Carrier Air Wing FAQ Version 1.01
By Brian McLean (
[email protected])
Last Updated: April 23, 2001
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Table Of Contents
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0. Revision History
1. Basic Game Information
1.1 Story
1.2 Controls
2. Planes and Weaponry
2.1 Pilot background
2.2 Plane selection
2.3 The main gun
2.4 Weapons/extra items
3. Game Walkthrough
4. Secrets
5. Credits
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0. Revision History
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1.01 - Put contact information in - oops! Also added forgotten Mission 6
description and information for potential contributors.
1.0 - Initial FAQ uploaded.
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1. Basic Game Information
===============================================
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The Story So Far
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"The 1990's was a decade of great changed marked by growing friendships between
old enemies and never before seen levels of cooperation between the powerful
nations of the world.
"However, in 1997, using unusual new weapons designed in secrecy, the Middle
Eastern country of Rabu threatened to destroy this fragile peace.
"Rabu's purported goal is to purge the world of sin and force a new morality.
With her allies, Rabu quickly claimed the Middle East, then spread into
southern Asia and parts of Europe. Their weaponry is terrifyingly efficient at
manufacturing death. They seemed unstoppable, but when they gassed Tokyo in
'99, U.S. intervention became unavoidable. If Rabu is allowed to use Japan's
manufacturing facilities, there will be no end to the nightmare.
"Now hoping to protect world peace, the Carl Vinson heads out to sea."
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Game Controls
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If you've played U.N. Squadron before, this game will seem quite familiar. You
have a joystick for 8-directional movement and two buttons. The first is your
regular gun, and it's semi-auto. You can hold it down for a few seconds and get
a continuous stream of fire, but eventually it will stop. Pressing the button
every few seconds will keep the fire going. The other button is for your
special weapons, and each press will fire whatever's in your arsenal if you
have anything to use. More on that later.
An important difference between this game and its predecessor is the constantly
decreasing fuel bar. Even if you aren't moving or firing, your fuel will
decrease at the same rate and make you more vulnerable. Certain enemies in the
game carry fuel tanks to replenish your supply and you can't die simply by
running out of fuel, but several times during the game you'll be left with
little to no fuel and a difficult section to fly through before you'll get a
refill.
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2. Planes and Weaponry
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The Pilots
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Rick Ford - New York - F-14 Tomcat: Placed first in his class at the Navy "Top
Gun" fighter combat school. Unmatchable in air-to-air combat.
James Roy - Louisiana - F/A-18 Hornet: A member of the U.S. Navy "Blue Angels"
acrobatics team, his adroit handling of his plane gives him an advantage
against both air and ground forces.
Mark Olson - Michigan - A-6E Intruder: A former U.S. Navy squad leader, he is
known for being able to drop a bomb anywhere under any conditions.
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The Planes
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There are three planes to choose from at the beginning of the game: An F-14
Tomcat (Air to air), an F/A-18 Hornet (Air to air, air to ground), and an A-6E
Intruder (Air to ground). These planes differ both in the weapons they get for
each stage and in the strength of their main gun. The F-14 starts with the
largest shots at level 1 and the A-6 starts with the smallest.
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The Main Gun
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There are three types of main gun you can have over the course of the game, and
whenever you destroy a set of red enemies you'll most likely see a capsule that
starts flashing red, then blue, then green. The red shots fire slow but have
the widest path, followed by the green shots which are a more concentrated
autofire, and lastly the blue shots are simply straight missiles that can do
the heaviest damage but are very narrow.
Every time you pick up one of these weapon icons, whether it's the same one
you're carrying or not, your POW count increases by one. This count is
cumulative throughout the game and increases the power/spread of your weapon as
you collect more icons. The levels are as follows:
Level 1: 0 (you start with it)
Level 2: 2
Level 3: 8
Level 4: 15
Level 5: 23
Level 6: 31
To my knowledge there are only 39 POWs in the game, and you are still at level
6 at that point.
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Weapons/Extra Items
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At the beginning of each mission you're offered two weapons to buy if you
choose. You can only have one, but the second is basically just a stronger
version of the first (and thus, costlier as well). The weapons you can buy over
the course of the game and their function follow:
NOTE: There are several errors in the game regarding the numbering of the
weapons. All too often you'll see something like 'Missile Dispenser 2' for BOTH
weapons when one is clearly stronger than the other. For the reason I'm just
describing each main heading of weapon and grouping them by category.
Straight Missiles
-----------------
Missile Dispenser: The weak version of this fires three pairs of homing
missiles from external pods before the pods themselves become stronger homing
missiles. Stronger versions (they are numbered 1-3) fire more missiles per use.
Shrike Missile: The weak version fires three large missiles straight in front
of you. The strong version fires five in a wider spread that is taller than
your plane.
Standard Missile: Fires three or five missiles in the same manner as the shrike
missiles, but with larger missile and more damage capability.
Bombs
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Bomb: Drops a spread of three bombs close to each other just slightly forward
from you.
Super Bomb: Drops three bigger bombs than Bomb, and as expected is more
powerful.
Napalm Bomb: A spread of bombs that hit the ground and cause a small chain of
explosions around them.
Super Napalm: A spread of four napalm bombs that have a wider blast range than
the regular napalm bombs.
Big Boy: A single bomb that drops and damages everything on screen.
Wide Area Weapons
-----------------
Apache: External pods come out and spread bombs both above and below, then
shoot themselves straight forward and continue spreading bombs in both
directions.
Super Bomb Dispenser: The same as an Apache, but releases several more bombs
before firing themselves off.
Napalm Dispenser: Same as Super Bomb Dispenser, but even more bombs dropped to
each side (above 5 up and down) and more bombs released as the pods fly away.
Homing Missiles
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Sparrow Missile: The smallest homing missiles.
Sidewinder Missile: Slightly larger homing missiles that do more damage.
Amraam Missile: Even bigger homing missiles.
Phoenix Missile: The biggest homing missiles. Offered only to the F-14.
Special (Mission 10 only)
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Super Shell Pod: Fires a pair of laser-like shots from external pots, which
then come back to your plane and fire a single larger shot directly in front of
you. Stronger versions fire more lasers before ejecting themselves.
In addition, there are four items that are offered every mission. You can have
one of two increases to your fuel tank and you can also buy a shield that will
either absorb 3 or 5 hits, again depending on what you want to spend on it.
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Basic Enemies
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This is a short list of the names I've given to various common enemies in the
game, followed by a brief description of how they attack. Strategies for the
non-trivial ones will be given in the walkthrough itself as you first run into
them.
Helicopter: A slow-moving chopper, always in a group of at least two. They come
in several potential attack formations and fire normal bullets.
Big chopper: A much larger transport air vehicle that fires either spreads of
bullets or larger, arcing shots while it drops other minor enemies off below
it.
Missile fighter: A plane that usually flies in horizontally with a squadron,
making a 90-degree turn halfway across the screen and firing indestructible
missiles when they reach your horizontal plane.
Missile launcher: Usually a vehicle on the ground that launches up to three
missiles in your direction. These missiles home in on you but can be shot down.
Can also be a mounted turret that accomplishes the same purpose.
Circle bomber: A plane that flies in high on the screen, then turns around and
drops a bomb. This bomb explodes into a widening circle of bullets that can be
very difficult to dodge if you're near it when it goes off.
Big plane: A (naturally) larger plane that flies in from the top or bottom and
fires a set of three missiles behind it. Most common in mission 1, but they
crop up again once or twice after that.
Big tank: A rather large tank in two sections. It fires sprays of three bullets
towards you while the main gun fires a slightly larger shot. If the top portion
is destroyed, the tank itself is defenseless but launches several mines up into
the air, usually forcing you to destroy at least one to clear a path for
yourself.
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3. Game Walkthrough
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Mission 1
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Mission Description: Your mission is to regain Tokyo. You will have to fight
your way through the enemy's air force.
Weapons Available: Missile Dispenser 2 (weak & strong)
Finishing Bonus: 5K points, $5K
Perfect Bonus: 1K points, $500
A dogfight that's about as close to a cakewalk as you can get. Planes come in
easy formations of 3 or 4 while you're high in the air. You'll start making a
descent over the water while big planes come from above and below one at a
time, up to six of them if you're quick. After you get to the water there will
be several more easy formations that end with a group of red planes holding a
blue fuel tank. Grab that while the boss is on its way down...
The first boss is no trouble as long as you're paying attention. It has two
attacks, both firing lines of small missiles out of its tail while the wings
release bombs that explode into spreads of three bullets. You can destroy the
wings and keep those bombs from coming out. Once they're gone you only have the
small missiles to contend with, and they're so slow that you can take your time
staying out of their way and getting your licks in on the plane itself.
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Mission 2
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Mission Description: Destroy the enemy occupation forces and prevent Rabu from
using Tokyo's factories at any cost.
Weapons Available: Standard Missile (weak & strong)
Finishing Bonus: 10K points, $8K
Perfect Bonus:
This second fight takes place in the city. Formations of four choppers will
harass you along with tanks and missile launchers on the ground. The screen is
sometimes split into top and bottom by an elevated road, making it tricky to
destroy all of the enemies in this area without prior knowledge. Also, near the
end of this section there are tanker trucks on the top road that will blow up
when shot and damage you if you're close enough.
You'll eventually fly under a road and between its supports, battling big
choppers all along the way. As you keep destroying them, they keep coming so
take them out as quickly as you can to increase your score. If you can't take
them out immediately, they drop missile launchers into the water and shoot
three curving shots from the front.
Coming out of that section, fly immediately up and to the left. Shoot around
the area where the elevated road ends to uncover a white astronaut for 10K.
After that, choppers will attack normally and also use two new tactics against
you; a group will approach from the upper left, pass you by and make a big loop
on the right side of the screen, ending it by flying straight up and off the
screen. The easiest way to take them out is to wait at the bottom of the loop
and shoot them as they fly into your range of fire, but a daring pilot can also
slip up behind them as they're flying on and take them out early on. After
that, choppers fly up towards you from behind and STOP when they're on the same
vertical plane as you. This can be annoying if you're not expecting it and are
hanging out on the far left edge. They will move like this a few times and
eventually fly away. It's easiest to hang a bit forward so that you can slip
behind them when they get close and take them out without dealing with their
hesitant movements.
After that short area you'll find yourself flying through a building that takes
up the top half of the screen. Plenty of ground-mounted turrets and choppers
that fly in so stay low and destroy everything with a steady stream of fire.
When you come out again you'll have more choppers sneaking up from behind and
from the front as well. Buildings will be completely in your way now, so you'll
just have to destroy a section of each to be able to fly through them. Near the
very end you'll have a few circle bombers, stay near the top to get them before
they can fill the screen with bullets.
With all that gone, you finally meet up with the boss. It's a big walker with a
cannon on top and six missile launchers. It constantly walks backwards as you
fly around, shooting missiles fairly quickly and more rarely firing its main
gun. The gun itself is the weak point and it moves up and down just a little
during the fight. There is a secondary weak point that exposes itself on the
bottom when the gun is down, but it's generally not worth the trouble. I
recommend the red shot to take out the missiles as they come, and any excess
shots will hit the main gun with little aiming. If you stay just above or just
below the line of fire and slightly back from the boss, you're in essentially
no danger of being hit. Fire away until it's gone and move along.
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Mission 3
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Mission Description: Reinforcements are coming! An enemy fleet has been spotted
in the Japan Sea. Prevent the landing.
Weapons Available: Bomb, Super Bomb
Finishing Bonus: 15K points, $10K
Perfect Bonus:
This one starts out on the outskirts of the city with the same easy formations
and tanks of before. There are a few more cars to blow up for fun, but soon
you're thrust into slightly more dangerous territory. You'll head up a hill and
meet up with a large tank for the first time. It's in a fairly easy position to
destroy, just stay low to the ground and under its main cannon and it will go
down rather quickly. Clear a path through the mines it leaves and wipe out
another small hill with turrets and missile launchers. Beyond this you'll find
a tank hidden in some trees; your gun can destroy these trees, so fly low and
destroy it. There will be more trees, but they simply block a shot or two
before being destroyed and do not hide any more enemies. Once the hill starts
to slope downward again, hit the dip at the very end of the hill to reveal the
Capcom cow! Even more curiously, if you continue to shoot the cow it will spin
around slowly. Pick it up for a 10K point bonus.
You'll head down the back side of the hill and then over some water, dealing
with diving fighters and now gunboats that fire missiles straight up into the
air. Flying over a ship, there will be a few points on it that can be destroyed
(the ship itself is harmless) and tanks on the deck. Just before the front of
the second ship, fly down into the crevice between the rock and the ship and
shoot away to uncover a green figurine of some kind. At any rate, pick it up
for another 6K bonus to your score. This second ship has some turrets on it,
but as long as you remain just above horizontal with them, you're in no danger.
The third ship is a lot like the second, just with sneaking choppers from in
front and behind while you're taking everything out on it. You'll be assaulted
by a few more circle bombers and gunboats, and then finally you meet up with
the boss.
Appropriately, it's just another (larger) ship! This boss really isn't very
hard if you work at it quickly. There's a slightly larger turret in front
you'll need to remove, and then there's a row of eight missile launchers behind
that. After the big turret is gone, fly low and in front of the launchers and
wait until they pop up with their missiles since you can't hit them until then.
Only two or three will pop up at a time. Quickly destroy the groups as they pop
up, and that should take care of most or all of them on the first pass.
Beyond that is the control tower, so blaze away at that once you're past the
missile launchers. You can afford to get up right next to it and use your
autofire to its fullest at this point. Once the top is blown off of the tower
it will start to spew what looks like volcanic debris from it, as well as
firing sprays of three bullets. Stay just below horizontal with the origin of
the sprays and continue to hose down the boss, whereupon you'll start to pull
back from it again. Destroy any missile launchers you missed, then get up close
to the tower again and finish it off. You'll have sunk the boat without even
dealing with the guns on the back!
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Mission 4
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Mission Description: According to naval intelligence, Rabu is nearing
completion of a new carrier. Destroy it before it becomes operational.
Weapons Available: Apache, Super Bomb Dispenser
Finishing Bonus: 20K points, $12K
Perfect Bonus:
A rather drastic change of pace, suddenly you're in a forest in winter.
Choppers, missile launchers and kamikaze planes greet your entrance. A short
water section throws in a few gunboats as well, but they shouldn't be a threat.
After you get to land again you'll see tanks coming out of caves carved in the
mountain. You can destroy these caves, but be CAREFUL when you do so. They do
explode and can damage your plane if you're too close! In fact, be mindful of
any containers on the side of the mountain. They're all explosive and will
shoot jets of flame out to the sides when you shoot them.
When you reach the top of the mountain, there will be big choppers dropping
tanks on the ground and firing spreads as they fly away from you slowly. Take
out the choppers first, as they're the greatest threat, and then get rid of the
tanks if you have time. At the next ridge you're given a blue fuel tank; take
this tank as late as you possibly can! This is the first time you're exposed to
the death-by-fuel-loss phenomenon, and you want to minimize the distance you
have to go before your next fuel tank.
You'll start to descend the mountain again, and this time planes will taxi out
of the caves, stop for a moment in midair, and then fly off again. These almost
pose more of a threat by collision than by their shots, but stay to the upper
left as much as you can through this section. Some planes and missile launchers
will also be in the upper right as you're flying down, and shooting them
immediately will make your life a bit easier.
When you reach the bottom you'll run into some missile planes for the first
time. They're going to be quite common after this, so practice whatever
technique you're comfortable with for taking them out. I like to wait until
they make their turn and move up or down with them, keeping up a spray of fire
for them to run into with no risk to myself.
There's a wall to destroy and then you'll fly into a tunnel dug in the
mountain. Missile launchers and turrets on the ground and ceiling abound, along
with waves of kamikaze planes. The first real threat, however, comes from a
large tank after the first section. There is very little room to move around in
front of it, and if you fly all the way down your gun will hit the containers
just behind you, setting off an explosion that will damage you. The best you
can really do here is to stay just above the main gun and fire until that is
gone. If you can safely destroy the bottom section, go for it. If not, move on
because there's still a ways to go before that precious fuel tank.
Another section of kamikaze planes and turrets follows the big tank, and before
long you're presented with another big tank. This is the crucial point of the
mission, and unless you bought extra fuel you should be nearing empty at this
point. Stay just above the main gun again and well back, peppering the tank
with shots until the top half is gone. There is also a line of gun turrets on
the ceiling over the tank, so fly up and take those out before you pass. A few
more turrets and kamikaze planes later there's a red turret - Finally, a blue
fuel tank! Don't get overeager though, there are missile planes just behind it.
They fly straight up and down until they're destroyed. Stay near the bottom of
their flight pattern and eventually they'll all fly right into your fire. Grab
your tank and fly onward. The only thing of note past that are the kamikaze
planes that now drop aerial mines as they pass. Destroy them at your leisure
and relax a bit as you approach the game's easiest boss.
It's a simple aircraft carrier that looks rather similar to the boss of the
mission prior. It has turrets at the front and bays that release fighters this
time. Once the turrets are gone you'll have little trouble flying right up to
the bay and smothering it with fire. The next little tower is defenseless and
goes down just as easily, and then suddenly you're at the boss' control tower.
Fire away at it until the top blows off, and once again you'll see that
volcanic debris return. This time it hits the ceiling on its way up and drops
straight down, but there are no bullets to worry about. A lone missile turret
fires at you from behind the tower, and you should have no difficulty keeping
your fire on the tower long enough to destroy it and thus the boss before
things get any farther.
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Mission 5
---------
Mission Description: We have uncovered the location of Rabu's experimental
weapon testing area. It is believed that they are testing their new submarine
there. Destroy the testing area and find the submarine.
Weapons Available: Amraam Missile, Phoenix Missile
Finishing Bonus: 25K points, $14K
Perfect Bonus:
Back in the air again, you'll be fighting against a few grey planes now. Get a
decent look; you won't see these again for some reason. After those you'll run
into stealth bombers, which are actually rather easily dealt with. Let them
slip up behind you and just when there's enough room to slip behind them,
they'll start their spray of bullets. Hang a little forward and above or below
them until they do, then quickly slide behind them and fire. The spray should
miss and the proximity of your plane to the bomber will destroy it in no time.
You'll run into a few more grey planes, then you'll be above frozen water.
Missiles will launch from the bottom of the screen and arc from the background
into the foreground, then drop again. They're only dangerous once they're on
their way down, but keep in mind that these count as enemies towards a perfect
round! They should be relatively easy to avoid or shoot down, but getting all
of them would be a challenge. After those missiles there are smaller stealth
bombers that fire bombs which explode into three bullet spreads. A few more big
stealth bombers accompanied by small squads of planes show up after that, and
then the boss swoops from the sky.
The plane flies out in front of you, releasing six mines at a time. These are
all destroyed with a single shot, so if you have the red gun you can clear
yourself a path rather easily. Three sets of mines are released, and then the
plane suddenly fires a barrage of indestructible missiles aimed at you. After
you avoid these, the simple pattern repeats. Just count the releases of mines
and you'll have no trouble with the missiles. Several seconds of fire to the
tail of the plane will take care of this rather easy fight.
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Mission 6
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Mission Description: We have located the new sub! Proceed immediately to
intercept and destroy. But be careful: We have no data about its attack
potential.
Weapons Available: Standard Missile (weak & strong)
Finishing Bonus: 30K points, $16K
Perfect Bonus:
This mission takes place out in glacial waters. There are floating columns of
ice that can be destroyed (sometimes in two parts) to clear a larger path for
you. The first column that has two parts to destroy hides a snowman at the
base; grab it for another 10K. There's a big tank on a nearby ice floe, and
afterwards you'll be dealing with kamikaze planes, gunboats, and missile planes
as well. You'll eventually come to an icy cavern. You have to blow open the
entrance yourself before you can fly in, but once you do it's more of the same
in slightly closer quarters. The gunboats have flame-throwers on them now, so
be mindful of their fairly long reach while you're taking them out. As you
leave the cavern, you'll meet up with two big choppers, then another set of
assorted kamikaze planes, turrets, and the like. Soon afterwards you're in
another ice cavern, but this one has balls of ice embedded in the ceiling that
will drop as you get near them. They can be readily seen before they fall, so
just approach them and slip away again once they start to fall. This time there
are several chambers to the cavern, and you'll have to destroy the ice walls as
you fly through. There's a chamber with a load of missile planes that slide up
and down as in mission 4, and soon after that the cavern ends. There are more
big choppers dropping tanks, and once you reach water again the boss surfaces.
This sub is probably second only to the final boss in difficulty. Unlike all
the others, it's difficult to get any sort of good position to hit the core
without being in the line of fire yourself. When the sub comes up, you'll
notice that there are two rows of missile bays, one in front and one in the
rear. The sub may use either one in its opening attack, but not both. Stay just
above the front of the sub as if you were going to strafe the front missile
bays, hanging back a little. If it starts with the front bays, you've got an
easy job of taking them out as they pop up. If the rear bays start to fire,
you'll have to weave up and around to get above the main missile launcher so
you can take those other bays out. Alternately, you can slide up just far
enough to be above horizontal with the main launcher and hit the bays from
there, but the damage will be very slow and you probably won't destroy them all
before the sub dives again.
Once the sub dives, you'll be attacked by kamikaze planes and missile launchers
on an ice floe. Once the floe ends the sub will surface again and repeat the
first attack, firing missiles from one set of bays as well as its main
launcher. If you take out the front set of bays, a smaller launcher just below
the core will open and start to fire as well, though these missiles can be
destroyed. Resist the temptation to fly close to this part as that would put
you in the line of fire of the core.
The sub dives again soon after this, leaving you with more normal enemies to
destroy. You should be rather low on fuel at this point whether you've been hit
or not, and luckily there's a set of red choppers that will give you a blue
tank when destroyed. The sub resurfaces for a third time and pulls back, this
time using its frontmost gun to fire. This gun is a bit unusual; firing three
shots at a time that quickly change elevation to meet you, then simply fly
forward. If you have the red gun, you can stay just above the gun itself and
fire away, doing damage with no risk to yourself.
After a few seconds of this the sub will dive AGAIN (frustrated yet?), and yet
more minor planes will assault and harass you. Coming up one last time, the
boss slides back and forth and uses any guns that haven't been destroyed yet
until you take out the core. Congratulations, that was a monster!
---------
Mission 7
---------
Mission Description: An enemy fighter-bomber squadron is heading for our fleet
in the Mediterranean. Scramble now and intercept.
Weapons Available: Missile Dispenser 2, Missile Dispenser 3
Finishing Bonus: 35K points, $18K
Perfect Bonus:
You start out over some villages that are set high atop rocky outcroppings, the
presence of which basically fills up the bottom half of your screen. A few easy
formations of missile planes will spin towards you. Take these out and that
section will end, putting you down just over an airstrip. There are a lot of
hangars here, and they're easy to destroy. In fact, if you simply lower
yourself to a position to strafe the hangars from, you'll get the hangars and
everything else that tries to attack you during this area. Not shabby, eh?
You'll take to the skies again and a pair of big camo planes from mission 1
show up again, this time with two extra, smaller planes that hang towards the
rear. They fire at you until you're close to being vertical with them,
whereupon they slide forward and conveniently allow you a shot at them.
Curiously, this is the only point in the entire game where these particular
planes show up, and there's only the two of them.
Beyond that you'll be dealing with a section of mixed water and ruins,
populated mostly with planes and ground targets all firing missiles. Take care
of them and fly higher once more, whereupon you meet up with another new,
short-lived enemy. These seem to be recon planes with big dishes atop them.
They fly towards the center of the screen and drop a set of six air mines, then
target your plane (a crosshair actually appears over you!). A set of six
missiles fly straight from the right side, then turn and all converge on that
point. If you stay directly to the left of where you were when the crosshairs
covered you, you should be fine. Each of the recon planes should go down after
one set of mines and missiles, just be careful of the active volcanoes beneath
you and take care to time your movements with their eruptions (they telegraph
them readily with big splashes of lava from their mouths). The boss flies down
shortly thereafter...
A gold plane takes to the right side of the screen, firing lasers from its
tail. From each wing it fires off sets of three missiles, and just like the
recon planes of before it tries to target you with a crosshair occasionally.
When it finds you it will fire a single aimed missile that will follow your
movement somewhat. Your first priority is going to be to take out the wings and
thus get rid of the missiles. The missiles from the wings should be no problem,
but the aimed one will require you to break off and slide out of the way as it
flies past. The right wing is larger on the screen than the left, so you should
find it easier to make your shots count on the right one first. Once both wings
are gone, the plane also stops firing those lasers and missiles. It trades it
all for a single attack, firing twin missiles from its tail that move similar
to sine waves opposite each other. This sounds dangerous at first but you will
find that the space immediately behind the boss is now a safe spot and you can
blast away with no chance of getting hurt. The only time you'll be in any
danger here is when you fly over the volcanoes again, and during this time
you'll have to watch a bit for debris to make sure you're not damaged as it's
likely that you'll be low in fuel now. Polish him off and move on, the best is
yet to come...
---------
Mission 8
---------
Mission Description: We have located the enemy's primary weapon depot in the
Rabu desert. Destroy it immediately.
Weapons Available: Super Bomb, Napalm Bomb
Finishing Bonus: 40K points, $20K
Perfect Bonus:
You're out in the desert now, and rather soon into the start of the mission you
run into napalm fighters that fly across the screen in pairs like circle
bombers, then turn around and drop a single bomb onto the ground. Be careful of
the flame that shoots up from the explosion. There are some turrets mounted
along buildings and big choppers that approach from the front, dropping tanks.
Once you start to head up a slope with a plethora of turrets, you'll find that
you can stay about a third of the way from the bottom and fire continuously,
taking out turrets and diving fighters alike without any trouble.
On the downward slope there are tanks on the ground that harass you and are
difficult to hit because of their positioning. They're not much of a threat,
but if you're going for a perfect you'll simply have to fly down until you're
practically on them, quite probably taking a bit of damage as well from contact
with the ground. The rest of the stage is simply more turrets and fighters,
punctuated with one big tank at the end. When you get to a cliff and fly down
suddenly over some tracks, you'll know you're at the boss.
Every shooter needs a train boss, and this one is no exception! Car by car,
you'll see mounted missile launches and turrets to take out along with
squadrons of choppers to get in your way. There is, however, nothing difficult
about all of it and you should be able to destroy much of the train's weaponry
in a single pass. When you turn around at the very end, part of the car will
pop up and begin firing spreads of shots and missiles at you. Stay slightly
below horizontal with the origin of the spreads and you should be able to dodge
easily. The missiles themselves are a bit more of a pain and are difficult to
dodge correctly (there's a gap in the wall of missiles it shoots at you, but
there's precious little time to move towards it). Simply know that the missiles
and bullets alternate and duck downward when it's about to fire its missiles,
and you should be all right.
Once you destroy this 'core', you'll begin to move back over the train again.
Pick off anything you missed on the first run through, and once you get to the
center of the train the boss itself will detach, you'll turn around again, and
the fight will get started once more. This boss is one of the simpler ones as
long as you don't let it keep its annoying weaponry for along. It has a set of
three missile bays in front, a set in back, and a rotating laser cannon in the
middle. Don't worry about the set of missile bays in back, the ones you want to
destroy are conveniently placed the closest to you. Stay below horizontal with
the laser cannon and fire away at the missile launchers, dodging the arcing
missiles the back bays will fire towards you. Once the front bays are gone you
can work on the laser cannon in much the same way with little threat of being
hit by it. Occasionally the cannon goes into an attack pattern where it will
shoot, turn clockwise 30 degrees or so, shoot again, and repeat until it's
firing to the right. This offers you even more time to wail on the boss
virtually unmolested except for minor dodging from the back missile bays.
---------
Mission 9
---------
Mission Description: According to our intelligence, there may be an entrance to
Rabu's secret base near their mountain fortress. Take off immediately to
confirm the report.
Weapons Available: Apache, Super Bomb Dispenser
Finishing Bonus: 45K points, $22K
Perfect Bonus:
The last mission of any length puts you in the mountains, making an assault on
Rabu's fortress. Fans of U.N. Squadron will find this fortress assault rather
familiar! As you fly up to the fortress shoot near the bottom of the screen to
uncover a red astronaut worth 10K. The turrets and fighter bays should be no
problem now, just stick close to them and let the autofire do the dirty work.
Near the top a large laser cannon will pop up. Stay BELOW the line of fire as
you work on this turret! Being above the laser's fire seems to cause the turret
to raise higher, exposing some four extra laser cannons below the main one.
This makes the turret nearly impossible to kill in one pass and just makes a
headache out of what is normally a fairly easy kill. Once you've destroyed the
laser cannon, slide in front of the fortress' core and get a few hits in when
it opens. Be mindful of the three lasers it'll fire (there's a buildup before
it fires) and dodge the few bullets it throws your way.
You'll pass over the rest of the fortress which is simply more of the same, but
you'll have to let most of it go until you turn around unless you're daring.
Once you do finally turn around, grab the green fuel tank offered by the end
turret and take out each fighter bay, leaving the fortress defenseless except
for the core. Attack it again and destroy the core if you get the chance. If
not, you'll get one more pass to do the job. If you fail to destroy the core
after three passes, it blows itself up and opens a passage into the base
itself. Missile fighters and a rather large number of turrets greet you as you
fly in, but luckily there are quite a few red turrets as well. The lower two
will both offer up green fuel tanks! Don't be hasty in collecting them, though,
let them float a bit and shimmy through the narrow opening to collect them on
the other side. Be quick about it once you fly to the other side, though, since
missile planes will quickly show up to join you. Take a hit if you must after
you've grabbed the fuel tanks, you should be in no danger of dying through this
level once you reach this point.
There will be yet another green fuel tank shortly thereafter and then a long
section with girders that can be destroyed. Knock out the supporting girders
and anything that survives the drop (there are a few big tanks about). Pick up
yet ANOTHER green fuel tank near the end of this section. The next area is a
simple zigzag that should be non-threatening at this point. Each time you go up
there will be planes that shoot bombs into the wall, which subsequently explode
and send missiles after you. Each downward movement is accompanied by missile
planes that fly up and down. The next section is very similar, though now each
time that you head downward there will be a big tank to take out. Fly down as
soon as you're able to so that you'll get a good position, then fire away to
take out the tank's gun as soon as you can. Just before you move down the
second time in this area there's a yashichi which will completely refill your
fuel bar. The game is obviously feeling sorry for the times it screwed you over
with the lack of fuel in previous missions! Pick it up and take out the last
big tank, and after a short tunnel you finally meet up with the boss.
This wall of cannons and lasers looks intimidating at first, but it's actually
quite easy to destroy. Concentrate your fire at the center for a few seconds so
you can destroy those small turrets that are firing bullets at you. With them
gone, slide over to either one of the spinning laser wheels and just fire
continuously (the red shot is best for this, again), taking out the cannons as
they come into play and dodging the occasional laser that may be lined up with
you. When all the cannons on one wheel are destroyed, the wheel itself explodes
and is out of play. Take out the other wheel in the same manner, leaving you
with only the center cannons to deal with. The boss will finally start firing
bullets again from two rear cannons, but it can't take much punishment from
your guns. Take it out and move on.
----------
Mission 10
----------
Mission Description: Urgent mission. Rabu has just launched the ultimate
satellite-based beam weapon capable of hitting any target in the world. Destroy
the launching rocket before it makes orbit.
Weapons Available: Super Shell Pod 1 (weak & strong)
Finishing Bonus: 500K points, $24K. All excess cash is converted to points 1:1
as well.
Perfect Bonus: 10K points, $5K
The final mission! It all takes place high in the air and is nothing but an
elongated boss battle. You'll fly by the ship rather quickly, then turn around
and approach it from the right. You should be able to take out the missile
launchers and turrets easily until you come up against a wall of laser cannons.
This will move up and down and alternate between firing lasers and a hail of
missiles at you. Combined with the turrets hiding behind it, this can actually
be fairly difficult to dodge if you're trying to get any hits in. Stay near the
bottom edge of the column and get your hits in as you can, slowly whittling it
down to nothing. Take out the remaining turrets and blow up a few side
thrusters on your way to the back of the ship. You'll turn around again once
you reach the back, leaving you to face off with the main thruster and two side
thrusters. The sides are fairly easy to pick off, but be sure to do so quickly
to get rid of all the flying debris and to make the laser cannons next to them
easier to pick off. Be careful as you're moving about the main thruster; it
moves around as it fires and CAN trap you at the bottom of the screen and force
a hit if you're not careful. After a few seconds you'll be able to damage the
main thrusters as well, and once those are destroyed you'll move to the top of
the structure.
The top is simply two turrets and another wall of lasers. This one is much
easier to destroy and the red turret holds a yashichi, giving you one precious
refill of your fuelbar. Hold off on it as long as you can, you won't get any
more after this. The main rocket detaches once everything is destroyed, leaving
the shuttle and the big booster beneath it. Stay low to avoid the initial blast
from its thrusters, then slip up and fire for just a second or two. It will
recover quickly and fire again, and after that second blast you'll have your
chance to slip in and destroy all three thrusters. Once that is gone the
booster falls away and the shuttle starts its attack! The first blast from its
thruster comes without warning, so don't be in line with it when it first drops
down! After that it telegraphs when it will thrust and fires a hail of lasers
all around it as it moves about. Stay slightly above horizontal and fire away,
sticking with it as it moves around. Once the shuttle takes enough damage, its
hatch opens up and releases the satellite... finally!
But even the satellite is no pushover, firing several barrages of missiles
right off the bat. Once it unfolds its solar panels it switches to a wall of
lasers with a large blue one at the center. When this happens you'll want to
stay just above the center laser and move with it as best as you can to avoid
harm. This also allows you to rack up damage on the satellite quickly.
Eventually the panels will be blown off and it will start firing twin lasers
from the center and go back to the nearly continuous missile fire. The lasers
are relatively easy to dodge, but the missiles themselves can be a pain from
sheer numbers. The red shot will be much help here, wide enough to take out the
missiles before they get to you. If you're using a different gun, you'll need
to do a bit of fancier dodging to lead the missiles astray while you line up
your shot. The satellite also will occasionally send out two small flying
mirrors that it will bounce lasers off of, aimed right at you once they come
off of the mirrors. They fly away after one attack, though, so they're well
telegraphed and can be avoided accordingly. Keep up the fire and eventually the
satellite will go up in flames. Well done!
------
Ending
------
There are two possible endings for the game and I believe it has to do with
whether you finished the game in one credit or not.
Bad ending (2+ credits) - Upon re-entry into the atmosphere, your plane bursts
into flames. It flies for a few seconds longer before you eject out and the
plane explodes. Some text is displayed about how you successfully completed the
mission, and then you can enter your initials to a shot of you being rescued
from the ocean.
Good ending (1 credit) - Your plane bursts into flames just as in the bad
ending, but you manage to make a landing onto your carrier with it. The
carrier's fire truck speeds up and douses the flames, and you climb out of the
cockpit to a gaggle of waving folk streaming onscreen. The same ending text is
given to you, and you enter your initials to a shot of a bunch of pilots
congratulating you.
===============================================
4. Secrets
===============================================
I'll recap all the hidden items here and add two little bonuses. If you manage
to get through an entire stage without taking a single hit, you'll get a 10K
bonus added when the game tallies up your bonus for remaining fuel and such.
Good luck getting that on more than one or two stages. :)
Perfect Bonus: If you manage to destroy EVERYTHING in a level, you'll get this
bonus. It varies from level to level and even the number of things that must be
shot is not consistent. For example, the number of big planes that show up in
Mission 1 is entirely dependent upon how fast you shoot them down. Whether you
just get two planes or six, you must shoot them all if you want the perfect
bonus. I have only recorded the bonuses for the first and last stages and have
made no real attempt to find the others as they're quite small for all the
effort it would take to find them.
Mission 2: After you fly under the elevated road with the big choppers, fly up
and left and shoot around the empty space there. A white astronaut hangs in the
air to collect for 10K.
Mission 3: Just before the big hill starts sloping back down into the water
section, there's a conspicuous mound of dirt. Shoot that and the famous Capcom
cow will appear. Keep shooting it and it spins around, which looks odd but
doesn't appear to do anything. It's worth 10K.
Mission 3: In the same mission, you can fly down just in front of the second
boat of the fleet and fire into the crevice between it and a rock, exposing a
statuette worth 6K. Why this statue is 6K while everything else is 10K is
beyond me.
Mission 6: Right at the beginning of the stage, the first column of ice that
has two parts to break off hides a snowman worth 10K at its very base.
Mission 9: At the beginning of the stage, shoot at the base of the mountain
fortress. A red astronaut shows up on the ground for 10K.
===============================================
5. Credits
===============================================
Got something to contribute? Send it in to
[email protected] with "Carrier
Air Wing FAQ" in the subject and if I use it in here, I'll add your name to the
list of credits.
As always, thanks go to Capcom for making a worthwhile shooter. I still prefer
U.N. Squadron, but this was a pretty worthy sequel.
Shameless Plug - If you're interested in seeing these tactics in action, go to
the MAME Action Replay Page at
http://marp.retrogames.com. It's a storehouse
for .inp files that allow folks to watch games in MAME exactly as they were
played by someone else. There are recordings for both romsets of the game that
finish it on one credit.
This FAQ copyrighted 2001 by Brian McLean. Permission is granted to print out
or keep an electronic copy for personal use. Any non-personal use (aside from
being hosted at GameFAQs) is expressly prohibited.
