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Electronic Arts/Origin has done it again! Released on June 3, 1996, AH-64D Longbow has got to be the definitive combat helicopter simulator! Since then, there has been very positive responses to the game.
The Apache is one of the most advanced helicopter gunships in service today. In the Panama campaign (1989), Apaches the first to engage the enemy, and paved the way for the US troops to advance. In the recent Gulf War, Apaches were again the first aircrafts to engage and cripple enemy defenses. During one of the nights in the Gulf, bad weather forced all Coalition aircrafts to be grounded, but Apaches flew and engaged the enemy. All told, the Apache gunships are the most versatile, and the most reliable of all attack aircraft in the world today.
This page is "Unofficial" because neither Electronic Arts, Origin nor anyone connected with the development of the product has endorsed this page in any way whatsoever. This page is purely a "fan page", written by a very satisfied customer who has derived many hours of enjoyment from the game. However, that is not to say that no one helped.. 8)
One of the features of the game is that it has over 20,000 square km of geologically accurate terrain maps. In other words, if you find a hill or a mountain in the game, you can find the same mountain existing in real life! Cool huh?
Because helicopters employ low-level flying (NOE or Nap Of Earth flying) tactics, mountains and other natural terrain covers are a godsend. I cannot tell you of the hours I have spent sneaking around behind mountains, popping up to fire off a few Hellfires and dropping down again to hide. Pure excitement!
The game comes with 12 historically accurate missions taken from both the Panamanian and Gulf War, ie Operation Just Cause and Operation Desert Storm. If you think you're a pretty hot-shot pilot, try these missions. I've been blown out of the skies on more than one occasion when playing those historical missions. I have to tell you, I really take my hat off to the real Apache pilots who completed those missions and came back to tell the tale!
The campaign in the game puts you, the pilot, into a near-future scenario. US troops have been sent the Polish/Ukrainian border to keep the peace after a newly-elected President takes over the helm of Ukraine. Like all baddies, this President has ideas of his own, and starts annexing countries around him.
The first few missions will have you doing reconnaisance flights to check out the enemy. This makes it easy for the player to "get a feel" for the campaign before the bullets starts flying. After that, you are launched into a FULL SCALE war, and you are fair game to the enemy!
Also, Wingman commands have been improved, and so has the avionics. With the FPK add-on you now can play 2 positions - Pilot and CPG (Co-pilot/Gunner). The CPG is the guy that sits in the front seat, the one who tells you "Good shot sir! Good shot Sir!" :)
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Medals and Ribbons are awarded to the player whether he plays the Historical missions, single missions or the Baltic Hammer campaign. However, during Historical missions like the Desert Storm or Just Cause, you do not get promoted. The Medals and Ribbons available to the player are presented below:
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Medal Type |
Score Per Mission |
Remarks |
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11,000 |
100,000 Cumulative |
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10,000 |
75,000 Cumulative |
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9,000 |
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8,000 |
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6,000 |
One per 3 missions max. |
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4,000 |
One per 4 missions max. |
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2,000 |
One per 5 missions max. |
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1,000 |
One per 7 missions max. |
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Successful return with 3 or more damaged systems |
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1 Overseas Ribbon in every theatre |
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6 successful missions in Desert Storm |
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Every pilot graduates with this ribbon |
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3 successful missions in Desert Storm or Just Cause, or 5 successful missions in Baltic Hammer |
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3 successful missions in Desert Storm |
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Complete Baltic Hammer Campaign |
Thanks to David J. Martin for providing the information on the Medal requirements, and Will McBurnett, Project Director - Origin Skunkworks for providing the graphics for the medals taken directly from the game itself!
This table shows the ranks and the points needed to get promoted. The points are CUMULATIVE, meaning as soon as you collect enough points, you will get promoted. One hint: try not to re-arm or refuel! Each time you do that your score gets cut.
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Rank |
Name |
Accum. Points Req |
|---|---|---|
| WO1 | Warrant Officer Class 1 | You start out with this |
| CW2 | Chief Warrant Officer Class 2 | 2,000 |
| CW3 | Chief Warrant Officer Class 3 | 6,000 |
| CW4 | Chief Warrant Officer Class 4 | 10,000 |
| CW5 | Chief Warrant Officer Class 5 | 16,000 |
| 2nd Lt | 2nd Lieutenant | 22,000 |
| 1st LT | 1st Lieutenant | 30,000 |
| Capt. | Captain | 40,000 |
| Maj | Major | 75,000 |
| Lt. Col | Lieutenant Colonel | 100,000 |
| Col. | Colonel | 150,000 |
Thanks go to Nicola Giangregorio for posing the above info in the newsgroup comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim
Here are some screenshots taken from games which I have flown. More will be added as and when I feel they will make for good viewing!
To capture your own cool screenshots, hit ALT-PRTSCR when you're ready. If you want to take "out of the cockpit views" make sure you have Vesa 2.0 running or else your shots will come out weird. Get your Vesa 2.0 driver from Sci-Tech, (sorry can't remember the URL offhand), the name of the driver is "Display Doctor".
Well actually I had hoped to make this section into a "War Story" type of thing, but I got a better idea... :)
This section will instead turn into a "video footage" section, where I will show you my RCD files (the flight mission record file). For those who do not know how to turn on the flight recorder, hit ALT-O while you're in the camp compound, before you even go into any missions. Select FLIGHT RECORDER and that's it, you're all set. The next time you fly any mission it will be automatically recorded.
To see my video footage, extract the file(s) into your LONGBOW\RECORDER directory, ie the directory called RECORDER inside your Longbow directory. Once you have done so, enter the game as per normal and select the building that says "View Tapes". You should be able to see my footage.
Point to Note: RCD files (Longbow) cannot be viewed by people who already have applied the Flashpoint Korea Add-On disk to their Longbow game. The file formats are incompatible, according to Origin. They had to revamp this part slightly to fix some problems with the flight recording section of the game.
These are other official and/or unofficial Apache Longbow sites that I know of around the web. If you know of any that are not listed, please let me know so I can include them here. Thanks!
Send your comments to me
