Fleet Defender: The F-14 Tomcat Simulation

One of the most important 90's flight-sims, created by one of the most important 90's flight-sim studios. F-14:FD is a study sim of said bird, with moderate-to-high complexity, particularly in the AWG-9 radar modelling and carrier landings. It was one of the benchmark simulations of its day (hard to believe that was 20 years ago as of this writing... where does the time go?) and while the sim's graphics are certainly a smeary, muddy 320x200 mess, the underlying game still holds up well. There's a campaign mode (blow the filthy Commie Scum out of the North Atlantic), scramble (quick mission builder) mode, and even a full mission builder. Some caveats: first, this is a DOS game, running under DOSBox. I'm not sure if Night Dive Studios made any additional modifcations to the sim other than DOSBox settings, but I know from past experience that FD behaves well under DOSBox so there isn't any problem there. Still, you'll need to understand and futz with DOSBox settings if you want your joystick throttle to work. Second: this is a complex simulation, not a kick-the-tires-and-light-the-fires kind of deal. You will want to read the (hefty) game manual, and you need to understand that you're taking the role of TWO people in the Tomcat -- both the pilot and the RIO. The workload wasn't everyone's bag of tea even back in the 90's, when simheads were two-fisted men of iron and tobacco spit. So should you, the reader, buy this game? YES if you are deeply interested in how the (now-retired) Tomcat worked and fought, and don't mind aged (yet somehow still compelling) graphics. There will probably never be a better Turkey sim than this one. NO if ancient textured polygons bother you, or you're not interested in a simulation more complex than War Thunder. Or are an Eagle pilot, which means you have other problems that nobody can help you with :)

Ahh the memories. Hard to believe this was state of the art but for its' day it was and still is a fun game. Now if only someone would put Jane's FA18 and F15 on Steam in playable shape ...

The question you first need to ask yourself is: Why should I confront my eyes with a resolution of 320x200 for hours? The answer is: - You fly the Grumman F-14B Tomcat - You feel like being in Top Gun as both Maverick and Goose flying with Icemen on your side. - You can switch seats between the pilot and the radar intercept officer (RIO) - Accurately modeled avionics and weapons - Complex AWG-9 radar (adjustable to make it simpler if needed) - A big manual written by a F-14 pilot - Lot's of training missions like (radar training: Identify formations, headons against different fighters etc.) - 6 campaigns - Good atmosphere which recent titles struggle to deliver - And ofcourse: Cold War gone hot The bad points: - The graphics are a low resolution texture-mess to be honest. - The outside view is jerking around planes when panning. - The AI wingman has some strange flight physics.. jerking around too when in formation (but it's acceptable) - A bit DOSBOX knowledge is needed to configure the game properly. - For whatever reason, this sim is not directly sold as the "Gold"-version, but it is with it's two extra campaigns and the videos => See damson's video uploads in the community hub (guides). Final word: If you don't care about the graphics, you will get rewarded a full sim which isn't far away from titles like ex-"Lock On" Flaming Cliffs 3. This sim expects you to throw some time into it and learn how to operate the F-14B efficiently and keep your situational awareness up, which can be quite hard at the beginning. Additional stuff: ### DOSBOX - If you have a 3D Joystick (example Thrustmaster 16000M) you will need to edit the "STEAMFOLDER\common\Fleet Defender\dosbox_windows\dosbox_fleetdefender.conf" file with an editor: joysticktype=fcs timed=false autofire=false swap34=true buttonwrap=false Buttonwrap not experimented with yet. "swap34" means to swap the 3rd axis with the 4th since most games have them setup like 1234 instead of 1243, having the slider for rudder and the Z axis for throttle-inputs. - While ingame, press STRG/CTRL F12 to cycle up the CPU thus making the game faster and STRG/CTRL F11 to cycle down. ### Important additional information / Errors within the manual and documentation Not all manuals are without mistakes. This site corrects lots of stuff which the manual explains simply wrong. It's important that you crosscheck what you have read in the manual with this website: http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/issue18/misc/f-14.html If you like Fleet Defender you should try...: - Digital Integration Tornado & Operation Desert Storm (PA-200 Tornado) (videos in my channels available too!) - Spectrum Holobyte's Falcon 3.0 Gold (F-16C Fighting Falcon) - Microprose's Strike Eagle III (F-15E Strike Eagle)

It is a serious simulator(the manual is inlcuded, it has 123 pages), and I am sure that at that time it was mindblowing. Sadly I was born only 7 days before the release, so I didn't get a chance to enjoy it until now. It is a great sim and even today you can get quite a bit of entertaining out of it, while you wait for Leatherneck Simulations to release the F-14 for DCS :P A couple of things you should know. This is abandonware, that means that the company that did this doesn't exist anymore(in fact it doesn't exist since 1999). So that means there is no support and that you can get this for free on most abandonware pages, and run it with DosBox. Yes, the Steam version also runs with DosBox, and also allows you to run it with JukeBox. Second thing is that if you don't have a US keyboard you are going to have problems with a couple of functions, like the throttle or switching to the RIO seat. There is a fix for this: editing the DosBox config file inside the game folder, line 232, change from "keyboardlayout=auto" "to keyboardlayout=us" and setting your windows keyboard to US, that way you can get it working. Considering those 2 things mentioned, 7€ is overpriced, I wouldn't pay that much for an abandonware that has problems with non-US keyboards. The good thing is that these games go on sale very often and you can get it for a 75% or 90% disctount, in that case, you should get it. Having it on Steam instead of in a dosfile downloaded from a webpage gives you a guarantee that as long Steam is alive, you will be able to play this without depending on abandonware websites or torrents

I remember when this game was released I was in high school fascinated with airplanes in general and Tomcats in particular. The game was a must for me if only for the single reason that F-14 was the main hero here. But I was not able to adequately appreciate the game back in those days. I took it as just next flight sim out there (I remind you those were the days when you could have had three flight sims for a penny) just with a lovely F-14 models. When I bought it as a re-release from steam I learned how much I had been missing. Although the game could use better gfx (models aren't very detailed I must admit; the tomcats are "boosted" with pretty detailed textures but opponents' looks just suck), the whole experience of "weapon delivery platform", as the manual says, is unsurpassed. It's not a simple dogfight sim (although it can be played as such in Scramble mode). It's a simulator of a much more complicated concept - an interceptor pair. Most fun for me in this game comes from working as both pilot and - often overlooked in other games featuring F-14 - RIO (Radar Intercept Officer). The game features a very good simulation of AWG-9 radar and targeting system and puts you in charge of operating it to seek and destroy your targets. Of course, you may set your difficulity level to simple and just fly around and shoot your missiles (or even turn on training mode, reload your missiles in mid air and play a "fighter gunboat" ;->) but you'll miss half of the fun. The better half. I only wish someone would release similar game nowadays using full potential of conteporary computers. (Oh, and don't mind my 0,7 hours played - I copied the game out and run it with dosbox on my linux laptop :-D)

A neat classic flight sim, surprisingly detailed for it's age. Good fun for a bit.

[h1] I don't know what's the deal with this game but appears that some people love it while some hate it. For me it's not that great. Plenty of different jets to choose from. Equipment highly customizable. Visuals pixelated but sprites are good. Controls are not the best and spread across whole keyboard with multum of functions like ejecting flares, chaff, droping hook or wheels and some more. Missions might appear a bit tedious to play. Overall made for flight sim enthusiasts only. [/h1]

30年前的模拟飞行游戏 有些复杂，比较适合收藏吧

To the best of my knowlidge, this remains the first and only F-14 Tomcat simulator meant to give the full experience of flying the F-14 in combat. I beleive there are some F-14s for FSX or other civilian flight sims that do a very good job, better than this simulator, of portraying the experience of flying the F-14 from the pilot's seat, but I don't think they model weapons systems. (NOTE: Since writing this review I have become aware of and purchased the DCS: F-14 module produced by Heatblur. The DCS F-14 has a MUCH better flight model, much more realistic cockpit and radar, etc, etc, etc, but it's also decades newer and far more expensive. It's a great sim, and I suggest it for any F-14 enthusiast wanting the most realistic experience. Fleet Defender, however, still holds up very well as a retro-sim!) The learning curve on this simulator, as with other study sims of it's day like Falcon 3.0 and it's Hornet and MIG-29 addons, is steep for those not used to combat flight sims of this era. Having said that, once you learn how to fly the jet and work it's systems, it's a rewarding experience. This game comes well ported for modern Windows via DOSBox. Please search the forums/community for information on how to enable the digitized speech. I wish to point out a few oddities, for those who may play: 1. The AIM-54 Phoenix will only guide to a target if you first "Designate" a target when launching from TWS or go to Single Target Track. 2. Enemy weapons loads are frequently just plain wrong. Expect to encounter modern enemy aircraft either carrying more or longer range AAMs than they should (Like MiG-29 carying 4x AA-10 Alamo missiles when the real jet can only carry two), or strangely outdated weapons (Like AA-2 Atoll missiles on the MiG-29), or guns on normally gunless aircraft.

After almost 30 years, it is still the best F-14 Tomcat sim. DCS World's F-14 definitely looks amazing, and is a more thorough simulation naturally, but it lacks the fun and immersive feeling of Fleet Defender. A flight sim veteran can browse the manual and key reference charts, and be up and fighting within minutes. I hadn't played this game since probably 1995, but I did exactly what I just described. Feels like I jumped back in where I left off 3 decades ago. What makes Fleet Defender shine, are the campaigns and squadrons. While not dynamic, the campaigns will change based on whether you succeed or fail. When pilots and planes are lost, they are gone. Lose enough planes and crews, and it is game over. All the pilots and RIOs are named, have callsigns, and get promoted/earn medals just like you. You are part of a larger conflict going on. You'll escort strike packages, fly alongside your sister Tomcat squadron, among other things. You never feel like you're alone in a vacuum. I have a few minor complaints about the game. Sometimes the mission goal is simply to just stay aloft for 20 minutes. You do get to fight, but generally that's over in the first 5-10 minutes, so you spend the remainder of the time waiting for the invisible clock to run out. Quit before the 20 minutes are up, and even if you shot every enemy out of the sky first, you'll still fail the mission and risk your campaign. Not exactly fun, but in some ways it makes it feel a bit more authentic, as in real life you'd be spending the vast majority of your time tooling around and not shooting. Other missions require you to wait for helicopters or something to extract troops. Fair enough, but you have too few updates on what is going on. You'll get a little message saying they're heading for extraction or something, then you wait several minutes wondering what is going on. I waited what felt like ages, quit, and realized they hadn't finished yet, so I failed. Would be nice if there was some way you could check mission goal status. Overall it is a good game. If you can get past the 1994 graphics, there's still no better F-14 sim. Pretty sure this was the last flight sim where I could actually immerse myself into it and sort of feel like I was a pilot involved with a squadron at war. I've bought or played most combat flight sims since then, and nothing has ever come close since. As sims grew more advanced with prettier graphics, more realistic simulations, focus on multiplayer etc, they lost sight of what made these older games actually fun to play. Would love to see a return of the immersive, single player flight sims with campaigns, squadron management etc, but I don't ever see that happening again. This is a true gem, and a time capsule back to a golden age of flight simming.