Crimson Skies
Developed by Zipper Interactive for Microsoft
FAQ/Guide ver 0.95
By Aaron Cloutier (
[email protected])
10/28/2000
CONTENTS
----------------
0.0 Introduction
0.1 Version History
1.0 Premise
2.0 Mission Guide
2.1 Mission 1
2.2 Mission 2
2.3 Mission 3
2.4 Mission 4
2.5 Mission 5
2.6 Mission 6
2.7 Mission 7
2.8 Mission 8
2.9 Mission 9
2.10 Mission 10
2.11 Mission 11
2.12 Mission 12
2.13 Mission 13
2.14 Mission 14
2.15 Mission 15
2.16 Mission 16
2.17 Mission 17
2.18 Mission 18
2.19 Mission 19
2.20 Mission 20
2.21 Mission 21
2.22 Mission 22
2.23 Mission 23
2.24 Mission 24
3.0 Aircraft
3.0.5 Customizing
3.1 Devastator
3.2 Kestrel
3.3 Peacemaker
3.4 Balmoral
3.5 Brigand
3.6 Fury
3.7 Bloodhawk
3.8 Hoplite
3.9 Fury
3.10 Hellhound
3.11 Warhawk
4.0 Cheat Codes
5.0 Questions & Answers
6.0 Misc. Stuff
7.0 What's missing
8.0 Credits
----------------
0.0 Introduction
----------------
This is a great game with excellent atmosphere. I've never been as taken by
a game early enough to write an FAQ about it. So here it goes, my first FAQ
about a fabulous game.
0.1 Version History
----------------
FAQ v 0.1 --> Initial offering, covering the first couple missions, early planes
and general layout.
0.3 --> Added missions 5-10. Also added the Hellhound and Warhawk. Added
Money received from missions.
0.5 --> Added more missions (11 - 15). Tried to add some more details.
Added
Q&A section. Added new cheat.
0.75 --> Added missions 16-20 (only 4 more). Added some more tips and some
thanks for the great comments I've been getting.
0.95 --> Added final missions (21-24). Re-did plane recommendations. Added
a
lot of tips from readers. Expanded the Hex Cheats a lot. Tons of
minor changes.
----------------
1.0 Premise
----------------
This game is basically a 3D shooter. You take the part of a sky pirate named
Nathan Zachary in an alternate 1930's North America. I say North America
because the US has fractured into separate "city states" or nations. Along
with this, air travel has become the norm, with sky buses and Zeppelin
transports. Nathan Zachary is the "Robin Hood" of the sky. He steals to help
himself or hurt people he thinks are bad. He also helps innocents in need.
So you start out in a stolen transport Zeppelin, refitted to launch planes,
trying to find the lost treasure of Drake (mission 1). The style is very 1930's,
Zachary is strong, compassionate, proud, and daring. Many objectives lead to
daring cut scenes like Zachary leaping to the wing of another plane to capture
it (mission 2). The style and execution is amazing.
----------------
2.0 Missions
----------------
As is normal, missions are split into a number of objectives. Additionally you
will almost certainly have to fight someone. It is also normal for the missions
to unfold in phases (which may not correspond to the objectives). To complete
a mission you will have to fulfill the objectives, kill all the enemies, and
(usually) dock with your Zeppelin (henceforth referred to as the "Pandora").
In addition to the required objectives, you can also perform Stunts. Each
mission has a set number of stunts that can be performed. These usually
involve flying through some tight space. When you successfully complete a
stunt a "click" will sound and a picture of your stunt will be shown in the
debriefing. This is an interesting take on the "find all the such-and-such"
theme. It combines the skill of performing the maneuver and the challenge of
figuring out where the challenges are.
Another nice feature to the missions is the ability to skip a mission if you
fail
three times in a row. This lets you move on with the game and come back later
for
the tough missions. There were a couple missions I only got after moving on and
coming back to them later.
2.1 Mission 1 "The Lost Treasure"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Scout three potential Sites for the treasure.
2. Drop off Jack at the treasure site.
3. Guard the treasure site.
4. Dock with the Pandora.
Phases:
1. Fly through the opening in the cliff wall directly in front of you.
2. After the fly though you'll get a warning from the British. There are 3
Jeeps and a Fuel truck on a bridge directly ahead. Keep low, and either
shoot the fuel truck or use a rocket on it. Either way it blows and
takes the bridge and jeeps with it.
3. Fly by the camp.
4. Fly over wreckage in reef (atole?). This is the treasure site, and you
will need to make a second pass so you can drop Jack off.
5. Head NE and a group of Medusas will show up (another pirate group). 4
Kestrels and a Transport Zep. Take out the Zep first by firing a rocket
into the first cargo area (lower front). This will set off Hydrogen and
destroy the Zep. Then Take out the planes.
6. Dock with the Pandora
Enemies:
3 Jeeps and a fuel truck.
4 Kestrels
Money: $0.00
Stunts: (2)
1. Flying through the "cave" in the cliff.
2. After the cave and the bridge drop low and you'll see some rocks and palm
trees. You'll need to fly low through the palm trees. This one is tricky
and you can end a great mission in a ball of flames while flying through
the palms.
Points of Interest:
Circle around the Southern side of the atole where the wreck is and you'll
see a monument. Below that monument, at the water level there's a wall. Blast
this and water will come rushing out. The water level inside the atole will
now be lower. You can fly through this hole now. I haven't gotten a click so
I don't think it's a stunt, but it's pretty cool.
Another "non-stunt" appears after you blow the Medusa Zep. When it crashes
into the water you can fly under, between it and the water. It's nice and
tight but not a real problem. I was disappointed when it didn't "click".
2.2 Mission 2 "The Bomber Heist"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Eliminate the British fighter escort.
2. Destroy all but one of the Bombers.
3. Capture Last Bomber.
4. Dock with the Pandora.
Phases:
1. I found it easiest to blow 2 bombers up right off the start, then go after
the 4 peacemakers flying escort.
2. Once you destroy the 4 peacemakers, they give you a minute to go after the
bombers. 3 more peacemakers and a peacemaker ACE will come in before you
can board the bomber. FYI, if you take too long to dispatch the escorts
the
bomber will make 2 successful bombing runs on the treasure and the mission
will end.
3. Once all those peacemakers are destroyed come from behind the bomber and a
bit above it. As you come in (if you're not going too fast) it will give
a cut scene of you dropping onto the bomber.
4. Pilot the bomber back to the Pandora
Enemies:
3 Balmorals and 4 Peacemakers
3 Peacemakers and a Peacemaker Ace
Money: $900.00
Stunts:
Same as Mission 1, but you're allowed to feel cooler if you perform them in
the
Balmoral Bomber. :)
Points of Interest:
None really. The atole tunnel is still there and if you get through it with
the Balmoral I'll be really impressed.
2.3 Mission 3 "The Secret Invasion"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Destroy the British Base:
- Work camp guard towers (3)
- Main base (3)
- Supply Containers (6)
2. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
1. You'll be coming in over the work camp first. If you're good you can hit
all
three guard towers (and 2 rocket turrets) as you're passing through, if
not
save it for later.
2. The main defense is six gun turret hot-air balloons around the base. They
go
down easy. Take them out first 3 in the interior and 3 on the upper rim.
3. At the top of the ridge is the main base. It consists of 3 buildings and 2
rocket turrets. You can skip the turrets (they can't aim) or shoot them (a
couple rounds is all they take). A rocket for each building is
recommended.
4. Now concentrate on taking out the supply containers under the Zep. The Zep
has gun turrets that are manned, but they shouldn't pose much of a threat.
5. Head back when they tell you to.
Enemies:
6 defense balloons
4 rocket turrets
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
1. Fly between the Zep and the Wall of the bay, under the docking crane.
Points of interest:
It's even more fun to fly under the Zep instead of just beside it, but it
doesn't give you anything special.
2.4 Mission 4 "The Sinister Sub"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Patrol the area
2. Protect the Pandora
Phases:
1. Fly out past the Pandora and you'll be greeted by 3 peacemakers and a
peacemaker Ace. As always take down the ace first then the rest.
2. Fly out from the mouth of the bay and you'll see something in the water.
Fly close to it and you see that it's a submarine.
3. Now fly straight back towards the Pandora, away from the sub. Eventually
the sub will radio and then tell it's fighters to launch. At this point
turn around the fly straight back at the sub. Fire everything you've got
at the point where the control tower meets the main body.
4. What's happening is that the sub is trying to launch fighters. The hanger
is just below the control tower and if you fire rockets into it you'll
destroy the sub. Do not fly over the sub or get behind it. Their anti-
aircraft guns are very accurate. If your aim is good none of the planes
will take off. If it's not you'll have to deal with 1 - 4 more peacemakers
depending how many are able to take off.
5. With the sub and planes dispatched the mission will end.
Enemies:
3 peacemakers and an Ace
0-4 peacemakers from the sub
1 Sub
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
1. Between the docked Pandora and the bay wall, just like the previous
mission.
Points of Interest:
You can fly under and through the partially sunken British Zep. It's
difficult but possible and feels pretty impressive, but the game doesn't
care.
If you want to rack up the kills you can let the Sub launch all it's
fighters and pick them off before taking care of the sub. Just stay away
from it's AA guns.
2.5 Mission 5 "The Union Jack's Revenge"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Protect the Pandora
2. Shoot down attackers
Phases:
1. You're on Patrol, circle the Pandora till they tell you attackers are on
their way.
2. Engage 2 Brigands and 4 Kestrels. The Brigands will ignore you and attack
the Pandora, take them down first.
3. Another wing will come in after the first is finished. 3 Brigands, 1
Kestrel
and a Kestrel Ace. Get the Ace first then go after the Brigands.
4. Mission will end when last attacker is shot down.
Enemies:
2 Brigands
4 Kestrels
3 Brigands
1 Kestrel
1 Kestrel Ace
Money: $20,000.00
Stunts:
1. Fly under the Pandora while they're trying to retrieve the treasure.
2. Same as mission 1.
Points of Interest:
The hole in the atole is right there. Nothing new though.
Mission 6 "The Red Menace"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Slow Zep down by destroying half it's engines.
2. Dock with the enemy Zep to drop off Jack.
3. Redock to pick up the Dr.
4. Return to the Pandora
Phases:
1. 4 Russian Devastators will engage you as soon as you launch.
2. Head for the Russian Zep and start taking out the engines. Rockets work
but
the .70-Cal cannon works just as good. Save you're rockets.
3. After a couple minutes the Zep will send out 3 Devastators. It will keep
this up for as long as it takes to destroy half of the Zeps engines. You
can potentially rack up a lot of kills this way.
4. Come in slow and close from behind the Zep to the docking point. You will
drop Jack off and head back out.
5. The Black Swan will suddenly show up. Target her while she's talking and
take her out fast. She will also send 3 Furys to help her. It seemed like
more came after me once, but I can't confirm it.
6. Take the Furys out fast and get back to the Zep to pick up the Dr.
7. Head back to the Pandora.
Enemies:
4 Russian Devastators
? sets of 3 Devastators (usually 2 sets)
3 Furys
1 Fury Ace
Turrets on the Russian Zep
Money: $5,000.00
Stunts:
None so far as I know.
Points of interest:
The battle takes place above and below the clouds, it's very nice. Be
careful coming up through the clouds though, you can sometimes come out
right at the Russian Zep and have a hard time avoiding it.
Mission 7 "The Pilfered Prototype"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Fly close to train to pick up Ilsa
2. Destroy fuel trucks when they reach depot
3. Steal Blue Streak Prototype
4. Destroy Fighters
Phases:
1. As you start 4 Peacemakers will come in after you and your wing mates.
Ignore
them and fly in low at about 3/4 throttle. The train will be crossing your
path heading left. come in behind it very low and reducing throttle as
much
as possible. If you speed and altitude are close you'll get a cut scene of
Ilsa being picked up from the train. The train goes under a few different
things so be careful. The tracks a loop, so I don't think there's a real
problem with missing it a few times.
2. Once you've got Ilsa you need to take care of the fighter, but also keep
an
ear out for the trucks. Jack will tell you when it's time to blow them up.
The 4 peacemakers will be joined by at least 2 more taking off from the
air
field. Dispatch them and the trucks.
3. With the trucks destroy Sparks will transmit the codes to open the hanger
where the plane is kept. Fly through an another cut scene will show you
parachuting from the plane inside the hanger (ouch) and taking the Blue
Streak.
4. Another Bloodhawk (Ace) and 3 Peacemakers will be swooping in as you exit
the hanger. Get the Ace first, though it can be a long fight because the
.40-Cal guns on the Bloodhawk you stole aren't very good.
5. Once all the planes are gone the mission ends.
Enemies:
4 Peacemakers
2 Peacemakers (possibly more)
1 Bloodhawk Ace
3 Peacemakers
There are 3-4 rocket turrets around, but they're not too dangerous. Watch
for them when you're after the train with Ilsa.
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
1. Fly through the hanger with the Passenger Zep in it. This gives a
newspaper
clipping in the mission log.
2. Fly through the hanger you got the Blue Streak from.
3-5. Fly through the train tunnel that goes under the airfield.
Points of interest:
There are lots of fun details in this mission. You can blow up boats in the
harbor off to the south or the passenger planes at the runway. You can try
to blow up little police cars that are zipping around everywhere. There are
also bridges you can try to fly under.
A great stunt that's not official is to fly through the tower in the middle
of the field. A Zep is parked to it in a later mission, but you can fly
through it if you turn your wings vertical. It's pretty tight, but sweet.
Mission 8 "The Petrol Plot"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Destroy the lighthouse generator
2. Destroy patrol boats so the Pandora can dock with the freighter
3. Protect the Pandora
4. Cripple the CCCP Zep or set fire to the freighter so they won't pursue the
Pandora
5. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
1. As you start you will be heading for a cave on an island. This is where
the
generator is. Usually a single rocket will destroy it. Continue through
the
cave to complete a stunt.
2. The lighthouse will call for help and 4 peacemakers will come out of the
clouds. You should be able to dispatch them easily.
3. If you took out the peacemakers quickly there will be a lull now. Use the
time to perform some of the stunts, just stay around the island with the
lighthouse.
4. After a minute or two (a discussion between the lighthouse and the
freighter) the lighthouse will send out 4 patrol boats from it's bay.
Dispatch them quickly.
5. A nearby Russian Zep comes to aid the freighter and launches about 6
Devastators. Hit em hard and hit em fast.
6. While fighting these Devastators you will get a radio from a wing mate
saying
the freighter launched a boat. Zoom down quickly towards the freighter and
blow it up. It seems to head south.
7. After the first 6 the Zep will send out 3 more Devastators.
8. Once the cargo is taken from the Zep you need to cover the Pandora's
retreat. Zachary tells everyone to attack the Zep and destroy 1/2 its
engines (6). If you take too long to do this Betty recommends setting fire
to the freighter, you can either keep going after the Zep or fire a rocket
into the freighter's hold.
9. During this final retreat the CCCP Zep will send out 3 more Devastators.
10. When all planes have been destroyed and all stunts have been completed
head back to the Pandora.
Enemies:
4 Peacemakers
4 Patrol boats
6 Devastators
3 Devastators
3 Devastators
Turrets from the CCCP Zep when you're after the engines.
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
All the stunts take place around the first two islands.
Island 1
1. Through the cave with the generator in it.
2. Tunnel at water level by the boat dock in the middle.
3. Another tunnel north to south that exits above the boat dock.
4. North side: a stone arch. You need to come into it and pull up with full
throttle to exit going up.
Island 2
1. Tunnel through water level (easy to see)
2. Come from the south, you'll see light from the ceiling. Pull up hard and
give it full throttle to exit the island heading up.
Points of interest:
Nothing much. You can see the patrol boats docked before they attack, but
you can't destroy them.
Mission 9 "Perils for Blake"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Destroy Zeppelin "The Promise Land"
2. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
1. You'll be heading North over the Harbor, as you come onto land you'll see
some Peacemakers taking off. Ignore the planes and switch targets until
you
find the Radio Tower. Head straight for it and take it out.
Perry has a better idea:
"It is possible to destroy all 4 initial Peacemakers on the ground. As
soon as
the episode starts, I pull up sharply for a couple seconds, then aim
myself
just above the rapidly approaching ridge crest. This puts my approach to
the
airfield just right and there, right in front of me, are three of the four
Peacemakers. Open fire *immediately*. If your aim is good, you can
destroy
all three within a couple seconds...then turn to port HARD and there is
the
fourth Peacemaker on the ground...ANY DELAY in attacking and it will take
off!
Kill it, then go take out the radio tower."
2. 4 Peacemakers will be in the air by now. Start bringing them down.
3. Eventually you'll hear the Zep say their Broadside Cannon doors are stuck
open. Stuff a rocket into an open cannon door to blow up a section of the
Zep.
4. Before you can destroy the Zep Sparks calls to say the Pandora's under
attack. Find the Pandora (right above you) and get up there fast. 5 Blood-
hawks are pestering it and you need to blow them up before you can take
care
of the Zep.
5. When they're gone head back down and finish off the cannon bays.
6. When you're done (possibly before then if you're having trouble) Paladin
Blake (Ace) and 3 more Bloodhawks will show up. As usually get Blake
first.
7. When everything's finished head up to the Pandora and Dock.
Enemies:
4 Peacemakers
5 Bloodhawks
3 Bloodhawks
1 Bloodhawk Ace
Ground rocket turrets
Gun turrets on the Zep
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
Same as mission 7
Points of interest:
Same as mission 7
2.10 Mission 10 "Mercy's Errand"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Protect the Hospital Ship
2. Eliminate the Black Hats
Phases:
1. 3 boats are attacking the ship.
2. 6 boats are descending on hot air balloons. Blow up the balloons before
they land and attack the ship.
3. When you destroy 3 of the previous 6 balloons 3 Black Hat Brigands will
show up. Ignore them until you destroy all the balloons. Remember,
Objective
1, Protect the ship.
4. Once that set of Black hats are finished 3 more balloons will descend.
They
will be joined by 3 Brigands and Ace Dixon in a Brigand. Get the balloons
first then take out the Ace.
5. Dock with the Pandora when everything's done.
Enemies:
3 boats
6 balloons carrying boats (and guns)
3 Brigands
3 balloons
3 Brigands
1 Ace Brigand
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
1. This one is really cool. You need to fly _through_ the downed Zep. Right
where it's bent there's a hole all the way through you'll need to make a
dip to make it through though. It's tough at first, but fun.
Points of Interest:
Some interesting things. You can destroy the engines on the downed Zep and
more holes seem to open up on the sides. It looks like you could make it
through, but I haven't been successful yet.
Interesting enough this is the same area as the last mission, just a bit
to the South west. You can fly over to the airfield and blow stuff up if
you want, but none of the stunts count or anything, and they'll still shoot
at you.
2.11 Mission 11 "The Stolen Scarlet"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Destroy Main Gate
2. Protect Trailer
3. Return to Pandora with Ms. Cooper
Phases:
1. As you start out you are mistaken as a stuntman for a movie and you need
to
follow another stunt plane through a series of stunts (3). The first is
the
Hollywood sign directly in front of you. The second is the Egyptian arch.
Once
you're through the second one make sure you get as close as possible to
the
other stunt plane. The last stunt is through the rock arch in the bay.
2. If you stayed close to the other plane through the last stunt they'll
think
you're a great pilot and leave you to your business. If you lagged behind
or
missed a stunt, they realize you're an imposter and sent the hoplites
after
you early.
3. If you did it right circle around the rock and head toward the main gate
facing the main area of Hollywood. Lower your speed and blast the gate.
TIP: Here's a tip from Alo Anesi.
If you head towards the large hanger after you complete the stunts and
before you blow the gate, you'll see the 4 Hoplites on the ground. If
you
shoot at them enough you should be able to blow one up and get the rest
to
take off. You should be able to take another before the really get
going.
So 2 down before they can hurt you. Try to make you're gun passes so
you're
going the same direction they're facing, that way when they take off
they
won't be heading in the opposite direction you will be.
4. Now head a bit to the left (north) keeping the speed low for now. You
should
see 4 hoplites take off from next to a hanger. Once they're up give it
throttle and take them out.
5. Eventually you'll hear that the police are blocking the trailer by the
Egyptian area. Fly in and blow them up (4-5 cars). Hit them with a rocket
first, but take out the stragglers with your guns.
6. While you're in the area you'll need to blow open another gate just past
the
road block you just destroyed. Get that before the trailer get's to it so
you don't have to worry.
7. Now 4 Furys will be coming in from the East. Gain some altitude and take
them down.
8. Another road block at the foot of Hollywood hills. 4-5 Police cars.
9. Once the police are gone 5 Firebrands will show up from the North. They're
slow and heavy. If you can get a steady bead on them with the .70's they
should go down in about 3-4 seconds.
10. They get-away plane for Ms. Cooper was destroyed by the Firebrands (no
way
to prevent this). You'll have to do a pick up like the train from "The
Pilfered Prototype." As they're going down the hill get in nice and close
and slow and it should take care of the rest.
11. Dock with the Pandora.
Enemies:
4 Hoplites
4-5 Police Cars (no threat)
4 Furys
4-5 Police Cars (no threat)
5 Firebrands
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
1-3. Through the 3 'O's in the Hollywood sign.
4. Egyptian archway
5. Rock Arch in the bay
6+7. The bridge by the first roadblock. Fly through as if you ewere driving.
8. Under the metal bridge going up the Hollywood hill.
9. Fly through the NYC Set.
Points of Interest
You can see the Hoplites before they take off if you go over after the
stunt flying but before you blow the gate. Unfortunatly you can't blow
them up before they take off.
There are lots of other things to fly through. Under the big bridge.
Through the other Hangers (near the Hoplites). Under the archways of the
gates you blow up.
You can also blow up a lot of stuff in the movie sets. The walls of the
Egyptian area. Boats. The Rocket ship. Warehouses.
2.12 Mission 12 "The Great Plane Robbery"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Blow open hanger doors
2. Clear the path for the Spruce Goose
3. Destroy all fighters
Phases:
1. If you're going for the stunts turn around imediately and go through the
rock arch first thing.
2. 4 Hoplites will be attacking. Destroy them.
3. Ignore Betty telling you to blow the hanger door. Do the rest of the
stunts.
Then destroy the 4 large barges positioned on the way from the hanger to
the
bay.
4. Come around from behind the Spruce Goose hanger slow and go through the
back
of the hanger and blow the door as you fly through.
5. At this poing you can fool around a bit but be read you head for the
Leaning
Tower of Pisa. As the Goose gets near the bridge, 3 patrol boats will come
out from near the tower and try to blow the Gooses engines. Take them out
quickly.
6. As the patrol boats are attacking 4 Furys will show up too. Get the boats
first then get the Furys.
7. When the Furys are down 3 Firebrands and a Firebrand Ace will show up. As
before they're slow and tired. Destroy them and the mission will end.
Enemies:
4 Hoplites
4 Barges (block the Goose)
3 Patrol Boats
4 Furys
3 Firebrands
1 Firebrand Ace
Money: $10,000.00
Stunts:
Same as previous level.
Points of Interest:
Nothing new really. Though it's fun to do close fly-bys on the Spruce Goose.
There's a slight change (haven't pulled it off myself), that you can get
super
close to the Spruce Goose during it's taxi. (under a wing maybe?)
Here's a tip from Jay Lazorishak:
"I was only getting about a 70% survival rate flying through the hanger to
rescue
the Spruce Goose. (I kept hitting the tail of the Goose.) I finally gave up
on
the mission and went back to it later and I found you can blow the hanger
doors
from the outside with the .70 cal and explosive rounds. Rockets won't work
for
some reason, but it's easy with the guns. After not having to fly through
the
crowded hanger, the rest of the mission was easy. Thanks for your time, and
if
you decide to use the tip in the FAQ, a little credit would be a great
thing."
Thanks Jay!
2.13 Mission 13 "The Nefarious Trap"
----------------
Objectives:
1-8. Navigate Obsticles
9. Survive (eep!)
10. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
1. Fly through the hanger the Spruce Goose was in.
2. Fly through the Egypt arch. Stay low after the hnager (blow the walls).
3. Fly through the rock arch.
4+5. Fly through the two towers of the bridge.
6. Fly under the metal bridge on the Hollywood hills.
7. Fly through an 'O' in the Hollywood sign.
8. Fly through the Manhattan set. Come at it from the side with the Statue of
Liberty.
9. Now it get's interesting, no matter how well you do Johnny offers a ton of
money for the one who kills you. Two of the Aces Joing you so it's 3 on 4.
But don't count on anyone saving your butt. This is very hard. Get
altitude
right after number 8 then dive down on someone and hope you can take them
out in one pass.
10. After 3 of them are down 5 Bloodhawks come to help Johnny. As if you
weren't having enough trouble as it is.
11. And if you survive all that (the Blookhawks are cake compared to the
aces)
you can dock with the Pandora.
Enemies:
4 Ace Furys
5 Bloodhawks
Stunts:
1-8. You already did them.
9-11. 2 more 'O's and a 'D' in the sign.
12. Is there a 12???
Points of interest:
The only difference whether you win or lose is that you get a presidential
pardon in your mission log. All you need to do to win really is navigate all
the obsticles in the first pass.
2.14 Mission 14 "Clash of the Dreadnaughts"
----------------
Objective:
1. Protect the Pandora
2. Slow down the Zep
3. Destroy the Zep
4. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
1. The first wave of enemy fighters comes in, take out the Kestrels first.
4 Kestrels and 2 Bloodhawks
2. The second wave of enemy fighters. Again, take out the Kestrels first.
3 Kestrels and 3 Bloodhawks
3. The enemy Zep will be nearby now, sparks will let you know. Go after it's
engines. From what I've seen you'll only be able to hit a couple engines
before they turn up the heat.
4. First thing they do is drop about 6 Bloodhawks. Then they start opening
fire
with the broadside cannons on the Pandora.
5. There isn't really any hope in slowing down the Zep. It's already there so
forget about the engines. Just get yourself between it an the Pandora.
From
what I've seen it starts with the rear broadside cannon and goes forward
opening the next after the first closed. There are 3 sections (6 cannons)
you only need to hit one cannon in each section. If you fly slow from tail
to nose you can get 3 hits in and bring down the Zep in one pass. This
probably won't happen you're first time through the mission though.
6. Once the Zep is going down the remaining fighters will turn tail and run.
Take out any that you can, you might be able to catch them with a fast
plane
but if they're out of range you should probably forget it.
7. Dock.
Enemies:
4 Kestrels
2 Bloodhawks
3 Kestrels
3 Bloodhawks
6 Bloodhawks (possibly more if it takes you too long to bring down the Zep)
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
None
Points of Interest:
They expect that the Pandora will get pounded. Even if you take out
everything
without the Pandora getting hurt at all, it will be just barely together at
the
start of the next mission... Oh well.
2.15 Mission 15 "The fight for the Figaro"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Hijack the Zep Figaro
2. Shoot free the Cargo
3. Elimate the Turrets
4. Protect the Balmoral boarding party.
5. Stop enemy fighters from disabling the Figaro
Phases:
1. 5 or 6 Peacemakers will be protecting the Figaro. Ignore them and blow up
the chains holding the cargo. You need to hit them at the point where one
chain turns into 4. There's a block there, blow it up. There are 3 blocks.
2. Now take out the Peacemakers.
3. You now need to destroy the turrets on the Figaro so the boarding party
can
come in. There are 3 turrets on top, 3 on the bottom, and one main turret
on the nose.
4. As soon as the turrets are gone the Figaro will notice the Balmoral and
launch 4 more Peacemakers. Soon after they launch you'll see a cut scene
of
the Balmoral dropping off the boarding party.
5. The Figaro now drops another 4 Peacemakers to keep you busy.
6. After a couple minutes you'll hear that you've taken the Figaro.
Unfortunatly
they drop 4 more peacemakers and order them to disable the Figaro. So
these
4, plus any you haven't destroyed, will be trying to blow up the Figaro.
Don't
let them.
7. Destroy all remaining fighters and the mission ends.
Enemies:
5 or 6 Peacmakers
4 Peacemakers
4 Peacemakers
7 Turrets
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
None
Points of Interest:
For some fun you can fly through the middle section of the dead Zeppelin the
Figaro is carrying. If you're really good you can shoot down the front and
back
then fly through the middle while it's still being carried. Otherwise fly
through it after you drop it.
2.16 Mission 16 "Raid on the Rocky Express"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Find the Rocky Express
2. Eliminate Train defences
3. Pick up Sparks
Phases:
1. 3 Brigands and a Brigand Ace show up immediately. Elimate the Ace first
and
try to keep the Black Swan around.
2. Once they're gone the Rocky Express will show up (to the East I think).
4 Hellhounds will attack it right away. If they succeed in destroying it
the
mission ends. Try to get one with a couple rockets right off, then try to
stay near the train.
3. Once they're gone sparks will tell you that the train engineers jumped
ship.
You'll need to take out the turrets to rescue him.
4. If you're going for the stunts do it now, before you destroy the train
turrets. There's no real reason, but you feel less guilty.
5. As soon as you destroy the turrets, Sparks will tell you that a stray
bullet
hit the engine and the train is "about" to explode. This means that right
after you pick him up it will explode, but never before you pick him up.
6. This next part is similar to mission 7 where you pick up Ilsa. You need to
come in slow from behind the train getting really close and you'll
automatically pick up sparks. This one feels harder because they try to
rush
you with the "about to explode" thing. Don't worry, it won't.
7. As soon as you pick up sparks the mission ends.
Enemies:
3 Brigands
1 Brigand Ace
4 Hellhounds
3 Turrets
Money: $0.00
Stunts: (There are 13 and they're hard to describe)
You start out near the very large bridge over a set of waterfalls.
1. The metal arche part of the bridge.
2. The stone arch part of the bridge.
3+4. both ends of the Zep/diner half way accross the bridge.
5. A stone arche down stream from the bridge (very close).
6. Just past #5 is a stone arch that you have to fly up or down through.
East of the bridge is a small repair area.
7. Fly through the end of the Zep/diner near the bridge there.
North across the lake from the bridge.
8. A stone arch near the lake.
9. Past that is another large metal bridge with a big arch to fly under
10. Through the Zep under that bridge.
North West of the starting bridge is a town in a valley.
11+12. Follow the train tracks under the town.
13. Turn around and fly through another gap you can see parallel to the
tracks.
Points of Interest:
There are a few interesting things to shoot. Especially the town in the
valley.
You can fly up through the cloud cover and see the tops of the mountains.
2.17 Mission 17 "The Pirate's Duel"
----------------
Objectives:
1-4. Find Ulysses Boothe
5. Shoot down Boothe.
Phases:
0. You are forced to fight in a Hoplite this mission. This is probably the
hardest mission in the game.
1. You need to find Boothe and you think he's at one of four places. He seems
to be fairly consistent (in my games) so if you want to find him you
should
be able to. However, if you want max stunts it's best to do them while
searching for him. This means that you will have to fight more Brigands
which is very difficult.
2. What I've found is that 5 times out of 6 if you go to the Brothel in the
Zep
under the bridge first then to the Bar by the Dry docks Boothe will be at
the
dry docks. But if you go to the dry docks first he'll be somewhere else.
That
6th time out of 6 he was at the Brothel which made it easier.
3. Anyways, each time you do the stunt to check for Boothe 2 Brigands swoop
down
and attack you. If you do the brothel, then the drydock you should only
have
to fight 4 before you find Boothe.
4. Where ever you find him he will come out with a Hoplite just like you and
you'll have to take him out. He's actually harder than the Brigands, but
not
as dangerous.
5. Once you take out Boothe, 4 more Brigands will come after you. Luckily the
Black Swan will also show up to help you. Once you destroy them the
mission
ends.
Enemies:
2-8 Brigands while searching for Boothe
1 Hoplite Ace (Boothe)
4 Brigands
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
Seems to be the same as the previous mission, but only 12 photos are visible
after you complete the mission. I'm not sure which stunt was left out.
Points of Interest:
Nothing really. This mission is hard enough as it is.
2.18 Mission 18 "Deciet at Devil's Horn"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Fly to Devil's Horn and drop off Boothe
2. Keep Black Hats from retreiving Boothe early.
3. Find Crew
4. Dock and free your crew
5. Dock with the Pandora
Phases:
There are two ways to go through this mission. There isn't any difference
except
that one is harder than the other.
1.1 (The right way) Fly through Devil's Horn to drop off Boothe. At this
point
the Black Hats tell you that your crew is in a Zep at the dry dock. When
you
fly over to it they also tell you that it's rigged to explode. You'll
need
to blow up 5 docking points so the Zep floats free.
1.2 (The hard way) Forget about dropping off Boothe and head straight for the
docked Zep at the dry dock. When you start blowing up the docking points
the
Black Hats will see you're trying to double cross them and set 8 (yes
*8*)
Warhawks to take out you and the Zep holding your crew. This is possible
if
you're fast and have .70-cal guns. The Warhawks are slow and not too
agile.
I was able to take out all 8 with minimal damage to me or the Zep with a
custom Devastator (.70 and Max armor).
2. Either way, once the Zep is floating free 4 Brigands will show up to give
you trouble. Once they're gone you need to dock.
3. You'll need to come from behind and to the right of the Zep. A crane arm
will
be sticking out from the side. Come in slow and parallel to the Zep and
you
should dock automatically.
4. Once you're docked you'll let out your crew (a full set of Fury's too) and
the Black Swan will get shot down and captured.
5. Once you're back in the air 4 Warhawks will show up from the NW to attack
the
Pandora. Take them out.
6. Once they're gone 3 Brigands and a Brigand Ace show up as well. Go after
the
Ace first and with the help of the Fury's you let out they should go down
easy.
7. Once that's all done you can get the stunts taken care of and dock with
the
Pandora.
Enemies:
8 Warhawks (optional)
4 Brigands
4 Warhawks
3 Brigands
1 Brigand Ace
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
Same as the previous missions
Points of Interest:
Try flying under the Zep when it's still docked. You can do the same with the
Pandora. Fly-bys of the Zep as it's floating are fun too.
2.17 Mission 19 "Rescue the Black Swan"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Eliminate Mansion Defences
2. Eliminate Hanger Defences
3. Dock in main hanger and rescue the Black Swan
4. Destroy Black Hat Mansion
5. Protect the Pandora
Phases:
1. As you come in the "Power Station" will be targeted. Blow it up (one
rocket).
2. The mansion defences consist of 4 rocket turrets, 1 8" Cannon turret, and
2
guns on balloons. Destroy all of them.
3. While you're attacking the turrets 2 autogyros will be sent out after you.
4. Once those are all destroyed you can either land at the hanger by flying
through it in the upper section. You can also hold off on that and take
out
the 6 Warhawks that are being sent out after you.
5. Destroy those 6 Warhawks and rescue the Black Swan. Once you rescue her
you'll steal a Black Hat Warhawk which you'll use for the remainder of the
mission
6. Now 6 Brigands will come out after you while Sparks is loading the cargo
into
the Pandora. You need to protect the Pandora.
7. At some point during Sparks' loading 2 turret trucks will come out and
start
shooting at the Pandora. The Warhawk's .70-cal guns should make short work
of them.
8. Time to destroy the mansion. Destroy the green tanks inside the loading
dock.
then destroy the 2 support beams holding up the hanger. They're located
outside of the hanger.
9. Once that's all finished you can go perform your stunts and dock with the
Pandora.
Enemies:
5 Turrets
2 Gun balloons
2 Autogyros
6 Warhawks
6 Brigands
2 Turret Trucks
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
Same as the previous mission. I also got a click flying through the lower
section
of the mansion hanger before picking up the Black Swan. But when I got back
to
the log book there was no picture of it, only the other 13 stunts. (???)
Points of Interest:
Nothing really.
2.20 Mission 20 "Unholy Alliance"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Shoot down enough Black Hat planes to convince Blake you're friendly.
2. Don't shoot Blake planes.
3. Protect the Cargo Zep.
4. Destroy the Black Hat Zep.
Phases:
1. As soon as you start 4 Warhawks will be attacking the Blake Zeps. One of
them
will get destroyed immediately. You can't prevent it. I tried Nitro to get
to them faster and took out the Warhawks fast. The other Zep seemed to
survive (lost 2 gas bags though) but it disappeared by the end (???).
2. After the first 4 Warhawks are destroyed Blake will believe you. Now 4
more
Warhawks will attack from the Black Hat Zep. Take them out with the help
of
Blakes Peacemakers (laugh).
3. Now 2 Brigands and a Brigand Ace (Dixon) will attack. Take out Dixon fast
and
any of the other two Brigands you can.
4. After Dixon is down 2 more Brigands and a Brigand Ace (Boothe) will show
up.
Unfortunately you won't have time to get them because that tell tale sound
of
broadside cannon doors will tell you that you need to protect the cargo
Zep.
5. You know how it works. Position yourself between the Black Hat Zep and the
cargo Zep and send some rockets into the cannon bays. All this while at
least 3 Brigands try to blow you out of the sky. You capture anti-zep
Torpedos
in the last mission, but I've never tried them out on this mission.
6. Once the Zep goes down take out the remaining Brigands starting with
Boothe.
When they're all destroyed you'll start telling Blake the details and the
mission will end.
Enemies:
4 Warhawks
4 Warhawks
2 Brigands and an Ace
2 Brigands and an Ace
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
None
Points of Interest:
None
2.21 Mission 21 "Death on the Docks"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Meet Cabbie at the Police Station
2. Follow Cabbie to avoid detection
3. Destroy the Warehouse
4. Sink the Freighter
5. Dock at the Pandora
Phases:
1. Cabbie is waiting for you at the police station straight ahead.
2. The key to following Cabbie is to not try to follow him exactly. He'll
bad mouth you if you don't do exactly what he does, but as long as you
are right behind him (very close) when you reach the warehouse you'll
"win the bet" and get the signed $5 bill in the notebook.
3. The warehouse is well guarded. I recommend this order.
A. Head straight at the warehouse and shoot the 3 white "people" in
front of it.
B. If you still have room, destroy the gun emplacement to the left of
the warehouse. Keep pulling a hard left.
C. A patrol boat will be in this area. If you continue a hard left you
should end up facing the warehouse again and another patrol boat
should be there too.
D. Now destroy the 2 turret trucks that should be in front of the
warehouse and the gun emplacement to the right.
E. Now there should be only 1 (maybe 2) turret trucks on the far side
of the warehouse that you can get at your leisure.
4. The warehouse is tricky to destroy. You need to blow it's windows first.
Now inside there are 3 support beams on either side. It's fun to fly
through the warehouse, but you can get hit by falling supports if you've
just destroyed some and try to fly though. Be careful.
5. Once you destroy the warehouse (or freighter if you attacked that first)
3 Brigands and 3 Warhawks will attack at once. The Warhawks have more
fire power, but they're slower. I tend to go after the Brigands first.
6. The Frieghter is easy. There are 4 stacks of crates on it. Just blow
them up.
7. Go get the Stunts (good luck).
8. Dock with the Pandora.
Enemies:
2 Patrol boats
3 "people"
3 or 4 Turret Trucks
2 Gun Emplacements
3 Brigands
3 Warhawks
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
There are 14 Stunts in this level. I may need help finding them.
1. Fly through the Police station
2. Fly through the Cab building (near the police station).
3. Building construction near the Police station. Fly through the crane.
4. Same place. Fly though the Girders.
I believe there are 2 more construction sites with 2 stunts at each.
(cabbie fly's through one).
Points of Interest:
Remember, just stay near cabbie. When he's over the highway, don't weave
with him, just follow the highway. You'll need to stay at 150 on the highway
so you won't overtake him. He also fly's at 200 at the end so you'll need
a faster plane to catch up and stay close.
2.22 Mission 22 "Runaway Witness"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Rescue Waldo Carney
2. Deliver Carney to Police Headquarters
Phases:
1. The Arcadia will radio for help and tell you it's heading out of the dock.
2. 6 Black Hat Brigands will be attacking the Arcadia, destroy them as soon
as
possible.
3. 6 more will show up when you destroy 5 of the previous ones.
4. Partway through the next 6 (or a certain amount of time into the mission)
Carney will come onto the radio and you will tell him to get to the top of
the Arcadia.
5. At this time try to hang out behind the Arcadia.
6. Not very long after, the captain of the Arcadia will tell you that Carney
is
waiting for you. Head up the Zep from the tail to nose. Carney will be
near
the nose, but you will need to be close to the Zep and as slow as you can
go.
You only have about 1-2 minutes to pick up Carney, but he's easier than
the
girl in mission 7.
7. As soon as you pick up Carney, the Arcadia will crash and burn. 6 more
Brigands
will swoop in as well. Your teammates suggest you head for the Police HQ
and
forget about the Brigands. This is a good idea. They'll disappear if you
ignore
them.
8. On your way to the Police Station 4 Sacred Cross Hellhouds will attack.
Take
them out.
9. Fly through the Police HQ to end the mission.
Enemies:
6 Brigands
6 Brigands
6 Brigands (optional)
4 Hellhounds
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
See previous level.
Points of Interest:
Nothing really.
2.23 Mission 23 "Criminal Exodus"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Stop the Sacred Trust Exodus
Phases:
1. You will be heading for the first of 3 Sacred Trust Zeps when you start
out.
Not long after you will see 3 Hellhounds.
2. Take out the Hellhounds, then go back for the Zep. You must destroy half
its
engines. I find the slower planes (like a Brigand) with .70s flying from
nose
to tail on the Zep can take out 2 or 3 engines per pass. I use this
technique
for all 3 Zeps in this mission. Explosive rockets work okay too, but you
have</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
to be dead on. A lot of people like Flak rockets against Zep engines, but
it
takes at least 2 to take out an engine.
3. After that Zep is gone you will target the next one. This one has 2
Hellhounds
and a Hellhound Ace (Witch). This Zep is in the dock and will start moving
as
soon as you destroy one of it's engines. That first pass through the dock
is
a doozy.
4. After the second is gone you'll need to high tail it to the 3rd Zep which
is
already on the move according to Sparks. Again 3 Hellhounds. You'll have
to
be quicker against this Zep because it's close to the escape point.
5. Once the last Zep is gone Sacred Trust tries to escape in the Spruce
Goose.
You'll have to take out half it's engines (it has eight). I believe there
are
3 more Hellhounds as well, it's hard to keep track.
6. A lot of people have written in about having trouble shooting down the
Spruce
Goose. I find that a low (very low), frontal attack with .70s (of course)
is
very effective. I've also had luck coming down and accross the wings and
firing
Explosive Rockets.
7. Once the Goose is cooked (I couldn't resist) the mission ends.
Enemies:
3 Hellhounds
1 Zep
2 Hellhounds + 1 Hellhound Ace
1 Zep
3 Hellhounds
1 Zep
3 Hellhounds (?)
(no guns on the Goose)
Money: $0.00
Stunts:
Still 14 stunts, but no real time to get them. The only thing I've noticed
is
that the first 2 Zeps don't go anywhere if you don't attack them. You may be
able
to get most of the stunts before actually starting the mission.
Points of Interest:
The Freighter from mission 21 is there again (near the last Zep), but I
couldn't
blow it up.
2.24 Mission 24 "Battle over Broadway"
----------------
Objectives:
1. Payback Time
Phases:
1. Pretty much straight ahead (maybe a bit to the right) six Warhawks will
appear
out of nowhere with torpedos for the Pandora. Don't dilly dally, they WILL
mess
up the Pandora. I've never had more than one gas bag blown, but they're
definately dangerous.
2. The Sacred Trust Zep, the Dante, will show itself after you take care of
the
Warhawks. Along with 6 Hellhounds.
3. The Hellhounds are both tempting and dangerous, but the Dante is more
dangerous.
If you come in close to the Dante you'll hear the cannon doors opening.
Three
well placed rockets (explosive) and the Dante's down in under 3 minutes. I
would
recommend getting away from it, as it's still going to be shooting like
crazy
for a while.
4. Go after a couple Hellhounds until someone notices Miles escaping from the
Dante. Try to tail him as much as possible as you have your little chat
with
him.
5. Once the chat's done you're supposed to follow him in a crazy trip through
the
streets of Manhattan. "Supposed" is the key word. Just stay near him, like
with
Cabbie, and follow him around the city. Eventually things will change and
he'll
turn Red. Which means "Blow him out of the sky". At that point you should
have
him right in your sights and it should take 10 seconds to send him into
the bay.
6. Listen to your backup arrive and settle back for the final movie.
Enemies:
6 Warhawks
6 Hellhounds
The Dante
1 Hellhound Ace (Miles)
Money: $100,000.00
Stunts:
14 again, I have no idea how you're supposed to get them in this mission.
Points of Interest:
Watching the Dante go down in a ball of fire. Right into the streets of
Manhattan.
I hope nobody lived in those buildings.
3.0 Aircraft
----------------
There are 11 normal aircraft in Crimson Skies. Currently I have not seen
any hidden craft though I'm almost certain that there are at least 2 or 3
more. **NOTE** Well I finished the game, and no new aircraft. I haven't heard
anything about more on any websites either. Kind of a bummer. If anyone has
more
info please send it my way.
I'm listing all of the aircraft (in the order you meet them in the game) as
well as their standard configurations, my personal comments, and my
recommended
configuration.
3.0.5 Configuration Notes
----------------
Everyone has there own way of configuring an aircraft. Here is some general
info that I keep in mind when configuring my planes
Engine:
Every chassis has 3 engine types, the middle one is always the default
engine. You can go up or down 20 mph by changing engines. Later in the
game
you also have the option to add Nitro to any of the three. Nitro can be
nice
to get you away from a Zep or group of fights, but I usually don't bother.
Guns:
I personally don't understand the need for 2 or 3 sets of guns up front.
Only a couple times have I run out of ammo, and it was because I was
flying
poorly and shooting everywhere. One set of heavy guns works the best.
Shooting from long distance with the smaller guns just wastes ammo.
The .30-Cal guns are just useless. They're so underpowered you'll need to
pump hundreds of rounds into anyone to bring them down. These are okay
for rear turrets.
The .40-Cal guns are great for rear turrets. They pack at least some punch
with good range and rate of fire.
The .50-Cal guns are great all around guns for light aircraft. Good range
and a decent punch make them useful for dogfights.
The .60-Cal guns are excellent. They maintain a good rate of fire and can
really bring someone down quick.
The .70-Cal cannons are vicious. I like these the best. They shoot a bit
slow, but once you get used to it you can bring enemies down very
quickly. The range is low, but for Zeps and most dog fighting you're
well within range. With .70s I've taken out 4 Zep engines in one pass.
Hardpoints:
I have a tendency to leave the hardpoints alone when customizing a plane.
Typically they've chosen a good amount for a particular chassis. If you
think you'll need more add them, but it's rare you'll really want to
take them off.
Armor:
In my opinion all the planes are under armored and over armed. I like to
get rid of the second set of guns (I never use them) and adding as much
armor as I can.
Ammo:
Though not part of customizing a plane I'm putting my comments here. It's
really simple to me, explosive bullets and high explosive rockets. I don't
go for all the strange, gimmick rockets because it's hard to switch
quickly
during a heated dogfight.
From what I've been able to tell (with help) the ammo works something like
this:
Slug: 1x to armor / 1x to internal
Armor Piercing (AP): 1.5x to armor / .5x to internal
Dum-Dum: .5x to armor / 2x to internal
Explosive (EX): 1.5x to armor / 1.5x to internal
TIP:
Perry de Havilland suggested the following as an alternative to my
suggestions:
"I find that using .50 cal AP is VERY effective at stripping away enemy
armour...the instant they start to smoke, I switch to .60 cal dum-
dum...this
will finish off even tough targets like the Firebrand with a 1 second
burst
or less!"
"To my mind, the only rockets that are worthwhile are:
1. HE for through-the-gunport Zeppelin-busting plus for certain
ground attack missions
2. Flak rockets for for taking out Zeppelin engines/gun turrets and
occasional general air-to-air use.
3. Aerial Torpedoes for ONE mission only (the Criminal Exodus)."
3.1 Hughes P21-J MKIII Devastator
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Average
Armor: Average
Offense: Average
Max Weight: 10100
Armor: Nose: 25
Tail: 25
Wings: 25
Weapons:
2 .50-Cal.
2 .40-Cal.
2 .30-Cal.
4 hardpoints
Comments:
This is my favorite plane. An all around good dogfighter, it can carry a
lot
of armor when you customize it and handles quite well in a dogfight.
Especially
in the later levels when you have lots of Brigands and Hellhounds who are
both
less maneuverable than the Devastator
Customize:
Drop all the guns and put in .70-Cal Cannons. Put everything else on
armor. An upgraded engine with Nitro is really useful.
3.2 McDonnell S2B Kestrel
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Poor
Armor: Average
Offense: Average
Max Weight: 13780
Armor: Nose: 30
Tail: 30
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .60-Cal.
2 .50-Cal.
2 .40-Cal. (Rear Turret)
5 hardpoints
Comments:
A heavy plane with a lot of weapons. More of a Fighter/Bomber than a
fighter, this plane doesn't do too well in a dogfight. The rear turret
is useful when going against Zeps.
Customize:
Drop the .50-Cal and upgrade the .60's to .70-Cal. You can also drop
the .40-Cal Rear guns down to .30-Cal guns. This helps upgrade the engine
(to get you away from the Zeps you may want a nitro) and the armor. Armor
is key to surviving a Zep attack.
3.3 William & Colt Peacemaker 370
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Good
Agility: Excellent
Armor: Average
Offense: Fair
Max Weight: 7205
Armor: Nose: 25
Tail: 20
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .50-Cal.
2 .40-Cal.
3 hardpoints
Comments:
A good dog fighter, this plane is super maneuverable, but doesn't really
pack a good punch.
Customize:
Drop the .40-Cal and upgrade to .60-Cal on the main guns (or even .70's
if you're feeling adventurous). Put anything left over onto armor and
you've got a decent dog fighter.
3.4 Bristol Type 140 Balmoral (Bomber)
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Fair
Agility: Poor
Armor: Good
Offense: Good
Max Weight: 15760
Armor: Nose: 40
Tail: 35
Wings: 25
Weapons:
2 .50-Cal.
2 .50-Cal.
2 .30-Cal. (Nose Turret)
2 .30-Cal. (Rear Turret)
8 hardpoints
Comments:
This plane carries more rockets than anything else, but it's slow and
unmaneuverable. I haven't found a use for it yet.
Customize:
Don't bother.
3.5 Fairchild F6II Brigand
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Fair
Armor: Average
Offense: Average
Max Weight: 10985
Armor: Nose: 30
Tail: 35
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .60-Cal.
2 .30-Cal.
2 .30-Cal. (Rear Turret)
4 hardpoints
Comments:
One of the best overall planes in the game (IMHO). The Brigand can
carry good weapons and has nice flight characteristics. It's not as
maneuverable as the Devastator, but does better against Zeps because
of the rear turret.
Customize:
If you drop the .30-Cal front guns you can up the Armor to 50 in each
spot. You can also up the .60's to .70's. This gives you a heavy duty
all around fighter. If you up the rear turret to .40s or .50s it becomes
very useful.
3.6 Hughes Bloodhawk
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Good
Agility: Excellent
Armor: Average
Offense: Fair
Max Weight: 6545
Armor: Nose: 20
Tail: 20
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .40-Cal.
2 .30-Cal.
3 hardpoints
Comments:
You steal this early in the game, it's the first time you get Nitro boost.
It's very maneuverable but has low armor. I personally don't like it.
Customize:
Drop the guns, put in twin .50-Cal's and put the rest on armor.
3.7 Curtis-Wright J2 Fury
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Good
Agility: Good
Armor: Average
Offense: Fair
Max Weight: 7610
Armor: Nose: 25
Tail: 25
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .70-Cal.
2 .30-Cal.
3 hardpoints
Comments:
Though fast and agile, this plane is a bit of a wuss. Considering the
number
of time it took me to get through "The Nefarious Trap" the plane started
to
grow on me.
Customize:
Drop the .30's and put it all on armor. If you like this plane this will
at least give you a fighting chance.
3.8 Ford Hoplite (AutoGyro)
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Excellent
Armor: Fair
Offense: Poor
Max Weight: 4160
Armor: Nose: 15
Tail: 15
Wings: 15
Weapons:
2 .30-Cal.
2 hardpoints
Comments:
Not much here. It's the most maneuverable plane in the fleet, but you
won't
last in a prolonged fight. Unfortunately you're forced to use it
(unmodified)
later in the game.
Customize:
Can't do much at all.
3.9 Hughes-Lockheed Firebrand
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Poor
Armor: Good
Offense: Average
Max Weight: 14005
Armor: Nose: 30
Tail: 30
Wings: 25
Weapons:
2 .70-Cal.
2 .30-Cal.
2 .30-Cal. (Rear Turret)
6 hardpoints
Comments:
A good bomber with 6 hardpoints but not very useful. You need better
agility to go after the Zeps. I haven't found a reason to use this plane.
Customize:
You could drop the front .30's and add armor, but what's the point, you
can't change Agility.
3.10 Focke-wulf Fw 193 HellHound
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Good
Agility: Average
Armor: Average
Offense: Poor
Max Weight: 9525
Armor: Nose: 30
Tail: 25
Wings: 20
Weapons:
2 .50-Cal.
2 .40-Cal.
2 .50-Cal. (Rear Turret)
3 hardpoints
Comments:
A nice little fighter. Good speed and average agility make it handle
pretty
well. A bit under armed. Not as good as the Brigand in my opinion.
Customize:
I drop the .40-Cals and lower the rear turret to .40-Cal. Then I up the
.50-Cal to a .60-Cal. If you drop the engine to the lower one, you can add
another hardpoint and give it lots of armor.
3.11 Curtis-Wright P2 Warhawk
----------------
Default Config:
Top Speed: Average
Agility: Poor
Armor: Good
Offense: Average
Max Weight: 14675
Armor: Nose: 30
Tail: 30
Wings: 30
Weapons:
2 .70-Cal.
2 .50-Cal.
8 hardpoints
Comments:
The poor agility mars an otherwise decent plane. If you really think you
need 8 Hardpoints (24 rockets) then you can't go wrong. You're forced
to fly it in one of the later missions.
Customize:
As is typical with me, drop the .50-Cals. This gives you enough weight to
get a Nitro engine (good for quick escapes from bombing runs) and max
armor.
4.0 Cheats
----------------
Not really a cheat, but very cool. Again from Perry:
"Did you know that if you look behind you in 'cockpit view' after picking
someone up, they are sitting behind you in the aeroplane?"
***SEMI-SPOILER***
You can see all the video movies in the game by exploring the Crimson Skies
CD.
\GAME\GOSDATA\ASSETS\GRAPHICS\MPG
You'll have to right-click on the CD and choose explore to dig into the
directories on the CD. All movies in the game are there as MPeGs including
the
final video you see when you finish the game.
This cheat was taken from GameSages:
http://sages.ign.com
I have not tested it. I would love to know any other codes though I've looked
and haven't found any. I have had a number of confirmations on this one.
In the main menu of the campaign, right click on the microphone on the
left
side of the screen. type "idaho." A pull down menu will appear in the top
right of the screen. You can use this menu to access any of the missions
within the game.
Brady Clark wrote in this possible cheat:
"another cheat i think works (havent tried it yet) is by typing I am the
ace!!
after the breifing screen when your on the weapons loadout screen"
It sounds like "I am the ace!!" is the key string. I haven't got it to work,
but
I'm not sure what it's supposed to do either. Any more info would be
appreciated.
Here's another cheat I found on www.actiontrip.com. This allows you to have
infinate rockets and armor (nice). The problem is that it's a Hex Cheat,
meaning you have to use a Hex editor to make the changes and if you're not
carful you could mess up your save game (Back it up before you try it).
Anyone
want to make a utility to do this?
Hexedit the status.dat file in the savegame folder. Find the name of the
plane, then using the first character of the plane name as a reference,
add 30 to the offset (e.g. 1130 ---> 1160). The following string is the
number of hardpoints on the chosen airplane. Each value takes up four
bytes.
03 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 means 3 hardpoints on the left wing, 1 on the
right. Edit as you wish.
Then add 70 to the initial offset (1130 ---> 11A0). That's the armor level
of the plane. E.g.
0A 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00
That means 10 armor on each slot. Change it all to FF to be invulnerable
to just about anything but crashes .
(Thanks to Bill Goza for the tip on this one)
Here's the best one though (from Aqab Bin Talal):
Open the status file, offset 2556 enter FF FF this should give you all the
money you want.
Here are the offsets for the various things for each plane in the
"status.dat"
file. Start by finding the offset for the first letter of the planes name,
then
add the following:
112 -> This is the first Armor Position. 116, 120, 124 are the next 3
change them to FF to get HEAVY armor. You're not quite
invincible.
48 -> This is your rocket hardpoints on one wing. 52 is the other
wing.
The game will accept 00 (none) through 04 (4 hardpoings) don't
put
in FF.
44 -> This is your engine 00 - 05. You'll notice each plane has 6
possible
engines. low, mid, high and those three with nitro. 00 is low
(no
nitro) 05 is high with nitro. You can extrapolate what's in
between.
57 -> Your planes wieght. If you take the 2 number at 57 and stick
them
in front of the 2 numbers at 56 and do a hex to dec conversion
you
get the weight of your plane. I have no idea why someone might
want
to change this, it doesn't effect anything (that I know of).
And the guns... This is wierd, but I'm including it because it took me
hours
to figure out. That is, partially figure out. Feel free to play with
this
and come up with more.
Guns start at 128 and continue (every 4th set) for the next 8. The
first
number is the type of gunpoints and the configuration of active guns.
I'll
explain. The Brigand and the Hellhound might have 89 for a number. The
'8'
is the type of gunpoints. Here's what I know:
0 -> All forward firing guns (peacemaker)
8 -> 3 forward firing and a rear turret (Brigand and
Hellhound)
F -> 2 forward firing and 2 turrets (Balmoral only I believe)
The second digit, the '9' represents the gun locations. Here's what I
believe.
# | Pos 1 | Pos 2 | Pos 3 | Pos 4 |
---+-------+-------+-------+-------+
0 | | | | |
1 | Gun | | | |
2 | | Gun | | |
3 | Gun | Gun | | |
4 | | | Gun | |
5 | Gun | | Gun | |
6 | | Gun | Gun | |
7 | Gun | Gun | Gun | |
8 | | | | Gun |
9 | Gun | | | Gun |
A | | Gun | | Gun |
B | | | Gun | Gun |
C | Gun | Gun | | Gun |
D | Gun | | Gun | Gun |
E | | Gun | Gun | Gun |
F | Gun | Gun | Gun | Gun |
---+-------+-------+-------+-------+
If that makes any sense to you, I commend you. The next 4 sets could
look
something like this:
02 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 05 00 00 00
Each set (## 00 00 00) corresponds to a gun position, 1 - 4. The number
represents what type of gun is there. Here's what I know:
00 -> 2 .30 Cal Guns
01 -> 2 .40 Cal Guns
02 -> 2 .50 Cal Guns
03 -> 2 .60 Cal Guns
04 -> 2 .70 Cal Guns
05 -> No Guns at this position
The next 4 sets might look like this:
00 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00
Once again, each set (## 00 00 00) corresponds to a gun position, 1 -
4.
I believe (I'm not 100% sure) that this number is the type of ammo. The
game
definately remembers what the last ammo you used was, and it may be
stored
here. Here's what I know (or think):
00 -> There is a gun here. In closed testing new planes with a
gun
at this position had 00 here. Probably means Slug.
03 -> Most of my older planes (ones I've used) had a 03 here
where
a gun was present. Probably means Explosive (EX) ammo.
04 -> Any position without a gun had a 04 here.
This number probably doen't matter much when it comes to editing. I
would
say that you don't want 04 as that seems to mean "no gun".
I believe that the 8 sets following these are the ammo for your
missiles,
but it doesn't really matter. You can change gun and missile ammo when
you
begin the mission. I didn't change the missile ammo and it still let me
have 8 hardpoints.
Starting with offset 100 is a set like the following:
DF 00 29 00 19 19 19 00 FF FF FF 00
These 3 sets represent the RGB colors of the 3 colors you can choose
for
your paint job. Each set works like this:
RR GG BB 00
I don't know why you'd want to change it this way, but here it is.
5.0 Questions & Answers
----------------
1. Why can't I sell any planes early on to get money to make my own planes?
It would be really nice to be able to sell that Balmoral after you get
it to get some money, or even a Devastator. There's two things going on
though. First, they're trying to put some challenge early on, forcing
you to fight with a stock plane. Second, you can't sell planes that you
steal or acquire, only ones that you build. One reason is that you need
the Balmoral later on (mission 15), but that's not the case for all the
planes.
2. Can I use Modified (cheat) planes online or in the instant action game?
It would seem that there is a cheat protection in the online game so
that
you can't use modified planes on-line (I personally agree with this). I
think that if you export your modified plane (in the pre-mission setup)
I
believe you can import it into the instant action (I haven't tried
yet).
6.0 Misc. Stuff
----------------
Don't buy the game strategy guide from Sybex. I took a look through it trying
to get some exact number of enemies (It's hard to count accurately when
you're
fighting for your life). The guide was completely useless. It was told like a
story (kinda interesting), but didn't go into any detail about anything like
a
guide should. That gave me even more inspiration to make this guide.
7.0 What's missing
----------------
So this is it. Version 0.95 of the Crimson Skies FAQ. Why isn't it version
1.0?
Because it's not finished. It's hard to even call it a version 1.0 when you
know
that you're not done. I also don't know when I'll be done. Here are the two
thing
I feel are left to do in the game.
1. I need to find all the stunts for the Manhattan levels.
2. I need to complete the game with all the pictures. That is to say all
stunts
done on all of the missions. This is going to be VERY hard. I think
there's
a point in every mission where you can take time to get the stunts
(maybe)
but it will still be hard.
If anyone want to contribute to these two goals feel free, but until such
time
as they are complete this FAQ will never reach 1.0. Wish me luck.
8.0 Credits
----------------
Aaron Cloutier wrote all content for this FAQ unless otherwise noted.
Thanks to:
www.GameFAQs.com - A great site for all gaming info.
Microsoft - For producing this excellent game.
Zipper Interactive - For developing the game.
FASA Inc. - For the original paper game.
GameSages - For the cheat code.
www.actiontrip.com - for hex cheat.
If anyone has additions or other interesting info that would fit into this
FAQ
please contact me at
[email protected]. I'll make sure any help is
mentioned
here.
Thanks to the following people:
Bill Goza
Alo Anesi
Matthys Grégory
Bob Dauer
Perry de Havilland
Brady Clark
John Andree
David Montgomery
Jay Lazorishak
Aqab Bin Talal
I really appreciate all the comments I've been getting!
Don't use this without permission. The following sites have permission to use
this FAQ:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gameadvice.com
vgstrategies.about.com
www.cheatplanet.com
home.planetinternet.be/~twuyts/
Don't sell this FAQ.
Don't Print this FAQ except for personal use.
Don't Eat this FAQ unless printed on rice paper, and even then I wouldn't
recommend it.
DON'T copy this FAQ and put your name on it.
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Aaron Cloutier
