B17 2 Preview - By William "BBall" Ball - Page 1 of 3
Unless
you've been in suspended animation for the last many months, you're aware
that in the next few weeks Hasbro will be releasing Wayward Design's
eagerly anticipated simulation; B-17 Flying Fortress, The Mighty Eighth.
What may very well set this WWII flight sim apart from the myriad of
others, are features that not only include the main player itself…the
Boeing B-17G, but just as importantly, the manner in which the player
lives in this world. This was a world that certainly (almost) none of
us have lived through; this was the hell that was the airwar in the skies
over Europe almost sixty years ago.
"As soon as the men were settled in their chairs, a briefing
officer began pulling back the curtain that covered the map…He pulled
and pulled--Aachen, Bonn, Frankfurt, Bad Kissingen, and finally, the
end of the string, Schweinfurt…An immediate silence fell upon the room
when the target was announced…. Taylor suddenly considered himself dead,
and he found that the men around him felt the same way. After the briefing,
the entire crew went back to their barracks and put on their best Class
A uniforms beneath their flying suits. They decided they did not want
to be captured or killed in the nondescript fatigue clothing they wore
on most missions."
From Decision Over Schweinfurt by Thomas M. Coffey
I'm going way out on a limb here by proclaiming this simulation truly
like no other flight sim you or I have ever seen. In fact, I'm going
to really put my foot in my mouth, and proclaim this not really a "flight
sim", but more a "bomber-crew sim"…let me explain. I've spent many hours
with this version of the beta release, and I can honestly say that VERY
little time has been spent in the cockpit (save the occasional taxi,
take-off and landing). Almost all of my time has been spent at the stations
of the other eight crewmembers (the gun positions, the Bombardier's station,
the Navigator's chair, or in the Radio Operators world).
This "bomber sim" will pull you into its world with features that will
seem familiar, and some that won't. Some are very typical of the hardcore
sims we fly, and some are totally new for the genre. Some of the features
we may be used to include: flying different types of aircraft (the B-17G,
P-47D, P-38J, P-51D, Bf-109G, Fw190A, and the Me262A), flying over the
U.K and northern Europe, "Historical" (single) missions, training missions,
"Quickstart" (instant action) type missions, a campaign environment,
believable flight models, incredible damage modeling, and of course,
WWII aviation in general.
Then there are the features we may not be used to: running the dynamic
campaign from either the Squadron Commander's view (12 different aircraft,
12 different crews, picking targets, routes, ordnance, etc) or from the
world of a single Aircraft Commander. Or how about the ability to fly
and fight from one of eleven different stations (including the cockpit
of an Allied or Axis fighter)? But it's once you find yourself in the
bomber, that probably the biggest paradigm to your "flight sim" world
will jump out at you…the actions (and interactions) of the crewmembers
at their stations. These actions are vitally important to the success
of each mission, and YOU Mr. (or Ms.) are those crewmembers. About the
only way I can describe it (and it really doesn't do it much justice),
is to say something like "Rogue Spear goes to war in a B-17".
"A few miles southwest of Wurzburg, an Me-109 came at his
Fortress from the left rear and Rand began shooting at it. His first
burst hit the engine, which quickly died ….Rand was still firing when
the German pilot flipped open the canopy and jumped out. His parachute
opened prematurely, just as he cleared his disabled fighter, and before
Rand stopped firing. Another burst of his machine gun raked across the
man's torso, cutting him in half… Stricken with horror, Rand watched
the parachute descend, its gruesomely truncated burden dangling beneath
it." From Decision Over Schweinfurt by Thomas M. Coffey
Let's fly a mission to demonstrate the interactions involved. Once past
the GUI whereby we've selected to command a single plane, we find ourselves
at the screen where we decide which Group and Squadron to fly for. On
this page, we can also select what date to start our campaign (essentially
the first of every month starting with 01 Dec '43 running until 10 Feb
'45). Next, we select the name and/or nose art for our machine, and finally,
the crew themselves (they can be renamed…kinda cool, just think of filling
up that bomber with all your buds). After all of this we find ourselves
in what truly looks to be a hall from an old brick building, somewhere
on an American airbase in the forties (one can almost smell the stale
cigarette smoke and feel the dampness)…oh look, the door to your office
seems to be open. Let's go inside.
In that office you're greeted by a REALLY messy desk, complete with the
pack of Lucky Strikes, the essential cup of "joe", and the requisite
files, photos and paperwork scattered willy-nilly. Three files are going
to be important to you. In the Crew Information file you can access all
the information on your ships crewmembers…their DOB, marital status,
skills (every crewmember is rated in Gunnery, Piloting, Bomb Aiming,
Navigation, First Aid and Technical), status, moral, medals, missions
flown, and injuries. The Bomber Info file gives you the scoop on your
ship, including the serial number, missions flown, kills, mechanical
status and a little area called "mission history". The last file is the
Medical File listing who in your crew is wounded, etc. (BTW, by clicking
on the window looking out on a couple of parked B-17s, you'll find yourself
in the front seat of a jeep with a clipboard with your ships name on
it. By clicking on the name, you're deposited next to your aircraft whereby
you can conduct an exterior inspection.)
