StarFight: Comrades by JP-Production Finland Inc.
StarFight: Comrades
Assembly 2004 Edition
Mini-Manual
(c) 2001-2004 JP-Production Finland Inc.
http://www.jpproduction.fi
All Rights Reserved
This document was last modified Aug 2nd, 2004
0. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
3. STARFIGHT: COMRADES GAMEPLAY GUIDE FOR DUMMIES
4. FULL KEYBOARD REFERENCE
5. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
6. CREDITS
7. COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
8. CONTACT
9. JOIN OUR GLORIOUS TEAM!
1. INTRODUCTION
StarFight: Comrades - Assembly 2004 edition is a 3D space shoot-em-up game
with a light simulation flavour. It is also the first public technology
demonstration of the upcoming multi-genre scifi game, StarFight: Comrades.
This release contains one playble, independent mission. The background story
is explained briefly in the next few chapters.
It's year 2285. You are commander Dmitrij Kulov, a promising young flight
officer in the Soviet States of Mezen (SSM) elite naval unit, the Homeworld
Guard. An ongoing cold war situation between SSM and the rivalling political
faction, The Terran Republic (TTR) is keeping the Homeworld Guard occupied.
Fomalhaut star system is a remote outpost of SSM. Lead by the charismatic
military leader general Dominik Markovich, the Fomalhaut system is a
continuous source of trouble. Central intelligence has reliable reports
which indicate that Markovich is about to defect over to the TTR.
A small Homeworld Guard attack fleet has been dispatched to Fomalhaut to
assassinate Markovich and destroy his base orbiting the gas giant planet
Al Amal. You and your wingmen are the last to arrive.
2. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
An absolute minimum configuration to run the game:
- Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, Millennium Edition or 98
- AMD Athlon 1200MHz or Intel Pentium 4 1500MHz CPU
- 256 megabytes of memory
- NVidia GeForce 4 MX460 or equivalent with 64MB of memory
- Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or later
- A DirectSound compatible sound card
- Microsoft Video1 AVI codec installed (default on any recent Windows)
In addition, a highly recommended setup would feature:
- AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon XP 2500+, Intel Pentium 4 2400MHz or faster
- 1 gigabyte of memory
- ATI Radeon 9700 or nVidia GeForceFX 5900 with 128 megabytes of memory
3. STARFIGHT: COMRADES GAMEPLAY GUIDE FOR DUMMIES
SF:C is quite a complex game, and due to it's pre-alpha nature in this
release it may be very hard to get into. Please refer the following tutorial
if you find the game hard to get into.
FLYING THE SHIP
- The ship is primarily controlled with mouse, but the mouse is also used to
control a variety of onboard systems on the HUD.
- Use the SPACEBAR to toggle between mouse cursor mode and ship flight mode.
- Use W and S keys to control your throttle, use Z and C keys to roll
- Whenever you are needed to fly somewhere far away, you should use the
autopilot-controlled hyperdrive or it'll take years. Access the autopilot
by pressing the SPACEBAR to enter the cursor mode and clicking on the blue
icon at the top-left corner of the instrument panel.
COMBAT
- You should always lock a target using the targeting system, or you won't
hit anything. Use T and Y keys to cycle through targets, U key to target
closest object. It's also handy to switch the targeting system to only
show hostile targets by pressing the M key once.
- Use G key to toggle your weapon systems on and off
- Use the RIGHT mouse button to fire lasers and ALT to fire a much bigger
gun known as the mass driver
- Use the LEFT mouse button to select targets
ADVANCED
- Use F8 to enable time acceleration and F7 to disable it. This is especially
useful on long autopiloted journeys.
- Use CTRL-A to call wingmen to attack your target
- Use CTRL-H to call wingmen for help. They'll target the closest craft
attacking you at the moment
- You can ask for status reports using the comm system, which can be
activated by pressing the grey "COMM" button in the bottom-right side
HUD status window
- The bottom-left icon in the toolpanel allows you to an overhead tactical
view the battlefield. This system can also be used to select targets for
the autopilot. The whole system is not very useful in this release, though
MISSION WALKTHROUGH
1. Wait for the SSM Destoyer DTR-SNE 1 to arrive
2. Read the conversation. A battle will ensue.
3. There are two types of enemies: weapon platforms and two wings of F279
interceptors. You should concentrate your fire on the F279's as they'll
go for the destroyer which is vital for your success in the mission.
4. When the enemies have been eliminated, open the autopilot and click on
"Eferidi orbit entry point". Press F8 to enable time acceleration during
the voyage.
5. At Eferidi, wait for a few seconds. Orders to proceed to the outpost
assault area at Al Amal will be sounded.
6. Head for Al Amal using the autopilot. Concentrate your fire on the
outpost structure. Should a heavy cruiser or two called "Mauler" arrive,
evacuate the area, you won't survive the combat. At all times look out
for the destroyers. Some of them are needed later.
7. After the battle, head back to Eferidi. You'll receive orders to find
general Markovich.
8. Markovich is at the Al Ahmud navpoint, fly there and then quickly back
to Eferidi inform the rest of the attack force.
9. Proceed to Al Ahmud. Don't be the first in the line to be killed,
instead wait for any surviving destroyers to enter hyperspace first.
10. Destroy Markovich's heavy cruiser Tver. Prioritize Tver's fighters, they
pose a threat to your destroyers. Cruiser Tver is equipped with
incredibly powerful, forward facing beam fusion cannons. Keep off their
way or you'll be instantly vaporized.
11. After cruiser Tver has been destroyed, wait for a few seconds.
Humppa ensues.
4. FULL KEYBOARD REFERENCE
SHIP CONTROLS
W Throttle up
S Throttle down
ARROW KEYS Control ship direction
C Roll clockwise
Z Roll counter clockwise
SPACEBAR Toggle control mode (mouse control / cursor)
H Balance shields
WEAPONS
MOUSE/RIGHT Fire primary weapon
ALT Fire secondary weapon
G Enable/disable weapon systems
TARGETING
MOUSE/LEFT Select target
T Next target
Y Previous target
U Target closest object
M Targeting mode (all objects / only hostile)
MISCELLANEOUS
F7 Time acceleration off
F8 Time acceleration x 16
F10 Console
F11 Ingame menu
ENTER Match speed with target
CAMERA CONTROLS
F1 Toggle 1st/3rd person view
F2, F3, F4 Switch camera view (not available in this version)
F5 Toggle user camera mode
F6 Toggle free / player-bound camera
5. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is the relation between this release and the upcoming
full version of StarFight: Comrades?
A: Some of the technology that has been developed during the SF:C project
has been utilized in making of this release: the basic gameplay somewhat
resembles the full game's small ship flight. A lot of features are
missing in this release, such as the dynamic universe, jumping between
star systems, docking to capital ships and most of the graphics. Also
the included mission is not part of SF:C's main story arc, but an
independent, very short prequel kind of thing.
Q: The game crashes occasionally. What can I do?
A: If your system is up to spec, not much. The game is still in a pre-alpha
phase, and wide compatibility test are yet to be done. Some of the things
that may cause trouble are forced antialiasing, anisotropic filtering,
exotic mipmap driver settings and beta display drivers. In addition, you
should enable dynamic lighting in the options for only testing purposes
as it has an undetermined memory leak somewhere.
Q: The victory score sounds familiar... Where have I heard it before?
A: The music is the original author's quick remake of the ASSEMBLY '01 fast
music winner, "Comrades"
Q: I have lots of suggestions on how to improve the game. Where should I
send them?
A: /dev/null
Q: Say what!?
A: If you really think you have a great idea on how to improve the game, you
can send it to the author (see contact -section at the bottom). However,
do not expect us to go ape over your idea, as we already have far more
ideas than we can realistically ever implement.
Q: Lots of symbolism here... Are you a communist?
A: Hell no! The communist theme is a lighthearted parody of the ideology,
politics and the related culture in the conglomerate of states that
used to be known as the East Block up until the early 90's.
Q: Are you a right-wing, nazi flag waving antisocialist then?
A: Hell no! Certain sentimentality, dare I say romanticism, is associated
with the East Block and especially USSR. As a greedy capitalist swine,
I'm looking forward to exploiting it.
6. CREDITS
Code, Design, Graphics:
Jukka T. Paajanen
Music and Sound Effects:
Ari Pulkkinen
The Original Storm3D Graphics Engine:
Sebastian Aaltonen
Additional Graphics:
Matti Vanhanen
Kristian Vuorinen
Tero Antinkaapo
Special acknowledgements:
Frozenbyte Inc. (technology partnership)
7. COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
This production is (c) 2001-2004 JP-Production Finland Inc.
This version of StarFight: Comrades utilizes the Fmod sound library:
http://www.fmod.org/
(c) Firelight Technologies
While 99% of the graphics, sound and code are in-house, some of the source
materials used in this version of the game have been taken from external
sources.
Cloud cover map, gray rock planet diffuse map and gas giant textures:
James Hastings-Trew's Planetery Pixel Emporium
http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/
8. CONTACT
Questions, Comments, Generic enquiries:
Jukka T. Paajanen
http://www.jpproduction.fi
jukka.paajanen@jpproduction.fi
Audio related:
Ari Pulkkinen
http://www.aripulkkinen.com
artz@aripulkkinen.com
9. JOIN OUR GLORIOUS TEAM!
Are you an experienced 3D modeller looking for a new hobby project, which
might become a commercial release someday? If you're interested in modelling
spacecraft and other ingame objects for StarFight: Comrades, contact the
author in the above address. We're expecting you to be at least 18 years of
age, having some first-hand experience in modelling stuff having in the order
of tens of thousands of faces for realtime presentation, and most important
of all, being able to use your own imagination.
We cannot guarantee you a paycheck, but naturally there will be compensation
if we ever get this elephant-of-a-game out of the door :)
EOF[ back to the prod ]