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Which AIM?

Hooray! Can't wait!

I assume EvilBivol conjured up mission 9 and 10. Those were evil. And thaFunkster, I'd love to hear your experience about the missions. Lots of feedback on A10 campaigns but not enough on the F15 campaign. I hope someone else start doing the SU25 campaign AAR as I just started on those.

This probably is one boring AAR because it's a night mission and you can't see a thing. Don't get me wrong... there was a lot of action and was a lot of fun... you just can't see it. I also like to mention that I failed this mission twice before getting it right. First because I was waiting for my wingman to catch up as always and didn't get there in time. Second, I got there in time but used up all the fuel in doing so... and got wasted by an SA-15. So with the lesson learned... We got a possible defector and he may bring his SU-25. Why can't he bring something more sexy like the Flanker? It seems 2 Fulcrums are after him and we're supposed to bail him out. I only get one wingman for this mission. It's 4 O'clock in the morning and very dark... Not good for capturing screenshots. The mission by default gave me one fuel tank but I learned my lesson and put one more. I'm gonna have to go full afterburner all the way to engagement zone. I can always jettison the tanks once I get there if I have to. 2 plus 2 Fulcrums. I don't think that Uzi flight will be much help. Getting close to the border so I turn my radar on. There is the SU-25 just under 30nm out and pretty much on the ground. I don't see the MIG's yet. Don't see them on the radar but it seems they can see me. Finally appeared on my radar at 25nm range and closing. Seems he's literally breathing down on the SU-25. I still don't see the second one yet. There's the second one. ETA to border 3 minutes... gonna be a long 3 minutes. MIG's getting ready to fire on the defector it seems. Can't wait any longer. Fired 2 AIM-120C's at almost Rmax range. It's important to note that you're in hostile territory here. And there are enemy SAM's lurking to the west. Always turn northeast towards the mountains avoiding the SAM's when possible. And don't go in too deep. The two slammers did serve its purpose and put the MIG's in defensive mode. I guess saving their own arse is their priority. Launched two more slammers as I asked my wingman to join in the fight. This darkness sure makes it easy to spot these fireworks. This one's my kill. I only spotted one kill and can't find the other one. Can't see him on the radar and doesn't show up on my TEWS either so I wonder if he just crashed. It's really challenging to develop a good SA in this darkness. Nothing to orient myself but the gauges. Instead, I see the other group of 2 Fulcrums at 15nm range and closing. I engage them first and told my wingman to "cover me" just in case that one MIG is still on me. Meanwhile defector has made it across the border. I managed to splash one of the MIG's in second group. And my wingman got the other. Still don't know what happened to the 4th MIG. At times like these, AWACS can be useful. And it also appeared on the TEWS just as AWACS answered. It turns out, he was running away right after the first engagement. Yea... I'd run from me too. I decided not to chase because I know there's SA-15 and SA-11 lurking. Defector is safe... hope he brought some nice Vodka to put me back to sleep. My first night landing. Debriefing. I got 2 and my wingman got 1. Thanks for reading! 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 site still works and even though they're for 1.12, most of the videos still apply to 2.0. Few button press may be different but strategy doesn't change. http://flankertraining.com/ironhand/news.html

Yea, has been reported and ED confirmed that it wont be fixed. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=52102

I believe for #3, you can select a waypoint and order him to vector to waypoint. 1, 2, and 4, I've tried and never works. Only way to get some use out of my wingman was to jump in his cockpit and fly it myself.

I got this done in first try. Not sure what you're doing differently but this is what I did. Got to the waypoints on time and at correct altitude as stated on briefing. Meet up with the C17 and I flew very close to it. Between 0.5~1.5 mile range. Also make sure to stay with him this close through the clouds. Not sure if you have to stay this close but I was doing it for fun. After he said he can handle it, I stayed around a little longer. By mistake, I thought I had to land on the same airbase. Just before landing, I realized the mistake so I redirected to home base. And got the mission complete.

After a series of attacks, I guess Russians are taking it easy as I'm on CAP duty this evening. It's a beautiful evening anyway so let's take a stroll. Oh good... looks like we'll be getting some action afterall! 4-ship Flanker and 4-ship Frogfoot. Not too shabby. They're coming over those mountains this time. Confirmed and cleared to intercept just as I was turning back towards waypoint 2. SA-10 Big Bird out there. Better stay away from that area. And my wing telling me that Flankers are bracketing. It would actually help me out since they'd be easier to target. Here's the first picture I got on my radar. Two jammers are probably from the Flankers... they always seem to have it on. And Frogfoots at medium altitude. I can't tell if the Flankers are in front or behind the Frogfoots at this point. I thought about launching on the SU-25's first... but Flankers should be the priority here... they're closing while I'm hesitating. I figured I was already close to the ECM burn through range so I decided to wait. And it shows the Flankers slightly behind the Frogfoots at 25K altitude. Locked 3 of them and ordered 3 to engage my target and cover me command to 2 and 4. Just as I'm giving orders, I fired 3 AIM-120C's. Fox 3! I didn't capture a screenshot but my next maneuver as always is to turn away. Later analysis of the track file shows how the enemy responds to my tactic. Just as I expected, they launch R-27ER first. And then go defensive to my attack. I love it when my plan works out. This should give my wingmen better odds. Flanker kills. It seems that those who ejected have quite a hike over those mountains. Frogfoot kills. All belongs to my wingmen... they didn't leave any for me! While rejoining formation, wing 2 pulls a stunt. Perhaps he was serious about wanting to transfer to Thunderbirds. Compared to some earlier missions, this was actually a walk in the park. We were cleared RTB but since we still had quite a bit of ammo and fuel left, I decided to continue the CAP. Hoping for some more action. Only action we got was creating this contrails superhighway for an hour. I wont be doing that again. Debriefing shows that of the three AIM-120C's I fired, two of them found their way into two Flankers. Was a bit surprised as I didn't expect them to make a kill. Thanks for reading! Mission 3 AAR Mission 4 AAR Mission 5 AAR Mission 6 AAR Mission 7 AAR Mission 8 AAR Mission 9 AAR Mission 10 AAR

Got a question for you EvilBivol. You said before that only the lead in the Flanker group carries ECM. But looking at the difference between 7th and 8th screenshot above, it appears there was more than one jamming signal coming from the Flanker group? Is it because the Flankers were split in 2 by 2 formation and it's considered to have 2 lead?

Thanks Funkster! I hope you enjoy FC2 as much as I do... I'm sure you will!

If you're getting shot down, I think you're getting too close. I'm sure some more experienced pilots here can survive right in the middle of the action but not me. I tend to stay on the outer edge of the engagement zone and simple turn away usually evades all missiles. These are my basic strategy to every mission so far. 1. Load up everyone on my wing with AIM-120C's and adjust fuel load in mission editor before every mission. 2. Lock your bandits and just before they are at Rmax range, order each of your wingmen to engage using "engage my target" command to each wingmen separately. If you can't get lock on them or if the bandits are already too close and not enough time, I use "cover me" command. I don't use "engage bandit" command as it does some funky things. And don't give engage... command to the entire flight. 3. Fire a few AIM-120C to couple bandits you locked up at Rmax range. These missiles will most likely will not make the kill but should put the enemy in defensive position giving your wingmen better chance of survival. They do make a kill once in a blue moon however. 4. From my experience so far, the enemy should've already launched on you. Again, at this range, simply turning away is good enough to evade. 5. Now, turn back into it (I usually just do 360 turn back in it) and if I get a launch warning again, that means they're still on me so I turn away with afterburner again. And my wingmen should finish them off. If they shifted their focus and going after the wingmen (you can see this better in TWS radar mode), turn back in it and engage them yourself. This is just my tactic and I'm sure is not the only way and in all probability, not even the best tactic. I'd actually love to hear other people's strategy.

Ah, does that mean keeping the radar off until last minute doesn't help much either? Thanks for the edit!

Good thing you brought that up. Actually the reason I stay below 25K is because above that, it always creates a trail. I figured that would give away my position too easily. This may be reason for staying low if I'm facing an human opponent but I wasn't sure if AI opponents would recognize the trail. If not, I may venture up higher next time. By the way, would you mind editing the subject of this thread to Mission 5?

Thank you! No I am using the Gys-Valerie F15 model. It's a must in my opinion. And I did lock up each Flanker and gave order one at a time in this particular mission. It takes some time because from what I can tell, I have to lock up one, give order, but cannot unlock and lock next one rightaway. Have to wait until the first wingman confirms the order. Then lock next one, give order, and then wait... In other missions, if I'm only able to lock one or two, I give an order to as many as I can and then use "cover me" command for the rest. Enemy's first target usually is the lead which is myself and they almost always fire their longest stick which is R-27ER. That's an SARH missile so they have to guide it all the way to me. This is also why I don't use ECM at first. I want them to keep their locks on me and not break it too early so my wingmen have better chance. Again... not even sure if what I'm doing is proper way. Seems to work so far at least.

Okay, Russians have started the fight in the last mission and they mean to do some heavy damage by sending 4 TU-22 bombers along with 4 Flanker escorts. I think it is important to note that I do edit the loadout for my flight before every mission as suggested by EvilBivol. Usually go with 6 AIM-120C's and 2 sidewinders. And change fuel as appropriate for the duration of the mission. Certainly helps in survivability of my wingmen and more importantly... myself. Another thing I do while I'm in the editor is to check the skill level of my wingmen. It's good to know in advance who you can rely on. After I take off, I decide to wait for all of my wing to take off as I have a feeling that this fight isn't going to be an easy one. I need everyone by my side. AWACS seems to be pressuring me to get going by providing me with some helpful information. I make one circle around the base and head for waypoint 2 just as 4 started rolling. Keeping my radar off and only relying on AWACS until I reach the engagement zone. Wing 4 has just caught up. Getting close so I switch to BVR and turn on the radar. Look at all that noise! So the bombers have their jammers on and I'm sure the Flankers got theirs on too. Flankers obviously are the priority targets here but there's no way to tell who's who in all that noise. It's gonna be dangerous but I'm gonna have to wait until the burn through range to identify targets. Bombers have more powerful ECM's than fighters I'm told so if I'm right, Flankers should appear on my radar before the bombers. Just as I predicted. Flankers at around 20nm range and closing. Gonna get busy. While giving commands to my wingmen as quickly as my fingers can move, AWACS decides to interrupt. Not now! I already figured they're 20nm away and closing. I managed to get each of my wing to engage 3 separate Flankers and I also fired 1 AAMRAAM per Flanker to put them on defensive. I counted at least 2 launch warning against me so I'm running as always... I can see some explosion in the distance. Can't tell if its my kill or my wingmen... but who cares as long as they're dead! There goes the escorts. Unfortunately, wing 3 didn't make it. And his plane just exploded and evaporated. Didn't even have time to eject. RIP. Time for some revenge... where are those sitting duck bombers? Doing their best to survive I see. Sometimes one missile isn't enough to kill these TU-22's it seems. The bombers are literally sitting ducks so I terrorize them and finished them off one by one. Try flying home in that ejection seat! RTB This was fairly short mission but wasn't easy by any means. I really like this campaign as each mission seems to have different challenge. This time, dealing with enemy ECM signals. Wing 3 shoved an AAMRAAM and a sidewinder in that Flanker before he took one. And the TU-22's obviously wasn't able to do any damage. Thanks for reading. 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 fragged quite a few friendlies this way...

I give it a thumbs up. I even like the voices. Just wished the briefing was a bit more thorough. Hope you make it into a campaign.

FPS drop over towns in FC2.0 isn't actually as bad as Blackshark for me. What kills FPS in FC2.0 is the Shkval display in SU25T.

Right, it's like golf balls. If you didn't follow the ball from the tee off, there's no way of spotting it in the sky.

online or offline?

What I really wish... and I don't think you can do this that I know of... is to take off in pairs or formation with AI wingman. I alway find myself slowing down after take off for 3 of my wingmen to catch up. As for landing, I had two of them crash right behind me just short of the runway when I didn't give them orders once so I tell them to RTB way ahead of landing approach. Problem with this however is that they seem to get there before me and I'm ordered to circle around. I usually ignore the tower tho.

Then it is an error in the manual?

Do they ever show up as 27?

Just realized. I assumed that RWR airborne threat symbol for Mig-29 is "29" and Su-27 is "27". And it's also what the manual stated on page 217. Was just flying the F15C campaign and Flankers kept appearing as "29". There was no Fulcrum in the sky. This threw me off quite a bit as I thought I was engaging Fulcrum but they were actually Flankers. Come to think of it, I engaged quite a bit of Su-27's but never recall seeing "27" on the RWR. I'm not sure if its mistake in the manual or a bug.