Revenge

Briefing

One of your comrades has been downed by enemy jets. Fuelled with anger, you set out in hot pursuit of the culprits. As you traverse your flight path you will be engaged by the enemy fighter jets. To wreak maximum revenge, stay out of the clouds.

These jets can be out-run by your Harrier, so don't go too fast. They are fitted with electronic counter measures, so radar-guided air-to-air missiles are useless against them.

There are no Brownie points for destroying enemy ground forces in this mission.

When choosing awards note that the stores pods are essential if you wish to do well in the next mission, 'Rescue', or later in the 'Thirst' mission.

Heat-seeking air-to-air missiles are necessary to get the best results in this mission.

Guide

Your objective in this mission is to destroy as many enemy aircraft as possible, before you rendezvous with your carrier.

Your flight path is very long on this mission so be sure to keep an eye on fuel usage.

Enemy aircraft behaviour

The enemy aircraft are jet fighters which are slightly slower than the Harrier, and armed with heat-seeking air-to-air missiles. They are equiped with electronic counter measures which renders radar-guided missiles useless against them. They do not however have flares so both wire-guided and heat-seeking missiles are effective weapons to use.

In this mission pre-determined numbers of fighters are released as you progress past certain points along the flight path.

Fighters that lose sight of you if you pass through a cloud will not return.

Tactics

There is a small enemy base armed with flack firing weapons near the coast. Destroying ground forces is not part of the objectives for this mission, so fly very high over it to avoid damage.

Because the objective is to destroy the fighters, and they are slower than the Harrier, and there is a need to conserve fuel, it is best to travel along the flightpath at a medium speed, preferably the speed which is most fuel efficient. This speed can be determined by experimenting with the speed and observing the fuel usage rate needle.

When the mission is first played, only wire-guided missiles will be available to use against the enemy fighters. It can be very difficult, especially over the mountainous terrain in this mission, to maintain a lock while the missile is homing in on its target. It is therefore a good idea to get the minimum of two kills on your first attempt and then make sure you reach your carrier for a safe landing, or eject when necessary. You can then select the heat-seeking missiles as your first award, which are much more effective in this mission.

It can be useful in the first stages of this mission to fly up the mountain slightly and then turn around to lure some of the fighters onto the flatter terrain where they are easier targets.

As you traverse the flight path, if the fighters are not taken out quickly, more and more of them will assail you. It can be useful to turn around and fly in the opposite direction, then no new fighters will emerge as you take some of the existing ones out. Remember though that you cannot travel too far back because you will most likely run out of fuel.

Alternatively you can fly through a cloud, all of the fighters will lose sight of you and disperse, but they will not come back; don't forget that to gain all the awards for this mission you must destroy 20 fighters.

It is unlikely that you will get far in this mission without having the flare dispenser. If the flare dispenser gets damaged then you are in trouble. Remember that flying through a cloud will disperse the fighters.

If you're desperate and have a heat-seeking missile on your tail, a couple of fast turns can make it lose its lock. Too many unlucky hits from missiles and you are likely to get fuel leaks, increasing your fuel usage problems.

To win all three awards, you must take great care with fuel usage, and be constantly discharging flares and executing the console repair skill.

Awards

If you have managed to land safely, or eject if necessary, the next mission, 'Rescue', is unlocked for you to play.

If you destroy at least two of the enemy fighters then you will be offered at least one award. All three of the awards in this mission may be won. As stated above, the first priority is to get the heat-seeking missiles, which are extremely useful in this mission. The stores pods are necessary to win any awards in the next mission, 'Rescue'. The radar-guided missiles are very useful in many future missions, but are not effective in this mission.