To: devnull@hitech.k9.com (Hitech Simulation Mailing list) From: devnull@hitech.k9.com (Hitech Simulation Mailing list) Reply-To: devnull@hitech.k9.com (Hitech Simulation Mailing list) Sender: devnull@hitech.k9.com (Hitech Simulation Mailing list) Return-Path: devnull@hitech.k9.com (Hitech Simulation Mailing list) Errors-To: postmaster@hitech.k9.com Precedence: bulk Bcc: hitech-sim-out Subject: Hitech Simulation Digest V2 : I60 Hitech Simulation Digest Volume 2 : Issue 60 Wed Nov 2 00:19:12 PST 1994 Compilation copyright (C) 1994 Jeff Beadles Send submissions to "hitech-sim@hitech.k9.com" Send add/drop requests to "majordomo@hitech.k9.com" Archives are available via ftp from cactus.org Today's Topics: FD Gold Info "Nau, Evan D." Subject: FD Gold Info I recieved my FD Gold upgrade last week. I have flown about 5 missions from the west pac scenerios, created one small mission with the mission builder and have made the following observations thus far; PACKAGING I ordered the "upgrade" so I expected the worst, A CDROM, xerox update, in a plain brown wrapper. I was happily suprised to recieve a complete FD Gold. It includes the manuals from the floppy release, (no corrections made to either) and a smaller manual for the New Scenerios/Mission Builder. INSTALLATION Done through Windows and is a snap. It copies the game to HD the remaining 469MB of avi videos thankfully stays on CDROM. There is a windows sound card setup application and there were no problems there. MULTIMEDIA Running the FD Gold app brings up a Macromedia menu. You can select play game, flight deck videos, audio and video of the F14 shootdown of the two Lybian Mig23's, Cockpit overview, Flight School, and a MM catalog of Aviation Week videos. All of it is nice with the exception of flight school only mentioning "standard" mode. I would think most people would need help with authentic but hey, they didn't ask me. Game play from this menu will actually quit windows, run the sim and when your done, go back to Windows. You have to enable ems in your config.sys and for Windows most users won't want to do this. GAMEPLAY FD Gold is version 2.0. The TWS scan bug that caused AIM54's to "disappear" is gone. I really ran this one through the ringer as I was able to reproduce it easily before. I still get an occaisonal miss but from what I observed with the missile view those are due to the bogie turning inside of it or the bogie was hit previously. Robin had mentioned a bug he and serveral others had seen where the flight controls go crazy and the only way out was to abort. I have never seen this so I don't know if there was a fix for it. BTW, there was nothing mentioned in the readme about fixes, enhancements, ect. I have not seen any new bugs. The flight model is unchanged and with the exception of a couple of Korean missions the enemy AI is the same. The exceptions I mention were missions where there was just a zillion aircraft within 100nm and SA went out the window real fast (I confess I'm out of practice ;-)). There are some new enemy aircraft, An-2 Biplane transports, Mig17's are what I've noticed so far. Again, no list of enhancements so there may be more. I have not heard one iota of new digital sound which is my one big gripe. There are new messages that flash across the bottom of your screen but no accompaining sound. Occasionally the update from the E-2 will get garbled. This is on purpose and not a bug. When the accompining text is displayed it too has gaps. The Bingo fuel marker is still stuck at 5600# no matter the mission. The default weapons loadout makes more sense now and actually changes. Squadron markings for the F/A-18, A-6 and others for the WestPac squadrons are reused from the East Coast (Boo Hiss). Pad lock remains smooth and I use it a lot. MISSION BUILDER This baby is a little jewel. It's easy and fast. You can make them simple or as complicated as you want. You can have up to 70 air objects, 60 ground targets, 40 paths, 85 waypoints, and 130 actions. You can also have random objects and vary the amount of randomness. You can load up missions designed by others. You can even have subs submerge! There looks to be a lot potential with this aspect of the sim. That's all I can remember for now. I'm taking notes when I notice anything different. All in all I'm glad I got it. Buzz Nau - ------------------------------- From: S_MORGAN@delphi.com Subject: Brief comments on Armoured Fist Hello all, Well I found myserlf with a few extra dollars in my pocket and decided to pick up AF at Egghead today (50.00). Havinhgg not acquired a decent military sim of late, I was anxious to try this thing out. Here is a breif set of comments after about 1.3 hours of play and completing 6 of the 8 (4 allied, 4 eastern) training missions. I am playing AF on a 486/DX2 50, 8 mb ram, SB16, and FCS. Oh yes, I also got the CD ROM version . I have a cheap Panasonic 2x player running through my SB16. OF course AF was created by Novalogic of recent Comanche4  Fame. AF uses the same Voxel Space that C used. On the ground, it looks like a close up of the ground in Comanche. Sort of blocky pixelated. They may have smootherd it out a bit however. But think C and you have a fairly good idea what AF looks like. AF takes from 1-6 mb on your HD in the CD ROM version. I did a Dir on hthe E: drive and saw about 30,ooo bytes on the CD. It seems they are using hidden directories so I cannot tell you how big the program and assocaited files are for you to get a decent idea of the possible expanse of the running sim. I do not know of any diffrences between the CD ROOM and disk version. But they might be theere (Bloewbelow)). In Comanche, it was yuouou versus the world with your wingman. So far, in AF, this is happily not the case. In a campain (sic) you can control up to say 6 groups of tanks if I follow it right. You can pull up a "Command Vehicle" mao were you can coordinate actions. I mostly just dealt with myself and did not go here yet. Driving the tank is a two hands job. JS controls direction, the buttons on the FCS do a few things, and the other hand is on the mouse. With the mouse you rotate the turret, select weapons (Machine Gun, Heat rounds, High Explosive Rounds, and Armour Peircing rounds (in the M1, have not played the Bradely yet)) select view mode (regular or Heat imaging in the M1, Reg. or Laser in the Eastern counterpart), zoom controls, and other things of not so serious consequence. Well, you can call in Artilery suppoert and Air support also with the mouse. Game Play: On my machine moving across the ground was acceptably smooth. I did realeslease smoke and had a Hind harassing me, and at that point it got choppy (everything on high detail). Guess the smoke really take s a hit on frames. The tank pitches up and down as the tank crosses the terrain, and the muzzle of the big gun will stay as level as it can. When locked on a taketrget it will maintinaain a level site as long as the lock is maintained. Neat! Just like in the vids. I have seen. As you are in battle the other tanks are realesing smoke and driving around which gives the feel of a confused battle ground. When you hit lock target, however, your gun will onlu y lock on enemies as far as I have seen. On the otherhand, the smoke will limit the computers abilites so doing a manula lock can still result in Fratercide. There is a realistic delay when loading occurs between shots. Calling in Art. support is something to see. Unlike C., the Art support covers a wide area. From a distance you see a wide swath of impacts over a larger area. Very nice! Air Support can be called to attack a locked toarget, or just called where it wil then freelance on its own to take down some enemyies. They do get shot down I have come to find out. There is a detailed mission builder that I have yet to mess wotith. It says you can lay out very complex battle complete with mine fields and the like. Graonsoans: Sitting disabled, I noticed the M1 can take a real pounding. Even from missiles. Hmmmmm. I also noticed after sitting disabled, my tank will slowingly be prerepainrewded. Hmmmmm "hey you! Get out there and fix that track!" Loading a "High detail mission" from the CD can take a long time. 2,3, 4 minutes? Guess they are using some sort of compression for the landscape or something. The cut scenes between missions (CD only??) are nothing less than gorgeous!!!!! If they ever created a real time sim with such graphics I may never fly again. So far the game/sim is a winner. I do not know if this is the "Gee Whiz Factor" or not. I have really not played it all that much. So far I am plaesed. I will look forward to tank enthusiasts commenting on this piece. BTW, you do not have super weapons, you can and do miss. Sometimes, not always, it may take more than one hit to take another tank out. THank god for small favors. All spelling erros rs and non-destructive backspaces most heartfeltfully appologized for. Scott in WV S_Morgan@Delphi.com Morgan@wvugeo.wvnet.edu ------------------------------- [[ End of digest Volume 2 : Issue 60 ]]