by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson
In Preview 3 we looked at the padlock and views and then did an overview of the mission and campaign structure. Previously we considered comms and wingman control, talked a bit about the cockpit, rehearsed the feeling of flight, and hit at the damage model, physics and avionics. This time around I want to give you some A2G shots and talk a bit about AI. First a brief revisitation of views.
Into the Fight
Someone wrote and asked me a few questions with regard to the viewing system. Does F15 offer standard threat view options, where one can padlock the incoming missile? Yes. SHF F9 allows you to watch the threat weapon. You can also choose between a number of virtual padlock modes, including a designated target or the bandit your WSO calls out. Then if you so choose you can go to an external tactical view with F7, or reverse tactical view with SHF F7. When your wingman is in trouble you can also padlock him to find out his location relative to your own ship.
Naturally, you can pan around your virtual cockpit, but there are also some modified vc views, and you can configure the pan rate in snap views. What all this means is that F15 offers a VERY flexible view system that will suit the preferences of every sim fan ever born! =8-D
Furthermore, there is a dynamic viewing system built into F15 that is similar in use to the Smartview system in F22: ADF. SHF F10 and SHF F11 allow you to watch the action from the perspective of either friendlies or enemies. If you are safe to fly on AP for a while or want to take some screen shots it works great.
Air to Ground
In the life of every decent Eagle pilot a little mud must fall! Some of you have been asking for some good air to ground reports and screens, so I've flown a couple of mud missions and even managed to take out my own control tower... Yah, wanted to see how the boys would react!
As most are aware, the ordnance options available in this sim are startling. With typical attention to detail, Janes is intent on offering maximum realism and user preference within the bounds of reality. I loaded up a few Mavericks and some cluster bombs and went to town.
This shot shows a Maverick launch. The smoke trail is very persistent, which also makes A2A engagements more interesting! I have actually located a bandit I had lost by his con trails in flight!
Anyway, the glare from the missile is a bit lost to jpg compression, but you can see the A2G mode radar at left and the LANTIRN image at right. Mavericks can be fired in an auto mode or targetted manually. The explosion on impact is quite impressive, and even if you only hit dirt you will see a nice column of smoke. Fly too low using cluster bombs or other free falling ordnance and you will likely take collateral damage.
Air to Air Intelligence
Every mission begins with a briefing, naturally! This crunched shot gives you a sense of the map portion of the briefing screen. In this case the mission is a single mission where you encounter an incoming flight of Tu22s and their escort. Luckily, you are covered by your own four ship F16 escort and you also have the benefit of an AWACS call sign Warlock.
A2A intelligence covers the larger strategic picture as well as individual pilot intelligence. Tactical variety is fairly impressive, even in the beta where AI is unfinished.
I've chosen a single mission to explore the development of A2A AI, and here are some of the tactics I've seen:
1. bandit groups will break right/left as well as high/low.
2. A bandit attempting to evade will sometimes jettison stores and go for the deck.
3. Different aircraft use different tactics. The MiG29 is NOT going to dump stores and run!
4. Enemy fighters will attempt to bracket you and if you have escorts may attempt to avoid them in favor of taking you out first!
5. Fighters will sometimes employ sneak attacks using GCI or IR sensors. (Ground Control Interception is a way of coordinating the information between one radar station and the next. Information from one station is passed on to all others in the network).
6. Realistic loadouts mean that if a bandit gets on your tail after exhausting his missiles he won't have a huge supply of cannon shells. But the same goes for you!
As for those guys on YOUR side, I don't think anyone will be disappointed. They are responsive to commands and also know how to take care of themselves. But there is ONE difference here that I haven't seen developed to this extent anywhere else: AI pilots also interact with one another. No longer are you the only "real" entity in the flight; your wingmen will cover each other, warn each other, and even report problems they see. Example: in my last flight THREE called to FOUR to tell him his left engine was on fire. FOUR then had another problem and called to "ANY ALLIED FLIGHT" that he was going to eject. Once he did eject THREE called in his location to Search and Rescue. = ) Believe it or not, these guys will even confirm one anothers kills!
Personally, I get pretty excited about that degree of realism. Lets face it, nNot only does it add to the immersion factor, it also adds to your situation awareness. You WILL know whats happening around you. Of course, the flow of information can get overwhelming in a tense situation. But the Marines have a saying: no matter how much planning went into the attack the only thing you can count on when the lead starts to fly is confusion. This is realism at its best!
Hardware Notes
I continue to get questions on hardware requirements for F15. To put the issue in perspective, I would guesstimate that the sim is about 50% less power hungry than LB2, but this is even MORE noticeable in software only mode. The engine is much less demanding overall.
Running on my AMD233 in software only mode with FULL detail is still quite smooth and looks good too. Adding 3dfx improves appearance and also increases frame rate.
Will there be special support for Voodoo2? I'm not sure, but Glide automatically takes advantage of extra memory, although again, the engine is less demanding than that of Longbow so you won't notice the same improvement with extra memory as we saw in LB2. F15 has already been tested with Creatives V2 board and it runs fine.
Mission Builder
The mission builder is looking as amazing as promised. I haven't had time to explore the intricacies yet but will likely do a report in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here is a jpg. Click on the image to bring up a larger screen. The options shown are the ones you get when you place a friendly aircraft.
Finally, to satisfy the curious who have been wanting a high res image of the mpds, here is a shot to keep you happy!
This particular shot also shows the effect of turning on the in cockpit lights. This feature is also nicely done! The left MPD in the shot displays the ground mapping radar. The MPD on the right displays the Weapons screen. From this screen you can choose ripple, single, or salvo modes to apply to your choice of weapon.
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Last Updated March 5th, 1998