a) Throughout a campaign I save the game after each mission so that if I fly a really bad mission or series of missions and lose some of the limited supply of precious Harriers I can quit without saving and then reload to get back to where I was before the disaster.
b) The map of East Timor (the theatre of operations for this campaign) has very little information about enemy positions and SAM sites when the game starts because no recon flights have been flown. Although you can schedule your own reccon flight at any time its best to do this at the start of the campaign. Before launching any missions click the Configuration Icon (top left) in the Plan Window and from the Time Control submenu select Frezze Time. While the scenario is frozen click the Plan icon (crossed swords) in the Map window to add a new mission. Select Add Mission from the sub-menu in the Plan window and then double click a series of waypoints all around the island. Schedule the mission for immediate start. As soon as you are finished use the Time Control submenue to re-start time and let the computer fly the mission.
If you fly your own recon flights you will get shot down by one of the many enemy fighters or SAM sites. When the computer flies such missions the Harrier survives and the intelligence product is large.
As you watch the recon flight unfold on the map and the Harrier flies around the Waypoints you designated, more and more information about enemy positions appears on the map.
c) You can speed the game/campaign up in various ways: If you click the Configure Icon in the map window you get the Time Control sub-menu, double click this and you get a menu with a Fast Time option on it - click this and the game speeds up while the Map window is open. Here is a great tip - repeat the above procedure a second time and the game accelerates even more, the planes and troop convoys really whiz around.
In this double speeded up mode you can watch a whole battle plan unfold very rapidly, this lets you get an overall picture of the Task Force troop movements and the likely enemy responses, as well as seeing what would happen if you did not intervene to fly the Harrier missions.
Another way to speed up the game is to open the Plan Icon and then click on the various naval waypoints controlling the movement of the naval task force down the coast. Once you select a waypoint with the plan icon open you can click the Plan window to get another sub-menu with an option called Change Departure Time. Selecting this means you can alter the departure times so the task force moves onto the next waypoint faster, to reduce the time to departure hold down shift and click on the displayed departure time. Be careful though - this will speed up troop landings at the various beachheads and you must fly Harrier missions to clear enemy positions in front of your troops before they deploy (see below).
d) Keeping your troop and Harrier losses low is all important. If ground casualties get too large then the US President pulls the plug on the operation and the game is over - you lose. Plus you only have a limited supply of Harriers to start with.
To keep ground casualties low you must:
i) destroy enemy troop emplacements before your advancing troop columns encounter them.
ii) aggressively attack and destroy the enemy airforce/airbases (see below) so they cannot be used to attack your troops
iii) this is most important. Even after you have cleared the enemy troop positions and destroyed their positions they can regroup and push convoys through your lines inflicting heavy casualties on your forces. They can even set up SAM sites behind your lines. Keep checking the data screen on the right in the Commander's room for news of enemy convoys moving behind your lines. They won't show up on your intelligence map until spotted by one of your plans. Keep flying recon patrols over the entire theatre of operations. As soon as a convoy is spotted fly a Harrier mission to take it out.
e) Although this game offers wide variety of weapons for the Harrier I only use a small number. I usually leave a couple of anti-aircraft AIM Sidewinders on each wing tip in case I encounter enemy fighters or choppers. If I am absolutely sure that I will not encounter enemy fighters then I take a couple of Redeye fragmentation bombs on the wing tips. The best all-round ground attack weapon is the Hydra air-to-ground rockets. You can pack 84 of these babies on four of you innermost weapon stations, you can fire them in salvos of various sizes and they take out any ground target. The other weapon I use is the HARM anti-radar missile which is essential ordinance when flying against SAM sites. If special forces have been deployed around a target you can use the laser guided weaponry such as the AGM 65's or the various laser guided gravity bombs. When a laser designated target is illuminated in your HUD you can drop a laser guided bomb without having to exactly line up the CCIP indicator in the HUD, you can drop the bomb and it will steer itself to the target (its cool to watch it do this by pressing 'm' to get the weapons eye view).
f) If the Map window indicates that you are beginning to fly close to an active enemy airbase you must aggressively attack and destroy it. If its protected by SAM's then fly your first mission with a couple of HARM's, one pod of Hydra's and as many AIM's as you can carry on the other stations.
Fly straight at the base at about 2000 ft with the HARM's selected, as you approach the SAMs will fire at you at about the same time that the SAM site is acquired and illuminated in your HUD. Watch the approaching SAMs and dodge them using Chaff and Flares to deflect them, and fire your HARM's to take out the SAMs. As you are doing this enemy F16's are scrambling. If the bandits are not right on your tail try to swoop on the base and take out the Hangar and control tower with your Hydras, this stops any more bandits from scrambling. The key building is usually a red hangar from which successive waves of enemy fighters will taxi and launch against you unless it is destroyed. You must then take on the air borne enemy fighters. If you cannot takeout the hangars and control tower in this attack then break off your attack head for home trying to dodge the bandits. If things get very hairy then hand control of your fighter back to the computer by returning to the Commanders room, Harriers very rarely get shot down when flown by the computer.
g) If you want to try night flying you must alter the timing on the movement between waypoints, usually the movement of the naval task force halts at night, you can override this by changing the departure time. At any point during the night you can select Combat Patrol in the Briefing Room. Once in the cockpit use the 'i' key to select the infra red view in the HUD. Night flying is difficult because of the murky graphics and its easy to get lost, attack friendly positions or crash.
h) The instrumentation in the Harrier cockpit is almost completely useless. Consequently I usually fly in the head up (option +1) mode to have the maximum external view. In this mode the only really useful cockpit instrument, the little panel that feeds you intelligence on enemy aircraft positions from the task force AWAC, is still visible.
i) The enemy will continue to land fresh troops and supplies from its cargo planes at the various airbases. Even if you have destroyed all the ground targets at these bases and even if your troops have occupied the base the enemy cargo planes will continue to try to fly in troops. When an approaching cargo plane is detected it is announced in the plan window and a Harrier is scrambled. It is important that you fly these missions (assuming that any threatening SAM sites en route have been neutralised), if left to the computer the Harrier flies to slowly and usually misses the cargo plane or fails to shoot it down. The result is that enemy troop convoys are landed and start to manoeuvre, as they move through your troop lines they cause casualties to mount. You should take over the anti-cargo plane missions right from the launch from the carrier. Take off and head for Waypoint 1 (usually an enemy airfield), don't use auto pilot because this is too slow, you must fly at top speed. At the enemy airfield you switch to Waypoint 2 which puts you on a heading straight at the approaching cargo plane which is coming in at about 1000 ft. I usually shoot it down with cannon fire. I also usually take along Hydras so that having shot down the cargo plane I can attack any ground targets of opportunity in the vicinity.
