I have transitioned to the F-16 simulator found in Lead Pursuit's Falcon 4.0: Allied Force. This is the coolest flight simulator I have ever flown. It has fully functional buttons and knobs throughout the cockpit and comes with extensive instructions on how to operate everything from starting up the jet to navigating around to bombing targets and more. After spending a lot of time getting familiarized with the controls and customizing my HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) for operating this jet, I have begun the basic Balkans campaign. Campaigns are awesome! It is a truly dynamic environment that simulates thousands of objects including infantrymen and tanks. Below is a screen shot of my Falcon enroute to do some tank busting. Here's what I mean by dynamic: there was a pretty sizable force of enemy tanks moving across the map to meet a group of U.S. Marines so I fragged (scheduled) a mission to slow them down. My flight of 4 Falcons used Maverick missiles to knock out about 12 tanks and after the mission there was a noticeable change in that tank battallion's speed of movement. I could send another flight finish off the tanks but I think the Marines supported by Abrams tanks are close enough to finish them off now so I might as well let them have some fun too :-)
The campaign missions are generated by the computer but I can also frag my own missions as long as aircraft are available. This is very cool and sometimes it's just fun to watch the map as the war wages and see all the units move throughout the map. It's a lot of fun and hopefully I'll be able to do at least one mission every night until I win this campaign. Then I'll try the Korean campaign. Fun, fun, fun :-)
