When I first heard last summer that Janes was doing an F15
simulation I was only moderately excited. Then I got my
hands on the Longbow 2 beta. My pulse rate increased. When
we finally got updated screen shots in hand, I was breaking
a sweat. I knew that Andy Hollis and the Skunkworks team
were about to unleash another fantastic sim. And given
Andy's history with the Eagle, it was likely to prove
definitive for quite some time!
Late in 1997 Origin Skunkworks and Janes Combat Simulations
released one of the finest examples we have yet seen of a
combat flight simulation. The dynamic environment of
Longbow 2, combined with excellent graphics, careful
attention to detail, and a commitment to realism in every
area of the simulation led us to award Longbow 2
"Simulation of the Year." Now Andy Hollis and crew are
getting ready to unleash their latest and FIRST simulation
from the Maryland Skunkworks in Janes F15.
Now that I've had some stick time with an early beta, I can
tell you that I have NOT been disappointed! This sim has so
much depth that I'm not even sure how to give you an
overview. Ah well... damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!
Rather than try and cover all the bases with a snapshot,
let me take on an issue that gets to the heart of some
issues and also gives you a solid sense of the direction of
F15. Some of you have been thinking: no co-op multiplayer,
nothing for me here. That would be a mistake, so let me
address that issue while we take a look at the depth of
Janes F15.
The beauty of co-op multiplayer is four-fold. First, the
amount of command flexibility LEAD has. Second, the sense
of immersion that comes with the command interaction and
control. Third, the intelligence of the human pilots over
the typical AI wingmen and flight. Fourth, the camaraderie
of the experience of flying with friends. While there may
be no complete substitute for these things, Janes F15 will
take them all on. Here's why!
First, because F15 offers command flexibility in spades.
Yes fellow pilots, there are more command and
communications options here than in F22:ADF or even JSF,
and in an immersive and INTENSE combat environment with
detail in systems simulation second to none. The only
comparison thats fair to make for comms and control is
Falcon 4 (though I can only compare based on our interview,
the demo, and other print sources). Since this is also key
to the immersion and intelligence factor, lets take a look
at Janes F15 from that vantage point.
There are two COMMS trees in F15. The first is accessed by
the TAB key, and the second by SHF-TAB. The TAB key brings
up the COMMS menu below:
1. Wingman (commands for TWO)
2. Element (commands for THREE and FOUR)
3. Division (commands for 5-8 when you have 8 in your
flight)
4. Flight (commands for entire flight)
Accessing any of these options brings up a submenu as
follow:
Engage Bandits
Sanitize Right
Sanitize Left
Cover me
Orbit Here
Intercept (brings up a submenu)
Tactical
Ground Attack (brings up a submenu)
Rejoin Flight
Return to Base
The Intercept Menu includes Bracket commands, Split
commands, and Draw commands. The Ground menu includes
Attack Primary, Attack Secondary, and Attack Targets of
opportunity. The Tactical Option which brings up a submenu
with these commands: Break Right, Break Left, Break High
and Break Low. On the Wingman menu Attack My Target and
Help Me are also added to this list.
Just as there are wingman specific commands, so there are
also Flight specific commands. The Flight menu includes
these options:
Radar On/Off
Music On/Off
Sort Bandits
Status (brings up a submenu)
Change Formation (brings up a submenu)
Flight Systems Check
Flight Weapons Check
The RADIO 2 key accesses the second COMMS tree by SHF-TAB
and brings up a menu for communication with AWACS, JSTARS,
and the Airfield. The AWACS menu includes these options:
Request Picture
Request Bogey Dope
Request Assistance
Request Weasels
Request Nearest Tanker
By now you are getting the impression that you will NOT
feel alone out there, and that there is a remarkable amount
of very careful thought behind this simulation: and you
would be right on both counts! AI is still being tweaked in
F15 but most of it is in place, and while the intelligence
may not always compare to that demonstrated by seasoned LAN
play veterans, in other cases it may meet or exceed what
you could expect from your buddy Bob flying as your
wingman. And lets face it: most of us are NOT dedicated LAN
pilots, and we are going to get better results from our AI
wingman than the guy across the city who only flies on
weekends. (For a briefing on wingman tactics see Dan Crenshaw's
article).
Admittedly, co-operative play offers a camaraderie in crime
that the AI can't offer. But we can still share our
experiences together, and even design missions and share
them and compare notes. Yes, F15 has a powerful mission
builder: the same one that was used by the team to design
the single missions and campaign. But thats another
article! We've talked about some of the core, lets survey
some other areas.
F15 will use point-and-click instrumentation and
user-definable multi purpose displays, calling to mind the
early efforts of Microprose with Fleet Defender and more
recent cockpits from iMagic. But neither of these can do
justice to the cockpit in F15. First, because it looks as
good as iMagics F22, and second because it has COMPLETE
functionality. I do mean COMPLETE.
Every button and knob and dial in Janes F15 does something.
The UFC is completely functional. You can access one of the
four AP modes, jettison your stores, switch fuel tanks,
play with one of the eight radar modes or sub modes
(including an adjustable LAW system), choose your weapons,
adjust your HUD and on and on ad infinitum. Frankly, I
don't think the Skunkworks team had any option but to go
this route. There is so much command flexibility here that
you would need FOUR programmable HOTAS systems and two
keyboards to access all the options! But don't worry: Janes
has made it easy by putting all the COMMS option on these
menus. And you can even customize control options with a
key mapper like the one built into Longbow.
Attention to detail? Try chaff and flare loadouts; you
don't have to go with one basic configuration. Like the
real Eagle pilots, you decide based on your expect
opposition how to balance that load. Time to navigate. Will
that be TACAN or Sequence Points? LANTIRN options: One pod
or two? Don't like the Master Mode configuration? Don't
worry, you can customize your MPDs and save the config.
Tired of that Armament officer giving you the same CAS
loadout every time? Design and save your own loadout for
quick selection next time.
Lest this sound intimidating for the weekend fliers, let me
assure you that Janes has pioneered the easy learning
curve. There are more configurable items in Longbow 2, for
example, than in almost any other sim out there. You can
select enemy ability and simple flight models, and a whole
list of other parameters can be tweaked to your liking.
OR.. you can dive in at the highest levels of realism and
throw caution to the wind! My personal favorite approach is
to begin with maximum realism in systems and maximum
difficulty and then cruise around under INVULNERABLE mode
for a couple of hours. Then I scale back the enemy AI while
I do some learning under normal vulnerability with real
systems and flight modelling. The genius of Janes wide
appeal is this incredible ability to customize everything.
In F15 Janes will take this to a new level with TWO
separate manuals. The Casual mode manual is a short one for
beginners and those weekend fliers who want to know basic
systems and don't have the time to invest in learning four
radar modes, but still want to have fun in a realistic
environment. The EXPERT manual is detailed to the max,
looking more like an F15 encyclopedia. This manual can also
be used to build biceps for those of us who sit in front of
high res color displays all day ;-D
The cockpit is looking very, very good as you can see from
the shot to the left. Click on the image at left for a high
res CombatSim exclusive (125K).
Naturally, the back seat Weapons Officer position is fully
modelled. This guy will be on your case when you make dumb
moves and will butter you up when you do well. He'll also
cue you to bandits and other things you need to know, like
the smoke coming out of your left engine! Naturally, you
can jump into the back seat whenever you want. The best use
of this ability is just to keep other displays at your
fingertips for quick viewing. The shot below taken from the
back seat gives you a good sense of the effort typical of
Janes.
As we had heard, F15 will offer a virtual cockpit. This too
is looking good and at first glance reminded me of the
Hornet Korea virtual cockpit. Check out this virtual
cockpit shot, and click for a larger image:
To the eternal delight of many fans, Janes F15 WILL include
mid-air refueling. As with the rest of the simulation
realism is a high priority and this part of the sim will
keep the hard core crowd smiling. Since Janes has always
included easy flight modelling options to ease the learning
curve, refueling will be a snap for those who don't have as
much time to invest in the sim. To refuel automatically you
just hit and ALT key combo and its all done for you.
Although its not for the faint heart I gave this a try
yesterday and was pleased that it only took me about ten
minutes to get into position and get tanked up. Mind you,
my virtual WSO was a big help, giving me advice once we
were within one mile of the tanker. Radio chatter is
commonplace in F15 and really helps with the sense of
immersion. DiDs F22: ADF took this to a new level in
December, and Janes isn't about to be outdone! This has
been a welcome growth area for sims.
Refueling is a challenge, but its really worth mastering.
Having to make that long flight in and then hitting a
button to get past the hard stuff really doesn't cut it
with most of us these days anyway. Speaking of which, you
won't lift off the runway and find yourself five minutes
from the action as in F16FF. The ATO (Air Tasking Orders)
in F15 are realistic. I flew about twenty minutes until I
needed the tanker, and another ten from there to the
target. I also learned a couple of things from that IFR (In
Flight Refueling) manouver, so lets talk a bit about the
flight modelling in F15, an area that is head and shoulders
above anything else I've ever flown.
F15 ventures where no pilot has gone before in a military
flight simulation for the PC. Rather than compiling data on
aircraft performance and creating routines that will model
that performance in a variety of situations, Janes obtained
the math that the USAF actually employs to model aircraft
performance-- DATCOM. These equations have been
incorporated directly into F15E.
That bit of work completed part one of an entirely new
approach on the PC. part two was composed of stability
derivatives for the F15. For that subject Janes enlisted
Air Force engineers who shared the public domain data with
them. Yeah, sounds great, but what makes this so different
than simply using the old methods?
Having gone through the work described above Janes has
essentially created a virtual reality physics model. In
other words, the real aircraft and its performance have now
been modelled on the PC. As a result, all the planes actual
performance characteristics are in place. There is no
longer a need to model particular situations in the flight
envelope, with the inevitable result that some situations
are not truly modelled. Every subtle effect will be in
place, just as it would for the real aircraft and real
pilot. Stalls, spins, speed bleed, inertia... none of these
will be specifically modelled as in previous attempts at
the genre, yet all will be immediately in place.
I've had a chance to observe this in action. From getting
off the ground to snuggling up to a tanker to high g turns
and speed bleed, this model is incredible! I've found
myself wishing for another 5000 horsepower or a lighter
loadout, but the feeling is quite amazing. Nose high
authority at anything under 200 knots becomes problematic,
especially if you try to manouver at that speed. I have
been in a couple of spins, and I took a hit from an Su27
launched radar missile yesterday that generated a flat spin
and I couldn't bail out!
The F15E under speed seems very responsive. But bleed that
energy and then try to regain it when you're heavy and you
will have a surprise coming! Janes F15 will give us a whole
new vocabulary, I suspect. Air Combat Manouvers may never
be the same. Wnat to get ready for Falcon 4? There is no
better sim on the market to prepare you for that coming
release.
Closely related to flight modelling, the damage modelling
is also very fine. You thought the list of things that
could go wrong to your Apache Longbow was amazing? Brother,
you aint' seen nuthin yet! When something goes wrong in
your F15, the bells and whistles will tell you about it,
and so will your WSO. The Master Caution Panel is the
display in question, and in the table at left you will see
what that panel lists.
Master Caution Panel
L/R Bleed Air
L/R Eng Cont
L/R Burner
L/R Oil Press
L/R Burner
L/R Fuel Pump
L/R Gen
HYD PC1/2
FLT CONT
AUTOPILOT
TARGET IR
NAV FLIR
PACS
GUN
TEWS
RADAR
HUD
ADC
FUEL LOW
OXYGEN
MINIMUM
CHAFF
FLARE
Whats it like when you first spool up the engines? As the
jet rolls down the runway you'll see excellent detail of
the moving control surfaces. If you're loaded to the hilt
you'll find you need the entire runway to get off the
ground. Don't expect this baby to lift off just because you
can pull hard on the stick! Pushing the throttle to the
stops, the afterburners light after some engine lag, first
igniting on one engine and then the other. Check the
temperature and you'll see a slight variation between
engines. These may seem like small details, but it look and
feels true-to-life. This attention to detail shows the
attitude and dedication of the F-15 team.
Graphics? I forgot to mention graphics? It would be easy to
think that because we are getting so much in the simulation
that the environment has been neglected. Don't worry, you
won't be disappointed! Under software only mode it looks
good, and under 3dfx its almost F22 ADF. Considering that I
run ADF at 800x600 while F15 is at 640x480, thats saying a
lot! Like LB2, F15 will ship with support for 3dfx only and
support for other boards will be considered later.
Next time I'll tell you about control systems in relation
to the sim and give you a sense of the gameplay and some
systems info.
