Remember the Jane’s ATF series of sims? If you owned any of those titles (USNF, ATF, NATO Fighters, ATF Gold, Fighters Anthology) you probably loved the immense variety those games provided. Jane’s used a unique approach in those simulations, which has not been duplicated or improved upon by anyone else since. Instead of limiting the user to just one or two aircraft and whatever campaigns or missions the designers saw fit to include, the ATF series gave the user tremendous power over the game.

Fighters Anthology was the last incarnation in the series and the height of this approach. With over 100 flyable aircraft, 16 different world regional maps to work with, hundreds of ground objects, scores of friendly and enemy nationalities to choose from, and an easy to use mission builder, this sim gave more "bang per buck" than any other of its time.

These ATF sims had an open architecture, through the use of library files which could be created by users and added to the game to change, enhance, or add weapons, aircraft, and so forth. People made missions and campaigns and circulated them on the Net. Web sites sprung up around this practice of distributing custom .libs and missions, and for "Virtual Squadrons" to take advantage of the excellent multiplayer capabilities of these sims. The ATF series created a loyal following and was undoubtedly one of the best-selling series of flightsims ever produced. I believe this is because they were so replayable and versatile.

By 1998, however, with 3-D hardware acceleration really having come of age, the graphics of the ATF series were looking a bit long in the tooth. The ATF series, which we must remember began in 1995, lacked support for hardware-based 3-D acceleration. In terms of graphics, there is no comparison between Fighters Anthology and the latest works of art like Jane’s F-15, Joint Strike Fighter, and Falcon 4.0, to name but a few.

In my opinion, however, what many of these latest sims lack is replayability and versatility. Modern-day flight sims are centered around one or two aircraft, at best, and many of them don’t even have mission building capabilities. While many of the latest titles have virtual cockpits and superb flight modeling, they lack the endless variety inherent in the ATF series. What the ATF series lacked in high-fidelity flight modeling, I believe it more than made up for in variety and replayability.

So, what I want to see is an all-new sim, building on the tradition of the ATF series, but with state of the art graphics. Call it "Fighters Anthology with a Facelift"! A graphic facelift to be precise. In my opinion, the basic interfaces of the game, and its mission builder, are fine and need only a few small improvements. What is sorely needed is 3Dfx support and graphics on par with Jane’s F-15 or DID’s Joint Strike Fighter. In fact, I would suggest using F-15’s graphics engine for a "new and improved" release of Fighters Anthology. I realize of course that you can’t simply cut and paste the graphics engine from one program to another – we’re talking about a complete rewrite, but it would be a rewrite based on existing software, not an entirely new project for Jane’s.

Just imagine Fighters Anthology with the graphics of F-15 or better! Then you’d have the best of both worlds. Of course, you would probably have to have some sort of generic "virtual cockpit" for this new Fighters Anthology that I’m proposing, since you’ve got over 100 planes to fly, and it wouldn’t be practical to replicate all those different cockpits. It’s also expected that the flight modeling would be less detailed.

Jane’s, for example, made a big investment in trying to exactly replicate the F-15E’s flight modeling for their latest sim, and no software company could reasonably be expected to make that same kind of effort for over 100 aircraft. Therefore the flight modeling of our new and improved sim would have to be more on the level of detail found in Fighters Anthology - which was still quite detailed, and more than adequate for most players in any case. On the other hand, if I could have 100 planes with virtual cockpits and perfect flight modeling for each one, I wouldn’t be complaining!

I think it would be a good idea to list some of the key features of Fighters Anthology, which I’d like to see, carried over into a future release:

• The ability to change MFD settings with mouse clicks and the ability to select both visual and sensor targets with the mouse as well.
• The ability to ignore your joystick’s throttle and rudder controls and use the keyboard instead.
• The ability to specify the actions of all enemy units, even ground forces.
• It would be nice to have the same straightforward keyboard layout used in the ATF sims.
• When you select the Target View, you should be able to hear the sounds of the target and what’s going on around him. It’s more immersive that way – with some sims, when you go to target view, it’s dead silence. Perhaps more realistic but boring. Besides, let’s face it: the target view itself is unrealistic but is there just for entertainment value in the first place, so it should be entertaining.

Since I’m in a wishing mood, I might as well list a few things that I think would be wonderful additions to this proposed future sim. Many of these items in my wish list I picked up from other sims. Here it is:

• Give users the ability to put their custom missions together into campaigns, and let them specify stores and aircraft available if they so desire.
• Make the post-mission briefings more interesting and informative by showing a list of all friendly and enemy losses for that mission, rather than just showing you and your wingman’s kills. (X-Wing has a tally screen like this after each mission, and it adds a lot to the game).
• Add more regional maps and more aircraft, and let the players fly the helicopters as well.

Click to continue . . .

• Add nuclear weapons to the game, but limit their availability to just a few unique situations, perhaps with some kind of repercussions after their use.
• I would like a mission creator as detailed as the one used in Jane’s F-15, where enemy behavior can be made to be more dynamic. For example, it would be nice if you could program the fighters on an enemy airfield to lift off when friendlies approach to within a certain distance. With the ATF series, the best you can do is order them to lift off at a certain time.
• More ground units to pick from – in particular, more armored vehicle types.
• More realistic representation of ground units and how they behave. For infantry, instead of little groups of what look like toy army men that sit still, I’d like to see individual soldiers running about, firing, and in general reacting to events as in M1TP2. Same drill for vehicles. Also, I’d like artillery and SSM batteries that really fire at the other side rather than just sitting there like statues.
• The ability to run around on the ground after ejecting, like in Joint Strike Fighter, except with the additional ability of shooting at enemy infantry and vehicles. Perhaps this exercise could be given a purpose, like trying to reach a SAR pickup so your pilot won’t become MIA. Just a thought.
• Mid-air refueling.
• Supply or paratroop drops by transports like the C-130 and Starlifter.
• Helicopter troop insertions and pickups.
• Aircraft carriers should be able to hold more than five aircraft at a time!
• Amphibious landings (landing craft hit the beach and disgorge infantry or armor, that sort of thing).
• Targets should not be instantly identified when selected, unless sensors and conditions permit. Make it easier to screw up and kill friendlies, just as in real life. This also makes gameplay more intense, especially for those CAS missions!
• You should be able to command heavy bombers to carpet bomb a target from high altitude. In the ATF sims, if you order a B-52, for example, to attack a ground target, he’ll sweep in low and do bombing runs as if he were a fighter-bomber, which is maddening and makes computer-controlled heavy bombers all but useless in the game. I’d like to see scenes where a whole wing of B-52’s drops their whole load all at once on some hapless enemy target, from 30,000 feet, just like they do in real life.

Our still imaginary "Fighters Anthology II" would be an extremely entertaining, immersive game, with plenty of instant action for the light crowd, and lots of room for the hardcore types to exercise their creativity. A great concept shouldn’t be allowed to die. So if you’re a frustrated owner of one of the ATF sims, don’t hesitate to tell Jane’s what you think. They welcome user feedback so don’t be shy! Janes. I have spoken with their programmers and have been told that the idea of doing a Fighters Anthology remake has been proposed, but they’re always hesitant to undertake a project without the certainty that it will do well in the marketplace. Help remove their doubts and get the ball rolling by telling them you want! And by the way, I have no doubt that "Fighters Anthology II" would be a huge hit, and make tons of money for Jane’s. Who wouldn’t want a sim that captures the best of both worlds?

However, we should not limit ourselves to beseeching just one company. Up to this point I’ve been going on the assumption that Jane’s should upgrade its own product. In fact, there is no reason why other flightsim companies can’t pick up the ball and create this "Mother of all Sims". Therefore flight sim enthusiasts should also be sending their requests to other companies, such as: Digital Image Design
Interplay
Interactive Magic
Digital Integration
Empire Interactive
Nova Logic
MicroProse
Eidos Interactive

…to name but a few. I’m also appealing to those owners of EF2000, F-22ADF, JST, or other recent sims which have some of the features outlined above, but not all. There are lots of great things about these products, which could be incorporated into a future "Mother of all FlightSims". The latest upgrade to DID’s EF2000 series, in particular, stands out in my mind as a great product that could be by giving it a mission builder, more regional maps to work with, and the ability to fly any plane. Besides its lack of these features, EF2000 is outstanding, and has the best dynamic campaign play I’ve seen yet, and excellent graphics, too. As for the upcoming Total Air War sim, it sounds good but is still very limited in terms of mission creation and aircraft available.

In summary, the sad fact is, there is no flightsim out there with All the Right Stuff, in my opinion, and maybe there never will be, but one thing’s for certain: It’s not going to happen on its own. You, the flight sim enthusiasts, must get in gear and let these companies know what you want. If more than one software company gets in on the act, so much the better. Variety is the spice of life.

All feedback is most welcome! Please let me know what you think. Michael Baxter