ContentsFlying · The fighter jet
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Flying

The Short Squeeze

The city's only armed aircraft: a fighter with heat-seeking missiles for anything in the air and a rocket pod for everything on the ground. Use it and the city shoots back.

  • 100 made, or rent one
  • Missiles and rockets
  • On a computer

What it carries

Two weapons, two keys

The Short Squeeze on its burner, a lock held: two missiles ready, four rockets in the pod.
Weapons
  • Fire a missile at the flyer you've lockedR
  • Fire a rocket; hold it to ripple the podX
  • AfterburnerShift
Missiles2a sortie; one back every 45 seconds in the air, all back when you land
Rockets6in the pod; one back every 6 seconds

Missiles

Lock on, then fire

Heat-seekers for anything in the air: another player's aircraft, or one of the city's own.

LOCKINGhold 1.5 s700 m60 mheld: ±25°±16°
From above, drawn to scale. Hold a flyer in the bright cone for 1.5 seconds to lock; once locked, the lock holds in the wider one.

  1. 01Find a flyer

    In the air, at least 20 m up, away from the airport. The ring under your gun cross says SEARCHING.

  2. 02Hold it in the ring

    Keep it near your nose, between 60 m and 700 m away. LOCKING counts up.

  3. 03LOCKED

    After 1.5 seconds it's yours. PRESS R TO FIRE.

  4. 04Fire

    R. One missile a target at a time, 4 seconds between launches. It chases for 9 seconds, then blows itself up.

Being chased

MISSILE LOCK, MISSILE INBOUND

Any aircraft can shake a missile, and it's skill, not luck. Fly straight or curve gently and it hits. Throw a hard, sustained turn as it closes in, in its last few seconds, and hold it: the seeker loses you.

Turn too early and it follows you round; too late and it's too close. The fighter on its burner can simply out-turn one.

  1. MISSILE LOCK!Someone is locking on, or has: their name under it.
  2. MISSILE INBOUND!!It's fired. An arrow points where it's coming from.
  3. EVADED!✓Missile lost you: it flies on blind.

Shot down

What being shot down means

QuestionWhat happens
On screenSHOT DOWN BY their name, the blast in slow motion, then black
YouOn foot outside the terminal a few seconds later
Your aircraftBack in its hangar, yours as ever
Your chipsUntouched: nobody wins or loses a chip
Flying againAfter 10 seconds; a rental's pass keeps running

Rockets

The pod: no lock, just aim

Rockets fly straight from the nose, drop a little with range, and blow up whatever they hit: people on foot, cars and the people in them, aircraft.

Blast8 macross: in it is wasted, outside it is a fright
Pod6hold X and it empties in about a second
Rearm6 secondsa rocket, by the clock; all back landed at the airport
Wrecks30 secondsthe city's cars and walkers in a blast stay down this long, the same for everyone
  • The drop pipper: a ring on the ground ahead shows where a rocket fired now would land, with its range. OUT OF RANGE, PROTECTED or NO FIRE: AIRPORT say why it won't.
  • On the ground: INCOMING and a beep warn anyone a rocket is coming down near: a second or two to move.
  • Your own blast gets you too. Strafe low and you can take yourself down.

On the receiving end

WASTED, and back on your feet

  1. 01WASTED

    Who did it, and a countdown. A driver's car blows up with everyone in it; an aircraft is shot down.

  2. 02Down 4 seconds

    You get up on the nearest street corner at least 40 m from the blast, away from the next rocket.

  3. 03PROTECTED

    Nothing can hurt you for 10 seconds; longer if you're hit again shortly after. Your car is back in your garage.

Rockets can't hurt:

  • Anyone in a tunnel. The expressway under the avenues is a bomb shelter.
  • The airport, the lock-up, and the police station's door.
  • Anyone at a game: on the ice at Stonk Rink, or on Stonk Courts.
  • Street racers on the grid or racing, every side of an underworld run, and anyone the police are already after.
  • Newcomers in their first 10 minutes in town, anyone who just arrived (8 seconds), anyone standing still and away for 20 seconds, and a courier at a job's door.
  • The same player twice running: after your rocket gets someone, yours can't touch them for 2 minutes.

The city's own aircraft

Bring down the blimp

Five aircraft fly over the city on the same clock for everyone. Every one of them can be brought down, and each is back a minute later.

  • The $TOWER blimp

    Slow, huge and hard to miss.

  • The news helicopter

    Circling over the Stonk Exchange.

  • The banner plane

    Towing its banner across the sky.

  • Two airliners

    In and out of Stonk International all day.

QuestionBrings it downAnd you
Fly into itYesDown too: a crash, back at the terminal
A rocketYesFine
A missile (lock on as on a player)YesFine: it costs one of your missiles
Everyone sees it go down. It pays nothing, and adds nothing to your wanted level.

Wanted from the air

The city shoots back

Rockets earn stars: 1 point for every rocket that goes off, 2 more for every player wasted, three points a star. A kill is a star; three misses are another.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  • WANTEDYour stars show on your HUD. Hold fire in the open air and they fade.
  • 3+ · BOUNTYA WANTED marker over your jet for everyone in your server, and a line in their feed.
  • 4+ · AIR DEFENCESCPD rooftop batteries fire heat-seekers at you, and your pod stops rearming.
QuestionHow it endsThen
Hold fire in the open airA point fades every 20 seconds. Lose them all and it's overClean
Come down with stars: shot down, crashed, bailed out or landedYour pod is locked 90 seconds for every star, and the police come for you on footHunted
Landed, walked off and lost themAn escape: it counts on the escapes boardGot away
Crashed and never seenThe trail goes cold: no escape to brag aboutLet off
Sitting on the apron doesn't fade a thing, and bailing out is no way out: you come down wanted all the same.

Rockets pay nothing: no chips, no XP, no board. The kill feed is the only brag.