Raptor Down! Version 1.0 5-28-2000 by Bob 'Recluse' Tullman bobtull@interactive.net I. The Mission The Russians have been quietly massing forces on the Finnish border. In a pre-emptive strike, USAF F-22's and F-117's based in Norway struck the Russian airbase at YAVR. One of the F-22 Raptors (MANTA 3-1) was damaged in the raid, and made an emergency landing at the small USMC held Forward Operating Base just over the border in Finland. Russian forces are converging on FOB X-RAY to capture the damaged Raptor, and your 2 Ship Flight of F/A-18E's must intervene and protect the F-22 until a repair crew and spare parts can be ferried in, and the Raptor returned to flight status. Another F/A-18 strike on the remaining air defenses and troop concentration at YAVR will be mounted concurrently with your mission. Be alert for ground and air threats! II. Technical Notes Unzip the mission files RaptorDonw.cmf and RaptorDown-MP.cmf into your \FA18\Missions directory. You may use the custom loadout RaptorDown.lot by unzipping it to your \FA18\Resource directory. The mission RaptorDown.cmf may be played either in Single Player mode or as a co-operative multiplayer mission, with 2 Humans flying the 2 ship formation of Cobra Flight. Rattler flight is available as a BRIEFING GROUP, only so you can check on their effectiveness in the debriefing screens. **DO NOT TRY TO FLY RATTLER FLIGHT IN MULTIPLAYER**** as the takeoff time is delayed. Use RaptorDown-MP.cmf instead. Another version of the mission is also included, RaptorDown-MP.cmf, which has the other Friendly 2 Ship flight (Rattler) available for immediate takeoff. In the single player version, Rattler launches about 10-15 minutes into the mission along with the SEAD escort to strike at YAVR. In the Multiplayer version, the 2 Flights launch together with Cobra and Rattler ingressing together toward their respective targets. You shouldn't try to have human pilots ONLY in RATTLER flight, as the AI is not quite smart enough to complete COBRA Flight's mission on its own. Be sure and read the Detailed Briefing. There are also debriefs, and the detailed Debrief (in the event of failure) has some hints for successful completion of the mission. There are 2 View Sequences during the mission. The first at 9:03 and the other at around 9:23. A short message warns you of each upcoming view. They should occur at relatively boring parts of the mission, so it shouldn't be too disorienting. III. BUGS THAT I KNOW ABOUT If you succeed, the RAPTOR will launch and help you out with any remaining air threats. You may hear the calls MANTA 3-1 ENGAGING BANDITS even BEFORE he launches. This is a bug, and I couldn't seem to do anything about it. Originally, I had Rattler and Python flight set to Refuel, but they hogged the tanker, and I could never get on as COBRA, so I took this out for the AI. Humans flying Rattler in RaptorDown-MP.cmf may tank on the way home. IV. Credits Voices: JSTARS SHARK 2-1: ME! MV-22 UNIFORM 1-1:Cheryl Katz FOB X-RAY/MANTA 3-1: Fred 'Baldeagle' Balding Many thanks to Fred "BaldEagle" Balding, webmaster of the F/A-18 Mission Planning and Tactical Operations web site (http://www.zianet.com/baldeagle) and my multiplayer Test Pilot for his great work, help, friendship and support. V. Version History Version 1.0 5/28/2000: Initial Release VI. Go fly already!!! Bob 'Recluse' Tullman May 28, 2000