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The Mission

From CPU MSX, by André Luis Anciães dos Santos, Eduardo Ribeiro Tavares, Marcos Ribeiro Tavares

The main objective on the game Dawn Patrol is controlling a submarine into the Mediterran Sea, completing as much missions as you can. There will be a lot of enemy ships trying to destroy you, you'll have to decide when combat and when run, because some missions have time to complete.
Your submarine has torpedos, diesel and eletric engines, pericope and everything a normal submarine has.

The Instruments

From CPU MSX, by André Luis Anciães dos Santos, Eduardo Ribeiro Tavares, Marcos Ribeiro Tavares
Note: The numbers between [] are the numbers on the image below:

[1] Periscope: Using this tool, you'll be able to see everything around you. To turn it, just push space and use the left and right cursor keys to move it. When under water, you can move the periscope up and down. Just push up and down cursor keys and you will see everything... Verify if your depth before it. You can up your periscope only when you are just above water line... Looking on the depth meter, if you are above the second mark, so you can up your periscope.

[2] Speed: Using this tool you can see the speed (forward or backward) and control the power of the engines. To increase the speed, use CONTROL. To decrease it, use SHIFT. Your submarine has two engines. One is eletric based and the other is diesel based. When under water, use the eletric (because it doesn't spent any O₂), pushing the E key. When on the surface, use the diesel one, pushing the D key.

[3] Heading: Using this you can turn your submarine. Just push LEFT and RIGHT cursor keys to move the "red circle". If you just want to navigate forward (or backward), put the "red circle" on the N position.

[4] Depth: Using this control you will set the depth of the submarine. To move your submarine up or down, just push the UP and DOWN cursor keys. Note that the pointer indicates your depth and the "red circle" indicates the GROUND depth. So, if the pointer matches the depth indicated by the "red circle", a text will tell you that you crashed...

[5] Oxigen: When you are under water, you'll use oxigen. To get more oxigen, go to the surface and push O (to open the sub). Push O again as soon as the oxigen meter is full.

There is some other instruments that you'll see using the Function Keys:

F1 - Machine Room: Here you can see the engine state and the amount of water in the ballast. The ballast is a tank of water used in an emergency to go up or down faster. To fill the ballast, push the INSERT key. To empty it, use the DEL key. Using the HOME key you can stop the ballast action. The recomended level is 5.

F2 - Torpedos' Room: Your sub has 4 frontal torpedos and 2 rear torpedos. If you want to launch one of them push SPACE and them 1 to 4 indicating the torpedo number (for the frontal ones. For the rear torpedos use 5 or 6). There is two aims: the red one is the frontal aim. The white one is the rear aim. It's needed to turn the periscope to use the rear aim. To reload, push L and them the number of the torpedo slot.

F3 - Map: Using this window you can see "where the hell are you going?". Stay on this window always. It's very useful to follow enemy ships, mainly when you are under water.

F4 - Damage Report: This window will tell you the damages on your sub. If there is a lot of damages and you want to quit, just push CONTROL + STOP to abort the game.

F5 - Mission: This screen will show you a mission, your coordinates and a clock. All informations about your mission will be placed on this screen.

Tips

From CPU MSX, by André Luis Anciães dos Santos, Eduardo Ribeiro Tavares, Marcos Ribeiro Tavares

Use the eletrical engine only when under water. Always look to the energy on the machine room. When above water, always use the diesel engine. Your sub will be faster and the energy to the eletrical engine will be slowly restored.

As soon as you complete a mission, you must back to your base. When you get there, turn off the engines and push F key to repair your sub and reload torpedos and diesel.

Before submerge, verify the local depth, looking to the "red circle" on the depth meter. Avoid the region near to the coast. If you find an enemy there you'll be not able to submerge.

Some missions are timed. On these missions, keep your eyes opened to the clock on the Mission screen (F5). If you end the mission too late, you'll lost the command.

The sub will be controlled more easily under water. So, when you are fighting some ship, be at "periscope depth".

If you hear a sound indicating an emergency when submerging, push the O key. The reason is that you forgot the sub open!

As soon as your torpedo was launched, a message will be shown in the bottom of the screen. When there is lots of ships around you, run. If you stay and fight you'll surelly die.

Last update on August 20, 1999.
Author's E-mail:

Daniel Caetano

User #

since August 20, 1999.