acm
NAME
acm - an aerial combat simulator for X
SYNOPSIS
acm [ server ] [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
acm is an air combat simulator that runs under the X window
system. Up to eight players can engage in simultaneous air
combat. Players fly jet aircraft equipped with radar, heat
seeking missiles and cannon.
The program, "acm", calls a daemon already running on the
specified server_hostname and requests that your enter the
game. The shell variable "ACMSERVER" optionally specifies
the name of the server host.
Each player flies something close to either an F-16C Falcon
or MIG-23.
USAGE REFERENCE
To begin play, the flight simulator server must be started
manually on a system that is accessible to all players.
The following command line will do that:
% acms
The following command line options are recognized by
acm:
-geometry geometry_spec
An X compatible window geometry specification
-team <1 or 2>
Specifies the starting airfield. Airfields are about
50 nm apart. Team 1 flies F-16's, team 2 flies MIG-
23's.
-dv Use the X server's default visual for your screen.
Normally, acm will hunt for a Visual that has a depth
of eight planes. It will also create a private
colormap for acm's use. If your screen's default
Visual is an 8-plane PseudoColor Visual, using this
switch will allow acm to use the "public" Colormap so
that other windows won't change color when acm is in
use.
HOW TO TAKE-OFF
Your mouse is the control stick. The neutral position is
the center of your view display -- denoted by the dot in the
center of your heads-up-display (HUD). Moving the mouse
away from you pitches the plane down, moving it back pitches
the plane up. Left and right inputs roll the aircraft in
the corresponding direction. On the ground at speeds up to
100 kts, nose wheel steering guides the aircraft.
To take off for the first time, select 20 degrees of flaps
(press H twice), then press the full throttle key (the 4 key
on the main keyboard). Keep the mouse in the neutral
position until you are moving at about 140 kts, then pull
the mouse about two-thirds of the way down the view window.
You should pitch up and lift off the ground fairly easily.
Gradually move the stick closer to the neutral position and
let your airspeed build -- don't move it back to neutral too
quickly or you will end up back on the ground again! As
your airspeed passes about 250 kts, raise the flaps (press Y
twice) and landing gear (press G). Congratulations, you're
flying a multi-million dollar jet.
ENGINE CONTROLS
The following keys control your engine thrust:
4 Full Power
3 Increase Power (about 2 percent)
2 Decrease Power (about the same amount)
1 Idle Power
A Toggle Afterburner
Your engine gauge displays the power that you are
generating. Below that, you have displays showing your
total fuel remaining as well as your current fuel
consumption rate. The afterburner uses fuel at an amazing
rate; use it wisely.
LOOKING AROUND
The keys of the numeric keypad control which direction
you're looking outside of the cockpit:
8 Forward
4 Left 5 Up 6 Right
2 Aft
It pays to look around when you're in a combat environment.
Your chances of staying alive increase remarkably.
THE HEADS UP DISPLAY (HUD)
On the left side of the HUD is a ladder showing your current
airspeed in nautical miles per hour (it displays true
airspeed). Above that, in the upper left corner, is a G-
meter.
The right ladder shows altitude; above that is a readout of
your current angle-of-attack in degrees ("a=X.X"). Your jet
will stall at a 30 degrees positive angle of attack and
negative 16 degrees.
The airplane symbol (something like "-O-") shows the
direction that the relative wind is coming from. The
relative wind combines your current angles of attack and
sideslip. A ladder in the center of the HUD show your
aircraft's current attitude.
The lower, horizontal ladder shows your current heading.
Discretes in the lower left-hand corner show the state of
your weapons systems. Slightly above them is a readout of
your current thrust percentage as well as the state of your
engine's afterburner -- the "AB" symbol means the
afterburner is on.
USING YOUR RADAR DISPLAY
The radar system has a field of view of 130 degrees
vertically and side-to-side. Radar automatically locks onto
the closest threat in its field of view. A locked target is
displayed as a solid block. Other hostile targets are
displayed as hollow squares.
Targetting information is displayed in the lower right
corner of the display. The top number is the heading of the
locked target, the next number is the relative heading you
should steer to intercept the target (displayed as "ddd R",
and the third number is the rate that you are closing with
this target, expressed in knots.
You can lock onto other targets by pressing the target
designator key (Q).
WHO'S GUNNING FOR ME?
Radar sets that are tracking your aircraft can be detected.
Your Threat Early Warning System (TEWS) display warns you of
potential threats. This circular display shows the relative
direction of radars (other aircraft) that are looking at
you.
ARMAMENTS
Your aircraft is equipped with heat-seeking missiles and a
20 millimeter cannon. Weapon information is displayed in
the lower left-hand corner of your HUD. Different weapons
may be selected by pressing mouse button 3.
The missiles are patterned after U.S. AIM-9M Sidewinders.
They can detect infared (IR) targets at any aspect (not just
from the rear). Their range varies dramatically with the
altitude and closure rate. The missile subsystem couples
with your radar set to provide time-to-impact information
when AIM-9's are selected.
EXAMPLES
acm bismarck
acm bismarck -geometry 1000x500
KEYBOARD COMMAND LIST
Stick and Rudder Controls
The Mouse if your stick. It controls pitch and roll.
Z -- Rudder Left
C -- Rudder Right
X -- Center the Rudder
Engine Controls
4 -- Full Power
3 -- Increase Power
2 -- Decrease Power
1 -- Idle
A -- Toggle Afterburner State
Radar Controls
R -- Toggle Radar State (On/Standby)
Q -- Target Designator
Flaps
H -- Extend 10 degrees
Y -- Retract 10 degrees
Speed Brakes
S -- Extend
W -- Retract
Weapon Controls
Mouse Button 2 -- Fire the selected weapon
Mouse Button 3 -- Select another weapon
Pitch Trim Controls
U -- Set Take-off pitch trim
J -- Set pitch trim to the control stick's current pitch
setting
Other Controls
G -- Retract/Extend landing gear
P -- Self-Destruct (Quit the game)
L -- Launch a target drone
View Controls (Numeric Keypad)
8 -- Forward
2 -- Aft
4 -- Left
6 -- Right
5 -- Up
AUTHOR
Riley Rainey, riley@mips.com