P.N.F.- C.E. : Manual

Pacific Navy Fighter – Commander edition

NOTE: Last update sept. 26 for version 1.2 (radar and meter sections)

If having issues

If having sound issues or otherwise “stuttering” gameplay try the alternative sound option in the sound settings menu. Some android OS versions work better with one or the other.

Difficulty settings

There are 3 levels of difficulty. This settings controls the following factors during play:

– Number of aircraft in enemy attacks
– Number of fighter escorts with enemy bombers
– Frequency and strategy of target selection by enemy
– Enemy A.I. Pilots tactics and skill
– AA and AAA range and response times/aim accuracy
– Friendly resources available
– Friendly Aircraft refuel/repair times (less friendly aircraft airborne at the same time)
– Weapon effectiveness
– Number and type of “auto” sorties launched (if enabled)

Command button (Microphone button)

Only shown when aircraft are available for launching from a airfield or carrier.  Can be used to:

1. Order flights
2. Enable/Disable automatic flight orders

[command button] -> Launching a flight

To launch a flight use the buttons to select:
– Flight origin (Carrier or airfield)
– Flight type (RECON, STRIKE, CAP)
– Destination (Area if recon, target for strike, object to protect with CAP)

Then press ‘OK’ to go to the hangar for flight configuration, where you can select the type and number of fighters and (depending on flight type) type, number and weapons for bombers in the flight.

TIP: The buttons with ‘<‘ and ‘>’  can be used to cycle over the options in 2 directions by pressing in the left or right side of the button.

NOTE: can only launch a flight when aircraft are ready and available on any origin, this is determined automatically. From time to time it will not be possible to launch more flights due to crowded flight decks and/or aircraft being absent or being refueled/rearmed.

TIP: make sure to send up some fighter escorts with bombers for strike missions; escorts stay close to the bombers and give higher priority to protecting them then any nearby CAP flights as CAP flights will prioritize on enemy aircraft inbound for major ships. Bomber escorts also make for more targets for the enemy AA to worry about; increasing survival rate of the bombers.

TIP: Recon flights will do recon in 1 direction; the direction will cycle over recon flights. To make a 360 sweep, consider launching multiple smaller recon flights instead of 1 recon flight with many aircraft.

After selecting the configuration the flight will automatically launch and once the aircraft are airborne they can be selected for control (to fly them). Use the airplane selection buttons (described below) to cycle through the airborne aircraft.

NOTE: after carrier launch flights will shortly linger in proximity of the carrier until all planes for the flight have launched, giving them opportunity to form formation.

[command button] -> Auto flights

The “Auto” button controls some automatic flights to be ordered; enabled shown green, disabled shown red. This can help in keeping at least some aircraft airborne without having to manually launch flights. For maximum control on when/where/what flights to launch, disable auto-flights. For ‘flying-only’ style game play (not worrying about strategy) enable auto-flights. Note that on higher levels of difficulty the less “helpful” auto-flights mode ‘on’ will be.

Weapon icon button

This toggles between cannon and external weapon (if any left).

Cockpit icon button

This toggles between internal (cockpit) and external (follow) camera. External view can provide easier situation awareness, internal view can be easier to aim in dogfights.

Tip: when in 3d cockpit you can drag the view where to ‘look’, start from the center (or any non-button location) and drag towards the point/direction to look at.

Airplane selection buttons (gray left/right arrows)

Use these to switch the aircraft to control. If only 2 aircraft are airborne and in controllable state then only 1 of the two buttons is shown. Any aircraft not being controlled by you will follow the flight plan as originally planned.

If there are no controllable aircraft both buttons are hidden.

Radar / overview  (Upper right corner of display)

Touch the radar circle to cycle over the available zoom levels. High zoom is usefull when fighting; wider zoom is useful for finding new contacts / looking up reported units.

For aircraft units on ingress are bright, units on egress are more dim. Flashing units pose a threat to a carrier or other critical objective.

Toggling meters in external view mode

By touching the ALT or OIL meters it is possible to minimize meter clutter by removing some meters. Note that pressing the same area again will make them re-appear.

Game end

The game ends when:

– Mission objective(s) reached (win)
– Mission lose condition(s) reached (lose)
– Last friendly carrier is sunk (lose)
– All aircraft resources lost (lose)

Awards

After mission end (depending on recent success) awards can be granted to the pilot (they can be reviewed from the app home screen by selecting “view awards”).

Awards are granted after a combination of a range of conditions is analyzed like:
– Number of flights
– Number of mission wins
– Number of aircraft shot down
– Number of targets successfully bombed
– Ordnance hit/miss ratio
– Number of successful carrier landings
– Number of resources lost

NOTE: Do not expect to get rewards easy; for some of them you’ll have to be a perfect shot, perfect pilot and extremely heroic and succesfull.

Landing

It is possible (but not required, as the AI controlled planes will land themselves) to land on friendly carriers. Press the gear panel to extend or retract gear (the arrestor-hook will automatically extend or retract with the gear).

In external view the view will shift slightly during final approach flare (extending flaps and flaring occurs automatically when close to airstrip, gear down and low speed to allow for a gentle touchdown.

NOTE: some of the medals/awards that can be achieved in-game require not only mission successes and a range of heroic actions but also a undisclosed number of successful carrier landings.