Vedexent

The advice worked - especially the smoke. Can't say I'm eagle eyed picking out all enemy movement like a raptor on high swooping in for the kill ... but I'm starting to pick some out, and mark them for later passes. Another thing I've found - I was way too impatient. It helps if the front lines have joined; it's much easier to spot a firefight, or a self-propelled mortar firing, than it is an APC moving though trees next to the river. I guess that's why the Grach is close air support and not an interdiction aircraft.

Thanks - smoke is a good idea. At least it gives me a point to start looking again. And yes the Su-25A is hard - but that's the fun part :D Learning to do something with the Su-25A imparts a real sense of accomplishment ... plus I think it'll be good practice for more modern aircraft when battle damage blows out those "new fangled" systems like autopilots and HUDs. :smilewink:

After you hit "fly" in the Mission editor - or load the mission - you get the briefing screen. At the bottom, near the "fly" button, is the "Mission Planner" button. I don't think you can alter existing mission waypoints, but you can add new ones between existing ones, and "fine tune" the mission to some extent.

All things I'm doing ... so it's sounding like I just need to keep practicing, rather than expect I'm going to find a "magical" tactic to make those armor units pop out of the background (other than enabling labels, of course). Appreciate the feedback.

So, I'm trying to work through an Su-25A mission, where there are lots of mobile ground targets; it's an armored advance of American units on Tbilisi (from a randomly generated mission). I can fly just fine, and I'm reasonably successful against ground units when I can find them. The biggest problem I'm having is finding mobile ground units. Even spotting them on the F10 map, I find myself cross-crossing the landscape trying to spot units - and more often than not, when I find them and circle back to strike, I can't find them again. So ... all you experienced Su-25A pilots - what am I doing wrong? Am I flying too high? Do I just need more practice? Do I need a spotter? How do you find mobile ground targets? edit: for anyone reading this thread for solutions, also check here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=111286

OK, I'm flying CAS with an Su-25A, in a large, multiple unit, moving front engagement, in a summer thunderstorm, in mountainous terrain north-west of Tbilisi. For some reason the Americans really want Tbilisi bad; don't ask me why, it' a randomly generated mission base. As the Su-25A's targeting computer is pretty much the Mark I eyeball, I am having a hell of a time in the rain picking out advancing American light armor units rolling through the wide mountain valleys (at least until I fly too far down the valley, and the Vulcan AAA units lock radar on me and hose me out of the sky; oh, there they are :P). However, I'm getting allied unit radio chatter - "AAA at Bulls 285 for 12". I can't see the AAA, but I know that the bullseye is just north of Tbilisi (and I may even have it overlaid on my map), so it's pretty simple to make a quick mark on the map to indicate there's AAA there. That's what I'm doing, and the rationale behind my "ask". ----- I actually was looking at option #1 - perhaps even keeping it as a digital file and using my tablet as a kneeboard (you can get kneeboard tablet cases for about the same price as a traditional kneeboard). I hadn't known about option #2 - which would work even better with the tablet idea. If I can slap those in some drawing program and put a bulleye navigation overlay, it would work very well. Thank you.

I was wondering if anyone was aware of any good printable mapping software. What I'd like to be able to do is print out a regional mission map - ideally with the ability to mark concentric raging rings around the bullseye location(s) - and then be able to jot down allied aircraft report of enemy units. Sort of the old "grease pencil on the canopy" notes tactic - only there's no real writable canopy here Or ... is there a way - or a mod - to do this with the in-game kneeboard? Thanks,

I think that will work - I'll make sure there's "quiet space" in all the band controls. Thank you. I don't suppose you know of a way to make the slider work opposite ways in opposite directions, do you? :) What I was thinking was - in the Su-25T profile - as the slider goes up target size in the Shkval (or gun pod elevation) goes one way, and as the slider goes down it does the opposite. You'd need the key events to be different depending on which direction the slider (or dial) was going, and I don't think the profile software differentiates direction just position.

I have the Saitek X52 Pro HOTAS - and it works reasonably well in game but I'm finding that out of game, it tend to generate a lot of random key-press events that really mess with non-DCS World programs. Even in game, some controls seem to emit extraneous commands - like the throttle slider, and the rotary dials, which I initially wanted to use for Skival zoom on the SU-25T, and air-to-ground weapons ripple selectors. This turned out not to be possible, as the ripple settings seemed to change rapidly and randomly. I'm using the Saitek profile software, rather than trying to set everything in DCS World itself - which means I can unload the profile and the problem goes away, but it's still a PITA. Has anyone had similar issues, and did you find a solution? Thanks,

That's very helpful, thank you. I hadn't seen a lot of of ranking systems with explicit criteria (maybe I wasn't looking hard enough) in squadrons. Having grown up in Alberta, my French is a bit rusty, but I'm sure I can puzzle it out with Babelfish and the wife's help :)

Gentlemen, thank you for your feedback - especially since the 159th and 77th were two of the squadrons that made me go "I want to do that!" when I read your websites and/or saw some of your videos (the 159th ACMI file I watched on TacView was mind-boggling complex, and very cool)! :) In short, I'm hearing that I probably don't need to have as much experience under my belt as I was planning - but I should know the basics of the aircraft and mission types - which I'm still working through (for example, I'm just moving off my beloved SU-25A to the T to learn to use the Phantasmagoria ELINT and anti-radiation missiles). But - to ENO's point - I do know how to do a ramp start take off at least with the SU-25A/T; I'm practicing the occasional gale-force crosswind landing at Batumi @ night with the Frogfoot when I think I need a dose of humility - and I don't die (usually). So don't be surprised if you see me in your Forums - and I may give the Firehouse a whirl this weekend if you could use another ground-pounder :smilewink: Thanks again!

I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - which is EDT or GMT-4 (-5 after Nov 3)

Hello all. After many years of wanting to dive into detailed "realistic" flight Sims, I finally couldn't resist all the really amazing flight videos you were all putting up on Youtube, so I bit the bullet, got a decent gaming PC, Saitek X52 Pro controls and pedals, a TrackIR 5, and DCS World, followed quickly by several of the DCS World modules ( Eagle Dynamics and their darn Fall Sale... :)) I'm both delighted and appalled at how deep the rabbit hole is; it's going to require a lot of study and practice - but I'm weird in that I enjoy that sort of thing. DCS World has consumed an alarming percentage of my free time over the last month. I'm looking down the road, at getting seriously involved in multiplayer - and I really like the idea of eventually joining a virtual squadron: an online social group of like minded people with whom one can practice with, learn from (and maybe, one day, help out others in). But I'm a long ways from there, as I really don't want to apply to join a squadron unless I can make a meaningful contribution to the group. I'm practicing basic flight, learning BFM, cobbling together practice missions to try things out, checking my flight and mission performance in Tacview, thumbing through some good actual basic flight manuals, and really trying to concentrate on 1-2 aircraft to learn them well (I'm finding I'm developing a real fondness for the Su-25 & SU-25T - more-so the original Su-25), as well as being reasonably competent at all the basic mission types those aircraft are suited for. Eventually I want to fire up the single-player Su-25A/T campaigns and work through those. It's going to take me a long time before I feel I have the basics down. And that's where my question for all you are members of virtual squadrons: when do you consider someone has "the basics" down? What skills and abilities do you think someone should have developed before they can be someone who is useful in team flight, and not just some newbie you have to train up to that level (and who might - therefore - be a bit of PITA to fly with). I don't feel I have to be an ace pilot before even trying a squadron, but what do you people in squadrons think is a good "basic skill set" in an applicant, or new member? Or ... am I taking the wrong approach to all this? Thanks,