Stwa

Currently, I am having a lot of fun defending Malvinas (the Falkland Islands). To date, my Strike Fighters 2006 system has 36 aircraft variants, including the original aircraft that came with the original games WOV , WOE, and SFG. I have constrained add-on aircraft variants to those original aircraft. So there are plenty of A-4 Skyhawks in the game, including those that belong to Argentina (FAA). I can't really remember, but to make Argentine A-4s, I only needed a few skins, and new decal ini files for the birds. And this time, I am not playing a campaign, but just using them with Create Mission were they will encounter Soviet enemy aircraft. I am not sure how Soviet aircraft got anywhere near Malvinas, but somehow they managed. I am using the Skyhawk variants A-4C FAA, A-4P, and A-4Q. The A4C FAA variant is given this name to full identify it in the menu system from the US A-4C variant.

I never got around to doing any Argentine squadrons or badges, and in the campaign game, I just call them out by name. The theme is a lot of fun, and you get the 1st gen jet feeling since you do not have any sidewinders. Also, I never got around to getting WOI, so I do not have any French made birds, so Argentina will have to make do with these Skyhawks. No worries!

Once upon a time I had a RAF SA theme that would only allow FAA aircraft as enemies. But that theme required a change in the Nations ini file to describe Argentina as an enemy nation. Over time I came to the conclusion that was unfair to Argentina, because the South Atlantic War in 1982 was very brief and was so near the end of the game's cold war period which was 1985. So now, the FAA SA theme is very similar to the RAF SA theme, since they both use Soviet aircraft for enemies. Who knows where these enemy aircraft come from, but in game they originate from off map airbases associated with the Falkland Islands terrain. Here is the full text of the script of the command file that enables the FAA theme. COPY ..\..\Menu\Icons\FAA\System* ..\..\Menu\Icons COPY ..\..\Menu\Icons\SOVIET\*.bmp ..\..\Menu\Icons COPY ..\..\Menu\1360\FAA_SA\*.* ..\..\Menu\1360 COPY MIG-17_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-17 COPY MIG-17F_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-17F COPY MIG-19S_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-19S COPY MIG-21F_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-21F COPY MIG-21MF_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-21MF COPY MIG-21PF_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-21PF COPY MIG-21PFM_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-21PFM COPY MIG-21PFV_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-21PFV COPY MIG-23M_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-23M COPY MIG-27_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\MIG-27 COPY SU-7BM_data.ini ..\..\Objects\Aircraft\SU-7BM EXIT

As I have been messing with all this, it occurred to me that I would make a FAA SA (South Atlantic) theme. On my system, a theme must be enabled when you are not in the Strike Fighters game, and it does several things. A theme is constructed using a command (cmd) file, or a command file that has been converted into an executable file. They are very easy to make, 1. A theme changes the game's Main Screen and Credits Screen to suit your theme. 2. A theme changes the game's System Icons by using roundel icons to suit the Nation or Service that is the subject of the theme. 3. A theme changes the aircraft types that will constitute enemy aircraft, when the player uses the Create Mission screen to generate a mission.

In 1976, 25 A-4Cs were ordered to replace the F-86 Sabres still in service in the 4th Air Brigade (Spanish: IV Brigada Aérea). They were received as is and refurbished to flight status by the Air Force technicians at Río Cuarto, Córdoba. -wiki Some sources say, the A-4Q and A-4C variants had 5 pylons, and could use AIM-9B sidewinders and were modified after their arrival in Argentina. Some sources do not mention this. So, I just decided to be lazy and all birds only have 3 pylons, and do not support sidewinders. I just don't recall ever seeing a photograph of any A-4 with sidewinder missiles mounted on outer pylons. But, I didn't spend that much time looking for them.

The Argentine Naval Aviation also bought the Skyhawk known as A-4Q in the form of 16 A-4Bs plus two for spare parts, modified with five weapon pylons and to carry AIM-9B Sidewinders. They were received in 1971. -wiki I got the skins for all these Skyhawk variants from the Marcfighters website. I decided on a medium sized insignia roundel, that probably represents what you might see around 1970. By the time of the Falkland Islands conflict, the roundels were much smaller, and could be completely contained on the fuselage air-brakes. However, these birds are not "true to life", because of the aircraft numbers. I used the existing USN Attack Numbers and placed these numbers where the corresponding numbers appeared on a US A-4 variant. This location is not where they were located on Argentine aircraft. But, each variant is consistent with one another.

I have allowed all the Argentine A-4s to fly CAP and Sweep missions. Dog-fighting Soviet aircraft is fun, especially since this bird is not equipped to use sidewinders. And if it is 1966, then Argentina has already acquired the Falkland Islands. Correcto mundo. How about that for "true to life" terrain.

The Argentine Air Force received 25 A-4Bs in 1966 and another 25 in 1970, all refurbished in the United States by Lockheed Service Co. prior to their delivery as A-4P, although they were still locally known as A-4B. They had three weapon pylons and served in the 5th Air Brigade (Spanish: V Brigada Aérea). -wiki This is the main variant I mostly use because it was delivered in 1966, and therefore usually encounters MiG-17s, MiG19s, and worst case, MiG21s. All Argentine aircraft use stock decals supplied with the game.

Something funny happened to me last week. I was wanting to fly in the Germany CE terrain, and I couldn't find the selection for the fall terrain set. I was sure I had downloaded it, but it was AWOL. But Combat Ace, still has this mod for download, so I downloaded it, and the winter set as well. Both these mods of terrain tiles were, at that time, intended from WoE installations. These mods both originated from the forumite Stary. He is a guy that has a knack for "impact" mods, and in my view, these terrain sets are exactly that. So, my thanks to Stary again for mods that really change the environment in the game.

Hey again, all. So, I spent time today making some not so hard decisions. The basic idea was to pare down the number of terrains. I know most you may have a lot more than I do. But I have this serious "yacht" condition, where after I am done with it, I usually throw it overboard. The antithesis of collecting. Checking out Stary's stuff gave me serious deja vue. It just seems I have been there before, I just don't quite remember it. So here is how it went down. 1. I took all the WW2 aircraft, decals, and the WW2 terrains (Guadalcanal, Midway, and Rangoon), and put all that stuff in a zip. I had a lot of fun with it, but I guess I don't like anything cutting in to my Phantom time. I didn't pitch it, but I could at any moment, since now it is all in one zip file. 2. I checked out all of the seasonal terrains, and I have to say, Stary is one talented person. But me thinks I did this before a long time ago, and I guess I want a green season, and a not so green season. So I retained his fall terrain for Falkland, Iceland, and Germany. 3. I am never gonna pitch Israel and Persian Gulf, because those are the terrains where I made a desert tile set from WOV tiles. Imagine that. So here is what is left. 10 terrains including the seasonal ones. Makes me happy, until the next time I want to reduce and simplify. The fall terrains just have a F appended to their names. When I had more than one season I would spell it out, like "Fall". But this works OK.

Yes, yes, but I just forgot why I came into this topic.

This little project was a lot of fun. I had used the Germany fall terrain before. I like it because the tiles were all 256x256. But this time I also fetched the winter set. I was able to resize the bmp files using MS Office picture manager, where it converted all of them in a batch. But, I had to use DXTbmp (remember) to resize the winter set tga files one at a time. So for Falkland Islands and Iceland, which both had a few custom tiles, I made the fall and winter equivalents that let me use these tiles with those terrains. This game rocks. Usually, I fly UK stuff at Falkland, and US stuff at Iceland. If I want to fly around in circles, I can use the Harriers with either terrain. But, there is a reason why there are so many Phantom models in the game.

If you are expecting to do any good in Germany, you must get the Crusader involved.

But, if you want to check out Stary's handiwork, you are going to need a first class ride. A Starfighter is great for precision bombing of small targets. You get in and out in a jiffy, and hopefully the enemy doesn't even notice. You can see the seasonal terrain in all its glory. A bright, crisp Autumn day, makes it all the better.

UH-HUH! [impersonating Barney the purple dinosaur] Does that MiG keel look true to life, or what? I am I flying through the debris at almost 500 knots. BTW, I have collisions set to HARD. I have everything set to HARD, except the Radar Display, HUD Display, and Visual Targeting. Those settings are all set to NORMAL. I just cant do without the little red box. So, here is a pic of Pebble Island. In game, the bad guys have EWR set on Pebble Island.

It looks like the Argies have been training on some surplus Soviet aircraft. It is tough stuff. There is good news and bad news about the MiG-21s. The good news: They cant kill me. The bad news: I cant kill them. Nevertheless, here is a rare gun kill. Try doing anything at 500 kts in an aircraft that feels like a lawn dart, even in level flight.

Hey, what did you guys think of the Falkland Islands fall terrain. Did it seem true to life to you? This terrain uses even fewer tiles than Iceland. So, basically two colors. The land color and the sea color.