By: Pete Hawk
Date: 1997-12-24
The Falcon 4.0 Demo is out and those of us lucky enough to have enough computer horse power to run it on are really enjoying it. This demo is much better if you have a 3DFX Voodoo graphics 3D accelerator card, and a Pentium or compatible 166 or higher with at least 32 megs of ram. It let's you fly in 2 Instant mission scenarios. The first one is Air to Air, and the second is Moving Mud, or ground attack. For a demo it does an excellent job at showing you what to expect in the final product and thankfully there is no time limit that kicks you out after a few minutes. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles yet, but there's enough in it to really crank up the "gotta have it" factor.
One really nice plus to the demo is that it actually lets you practice your skills at Air Refueling with a KC-10 (a variant of the civilian McDonnel Douglas DC-10). I don't recall playing any other sim allowing the home PC pilot to do this off of the "Boom" of a tanker. There were some that allowed "Basket" air refueling (EF2000 and TFX), but for me, being in the USAF as a Flight Engineer on C-5's, I've only seen boom type refueling with KC-10's and KC-135's, so the basket didn't do anything for me. DiD's latest sim, F22 ADF let's you refuel from the boom of a KC-135 (a variant of the civilian Boeing 707) which is very cool the first few times you see it, but after seeing the air refueling in this demo, I'd have to give the realism factor to Falcon 4.
You truly have to work very hard to fly "on the boom" to get gas when your tanks are running low. In the demo there isn't an autopilot refueling mode, like F22 ADF has. This could be in the final product, we'll have to wait and see. Also, the voice chatter that the boomer (boom operator) has in Falcon 4 feels more "right" to me. (Reason I feel this way is I sit at the Flight Engineer panel and work all the aircraft systems in real life on C-5's during refueling, and I hear everything that is said between the tanker and our plane).
Ok. Enough just talking about air refueling. Now that your probably as eager as I was to try it (with the least amount of frustration possible) I'll give some guidance on how to do it successfully in the demo, so you can continue splashing more bogies, and return safely to base when your trigger finger is all worn out! Key things to do for successful refueling in Falcon 4 Demo...
- Hitting Shift-S and then 1 key, to alert tanker that you want to refuel. The readme file suggests being within 1 mile of the tanker for this.
- Tanker will answer "Cleared to PreContact Position" (He's holding a steady 300 knots airspeed throughout this whole process)
- Approach Tanker from below (about 500 feet lower)
- When you think your about 500 feet away, SLOWLY approach the tanker (about 310 knots)
- When you get to around 200 feet away you should be flying at about 305 knots. The boomer should then say "Cleared to Contact"
- Now slow down to about 302 knots and EASE yourself up to about 10-20 feet lower than his current Altitude.
- Hit Shift-S and then the #2 key. This tells the tanker your ready to take on gas. Although I've found this isn't necessary to do in the demo, the final release of the sim might make it a requirement.
- Get to where the boom is just out of the picture (I use #1 key view, and scroll it up so hud takes up lower half of screen).
- If you are in the padlock view with the blue on the left side, your hud should appear to just touch the belly of the tanker.
- By now, the boom should have connected and you'll hear "Contact"
- Match your speed to tanker's speed (300 knots) ... Not easy to do, but can and has to be done
- Now it's very tricky to hold that exact spot, but do your best and in a few seconds (around 3 to 5) you'll have your fuel tanks topped off to a little less than 12,000 lbs of fuel then you'll hear "Disconnect"
- Now press Shift-S and #3 key to tell tanker you are done, and fly off and shoot some more bad guys on your way back to base! :)
Easing up into position, airspeed about 301 knots
Easing up side view
Cockpit view (#1 key pressed with hud lowered by joystick hat switch) easing her up at 301 knots, VERY small pitch up/down stick movements AR04 When close enough, boomer will make contact with the boom and you'll hear "contact" (tanker's director lights on the belly don't seem correct yet, so I just fly slightly higher and higher until boom makes positive contact.) This is the reason most people think it doesn't work in the demo. You need to have the boom appear like it's coming right at your face, and believe me it doesn't feel natural! First time I thought, that thing could put someone's eye out! :)
Different angle of positive contact (boom is not touching F16 model, but from the cockpit you don't see this)
Yet another angle
Since getting this demo I try and hook up to the KC-10 at least a couple times a day. It's a nice change of pace (although can be nerve-racking and stressful in it's own right), but when your all gassed up, you can go take out more bandit's or practice touch and goes at one of the airfields in the Moving Mud scenario. Just don't come to a complete stop on the ground, because in the demo you blow up! Have fun...
Pete Hawk
Go to the Falcon 4 Interview Part II
Download the Falcon 4.0 DEMO: Microprose