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They literally start heading for home. I just tried inputting SWITCH WAYPOINT at every single waypoint and it worked, but from my understanding that shouldn't be necessary...or is it? It may be because there aren't any targets to attack, which is part of the plan because there's a trigger zone for the player which will trigger hostile aircraft pushing from their own respective points. Maybe it's a bug somewhere that no one noticed because usually people hold on IPs so they can push for ground attacks. Maybe no one has tried holding at a point for air-to-air, and since there were no immediate air-to-air targets, maybe the flight logic is to RTB. In any case I'll post it and let you take a look at it. The mission is a work-in-progress and I just got hung up when I started testing the triggers. The way I test it is just turn on the electric power in the jet so I can hear their radio calls and then go to the map and accelerate time until about 38:50, which is usually when they call on station. Thanks so much for your help. LowRadarSearch.miz

That's exactly how it's set up. However, as soon as they push from the point, they call RTB and head home autonomously. The triggers work; they hold at their WP1 until I give the call to push and then they call that they're pushing and the button goes away in the radio menu. However, 3 seconds later they just call RTB. I'm beginning to think it's not the triggers, that there's some teeny tiny little box I haven't checked somewhere that's sending them home instead of continuing on with their flight plan. Like I said, the triggers work like a charm, both with the STOP CONDITION method and the Triggered Actions SWITCH WAYPOINT method. It's not that I can't get them to push from the point, they simply don't continue along their route and instead snap to home plate. I really don't understand why something as simple as orbiting at a point in a flight plan and then continuing along said flight plan once pushed is so complicated and obtuse in a mission editor. It's just odd to me that we have to jump through so many hoops to do even the simplest of tasks. I'm still working on it, though.

Great, thanks! I'll check it out and basically copy/paste it to mine...I need all the help I can get because I really want to do it well. Thanks again Djent. EDIT: I just checked it and I think I know what I did wrong. When I gave the order to switch waypoints, I input Switch Waypoint to WPT 3 instead of WPT 7, and I bet that's why my fighters were RTB. Does that mean that if you want them to hold at a position until your call and then to continue on their route, you have to input the very last waypoint you want them to go to? Also, I don't know if this matters, but your fighters were on a fighter sweep mission and mine were CAP the entire time...maybe that had something to do with it, maybe not. I'll try to recreate what you've done and get back as soon as I find out. Thanks again!

I'm trying it right now and I'm still coming up with a constant RTB when pushed from the WP. Could you tell me the exact triggers and values you use? The setup is like this: Eagle flies to WP1 and orbits between WP1 and WP2 There's a trigger zone over WP1 that will add the Radio Push Command when the flight enters When the flight is pushed, the button will disappear and the flight should proceed to WP3, but it just calls for RTB. I think I've been doing it for so long and tried so many options that I don't even know if my triggers are messed up at this point. Is there a "standard" orbit push trigger?

Hi guys, I've been looking for an answer for days and I still can't find precisely what I'm looking for. I'm creating a mission where I'm flying low altitude and have a four ship of Eagles orbiting at a waypoint, waiting for my radio order to push from the waypoint and engage hostile aircraft. There are 7 waypoints and I'd like them to orbit at WP1, push when I call for them to push and continue flying their route. However, every time I call for them to push from the radio, they push and then immediately call that they are RTB. How would you set this up with triggers? I'm obviously doing something wrong with my triggers, but I simply want them to continue flying their route even in the absence of hostile forces, yet they immediately RTB when they push. I can get them to orbit and set up the radio command, it's getting them to continue with their pre-planned mission that I'm having trouble with. There should definitely be some sort of "continue mission" option for the WP options. Thanks.

Great! I'm still ironing out the kinks in the triggers and AI behavior, but hopefully it won't take too long to come up with some more missions. I've got about 5 so far.

Hi guys, I'm in the process of building a *very* basic F-15C SP campaign just to learn the ME and CB, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in trying it out when I'm finished. I just wanted to gauge your reactions because it's most definitely not as polished as some others. It's quite heavily scripted, however I am using triggers and such, but it's really obtuse to me right now. The ME is a really powerful tool but holy crap is it not the most non-user-friendly thing on the planet or what? There are some things about it that make me shake my head but I'm getting used to it. I'm trying to focus on a narrative with some progression rather than just one mission after another. It's an Eagle air-to-air campaign but I'm putting in instances where defectors will end up joining NATO (guess who), and I'd like to make the campaign have a stage where you take control for a few missions of these defectors as they start flying missions for NATO instead of Russia. It'll just be a tangent with very simple missions in the Flanker so the die-hard NATO-only crowd (if there are any of you) won't have to lose your minds trying to learn the Flanker just to go ahead with the campaign. I'm also trying to make it as realistic as possible, yet still be interesting, mission-wise. A lot of the missions are made to further the story/operation in order to get some sort of sense of continuity, that what you've just done directly impacts not just the mission frag but the overall doctrine. There will be really frantic missions interspersed with quite benign, almost boring missions, because this is where the realism comes in. In other words, you may be tasked to escort a flight of Hornets on a SEAD mission in one mission, and in the very next you just do a basic fighter sweep with little to no resistance. I'm taking the Falcon 4/AF/BMS approach. If any of this sounds interesting to you guys, please let me know so I can post it when I'm finished. I'm still learning all the triggers and still haven't quite figured out how to use the flags perfectly, as well as randomizing things. Like I said, it's quite scripted but I'm trying to strike a balance between realism and simplicity; there's nothing more annoying than having to jump a million hurdles in a mission just to get enough of a score to get the MISSION COMPLETE signal. I hate having to replay the same mission over and over again to the point of nausea because by that point you will have already memorized all the triggers! Instead, once your straight-forward mission has been completed for your flight, you are cleared to RTB and your mission is complete. Also, I'd like to keep it open to allow you guys to add or detract from the units in the missions, I only ask that you save it with a different name. We can have different variations to the campaigns in this way. Also it will be a great opportunity to refine my mission building skills. If any of this sounds interesting to you guys, please reply to the topic because I've found that I really, really enjoy building missions, it's just that the ME is sometimes like trying to put a square peg through a round hole. It will only get better with practice. :)

I'm mainly a solo simmer, but I recently substituted the stock missile parameters with the parameters done by Scats, and I have to say I am very happy with the results. The ranges are realistic (for a sim) and the guidance seems to be on the "correct for a flight sim" path. Granted, I don't fly MP anymore with this profile as it would be flagged, but flying MP is only fun when the missiles aren't a complete travesty, so it's not a difficult decision to fly solo instead.

A picture call is always given in bullseye anyway; bogey dope is usually given within 10-12 nm and is always in BRAA because you're giving the information to a specific jet. The entire reason the picture call is given in bullseye is so all players on the frequency can understand where the target is based on the bearing and range displayed on everyone's radar. When GCI/AWACS makes a picture call, every single player in the fight will have the exact same bearing and range when they cross-check the call...this is how they do declare calls. Declare calls are ***ALWAYS*** in bullseye so as to prevent fratricide. This is why I think it would be a good idea to be able to switch between bullseye and BRAA. You don't need a data link to be able to use bullseye, and pilots aren't figuring out in their heads exact picture calls by simply guesstimating; the info is right there on their scope as long as the lat/long of the bullseye is correct. This is how flights sort their targets, they don't just say, "Ok Bill, you take the one on the left, and Dave you take the one on the right". Bullseye is crucial in this phase of the intercept.

YAY! So it's not just me who has ragequit this campaign several times? This mission is so arcade-y and ridiculous in the first place...C models on a striker profile to take out AWACS? What?

This isn't really applicable to single player, but I could see it being of use in multiplayer. Is there a way to set up the radar to use bullseye bearing and range information instead of BRAA? I'm just curious, and I realize that it's FC3 and not DCS, and maybe it's a little nit-picky but since many of us love realism, maybe it would be a good thing to add in the future? I don't think it would be too difficult to add, but then again what do I know? I'm not a dev or anything. A bit of an explanation (and I'm sure most of you already know this): In real-world ops, bullseye is used to call the bearing and range of targets outside of 10 miles from yourself, usually. Sometimes it's 15 miles but that depends on tactics. The entire point is so the enemy won't be able to easily reverse the BRAA call if they're listening in on the fight and determine your position. Bullseye isn't a target or waypoint necessarily, it's just a designated point in space whose LAT/LONG is shared among all friendly players so all friendly players on the same frequency will be able to point out targets using the same reference point. BRAA is a lot like screaming "HERE I AM!" The real world display will have bullseye bearing and range information instead of BRAA information displayed. You can use it as a general reference point to get a ballpark idea of the situation, obviously, but that's not what a bullseye is for. Sim-wise, it won't really change anything, but there are those who want uber-realism, and since a sim as dated as Falcon 4/BMS uses it, why not DCS? I just figured that since there are bullseyes in the game that it may be a cool thing to be able to use them for what they're actually created for and not just a general idea of where an aircraft is.

A crank is the same for both friendly and enemy in terms of the desired effect each one is trying to achieve, but from a comm standpoint you do not call a bogey/outlaw/hostile aircraft as "Lead group bullseye/BRAA yadda yadda yadda, umpteen thousand, hostile, crank southeast." It's "flank southeast". Same with notch and beam. You don't call a bogey/outlaw/hostile as "notching" because he's beaming. Actually you shouldn't even use "ing".

You crank and enemies flank. It's a maneuver designed to try and get offset from the target but not dropping lock in order to support your missile until it reaches Pitbull (Medium Pulse Repetition Frequency - MPRF). An active radar missile such as an Aim-120 needs the radar of the aircraft it was fired from to guide it to reach this stage of flight; at that point its own radar fully locks on to the target and it will guide itself in and you can turn cold to the target and increase range. It's not a guaranteed hit but you continuing on a 180 aspect to the target won't help the missile any and will put you in unnecessary danger. The difference between an AIM-120 and an AIM-7 is an AIM-7 is a semi-active missile, meaning it needs the host radar's guidance all the way to impact unless it's in Home-On Jam mode when the target is jamming, which it just locks onto the jamming signal and follows it in. If you see an enemy on your radar start flanking, chances are he has just launched a missile towards you and is doing the very same thing. The crank/flank is simply a stiff-arm move. It won't save you but you will be in a much better position to "snip it", which is what happens when you have to abandon your radar support of the missile, usually due to a defensive maneuver like notching. You crank, they flank. You notch, they beam. Same maneuvers, different brevity words.

Errr, I meant FC3. Hope I didn't get your hopes up! :D

I use the missile mod for DCS so I sorta have to be on my toes. Before the mod I could bring along a thermos and pour some coffee in the cockpit up until about 15 miles and then worry about missiles, hehe.

That was my initial point, that it's just a radar in search mode. However, you don't have a spike range because you rely on GCI/AWACS for spike ranges, so if you hear nails your pucker factor should increase dramatically. When you're actually spiked, you're going to call for a spike range from GCI/AWACS, and let me tell you that that is the longest few seconds of your life in the cockpit, waiting for that spike range to come back over the radio. Due to the radar sweep delay and positive closure of the jets, we tend to shave off a mile or two by the time we give the range because in those three to five seconds they've both closed at least one mile. You can be locked and still not be within their launch envelope. However, you don't know where that spike is coming from until you get a spike range. Hence, nails are never a reason to relax. "Viper2, spiked 240" "Viper2, spike range 12, threat BRAA 240, 10, 24 thousand leaning on you, hostile" "Viper2's defensive, notching" Fast forward a few hours and we're all back in the de-briefing room reviewing the tapes and comm and it gets to the previous call, and Viper2 is now crapping his pants because he thought the spike range was further out due to previous nails. I'll never forget what the lead told him, he said: (forgive the crudeness, but it's a true story) "Every time you ignore a spike or nails, that's like someone jerking off in your face and you wait until the last second to move out of the way." :D

If you hear nails, however, you're only seconds away from being locked if you're not maneuvering, if they haven't already locked you as you said. Nails are still a bad sign, hehe.

The occasional "beep"s you hear from your RWR with the corresponding "29" are called "Nails". It's a radar in search mode that your RWR is picking up. They haven't found you, but they're looking for you. You will most definitely know when you are locked because you will have a constant alarm denoting you are "Spiked", which means locked by enemy radar. If you aren't worried about playing online and play mostly solo, there is a mod around here somewhere that replaces the laughable and downright ridiculous missile dynamics of DCS with one that is a little more realistic, although not completely real, obviously. It's a huge improvement over the standard, the only problem is you can't fly online with it unless the server accepts it because you'll be flagged as cheating. If you fly mainly solo, I would recommend it because you don't have to launch 6 AMRAAMs at ten miles and a 180 aspect and watch them all play lawn dart anymore.

Yeah, I tried that. The closest they get is a few hundred meters. The advanced waypoint options do it, but I've found that once you change the formation, they won't return to the original one. I'm still dinking around with it, so maybe I just have yet to discover exactly what it is you have to do.

BTW, what folder do I add the mods to? I see several "mods" folders...not sure which one. EDIT: nevermind, found it.

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THAT'S AMAZING! Ask and you shall receive. Best. Community. Ever.

After a month and a half of steady simming, this is what I've come up with: Is there a way to simply adjust values for the missiles ourselves at this point? Seriously, launching 4 slammers at a single target 20 miles away from 30k feet and none of them impact? I hardly ever play online, as I prefer solo missions and such (I've done the six-month online squadron training program...never again), so just tell me how to tweak the values so I can make this sim not a chocolate mess when it comes to BVR. In fact, I've begun building lots of Gunzo missions because BVR is so infuriatingly ridiculous that I'm afraid I will actually uninstall this sim out of frustration, and I don't want to do that. Button mashing every single button is cool for people who want to ramp start the jet and then quit the sim. That's pretty much what DCS is at this point, isn't it? Let's be honest, here. It's nice to fly around as long as you don't have to shoot anything else that flies. I love immersion and realism just as much as the next guy, but do you know what's NOT immersive and kills all that immersion you built up with the ramp start checklist button mashing? First and foremost: turrible, turrible missiles Awful ATC comm (I have instruments; I don't need to know my heading) Even worse AWACS comm/comm options Still worse wingman AI and wingman/flight comm options Seriously, Jane's F-15 had better comm options back in 1997. Campaigns are not campaigns, they're just a string of missions that move to the next mission when some arbitrary mission parameter is ticked, even if you die on the runway while landing. Conversely, if you can't figure out said arbitrary mission parameter due to the author's honest mistake or poor design, have fun repeating that same mission umpteen times until the sim gets it right. What can I say? The mission editor is the mission editor. It's been practically the same mission editor since Flanker 2. It's a teeny weeny bit more user-friendly than it was back in 2001, but only because of the layout of the buttons. If you take anything away from this rather tongue-in-cheek, lightly scathing rebuttal on DCS: FC3, it is that FC3 is the incarnation of the Su-27 in video game form. What I mean by that is that it's possibly the most beautiful of its kind and loaded with potential, but it's just so clunky and bogged down with outdated ideas, poor design choices, and retro thinking that it's inevitable that it will be superseded by something else (even by the same designers), only to be left on the shelf while everyone pines away for what might have been. FC3 is neither the uber-sim that is the A-10C, nor is it the less-anal-retentive-but-more-fun sim that it was actually designed to be. I think that is what is frustrating to most people (aside from the missiles, of course); they feel hamstrung. They're flying a jet with weapons that should be modeled to do X in reality, but instead of either doing X or a lighter, easy-mode Y, they have a Nightmare/Impossible mode Z. That said, can we work around it? Of course. These parameters aren't impossible, they're just unrealistic and extremely frustrating. What's more, not tackling such a glaring problem immediately in favor of other projects and the constant forum back and forth doesn't exactly give people a warm fuzzy. Still, I can't stop playing it. It's infuriating and I want to actually uninstall it and just go back to BMS, but it calls to me every single day. Every time I approach my desk, I see my throttle and flight stick and I have to fire it up. I keep coming back to it, warts and all. Every day I have this renewed hope that I will figure something out that fixes everything, and every day I'm disappointed. Then I get up and do it all over again the next day. ED is doing something right, I just don't know what it is.

Thanks! I always start from ramp start, so that's why it wouldn't work. Good to know. Also, is there a way to get your flight to actually fly in close formation? I remember they used to fly really close in the old Lock On game, but in FC3 they don't do it anymore.

Hi guys, I was wondering if it's possible in the mission editor to have the AI wingman do a flight takeoff with you. I've been scouring forums, vids, and the manual and can't seem to find it. Thanks a lot!

Great, thanks!