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  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