THE BACKGROUND "I wanted the boat to project an exotic image, kind of like a 959 Porsche. I want people to look at her and be aroused." - Don Johnson, star of "Miami Vice," on his custom-designed Scarab 43 superboat "Most people, at 45 miles per hour, will say, "This is fun. This is getting interesting." At 55, they start looking around... and at 60 they're asking themselves 'What am I doing here?' At 65 they want to get out, and when you hit 70, sheer terror sets in." - Todd Owen, owner of a 41-foot Apache Heat Wave, as quoted in USA Today Taming the Waters Have you ever wondered what would it be like to be strapped in front of a pair of supercharged Lamborghini V-12 rocket launchers? How about planing across the Gulf of Mexico at 100 MPH, kicking up a monster rooster tail that can be seen on the beach, maybe five miles away. Imagine: No traffic. No cops. No conscience. Just you, a few fish, and about 11,000 pounds of screaming muscleboat built of space-age metal alloys, designed to run about 1,300 horsepower at open throttle. This kind of machine that guys like Don Johnson, star of Miami Vice, might take for a spin in the Offshore World Championships. For real speed freaks, hoisting a spinnaker on even the fastest 12-meter yacht causes shrieking boredom. You need huge throbbing MerCruiser 420s that eat a gallon of gas every three-quarters of a mile - three of them whenever possible, maybe mounted on a Kevlar hull. You need speedmaster drives and hydraulic steering systems. You need a little thunder on the water. Welcome to Heat Wave. Table of Contents If you're a player who wants just the bare essentials before jumping into action, read Superboat Section for a quick overview of Offshore Powerboat Racing, then the Getting Started section which will get the game up and running. Then you might want to skip to Boat and Helicopter Controls, and Function Keys to see how to operate your boat. For a little more depth, read the Control Panel section for a complete explanation of the cockpit gauges and gadgets. Finally, the Main Menu section explains each of the Heat Wave Agenda - the first screen that appears after you get started. Main Menu: The Heat Wave Agenda - Select Course - Select Boat - Registration - Pit Stop - Practice - Time Trials - Course Fly Through - Driver's Meeting - The Race - Winner's Circle - Exit To Basic The Superboat Circuit The crown of Superboat Racing is the title US-1. It's reserved for the National High Point Champion, the driver with the highest average of points based on his finishing positions in a "season" or circuit of 10 races. Courses Courses are designed to maximize the challenge to the boats. The course may vary in length from a quarter mile to 160 miles. The starts may be green light drag starts, but usually they are flying starts - all boats are planed out and running at the same speed as they approach the starting line. Strategy The first thing a driver must do is get a good, legal start. If you cross the starting line before the flag drops, you will be penalized. After a good start, a winner must cross the finish line first, stay on course at all times, and receive no penalties or time faults. But even before the race starts, a winning strategy must include a careful examination of your competitors, the layout of the course, and the course conditions. Race Scoring Marker boats and check points record the boats' times and passing positions throughout a race. They also determine time penalties when infractions are made. The penalties and time faults are added to a boats' official time at the end of a race. Thus the boat that gets the checkered flag is only the unofficial winner. This scoring system makes the outcome of a race very unpredictable. It ain't over till it's over. Seasonal Scoring Your seasonal standing is based on an adjusted "Average Time." Average Time consists of your finishing time (plus any penalties) adjusted by the length of the course. Thus, if you are racing a long course, your Average Time will be lower than your actual time; and on short courses it will be higher. At the end of 10 races, you have finished a season. At this time, your record and the scoreboard is wiped clean. But if your seasonal score is one of the ten best ever, your name and score will be placed on the All Time Best Seasons list. (See the Winner's Circle section of this manual for more details.) Sponsor's Buffet First, meet the folks responsible for the fine menu of options on which you are about to feast. Press FIRE to return to the Agenda. Sponsor's Buffet Game Options The Option menu lets you alter some of the playing features of Heat Wave, including the relationship between the speed of the game and the level of graphic detail. Sound. Highlight Sound and press Enter. Then hightlight On or Off in the sub-menu and press Enter to turn the game sounds on or off. Joystick. Highlight joystick and press Enter. Then highlight On or Off in the sub-menu and press Enter to activate or de-activate the joystick control. Game Options (continued) World Detail. Highlight World Detail and press Enter. Then highlight High or Low in the sub-menu and press Enter to control the detail of the world that surrounds your boat. In general: The higher the level of detail, the slower the frame rate of the display. Boat Detail. Highlight Boat Detail and press Enter. Then highlight High or Low on the sub-menu and press Enter to control the detail of your boat. Again, lower detail means higher game speed. Frame Speed. Highlight this option and press Enter. Then highlight Normal, Double, or Quad on the sub-menu and press Enter. These let you double or even quadruple the number of frames per step, creating a smoother-looking progression to the animation. Of course, the higher the number of frames, the slower the action. Select Course Heat Wave features six pre-set courses - four offshore near Miami, one in the San Francisco Bay, one on the Mississippi River. Highlight a course name and press Enter; you are automatically returned to the Agenda. Select Boat You can race one of four different type of boats. Each, naturally, has different characteristics. Read the specs on these data screens, then try them all out in a practice run. To select a boat: The Boats Offshore Racing is a combination of speed, navigation, and endurance as competitors match themselves against the open sea. Teams of racers work in synchronized harmony in each 30-foot to 50-foot craft to overcome the sometimes menacing sea as well as their opponents. Speeds of these sleek boats can exceed 100 mph throughout a long race. Heat Wave features two types of boats. Deep-Vs and Catamarans. Both types ride on top of the water, instead of plowing through it. The faster the boat goes, the less the hull actually touches the water, thus reducing friction and increasing speed. Catamarans. Cats have two hulls, called sponsons, with a tunnel (covered by the deck) in the middle. The tunnel is shaped like a long wedge, wide at the bow and narrow at the stern. Air rushing into the front end is thus compressed as it reaches the rear, actually lifting the boat - and, in effect, reducing its weight. However, at slower speeds in rough water, this lift effect is nullified. Standard catamaran design usually features a series of steps that run down the sides of each of the two sponsons. These mix air with the water flowing under the boat. Aerated water creates less friction with the hull. Deep-Vs. Deep-V - or monohull - boats win offshore races when the water is rough and speeds slower. When a V boat approaches top speed on flat water (at around 100 mph), only a small portion of the rear hull (and the props) touch the water - a potentially unstable situation. Deep-V design features strakes, which are horizontal ribs that help the boat rise out of water. Also, when your boat flies off the top of a wave, the strakes limit how hard you crash down into the next one. Registration In order to race, you must register. You will be asked whether you're a Rookie or Experienced Driver. If you sheepishly admit you're a Rookie Driver, you'll be asked to type in your name, then the name of your boat. Press Enter and follow all on-screen prompts. Only 16 drivers can be registered in Heat Wave, so if the roster is full, you'll have to replay somebody. (NOTE: Once you replace a driver, they and their standings are permanently removed from the roster.) If you're an Experienced Driver - that is, one who's already on the roster - just use the arrow keys to highlight your name and press Enter. (If you have chosen a different boat than the one you used previously, Heat Wave will double-check, to make sure you want to do this.) Pit Stop You only get one pit stop, and it's before the race. So make wise choices here. If something goes wrong when you're out on the water, you'd better be prepared. Heat Wave automatically provides you with a life jacket. Beyond that, you have room for extra gasoline and three spare parts of any configuration. A driver must risk his boat sometimes to gain an advantage, but rough seas and high RPM often result in broken props and blown engines. The boat itself must be paced to control the inevitable damage till near the end of the race. Then it's all out. Gasoline. You can Add Gas or Remove Gas by highlighting the option and pressing Enter. Each time you press Enter, one gallon of gas is either added or removed from your tank. Press and hold Enter to speed up the fueling process. Too much gas will slow you down and increase the likelihood of a spin- out while cornering around buoys. Too little gas, you won't finish the course. Each boat uses different amounts of gas. Each course is a different length. Weather conditions may force sudden course length changes as well as alter how your boat rides (see the Drivers Meeting section for more details). As you can see, your fuel strategy is important. Spare Parts. These consist of propellers and shafts. You can damage your propeller if it hits bottom in shallow water, or if you run over a buoy. You'll damage a shaft if your engines run at high RPMs for too long. Highlight the desired part you want and press Enter. The part will either appear or disapear from the Parts View window. Practice The practice run is just like the real thing - same course, same boat, same basic conditions. To return to the Agenda at anytime during the race, press Esc and follow the on-screen prompts. Or press F10 to restart practice. Time Trials If you register a new name or a new boat, you have to submit to the indignity of qualification, which is a race from the starting line to one buoy and back again. (Each race has a different qualifying time and distance.) When you select this option, you will see an Overview Screen. You'll read more about this later, but for now, just follow the directions here. From the cockpit of your boat you will see the starting flag on the Starter's Boat to your right. 1. When the flag drops, press Enter to start your engine. With the joystick, push the joystick forward to accelerate, pull backward to slow down, and move left and right to steer left and right. 2. Press Esc at anytime to drop out of the trial and return to the Agenda. Course Fly Through A guided tour, via helicopter of the course you've chosen. This will help you navigate later during the race, so watch the buoy placements. Driver's Meeting It is compulsory that a driver's meeting be held and attended by all drivers to officially announce the course, the race schedule, and conditions. The judges may make last-minute course alterations, like moving a buoy on you. The Race Keep an eye on the Starter's Boat to the right. When the starting flag drops, start your engines and go. Race around the buoys in the manner dictated by the course map or on the green side of the individual buoys. Try to win. For racing details (how to control the boat, cockpit gauges, etc.), see the Control Panel section. If you're a rookie and haven't completed a qualification time trial, the game will remind you of your omission. Winner's Circle Your goal, of course, is to finish in the shortest possible time. Heat Wave keeps a running tab of each driver's average time. Highlight the Winner's Circle option, press Enter, and the Season Standings and Records screen appears. This lists the top 10 racers and their average time for the present race circuit. Press the Space Bar and the rankings of the ten best seasons of all time appear. Basic Boat Controls Use josytick to control your boat's speed and direction. (If you're using a joystick, be sure to read the paragraph on joysticks in the Game Options section of this manual.) Fire button = starts engines There are a few other controls worth mentioning now so that if you want to jump into a practice run, qualification time trial, or race, you have all the tools. (These are explained in more detail in the section Main Menu: Heat Wave Agenda.) Remember, whenever you start, you need to select a boat, a course, and register for the race. Basic Boat Controls (continued) Enter - Start engines (fire button on the joystick) Tab - Stop engines 8 - Adjust trim down 2 - Adjust trim up B - Run the bilge pump F9 - Pause game during practice, time trials, or a race C - On the Boat Selection screen, removes the text from the revolving picture of the boat. Helicopter Controls While racing, you can view the world from the cockpit of your superboat OR you can view the proceedings (while still controlling your boat) from a helicopter view, hovering just above and behind your boat. Just press the 7 key on the keypad, and suddenly you're racing with a bird's-eye perspective. Pick out those distant buoys. Find your competitors. Or just contemplate the awesome fractal scenery. To get back in the trenches, press the keypad 7 again. To maneuver the helicopter: Q - Move helicopter lower W - Move helicopter higher A - Swings helicopter left (the scenery moves right) S - Swings helicopter right (the scenery moves left) Z - Helicopter zooms closer to your boat X - Helicopter zooms away from your boat Remember: While in helicopter view, you are still racing your boat. All of the controls remain the same. Function Keys When something is wrong, or when something of interest happens, the appropriate Function Key Indicator starts to flash. To see what's up, press the corresponding F-Key. Except with F2, these will take you to a new screen. 1 Navigation Shows a map of your current race course. It even displays the position of your boat (the asterisk) and the other boats (small marker). You can scroll the map around with the arrow keys. The chart on the right displays the distance and direction for each leg of the race. Very helpful information: 2 Loran/Radar Toggle Toggles between the two navigational modes. For a full explanation of these modes, see the Loran/Radar Screen section of the manual. The F2 indicator flashes when you are in shallow water - usually less than 5-6 feet, although catamarans tend to run a bit higher in the water than deep-V hulls. 3 Time Sheet Tells you how you are doing in the race. Each time you pass a buoy marker, your time is recorded on this screen. So are all your time penalties. You receive penalties for: Penalty Length of Penalty Missing a buoy 1 minute Missing a marker 1 minute Boat repairs: Shaft 1 minute Prop 1 minute Bilge 1 minute Jumping the starting flag 1 minute The F3 indicator will flash whenever something new is added to your Time Sheet. F4 Damage Your F4 indicator will flash if something is wrong with your boat. Press the F4 key to access the damage. The problem will be spelled out in the lower window. There is also a menu on this screen. Scroll through the choices and press Enter to select one of the following: Trouble Shoot. Tells you what you did wrong - e.g., hit bottom, ran at high RPMs too long, etc. Repair Shaft. Only if you have an extra shaft on-board, of course. Change Prop. Same story. Check Gas. Tells you exactly how many gallons of fuel are left in your tanks. Disqualify. Lets you exit the race. F5 Ranking This screen displays the current standings of all five drivers in the race. NOTE: This function does not take time penaties into account; you could be out front, but still lose because of penalties. F6 Overview This remarkable screen gives you a mule-high view of where you are on the course (your boat is the yellow arrow). Very helpful for getting your bearings. As in helicopter mode, you can move your point of view: Q - Move lower W - Move higher A - Swing left (the camera moves right) S Swing right (the camera moves left) The Control Panel Once you choose Practice, Qualification Time Trial or The Race options from the Agenda, the next screen you see displays your superboat's control panel. Here are the panel components and their functions. Compass This tells you your current bearing in terms of direction (N, S, E, W) and degrees (0-360). Clock Surprisingly, this unique device marks the time of day (all races start at 1:00) and keeps track of your time. It can also be used as a stopowatch. Press G to start the stopwatch, S to stop it, R to reset it. Press C to toggle between the clock and the stopwatch. RPMs The revolutions-per-minute of your drive shafts. The higher the RPMs, the faster your propellers turn, and the faster you go. Of course, most driving machines can only sustain very high RPMs for limited periods of time. Ham-hands on the throttle will nuke your shaft. Speedometer Yes. This tells you how fast you are going. Keep in mind that some boats spin out if you try to turn sharply at high speeds. Also, make sure your speed properly reflects engine RPMs. If you are going slow, but RPMs are high, something is wrong - e.g., the propeller is damaged, or you didn't set the trim right. Trim When you get closer to maximum speed, your boat will "go on plane." That means it will literally fly over the top of waves, with only minimal hull contact with the water. Adjusting the trim up or down will flatten out your ride and measurably increase your cruising speed. Press the Down arrow for down and Up arrow for up. Do this every time you adjust your speed. (Note: The turn will become off balance every time your speed changes, so check it often.) Bilge Pump If you take on water for any reason, press B to activate the bilge pump. This will keep you dry - but it also eats gas and slows you down. Temperature Gauge Gauges engine temperature. Only runs high if something is wrong or you are revving your boat too high for too long. In either case, the warning light will flash. Starter To turn on your engines, press Enter or the fire button. To kill your engines, press the Tab key. (Hint: In case of imminent collision, the Tab key will stop you faster than the minus (-) key on the keypad.) Fuel Gauges Give only a rough indication of fuel remaining. For a more detailed reading, go to the Damage Screen (see F-Screen secction) by pressing F4. Loran/Radar Screen Loran. Short for "long-range navigational." In the nautical world, it is a system in which pulsed signals sent out by two pairs of radio stations are used by a navigator to determine the geographical position of a ship. In Heat Wave, that navigator is your shipboard computer. In loran mode, you are shown the following information: o Distance to the next buoy o Heading (in degrees) needed to reach the next buoy o Correction you need to make to get back on course. (The correction number is followed by an S or a P. S stands for starboard or correction to the right, and P stands for port or correction to the left.) o Current depth of water o The next buoy you need to reach Radar. You know what "radar" is. In radar mode, the top of the screen is always the direction in which you are heading. Your boat is represented by the blip in the center of the screen. The other blips represent other boats. Toggle between the two modes by pressing F2.