It's late summer, 1952, and I am piloting an F51D Mustang in
Korea in support of the ground offensive. On this particular mission we
are carrying napalm and hard bombs, and I am leading the second flight
of four aircraft.
We pull low over a hill, and something catches my eye at the edge of
my vision. Damn! The telltale glint of sun off a canopy indicates
bandits coming in at 10 o'clock high. A flight of four MiGs is bearing
down on us and we are forced to drop our ordnance as we pass the crest
of the hill.
I call the element to break right and my wingman and I break left.
It won't be an even match but my pilots are all WWII vets and can push
their aircraft to the maximum...
MiG Alley is based on the Korean War: 1950-53. It was the first
conflict that saw major jet vs jet dogfights, but in this transitional
era there were also jet vs prop encounters. Flyable aircraft include
all the following with the exception of the B29 and F82.
The conflict started in 1950, and Rowan models the beginnings with a
sequence of small contained mini-campaigns. The face of the war changed
constantly throughout the first year and much as they did with Flying
Corps, the designers felt that approaching each key turning point as a
separate campaign was the way to go.
The mini-campaigns cover such moments as North Korean's initial shock
invasion of the South, the UN's desperate defence at the Pusan
perimeter until the Inchon landing, the Chinese Intervention and UN
retreat from North Korea, and the appearance of MiGs in MiG Alley.
1951 sees the beginning of the "Spring Offensive," the main
Campaign that covers the period from January to July when the Reds are
preparing for their big offensive. At this stage UN ground forces have
stabilised a front line and the war could go either way. During this
campaign, the player takes on the role of Supreme Air Commander and
must manage the entire UN effort in support of the ground forces. This
covers the whole country and every aspect of warfare.
By 1952 the war turned into a bloody stalemate with both sides
trying to gain advantageous positions before the end of the peace
talks. During this period, the player is given the chance to fly
special missions like an attack on a Hydro-Electric dam.
The campaigns revolve around the map screen which is essentially a
Mission Planner. Rowan has enabled three distinct methods of mission
generation depending on how much involvement in the process the player
prefers. This is a VERY powerful tool and you can get much more
involved than you can with Falcon4.
Up to ten completely independent missions can be set up for any
session, with each mission consisting of up to six waves of aircraft. A
"wave" is made up of the Strike or Main Duty Group that can be
supported by an Air Cover Group and an AAA group. Each wave can have
its own Time on Target. This system allows the player to design many
small missions or a few complex missions in a session. You even manage
the pilots themselves!
"The Mission Structure has been designed to allow you to generate
missions that were typical during the conflilct. For instance, due to
limited fuel capacity, Combat Air Patrol aircraft could only stay on
station for about twenty minutes.
"MiG pilots soon realized this and so they waited until the Sabres
started to leave before mounting an attack. In this situation the
Sabres were vulnerable because they did not have fuel to stay and fight
and also get home. To combat this tactic Sabres were organized into
waves so that as one wave was ready to leave another was just
arriving."
In the Mini-Campaigns that introduce the Spring Offensive, the
player will have to earn promotion to leader. In the "Spring Offensive"
itself the player is in overall charge and can fly in any position.
The Dynamics of MiG Alley
With MiG Alley Rowan makes the move to a fully dynamic campaign
system. The campaign engine tracks ground forces, aircraft, and supply
routes throughout Korea, and uses these factors to determine the status
of the war. Intelligence includes daily briefings which list major
events and the capture of important targets.
Sound familiar? The only campaign system currently out there to date
which has this much depth is found in Falcon 4.0. In fact, Rowan claims
that their campaign will rival that of F4 in scope. In fact, in terms
of player control MiG goes beyond F4, and the interface is much better
and easier to manage, although the campaign is not real time around the
clock as in F4.
In MiG Alley you will assume the role of Supreme Air Commander,
assigning squadron directives and dividing your forces between Air
Superiority, Chokepoints, Supply, Airfields, Roads, Railways and Army
support. You will also determine rest periods, so it is possible to
reduce efficiency by straining your pilots.
The computer generates the missions, laying out waypoints and targets,
and assigning pilots and loadouts. You man alter pieces of the
generated plans, or scrap them and build your own. The mission planner
is well designed and includes typical filters allowing display of the
elements you choose: civilian targets, specific types of military
units, elements of the supply network, defenses, or airfields.
"Mig Alley has a far more strategic feeling to the sim, and you
succeed by going after the Red Army's supplies. Mig Alley keeps track
of supplies so you can instantly see just what your action has meant to
the enemy ability to prosecute the war. The close air support action is
intended to keep the UN from being overrun.
"The overall picture is this: There are 3 main enemy supply routes
supplying three parts of the front. It's your job to keep these
supplies from getting to the front in any numbers. When and if they do
then you'll have to do more CAS missions to stem the tide to keep your
boys from getting overrun. Problem is, if you have to spend your
aircraft resources on CAS missions the supplies will keep coming. So it
is a matter of balance and effective missions. You waste a mission and
it hurts." -KC23
While the ground forces are under AI control they are there for you to
see and interact with and you will see them fighting when you fly over
battle areas. Ground attack missions will include the use of bombs,
rockets, and napalm.
In active battle areas you'll see troops march to positions using the
safest avenue of approach, then attack or defend them. Armour and
artillery are present and you'll see their fire.
Troops will even react to the presence of UN aircraft. Communist troops
may try to hide or scatter for protection. CAS missions should be
great, though there are new challenges, like figuring out if you
attacking a UN or a Communist held position. Luckily, Mosquito liason
aircraft patrol the zone and can help you out.
MiG Alley includes the modeling of the Forward Air Controller
(FAC), and you will sometimes be directed to your target with smoke
markers. You can even interact with the FAC after a bombing run if you
need another go.
Naturally MiG Alley will offer full radio comms with your
wingmen and ATC. While the menu system isn't complete in the beta I
have some of the voice is in place and is nicely done. The final will
have more voices in place so that you can distinguish your wingman and
a separate flight.
Better yet, I've been experimenting with Game Commander and have
found it is PERFECTLY suited to this type of comms control. In fact, in
MiG Alley I've been testing it with views as well as comms and have
found it very reliable.
The difference when using voice control is astonishing. The feeling is
much more immersive. I tell my wingman to "BREAK LEFT" and he responds,
and I haven't had to look for keys or remember where the command is
programmed. Obviously, this works beautifully for answering queries or
comms with the tower or FAC as well.
Take to the Air
My first flight was a free flight to get a sense of the Sabre itself.
The feeling of flight in MiG Alley is great, although the early Sabre
jet is not a forgiving aircraft. I've encountered some nasty spins, but
I've also taken out a few MiGs without much practice (on high realism
but low AI settings, that is. For more on the flight model see last
year's interview.)
In my next flight I chose a simple "target practice" routine where I
was on the tail of a MiG 15. My speed on entry into the mission was
excessive, however, and I passed the Mig in a couple of seconds,
whereup he decided to that turn about was fair play. My Sabre bore the
scars of his efforts. After repeating the mission a couple of times and
taking some shots of the action I evened the score.
For my third flight I entered the first campaign. Here are some of the
briefing and planning screens. (Note: Click on most shots for a larger
image. The interface runs at 1024x768, but I have reduced some of the
full size shots to 640x480.)
Wind and weather affect your flight as well as visibility. You can
turn off wind gusts and wind effects individually if you are a newer
pilot and don't want to deal with the hassle. More experienced sim
fliers will enjoy the challenge.
The light source shading is perfect, and I feel that I am looking at a
real aluminum skin instead of a simulated aircraft. The terrain is
beyond Flying Corps Gold and looks great. But let's talk about some of
the innovations in modeling.
First, the padlock system mirrors the options of Flying Corps and is
oriented to give you the most help possible while dogfighting. You can
choose to have autopadlock On or Off, and you can also choose to have
padlock switch from an interior to exterior (player to target) view. I
personally like this system very much.
Note the reflection 1 o'clock high.
Furthermore, the padlock view affords a number of other indicators
to help your SA as well as your orientation. Top right you see the
horizon ball, top left the "radar" overlay. In addition, you have the
cockpit reflections, and if you use the fixed view you will have a red
indicator ball (like the X in EAW) floating around the edge of your
screen to indicate the direction to pull to the bandit.
Second, an innovation for MiG Alley is surface reflection that
will signal to you the position of an aircraft that is beyond your
visual range. The glint off a cockpit or shiny metal surface will often
be your first clue that other aircraft are nearby. (Click for another sample.)
As we are seeing in other current simulations, exhaust smoke
and conn trails are also modeled. I was pleased to see that damage
modeling extends beyond the damage effects to the skin of the aircraft
itself.
SUMMARY
MiG Alley is looking hot and may yet be the best sim of 1999.
With detailed mission planning, sweeping strategic control, great
dogfighting action and SIX different aircraft to fly, MiG Alley will be
a virtual feast for sim pilots this fall.
