| Mission DK01 - Aggression A "Silent Pass" mission. Launch from Fallon with Hornet Two and proceed to Waypoint Two. This mission is to test your skill against two USAF F-16C "Vipers". Make 420KIAS and 10,000bALT for a fast merge on the Vipers. They will approach you with radars-off. The mission is designed as a "guns-only" mission. The Vipers will recover at Austin AB, you should attempt to recover on the CV at Waypoint Zero. Some notes on what you may see and why in this Desert Kings mission: There is hardly any information available on the artificial intelligence in Hornet (any version). Computer-controlled opponents are always seen as "easy kills" anyway. Usually you can get to "know" a certain simulation or mission and predict the AI moves. When that happens the gameplay halves... I have always been amazed by the people who purchase a console game then play it to finish it in as quick a time as possible. Where is the enjoyment and how big is the challenge in that? All they have left is 15 seconds of fame when they boast about it.... Flight-sims can be different. We try to emulate the real-world aspect of ACM. Does this work? Sometimes... moreover you can limit yourself. Fly some missions "guns-only" for a change... The aggression which the AI shows in F/A-18 Hornet falls into three main areas or facets of computer-controlled behaviour. The following points are base on observation and experimentation. We are not privy to any "secrets". 1. One is the moves it will pull in close-combat though that depends on the plane it is using. Mig-23s may stall-fight you, while Flankers will zoom high and extend a lot. 2. The second facet is the way it avoids your missiles. Highly aggressive AI will pump out a good deal chaff and flares while maneuvering away from you. Low aggression AI will simply maneuver and hardly use chaff or flares at all. 3. The third aspect of aggression is the range at which the AI takes notice of you. High aggression AI will spot you out at over 30nms (you may notice this when you get "spiked" and see a RWR spike in the HUD but nothing is showing on the radar)... while low aggression AI will target you from about 12nms. These facets are further refined by the user-settings which you set in the preferences of the simulation. (Set those settings at Max for this and all STRiKE missions. I refine the AI aggression when I make any mission. You need to ensure that your settings are at maximum to take advantage of it). You often see your wingman pumping missile after missile into a bogey... you check and see that bogey pilot has ejected but "old wingie" keeps attacking it. He continues this even if he is under attack from second (or more) bogeys! This is because the engines on the first bogey are still working. The AI in Hornet will attack as long as your engines are still working. That is the reason why you cannot shut down your engines in flight. The bogey would simply fly away from you as it considers you "dead". When the AI wingmen see a bogey spiralling downwards with engines on they will zoom down after it and lawn-dart (usually).
In Mission DK01 - Aggression I refined the Hornet Two AI down to a point where he ingnores the ROE to the horror of the trailing Viper! He takes the head-on just as he merges yet usually misses. That is not all he does on the merge though... he quickly swings behind the trailing Viper too. Watch his moves on the merge when you fly the mission. Some tips on fighting the Vipers: 1. You may have read that the corner velocity for the F-18 in F/A-18 Hornet Korea is about 300KIAS (or 320KIAS). Corner velocity is 297KIAS... two Aim-9s + Flir. 2. The Vipers prefer to "loop-fight" you. They go around and around. Get to corner velocity and turn with them once to get used to their direction, use afterburner when needed to keep up with them. Stay as near to 300KIAS as possible in the fight. 3. After one full "loop" position your gun-sight just ahead of them and squeeze out a few two second bursts. This is deflection gunnery (to put it simply). Fire just ahead of them so they fly through your tracers. All you need is one "ping" to wreck their ailerons or elevators... fights over. |
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