In Preview 3 we looked at the padlock and views and then
did an overview of the mission and campaign structure.
Previously we considered comms and wingman control, talked
a bit about the cockpit, rehearsed the feeling of flight,
and hit at the damage model, physics and avionics. This
time around I want to give you some A2G shots and talk a
bit about AI. First a brief revisitation of views.
Into the Fight
Someone wrote and asked me a few questions with regard
to the viewing system. Does F15 offer standard threat view
options, where one can padlock the incoming missile? Yes. SHF
F9 allows you to watch the threat weapon. You can also choose
between a number of virtual padlock modes, including a
designated target or the bandit your WSO calls out. Then if
you so choose you can go to an external tactical view with
F7, or reverse tactical view with SHF F7. When your wingman
is in trouble you can also padlock him to find out his
location relative to your own ship.
Naturally, you can pan around your virtual cockpit, but
there are also some modified vc views, and you can
configure the pan rate in snap views. What all this means
is that F15 offers a VERY flexible view system that will
suit the preferences of every sim fan ever born! =8-D
Furthermore, there is a dynamic viewing system built into
F15 that is similar in use to the Smartview system in F22:
ADF. SHF F10 and SHF F11 allow you to watch the action from
the perspective of either friendlies or enemies. If you are
safe to fly on AP for a while or want to take some screen
shots it works great.
Air to Ground
In the life of every decent Eagle pilot a little mud must
fall! Some of you have been asking for some good air to
ground reports and screens, so I've flown a couple of mud
missions and even managed to take out my own control
tower... Yah, wanted to see how the boys would react!
As most are aware, the ordnance options available in this
sim are startling. With typical attention to detail, Janes
is intent on offering maximum realism and user preference
within the bounds of reality. I loaded up a few Mavericks
and some cluster bombs and went to town.
This shot shows a Maverick launch. The smoke trail is very
persistent, which also makes A2A engagements more
interesting! I have actually located a bandit I had lost by
his con trails in flight!
Anyway, the glare from the missile is a bit lost to jpg
compression, but you can see the A2G mode radar at left and
the LANTIRN image at right. Mavericks can be fired in an
auto mode or targetted manually. The explosion on impact is
quite impressive, and even if you only hit dirt you will
see a nice column of smoke. Fly too low using cluster bombs
or other free falling ordnance and you will likely take
collateral damage.
Air to Air Intelligence
Every mission begins with a briefing, naturally! This
crunched shot gives you a sense of the map portion of the
briefing screen. In this case the mission is a single
mission where you encounter an incoming flight of Tu22s and
their escort. Luckily, you are covered by your own four
ship F16 escort and you also have the benefit of an AWACS
call sign Warlock.
A2A intelligence covers the larger strategic picture as
well as individual pilot intelligence. Tactical variety is
fairly impressive, even in the beta where AI is unfinished.
I've chosen a single mission to explore the development of
A2A AI, and here are some of the tactics I've seen:
1. bandit groups will break right/left as well as high/low.
2. A bandit attempting to evade will sometimes jettison
stores and go for the deck.
3. Different aircraft use different tactics. The MiG29 is
NOT going to dump stores and run!
4. Enemy fighters will attempt to bracket you and if you
have escorts may attempt to avoid them in favor of taking
you out first!
5. Fighters will sometimes employ sneak attacks using GCI
or IR sensors. (Ground Control Interception is a way of
coordinating the information between one radar station and
the next. Information from one station is passed on to all
others in the network).
6. Realistic loadouts mean that if a bandit gets on your
tail after exhausting his missiles he won't have a huge
supply of cannon shells. But the same goes for you!
As for those guys on YOUR side, I don't think anyone will
be disappointed. They are responsive to commands and also
know how to take care of themselves. But there is ONE
difference here that I haven't seen developed to this
extent anywhere else: AI pilots also interact with one
another. No longer are you the only "real" entity in the
flight; your wingmen will cover each other, warn each
other, and even report problems they see. Example: in my
last flight THREE called to FOUR to tell him his left
engine was on fire. FOUR then had another problem and
called to "ANY ALLIED FLIGHT" that he was going to eject.
Once he did eject THREE called in his location to Search
and Rescue. = ) Believe it or not, these guys will even
confirm one anothers kills!
Personally, I get pretty excited about that degree of
realism. Lets face it, nNot only does it add to the
immersion factor, it also adds to your situation awareness.
You WILL know whats happening around you. Of course, the
flow of information can get overwhelming in a tense
situation. But the Marines have a saying: no matter how
much planning went into the attack the only thing you can
count on when the lead starts to fly is confusion. This is
realism at its best!
Hardware Notes
I continue to get questions on hardware requirements for
F15. To put the issue in perspective, I would guesstimate
that the sim is about 50% less power hungry than LB2, but
this is even MORE noticeable in software only mode. The
engine is much less demanding overall.
Running on my AMD233 in software only mode with FULL detail
is still quite smooth and looks good too. Adding 3dfx
improves appearance and also increases frame rate.
Will there be special support for Voodoo2? I'm not sure,
but Glide automatically takes advantage of extra memory,
although again, the engine is less demanding than that of
Longbow so you won't notice the same improvement with extra
memory as we saw in LB2. F15 has already been tested with
Creatives V2 board and it runs fine.
Mission Builder
The mission builder is looking as amazing as promised. I
haven't had time to explore the intricacies yet but will
likely do a report in the next couple of weeks. In the
meantime, here is a jpg. Click on the image to bring up a
larger screen. The options shown are the ones you get when
you place a friendly aircraft.
Finally, to satisfy the curious who have been wanting a
high res image of the mpds, here is a shot to keep you
happy!
This particular shot also shows the effect of turning on
the in cockpit lights. This feature is also nicely done!
The left MPD in the shot displays the ground mapping radar.
The MPD on the right displays the Weapons screen. From this
screen you can choose ripple, single, or salvo modes to
apply to your choice of weapon.
