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Combat Flight Simulator 2 - Part II
By Jim TittleCSIM: Everyone wants exact control of their wingmen, such as directing them to attack a specific enemy or to cover them better. What improvement can we expect from CFS II in this area?
Tucker: Talking to combat pilots from the Pacific, we found that they did almost no radio communication during combat, and actually gave out very few direct commands. Most of the commands they did give were by hand signal. The Japanese pilots often pulled their radios out of the aircraft to save space.
P-38
Because of this the sort of complex commands you see in MiG Alley, for instance, wouldn't be realistic. Still, we needed more control of wingmen, and we wanted a system that was useful to even casual users, so we came up with a fairly basic set of commands that allow you to use your wingmen successfully.
There are four basic commands. Two, Help Me, Attack and Regroup always do the same thing. Help Me asks for assistance from anyone who is able. Regroup tells your wingmen to disengage and form on you. Attack works differently depending on the situation, and will either send wingmen to attack your selected target or free them to attack at will, depending on whether you have a target currently selected. Split will space your unit out into groups. Combining split or multiple split actions with attack actions can be used to force a coordinated attack.
CSIM: How many missions is a pilot allowed to fly in a career?
Tucker: Both of our campaigns last about 40 missions, but there are more than twice that many possible missions in each campaign.
