Bunyap

Ok, it took several tries but I was able to reproduce it. There is something going on with reduced takeoff performance if an AI P-51 stops for an extended period of time while taxiing. I'm working with ED to get this resolved as we speak. Thanks so much for the report! I have flown these so many times I just motor straight to the runway without giving the AI an opportunity to stop. I would have never noticed it.

To clarify, it was your actual wingman, as in #2? I have never seen that happen but I can try to reproduce it.

Hi Resonance84, that is the way it works for now. The train targets, and unfortunately there will not be many of them until the developers finish the rail system, are just static objects. They are not scored in any way.

Yeah, absolutely. The campaign update before this one added a few different units but there are definitely more options now. I particularly want to add the Sd.Kfz.251 halftrack in a few places so there can be ground fire other than the 20mm flak guns. The targets will get a re-vamp the next time I go through the missions to update them.

Bombs and drop tanks were introduced last month in an update to the Spitfire and those features have been added to the campaign missions wherever appropriate. This will be most noticeable on mission 2 and 12. Those are now dive bombing missions as they were originally intended. These procedures are paraphrased from a manual in use at the time and are included in the briefings: Releasing bombs from a 45 - 60 degree dive is the preferred method due to increased accuracy and less vulnerability to flak. The approach to the target is made at an airspeed of 220 - 230 mph managing the aircraft so the final alignment with the target is directly into the wind. At the moment the target is hidden beneath the wing on a line about one third of the way to the wingtip, make a gentle descending turn in the direction of the target. Regulate the rate of the turn to ensure the target is always in view. Align with the target and increase the dive angle to 45 - 60 degrees. Do not allow excessive speed to build up. This reduces the time available for aiming and could make aircraft control more difficult, especially when pulling out of the dive. Release the bombs at an altitude no lower than 3,000 feet above ground level. This allows you to pull out of the dive before entering the bomb’s fragmentation zone and to avoid most ground fire from enemy positions in the area. Depart the target at high speed in order to stay clear of enemy flak. Only climb to rejoin the formation after having travelled some distance. These tactics were emphasized in memos like this from late May: The records for Normandy Spitfire dive bombing missions, without exception, show aircraft diving from 8,000 feet above the target and releasing at 3,000 feet. There is no rule against trying new things and different tactics here, but that is a pretty good place to start if surviving the mission is important to you. Also, it is very important you use the proper command to have your squadron strike the correct target. It is all explained in the briefing but, as a reminder, engage 'primary and rejoin' will ensure they strike the planned target every time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This update also includes drop tanks where appropriate but that is mainly for AI flights flying over from England. In general, all Spitfire missions launching from England carried a drop tank of some type. By May/June 44 it was almost exclusively the 44 gallon cylindrical tank, the same tank used on the Hurricane and Typhoon, adapted for the Spitfire IX, and pictured here: There were also the three sizes of 'slipper' tanks that could be mounted but from what I can tell they were rarely used by the time of the invasion. If anything, it would likely be the 45 gallon size as referenced in this memo: This is the only photo I could find of a slipper tank in use during the Normandy campaign: The 44 gallon cylindrical tanks tanks would be jettisoned every mission when empty on signal from the formation lead. All tanks, especially the slippers, were prone to hang up when attempting to jettison. This usually resulted in that aircraft returning to base with a wingman as escort. When the Spits started to fly missions from Normandy in mid-June, drop tanks were not generally used. Most squadrons had come to the conclusion that they were not worth the trouble and that was formalized in memos like this from the 21st of June: They still show up occasionally for units flying longer than usual patrols over the beachhead or the very occasional sweep as far as Paris but drop tanks don't show up again until the Brits/Canadians start to push east in late August. So to make a long story short, 44 gallon cylindrical tanks were used on every mission from England and drop tanks were only very rarely used on missions from Normandy.

Hi zionid, wingmen will perform very well in this campaign as long as the player uses the 'engage primary and rejoin' command in accordance with the briefing. The problem you are talking about is still there and is a very big deal for the P-51 Charnwood campaign. It is caused by the AI performing a threat reaction when in range of 88mm flak sites. Normal AI behavior is to climb and start their dive from an altitude outside a flak gun's effective range. That is very, very good thing for them to do, but introduction of long range 88mm flak makes it impossible for them to get all the way above it. I received word about a month ago that there was a temporary fix in place internally but it has not made it to the release version yet. I'll bring it up again because I don't think I have gotten across how big a deal it is.

Hi Toby23, I'm not sure what I can offer other than some guides folks have produced: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=201600 https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=206665 The F10 option is a little obsolete due to the way objects are set up in the missions now. Targets or air defense locations only activate as you fly near them so the map is practically empty until later in the mission. There is a lot going on but performance should still be as good as, and probably much better than any other missions of their kind. The only recommendation that occurs to me if a person's system is struggling would be to stick to one area instead of flying the entire route. That would cause fewer assets to be activated and could potentially improve performance. The rest is down to the map and out of our hands.

Yeah absolutely, but I don't want to get anybody's hopes up with announcements and not be able to deliver. The good news is that the new static templates feature makes it easy to transfer elements from one mission to another. That really cuts down on the time it takes to set everything up and add details.

Thanks Fencible and all, we really appreciate it!

More new DCS campaigns are nearing completion and we could always use your help with voice overs. Projects will be wrapping up throughout the year so feel free to respond at any time if interested. Speaking parts range anywhere from one or two lines of ‘pilot speak’ to a couple hundred lines of dialogue as shown below. The campaigns generally replicate either modern USAF/Coalition or WWII European Theater operations so any English language accent will likely be a fit. If you are interested in being part of this, please record the following lines and send an audio file to bunyapsims@gmail.com, or just point me in the direction of other work you have done: “Ford 1, Control, loud and clear.” “Ford 1, straight in simulated flameout approved, report 10 mile simulated flameout final, runway 32.” If you are interested in one of the larger parts, please include these as well: “All players, Magic, pre-push briefing. Full up war. Words alpha, Ford 1 mission cancel. Current picture, single group, bullseye 284 for 28, 25,000 feet. Lowdown, Spoon Rest active bullseye 047 for 3, Dog Ear active bullseye 288 for 10.” “Take a position right line abreast at about 9,000 feet range. I will be the attacker. I will call for a 50 degree check turn to the right to put myself on an offensive perch. Reverse your turn at my ‘reverse’ call then maneuver at will at my ‘fight’s on’ call. We will terminate after either two kills or we approach the 12,000 foot hard deck.” This is done simply to get an idea of how to divide up the parts. These projects are done for enjoyment by all involved so I can guarantee a part to anybody who wants to participate. There is no pressure and no prior experience required. Again, projects will be wrapping up throughout the year so feel free to respond at any time if you would like to help out. Thanks! Bunyap

A new DCS campaign is nearing completion and we could use your help with voice overs. Speaking parts range anywhere from one or two lines of ‘pilot speak’ to a couple hundred lines of dialogue as shown below. This campaign replicates USAF operations so North American English accents are preferred. If you are interested in being part of this, please record the following lines and send an audio file by private message at this forum or by e-mail to bunyapsims@gmail.com: “Ford 1, Control, loud and clear.” “Ford 1, straight in simulated flameout approved, report 10 mile simulated flameout final, runway 32.” If you are interested in one of the larger parts, please include these as well: “Take a position right line abreast at about 9,000 feet range. I will be the attacker. I will call for a 50 degree check turn to the right to put myself on an offensive perch. Reverse your turn at my ‘reverse’ call then maneuver at will at my ‘fight’s on’ call. We will terminate after either two kills or we approach the 12,000 foot hard deck.” “Rearward visibility is restricted by the seat flap, narrow canopy, and aircraft structure to an area outside a 50-degree tail cone. Try to stick to that blind cone whenever possible using lag pursuit or rolling maneuvers toward the outside of the turn during all offensive maneuvering. That will help you capitalize on my visibility restrictions.” Please respond by May 31st if interested. I can send more details and a final script at that time. There is no pressure and no prior experience required. I can pretty much guarantee a part of some kind to anyone who wants to participate. Thanks! Bunyap

Thanks Rudel_chw, I appreciate it. The chances are pretty slim but it seems like Wags and others have things covered. Picchio, thanks so much. More was included than a player could possibly get to on one go so I hope they are holding up the second and third time through. We definitely have more planned but there is no timeline. I'm really hoping others jump on board and do some missions. I would love to fly some of these just for fun. :)

Thanks a lot, we really appreciate it. :)

Yeah, sure enough. There were a lot of changes to Viggen weapons delivery with the latest patch and QFE calculation must have been tied into it. This is the third time the numbers have changed so I'll just remove it all from the cards this time. Thanks!

Thanks for asking but that sounds like everything worked exactly as intended. There is only a small chance of encountering Red Air if you are on time but you will definitely be in trouble if you are more than a couple minutes late, and are not in position to receive support from the rest of the package. In this case, the F-16s would have helped cover you. It is all as described in the briefing. The Chevy F-15 CAPs are there to cover the ingress and egress and should only engage if you choose to drag the Red Air east. I have found that they are far from useless. You can outrun almost any threat and get them to help out if you need to. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sure you read the briefing closely but here are the parts that apply for anybody else who wondered about the fighter cover on mission 6: "Having degraded the Red Air forces as much as we can this week, the Lakenheath Eagle drivers are now switching to escort duties elsewhere in the theater. And, once again, I am being tested. Having just started to get confident running practically unopposed across the FEBA, it’s time to take on a fresh challenge. We will have to fight our way in without dedicated fighter cover should Red Air decide to put up a fight." "In a recent development, we have identified that Red Air assets are also operating out of Tonopah Airfield, located at BE 353/15 (46 miles to the north-west of The Farms). Keep this in mind when ingressing – the threat from here might just come in from low altitude, attempting to hide in the clutter of the various ridgelines that lie between Tonopah and the Blue Air CAPers in Coyote Charlie." "The entire package will make a feint in the direction of the ground forces at the FEBA in hopes of drawing any response from Red Air to that location. Colt flight with their AIM-120 armed Vipers will join the Warthogs in attriting ground forces and are best armed to deal with any air threat should we have to fight our way in."

Yeah, it will be working as intended if you updated to 2.5. I'm just leaving this here until 2.5 is out of open beta. For what it is worth, the problem was with bomb ballistics and not the effect. The screenshots above were taken with deferred shading on. That might be something to report if it does not look like that for you.

Hi San Patricio, thanks very much. It sounds like you ended up with some old versions of the lineup cards. There was a big problem recently with old campaign files being pushed with updates but that should have been cleared up with DCS 2.5. If you copy/pasted the cards to a different location last month, new versions should be in the Docs folder for you now. If you are accessing them directly from the folder and QFEs still do not match, you might try deleting the Docs folder and running a 'repair' of DCS. That should pull the latest versions of the files from their servers. Thanks again.

Ok, thanks for checking. I use the same setting so I guess it is a matter of taste, or more likely, each monitor/headset type is a little different so there is no setting that feels right for everybody. I'll keep it in mind when picking missions for the next campaign although the times they actually flew will continue to be used. I double checked on the Bf 109s and there are only two missions where they are even present. Are you sure it was this campaign and not just something that was on your mind? I agree 109 AI needs work but I don't want to give folks the impression it will be any factor. I have to stand up for our own work on the missions occasionally too. :)

Yep thanks very much, I agree on all points. Just to clarify, when you say most missions were dark, you only mean mission 2 and maybe mission 7, right? I only have a little trouble on those two but the low visibility environment along with very significant events running in the background is why I chose those two times to begin with. I know you are not new to this and hate to ask, but is it possible your gamma slider is turned way down in your graphics settings?

That was without a doubt the best execution of a WWII mission I have ever seen. Your assessment of the situation and decision making around Vire should be required viewing for anybody who wants to survive the missions. Thanks so much for this! Hey, you even caught on that this was a mission Johnnie Johnson led. :)

Yep, exactly right! :) There are no triggers that have to be activated to succeed so any route at all can be used. The player's mission plan is not meant to be restrictive at all, it is just the one out of many options I set down on paper. It will be pretty neat in the future to play around with the data cartridge system and try some alternate plans. It should actually be possible now to do it but the coordinates would have to be entered into the .lua file by hand. I would love to see what others can come up with.

Nope, that is all as intended and as described in the briefings. Designating L2 is not possible in the editor, or at least it was not at the time these were created. Sorry man, but that responsibility falls on the player for now.

That is perfect, thanks a lot! I have it nailed down now and will send this in for a look. The range of the new 88mm flak is so much greater than any of the other AAA that I don't think this has ever come up before. They are doing exactly what I would want them to do for normal AAA, evade at first so I have the option to recall them, but the huge threat zone puts a wrinkle into the process. It is definitely disruptive in some cases so I'll do what I can to up the priority. Thanks again!

Thank you very much for your interest in this Operation Charnwood campaign for the P-51 Mustang! To give you a taste of this campaign, we are offering you two missions as a free sample. Mission 1 is an attack on a bridge on 04 July 1944. Mission 7 is a scramble against tanks on the roads south of Caen flown three days later. Both can be downloaded here: Campaign Sample Missions and Briefings Both missions come with extensive pdf briefings that cover the overall plan, suitable tactics, and a detailed description of the state of the ground war. To fly this campaign sample, please save the mission files to C:UsersXxxxxxSaved GamesDCSMissions folder. They will then be available for selection in DCS: World by going to the Missions menu and selecting My Missions. We hope you enjoy this free sample, and the full campaign is available here if you would like to continue with the rest of the campaign: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/p-51d_charnwood_campaign/

Thank you very much for your interest in this Operation Epsom campaign for the Spitfire IX! To give you a taste of this campaign, we are offering you two missions as a free sample. Mission 2 is an attack on a pre-planned target on 24 June 1944. Mission 7 is an armed reconnaissance of the roads south of Caen flown four days later. Both can be downloaded at this link: Campaign Sample Missions and Briefings Both missions come with extensive pdf briefings that cover the overall plan, suitable tactics, and a detailed description of the state of the ground war. To fly this campaign sample, please save the mission files to C:UsersXxxxxxSaved GamesDCSMissions folder. They will then be available for selection in DCS: World by going to the Missions menu and selecting My Missions. We hope you enjoy this free sample, and the full campaign is available here if you would like to continue with the rest of the campaign: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/shop/campaigns/spitfire_operation_epsom_campaign/