cosmicdoubloon

F5 can definitely talk to AWACS. AWACS frequency is 124.000 and to tune to that you actually have to turn your main radio to T24000, because for whatever reason T=1 on the F5 main radio (below the radar). Hope that helps :thumbup:

Just to change the discussion slightly I just want to say that the new time of day settings are amazing! First 60-90 minutes is in darkness as the sun starts to come up which is fantastic, and you still end up with about 4 1/2 hours of daylight time. Combined with the very light fog/mist the weather on the server is very cool thanks a lot Mirknir! :thumbup: Would it be possible to add a bit of cloud (I think 5/10 in the editor) with some light rain? Been a while since we've had a wet conflict zone ;)

Thanks everyone for an absolutely fantastic competition! As promised, I've created a small compilation/highlight reel of some of the best moments from the mission, live footage recorded by myself and the other streamers who very kindly let me use their footage. This is my first ever time making a music video/montage/whatever you want to call it, so I appreciate it is rough around the edges and some of the transitions aren't great, but feedback of all kinds is greatly appreciated for the future! Apologies for the questionable quality of some of the clips, that's as good as they were on the various streams I capped them from.

Cosmicdoubloon Livestream (In cockpit)

I don't think defuelling the M2K would actually acheive anything, because its a DCS level module you can refuel it with the engines on anyway so you could have it fuelling whilst you run the startup sequence. You wouldn't slow the aircraft at all in terms of getting back in the fight. Also adding more M2K slots isn't really feasable because pretty much all the airfields are full now, so adding more aircraft means removing something else which is unfair on the people who fly those planes. When the new map comes out each team will have more airfields which will allow the teams to have more planes of every type, but until then I don't see the numbers changing massively... until the F14/18/harrier appear and mess everything up! :P

{WD} Cosmicdoubloon MiG-28

Sorry if I've not understood your point, but the duel zone slots do not affect the conflict zone at all. The number of aircraft at the conflict zone airports can be changed independently of the duel zone.

Yeah currently if a SAM/AAA is damaged to below 50% HP it is still alive, but stops targeting. It can still move but just cannot utilize its weapons or radar. I've seen it a few times in the sim, normally when an ARM has a near miss. This would definitely be the best way to do it I think :thumbup: Also.. you got a link to that article? I'd be very interested in reading it!

It's a really nice idea which is being considered, but it's very dependent on bandwidth availability at Mirknir's end. Mirknir will be able to give you a more precise answer but an increase to 40 might be possible as long as it doesn't max out his bandwidth. We'll have a chat about it and possibly do a test in the near future. As always the easiest way to make these things possible is to contribute to the server upkeep and donate when you can. As always link is in Mirknir's signature! Did you do a skynet check to see what was left alive? Each objective has a three letter code you can use in the chatbox to display the status of the objective, including what buildings/units remain alive. Type '-ag' to get the list of objectives, then '-ag xxx' where xxx is the 3 letter code displayed in the '-ag' objective list. Also just bare in mind that on occasion the AI vehicles will move defensively when engaged and sometimes they move into wooded areas which will make them very tricky to spot. If that happens your best bet is thermal optics, or baiting them into firing if you're brave! Hope that helps :thumbup:

Both sides have a multitude of objectives in their safe zones, both defended by AI AAA and undefended. The enemy team can't touch you whilst you're hitting these objectives :thumbup: Examples are Novo Airfield and Weapon Factory for Blue, and Oil Fields and valley artillery base for Red

I'd be in favour of an extension of the server run time, it can be tricky to destroy enough ground units to spawn the secondary objectives especially if there is heavy fighter cover slowing progress down. Likewise a longer daytime period but still retaining the final hour being in dusk and eventually darkness would be good fun. I'd support an experimental period of extending the server runtime to 6 hours instead of 4, I'd be interested to see if the extended time allows more ground combat and rescue objectives on both sides to be successfully tackled.

Another thing to consider is you can sit maybe 1km away as long as the BTR and igla are dead and use your miniguns to spray down infantry out of range of their AKs, and like dust said use your elevation to your advantage :) the incursion is in a nice canyon and you can afford to sit relatively high out of reach of the AK infantry and orbit whilst you spot them. Of course the other option is to buddy up with a KA50/Gazelle and let them use their long range optics to help you spot infantry. :thumbup:

AFAIK Mirknir doesn't want to use other scripting which is precisely why he's rebuilding his scripting tool Skynet with it's own version of a GCI script, not dissimilar to the one you linked. Just be patient and wait for OC 2.0 I'm sure Mirknir might be able to chime in here and give you a more formal answer but I can't imagine it'll be much different from what I've said unfortunately, just hang tight and make do.

I didn't say your original point, just 'the' original point, which way made by a member of your squadron in that we have no more way to do GCI. It's likely to stay that way until the next version of Skynet drops with the next full version of the Open Conflict server. There will probably not be any CA assets placed because they're simply too easy to exploit and abuse as Mirknir has stated on multiple occasions. I also have to absolutely disagree with implementation of LotATC. Whilst in itself an amazing asset you cannot expect every player who wants to play on the server (a primarily beginners/training server I might add) to shell out for a client licence to have access to GCI/AWACS, it also appears to rely on having that human in the loop to be the ATC/GCI, again meaning a licence is required. Sorry but I don't see any way around the PITA which is the AI AWACS callouts, you're just gonna have to wait for Open Conflict 2.0 for revamped GCI/AWACS

Well that's not how AWACS works in DCS, everyone is on the level playing field with the somewhat crappy AWACS. Trust me, the datalink only works for things the AWACS can see. If someone is not visible to AWACS, they aren't on the datalink. Besides if your SA is that bad that you're relying that heavily on the AWACS and not your/your wingman's radar, then you probably want to re-evaluate your tactics. AWACS compliments and enhances your SA, it shouldn't be your only source. But getting back to the original point, having the all-seeing spectator 'GCI' is cheating and provides an incredibly unfair advantage. It's gone for good and rightly so. Even using Combined Arms GCI your intel is limited to what aircraft and groundborne can detect which is far less potent than using a bug to see every single unit on both teams in real time. Sorry to disappoint but that slot isn't coming back.

But it's not a GCI, it's the AI AWACS and its terribad performance is the same for everyone so you're not at any disadvantage. If you don't trust the AWACS to find targets for you, then use your own radar and your wingmen, and don't be so headstrong as to burn at mach 1.5 to the bullseye at 35000ft just to have someone hit you with an IR missile from below. You're far more useful to the team anyway if you hang back a bit, loiter, and protect friendly A10s/SU-25s and any other non-fighters instead of flying for 5 minutes, scoring a kill then dying because you pushed too far!

The AWACS for both teams is placed strategically so that their effectivess varies. They're near the edge of their radar's effective range so that contacts near your safe zone are detected easily, but the effectiveness of AWACS drops off the closer to the enemy safe zone you get. This is deliberate and is a little bit of balancing done by Mirknir. That being said, fly low enough and you can fly almost anywhere in the conflict zone and avoid detection!

the 'G' and 'K' mavericks have massive blast warheads and do pretty good damage to small ships like the Molynia, Rezky etc. Other than that your best bet is any of the 2000lb bombs dropped from above their defenses. OSA armed destroyers have a ceiling of 19000ft so as long as you're above that you're safe. If you're feeling exceptionally brave it is possible to BRRRRRT a Molynia as long as you approach it from exactly 12o'clock, its two defensive guns have a massive blind spot at the front of the ship!

we all chat with Teamspeak and Discord mainly but I'm sure skype would also be an option. We have our own WarDogs TS server hosted by Crav that we could all use, and similarly we have a WarDogs discord. As for a server, we can all connect to you if you host one off your non-OC computer, as long as your internet connection won't max out. Ping will be fine for us in Europe, likely 100-150ms. Otherwise Dust is probably next best, or Cravgar has a dedicated server I'm sure we could use if we asked very nicely! (Sorry for dropping you in this a bit Crav!)

More than happy to help out Mirknir :) very proficient in the Gazelle and have basic skills in flying the Mi-8, and no doubt can brush up on my Huey flying with a crash course from Dustoff! We've all got teamspeak and discord, and I've got skype as well. I'll be free all day Sunday, just let me know! :thumbup:

Also because I didn't mention it, the less fuel on startup is a double edged sword. For one it on the whole discourages people just ejecting and grabbing a new plane, but the F15 has the workaround that Dust mentioned in that it can just take the external tanks. Maybe limit it so it can only carry one tank on the belly? I don't know if its possible but its one solution. or maybe shift the focus on to the smaller fighters, so remove some of the F15/SU27/SU33 slots and replace them with M2K and MiG-29 variants. These are still very good planes, but lack the fuel capacity and missile numbers to dominate the conflict zone for 30-45 minutes at a time. If a player wants to do the 'airquake' of full burning to the objective they can, but they'll have a very small window of time on target before winchester/bingo. This also encourages conservative fuel/missile useage and might help to promote a more 'escort' style of play. Stay with the ground pounders and preserve fuel until an enemy gets close. That and I'm a sucker for the MiG-29 and seeing more of them in the conflict zone is fine by me! :D

If I can give my 2 cents on some of these... For me this isn't a frustration, because on the whole the teams are pretty good at balancing themselves out so even if there are a lot of fighters, the number per team is still reasonably similar and rarely does one side have a distinct advantage. I don't think more protection from Skynet is needed, if too many aids are added it reaches a point where player ability and human thinking is hampered. That being said I feel there could be a couple of changes to the AI defences which I'll touch on later, and maybe another solution would be additional or respawning ground/sea objectives in the safe zones so that ground pounders and helos have more opportunities without necessarily going into the conflict zone. Yes I know there's already the Novo airfield + Anapa incursion for example, but the bluefor Lanchuni weapons factory isn't replaced on destruction, which leaves only defended objectives or the conflict zone, both potentially off-putting to new players and/or people learning a new plane. A 2 front battle would be really cool! Although potentially this means double the AI due to the need to populate both sides with targets. It also could mean more of the map is used for the conflict zones, which raises an issue in that it can encroach on the separated duel zones. I think the extra defence is maybe more vital than we anticipated and were overzealous to suggest the nerf and spawn delay. Here's why: The combination of the FC3 fuel delay and CAP delay means that very often we see situations where almost all of your team's CAP is on the deck fuelling and there's absolutely no fighter cover in the conflict zone, which means the other team have pushed all the way up as far as they can. Yes the skynet flak and SAMs get some, but the smart ones (and there are quite a few!) simply stay far enough away from those objectives, but still are able to aggressively engage any aircraft before they have entered the conflict zone. This is especially apparent around the Bluefor Krasnodar Airfields where on occasion I am fired upon before even reaching the conflict zone. The Skynet destroys these missiles most of the time but I've been shot down before reaching the conflict zone before. My solution(s): the bluefor HAWK site is far less effective than the redfor KUB down by Sochi. I think the launchers should be moved closer to the Krasnodar airbases so that they can more effectively deter fighters skulking in the north of the Bluefor zone away from the SAM base and fleet. AI CAP: two possible solutions. 1) I think the AI CAP could respawn regardless of the number of fighters under a certain condition. If your side has the 'Your side is at a disadvantage!' warning then your CAP can continue to respawn, but the team with the advantage has its CAP spawn frozen as normal. 2) bring back the F16s. Now, before you all cry 'not more amraams!' hear me out! When both sides have enough fighters the AI CAP could be switched from the current F18/MiG-23s, which are good, but not effective against fighters in large numbers, to F-16/SU-30s. These are more capable fighters with AIM-120s and R-77s (We've never seen R-77 equipped AI in OC before, could be really cool!) and are better suited to fighting large numbers of players. When the fighter count drops back down again, it switches back to the F18/MiG-23 CAP. OR combine the two. If your side has the 'Your side is at a disadvantage!' warning your CAP gets upgraded to F-16/SU-30. The F-15 is no more OP than the SU-27/33 IMO, yes it has the amraams and insane radar, but the SUs get datalink, helmet mounted sight + ufo missile, and the optical BVR system in general. Its just a running joke in the group that you can spot a player who is new to DCS because they're on the deck in an F15 at full burn with 3 external tanks and 8 AIM-120Cs, and they fire 3 or 4 amraams at one target at max range, turn around and full burn back to base. Nothing against the F-15 personally :) It's a general fighter problem as opposed to a specific aircraft, the F-15 just gets stick because its one of the most popular modules and so lots of people fly it. That's about it from me, on a brighter note Mirk I'm compiling some pictures to bring a couple of nice stories of our antics which you can hopefully get to see soon :thumbup: Keep up the good work as always!

Not for lack of trying! We have even attempted to take down the fleet properly using Combined Viggen/SU25T/KA50 strikes but the insane HP of the ships, crazy CIWS and having to fly a perfect NOE route in and out to avoid taking a mach 3 telephone pole to the face means we simply haven't been successful against the entire fleet :( we did manage to kill the velikiy on one occasion and the kutznesov on another, with the destroyers being regular kills, but theres simply not enough time in one reset to launch enough sorties to kill the entire fleet :( On a positive note the dynamic weather has been awesome :) there have been times where the cloud base was below 4000ft in some areas of the map! certianly is a game changer for ground pounding now that bert can't climb to 20000ft and drop CBUs on everything :lol: As always keep up the good work :thumbup:

Kinda following up from what bert said I think it would be better if the Velikiy was removed from the fleet and replaced with something less powerful. Another Moskva cruiser would work, it would still cover the ocean well without intruding over land and on the tankers so much. I think the Velikiy is just a 'bit' too powerful to be that close to the coast

No I didn't... missed that step somehow! that fixed it thanks very much :thumbup: