations will only run on the computer from which the registration code was taken. If the code which you send to Pie in the Sky is incorrect, your registration process WILL NOT WORK! This limitation is not to punish users who choose economy registrations, it is merely a way to register users inexpensively without having to send them floppy disks, which takes time and resources. Keyboard/Joystick Setup Menu Info This menu allows the user to choose between keyboard control and joystick control. If you do not have a joystick, then you must choose keyboard control. To choose keyboard control, use the \("choose \Keyboard control"\) selection. To choose keyboard control, use the \("choose \Joystick control"\) selection. Note: Keyboard players should view the Keyboard Play chapter in the view documentation section of the main menu for helpful info. Normally, \(CORNCOB-3D\) only asks to recenter the joystick when it detects a significant amount of drift since the last time this was done. You may override this and force the program to re-center the joystick only when you want by choosing the \("choose \Manual joystick\) \(centering"\) selection. The program will then only attempt joystick recentering when you choose the \("\Force joystick re-centering next\) \(flight"\) selection. Of course, this selection is ignored if you have chosen keyboard control. In order to return to the default automatic centering, choose the \("choose \Automatic joystick centering"\) selection. All of the current choices are displayed at the bottom of the menu. Training Missions Menu. If you want to brush-up on some specific aspect of your flying and fighting skills, you can design your own mission by choosing the \("\Training Missions"\) selection. This allows you to choose the number and quality of a limited array of opponents. Note that these missions still count toward a pilot's career, and a pilot can still be killed or captured in these missions. In the \("\Training Missions"\) scenario, you have a single simple objective: destroy a field of 15 alien fuel dumps. A force-field protected orb is also present. You should try to destroy the orb to really hone your flying and fighting skills. The design-your-own aspect enters in the number and quality of alien defences. The tick field is protected by KLA's and AAA batteries, as well as a swarm of enemy ground vehicles which are just itching to capture anyone on the ground. You may choose the number and quality of each of these defences. The more and higher quality you choose, the more skill required. Of course, your score will reflect this. You can fly a training mission by choosing the \("\Fly mission"\) selection. To choose the quality of the enemy defences, select \("modify \Wicked-\) \(ness of enemies"\). This will bring up a menu allowing you to change the "wickedness" of the three defences. Wickedness values range from 1-8 inclusive, with 1 representing really stupid opponents, and 8 being deadly. Top quality defences should only be attacked by truly expert flyers! A special wickedness value of 0 is reserved to select a random spread of wickedness. This is for those who like surprises. To choose the number of enemy defences, select \("choose \Number of\) \(enemies"\). This will bring up a menu allowing you to change the number of each of the three defences. You may choose between 0 and 25 inclusive of each. (Note well that choosing a large number (>~5-10 will put a strain on your CPU. If you experience too slow of a frame rate, cut down on the numbers.) The default values are as follows: 5 KLA sites Random spread of Wickedness 6 AAA batteries Random spread of Wickedness 2 vehicle sites Wickedness 4 This represents a relatively advanced setting. The beginner should especially beware of the danger of plowing his plane into the turf when strafing the fuel dumps. You can restore these default settings at any time with the \("choose \Default values"\) selection. You may choose to play with an invulnerable plane with the \("toggle\) \(invulnerable \Plane"\) selection. When flying with an invulnerable plane, you will not be damaged by any alien forces, or by any collision. How- ever, if you leave your plane you are still quite mortal and can be killed or captured. Flights taken with an invulnerable plane are never counted toward a pilots record. Hiscore Menu Obviously, no combat game is complete without a high-score list, and \(CORNCOB-3D\) maintains three separate lists: the High-Score list, the Top-Career list, and the Fast-Career list. The High-Score list, shown by choosing the \("see list of high \Scores"\) selection, is a list of the top 10 best missions, sorted by points, along with the pilot, theater-of-operation, and number of kills. Pilots with a strong showing in this list are the true hot-shots of the game. The Top-Career list, shown by choosing the \("see list of top \Careers"\) selection, is a list to the top 10 best careers, sorted by points, along with the pilot, number of missions, number of resurrections, and number of kills. This list shows the most decicated pilots -- for total points is a measure of who the "aces" are. The Fast-Career list, shown by choosing the \("see list of \Fastest\) \(careers"\) selection, is a list of the "rising star" pilots. This is a career list sorted by average points per mission. Thus, you can usually see which pilots got off to the best start with this list. There is a requirement of three missions to appear on the Fast-Career list. The first two of the lists show number of kills. This is a three number field, showing, from left to right, number of missions objec- tives accomplished, number of primary kills, and number of other kills. Primary kills are defined as TETS, Fuel Dumps, AAA batteries, Missile or Vehical Sites, and Orbs. Other kills are KLA and vehicals. When pilots are deleted from the roster, their careers are frozen, and their names are marked in all the lists with an \*. Thus, the same name could appear repeatedly in the career lists, if a pilot is deleted, and recreated. Each of the lists can be independantly deleted by choosing the \("\Delete\) \(one of the above lists"\) selection. Delete a high score list menu Each of the High-Score lists can be deleted independantly from the others. To delete the top score list, choose the \("delete the list of top\) \(\Scores"\) selection. To delete the top score list, choose the \("delete the list of top\) \(\Careers"\) selection. To delete the top score list, choose the \("delete the list of \Fastest\) \(careers"\) selection. Each of these choices will require confirmation by pressing .