ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) Guide


Description:

Fly your stealth bomber across land and sea taking out enemy targets along the way. Both allies and enemies have 5 units consisting of Bases (from where enemy interceptors launch to do you battle in the skies) - Land forces (which mobilize to attack allied installations) - Coms base (communications used by each side to organise attacks) Sea forces (warships used to attack from sea) - Factory (provide new units at small rate to replenish losses). Take to the skies armed with machine guns, asraam and maverick missile's, attempting to annihilate as many targets as possible before your fuel runs out or the stealth takes too much damage. At the end of your flight land to get an assessment of your performance before refueling and rearming. ?Overall victory is had when all land forces and sea forces are destroyed as there is no longer ?any means to attack after this. (Note: all functions of each unit are automatic)

Controls:
Q - Up Thrust
A - Down Thrust
Down arrow - raise plane
Up arrow - lower plane
Left/right arrow - turn plane and add or remove fuel and arms choices
C - Switch bottom panel between ATF damage report/ammo/unit type and global map
M - launch missile
N - switch between asraam and maverick missile's
T - terrain follow on/off (allows ATF to automatically follow the terrain)
U - undercarriage up/down (wheels)
H - hold mode (pause)
D - toggle between allied/enemy units on bottom panel
E - toggle between unit type
R - cycle back through selected unit for location
F - cycle forward through selected unit
G - locates closest unit type you have selected
J - jam incoming SAM missile's (you have about 3 - 4 seconds)
L - automatic landing on/off
Space bar - select screen/options and fire guns/exit refueling for take off
F12 - full screen



Game play/walkthrough:

Use the arrow keys and space bar to select your pilot level to determine the difficulty (effects things such as how many interceptors hamper your travels and the ratio of allied to enemy units at the beginning) then start game. You will first be taken to the War report screen for an intelligence briefing which gives you an overview of the global map and all allied/enemy installations. At first only 2 of these targets have been identified and locked into you mini map for you to hunt down. Not all targets seen on the global map are locked into the planes coordinates database but will be as you fly in their vicinity and identify them. Press the Return button to see coloured squares that reveal the position of all units. Pieces flashing green(allies) and red(enemy) are currently engaged in battle. Press space bar to exit and you will then go to a status screen showing bars that indicate how many of each unit you both have. Press space bar to continue to next screen.
You will see a large panel on the left from where you arm and fuel up using arrow keys. Once you have full fuel and spent your maximum weight in arms, press space bar and you will come to a back view of the plane. (Throughout the entire flight you can only view the plane from the back).

On the top right is a small panel showing you a map of your semi immediate area. On this map all units are seen as a motionless black dot while any approaching interceptors appear as flashing black dots. Under this panel is your mini map panel showing you a global map with your ATF (the big flashing dot) as well as one small flashing dot which is any unit you have selected. Use this map to steer your plane towards the target until you can see it's location in the above panel, then fire your missile when close by. This bottom panel also allows you to toggle between ATF status which shows you the extent of damage done, your weapons screen which shows how much ammo you have left and the coordinates screen for each unit.
At the very bottom of the screen you will see an empty bar which displays messages from your base when you identify new targets so you can check them in the mini map. All other messages appear here too, such as the warning of incoming SAM missile's which you have about 3-4 seconds to Jam before being blown out of the sky. (Always keep your finger ready on the J button) Under this is your fuel gauge, SAM warning light (an alarm is heard when this flashes), AL which shows if automatic landing has been engaged, TF which shows if you have activated terrain follower and UC which lets you know if your wheels are up or down. (Note: you must have undercarriage lowered when you land or ATF will explode upon touching the ground)

Once you are sitting behind the plane use Q to up thrust and hold the arrow down key to lift off. Fire at interceptors with space bar (machine gun) and use M to launch either maverick or asraam missile's at targets. Mavericks are self guided and you need only see the target in the top panel and be roughly facing it for a good chance to hit. Asraam on the other hand are lighter to carry but you must be able to guide the missile yourself to hit the target which requires you to be directly head on or use the arrow keys to steer the plane in the right direction which also steers the missile. At this point wait a few moments to receive a report in the message bar as to whether the missile either hit and damaged or, hit and destroyed the target. If you miss, you will receive a message saying target lost. A hit and damage results in seeing a small explosion on the horizon while a hit and destroy makes the whole sky flash red. (Note: you will not be able to fire another missile until you get the report) Avoid taking damage as much as possible as the more you are hit the more you lose power, effecting thrust and speed as well as losing control which means the planes steering becomes less reliable. Your weapons also take damage meaning they fire slower and you may have to press the M button repeatedly to get a missile to fire.

As said already Interceptors are first seen as flashing dots on your top right panel but when close enough they then disappear for a few seconds before you will see a small white dot coming in from the left or the right of the screen. They will either fly at you and fire or come up from behind to veer you away from targets and waste your fuel. A mission ends basically when you are either destroyed, need to refuel or run out of ammo and need to head back to base. At this point land the plane at your nearest base in order to refuel, rearm and get various reports to plan your next moves. It is possible to remove all enemy targets before the game ends but often the game ends just before this happens as once all of the land and sea forces of one side have both been taken out there is no way to attack any further. Good luck?


Tips:

Don't compromise fuel for weapons. Always take off with a full tank as it only lasts about one lateral trip across the map.

Don't go overboard on machine gun ammo. I take about 5 bars as you only shoot interceptors when dead on and often just dodge them and their bullets. I usually come home with 2-3 bars.

Until you are experienced with guiding asraam you may want to take the heavier maverick missile's and forget the other altogether. Though this means you will be able to take less per trip, it also means you probably will have greater chance of hitting your target.

When in the briefing screen try to remember roughly where on the globe all enemy targets are so once you have taken out the 2 units locked into you mini map you know where to fly to id more.

Don't feel you have to hit the targets indentified in your mini map straight away. You may want to find other targets esp tanks and warships as they sway the battle most. So if you have 2 bases locked in you can skip them and fly round to see what else pops up and try to get in early to remove enemy attacking units. After these I tend to target factories most as they produce enemy units although slowly.

Before take off, cycle through all allied bases (all allied units are already locked into databases) and check them on your mini global map so you can determine the best flight path to maximise the amount of targets hit within the limits of your fuel gauge.

When you see interceptors approaching within one move of you it is more practical to try to veer the ATF a bit so that they approach either side or head on even if you are headed straight at a target. If they come in from behind you, they will appear behind you on the left panel and shoot you or force you to steer out of the path of their bullets. This could take a long time in which you have been turned right around and have to fly much longer to turn back towards the target wasting too much fuel.

When approaching an enemy base, I usually find these take a few missiles to destroy so I drop to half speed using A so I get enough time to let off without flying over it and having to swing round for another go

Watch the distance in blocks you travel in the top right map and take note as to how much ground you cover per block of fuel spent. This helps to plan your trip and stay within safe landing distance of your nearest base. (Not sure but I think its about 4- 5 squares per block)

I highly recommend that newbies always use automatic landing as it can be quite hard to land manually. In fact as my main goal is to win the battle not fly the plane like a pro I still always use AL as it's much easier. Just depends on what kind of challenge you are after.

Lastly, until you are experienced and developed your own strategies you may want to copy this guide and paste it to a word doc so you can have it open in another screen for quick reference. Just press H to pause and unpause during a mission.

Paul2287 : This looks to be a very good, or at least very interesting game. Maybe ill give it a try someday, when I have less to work on in my long to-play list.

Hi MysteryMan007

I used to enjoy this little game back when I was a wee lad. It's very simplistic but not bad to widdle a few hours away. Thanks for liking my thread and I hope it proves useful.

Paul2287