688 ATTACK SUB

 Welcome.

   

Below is a brief description of 688 ATTACK SUB.  To run the game, we suggest

you print this document for reference, as it contains several keyboard

commands needed throughout the game.  At any time though, you can find a list

of the key commands available on your screen by pressing F1 (the SPACE BAR

advances to the next help screen, ESC exits help).  The first time you run the

game, you might want to start by pressing the F1 key, visit all your sub's

stations, and press F1 at each station.

BEFORE YOU START...

If you haven't already done so, please make a backup of your 688

ATTACK SUB disk.  688 ATTACK SUB is not 'copy protected' software,

you should make a backup copy of this disk using DISKCOPY (consult your DOS 

manual if you don't know how to use DISKCOPY). Always play from your

backup copy!

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HARD DISK:

1.  Place your 688 ATTACK SUB disk in your floppy disk drive.  

2.  At a DOS prompt, (A: for instance) type the letter of the floppy

    drive that contains this disk, no space, a colon, then press ENTER.

3.  Type CD \ then press ENTER.

4.  Type 688 then press ENTER.

5.  Follow the intructions you see on the screen.

IF YOU DO HAVE A HARD DISK:

You can copy all the files on your 688 disk to your hard disk.

We have provided INSTALL.BAT, which will copy all the files from this disk

onto a subdirectory called MAXELL at the root of your hard drive.

1.  Place your 688 ATTACK SUB disk in your floppy disk drive.

2.  At a DOS prompt, (A: for instance) type the letter of the floppy drive 

    that contains this disk, no space, a colon, then press ENTER.

3.  Type CD \ then press ENTER.

4.  Type INSTALL, then press ENTER.

5.  Follow the intructions you see on the screen.

6.  Once INSTALL has finished, type 688 then press ENTER.

7.  Follow the intructions you see on the screen.

ONCE THE GAME IS LOADED...

You will be asked to select between two scenarios.  We suggest you start with

scenario one, the training exercise. Type the number of the scenario you would

like to play.  First you will receive a mission description, your mission

orders, and then you will find yourself at the Con (control room) of a 688

ATTACK SUB (688 is the hull number of the USS Los Angeles, the first of this

class of nuclear attack submarines). The game is paused whenever you are at the

Con, so there is no rush.  You should press F1 to get help.  The Con is where

you access different control areas (stations) of your sub, including the

STATUS SCREEN, the SHIP'S CONTROL PANEL, the PERISCOPE, the NAVIGATION BOARD,

the WEAPONS CONTROL PANEL, and the SONAR ROOM.

FIRST, THE BASICS...

Our interface is very versatile.  The interface is divided into levels.  At

the top level is the CON.  The Con provides access to the next level down,

called STATIONS (Stations can be rooms or panels). At every Station are

FUNCTION BUTTONS, INDICATORS, and a DISPLAY SCREEN. The function buttons are

grouped into areas of related functions (all the rudder positions are a group

for instance).  All functions have 'hot spots' associated with them.  Hot

spots are areas that perform a function if you press ENTER or a mouse button

while at that location. There are many ways you can select hotspots.  Choose

whatever suits your style...

The TAB key will move you between all the groups available on your screen. 

The LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys will move between all positions inside a group. 

The UP and DOWN arrow keys will move to every position on the screen,

regardless of groupings.  Press ENTER to make a selection.

There are QUICK KEY assignments for most functions.  Press the letter 

associated with the function, and your cursor will go directly there.  Often 

the QUICK KEY is the first letter of the function, pressing F1 at a station 

will list the assignments (if a function has a QUICK KEY assignment,

it is printed in bold after the colon next to the function name in

the help box).  Press ENTER to make the selection.

The FUNCTION KEYS are assigned only to the stations, F2 through F8.  F1 

gives you HELP on every screen.

A MOUSE (with a Microsoft(TM)-compatible mouse driver) will move your cursor 

anywhere on the station screen.  When you are over a hot spot, your cursor

will change appearance.  Press any button on the mouse to select that 

function.

The NUMBER keys across the top of your keyboard are assigned to function 

groups on each screen, and the groups are numbered top-to-bottom, 

left-to-right.  Pressing a number will move you directly to the assigned 

group.  Since the screens vary slightly, the number assignments can vary (the

3 key will not always take you to the TARGET button for instance). Press ENTER

to make the selection.

All these methods can be used with each other-  You may mouse over to a 

particular button, press ENTER to activate it, go directly to a station with a

FUNCTION KEY, type a QUICK KEY followed by the mouse button to make another

selection.  Beginners should find this easy to try. With practice you can find

the method fastest for you.

The stations in 688 ATTACK SUB have much in common.  The similar elements will

be described below.  Other areas are explained in the individual help screens.

(Press F1 on any screen for help). 

1.  At the very top of the stations are two target information lines.  If you

have selected a target, all known data regarding the target is printed here. 

This will help you keep track of what your target is doing as you move from

station to station.

2.  Most of the stations contain a large DISPLAY SCREEN on the left hand 

side.  The display screen is your 'window'.  There are three modes you can 

select.  

TOP-DOWN.  This presents the world as if you were looking at a map, with the

darker colors indicating deeper water.

CONTOUR MAPPING.  This shows you the underwater world as if looking through a

'window' (Your 688 has been equipped with a device that functions like a

depth finder.  It allows you to look at the actual bottom contours of the

ocean around you.)

PERISCOPE.  If your periscope is up, you will see the periscope view in 3D

perspective.  You can see land and ships from here.  If your periscope is up,

you will see the periscope view in place of the contour-mapping view.

This display is controlled by the group of nine buttons in the lower left 

corner of your screen.  You may select one of these buttons with the tab and

arrow keys, your mouse, or by pressing the quick key on your keyboard that

matches the button you want to press, below is a description of the functions

of these buttons:  

C = Turn on the contour mapping system.  

P = Look to port when in contour mapping mode.  

S = Look to starboard when in contour mapping mode.  

F = Look forward when in contour mapping mode.  

T = Turn on top-down map.  

I = Zoom in the map when in top-down mode.  

O = Zoom out the map when in top-down mode.  

B = Turn on/off bottom contours on the top-down map.  

H = Turn on/off Head-up-display

The Head-up-display consists of two gauges.  At the top of the display screen

is the compass bar, which shows your current heading.  Along the right side of

the display screen is a depth gauge, calibrated from 0 to more than 2000

feet.  The left edge of the depth gauge shows two markers. The dark marker

shows where the bottom is, and the light marker shows your ship's depth (never

let the light marker hit the dark marker!)

Several things can appear on the display.  

   

A BOX at the center of the display:  That's you.  You are placed in the center

of the display whenever possible.  

X's:  an 'X' marker denotes a sonar contact.  The X marker is special.  It

means that all you know about this contact is its bearing (bearing is the

contact's position in degrees relative to north.  For instance, bearing 90

is like saying 'due east').  You do NOT know how far away it is!  If you

change map zoom (using the top-down map) the X's always appear to be the same

distance away.  As soon as the sonar man can figure out how far away the

target is, the X will change to the first available letter.  

LETTERS: represent 'hard' contacts.  Your sonar man will assign a letter to

each contact it can locate.  Once a contact has been located, a couple of

things happen.  First, sonar starts tracking the object, leaving black dots

behind the contact as it moves.  This gives you an idea of what direction a

contact is moving.  The second thing sonar does is to analyze the audio

spectrum of the contact, and try to identify the class and possibly the actual

vessel's name.  If you TARGET the contact, this information is posted at the

top of the screen as it is gathered, and the tracking markers for that contact

will change color. 

NUMBERS:  are placed as you set waypoints at the navigation board.  See the

help screen (F1) at the nav board for a complete description.

   

At the bottom of the display screen your course (CRS), speed (SPEED), and

depth (DEPTH) are constantly displayed. Your course is printed in degrees (90

is east), your speed in knots, and your depth in feet.

3.  The TARGET button appears on several screens, and allows you to select 

contacts for attack.  Once you have hit the TARGET button, a cursor appears on

the display screen (regardless of what mode the display is in).  The TAB key

will cycle through the available contacts, (or you can use the arrow keys, the

mouse, or type the letter of contact that have been assigned letters to place

the cursor) and when the cursor is in the right position, (we suggest using

the TAB key to do this, it seems the easiest) you will see the contact

information updated on the target information line at the top of your screen. 

You can use this feature to examine all your contacts to decide which ones you

should (and shouldn't) attack.

4.  At the bottom of your screen there are two lines of text.  The bottom line

is the situation line, which always contains your map coordinates, and the

time (since you started the scenario).  The upper line is the MESSAGE line. 

Here, the crew keeps you informed of what is happening at other stations.  If

you arm the torpedo tubes from the weapons control panel for instance, the

weapons control officer will report to you when the torpedo is ready to fire

even when you're looking through the periscope.

IT'S TIME TO CHECK OUT YOUR SUB...   You're on the Con of the Los Angeles.  We

recommend that you go to each station and press F1.  Learn about each station

by reading the help screens.  Press the space bar to advance to the next HELP

screen.  In the training scenario you start at periscope depth, with all

engines stopped.  Somewhere nearby are three decommissioned warships that you

have been ordered to destroy.  We suggest you go to the periscope, raise it,

and take a look around (don't leave the periscope up too long though, because

you may be detected).  From the periscope you may want to go to the weapons

control panel to load some torpedoes.  Next, try going to the ship's control

panel and set engines forward to 1/4 speed.  While the torpedoes are being

armed, and the ship is accelerating, set a waypoint at the navigation board in

the direction of your targets (they probably show up as X's, but be aware that

whales, schools of shrimp and fish can show up as contacts.  As you head in

the direction of the X's, the signals become stronger, and it becomes easier

for sonar to determine what they are (remember though, you can't hear anything

behind your sub, nor can your opponents hear behind their vessels).  Once an X

is resolved, it will be replaced by a letter. Target that letter, and after a

while you may get an identification.  If the periscope is still up, you should

get identification immediately, but remember that beyond a few miles, ships

are below the horizon.

When the display screen is in contour mapping mode, lettered contacts are 

represented by circles.  Larger circles mean closer contacts.  When lettered 

contacts are very far away, only the letter will be displayed.  On EGA, MCGA 

and VGA screens lettered contacts are assigned a color-  blue for underwater,

green for surface, and red for weapons (they emit very high frequency sounds,

so they are easy to identify)

Good hunting!

In the second scenario, you are being tailed by a Soviet Victor III class

submarine, and your orders are to escape detection. Complicating the issue are

other vessels, and more clever opponents. You have 15 minutes for this

scenario. If you escape detection for a period of two minutes, the scenario

will end.  You're on your own out here this time, facing new challenges.

Replay both scenarios.  They play differently, with new starting locations,

and different commanders on the other vessels.  Once you have mastered the

Maxell Special Edition Scenarios, you will be ready to tackle Electronic Arts'

own version, with even more: more scenarios, starting with a new training

mission, ranging to missions of various levels of challenge, length and

experience. There are more weapons that you can use, more ships to see, more

maps to explore, more sounds to hear, more crewmen to meet.  You'll learn more

about the tactics and strategies of submarine espionage, evasion and

destruction, and face veteran enemies with new tricks of their own.  You will

be able to test yourself against your friends with the MODEM option, or take

the Con of the faster, deeper-diving soviet Alfa class ships.  Play either

side of most scenarios! 

Start 688 ATTACK SUB by typing 688 now, and answer the screen

display options.  After you have played a few times, you will remember

the number of your graphics mode.  Typing 688 4 will run 688 ATTACK

SUB in MCGA mode without going to the graphics configuration screen.