Vedexent

So essentially what I'm hearing is: Don't fly alone, fly with a spotter, or... Don't go into a region where there might be IR missiles, or... Flare like hell running in, assume that you've just been launched at all times, fire as soon as you can, and get the hell out as-soon-as-possible flying as defensively as you can. From what I've seen through experience, and with other people flying on the 314th server is that #3 only works about 50% of the time, if there is actually an IR missile based AAD unit in the area. I guess I can take comfort in that it doesn't sound like I'm actually doing anything wrong, except putting the Su-25 in situations it isn't really designed to operate in. Thanks for the feedback.

OK - it's been a great 2 months since I first picked up DCS World. It's certainly been a learning experience - and I've learned a lot from some of you really great and helpful pilots out there. Since then I think I have the basics down; basic flight, including how to land with damaged aircraft, basic ground assault techniques with the Su-25, working on my situational awareness, the basics of squad flying with other people, gotten comfortable with all the air-to-ground weapons on the Su-25, and the basics of dealing with radar guided SAMs, even though I'm not that good at it yet. I've even gotten reasonably proficient with dancing with AAA vehicles, so long as I don't do something stupid like buzz a Vulcan at 20m altitude. However, what consistently kicks my ass are vehicle based SAM platforms. Put an Avenger in the field, and I'll be dangling from a parachute within 5 minutes after my first high-angle dive to spray down a target with S-8s So ... any advice? How do you deal with Stingers and their launchers on the Su-25? The advice I know for dealing with a Stinger is "put the heater on your beam, change aspect as fast as you can, pump out flares, and pray". But that's if I see it soon enough to react to it. While I haven't practiced it much, it seems that it would work best to attack in teams: one pilot diving into attack, one in orbit and scanning for heaters, and directing the attacker if there is a nasty pop-up: "break north, hard! flares!" But what does a single plane do? Any advice? How do you deal with IR missiles in the Frogfoot? TIA

And the CH-146 Griffon light attack helo Search and Rescue Variant - there is a DCS World Huey skin like this.

Can't believe I forgot the CF-5 Freedom Fighter ... especially since Mechanist asked about the F-5. I think the first and last would be adaptable to the Su-25.

An excellent question! The big problem is that between WWII and the 1990s the RCAF has been mostly for search and rescue, border patrol, nuclear bomber interception as part of North American cold war defense/NATO (the CF-104 program). The CF-118s have been active in NATO/UN operations, since the 90s, however: Desert Shield, Operation Allied Force, the Afghanistan War, and Operation Unified Protector in Libya. To the best of my knowledge we don't really have an active modern ground assault role aircraft since the CF-5 was retired. I was able to find the BAE Hawk trainer livery, which I think is very cool (and not so garish as red and white :D ) The CF-188A (Canadian deployment of the American F-18 ) seems to come a couple of liveries - with the last seeming to be an airshow variant. Here's a livery for the Avro Arrow Here's some for the CL-13 Sabre And a couple for the CF-104 Starfighter.

I often have the opposite issue - I launch DCSW, and then I can't access other windows, unless I cntrl-alt-del to call up a task manager to force the status bar up. This usually - but not always - allows me to access other windows. I think it's safe to say the windowing behavior in DSCW has "character".

Agreed - although I'd like a white belly of the plane, with a darker red body, and white tail tip, as the colors - and the roundels of course. Man ... now I need to learn how to edit skins, don't I? ;)

If you mean smoke pods on your wingtips - you need to take the smoke generator pods in your weapon load-out. Then - at least in the Su-25 - "T" toggles the smoke generators on and off. If you mean dropping smoke markers on the target zone to mark a location for other attack aircraft, then it's a particular type of munition a "smoke rocket".

It's really all a matter of experimentation, and preference. I would say never use the cannon in air-to-air, because if you're involved in a dogfight with a Frogfoot, you're in serious trouble; run away. But, sometimes you need to lob an air-to-air missile at a fighter before running away. If you have no other choice, do a "run and gun" pass as you run past the fighter and escape. In either case ... you probably won't survive unless you have a handy Su-27 running CAP for you to take the heat off. Helos are easier - but no means simple, and never think air-to-air is impossible, just a really bad idea; after all, I've seen VapoR take out an F-16 with an Su-25. As for air-to-ground, I'd say "as steep as you feel confident that you can pull out of again without ripping off the wings, or making a crater". I'm finding that for for me, for cannon, and for rockets, high altitude (2,000 meter+) very steep dives (45deg +) followed by a hard climb back up to high altitude is a good idea (all the time popping chaff & flares). That gives you the least amount of exposure to low-level AAA fire. It also means minimal movement of your targeting reticule once you get it lined up. Also - armored units tend to have thinner armor on their top surfaces, so raining down 30mm rounds directly on their heads is a good tactic. Low, long, fast, shallow angle passes tend to get the nose of my plane shot off, or an engine blown out (I've gotten quite good at flying & landing with no instrumentation, and trimming out a dead engine on my control surfaces as a result). Of course, situations change the doctrine, so there's no one answer that's right all the time. Practice, practice, practice - and think about your practice.

Has anyone ever seen one of these? And yes - I know we don't really have any.

Can you post a TRK file of a mission with it occurring? If we get the same issue during playback, then it's something about your flight. I we don't, then it must be something about your installation.

Oh I agree that specific analysis is a good idea - but to continue the programming metaphor, sometimes you write really specific algorithm specific code (like assembler), sometimes you write a whole high-level reusable library or framework (like the "batteries included" approach in Python). I think the alienating influences are general enough to many groups, that they fall under the same "class", but that doesn't mean that a more specific solution for any one group is bad. When it's all said and done, it sounds to me that we both have the same goals here, so nit-picking about the minutiae of the actual solution approach probably isn't helpful: Nolo Contendere :)

Very cool. Our CAP pilots have been grumbling of late - I think I'll toss that into the server mission menu to mollify them. Thanks :)

Can you post a track, or the mission that you're trying? What are the conditions under which this occurs? Do you know the unit you're trying to lock? At what range?

It broke twice: once when I set my headphones on the table - this broke the headphone mount clip, which I repaired with a zip tie - and once when I admittedly knocked my headphones off the table onto the carpet. That one split the "fork". Maybe you got one of the early models before they started skimping on build quality?

I'll concede that it does take a little more care. I make sure the blinds are drawn, and I occasionally have to move the mirrored closet doors around to avoid "bright spots", but I like keeping my office area pretty dimly lit anyways.

IMHO, do NOT get the ProClip. It seems like a good idea, but a baseball hat with the metal tracking clip on the brim works every bit as well, and the ProClip will break if you sneeze on it (only a mild exaggeration). Search the forum for the thread about the pro-clip and you will see dozens of variations on "good idea, crap quality, it broke". Seriously - unless I have a LOT of bright natural light in the room, the hat clip works just as well.

I wouldn't - although I haven't seen the video and don't intend to. Would you find it tolerable if he was hitting on you? If she threw up a gamer tag like "Im_here_to_flirt", then maybe ... but honestly, do you think she was playing FPS to pick up men? Inappropriate behavior is inappropriate behavior; you deserve what you get.

Um ... what? a) When did older people become the topic? b) Excuse me? You've decided it is bad to make stereotypical statements about female gamers, but "Older people" are fair game? EDIT: While I kind of sound it, I'm not trying to be antagonistic, or confrontational here - my point is that (IMHO) you shouldn't be singling out any group specifically: women, men, older, younger, gerbils, houseplants, etc...

Totally up to you - but I would get a new TackIR. I'm not sure if there will be official OR support; I'm not sure when there will be official support; I don't know how bugged the OR support will be; I don't know how much the OR would cost for the kind of resolution we'd want. I also wouldn't want to wait until the OR is out; I'd want to be flying tomorrow (and would get the overnight shipping on the TrackIR).

More people? Yes. Generally accepting? Absolutely. Singling out a specified group? I'm not sure that's the appropriate. As for the wife/girlfriend/daughter angle: maybe we just have to bite the bullet and find common activities with them, rather than trying to shoehorn them into our interests. I know that with my wife, the online community could be the most mature, well behaved, egalitarian society on the planet: she still wouldn't want to fly an Su-25. That's OK, I don't want to crochet, either.

So here's a question - why does everyone seem to wish there were more women playing? I'm not saying they should be excluded. I'm also not saying that behaviors which seem to alienating them are acceptable - but they're not acceptable directed at anyone, regardless of gender. I'm saying that if you really think gender is immaterial in a video game player - and I think that is the case - then does it matter if women just aren't interested in military sims, or if they are? I say it is a worthwhile goals to make a generally accepting, and tolerant online environment for everyone. Make the general environment universally acceptable to everyone, and disregard the gender of your squadron members entirely.

+1 on this. Women gamers in general have a hard enough time as it is - I can imagine that if DCS World is even more highly gender skewed (and I suspect it is, though I have not hard data) it would be even worse.

DCS World will run on a VMware vSphere or VMware Player VM - it doesn't appear to run on a Hyper-V or Virtualbox VM. I haven't seen anyone report on Xen or KVM.

Your faction must own an airbase (by having a unit in it - typically a supply truck) in order for you to be able to refuel and rearm there. I'm guessing that in this scenario you don't own it.