ACM(l)
NAME
acm - an aerial combat simulator for X
SYNOPSIS
acm [ server ] [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
acm is an air combat simulator that runs under the X win-
dow system. Up to eight players can engage in simultane-
ous 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 Fal-
con 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 pri-
vate 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 "pub-
lic" 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 air-
craft in the corresponding direction. On the ground at
speeds up to 100 kts, nose wheel steering guides the air-
craft.
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 win-
dow. 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 generat-
ing. 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 environ-
ment. Your chances of staying alive increase remarkably.
THE HEADS UP DISPLAY (HUD)
On the left side of the HUD is a ladder showing your cur-
rent 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 rel-
ative 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 verti-
cally 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 cou-
ples with your radar set to provide time-to-impact infor-
mation 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