homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation DCS World Eno's Firehouse and Crew's Hollo Pointe Server Lounge

2 things:

1) I am listed as AWOL on the original post (how rude!)

2) I can't seem to find the firehouse right now, is it offline?

Well hey I don't remember giving you permission to work for a living. Highly unorthodox behavior if you ask me.

And I went into the server and saw a"can't connect to master" message- wish I had looked earlier. Thanks for mentioning it.


Ill switch your status btw.

I'm going to try another angle to my campaign missions and put in a client based OPFOR that will be mostly aircraft. Ground Commander slots have been incredibly limited in their use and don't do much other than frustrate in all but the most remote of circumstances.

I do hope that people understand that as a mission builder, we've been hampered in what we can trust the AI to do in the absence of a ground commander- and even in the presence of a ground commander. I spent about 14 hours this week just working on my Vive Lost Vega mission and can't even get a convoy to travel in a straight line without half of them getting hung up inside buildings or on bridges... on or offroad.

I'm running out of ideas to generate dynamic content- the missing link is a client based OPFOR. If I do this, I know from experience that the F5 view (closest aircraft) was the source of consternation but the only way to turn that off was to turn off outside views. I know many of us like the eye candy... so I'm not sure how to proceed.

The OPFOR positions would also need to be balanced out appropriately for the mission- I'll add fighters, ground attack and choppers for both sides where appropriate.

Will that help add needed spice to the missions and revitalize the MP aspect? Are guys just getting tired of the same old routine "fly here, bomb stuff, fly home?"

I have found recently my tastes in terms of missions has changed as my combat effectiveness has increased. Different missions bring different aspects of my enjoyment of the sim, so I find replaying them isn't really an issue.

In Grad Ex I like that I can complete the mission solo, and in only two sorties. I find it to be an equally good partner mission - but not one for a group. I prefer each pilot make a sizable and important contribution to the mission's success. In this case, I can fly in only to destroy the sams, my partner can whittle down the base while I RTB and on my flight out and his return we work on the artillery group.

For Back To School my fun comes not from destroying ground targets but being a nuisance to any player joining the red team (Crew..... ) - and the whole point of the Red team in that mission seems to be to act as a nuisance to us on the Blue side. I'd gladly destroy zero ground targets, flying out of the way pouncing on any Red player that dares engage a teammate.

Playing Wart Weasel has been equally good as back to school for the same reason. This mission also requires a bit more of a hunt (without the F10 map like BTS) which is still a good element to have. I've had quite a few tough and exhilarating engagements with SU25s in this mission. Their disruption is almost welcome as it means somebody ought be dedicated to looking out for those sneaky red pilots!

Eastbound and Down, has quite a good hunt and ties in the JTAC role amazingly. Defensive battles I think are the best for this. It matters more that you make things count, by the time someone else could take over for you - it may be too late. Hopefully Gordo is around soon for this! (and on a side note, I really wish as GC I could get a tablet of sorts with a TAD & MSG page from the A-10 to be able to send the data to A-10s - although you can use coordinates from the binoculars.)


My lack of enjoyment however, has more come from the A-10 itself. It can do a variety of things, and do them well of course. It's also enjoyable to fly. However, to change between engagement types - takes too long. Recently, I've learned to use the TGP as an A2A tool, which has helped a lot. Jumping between A2A and A2G or even different forms of A2G (precision weapons vs. say, low level strafing/rockets/dumb bomb runs) requires a long flight back (if you don't get shot down), re-arm, re-fuel and another flight out. If we have different people load out for different things - they spend have the mission doing nothing (waiting or out of targets for their task type). I'd just like to be in something like an F-18 that's more swing-role - and fast. I'm not about to hop in a F15 or Mig to dogfight, I don't want to lose my TGP based precision strikes, but at least then we can all keep more busy!

I'll be fair to acknowledge that I described wishing to do everything at any time, all the time. Is that really too much to ask?

This weekend I learned how to fly the A-10. I'm not terribly useful at the moment, and since I have to play with low textures I can't read any of the switch labels on the left or right panels (the startup sequence is from memory), but at least I can fire mavericks and drop bombs. I tend to be going the opposite way than most of you as far as loadout is concerned. So far I like 6 mavs, sidewinders, jammer (btw recent patch notes say it works against SAMs now), tgp, and 10 GBU-12s.

I'm amazed at how sturdy this airplane is. Here is the result of 4 (possibly 5) SAM hits. This happened earlier today on WC's Nuke Plant mission.




There are no wheels left, but apparently we don't need them anyway. The struts alone work just fine in place of wheels. I'm still working out how to taxi though.

Eh Snipor... many of us started with the traditional "Armageddon" loadout of 6 mavs and 4 97s... but you quickly get tired of exactly how bloated your aircraft behaves... if you want to use the gun, or you want to evade a SAM (hence why that photo was the result of 4 hits) you're going to want to get some of that maneuverability back. It'll take time... or you'll leave it as is...

I mean, there's nothing wrong with it until you want to get somewhere within one calendar year or catch up to a tanker.

I've completed "Georgia Peach Hangars On" and put it up for its maiden flight.


It's a bit of a longer flight in but if you're looking at being sneaky about it you may be busy flying the canyons through the mountains... meanwhile, if anyone fancies the OPFOR we have 4 MiG29S spots...

External views are disabled for this...


There is a time limit to destroy the target MIGS- so either side can win.

I'll never get enough of this:


Last one: Finished.




And the A-10 finished product (well... the Mav is going to be removed but you know what I mena) just because it is so ridiculously full of awesome.

Two C++ stops on Hollo Pointe over the weekend. Both happened after selecting another mission from the server console while in a mission, but the stops came some time later after the switch. This morning I cleaned out the Log folder so if it happens again I have a clean set to post over at DCS. I saw that sniporbob was in the last mission when it stopped as his name was sill listed as in the mission.

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My editing fingers are twitching, and with no horizon for Nevada, I'm churning a new idea. There is this area that I think is a blast to fly in when it is covered over by clouds -- it is south of the Riders ot Storm and Sturm Mountain missions -- a big bowl where the enemy is building a staging area for an assault. There are some good canyons to fly Hueys through to get there, while the A-10s will have to dive down through the clouds. Prolly won't be much in the way of missile air defense, hmmm maybe an SA-6 site up on top of the mountain above the clouds, but it will be mostly AAA and light vehicles.

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OTOH, raven is coming over to my place for a week or so. He loves the Huey so we will dust off some of those missions.

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Wesley -- Back To School I have not flown the Blue side in that one. Too much fun in Red blowing away Mozdok and then harassing the Blue pilots at Beslan. A nod to Grey Ghost re Back To School, a long time ago he'd commented on the A-10 role was to kill enemy armor, not air defense. If the Red A-10s concentrate on the Blue armor at Beslan instead of the air defenses there then the Red ground AI (and GC) should be able to take that base easily.

I've had some fun in it as Red where a bunch of Blue pilots will try to hunt me. Sometimes I can drag them over Red air defenses.

Back To School and iShot The Shilka are meant for the split SimHQ Teamspeak channels for Red and Blue opponents.

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When is the next Fly-In?



WC

Oh I didn't know it had crashed last night. That's funny timing. We completed the nuke plant mission and I quit (or thought I quit) with less than 1 minute until restart. My DCS tends to crash when I exit the game so I thought nothing of it.

I want to see explosions from those outposts, umm I mean outlets.

WC

Crew- this sounds like it's been a bit of an issue for the 104th as well.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2004008#post2004008


On another note the firehouse dropped its internet connect at some point today so I'll get it back up and running with "Hangars On." It'll be first flight, remember, so feedback is handy.

Sweetest --

Your artwork reminds me of the framed pics on my wall here:
Vigilant Eagles & Birds Of Prey by Matthew Waki
Energy Game by Keith Ferris # my favorite

As fast as you did that F/A-18, you could make some bucks. Somebody wants a mural of a screenshot they have...

That talent can go waay beyond this forum. Any game with a contest and a winner and then that person has it on their wall.


Looks great!

WC

I passed that one on Crew... thanks. As mentioned also in the Pig Pen thread, she has been retained by a member over on the ED forums to do a painting for an air force F4 and that has begun. The photo has been chosen and she's prepping the panel as we speak.

I'll share more details if I'm able to- not sure at this point so I need to confirm before I divulge too much. She's really excited about the image chosen (if it means anything, she didn't REALLY like this one of the Super Hornet in this image... but you can see she still pulled it ioff).

Thanks for posting over on Mav's post as well... I suspect you may have stumbled into something that might help them fix a problem. Any way you can recreate your issue?

I'd offer to help, but don't count on me beating Nuke Plant again

Eno, I gave Hangars On a quick test. I couldn't make it anywhere near the hangars in the A-10C haha. I spent about half an hour dragging SA-11s before one of them finally got me, and the entire time I couldn't spot even a single missile launch. I found it extremely frustrating at first, but the frustration gave way to entertainment at the incredible quantity of missiles being lofted my way over the course of that half hour. A normal sane person would probably think someone running SEAD in the 25T is mandatory on this mission. So far I'd rate it ?/10 because I have no idea what's beyond the wall of SAMs.

Yeah... that is definitely one that needs to be run in tandem with SU25Ts. A person might be able to sneak in around the mountains which may need to happen if someone enjoys the MiG29s...


Hangars On will likely be either the first mission of the campaign or one put in randomly... after that mission if the shelters aren't destroyed there will be a fighter threat for the duration of the campaign. If they are destroyed, it will be restricted to Su25/Ts and the Abbies will be without fighters as well. Again, about balance.

I've gone back to every mission in the campaign at this point (technically 13) with 5 overall missions with the total so far being 13 (to account for variable endings). Each of these mission (except the first) has an "overturn" mission where if you meet certain criteria your next mission will be supporting an attack as opposed to thwarting an assault. There are also now version with and without fighter support.

Obviously if there IS fighter support, the blue / abbie side will have some fighter cover as well.



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And btw Wesley- thanks for that feedback. Good to know our regulars have realistic expectations!

Early evening yesterday Hollo Pointe stopped working in Huey Apocalypse -- no C++, just a stop. So I started it up again through TV. This morning it was running fine, and someone had advanced it to Bay Of Hogs through the Radio selections.

So, I went in through TV and did a Select Mission on the server console. We'll see if it throws a C++ error again.

WC

Eno, just failed a sortie in Hangars On. I made it within 38nm of Kutaisi! I was flying extremely high up with a jammer and tons of chaff. I counted at least four missiles detonating around my aircraft without harm and CONSIDERABLY more launches both before and after. How many missiles did I evade? I'd say no more then ten. After my airframe was blown to pieces and fell down to about 10,000ft I ejected just in time for the mission to mock me "You are 30 minutes in and the Mig29's have NOT been destroyed" - a nice touch, pushing the sense of urgency in the mission. 2 hours seems like a lot but the flight is about 100nm so it really isn't. This mission definitely will require a lot of planning between pilots before taking off!

Definitely a mission for a fly-in, hopefully we can get a lot of players coordinated!


Anyone else up to give it a go tonight? We can't leave a new mission uncompleted......

If guys want to I suggest restarting it- you'll want SEAD and fighters whether red gets an opfor or not.

While flying with Einstein we discovered Hangars On will be quite difficult and require more then 6 pilots to complete - I'd say eight.

Two pilots to fly CAP/Fighter Sweep, they will have to fly in to the border of the SAM defenses and draw the enemy Migs out over water or north to engage them. Once this threat is cleared....

Two or Three pilots in SU25Ts bringing in the most SEAD equipment possible.

Three or Four A-10Cs to attack Kutaisi.

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We took A-10Cs over the SAM network over 25,000ft. I took mine up to 28,000ft. Even with all countermeasures taken as chaff (480) - I don't think you'd have enough to ride right through. The jammer did not seem effective to any degree but this could also be due to the density of the air defenses.

Our next attempt was a low approach (about 10,000ft for Einstein in an SU25T and 150ft for me in the A-10C) which was going GREAT until some Migs swept in and took care of us. Both kills were done with IR guided missiles if I recall correctly. The jammer did seem effective vs the Migs, causing them to disappear from RWR briefly.

This makes me wonder if an Su25T could kill an A-10 using a jammer with an ARM......

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Here is a view of my RWR on the low flight, not seen by the horde of Sa-11s - but rather a flight of Mig-29s.


In this shot I turned the separate function for the RWR on so you can see how many there are, individually. Not a good sight to see at all!


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The lack of ability to even make a scratch in this mission has led me to use the coupon I got from my TrackIR5 and purchase FC3 (Which I found out afterwards is now available on steam aswell!). I downloaded DCSW and installed to get FC3 downloaded, copied it to my steam install (could've copied the rest the other way too I suppose) and the steam version recognizes it.

Do I learn the F-15C and help blue team.....or the Mig-29........hmmmm.