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Rage Software: Typhoon Interview By Geert Vervoort with Leonard Hjalmarson |
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 Fig. EJ 200 Engine
Q: Are weather effects modelled in the sim and do they act upon the plane. Will there be adverse weather effects like snow, storms & lightning, differentiating cloud formations from cumulus clouds to "little fluffy clouds"?
A: There will be bad weather modelling, although we have been selective by concentrating on what will affect the gameplay in the most dramatic way, rather than what is totally realistic. One of the most detrimental effects of bad weather is the way it screws up aircraft sensor systems, making the job of the fighter pilot or mud-mover that much tougher.
Trying to get a good shot at a fast moving or tight-turning adversary in dense cloud needs more effort. Dropping an LGB on a cloudy day is a challenge. We learned this when we developed the TIALD trainer for the RAF. Trying to navigate through poor visibility under low cloud layers in a lay-down attack tests pilot skills to the full. Weather will be both a friend and an enemy in Typhoon, depending how much trouble you're in. Q: What is the theatre of conflict and how large is it 4 million sq km like ADF/TAW ? A: The theatre of conflict is an island and it is one quarter the size of the ADF world. The reason behind this is to focus the combat in a tight and intense environment, with more concentrated detail. |
Q: Will the theatre of conflict be large enough and the missions distant enough to require refuelling? A: With a much smaller world size, the combat radius will be close in. Mid-air refuelling is not needed, but drop tanks will be important. When the front-line draws close - and it will - there would be nowhere for tankers to hide, and protecting them would sap valuable resources. Q: While this may intensify action, it seems to me to risk reducing immersion. I remember those long flights to the target in EF2000 with some fondness . I hope we don't always be only five minutes from the action? A: The world is still around 400 miles across, so depending on where you fly from, flights can take you to the limit of your fuel (including drop tanks). Your route editor lets you tweak to your heart's content, so you can take the long-way-round if you like. You also have a weapons editor and a tactical control screen that shows you how the war is progressing. Do you think that a game based around islands like the Falklands (it's not exactly) would be any less immersive than one set in a desert? Q: What is the background to the conflict and what period is it set in? A: The conflict is an extension of what happened in the original EF2000, but it's not set in Norway. The scenario is set early in the next century. Q: Will it have a fully dynamic campaign or a semi-dynamic one? More like EF2000 perhaps? A: One of the best and most innovative features of Typhoon is its dynamic campaign with event-triggered phases. Dynamic campaigns generally mimic known doctrine, which becomes predictable and less exciting after a while. In real war, the element of chaos and chance can suddenly turn the tide - remember Exocet in the Falklands, or Scuds in the Gulf? In Typhoon, your campaign is truly dynamic (from the aircraft and ground units all the way up to tactical and strategic planning) - an evolution of our expertise - but it will throw some extreme challenges at you when you least expect it. Will there be an intensive ground and naval war and to what extent will it interact with the air campaign? There will be a full ground war going on. Territory capture depends on the success of ground troops and your efforts influence the success or failure of those ground forces. It's what everyone has been asking for in a DID sim, so we were keen to get it in. Go to Part IV.
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