1998: Looking Ahead (www.combatsim.com)

State of the Art: Part 2

by Leonard Hjalmarson

CPPs to the Rescue!

CPPs are computer controller pilots. Virtual pilot AI has already modelled growth in skill with air time, but we are likely to see this area improved greatly in 1998. F22: Total Air War, for example, will offer at least five levels of CPP skill. Team Apache takes resource management very seriously also, as does Janes Longbow 2. If you fail to give air time to pilots and then lose a few, you suddenly have to deal with very green crews. And keeping those well trained pilots alive suddenly becomes a lot more important!

Speaking of which, a growth area in CPP modelling is panic AI. How many times have you seen a pilot onto whose six you have just arrived panic? If he is green its more likely to occur, and we are likely to this more often in coming sims. And if those skilled pilots are so precious, its appropriate that we should be responsible for our downed team mate. With comms ability increasing greatly in sims like F22: ADF and JSF, why not give us the ability to personally radio in for a chopper recovery? It would add a nice touch of player involvement.

Alter ego modelling has plenty of room for growth. Jet Fighter III offered us a virtual carrier, which was a step in the right direction for building some atmosphere. But why not this, as suggested by Justin and Robert:

A walk onto the apron scene should be included (accurate time of day and conditions eg day/night or raining) where from the pilots eyes the door opens and a ramp awaits where you walk out and mount your aircraft. Look down at cockpit and movie morphs into sim cockpit (which is as accurate as possible). Hatch closes in sim mode to continue the mime. Pilot should be responsible for all functions that a real pilot is responsible for.

If the player ejected and made it to the ground safely, he would once again return to controlling a human figure. At this time, all the nuances of being rescued would be performed by the player in order to make it back to the air base and continue the campaign. If an ejected pilot landed in water, he'd have to cut away his parachute and inflate a raft before calling for help on the radio.

If the player ejected, however, and made it to the ground safely, he would once again return to controlling a human figure. At this time, all the nuances of being rescued would be performed by the player in order to make it back to the air base and continue the campaign. If an ejected pilot landed in water, he'd have to cut away his parachute and inflate a raft before calling for help on the radio.

Steven Reyes took it a step further:

"Player starts in bunk. The claxon sounds of the air raid siren wake you up (screen fades in) and you figure out you're in bunk. You run to locker using your joystick to steer, suit up, and make a mad dash for hardened aircraft shelters! You try to avoid the mass of vehicles and peoples that have sprung to life (it sure would suck to get run over by the refueling truck and not even get the chance to let loose a few sidewinders). You glance sideways and see your multiplayer wingie climbing into his plane (how'd he get there so fast?) You find your plane (maybe using an airbase map to find your plane). The crew chief says you're all set and gives you a quick run down of the plane's quirks (since when do all planes run flawlessly?). You angle your joystick towards the ladder to the cockpit and are buckled in. You start rolling as the canopy closes. You follow the commands of the flight personnel directing your plane as you tune into the ATC frequency....then the game can proceed as most do...beginning in the cockpit."

Comms, ATC and Tactical Control

Its important to make a distinction between tactical control and strategic control. Tactical control is the battlefield seat-of-the-pants reality where individual wingmen respond to the promptings of the LEAD, and in turn provide feedback relating to their own situation and their observations of enemy movements.

Strategic control is the operations level, requiring intelligence information and the ability to assess a fluid and rapidly evolving situation and then plan an appropriate response. The COMMS issue I want to address here relates primarily to tactical control. First, lets look at the cutting edge from the perspective of ATC (Air Traffic Control).

1997 saw some solid advances in this area with iF22 and F22: ADF. Interaction with the Tower increased in importance in both these sims, and in F22: ADF even the landing approach pattern needs to be chosen by the pilot. These are steps in the right direction, so where do we go from here? Here are some good thoughts about ATC and atmosphere from Sean Hardiman:

One of the areas I've always felt is somewhat lacking is the Air Traffic Control element in flight simulations. Too often, the number of aircraft that are around are fairly small, and it makes you feel like there aren't that many other crews around. Why are airbases not staffed with a jammed flightline of aircraft, including freighters, tankers, Airborne troops, etc. As a result, the ATC is limited to asking for clearance and not much else. I want to change frequencies, do a handoff from ground to tower to control. Damage modelling needs to affect ATC also: random failures should sometimes foul the deck in a carrier sim, catapults break down, etc. I guess what I'm looking for is a bit more of what real pilots have to deal with, ie. equipment failures, accidents, etc.
I'd like to see missions over more populated areas, with more visible landmarks from alititude, instead of miles upon miles of sand in the desert. I'd also like to see realistic rain impacting the canopy, hydroplaning on landing if there's too much water, snow ploughs having to clear the runway in inclement weather. Actual ATC holding patterns if there's no room. Proper ATC approach vectors, and approach plates for landing, more realistic landings and takeoffs, with procedures to follow in case of engine failure, etc.
The bottom line is that I'd like to see more realism in terms of the environment, ATC, weather, ground crews, procedures for various problems, rejected takeoff, engine failures on takeoff, catapult failures on carriers. I want to see people doing maintenance on aircraft, when I taxi in...I want to see other planes getting prepped, other planes holding short at taxiways on approach. More cargo aircraft taking off and landing, etc.

Obviously, this kind of modelling in addition to the CPU power needed for a dynamic campaign has been beyond the reach of our hardware until now. But with Voodoo 2 in the offing and 350 MHz processors and 100 MHz bus mainboards hitting the streets in mere months, it can't be far away!

JSF Allies

As for tactical control, the guys at Innerloop/Eidos released a simulation titled Joint Strike Fighter late in 1997 that also pushed the envelope in many areas. The terrain is awesome, and the detail even without hardware 3d acceleration is quite amazing! But the real depth in the simulation has more to do with wingman flexibility and control. Holding down the SHIFT key brings up the COMMS. Your initial choices are these:

All: 1 Key
Two (Wingman 2): 2 Key
Three (Wingman 3): 3 Key
Four (Wingman 4): 4 Key
Tower: 5 Key
AWACS: 6 Key

If you then select "ALL" you will have this menu:

Formation: 1 Key
Engage: 2 Key
Fire: 3 Key
Intercept: 4 Key
Defend: 5 Key
Navigation: 6 Key
Status: 7 Key

Choosing an individual wingman gives you the same menu. Click on defend and you may choose from Radar, Check Six, ECM, Radio, or Lights. Click on Engage and choose from Engage My Threat, Engage at Will, Engage only When Attacked, and Disengage. And not only can you check individual wingman status, you can even select from these status options:

Fuel
Action (as "FORMATION!")
Ammo
Damage
Fuel

This is far and away the most detailed COMMS and control structure yet attempted in a military sim on the PC. While F22: ADF boasts a 10,000 word vocabulary, the actual control given to LEAD remained somewhat limited. But ADF has established a new depth in comms by following the basic Multi Command Manual and using the standard format of Call Sign, Directive, Descriptive.

With the basics in place, TAW could take us a lot further. At the risk of riding a tired hobby horse, since no more than 10% of the sim populous is yet into LAN play, we still need an effective way to interact with wingmen and the rest of the world (Tower, AWACS, JSTARS, FACs) for more than the odd flight command: we need true tactical flexibility, commanding an individual wing or the entire flight and maintaining meaningful contact with other tactical elements. This quote from an Airforce Training Manual sums it up nicely:

"Wingmen have the supporting role in a flight. They help the leader plan and organize the mission. They have visual lookout and radar responsibilities, and perform backup navigation tasks. Wingmen engage as briefed or when directed by the leader and support when the leader engages. It is essential that the wingmen understand their briefed responsibilities and execute their offensive or defensive contract in a disciplined manner."

What will be the cutting edge? Flexibility is the name of the game. Here is a list of the commands we are likely to see in coming sims:

Bracket left/right
Drag left/right
Break high/low, left/right
Offset Intercept
Inside Out
Engage My Target
Engage only if locked
Sort left/right
Engage from Formation
Engage all class
Disengage
Form on my wing
Formation Type
Report stores
Report Status
Perform Scan/direction/alt
Sanitize/direction
Cover me
Help
Return to base/Bug out
Abandon Mission

While such commands are not so critical for network play, for a satisfying single player experience this kind of tactical control is the meat and potatoes of simulated life. Without solid wingman control, many basic strategies become impossible. Head-on merges are not the best way to live through an initial contact! For example, standard two on one or two on two doctrine requires the ability to send your wingmen off to bracket on one side (preferably 2 of them while the third remains with you) while you and your wing bracket the other. This greatly increases the likelihood of a kill.

Finally, real time VOX command is likely to spring into being in a simulation sooner rather than later. With sound boards sporting DSPs and moving from the ISA bus to the PCI bus, the demand on CPU time can finally be relegated to a minor place, even WITH an actual voice interface. But as great as it will be to be freed from the keyboard when ordering ENGAGE or BRACKET RIGHT to your virtual wingman, such software advances will only follow the ability of our hardware.

Go to Part 3

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