Difficulty options... what do you use and why?

[+hgbn 91]

Every thing set on hard except black out and fuel usage which are set to normal.. Only reason why fuel is normal is that air2air refueling are not implemented in the game. On some third party aircrafts the flight model is set on normal.

 

Yes it is hard to get kills but when you do it feels so much better.. But it can be frustrating to fire 4 sparrows in a F-4 over Vietnam with all 4 failing to hit anything.. But thats close to what the real pilots experienced in real combat.

[+malibu43 142]

Every thing set on hard except black out and fuel usage which are set to normal.. Only reason why fuel is normal is that air2air refueling are not implemented in the game. On some third party aircrafts the flight model is set on normal.

 

Yes it is hard to get kills but when you do it feels so much better.. But it can be frustrating to fire 4 sparrows in a F-4 over Vietnam with all 4 failing to hit anything.. But thats close to what the real pilots experienced in real combat.

 

Just curious, for all of you who are using HUD set to Hard, how do you identify your primary target on strike missions? That's probably the main thing that's kept me from switching to Hard HUD. If I get "srike the enemy hangar at the airfield" I can't figure out which one to strike unless I use the red square!

 

Along the same lines, something I did for my install was to go into HUDDATA.ini, and remove the white cone and triangel for waypoints, and remove the red cone for targets. I also changed the red target box into a small red dot. Much harder to see and really doesn't screw with emmersion as much a that giant red box!

[SFP1Ace 33]

Just curious, for all of you who are using HUD set to Hard, how do you identify your primary target on strike missions? That's probably the main thing that's kept me from switching to Hard HUD. If I get "srike the enemy hangar at the airfield" I can't figure out which one to strike unless I use the red square!

 

Along the same lines, something I did for my install was to go into HUDDATA.ini, and remove the white cone and triangel for waypoints, and remove the red cone for targets. I also changed the red target box into a small red dot. Much harder to see and really doesn't screw with emmersion as much a that giant red box!

 

Right mate, here's how I do it:

 

1. Once the mission starts and I'm in the air I select A-G weapons, then "next enemy ground target" - it should select the primary strike target by default (unless there are some enemy tanks or aaa nearby - that's why it's best to do it as soon as you take off);

2. Next I will use F8 to get the view of a target and then CTRL+F12 to get a good view around it - an equivalent of a good satellite or reconnaissance photo ;)

3. Then I let the autopilot do the trick, and on the approach waypoint (usually waypoint 4 or 5?) it should point you in the right direction.

4. Once getting near the target I use zoom view from the cockpit to try and recognize it ( shouldn't be too difficult if I had a good look of it with F8 before).

5. Bombs away!

Edited December 21, 2010 by SFP1Ace

[exhausted 55]

Airspeed is your only friend in combat vs the early MiGs. 400 knots and above ensures two things: a)gunpods on early Phantoms historically wouldn't operate, and b) you can escape when you get in a jam.

 

Let's examine some stats from Vietnam -

2.5:1 is about the average kill to loss ratio for aerial combat during the Vietnam, though Vietnam makes a MUCH higher claim.

 

That isn't a high one at all. Not when you consider the fact that a Phantom or Intruder of F-105 costs 2-4 times as much as a MiG-17 or -21.

 

What my video and see how I use energy to take out a MiG-17 using only missiles during an early Vietnam scenerio. Maybe you can appreciate the challenge then. I thought this dogfight was a lot of fun even though I only got one kill and most of my missiles didn't work.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o74OThmj0s4

 

The action pretty much starts at 2:45, even though it's a long scene.

[+hgbn 91]

Right mate, here's how I do it:

 

1. Once the mission starts and I'm in the air I select A-G weapons, then "next enemy ground target" - it should select the primary strike target by default (unless there are some enemy tanks or aaa nearby - that's why it's best top do it as soon as you take off);

2. Next I will use F8 to get the view of a target and then CTRL+F12 to gt a good view around it - an equivalent of a good satellite or reconnaissance photo ;)

3. Then I let the autopilot do the trick, and on the approach waypoint (usally waypoint 4 or 5?) it should point you in the right direction.

4. Once getting near the target I use zoom view from the cockpit to try and recognize it ( shouldn't be too difficult if I had a good look of it with F8 before).

5. Bombs away!

 

Same here Unless if I fly a F-105 then I fly it manual all way in. To make sure my bombrun start at 30.000ft and use F4 to padlock the targetview when I roll in hot

Edited December 21, 2010 by hgbn

[SFP1Ace 33]

Airspeed is your only friend in combat vs the early MiGs. 400 knots and above ensures two things: a)gunpods on early Phantoms historically wouldn't operate, and b) you can escape when you get in a jam.

 

Let's examine some stats from Vietnam -

2.5:1 is about the average kill to loss ratio for aerial combat during the Vietnam, though Vietnam makes a MUCH higher claim.

 

That isn't a high one at all. Not when you consider the fact that a Phantom or Intruder of F-105 costs 2-4 times as much as a MiG-17 or -21.

 

What my video and see how I use energy to take out a MiG-17 using only missiles during an early Vietnam scenerio. Maybe you can appreciate the challenge then. I thought this dogfight was a lot of fun even though I only got one kill and most of my missiles didn't work.

 

 

The action pretty much starts at 2:45, even though it's a long scene.

 

Nice! What sound mod are you using? It sounds much better than stock Texan voices! Also How did you get the pilot to voice it commands like cover me and fox one and stuff? It's really immersive!

[+hgbn 91]

If I flew like that my F-4 would catch fire

[JediMaster 451]

So it sounds like in order to play with the HUD on hard you have to rely on blatantly unrealistic methods like "Otto the autopilot" and external target-player camera views. Or you can just set it at "normal" and pretend that's your own ability to ID the target on the ground (something real pilots have done for decades without using an autopilot to steer them automatically or an impossible external view) and leave it at that!

 

It's not like having the HUD on hard gets you anything.

 

 

[SFP1Ace 33]

Awww, c'mon now, don't you think that viewing primary target (at mission's start) with F8 can be considered some rec photo? How is that different than what "real" pilots use? :D As for autopilot I can't coment on that since I have no idea how "capable" (or how dumb) were the autopilots back in the '60s and '70s. But you can always use radio-compass plus wing-leveler !

 

Edit: HUD on "Hard" can "give" you increased difficulty/realism. Of course it subjective so if your jedi powers tell you it's blatantly unrealistic then there's that. BTW I only started using hard hud a week ago, before it was normal with some tweaks. To id targets in air & ground I also use Next/previous target commands, plus padlock view, plus zooming in with TrackIR. Seems to work just as well!

Edited December 21, 2010 by SFP1Ace

[+hgbn 91]

I don't see the F8 view right after takeoff as cheating since... You don't have a prober briefing with some aerial recon photo's of the target area. So e + F8+ Alt+F12 right after takeoff seems fair to me.. but then again that's how I play it

[Wrench 9,847]

don't you think that viewing primary target (at mission's start) with F8 can be considered some rec photo?

 

good to know that I'm not the only one that does that!!! (actually, I use the 'target primary key, what is that ? E? T?) Cheating, hell NO!! Like the man said, 'recce photo" !!!!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[SFP1Ace 33]

I don't see the F8 view right after takeoff as cheating since... You don't have a prober briefing with some aerial recon photo's of the target area. So e + F8+ Alt+F12 right after takeoff seems fair to me.. but then again that's how I play it

 

 

good to know that I'm not the only one that does that!!! (actually, I use the 'target primary key, what is that ? E? T?) Cheating, hell NO!! Like the man said, 'recce photo" !!!!

 

wrench

kevin stein

 

Same here, good to know indeed .

[JediMaster 451]

Unrealistic =! cheating.

 

The point is you're trading one unrealistic aspect for another, neither is "cheating". I have never done that "aerial recce" thing, but I just use the HUD box once I'm in range of the target area. So if you want to claim unrealistic method "A" is superior to unrealistic method "B" via some justification or other, fine...that doesn't mean it is though!

I always found the no external views/cockpit always on/no targeting box/no padlock uber-realism zealots to be tiring because they're justifying the harder level of difficulty they play at as being more "real" while failing to acknowledge how unreal sitting in front of an LCD monitor in a stable chair in your house is in the first place.

 

I mean, no one will claim driving on the PC is like driving a real car, all you have to do is do both once to see that.

 

So again, do what you feel like doing because no one has any right to judge you for playing it on uber-easy or uber-hard. The only things that matter are things that can affect the way the game works ie many 3rd party planes being designed for the "normal" FM because the hard one didn't seem right or had problems or whatever.

BTW...you'll notice TK didn't label any setting as "realistic", they're just "hard"...I think he's telling you right there that hard =! realistic in his games.

[+hgbn 91]

I never claimed that it was realistic did I? It's just a game.. But I still don't think that using the target keys to look the target before I reach it is cheating

[+malibu43 142]

I never claimed that it was realistic did I? It's just a game.. But I still don't think that using the target keys to look the target before I reach it is cheating

 

What setting do you have for visual targeting then? I thought the only way you'd be able to target primary targets from your own runway would be to have visual targeting set to "easy". Is that not correct?

[SFP1Ace 33]

Unrealistic =! cheating.

 

The point is you're trading one unrealistic aspect for another, neither is "cheating". I have never done that "aerial recce" thing, but I just use the HUD box once I'm in range of the target area. So if you want to claim unrealistic method "A" is superior to unrealistic method "B" via some justification or other, fine...that doesn't mean it is though!

I always found the no external views/cockpit always on/no targeting box/no padlock uber-realism zealots to be tiring because they're justifying the harder level of difficulty they play at as being more "real" while failing to acknowledge how unreal sitting in front of an LCD monitor in a stable chair in your house is in the first place.

 

I mean, no one will claim driving on the PC is like driving a real car, all you have to do is do both once to see that.

 

So again, do what you feel like doing because no one has any right to judge you for playing it on uber-easy or uber-hard. The only things that matter are things that can affect the way the game works ie many 3rd party planes being designed for the "normal" FM because the hard one didn't seem right or had problems or whatever.

BTW...you'll notice TK didn't label any setting as "realistic", they're just "hard"...I think he's telling you right there that hard =! realistic in his games.

 

Yep, I mostly agree with you, I shouldn't have used word "realistic" (again its very subjective), wrong choice of a word. I use "hard" setting for a "better" challenge. I think we can both agree that even flying Falcon 4.0: Allied Force or FreeFalcon or any of the DCS sims won't give you even half of the real thing - exactly for the reasons you mentioned, LCD, cozy chair etc. If I wanted the "realism" I would either play aforementioned sims or, even bettered joined (or at least tried to) the airforce. Guess what? My F4:AF and Lock On are collecting dust! besides, since I'm using TrackIR, using HARD HUD at least forces me to use it to look around, lol. It costed me some so I better get my money worth back, right?

 

So to sum it up, we shouldn't use word 'realism" in conjunction with computer games, but we all can enjoy our own "difficulty" settings .

 

What setting do you have for visual targeting then? I thought the only way you'd be able to target primary targets from your own runway would be to have visual targeting set to "easy". Is that not correct?

 

Nope, I can do it on hard, at least once I take off.

[+hgbn 91]

What setting do you have for visual targeting then? I thought the only way you'd be able to target primary targets from your own runway would be to have visual targeting set to "easy". Is that not correct?

 

Well visual targeting is on hard. I believe I have read somewhere that in strike missions primary target can accessed via the E key no matter the distance.

[Catfish 0]

In my few a2g missions I only use the map to identify the target... but since it's tipically a runway, I haven't target identification issue...

[2ltJoch 1]

I play with everything on hard, except HUD and visual targeting on normal, although I tweaked the ini files to remove all the "normal" info, except the enemy targeting box. I would like to move everything to "hard", but two things stop me:

 

1. it is very difficult to spot any enemy AC unless the view is zoomed all the way in, which is not a practical way to fly; and

2. with "hard" visual targeting, it is not possible to give your wingman a "attack my target" order against ground or air targets.

 

I play with the enemy AI at "normal" in SF2 Europe and "easy" in SF2 Israel, since this is probably more historically accurate. As others have mentioned, it only affects the proportion of Ace, average and rookie pilots in the flights and even on "easy", you might still wind up tangling with an enemy Ace.

 

However this quote really intrigues me:

 

Some time ago TK got complaints that the game lacked action, that too many MiG flights do not react at all if jumped,

flying on like nothing is happening at all

 

So TK deactivated all the VisualBlindArc and VisualRestrictedArc setting in the DetectSystem section.

That is the reason for the aggressive AI since late 2009 or so ... if AI is inside the VisibleDistance , they see you all the time, no matter where you are.

 

 

 

where do I find this file? I would like to reactivate the blind spots to see what effect it has on the game. I presume it affects both friendly and enemy AC?

 

secondly, are there other similar settings that should be turned back on?

[+hgbn 91]

 

2. with "hard" visual targeting, it is not possible to give your wingman a "attack my target" order against ground or air targets.

 

 

 

Not true. But you have to have the visual target selected to do so. meaning press T for air and E for ground. Then you can give the orders to your wingie. works like a charm

[ezlead 42]

As you all can see. Everyone has their own "thing".

It is a GAME! It is supposed to be fun.

Some like the Hard settings to determine their prowess. Others like normal to get more "kills".

To each his own.

IMHO I have been flying sims since the early 90's and this is by far the best I have found. :yes:

 

Oh yeah,I have my settings on normal. Mig-17's are a SOB no matter what you fly.

[SFP1Ace 33]

"Some time ago TK got complaints that the game lacked action, that too many MiG flights do not react at all if jumped,

flying on like nothing is happening at all

 

So TK deactivated all the VisualBlindArc and VisualRestrictedArc setting in the DetectSystem section.

That is the reason for the aggressive AI since late 2009 or so ... if AI is inside the VisibleDistance , they see you all the time, no matter where you are. "

 

/rant/ Jeez, not again! I HATE when TK does that! Instead of fixing the issue, he takes the easiest approach and removes the feature...First snoopy, now this? Couldn't he at last leave it as an option in difficulty panel? Or do it as variable of sorts so even when player is in AI's blind spot, there'sśtill 5 or 10 % chance that AI will notice... /end of rant/

 

Actually I haven't notice this behaviour but now that it's been mentioned I will keep an eye out for the "all seeing AI" . Ignorance is a bliss sometimes...

[MigBuster 2,884]

I removed all the targeting boxes to make it more of a challenge - a red dot stuck on a MiG is an enemy for sure - but without that I am forced to vis ID it with TIR - which makes me hesitate until I know what I am firing at - and even then I still sometimes mis ID and fire at a friendly..much more interesting!

 

Yes the Recon photo approach - been using that for years - with the targetting box on you can see it through the floor of the cockpit so its very easy to judge when to dive in - I wanted a more Andy Bush approach to it all.

 

AAA is very difficult to target - but at night you can see the muzzle flashes clearer with DX10 and you can see smoke in the daytime - and if you cant see it use padlock.

[+Dave 2,322]

AI on hard, Fuel and ammo on hard, everything else on normal. I use my own huddata.ini that removes much of the data the normai hud has, like the data boxes at the bottom of the screens and the radars at the top.

[2ltJoch 1]

well I checked in the object data and the Mig-17/19/21 all have restrictions, some quite sophistacated.

 

Here is the entry for the Mig-21:

 

 

 

 

 

[DetectSystem]

Name=RP-21M

RadarType=AIR_INTERCEPT

RadarFamilyName=SpinScan

RangeUnit=KM

RadarAzimuthLimit=30

RadarElevationLimit=15

RadarSearchTime=2.5

RadarSearchRange=20

RadarSearchStrength=50

RadarTrackTime=5.0

RadarTrackRange=10

RadarTrackStrength=50

RadarSearchFreq=3.0

RadarTrackFreq=3.0

RadarSearchCW=FALSE

RadarTrackCW=FALSE

VisualBlindArc=5,6,7

VisualRestrictedArc=4L,8L,12L

MaxVisibleDistance=6000.0

HasRWR=TRUE

RWRMinFreq=5.5

RWRMaxFreq=10.4

RWRCanDetectCW=TRUE

 

 

and the one for the F-4c:

 

 

 

[DetectSystem]

RadarType=AIR_INTERCEPT

RadarFamilyName=F-4

RangeUnit=NM

RadarAzimuthLimit=60

RadarElevationLimit=60

RadarSearchTime=2.0

RadarSearchRange=80

RadarSearchStrength=70

RadarTrackTime=5.0

RadarTrackRange=60

RadarTrackStrength=60

RadarSearchFreq=9.8

RadarTrackFreq=9.8

RadarMissileGuidanceFreq=6.0

RadarSearchCW=FALSE

RadarTrackCW=FALSE

RadarMissileGuidanceCW=TRUE

VisualBlindArc=5,6,7

VisualRestrictedArc=4L,8L

MaxVisibleDistance=8400.0

HasRWR=FALSE

 

the entries all seem fine, unless the actual code has been disabled.

Edited December 23, 2010 by 2ltJoch