First a word of warning. The controls in Tiger's Bane are NOT those of
your average side-scrolling shooter. They will likely take some getting
used to, but that shouldn't take too long. Some points to remember:
Your helicopters have lots of mass, and lots of inertia to go along
with it. Especially in windy conditions, it may take a little time for your
helicopter to start moving in the direction you want it to. Think ahead.
The controls don't auto-center by default, so to stop moving you have
to bring them back to center yourself. (This IS handy in combat, once you
get the hang of it.) Watch the little green HUD pips around your chopper,
they show you how your controls are currently set. You can have the controls
center when using a joystick by turning on Absolute mode in the options screen.
Some helicopters have Fly By Wire systems installed, which will assist
you by making it easier to level out your rate of climb, and by (trying) to
help you avoid collisions with structures and the ground. The system can
become damaged, though, so you should learn to fly choppers that don't have
it. Without Fly By Wire, you will lose vertical thrust as you start
accelerating horizontally, and must compensate by pulling up so as to not
hit the ground.
In all methods of control,
your main joystick, joypad, or keys move your helicopter. Up and down set your
collective, or rate of climb and descent, and left and right control your
pitch forward and backward, which dictate your horizontal movement. In
general, most weapons require you to press and then let go of the key or
button associated with them, however Chainguns will auto-fire.
The Evasive manouvre can sometimes be used to dodge past missiles and
bullets that are flying your way.
Keyboard controls are always active, whether or not joystick controls are also
selected. The four arrow keys act the same as the joystick in relative mode,
with the CTRL key acting as a fire button. There are two ways to fire weapons
with the keyboard, either by holding down CTRL while pressing an arrow key, or
by hitting one of the configured instant weapon keys. You can configure these keys
on the Options Screen. Tapping in the reverse direction twice will turn around
(the same as the key configured for turning around), and tapping up or down twice
will evade. (Note, these are the classic controls. They're still available, but
the best method is to use specific keys or joystick buttons for weapons and turning
with one hand, and flight control with the other hand.)
When using a joystick without a Point of View Hat, buttons 1 through 4 will fire
your weapons, button 5 will turn around, 6 will evade, and 7 will pause. Pressing
turn around and evade at the same time will eject from the chopper. With a Point
of View Hat, pressing a direction on the Hat will fire a weapon, and buttons 1
through 3 will turn, evade, and pause. (Note, your joystick doesn't need to have
a Point of View Hat to select POV-Hat mode, and this may be preferable if your
joystick only has 2 buttons; then the buttons will provide full turn/evade
control rather than very limited weapons control.)
Weapon vs. Hat Direction/Arrow Key Diagram:
Up -Wingtip- (def. Sidearm/ Sidewinder) Left | Right -Outboard- --O-- -Inboard- (def. Rockets) | (def. Hellfires) Down -Gun Mount- (def. Chaingun)
Some useful default keys:
Space - Eject (blades are detonated first, so you'll live) P - Pause on/off I - Forward Looking Infra-Red on/off Escape - Abort Mission (try to avoid using it) F1 - Toggle between a Normal sized and Double sized window F2 & Alt-Enter - Switch between Full Screen and Windowed mode F12 - Take a Screenshot (BaneShot?.bmp)