Aero Elite: Combat Academy: Harrier Guide by Paiseley 'faeaerissa' Tobin Version 1.2 final, Last Updated 2008-08-28 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs Return to Aero Elite: Combat Academy (PS2) FAQs & Guides Liked this FAQ? Click to recommend it to other GameFAQs users. Aero Elite Combat Academy Harrier V/STOL guide. v 1.2 by FaeAerissa .d8888b. .d888b .d8888b. .d88888b. |\__/\__/| .d8888b 88 88 88888888 .d888b d8 8b 88 88 88 d88 88b | | 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 8P 88 88 | | 88 88 88 88 88 88888888 88888b 888888P 88 88 | | 888888b 88 88 88 88888b 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 | | 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 \ / 88 88 88 88 88 88 88 Y8888P 88 88 888888P \ __ / Y88888P Y88888 88 88 Y8888P =============================================================================== =============================================================================== . ^ . | | . | | . | | . / \ . //\_/\\ . |/ \| . \__|_|__/ . . ^ ^ . | | | | . | | | | . | | | | . / \ / \ . //\_/\\ //\_/\\ . |/ \| |/ \| . \__|_|__/ \__|_|__/ Introduction: ------------ I decided to do this guide because I've become highly adept at flying the Harrier in the game, and since there aren't any other guides to flying the Harrier in the game, I decided to give it my best shot. I wanted to do the full FAQ for the entire game, but being how my hard drive bought desert farmland at the end of March, I decided to do this one. I'm sorry it took so long to do a Guide, but hey. It's here. I know it's not perfect, but it IS my first FAQ/Guide...EVER. So pleasebe nice. And who knows. Maybe you'll find this useful. Updates: ------- 28.8.2008 Wow. I can't believe it's been five years since I put up this faq. I sure hope people got some good mileage out of the game. Word has it this game still sells for about $15-20 used (and is pretty hard to find outside of eBay). Unfortunately, Sega hasn't come out with a sequel, and I've gotten my flying needs fulfilled elsewere (i.e. MS Flight Simulator 2004, and X-Plane, as well as getting my pilot's licence in real life). This is the final update to this faq. Some typos will be corrected, and some information will be omitted. Disclaimer: This Harrier Flythrough is now considered complete. There will be no further updates. This Flythrough/guide will hopefully help you get through the V/STOL training in the game with more than flying colours (or at least passable scores), and is by no means a substitution for the instruction manual (or flying in real life). You may reproduce this Guide, but ONLY if you reproduce this unaltered, and give me credit for this Guide. If you find this guide to be helpful or you have any suggestions, feel free to email at sylph_creations@yahoo.com. Make sure to include "Harrier Flythrough" in the subject line. Repeated emails will be deleted. Use Courier New or Courier or Monaco or any fought that can display this properly: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz12345678901234567890 Now it's time to strap on your helmet, fire up the jets and taxi to the runway. We're taking off. (: I. Basics II. Lessons III. Extra tips IV. V. Credits VI. end I. Basics a. the Controls The Harrier, even though it's a fixed-wing aircraft, isn't too dissimilar from a helicopter, in that in VTOL mode, pitching the nose forward (by pressing up on your analog stick). When going under 50kts, you can use your rudder controls to turn left or right. You can also bank left or right to make your Harrier slide in each respective direction. However, if your forward speed is more than 50kts, banking to the left or right will make you turn. The same holds true with the rudder controls. Hovering with the Harrier has the same effect as hovering with a helicopter, except you don't have the force of the torque from the tail rotor to worry about. b. V/STOL - Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing The V/STOL ability is the Harrier's claim to fame. At about 250 kts, you can switch the Harrier from forward-flight mode to V/STOL mode. Whether this is the speed where you can switch to V/STOL for the Harrier in REAL LIFE is accurate or not, let's just say it's 250 kts for the purpose of the game and this guide. When you're in VTOL mode, the vectored nozzles at both the front and the back of the plane point to roughly and angle of more than 80 degrees. Since you don't have much in the way of fine control (like you would with the real thing), your nozzles are either at 83, 89, or 98 degrees. While using the airbrake will almost certainly have your nozzles point directly downward at 90 degrees, you can point the nozzles about 8 degrees forward by using the gear brake. This is very helpful if you're trying to slow your forward speed and attempting to hover. Another thing that has an effect on your nozzles is your forward pitch. When you're in VTOL mode, you will also get a statoscope display on your head, which lets you know your rate of ascent/descent. This is yet another similarity to the helicopter. Also, you're using your throttle to control your rate of ascent/descent. Keeping your statoscope between 0 and 1 (or 0 and -1), assures easy control of altitude and rate of ascent/descent. Anything more than that, and your Harrier becomes very hard to control/bring under control. STOL is fairly straight-forward. It's the same as a normal fixed-wing aircraft, except the take-off distance is much shorter. If you've chosen the Harrier for your alert hangar, you're automatically in STOL mode. You're ALSO in STOL mode if you're armed with missles and bombs. When you're landing, it's the same as landing a fixed-wing aircraft, only you can control your descent and stop much faster. Notice that you can't use the Harrier in STOL challenge....:P c. VIFF - Vector in Forward Flight Vector in Forward Flight is another feature of your Harrier. This is activated when you're in forward flight, and you hit your throttle button when it's at 100%. This gives you extra maneuverability when you're performing steep turns. What happens is when you're in VIFF mode, your nozzles point downward (which is the same position as VTOL, only you're in forward flight. II. VTOL Training 1. Hovering Objective - self-explanatory High score - 100 My score - 99 a. Ascend to 300ft b. hover c. descent to 100 ft d. hover e. land A few things to note here. When you're ascending to 300 ft (and the same when you're descending to 100 ft) is you want to do this in increments. Use your throttle to keep your statoscope between 0 and 1 (0 and -1, if you're descending.). Even though you're being timed in this exercise, you want to take your time. Not TOO much time, but enough where you can control your Harrier with little to no problem. If you lose control of your Harrier, you'll have to use a LOT of throttle JUST to bring your Harrier back under control. Another thing to note is once you're about 10 feet off the ground, pitch your nose forward to 0 degrees. This will keep you from slowly moving backward, thus causing you to get drastic points deducted. 2. Level Flight Objective - to successfully maintain level flight after switching from VTOL mode to forward flight High Score - 100 My Score - 97 a. Throttle your engine power accordingly and ascend to 500 ft. Remember to pitch your nose forward to 0 so you don't move backwards. When you're at a little bit below 500ft (let's say, about 490ft above the ground), keep your statoscope to just a little above zero (but well below +1). When you're at 500ft, maintain that altitude for 10 seconds. b. Now you'll be switching to forward flight. Raise your landing gear, and go full throttle. By pitching your nose forward by a couple of degrees, you'll actually help increase your speed. At about 50 kts, you'll enter full flight mode. You'll know you're in full forward flight when your speed vector appears. Keep your pitch at 01/4. Be sure to watch your altitude, and make sure you can maintain a constant altitude of 500 feet to the end of the runway. 3. Shift to Hovering Objective - to successfully go into hovering after changing from forward flight to VTOL mode within the time limit. High Score - 100 My Score - 92 You're already in forward flight. Decelerate while maintaining altitude. Decrease engine output accordingly and use your airbrakes to slow down to 250 kts. Once you're at 250 kts, lower your landing gear (which will put you in VTOL mode). Use your gear brake to further decrease your speed in VTOL mode. Remember what I mentioned earlier. Using your gear break will change your VTOL angle to 981/4, causing you to slow down. Don't forget to line up your speed vector to maintain altitude. Raising your nose will also help slow you down. Just to make sure to adjust your throttle to compensate for any increase or decrease in altitude. Once you're around 10 kts, land gently. If you're going a little forward in speed when you're trying to land, use the gear brake while keeping your pitch at 0. If you're flying backwards, lower your nose until you're at 0 kts. Just before you touch down, you want to pitch your nose to abouve five degrees, which is where your Harrier is naturally pitched at when it's on the ground. Once you're on the ground, cut the throttle and use your gear brake. 4. Turning Objective - To successfully take-off, ascend, hover, turn 180 degrees while hovering, and land gently without moving forward or backward My score - 87 Take off and ascend vertically to 200 ft, while keeping your nose at 0 degrees pitch. Using the rudder controls, rotate your nose 180 degrees (18 on your heads up display) to your right. This is where you want to take your time when you're turning. If you turn too fast, your Harrier will bank, thus changing your position. The idea is to maintain the same position you were at when you first started. This is difficult, because all the while, you're maintaining an altitude at 200ft. Once you're at bearing 350 (35), land gently. Remember to pitch your nose up 5 degrees up when you're within 10 ft of the ground. 5. Parallel Shift Objective - to ascent to altitude, slide to the runway on your right, and land. My score - 87 Shifting is not unlike the sliding maneuver for helicopter training. The main difference is you don't have to worry about needing to compensate for the torque (inertia) from the tail rotor on a helicopter. Lift off from the helipad you're on, and ascent to 200 ft. Remember to pitch the nose forward to 0 degrees. While maintain an altitude of 200 ft, bank your Harrier slightly to the right. The aim here is to land on the runway on the right. When you're about halfway from the runway, bank in the opposite direction with the same amount of tilt. This will decelerate your Harrier slightly, so be sure to adjust to halt smoothly. Remember to maintain altitude. Once you're over the runway, land gently. For your troubles, you get the AV-8B Harrier in full Marine camouflage paint. Congratulations!!! You have your own Harrier. Remember to feed it and hug it and give it proper care, okay? (: And that concludes this section of the walkthrough. IV. Information about the Harrier http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/av8b/index.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrier_Jump_Jet V. Credits Thanks to Sega for actually having the courage to do another Aero Wings game. To Sony for publishing this very unique and great sim. To all the guys who post on the AECA board, especially YWingAce, HondaF1, and others I'll mention in an update. It's nice to know there IS a hard core console sim fan base for this game. VI. end And that's the end. Aero Elite: Combat Academy: Harrier Guide by faeaerissa Version 1.2 Final, Last Updated 2008-08-28 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs Return to Aero Elite: Combat Academy (PS2) FAQs & Guides