Xavven

I'd like to start a continuation of this discussion without necroing the original thread since it's 11 months old. (original is here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=181407) How do you think the AIM-54 will affect PVP servers? Now that the missile is in the game, we don't have to speculate over whether it can hit a fighter maneuvering hard (it can). I've flown some F-15 vs. F-14 on "Excellent" difficulty AI starting at 60nm BVR at 30,000 ft. This is an even, head-on joust with no hiding in terrain and no unpredictability or creativity from players so as to remain as repeatable as possible. Basically I used AI to eliminate x-factor in order to test the range advantage of the AIM-54 in isolation. In my testing, I found that I must to dodge 2 AIM-54s before I am able to close enough distance for a medium PK AIM-120C shot. Any shots I take before defeating 2 AIM-54s are at about Raero. Also, if I try to crank and only defend when missiles are detected, my odds of survival are quite low. I am able to win the engagement by not waiting for a missile spike and going straight to beaming, turning in only temporarily to fire low PK AIM-120Cs and going defensive immediately without trying for higher PK shots or giving mid-course corrections. My conclusion after the testing is that the AIM-54C gives quite a significant advantage in open airspace, and superior tactics must be used to mitigate this advantage (tactics that both sides can equally exploit). What do you think? Have you tested them, or have you formed an opinion on theory alone?

If I'm orbiting 5-10nm away at low altitude then I just look outside the cockpit. If I'm far away and enroute, then I slew the TGP to the JTAC's coordinates for the primary target and then slew the TGP around -- it's faster to just start slewing SE (in your example) than trying to make another markpoint on the TAD. If I'm at medium altitude and the AAA isn't the primary target, and I have time (no friendlies under fire) then I ignore it and engage the primary target with PGMs. No need to put myself at needless risk.

I agree, however assuming a player would be better than an Excellent AI, it actually strengthens my conclusion, since I lost to the Excellent AI in the A-10C. My first match in the F-15C was really just there to prove that I have at least some idea of what I'm doing. I'm not very good, but I'm not terrible either. Nope, this hasn't come up in real life and never will, but apparently it happens on PVP servers in DCS, so it's interesting to analyze what happens in this match-up. As for real life match-ups, the A-10C has actually beaten modern fighters in AA training exercises on occasion. I can't find the source at the moment, and I'm also not aware of the engagement rules. Certainly the A-10C is at a huge disadvantage in the BVR department, so you probably wouldn't get into a dogfight to begin with. If you did make it to a dogfight, remember real life is not a guns-only gentleman's duel where you agree to not shoot head on and wait until the first merge before weapons employment is allowed, so the A-10C doesn't need to saddle up to the control point to win -- it just needs to get into any valid firing parameters for a sidewinder. Also, the F-5 is still in service with many countries to this day. That might be more of a fair fight for the A-10C. Against a Su-27, though, all things being equal the A-10C is at a huge disadvantage.

Hey, Echo38 -- I was able to get the P-51D in my front 90 degree field of view in a two-circle fight, however by the time I got lock I was too close to engage with missiles, and about 15 to 20 degrees away from a guns solution.

Alright! Well I truly believe in testing stuff out for yourself instead of arguing around conjecture. I did some flight testing tonight. Match 1: F-15C (me) vs. P-51D (Excellent AI) WINNER: F-15C No surprise here. It was very easy to dispatch the P-51D withholding firing until after the merge. I had so many options, including: blowthrough and turn to a second head-on merge for missile engagement, OR; keep speed at 650 knots and climb at the merge, then half-loop and engage from above, OR; classic rope-a-dope, OR; just make all turns in the mostly-vertical plane. I had the least success with nose-level turns at corner speed, as the P-51D seemed to keep up in turn rate, and it definitely has a tighter turning circle. This is expected in a jet vs. prop fight, so I did what jets do best and used the vertical (as the F-15C excels at) which results in victory in 1 or 2 turns max. Match 2: A-10C (me) vs. P-51D (Excellent AI) WINNER: P-51D The A-10C can't match the turn rate of the P-51D when the A-10C is loaded 100% fuel. Even if I use a slightly nose-down turn when the P-51D goes for a vertical turn, the P-51D beats me in both turn radius (expected) AND turn rate (unexpected for a vertical turn vs. nose down level turn). If I load the A-10C with 20% fuel then I do a bit better on the first turn, but by the third merge the P-51D has gained a 20 degree advantage on me and downs me in a head-on guns pass. I had a glimmer of hope using a vertical turn at the first merge if I had 20% fuel, but it exhausted my energy and I was dead on the second merge. It also loses in a flat scissors with 20% fuel -- we ended up in flat scissors with me defensive (but good on energy) but I couldn't force better overshoots and he got in sync. I did, however, cause a hilarious mid-air collision when the P-51D got too close and I popped speed brakes, cut throttle, and climbed in an attempt to force a 3/9 overshoot. He did overshoot-- through my fuselage! My conclusion is the the A-10C can't win by forcing a second head-on merge in a two-circle fight, loses at scissors, and loses too much energy in the vertical to survive a third merge. At the end of my testing, I respawned in another A-10C and blasted the P-51D with a sidewinder head-on at the first merge. It's "cheating" but I had to show him who's boss in a no-holds-barred fight :P

Well, if anything this thread has me interested in setting up a few dogfights against a P-51D to see if I can force a two-circle fight, and cause the second merge to be head on. I'm off to work but I'll try it this evening. I'm also curious to see if the A-10C can win a flat scissors fight against a P-51D or a 4th gen fighter, but I also think it's unlikely a decent F-15C or SU-27 virtual pilot would allow themselves to get into a scissor.

If you're on steam, PM me your steam name and I'll friend you. I have a few home-brewed multiplayer PvE maps if you're interested.

Ugh... that's lost visibility in all the wrong places, too.

My apologies if this has already been shared, but this Tedx talk by Lieutenant Colonel Mike Drowley showed up in my YouTube feed. He's an A-10 pilot and relays his experience with a troops in contact situation among other things.

I don't know exact number of course, but there are enough for DCS to be commercially viable and for other devs to publish new aircraft modules on a regular basis. There's no doubt that hardcore sims are relatively niche compared to your Call of Duty and World of Warcraft gaming markets, though.

The A-10C is my favorite plane to fly, but you sound more like a fighter pilot with your competitive nature. Do you like PvP? If so, you are probably going to enjoy the F-15C more. There's a bit more "thrill" to the F-15C as you bleed the enemy aircraft of energy and make that last turn to get a guns kill, or get a HAGS shot and pull out of the dive going mach 1.2 pulling 6 G. The A-10C is, to me, more an exercise of patience, caution, observation, planning the attack, and methodical execution. Sure, there's the chaos of trying to save a convoy from a rushing tank column -- you'll have frantic and exiting moments, but for the adrenaline/dopamine rush, the F-15C has a little more in my experience.

Open the mission planner, click on your A-10C on the map, then on the right side of the screen you'll see several tabs. Click on the second tab from the left (it's a circle with a dot in the center and four radial lines). This allows you to check that aircraft's loadout and change it as you see fit.

I think jcbak has the right answer here. I can't say for sure without seeing a track, but I'm guessing you're selecting the weapons from the main DSMS page (not the profile selection page). This is the equivalent of the "manual" profile, which doesn't use your profile at all. What you want to do is, after you save your weapons profile, use the master mode switch on your HOTAS until you're in CCRP mode, then use coolie switch up (keyboard 'U' by default IIRC) to select your HUD as SOI, then use DSMS left and right until your GBU profile is selected. NOW you have your profile and all the settings you saved selected.

I use a curvature of 20. Like Wrench said, it's personal preference and there are also some who recommend against curvature at all. I tend not to need as much fine tuning at the extreme ends of the spectrum, which is why some degree of curvature works for me.

I started in the free SU-25T and then switched to the A-10C when I felt I was ready to handle reading 300+ pages of flight manual and practicing while reading.

The base platform is now called DCS World. You install that for free, and then you add the product keys for any modules you bought, like the A-10C. If you bought DCS on Steam then it's easy, just go to your library and install DCS World (or get it from the store for free). If you bought it from Eagle Dynamics then install version 1.5 here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/world/ DCS Black Shark 1 is not DCS World compatible. You have to buy DCS Black Shark 2 in order to plug it into World and fly with other people online. As far as manuals go, start with this for the A-10C: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/downloads/documentation/dcs_a-10c_flight_manual_en/?sphrase_id=5629496 once you've got the basics down on how to operate the aircraft and have some basic practice under your belt, start reading about some real tactics in the A-10C here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=165469

I use a curve of either 20 or 25. I don't remember which.

I'd pay $50 for a HCMS-enabled A-10 module with APKWS hydra rockets

You're referring to the AoA indexer I take it? When you are on the backside of the power curve, throttle controls altitude and pitch controls speed. Here's a quote from pg 129 of the DCS A-10C flight manual: The indexer presents the information by displaying illuminated green and yellow symbols; low-speed symbol "\ /", on-speed symbol "circle", and high-speed symbol "/ ". Slightly low/high speed is indicated by the on-speed and low/high speed symbols coming on simultaneously. The AOA indexer lights operate only when the nose gear is down.

Somewhere between 8 to 12 seconds before impact, depending on your release altitude above ground level, is the optimal time to use the laser. Your bomb will miss short of the target if you lase too early. Before you use the laser, a GBU-12 or GBU-10 falls in a ballistic trajectory (approximately a parabola). Once you fire the laser and the sensor acquires it, the guidance system tries to fly straight towards the laser spot and doesn't attempt to account for its speed or altitude. When you lase too early, the bomb bleeds off all of its energy early in its flight, begins losing altitude, and then has to pull up as it nears the ground, and often it doesn't have enough energy to maneuver at that point. I'll see if I can demonstrate this in Tacview. I see this question come up periodically in the forums.

I disagree about lowering your flaps right before touchdown. The correct procedure is to lower flaps on the downwind leg and/or right after completing your turn to final from the base leg (refer to Kippy's graphic a few posts above). Right before touchdown, you should perform a flare (aka roundout) maneuver, which means raising the nose to decrease your rate of vertical descent and soften the landing. The flare should be performed with the flight stick (or yoke) only.

Listen to Kippy -- he's a great instructor, speaking from firsthand experience. Traffic patterns were a sort of "next step" for me. I started off using more or less Gliptal's method and then Kippy took it to the next level. If you are handy with the mission editor, make a map that starts you travelling perfectly in-line with the runway, or some distance from the airfield from a random direction if you are practicing traffic pattern entry and landing. If you're not handy with the editor... well one of us could whip one up for you in about 5 minutes, I suppose!

Quoted for truth-- there is only shame in breaking your landing gear or destroying your A-10 because you didn't abort and go around :D

^^^^ what harm said. The number of the runway = the heading you would use (rounded to the nearest 10 degrees) to land or depart from that runway. You land/depart runway 30 at a heading of ~300. You land/depart runway 12 at a heading of ~120.

I would start by searching YouTube for "A-10C Landing Tutorial" and watch a few to get the general gist. Here's a decent one: After that, practice a bit, and then post a track of you landing and/or crashing to get some advice from forum members here tailored to your specific needs.