HoneyBadger

This is the control layout I use. There's probably more buttons I could bind to my HOTAS but so far I'm happy with it. I believe nearly everything I've bound is necessary. The actual layout should probably be different though for a general profile to be given to beginners. The kneeboard is arguable as the Gazelle comes with the NADIR, I just bound it anyway as I used it a lot in the Huey with the same binds. I still have the joystick bound to camera slew but I use Coolie Switch when not in Auto-hover mode. I know the slew control is a proper axis designed for camera panning, but that thing's terrible so I don't use it.

DCS saves which mission you're on automatically but it'll revert to older missions like that sometimes. To get back to mission 2, follow this: Look for your logbook @: C:\Users\[your name]\Saved Games\DCS\MissionEditor and open logbook.lua Look for the Gazelle campaign inside the logbook, it begins with this paragraph: Look for these two lines: They are different from the larger paragraphs that look like this: Ignore these For the two lines I mentioned; edit the stage value and the number inside the mission string (CMPGaz > 5 < VEN.miz). So in mine it says I'm on mission 5, so I'll change it to mission 7 to get this:

Kneeboard, RShift + K

I've set Altitude and Speed to the Autopilot 3 position switch on my Warthog. Works very well as the Gazelle can read the center of the switch as off just like the in-game switch.

Look for the stage and mission paragraph inside the Gazelle campaign section of the logbook, it will be buried somewhere in there. It looks like this: { ["stage"] = 4, ["mission"] = "CMPGaz4VEN.miz", }, It is different from the longer paragraphs that look like this: [1] = { ["datetime"] = "04/14/16 12:27:38", ["agKills"] = 0, ["aaKills"] = 0, ["result"] = 90, ["deathsCount"] = 1, ["stage"] = 3, ["mission"] = "ATO-A-P3.4.miz", }, -- Ignore these Just edit the number of the stage value and mission string. So, if I'm on mission 4 as it currently says, but wish to play mission 7, then I'd change the 4 after "stage" to 7, and the 4 inside the mission name (CMPGaz > 4 < VEN.miz) to 7 to get this: { ["stage"] = 7, ["mission"] = "CMPGaz7VEN.miz", },

I've only got one mission left. I've actually really enjoyed this campaign more so that other DCS campaigns and wouldn't change much. Only complaint really is Meatboy-1; I dislike the English accent employed for him. I get he's meant to be the stereotypical posh/upper class English pilot, and that's fine but I feel the actor did take it a bit too far. I also find Meatboy-1 too powerful. A lot of the missions felt like "Press F10 to win", as in I would fly to a waypoint, order Meatboy to attack and then he wipes out everything without much involvement from me. I get the Gazelle is a recce craft and can't hold it's own much in engagements but when you have an Apache as a wingman blowing everything up, it does diminish the night-time recon feel the campaign's going for, a bit. Otherwise, you've done a really good job. A lot of the scripted story moments are really well done, and the surprise some of them entailed threw me off-guard in a way few DCS missions have.

I'll help

This is what I did but Meatboy-1 didn't follow me after the base landing.

I haven't flown the Huey in awhile...

This video is for the Huey but I feel it does teach the principles of helicopter flight well enough to apply to any heli-sim. He stresses the importance of a FFB joystick, but you don't need to worry too much about them. If you can somehow get a decent one, nice, but me and everyone else I know doesn't have one and we do just fine in Heli's. (ignore this) Another thing to note, the torque from the Huey's clockwise spinning blade (this is explained in the video) will push the heli right at low speeds so you need to apply left rudder to keep it straight. The Gazelle also spins clockwise but you need to apply right rudder to keep it straight for reasons that I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me can explain. (ignore this)

A bind is available for the fifth key.

After we took the airbase and then was instructed to take out the commanding officer's convoy, Meatboy-1 had his engine off and so wasn't able to take out the remaining convoy. I was spamming the F10 command to attack but he wasn't responding - I needed to do 2 trips back and forth to restock on HOT's. Not a major issue as I was able to finish the mission anyway but maybe something to look at.

At the start of the mission, you could set the mode selector knob to PP to get your personal position and then just write down the numbers.

Okay, just realised what it was. I was hitting the POL button. I assume it's waiting for me to put in a series of inputs but I'm not to sure what it's for so it left me stumped, but I found out holding the EFF button in will unlock the NADIR. You can move this thread out of the bug sub-forum and over to the main Gazelle forum if you wish.

Its happened a few times now, not every mission, but a few times. I wish I could replicate it, but I'm not sure what causes it. I maybe hitting a button that locks it until I do something (maybe?).

The laser is simply to help guide the Gazelle pilot to their target. In the night missions of the campaign, a JTAC operated drone will send down a laser that can only be seen through NVG's. Same idea as this except from the sky:

Sometimes, and seemingly randomly, the NADIR stops responding to any input I give it - can't change waypoint, can't edit the waypoints. I can't tell if I'm hitting something that locks it up or if it's bugged. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm already 5 missions in (Fastest I've moved through a DCS campaign). Basing most of the missions at night was a really great choice.

Ah, sorry. I've updated my post

Close call with 2 Shilka's in the campaign.

That's surprising to me; I can get a steady 60 on 2.0 in most situations but 1.5 Beta is really taxing. I get a maximum 40 but it drops to 20 constantly.

Are you sure? **Spoiler** I believe London does instruct you to go heading 140. The enemy you needed to find was an armoured convoy of BTR's and Howitzer's.

Setting the Artificial Horizon selector knob (Lower right of the torque gauge) to DOP will give you a vertical line on the Main Artificial Horizon, it lines up with the current heading from the NADIR. I find it very useful.

Thank you.