by Leonard "Viking1" HjalmarsonDecember 20, 1999

This will be the last single mission report I make on F/A 18. Following reports will center on the campaign.

This single mission involves a night strike flight to take out take out SAM and AAA sites. The mission is designed for co-op multiplayer, with two flights of four fragged for the target area.

The target area is about 80 miles from the carrier group. I've included virtually every screen I accessed in order to accomplish the mission, along with a few in mission action shots. I altered the time of day in some of these shots and adjusted gamma in a couple of others. Flying at night is truly black and you won't see anything but lights and fires, stars and the moon, and moonlight caught by clouds.

Mission Prep and Planning

Mission Map

Mission Map Zoom 1

The map is configured with virtually all viewing options on. SAM and AAA ranges are in red, radar ranges in green. The next zoom is one click higher, but there are no real limits and you can go in for max detail and target location. You can selectively turn off SAM and radar coverage threat circles if you prefer. Map labels and distances between waypoints are also ON by default.

Mission Map Zoom 2

Mission Intel

Click to continue

After adjusting any waypoints you may choose to alter the structure of the flight by choosing different pilots or different aircraft. In this case I have gone with the default pilot section. The next screen shows the experience data on my wingman, Martin Johnson.

Next its off to the custom arming screen. The default loadout included 4 Mk20s. When your flight carries these up close and personal weapons giving the command to attack ground targets will mean they will have to take some serious risks. I allowed 3 and 4 to carry the Mk20s, but changed my own and my wingman's loadout to standoff weapons exclusively. My intention is to send 3 and 4 in close after taking out all the SAM and radar emplacements possible from standoff position.

Wingman Menu

I have begun serious use of Game Commander for virtually all my communications with wingmen, flight, tower, AWACS etc. This means hands free comms and no need to be picking at the keyboard. The only learning curve here is remembering the exact structure of the command. If you program "Wingman Attack Ground" but only remember to say "Attack Ground" you won't get any response from the program.

Game Commander works beautifully with the menu system in FA 18. Let's proceed now to the actual mission and I'll give you the play by play.

Go to Part II