EbonySeraphim

I think your problem exists in all of the sims ED has made -- when you're done, you're done. You can quit out as soon as the JTAC says "RTB" or you know you have completed the mission otherwise. There's no clear confirmation by auto-booting you after landing, or while you're still in the air or anything. I still need to get over it and just pat myself on the back after a long mission.

I've gotten much better at identifying my targets and knowing where to look since I got LockOn just a little bit ago, but now I've run into another wall -- and it's AAA. The 3rd and 4th missions have targets with flight paths and/or targets near two SA-11 "Snow Drift's" just over a range of mountains. They prevent me from making a high altitude approach and engagement to avoid the many AAA threats that exist down low, and taking them out isn't turning out to be too successful. I tried for several hours to hunt them down and managed to consistently take one out many times over (and learned the hard way that you should take out the entire battery because the launchers might still be used with another target acquisition radar). But the second one always proves to be a problem and doesn't appear to be taken out as easily as the first one with the same approach even though it's the same type. I've linked the replay to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Fast forward to when I move beyond waypoint 3 and go for the SAMs. I make a very low altitude approach and take out the first SAM with ease, fully aware the other is there. Then I try to stay above the forest and go for the second and it launches many times at my wingman and myself. We evaded more than a few of the missiles but still managed the bite the dust in the end. After watching the replay just now, I'm wondering if I was being tracked by a radar at the air strip I got shot down over. Maybe that's the one that acquired me. Either way, though, I tried approaching from another direction (mountain side with the cities) in another similar attempt but that battery still acquired me well before I could target it. My question is - is there a weakness to these things that I can successfully exploit and take them out? If so, as soon as I'm done with them, I could stay above 10,000 feet and go for the mission targets free of AAA guns. I haven't put much effort into sweeping all of the AAA guns and short-range IR SAMs then going for a low altitude target approach, but I think that is a much more luck oriented approach as its much harder to know whats there until you see the bullets in the air and look back to where they came from if they haven't already hit. Even T-72s and T-80s can damage the A-10 if I fly ultra low. Track file -- http://www.csh.rit.edu/~oguns/files/SeriousSAMEvasion.zip Strategically, I'm running low on options. Right now I think my best approach is to approach from the other mountains (southern), and if the snow drifts on the other side launch at me, take cover behind them. This is limiting as I need to get much quicker at target acquisition with the Maverick and I can only use it if the targets are relatively out in the open. (not behind trees where one mission target T-80 was hidden)

Mine are all on default here. For LockOn:FC2 I had to modify the TDC Slew control axes to a saturation of 35 on both X and Y or else the thing moves way too fast. I inverted on the Y axis. This feels much closer to how fast it moves in DCS: A-10 on the default settings.

And hit the quit button on the dialog box that pops up? There's no special indicator that I'm quitting for a complete mission versus an incomplete one which is a little less than satisfying.

I have completed a few A-10 campaign missions in LockOn, but my only acknowledgement I have for completion is the JTAC telling me that I'm cleared to leave the area. The mission doesn't actually end and I can still fly on if I want to - or possibly still die due to AAA in the area. Am I supposed to quit the mission manually(the success still counds) or do I have to make an appropriate landing before the mission automatically ends?

Ozz13 -- I'm considering printing out a copy of the manual myself. How was the paper finish? Are the pages thick enough? I tried using the site (didn't push too far), and I didn't see where to specify the front and back cover separately from the rest of the print job or specify the binding. Can PM me your reply with the details on how you placed your order? Thanks!

Sorry to hijack this thread somewhat - I had the same problem after I got my HOTAS Warthog and realized I needed rudder pedals (I upgraded from a TM HOTAS X). So I went out and got the Saitek Rudder Pedals. Anyone know what the toe brakes should map to? Wheel or air brakes?

#7318 here Location: Fairfax, VA, USA

Thanks for the helpful replies guys! Especially the after action report It looks like I have a lot of hours to put into this hobby of mine before I get good at it =)

I'm having problems with the early missions. Generally I'm tasked with destroying some kind of ground target - sometimes not even told exactly what vehicle(s) to destroy, but rather given something vague like "artillery". I can deal with improving my accuracy over time and such, but I'm having a hard time locating my targets effectively so I can destroy them and bail out, or reasonably locate and destroy all significant air defense threats so I can take out the targets at will after I'm done with them. The AGM-65 is a great missile and the 3x/6x zoom with infrared imaging makes it easier to spot targets from a distance, but it honestly sucks for scanning. Is the only real option for scanning and identifying targets on this thing visual or using the targeting system of this weapon or am I missing some important function in the jet to find ground targets?

Not sure what this means...but I certainly got back *on* the flight sim wagon. Shortly after I purchased LockOn, I easily convinced myself to ditch the $50 Thrustmaster HOTAS X for almost a grand in flight sim equipment, and I went out and acquired Black Shark and DCS A-10 through Steam as well. I plan on not playing other games for a while. I'm really just catching up on my dream career before I decided that computer science was it - being an Air Force pilot. No biggie - that dream died because I grew too tall and don't have perfect vision, but I can certainly say that the sim experience is a nice second for the real thing! Right now I'm picking up slowly so I'm sticking with LockOn: FC2 and trying to play through the campaign. Every now and then I try to jump in on multiplayer on a whim, at an odd time, but make some stupid configuration mistake (like forgetting to turn on TrackIR), and end up not really being able to take off or fully control the aircraft. I'll get more consistent eventually and will definitely feel proud when I get my first dogfight kill. Hopefully I'll have that recorded. I think you need to provide more detail about your error in order for us to help you. But as I was told before - once you have FC2, you don't need the original Lock On or FC1. Just play FC2.

So that would make FC2 a complete superset of the LOMAC missions and campaigns right? If that's the case, then I don't think I have to do anything because FC2 worked pretty much from the get go. I couldn't tell though because the training missions in FC2 don't show all of the planes (I only see training missions for the Su-25), and they switched them all to videos instead of in game scripts that you can take over at-will.

I recently purchased a boxed copy of Lock On: Platinum. From what I have pieced together (and it's rather annoying to find all of the information in one place) - I have really purchased 2 titles -- Lock On: Modern Air Combat Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2 I have NOT purchased: Lock On: Flaming Cliffs I have read some posts that suggest FC2 trumps the need to own FC1 and the official site says FC2 is an improvement over FC1, but I am concerned about the missions in FC1 versus FC2. Does FC2 have a complete superset of the missions from FC1? I'm also having issues running Lock On: Modern Air Combat as-is. Even when patched to version 1.02 it crashes on my machine sometimes during missions -- generally when there's slowdown or at random sometimes. I'm not interested in technical support for that issue, but it seems to me that Flaming Cliffs 1 updates Lock On: Modern Air Combat to provide better support for Windows 7. So does Flaming Cliffs patch Modern Air Combat(campaign and missions) to work better in Windows 7? Even if that's all it gives me (stability for LOMAC), then I'm all down for another purchase, but I'd like to make sure that I will be getting increased stability, and that I really do need to make another purchase after having bought the platinum box. Extra info (ignore if you're tired of reading): The box says I get a plane (Su-25T), from LO:FC1, but doesn't say I get the entire expansion. Also, there is a key on the box that I activated once (it's labeled as "Lock-On Plat Reg Code"), which occurred successfully the first time I installed the game, but was unaware that FC1 wasn't installed before installing FC2, and when I got around to trying to patch/update LOMAC, things got out of hand as I installed the wrong versions of stuff and reinstalled a few times. Now I can't ever seem to get that key to work however it did in the beginning.