All the -bests- in LOMAC

[Kenan]

I think graphics and flight modelling are the best so far I've seen in a sim.

I played F16 on C64, F18 Hornet on Amiga 500, Janes' F15 & Falcon (gave those two just a try though) and extensively Jane's F/A-18.

 

I recently tried to go back to Jane's F/A-18 and even Jane's F15, but no matter how complex and 'realistic' these sims are, I always go back to LOMAC because the speed sensation in this game (feeling of flying a jet) and the graphics is something which attracts me most.

 

I do love realism in the game, and to be honest, LOMAC imho can not be treated as a simple 'survey sim' in any way (especially with the upcoming FC sequel), though it's not as complex as some of the above mentioned titles.

 

I realised if I had to choose between 100% realism and immersion, I'd go for the latter..and LOMAC beats the competition with it big time.

The only thing I really don't like, are the comms. There is just too little of radio chatter there.

 

I believe devs could make other flights report the same messages so we could at least have more interesting radio chatter.

So, for an example, if we had say, 2 diff allied Air Groups, we could hear their comms while taking off, requesting permission to land etc.

 

Actually, they wouldn't have to create any of the new radio samples, just to adjust the code to allow other non-flyables AI to be heard in player's cockpit.

 

This is the same principle used in Jane's F/A-18, so why not have a touch of it in LOMAC? 8)

[VapoR]

You make a very good point, but I believe they WOULD have to include new recordings. As it is right now, only the responses to the questions are there. For instance, if you ask for clearance to taxi it only says the response from the tower.

 

The AI would have to speak to ask for it or it would be really weird.

[BIOLOG]

We have pilot talk and wingman responses in 1.1 I believe :wink:

So wish granted :D

[Kenan]

We have pilot talk and wingman responses in 1.1 I believe :wink:

So wish granted :D

 

Could u please be little more specific? :)

Like, you can hear radio chatter from different allied AI airgropus?

 

@VapoR:

 

No, I think all they would have to do is to assign callsigns to each airgroup.

 

So basically, imagine having a mission made of two friendly air groups consisting of only 1 plane each, with names "Buick" (F15 player) and "Dodge" (F-18 AI) and u can hear the comm of the AI guy requesting permission to take off / reporting a hit etc..all the same samples just the callsigns added so u can tell who is who.

 

But, if this is already made available in FC, then all the better. I'll wait for BIOLOG to confirm this. :wink:

[BIOLOG]

I think it's only comms between you and wingman, sry. Might be an idea for the future thou.

[Alfa]

Hi all,

 

I think it's only comms between you and wingman, sry. Might be an idea for the future though

 

Well if you are on a mission with a wingman, after having landed, you will hear hear the tower giving your wingman permission to land while you are taxiing to the parking area :)

 

Not quite the kind of "radio chatter" Kenan is suggesting, but it is a start :)

 

Anyway, I think introducing something like that should be done with caution....I can think of several examples of sims in which pointless radio chatter is an outright nuissance, and actually decreases the immersion - i.e. where the same few lines are being repeated endlessly in the background with a sort of "mechanical" predictability.

 

I believe the best approach would be to start by expanding the existing radio communication further - e.g. having wingmen report their actions to the flight leader upon executing them to a further extent than is presently the case...e.g. if you order your wingman to attack something, he would not only acknowledge the order, but also report if he for some reason is aborting his attack...and why.

 

This would not only increase the "feel of immersion" by having extended radio communication, but also serve an actual purpose as it makes it easier for the flight leader to organise the attack if he knows the exact situation for his wingman. :)

 

Anyway, a cool new feature in 1.1 is that your pilot now has a voice.....you will hear "yourself" over the comms as you are giving the orders :) .

[Kenan]

BTW, little question for the devs: Are those guys you used their voices reallife pilots or just some talented folks you ran into?

 

I'm asking this because they sound pretty convincing (IMHO that is), especially US radio tower guy. :D

[olaleier]

Anyway, a cool new feature in 1.1 is that your pilot now has a voice.....you will hear "yourself" over the comms as you are giving the orders :) .

 

This is a great addition, and I completely agree with you regarding what type of comms to add / not to add.

 

I don't think Lock On's graphics can be praised enough when it comes to immersion...ducking behind hills for cover, doing fast low-alt ingresses with popups/rollovers to look for the best valley to buzz...never did that in any other sim.

 

Another thing is the fluid feeling of accuracy when manouvering with small inputs. Other sims seem like they jerk between different fixed angles, Lock On is just smooth. (IL-2 is very close to this though)

 

 

As for the voice actors....I wonder if they could hire the German guy from IL-2 to do Luftwaffe ground control....."ACTHUNG!! NICHT LANDUNG! NICHT LANDUNG!!!"

 

He needs an anger management course I think. :mrgreen:

[Caretaker]

I have this hope of seeing the LUA exports extended to provide information about mission events in the future... not only would this provide possibilities for mission evaluation, but could also be used to trigger 3rd party voice samples independent of Lock On's sound engine with an external application.

[Whisper]

I have this hope of seeing the LUA exports extended to provide information about mission events in the future... not only would this provide possibilities for mission evaluation, but could also be used to trigger 3rd party voice samples independent of Lock On's sound engine with an external application.

 

Exactly what I was thinking about. If ED hasn't enough time to do so, and LUA export has enough features, it could be done through 3rd party program.

 

But IMHO would be better if directly implemented by the devs ;)

 

I don't really see a sim where radio chatter made the immersion worse. JFA-18 has awesome radio implemented, and Falcon-4, by switching channels, really put you in the middle of a global air-war, you can switch to local channel, and hear packages around you on their own mission, etc... Definitely a huge, huge bonus to immersion.

[Caretaker]

Well Il2/FB has some annoying messages from time to time. Sometimes you couldn't determine who the guy was supposed to be who was speaking. And when your flight leader keeps calling you to get back into formation while you're fighting for your life, it also doesn't take too long until you hope he'd finally shut up ;)

 

I agree the best option would be to have everything integrated, but a 3rd party effort could be a nice alternative as long as ED has their hands full with other things, and already collect voice samples that might be used by ED in the future. Could make a nice project :)

[SUBS17]

I have this hope of seeing the LUA exports extended to provide information about mission events in the future... not only would this provide possibilities for mission evaluation, but could also be used to trigger 3rd party voice samples independent of Lock On's sound engine with an external application.

 

If they did that then the games immersion will be expanded quite considerably. Imagine the type of sound packs there could be developed with realistic responses. Theres even the possiblity of scrpting ai ground units calling in CAS support. And the dull repetitive responses we have now would be replaced with something along Topgun/Janes F-15E style comms. Also mission completion radio chatter could be added.

cheers

Subs

[Chizh]

BTW, little question for the devs: Are those guys you used their voices reallife pilots or just some talented folks you ran into?

 

I'm asking this because they sound pretty convincing (IMHO that is), especially US radio tower guy. :D

I cannot tell it on English-speaking voices because not we recorded them. Probably it can tell Matt Wagner.

All Russian voices are recorded by developers.

[Chizh]

Re: All the -bests- in LOMAC

 

I think graphics and flight modelling are the best so far I've seen in a sim.

I played F16 on C64, F18 Hornet on Amiga 500, Janes' F15 & Falcon (gave those two just a try though) and extensively Jane's F/A-18.

 

I recently tried to go back to Jane's F/A-18 and even Jane's F15, but no matter how complex and 'realistic' these sims are, I always go back to LOMAC because the speed sensation in this game (feeling of flying a jet) and the graphics is something which attracts me most.

 

I do love realism in the game, and to be honest, LOMAC imho can not be treated as a simple 'survey sim' in any way (especially with the upcoming FC sequel), though it's not as complex as some of the above mentioned titles.

 

I realised if I had to choose between 100% realism and immersion, I'd go for the latter..and LOMAC beats the competition with it big time.

The only thing I really don't like, are the comms. There is just too little of radio chatter there.

 

I believe devs could make other flights report the same messages so we could at least have more interesting radio chatter.

So, for an example, if we had say, 2 diff allied Air Groups, we could hear their comms while taking off, requesting permission to land etc.

 

Actually, they wouldn't have to create any of the new radio samples, just to adjust the code to allow other non-flyables AI to be heard in player's cockpit.

 

This is the same principle used in Jane's F/A-18, so why not have a touch of it in LOMAC? 8)

Yes; it really lacks in game. We shall write down it for the next project.

[olaleier]

All Russian voices are recorded by developers.

 

 

Cool! Can you tell us who is who? :D

[MBot]

Re: All the -bests- in LOMAC

 

Yes; it really lacks in game. We shall write down it for the next project.

 

 

That realy makes me happy :) The excellent implementation of radio comms in Janes F/A-18 is what made a good sim the best sim ever for me. If that does happen to the LOMAC world some day, a dream would come true.

 

And also that the own pilot will talk in 1.1 is realy a step into the right direction. I can't wait to play it :)

[Kenan]

Actually, it's quite simple:

 

I've just finished playing Falcon 4.0 and realized what makes the atmosphere in this game mindblowing is the fact they just enabled all flights ie. their comms can be heard in Players cockpit. Not all of them of course but those referring to air/ground engagements, damage reports, taking off/landing requests etc.

 

As I said before, putting this in LOMAC would drastically improve the gameplay and I don't think it should be too difficult at all.

 

This + dynamic campaign and we got a monster on our hands.. 8)

[SwingKid]

There was a beta version in which the player could hear the radio calls of all other flights. Some testers made the request that only the radio calls for the own flight be heard. It was very distracting for some people to hear "Zero One One, you are cleared for landing" from one airbase, "Zero One One, you are cleared for landing" from another airbase with the same voice talking to another flight with the same name, and all while the user is approaching to attack the target.

 

-SK

 

P.S. To answer the original question, I think the detail of the Crimea map in Lock On is the best of any other simulator. Almost too good! :) Also, the contour map feature is just fantastic for the Mission Editor.

[GGTharos]

Hmm, this means that a better way to name flights and better way to do comms is required. Eg each atc should have its own 'frequency' even if its switched automatically.

 

Some things should be heard for all flights though.

[BIOLOG]

Make about 10 different channels between which player can switch :D

One of them the "battle one", with damage reports, ect, other one the "landing one", ect....

I wonder in RL, can pilots from one side listen to enemy's chat? Or is it encoded somehow

[D-Scythe]

Obviously encrypted :lol: There is some frequency that they can talk to each other on, you know, "Unidentified fighter, you are now entering Russian airspace, turn back immediately or we will shoot you down..." and stuff like that. Coupled with a few tracor rounds going right by the cockpit, I heard that it could be very effective ;)

 

That's in peacetime. Obviously the only warning in wartime is your RWR going off as an active radar homer lights you up.

[GGTharos]

A lot of frequencies and comms are in fact NOT encrypted. Read A-10's over Kosovo. A LOT of stuff goes in the air in the clear.

 

It's typically only 'team coms' that are encrypted.

[D-Scythe]

A lot of frequencies and comms are in fact NOT encrypted. Read A-10's over Kosovo. A LOT of stuff goes in the air in the clear.

 

Ah, but we're talking wartime and between fighters. I never said that a lot of frequencies were encrypted, just that all the important information are exchanged through a more secure comm link.

 

For example, I don't think a 'Fox 3 long' call would be in the clear. And that's the type of comms that we're discussing.

 

And you can never really tell with those A-10 guys ;) Most guys don't go snooping around at 5 000 ft and as fast as an F-15 going backwards. They're pretty crazy, those Hog guys... :P

[SwingKid]

From what I understand the typical fighter pilot has two radios. One is always kept on the "guard" channel to hear emergency calls - "I'm ejecting" and search and rescue (SAR) operations. The other is used to switch between different communication channels.

 

Dedicated CAS aircraft are a special case. These jets need a radio on a separate frequency to communicate directly with ground forces. I don't know if this one is encrypted, since it's a lot harder to maintain encryption schemes with isolated ground forces than it is with fighters that are all operating from the same friendly airbases. There are rumours of enemy radio operators tricking Su-25 pilots into attacking their own troops.

 

-SK