From: andrem@pyrman2.mis.pyramid.com (Andre Molyneux)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Hellcats questions
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:37:47 GMT

Having had Hellcats Over the Pacific for about a month now, I've got a few
questions hopefully some of you can answer:

How do you succesfully ditch?  The manual states that bailing out is the most
dangerous option, but I've never managed to ditch without destroying the
plane.  I've tried several different ways, but none of them seem to work.
One time I stayed at around 400 ft until I was about to stall, then dove down
and flared just above the water.  When I touched my vertical airspeed was
quite low, and my forward airspeed was right about at stalling.  I thought
for sure I'd been succesful that time, but the plane cracked up as usual.
What's the secret?

I normally play Hellcats on our LC, but one weekend I brought an SE/30 home
from work so I could play Hellcats while my wife used the LC.  When I started
up the game, I noticed something different about the forward view.  On the
LC (with 12" color monitor), the only thing obstructing your view is the
space taken up by the instrument panel.  On the SE/30, however, there was
a horizontal line even with the top of the panel, and you couldn't see below
that line.  Maybe I can show it better than I can explain it (Warning!  Crude
ASCII graphics ahead!)

                               _______________
                              /               \
                             /                 \
                            / Instrument Panel  \

On the LC, you can see terrain above the sloped areas of the instrument panel.
On the SE/30, it looks something like this:

                          _________________________
                              /               \
                             /                 \
                            / Instrument Panel  \

The area below the horizontal line and above the sloped area of the instrument
panel is filled-in on the SE/30.  Anyone know why?

As far as stupid ways to get yourself killed, I managed to get myself killed
while on the ground after having completed "Flying Fortress".  I had landed
shortly before the B-17, and thought I'd like to get a closer look at it.  I
waited until it had landed and taxied off the runway.  After the B-17 had
been sitting still for about 15 seconds on the grass, I taxied up near it
on the strip in front of the hanger.  Just as I came up next to the B-17
(which had been completely still for about 30 seconds) it started turning and
it's tail just touched my Hellcat before I could get out of the way (I didn't
think of hitting the 'M' key to end the mission, unfortunately).  BOOM!
Scratch one Hellcat, one B-17, and my highest-scoring pilot.

Another stupid way to get yourself killed:  Drop a bomb while flying on the
deck at low speed.  Your Hellcat will get caught in the explosion.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Andre Molyneux   KA7WVV     "Insert your favorite disclaimer here"       |
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games