acm - an aerial combat simulator for X

acm [ options ]

acm is a distributed air combat simulator that runs on the X window system. Players can engage in simultaneous air combat from different Unix workstations. Players fly jet aircraft equipped with radar, heat seeking missiles and cannon.

Each player flies something close to either an F-16C Falcon or MiG-29 Fulcrum.

The following command line options are recognized by acm:

-plane F-16 or MiG-29 or C-172

Select the aircraft type that you'd like to fly.

-frame-rate n

Limits the displayed frame rate to n frames per second. If neither -frame-rate nor -update-rate are specified, ACM updates the display as fast as possible, effectively eating all available CPU time.

-update-rate n

Sets the simulation update rate to n interations per second. If neither -frame-rate nor -update-rate are specified, ACM updates the display as fast as possible, effectively eating all available CPU time. If -frame-rate is supplied alone the update rate defaults to 50 hertz.

-watch-frame-rate

Print statistics about the actual display frame rate on standard output.

-nosplash

Don't display the initial splash screen. (Try this if you have problems on start-up.)

-dis-silent

Stops DIS packets being sent.

-dis-site integer

Sets the DIS simulation address to the specified value. The DIS standard defines this address as an enumerated value corresponding to a geographical site. For more information, consult the IEEE 1278 protocol definition.

-dis-appl integer

Sets the DIS application id to the specified value. This value is used in DIS packets to distinguish your acm application from other DIS applications running at the same site.

-linuxjs joystick-device

Specifies the joystick device file to the Linux Joystick v2.0.0 driver. The Joystick driver supports a wide variety of joysticks, although the simulator will only use the X-Y axis, the next axis as the throttle, and the first two buttons.

-js serial-device

Specifies the local serial port where a Colorado Spectrum Workstation Gameport is attached. The Gameport allows you to connect PC-compatible joysticks and use them with ACM.

-audio auserver

The name of a NAS audio server.

-geometry geometry_spec

An X compatible window geometry specification.

-team <1 or 2>

Specifies the starting airfield. Airfields are about 50 nm apart. Team 1 flies F-16's, team 2 flies MIG-23's.

-simx

Consult the SIM/x server to obtain appropriate DIS simulation and application identifiers. (This will cause a crash if there is no SIM/x server.)

Your mouse is the control stick. The neutral position is the center of your view display -- denoted by the dot in the center of your heads-up-display (HUD). Moving the mouse away from you pitches the plane down, moving it back pitches the plane up. Left and right inputs roll the aircraft in the corresponding direction. On the ground at speeds up to 100 kts, nose wheel steering guides the aircraft.

To take off for the first time, select 20 degrees of flaps (press H twice), then press the full throttle key (the 4 key on the main keyboard). Keep the mouse in the neutral position until you are moving at about 140 kts, then pull the mouse about two-thirds of the way down the view window. You should pitch up and lift off the ground fairly easily. Gradually move the stick closer to the neutral position and let your airspeed build -- don't move it back to neutral too quickly or you will end up back on the ground again! As your airspeed passes about 250 kts, raise the flaps (press Y twice) and landing gear (press G). Congratulations, you're flying a multi-million dollar jet.

The following keys control your engine thrust:

4 Full Power

3 Increase Power (about 2 percent)

2 Decrease Power (about the same amount)

1 Idle Power

A Toggle Afterburner

Your engine gauge displays the power that you are generating. Below that, you have displays showing your total fuel remaining as well as your current fuel consumption rate. The afterburner uses fuel at an amazing rate; use it wisely.

The keys of the numeric keypad control which direction you're looking outside of the cockpit:

8 Forward 4 Left 5 Up 6 Right

2 Aft

It pays to look around when you're in a combat environment. Your chances of staying alive increase remarkably.

On the left side of the HUD is a ladder showing your current airspeed in nautical miles per hour (it displays true airspeed). Above that, in the upper left corner, is a G-meter.

The right ladder shows altitude; above that is a readout of your current angle-of-attack in degrees ("a=X.X"). Your jet will stall at a 30 degrees positive angle of attack and negative 16 degrees.

The airplane symbol (something like "-O-") shows the direction that the relative wind is coming from. The relative wind combines your current angles of attack and sideslip. A ladder in the center of the HUD show your aircraft's current attitude.

The lower, horizontal ladder shows your current heading. Discretes in the lower left-hand corner show the state of your weapons systems. Slightly above them is a readout of your current thrust percentage as well as the state of your engine's afterburner -- the "AB" symbol means the afterburner is on.

The radar system has a field of view of 130 degrees vertically and side-to-side. Radar automatically locks onto the closest threat in its field of view. A locked target is displayed as a solid block. Other hostile targets are displayed as hollow squares.

Targeting information is displayed in the lower right corner of the display. The top number is the heading of the locked target, the next number is the relative heading you should steer to intercept the target (displayed as "ddd R", and the third number is the rate that you are closing with this target, expressed in knots.

You can lock onto other targets by pressing the target designator key (Q).

Radar sets that are tracking your aircraft can be detected. Your Threat Early Warning System (TEWS) display warns you of potential threats. This circular display shows the relative direction of radars (other aircraft) that are looking at you.

Your aircraft is equipped with heat-seeking missiles and a 20 millimeter cannon. Weapon information is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of your HUD. Different weapons may be selected by pressing mouse button 3.

The missiles are patterned after U.S. AIM-9M Sidewinders. They can detect infrared (IR) targets at any aspect (not just from the rear). Their range varies dramatically with the altitude and closure rate. The missile subsystem couples with your radar set to provide time-to-impact information when AIM-9's are selected.

acm -js /dev/tty0 -simx

acm -geometry 1000x500

Stick and Rudder Controls

The Mouse is your stick. It controls pitch and roll.

Z -- Rudder Left

C -- Rudder Right

X -- Center the Rudder

Engine Controls

4 -- Full Power

3 -- Increase Power

2 -- Decrease Power

1 -- Idle

A -- Toggle Afterburner State

Radar Controls

R -- Toggle Radar State (On/Standby)

Q -- Target Designator

Flaps

H -- Extend 10 degrees

Y -- Retract 10 degrees

Speed Brakes

S -- Extend

W -- Retract

Weapon Controls

Mouse Button 2 -- Fire the selected weapon

Mouse Button 3 -- Select another weapon

Pitch Trim Controls

U -- Set Take-off pitch trim

J -- Set pitch trim to the control stick's current pitch setting

Other Controls

G -- Retract/Extend landing gear

P -- Self-Destruct (Quit the game)

L -- Launch a target drone

View Controls (Numeric Keypad)

8 -- Forward

2 -- Aft

4 -- Left

6 -- Right

5 -- Up

Riley Rainey, rainey@netcom.com