Once again Game Tool Technologies (GTT) has come out with another value added product. This time its for Jane’s LongBow2 (LB2).

This new product is called the Missioneer-PLUS written by Richard "Flexman" Hawley, a newbie to the GTT team. LB2 comes with 4 forms of mission offerings: 10 canned single missions, a semi-automatic mission generator, instant action and campaign. What is glaringly absent is a manual mission editor or builder. But not to worry, here comes the cavalry: Missioneer-PLUS to the rescue. Now you can make single or a whole series of mission to keep LB2 fresh and share them with squadron mates.

The Missioneer-PLUS, LB2 mission editing environment.

In the world of mission editors and generators, only the very best enable you to have a map based graphical user interface (GUI). Other types have forms and cyclic field choosers where you have no idea what you really have until you test fly it in the game itself. What I look for in a mission editor is the ability to make both solo and multiplay missions.

This is where the real value add is IMHO. Sims like: Fighter’s Anthology, Su27 Flanker, Panzer Commander are examples of fine multiplayer sims that also came equipped with full blown mission editors. They support SOLO, MP, H2H and COOP mission building. How too often have we been disappointed when what would be a great online MP sim comes armed only with solo game play mission editing like: Jane’s F15-E, Hornet Korea, iF18-CSF, Flying Corps, Red Baron2, etc. Or worse, sims with only canned missions with no editor at all except a custom plane and loadout chooser like: EF2000, F22 ADF, WarBirds, Dawn of Aces, etc.

Test flying my newly made TANKS_ALOT mission. (Note Map MFD).

So lets dive into the Missioneer-PLUS and see what we get for our money. Being that I fly LB2 almost exclusively online with a buddy of mine (Paul "Blades" Papasalvas), I wanted to make a mission that was fairly complex with lots of moving ground targets with cast of supporting airborne ships flying CAP. Also being a Panzer Commander fanatic, I wanted to emulate a good tank battle except updated to LB2 standards. So with this initial design concept lets take a look at how we do this with Missioneer-PLUS.

We start by installing the software downloaded from the GTT website. Then we have the option of importing the latest generated single or campaign mission, or opening one of the existing single missions and modifying it as a template for my own use. I'll do the latter because STOMPER is closer to what I want to start with.

Note that being able to replay a auto generated mission with the option of doing some "what if" post flight modifications is a great insight. Obviously "Flexman" is a user of sims, not just a developer. I think this is what makes a game developer great, like Andy Hollis of Skunk Works who is known for his avid simming over the years.

Mission Options popup windows.

Click to continue . . .

After selecting our mission’s template from the STOMPER mission, we can load it and start the process of custom tailoring it. Under the EDIT menu, we can use the Briefing Text Editor to customize the mission briefing that shows up in LB2. Note that it is in HTML format. If you’re not familiar with HTML, just edit the normal text and leave the unfamiliar syntax alone. Otherwise just leave the briefing alone. Note that there are buttons along the top of this editor for friendly and enemy situation report (SITREP), mission details, weather, and communication frequencies.

The linkup checkpoint (waypoint) of Apaches from flight-1 with Kiowa flight-2.

The mission Environment window is used to set the wind speed, direction, time, temperature, and visibility range. Next up is the forward arming refueling point (FARP) Inventory Editor. This the way that you pre-seed the arming window in LB2 that allows you to select your loadout. The Mission Support Units window is where you can assign how many strikes allied and enemy ground and airborne units are available, their rearming cycle, and striking range. The way I see it, these are the global environment variables that you define for your mission’s parameters.

The View menus are to the right of the Edit menus. Here we find the commands needed to zoom, change map labels and contour (topographical elevation lines), fonts, colors, and grid marking options. Moving right again we get the Checkpoints menus. Here we can make the waypoints (or a la British, checkpoints) visible or not for the 4 FARP flights. With the Toggle All Units feature, we can see the waypoints of all other units as well. But since this gets quite busy in a hurry, you can see the wisdom in making the visibility of these switchable.

Another noteworthy feature is that you can quickly change the terrain map from AZR to NT out from underneath any mission with a single button click. Thus you can turn a hilly terrain into a desert terrain map mission instantly without changing any other settings. Other maps will be provided later on, and could be made by users as well outside of the context of this application.

Using the Units and Checkpoint interface to control the battle.

Now we get to the heart and soul of the Missioneer-PLUS. Up to this point, we have dealt with global mission set up. Along the right hand side of the map, you will see three buttons labeled: List, Unit, Players. These are the three modes of setting up what ground and airborne units are on the map; how many and what properties are assigned for each unit; and how you want to deploy your FARP flight’s ships.

Soviet T-72 and Mi-24 HIND are some of the targets you will have to deal with.

The List mode, will make the interface to the right of the map provide the user with fields that pertain to assigning group designations and map icons to each unit from either side of the conflict. An example would be to call a tank platoon an Armor Map Icon with a Group Designation of Primary 1. This means its a primary tank target which is factored in to the final Air Tasking Order Report statistics (ATOR), and thus players scores. All the available Unit types in LB2 are available through this interface: Armor, Fighter, Helicopter, SAM, EW Radar, AAA, Infantry, etc.

Go to Part II