Enemy Engaged Comanche vs. Hokum

FlyingSinger reported:

"I loaded up EECH which won't run on my desktop (dunno why). But on the Dell notebook, it works great! Good graphics and frame rate at 1024 on medium complexity. And the Gravis gamepad is a great mini-controller for it: pedals on the right joystick, cyclic on the left, collective on left up/down trigger buttons, other buttons for weapons and radar etc. Very nice, and the graphics are impressive in EECH, as you have reported. Impressive overall, actually, though I'm very rusty in helo control.

I noticed a template for changing the faces, and I couldn't resist. I used Paintshop Pro to distort my face (old photo with moustache) onto a cylinder (to stretch it almost like their sample) then save it in the required size and form. Not exactly the right mapping, but close, and it gives me a suitably crazed look, something like the Joker in Batman... check it out! It's spooky to use the Control-F11 views and watch my avatar glance around with that pasted-on grin!

This is a fun sim and it may take the place of F4 as a modern combat sim for the road (CFS2 works well, and now IPT6, so I have some good sim flight options now when I travel with the Dell).

I really like EECH, even though I'm still at the stage of tooling around the desert with unlimited weapons and indestructable as I try to re-master the art of flying low in a helicopter. I dug out my Longbow strategy guide from 1996, and it has some tips that are useful in EECH. It also has some of my campaign notes from 96-97 when I was really into Longbow. I must have been OK flying the Longbow although some of the campaign missions took 4 or 5 tries even with the strategy guide!

I love how the Control-F11 view follows your motions on the controls, and when you turn on the autopilot, the pilot just puts his hands on his lap and looks around at the pretty scenery. Actually I think it's backwards because my face is in the front cockpit, which is really the CP/G seat -- whatever! Here's another snap..

(I think I have the face too high on the grid so the moustache is mapped over the bump for the nose, giving me a rather Bart Simpson look, especially in views from lower angles). Hey, the backseat guy looks WAY too serious, but I'll fix THAT...

Now THAT'S more like it! A couple of wise guys out to shoot up some camels in their multi-million-dollar gunship!

I decided to take the face template they supply and see if I could get me to look more like me. Lining up the nose and eye positions, it actually looks something like me! He's got my nose all right! Of course the side of the head and hairline are kinda funky (overzealous with the air brush).

It is very strange yet cool somehow. Flip through the MFD's with crew view, and they reach for switches and their MFD's change! Yikes. Talk about spooky.

OK, I'm all right now. Really doctor, I can distinguish reality from fantasy... usually. Now if I could only get my avatar's waistline - and flight hours!