Pursuit

Briefing

Reports have come in of a final evacuation of the last few remaining enemy ground forces on South Island. The departure of a group of helicopters from the north-east coast is imminent. Get to the evacuation site as quickly as possible and eliminate them before they can reach the safety of West Island. If you get there fast, they may still be on the ground, watch out for the small coastal base and listen for the helicopters.

Approach the helicopters slowly from behind. Take them out before they spot you.

You must stay low to the ground en-route to avoid detection by enemy radar. If you are spotted, fast attack jets armed with radar-guided missiles will be despatched to thwart you.

Guide

The objective in this mission is to destroy the three enemy helicopters which are fleeing from South Island. The helicopters take-off from a small enemy base on the far side of the island.

Care must be taken while flying over the island to avoid detection by enemy jet fighters which are armed with radar-guided missiles.

Flying over South Island

Stay low while flying over the island to avoid detection. Keep your eye on the 'Enemy radar detector' LED. Try to keep it green. If it turns yellow and emits a warning beep then you must fly lower. If it remains yellow for too long then it will turn red and you will soon be engaged by enemy fighters. If the 'Enemy radar detector' becomes damaged then it will turn black and emit smoke. If it isn't broken too you must then rely on your 'height above ground' dial (bottom left on the dial panel) to see when you are too high. Keep the white needle beneath the red maximum height needle.

Any broken console equipment may be repaired using the console repair skill, once you have won it.

It is important to get to the far side of the island as quickly as possible. When the helicopters are ready they will take-off on their journey to West Island. You can chase them over the sea but once at West Island your flight path vears off to avoid confrontation with ground defences.

Dealing with the fighters

If you are unlucky enough enough to be engaged by the enemy fighters you will find that they are armed with radar-guided air-to-air missiles. You have no defence against these until you have won the 'Chaff dispenser'. If you have the dispenser then eject chaff when the missile is near. Chaff is less effective when the missile is further away. The key-code for chaff is a rapid press of the slower ('B') key, rapidly followed by the up ('Q') key. If you don't have the dispenser then expect some console or fuel tank damage.

You can fire on the fighters using the wire-guided missiles. Quickly get to equal height as the fighter passes and launch your missile when the 'SHOOT' LED lights. When the fighter is hit, quickly drop down so as not to attract any more unwanted attention.

If you fly through a cloud while being pursued the fighter will lose sight of you for a while and fly off. Get low quickly before he comes back.

Destroying the helicopters

On reaching the far side of the island, depending on how quickly you get there, the helicopters may still be on the ground, or just taking-off, or they may have already left and be flying over the sea.

If they are still on the ground then you can bomb the one that is directly under your flight path. Unfortunately the other two are located off your flight path and cannot be bombed.

When the helicopters are in the air, stay behind them (to the west of them) and they do not realise that you are there. Pick them off with your WG missiles one by one.

If you accidently pass them then they will fire on you with radar-guided air-to-air missiles, are difficult to get a weapon lock on, and easy to crash into (which doesn't count as a kill for the purpose of meeting objectives). The best course of action is to fly west until they get tired of trying to catch you (you can easily out-run them), then sneak up behind them again.

Occasionally two helicopters may accidentally crash into each other in the heat of the moment, this does not count towards your objectives and you will only be able to get one kill.

West Island

Objectives and awards

If you have managed to land safely, or eject if necessary, the first West Island mission, 'Snare', is unlocked for you to play.

If you have destroyed any of the helicopters then you will be offered at least one award. The most useful ones for this mission are the 'Chaff dispenser' and 'Console repair' skill. Either one will give you some defence against the radar-guided missiles, the 'Console repair' being most generally useful. The 'Weapon Cam' is less practical, but can give some entertaining views of the action, and show when you have made a kill. It is also of use when strafing (hold down up and down keys ('Q' and 'A' by default) together), giving a forward view of your target during ground attack using rockets or cannon.