FAQ: VR, Multiplayer, Flyable planes, etc.

[Why485]

How do I pick another plane? What planes are flyable?
Only the AV8B Harrier is flyable in the Early Access release.

Will you add my favorite plane?
The NPC plane list is already decided on. The game will be launching with a pretty straightforward set of late 70s, early 80s tactical jets, and any future expansion of the roster will feature Cold War era aviation. There is no intention to expand into the 90s and beyond.

No, I mean as flyable.
Only the AV8B Harrier is flyable in the Early Access release.

Will there be VR support?
There is no VR support at present, and no plans to add. However, the game does support TrackIR for head tracking.

Can I use a HOTAS?
The game features fully rebindable controls, so you should be able to configure any modern HOTAS.

Can I drive the tanks?
No. There will be ground vehicles doing their own things and getting into their own engagements with each other and you, but ground vehicles cannot be controlled by the player

Does this game have mod support?
Much of the game's data (loadouts, stats for missiles, etc) is stored in simple plaintext JSON files which can be easily viewed and edited, and new models can be added using the Tiny Combat Tools[github.com]. The game also has Steam Workshop support.

Will there be multiplayer?
The game is singleplayer only and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

How realistic will the game be?
​This game is ​not​ a hardcore high fidelity flight simulator. The game draws from realistic mechanics, such a missile energy and a lite-sim flight model, but exaggerated and streamlined to make for better gameplay. Realism is considered where it creates interesting gameplay and mechanics, never just for its own sake. The game controls easy enough that you should be able to pick it up and perform all the basic actions with ease, but have enough depth in mechanics to keep learning new tricks as you play.

Is there a mission editor?
The quick mission builder[cdn.discordapp.com] can be used to quickly put together three types of instant action style missions.

• Free flight: Pick an airfield on the map and explore.
  
• Dogfight: Team vs Team dogfight with options for altitude, situation, and aircraft types.
  
• Strike: Destroy some installation, with options for ground defenses, attacking ground forces, and allied/enemy aircraft.

Will there be clickable cockpits?
The cockpits are not clickable, but they are functional to the extent that their instruments work.

Where can I download the demo?
There is no demo of the game available at this time. If you've come across footage of people playing a "demo", you've probably seen footage of the itch.io game of the same name. That is a different game and not representative of Tiny Combat Arena in its current state.

Will there be a Mac/Linux release?
The game will be released on Steam for PC/Windows. There are no plans for a Mac or Linux release.

Will there be a mobile/Android/iOS release?
No.

Is this game free?
You have to pay for the game to play it. The price is at present $20 USD full price.

Does this game's graphics mean my computer can run this game?
It only means that the graphics specifically are not performance intensive. This does not necessarily lower the minimum requirements because it's still a modern game so it still requires whatever the minimum requirements for Unity desktop with the Universal Render Pipeline is. This also doesn't necessarily mean the game will run well on your computer, because this game will almost assuredly be CPU bound in a way that it would be, even if it had super modern graphics.

Without wide testing, I can't confidently give a CPU/GPU I would consider min-spec. The best I can say is that performance issues are something I am extremely wary of and try my best to prevent issues when possible, and optimize when something expensive must happen.

When can I fly helicopters?
There are no plans to make helicopters player flyable, however there are plans to eventually have them as NPC vehicles.

Will there be a dynamic campaign?
There will not be a dynamic campaign. There is only the Arena mode and Instant Action modes. Closer to release I plan on providing more details on how the Arena mode works.

Will there be a "mouse flight" control where the plane follows the cursor?
As of right now, the only control schemes available are gamepad and joystick (they are technically the same) and a configurable virtual joystick style control with a mouse. There is no third person mouse control system like the game on itch.io. It's not in the game for a few reasons. some technical, some design.

On the technical side: it requires a very specific camera setup that's not how my camera system works right now.

On the design side: It's a system that makes way more sense from third person, not so much in first person. It's not like it can't be used in first person, but I think a lot of the benefits it has are mostly nullified.

Adding such a system in isn't totally off the table, but it's a low priority and there's a good chance it won't be in the game before release.

Why the Harrier?

1. I explicitly didn't want a high speed, high altitude fighter jet because it encourages me to build a game that is just about random dogfights. Picking a plane that explicitly isn't a fighter encourages developing out a "ground war" so to speak, giving context to the game and a purpose for any dogfights that do happen. I.e. they are in service of some kind of conflict on the ground.
   
2. Not being all-powerful in the air makes the player more conscious about avoiding dogfights rather than always looking for a fight. This mindset lets the mechanics of the game (radar, RCS, missile ranges, etc.) shine versus just looking for target boxes to shoot down.
   
3. VTOL opens up interesting gameplay avenues such as short runways, and encourages the player to fly near the ground. It's just super fun to be able to take off and land anywhere, or hover near ground forces to get a closer look at them.
   
4. It's far easier to make the physics for a VTOL plane and then add planes that can't VTOL versus the other way around. If you have a VTOL plane, you can always just add the high speed jet fighter later on, since it requires a subset of game-features already built for a VTOL plane.
   
5. I only wanted one plane because to be frank, constantly adding planes to the game is a big distraction from actually fleshing out the game and building meaningful gameplay. This was one of the things I learned from the itch.io version.
   
6. The AV8B specifically was chosen because it fits all these criteria the best, while also being just on the edge of what I want to add to the game timeline-wise. Frankly it's a hair too new for my tastes, but let's just pretend in this universe the Harrier II flew earlier than the real one (and has a cool prototype small radar). It won't be the only deviation from real history in this game.

What are the usable weapons?
These are the weapons the AV8B has access to:

• AIM-9C
  
• AIM-9L
  
• AIM-82B
  
• AIM-7E
  
• Mk82
  
• Mk20
  
• AGM-65D

How can I follow development?
I post updates in the MicroProse Discord[discord.com], as well as Twitter and YouTube.
I also maintain a Trello board[trello.com] where I post things I will be working on, and have already finished.