Continued from Part I

COMBATSIM: Tell us more about visual detection in Falcon 4.

L.R.: Visual detection is a factor for both ground based weapons and AI aircraft. Visual detection ability varies by the type of platform: The MiG23, a single seat fighter, can only see in front. The bombers, on the other hand, have the advantage of human eyeballs in the rear and we have modeled this in the AI.

COMBATSIM: Tell us about countermeasures.

L.R.: There are two levels of counter measure for the game: level one is your on-board self-protection jammer, which we modeled after the ALQ-131, and level two is area jamming. For area jamming we have EA6Bs and some bombers. Two important factors affect your ALQ's ability to protect you: your enemy's radar strength and your range from the transmitter. The type of radar also plays a factor in its ability to burn through to a lock, and we model five or six different levels of ability.

Su27 Kill. Click for larger.

The radar range equation includes a variety of factors including power output, antenna size, pulse repetition rate, signal to noise ratio, and so forth. Detection ability is also influenced by jamming, doppler notches, and ground clutter. [Ed. This is why it's wise not to fly in a straight line for very long in Falcon 4.]

Su27 Kill. Click for larger.

L.R.: The air defense network in the game breaks down like this: there are a handful of long-range search radars plus some local SAMs radars. The long-range radars are the ones that will normally track you, while the local SAMs, unless they want to distract your attention, keep their radars switched off.

The long-range radars tell the SAMs where to look. If you manage to take out enough area long-range radars the SAM sites will then be forced to use their own search radars. But these small search radars are not as effective for detection.

Communication is two-way. If you manage to evade the long-range radar but are picked up by a local radar, your position is immediately communicated throughout the entire network. You will also find that the ground stations are capable of playing radar games. The game, if you want to call it that, requires that each ground radar take a turn at lighting up your aircraft for just a few moments at a time. [Ed. For a more detailed explanation of this tactic, see the Games People Play extract below.]

Games People Play From Dave Pascoe's F4 Survival Guide: This sim employs real world air defense array tactics. Amazing! Arrays are large emplacements ---a group of SAM batteries---designed to entrap you within their envelope. The tactic is that different sites alternately light you up, each for just a few seconds. The use of this tactic is an attempt to cause panic and to literally overwhelm your defenses. You see, those site operators are attempting to ensure that you do not know exactly where they are. They do this by turning their radars on and off in a predetermined sequence that can make flying any kind of mission maddeningly difficult, particularly a SEAD. You get maybe a dozen blips on your radar warning receiver (RWR) but you can't lock onto any of them! Unless you have a strategy for defeating them, there's only one thing to do in this situation: get out!

Click to continue

Strike Mission. Click for larger.

COMBATSIM: After the 1.04 patch many players noticed that enemies would rarely launch radar missiles beyond visual range. Can you tell us if this has been corrected?

L.R.: Yes, there was a problem there but it's been fixed.

COMBATSIM: We've noticed that when we allow the Combat Autopilot to take over the duties of flying and fighting our aircraft, many of the aircraft maneuvers executed pull G's beyond the limits of human endurance. Are the enemy planes run by the same AI that runs the combat autopilot feature? If so, doesn't this put those of us who fly at full realism settings at a disadvantage?

L.R.: The Combat AP is somehow detached from the general G limit model. It's a bug. But enemy AI does have the same limits as the virtual pilot. Of course, this will vary somewhat with the skill rating of the particular AI pilot. Your readers may be interested to know that enemy pilot skill is plotted along a bell curve. Because of this, even if you have Ace AI selected, you will still encounter a range of skill levels in your opponents, including an occasional novice pilot.

Strike Mission. Click for larger.

L.R.: Even though I know how everything is designed to work, I'm always intrigued when I watch a scenario unfolding on a monitor in real-time. Even I can't know what will happen next because of the highly organic, dynamic nature of the AI. It never fails to surprise me and that's fun.

COMBATSIM: What's your next challenge with respect to AI development?

L.R.: The concept of Master Tactics. Right now there is a concept of a four ship picking a maneuver and executing it as a four ship. It has some connection to its package but not a lot. It knows where its package is, and it knows what it's supposed to defend, but the communication between flights in the package is still limited---we wanted to do more. That's the next big thing on the AI side. You will see a four ship in a particular formation, you'll change formation to counter it, and they, having seen your change, will react accordingly.

COMBATSIM: When will we see this?

L.R.: Falcon 4.0 is an ongoing product, so you shouldn't have to wait for an add-on to see this. However, I dont want to give your readers the impression that they'll see Master Tactics in the next patch. That'll come later.

COMBATSIM: What can you tell our readers about the patch?

L.R.: 1.05 has become 1.06, and the emphasis on 1.06 is stability. It primarily addresses crash problems, memory problems, and fixes the frame rate slowdown with the 2d cockpit. 1.06 has been tested internally and was recently turned over to external testers. We plan to start addressing specific gameplay, bug, and multi-play issues with the 1.07 patch. The code for that is already in small scale testing as is the networking patch. Once it's out, the art patch should be ready.

COMBATSIM: What details can you give us about the art patch?

L.R.: Basically, the art patch contains new vehicles and cleans up the air bases. You will see better texture maps around the air bases, increased object detail, and more objects around the base. You'll also see new aircraft; but, for the moment, the specific types will have to remain a secret.