by Gecko 6, 57th VFS Grave Dancers

Introduction

I had such a positive response on "Getting to the Target" that I decided to follow up with a wake-up call. Most virtual pilots are guilty of littering the landscape with Virtual USAF hardware and think nothing of it. I too am guilty; I get up, stretch, and mumble profanity under my breath against that SA-7 solder who got a lucky hit!

The question is not, "Was he lucky?" The question should be, "Did I plan my route correctly and why didn't I realize an SA-7 would probably be there?"

Virtual Reality, Virtual Survival

I know what some of you are thinking right now, "It's just a game! Dude, get a life." Well, how can you argue with that?

First of all, it is not a game. This is my escape to a world that I was unable to make for myself. Because you are reading this, you are probably much like me. You treat F4 as if you were really there. The decisions that you make will either let you grow as a virtual pilot or make you go postal on your monitor due to the ADA unit separating you from your fuselage.

Threat

Threat can be broken down into 3 primary roles:

• Active seeking
• Reactive seeking
• Gravity seeking

1. Active seeking

Believe it or not active seeking defenses are not the most deadly. In fact they are quite dumb. I am referring to Radar Guided Missiles. This is a technology that has been around since the beginning and the basis behind it is pretty simple: 1. Shoot missile in the air in general direction of target; 2. Use a radar dish to paint the target (illuminate) so the missile can see it and move to hit it.

To defeat said missile, just stay low. Poke out the Eyeball (radar) with your harms.

Click to continue

2. Reactive seeking

Now we are in the realm of the SA-7 guys. No need to give away your position until after the missile is away. Always ask yourself, "Where would I place my infantry guys?" I have survived up to 4 SA-7 hits in the past, and I was mad at myself for letting them take out my ability to engage my objective by taking out my Hud and avionics.

3. Gravity seeking

This is where the Flak and direct fire weapons come into play. In school I learned a rule stating, "What goes up must come down." This applies to full metal jackets and tracers. In F4 you are in as much danger leaving the target as you were coming in. Bullets fly upwards for quite some time, then fall back to earth. Picture a mushroom shape and you are flying through it. Falcon 4 is a great sim but I don't know if they modeled the trajectory of each round to see if it hits after the apex.

Recon

I have come up with a simple, easy to remember acronym to help you analyze the threat on the objective.

• Surface to Air Missiles
• Low altitude threats
• Unknown capabilities
• TARCAP Patrols

This may be offensive so some but you have to admit it is very easy to remember.

1. Surface to Air Missiles

SAMS are a real pain when they connect center mass. Most SAMs are useless below the radar envelope; they are limited to the launcher and the agility of the missile. Most times you can counter SAMs using terrain, chaff, and defensive manouvers. Don't get me wrong, I cannot defeat every missile that comes my way, but SAMS are nice enough to announce the fact that there coming after you. SAMs home court is between 1000' - 10,000 or 10,000 -22,500 for the most part.

Go to Part II