Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising for PC: Confessions of a Hardcore Tactical Gamer

As predicted, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising (OFPDR) fell like a 125 mm artillery shell on the diverse community of first person shooter fans. The comparisons with ArmA2 are unavoidable. But you will find all type of questions out there: More like Call of Duty? Comparable to the original Operation Flashpoint? It will take some time for the dust to settle down and on the meantime stupidity is at full blossom everywhere with arguments and counter-arguments about realism, mission and campaign structure, graphics and else. Now the console gamers are in the mix (doh!), so grab a chair if you are going to wait for the air to clear. Or grab a copy of the game if you don't feel like waiting, as I did.

My dear readers, the only two skills I can offer you are skepticism and pessimism. I'm a professional at both (sad thing that being a scientist made me like that). So, when I installed OFPDR, all I wanted this game to fail me early on so I could get done with it. I have a pile of other sims and games to deal with (I didn't manage to get ArmA2 to run decently in my computer yet, for example). So, I opened the game's box and found the DVD and a game manual that is 24 pages long (what the hell? my daughter's ponies console game has a bigger manual!) and (oh my!) a code to unlock an exclusive mission. Unlockeable content, what am I, 13?

Installation of the game was like any other. For the DRM-wary: be advised, the game uses Securom. Clicked here and there and while the files were installed in my hard drive, I read the manual. Cover to cover reading thanks to a short manual, a low-end computer and a damn good speedy reader. While reading I looked for those things that tell me right away that the game is not going to be worth, like the writer confusing squads for fire teams. No luck on that, they got it right! They even mention that you will be in command of squads and fireteams ... but anyway, it's a short manual and the chances of effing up are low.

Installation complete.
Crank it up, boy! I still have to re-carpet my house's stairs, so let's make it quick.

Woooosh! That's it? Aren't you gonna take more time to load the interface, old computer? Ey look, my mouse is moving smoothly and without lag in the user interface, what a concept!
I select the first mission and off course is like the only mission I dared to play in ArmA2, a cheesy, unrealistic "4 men against the world" type of thing. OK, get me to play the mission already.

Woooosh! That's it? Aren't you gonna take more time to load the mission, old computer? Ey look, my mouse is moving smoothly and I can aim in a first person shooter game, what a concept! Is that tall grass? Are you kidding me? My computer is smoothly rendering tall grass ... and trees? How could it be? The guys at the forum told me I needed to upgrade my PC to get those things.

Do you guys mind if I stay a bit more here in the grass? Click on the image to expand it.

Everything is so smooth, I'm shooting and hitting targets. I can't see the enemy but I know where they are shooting me from. I'm aware of the battlefield, the terrain and the enemy. Not a "radar" type of awareness but rather of the "immersion" type. I feel a liberation comparable to the one I feel when I take my allergy medication. Intoxicating. The chords of Disturbed's "Indestructible" start to ring in my head. What's going on? I'm sorta disappointed that I'm not already disappointed with OFPDR (I told ya I was a professional pessimist).

Ok, stop the nonsense. I bought this game to rip it appart on its lack of tactical value. Focus.

I'm going uphill and there is an enemy position on the top of the hill. I brought up my light machine gunner and ordered him to lay suppressive fire. All others follow me! A few painless keystrokes and you get your people to do stuff and go places. Very precise and easy to use command system. The machine gunner was firing so good that I felt as safe as if a tank would be covering my back. The enemy ducked for cover and stayed put until we got him from the flank. Whoah! Suppression works like suppression. People doesn't like to get shot at.

ARs supressing an empty treeline, just because I said so. Click the image to expand.

And then the mission continued, showing up ugly stuff like checkpoints and a fire support that is as instantaneous and precise as rays delivered from a powerful god. All right, no surprises here. People always need their Hollywood stunts and that story-telling so germane to the dull real life military operations. Even those who think themselves as "realism policemen" in tactical gaming communities need it. But no way I'm going to play the campaign of this game. Thanks, but no thanks.

I knew the OFPDR 's campaign wouldn't cut it for me. ArmA2's one didn't either. So I launched the mission editor to see what I could put up for testing. OFPDR's mission editor is an independent program that runs as a Windows application. It takes a couple of minutes to get used to it, but in the end is easy to use. It also appears like a powerful and versatile application. A thing I miss from the original Operation Flashpoint's mission editor that apparently is not present in the Dragon Rising one: the placement radius for units and waypoints. It was nice for adding some unpredictability. But maybe some coding in the "lua scripting" tab will do.

OFPDR's mission editor.

A thing that I was trying to blog about is the command of Marine squads. So, I edited an scenario in which I am commanding a Marine Rifle Squad. The command structure is OFPDR is quite detailed and allows some shuffling of units. In the screen below, I modified a squad so I could have more control of my ARs.

A normal Marine squad is shown at the top of the map. A custom-modified one with the ARs in control of the squad leader is shown below. Click the image to expand it.

Clicking a button in the editor will launch the scenario for an immediate test. In the quick scenario I edited, a Marine rifle squad was defending against an attacking Chinese airborne squad. It was a long and satisfying firefight, with the enemy trying to flank us repeatedly and finally giving up and fleeing.

I was killed and could get this perspective of the firefight. Click on the image to enlarge.

So, what's the verdict? I don't know for sure. So far it feels like this "game" has more legs as a "sim" than many out there want to accept. For me, it's a keeper.

Cheers,

Steel Beasts ProPE Resources: Gary Owen's 1st Volunteer US Cavalry

Steel Beasts ProPE (SBProPE) is the home version of an armored warfare simulation used by several armies around the world. Although the civilians like me can jump on a virtual tank and blow stuff up in a jiffy, it is always more enjoyable to play an SBProPE scenario using real life tactics. Real life tactics, as much as you read about them in field manuals available elsewhere, are not easy to put into action. The experience can be overwhelming because, as in any other military-grade simulation, the virtual battlefield in SBProPE is brutal and unforgiving.

Fortunately, the SBProPE fans community includes many soldiers and tankers from around the world who are more than willing to help. These guys take this hobby to the next level. Some of these fine men are just outstanding. One of them is a gentleman that goes by the (nick?)name of Gary Owen, a former US Cavalry Trooper who owns the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry (1stVUSCav) website.

There are many reasons why I keep coming back to Gary Owen's (GO) website. Just to mention a few: the choice of topics, GO's extraordinary ability to point out what's critical in those topics and GO's easy to understand, didactic writing style. The 1stVUSCav website also has a whole section about Soviet/Warsaw Pact forces organization and tactics.

A short time ago, I had the honor of GO commenting on one of this blog's entries. I can only hope that in future he will continue to do so.

Cheers,

(Virtual) Basic Flight School from the Comfort of your Desk

I have been flying in PC flight simulators for around ten years ...

How much I love the line "I have been doing this since ...". It gives you an automatic aura of expertise. I couldn't help but to start with a line like that, my apologies. Let me be completely sincere and correct the opening sentence: I have been using PC flight simulators on and off for around ten years. I got my small share of time with civilian aircraft PC flight simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Fly! and X-Plane, but my flight siming was always heavily oriented towards combat flight simulation. After all these years of talking tall about energy and angle fighters I realized that I didn't even know how to efficiently trim a Cessna 172, or even how to fly it straight and level for that matter.


So, it's back to basics and to catch up with all the missed opportunities that civilian flight simulators offered me in the past.

The web is full of articles and tutorials on virtual flying and I am using those resources extensively. But being a messy guy with a messy way of learning, with very little free time (and brains) to sort out a syllabus by myself, I felt that a more structured approach would help me the most. So I picked up a copy of "Microsoft Flight Simulator X for Pilots: Real World Training" from my local bookstore (see image at the left). This book's premise is that Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a great aid for teaching and learning for a civilian pilot license. The book is written at a level that a newbie virtual pilot like me can understand and learn from. Because it's oriented towards real pilots to be, is serious enough to teach you good piloting practices.

I have been using this book extensively during the last few days and it has been a blast. The book is very detailed and explains why things are done in this or that way. Only counseling I'm not following from the book is that I'm using X-Plane 9 instead of Flight Simulator X (FSX). Eventually I will have to move into FSX, I guess.

Nonetheless, I have learnt how to properly trim an aircraft and to properly fly it straight and level ... After all these years!

Cheers,

So long SAW?

Defense News (www.defensenews.com) is running a series of highlights on the recent Modern Day Marine 2009 expo. There is so much to read about this expo! One thing that caught my attention was the following:

So long SAW?

I was totally unaware of the Marine Corps intention of replacing the SAW by the IAR.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Nap of the Earth (NoE) Flying with the Radar-Altitude-Hold Flight Mode

The best way to deal with enemy radar-guided missiles while piloting the Ka-50 featured in DCS Black Shark is not to get shot at. Nap of the earth (NoE) flying reduces the chances of an enemy radar getting a lock at the Ka-50. NoE flying is very exhilarating, but requires a lot of concentration. This blog entry is about the use of the radar-altitude-hold flight mode to make that NoE flying a bit less stressful.

NoE flying. Click the image to expand it.

As soon as you get the Ka-50 flying straight and level (and low), hit the altitude hold button in the autopilot panel (see image below). Make sure that the mode of holding altitude is based on radar and not on barometric readings.

The altitude hold button on the autopilot control panel and the altitude source switch. Click the image to expand it.

The upper panel lights up with an easy-to-see reminder of what you have switched on. Click on the image to expand it.

Once the altitude hold flight mode has been engaged and you are flying straight, level and low hit the collective brake lever ([F] in the keyboard) to set your current altitude as the desired altitude. Your Ka-50 will now fly at the altitude you just selected. Your airspeed can be adjusted by slightly pushing (increase airspeed) and pulling (decrease airspeed) the cyclic. I repeat "slightly": if you move the nose of the Ka-50 more than 5 degrees up or down from level, your Ka-50 will climb or sink. In this screenshot I'm making 200 km/h at 7 meters of altitude without any effort. Click the image to expand.

The time has come to reduce the airspeed: pull the cyclic, but don't let the nose to go up more than 5 degrees or you will climb. Note the aircraft datum in the HUD display: nose is no more than 5 degrees up. In this example, I reduced the airspeed from 200 to ~120 km/h without changing my altitude too much (just one meter up!). Click the image to expand it.

Nose up to stop the Ka-50. Note the low altitude. Click the image to expand it.

Surprise! The radar-altitude-hold flight mode will automatically fly your Ka-50 over hills of moderate slopes. Click the image to expand it.

Cheers,

"Warrior's Rage: The Great Tank Battle of 73 Easting" Trickling into Bookstores

This book is trickling down to the shelves of the biggest bookstores in the Washington DC area. It was about time (it was available at Amazon since the beginning of September)!

I got my copy this morning and browsed it briefly. From what I could read, it looks like a great tactical analysis of the battle, with frequent references to the operational situation. Right at the introduction the author bashes the US Army top brass quite a lot.

I thought the book was going to be a bit more thick. This is a picture of the book on my desk.

Looks like a great read for fans of Steel Beasts ProPE.

More details later.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark: Where did my target go?

Flying an attack helicopter in combat is a very demanding task. Keeping track on the targets, the threats, communications, weapon systems and flying the damn thing at the same time is the pinnacle of multitasking. Ed Macy put it very eloquently in his book "Apache": "... taking an Apache into battle is like playing an Xbox, a Playstation, and chess grand master simultaneously-while riding Disney World's biggest roller coaster ..." The information overload used to kick me hard when I couldn't find enemy units or landmarks I've seen in the Shkval just before performing hard evasive maneuvers. I reckon that probably the main cause for this is the shock of the near-(virtual) death experience (I tend to kill myself just maneuvering out of a missile's path). But I digress.

The I-251 "Shkval" electro-optical targeting system offers a great way to find back that enemy unit, landmark or general terrain area I have just been watching before maneuvering the Black Shark. The trick is locking the Shkval onto that point of interest before losing sight of it.

Locked into a multistory building. Please note the appearance of the building in front of the one I've locked. Click for an expanded view.

Now performing a 360 degrees turn while descending. I've lost sight of the building and off course the lock on it. Click for an expanded view.


Turn and descent complete. Now looking at the general area again from a lower altitude, the Shkval is in ground stabilized mode pointing just a few dozen meters ahead of the previous lock (do you recognize the building that was in front of my previous lock?). Click for an expanded view.

Everytime you lock onto something, the Shkval stores the target's angular coordinates and range into it's memory. I suppose this allows the targeting system to point itself back into the area you have locked into. I'm sure that there has to be a limit for how long in time or how far spatially you can be from the original lock-on in order to get the targeting system keeping the data in its memory. But as you can see I descended a lot from my original lock-on position, turned 360 degrees and still the targeting system was ground-stabilized fairly close to the original lock-on.

Cheers,

"The Defense of Jisr Al Doreaa", A New Classic in COIN

Have you guys read "The Defense of Duffer's Drift", the classic book on small unit tactics written by the British soldier and military thinker Major General Sir Earnest D. Swinton? "The Defense of Duffer's Drift" is centered on the defense of a river crossing by a young officer in charge of a platoon of British light infantry during the Boer War. This officer has a series of dreams, each one starting at the planning of the defense, going through the unsuccessful attempts to defend the drift and ending in a series of lessons learned that he applies in the next dream. In the final dream, the young officer finally succeeds. There were at least one other book with the same format of "plan-execute-improve" cycle of dreams: "The Defense of Hill 781", by Robert McDonough (if you are playing Steel Beasts, this one is a must).

"The Defense of Jisr Al Doreaa" is written in the same format, but the defense is now of a combat outpost in modern Iraq. The young officer belongs to the US Army and goes through six dreams in which he and his troops fight insurgents in the small town of Jisr Al Doreaa. The officer faces challenges that will push him to polish his knowledge of tactics he learnt for conventional wars (security, sector defense, correct assesment of fields of fire, etc) and learn new the new tactics required for fighting an insurgency (patrols, counter-ambushes, counter-sniper tactics, how to move through the "human terrain", etc).

Learning tactics from after action reports or other type of combat narrative is always easier and more enjoyable when there is an explanation of why and how the tactical decisions were made. That is exactly what makes "The Defense of Jisr Al Doreaa" such a wonderful book.

The book is short enough to be read in one sitting and is formatted in a way that would fit in a slightly oversized pocket. Perfect for reading during that last leg of the airlift and sized to fit into any pocket of the combat fatigues. Don't get fooled by the lenght or size of this book: it packs a lot of knowledge.

As a bonus, a copy of "The Defense of Duffer's Drift" is included at the end.

Cheers,

Beautiful map artwork in ProSim's latest free wargame

As you know, ProSim (partnering with their publisher Shrapnel Games and the Armchair General magazine) has released a free war game with two scenarios based on the battle at the Tallil Airbase during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The maps artwork in ProSim games keeps getting better and better. In the screenshot below you can see An-Nasiriyah (the town north of the Euphrates river). An-Nasiriyah ... any chance we get to play some Marines scenario in the future?

Click the image to expand it.

Cheers,

Strike mission right into a SAM nest

The flight sim: "Wings over Vietnam"
The mission: Strike a North Vietnamese airbase
The machine: F4J Phantom II

I've chosen a low flying approach into the target zone. That little box on the dashboard is a RWR/threat indicator. The North Vietnamese are painting us with all the have. In the background, two SA-2 SAMs have been launched in quick sequence. Click on the image to expand.

After striking the airbase with free-fall bombs, I egress the target zone with a steep climb, jinking and watching for SAMs. Burning fuel tanks can be seen in the airbase. Click the image to expand.

RTB, finally. Fast but with the throttle just short of afterburners. The North Vietnamese will send some interceptors sooner than later. Click on the image to expand.

The angle of attack(AoA, red square) indicator of the "Double Ugly". It really shows that this aircraft was designed for the US Navy (by that time Navy aviators were trained to land at a fixed AoA rather than at a fixed airspeed). Click in the image to expand.

This flight simulator is a strange thing. It seems to capture the feeling of fighting over Vietnam during the 60-70's, but so many simplifications are starting to drain the fun.

Cheers,