Mission One - The South China Sea
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This mission is a breeze. You easily have more power than
the opposition, so they will resort to more desperate measures,
such as trying to shoot down harmless civilian airliners.
The aim of this is to show the world that you aren't just
another musclehead Navy-Jock who enjoys watching innocent
Airbuses explode. So set up your eye in the sky and launch
a patrol to surround the islands.
Find Spratly airfield and patrol it with mixed attack sorties
of AX Bombers for ground targets and F-18's for any enemy
aircraft that break through. This level is a waiting game,
and if you let your attention wander too far, you will not
have time to respond to the Chinese special forces units
who are hiding out in the network of islands and oil rigs.
In this mission you don't have to worry too much about
losing a few planes, just be sure to protect the civilians
at all costs - or your next assignment will be cleaning
up the officers' mess.
Mission Two - Libya
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
However much you may want to nip this one in the bud by
blowing the chemical plant away, you can't. Well, not yet,
anyway. Enforce the sanctions and find the ship carrying
the missiles and then prevent it from reaching the docks.
This would be easy if the Libyans left you alone for one
minute, but they constantly launch nuisance attacks
against you. These attacks aren't trying to sink your
fleet, but to provoke you into making mistakes so they
can turn the conflict into a political embarrassment -
and get you fired. Once you have identified the target
ship and seen it off, your bosses in the higher levels
of government will send you lists of targets to attack.
You don't have to destroy everything that is sanctioned,
just what you feel is necessary to complete the mission,
which in this case is the chemical plant.
So clear a path to it by taking out the air defences of
Tripoli and Bani, and suppress enemy air power by taking
out the airport. Once you have control of the eastern
coastal area you can begin the onslaught on the chemical
plant. Deal with the SAMS and AAA, and then send in the
heavy mob to flatten the place. Ensure there are a few
F-22 fighters to protect the bombers from enemy fighters,
which may take off from airports further to the south.
If you're fast enough, that will be it, but for most of
us it won't. The Libyans make one final attempt to save
some of their chemical warheads, but you will have to
deal with that as it comes.
Mission Three - The Gulf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is it. You arrive in the Gulf and are told to
hold off an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait until reinforcements
get there. This will be a much more intense mission as
the Iraqis know you're on your own and they have three
days to take Kuwait and dig in before Western coalition
land forces arrive.
If you remember Desert Storm, you'll know that Saddam
Hussein is a master at manipulating politics and
military manoeuvres to get his objective. He also likes
to use civilian areas for his military activities, so
bombing has to be perfect or you'll be on the next world
news broadcast. The other problem with this mission is
that your fleet is 250 miles away from the area you're
supposed to be protecting, so you have to use long-
range aircraft and lay off the afterburners. Chase away
any aircraft that approach your fleet and keep an eye
on them, as they often skirt around then come at you
again, fooling your combat air patrols.
Set up a forward observation patrol with an eye in the
sky far enough north to let you see deep into Iraq, so
you are alerted to the land forces as soon as they come
pouring down to position themselves in the trenches along
the border. Once the forces are in position you'll be
hard-pressed to deliver enough bombs to the trenches
in time to stop the invasion, so the secret is to slow
them down and pick them off as soon as possible. Find
the bridges and take them out, knock out the Early Warning
Radar, and ensure that there is no invasion force left,
as the Iraqis will throw everything at you before the
reinforcements arrive (too late as usual).
Top Tips for Commanders
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) When there are lots of simultaneous engagements, stay
in the command position. If you're out gallivanting with
your pilots, you may return to some nasty bleeps on the
radar screen or, even worse, a message telling you why
you have been fired.
2) Don't send missions over well-protected enemy positions.
Instead, set the mission waypoints to skirt around them.
l Ground vehicles can be used as mission waypoints so
your planes can home straight in on them as they attempt
to scurry away.
3) Keep your planes at as high an altitude as possible to
avoid anti-aircraft fire.
4) If you want to bomb a ground target yourself, send a
reconnaissance aircraft to film it first and then view
the target using the camera icon on the command screen.
You don't want to accidentally blow up innocent civilian
buildings, do you?
5) Even though your task force can defend itself against
air attack, your job is to keep the enemy away at all
times. If you can't, you won't last long as a commander.
6) Prepare your mission flight paths and gather all your
information and reconnaissance as soon as possible,
because when things get going you'll need your attention
on the enemies' units and not on your own.
7) Keep one eye on your combat air patrol planes, because
if they're chasing enemy aircraft, they can fly off over
enemy territory and be shot down by SAMs.
Top Ten Flight Tips
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Follow the rules of engagement. It's very easy to blow
away an aircraft with long-range missiles before you can
even see it, and it could well be a civilian airliner.
2) Be aware of your height at all times. The aircraft can
dive and climb between sea level and 40,000 feet in under
a minute, and if you're pre-occupied with blowing away
a MiG, a little thing like the sea can surprise you. If
you're in a steep dive, pull out of it before 6,000 feet
or you'll end up like a wet pizza.
3) Auto-pilot is a life saver. If you're confused and out
of control, use the auto- pilot command to level you out
and then switch back to manual control.
4) Things happen fast! You won't see enemy missiles coming,
so keep an eye on the AA missile/SAM warning lights. If
they light up, then pump chaff and flares (keys 3 and 4)
and pray.
5) Use the long-range missiles to lock on to your target
(but don't fire unless you have to). Combined with the
Padlock View option (the Backspace key) this should
allow you to zero-in on the enemy very quickly. But
remember to switch back to cannons for warning shots.
Careless missiles cost lives, and careers.
6) Turning takes time. As any good driving instructor will
tell you, you should plan your turns - especially if
you're travelling at over twice the speed of sound.
7) F is for flaps (not an alternative means of propulsion).
Engaging these will greatly improve manoeuvring, but
at the cost of stability and speed. Useful for those
sharp turns in dogfights.
8) Remember your brakes. Just because you can fly at over
1,000 mph doesn't mean you have to. Air brakes (key B)
will help slow you down in a hurry, especially when
combined with flaps (key F).
9) When intercepting, position yourself behind and slightly
above your target. That way, when you receive permission
to attack you're ready for the kill. He'll still know
you're there, but it'll be far more difficult for him
to fire back.
10) Go easy on the afterburners - they'll eat your fuel in
a matter of minutes if left on. If you do find yourself
in the embarrassing position of having no fuel, panic
and then press the E key to switch to your spare tank,
that's if you've got one. Oh well, there's always the
ejector seat - ALT Q.
