Formerly Proactive Software and then Razorback Studios, Razorworks was founded by some former Digital Integration people whose credits include Tornado, Apache Longbow, and Hind. Yes, these guys have some solid simulation experience! In fact, Tornado is still considered one of the best simulations ever made and maintains a solid following. The four founders of Razorworks are Kevin Bezant, Todd Gibbs, Dave Proctor and Matt Smith. Ian Tasker left DID to join the Razorworks team. (Click for larger images).

These shots are the most recent from Razorworks first project, ‘Apache Havoc’, a combat flight simulator featuring two adversary attack helicopters, the American ‘Apache Longbow’ and the Russian ‘Havoc’. With these screen shots in mind the next part of the project sounds even more interesting....

Razorworks intend to create a follow on sim titled ‘Comanche Hokum’ which features two scout/attack helicopters, the American ‘Comanche’ and Russian ‘Hokum’. Both titles will be fully interconnectable creating an awesome combat helicopter package! With designers from Tornado and Hind on the job you can bet we will see realistic ATO and highly developed mission planning.

Both simulations will allow you to choose sides: fly for the Russians or the Americans. Both simulations will also come with their own manual, but once both have been released you will be able to fly any machine in any environment. So if your favorite campaign is on the first release you can fire up the Comanche from the second release and take on the Havoc in that setting.

Two cutting edge features that Razorworks are including are dynamic weather and forests. Like JSF and Flight Unlimited II, Apache-Havoc will have us flying in thunderstorms, high winds and rain, fog, drizzle and even snow. Since this sim is being released well after Voodoo 2 boards will have become almost a new standard, the team have a LOT of processing power to play with! This shot give you an idea of what we will see for weather effects.

Physics modelling will be state of the art, with torque effects, ground effect and all those goodies we have come to see as basic to a realistic simulation. Systems detailing should exceed that of DI's HIND, and when the weather gets bad you will have to actually turn on your wipers to see through the rain!

Apache-Havoc will feature FOUR dynamic campaigns, two set in forested areas (yes, finally trees will become tactically important!) and two others that will amphibious assaults where you will depart and return from the deck of a carrier. But WHAT a carrier!

Dynamics will include the type of environment we have come to expect, with high replayability and low predictability. The real time war will rage around you, and you will be only one cog in the larger machine. Will the campaign be similar to Janes Longbow, where missions are generated and then you may choose from a list of options? Its likely that this will be the format but the campaign is still in development and it could come out differently by the time its complete. Here are some comments from Razorworks:

The campaigns are dynamic and re-active and will play differently each time. You can adjust the starting conditions (balance of power, weather, time of day, etc.) to suit your skill level and preferences.

All of the flying areas are large and include very hilly terrain, ideal for low-level helicopter combat. The Cuban area is 491x262Km, Georgia is 230x114Km and The Golden Triangle is 368x410Km.

The Cuban scenario stages a US amphibious assault, the Georgian scenario stages a Russian amphibious assault and The Golden Triangle scenario stages a land battle.

Each of the campaigns can be played from a US or Russian standpoint and in multi-player games players can choose to fly competitively or co-operatively. It is also possible to join a game part way through.

"Behind the scenes" there is movement network and supply routing. Each game will therefore be different, as the enemy responds to attack, defence and supply considerations.

During the campaign, you can stop and "rest" at FARP's or in forest clearings (take a close look at the forest canopy and -sides- of the forest) awaiting orders or suggested mission/targets. The multiplayer game will work in exactly the same way as the single player game. Front lines will be shown on the situational map supplied with each of the 4 campaign areas. Air strikes and artillery strikes can be requested although not always granted).

All altitude and Geographic data is coutesy of the USGS and US Satellite Mapping Projects. We have developed tools that build the landscapes relatively quickly. (note that they are 25 times the size of Longbow 2 scenarios.) The Apache-Havoc geography will feature forests and marine-type amphibious assault campaigns. Commanche-Hokum will feature 4 additional areas, but will be desert/ice scenarios. Multiplayer mode WILL be available in the campaigns.

The terrain is rugged and combined with a dense forest canopy ‘line of sight’ tactics become a significant part of the gameplay. Naturally, the forest is penetrated by roads, rivers and hydro corridors including electric towers creating a landscape well suited to low-level helicopter combat.

The terrain engine has been extensively optimised in both speed and data size. Whilst the flying areas are large (for a helicopter sim) the data size is relatively small. For example, the Cuban area consumes about 35Mbytes of data.

The upshot of the speed and data optimisations is that we have now surrounded the raised forest canopy with individual trees and scattered trees across the landscape.

The maps are richly populated with buildings and bridges. The towns are large, approximately the same size and shape as the real towns. All of the buildings have damage levels and in the case of bridges they actually collapse. In the Cuban map there are approximately 350 bridges.

We have built over 50 highly detailed and articulated 3D models (including retractable undercarriage, doors open and close, weapons systems make ready, tracks and wheels turn around, rotor blades droop at low RPM, etc.)

Weapon Systems

Over 70 different weapons systems have been modelled and every vehicle in the sim has a realistic payload and every weapon detaches properly from its launcher. In some cases such as the SA-13 Gopher SAM launcher a very elaborate articulation is required to make the weapons systems ready.

The ground and air radar have been implemented with full, and accurate line of sight. This means that it is possible to hide behind buildings and forest whilst scanning for targets.

Decoys such as chaff and flare actually change the coarse of incoming weapons and this is noticeable. We have also implemented smoke grenades for the ground vehicles.

The sim is built from the ground up as a multiplayer sim. In fact this was the first part of the code to be completed. We have been flying around in multiplayer Lan mode (8 players) since last October.

Razorworks is obviously thoroughly committed to producing high end multiplayer simulations, and flight modelling will also be intended to make the hard core crowd happy. However, they also intend to allow enough user configuration to ease the learning curve and make the sim attractive to the weekend chopper pilot.

Apache Havoc is planned for release in October, 1998 by Empire Interactive. We'll keep you up to date as new information is released.