RyanR

FWIW, as a DCS newbie, I really enjoy(ed) the Red Flag 21-1 campaign. -Ryan

Missions made prior to the most recent datalink fix can be weird. No matter how I tried to get a flight to appear as my flight, they just wouldn't. Build a new mission (four planes, an AWACS, and four bad guys) from scratch? No problem. -Ryan

This is the greatest thing since sliced cheese. Thank you for the hard work! Endless fun. -Ryan

It seems correct-ish. When I've "locked on" to target running ECM under 40nm away, my radar sometimes auto-ranges out to 160nm.... or the lock just breaks.... or you see weird things on the radar. Weird stuff.... but it's what you'd expect based on the kind of jamming the enemy is running. -Ryan

I like using the pod to sleuth stuff out, mark it, and then set it as a steerpoint. It's nice to follow the target with the HCMS while setting up to run in with guns. -Ryan

Gah! This rings a bell as having been a problem. Can you set a mark point in NAV mode? I can't remember.... -Ryan

Reflections are basically "off" right now. Why can't they be more "on" for people who want them?.... and people who don't like them can turn them "off". I liked the reflections where they were before the last patch. They give a bit of feedback as to where you're looking. -Ryan

With guns, just like the FCR, the TGP is doing ranging for the sight to predict the impact point of your rounds. Everything is just slaved straight ahead. -Ryan

I can't reproduce the no-boresight problem with either Maverick D/H. What I do for a "ground" boresight: Start the jet/INS.... wake up the Mavericks on the SMS page. TGP on. Once everything is up: -Master arm to SIM -Enable ground jettison -Maverick to PRE -Put one MFD to TGP, the other to WPN -Point the TGP at something as far away as possible. TMS-up for a point track on it. The WPN is now SOI. -Point the Maverick seeker at the same thing. TMS up. Hit boresight on its MFD. Boresight should now highlight.... and then...... "unhighlight"(?). Boresight should be good. Do the same for the Mavericks on the other wing. -You should be boresighted!.... with the caveat that a ground boresight is only so good. As folks have mentioned, it's worth rechecking them once airborne on something 4-7nm out. -Ryan

Is in re-re-broke since the hotfix in the last 24 hours?.... The hotfix that was supposed to fix this? Why didn't I just stick with the F-86?..... With no avionics to screw up. -Ryan

You can grab the edges and resize the kneeboard..... somehow. I've done it. Either it's really easy. Or it's really hard, and I did it by accident. I don't really care too much about bodies. It might be kinda neat.... but legs and elbows get in the way of gauges, buttons, knobs. -Ryan

You can sling a bunch of IR Mavericks off no problem. TMS right with the TGP as SOI and the auto handoff. Not the best practice, but with a good boresight..... -Ryan

Oh good. I swear I was able to boresight MAV's last night after the fix. -Ryan

Good gravy..... Hot fix, please. -Ryan

Tell me the Mavericks aren't broke! -Ryan

There's a patch today? The F-16 starts so easy, I just do it myself. Two stitches and advance the throttle to idle. When I've auto-, hot-, or air-started, I feel like I have to "undo" more things than I have to do with the DIY-start. -Ryan

The ICP works the same with UHF/VHF radios. Once you get used to it, it makes a lot of sense.... but it's taken me a month to really even get comfortable with it. Finding ground targets is just not easy. I dunno how many times I've overflown the bad guys.... the bad guys that I put in a spot in a mission I made! -Ryan

Sadly, there's loads of mis-info. Just hit "steerpoint" (STPT).... #4 on the UFC/ICP? It's right under #1. Type in the steerpoint you want, and enter. I found the attached file for the "grids". Once you get it to work once, it works OK. It's just really hard to type in the 8-digit MGRS code before the radio messages disappear. I really need to map my keyboard's number pad to the ICP. Tonight, I found a simple mission someone made for an A-10, and I swapped it out for an F-16. Attached. I put some Mav's and some GBU's on it. It's a ground start, so the MAV's aren't boresighted. JTAC's seem to be pretty sketchy. The JTAC's for the quick mission builder seem to be especially sketchy. -Ryan MGRS.pdf JTAC_Training_Mission_UTM.miz

This tutorial is *amazing*! Thanks! -Ryan

I shall check these out. I've also got a VKB KG12 (clone of a 109/190 grip) from IL-2. That's sitting on the shelf since I caught the DCS bug a month ago! I got pretty good with toe brakes coming from the tail draggers. In DCS, toe brakes are a gawd-send with the F-86. The NWS is slow to react on takeoff.... so I'm guilty of the occasional nudge on the brakes to straighten her out. Definitely don't use rudders a heck of a lot in the F-16. -Ryan

Thanks guys! Indeed, I thought the answer here would be to just change the steerpoint.... and slewing the FCR is a fine workaround for the rare times this would need to happen. For the most point, one will be chasing a mark point for AG work. Cheers! -Ryan

It seems so obvious now, but it took me weeks to realize that since steerpoints have an altitude, the TGP points to that place in the sky. Not the ground. I chased my tail for a few weeks not understanding this. I felt so dumb. Is there an easy way to "snap" the TGP to the ground "under" a steerpoint without modifying the steerpoint? You can go through the FCR in AG mode and either set a SPI or just slew the cursor, and that will do the trick. Just wondering if there's a more direct way to accomplish this. I can't think of a practical reason to really do this, other than having botched setting up a practice mission. Thanks! -Ryan

While I don't know what half of the Mission Editor does, the learning curve isn't too bad to set up simple tasks (AKA stuff to blow up). I've found it to be a really good way to learn the various systems/etc. You can play with the weather and time, and push yourself where you see a need to improve. I got really frustrated with all the distractions with some of the built-in, or Quick Mission Builder. Mostly because other friendlies would blow up all the baddies before I could even find one. It was really helpful to make my own little practice tasks. -Ryan

I really want to like the idea of the VKB rudders. I just can't let go of having toe brakes. If I had another axis to control pressure, I'd probably do the VKB rudders in a heartbeat. I like their products a lot. -Ryan

Are you in CCRP mode? The TGP likes to be in point or area mode. If you change the steerpoint, the TGP will snap to that. I remember setting the steerpoints to auto for the first time. I sure thought that slick..... until I overflew a target, the steerpoint changed, and then all the senors slewed away. -Ryan