Flight Controls

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)