Jayhawk1971

After loading the mission (takes a while in my case, plus the "flight is delayed" message), as soon as the AI crew spawns, my plane gets damaged. This happened twice in a row: first attempt at the mission was when started from campaign tab, second time I manually loaded the mission via "mission" tab. As far as I could tell, nothing vital was damaged, I could take off and fly the mission. BTW, I have filed for a transfer to the Blue Angels, after spending 10+ minutes in a constant 60ish degree angle of bank bank fingertip.

Do you use VAICOM Pro? Since I had the same issue with Slick calling engaged and hits not registering straight away in a previous mission, maybe there's some connection? I have zero knowledge about any coding stuff, but maybe Vaicom could cause a delay of some sorts? Technically, it's also a "mod".

I believe you have to make sure you've passed the bandit's 3-9 line, regardless of any message (I also misinterpreted that message at first, coupled with lousy visuals in VR, which makes it very hard to judge another aircraft's orientation beyond 1 in-game mile). Best to take a rear-quarter shot to be certain (or nuke it from orbit). At least that's how it worked for me. I think one of the points of mission 8 is to force you into a WVR engagement after the BVR timeline, so head-on shots and high aspect shots deliberately don't "count" as kills. Only after you have truly merged like in the previous 1v1 sets (= passed the bandit) invincibility will be turned off. This is very similar to some Zone 5 engagements. BTW, don't give up on mission 8, you'll definitely need what you learn there for the campaign part later on. Also, you don't want to miss the RTB part.

I was referring to the "heads up" call before the turn back into the bandits, something like, "shoot when you're at 20 miles" (paraphrasing). At that point I was at about 26 out, so I took that as a hint to shoot right as I centered the T. And as veteran gamer - and also because it would make sense tactically, I figured that we were supposed to shoot as close to Paco as possible to get a good score. Then I really don't understand what made the difference for me. The "gripes" I received at first try were "drifted too far away" and "took too long to kill bandit". Re the bandit part, I understand the how and why. But for the distance part, I was convinced that I must have gotten too far away during the turns. That's what I tried to correct on the replay, and then I got an above average grade, which seemed to confirm what I had thought. But reading the above, this sound like a case of "correlation vs coincidence". Or I completely misunderstand what you wrote (([...]I implemented a leeway, and it's only checked before the AI is let loose to maneuver.) ? Oh well. I know I shouldn't be overthinking this, I got great grades and we killed the bandits (multiple times) during the engagement, and I did everything correct tactically, so the point of the lesson was learned.

I didn't think it was a pre-merge shot, as I did a steep descending left turn behind the north F-5 when I launched the AIM-9. But I launched right after Slick's radio call was triggered, and I had a decent amount of lead on the bandit, so maybe it still counted as pre-merge? Second time I waited two more seconds and the kill counted. The second and third set went well without an urge to reload, so apparently I must have been somehow within the correct "zone", although I didn't do anything different up until the first turn: I spawn, frantically trim up up up up, and verify throttles are set for the right speed, maintain initial heading. The plane does yaw quite a bit right when it spawns. But the heading is 270, right? I'm confused because IMO the "uneventful" part of the timeline (from spawn to first turn) seems to be the part where I must have drifted off, if I understood your explanation correctly, yet that's the part which I thought was the most stable one initially, hence why I keep belaboring this point. Do you count vertical separation as well as lateral? I got quite low on the first spawn (trim was waaaaay nose down at spawn due to wings being fully swept, which caught me by surprise). What I did differently on successful retry was: I was more aggressive throughout all turns, especially the turn to center the T when I tried again. But if I understand correctly, all of that doesn't count anymore WRT distance? Yup, I guessed that would be the case when I heard him say "shoot at 20" and I saw 26/25 on the TID.

Just finished mission 7, and it was the first one in this campaign where I felt I could have gotten above average at first try, if it hadn't been for "DCS-isms". Had to fly the first set three times to get above average due to having to figure out how not to drift away from lead, and what to do to get the timing right for Fox3/Fox1. At least for me, Paco was late calling the maneuvers, meaning he initialized before telling me, which messed up abeam distance. He also seems to speed up considerably (without any warning) for the first centering the T, so first try when I was about to Fox 1 he was way ahead of me. I believe I remained pretty much at 400 (give or take 10 kts) throughout the turns, never below 380. On the second set, I was better at getting distance right (other than Paco again leaving me in the dust for Fox 3 shot) and then got a "you took way too long to kill the bandit" message, which happened because my first Fox2, which I saw hit the north bandit (and got Jester's "splash") apparently didn't register. I did hear Slick say "turning in" (or engaging, can't remember) right before I pressed the trigger, but maybe the game was too slow/ I was too trigger-happy. It took a while to figure out that he was in fact not "dead", I had to re-position, which took a while. I fixed the distance thing by going full blower at the "center the T" call, and remain in blower until I'm abeam in time for the crank. By the third one I had it all pretty much down cold, and then the set felt really good, very immersive. Despite the "DCS-isms" (with which we all have to live with), this has probably been my most favorite mission so far. Looking forward to mission 8!

I did that with mission 6, and it worked very well. It even let me jump to the next set (via F10 menu) without having to quit and manually load the next one.

[I know, it's a typo, but a funny one, so I couldn't resist]

I'm convinced that Judgement Day will be triggered by Google Assistant telling Siri that Cortana and Bixby agree that Alexa is much better, smarter and better looking.

I had also an odd experience in Zone 5 with AI shortly before S&A was released, but forgot to bring it up. It was the 4vunk where I fly as number 4 (the one after exposure - event 8?). Shortly before landing back at Nellis, after clearance for the overhead, instead of moving to echelon left, Hammer decided to break away and fly off. Later investigation via F2 view revealed that he had joined up with ARCO and was taking fuel. He must have still been full to the brim with fuel from the short flight back from Bighorn. Let's just say if this AI is Skynet becoming self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, I am not concerned for the future of humanity.

How nice of Bio that he managed to come to Nellis to see me off before my A2A lessons. Didn't know he did become an Air Boss.

Incidentally, the OP was written by ChatGPT. @cheezit Then again, ED might have to release DCS: Blade Runner, a module to hunt down any rogue AI.

Good idea, I'll do that!

Tried mission 6 again, got an above average on defensive perch, then DCS crashed again on loading offensive perch, right as the cockpit appeared. I'm ->this<- close to skipping ahead to mission 7, but I'll miss out on two-circle and butterfly set.

Do I type that in all caps or....? Well, I'll do mission 6 over again later or tomorrow; let's see if I can give Mr. C a more timely simulated demise.

Maybe he considered the KC to be the bigger threat (me being a lowly nugget)? Too bad I didn't have Tacview enabled (performance reasons), I would have liked to watch what happened there. My best guess would be that when he launched at me, he was also facing the direction the tanker was in (when I came around from my turn I saw both Paco and the AIM-9 that had missed me in front of and flying away from me). Maybe the long range of the AWG-9 (as opposed to, say, a Viper's radar) made him pick up the tanker, and since I was behind him, he "forgot" about me?

Worked for me with regards to "missile first, then guns". I did start pre-flaring when he called out 5000' (or whatever the second range call was), because I knew (from my previous attempt - DCS crashed while loading the next set) that when I heard him call "Fox 2" it was already on its way. I've got a question about the time frame within you are supposed to kill Paco, in both defensive and offensive perch. Both times I got an "Average" with the only remark being "took a little too long to kill the bandit". How fast do you have to hit him to not get this message? While also staying within 6.5G. It's not that I dragged this out into an epic dogfight. While I can see where I could have been faster during defensive perch (I chose an energy fight as we were already in a two-circle due to the setup), I thought I was pretty damn hot during offensive perch. My initial AIM-9 actually hit him, then I high yo-yo'ed, held him in lag (above canopy bow) for half-to-two-thirds of a turn to set myself up, pulled him into the HUD for a guns kill. "Knock it off".

I just flew mission 6 again, was doing well (all average) until the one-circle abeam set. Then AI-Paco went nuts. After the second merge he got behind me and launched a Sidewinder at me, which I managed to dodge/flare away. As I came around the turn, I saw him way in the distance, running away at full speed. I chased after him. Turned out he was going after an AI KC-135 which he shot down with a Sparrow. Here's the relevant part of the debriefing log, as the trackfile is probable way too big a file (saved it just in case, let me know if you need it). [27] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "324", ["initiator_coalition"] = 1, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778240, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "F-14B", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 380.141, ["target"] = "KC135MPRS", ["targetMissionID"] = "281", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16778496, ["target_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "shot", ["weapon"] = "AIM-9M", ["weapon_type"] = 1443604, }, [28] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "324", ["initiator_coalition"] = 1, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778240, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "F-14B", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 384.771, ["target"] = "KC135MPRS", ["targetMissionID"] = "281", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16778496, ["target_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "hit", ["weapon"] = "AIM-9M", ["weapon_type"] = 1443604, }, [29] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 384.771, ["type"] = "ai abort mission", }, [30] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 384.771, ["type"] = "pilot dead", }, [31] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "324", ["initiator_coalition"] = 1, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778240, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "F-14B", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 384.771, ["target"] = "KC135MPRS", ["targetMissionID"] = "281", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16778496, ["target_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "kill", ["weapon"] = "AIM-9M", ["weapon_type"] = 1812, }, [32] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 385.78, ["target"] = "", ["targetMissionID"] = "0", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16794112, ["target_unit_type"] = "", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "eject", }, [33] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 386.78, ["target"] = "", ["targetMissionID"] = "0", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16794880, ["target_unit_type"] = "", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "eject", }, [34] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 387.78, ["target"] = "", ["targetMissionID"] = "0", ["target_coalition"] = 2, ["target_object_id"] = 16795136, ["target_unit_type"] = "", ["target_ws_type1"] = 1, ["type"] = "eject", }, [35] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "281", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16778496, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "KC135MPRS", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 391.4, ["type"] = "crash", }, [36] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "0", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16794880, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 404.16, ["type"] = "pilot landing", }, [37] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "1", ["initiatorPilotName"] = "Reflected", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16780544, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "F-14B", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 419.9, ["type"] = "land", }, [38] = { ["initiatorMissionID"] = "0", ["initiator_coalition"] = 2, ["initiator_object_id"] = 16794112, ["initiator_unit_type"] = "", ["initiator_ws_type1"] = 1, ["t"] = 433.12, ["type"] = "pilot landing", }, [39] = { ["comment"] = "winner: , msg: ", ["t"] = 437.255, ["type"] = "mission end", },

...or transfer to JAG corps.

Maybe (hopefully) the planned switch to multithreading/ multicore will help with that.

Yep, S&A has definitely taught me to fly more aggressively and "proactive". Before, I tended to treat the Tomcat too much like an Airbus sometimes (the Hornet as well; incidentally not the Viper for some weird reason, and the A-10 I right out abuse ...it can take it.). Precise, but somewhat "stolid".

Yup, saw the vid in my YouTube recommendations earlier today. Strange that no one from Heatblur posted that here.

I noticed that, too! Thought I was seeing things. It's some weird lateral sliding motion, as if the AI is trying to compensate? And don't get me started on the AI's instant accelerating/ decelerating! Something that has been driving me nuts for ages in DCS. Maverick: "Gonna hit the breaks, he'll fly right by." DCS AI: "Hold my beer......"

Yeah, I did that. It just would have been easier to have a more prominent visual cue. And I mostly blame the poor VR resolution, which is so pixelated that it's actually hard to see the exact tip of the intake. Well, VR is a tradeoff. Overall, "being there" quality > resolution and performance, for me personally.

You don't get any further scripted events (like custom radio comms, voice overs), so your flight home is silent, but once you come to a stop at Nellis, you'll get the mission complete message and you can advance to the next mission without having to skip it. You could even land at 21L and no ones gonna say a peep about it.