uhoh7

Switch to Manual. I now do this as a matter of course in all situations. YOu can fire two vikhrs regardless of firing mode, just press fire again. You can also hit targets reliablly out to at least 9km, if you have a 'TA". ALso you don't have to wait for the circles to be perfect, if your nose is anywhere close it will work.

2 new SP missions in the Switchback series. These are meant to follow Orkhivi, which presumes a defeat in the initial "Switchback" mission. Argveta Yesterday, in Orkhivi, we held the Russians west of Lake Terjoli by blocking the direct routes to Kutasi. The Russians resupplied their forces at Lake Terjoli during the night, and this morning they moved south down the pass road in overwhelming strength. Below Lake Terjoli this route branches into 4 roads, all heading south to the main highway from Kutasi to Tiblisi, which runs east-west in a huge valley. At this moment, Wolfpack and Hounddog have left their defensive positions below Lake Terjoli, and are retreating south toward the main highway. Their route is not yet clear. For reference we have designated the roads as 1 through 4, with road one on the west, closest to Kutasi. Whether the Russians intend to consolidate below the lake or move immediately to the main highway is also not clear, but we can expect the latter. Gazelle, our Leopard reserves in Kutasi are in route to the intersection of road 1 and the main highway, in order to hold the Russians in the event they plan to move directly on the city. Farp 2 is located near the base of road 3 and is ready for rearming. Your mission is to 1) support Gazelle and be sure the approaches to Kutasi are secure, and 2) to support the retreat and regrouping of Wolfpack and Hounddog. Weather is clear and calm, we expect intense air activity. Wolfpack, our Leopard tank battalion Hounddog, Georgian MRB, with American equipment. Hippo, artillery. Croc, MI24 CAS Harvest, F5E CAS Overlord, SU17 CAS While I'm not using more units than other missions in argveta, FPS may be an issue. I think it has to do with the map in this location--I have set the mission at high noon in clear weather to help, but you may need to turn down some settings. v2: One russian ka50 was empty, added a few comms. ZESTAFONI The Russian advance into Georgia, via Oni and Lake Terjoli, continues, and the situation is now desperate. Yesterday the Russian came down to the south from Lake Terjoli in heavy force (Argveta). While we have so far held the approach to Kutasi, to the west, our forces have been routed from the approaches to the lake and have now regrouped at the town of Zestafoni. Our front is concentrated to the south of the river running through the town. The road to Tiblisi will be wide open if we cannot hold here. A major weather front has moved in, with high winds and heavy overcast, complicating intelligence. Your mission is CAS for our front line. Proceed from your FARP to FARP2 just south of Zestafoni, and hold for an update from control. Wolfpack, our Leopard tank battalion reinforced with Georgian units. Hippo, artillery above Zestafoni. Roughshod, SU25T air support. Croc, Gerogian MI24 air support. If you can hold the Russians north of the river at Zestafoni, you have won the mission. You may have slow FPS at takeoff, but this should improve as you move into position, below the cloud layer. Both of these missions are quite "winable", though it may take you a few tries. zestafoni1.miz argveta2.miz

Put a farp ANYWHERE: Stumbled on this by accident. Usually you get the "Terrain is too steep" warning on much of the map. Pick your country, choose static objects, ground vehicles, place it whereever (the relief shading and lines are inaccurate, I use mouse alt), then change it to a heliport. You can't drag it once it's placed, but it's there.

Dart made some great labels, search in MODs, I made a post there. They are short and don't appear till you are within 4k. They will help you train to stop using any. Zooming works pretty good, unless they are really hidden. In that case send you wingman ahead to recon and download his data to your abris.

Ditto on that. For myself, I have a greatly enhanced apreciation of Wags' work on the GOW, after some initial frustration, hehe. Right now there's a small core turning out new missions. My hope is that many more will become involved. If that happens this sim will thrive. As WAGS knows better than anyone, making an interesting mission takes some time. But once you get into it, things go faster and the results improve. One thing I think will encourage mission makers is more feedback from players--- it doesn't have to be technical critique (though those are fine), but sharing experiences from missions is rewarding to designers and encourages gameplay in general. Once we have a larger number of mission creators, ED could present a scenario and order of battle and invite missions based on that scenerio---you might have a new campaign in no time. With Turkey included there would be opportunites to play on either side. This would open up MP possiblites for the scenario. If a culture of content creation and feedback can be created, we all win. all the best,

Next SWITCHBACK SP mission, designed to follow the ACHARA night mission. TSESI Our night attacks on the Russian Forces cutoff in the western valleys have delayed their efforts to reestablish supply lines with Oni for several hours. Intel reports that sometime around 2am MI26 helicopters managed to supply these forces with bridging materials, fuel and ammunition. In the meantime we have brought in additional forces for our bridgehead at Ambrolauri. It is now 7am and the moment of truth is at hand. Spotters report Russian scouts with BMPs have been seen only a few kilometers to the east, probing from Oni. Our perimeters east and west are now in place and we expect a simultaneous attack shortly. Your FARP in Ambrolauri is highly exposed, but we have another just below Shaori Lake up and running. MI24 gunships were sighted refueling at Oni 30 minutes ago. There is one crucial bridge 7KM towards Oni which, if blocked, could prevent the Russians from hitting us from both sides at once, but it is protected by manpads and possibly soon by approaching Hinds as well. Your waypoint 2 on the ABRIS, is a position from which you may be able to fire on the bridge, but you may be able to find a better one once you are up. The eastern perimeter is guarded by a chokepoint where the canyon narrows. To the west, the valley is wider and we expect the Russians to throw everything they have from the forces which have been cutoff at our perimeter. You can expect comms when the attack begins. The fixed-wing air enviorment is extremely dangerous and there has been heavy attrition on boths sides in the past 24 hours. Roughshod, one brave Georgian SU25T is standing by for CAS. The western Russian forces have had their Strelas rearmed, and of course their BMPs will fire ATGMs at any helicopter they spot. Our goal is simple: HOLD AMBROLAURI! v2 MRLS was stopping one western column, and one reserve column was getting stuck by the river. tsesi2.miz

This would be a great feature and I think would really set the stage for greater growth online and in the marketplace. Thanks so much for your participation in the discussion.

You can do so much with the ME right now, it's incredible. In the one I'm working on now, one perimeter is attacked by some very strong T80 platoons. As they get closer they hit trigger zones which spawn MRLS to fire on their positions---spectacular, and you get a message "This is wolfpack, we need a fire mission..etc." Once they overrun the perimeter the reserves are spawned to try and stop them again, another message. A single AI unit is dumb, but you get groups going and it's pretty impressive. I thought this mission was unwinable---there's a bunch of stuff to deal with, but after my last test, I finnaly figured out how to stop the bastards. It's my six or seventh test flight and it's never gone the same way twice. There are many things the ME won't do---those are not important (though some of the patch features will be great) What's important is figuring out how to use the tools we DO have to get a battlefield atmosphere going. In a good mission you never feel like you are shooting fish in a barrel, unless you are mopping up, hehe. The comms are crucial for immersion, I should use voice but i just do a short static and the message cause it's alot faster. When the Hinds are inbound I push them thorugh a trigger and the spotter calls to you. And the Hind AI is not that dumb, and many tweaks yo can do. IF they are getting killed to soon I add more, if they are too bad ass I drop some manpads. It's 6 hours at least to make a good one. But it is pretty fun, and I hope more guys will get into making them, cause thats the key.

It all comes down to the content. The sim will live or die on the missions that we make for it and share. One good mission...you will play it 5 or six times, then you will need something new. For all the imperfections the ingredients are already in place for fantastic missions. Once you get familiar with the ME it takes about 5 or six hours to get one working well, but it's worth it. All I can say is if you are bored, make something interesting.

I have a FARP spawn in "Kochara". At first I couldn't figure out what to do about the tent. Then I realised nobody will shoot at the tent. So the FARP and the tent are sitting there (in hostile territory), then when you kill the bad guys, the support vehicles spawn. Farps take less than a minute to set up if you have a template-- I use 60m because it puts the vehicles on the pad. I even make the tent a template, becasue it's faster than the clicks and scrolls to find it each time. The russian template has 9 vehicles + tent, the turkey one only takes five. all the best

Again, I agree the AI needs improvement. However: A single unit sitting there is pretty dumb, no doubt. What makes the ground units come alive are several factors: 1) movement. first the default speed is only 20km, turn it up. If a unit needs to be sitting there, then trigger some troops to run away when it gets hit. 2) unit composition. How you mix your columns is everything. BMP2s, BMD1s will both fire AGTMs at helis and they will hit you if you don't move. There are two strelas: each quite different in how they react. List goes on and on. 3) terrain. you pick your terrain right and those fish won't be so easy to get. 4) triggers. You don't have triggers, you don't have a mission. I know my AI might get stuck on a road cause it's narrow, I trigger a clone just past the choke point to spawn if they don't make it. When a column closes on a position it can trigger a fire mission on one or both sides. You do it right you have a very lively battlefield and a very high workload in the blackshark.

I hope you post up that mission!

My first night mission! Follows victory (or tearing your hair out) at Ambrolauri Achara Late this afternoon our combined Georgian and Turkish forces followed the bloody victory at Lake Sharoi and took Ambrolauri, the ancient village on the Rioni river below Oni, where the Russians entered Georgia from South Ossetia two days ago. As night fell, intel reports at least one tank Battalion of the 205th Russian MRB is now cutoff in the valleys between Ambrolauri and the city of Kutasi. Our fortification of Ambrolauri continues, but we need time to prepare for the Russian efforts to restore their link with Oni. Local reports indicate the tank columns have turned around and are headed back from the valleys below. If we cannot stop them it is unlikely that Ambrolauri can hold against simultaneous attacks from Oni and the lower Valleys. Every minute we delay the advance of the battalion below they grow weaker, and our bridgehead grows stronger. Intel has just identified two key bridges below. If we can destroy them, the Russians will be delayed 6 hours at least, possibly an entire day. Your mission is to take out these bridges, targets 1 & 2 on your PVI-800. Your key waypoints are 4 and 7. You must hit these waypoints exactly. Both are protected firing positions on the bridges, and we have FAC in place, Dingo on bridge one and Popeye on bridge two. Use the valleys and ridges to hide your presence in route. Lynx one will provide illumination at bridge 1 and Lynx two will do the same at bridge 2. In addition Wildcat and Ripsaw will attack any sighted Russian forces during each attack, and attempt to draw fire. The firing postions are about 3km from the bridges and we advise you shoot from that distance, but if you can’t hit them, you will have to run in. Be sure to wait for the flares. Wolfpack, our tank battalion at Ambrolauri, where your farp is located. Dingo and Popeye, FAC Lynx one and two, SU25s to provide illumination. Wildcat and Ripsaw, F16s for CAS. v3 a number of small tweaks. You should see less studder at waypoint four and seven---flares may come a bit sooner. It's quite something to see the stars and the windows in the mountain cabins twinkling in the NVG, and the tight valleys will keep you wide awake. If you get both bridges and return alive, you've won. achara3.miz

OK I'm not crazy then, TY sir. Maybe the patch will fix that..... all the best, uhoh7

No doubt the AI needs work, but of course some of what you sugggest can already be done by the mission designer, e.g. The death of a particular unit can trigger artillery targeted whereever, as well as air support. Even with what we have now, a good mission designer can give the feeling of a living enemy.

I'm sure this has been reported, but flares droped form SU25s do not show on the TV screen..... OOPS now they do, sorry. all the best uhoh7

I want to use this feature in the ME, you get IFX point on the abris. However it seems like the locations are different on the map and later in the abris? I remember reading something about the map being "flat" Is that what's going on? TY sirs PS I did try searching...

Next Switchback SP mission: Meant to follow a victory (or extreme frustration) in Shaori AMBROLAURI This morning we took the hamlet on the north end of Shaori Lake in heavy fighting. This afternoon, we will seek to capitalize and catch the Russians before they can consolidate at Ambrolauri, the ancient village on the Rioni river just north and below us. Wolfpack will approach on the narrow road down the valley and if we are caught there, it’s all over. Latest intel reports at least 3 T80s guarding the southern approach, with several BMPs. You need to get down there, find a firing position, and take them out before they can fire on Wolfpack. If we can take Ambrolauri, all Russian forces to the east will be cutoff from the main bridgehead at Oni. Once we have the town we will be able to stage an assault on Oni and throw them back into South Ossetia. Wolfpack will provide FAC and Straycat is now orbiting. Your wingman is down, so do not waste your missles. Once again your role is crucial. STRAYCAT SU25T standing by. WOLFPACK main attack column ZEBRA ground troops waiting to occupy village. Below, still paranoid about the strela over the ridge, you can see my signature 619 flare pattern, both banks, as I line up on the Hind.....like a white tarantula, hehe. Quite a sweet location, I really enjoy this one. Ambrolauri1.miz

CP SKP-11 command post, GPU APA-50 or GPU APA-80 for electrical power ATMZ-5, ATZ-10, Transport URAL-375 or FARP Fuel Depot for refueling URAL-375 transport or FARP Ammo Dump for rearming UAZ-469, URAL-4320-31, URAL-4320T, ZIL-131 KUNG, KAMAZ, and FARP TENT for aircraft repair. Repairs take 3 minutes after rotors stop. Be sure the heliport is from the same country as the heli. You need ALL that stuff, unless you see OR. Your list is missing a bunch of it. That means 2 375s, both fuel trucks etc. Farp tent. All about 60m or less from the T. I just made a template, then all I need to add is a tent. Hope that helps.

no touch and go, but if you set a few to "takeoff from parking" one to "take off from runway" and have one or two spawn in the air with one landing waypoint, then put some vehicles driving near your chopper, maybe some soldiers walking about, you will have it. In your testing you can check FPS, that stuff alone won't bother a strong system. It's funny what bothers FPS, I gained some in one mission just by taking out the pretty comm and ammo bunkers--they seem to eat some or did in that mission.

this is the kind of thing alot of users love, pics of the studio and the crew, with some personal stuff about what they like to do etc.

I'm looking forward to hearing how you guys like the various missions. Feel free to tweak them in anyway you like. To really make a campaign that uses the campaign system in DCS I think I'd need another 10 missions in the Abkhaz scenerio but if you would like to set them up that way, go for it. You can play them in MP with a few simple changes to the player flight--- I think some guys are using contain ukraine now. They could use some maps, and of course many other small touches-- targets in the abris etc. IF you manage to live through any of them, you are doing very well. The emphasis is on flying in chaotic situations, not the carefully planned sort of thing a nato type scenario like Mbot's great missions present, but, hot-headed scenarios like the georgian war, where emotion trumps preperation, and the results are not pretty, hehe. You have the feeling of being overrun quite a bit, and in many of the missions if you don't stop the other side pretty fast, you will be. To acomplish that the work load is high. On top of that some have some real weather challanges. Foothold is challanging, and Kochara is out of hand weatherwise. If you stick with them you get good at dealing with enemy helos and dodging those BMP missles--that's for sure. One real eye-opener is the research i did on Google earth, where you can see thousands of local photos if you have panoramio enabled. The pictures from abkhazia today will drop your jaws. Sukhumi is a real mess--- you can see the war damage at the harbour and the photos of buildings shot to pieces and over grown public parks are wild. I wish ED had populated the map just a bit further east, to include South Oseetia and Gori and the Roki tunnel. I realised a few days ago, that in Orkhvi, I have the russians shelling Gelati, a unesco historical site where David the builder is buried. Monte Casino all over again. And those little villages high in the mountains with their little thousand year old towers cowering under 16,000 ft peaks---well that place is gorgeous.

Next in the switchback series, this mission follows a victory in Switchback, while Orkhivi, above, follows a defeat. Shaori Yesterday we stopped the Russian onslaught at Tkibuli. As darkness fell, we consolidated at the hamlet halfway up Lake Shaori. During the night the Russians moved forward again and we believe they have scouts in the Villiage at the north end of the lake. Wolfpack will advance on these positions shortly, with your support. The skies have cleared and we will have two flights of F16s, one for ground attack and the other for CAP. We expect Russian air activity. Wolfpack, primary attack column. Lancer, MRLS fire support. Viperone F16 ground attack. Snakeoil F16 CAP. Good Luck. If only I could spell.... shaori1.miz

Another very nice mission Mbot, great object placement. The bunkers look great too. I have been wondering how to simulate entrenched positions, and you have done a superb job n this mission. My only minor critique is to suggest you alter your voice so a player gets the feel of different people on the radio. Thanks so much.

I'll bite the bullet.