·1 This mission set is a replacement for the "empty" Nevada Network theatre intended for those who do not fly Hornet in Network mode. The Nevada theatre is too good to waste especially if you have a 3Dfx card. ·2 You fight the USAF, or Tomcats in these missions, with Hornet Two by your side. The wingman padlock view does not function in this mission set but he will act upon your radio commands. ·3 The Network Weapons Lethality settings are active by default when you fly the missions. These settings are about 1 or 2 on the Difficulty settings for the offline theatres. You do not have the luxury of an "invulnerable" F-18 either... Network settings apply. Be careful if you try to "finish off flamers" ie. shoot at burning enemies until they explode. It is hard to do with the Network Vulcan cannon settings... you may collide with the bogey. Time compression is not available either... yet no mission lasts longer than 30 minutes anyway. ·4 In the missions where the F-16 appears you will sometimes find yourself overwhelmed by the opposition with RWR "spikes" all over the HUD. Don't drift away from your wingman... use mutual support and stick with the Tomcats if you can too. Remember the words of Randy Cunningham: "Take harms way and press on!" ·5 Try to stay above 10,000rALT in these missions. There are a few optically-guided AA defenses and infra-red guided SAMs hanging around. They won't show up on the HUD/RWR so stay high... you don't want to get too close to them. ·6 Stay above 400KIAS in the latter missions. You have to push into the combat zone at a rate of knots. I ingress at 30,000bALT and Zone 1 afterburner (making MACH 1.0) in the DK06 mission. Take along one "bag" of fuel and you'll do fine. Make the Vipers bingo early to catch you up. ·7 The Desert 3Dfx textures are excellent in F/A-18 Hornet Korea. I have set the missions to start just before dawn or just before sunset to take advantage of the lighting effects. You can change those settings of course. ·8 I use the "PLAIN WING Desert Camo Aggressor FA18" scheme by GTT when I fly the missions. I also used it for the above 3Dfx screenshot. Their 3Dfx textures enhance the experience to no end. There is a link to their site at the bottom of the page. I have put up a page of screenshots showing some of their schemes on this site too. The "USN - MiG 29 Sand Tiger Aggressor FA18" is similar to the scheme on the Spanish AF Hornets when they first received them in 1996. It was a sand-brown camouflage (one of the Hornets (BN.162446) was formerly with VFA-127. It was a pleasant surprise to see that GTT have included it in their package. Desert Kings Mission Briefings 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. See our Aggression page for this mission. Some unsual events occur.... Mission DK02 - Into the fur... You protect your wingman as he destroys a single Patriot site. You have 2 Tomcats to provide a fighter-sweep head of you. There are 8 F-16s (Vipers) in the theatre... but they do not all gang up on you at the same time. These computer-controlled Vipers choose their waypoints from a random number. These waypoints are set at just enough distance so that you won't find yourself into a "pile-of head-ons" every time you run this mission. Their aggression level is refined. Sometimes they just "drift" into the fight which can end in a great medium to high-level "furball". Other times the Tomcats will carve them up BVR clearing an open path for you and your wingman. Be careful though... what starts out as a SEAD mission can become a turbulent furball scenario. With 3Dfx graphics it looks spectacular. I start the mission at 0530hrs. By the time you get into the furball the sun has risen and the sky/sun/cloud effects mean that you can really see the bogeys/fighters standing out against the background. The last 4/5 times I have run this scenario it all worked out right. I didn't even mind getting blown away... I was just enjoying the graphics too much! The combination of Viper, Tomcat, and Hornet AI with missiles to break up the "guns head-on" at the merge makes for great furballing at medium level. Mission DK03 - Morning Hog You launch from the CV with Hornet Two. Make 480KIAS and 20,000bALT for a fighter-sweep across the combat zone. There are a number of USAF A-10A "Hogs" in the theatre attacking ground targets in the Target Areas at B-20 and B-17. You are to run intercepts on them with Hornet Two. The theatre is shrouded in fog this morning so fly safe. Use EID to find the targets and splash them from maximum range. The Hogs will be warned of your presence by a USAF Airborne Warning and Control aircraft to the South. Stay away form the AWACS... he is escorted by Vipers. The A-10s do not have radar so you will not see any RWR warnings in the HUD. They will engage you using AWAC-controlled intercept, their own RWR, and visually (if you get too close to them). Some of the Hogs are carrying Sidewinders... You will not be able to spot the Hogs by using the "Enemy Aircraft view" but you will receive a "Mission Successful" message when you have "found" all of them. They are within or around the B-17/B-20 areas. Recover at Fallon AB with Hornet Two. Your S.A. (situational awareness... where you are in relation to the bogeys at any point in time and how far you can predict where they will be in the future (to put it simply)) can take a beating in this mission. I usually stick right behind my Hornet wingman and try never to let him out of sight. Be careful about pursuing a bogey for too long. The AI wingman will (maybe) attack it too... and the first indication which you experience is his tracers flying past your canopy in the direction of the bogey! He tends not to tell you to get out of their way... This mission also takes advantage of the excellent 3Dfx "fog" effect seen in the STRiKECat beta. Mission DK04 - F-14 Flyoff Launch with your wingman and follow him at 420KIAS and 8,000bALT to area B-20. Two F-14s, launching from Austin AB are your targets. Splash them before two more F-14s, launching from the CV, arrive. Mission DK05 - Hawkeye Escort The E2CA will try to make it to Fallon AB. There are a number of Vipers on CAP in the theatre... protect the Hawkeye. Stay away from Gabbs AB. You will receive a "Mission Successful" message when the Hawkeye touches down on the Fallon runway. Mission DK06 - Maverick Surgery There are two enemy vehicles stationed between two friendly vehicles in the B-17 Target Area. You are to "excise" the enemy vehicles (using Mavericks) with your wingman. Use EID to confirm the targets. Your wingman will target the vehicles too if he gets to B-17. Two F-14D "Bombcats" loaded with MK84LDs will join you two minutes after you launch to attack their own targets in B-17. You can rely on them for limited BVR support against a number of patrolling Vipers in the theatre. Recover at Fallon AB. |
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Desert Kings MacOS (157k) For GSC's F/A-18 Korea v1.0 |
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Game Tool Technologies 3Dfx textures for the Hornet (MacOS and PC) |
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GTT 3Dfx textures screenshots Click to see some off our favourite textures. 9 small images, approx. 30 seconds loading time for the page... |
Copyright 2000
STRiKE Software
"Mission DK02 - Into the fur... when testing this mission I find that I either meet two or three Vipers just when I go "feet dry" and the mission becomes BVR from then on or we all end up at medium altitude around Gabbs AB with just me and a Tomcat left. Last time it was just me, one Tomcat and two Vipers left. The Tomcat was knocking on one Viper and I get his number two. I join the Tomcat to B'n'Z the last bogey. We get him after a few passes then I head on down for the SAM site. It locks me up as I pass 7,000feet and fires at me so I start a rolling descent... spot the city blocks and decide to wind my way down across the steets. Just as I reached the built-up area hitting 100AGL the missile crashes into a city-clock and erases it! WHAM! Takes the whole thing out in one go. Sure was a lot of "pee'o'ed" citizens in the city that morning... hah-hah!"