From: masten@beta.lanl.gov (David A. Masten)
Subject: Re: Falcon 3.0: Operation Fighting Tiger Notes
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 14:18:43 GMT

In article <Bu36Dq.1qE@news.cso.uiuc.edu> rmg53668@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Ryan M. Grant) writes:
>I have never asked for this before, but I am now.  I want Fighting Tigers for
>free.  Not from a netter, from Specholo.  This is a bug fix.  Bug fixes are
>free, cause I paid for a program and they still have to deliver one that 
>works right.  Maybe they are still afraid of the Russians/Iraqis getting the 
>game?
>
>OK OK fine, leave out the fightn tiger datafiles, and make it free then, but
>damn it!  I am not going to pay for version E!  I may wait a while, 'eh? 
>Oh well, who wants a program that doesn't work right anyaway?

I'm under the impression that a patch E was to be released.

OK, now my second set of impressions and observations ya'll are (I'm
sure) dying to hear:


Good:
I was able to use Falconer for squad generation and auto-perfection and
re-activation (100% ratings and all alive).  *I haven't tried any of the
utilities to retore planes, ordnance etc*.

The campaign is easier and does seem to have less enemies in "easy"
mode.    I was able to roam above the Indian base searching for the
airfield to bomb for quite a while without being attacked (it was
night).

4/4 in India mission successes so far.  Not that easy wins is
neccesarily a good thing.  I just wanted less enemies.
 
No more 'Choppers from Hell"!  Tried some RF missions and they behave
more reasonably.  Though the SA342 was able to go about 240 knots and
the Mi24 only wanted to go about 120.  They no longer pull Hi-G's.

Jet acceleration between flying and letting the AP fly is more
consistent now.  Hopefully this'll mean that when you give a wingman an
engage command, he won't be able to zoom away from you at unattainable
speeds.  Hopefully.

?
Judging from the first day of India, the campaign seems pretty much the
same for everyone right?
You get attacks before even taking off.  You get your based moved
because of the enemy proximity after the first day (even though I kicked
the snot out of the enemy airfield and "captured" it).  I hope it gets
more variable after this.  I personally don't like missions where they
are half over before I take off!   Also real hard to get any situational
awareness that way.  OK, I know attacks on your base can happen.  Just
hope this is the exceptional occurence.  Not the norm.

Again I ask: has anyone figured out how to do the standoff type missions
as described in the manual?  When I tried it in RF, the only way I could
get a waypoint not on the target itself, but still designated "bomb
xxx", was to put it on the target, designate, then move it off.  But I
could only move it about 10 miles before the target box cleared.  My
pilots didn't execute it anyway.  Do you just leave the bomb waypoint on
the target itself and then hope the wingmen release weapons at the
earliest time?  If so, this doesn't match the manual's explicit
instructions.

Bad:
Red Flag seems worse than ever.  
Couldn't get the standoff to work.
Now 4 GBU's or 4 2000 lb'ers don't take out refineries or cooling towers
(direct hits watching real-time).  
Don't seem to get any mission evaluation feedback on objectives I did
manage to hit and destroy.
Cycle thru "bomb" when not on a target and the waypoint moves to some
place in the middle of nowhere.  Pain to have to reset it every time.
They didn't include SEAD in RF.  Or many of the new enemy planes.
What's the cruise missile for?  It seems to be the new version of the
original B52.  Fly unpowered then crash.  Can you use it to bomb
anything?

I'm getting more AVTR crashes than ever.
 
Overall, definite improvement.  But when is patch 3.01A coming out?  :-)

Dave Masten
masten@beta.lanl.gov