Gunship 2000 rookie guide

This is yet another rookie guide on another of my favorite DOS games. This time comes the turn of...



Although I'll also be mentioning other MicroProse games of the same era (late 1980s, early 1990s. The reason why I've schosen to speak about Gunship 2000, apart from my obvious love for the game, is that it is sort of the pinnacle of middle age* Micro Prose simulators. It builds and improves on the model established by earlier title such as F-19 Stealth Fighter or F-15 Strike Eagle II, a template developed by titans of the genre such as Sid Meier.

* To me, "early" Micro Prose titles are those who had 8-bit versions, while "modern" games would be the few developed for Windows 9X systems.

Like those games, Gunship 2000 has a flexible flight model where the difficulty can be tweaked quite a bit, 3D solid graphics, aleatory missions and several possible geographical scenarios.

Bt it also has a few new tricks under its sleeve, such as dynamic campaigns where the outcome of the previous missions affects the new ones, a varity of helicopters to fly and, especially, a new game mode where you get to lead an entire five helicopters squadron.

There are a few versions of the game floating around. The Amiga and Amiga CD32 versions have richer colors, but less detailed graphics. other than than, they seem to play exactly like the DOS version.

Then there's a PC-98 port that plays at a higher resolution (640x400) but has the problem of being available in Japanese only.

The best way to play Gunship 2000 these days is grabbing the CD-ROM edition (which contains the most up-to-date version the base game, plus the Islands and Ice addon and a mission editor) and DOSBox (or any of their forks). Make sure the cycles option is set to 9600 or less, in order to avoid a bug in the briefing sections of the game.

Make sure to grab the game documentation as well. The reference card is essential, as it contains the flight controls, but the manual is also wroth obtaining. Micro Prose took great care with those, and apart from a great read it is among the finest of its type you'll ever see.

Oh, and one last thing. Micro Prose games of the era were designed to use American keyboards. If your keyboard layout is any other, make sure to type KEYB US before launching the game.

 

The basics

If you've played earlier Micro Prose titles such as F-19 Stealth Fighter, F-15 Strike Eagle II and F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0, all this is going to feel rather familiar.



This screen acts as our main menu. Our first step will be to create a new pilot (click on the duty roster) and choose a scenario (clicking on the world map). Before the army trusts us with its very expensive equipment we need to "get our wings", or becoming warrant officer finishing a training mission.

We leave the room through the door and enter the briefing section of the game. Here we read our mission instructions, choose our realism options and equip our plane:



It's all pretty straightforward, but let's stop for a second at the realism options:



Apart from the usual options, we'll be asked what actions we want to leave to the co-pilot (CP/G CONTROLS). I suggest leaving the co-pilot on charge of countermeasures (they are deployed when an enemy fires missiles against us) and control the WEAPONS ourselves.- and +, which makes more sense.

On the cockpit

We take off by starting the engine (9) and increasing the power, which is done with the ' and ¡ keys by the number row. In an American keyboard tyhose keys are mapped to - and +, which makes more sense. Stop when you reach a bit above 100 feet in altitude.

Now let's plan our route. Unlike previous Micro Prose games, here you are not given waypoints. You need to create them using the map (F10).



Just press F and move the mouse pointer to the nearest objetive. Then press INTRO to finish or SPACE for zoom. When done, press F10 again.

Back in the cockpit, point the helicopter nouse forward and press 5 to use the autopilot. You're now flying towards your objective.

You can use the trip to play with the different camera views (F1 to F9), but you'll probably want to speed up time with the [ and ] keys, or whatever they are those below the throttle keys.

Sooner or later, we'll find enemies.



It's a good time to remember that INTRO cycles among our weapons and SPACE fires them. Oh, and <-- (above INTRO) allows you to choose between targets, if there's more than one in range. Hellfire missiles are a great weapon that can destroy pretty much everything in the game up to 6 Km. away, but you only can carry 8 of them. Rockets give you more shots in exchange of reduced range (around 4 Km.) and manual aim. And finally Stinger and Sidewinder are against flying threats only.

Save your cannon rounds for nearby targets of any type, or if you need to engage several close targets at the same time.

If you press ALT+P with a target in sight, the game will give you a small summary about it:



You can even get external views of targets with F8:



After you're done with your primary and secondary targets, open the map and press B. This will return to your nearest base. Once there, reduce power and switch off your engine with 9 to finish the mission.

If you're a veteran of, say, F-15 Strike Eagle II, you'll notice a few differences here.

You'll be flying much slower and much closer to the ground than in jet simulations. Therefore, it's easier to evade enemies and use the terrain for cover. While you can engage every enemy you find, engagements can end up with your "bird" being damaged. We don't want that.

Also, plan your mission carefully. Sometimes you can find FARPs, allied bases in enemy territory where you can refuel and rearm, but using them is time consuming and can lead you to find more enemies, waste more time and sustain more damage.

Speaking of time, this is also a factor when your superiors rate your mission. Try to finish yor missions in 30 minutes (game time) or less.

And finally, choose the right helicopter for every mission. The Apache is an obvious choice, because it can carry many weapons and sustain lots of damage, but sometimes you'll need to use the Kiowa or the Blackhawk. You can't pick up troops with an Apache! Also, using a lesser helicopter for a dangerous mission is a good way to impress your commanders and, maybe, obtain that promotion that is eluding you.

Oh, and once you finish your mission, you' ll be given the choice to replay the mission film. Not only that. Saving your films allows you to replay the mission in the future!

 

OK, first of all let me admit a mistake I made yesterday: SPACE doesn't fire our weapons nor INTRO cycles through them, it's exactly the other way around.

And now it's time for...

Mission quirks

Of course, it's not the same to fly a combat jet as a combat helicopter, so the missions here are not exactly the same as in other simulations.

Still, many of our missions are going to be "reach these coordinates and blow stuff up". But sooner or later we'll be facing slightly different challenges.

In intercept or search and destroy missions the location of the enemy is not known in detail. You'll have to do some exploring and rise above safe altitude to expand the range of your radar.

The map is very helpful, especially in intercept missions:



If there are roads near the objective, you can bet the enemy will be using them to move. If not, try to guess their whereabouts based on their direction and the time that has passed since the start of the mission.

In search and destroy missions, you'll just have to patrol the areas adjacent to your objective until you find it.

Search and rescue missions are a variation of the search and destroy ones, and the same general rules apply. Just note that you'll need a Blackhawk helicopter and to land very near the person you want to rescue. Even if they are on the water.



Now and then you'll also be asked to pick up / deploy troops or drop cargo in precise coordenates. These missions become easier when you have other helicopters under your command, because a loaded Blackhawk can't carry as much weapons as an empty helicopter. There's a command for dropping your load in the map screen, but I think the only proper way of deploying troops or dropping cargo is landing on the designated areas:



Finally, there are reconnaissance missions, which are fairly simple. You just need to reach the designated area, but you must fly (or have in your team) a Defender or Kiowa helicopter. Otherwise, any data you pick up won't be valid.

 

Let me start by correcting yet another mistake I made in earlier entries. While Gunship 2000 is compatible with the latest version (as of today, v0.74-3), this version has an important flaw regarding sound emulation. When playing Gunship 2000, DOSBox will crash when the player is shot down or runs out of fuel.

So please ignore my previous comments, and use a DOSBox SVN version or any of its forks when playing this game.

This said, let's continue.

Team work

In my opinion, what makes Gunship 2000 stand out from the rest of Micro Prose titles of this era is the option to lead an entire team of helicopters.

After being promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, the player now leads an squadron of five helicopters, himself included:



This greatly improves gameplay, because now the missions get more complex, but also more interesting. We get more deep incursions into enemy territory, fly more search and rescue missions, and sometimes the objectives are deep inside enemy cities!



And you don't even need to be tip of the spear anymore. You can sit in the back, fly a transport helicopter and let the allied AI pilots do the bulk of the job.

The orders you can give to the other helicopters are limited, though. You do that from the map screen (F10) and selecting a particular unit. You can tell them to land (to pick up troops or drop cargo) and to fly to any of your bases. I find this later option very useful, because then you can use the rest of your squadron to clean up the route to the home base or a nearby FARP. If it is a search mission and they see any of the mission objectives along the way, they'll even radio you about it.



And naturally, they'll also engage the enemy, although I've found they are not as quick or thorough as you would be, so careful with that.

But as far as I know, you can't tell a specific unit or units to go to a certain area, which is a pity. That would make many missions easier.

Promotions also have other perks. Like being able to fly the Comanche or the Longbow Apache.

Or having friendly support in some missions. This will take the form of either artillery attacks or jet sorties. Artillery attacks are very useful if you know the exact possition of an enemy objective, and can easily take care of either your primary or secondary obejctives, leaving you to complete the other half of the mission.

Jet sorties are fast, but the damage they'll do to an objective is way smaller. And if you are in the area at the same time, you can even see the jet!

Unfortunately, this also means the enemy also
has jets available. They usually appear in campaign missions, and can be very annoying. Use Sidewinders or cannon fire to get rid of them as fast as possible. Otherwise, they'll keep atacking and using their superior speed to retreat any time you fire at them.



After you finish a team mission, you'll be able to review the rest of your squadron. Depending on their performance, the game will suggest decorations for some of them. Although you can object to these, I never saw any reason to do it. And yes, your team will also get more efficient after every mission. So be nice to them.



This pretty much concludes my rookie guide on this game.