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Torque Tycoon > Game Components
A/N Direction Finding
A/N Direction Finding is the audio-navigation system used to locate a rumored site. It provides course information rather than an exact position, so the player must interpret the signal and find the site in flight. Enemy contacts from the station network are explained separately under Enemy Detection.
A/N rumor signal. There are two ways to receive a rumor. With SRS, Tycoon checks that a radio is tuned to the rumor's exact frequency and modulation. Without SRS, pick the rumor under Navigation > A/N Receiver in the radio menu; Switch off ends it. The cockpit radio cannot be read by the server, so it plays no part. Either way the signal plays through DCS audio and only within the rumor's signal range. The receiver switches itself off when the rumor lapses or the aircraft is lost or left. The mechanic is inspired by the historical four-course low-frequency radio range.
Listening time, through SRS or the A/N Receiver alike, contributes to the A/N Listener achievements while the aircraft is airborne and inside the active rumor's signal range. A player receives time only once even when multiple radios or overlapping rumor signals match.
| What you hear | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Steady, rhythm-free tone with a brief gap between repeats | The aircraft is on one of the course lines. |
| Morse A (dit-dah) with N faintly underneath | The aircraft is in an A sector away from the course line. |
| Morse N (dah-dit) with A faintly underneath | The aircraft is in an N sector away from the course line. |
| Repeated Z marker | The aircraft is directly above the site's overhead cone. |
As the dominant A or N becomes clearer, the aircraft is farther from the neighbouring course line. The pattern reverses on the opposite side of the site, so A does not permanently mean left or right. The Gazelle receives a wider and slightly longer-range course than other airframes.
Signal strength. Reception tells whether the aircraft is approaching the site. Far away, the signal is weak: it is quieter, its pitch wavers and its volume flutters. It grows louder and steadier in steps as the aircraft closes in and is clean near the site. A signal that becomes weaker means the aircraft is flying away. The steps scale with the length of the rumor's leg, so the signal is always weakest around the anchor airfield; the Gazelle hears a slightly cleaner signal at the same distance.
The tone is unstable when far away
When getting close to the site, the tone gets clearer and louder
Direction from the anchor airfield. A rumor starts with a broad direction sector from a named airfield. A bare airfield gives the widest sector; Direction-Finding infrastructure at that airfield narrows the clue without revealing the site itself, and the better the station the narrower the sector you have to search. Station construction, network reach and calibration belong to Enemy Detection.
A/N sectors around a rumored site, with the search sector from its anchor airfield. It's an example. The sites can be quite far away, up to 60km
External Links
- Flying the Beams - the historical four-course radio range this mechanic is built on.