I have thought about it for a while now, but not being a programmer or modeller myself, I wasn't - and still aren't - in a position to start it by myself.

This morning I thought about it again, so I decided to do something about it! I would be very interested in doing an RAH-66 Comanche sim. I know there is not ever so much technical info on the Comanche but I'm sure we could get a pretty decent model going. Also, it wouldn't have to strictly adhere to what the Comanche was like - we could integrate things that we think the Comanche would have had.

The sim would focus on high-tech warfare, so the Comanche's whole being could be put to the test. Hell, if we wanted, we could even include enemy Mechs! We wouldn't have to worry about necessarily making 'realistic' battles, as we could go with ideas of 'theoretical' conflicts of future warfare that the Comanche was made in mind for.

As you know, everyone nowadays wants to make and play AH-64D Longbow sims. And there is no real entry right now for the RAH-66 Comanche, and I think we could really push the boundaries. The sims in the past that have featured it, have not been very realistic, although I do like NovaLogic's Comanche series the best out of the ones that are/were available.

I think a sim from scratch would be better than, say, doing a mod for EECH. This is because I don't feel that the existing Comanche in EECH is an accurate representation of what the Comanche would have been about. It would probably actually be easier to start from the ground up rather than re-working the whole thing going on in EECH.

I think we could have some real fun putting in the speculated features of the Comanche, and make them usable, even if they wouldn't have been a real asset.

If anyone also shares my vision, and think they could help and want to help, please get in touch. And who knows, if we got enough people together, we may even be able to make a go of it.

I wish you good luck, and would love to see it done!

But maybe shattering your illusions a little, be aware that it's going to take a long time. Don't expect to have anything really playable for the next five years.
That is if you start from scratch and find some dedicated developers who are willing to work on it regularly. If you start with existing code that makes the job much smaller, though it may of course limit you somewhat in what you can do, without doing huge rewrites of central parts of the existing code.

The last time I took computer programming was in high school. Not sure how much help I could be. Those glovepie profiles I wrote just came from lots of reading the glovepie manual to get the syntax and thinking/trial&error. Perhaps these efforts would be of more use in modding EECH? Like better use of flir/EO automatic target categorization, improved flight model (particularly side-slip and yaw performance), etc. Then of course improvements to the AI. While I think the true-3d EE2 has more growth potential in the graphics department, EE1 already has come pretty far though it falls short still in others. Improving the handling, adding turbulence & shaking, AI changes or added complexity, and Comanche sensor system intricacies would go a very long way. Perhaps Arneh and the other modders could begin annotating the EE code so others can understand what some of it does and begin coming up with ideas. I've never even had a change to look at it, myself. Flyboy, did you ever try my glovepie profiles with EECH, Comanche Gold, or Blackshark? It sure changes the experience a lot.

The Comanche Maximum Overkill franchise could do with a re-boot. Although I'm not sure the word "automated" and "target" sit well together these days. That's how lots of things get blown up that shouldn't. Alas if Comanche MO does turn up again I bet it'll be in the form of an iPhone game.

This week a unified Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Most of us remember those times of uncertainty and dreadful Frankie Goes to Hollywood songs. What would have happened if the wall didn't come down, the cold war raged on at the intensity it did? The nightmare of the Fulda Gap scenario, tanks, planes, mass mobilisation of mechanised infantry were among the intended playgrounds for these attack helicopters.

I suspect there's a waning level of interest or even awareness of the Comanche. It's not in the news any more, if you're lucky you'll catch some old doc on Discovery or Wings. The TV news and local book store is full of Apaches in Afghanistan. Suddenly, somehow, the Comanche is something from the past. Like an old episode of Star Trek, it's a guilty pleasure that really isn't "cool" any more.

IMO of course

Just so you know - EECH (v1) feature requests can be added to the issue tracker any time you wish :-) Ideas are always welcome - be as specific as possible (enter as bugs - they'll be changed to feature requests as needed):

EECH Bug Tracker direct address

You don't need a login - everything can be added using the anonymous login top right.

Pertinent information:

EECH Bugs / Issue System

Martin...

Automatic target categorization, not automatic targeting. I think it was for vehicles, not really people, and so you could be masked while analyzing all the sensors. Though I wonder if it could just have "people" tagged as opposed to like goats, or something. Most bad military aviation kills are caused by bad intelligence or faulty weapon guidance. And if the current helos were so suitable to Afghanistan, how come they keep crashing into mountains and fly around like Winnabegos at those altitudes? Extreme pilot workload. Low durability. High maintenance to flight hour ratio. I think most of the public really doesn't care about aviation advances. You just tell them the country doesn't need a new scout helicopter to replace ones that need to be replaced anyway due to age and that's already designed and ready, or a new artillery system that can shoot further and with fewer friendly fire using guided rounds, and they'll eat it up as surely as dog doodoo spoon fed to them. 1950's style trust and complacency. Friendly standard artillery and mortar has killed a great deal of GIs in the last few years. "You don't fight with the army you want, you fight with the army you have." Sure Rummy, I'm sure future warfighters won't care you used the money to buy more unarmored Humvees and machine guns that jam. Anyway, though it's a little late for Afghanistan, the Army will probably eventually get Sikorsky X2s with SAC sticks and digital fly-by-wire. That was kind of the way they should have gone in the first place but just couldn't work out the kinks. It looks like one of Austin's tubby-looking designs for X-Plane, but who gives a rip if it works! That could take 10 years to field it, though. After the cancellation of Raptor, I wonder if the Obama administration has the foresight to go ahead with it rather than just keep regurgitating the same Jetranger with a FLIR off-the-shelf concept they seem to be keep flocking to.