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Old 01-26-07, 04:59 PM   #1
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Just bought Falcon 4.0 Allied Force

After receiving three gift cards to the same store this Christmas, totaling more than 1000 kroner or about 158 dollars, I suddenly had enough money, by far, to acquire a new game or two. I found myself wanting a high-realism flight sim', with IL2 and Falcon 4.0 Allied Force being the two candidates. I ended up with Falcon, missing my brother's old FA-18 game (the CD was damaged beyond repair).

Already in the store, I was sorely disappointed. I was promised a "huge manual" by a review and the booklet that came with the game was a mere fifty-one pages long. The main menu music was a very short loop which got tedious to listen to. The theater options had no descriptions, just placeholder strings (the description of Korea, for example, is something like "Korea" - wow). Worse yet, apparently only three of the tutorial missions, those on navigation (Basic Handling, Take-Off and Landing) had documentation in the manual. I cursed myself for picking up Falcon instead of IL2, and actually went for two days without playing my brand new game at all.

Well, today I gave it a second chance, and now... well, let's just say this game is a keeper. There is a huge manual (700+ pages), it's just a separate PDF document. The main menu music can be turned off or replaced. I'm sure I can get people to elaborate on the theatres online or find something about them in the monster of a manual. And it turns out that every tutorial has documentation - the documentation is just sorted by category (for example, the Maverick missile tutorial is in the chapter on Maverick missiles - in fact, the tutorial is the chapter on Maverick missiles). It seems the booklet pretty covers pretty much tutorials only, while the PDF documents covers everything else.

And holy S', when you sit down and take the time to learn how to play it, it's one Hell of a game.

My most successful sortie so far was the attrition of four ground vehicles by means of Mavericks in the training mission. I overflew the town four times, dispatching a rocket each time and tracking it with the Shift+7 weapon camera. On my last pass, my fuel tank got hit by machine gun fire and I found myself "bingo on" fuel and with no reserve tanks. I needed to land, so I gained some distance from the town, found myself a flat stretch of land, released the landing gear and air brakes, and touched down. I flared a bit too much and ended up on my aft wheels and tail, but the aircraft stopped nice and easy without flipping over, exploding, or both (when I tried to open the flaps, if F-16s have them, with the 'F' key, I found that I could record in-game action, so if I can find it, I've got a short clip of the landing for whoever is interested:p). Hey, any landing you can walk away from...

So long story short - this is one Hell of a game. I'm going to work my way through the weapons tutorials and all the other tutorials and then try a full-fledged campaign. Wish me luck!
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Old 01-27-07, 01:08 AM   #2
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Yep. Like you fine people love 150% realism in SH3, I like it that way in Falcon 4.

Cluster bombs are your friends.
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Old 01-27-07, 08:12 AM   #3
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Don't know if I've tried them yet. My current favorites are the Maverick and Rocket Pod, and the good ole machine gun.
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Old 01-27-07, 12:53 PM   #4
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Try being a FAC if its available (Forward Air Controller) Its a new feature of Allied Force that allows you to fly ahead of a bombing group and mark targets using rocket smoke. Its very useful in multiplayer for lining up bombing runs over hot areas and help others find targets faster. I noticed in iraq they drop strobe beacons now instead of smoke to mark targets.

I also recommend joining a multiplayer squadron. Playing with a squadron really helps you learn more of what's inside the game that really isn't published in the manuals.

Multiviper (http://www.multiviper.com/) and Freebirds (http://www.freebirdswing.org/) are two very helpful squadrons that welcome all age groups.

Multiviper has dedicated online campaigns that are running 24 hours and are very fun to play with others. You also learn alot faster after flying a few flights in multiplayer (because you can ask questions right away as problems arise). They also provide orientation flights to go through various tactical engagements and to help you learn how to use the onboard systems. Both squadrons are very active and have missions running every night.
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Old 01-31-07, 12:47 PM   #5
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Quote:
Yep. Like you fine people love 150% realism in SH3, I like it that way in Falcon 4.
Heh, I've been playing Falcon 4.0 with realism set to 100% since day one and never regretted it.

Tiki', I'll look into MP gaming, thanks for the advice.
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Old 01-31-07, 07:23 PM   #6
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made it all clear to me.
(:rotfl
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Old 02-02-07, 03:09 PM   #7
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Thank's this sounds like a flight sim I want to add to my collection .
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Old 02-02-07, 03:36 PM   #8
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There actually is a demo out. Google for it and you'll find it.
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Old 02-03-07, 05:56 PM   #9
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Just wondering if all the SubSim F4 people have heard of Redviper? If not...THE best single player install of Falcon so far IMO.

PD
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Old 02-03-07, 06:24 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth
Just wondering if all the SubSim F4 people have heard of Redviper? If not...THE best single player install of Falcon so far IMO.

PD
What does it consist of?

I've stopped watching the modding scene a while ago presuming that AF was basically the end of SuperPak development, leaving only a slowly-moving FreeFalcon there... :hmm:
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Old 02-03-07, 07:21 PM   #11
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Quote:
Thank's this sounds like a flight sim I want to add to my collection .
If you like advanced simulators, it definetely is. The graphics are getting a tad bit old, but graphics are secondary anyhow.
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Old 02-04-07, 10:15 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CCIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeriscopeDepth
Just wondering if all the SubSim F4 people have heard of Redviper? If not...THE best single player install of Falcon so far IMO.

PD
What does it consist of?

I've stopped watching the modding scene a while ago presuming that AF was basically the end of SuperPak development, leaving only a slowly-moving FreeFalcon there... :hmm:
Here's what attracts me to it:
Although not realistic to a T, the best implementation of GPS guided weapons so far
Turbulence/buffeting
IFF implementation
Large FPS boost, even with graphical improvements
Completely revamped graphics engine. Lighting looks great now. And NVGs look much more realistic
Fully clickable 3D pit. I don't use the 2D pit anymore.
Weather

Screenshots here: http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/s...d.php?t=115866

PD
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Old 02-04-07, 11:35 PM   #13
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Ookay, I see, that answers it - a FreeFalcon build. FF has gotta have the best visuals!

Still, I'm sitting on my purist fense with good old SP4.2 - I've always run into bugs with FF and remain a little cautious of it.
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Old 02-04-07, 11:56 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CCIP
Ookay, I see, that answers it - a FreeFalcon build. FF has gotta have the best visuals!

Still, I'm sitting on my purist fense with good old SP4.2 - I've always run into bugs with FF and remain a little cautious of it.
Just to clarify -

I too had never been a FF person before, I had preferred either SP4 or AF. I feel that the FF team had gotten a rap similar to the GW team: concentrating on visuals first and realism second. But I feel with the FF4/RedViper release this isn't true any more. There are tons of under the hood improvements, the AI really is a sneaky bastard now to say the least. Just saying that even if FF wasn't your flavor before, I think the newest release at least warrants a try. And the team has publically stated that the 1st release is only the beginning, and they have me convinced that it is the future of Falcon.

PD
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Old 02-05-07, 12:15 AM   #15
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Oh I'll definitely try. I never had that much against FF to be honest - don't think this to be a classical "NYGM vs. GWX" mistake, since my issue was more or less just plain old CTDs or bad game behaviour - which was a matter of the huge ambition behind FF compared to relatively scarce manpower to fix everything. I always did like a lot of the features that were in FF.

It's the same with me and some other mods, for instance RTR vs. EB for Rome Total War, for those who know what I'm talking about.:hmm:
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