VAF [136] Striker

Thank you Eagle Dynamics team for DCS World 2.5 and this amazing new free Caucasus map. For anyone that has been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see the results, I can firmly say that your wait is over. I spent several hours yesterday flying over most of the Eastern half of the map. The airbases are incredible compared to the old map. The concrete runways and updated structures look like they were built yesterday and the interspersing of trees really makes the map come alive. It looks like all of the taxiways have markers and proper lighting now and the new lighting poles on the ramps look nice. The changes in the city and towns to make them more realistic is a major difference. Some of the towns looked a little bit cookie cutter before but now they look more like real places. I'm sure the team spent time researching the proper location of major structures and roads because it looks like it was well thought out. The major towns have updated buildings that look very realistic from a distance. I know it's a trade-off in processing versus eye candy, but nicely done. I took a flight over the mountains following a road that cuts North and passes through several towns. I'm blown away by the way the road and rivers cut through the forests and how smooth they are now. The old sharp angles are gone and the roads meander through the valleys and pass by the villages and look very realistic now. I drove around in a Humvee for awhile and got a chance to see the trees close up and bump into them. The differences in colors and textures are nice. Flying and learning how to navigate in choppers on this map will be an incredible experience now! Being able to duck into small clearings to avoid fast movers and popping up to do guided missile attacks will be thrilling. I even purposely flew low enough in my A-10C to brush the very tips of some trees and heard a couple clunks surprisingly. I took no damage which was a what I would expect but it was still a pleasant surprise to know that the trees are modeled so well. The progressive grass and Speedtrees are well worth every minute we waited to get it. I have not noticed any difference in performance from the old map compared to the new map and I run on a pretty old system with just a fairly new graphics card. I know that there are probably small items to iron out over the next few months but I didn't notice any show stoppers. I've already spent about 8 or 9 hours doing different scenarios with very little trouble. Only a little bit longer loading time. The detail on the shores look a little bit scaled down but I'm sure that this is another trade-off in performance over visual aspect. Not noticeable at flight altitude and if you're in combat it's really irrelevant unless you end up in the chute. Flying through the mountain peaks is another amazing experience because the new textures and terrain resolution make them look so real, it's hard to concentrate on where you're going now. Thank you ED again for this really well done update to our free terrain. I'm sure that we'll get many, many years of enjoyment out out of it. My hope is that this release will generate some serious excitement in the simulation community and bring back some old friends and help us make some new ones.

The VAF is looking for a few good pilots to join our ranks. We will be taking attitude before skills as skill can be taught. We are looking to fill our F/A-18C Naval squadron roster, the VFA-136 Knighthawks and possibly A-10C drivers. The squadrons will be supporting each other in our missions that are fun but require a high level of cooperation. We are looking for anyone that has a good attitude towards being cooperative and willing to take the time to go through some basic training. Comprehensive training will be available for those that want it. We're not looking for quantity; we are looking for quality individuals. We will only be considering a couple of candidates at this time. We like to take some time to access the candidates fit with the squadron and provide the basic training to become a VAF member. We plan to evaluate and potentially recruit on a quarterly basis however as mentioned we are not looking to just create numbers. We focus on realistic training in our Student Undergraduate Pilot Training program which starts out with VFR, Pattern Work, Close Formation and then moves on to IFR, Formation Work, Refueling and Weapons Training. We fly primarily in Caucasus but also do some training and combined operations in NTTR. We will also be purchasing the Persian Gulf map when it becomes available. We are a mature group of pilots so we're looking for individuals that fit into our current group and share similar attitudes and personalities. So if you if you feel like you are a mature person and have the patience to learn but also have a lot of fun and laughs with some great people, please go to our website and submit an application. We'll get back to you right away. Please make sure that you read the rules carefully before applying. Thank you! (website link in signature emblem)

ED really hit it out of the ballpark with the new map. It's better than I ever expected and well worth the wait. I'm getting excellent performance on my GTX-970 setup. I love the new speedtrees!

We typically do our missions with most of those supporting units present and linked together.

We do popup attacks against SA-10's, 6's and 11's all the time. If you plan your route out properly and use good terrain avoidance, they're very easy to kill. Definitely no match for an A-10C with 6 AGM-65D's. You're outmatched in a flat terrain environment though. And if people build missions with scattered manpads, you're always looking around for that random missile shot. But otherwise, long range SAM's don't intimidate us like they used to. If I were an Eastern block SAM operator I'd be terrified of the thought of A-10C's and AH-64D Longbows popping up from behind hills and lobbing F&F A2G missiles at me.

I did a search and haven't found any posts describing this problem. Maybe it's been reported before or internally but I haven't found anything. We use the F-5E for training and it would be nice if the throttle worked properly. I would like to know if this is being addressed in the upcoming new releases. The first example is in climbing and diving (skip to about 0:20) showing that the throttle will be fine until you reach 15,000 feet and then will suddenly snap to 90%. My throttles calibrated and set to 102% when they reach the afterburner detente. I have tested this in Nevada and we have a similar behavior but it seems to work properly all the time when starting from the ground. The second video shows that the problem exists from startup all the way through taxi and takeoff (skip to about 3:35 where I test the throttle). Also when in the pattern and coming in for a landing the throttle will again stick at 90% making safe landing difficult. If I push the throttle into afterburner and then back to the detente it goes back to 102%.

Beautiful! Can't wait!

Flew from Kolki in Georgia to Gali city NDB and then to Sukhumi and then tried flying back using the reverse. Gali city NDB and the previous airbase NDB's no longer worked. Already experienced this in two different missions using two different destinations. Don't have a track file as it's too big but I'll try to do a short one and post it. Definitely a repeatable bug from what I've tested so far.

CDU is covered in the manual from page 173 to page 258. A lot of it isn't necessary to know. You can not delete mark points. I can't remember if you can delete flight plans. The CDU stores enough steering data that it's really not necessary to delete anything. You'll never use them all in a single flight.

Create a new flight plan using the flight plan menu. Then just add your mark points in the order you want them. As you build the list it will add more empty spaces. I think it starts out with three empty ones if I remember correctly. Add mark points but just entering the letter in the CDU scratch pad.

Yeah, they are hard to spot. With the old graphics engine they stood out like a sore thumb. The new engine masks them with the higher degree of thermal variation. Most units are clustered in groups so look for that to begin with and then do a really comprehensive search that circles out from the initial point. I'm finding much more success now using CCD instead of thermal. I've been turning the contrast up and adjusting the brightness as necessary to make them easier to spot.

The FLIR isn't actually fully realistic in DCS. I chatted with ED back awhile ago in a private message about this problem. There are some aspects of it that are not correct and they said at some point they may do some correcting if they are able. A common misconception is that plants show up on thermal imaging as being hot. They don't, and especially cactus. They are colder than the environment in most cases so they are darker than hot areas like open sandy areas that absorb a lot of IR energy. You can also see in the FLIR videos that you posted that some of the rocks cool down faster than the flat sandy areas. If you look at the FLIR in DCS in Nevada the Saguaro cactus show up in the FLIR like rows of soldiers and rocks and bushes show up bright or white. IRL, you would not be able to see them or at least not as white hot objects. Running vehicles would stand out like a sore thumb. In Caucuses, the terrain and trees show up white partially which is also not correct. Wikipedia - Cactus Desert Cactus Website Here are some thermal images that include vehicles, bodies and foliage and you can see very clearly that they're darker in most cases than the surrounding terrain or they mostly blend into the background.

On the first part of your statement, yes and no. Some times you are forced to fly into an area to take out an objective where you know there are long range SAM's and you have no choice. It's just fly low and use the terrain. In other cases you do fly around them. On the second part, yes, you will obviously know where an SA-3 or SA-10 site is because they take time to set up and they're not really all that mobile. But keep in mind that a lot of the Russian systems are extremely mobile. Tor's, Tunguska's, Shilka's and Strella's can be moved and set up fairly quickly. It's a very fluid environment so you have to know how to defeat some of these threats.

Another point is that on a lot of these systems the minimum altitude isn't completely respected so caution is the best approach. I've flown the Ka-50 within a couple miles of an Sa-8 and they keep chucking spears at me and they blow up in front and 50 feet above me while I'm hovering 5 at feet. But I was over the water and they were on the elevated inland slightly. But maneuvering in an A-10C is a lot different that because you can't stay at a specific altitude all the time. There are times you'll be in the envelope and not know it like if you are climbing up the side of a slightly sloping hill. So be careful and try not to get into their bubble.

I've seen other people mention "Force Correlate" on SAM's before but I've personally never used it. AGM-65-D's work perfectly fine on most SAM systems including SA-15 Tors (6.5 miles), SA-19 (6.5 miles) Tunguska's and SA-8 Osa's (6.5 miles). The main problem is finding them. Best practice is to put them on your RWR's 6:00 position and try to get a close heading on them using the reciprocal heading of your HSI. Then when you're safely out of their threat range you can fly back on that heading and start your search. You can also triangulate on them by flying on a radial and then doing another heading indication. You can even use mark points and triangulate on them if you want to get fancy. Careful searching and staying out of their threat range is the only way to deal with them. I'm attaching a document that's been posted before but it shows the ranges of a lot of the systems. Stay away from SA-10's (25 miles), SA-6's (13 miles) and SA-11's (13 miles) unless you learn how to do pop-up attacks from behind hills. If you want to try, put a mark point on them from a distance and then slave your TGP to that mark point and then fly in from behind the terrain and pop up when in range and slew to the radar and then drop back down behind the terrain after launch. You have to be quick though. Also be aware that some systems like Tor's and Tunguska's can shoot down Mavericks, especially if they're linked together in an air defense group. Be prepared to shoot one, count to 3 and shoot another right after. They usually shoot down the first one but the second scores a hit. SA-10's can shoot down Kh-58-MPU's from the Su-25T as well. And the other problem is tiered systems. When we design missions we never just put in a SA-8. It's supported by Shilka's Strella's, ZU-23's and Manpads. So you need to learn to stay out of threat ranges and above IR missiles as well.

Check out this post by Grimes. https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2291449&postcount=12 Air bases are the big warehouses with everything. An example is that the Hawk system or an Abrams will replenish itself as long as it's on the base circular area on the map editor. I think that circular area defines the maximum distance. Also coalition specific so you can't rearm a red vehicle on a blue base (I know you are already aware of this). I think that some vehicles can only be supplied by certain vehicles or warehouses. It seems kind of complicated and it would be nice to have a list of what can replenish what.

RGR, I wrongfully assumed it was an alignment issue.

Yes, CDU on left or right MFD. Use the UFC to enter Function button and 2 to get to the INS page and then Align and In Flight Alignment.

If you haven't done this yet, try adjusting the brightness and contrast on the TGP MFD screen. I find that I have to bump my contrast up to 35 or 36 and the brightness up to 32. At night I had to adjust it a little but still up a little from default. It doesn't fix the problem but it's at least a little better. There was a mention of improving the TGP back awhile ago but it's probably a ways off.

Very nice!

I appreciate the information but I was asking if there's a way to change any of the parameters of the default mission that opens when you start the editor. It's a little nit picky but I would like the map to be centered a little better and have some of the airbases already preset to red or blue sides. Maybe some other stuff as well. I know I can just create an empty mission that's set up the way I want it. It's just an extra step I would like to bypass.

Is there a way to set the default map position or airbase faction settings? When I open the editor it says "new mission.miz" on the bottom. Is there a file that can be saved as the default file or is this written into the code and not changeable?

Thank you Grimes. I appreciate that you took the time to do what you did.

I'm posting this because I'm not anywhere near an expert in any of this and I'm hoping that some of you could look into this and see if there's any clues. We like to run joint squad operations on weeknights that use choppers a lot of different other aircraft but we've had trouble since 1.5.7 and the latest 2.1 were released. Both of these missions used to work perfectly fine. In the Operation Sochi mission (we did not make this), there is an older version of MIST, but it worked fine. Now, when we get in the pit with 4 or more people, the server slows down very bad and you see clients warping and flying at weird angles. I posted it in the "bugs" section because I originally thought it was a DCS bug. https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=192708 You only need to watch the first few minutes to see what's happening. Run it with MIST and you get 10-30 FPS but it's very erratic. You can see the FPS shoot up and then down and it looks like it even pauses intermittently. I've attached it to the post. In the second mission, this is a rework of the original Separatists Aggression Day from Black Sea converted to NTTR and it used to work fine as well. We added more choppers, MIST and CTLD. It's unplayable now. The server slows down so badly that you can't use CTLD at all. When I tested it on the server the frame rate was down to 0-1 FPS. When I removed MIST and CTLD it went up to 120 FPS or whatever I default the server to. Link to the second mission.

I've found that CTLD does function on 1.5.7 still although it seems to have performance related issues. It's completely non functional on the recent version of 2.1 or at least on my setup.