RyanR

I played 2-3 quick figuring-stuff-out missions, and for some reason the word "Low" came up next to the flight path marker on the HUD in A-G master mode. The Plane was cold started with four 500lb JDAM's on it. Targeting pod was on the plane. I couldn't figure out what was "low". What might this mean? I can't reproduce it. I've done these DCC JDAM missions a zillion times without seeing it. Like an idiot, I cropped the image down to the HUD and saved over the original, so any other info is lost. The range caret just happens to be at the bottom of the DLZ in the screen grab. "Low" was there for the whole flight. On another note, I was too busy playing around in the cockpit to notice how beautiful the landscape was outside of the plane! Coming in to the landing pattern a little rain came through. DCS does weather quite well! Thanks! -Ryan

Wouldn't it be SOP for a real-life Viper driver to switch them all on? Maybe they just got out of a different production block? -Ryan

I thought the DL switch was indeed doing something despite the manual saying otherwise. -Ryan

The campaign is very good, I've been impressed with how the AI reacts to different scenarios over the radio. It would benefit from better maps to set the stage. I'm sitting here with the entire Syria map in Adobe Illustrator, slowly collating all of the bits (refueling, no-flies, and northern SAM sites) from the disconnected smaller maps in the briefings and SPINs. I finding it to be a very different picture then I'm getting from the descriptions. -Ryan

I read somewhere that disabling the auto flaps for certain maneuvers will help with energy retention. Dunno if there are nuances here. The F-5 was the second module I got. Not satisfying. It doesn't maneuver as much as it simply increases angle of attack. Back on subject, I found it easy to exploit the F-5's weaknesses with the F-16C. -Ryan

These missions are so much fun. I did tweak the guns-only air engagements to allow abbreviated labels. Usually, I only use dots, but I'm new to head tracking, and the gun engagements have been a great way to calibrate my real-life head to the in-game head. -Ryan

He ran out of gas well before I did, so I'm betting his fuel state was quite a bit lower. I've been really impressed with AI in DCS. Before the merge, the AI kept the plane perfectly at cornering speed, while I let my speed creep up past it. I was definitely making mistakes, and the AI was not. This thread has been very helpful. It's amazing how different guns-only ACM is with these planes compared to WWII prop fighters. A lot of similarities, but the differences are very different. I've been pulling lessons out of everyone's posts. Thanks! -Ryan

Here's a track. Totally reproduce-able: 3-bar TWS to RWS and you can just increase the number of bars all the way.... probably to infinity. radar issue 2.trk

All true..... but I've seen some weird tracks. In one example, I originally did a split-s, and fired a 9X at a bandit that got past us. In the track, the missile fired before the split-s. And I have a TRK file of it! Sigh... -Ryan

AI controlled F-16's are brilliant. They can pull 20 degrees/sec and not only sustain 450 knots..... they can still accelerate. -Ryan

The rub is that tracks seem to be broken. Each time I play a track back, I get a totally different result. The plane flies its route, but everything else that happens is like a different game. My favorite replay to date is when, in the replay, a SAM fired out of sync from the original, so my countermeasure and evasions (which originally worked) happened at the wrong time. The plane got hit in the replay.... but because it was a replay, this burning, broken, non-functioning F-16 *had* to keep flying. The game engine was trying to pull the plane out of the sky, but the track kept it in the air. -Ryan

Of course, TRK files don't even work properly in DCS. Play a track 5 times, and you'll see 5 completely different scenarios..... which you can verify with TacView. Even the order of operations by the user isn't correct sometimes. -Ryan

Thanks for the sanity check! -Ryan

For real, Mods? No track file, and cannot reproduce? It's literally a picture of broke..... and yeah, it was actually scanning 173B. Do you think I just photoshop bugs? Why would I buy more DCS stuff when the Mods basically allude to me smoking crack or just plain lying? I was going to post about how much I love the F-16, but sheesh. You guys sure know how to make new users feel unwelcome. -Ryan

In the past, the elevation bars in the CRM would cycle up to four, and back down to the beginning. Last night, it was at 3 for some reason. So I hit it a couple of times to cycle it, and it went to 5. I kept hitting the button...... and it kept going..... up. How up? Um, 173 bars before I quit. I was looking at the RWR and TWS radar to keep my SA up. And going back to RWS to slowly peck at the elevation bar button, thinking that it eventually had to cycle back down. It didn't. I was just sorta laughing as I was hitting the button. I thought that for sure I was misremembering something. I just came out of a stint with the F-5E, so any radar was a cheerful thing. I went back and looked at the manuals, and they all say that I get a max of four bars. What says the team? -Ryan

I've seen this several times now. Once right from the get go when my wheels left the ground. -Ryan

This thread predates the INS work, and we've veered off topic, so the "correct as is" doesn't apply to the later messages here. Fingers crossed a quick fix is forthcoming. -Ryan

Your points make total sense. What the SAM site "sees" is a black box. The fact that the RWR is screaming doesn't meant that the there's still a hard lock. As end users, we'd almost need to do a long distance merge with another human in a plane with a good radar (e.g. F-18). See what happens, and at what distances with each of the three ECM modes. -Ryan

Welcome to the Viper! Currently, there's a lot of "broke" with the module as it's still technically in Early Access. Some new revisions to the avionics kinda bricked a couple things (Mavericks, mostly). Don't let the gremlins frustrate you. The amount of broke is at least offset by the amount of fun. I'm new to DCS from IL-2. Toying with trying to do some online flying with the Viper. -Ryan

I finally had a chance to see how broke the Maverick boresighting is. Boresighted MAV's are less boresighted than those not boresighted at all. Whoops.... I do see "Auto handoff to 7"... but who knows. Basically, I'd assume Mavericks to be unusable until we get an update or hotfix for the INS stuff. Meanwhile, I'm using the opportunity to practice other things (that I desperately need to work on!). -Ryan

Has the jet moved at all? The normal alignment is super slow. The stored with GPS/DL/MIDS of is faster..... not super fast, but it gives you time to set up the weapons and align the HMCS, etc. -Ryan

Fun experiment! I'm such a newbie with EW, that I find this stuff super interesting. I hadn't "flown" with a 131 since my Falcon days in the 1980's. It's been WWII stuff ever since. I had pretty much the same results with the 131: 72nm with 0, 1, and 2. And 30nm in position #3. At 30nm, it's a double edged sword, because the SA-5 will let a missile rip.... and you're kinda boned at that point. It does make sense that you're going to get locked up at the same point regardless with the ECM not transmitting. The 131 wasn't great at breaking the lock. I'm including a TRK that shows a problem at the very end: Sometimes after running the ECM in vairious positions, I can't seem to get the FCR to come back to life, no matter what I do. Sometimes it comes back to life, sometimes it simply won't. I can only restore the radar by turning the ECM completely off. In the track file below, you can see this problem half way through when I decided to see how dangerous an SA-5 was up close, and engage it with guns. I fumbled with all the CMDS knobs/switches before simply turning the ECM so I could use the radar to drive the gun pipper. Apologies if this is hijacking the thread. -Ryan radar issue.trk

Is the steerpoint at ground level? I've had no trouble with JDAM's, if I first point the TGP at the steerpoint. Usually, there are multiple targets at a steerpoint. Slew the TGP at each, and let the JDAM's go. -Ryan

Is there trouble with the 184 and other modules that use it? A-10, for example? I've noticed (by accident, really) that only mode 3 really seems to work. Nice to see some data. Does the 131 have similar issues? Should I give it a try? -Ryan

Well this is interesting! I've noticed that Modes #1/#2 don't seem to be very helpful, with only mode 3 being useful. I'll have to keep track of that post. My question here was more of an "In real life" question, since the latest and greatest Russian hardware seems to use ECM in A/A. -Ryan Very interesting. This is the answer that I kind of suspected. I will check that site out! Thanks! -Ryan