Sandman Simulations

Hi, Thank you for your report and I'm very sorry this problem still exists. It sounds like you have done everything right and should have passed the mission. It was reported on January and I have sent fix for ED long time ago. Unfortunately they have not released it yet. I have made multiple reclamations about delay and they have promised it will be out in next update. I really hope so. Here below is discussion about this problem. Because getting this fixed takes so long time and it is always possible that new problems will arise I have released requirements for passing each mission. You can find them behind link below. If you encounter such a problem I suggest to look if you have met all requirements and if so skip to next mission.

Unfortunately patch was not released in todays update even if it was submitted to ED 7th of January. I have contacted them to get it out as soon as possible to fix this mission.

There have been some scoring problems recently. I will fix all problems but unfortunately it can take some time to get fix released. It can be very frustrating if you do everything right but still won't pass the mission. You can find requirements for completing each mission here. I suggest to only check them in case you have problem with passing certain mission. Mission 1 Mission 2 Mission 3 Mission 4 Mission 5 Mission 6 Mission 7 Mission 8 Mission 9 Mission 10 Mission 11 Mission 12

I found the problem with scoring. I will send fix to ED but unfortunately it pretty sure won't make it to next update. I will release mission scoring for all missions in different topic for cases like this.

Hi, Thank your for your report. You should get full scores just because of effort you have put in! Sounds like you have done everything right and something is broken again with scoring. I will check it today.

This is tough one. 1) I did 15 tests. 2 times Enfield 1 flight did not taxi at all. They should do it about 5 minutes from mission start. I haven't been able to find reason for that behavior and it seems random. Usually it's not random but there is some variables that by common sense should have nothing to do with each other and finding the connection is just difficult. 2) There is another problem I found: If player taxies to catapult before Enfield 1 (you have to do a very fast start up to do it) they will taxi to cat after you but get stuck on cat. Of course that is not normal AI behavior and I think this is new one. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about this kind of AI problem. If I do all normal procedures by checklist and they have time to taxi before me everything should work. Unless problem 1 activates of course So. How to fix those two problems? I do not have solution for now but I continue looking for it. Because it is very frustrating to wait at rendezvous just to find out that AI can't start I suggest to look for Enfield 1 flight (those bastards in red circle in picture below) and If they have not started taxiing between 0410-0412 o'clock they won't do it at all and you just have to try again. I'm very sorry about this kind of problem and that I can't fix it at least for now. null

Thanks for your notice. I will check it out. This sounds like different problem than the one above

Nice to hear

This is strange because I'm not able to replicate the problem. If I land after RTB message I will get full 100 scores from mission. No matter if I have killed single enemy. There was a scoring problem with mission 6 to 12 some time ago. It was fixed by December update. Have you updated your DCS to the latest version? Please also report if someone else is having the same problem. DCS 2.8.1.34437 Open Beta (digitalcombatsimulator.com) DCS 2.8.1.34667.2 (digitalcombatsimulator.com)

Hi, Thank you for your report. AAR is not mandatory in any mission. Player is always able to fly through missions but just need to be more conservative with fuel usage as you have described. Your wingman might still have some problems. Goal to meet for success in this mission is that enemy is fleeing (Overlord tells you to RTB) and carrier is intact. No matter if you kill any enemies but someone must do it. But if you got RTB message from Overlord you should pass the mission. Last time I tested the mission it was ok but need to run some tests if there something different after the latest update.

I sent patch to ED. Hope it gets to next update.

I found the problem. Dodge 1 flight (Roosevelt CAS 1) should fly to north and wait for CAS tasking. They don't anymore but turn back from waypoint 1 and begin to fly nice circle around the carrier. I couldn't tell them to do that kind of maneuver even if I want to. I'll start looking for solution but at the moment mission seems to be broken. It can be flown but things won't happen as they should null

Hi, Thank you for your feedback. Helos should activate few minutes after Hornets arrive over the town and destroy some ground units. Well before rescue. Did Hornets arrive at all?

16/12/2022 update Mission 5 Enfield 1 flight did not taxi to catapult – FIXED Missions 6-12 Mission scoring broken - FIXED

Hi, Thanks for your feedback. Problem is quite sure that tanker is empty. Unfortunately S-3B has quite a limited refueling capacity (15000 pounds I think). Mission design should take care that other flights won't use the tanker. But if your wingman is running on fumes and takes full load with external tanks there might not be anything left for you. You can always tell your wingman to stop refueling by calling him to rejoin but you won't know how much he has gotten. Because there is no good way to control refueling of your wingman I would suggest to take first turn by yourself. Take like 6000 pounds or whatever you think you will need to complete mission but still be within MLW at time of recovery and then send your wingman to refuel. It would be nice if we had means to ask wingman his fuel state and tell how much to take from tanker.

Hi, Unfortunately, official DLC update is a slow process because it is tied to DCS updates. I submitted the patch to ED 16th of November immediately I found the fix but it of course missed DCS update 17th of November (deadline was few days before). I hope next update will be out soon.

Hi, Thank you for your feedback. I can't tell you how I have missed that in tests after campaign performance update. In all missions you should get 50 points if carrier is alive at the end of the mission. And rest of points when needed goals are met. Just to make sure DCS campaign engine doesn't send you backwards. For some reason after the update that information is lost in those missions you mentioned. I will send fix to ED today.

No luck with update today. I submitted the patch to ED yesterday but deadline for todays update was some days ago so we must wait until next one. Hope ED doesn't change anything else for next one

After 15 tests I finally found what is causing the problem. Still don't understand why. It might be related to other problems which appeared after latest update. For unknown reason COLT 2 flight (on catapult at mission start) didn't fly to CAP position as it has done without problems for 6 months now. After reaching 4000 feet they turned back to CASE III recovery causing departures to freeze. I have now solution for this problem but it might be my patch won't make it to next update. On the other hand it is possible next update will solve this problem without my patch.

You are right there has been lost of trigger / holding problems after latest update. And in mission 5 it seems to be just what you said. Two Hornets in front of others have no start up delay and I can't say why in h**l they are not taxiing. What is strange it seems that my wingman too doesn't taxi after me. It shouldn't be anyhow dependent about Hornets. But I will continue searching cause for this problem and I really hope it will work after next update. At the moment mission is broken. For some reason at least mission 7 is working even if there is even more departures and start up delay things.

Hi, Thank you for your feedback. #RaisedByWolves had same kind of problem with mission two. https://forum.dcs.world/topic/299771-bugs-issues/?do=findComment&comment=5080492. In mission two I was able to make it happen once. At least it was possible to freeze some AI units from taxiing if player makes very fast start up and immediately starts taxiing. I will take a look for mission 5 tomorrow. It was quite a work to find precise start up timing to make those missions work where there are multiple planes departing. Unfortunately, it seems that even if there is no published change in startup or taxi algorithms in update change log, some little change in AI behavior may broke it. Only way to be sure it works after update is to spawn player on empty deck. I don't like that option.

Thanks. Let me know if it doesn't work. I will continue searching for solution

Those two Tomcats parked in front of your wingman should start about 15 seconds from mission start and taxi in couple of minutes. I tried to start my aircraft very quickly and start taxi immediately before they are ready. For some reason that prevents those two F-14s from moving. If you make normal start up procedures or at least wait for maybe 3 to 7 minutes, do those two Tomcats start taxiing?

Hi, Thank you for your feedback. I have now tested it dozen times and I can confirm AI did start up and take off normally except once. I still haven't been able to find out what was different that one time causing that behavior. Please report if this happens frequently or in other missions too.

Most likely not a feature. I'll check that.