Falcon 4.0: Never has such an ambitious project been attempted before
or since. Love it or hate it, no simulation that is currently released
can surpass its depth or potential.
That said, it hasn't been a smooth ride since December 7, 1998
but its been a good one. If Falcon 4.0 is compared to Icarus, he may
have burned his wings but thanks to version 1.08 he has a parachute.
In this final review I intend to outline the installation and crash
issues of the final patch. From there I will proceed to the dogfight
and tactical engagement (TE) modules. Through the use of a TE,
improvements to wingman A.I. and the Radar Warning Reciever (RWR).
Finally the campaign and multiplayer will be addressed.
I do not intend to comment on the frame rate issue. Falcon 4.0
is an enormously complex and dynamic simulation that makes the
systematic measurement of frame rates extremely difficult. Personally,
upon patching to 1.08 and moving to 1024 x 768 resolution I saw no
difference in the frame rates, although many claim to have vast
improvement. The bottom line: Your mileage will vary.
Installation Woes!
After downloading the patch and having a very long day at work,
I did a complete uninstallation of Falcon 4.0, reinstalled from the CD
and patched directly to version 1.08. Luckily as a TNT user I had
already read Snacko's excellent 1.08 FAQ while at work. This FAQ is
required reading for anybody new to version 1.08.
After following his suggestions to get the 1024 cockpit working with my
TNT, I eagerly fired-up the simulation and tried one of my favourite TE
missions Wild Weasel from Hell. After being quickly shot down (as
usual) I was greeted not by the debrief but the error with the title
"DevCreateSurface". I would estimate that in playing campaign and other
TE missions that I made it to the debrief maybe once or twice out of
twenty times. Not good!
Since Direct X 7.0 came out I have had little to no trouble running
Falcon 4.0 version 1.07. Enter version 1.08. Aghast with the horror
that I might never be able to play Falcon 4.0 ever again I did the
unimaginable: Backed up everything, formatted my hard drive and
reinstalled Windows 98 from scratch. In the process of reinstalling all
my applications I made sure to install Direct X 6.1 and the directplay
6.1a patch.
Did all this effort pay off? Absolutely. I have not had a single crash
since the reinstall in over 20 hours of play. When Direct X 7.0 becomes
required for games (e.g. Quake III) then I hope that someone can find a
workaround. Direct X 7.0 is not without bugs (look at the USB support)
so perhaps the job of fixing it belongs to Microsoft. Time will tell.
Originally I ran with no 3rd party addons but I have since installed skyfix and mistrail.gif with no problems.
If I may be so bold, our prayers have been answered! Falcon 4.0 now sports a new 1024 x 768 high resolution 2D cockpit.
The cockpit is very realistic including the proper positioning
of the AoA and VVI indexers. It even includes a caged nuclear consent
switch just like the real thing. Overall I think it is a definite
improvement, and it will only get better as the cockpit artists release their work. I am looking forward in particular to Xis 1024 cockpit that is currently under development.
Xis version 5 was my 800 x 600 cockpit of choice and there is a small
1.08 patch available if you still wish to use it. Some may not like the
realistic positioning of the indexers. Similar to Xis version 5 you
must look down in order to see them when landing. The layout changes
also make the 3D cockpit look wrong. I suspect it will not take long
for 3rd party skins to fix this.
The terrain looks sharper than ever with little or no sparkling
compared to 800 x 600 resolution. Incoming missiles are easier to see
at launch and in the terminal phase. I would still highly recommend the
mistrail.gif file for easier visual acquisition of missiles.
Dogfight Module
First the bad news. The rear aspect and all aspect missiles are still
broken. When a 1 on 1 dogfight is setup between yourself and an ace
Soviet aircraft the enemy will fire missiles at you from head-on when
you select rear aspect only. Selecting all aspect missiles, I haven't
had an enemy aircraft fire a missile at me from head on yet. If an
American aircraft is chosen as your adversary everything works fine.
The good news is that because of the improved missile envelopes
introduced in the patch, I haven't been hit by a head-on shot yet. Two
flares and a slight jink was all it took to spoof the head-on shot. A
little detective work with the labels on indicated that AA-8 Aphid
missiles were fired in the rear aspect only setup (Figure 1).
Checking the tactical reference this is an all aspect missile with a
cooled IR seeker. Clearly this missile should not be used for a rear
aspect only dogfight. All aspect IR AA-10b missiles were fired when all
aspect was selected. The allied aircraft correctly fire rear aspect
AIM-9P and all aspect AIM-9M IR missiles. BVR fighting with radar
missiles seemed to work fine with the enemy aggressively locking you up
and engaging.
I find it extremely irritating that this bug (which has existed
since day one) is not fixed. It took me less than one hour of detective
work to see what was wrong and how to reproduce it.
Since the more realistic missile envelopes seem to be working it is not
a showstopper but should have been fixed nevertheless. It was certainly
a well-documented bug. For those of you that dogfight online this bug
will not affect you since both players fly American F-16C aircraft.
In order to test the wingman AI and the improved RWR, I fired-up one of the
most difficult TE missions I have ever seen: Wild Weasel from Hell.
This is a modified version of "In Harm's Way" by DewDog provided by the
ACCW 16th Flying Tigers with multiplayer in mind. With the poor wingman
AI in version 1.07 the chances of survival were almost nil in single
player.
The objective of the TE is to destroy the Sinan-ni radar station. It is
heavily defended by all manner of SAM sites and AAA, both Soviet and
American. Enemy Su-27, MiG-29 and F-16C aircraft are stationed at
various airbases within intercept range. Your package will be assisted
by AH-64D Longbow Apaches on interdiction and pre-plan CAS, F/A-18D
SEAD escorts and strikes, and a F/A-18A BARCAP.
The plan will be to ingress at high altitude carrying 4 AIM-120
Slammers, 2 AGM-88 HARMs, GBU-24/Bs and a jammer pod. Ingressing at 430
knots at 20000 feet my TOT will be early and I should be engaged by the
high altitude Nike SAM site 5 miles north of steerpoint 4.
Figure 2 shows the AN/MPQ-43 search radar from the Nike clearly
painting the aircraft with radar. Longbow helicopters on the pre-plan
CAS are scheduled to destroy this site and can be seen in action in
Figure 3. The next screenshot (Figure 4) was taken only seconds after
the longbows had finished their work. Note that the S on the RWR is
clearly extinguished.
Continuing inbound toward the push point a SA-13 spike appeared on my
RWR. I locked it up in the HTS screen and ordered the second element to
attack it while I acted as bait. HARMs on target. Cowboy13 scored a
hit, cowboy14 missed, possibly because it was already destroyed. Upon
reaching the pushpoint each flight member asked for permission to
engage in succession.
When I gave the order "weapons free" they fired all of their HARMs.
Cowboy 12 & 14 didn't score any hits, cowboy 13 took out another
radar. Not perfect, but wingmen rarely used HARMs properly before
version 1.08.
While my wingmen were taking care of the SAM radars I was busily
finding my target. I designated it with the targeting pod and gave the
order "attack my target" to the flight. Each flight member engaged the
target area and dropped the GBU-24Bs. "Paveway" was called when dropped
and wingmen confirmed if they hit the target. Very nice! The results: 3
hits out of six for the AI. Not bad considering I dropped first and
destroyed most of the targets in the area.
After the bombs detonated we really stirred-up a hornet's nest of
activity (figure 5)! In the ensuing mayhem of SAMs and a BVR dogfight
with enemy MiG-29 and Su-27 cowboy 12 and 14 were both destroyed.
Cowboy 12 got a BVR kill on a MiG-29 as ordered. I finished-off the
remaing air threats so that Cowboy 13 and myself could head "out of
dodge" before the enemy F-16Cs engaged with AIM-120s. See the
debriefing (figure 6 top right) for details. Note that although I
landed I was listed MIA.
I have never survived that mission before in a single player game. Two
factors seem to be at play. The wingman AI is vastly improved, although
still not perfect. The second factor seems to be the SAM missiles
themselves. Beaming the missile with jamming, chaff and flares seems to
be much more effective than ever before.
They are still not to be trifled with but they are no longer the super
SAMs of previous versions. Many SAM launches appear to be ballistic
with no guidance adding to the realism. Some may find the game too easy
now but I was always of the opinion that the SAMs were just too deadly.
In the next installment I intend to cover terrain masking and
the campaign. Particularly, I wish to address the supply and repair
problems known to exist in previous versions. Wingman AI will be
scrutinized further according to the various types of ordinance
used.
Part II
Although I did the first installment of the article under 1.08, from
here on I will be using the iBeta patch version 1.08i. This patch
supposedly addresses the lack of repair in the campaign and improves
the multiplayer among other things.
More on RWR and Terrain Masking:
After spending a lot more time in the sim, it appears that the RWR
still shows aircraft pinging you, even when they are moving away. To
see for yourself, try the head-on training mission which puts you up
against a single MiG-29. In figure 7 I am moving in on the six of an
Su27 for a guns kill and the RWR clearly shows him locking me up on my
12 o'clock. Sad indeed. I honestly don't understand how this kind of
bug lasts for one full year in a simulation of this calibre.
I am positive that this bug is part of the reason why the RWR is so
active in the campaign. With so many aircraft in the air moving in
various directions, every single one must be pinging you. At least
radar contacts disappear when destroyed now.
The terrain masking appears to be effective. On several
occasions in TE and in the campaign I have been locked by SAM sites and
aircraft and have managed to lose lock by flying low. I had a
particularly enjoyable mission playing cat and mouse with a flight of
MiG-21s in the mountains in central Korea. Just remember that some
enemy aircraft have more capable radars than others.
This hasn't been tested, but one would expect a MiG-29 with look down,
shoot down radar would have a much easier time seeing you on radar than
a lowly MiG-21. With SAMs I have had excellent success with terrain
masking. In the past SA-2s were always the first to discover me when
coming in low. This is no longer the case although it means you
sometimes have to fly as low as 200ft to mask your presence.
The Campaign:
Drum roll please! This is the part of Falcon 4.0 that could make
it stand out from any other simulation. It also happens that this is
the part of Falcon 4.0 that was probably the most broken. In order to
determine how playable the campaign is I decided to start with Tiger
Spirit. All force sliders were moved in my favor with pilot and ADA
skill set to veteran.
With these settings I should be able to gain momentum quickly and
capture the four political objectives in P'Yongyang. The capture of
these objectives (figure 8) should ensure a decisive victory for the
American coalition forces. Day 1, 9:00:00 the game was immediately
stopped and priorities were set to OCA, SEAD and radar to gain air
superiority.
Day 1: 21:12:01
Figure 9
After approximately 14 hours and about flying a dozen missions
personally, the campaign is running smoothly and a fair amount of enemy
territory has been captured (figure 9). I've even managed to win two
air medals in this time! I'm disappointed that after 12 successful
missions and two air medals that I am still butter bars (2nd Lt.) but
this may because Falcon 4.0 rated this campaign at a cadet level. The
current status of some DPRK air bases is as follows:
For the sake of brevity I've not included the smaller airbases.
Koksan in particular was destroyed on my first mission in the campaign
and captured around day 1: 20:00:00. An engineering battalion just
arrived about an hour later so I will monitor how long it takes to
repair. Several squadrons of attack aircraft were stationed at Koksan
and I saw no aircraft taking off from this airbase to engage air or
ground targets. Hyan, the famous helicopter airbase is completely shut
down.
The air defenses are currently very weak around P'Yongyang. There are
some high altitude defenses remaining west of the city and several
airbases around the city operating but the attack so far has been very
effective. Ground troops are being directed towards the city but are
beginning to slow down from exhaustion.
So far I've found it very important to click on the ground units and
direct them the way you see fit. They advance very slowly if you allow
the computer complete control. I would also recommend saving and
restarting Falcon if you make a lot of changes to flight plans and
ground troops. It has crashed on me a few times in the pie screens
after making changes. Doing this requires a lot of patience because the
ground troops will change their orders from time to time. Ground units
must be continually managed.
At this stage in the campaign I am changing the priorities to
CAS and Interdiction. In a few instances in the past couple of hours
I've retasked BDA flights as CAS (* see below), particularly around
Haeju. The armored battalion that captured the airbase there was in
deep trouble from advancing DPRK armor, artillery, infantry and ships.
In two missions flown by myself the ships were sunk with LGBs and the
ground troops were decimated with napalm. They are completely broken
and in withdrawal. There was no air resistance whatsoever, even this
close to P'Yongyang. Take note ground pounders: your salvation has
arrived! I hit 42 moving ground targets on the second CAS mission.
Wingman performance was abysmal. Nothing I tried could get my wingman
to drop napalm.
F4 1.08 Cockpit Mod
Warning: Scoob_SBM has identified a BDA crash issue in 1.08. If you
change the center pylon from a reconnaissance pod to a jammer, lock up
a moving ground target, check that it's DPRK from AWACS, then order
wingman "Attack my target" you will get a crash to desktop. Ditto for
1.08i. If you retask BDA flights don't move that pod!
Up to this point here are my main impressions:
The "Wall of MiGs" appears to have fallen down
Enemy aircraft do not take off from captured or destroyed airfields
Captured airfields cannot be used as forward airbases
Wingman AI is very poor in situations where there are no assigned targets
Ground troops have a mind of their own
Save often if you make modifications to the computer's plan
Day 2: 12:00:00 through Day 2: 20:00:00
According to the iBeta team the overall success of your troops depends
on you flying missions successfully and frequently. Although I couldn't
completely pass up the opportunity for some campaign flying, I decided
to let the campaign run on its own for about 5 hours and see for myself
the effect. China entered the war early day 2 so the skies are now
swarming with PRC Su-27s. If the momentum starts swinging towards the
north again then it will allow me to assess the repairs the DPRK are
making to their assets.
Figure 10
The DPRK made some excellent strategic moves early day 2. Wonsan and
that pesky Sansago-Ri airbase (50% now) were close to being overrun
when they sent out attack aircraft and destroyed a number of
strategically important bridges. I can still get there without bridges
but now my troops have to make a large detour. You can see in figure 10
how there is a large pocket on the east coast near Wonsan. A large
force of mine was quickly sweeping up the coast when the bridges were
destroyed.
Repairs to Koksan Airbase are underway and the engineering battalion is
still there. As of 12:00:00 the order of battle lists the airbase as 0%
operational but the first runway is now repaired. A closer look at DPRK
Mirim airbase indicates that the runway has been repaired but the
airbase is still 0% operational. There is no engineering battalion
known to be at Mirim so I am still unsure whether this is because of
poor intelligence or because they are not required for airfields to
repair.
Enemy aircraft are everywhere since the entry of China into the
war. Priorities once again are set to gaining air superiority. The
missions I have been flying are air to air to destroy the PRC air
force. BARCAPs are difficult to get a success in but I am typically
shooting down 6-8 enemy aircraft per mission (including my wingman).
Again it seems apparent that the greater my success, the greater the
success across the board. The enemy aircraft that were once all over
the central peninsula seem to be concentrated now in the areas of
highest strategic importance to the DPRK, namely P'Yongyang and Wonson.
Central Korea is swarming with F-15C and F-16C CAPs. The situation
report seen when you enter the campaign went from bleak to excellent
within a few missions of flying.
In summary the important points in this stage of the campaign are:
You must fly well and fly often to wage a successful campaign
Runways get repaired in 1.08i
Shifting your priorities to adapt to the situation is very important.
Another issue that still remains in the campaign are the long
strings of BARCAP missions. I got an entire frag order of BARCAPs for
the 36 FS (air to ground) but they went away when I pushed the priority
slider for defensive counter air all the way to the left. Coincidence?
Maybe so but it may be worth a try if you get long strings of these
missions.
Mirim airbase at 20:00:00 is now up to 75% and is launching its MiG-29s
that have been grounded for over 24 hours. I think it is safe to say
that the iBeta patch has done an outstanding job in fixing the repair
problem.
Finally at 20:00:00 Sansago-Ri is 0% operational. Earlier on I
noticed a DPRK engineering battalion at the airbase so I brought some
napalm on a BARCAP and destroyed them along with some buildings.
Shortly after, an OCA strike was fragged and I saw to it personally
that the runways were shut down. My troops should have an easier time
advancing in this area with full air superiority. I have to admit
coming in on final after the strike, the sight of my runway with my
flight on my wing made me feel like I'd really accomplished something
(figure 11).
Summary up to this point:
Overall I am very impressed with the state of the campaign. It
is a vast improvement over previous versions. If you play around a lot
with frag orders and ground troops you may find that it will crash
occasionally. When left alone I found the stability to be very good
overall.
The play balance is much better but it is still easy not to win, even
with the force sliders set in your favor. Iron Fortress will be a very
challenging campaign but I am certain that it could be won. Immersion
is a very personal thing but I've found the campaign to be mind
blowing.
In the New Year I will report more on my campaign if anything
of interest happens (maybe I'll win!). For me, multiplayer is where its
at and I intend to report on the stability of TEs and the campaign with
Internet TCP/IP. Until then, I'm a dot.
