Su27 Flanker Unofficial FAQ

v3.64 9 August 1998

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I am not employed by SSI, Mindscape or Eagle Dynamics

Well - OK - so far they have tried to bribe me with a mug, tee-shirt, free CD upgrade, flying jacket, gold enclosure ticket at Airshow etc etc.
Oh, yeah - and I was a beta tester for v1.5. But trust me!

This FAQ is aimed at answering typical questions asked by someone starting out with Su27 Flanker.
For more in-depth analysis, just ask here.

The latest FAQ is at http://www.stncroft.demon.co.uk/su27faq.html

A zip-file of the HTML FAQ is at http://www.stncroft.demon.co.uk/su27faq.zip

What's New

v3.64 9 August 1998

v3.63 21 June 1998

v3.62 2 April 1998

v3.61 31 March 1998

Contents

  1. General
    1. What Flanker accessories do I need?
    2. What are the Su27 sim performance records?
  2. Versions current and future
    1. Which version are we up to?
    2. I want to run both v1.1 and v1.2
    3. What versions are planned for the future?
    4. What is OpenGL?
    5. First glimpse of v2.0
    6. How do I become a beta tester for v2.0?
  3. Bugs and limitations
    1. What are the remaining bugs in v1.5?
    2. It is jerky even on a P133.
    3. Is ECM broken?
    4. There is no six o'clock view.
    5. Missile performance (range) doesn't match the specs in the manual.
    6. The keyboard card is wrong.
    7. I can't find the enemy planes with my radar.
    8. What are all the new views?
    9. What's with the pink camouflage scheme?
  4. How do I ….?
    1. Missiles
      1. I cannot get the lock key (TAB) to work.
      2. Missiles don't fire.
      3. How do I get the HUD to show knots and feet?
      4. I can't get Kh-29 air-to-ground missiles to lock on no matter what I do.
      5. The Kh-31 antiradar missiles don't lock on.
      6. I can't sink the ships with the antiship missiles.
      7. I always miss with the R77.
      8. The R27te only locks on at visual ranges.
      9. Why don't I get a launch cue for my freefall bombs?
    2. Mission editing
      1. I have created my own mission, but I can't start it.
      2. How do I set a different mission start time?
      3. How do I change sides?
      4. Can I fly GAI missions?
      5. How do I get the airshow SU27 into one of my missions?
      6. How do I get AI to drop more than one bomb at a surface target?
      7. How do I declassify missions?
      8. Why can't I edit any missions?
      9. How do I create H2H mission under v1.5?
      10. How do I use the new camouflage schemes?
    3. Setting-up and Running the program
      1. How do I get it to run full screen under Win95?
      2. The smooth shading preference box is always grayed out!
      3. How can I get the game to run without the CD?
      4. How do I set my throttle to idle?
      5. How do I get my Thrustmaster kit to work?
      6. And MS Sidewinder 3D?
      7. How do I get sound under Win NT4?
    4. Miscellaneous
      1. How do I padlock a runway?
      2. How do I dump fuel / refuel?
      3. How do I do the Cobra? The K key doesn't work.
      4. The tilde key doesn't work
      5. My wingman doesn't follow me on take-off.
      6. How should I adjust alt/az of the radar in BVR mode?
      7. The radar works funny.
      8. How do I disable the alpha- and G-limiters in-flight?
  5. Flying skills
    1. I get disorientated in padlock mode.
    2. What exactly do the wingman commands do?
    3. How do I beat the AI? Or anyone else for that matter?
    4. PapaDoc's BVR hints (with help from Wags and Talon)
    5. PapaDoc's Guide to the Merge
    6. Wag's BVR tips - Part I
    7. Wag's BVR tips - Part II
    8. Auger's Su-27 Flanker Online Gunzo Primer
    9. Tony Volk's Guide to killing the AI
    10. How do I avoid the SAMs and other missiles?
    11. How do I find out more about fighter tactics?
  6. Head-to-head (H2H)
    1. How do I go H2H?
      1. Dialup
      2. TCP/IP
      3. Kahn / Kali
    2. How do I find H2H opponents?
    3. How do I set up a LAN for Flanker?
  7. Extra missions, tools, resources.
    1. Flanker mailing-list
    2. Flanker IRC chat
    3. Where can I get more missions to fly?
    4. The TRK files I download don't work!
    5. Are there any tools to help me make new missions?
    6. WarRoom (dynamic campaign) and Xedit
    7. Booklist

What Flanker accessories do I need?

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What are the Su27 sim performance records?

To have any hope of getting near these, for the speed record set both air pressure and temperature to their respective allowed minimums in the Met section. For altitude, set pressure to minimum and temperature to maximum. Empty the cannon's magazine, dump all chaff and flares.

Altitude: Y. Bibikov, 32960m

Speed: Y. Bibikov, John Kawamura and Al Bergen, Mach 2.68

Well … that's not strictly true anymore. There is a rarely encountered bug in the flight model which can put you into a flat gravity defying spin at speeds in excess of Mach 6.5, reaching heights only NASA can dream of.

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Which version are we up to?

The latest version is v1.5 available somewhere near you, either as an add-on CDROM or an all-in-one Commander's Edition.

What is it?

What does it have?

What doesn't it have?

Older versions

Patch file location

A single patch file to bring Win95 v1.0, 1.1 or 1.2 up to 1.2a standard is to be found at ftp://ftp.ssionline.com/pub/updates/su27/su27v12a.exe.

Full list of enhancements from v1.0 to 1.2a:

  1. ECM light bug fixed (it's no longer stuck in the 'On' position)
  2. Improved frame rate for ground attack
  3. New rearview mirrors
  4. New selective friend/enemy views
  5. Instrument glance and ground padlock
  6. Increased rear visibility. The pilot's field of vision has been increased to 240 degrees (4 to 8 o'clock ).
  7. Increased RWR functionality
  8. Mig-31 added with two new missiles: R-33e and R-40TD.
  9. New screen size autoswitch
  10. Mirrors have now been incorporated.
  11. Clouds have now been incorporated.
  12. Head-to-head play has been implemented over IPX (cooperative and non-cooperative); play over a network can also be achieved using TCP/IP for Windows '95.
  13. You cannot be hit by AAMs or SAMs without prior warning of your aircraft being painted in formation.
  14. Neutral trim light fixed
  15. The CCIP pipper no longer jumps when dive bombing.
  16. No more keyboard inactivity after selecting CTRL+Q; "NO" will now allow you to return to the mission screen.
  17. Requester boxes now display in the correct resolution.
  18. Missiles do not pass through certain areas of target models anymore.
  19. Missiles, rockets and shells now explode correctly (nearer target).
  20. The Grisha frigate will now engage targets.
  21. BetAB-500 does not veer off and miss runways anymore on the final leg.
  22. S_LEAD_4 is now classified as Sq. Leader mission rather than Pilot.
  23. The spin ball now functions correctly.
  24. Ctrl F6 'view last launched weapon' has been enabled.
  25. Editor-Color preferences has been implemented. WINDOWS '95 ONLY
  26. Preview of aircraft, ships, SAMs and ground objects has been implemented.
  27. Network play option has now been added to the Flight menu.
  28. Selecting OK will now save changes to all Preference pages. WINDOWS '95 ONLY
  29. F1 key now invokes the on-line manual. WINDOWS '95 ONLY
  30. Detail levels are now in the correct order.
  31. Dialogue boxes will not 'disappear' off screen anymore.
  32. Ground attack and ground attack / CAS payloads are corrected.
  33. Threat areas are now implemented.
  34. The tilde key (~) can cycle through padlock targets in visible range in CAC, Helmet, F10 and LMA modes.
  35. Radar detection ranges now depend on the target's aspect angle.
  36. GAI aircraft can now spot targets within a 10 km range. To let them see beyond 10 km, place an EWR station nearby.
  37. Deployment of unguided rockets in mountainous areas is more effective.
  38. AI aircraft use their guns more effectively.
  39. Drogue chutes are now replaced when refueling.
  40. CTRL+W reloads your weapons when you are on the runway.
  41. The range of the R-77 has been increased slightly.
  42. The recharge rate of the IGLA has been increased to 2 minutes.
  43. Spin and stall modeling has been improved.
  44. Missiles are now visible at 8-10 km, aircraft at 10-14 km, and ships and SAMs are now visible earlier.
  45. External view rotation can be increased by using the CTRL key.
  46. Computer aircraft now deploy guided bombs.
  47. Bombs can now be hit by missiles; IGLAs, for example.
  48. The sun graphic has been improved.
  49. Mission Editor implemented
  50. Fuel consumption estimates have been added to the summary dialogue box.
  51. External views can now be disabled.
  52. The mission editor can now run in a higher resolution than 256 colors. WINDOWS '95 ONLY.
  53. An auto resolution mode switch to 640 x 480 has been incorporated. WINDOWS '95 ONLY. Please note: This only applies when in 256 color mode.
  54. Additional missions have been included.
  55. You can now padlock ground targets in A2G mode.
  56. Dog fight view (F9) has been added.
  57. Right shift with the function keys (F2 to F9) will cycle through friendly objects, and left shift will cycle through enemy objects. CTRL and either shift key will cycle through objects in reverse.
  58. An instant cockpit view (0) has been implemented.
  59. Wingmen messages have now been added.

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I want to run two versions on the same computer

This is not completely crazy. Some people prefer the Kali / Kahn networking of v1.1 to that of v1.2, stutter or no stutter. It is easy to choose to run either v1.1 or v1.2. The two files in question are su27.exe and fsim.lbb.

Make yourself copies of the above files - new and old e.g. su27exe.v11 and su27exe.v12, fsim.v11 and fsim.v12, then you need two .BAT files:

SU27V11.BAT
copy su27exe.v11 su27.exe
copy fsim.v11 fsim.lbb
su27.exe

and

SU27V12.BAT
copy su27exe.v12 su27.exe
copy fsim.v12 fsim.lbb
su27.exe

Now create two Windows shortcuts to the batch files.

Remember you can set the icon using Properties->Program->Change Icon->Browse and find the Su27.exe file. You get a choice. Oh - and tick the "Close on Exit" box as you whiz past the Program page.

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What versions are planned for the future?

Although some members of Eagle/SSI have moved to Microsoft to work on their new combat sim, do not fear for the future of Flanker as the Eagle Dynamics team is now three times its previous size. Developments continue apace.

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What is OpenGL?

OpenGL is a 3D graphics API, an alternative to Microsoft's Direct3D. It is older than Direct3D, apparently easier to program for and may be faster. ID Software chose to use OpenGL rather than Direct3D for Quake because of perceived deficiencies in Direct3D. OpenGL is well supported on high-end professional 3D cards but as yet not so well on cheaper home/games 3D cards.

No matter what 3D accelerator card you have, whether it has OpenGL now or in the future, it isn't going to accelerate the in-cockpit graphics in v1.5. These are always old-style Flanker graphics, whether you select the new smoothed graphics or not. The new smoothed graphics are only for external views. Bummer!

And finally ….

Installing DirectX v5.0 will make absolutely no difference to Flanker, because Flanker doesn't use DirectX.

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First glimpse of v2.0

A further alpha of Flanker v2.0 was shown at E3 in June 98. You can read a little about it at http://www.combatsim.com/e3_98-4.htm

For some screenshots see www.su27-flanker.com. Also hunt out Flanker 2 at www.combatsim.com, www.pcme.com and even the under construction official www.flanker2.com. And you couldn't fail to visit Papa Doc's Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill: http://home.earthlink.net/~plegrand/PINKFLAMINGO.htm.

It has also been confirmed that v2.0 will feature the Kusnetsov and carrier operations.

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How do I become a beta tester for v2.0?

No way. No chance. Too late.

Of course, if you make endless informed and intelligent posts in the mailing list, who knows, you may have a chance for v3.0?

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What are the remaining bugs in v1.5?

Well here are a few - not a comprehensive list.

  1. Your wingmen can catch up to you and pull into formation even with identical loadouts and fuel levels while you're in AB. This shouldn't be possible.
  2. Computer aircraft have advantages in power thus are harder to fight in the vertical.
  3. Computer aircraft apparently burn less fuel than the player's aircraft. If any.
  4. AI pilots never lead turn or try to create lateral separation before the merge, ie they are not aggressive in guns only fights
  5. AI has unlimited ammo
  6. AI planes cannot crash into each other and fly through buildings

New!

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It is jerky even on a P133.

This is now officially called "the stutter". For a long time SSI were unclear what users were complaining about - at first Win95 took the flak and then the myth arose that it was unique to Pentiums. Neither of these is true. It took a visit to my house by Jim Mackonochie and Steve Whittle to realise what was going on - once identified, they realised the problem had been present on their machines all along. The stutter is subtle on 486s, and as the game was developed and optimised for such machines by the Moscow programmers, it was overlooked. It is due to an interaction between the graphics and flight maths routines. It is more noticeable/intrusive the faster the machine, and some players seem psychologically unbothered by it. It was identified too late to be fixed for v1.1 but SSI have fixed it for v1.2.

The "freeze"

The Flanker stutter needs to be clearly distinguished from a Win95 "freeze" that occurs on a far more intermittent basis - a pause lasting 0.25-0.5 seconds but occurring just once in a while. This freeze is also seen in other Win95 games such as Warbirds, Indycar 2 etc. The problem seems to stem from the Transport Handlers built into the W95 networking API.

The freeze only affects the Win95 version and only if:

In this situation Win95 periodically tries to find a valid DHCP server, freezing all other activity as it does so.

If you understand Win95 networking then I should have told you enough to allow you to get rid of the problem. Note that the IP number for the card is quite different from any static or dynamic IP number attached to Dial-Up Networking.

If you don't understand Win95 networking and want to try to get rid of this AT YOUR OWN RISK, and if you have no more than a stand-alone PC with a modem, or a PC+modem on a Windows Network, do the following:

Go Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network
Delete the protocol TCP/IP -> [your network card].

You probable didn't need TCP/IP over your Network card. If you did, you are going to have to reinstall it. I warned you!

Don't do this on your work PC or you may end yourself up in a whole load of trouble. If you're not sure you know what you are doing, ask a guru to help.

A different solution is to set up alternative Win95 boot-up configurations, one with a Network card and one without.

Does v1.5 stutter?

No.

Well, yes.

I mean, no, not really.

Let me explain….

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Is ECM broken?

No. The ECM light was broken in v1.0, now fixed.

Sorbitsya ECM pods are automatic and switch themselves on and off. This means you have 4 levels of ECM:

Not even the last combination is going to save you 15km away from an S300 site. The above was determined by careful testing in controlled conditions against 3 SAM types.

Some example ranges of engagement:

TARGET: inbound Su-27 at 2000m altitude, 1120km/h.

S-300PMU SAM system
Range of engagement
(SAM launch)
No ECM / No Sorbtsiya69.0km
Sorbtsiya but no ECM54.1km
ECM / No Sorbtsiya62.1km
ECM and Sorbtsiya45.5km

KUB SAM system
Range of engagement
(SAM launch)
No ECM / No Sorbtsiya24.4km
Sorbtsiya but no ECM17.9km
ECM / No Sorbtsiya20.0km
ECM and Sorbtsiya14.7km

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There is no six o'clock view.

We are told that this is because the real Su27 has no 6 o'clock view - it is possible to see out of the back of the canopy, but in flight the pilot is strapped in too tightly to allow the necessary movement. Fair enough, although this is disputed! v1.04 onwards extended the view angles 30 degrees further aft, but only if you are pulling less than 6g.

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Missile performance (range) doesn't match the specs in the manual.

The specs in the manual are the manufacturers' maximum performance figures. A sales pitch. No missile ever performs up to these levels in actual combat. The maximum ranges in the sim are probably reasonably realistic, perhaps a bit pessimistic. The ranges were upped slightly in the v1.1 patch.

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The v1.0 keyboard card is wrong.

Yup - fixed in v1.1. E is active jamming. A is autopilot. Ctrl-E is eject. S cancels accelerated time. And Ctrl-H does something weird to the palette.

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I can't find the enemy planes with my radar.

Radar is modeled moderately well in this sim. Low flying incoming small bogies are especially hard to lock up. But up to v1.2 there was a bug concerning scan zone movement. This bug was fixed in v1.5. Friendly AWACS and EWR obviously help as their information is uploaded to your Su27 by datalink.

Bogies suffer an unfair advantage over you. They detect you by extra-sensory perception, not by using their radars or EOS. They also have an unfair advantage in that they can "beam" your radar but you cannot beam theirs.

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What are all the new views?

Left shift plus a view key will cycle only through enemy aircraft / objects. Right shift plus a view key cycles only through friendlies. Ctrl-shift-Fkey is an allowed combination, to cycle backwards.

Right Ctrl key accelerates object panning / rotating with keyboard arrow keys twofold.

Select a plane with F2 or F5, then the F9 key will switch to dogfighting view - cycles through a view from the original plane towards other planes within visual range (6km?). You can use Rshift and Lshift F9 as described above to choose friends and foes.

Tilde ~ key now allows you to switch visual padlock between multiple planes in your current field of view, so long as you have not locked them up and you are in a close air combat mode.

* key allows you to visually padlock ground target. Whilst in ground attack mode, put the circular target designator in the HUD onto the target and lock using *. This is the CCIP marker with appropriate munitions, otherwise it is the centre circle. The effect lasts about 2 minutes.

Keypad 0 allows you to quickly glance at instruments no matter where you are looking. Works only as long as key depressed. Absolutely invaluable for dogfighting.

The backspace key now duplicates the Caps Lock key - weapon selection.

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What's with the pink camouflage scheme?

Papa Doc became father to a baby girl late in the beta-testing phase of v1.5. The pink plane is for her and her only, but sometimes she lets her daddy fly it for her. He is not allowed to dent it, though.

Visit http://home.earthlink.net/~plegrand/PINKFLAMINGO.htm

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I cannot get the lock key (TAB) to work.

You have to hold it down, sometimes for up to a second. This is deliberate, realistic modeling of the performance of the WCS, not a bug.

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Missiles don't fire.

They seem to "stick to the rails" sometimes, don't they? This is because they take a couple of seconds to arm when selected - that realism thing again. Wait, or hold down the fire button a bit longer.

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How do I get the HUD to show knots and feet?

You can't. That realism thing again. The preferences option only affects measurements in map mode. The HUD and instruments always show meters and km/h. Note that the HUD shows true airspeed (TAS), the dial shows indicated airspeed (IAS).

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I can't get Kh-29 air-to-ground missiles to lock on no matter what I do.

Kh29s do NOT lock onto a radar image. They are optical. Use the radar mode 4 (zemlya) to find the target, then turn the radar OFF and move the round circle with the dot on it, which represents your missile seeker's line- of-sight, to the target either by maneuvering the aircraft or with the direction keys. The MFD shows you what the missile is looking at. When you see the target in the centre of the MFD, lock on with Tab, and away you go.

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The Kh-31 antiradar missiles don't lock on.

We are told that contrary to what is says on the manual, the Kh31 can only lock onto a fire-control radar, i.e. they DO lock on but only to a radar that has already locked you up (and therefore expect a SAM already on the way). From a sufficient distance they are therefore useful. Close to, you will probably die. Suitable strategy is to fly into range of SAM. Have your radar off. As soon as you are locked up, lock onto the SAM and fire. Then immediately go fully defensive - chuck chaff / flares, break turn, get low, split-S, get lower still, and repeat as necessary (actually the real trick is to get the SAM behind your 3-9 line and throw countermeasures)

You cannot lock onto EWR or search radars. This is said to be realistic, but has been disputed.

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I can't sink the ships with the antiship missiles.

Have you watched the ships in action as your missiles approach? They undertake active defence with SAM and AAA. You have to swamp or surprise the defences.

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I always miss with the R77.

This missile's own radar only goes active 15km from the target. Until it is that close (you have to guesstimate this yourself) it requires guidance from your radar i.e. you have to keep the target locked up until then.

Assuming the target doesn't maneuver, you can guesstimate using the following formula:

TTL = Time to missile lock-on (count seconds until this period has expired before switching to a second target)

TOF = Total missile time of flight (you must memorize the time of flight number shown at launch time on the HUD)

DT = Total distance the missile will travel. This is tricky to estimate since the target is moving. If it's coming toward you, a very conservative estimate is the range to target at launch time.

TTL = TOF * (DT - 15)/DT

Pretty tough to calculate on the fly, eh? :^) When launching at maximum range at a target that is not running from you (if it was, you probably wouldn't be in a hurry to get two missiles in the air anyway), the rule of thumb I use is to count down half the time of flight I see when I launch (remember this number is no longer valid after you launch). It works for me.

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The R27te only locks on at visual ranges.

The infra-red guided R27te is supposed to be a medium-to-long range fire and forget missile (and thus extremely useful). However you may have noticed the following: you lock up an inbound bogie with a R27te, you keep him locked up as he flies within the max range marker (at around 40km) on the HUD, and yet you get no NP shoot cue. Only when he flies to within 10km does NP appear. The R27te thus seems no better than the R73. But wait! If instead once the bogie is within range you break the lock and reacquire - now the NP cue appears, you can launch and then bug out. Curiously, the shorter-legged R27t behaves itself properly and does not need this kludge. This must be a program bug and not a "feature" of the real Flanker.

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Why don't I get a launch cue for my freefall bombs?

The launch cue will only appear if you are within weapons parameters. If you look in the manual you will see that there are both altitude and velocity limits for each bomb. Particularly if you are too fast you will not get a launch cue.

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I have created my own mission, but I can't start it.

(i) You have to save it first before you can start it.

(ii) To fly yourself in the mission make sure that you have one Flanker designated as "Me". You can only do this on a flight leader of "your" side.

(iii) If you have assigned a start time after the default to "Me" you will have to watch the "prequel" unfold before you automatically jump into your plane at the designated time. See also below.

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How do I set a different mission start time?

You will have noticed that just changing your flight's take off time to e.g. 1800 doesn't quite work. The sim starts at 1200 and you have to wait 6 hours before your flight is ready to go. The correct solution is to go through the menus Flight -> Briefing -> Start Time.

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How do I change sides?

You need to go through the menus Flight -> Briefing- > Change Sides

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Can I fly GAI missions?

Yes. Put yourself on a runway, first waypoint as take-off, mission type GAI. The mission will start without you. As soon as EWR picks up bogies or they approach within 10km of your airfield (visual pick-up) you leap into your plane on the runway.

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How do I get the airshow SU27 into one of my missions?

Classify the mission as type "Training" using Flankers with Sortie type "Nothing".

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How do I get AI to drop more than one bomb at a surface target?

Put more than one target waypoint onto the target in the flight plan. This still is insufficient to get a simultaneous multiple launch e.g. at a ship, where it is most needed to break through anti-air defences. The plane will fire, pause, reorientate, fire again etc.

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How do I declassify missions?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

However declassified versions of the original missions on the CD are to be found here

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Why can't I edit any missions?

You may well have obtained the OEM Special version of Su27 Flanker.

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How do I create H2H mission under v1.5?

The master gets to create the bulk of the mission - he adds himself, friendly and bogie flights, friendly and enemy SAMs etc. He creates the world but he does not create any human flights other than his own. He can then start without waiting for the slave(s). All the slaves have to do is to place their own flight onto an empty map and then join the master. Any other flights / SAMs etc that the slaves add will not be added to the mission. If flying cooperative missions with formation takeoffs, the master may roll a few feet forward on the runway and then signal the slave to join via mIRC chat or whatever.

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How do I use the new camouflage schemes?

Just scroll down the list of available planes - at the bottom you will start to see Su27 N2, N3 etc.

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How do I get it to run full screen under Win95?

The basic unshaded polygon-only sim only runs at 640x480x256 mode. If you are running at higher resolutions make sure that you have ticked
File -> Program Setup -> Preferences -> Other -> Autoswitch

For some display cards this will only work if you are running in 256 colors, for others it works from any color depths. If it doesn't work for you, you will have to switch resolution yourself before starting Flanker. This can be made pretty painless by downloading the QuickRes add-in, to be found in the Win95 Powertoys on www.microsoft.com

If you have managed to get Su27 running full screen but it doesn't seem centred, you need to adjust the vertical and horizontal controls on your monitor. Your video card may have software that can do this for you.

New!

From v1.5, autoswitch never changes the color depth. The sim does run faster in 256 colors - use Quickres to change to e.g. 800x600x256 before starting Flanker.

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The smooth shading preference box is always grayed out!

This is because the smooth shading option needs a 64k colour screen mode. It is unavailable if you are running in a 256 colour screen mode. Use Quickres, as in the previous question. Expect a slight framerate hit even in the cockpit.

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How can I get the game to run without the CD?

Can't be done. (well ....)

However, when networking using Win95, you don't need a copy of the CD in both computers. Just share the CDROM drive that contains the game across the network, and connect that drive to the other machine on which you wish to run Su27.

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How do I set my throttle to full idle?

Go to the joystick calibration screen in Su27. Close your throttle to minimum. Push it to full maximum. Now notch it forward a bit, so that the blue ribbon is visible below the min RPM line. Now push the min RPM button. Push to a bit short of maximum and push to max RPM button. Repeat as necessary. You should now be able to throttle down to true ground idle. Note that by 'idle' I mean a setting of approximately 64%, not zero! Zero is 'off' not 'idle'.

Those max and min RPM buttons apparently come into their own if you have a Thrustmaster throttle with palpable detents to mark afterburner settings.

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How do I get my Thrustmaster kit to work?

Don't ask me! I use Suncom.

However, try the following. If you know better, tell me.

Thrustmaster FLCS

Thrustmaster FCS, no throttle

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What about MS Sidewinder 3D?

There are two options available.

  1. Set it to emulate CH Pro mode. Calibrate first using Control Panel joystick - choose CH Flightstick Pro, then from Flanker. The buttons won't work this way. If you tick rudders you will be able to use the stick twist for rudder control.
  2. Set it to MS Sidewinder mode. In this case the coolie hat doesn't work unless you first load up the utility POV2K.EXE which can be found via the Unofficial Flanker Site: http://www.su27-flanker.com/Missions/misc/POV2K.ZIP.

MS Game Profiler

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How do I get sound under Win NT4?

Jason Shannon created a little patch that will enable the sound in SU27 Flanker on NT 4. It's available from:

http://www.larch.demon.co.uk/su27nt4sndpatch.htm

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How do I padlock a runway?

You have to be in NAV mode NOC or BO3B. Then look at the runway and push * as usual.

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How do I dump fuel / refuel?

The L key dumps fuel whilst you are in the air, and refuels you whilst you are on the ground. But it is realistic - it does so in real-time, i.e. slowly. It takes about five minutes to refuel to 90% from empty. Ctrl-A will accelerate this process.

If you have made a deadstick landing having run out of fuel, you may have worried that you cannot restart your engines. Do not worry - refill up to 3 to 4 tons and they will restart themselves. Having your throttle at idle at this point will help prevent any nasty surprises.

EXPOSED AS SCUMMY CAPITALIST DISINFORMATION AND LIES: "There is a third way to refuel - fly really close behind one of the heavy iron (AWACS, Tu-95, IL-76) for 40 seconds and your fuel level will jump up again."

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How do I do the Cobra? The K key doesn't work.

You are going too fast. Try flying level at 450km/h, then push K. See? A prize for anyone successfully using this in combat, as in "I'll pop the brakes and he'll fly right by". (Hint: you are in the wrong sim. Probably the wrong universe. Please close the door as you leave.)

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The tilde key doesn't work

International keyboards vary. They key you need is at the top left, next to the 1 key. Or maybe not. Hunt around!

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My wingman doesn't follow me on take-off.

If he sees you making anything less than a picture perfect take-off he aborts. It's too dangerous up there to follow a flight leader who doesn't know his stuff! Also, he doesn't want to slam into your tail. Pull back steadily on the stick, don't hesitate, don't let the nose drop. Don't pull too high an AoA before take-off velocity. Finally, if you are heavy with 100% fuel on board, you will need to light those burners.

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How should I adjust alt/az of the radar in BVR mode?

It was broken. Although the alt and az of the radar can be changed, the radar never detected a target which was more than 6000m vertical separation from your Su27. To find bogies at higher or lower altitudes you had to fly the plane to a new altitude.

Fixed in v1.5

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The radar works funny.

There are a few idiosyncrasies in how the radar works, that I believe to be reasonably realistic.

Firstly, in scan mode or when receiving downlinked data from AWACS or EWR, the position of the bogies is only updated every few seconds. This is surely how the real thing works.

In track mode (locked up target) the position and velocity of the target is continuously updated.

When a target achieves a radar lock on you, the "emitter" symbol on the radar display may not correspond with the position of the bogie. I think this is also realistic, the display is showing but not combining data from two separate pieces of equipment, the radar and the radar warning receiver. The RWR can only determine bearing and strength of signal - the distance is only estimated according to signal strength and so the emitter may be calculated to be somewhere other than the radar return. It would not always be correct to assume that you are being painted by the same bogie that you are painting!

You may sometimes lose lock on bogies, especially after firing a missile. This happens for two reasons - firstly the bogie may maneuver and put himself into your Doppler notch. The Doppler notch is a blind spot that your radar has for targets traveling perpendicular to your direction of flight, plus or minus a few tens of kph. The notch exists because your radar is designed to filter out returns from objects which have zero groundspeed relative to your direction of flight, it is done by looking at the Doppler shift of the returned signal. The purpose of it is to get rid of vast amounts of ground clutter (this is why hills, buildings, vehicles etc do not show up on your A2A radar) but it does give the bogie somewhere to hide. You can use the notch defensively yourself to defeat human opponents in H2H, but sadly the AI seems able to see you even if you are in their notch.

The second reason you may lose lock is when the bogie releases chaff - indeed you may see false returns on your radar and even lock onto the chaff for a few seconds.

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How do I disable the alpha- and G-limiters in-flight?

The EDSU (elektro-distancionnaya sistema upravlenia or electronic remote control system), also referred to as the ACS (automatic control system) or fly-by-wire bit, includes alpha and G-limiters that prevent the average pilot from bending both themselves and the airframe. Now this can be made to fail by choosing Options -> Failures -> ACS in the Mission Planner, but did you know that you can also disable and re-enable it in-flight? Just use the A (autopilot) key in any mode other than NAV. The autopilot light comes on but what actually happens is that the ACS/EDSU is disabled. The Flanker will turn much faster, but also bleed speed accordingly, and is much more challenging to fly.

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I get disorientated in padlock mode.

That little mini-HUD that you see in padlock mode is always orientated so that it is at the side of the screen closest to the nose of your plane. Basically, you need to roll so that it is at the bottom of the screen and then pull up on your joystick.

Many of us think that the padlock implementation is one of Su27's best features - but probably none more strongly than Papa Doc.

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What exactly do the wingman commands do?

Mostly thanks to Al Bergen:

Some more notes:

The position of the wingmen responses on the top of the screen indicate which wingman is responding. if the response is in the left side of the screen it is coming from your #2 man, center from #3 man, left from #4 man (assuming you've got a flight of 4). When they break from formation this still applies.

When you give a command to the wingies it goes first to the farthest wingman (#4, if he has already been given a task or is unable to comply the command is received by the next wingie in line the #3 man, then #2 etc. (The human player is the #1 man or lead)

If your wingman or any aircraft reach their last waypoint and if that waypoint is not a landing waypoint, the aircraft will disappear.

Even more notes, thanks to Mark "Stinger" Shepheard

Here's what I have found in regards to wingman control:

If you are following the waypoints on your Nav display, and say, you are inbound waypoint 3 but find a target on radar, switch to BVR mode, and then go after them. After you kill the bandit, you notice you have passed waypoint three and four, so you just continue on to waypoint 5. Now, If you "dispatch wingman on mission" he will fly BACK to head for waypoint 3 because that was the highlighted waypoint on your Nav. So, what you have to do before you send them, is go back to your Nav display and update your inbound waypoint. What I usually do is highlight the target/intercept waypoint and then dispatch them. This is a must for getting wingmen to hit ground targets. - If you have your wingman sent to attack a ground target, and you get the "missile away" message from him followed by a "rejoining" message, and there are still targets left to destroy. Toggle, "send wingman on mission and rejoin" again, and continue this process untill your wingman has either fired all his air to ground missiles, or all targets are destroyed. Works very well, but you have to KEEP resending him after you get the "rejoining" message, and again, make sure the target waypoint is highlighted. I have had my wingmen kill airborne targets, ground/naval targets, and a number of times get a bandit off my six while I was heading home in a crippled ship. Just be very repetitive with wingman commands. Oh ya, one other note, if you are crippled, say, with only one engine, and a wingman is on your wing, make sure that before you land, send him away. I have had him crash into me on short final cause I was trying to get a wounded bird down in a strong crosswind.

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How do I beat the AI? Or anyone else for that matter?

Guns kill hints, by Sankar.

Okay, here are a few things that might help someone to master the art of guns kill in Flanker: (You may already be aware of a few things listed below, but I'm just gonna state them anyway)

  1. Know thy aircraft.
  2. Know thy enemy.
  3. Padlock view is your saviour
  4. Use EOS to lock the target
  5. BFM comes to the rescue.
  6. .trks help one learn from others
  7. There is more than what is stated in this message

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PapaDoc's ("Aunt Mary's") BVR hints (with help from Wags and Talon)

So you've been flying this high tech fighter all this time H2H without missiles, eh? Wimp! It's time to stop that foolishness, no one in their right mind would take a real Flanker into a war zone without missiles so why in the most realistic flight sim for H2H are you not carrying missiles? Because you're scared, because it's hard, because it's not fun. Get over being scared, you're right it is hard but if we wanted easy we would be flying something else not Flanker, and no it's a lot of fun but you have to know how - or someone like Wags, Talon or myself will come along and ventilate your plane from afar. Repeat after me...BVR is fun BVR is fun....practice practice practice....BVR is fun <VBG>.

What follows are some general guidelines, that will be subject for revision as we get better at flying them. In essence when fighting the same type of aircraft i.e. Su27 vs. Su27 armed with the same loadout--as would be standard in H2H Match play, the person who gets to the launch parameters quickest at the highest speed then stops his ingress into the range of the bandits missile envelope the quickest will win. This article discusses the use of the R-27re, R-27r, R-27t,(R-27te, and) R-73. Keep in mind that you must keep lock on the bandit, you are playing a game of chicken and the first one who blinks is at a distinct disadvantage. In the first launch of SARH missiles the lock must be held through the flight till impact.

The following are the steps involved in a typical BVR fight. The setup is 2000m alt, 55km separation head on aspect.

  1. Upon entering the cockpit full afterburner and a dive to gain speed as quickly as possible. Gaining altitude is not a viable alternative for a couple of reasons.
  2. On your way down go to BVR mode engage IR and Radar and lock up the bandit. This will give you some indication of what's what's going to happen. If the bandit is gaining speed more slowly than you, your missile will be launched first and if you fly correctly arrive first. The missile will be able to travel farther with a higher aircraft launch speed - and to quote a Civil War General to win battles you need to get there "first'st with the mostest" <G>. To gain even a little more speed, remember to unload (zero G) your aircraft as it is descending.
  3. When you get the launch signal NP, launch! A moment wasted here is going to get you killed. I generally launch two missiles here but this may be incorrect because of the next part is so essential.
  4. After launching your missiles YOU MUST HALT your ingress into the range of the bandit's missiles without losing lock. This is imperative. This is usually done by deploying the airbrake, and turning in the horizontal hard, put some G's on the airframe, but don't forget to keep lock as all will be for naught if you lose lock. Deploy flaps and maintain around a 20 degree nose high AoA. This will slow you down even more. I generally won't clean up the aircraft until around 600 kph. You don't want to get too slow or you'll be unable to maneuver quickly enough if you need to crank into the notch.
  5. Now the playing Chicken part comes into play. You were paying attention to your bandit's speeds weren't you? If his speed was significantly lower than yours at your launch time then you may (only may) assume that yours will arrive sooner. Because the next step requires you to either honour the threat of the missile warning and evade the missile or ignore it and keep lock. It helps a great deal to watch the skies as the missiles are visible, at first as smoke from launch then as a black dot, then it will sparkle white- this is when you missile warning will go off. If you evade by turning hard to put the missile on your 3/9 at this point you can usually avoid significant damage, but you will lose lock. I have forced people to lose lock at the last second and the missile R-27re will explode harmlessly and I have waited too long and gotten a R-27 in the face - it carries a significant punch and will kill or disable. Your decision will be based on your observation of the bandit's speeds at launch. You can get a good idea of what the other guy is doing by monitoring his vector on the BVR HUD mode. His flight vector is represented by the arrow connected to the bottom portion of your missile engagement envelope on the HUD. This gives you a constant update of his nose angle on you and is much more accurate/timely than the information given on the MFD. By monitoring the vector on the HUD, you can tell when he has broken defensive and thus that your safe from this incoming AAMs. Watching the MFD is somewhat useful at this point as you can see in a delayed fashion your opponent's reactions and whether is blinking first or not. Keep in mind that it may be possible to force him to lose lock and keep lock yourself by observing his aspect angle and taking advantage of it. For instance if he is moving to his right his radar coverage may be less than what you may be capable of and so he may lose lock and lose the fight. One should be using the MFD for two things at this point.
  6. If the first volley misses the process starts anew.....

Some things to practice.

  1. How far can you turn while keeping lock.
  2. Missile evasion is required - you will have to be able to beam missiles. Turning away completely will allow the bandit to close on you and I guarantee that a human will take advantage of that - you will have a nice spread of missiles coming your way when you decide to bring your nose back into the fight. Keep in mind though that if you have brain overload go completely defensive and release chaff and flare - better to stay alive for five more seconds than to just take a missile in the face. Then vow to practice some more so that next time you make him have brain overload, and stick him with the missile. More fun trust me...<VBG> Once you have a guy on the defensive, it is best to have at least one missile in the air at all times to keep him on the defensive and thus not be able to put his nose on you to take a shot.
  3. Another possible way to fight this fight is stealth, force the bandit to lose lock and to lose you by going low, below 25p, and behind obstructions.
  4. Practice using all the missiles against AI targets, learn how they work. For instance the R-27t must be locked then unlocked and relocked for it to be launched.
  5. Another tactic - you can notch the guys radar until he closes within heater range and thus eliminating a SARH F-pole fight.
  6. It's completely crazy to fly straight into the battle waiting for a shorter range shot - the R-27r will hit the target from maximum range if lock is maintained, and besides you want the other guy worrying about something. If you don't put a missile in the air he will be playing solitaire on his way to killing you.
  7. Practice practice practice. To me BVR fights with a worthy opponent may be more fun and intense than gun fights, and I never would have thought that. Indeed I thought BVR fights would be boring. THEY ARE NOT. What they are is a great test of your ability to keep several balls in the air at once. And its not a bad game of chicken either <VBG>.

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PapaDoc's Guide to the Merge

[words by PAPA, punctuation amended by Redshift - but, hey, look at the raw material I had to work with!]

I will try and be brief. But keep in mind that much of this is gonna be a bunch of bull....WHY..? Well because situations in H2H are fluid....you shouldn't EVER be predictable.....What was brilliant last time may not be so brilliant the next time in seemingly the same circumstances...this is CRUCIAL DO NOT FORGET IT.....I cannot tell you the amount of flights I've won because the other pilot was going the same way each and every time....WHA..????? That's right he died the last time and instead of modifying his tactics....he COMES at me the SAME way....WHA...????

Then also consider that if you won the last match doing a particular maneuver that if you're flying someone competent he may counter that particular move this flight.....DON'T BE PREDICTABLE...which kinda makes advice useless. But hey you need to start somewhere. So here are a couple of examples and my thoughts on why they are useful.

To the more technically inclined I apologize, I don't use the LINGO...because the people who know the lingo don't need to read my advice...the people who are asking don't know the lingo..so I tend to put all my advice in hopefully simple terms.

Coming into a merge (when you pass each other nose to nose) it's wise to know the bad guy's speed - this will tell you a lot of where to go. To those who ask about what to do after the first merge and you are approaching nose to nose the second time...treat it like the first merge except that if the ROE [Rules of Engagement] called for a clean pass first merge you can now shoot, or lead turn (more on that later). Also make sure to be flying with Mirrors.

Two major styles of fighting

Your speed is gonna be dependent on your style of fighting the Flanker...there are two major styles of fighting ...

One is called the energy fighter. He keeps his speed very high, around 1200km/h into the merge and tries to force his opponent to bleed his speed by taking a slow angles fighter vertical. An impatient angles fighter will be continually trying to pull his nose into lead (pointing his nose ahead of the energy fighter's flight path) to get a shot and the energy fighter is always just a nick ahead of the bullets....then all of a sudden the angles fighter will notice that he is no longer flying a sleek killing machine, but instead he is flying a large paperweight and he no longer has control. Then the angles fighter discovers that he has deftly placed the energy fighter into his deep six (behind him).

The other is the angles fighter....this is the predominant type on the net because it's the most natural. Most people want to pull hard on the stick. And this is the main reason that anyone flying Flanker should for the first month or so fly with the ACS off....that will force sane treatment of the Angle of Attack as pulling hard on the stick is an extremely bad habit that causes death and destruction. The angles fighter is trying to use his reduced speed to turn inside of you and get a shot.

The angles fighter comes into the merge anywhere between 750 to 950. If he is at 950 watch his airbrake at the merge and act accordingly, in other words if you are flying a known angles fighter and he comes into the merge hot, WATCH his airbrake to see if he is a cat that has changed his spots or if he is actually trying to sucker you into a bad move.

Things to do at the merge

It helps to develop a knowledge of who fights like what.....because as much as we all try to be unpredictable we all still pretty much stick to a style.....nonetheless avoid being pinned down if possible.

Ok here are some very rough ideas on things to try at the merge.

  1. Coming into the merge his speed is more than 150km/h faster....and he turns into you.....in the horizontal...and you don't see a brake. Then you put the brake out and turn away in the horizontal plane (same plane of motion as him)...when you regain tally you reverse your turn putting you inside of his circle. Imagine him flying a large circle and you flying a S pattern within the circle. Don't let your speed bleed too much in this maneuver cause if you miss....big problems will ensue....stay above 600. This is a wonderful way of messing with a person's head. Cause usually he is thinking everything is peaches and cream as he is at corner speed (around 900km/h) and your not...(your at 750 or so into the merge)...I've had people repeatedly come at me, not believing that I was gonna turn inside them....bang bang your dead each and every time.
    A word about missing with guns...missing is bad. Don't miss. Practice with your guns in both modes until you can hit the knat off of a pin at a thousand yards....why both...??? Because you might accidentally get shot and lose your radar gun sight. So learn the funnel....also shoot from padlock.
    Speaking of padlock....its gonna be really painful to fly H2H if you don't understand padlock inside out. So make sure you do. Outside views are for pussies. Besides most old timers will disable them if they master and then where are you if you depend on them.
  2. Coming into the merge he is at 1200 and your at 850....its gonna be a long day. So settle down and be patient. Rushing a shot will bleed way too much speed and you will die. Now he goes past and probably goes up....now all that practice you have had against the AI is gonna come in handy.
    side note...its a very good idea to practice against the AI by going 1vs many...but its even a better idea to load yourself up with fuel. NOW you're gonna learn something. Pulling hard is a very bad thing....hehehe. My observations about the AI is that while they have a slight advantage (I mean very slight) in the vertical, its easily taken away. I continually and with reckless abandon kill AI in the vertical.
    Anyway back to the merge....as he zooms past (give him the finger) dip your nose slightly to gain a bit of energy...no need to immediately pull into a turn...at the speed of heat he is going his radius is gonna be REAL big...and you need energy like a man in the desert needs water. Ok now one of the ideas I have for this situation is to pull up gently so that you match his radius while keeping your speed somewhere in the rational zone. If you waited a bit before going up...he will have almost started to pull over the top on his immelman....and you will be about half way up. What you're gonna do is LEAD turn his ass...what's a lead turn? It's when you are coming into a nose to nose merge and you start your turn into him before reaching him....(you probably see that much of this is speculative) since relative to him your speed is low you can turn with a much tighter radius, but to not lose too much in the turn make sure to not go up when turning anymore than is required to bring your nose around....a bit of lateral separation here is not a bad thing... to help picture this put your hands up in the air (hehe and sing after me) the left at 11:00 heading down to your 4:00 and the right heading up from your 4:00...as you bring them together the right hand will begin turning before you reach your left....as you can see if you move your right a bit off the flight path towards your chest and then turn away from your chest your turn will have more room to come around his six....(all assuming much predictability on his part). A little guns in the face while passing him is a great wake up call for the overconfident energy pilot. Even if it's just tracers passing his general vicinity...but your practice should have made you able to at least connect with a few.
    When lead turning in these situations to make things simple always pull towards the bad guy...when your first starting out its easy to get too cute with lag and lead pursuits and usually just getting your nose on the person is the biggest challenge.
    Ok so now you have lead turned the bad guy and you find yourself behind him...and y'all are going around a big loop. BUT he is pulling away from you. NOW comes the patient part....BE PATIENT....what your gonna do now is what I do against the AI....DON'T try and pull into lead immediately for a shot...your probably too far away and will burn too much energy. What your gonna do is keep him somewhere in the top of your HUD or out the top of your canopy and gather him up slowly. This takes lots and lots of gentle practice...when you start getting close you will every now and again take a long distance shot to keep him honest and try and disrupt him. (The truth of the matter is that if he is good and doesn't get flustered he has an advantage) this is where all that gun practice will come in handy. Remember to pull in the flaps when going up.....and to push out the flaps when going down and pulling for a shot...then pull them back in.
    Now sometimes its also possible in this situation to not go up with the energy fighter and to instead just Slice (nose low 10degrees turn, put your nose 10 degree's below the horizon and pull) and meet him on the other side of his loop....this has worked well for me with some and not so well with other and because GOOD energy fighters are so rare I haven't been able to do it enough to find out why it works sometimes and not others.

The Basics

Ok this is enough of this speculative stuff. The basics are...........

  1. When your first starting out try and not be CUTE....(I've seen a lot of cute) PULL TOWARDS THE ENEMY....put your nose on him and shoot.
  2. Corollary of the above DON'T PULL TOO HARD...hehe..confused..? What I mean is be aggressive always be going after the bandit. I see some doing aerobatics to get a shot somewhere in the future...NOT GOOD.
  3. Be very very very good at shooting your guns. All the most wonderful flying in the world means diddle squat if you can't hit the bad guy with guns. What's the secret? PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE....and then more PRACTICE.
  4. Padlock is my friend...outside views are for pussies.
  5. I Promise PAPA that I will fly with ctrl j selected all the time so that I can see me screwing up...when I'm pulling too hard.
  6. I will continue to check my instruments to be sure that I'm not flying around with my brakes out...(I lost a match doing that, stupid shit that I am).
  7. I promise PAPA that I will try and not be predictable.
  8. Use the radar gun sight...but know how to use the funnel.
  9. Be wonderful at recovering from spins...actually be miraculous...(yea I know I need a spell checker) [you think that will fix it?]
  10. In tight turning fights FLAPS are REQUIRED....you will die without them.
  11. When out of guns range don't be so anxious to pull into lead for a guns shot....DUH..!
  12. Pulling too hard is for when I'm alone in the bathroom...not for when I'm flying my JET. [??]
  13. Reversing turns is for the brave, the skilled and the dullards...try not to be in the last category. hint: There aren't too many legitimate opportunities to reverse your turns against a good opponent.
  14. When all else fails, keep trying....stay alive for a second more...you never know when the other guy will have a brain fart....be ready to punish him.
  15. AS ALWAYS A BANDIT ON YOUR SIX IS BETTER THAN NO BANDIT AT ALL. [But not as good as a Papa in your gun camera]
  16. Aerobatics tend to allow the badguy to slip out of your view...its very difficult to shoot something you can't see. Stay on him.
  17. Match his nose.
  18. Match his wings.
  19. The ground is hard...attempt to avoid the ground unless taxing.
  20. The guy with the least amount of weight has the advantage....unless he is light because he is out of stuff to shoot....then he is a target. Running out of bullets in a H2H match is unforgivable.

Brought to you by the one and only …

PAPA DOC Infamous Flanker Pilot.
The one your mother warned you about.
Flying the Pink Flamingo... Damage, Inc.

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Wag's BVR tips Part I

Still getting smoked in Beyond Visual Range (BVR) combat? Well, sit back and I'll fill you in on some of the BVR knowledge I've acquired through many hours of BVR Flanker play and my professional experiences.

First off, remember that the type of missiles being used will dictate how the battle is fought. To illustrate this, I'll take each category of missile (based on seeker type) and investigate the do's and don'ts. I'll intersperse other tid-bits regarding missile avoidance, baiting, and warning indicators. I don't pretend to be the know-it-all of BVR, and I welcome comments and further discussion. I sincerely hope that the following will be of help and interest to those of you still struggling with intricacies of BVR combat.

SEMI-ACTIVE RADAR HOMING (SARH) MISSILES

The SARH missiles (a missile that requires you to illuminate the target aircraft the entire time of missile flight) for your use in Flanker include the R-27R (AA-10A ALAMO) and R-27RE (AA-10C ALAMO). The only difference between the two is that the RE has a larger motor, thus giving it a longer reach (i.e. provides you with a larger F-pole if used properly, we'll get to this shortly). Except for the R-33 (AA-9 AMOS), the R-27RE and the R-27TE have the longest reach in Flanker. It is this long reach that can be exploiting for deadly affect if used properly.

The primary drawback to the R-27R/RE is that, like all SARH missiles, they require you to keep your target locked the entire time of missile flight. So how do you go about taking advantage of the "long stick" R-27RE? The best way to illustrate this is to diagram a target engagement. During the course of this diagram, I will also be illustrating the use of off-angle targeting and speed differentials to increase your F-pole--the distance between your aircraft and the target aircraft at missile time-out. Contrary to was what written in Aunt Mary's, there is NO advantage to coming into the engagement at a higher speed than your adversary.

Regardless of your air speed versus your opponents, both aircraft will reach RMAX (the maximum distance at which the selected missile can be fired and reach the target given the targets current heading and speed) at the same moment. So what's the advantage into going into the fight faster than your adversary? None. That being said, it's best to go into the fight at a speed with sufficient closure to ensure a large RMAX (the higher the closure rate, the larger your RMAX) yet not significantly faster than your opponent because it will give him an advantage in getting slower faster (I'll elaborate on that in a bit).

As a rule of thumb, I generally come into the fight at approximately 800 KPH. Going slower may not be a wise option if you choose to go into a bait maneuver (to be discussed later).

Upon reaching RMAX with R-27R/RE, it's best to fox (generic term for an AAM shot) twice due to one AAM not necessarily killing the bandit every time. Also, if the bandit defeats the first missile he may assume there is not a second in trail and will attempt to crank (a high G turn) back into you to go sensor nose on (bringing the aircraft sensors - radar, IRST, missile seekers - to an azimuth capable to detecting/tracking target.) Sorry for all the work jargon. After foxing, your primary goal is to maximize your F-pole. We do this by two means: off-angle closure and speed kill. Once done foxing, put the brake out, put the flaps down and cut throttle to idle. At the same time crank hard into a nose-high (20 degree works well) bank. During the course of the crank it is imperative to retain lock of the target.

Remember, that if you lose lock, any missile you have in the air will go dumb and explode harmlessly. Keep an eye on your MFD and bring the locked bandit to approximately 60 degrees right/left of center and then roll level, yet nose high. Now that we have the bandit still locked up at the gimbal limit of our radar, we are nose high with brake and flaps out, and we will be bleeding speed like a stuck pig. The reason to keep the bandit at your gimbal limit is to increase the distance any AAMs your adversary fired will have to fly. By flying with the bandit locked at gimbal limit, you are forcing the enemy AAM to fly a curved flight path, and as we all know: the shortest path from A to B is a straight line, not a curved line. By concurrently cutting our speed, we are decreasing the closure rate between our aircraft and the incoming missile. What this all amounts to is that assuming the bandit continues to fly a pursuit/high speed intercept, our missiles will arrive on him before his can reach us. (Note: There are two ways to tell if you killed the bandit, 1-fast decrease in alt, 2-sometimes you will be given an audio impact sound.) What this forces the bandit to do is either take the hits, and likely die, or go defensive to avoid your missiles and thus lose lock and have his missiles "go dumb". Again, we are assuming the bandit fired the same missile as us - either an R-27R or R-27RE.

MISSILE AVOIDANCE

So lets say you enter a BVR fight in which both you and your adversary are equipped with R-27R/RE, and despite your best attempts to win the F-pole fight you hear that dreaded missile proximity warning klaxon. How do you avoid that incoming missile? (Note: Just because you hear the proximity warning indicator, does not necessarily mean that the missile coming towards you is in fact guiding on you. There have been many instances where I have destroyed the bandit after he fired an SARH missile, but I still get the warning despite the AAM not guiding on me.)

The first thing to do is put the enemy aircraft that launched the missile on your three or nine o'clock line. This is termed flying the notch. Pulse Doppler (PD) radars rely on a velocity change difference between background and the target in the main-beam lobe to detect the target. By flying perpendicular to the PD emission vector, you provide no discernible velocity change from the background to be locked by a radar in a high PRF mode. Depending upon the sophistication of the PD radar, it will vary in the size of its "gate" (the positive or negative rate-change velocity if not flying truly perpendicular) in regards to background by as much as 200 KPH.

Once you are flying perpendicular to the enemy's radar emissions, you will want dispense chaff/flare at maximum interval-rate and assume a 15 degree nose high aspect. Then, slew your view toward the direction of the incoming missile and attempt to attain a visual tally of the incoming AAM. Initially, the missile will be visible from its motor smoke (if within visual range). The missile itself will start out as a small dot, then grow to a small "plus, + " sign, then turn into a rapidly closing white sparkle. At the moment you see the missile turn from the small plus sign to a white sparkle, initiate nose high 4 G bank into the missile. I have yet to have a missile achieve even a proximity hit on me with this method. I'm sure there are other methods, perhaps better, but this one works well for me. Additionally, as long you continue to fly the notch, or put the bandit at your six o'clock, he will be unable to attain radar lock in H2H. This is a means of achieving closure without fear of an incoming AAM. However, this puts one in a defensive role and this is not advisable against a skilled BVR player.

MISSILE WARNING INDICATORS

There are three primary warning indicators to let the player know of incoming AAMs. As mentioned above, the smoke of motor burn is a sure give-away of an AAM coming your way, if your within visual range. The second warning indicator is your Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) gear. The primary aspect of the RWR gear we're interesting in regarding BVR is the lock on tone. When this tone is active, we must assume an AAM is inbound if we believe the bandit is within its Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ). The third is the Infrared Launch Detector (ILD). How the ILD works in Flanker is more as a missile proximity warning indicator, not realistic. When this indicator sounds, a missile will impact on your aircraft within 1 to 8 seconds--depending on range at which the missile was fired. If you still in a BVR situation, begin evasion maneuvers as stated above.

BAITING

Rather than enter into an F-pole fight, one can attempt to lure one's opponent into wasting his AAMs on low PK shots. In turn, once your adversary has depleted a certain category of AAM, the player can then turn the tables and use such AAMs without worry of the bandit replying with equivalent AAMs. One example of a bait would be as follows:

Upon reaching RMAX in a situation where both players are equipped with R-27RE, R-27T, and R-73, it would be presumable that the opponent will fire off one or two R-27RE. Rather than respond in kind and enter an F-pole fight, you could immediately enter the notch after RMAX. By entering the notch, we will break the adversaries lock and thus his incoming R-27REs will go dumb and detonate. With this accomplished, one can crank back into sensor nose on and fox R-27RE knowing that he will not be able to respond in kind until reaching RMAX for R-27T. Another option would be to put the bandit on your six o'clock. There is a bug in Flanker that prevents AAMs from successfully engaging targets using chaff/flare from their six. Not until one is VERY close is it possible for a six o'clock AAM shot. With this in mind, it is possible to keep the bandit at bay on your six and have them deplete their AAM load on unsuccessful shots. Once the bandit is depleted of AAMs, the player is free to engage the bandit with a distinct advantage.

A final form of baiting is the use of E-pole. E-pole is defined as the distance one can turn away from a bandit while still staying out of its WEZ. Such a scenario would involve flying into the outer WEZ of the bandit, assume he has foxed, and then turn tail 180 degrees and extend. The fired AAM by the bandit will then be unable to cover the "new" distance given to it and detonate harmlessly when it runs out of steam.

ACTIVE-RADAR HOMING MISSILES (ARH)

The one ARH missile (an AAM which carries on board its own radar illuminator) for our use in Flanker is the R-77 (AA-12 ADDER). Like the AIM-120 and active radar MICA, the R-77 gives us the option break radar lock with the target before missile time-out. The key here is to retain radar lock until the missile's seeker has gone active. One may want to maximize the distance between one's aircraft and the target aircraft when R-77 goes active by using an F-pole maneuver as illustrated above. The distance between one's aircraft and the target when the an ARH goes active is termed A-pole. The time this takes to happen will obviously depend upon the distance between our aircraft and the target and time of missile launch, the shorter the distance the shorter the time to go active. If launched at RMAX, we can use as a general rule of thumb that an ARH will go active approximately at one half the time of indicated missile time of flight indicated on the HUD. At fox, divide this number by two, and count to this number. At that point, one can generally assume that the missile has gone active, and it is safe to break lock if need be. The R-77 can be particularly effective in a situation where one needs to fire at long range (the R-77 has the third longest range next to R-27RE and TE), but also may need to go into the notch to defeat an incoming AAM once the R-77 has gone active.

INFRARED HOMING MISSILES (HEATERS)

The BVR heaters we have at our disposal in Flanker include the R-27T (AA-10B ALAMO) and R-27TE (AA-10D ALAMO). Unlike SARH and ARH AAMs, heaters only rely upon the infrared energy dissipated from the target aircraft once the missile has been fired. The great advantage of heaters is that they are truly fire-and-forget weapons. Unlike the R-77 where one must retain radar lock for at least a portion of missile flight - if fired from BVR ranges - the R-27T/TE allow one to cease illuminating the target as soon as the missile leaves the rail. The combination of this fire-and-forget capability and its long range (equal to the R-27RE) makes the R-27TE the most lethal BVR missile available to us. Two advantages the R-27T/TE gives us is the ability to hit the notch without concern of continuing missile guidance and the ability to engage multiple targets at once. By locking, firing, unlocking and then repeating on follow-on targets, the R-27T/TE gives us true multi-target engagement capability.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now that we have an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these various AAMs, it's time to put all the pieces together. Lets say we have a loadout made up of R-27RE, R-77, R-27T, and R-73 and we are facing a equally armed bandit at 60km nose-on-nose. First off, do we decide to fire our big stick (i.e. R-27RE) at RMAX and pull an F-pole maximization maneuver? Or do we assume the other guy will do just that and thus we attempt a bait maneuver? Once we have fired off our R-27Res, be it after an F-pole maneuver or after a bait, we likely would have closed the range and have the option for either R-77 or R-27T shot. Do we choose to use the active radar homing capabilities of the R-77, or if we're in range, do we cook off a couple of R-27Ts? What happens if we're faced with a proximity warning before reaching RMAX for our next biggest "big stick"? Do we take the chance with a proximity hit and continue lock for a shot, or do we hit the notch? What I'm getting at here is that there is no proven successful pattern with any particular weapons loadout. It's a dynamic series of decisions based upon an understanding of weapon capabilities, good situational awareness, sound understand of the "poles", and a little dumb luck.

Wag's BVR tips - Part II

In Part 1 we delved into the strengths and weaknesses of of our BVR missile selection, F-pole tactics when using SARH AAMs, AAM avoidance, and "baiting" tactics. In this part I would like to concentrate on BVR combat in relation to successful head-to-head play in 1.5.

For starters, the R-77 (AA-12 ADDER) is king. This is for several reasons:

R-77 VERSUS R-27RE

My loadout of choice in BVR combat is the 6 R-77 and 4 R-73 option under "CAP". With such a loadout though, one will be at a Rmax1 disadvantage against an opponent with R-27REs under the wings--in other words, he'll have first shot. To nullify this first shot disadvantage one must deny your opponent the shot or defeat his R-27RE shot well before it reaches its end-game. This can be accomplished in two ways:

  1. Place the bandit on your 3 or 9 line. This will prevent him/her from acquiring a good lock and thus will prevent him/her from employing a SARH AAM. Once you judge you are within the WEZ of the R-77 (the range between you and bandit should decrease as he/she flies towards you), crank back into the target for the shot. The bandit will likely get the first shot off once you come off the beam, but considering that we're dealing with the R-77 and not a SARH AAM this shouldn't be of much concern--as long as you don't wait too long to acquire and launch. When coming out of the beam, use your radar warning receiver (RWR) spike to line your radar up on the appropriate azimuth. Once the bandit is locked, fox one or two times.
  2. Rather than keeping the bandit on your beam during the merge until Rmax1 for the R-77 is reached, lock up the bandit and pay close attention to your WEZ range cue for your R-77s. Once your just shy of reaching Rmax1 for the R-77 initiate a hard crank to put the bandit on your beam. Once on the beam dump chaff/flare with altitude changes--this should quickly defeat his lock and thus cause the R-27RE he likely had in the air go dumb. Once you've shaken the spike, crank back into the target for an R-77 shot which should now be within range requirements.
  3. Alternately, you could initiate a 90 degrees straight up or straight down attitude and defeat the missile that way too. Finally, you could put the AAM on your six an expend chaff/flare. This final method is the least desirable because it requires you change course 180 degrees after defeating the shot to require the bandit. In the mean time, the bandit could already have follow-on shots in the air or be doing other nasty, sneaky things (I'll elaborate later).

The above examples should put you on equal footing with an R-27RE armed opponent. Once your within the the WEZ of the R-77 (and you'll have more of them) you should be able to dictate the fight.

DEFEATING THE R-77

If you believe you might have an R-77 inbound, you have a tougher customer to deal with. Bear in mind that in head-to-head play, the R-77 is MUCH more difficult to spoof than against the AI (One can spoof the R-77 as one spoofs a SARH AAM when playing against the AI). Also bear in mind that the R-77 will not fall for the same defensive tactics that work against SARH shots as I described above. Three methods of spoofing the R-77--to varying degrees of effectiveness--are as follows:

  1. Once your MLWS goes off, put the incoming R-77 on your 3/9 line. Next, pan your view over to the side you expect the AAM to be coming from. Once you attain a visual tally of the missile, initiate a 20 degree nose high climb. When you see the missile grow from a gray dot to a white sparkle, begin a hard climb into the direction of the incoming AAM (orthogonal pull). The key here is good timing and getting the tally on the AAM. With practice, this method can be very effective.
  2. Put the bandit exactly in front of you, maintain speed of 700 kph, and roll inverted. Once the MLWS goes off, put the engine setting at idle (don't ask why, but it works), and pull a hard spit-S that will put the incoming AAM exactly on your six. It's a good idea to have the radar in CAC mode once you lose lock on the target. This way, you have more range in the rear hemisphere displayed on your MFD for RWR spikes. Use this to place the bandit exactly dead astern. Rather level out once you've changed course 180 degrees, continuing pulling into a nose high climb, while still in idle throttle (speed should be down to around 400 kph). From the beginning of the split-S, one should also be spitting out expendables as fast as possible. If this is all done correctly, you should see all R-77 shots pass harmlessly overhead.
  3. Keep the bandit locked at your gimbal limit, ~50 degrees and be at 800 kph. Once the MLWS goes off, initiate a nose low (30 degrees), high-G slice in full AB while dumping chaff/flares. Continue this slice until the bandit is at your six--use CAC mode for broader rear hemisphere RWR coverage on MFD. Bring the bandit just past your six line then crank back the other way. If done properly, you should shake the RWR spike, the MLWS should go mute, and any R-77s will go sailing harmlessly by.

OFFENSIVE USE OF THE R-77

As I alluded to earlier, two of the great strengths of the R-77 are its long range and its active seeker. The key to successful use of the R-77 is to pay close attention to the 15 km rule. Once the missile is within 15 km of target the active seeker takes over and there is no need for continued radar illumination of the target by the launch aircraft. Thus, if the target is within 15 km of you, the R-77 is a 100% fire-and-forget missile. If the range to target is over 15 at time of fox, one must estimate the time needed for the missile to reach the point at which its active seeker takes over--termed A-pole. That being said, if one launches when the target is at a range of 17 km at time of fox, one must only wait a few seconds until lock can be broken. However, if the target is at longer ranges, say 23 km, take that distance, divide by two, and count to that number. By the time you reach that count, A-pole should have been achieved.

Once the seeker has gone active, one can initiate defensive maneuvers to defeat incoming AAM shots (see above).

SNEAKY STUFF

One of the bugs fixed in the 1.5 expansion CD was the dreaded 6 k bug. This bug prevented the radar from acquiring targets with more than a 6 k altitude difference. Because this has been fixed we have a new trick we can use.

When in a BVR fight and the bandit is forced to go defensive--and break his radar SA--one has an opening to not be where the enemy expects you to be when he cranks back in after defeating your shot. To achieve this, one must simply initiate a radical altitude change while the enemy has no radar SA. If your at low altitude, grab sky quick and conversely, if your at high altitude hit the deck. If at medium...well you can probably figure that out. Because you are aware of relative altitude positions prior to altitude change, you know where to slew your elevation scan to acquire the bandit. Because he'll be coming back in "blind", he'll be unaware you've changed altitude bands and thus will be searching in vane for you--until he catches on and starts changing his elevation scan patter, which can take awhile. If done correctly, you can have your opponent stumbling around and completely on the defensive.

Also, if in closer ranges (0 to 10 km) one may want to disable the radar and search by EOS. EOS seems to have a much better scan capability in regards to elevation than the radar. There have been countless times when I've been in a fight where I knew the bandit was in my forward quarter, within 15 km, but I couldn't find him on radar. By shutting down the radar and only using EOS, I've frequently found the target. Another advantage to EOS is that it will not trip the other guy's RWR. Considering that the R-77 works quite will in conjunction with EOS, it is a wise choice to shut off the radar when range constraints permit.

On a final note, one must be wise with their use of AAMs and expendables against a skilled opponent capable of consistently defeating your AAM shots. If you double, or even triple fox, you may quickly run out of missiles. Against a good opponent, one may quite realistically expect the fight to move into the within visual range (WVR) arena. Once in WVR, AAMs are much more deadly due the time restrictions placed upon you to set up an appropriate defensive maneuver. Thus, be careful not to expend all your AAMs to early and get stuck short gunned later in the fight. Also, if your trading multiple BVR shots with an opponent, be conscious of your chaff/flare count. Granted it is quite possible to defeat AAM shoots without chaff/flares, but considering the decreased Pk when chaff/flares are present, I would highly recommend to be stingy when playing a capable opponent.

If there are additional areas of BVR combat in relation to the Su-27 Flanker please email me at mwagner@bellatlantic.net, and I'll try to address them in Part III.

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Auger's Su-27 Flanker Online Gunzo Primer

The Merge

The merge can be the most important moment of any dogfight. A well planned and executed merge has a habit of deciding victories - in the two merge examples, as you can see, they decide it rather quickly. At the merge, there are basically 3 ways to break: right, left or vertical. From here on, however, we will not refer to breaking right or left, but will instead refer to break turns in relation to the break direction of your opponent (which is how you should think of them.) These are referred to as one-circle and two-circle merges. The vertical merge will always turn out to be either a one or a two-circle merge, but with a slightly modified (egg shaped) turn caused by the effect of gravity on turn performance.

Do you want to read more? See the ten accompanying TRK files? Discover about one- and two-circle fights, angles fighting, lead and lag pursuit, the corner and the elbow, the high and low yo-yos, reversals, extensions and scissors?

Auger has put this all together into one fantastic package. Just download http://www.stncroft.demon.co.uk/primer.zip (size about 640k) and away you go.

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Tony Volk's guide to killing the AI

OK, time for my two cents here. I'll just list a few things that have helped make me able to take down 5 Su-27 excellent AI (I loove pointless bragging:^)):

  1. Read the manual, read the F.A.Q. and fly often.
  2. Try flying with your ACS disabled. This will teach you to respect your energy and not just turn and turn and turn like in Falcon 3. This setting allows a very good pilot to perform even better, and will teach a new pilot to have a steady hand. It also teaches you to be very smooth when you pull the trigger. Any jerk is magnified into missing the target, you must get used to hosing the enemy cleanly with a quick, accurate burst. I still fly this way occasionally to keep in shape. Another good method of learning efficient flying technique is to start with a greater fuel load. A heavier planes means that you have to be even less wasteful of energy, which means better flying.
  3. Don't bother with low-probability shots. While these scare humans and can damage their planes, neither of those factors work on the AI. Get good and close. I usually get the OTB cue just before or just after I start shooting, and I overshoot the target a couple of seconds after I kill it (unless I am low on energy, but I still am very close). I am certainly within 0.2km of the target.
  4. Learn to use your energy. I haven't gotten into the ladder, but I am told that energy fighters have a distinct advantage there. After I make a kill on one of the AI, I almost always pull 0G's and gain speed to create separation while gaining altitude (at least 3,000M) in order to have lots of energy to fight the AI. Virtually all my kills come from a tight, hard, energy-depleting turn to follow the AI down into the vertical after extending. Thus, I get on his tail quickly, and can recover via my superior altitude (note that this doesn't work unless he goes down - never follow him up with inferior energy, you're dogmeat for the other planes!). The AI also rarely makes medium dives. It's either a quick, shallow dive, or he's going for the deck and is just such easy prey. You may have heard that the AI appears to have a slight advantage in the vertical, but even if this is so, they don't sustain the use of afterburners and so can easily be tracked even if you have double the fuel load!
  5. Resist the temptation to try and hose the AI while he is spiraling on the way down from #3. It's tricky to do so, and much easier to simply pop the brake and flaps, stay behind him, and then go clean and full burner in order to catch up when he pulls up out of the vertical. Again, I get 90%+ of my kills in this situation (excluding the first and last kills).
  6. On the lead merge, break right in the horizontal and go for the first bandit you padlocked (the one closest breaks away while the others stay in formation). If you perform this right, you come out on his tail at around 650kph and he heads hard for the vertical (bleeding speed) giving you lots of time to build up speed in order to overtake him. Piece of cake. If you don't turn hard enough, he may turn back into you. In this case, try and go for any of the other planes which are pulling into the vertical, or chase him down (that's a bad situation). Remember that you can't ease up too much or the first AI Su-27 who broke alone will hose you.
  7. Aim at the cockpit. I don't think that it makes a difference where you hit the plane, but in order to hit it at all you have to lead the plane. sometimes aim in front of the plane entirely, especially during high-g turns (as an aside, it's better in that situation to wait if you are confident that you can get a better shot in the future).
  8. Get creative. Every once in a while try something entirely new, but only on one section of your flying. See if it's an improvement or not. And try fighting the other types of planes every once in a while. The F-15s are great in the vertical, a good energy lesson, while the F-16's are tiny and hard to hit (same with the Mig-23's) and make you work on your accuracy.
  9. Be confident. Maybe I am a natural wonder, but it certainly seems to me that anyone should be able to take the AI with practice. But you need to practice! After not playing for a week (hey, I'm busy at times!- thankfully rarely that busy!) I can't fly nearly as well as I could before the pause. It takes regular, constant practice to be good at this game, and to stay good. 10-Until you can do this instinctively, you must practice like you do in so many other tasks. Keep talking to yourself in your head. Make note of your speed and altitude, his speed and altitude. After each kill, remember to "clean" your aircraft of flaps and brakes (I've come close to and been killed because of forgetting about one of those). When you see another bandit flying when you are on another bandit, try to project his flightpath and where he will be as well as his energy state. When your are closing in for the kill, you should have some mirrors in view-check them for bandits on your tail. All this and more should be second nature, and will be second nature only if you remember to practice it.
  10. When you see tracers flying by you, break immediately unless you can kill the bandit in the next two seconds, or few seconds if you are maneuvering. When you do break, make sure you break in a single direction (and never break up unless you have tons of speed!) since that is the most efficient break. Also make sure that if your energy is low, you don't pull too hard or you will end up a sitting duck (true, this could cause a very close opponent to overshoot into your gunsights, but if not, you will be dead)-and don't forget rudders! After the tracers have stopped, keep pulling for 2-4 seconds, and then unload to 0G's which will allow you maximum acceleration in order to gain separation. Keep evading and unloading until you have gained enough separation to be out of the bandit's gun range. Then climb to 3000M and regain the offensive.
  11. This is the most important. Listen to AC/DC as you kill. They have plenty of great songs to shoot by! Actually, while I do love them, it is rather distracting for me in a serious fight. On a good day, I barely have to look at the screen to kill 4 or 5 AI. On a bad day, I have to concentrate entirely in order to get the buggers. So stay sharp, keep your focus on the task at hand and practice, practice, practice! So there you have a few specific tips that should help you along. If anyone wants to chat about it anymore, I'd be happy to over email or preferably, at the o-club sometime. Just keep practicing, and remember that only sissies fly pink jets (that was so flagrant I couldn't resist!:^)). Also remember that while the specific tips in here are useful for defeating the AI, the general tips are equally applicable to human opponents.

Have a good one

Tony "If you want blood, you got it!" Volk
avolk@chat.carleton.ca

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How do I avoid the SAMs?

Well, if you really want to know, visit the Ironhand WWW site. A superb guide to SAM avoidance.
http://www.turbont.net/richards/ironhand/intro.html

Brief introduction

[Thanks to yoss@aracnet.com for this one]

Okay, here's a crash course on some of the SAM/AAA batteries in the sim, and the effective way to neutralize the threat. Whatever I explain below applies to a 1:1 type engagement (You against one S2A threat.) You figure out the rest :-)

Long-Range:

S-300. Absolutely lethal. Best tactic is to avoid being detected. Requires at least two Kh-31p ARMs fired back-to-back to neutralize the radar site. You should be prepared well in advance for the shot, since you have a very small window to fire and run away. Align yourself for the kill, while being masked from the radar, hold _down_ on both the lock key (TAB) and the trigger, pop up, wait for the radar lock, and watch the ARMs scream towards the site. Most probably, there's already a missile on its way to greet you, so turn around, dive to the deck, and run like hell, while pumping C&F generously.

Medium-Range:

Kub/Buk/Tor. Lethal, if you don't know what you are doing. But, a lot easier to evade, than the S-300. Has no minimum range that I know of. But, has a ceiling limit of 6000m. Fly higher, and you won't be harmed.

Requires one Kh-31p to take the radar. Use the same tactics as in S-300 for the kill. But, the missile can be evaded just by beaming the radar site, and diving to the deck.

Short-Range:

Shilka/Tunguska. Shilka is a deadly AAA battery. If you find yourself being shot at, reach for the ejection handle, 'cuz you can't do much. Best way to avoid is to fly above 2000m.

Cannot be killed using Kh-31p. Best way to achieve a kill is by using the Kh-29 TV-guided missile. You could also use rockets.

NOTES:

  1. Kh-31p requires a radar lock from the SAM site, before it can be fired. So, there's probably a missile headed your way. Act fast, do your job, and get out.
  2. Kh-31p only destroys the track-radar. If there are multiple track-radars at a given site, you will have to kill every one of them.
  3. The max. range of Kh-31p is shorter than the max. range of S-300. Make sure you are within the Kh-31p's effective range before you go challenging the S-300.
  4. Make use of the TWS. Find out what type of radar is painting you, and act accordingly.
  5. There are equivalent Ship-borne SAM batteries, but the tactics described above can be used on them as well, with some tweaks.
  6. This is order in which you will be notified of a SAM presence:

General missile avoidance technique

Put the missile into your rear hemisphere and pump some chaff. This rarely fails. The missile seeker logic locks on the the closest target - so chaff and flares work for missiles coming from behind but not from in front.

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How do I find out more about fighter tactics?

Join the flanker e-mail list.

Get the Bible: Fighter Combat by Robert L. Shaw
Naval Institute Press
ISBN 0-87021-059-9, from http://www.books.com.
A serious book for a serious sim.

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How do I go H2H?

  1. Play on a LAN using the built-in IPX networking.
  2. Over a modem. For this you need the Win95 version and the Win95 Plus Pack's dial-up server. Use this to network together your 2 computers using IPX protocols, and then effectively you have a LAN-over-a-phone-line. This works very well.
  3. Don't bother trying Internet link-ups with TCP/IP - unless you've got v1.5, in which case that might be the preferred option!
  4. If you want to fly over the Internet with v1.1 or v1.2, use IPX and Kahn or Kali.

If you are trying to connect a Win 95 and DOS machine H2H the Win 95 machine must always be master.

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Configuring Dial-up Connections

The following is taken directly from the O-Club page at the Unofficial Flanker WWW Site:

Setting Up as the Host Machine

In order to install the Dial-up Server software, you must have the Plus Pack. If you do not install the Dial-Up Server software, you will still be able to play via dialup IPX but you must be the caller and your oponent must have the dial up server software running.

Dial Up Server from the Plus Pack

  1. Install the Plus Pack
  2. Make sure you checked the dial up adapter option on the plus pack when you installed it

Configuring the Server

  1. After installation, goto My Computer
  2. Click on Dial Up Networking
  3. Click on "Connections" on the menu bar
  4. You should now see the following list of items on the Connections pull down menu
  5. Click Dial up server
  6. Click the "allow caller access" button
  7. You can leave the "server type" to default and leave all buttons as is
  8. You can change password or leave it blank
  9. To add a first time password..just enter the new password and re-confirm it..DONT enter an OLD password..leave that line blank. Seems like most everyone is using "flanker' for a password :-)
  10. If you decide to not use a password...just let everyone know who wants to connect to you that they wont need a password

Setting Up IPX/SPX Compatible Protocol

  1. Now you must bind IPX to your dial up adapter
  2. From control panel click "network"
  3. Click Add
  4. Click Protocol
  5. Click Add
  6. Click Microsoft on the left list
  7. Select IPX/SPX Compatible protocol
  8. Click OK and Reboot
  9. Thats that!
  10. To receive the incoming phone call, leave the Dial Up Server window open. When the phone rings, the "monitoring" field will show the status
  11. After the connection is made, run Flanker. Select a H2H mission and click Network play. One must select Master and the other Slave. Select the agreed upon IPX channel number and then click RUN

Setting Up as the Client Machine

If you do not have the Windows 95 CD Rom of the Plus Pack, you will not be able to install the Dial Up Server software. To play Flanker via direct modem, you must setup a new dial up connection and use it to call someone who is running the Dial Up Server. You must also install the IPX/SPX protocol. The following steps will guide you through the entire process.

Creating a New Dial Up Connection

  1. Click My Computer
  2. Click "Dial Up Networking"
  3. Click "Make New Connection"
  4. Enter a name for the new connection (i.e. Flanker Dial Up)
  5. Click "Next"
  6. Enter the phone number of the pe