Games PC INDEPENDENCE WAR 2-EDGE OF CHAOS User Manual

EPILEPSY WARNING

A very small percentage of individuals may experience

epileptic seizures when exposed to certain light patterns

or flashing lights. Exposure to certain light patterns

of backgrounds on television screens while playing computer games

may induce an epileptic seizure in these individuals.

Certain conditions may induce undetected epileptic symptoms

in persons who have no history of prior seizures of epilepsy.

If you or anyone in your family has an epileptic condition,

consult your doctor prior to playing.

If you experience any of the following symptoms while

playing a computer game: dizziness, altered vision, eye

or muscle twitches, loss of awareness, disorientation,

any involuntary movement, or convulsions

– IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your doctor.

PACK CONTENTS

• 2 CD ROM Disks

• This Manual

• Edge of Chaos Control Guide

• Registration Card

CAUTION

Mishandling can damage the CD-ROMs that hold INDEPENDENCE WAR 2: Edge of Chaos. Please remember to fill in the questions on your registration card and return it. The information will help us in developing future games you want to see. Thank you.

QUERIES

If you should find either the program or the documentation unsatisfactory in some way, please write and let us know.

EDGE OF CHAOS On The Internet

To keep informed with all things related to the INDEPENDENCE WAR universe visit Infogrames’ website at www.edgeofchaos.net. Here you will find a wealth of information for pilots, heroes and rogues of all abilities. For more information on the Independence War Universe, visit Particle Systems website at www.independencewar.com.

Welcome to the Edge of Chaos

In the twenty-fourth century, the citizens of the Core Systems lead a life of opulence and luxury. However, far from Earth and its notions of justice, powerful corporations rule the Badlands Cluster with an iron fist. The brave few who were prepared to make a stand have paid the ultimate price for their courage…

On the cold frontier of Known Space, the murder of one man will set in motion events that could lead to freedom for the Badlands – or to the utter annihilation of humanity.

Cal Johnston

You are Cal Johnston, tough, smart and a born leader. You were only 12 years old when you witnessed Caleb Maas brutally murder your father, Felix. Now, 15 years later, you may finally be able to exact your revenge.

Jefferson Clay

Clay is a one-of-a-kind computer simulation of an ancient

war hero. When he died more than a century ago,

his personality and knowledge were preserved.

Clay serves as your mentor and guardian.

Jafs

A gifted smuggler and forger, Jafs is Cal’s best friend and confidant. He is also a skilled cargo pilot and an adept negotiator.

Azraelle Takagi

Cool and enigmatic, little is certain about Azraelle.

However, she is an exceptional combat

pilot and was once a pirate of some considerable

renown. Az has never really revealed her

true reasons for joining Cal.

Lori Trieste

Young and idealistic, Lori is Az’s close friend and ally. What she lacks in combat experience she makes up for with dogged persistence.

Lemuel Smith

Despite his towering stature and partially

cybernetic body, Smith is genial and popular.

A self-taught engineer, he has remarkable skill

in any field involving machinery.

Caleb Maas

Sadistic and cruel, Caleb is the recent heir to the Maas Industries fortune. His keen instinct serves him well in both starship combat and the boardroom.

Manual E_of_K GB 1st 7/30/01 12:21 Page 2

Contents

Welcome to the Edge of Chaos

. . . . .

Cal Johnston . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Jefferson Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Jafs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Azraelle ‘Az’ Takagi . . . . . . . . . 3

Lori Trieste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Lemuel Smith. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Caleb Maas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Hardware Requirements . . . . . . 6

Minimum specification: . . . . . . 6

Recommended specification: . . 6

Installing EDGE OF CHAOS. . . . . 6

The Readme File . . . . . . . . . . 6

Infogrames Customer

Service Numbers . . . . . . . . . . 7

Quick Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Story Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Instant Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Multi-player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Become a Combat Pilot

in 60 Seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Moving Around . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Defending Yourself . . . . . . . . . . 8

More Information . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

START NEW GAME . . . . . . . . 10

LOAD GAME. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

INSTANT ACTION . . . . . . . . . 10

MULTIPLAYER. . . . . . . . . . . . 10

OPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

MOVIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

QUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Multiplayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

GAME TYPES . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

LAN GAME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

INTERNET GAME . . . . . . . . . 11

OPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Escape Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

How to Pilot The New

1502-X Command Section. . . . . 15

Flying Your Ship . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Linear Displacement Drive (LDS)17

The Heads-Up Display . . . . . . . 17

RETICLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

CONTACT LIST . . . . . . . . . . 18

ORB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

MFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

SYSTEM STATUS . . . . . . . . . 20

GRID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CONTRAILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

BRACKETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CLOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using the Command Menu . . . . 21

MAIN MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

NAV SUBMENU . . . . . . . . . . 22

AUTOPILOT SUBMENU . . . . . 22

WEP SUBMENU . . . . . . . . . . 22

CMD SUBMENU . . . . . . . . . . 23

DOC SUBMENU . . . . . . . . . . 23

COMMS SUBMENU . . . . . . . . 23

Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

AUTOPILOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

THE STARMAP . . . . . . . . . . . 24

THE CAPSULE DRIVE

AND LAGRANGE POINTS . . . . 25

Using Weapons Systems . . . . . 26

Weapon selection . . . . . . . . . 26

Targetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Rules and Regulations . . . . . . . . 30

Discipline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Shares and bonuses,

in order of payment . . . . . . . 30

Command structure . . . . . . . 30

Final word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Lefty’s Advanced

Flight Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Advanced Piloting . . . . . . . . . . 31

The flight computer . . . . . . . 31

Lateral thrusters. . . . . . . . . . 32

Free flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Heat and Power . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Heat and overheating . . . . . . 33

Power and brownouts . . . . . . 34

The Engineering Screen. . . . . . 34

Designation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Alert lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

System information. . . . . . . . 35

TRI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Power output . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Status display . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Lefty’s Advanced

Combat Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Group tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Wingmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Turret Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tactical camera . . . . . . . . . . 37

Getting the Edge . . . . . . . . . . 38

Sub-targeting . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Sneaking around . . . . . . . . . 38

Remote piloting . . . . . . . . . . 38

Weapon tips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

LDSi missiles and LDSi fields . 39

Particle beam cannon . . . . . . 39

REM missiles . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Disruptor missiles. . . . . . . . . 39

Shields and Self Defence. . . . 40

LDA shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Ramming speed!. . . . . . . . . . 40

Power management . . . . . . . . 40

Home Sweet Home . . . . . . . 41

The Base Computer Interface. . 42

HANGAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

INVENTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

RECYCLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

MANUFACTURING . . . . . . . . . 42

COMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . 42

ENCYCLOPEDIA . . . . . . . . . . 42

The Hangar and

Maintaining Your Ships . . . . . . 43

LOADOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

CUSTOMIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

ADD CARGO . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

MANIFEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Customizing Your Loadout . . . . 43

Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Hardpoints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Heat and power requirements 44

Internal cargo space . . . . . . . 45

Further information . . . . . . . . 45

Trading For Fun And Profit . . . . 45

Trades list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Doing the deal . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Getting tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Manufacturing goods . . . . . . . 46

Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Piracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

The Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Cargo and pods . . . . . . . . . . 47

Persuasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Hauling it home . . . . . . . . . . 48

CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Manual E_of_K GB 1st 7/30/01 12:21 Page 4

Installation Guide

EDGE OF CHAOS is designed for computers using the Microsoft Windows®95b, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows ME operating systems. The game also requires Microsoft DirectX™8.0, and you will be able to install this on your computer as part of the installation process.

Hardware Requirements Minimum System Requirements

• AMD® K6-2 350 MHz or Intel® Pentium® II 300 MHz or better.

• 64 MB RAM.

• 16 MB DirectX-compatible 3D Video Card.

• 600 MB hard drive space for installation.

• 128 MB hard drive space after installation.

• Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card.

• 4x CD-ROM drive.

Recommended specification:

• AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium III or better.

• 128 MB RAM.

• Microsoft DirectX-compatible sound card.

• 16x CD-ROM.

• 600 MB hard drive space for installation.

• 128 MB hard drive space after installation.

• 3-axis 4 button joystick with a 4-way hat switch.

• 28.8 Kbps modem for internet multiplay.

In addition your machine should have the following:

• Microsoft DirectX 8.0 (installed by the game).

Installing EDGE OF CHAOS

After starting your computer place the CD marked “EDGE OF CHAOS Install Disk” into your CD-ROM drive. Follow the on screen instructions to install the game.

If you do not have Autoplay enabled, open My Computer and double-click on the icon for your CD-ROM drive, then double-click on SETUP.EXE to start the install program.

If you do not have Autostart enabled, open “My Computer” and double click on the CD-ROM drive icon. Double click the SETUP.EXE program.

After the game has installed you can play from the Windows Start button by selecting Program Files -> EDGE OF CHAOS.

Customer and Technical Support (U.S. & Canada)

Assistance Via World Wide Web

Get up-to-the-minute technical information at the Infogrames,Inc. web-site, at: http://www.us.infogrames.com, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Through this site you’ll have access to our FAQ documents (Frequently Asked Questions), which contain our latest troubleshooting information. You’ll have access to a Message Board and links to our E-Mail area where you can leave us your tech support problems and questions if you do not find your answers within the FAQ.

Help Via Telephone/Fax Or Mail In The United States & Canada

For phone assistance, call Infogrames, Inc. Support at 425-951-7106. We have an Interactive Voice Response and Faxback system that is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. If you should need live support, we are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM (PST). Please note that live Tech Support may be closed on major holidays. We ask that you do the following when calling: be at your system; have your system information ready for our technicians. It will expedite your handling significantly. You may also fax in your Technical Support questions or problems to: (425) 806-0480, or write in to the address below. INFOGRAMES HINT LINE - 1900-454-HINT: $.99/minute. If you’re under 18, get a parent’s permission before calling.

Product Return Procedures In The United States & Canada

In the event our technicians at 425-951-7106 determine that you will need to forward materials directly to us, please include a brief letter explaining what is enclosed and why. Make sure you include the Return Merchandise Authorization Number (RMA#) supplied to you by the technician and your telephone number in case we need to call you. Any materials not containing this RMA# will be returned to you unprocessed. Your mail should be sent to the following address:

Infogrames, Inc. 13110 NE 177th Place Suite # B101, Box180 Woodinville, WA 98072-9965 Attn: Technical Support RMA#: (include your RMA# here)

Warranty Policy In The United States & Canada

If our technicians determine that the product storage medium is found to be defective within ninety (90) days of original purchase, (unless otherwise provided by applicable law), Infogrames, Inc. will replace the item free of charge, to the original purchaser, if the item is accompanied by the original dated receipt and packaging. If you do not have the original receipt, or if the warranty period has expired, Infogrames Entertainment S.A. will replace the product storage medium for a nominal fee.

Other

Please do not make unauthorized copies. The program you’ve purchased was produced through the efforts of many people who earn their livelihood from its lawful use. Don’t make copies for others who have not paid for the right to use it. To report copyright violations to the Software Publishers Association, call 1-800-388-PIR8 or write:

Software Publishers Association 1101 Connecticut Ave., Suite 901 NW Washington, DC 20036

This program is protected by United States federal and international copyright laws.

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Quick Start Guide

You don’t need to read the whole of this flight manual before pitting your wits against the cutthroats of the Hoffer’s Wake system, but you are likely to live longer if you do. At least read this guide before powering up your starship and heading out into the lawless Badlands Cluster.

There are three ways to play EDGE OF CHAOS:

• Story Mode

To play the story mode, and have the full EDGE OF CHAOS experience, click Start New Game from the Main Menu. In the prelude to the story, Jefferson Clay will teach you how to fly and fight. We recommend that you play at least part of the story before trying Instant Action or Multiplayer. Clay has been around for a long time and knows all there is to know about surviving space combat, so be sure to learn all you can. You are going to be putting those new skills to good use later on.

• Instant Action

Perfect for a quick fix of space combat. The enemies come thick and fast. And they get harder and better equipped the longer you survive.

• Multiplayer

Take on your friends and make new enemies over a LAN or on the Internet. We recommend that you get a little practice in Instant Action or Story Mode before taking on skilled human pilots...

Become a Combat Pilot in 60 Seconds

We recommend using a joystick to play, and this manual assumes that you are using a joystick with hat switch and throttle. If you don’t have a joystick, don’t despair - all joystick functions are available via the keyboard. Refer to the separate control guide for more details.

Moving Around

Controlling your ship is quite simple. Moving the joystick back and forth will point the nose up and down. Moving left and right turns to the left or right. To speed up and slow down, adjust the throttle using the Throttle Wheel or the + and - keys on the keyboard.

Defending Yourself

The green circle in the center of the screen is the targeting reticle – your weapons will fire at objects in the center of this circle. To target an enemy, position your reticle over their ship and press Joystick Button 2 or the T key.

Cycle through your primary weapons (guns) with joystick button 4 or the Enter key, and secondary weapons (missiles) with button 3 or the Backspace key.

Finally, take aim and pull the trigger to fire at your target.

More Information

For more in-depth information refer to the main flight manual on page 15.

Good luck, Captain!

“Astronomy compels the soul

to look upwards

and leads us from

this world to another.”

Plato (428 BC – 348 BC),

The Republic

“Astronomy compels the soul

to look upwards

and leads us from

this world to another.”

Plato (428 BC – 348 BC),

The Republic

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Main Menu

After starting EDGE OF CHAOS you will see the screen shown here. This is the main menu.

START NEW GAME

Begin a new game in Story Mode. The plot picks up straight after the death of Cal’s father at the end of the intro movie.

LOAD GAME

Continue a game you have previously saved in Story Mode.

INSTANT ACTION

Select this for a quick space battle. Pick a ship from the list and enter the fray. A succession of enemy ships will appear through the jump point for you to engage and destroy. The longer you survive the tougher the waves of ships become. If you score highly, you may be able to earn new ships to fly.

MULTIPLAYER

Play against your friends over a LAN or via the Internet. Refer to the Multiplayer section below for details.

OPTIONS

Configure EDGE OF CHAOS to your personal taste. Refer to the options screen section on page 12 for details.

MOVIES

View any of the movies you have seen so far in Story Mode. The further into the story you get, the more there will be to see. Press Space to stop watching a movie.

CREDITS

View the list of people responsible for making EDGE OF CHAOS. Press Space to return to the Main Menu.

QUIT

Exit the game and return to Windows.

Multiplayer

The Multiplayer Screen allows you to set up your player options, search for LAN and Internet games, or host a Multiplayer game on your own computer.

GAME TYPE

• Deathmatch

Play a standard frag fest. The winner is player with the most kills at the end of the game, or the first to reach a specified number of kills. Make good use of the weapon power-ups to gain an advantage!

• Team Deathmatch

Join Team Alpha or Team Beta and take on the enemy with the help of your human wingmen. Ganging up on enemy ships will win the day.

• Capture the Flag

A real test of strategy. Your team must steal the other team’s flag and return it to your base to score points.

• Bomb Tag

The player who grabs the bomb first scores points by killing all the others, but be careful not to let someone steal it from you. Watch out! The bomb is full of unstable antimatter, and you don’t want to be near it when it goes off…

In Multiplayer your enemies are always highlighted in red on the heads-up display, and any friends in blue. In Deathmatch all the other players are red, because they all want to take you out… Any light blue objects are power-ups, which are almost always going to help you out.

LAN GAME

To play a multiplayer game over a LAN, all the computers must be able to communicate using the TCP/IP network protocol. If you are not sure whether you have this protocol or how to install it, consult your system administrator or Windows documentation.

When you enter the LAN GAME screen, the system will search for and display a list of all the games currently being played on your network. When the search is complete, the Searching… message changes to Refresh. Click this button to update the list of games.

If you move the mouse pointer over an entry in this list, additional information about the server is displayed at the bottom of the screen. This includes the map, game type, and maximum number of players.

To join a game, click on its entry in the list.

INTERNET GAME

Make sure your Internet connection is active before trying to play an Internet game. For more information, consult your Windows documentation.

When you enter the INTERNET GAME screen, the system will connect to the GameSpy master server and download a list of games currently being played on the Internet. This process may take several seconds.

When the search is complete, the Searching… message changes to Refresh. Click this button to begin a new search for games.

The entries in the list are sorted by ping time, which is a measure of the connection speed between your computer and the game server on the Internet. You will generally have a smoother and faster game on a server with a lower ping time.

Manual E_of_K GB 1st 7/30/01 12:21 Page 10

To join a game, click on its entry in the list.

Advanced users: You can also find and connect to Internet games using GameSpy Arcade, included on the EDGE OF CHAOS Install Disk. For more information, check out our readme file and http://www.gamespyarcade.com/.

OPTIONS

Enter the name by which you wish to be known by other players, and select the ship you wish to fly. The different ships all have their own strengths and weaknesses, so choose wisely.

HOST SESSION

Here you can host a Multiplayer game of EDGE OF CHAOS on your computer. Select the type of game you want to play, set frag and/or time limits, and click START to enter the fray.

The ADVANCED menu allows you to play against AI bots and adjust other server options to your taste.

Options

The options screen is accessed from the Main Menu and allows you to configure EDGE OF CHAOS to your personal taste. From the options menu you can access the following screens to tailor specific areas of the game to your computer.

GRAPHICS

To change the display resolution, click the Resolution button and select your 3D Accelerator (if you have more than one in your computer) to display a list of resolutions. Highlight the desired resolution and click Apply to change.

The other options on the graphics screen allow you find a balance between performance and visual quality to suit you and your computer.

Some of these options are intended for advanced users only.

SOUND

Adjust the volume levels for music, speech and sound effects.

CONTROLS

Select your desired control style from the list. The default style is recommended for all EDGE OF CHAOS pilots.

Other options allow you to modify aspects the control style, and adjust the strength of Force Feedback effects if you are using a Force Feedback joystick.

Escape Menus

Whenever you are playing the game, you can press Escape to pause and bring up a menu. This menu contains the following options:

• Resume game

Return to the game and continue playing

• Load game

Quit your current game and load a new game

• Options

Open the options screen

• Quit

Quit your current game and return to the Main Menu

If you are in the base interface, you will have the following extra option:

• Save game

Save your progress and then continue playing

Note that the game saves automatically when you launch from the base, using the slot labelled AUTOSAVE.

Manual E_of_K GB 1st 7/30/01 12:21 Page 12

Manual E_of_K GB 1st 7/30/01 12:21 Page 14

NSO Laplace 1502-X Command Section:

Provisional Prototype Flight Manual

NSO Laplace “Armadillo-Works” R&D Facility,

Bessus, Hoffer’s Wake

5th February 2325

HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

– EYES ONLY –

❚“This flight manual sometimes reads more like a sales brochure.

I guess they wrote this back when they were still trying to sell

this Command Section to the Navy.

I’ve added some notes to fill in the gaps. So pay attention, kid.

Clay”

Manual E_of_K GB 2nd 7/30/01 12:26 Page 15

1617

How to Pilot the New 1502-X Command Section

NSO Laplace is proud to present the new 1502-X Command Section. This advanced prototype allows you to fully command any compatible starship from the comfort of an armored yet high-visibility bubble cockpit, giving maximum combat and operational effectiveness for minimum investment in personnel.

❚“In fact, most of the test pilots couldn’t handle the extra workload.

But I reckon you’re better than that”.

Previous designs required a skilled bridge crew to operate a vessel. However, using Laplace’s patented avionics and command and control technology, a whole starship can now be controlled by a single person.

The first thing any starship commander needs to do is learn to fly their ship. Don’t be daunted - it’s a lot easier than it looks. With our new command section, every vessel from the smallest tug to the deadliest warship is flown in exactly the same way.

And remember, the 1502-X is a capable ship in its own right. It can ferry three people around a star system in comfort, giving convenience for owner and crew.

Flying Your Ship

Most of the time, you will be in conventional flight, with your ship’s course and speed controlled by your drive and thrusters. The drive assembly at the rear of the ship vents superheated plasma from the main reactor ring to move the ship forwards. An array of smaller maneuvring thrusters all over the outer hull are used to point the ship in the desired direction.

You control the maneuvring thrusters with your joystick in a similar fashion to aircraft controls. Moving the joystick back and forth will point the nose up and down (pitch). Moving left and right turns to the left or right (yaw). You can rotate the ship around its long axis (roll) by using the twist action on a 3-axis joystick, or by holding down Joystick Button 2 and moving the stick left and right.

To control the drive, choose your desired forward speed with the Throttle Wheel on your joystick or the “+” and “-” keys on the keyboard. This is called your set speed. Your flight computer will fire the drive automatically to reach your set speed in the direction you are pointing.

❚“Remember kid, when you fly this thing I’m gonna be in the cockpit with you.

You might be a hot-shot, but you still have a lot to learn.”

Linear Displacement System (LDS)

Your drive and thrusters are powerful, but using them to traverse the large distances between planets would be uneconomic. The Linear Displacement System, or LDS, propels your ship forward with a series of microscopic inertia-less spatial distortions. A ship in LDS can approach the speed of light, which makes interplanetary travel feasible. Under normal circumstances your Autopilot will engage the LDS drive for you. It is possible to engage manual LDS using the L key but this is only recommended for advanced pilots and those who need to get out of the way of someone in a really big hurry. Once in manual LDS, control your direction in the normal way, and change speed using the throttle controls.

❚“Be careful with that Manual LDS override! If you hit any planets travelling

at half the speed of light, you’ll leave a heck of a hole.”

The Heads-Up Display

Your Command Section cockpit does not contain any traditional instrumentation – all the flight and combat information you need is presented by the Heads-Up Display, or HUD. The HUD is projected onto the inside of your specially designed helmet visor, so it’s always in your field of view.

The main purpose of the HUD is to display information about your ship, your current target, and other ships or stations that your sensors have detected. The HUD consists of a number of different displays, which we will discuss in detail.

• RETICLE

The green circle in the center of the HUD is the reticle. It displays critical information about your ship and your current target. It is the single most important display on the HUD.

The left side of the reticle is the speed display. In conventional flight you can see your speed in meters per second to the left of the center. The orange arc displays your speed graphically, with the small orange triangle marking your set speed.

Above the conventional speed display is the LDS speed display. When the LDS drive is engaged, the green arc indicates your speed, and the small green triangle your set speed. The LDS speed scale is geometric, so for each increase of the throttle, the speed is multiplied by 10.

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+ 18 hidden pages