PC Flight Sims

Flight Sims, or why I have a PC at home...

(8th March 2003)

Yeah, you may wonder why as a dedicated Amiga user, I'm also a PC owner. Well, the answer is quite simple. I love flight sims. I'm also rather fond of driving sims, but given the choice between a few laps of Silverstone and a dogfight with a pair of Su-27s, I'll take the dogfight any day.

So, what do I like to fly?

Well, when I got my first PC I'd already been flying around in Tornado on my Amiga for about 8 months, so the PC version became my first PC sim purchase, and I then spent a further year and a bit learning everything I hadn't already learnt on the Amiga version. I still load it up from time to time, partly to remind myself just how a mission planner should be done and partly to see if I can still achieve a 100% rating with JP.233...

After that came a collection of other sims like F14 Fleet Defender, Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (still one of the best feeling sims there is), Apache, Falcon 3 (sorry to all you F3 fans out there, but I just don't like it!), USNF and Flight Unlimited.
Then, things really started to get interesting with the release of EF2000 and AH-64 Longbow, two sims I really took to heart and tried to learn as best I could. And then came Tactcom and Flash Point Korea, which took all my hard-learned skills, chewed them up for a bit then spat them out into the gutter :-) At some point in all this, I also started picking my way through Su-27 Flanker, and then along came Longbow2, F22-ADF/TAW, F-15, Flight Unlimited 2 & 3 and FS98. Most recently my flying time has been spent in Falcon 4, F/A-18, B17-II and Il-2... I told you I liked flight sims ;-) I've also started branching out into driving sims and Operation:FlashPoint, but let's not get sidetracked here!

The more observant of you will have noticed some resource-hungry sims listed there, so what sort of PC do I use to run them?

AMD AthlonXP 2400+ Thoroughbred @ 2.16GHz (166*13)
Abit KD7 motherboard
AOpen HX-08 tower case
Enermax EG651P-VE FMA 550W PSU
1GB Crucial PC2700 DDR SDRAM (2*512)
Leadtek GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB
CTX PR960F 19" Monitor
Windows 2000 Professional
2*Western Digital Caviar 120GB/8MB cache
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live 1024 Player
Toshiba 8x DVD-ROM
Plextor Plexwriter 12/10/32A
Thrustmaster Cougar
Thrustmaster Modena 360
Gravis Gamepad Pro
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3
Unbranded PCI ADSL adapter
APC Back-UPS ES 500

Please Note!!!
The hints and tips listed below were all the result of my sim exploits back before I upgraded to the PC described above. I have no idea if any of the sims listed below will even run on such a system...

Things I've learnt along the way...

EF2000

En-route to the target, fly at approx. 50,000 feet and 80-85% thrust, with radar and ECM off for the entire group (remind your wingmen before take-off). The altitude gives you excellent fuel consumption, and the emissions control greatly reduces your chance of being picked on by enemy patrols. And if you do get attacked, being at 50,000 feet usually gives you a downhill shot with your BVR missiles, making them more effective.
Always order "Battle Go" before any weapons are fired from your group. You don't want to be shot down by your wingman, it's embarassing.
Always replace the two wing tanks with the single centreline tank if you need the extra fuel, two free wing pylons are better than one centreline pylon.
On airfield attacks, always carry one or more cluster bombs, just in case the enemy has left some aircraft parked on the apron.
In-flight refuelling is easy, as long as you don't try too hard. Take it easy, don't make any sudden moves to try and connect, and you'll soon be taking on fuel.
Don't assume DASS will protect you from missiles. Always perform evasive maneouvres unless you know the incoming missile has lost its lock.
On ground attack missions, AAA is often more life threatening than SAMs. Don't fly in a predictable path for any longer than you need to, and remember this even if you think you're safely hidden in cloud - AAA can be radar guided...

EF2000: Tactcom

Enemy SAM sites are FAR more dangerous now, you cannot afford to ignore them like in the good old days of EF2000... If your overall mission doesn't include a Wild Weasel package, seriously think about taking along a couple of ALARMs.
Finally your wingmen can do some serious butt kicking to enemy interceptors! Gone are the days when you'd lose them all with the first volley of enemy AAMs and have to heroically fend off a horde of bloodthirsty SuperFlankers all by yourself. Oh no, now you'll hardly have a chance to fire a missile before your wingies have dealt with the threat. Wow.
You've got the ability to alter your flightplan, use it!
CRV-7 rockets seem to be far more powerful than they should be, two or three will knock out a HAS for example! Use this "cheat" to your advantage, and carry a couple of rocket pods during airfield attacks.

If you're serious about EF2000, then you should think about getting the Strategy Guide, which really does pick apart the sim and gives you some interesting, useful and occasionally surprising advice.
Equally, a 3Dfx or Rendition 3D accelerator and a copy of EF2000 V2.0/Graphics+ is another purchase any serious EF2000 pilot should consider. Especially if you're just as serious about getting into future flight sims, most of which seem to be featuring support for one or both of these 3D chipsets...

Tornado

Learn to fly LOW. At 100 feet or less, SAM/AAA radars will almost never get a lock, and enemy interceptors will find it a lot harder to hit you, if they can even find you... Just watch out for other air traffic, A-10s are also fond of flying around in the mud, and hitting one will really ruin your day.
Unless the mission requires them, always remove Sidewinders and put ALARMs in their place. The IDS is more at threat from ground fire than from air attack, so kill the SAM sites rather than the MiGs. If you really want to remove the air threat, make sure you keep the enemy runways out of action with regular JP.233 strikes.
Laydown bombing of bridges is made much easier if you arrange your flightpath to run along the length of the bridge, rather than at an angle to it. Pay attention to any predefined flightplans, as they quite often do not bear this in mind.
JP.233 makes a GREAT train/convoy killer...
A fully loaded IDS is more than capable of killing helicopters, MiG-27s and Su-25s. Taking out the enemy ground attack aircraft early on in a mission is better than waiting till the end, when they've already done their damage.
Unless you're the perfect Tornado pilot, stick to Laydown attacks rather than Loft bombing, even though it means exposing yourself to more enemy AAA. Lofting bombs onto small targets is damned difficult, and I'd rather destroy the target and maybe take some damage myself than miss the target and have to go back again.
Don't rely on the autopilot too much. Learn to terrain follow manually, and learn to land without any help from the onboard systems. Landing a badly damaged Tornado is easy, if you regularly land manually.
IR guided missiles cannot get a lock through fog or clouds. If you're at medium altitude and a SAM is coming your way, head for the nearest cloudbank, popping flares out as you go. If it's foggy, you'll not be troubled at all by SAMs, since they'll never get a lock. Only in this situation should you consider replacing your standard load of ALARMs with something else. Just remember that AAA is radar guided, and has no trouble hitting a Tornado flying straight and level through the clouds...
In missions where you've got multiple Tornados attacking the same target, consider acting as a Wild Weasel. Load up with 9 ALARMs, fly ahead of the pack and pick off the most threatening SAM sites en-route. If you run out of SAM sites, look for EWR sites before you waste your remaining ALARMs on AAA sites. Although AAA sites will shoot at your wingmen, they don't usually do much damage, whereas EWR sites can vector in enemy interceptors, which WILL!

AH-64 Longbow

Your wingman carries as much ammo as you do, don't make him drag it all the way back to base...
Whatever you do, don't shoot your wingman. If you're about to fire off Hellfires, make sure your wingie is safely out the way. I've lost a wingman when he pulled in front of me just as I'd fired. He can survive accidental hits from the chain gun or rockets, but a single Hellfire will knock him out. Be careful! Similarly, don't get in the way of your wingman when he's firing...
The terrain is your friend, learn to use it. Fly along gulleys and valleys, rather than out in the open, and use ridgelines for cover when attacking group targets.
Always be on the watch for enemy helicopters, they will make mincemeat out of you if you get caught unawares. Be especially careful around enemy bases, where you'll often find 4 or more attack helicopters. If your attention is on the two at your 12, the two coming in from your 3 or 9 o'clock will have no problem in killing you.
Use the ripple-fire ability of the MMW Hellfire when designating PFZs, you can drastically reduce the length of time you need to stay out in the badlands. Why have just one Hellfire in the air when you can have 16?
The Tunguska 2S6 is a nasty piece of work, kill them in preference to any other enemy AAA installation.
If your CP/G thinks it's a good time to head for home, he's usually right...
If you're losing rotor RPMs and have to set down, wait a while and see if the engines recover. Often you can start flying again after a short cooling off period, and only very serious engine/rotor damage will stop you getting back into friendly territory.
In the Panama missions, watch out for enemy AAA sites on the sides of hills - it's all too easy to pop over a ridgeline and become easy pickings for the AAA site you couldn't see from the other side of the hill. Be especially careful with your wingman, he seems particularly vulnerable to surprises like this.
The ground radar can't detect enemy troops, TADS can. Get into the habit of switching from FCR to TADS every so often, just to make sure there really aren't any targets out there!

Longbow: Flash Point Korea

Unless you're one fast learner, take your newly upgraded Apache out to Iraq whilst you learn the new systems. Trying to figure out the CP/G cockpit, new/altered weapons and wingman commands is hard enough, but if you try it in a threat filled environment like Korea you'll just be making things harder on yourself. Learn the systems first, THEN learn to survive in Korea.
Your wingman can ripple-fire, oh joy!
Enemy tanks can fire at you, oh s***!
Ground targets move. Try and find a firing position that gives you maximum field of fire, whilst reducing the options for the enemy to hide. If all they have to do is move half a metre to get behind a building, you're in the wrong spot! If they have to cross half a klick of open ground to find the merest hollow in the ground, you're in the right spot...
Related to the previous point - use the "Stay Here" wingman command to set up a two sided attack, rather than having the two of you sitting side by side blasting away. Remember, if the enemy detects an attack they will try to head for cover. If you split up and start firing from two widely separated locations, cover for fire from one position will more than likely not be cover for fire from the second...
Use the full-screen TADS whenever the opportunity arises, it really does make attacks a lot more immersive - especially if you've seen any of the documentaries that've used real TADS recordings to show what an attack looks like. And it also means there's no more need to use the U cheat to identify targets.
I find Laser Hellfires are much easier to use if you're in a hurry, you just point the TADS at the target, lock up whatever's in the centre of the view, lase and launch. If you need the extra range of the MMW Hellfire, give them to your wingman. And remember, the enemy might be able to jam your FCR, rendering Radar Hellfires useless, but they can't do anything about your laser designator :-)
Watch out for enemy soldiers carrying shoulder launched SAMs...
Beware the Hinds! If you stay in one spot for more than a few minutes, chances are you'll be visited by a pair of them, with another pair in reserve. Keep moving, especially if you've been spotted by enemy forces. If you do get jumped, don't waste time trying to get a good shot, just take whatever you're given and hope it puts the Hind drivers off. They won't give you a second chance if you take too long to fire...
If you really want to give the Hind drivers something to think about, always carry a couple of HE FFAR pods, as well as Stingers. Launch two Stingers at the first two Hinds that arrive, once they get into about 2500m. If by some chance they survive that, you can finish them off easily with cannon fire. The next few Hinds to arrive should be allowed to get in to about 1000m or so, then start firing FFARs at them... One or two hits should easily down even the most persistent Hind :-)
Don't waste ammo on secondary targets when you're still enroute to your primary target, it's all too easy to arrive at the primary with just a handful of Hellfires, no artillery or airstrikes left, and find yourself facing a valley full of primary target tanks... Get the primaries dealt with first, THEN use up your spare ammo on secondaries. Of course, this will mean having to forget the old tactics of flying straight to the primary location, and straight back home... In Korea, the direct path is the deadly path (see the next point).
Be careful! It's better to avoid enemy units than to slug it out with them. Take your time moving from point to point, check out the terrain ahead to see that it's clear before moving on, and be especially careful when entering a valley - it's all too easy to miss an enemy convoy coming along the valley floor, especially when the valley sides are so high and steep.

Longbow2

In supply-limited campaigns, Hellfires and Stingers are like gold dust, don't use them unless absolutely necessary... Learn to use rockets and cannon effectively. Particularly the MPSM rocket, which can take out a tank with just one shot - carrying a couple of pods of these babies (34 rounds) gives you a HUGE punch, you just have to get a little closer to the action to use it :-)
And don't forget the chaingun, under 3000m it's effective against lightly armoured targets like APCs and SAM launchers, and of course the dread ZSU-23/4, which won't fire at you until you get about 1000m closer... Don't give it the chance, kill it before you enter its threat zone.
Without a guaranteed supply of Radar Longbows, you'll have to get used to the limitations of TADS - no 360 degree airsearch, lower detection range, single target designation (so no rapid ripple-firing at a PFZ). On the other hand, TADS does have a few things it does better than the radar - it can pick up ground targets further to the left and right of the flightpath (which can sometimes be a lifesaver), it can detect troops (and therefore shoulder-mounted SAMs...) and the laser designator is the most accurate targetting method for the chaingun.
Shuffle your AI pilots around so they all get a fair share of combat action. Read the mission briefings to decide whether or not a mission is going to be a relatively easy one, in which case you can allocate both helicopters to rookies, a typical one, in which case put an experienced crew in the lead and a rookie as wingman, or a real toughie, in which case fly it yourself... In the event that there are two or more tough missions, then pick the one that seems most important and fly that yourself, then allocate your best two AI crews to the next most important, and so on.
Don't spend all your time flying Apache-based missions, half the enjoyment in Longbow2 is gained by flying the Kiowa and Blackhawk. In particular, getting the Hawk in and out of a hot LZ is the most terrifying experience you'll ever have in Longbow, especially if it's a night mission...
Although enemy helicopters are less of a threat than in FPK, enemy fighters are quite lethal if you aren't on your toes. AS SOON as you hear the telltale beep of the missile launch warning, head for the nearest ridgeline and hide... If you've got any Stingers, get ready to take a shot if you're presented with one, the Fulcrums won't hang around to give you an easy shot, but they will hang around long enough to kill you unless you do it to them first. No Stingers? Call for the F-16's, tuck yourself into the terrain as close as you can get, and pray. Don't even think about trying to run, you'll only make things easier for the Fulcrum driver.

The Front Door