F/A 18, like most serious state of the art simulations, is designed to appeal to a wide variety of simulation fans. The serious simulation flier, the one who will spend hours pouring over the manual and then systematically learn every system prior to getting into the campaign, will find a rich combat experience awaiting him. Neither will the weekend flier be disappointed, since Jane's has built in configuration options to allow the more casual pilot an equally rich and satisfying experience.

How does a beginner get into a combat flight simulation of this depth? Let's take a look at some approaches designed to bring the casual flier up to speed and then ease then on through the F/A 18 campaign.

Choose Your Weapon

F/A 18E offers a number of preferences screens where the casual pilot can set the simulation to take advantage of help features and ease his initial work load. The most important of these is found under Gameplay Options and is the "Cheat" screen.

F/A 18E offers two entirely new options to the casual flier, listed under Navigation Cues and Targeting Cues: addition speech prompts, and visual cues. The speech cues are relatively simple, appearing in the form of a helpful nudge like, "The waypoint is to your left," when you are not following the proper course. Similarly, the speech targeting cues are as simple as, "the target is to your right." Casual voice warnings can also be toggled on.

Navigation Cue

The visual cues appear in the form of arrows that point you to your next waypoint or next target. Labels are another visual cue, and will help ensure that your weapon is locked on to an enemy target rather than a friendly one.

Start at the Beginning

Like the Mad Hatter said to Alice, the place to start is at the beginning, so let's back up and get an overall perspective on gaining experience in a brand new combat simulation. I recommend that you go through the training missions, which are narrated as though you had an instructor on the aircraft with you. Once you complete these roughly fifteen missions, you should try some of the single missions.

If you have very little experience with combat flight simulations, it isn't a bad idea to turn on Invulnerability and Unlimited Ammo in the "cheat" screen. Otherwise, I recommend you leave these options off.

In some simulations I recommend that beginners tone down the flight options, but because the F/A 18 is such a stable aircraft, I recommend that beginners turn all flight options ON with the exception of the last two. This will help you avoid learning bad habits and will give you a realistic appraisal of what your aircraft feels like and is capable of.

Pilot Records

There are two approaches to mission training for the casual flier with regard to enemy AI. In the Gameplay preferences screen you can select ENEMY and then choose one of four levels of sophistication for ground and air units. For most casual pilots I recommend beginning with the VETERAN level, which is one step up from NOVICE.

Some pilots, however, prefer to quickly move from VETERAN AI to ACE, but then add INVULNERABILITY in the Cheat options. In this way they quickly get an appreciation for the challenge level that is possible and they also begin to learn some good habits of situational awareness. One idea is to try a number of the single missions at both levels. First, fly the mission with the AI at VETERAN. Then repeat the mission with the AI at ACE or EXPERT and invulnerability set to ON.

Target Labels

I also recommend setting weapon effects to REALISTIC. Unless you intend to play the game as an arcade game, it's best to start getting a realistic sense of what weapons are capable of, and which to choose for which targets.

Preparing for Flight

There are three other tasks that are necessary in preparation for flight. The first is to configure your controller or build your own configuration file (for CH, Saitek and Thrustmaster users.) The second is to configure your controller within the game for the correct control response. The third is to set the graphics options that will allow you to maintain a fluid frame rate for 90% of your game action.

If you are building your own configuration file it's helpful to start with a basic file. Others will be comfortable adopting a pre-built file wholesale. You can download a basic Thrustmaster configuration file for F/A 18 by clicking HERE.

If you use a programmable stick like the Saitek Cyborg or Microsoft Sidewinder Pro, place the most used commands on one of the programmable buttons. Some of the most needed commands will be radar modes, weapon selection, master modes, countermeasures, and radar range. Padlock, Eject, View Front and Speedbrake are also needed for quick access. Finally, the TAB and SHF TAB key will be wanted by some for quick access to radio menus.

Finally, you will need to configure F/A 18 for your individual system. If you have a PII 300 or less you will want to run at 800x600 or lower resolution and you will have to turn down the graphics sliders. You can do this globally by grabbing the top slider and moving it to the middle, and then you can tune individual options according to personal preference.

If you have a state of the art system, (Pentium III or Athlon 600 or faster), you will be able to run F/A 18 at maximum detail. Enjoy!