NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27

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Internet Message Format | 1992-11-23 | 21.3 KB

Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:23002 rec.aviation.simulators:489 Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!tamsun.tamu.edu!stat!kuebeler From: kuebeler@stat.tamu.edu (Mark Kuebeler) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games,rec.aviation.simulators Subject: SVGA Air Warrior - Preview (Long) Date: 23 Nov 1992 12:39:32 GMT Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Lines: 401 Distribution: na Message-ID: <1eqje4INNm4m@tamsun.tamu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: stat.tamu.edu This is a fairly long winded description of the multiplayer air combat simulation Air Warrior and in particular, SVGA Air Warrior, a boxed version of the AW front-end program which I've had the opportunity to test. SVGA just went into production and should be in the stores by Christmas. DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed below are my own. I do not represent Kesmai, Konami, or GEnie in any way. Descriptions of features of SVGA Air Warrior are based on a test version of the program, so some features may differ in the final version. ************************************************************************ OVERVIEW OF AIR WARRIOR: Air Warrior (AW) is a multi-player air combat simulation on GEnie. Players must run a front end program (FE) on their home computer and connect through GEnie to a host computer running AW. The FE takes care of the graphics and flight simulation computations, and communicates the player's position and other data to the host, which in turn sends the FE data for the other planes in the vicinity of the player. Players can fly for one of three constantly warring countries (simply known as A-Land, B-Land, and C-Land), either solo or as members of organized squadrons. Each country has a number of airfields and a variety of WW2 era fighters and bombers available to it: P-51D Mustang B-17G Flying Fortress A6M5a Zero-Sen B-25J Mitchell Spitfire Mk IX A-26B Invader Bf 109F-4 Mosquito Mk XVI Focke Wulf 190A-8 Mitsubishi G4M2 Betty P38J Lightning Junkers Ju 88A-4 F4U-1D Corsair C-47 Skytrain Yak 9D Ki-84 Ia Hayate There are several WW1 era planes available in the WW1 theater: Fokker Dr. 1 Sopwith Camel Spad S.XIII Fokker D.VII Bristol F.2B Brisfit Three jets are also available: Me 262 A-1a Sturmvogel F86-F Sabre MiG 15 Bombers have multiple gunner positions which can be manned by other players. Most airfields can be destroyed by the enemy, some of them can even be captured. There are also strategic targets (radar, factories, refinery, city) in each country that can be attacked. Some airfields have host- controlled anti-aircraft guns, and there are ground vehicles that can be crewed by multiple players for air defense or attacks against ground targets. There are separate WW2 theaters with European and Pacific terrain, and a smaller theater for WW1 air combat. The main game takes place in the combat arena, where player scores are kept by the host. A scoreboard is maintained listing the standings of all Air Warriors. There is a separate training arena where no scores are kept and the planes are loaded with "blanks" so nobody can be shot down (rather, you are informed that you have been shot down). Historical scenarios are offered on a semi-regular basis in a special scenario arena. Each theater has a maximum capacity of 50 players. However, due to network limitations only one combat theater at a time is currently available (in addition to the training arena and WW1, which are always available). The combat theater changes approximately every three weeks, at which time all scores are archived and reset to zero. Since human opponents can be much more challenging than computer controlled enemies, the learning curve in AW is correspondingly steeper. To help new players learn the ropes, regular training sessions are held each Tuesday evening in the training arena. The front ends also have an off-line practice mode so that players can practice take-offs, landings and aerobatics, however there is no means of practicing gunnery other than online in the training or combat arenas. The most recent addition to the AW training program is the Air Warrior Training Academy (AWTA). AWTA is a package deal consisting of structured training sessions, manuals and maps, all for one low price. AW is currently supported on IBM, Amiga, Macintosh, and Atari ST computers. The front-end programs can be downloaded at no cost from GEnie, but the game itself is not free! The cost is currently $6/hr, the usual GEnie rate for non-basic services. Support materials such as maps or manuals can be ordered for a reasonable cost. Still other files like player designed artwork, films and help files can be downloaded at the non-basic rate. There is a very active bulletin board for AW related topics, which is a GEnie basic service, and is included in the monthly membership fee (currently $4.95). This is a particularly good place to learn more about the game without spending a lot of money. To get to the AW bulletin board, type M1045;1 from any GEnie prompt. This is the Multiplayer Games Roundtable (MPGames). The AW topics are in categories 3-6. =========================================================================== SIGNING UP FOR GENIE SERVICE: To talk to a GEnie service representative, dial 1-800-638-9636. To open an account on GEnie: Set your terminal to 7 Bits, Even parity, 1 Stop Bit, Half-duplex mode, at either 1200 or 2400 baud. 1) Dial 1-800-638-8369. 2) Reply: CONNECT 2400 (or 1200, as the case may be) 3) Type: hhh (no <rtn> required) 4) Reply: U#= (this is the GEnie login prompt) 5) Type: XJM11868,AIR 6) Follow the sign up MENU prompts. Have a major credit card number ready to use for billing. Note that it usually takes a few days to get your permanent account number and password in the mail, so you won't be able to access any non-basic services (including AW) until then. =========================================================================== DESCRIPTION OF THE IBM FRONT-END AND NEW SVGA FEATURES: The current version of the IBM front end is ver. 1.4 (there is a version 1.4b that includes support for SoundBlaster sound cards, but it is not a free download). Nearly all of the capabilities of the current front end are included in the upcoming SVGA version. SVGA enhances some features and adds new ones. Except were specifically noted, the following description applies to both version 1.4 and the SVGA version. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: The current version of AW will run on any IBM PC or compatible with 640K RAM, although running artwork and sounds really pushes the memory limit to the edge. A 286 or better is recommended for performance reasons. A 16-bit EGA or VGA graphics adapter will improve graphical performance. Either a mouse or analog joystick is required. Ver. 1.4 supports Covox sound boards and the PC speaker. Ver 1.4b added SoundBlaster support. The recommended baud rate for AW is 1200 (there is no advantage to running at higher baud rates), so at least a 1200 baud modem is required. (NOTE: Ver 1.4 only supports modems on COM1 or COM2.) SVGA has bigger system requirements. A 386 or better is required, with at least 4 megabytes of RAM. A SVGA video card with 1 MB video RAM is also required. SoundBlaster and SBPro are supported, but there is currently no PC speaker sound support planned. -------------------- FLIGHT CONTROL: Pitch and roll are controlled by either joystick or mouse. Rudder must be manually centered. Since all turns in AW are autocoordinated, rudder is mainly used for making adjustments to the flight path during a firing pass or bomb run. Some commands are handled by a single keypress (e.g., flaps up/down, drop bomb), while others require entering a command mode and typing the command (e.g., arm/disarm bombs or enabling the bombsight). SVGA adds support for Thrustmaster FCS and WCS, and rudder pedals. The castle switch on the FCS can be used to access some of the out-of-cockpit views. One unique feature of SVGA is the joystick calibration routine. It is possible to adjust the sensitivity of the joystick at various deflections, and this can done independently for the pitch and roll axes. -------------------- FLIGHT INSTRUMENTS: The instrument panel is always in view, even when looking in other directions. Instruments include the standard gauges: altimeter, airspeed indicator, rate-of-climb, compass, fuel, oil and ammo gauges. An accelerometer (g-meter) displays the airframe loading during maneuvers. A "stick box" indicates the stick position (mainly useful for mouse control) and rudder position. There are also indicators for landing gear, flaps and throttle. Unlike most air combat sims, AW has an option to display either true airspeed (TAS) or indicated airspeed (IAS). SVGA adds an option of replacing the stick box by an artificial horizon, and the instrument panel is literally a work of art! -------------------- GRAPHICS: Ver. 1.4 runs in screen resolutions of 320x200, 640x200 and 640x350. The default out-of-cockpit views contain plain silhouettes of the wings and fuselage. Player designed artwork which replaces the plain default views with more realistic looking views can be used if desired. However, artwork is only available for the lower resolutions. Hits on other planes by the player are represented by a large "X" on the target. Damaged planes will trail "smoke" in the form of a white triangle behind the plane. The explosion effect is somewhat difficult to describe, but sort of resembles a burst of sparks (called "fractal effect" in the options menu). SVGA runs at a resolution of 640x480, however the price of this higher resolution is that the viewing area is smaller than in the EGA version. The included artwork was done by professional artists. Artwork may be completely disabled if desired, or disabled only in selected view directions. Hits on planes are represented by debris flying off the target (similar to BOB1940). Smoke and explosion effects are animated, and much more realistic looking. Any or all of these effects can be disabled by the player if desired. -------------------- TERRAIN: The terrain in the world of AW is fairly simplistic. Most of the action takes place in an area of about 1296 square miles which is divided into nine 12 x 12 mile sectors. The ground is completely flat and at sea level. There are some mountains (simple polygons), rivers with bridges, and lakes. One airfield has some low hills around it. The Pacific theater consists of three home islands, six aircraft carriers, and a central atoll area. Although the terrain is plain, it is sufficient for navigational purposes. Besides, sightseeing is not exactly the point of AW! SVGA displays the exact same terrain features (albeit in higher res). There is an optional effect to generate random colored patches on the ground, which provides more of a feeling of forward movement, and serves as an additional attitude cue during low altitude maneuvering. The gradient horizon shading is one of the best I've seen in a flight sim yet! -------------------- VIEWS: AW probably has the most comprehensive view system ever devised for a flight sim. Views are accessed from the numeric keypad or keyboard. The front, rear, left and right view keys can be combined to give intermediate views (e.g. forward-left, right-rear, etc.). There is an up view key, and the eight level views can be shifted upward by simultaneously holding down the up key and the level view combination. Similarly there are downward shifted views, for a total of 24 different view directions. All the views have some overlap, so it is possible to keep a target in sight at all times while maneuvering. SVGA allows players with the Thrustmaster FCS to access some views with the castle switch. SVGA also includes a utility for remapping the default keyboard layout. -------------------- GUN CAMERA: A "gun camera" feature allows the player to record all or part of a flight, including radio traffic. In film playback there is an external view option, and all view key combinations apply to external viewing. Interesting and unusual films of other Air Warriors can be downloaded from the MPGames library on GEnie. -------------------- REPRESENTATION OF OTHER AIRCRAFT: Aircraft are first represented as a solid black dot at around 12,000 yards. Within a few thousand yards planes are represented by a "T" which gives an indication of the target aspect angle, depending on how the T is rotated. At very close ranges planes have full polygonal rendering. There are no markings or colors, but it is fairly easy to tell the difference between a P-38 and a Spitfire. Other planes are less easily identified. Fortunately target identification is facilitated by a display of the planes in the current view. A row of "icons" along the bottom of the viewing area appear below each plane. The color of the icon identifies which country the plane belongs to (there is a key to remind the player what the colors are). A text display shows the distance (in yards) to each plane in the view, plane type if an enemy, or player id number if a friendly. With the increased resolution of SVGA, aircraft are rendered as polygons at much greater distances, starting from about 2000 yds and increasing in detail as the range is closed. There is an option to enable the "T" display described above, if so desired. -------------------- RADIO COMMUNICATIONS: A unique feature of AW is that players can send and receive messages via the "radio" during flight. There is also a "radio shack" that players not in flight can use to communicate with those who are. Players type their messages on the command line, and read messages from other players in a text area. There are 999 radio channels to use. Channel 1 is a common channel for all players, while channels 2-999 can only be monitored by players in the same country. Channel 1 is used to negotiate truces, congratulate opponents on a skillful kill, or just to say hi to the AW community (hey, just because they want to kill you doesn't mean you have to be unfriendly!). Frequently Ch. 1 is also used to taunt and psych-out the opposition! This is an accepted part of the game, within reason of course. :) -------------------- CONFERENCE ROOMS: After entering AW, the player starts off in General Conference Room 1 (GC1). There are 9 such conference rooms where players from all countries can get together and chat. Each airfield also has a ready room open only to members of that country which can be used for preflight briefings. There are a number of commands that players can issue to get information, such as a roster of all players currently online, scores for themselves or any other player, and the status of airfields and strategic targets belonging to the player's country. -------------------- OFF-LINE PRACTICE MODE: The AW front-end can be used off-line for practice. Players can select any plane, start from any airfield, and fly around the AW terrain. There are no planes to shoot at, however, so this is mainly intended for learning how to operate the planes, practice landings and aerobatic maneuvers. SVGA adds off-line drones! The player can select up to four computer controlled drones, each having a selectable plane type, country, starting airfield, and skill level. Bomber drones have gunners. Fighter drones will shoot you down if you let them, but they are fairly easy to evade. The fighters fly fairly aggressively (if one is nearby while you are taking off, it will come over to strafe you), and it can take a while to get saddled up on them, but once you get on their six they are not hard to shoot down. However, AW is about air combat against human opponents, not the computer! The purpose of the drones is simply to give players a cost-effective way to practice gunnery and relative maneuvering. -------------------- REALISM FEATURES: The online game runs at half real time. This is both for playability and due to network limitations. All planes will stall at a certain speed, but the flight model is very forgiving in that there are no accelerated stalls, spins, or blackouts. For example, it is possible to make sustained 9 g maneuvers in AW with no ill effects other than a rapid loss of energy. Frequently dogfights degenerate into what are known as "stallfights," where the planes become locked in a slow turning battle at stall speed. Not very realistic, and not a good position to be in if an enemy with more energy comes along! Planes are given triple the historical ammo load (again for playability), and the gunnery model considers any "bullets" falling inside a "hit bubble" around the target as hits. Zero deflection shots from the rear have the greatest chance of scoring hits, and the rear hit bubble has a 3 wingspan diameter. Deflection shots require lead and are harder to score. Head on shots have the lowest chance of scoring a hit. Lethality of guns in the on-line game is somewhat low, so it can take quite a few hits to bring down some planes. This is done for playability; no one likes to spend 10-15 minutes getting to a fight only to be taken out with one or two lucky hits, although it has still been known to happen! Random damage from hits may include loss of an engine, fuel or oil leaks, damaged elevator or flaps. Flaps will not operate above a certain speed, and landing gear can be damaged if lowered at too high an airspeed. Some planes, like the Spitfire, can lose their wings in a fast dive. The P-38 suffers from compressibility at high speeds, but has dive brakes to prevent this. Bombing in the game is highly simplified. Bombers have a crosshair bombsight, and fighters (and some bombers) have a divebomb sight, which behaves like a CCIP sight. The sights are "magical," so bombs will generally hit whatever the bombsight was on when you dropped them. SVGA adds new realism features like accelerated stalls, spins, blackout/redout, buffeting, a realistic gunnery model, and real-time flight in off-line and H2H mode. Accelerated stalls occur when the angle of attack becomes too high, and can occur at any speed. As the plane nears a stall it will start buffeting, and the screen will visibly shake. A stall light begins flashing when a stall is imminent and a horn signals that a stall has occurred. Stalls can develop into a spin, particularly if the controls are moved around a lot during stall recovery. Spin characteristics are modeled differently for each type of plane. Blackouts are modeled from Air Force data. Vision begins to dim at around 5 g's, becoming dimmer as g's increase. Blackouts tend to set in between 7-8 g's depending on the pilot's level of fatigue. Fatigue is cumulative, so the pilot is less able to withstand a blackout after sustained high g maneuvers. Blackouts last a few seconds, during which time the pilot loses control of the aircraft and there is some randomization of the controls. There's nothing like coming out of a blackout and seeing your forward view full of ground! The realistic gunnery model gives the player the historical ammo load and lethality, and reduces the hit bubble to a single wingspan. Each of the realism features can be disabled in practice mode and H2H. Also, realism features will probably not be used in the online game until all other platforms have been updated to include them. SVGA includes updated flight characteristics for all planes. All other platforms will likewise be updated in this regard. In the new models inverted flight cannot be sustained without a loss of oil pressure and damage to engines. Also diving at full power can cause damage to engines from too high RPMs. -------------------- H2H MODEM PLAY: With SVGA players have the option of going head to head with another player, either over a modem or using a null modem cable. One player puts his computer into H2H host mode, and the other player initiates the call. When the connection is complete, the players can chat via the terminal screen by typing messages on a message line until one player begins the negotiation phase. The negotiation window shows the settings for each player: plane type, starting airfield, and realism settings. Negotiation works in turns. The first player selects the options for one or both of the players, and then passes control to the opponent, who may accept the settings or make changes and pass control back. During negotiation players can continue to communicate through a small message window. Once the conditions of the duel are accepted, the players can begin the flight. As in the on-line game, players can communicate over Ch. 1 while in flight. If a player is shot down or crashes, he or she starts again from their starting airfield with a fresh plane, while the opponent continues to fly. At any time the duel can be stopped, returning both players to the terminal screen. Another duel can be negotiated at this time. ***********************************************************************