It seems that combat sims fall into two distinct categories Ultra Hard (SSI's Su27 Flanker) or Ultra Easy (Jane’s Fighters Anthology). The Middle area has remained gray with some simulations allowing some customization to fit the player skill level and available time. Non-combat sim pilots thinking about trying a combat jet fighter simulation for the first time or even if you have tried others. Have no doubt heard the hype surrounding Falcon 4.0 and its high levels of realism in the areas of flight, avionics, and war modeling. This usually translates into a hard and difficult to master flight simulation for those that just want to shoot something out of the sky and have fun doing it. I feel your pain.(Pointing my thumb biting my bottom lip, tightening my jaw) This article is for you. I am hyping the other side of Falcon 4.0. It's kinder gentler side.. In hopes of showing those that want to know that this sim is a lot of fun and can fit your playing style regardless of what skill level you are. I consider myself a hard-core flight sim driver, I like my flight simulations complete and very realistic. This often means the simulation is very hard and very challenging. Falcon 4.0 Well set new standards in this area of hard-core simulations. The simulation, set at it’s highest levels of realism will require a commitment to learn and years to master. This is fact. The hard-core flight sim community will have its prayers answered with this awesome simulation of the Second Korean War featuring the F-16C Block 52.

But what about the non-hard-core crowd.. You guys/girls want a Simulations that is complete and that follows the Newton's Laws of Physics. You deserve that much. You guys outnumber us hard-core guys by at least 5 to 1. You all also are the core of the flight sim market. So Will Falcon 4.0 appeal to you? The answer is hell yeah it will appeal to you guys. Falcon will fit anyone interested in flight simulations. This means the people that are into great sims like Microsoft's Flight Simulator, Flight Unlimited, Novalogic's Flight Simulations, and Jane’s Combat simulations will like Falcon 4.0 because it allows you to customize virtually every option in the sim, from Flight Model to Vehicle Magnification.

------------------------- My Inspiration for writing this. -------------------------

The reason I am writing this article is because of an actual event that happened while testing the sim. "The Boys", my squadron (The 808th) and I have been flying Falcon on MAX REALISM. Just working this sim, amazed by it's realism. So what inspired me was my Dad, one day as I was doing my Falcon thing, My Dad asked me what was that I had on screen. I told him Falcon 4.0, a new F-16 sim. My Dad remembering the Falcon title from both my Amiga and Falcon 3.0 days, said let me try that thing. A little background on my Dad: He is a Flight Sim nut, enjoys flying big heavies like the 747-400 He is into civil aviation Ex Air-Force (Lucky Weasel!! @ age 23 met Chuck Yeager) P-51 fav Prop Plane F-15 Eagle is fav Jet fighter Loves to watch Wings! Loves Airshows Without any changes, I let him have at it. This first thing he asked me was "What do I do to lock him up?" My Dad was ready to open some whip-ass from the get-go!. As I explained the Radar and complex HOTAS finger exercise. The Jet was hit!!!! I laughed as he caught a SA-9 and damn near jumped out of his seat because it scared him.

Click to continue . . .

Realizing that my dad was to green to handle the sim at this level, I made my dad a pilot file and set the options to fit his newbie style:

Flight Model : SimplifiedAvionics : Easy Weapons : ExaggeratedPadlocking : Enhanced Magnification : 3 Enemy AI : Rookie

With out reading the Manual, and some assistance from me,. He had full authority over the simple control set. He was able to employ the systems and the jet effectively. With theses simple keys assigned to buttons on the Thrustmaster gear my Dad was ready to go. He was able to down some bandits and kill some ground targets, All in a very short amount of time. Keys need were: -------------------- Lock Target Next Target Previous Target Select Weapon AA/AG Fire Weapon Views My Dad loves the challenge of flying and landing an airplane, he put the flight model on accurate so low speed handling would be realistic. Things got interesting to say the least.. What really floored my Dad was the navigation and real ATC. As he panned around the cockpit I pointed out to him all the systems he ad control over. I pointed out the cockpit layout and the back up NAV system . Which was very familiar to him because of the similarity to NAV systems in Flight Sim. I showed him that he could manually set course and heading and follow the deviation bars to his destination. This just add to his first experience with Falcon 4.0 making it a good one. By the way his first landing was a bit rough on the gear. :-)

Many combinations of Realism and Easy are possible...

Just say you know you are a good pilot and can handle the realistic flight model of the F-16 But you don't have the time to sit and learn the systems of the jet and all the weapons delivery modes. You can customize the simulations to fit your level of commitment, time and skill level. Best of all you will be able to grow with this simulations as your skills improve. One by one you will be able to inch toward realism OR you can find a level that is good for you and stay there. Keep in mind that NEWTONIANS LAWS OF PHYSICS are followed in every mode: so the ballistics in the sim are not effected. This makes Falcon 4.0 unique. Simple mode doesn't equal "Magic" weapons and Faketonian Laws Phyics.

Examples: Simple Avionics: -------------------------------

In Air To Air Mode:

Method 1: Slew the target designate cursor over a red dot and press target select Method 2: Press the lock target on nose key. The systems will pick the target closets to the nose of the airplane with in the radar’s line of sight..

In Air to Ground Mode:

Method 1: Slew the Target Designator cursor over the red dot and press target select. Method 2: Slew Weapons Camera over the target and press target select. If you have Maverick or Laser Guided bombs selected, you will see what you have locked up in the weapons camera on the MFD.

What’s really nice about simple avionics was that the technique was the same for both Air to Air and Air To Ground Target selection. This option allows you to get the job done.

My Final observations:

Using my Dad as my example of one type of non-hard-core combat flight simulation guy, who is into complex navigation, good flight models and graphics. I feel he falls within that core FS98 and Flight Unlimited group. Since there are so many levels of non-hard-core sim people it is kind of hard to identify all the levels. Also I don't pretend to know what YOU WILL like. That’s not the purpose of this article. This is intended to ease any fears that might come about from hearing all the talk about HOW HARD this sim is. This sim is hard but as I hope this article has shown it has another side to it.

Summary

As a final example of Falcon’s flexibility and Inclusiveness, all levels of players can fly in the same networked session. This allows people that are into ultra realism to team up and/or fly against folks that want to just fly and shoot up stuff. Finally a combat simulation for everyone. Those that want some quick fun shooting down and blowing up stuff, Falcon will provide that to you. Those that want a sim that will require you to seek advice from Real F-16 pilots, Falcon 4.0 will give that to you. Because of this sims high level of customization options, Falcon will allow you to have the sim your way. Falcon will provide anyone that wants to fly an F-16 simulation with the proper level of challenge mixed with a heavy dose of FUN, that’s rare for a simulation this complex... but its true!!!

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