Strike Fighters: Project 1

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Strike Fighters: Project 1

Developer(s)	Thirdwire
Publisher(s)	Strategy First
Designer(s)	Tsuyoshi Kawahito
Engine	Strike Fighters
Release date(s)	2002
Genre(s)	Flight simulation
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (13+)
Platform(s)	Windows
Media	CD
Input	Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick

Strike Fighters: Project 1 is a PC game (Combat / Flight Simulator) that primarily centers on a fictitious conflict in the Middle East between the Kingdom of Dhimar and the Empire of Paran during the late 1950's to the early 1970's. Although the countries and conflict may not be real the aircraft and weapons used are completely accurate, in fact the conflict is what could be called a typical 'proxy' war between the USA and USSR where Dhimar gets help from the US and Paran uses imported Soviet equipment and expertise.

Strike Fighters has been a limited success in the PC games market although its impact has little to do with its game play. The game was designed to be 'open' and allow others to modify and improve aspects of it, so Strike Fighters success lies in what has been created from it.

The game was developed by literally a 'one man' operation known as Third Wire Productions.

1 Background
2 Games that use the Strike Fighters engine
3 Modding Types
4 Featured Aircraft
5 Game Play
6 The developer of the series
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Background

The modding community is responsible for many third party ‘3D Models’ such as this F-106A Delta Dart

When released the initial reviews were of a poor unfinished game that had some exceptional 3D models of aircraft. In fact an early unfinished release of the game was sold by the leading US chain store^[1], possibly in the publishers haste to get a game on the shelf. This had the effect of turning fans of this type of game away in droves, not only because of many obvious bugs (bouncing planes for example) but the limited game play. European users were sold a version already installed with "Service Pack 1" which had rectified many of the initial problems but not enough to satisfy the majority of users.

What had been released turned out to be really the starting point for a game that would improve vastly over the next few years. Thanks to the developers reputation, many of the game players stood by him to report and beta test the game for free, and also suggest areas where the game could be improved on. Not only that, game players that had experience of computer games and making 3D models started to create new objects for the game. In fact the first two years of the game centered around a limited online community experimenting with what could be done with the game. Their initial work was to allow the start of a vast number of modifications and improvements to the basic game. Service Pack 2 was released near 2004 and finally brought some stability to the game.

The developer, Tsuyoshi Kawahito (known as 'TK'), didn’t stop the support there because the next public release games were to use the Strike Fighters game engine, which meant that patches and service packs could be applied to both the new games and Strike Fighters. Currently there are thousands of free modifications for the game, most of them to a very high commercial standard. The strength of the game now lies in what the game player can make of it because about 95% of the modifications can be carried out by anyone.

[edit] Games that use the Strike Fighters engine

Strike Fighters: Project 1 (2002): The initial release centers on a Middle Eastern scenario and a single Campaign.

European 'Gold' edition box cover
Strike Fighters: Gold (2004): An updated version of Project 1 released to the European market. It includes more ground objects and three extra campaigns called Desert Thunder, Quick Sand, and Rattle Snake. The F-104G and C-130 Hercules were removed due to a licensing dispute with Lockheed Martin although the F-104G was later available for download. The game also included the F-4J Phantom II and A-4F Skyhawk that were left out of the original.
USAF: Air Dominance: Game produced by the US Air Force for recruitment purposes (Not for public sale).
Wings Over Vietnam (2004): Set during the Vietnam War and released to the Strike Fighters Service Pack 3 standard which added further improvements including Aircraft Carrier operations.
First Flight: The Wright Experience Flight Simulator (2005): A simulation of the Wright Brothers aircraft, including the 1903 Wright Flyer. Developed as a training tool for Wright Experience Centennial test pilots but is now available for the public.
Wings Over Europe (2006): Set in a possible Cold War conflict between NATO and the USSR and released to Strike Fighters Service Pack 4 standards
First Eagles: The Great Air War 1914 - 1918 (2006): Set in the World War 1 era and released to Service Pack 4 standards.

[edit] Modding Types

Thanks to the 'modding' community a ‘third party’ F-104D takes to the skies above Dhimar

New 3D models of Planes, Ships, Weapons, and ground objects can be added - even concept types such as the F-19 and the F-23 are available and almost every weapon type has been created;

Flight models and AI behaviour can be adjusted or created - If a flight model is not up to standard it can be improved to make it as realistic as possible;

New campaigns, missions, sounds, music, graphics/scenery, menu screens, and skins for 3D objects - The look and feel of the virtual 3D environment as well as the game screens can be changed and improved upon;

[edit] Featured Aircraft

The standard game comes with the following flyable Dhimar Aircraft:

The F-104G Starfighter in US Air Force livery

F-4 Phantom II - The game includes the F-4B for the Navy/Marines and the F-4C, F-4D and F-4E for the Air Force.

The F-4B Phantom after attacking an airfield

F-104 Starfighter - The West German F-104G version is included.
A-4 Skyhawk - The A-4C, A-4B, A-4E versions for the Navy/Marines.
F-100 Super Sabre - The F-100D is included for the US Air Force.

The following non-flyable aircraft:

C-130 Hercules – C-130E Version.
B-57 Canberra - B-57B Version.
Cessna L-19 - O-1E Bird Dog version.

The computer-controlled Paran aircraft:

Ilyushin Il-28 "Beagle" – Bomber version.
Tupolev Tu-22 "Blinder A" – B Version.
Sukhoi Su-7 "Fitter A" – SU-7BM version.
AN-12 "Cub A" – AN-12BP version.
MiG-17 "Fresco" - MiG-17F version.
MiG-19 "Farmer" - MiG-19S version.
MiG-21 "Fishbed" - MiG-21F, MF, PFM versions

[edit] Game Play

The game has been designed so it is as easy as possible to get into giving it the tag 'Lite Simulation'. This is opposed to other hardcore 'study simulations' such as Falcon 4.0 where the learning curve is much steeper. After flying one Jet you should be able to hop into any of the other Jets and fly them with relative ease. In reality the Lite category tag places the game halfway between Arcade and Hardcore.

Set over a fictitious desert scenario the game has a useful 'Single Mission' option that allows the user to choose their mission, aircraft type, weapons and look at a map of where they are flying to. A set of names are generated to be included on the squadron rotor and they are allocated varying skill levels, which is useful to know when they are flying as your wingmen. The Single Mission mode is a good chance to practise for the Campaign mode because it gives all the mission types that the user will face in any campaign.

Splash 1! A Mig-21 is hit and the pilot ejects

Mission types include:

Intercept: Scramble to intercept incoming enemy bombers before they reach the target.
Combat Air Patrol: Patrol vital defence areas and engage any aircraft in the area.
Fighter Sweep: Fly into enemy airspace and engage any aircraft encountered.
Close Air support: Support advancing friendly tanks by taking out enemy armour.
Air Defence suppression: Also known as Iron Hand or Wild Weasel - Destroy AAA and SAM sites in the target area.
Anti-Ship: Destroy assigned shipping
Armed Reconnaissance: Look out and destroy enemy ground units
Reconnaissance: Fly to and observe an assigned target.

A ‘third party’ TU-16 ‘Badger’ bomber

Flying over the desert can be long and lonely, and just like the Iran-Iraq war of the 80s there are never that many enemy planes up in the air. A time acceleration feature is built into the game as well as a feature to let you warp to the target, although this later feature can place the player in the middle of trouble.

Bombing targets is difficult and the user has to practise dive and low level bombing to complete missions. The default jets are purely 60s technology and have no useful bombing aids.

The planes have simplified radars that are easy to operate, and try to simulate radars of that era; they have a delayed scan, do not always find and lock targets and are subject to ground clutter.

Dogfighting is almost always necessary thanks to the simulated unreliability of the early AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-7 Sparrow, and AIM-4 Falcon – which adds an element of realism. The user will then find themselves in no position to out-turn the enemy MiGs due to the manoeuvrability of the featured US jets, so new tactics must be learnt.

Flying over populated enemy areas the user will be subjected to many types of Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), or the SA-2 soviet Surface to Air Missile (SAM).

[edit] The developer of the series

This series of games is the brain child of Tsuyoshi Kawahito who was the lead developer for some 1990's hits including European Air War (1998). TK is very much on his own in Thirdwire and actually develops the games by hiring a small team to help him out during the development process. Only in 2006 with the release of First Eagles: The Great Air War did TK see his first ever profits since he began Thirdwire in 1999.^[2]