Ven

Yea, I do agree somewhat about reduced fun factor from not killing them all yourself but as EvilBivol said, you are outnumbered in most of the missions in this campaign. For 1 or 2 missions I think I got no kills but in others I had 1 to 4 kills using this strategy which is not bad. Plus, I don't think it's realistic to score 4 kills against Flankers all by yourself. Another advice I might add is to change loadout. Mission gives you by default mix of 120B's and 120C's but I switch them to 6-120C's and 2-9M. Same loadout for all my wingmen too. And don't try to conserve missiles. Launch extra missiles whenever you're in doubt. Edit: Looks like EvilBivol already suggested this LOL. Note to self... read.

Of the 10 missions, I was only able to complete 5 missions on first try. And two of them were mission 1 and 2 which had no combat. What's important is to save the track when you fail and analyze it. See how they're reacting to your actions and also see if your wingmen are doing what they're supposed to. As I said in my AAR, enemy AI's usually come after me especially when I charge in ahead of my wingmen. And rely on my wingmen to do the killing.

Clutch button is a life saver. You can not only use it to switch between aircraft profiles, you can also program different modes (A-A, A-G, Nav) and switch between them. You can have virtually unlimited functions.

Does it still do that when you map it to an axis?

Not sure if there was time rule in mission 3. I checked in with AWACS about minute and half early and had no problem. I always got there early and never late so I'm not sure but once you check in with AWACS, you can't possibly run out of time because how quickly you patrol the CAP zone is up to you. You do get mission failure for leaving the CAP zone however. As for ETA, it does give you ETA to your current waypoint on the HUD. Use that with the cockpit clock. Just make sure what time you need to be at waypoint 2 from the briefing. And for your TrackIR zoom, there are threads about it but you just have to assign TrackIR Z axis to zoom. Or I keep the TrackIR zooming disabled and use mouse wheel on X52 Pro for zooming.

I tested this quite a bit now and I certainly don't notice the loss in quality. And although this doesn't seem to increase FPS, it did eliminate the micro stutters I was getting. Some times when I zoom way in and then back out, I used to get stutters and static noise sound. It seems to be gone now. Very nice! And by the way, compression doesn't "ALWAYS" sacrifice quality. There are such thing as lossless compression which keeps the quality yet reduces size.

I used to include soundblaster as requirement when I build systems but I realized it's waste of money. Yes they do save some CPU cycle but it's smarter to spend that $100 on getting better CPU or GPU. Performance you can gain from $100 sound card is nothing compared to what $100 extra can get you in CPU or GPU.

I too had very hard time finding and identifying targets even through Maverick's IR monitor. And people just said it's just the way it is so I assumed it's just me. But the problem for me was following the FPS tweak posted in the mod section. It reduced the LOD for ground objects. I restored the setting back to original and now I can ID targets!

Visually or on RWR? I only get a tone on RWR when the missile goes active and doesn't show any range information? Did you mean the ranging information of Beryoza is unreliable in FC2? Or just that it's unrealistically modeled in FC2?

HOJ shot wont alert the MiG of the missile and since he doesn't know, he wont go defensive. And even when you fire missiles with TWS or STT lock, AI wont go defensive until the missile goes pitbull. You can try HOJ as hail mary shot as mentioned but against a MiG-29S, you'll most likely will have to do a missile evasion. Russian jets have SPO-15 Beriosa radar warning system. It tells the pilots when the incoming missile goes pitbull and bars indicating when the missile will hit. Whereas in F15, you only get a warning tone when the missile goes pitbull. So approaching MiG-29S with ECM on, I wait until burn through which should happen at around 23nm. You should already be well within Rmax at this point so launch as soon as this happens. He wont go defensive until that missile is close and he'll also launch an R-77. ARH missile. I usually use beaming tactic and launch a second missile just as with Flanker. If the missile is still on you and TEWS tells you that R-77 went active, you'll gonna have to pull a defensive maneuver. I usually do a countdown in my head to guestimate when the missile will be on my doorstep but you can also use a stop watch. Launch a 3rd as soon as I evade. This works for me about 80% of the time. The 20% they evade all 3 missiles and usually turns into a close range combat. In such cases, either I get shot down or exchange missiles and both of us go down. I'm not very good at close range combat but I think this is normal as I don't think you can ever achieve 100% victory against any equal class fighter even if it's against an AI.

You need to understand your opponent. If it's Su-27, it'll launch R-27ER first as it has the longest range. But that is an SARH missile and he'll need to keep its lock on you all the way. You don't have to with AIM-120. Launch a first missile in between Rmax and Rtr. This missile's chance to make the kill is less than 50%. But it will make the Flanker go defensive. By now, Flanker should've already launched R-27ER and if it goes into dive like you said, it should loose the lock on you and should miss but I would turn away just to be safe. But don't turn too much to loose the gimbals. Turn back towards him in about 10~15 seconds and launch another one at Rtr. This missile has higher chance to make the kill as the Flanker should be running low on altitude and speed evading the first missile. When in doubt, toss a 3rd missile well within Rtr. Basically, keep the Flanker on defense by launching missiles in intervals. Against MiG-29 with ARH missiles, approach is slightly different. Also make sure you study the track to see what the enemy is doing and how to counter it.

I'll be tuning in every day!

Good info and got it working.

I tried it and just as TooTubular, I actually experienced 1fps loss on average.

Thanks but all I did was press print screen button. All the credit goes to ED for the graphics and Gys-Valerie for F15C model.

It seems they have their own problems. Enemy SAM's and AAA's were very effective at shooting down the Mavericks. They eventually got the most dangerous air defenses out of commission and Frogfoots also merged to do some damage as well. But not without some sacrifices. While all that's happening on the ground, I spotted the Flanker group on my radar about 40nm out. I switched to TWS because with only one wingman, I'm gonna have to engage all of them myself. I only fired one missile in the first engagement so I had plenty of AMRAAMS. I bugged all 4 of them and waited until they were fairly close to Rtr to launch the missiles. But here's my second big mistake. Missiles wont fire. How stupid I am... I was in NAV mode. After the first engagement, I switched to NAV mode in order to find my way to waypoint 3 and turned on the radar to check the sky. And I thought I was in BVR mode. Yes... you can laugh. Running is only thing I can do at this point. And my 3rd mistake... should've dropped the tanks. It didn't effect the outcome but nevertheless, I should've jettisoned the tanks. But that mistake... trying to fire in NAV mode, although stupid, actually worked to my advantage. Because I went deeper than usual, I faithfully served the purpose of the bait as all 4 Flankers were on my tail. This pretty much gave wing 4 a license to kill. Here he splashed 2 bandits on one pass. I turned back and locked one up. This one will go pitbull very soon after launch. Fox 3! He launches too. At me of course. Meanwhile, wing 4 sneaks up behind the 4th Flanker who was about to engage me as well. And he launches. I also found the same Flanker so I switched target and launched. All these happened very quickly. There's that missile trail from the 3rd Flanker but doesn't look like it's guiding on me. I think that dude went defensive too quickly. Yup, it just flew straight right from the beginning. Mine sure is guiding however. Scratch one bandit. And wing 4's missile found the 4th Flanker before mine. Strike group seems they're finished and reported egress one by one. Now, as mentioned in the briefing, there are 2 more Flankers escorting their AWACS. I thought about going after them but they moved their position behind their air defenses... and wing 4 says he's out of fuel. I was actually glad to come out of it alive with all that mistakes I've made. I hope the search crew found my wingmen. So... here's the final landing of this campaign as the Russians pulled out of the conflict. This was an excellent campaign with lots of challenge and of course, fun. Thanks to EvilBivol and anyone else involved in it. So that concludes my AAR series and thanks for reading. I need to go watch the training videos for Su-25. Mission 3 AAR Mission 4 AAR Mission 5 AAR Mission 6 AAR Mission 7 AAR Mission 8 AAR Mission 9 AAR Mission 10 AAR

The final mission at last. This mission had so much action that I took over 100 screenshots and took awhile trimming it down to 40. Still will be my longest AAR so brace yourselves. While it was a success, I made a lot of mistakes in this mission. Some were costly and some... just plain stupid. We're on interdiction once again with 4 Warthogs and 4 Frogfoots. Basically, command wants us to overwhelm them and intimidate them. There goes the A10's flying over just as I began to fire up the engines. I think this excellent shark paint scheme should be enough to intimidate them. AWACS painting me the picture as soon as I take off. 4-ship Flanker CAP as expected with another Flanker group on standby. Wingmen assembles one by one as we're circling around waypoint 2 waiting for the strike package. This time, I decided to approach with ECM on. I believe this was my first mistake. I locked onto one of the Flanker's jamming signal and ordered 3 to engage. Just broke ECM burn through range and they started appearing. Locked one up, ordered 4 to engage and just at Rmax range, I launched one as well. Fox 3! It seems that they saved their best pilots for last. They were very good at evading the missiles. I should try that maneuver next time. 4 of us launched total of 5 AIM-120C's but only one found its target! And they go offensive! I believe it was mistake to approach the bandits initially at BVR with ECM on because only one of them fired on me and rest went after my wingmen from the beginning. This obviously was not a good time to try out a new strategy. Wing 2 didn't make it. But fortunately, he ejected safely in friendly territory. Another Flanker launches on wing 3. And he's not going down without a fight. He made the kill but that missile trail is getting awful close. There's no escaping this one. He also ejected safely but now it's 2 on 2. They're putting up quite a fight. I locked up one of the two remaining Flankers and just as I was about to pull the trigger, I noticed the black smoke. Somebody's AMRAAM got there first and I'm not sure who. Just about the same time, 4 exchanged missiles with the last remaining Su-27. Uh-oh... Fortunately, he came out as victor as the smoke trail passed by well below him. That was the last of'em but with a heavy loss. Now 2 of us have to face 4 more Flankers out of Sochi. Was continuing on to waypoint 3 to engage the pop up group but my TEWS was going crazy with all that ground contact. Where the heck are those A-10's? Breaking away until they do their SEAD task. Cont...

LOMAC

I didn't understand the QFE before either. Thanks for clearing that up Ethereal. Heading of 298 for 9 miles is the course and distance to the initial approach. If you switch to NAV mode and cycle waypoints, that initial approach is reset to waypoint 1. Runway 13 as said means you should be heading 130 for landing... or 310 from the other direction. I also thought the pattern altitude was 2000 feet but thanks again for clearing that Ethereal. No wonder they always tell me I'm above glide path :) So in that direction, you should fly heading of 298 for 9 miles and turn to heading of 130 for landing.

I like the green marker on RPM gauge. Another feedback I might add is to add a slight gradation from top to bottom on the gauges. Although lower resolution than yours, default gauges slightly gets darker towards the top giving extra dimensions.

Well, with straight forward engagement, I usually "try" to lock each one up in STT then order each of my wing to "engage my target" And I also fire one myself as I'm giving orders. Because if I lock 4 of them in TWS and give orders to all 3 of my wing, I believe they all go after the primary. Which brings up a question I had... is there way to cycle through the bugged targets in TWS? Then on the second pass (after making 360 turn), I use TWS because I can see everyone's heading and altitude. Or depending on the situation, I may use TWS in long range... for example when I need to sort the targets based on their altitude. Mission 7 I believe was this case. And when the enemy are already merged, I use TWS and launch missiles to multiple targets. But in general, when the enemy are 30~40nm away, I use LRS. When they're closer, TWS. But again, it's not a hard rule and sometimes I even forget to follow it myself :doh:

Thank you all. Only dogfight I got into so far is with a few Su-24's and Tu-22 bombers which are easy targets so I haven't had the need to drop my fuel tanks yet. With my usual strategy, I usually keep my distance when facing Fulcrums and Flankers so didn't have to drop tanks.

Georgian Frogfoots arrived on the target zone and gets busy! And the two MiG-29's on standby are on their way. So... the first Flanker group was no different than any other I encountered before because I was ahead of the strike package and there was no friendly in front of me. But I have to take different approach for the MiG's. If I engage them in front of the Georgian Su-25's, there's not enough room and may get in range of the BUK SAM. My wingmen usually goes deep and almost always gets shot down by SAM's. If I engage them from behind the strike zone as I usually like to do, I will have friendlies directly in front of me and I will have to keep my lock on the target longer until the missiles go pitbull. Otherwise they might turn on the Su-25's. While possible, this limits my strategy somewhat and also is risky for the strike package so I decided to flank them as below. MiG's ETA is 3 minutes so I got plenty of time to set it up. Just as I set up to greet the Fulcrums, Chevy 22 took a hit from the ground. Fulcrums were easy to spot and ordered 3 to engage but he told me he can't. Ordered 4 to engage and he's okay with it so I'm not sure what was up with 3. He still had plenty of missiles. Just didn't feel like it? First one was no problem. Second one however, evaded 2 missiles. Must be an ace. But we got him cornered as he's out of speed and altitude. He's trying very hard to evade the 3rd. But was too close. Gotta watch over those Frogfoots for a bit longer. 3 remaining Su-25's reported egress one by one and we're headed home. Another excellent mission as I've had a lot of fun. Debriefing. I had 2 kills. And the strike package had a good mission it seems despite one Su-25 loss. Thanks for reading! Looking forward to the next mission Mission 3 AAR Mission 4 AAR Mission 5 AAR Mission 6 AAR Mission 7 AAR Mission 8 AAR Mission 9 AAR Mission 10 AAR

I did mention in previous AAR that this campaign seems to have different challenge every mission and this one's no exception. I learned the hard way that engaging bandits with friendlies operating nearby is more challenging than I thought. My first go at this mission, I fragged a friendly Su-25 and lost all my combat scores. :cry: As I've said, I'm still learning :book: We're finally going offensive. We will be escorting 4 Georgian Frogfoots on interdiction. Taking off and headed for waypoint 2. Current picture... hmm... those MIG's weren't part of the briefing. I got to waypoint 2 too early and was ordered to circle around. It should also allow rest of my wing to catch up as well. Strike package arrived at waypoint 2 and we resume. According to the briefing, Flanker CAP wasn't too far away from the border so I turned my radar on soon after heading for waypoint 3. ECM from Flankers as always. Locked on to one of the jamming signal and told wing 3 to engage my target. Just as wing 3 acknowledges my order, I reached the ECM burn through range and TEWS started to go wild as they launched on me. I quickly locked one up and ordered 4 to engage my target. I launched on the same target too. Fox 3! Breaking as I ordered wing 2 to cover me. Also wanted to note that I usually make relatively large turn radius when I break away. To keep my speed up and also to keep the bandits within the gimbals until the missile goes pitbull. One of these are my kill I think. AWACS confirms. Flanker group neutralized. Cont...

Ah, forgot to read the title. Thanks Gary. I don't think the wingman is purposely targeting and launching AAMRAAM at you and they can't be launching HOJ in close or medium range. And the wingman usually don't let it go maddog. So only thing I can think of is that you just happen to be in the missile's path. This isn't likely to happen in default formation either... have you changed the formation to trail?