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Typhoon
by Geert "Warrior" Vervoort

At the beginning of the campaign, Russian navy units will use beach land crafts to set troops on Iceland territory, assisted by naval attack and support craft. Carriers will be used to send in planes but they will stay out of harm's way so planes will be seen entering and exiting the map; in other words, you will see no carriers. It is up to the player to stop the advance, together with allied ground troops, navy and Air Force units. This means you may get calls from ground commanders requesting close air support (CAS).

C-17 Globemaster by Moonlight

Yes people, finally, Typhoon will feature a FULL ground war that you, as a jet pilot, will surely interact with and which plays a vital part in the outcome of the conflict. So no more just blowing up air defenses, bases and EWR sites. You will do some serious mud-moving. The only things not included are troops. Then again, if you're more of a rock 'n roll pilot, you can choose to rid the skies of anything that has a red star on it.

As Iceland is such a small theatre, Typhoon should be an intense experience; you and the enemy are breathing down each other's neck, so to speak. The enemy will inevitably conquer some terrain and it is of vital importance that you keep him from getting too much---the stronger he gets the weaker you become. Because anything can happen in such a tense environment, Typhoon has an entirely new feature: pilot management.

Typhoon models each pilot separately. Each one has his/her own statistics. For example, while one pilot may be a rookie who excels at dogfights, the other one is a more experienced pilot but only does well in mud-moving missions. I don't know to what extent pilots are modeled individually but you are to keep as many of them alive as you can. This means moving them around the theatre to where they are needed most, but also to keep them alive when doing so. Pilot fatigue is also modeled; have them fly too many missions continually, they will start screwing up.

And this is the tricky part: once you lose a pilot, he is dead and won't return. Whiteford gave me an excellent example of what might happen to a pilot (this example may happen to you as a player too). Say, the plane takes light damage over the ocean close to the Iceland shore. Your primary concern will be to get over Iceland, as soon as possible.

Once there, you're not saved yet. You will have to make it to friendly territory; should you need to eject while still over sea, you may drown or die under the extreme conditions of the North Sea. Either over land or sea, enemy troops may capture you . . . Torture you . . . Kill you. They may even trade you for allied POWs. If you make it back, you may need to recover in a hospital.

 

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