Apache Havok Revisited - By William "BBall" Ball Page 2 of 2
Since we're on the
subject of the not so stellar aspects of Apache-Havoc, let's
bring up the two biggies….wingman AI, and Comms. The wingman
are a collection of everything from Blackhawks (with stub-wing
mounted weapons), Commanches, Hokums, and Hinds, to, of course,
other Apaches and Havocs. Unfortunately, they fly their own
flight plan with little regard to what you are doing, and unless
you use them by accessing the Comms menu, they fly the waypoints,
then (if still alive) head back to base. Once a ground or air
target is found, you can order them to attack……and do they ever!
Like John Wayne on steroids, only this will almost always significantly
shortens their life span.
The Comms menu is accessed by hitting the "Tab" key, which then
shows a numbered group of rather limited calls you can make.
You basically get to send messages to either your Flight Group,
your Wingman, a Local Base, or "Other Players". The meat and
potatoes within the flight are simply orders to "Attack my target",
"Help me", "Weapons hold", "Weapons free", and "Return to base".
Sound pretty sparse? Well it is, but in my opinion would be
enough if you could just get the boobs to stay in some sort
of formation with you. Isn't worth the bother to order them
to "Attack my target", when they're twenty miles away heading
for home. One cool thing to do is to designate a target, send
a message to the "Local base", and ask for an Airstrike. If
the base has the assets, you can sit back and watch a gaggle
of A-10s roll in on those unsuspecting boys, with the usual
results. Again, this and the wingman AI, are the two wink links
in the entire simulation. For some it was too much, but while
annoying, I didn't find it to be a "sim killer".
Speaking of designating a target, what's under the hood in terms
of the reason these things were invented in the first place.
The Havoc has three target acquisition systems:
1). A mast mounted millimetric radar to scan for ground and
airborne victims.
2). An electro-optical system (EOS), with forward-looking infra-red
(FLIR), and a low light level TV (LLLTV). Plus a laser range-finder.
3). An a very intriguing system known as the Helmut-Mounted
Sight (HMS). Effectively enabling the pilot to acquire targets
simply by looking at them (the radar or EOS are slaved to the
HMS). Don't know how accurately it's depicted in the sim, but
it works pretty slick.
The Longbow has the usual cast of characters:
1). A mast-mounted millimeter wave fire control radar (FCR).
Used to acquire ground and airborne targets.
2). A target acquisition and designation sight (TADS) with forward-looking
infra-red (FLIR), daylight television (DTV), direct view optics
(DVO). Plus a laser range finder.
3). The Integrated Helmut and Display Sighting System (IHADSS).
Does one need to be a systems engineer at Raytheon, or spend
six weeks at the Ft. Rucker, Alabama (the Army's aviation training
center of the universe) to operate these systems? No, and that's
where some folks may want to put Apache-Havoc in the "sim light"
category, but I don't agree. You better have some knowledge
of how to use these goodies in combat, or you'll be just another
statistic in the "dead" category. The opticals are limited by
line of sight and any reductions to visibility (rain, smoke,
etc), and the radars display ground clutter (cities, etc), and
have the ability to adjust the scan size and the rate of sweep.
Also remember the title? "Enemy Engaged" …. which means get
caught using the radar at the wrong time, and they will make
you pay for it. It's not the "button-pushing, knob-twisting"
avionics that some of us feel is a must have for a combat helo
sim, but I feel that's it's just complex enough to be a huge
amount of fun to use.
Speaking of fun…..let's talk about the gameplay involved. One
can either fly in a "Free Flight" environment, and it's a "one
ticket buys all" kind of an operation. You can fly around to
any airbase, FARP, re-arm, re-fuel and just generally practice
all your skills without anyone taking a shot at you.
The next option is "Dynamic Missions", which has all the bells
and whistles that the campaign offers. All types of missions
are offered, and it's just like flying in the campaign, only
you can't be promoted in rank.
The bid daddy is of course the "Dynamic Campaign" whereby you
must choose to fly in one of the three A.O.s. This is where
it's gets very interesting, for I feel you have to be both a
good to great combat pilot, and have a bit of the boardgame
general in you at the same time. Sidenote, they offer something
called the "Tour of duty" time option when you first start a
campaign (along with environmental options), and this is just
like it sounds. You start with an allotted amount of time, and
either lose or gain time as you fly your missions….the clock
stays running as you choose missions, loadouts, etc.! When the
clock runs out….you're done. Adds one more level of difficulty…not
something I use a lot.
To win a campaign, you must gain control of a certain amount
of "sectors" (they're shown on the map as either blue or red
squares). Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well to gain control you
have to "clean out" all the enemy that might be in this "sector",
and it may be as innocuous as a warehouse district, or as deadly
as an airbase. Plus you have to keep track of your fuel, weapons,
etc., and that information can be found when you're on the pad
at the airbase or FARP that you're currently assigned to. As
a "nugget" Lt., only certain types of missions are available
for you to fly. The really tough ones (like rescue, etc) aren't
accessible until you've gained some rank.
I've found that I tend to use the map a huge amount, not only
to plan a strategy before flight, but I'm looking at it a lot
after lift-off. You can gain a ton of intelligence about what's
out there (pre take-off intel is just "last known" info…as dynamic
as this thing is, it's always gonna have changed a bit). As
other flights spot and engage the enemy, their positions will
start to show up on your map. I do a lot of "scout" type missions,
where YOU set your waypoints, and after take-off do some good
intel from the map. Then I head toward what might be a good
area to get some scalps and hopefully capture some of those
elusive "sectors". You really do need to come up with a "big
picture" of what and where you want to kick some butt, and develop
a plan to get that accomplished. I tend to make my last waypoint
the FARP closest to the area that I view as most "tactical",
and no matter where I start from, I will now be based at that
FARP or airbase. Boardgame general with a cyclic in his hand,
eh?
As far as documentation that was shipped with the sim, it's
not great, but it's not bad. The 140 odd pages of manual (I
have the first released U.K. version, don't know if the U.S.
version is any different), are good for explaining the campaign
scenarios, the basics of helicopter aviating (complete with
some chapters on tactics), two good sections on the cockpits
and the various weapons systems for the birds, and it finishes
off with apx. 40 something pages of the required (it seems)
"recognition guide". Again, as in every manual ever printed
about anything relating to aviation (including my Boeing manuals),
some parts are very good, and some kinda suck. You find me the
"perfect" manual about aircraft, and I'll eat my hat. This one
gets the job done.
Again, with the sequel to this effort just over the horizon,
I found that flying it after a few months hiatus was engrossing,
challenging, and a huge amount of fun. I think one has to look
pretty hard to find faults with this combat helicopter sim,
probably the useless wingman would be the most glaring. I've
never been a fan of the "me against the world" feeling that
you have sometimes, but the new A.I. promised with Commanche-Hokum
should more than fix those dreadfully "lonely" flights….still
managed to kick some butt though, even if I was alone. And oh,
by the way, I don't know who has the helo sim "holy grail" sitting
around collecting dust on the mantelpiece, but me thinks it's
up for grabs soon….
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