Military Forces Quake3 (Alpha Release) Manual
Introduction | Installation | Playing Tutorial | Game Details | Map Details | Model Details | FAQ | Credits

Tutorial Getting into the game Starting a game of Military Forces is much the same as starting any other game of Quake3. However, you can also select with gameset you wish to play with - at the time of writing, the Modern and World War 2 gamesets are available. At the moment, you can only start a multiplayer game, but in the future it will be possible to play single-player (mission based) and training games as well. If you wish to create a new server or play by yourself: Click on the Start Game option from the main menu. Select the gameset you wish to play by clicking on the up and down arrows on the right-hand side of the screen. Click on Multiplayer and then Create. Select which map you want to play on, and click Next. Only specific Military Forces maps will be shown. Choose if you want to play with bots or not, and set other details (Frag Limit/Time Limit/Hostname etc) as desired. Click Fight. Within a few seconds the map should load. If you want other people to connect your server, they should follow the instructions below. To join an existing server: Click on Multiplayer in the Start Game menu (you do not need to select a gameset in this instance - the server that you are connecting to defines which will be used). How you connect to a server depends on whether it is a local server (on your LAN - Local Area Network) or an Internet server: Local Server - The server should appear in the main server list. Click on the server you want to play on and click Fight. Internet Server - Click on Specify and enter an IP address in the space provided. Modify the port if necessary, and click Fight. In a few seconds, you should be connected to the server. Joining a Game Before you start playing in a game, you need to select which vehicle you want to play with. At the moment, you will only be able to choose between a number of fighter aircraft and tanks, but future versions will feature many different types of aircraft, helicopters, vehicles, and maybe even boats. The range of choices will depend on which gameset you are currently playing. To select a vehicle, do the following: Go to the vehicle selection screen on the ingame menu, by pressing Esc and clicking on Vehicle. Note: You can also get quickly to the vehicle selection screen by binding a key to vehicleselect, or by assigning a key to it through the MFQ3 Controls screen. In the vehicle selection screen, you can choose you vehicle from those available. There are a number of vehicle categories, such as Planes, Helicopters, Ground Vehicles and Infantry. To cycle through the available Categories, click on the category name. Under each category, there are a number of classes. For example, under the category Planes, there will be a number of classes such as Fighter, Bomber and Transport. To cycle through the available classes, click on the class name. At the moment, only Fighter Aircraft are available. You will now be able to select which particular vehicle you want to play with. To cycle through the available vehicles for that Category and Class, click on the vehicle name. Once you have selected your vehicle, a preview will be shown. Click Fight to play with that vehicle in the game. If you have just entered a game, you will immediately start playing with the vehicle you have chosen. If you are already in a game, then you will continue playing with your existing vehicle until you are killed, and will respawn with the new vehicle that you have chosen. Flying a plane How a plane is flown depends on what control set is being used, either VFC (Vehicle Follows Camera) or CFV (Camera Follows Vehicle). At the moment, only the VFC mode is available, as is used by default. The method of flying is very similar to Airquake, whereas the CFV method is similar to that used by Airquake2. VFC (Vehicle Follows Camera) Control Method The VFC method of flying a plane is unique to the original Airquake and Military Forces, and is unlike any other flight simulator. If you ever thought flying a plane was difficult, think again. To fly a plane with VFC, you just need to know how to use a mouse. Put simply, you point the view where you want to fly, and the plane flies that direction. You don't directly control the plane itself. Imagine that you're telling the pilot where to fly, and he/she flies the plane in that direction. Once you've got the hang of it, that's all you need to know. You should be able to quickly discover how easy it is. You can also fly in this mode using the keyboard. Use the left and right arrow keys to shift the camera to the left or the right, and the look up/look down buttons (bound by default to the Page Down and Delete keys, respectively. You may also find it useful to use Centre View, usually bound to End key, which allows you to fly along level. CFV (Camera Follows Vehicle) Control Method This method of flying is much more like a normal flight simulator - you control the plane itself. This makes it possible to perform manoeuvres that are not possible with the VFC method, such as loop-the-loops and rolls. However, it will require more practice to operate these controls. At the moment, this method of control is not available (as of this alpha release), but will be in later versions. Throttle Controls The throttle directly controls how much power the engine produces. Depending on several other factors, the power produced by the engine affects the speed of the aircraft. In Military Forces, throttle settings are referred to as percentages of the full engine power, without afterburners turned on. The current throttle setting is shown as a set of coloured stripes in the centre of the HUD (Heads-Up Display). If you increase the throttle beyond the full engine power, then the afterburners will be used (if available for that aircraft). This will result in a throttle percentage of greater than 100. There are two sets of commands. +button5 will increase the throttle, and +button6 will decrease it - Both of these change the throttle in steps of 10%. You can either bind these actions to the keys you want to or use the MFQ3 Controls config screen, available through the setup menu. In addition, the normal Quake3 forward and back commands (+forward and +back) set the throttle to either maximum or minimum respectively. Note: These overide the throttle, so that when the key is released, it returns to its previous setting. Aircraft Speed and Stalling As stated before, the speed of the aircraft is dependant on the engine power, but also on a number of other factors. In particular, if the aircraft is climbing, the speed will be reduced, and if the aircraft is decending, the speed will increase. When flying, the speed the aircraft is travelling needs to be sufficient that enough force is created to keep the plane in the air. The currently airspeed of the aircraft is shown on the HUD on the left of the throttle indicator. If the speed of the air over the wings is not enough, then the aircraft can no longer keep itself up. The nose of the craft will drop and the aircraft will plummet towards the ground. This is known as a stall. In any real aircraft, the only way to get out of a stall is to increase the speed of the air over the wings, and decrease the angle of attack. In Military Forces, the same applies. To recover from a stall, you must dive below the angle that you are stalling at, to increase your speed. In addition, by increasing the throttle, you should be able to climb again. To aid you in knowing when an aircraft might stall, the airspeed indicator on the HUD changes colour when the aircraft is nearing its stall speed, the speed below which the wings can no longer keep the vehicle in the air. When the aircraft is at a normal speed, the airspeed indicator will either be white or green. When the speed drops below a certain value, the indicator will become yellow - this is to warn you are close to the stall speed of that aircraft. If the indicator becomes red, you are travelling at below the stall speed, and the aircraft will stall. You will need to follow the above procedure to increase your speed above the stall speed before the aircraft will begin to respond again. To get used to how stall works and how you can recover from it, it makes sense to practice stalling. In a single-player game, try flying along level, and then cutting your engine throttle completely. Within a number of seconds, the airspeed indicator should turn red, and at the same time you will stall. Increase the throttle, and at the same time pull the mouse down so that you go into a steep dive. Once the airspeed has increased, you should be able to push forward on the mouse, and level out. Taking off and landing Taxiing, Taking off and landing in Military Forces is very simple, thanks to the VFC (Vehicle Follows Camera) control method. If you have any experience of using Airquake or Airquake2, then you will find this very familiar.
Taxiing If you are on the ground and want to get into the air, you need to ensure that you are at the end of a runway with sufficient space to take off and climb. In some maps, you will spawn at the end of such a runway, and will therefore not need to move before you take off (in which case you can move straight onto the procedures in the next section). However, in many cases you will not spawn where you want to take off, and will need to taxi. In addition, another common reason to taxi is that you have just landed your aircraft (see below for details on how to do this), and you need to return to your base to refuel/re-arm. In both cases, the basics of taxiing are the same, and are outlined below. It is assumed that you are at one point on a runway, stationary with zero thrust, and wish to travel to another part of the runway. Before you can begin to manouver about the runway, you will need to have some forward momentum, to allow the aircraft to steer. To do this, slowly increase your trust - you will find that there is a certain point on the thrust where the aircraft will begin to move (as in all real aircraft, your aircraft will need to produce a certain ammount of thrust to overcome the inertia present when stopped). The thrust required will be greater in the older World War II aircraft, as the engine is relatively less powerful than a modern day jet engine. As soon as you start moving, you will able to turn your aircraft. In the standard VFC control mode, turning an aircraft is as simple as pointing the mouse in the direction you wish to travel, and the craft will swing round to point that way. To speed up, increase the throttle, and to slow down, decrease it (see above for details). To slow down faster, deploy your speedbrakes (or wheelbrakes if the aircraft does not have speedbrakes), and release them to increase your speed again. Depending on the layout of the particular piece of runway, you should be able to move around one or more runways and various refueling/re-arming spots. Take care to ensure that you do not pass over the edge of a runway - at present, your aircraft will crash and explode if you do, although in later versions of the game this will simply render your craft unusable. There may be pieces of road that you can also taxi along (again, depending on the design of the map), but these will most likely be smaller in width, and therefore require more careful passage. When you have reached where you wish to stop travelling, reduce your thrust to zero (see above for details). If you are moving slowly, you will soon come to a standstill. If you are moving faster, you will take longer to slow down, and may require the use of speedbrakes to slow down (see below). Taking off Before taking off, it is assumed that you are at the end of a suitable runway, with sufficient space to take off and climb from the runway (you may require practice to get an idea of what sort of length of runway is required for the plane you are flying). If you are not in the right position, use the procedure above to taxi to such a suitable position. It is also assumed that your vehicle is pointing along the runway and is stationary, with zero thrust. Ensure that your speedbrakes/wheelbrakes are disabled - either of these would impede your speed required for take off. On vehicles with speedbrakes, it is possible to do a visual check that the flaps on that aircraft are not extended. On vehicles with wheelbrakes, you will need to check the relevant indicator on the HUD. Steadily increase your throttle to the maximum, ensuring that your vehicle is pointing along the runway at all times - if you hit a building or run off the runway, your craft will explode. Keep your view 'aiming' at a point just at the end of the runway. If you don't, you may take off too early, and stall. Watch your airspeed indicator. The airspeed will increase from zero (coloured red), and rise. You will only be able to take off as soon as you have sufficient lift to get into the air. This will be when the airspeed indicator colour changes to yellow. As soon as it does, you will be able to take off - push the mouse gently forwards and the aircraft will rise above the runway. Do not try to climb too steeply, or you may stall and crash back into the runway. As soon as it is possible, retract your landing gear (if applicable for your vehicle), as this will reduce drag and allow you to accelerate faster. You are now in the air! If you have your afterburner on, you may wish to reduce your throttle to 100% to conserve on fuel usage. Follow the general instructions on flying (above) for further details. Landing In any real aircaft, landing is one of the hardest manouevers to perform, and will need to be practiced many times to be able to land safely consistently. However, in Military Forces, thanks to the VFC control system, you will find it easy to land, and take a short time to master being able to land in any situation. It is assumed that you know where you wish to land, and that there is a clear path from where you are to that runway. The most important part about landing is that you have your landing gear down when you touch down. To be able to put your gear down, you will need to travelling slow enough to do so - when the airspeed indicator is coloured and not white. You will probably need to slow your vehicle down before being able to extend your gear. To do this, reduce your throttle, and watch the airspeed indicator on the HUD. Put down your gear when you are able to (when the indicator turns green). If you are still travelling too fast, extend your speedbrakes (if available) which will slow you down at a greater rate. Ensure that you don't slow down too much so that you stall (see above for details on stalling and how to recover from it). If there is a risk of stalling (the airspeed indicator is yellow), either increase your throttle or retract your speedbrakes (if applicable). Ideally, you will be approaching the runway with your gear down, at a speed near the top of the 'danger' area (where the indicator is yellow) or at the bottom of the 'safe' area (when the indicator is green). Fly to a suitable point ahead of the runway you wish to land on, in line with runway itself, and begin to descend to the runway, by aiming the mouse to the near end of the runway. As you descend, keep a careful check on your airspeed - you will speed up as you lose altitude, and therefore you may need to reduce your throttle and/or extend your speedbrakes (if not already done so) so that you are not travelling too fast. Just before you reach the end of the runway, push the mouse forwards so that you are now aiming slightly further along the runway. As long as you have your landing gear down, and are not angled excessively in relation the runway, you will land. As soon as you do so, reduce your thrust to zero, and ensure that your speedbrakes or wheelbrakes are enabled so that you stop as soon as possible. As long as you have touched down near to the end of the runway, and have left sufficient room to slow down, you will stop before reaching the other of the runway. If this looks like it will not be the case, you will need to perform a 'go-around' (take off again before stopping) - increase your throttle to maximum, retract your speedbrakes/wheelbrakes, perform a standard take off (from point 3 in the list above), and re-attempt a landing. Once stopped, you will most likely to taxi to another part of the runway to either refuel/re-arm, or to take off again - follow the instructions above in the taxiing section.
Other controls There are a number of other controls that will be of use when flying. These can either be set in the MFQ3 controls screen, or keys can be directly bound to the commands required. Gear (+button7) - This toggles whether the landing gear is extended or retracted. You will only be able to land when your gear is extended. However, the gear can only be extended when the plane is travelling below a certain speed, or else it would be ripped off by the air currents. To show you when the gear can be extended, the airspeed indicator will turn green. If the airspeed increases above that value, then your gear will be automatically retracted to protect it. Speedbrakes (+button8) - This will toggle whether or not the speedbrakes are enabled. Speedbrakes are extendable flaps that break up the flow of air around the aircraft, slowing it down. You should use brakes when landing, to slow yourself down to a speed where you can deploy your landing gear, and sometimes it is useful in combat, as travelling slower will give you more time to aim on a target. Note: Whether gear and speedbrakes are available depend on the aircraft currently selected. The World War II aircraft have retractable landing gear, but no speedbrakes. However, on these aircraft, the speedbrakes will function as wheelbrakes - they will slow the aircraft down when it in on the ground only. To see whether they are enabled or not, check the HUD (on the left-hand side of the screen). Free Camera (+button9) - This command is activated as long as the button is held down. When applied, the aircraft is locked into travelling in that direction. As long as the button is held down, you can now move the camera around to view any angle, and the aircraft will contine travelling in a straight line. As soon as the key is released, the aircraft will turn to whatever direction you are now pointing the camera. This is especially useful for viewing the very cool models that Military Forces has, and also for keeping an eye on enemies during combat. Weapon Systems There are a number of different weapons, with the specific firepower available depending on the vehicle chosen. However, nearly all craft feature the machinegun, and as on a genuine aircraft, it is possible to fire the machinegun independently from the main chosen weapon. To facilitate this, the machinegun can always be fired with the +attack command (usually bound to the left-hand mouse button). For sustained fire, press and hold the button. The secondary weapon can be chosen from the range available for that particular craft, using either specific keys (weapon 0 (machine gun), through weapon 6 - the weapons selected by 1 to 6 depend on the armament available) - the keys can be set using the MFQ3 setup screen. Also, the secondary weapon can be chosen using the standard Quake3 weapnext and weapprev commands. It can then be fired using the +attack2 command. Machinegun (weapon 0) - A standard aircraft-mounted machinegun. Fires out a tracer round every third bullet, to let you know where you're aiming. FFAR - A rapid-fire wing-mounted rocket system. Iron Bombs - Powerful bombs that are dropped from the wings to destroy ground targets - they require careful aiming! All of the above weapons are dumb-fire weapons, that is they have no guidance system to steer them onto their target (Military Forces certainly will feature such weapons in the future). When attacking moving targets, some leading (aiming in front of) the target is necessary to make sure that the projectile(s) arrive at the same time the target does. This will require practice to perfect. Changing the View By default, the main vehicle view is 3rd person, and from the back. This type of view is unique to this game (and Airquake before it), and contributes greatly to the arcade-sim style of play in the game. At the moment, because there is only a VFC (Vehicle follows Camera) control method, only the external view is suggested for playing with. However, the internal view will be ideally suited to the CFV (Camera follows Vehicle) control method. In this view, you will be able to see precisely where you are aiming (which will have more use on dumb-fire weapons such as the machinegun and FFAR, than with homing missiles). To switch to the internal view, use the console command /cg_thirdperson 0. To switch back to the external view, use the command /cg_thirdperson 1. If you want to bind a key to the view change, bind it as follows: /bind x "toggle cg_thirdperson" (where x is any key you wish to use). By doing so, you can press that button to switch to the other type of view. Changing view settings It is possible to alter your view of the craft to some degree. At the moment, this can be done by using the following commands and suitable values. For each of the settings, the default setting is 0 (zero). Any adjustments made to these values are relative to some pre-set constant for each vehicle, and can be either positive (further away/higher up) or negative (closer/lower). The values are adjusted through the console, with a command such as /cg_thirdPersonRange 40. cg_thirdPersonRange - This adjusts the distance the camera is from the vehicle. The more positive the value, the further away the view; the more negative, the closer the view. cg_thirdPersonHeight - This adjusts the height of the camera with respect to the vehicle. A greater number will set it higher, a smaller number (one that is less than zero) will set it lower. Both of these commands can be also set using the MFQ3 setup menu. These commands will only take effect when you are using the external view.

Introduction | Installation | Playing Tutorial | Game Details | Map Details | Model Details | FAQ | Credits
Version: Working draft 1
Date: 21 July 2001
Page: Tutorial (3 of 7)
Website: http://www.planetquake.com/mfq3/