SUPPLY MISSIONS:
You all know by now, that when flying the strike role, you can see the rest of your package flight on radar by pressing the TAB key - there's an "E" below your escort, a "W" below your weasel and a "2" below your wingie. But did you know that if you're an escort or weasel yourself, you can see the transport or helo you're supposed to protect, using the same technique? There's an asterix ("*") below it. You can't communicate with it though, and if you're too far away from it, nothing shows. It's following the same waypoints as you, so fly the reverse direction if you don't find it! Briefing/planning states it must pass waypoint X, which I suppose (almost?) always is the same as your own solid triangle. And you can always check by looking at briefing/planning; if there's an "(OK)" instead of an "(X)", mission is completed and you'll get your credit! If you just follow waypoints and land, a slow-moving helo will not have passed it's waypoint and you're left with a mission failure (always happens to AI pilots)!
DIFFICULTY LEVELS:
Affects not only ease of kills and extra HUD features ... on levels 1 and 2 you have 1700 gun rounds, on level 3 only 515!
COUNTERMEASURES:
Be careful when using the PAUSE key in the middle of a tight furball to increase your situational awareness. In my case, the plane continued to deploy chaff and flares freely, leaving me without protection once unpausing the game! Is this a bug, or just punishment for using the PAUSE key?!
WEAPON EFFECTIVENESS:
Here's been much complaint about difficulty/realism, etc., but who said it should be easy? If you've got the right stuff, you can accomplish almost anything in Typhoon ... once you get the hang of it. I once loaded up with dumb bombs only (level 3, of course!), for the 3rd mission (kill the 3 trawlers). And got away with it, taking one out with MK83s, another with MK82s, and the last one with BL-755s! Had to expose myself to AAA though, you've got to dive mercilessly steep to see that pipper bar!
COMPARING TYPHOON:
I'm an experienced simmer, been around looking for that "perfect sim" since the days of the Commodore 64! Some of Microprose's early efforts, and Chris Roberts' Strike Commander were classics in their own time. I bought "Retaliator" because of it's goodlooking graphics, but DID really took simming to the next level with EF2000. And of course, TAW (which had everything ADF was missing) - I completely agree with the TAW fanatics - maybe it's the greatest game so far. I like hardcore sims like F4 and Jane's F18, but always felt they lacked something - immersion, playability, whatever (F4 still buggy after 1000 patches, F18 primitive ground graphics). USAF had great graphics, but the flight model or joystick programmer must have been drunk at the time (just kidding)! I don't mind Typhoon being a little too simplistic, it's got the hallmark of every great sim - immersion, playability, graphics - congrats to the DID team for yet another great game, another classic! And thanks to Steve Hunt, it's a privilege indeed to have you on this forum! -Also feel like thanking Andy Bush for administering this superb forum as well!
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Cheers,
-DataDag
