cosmicdoubloon

Hi Mirknir, just noticed that both tankers have the same callsign 'texaco' with no simple way to discern which is which. Could we have the callsign for one of them changed so that we can tell which tanker we are hailing?

There's no such thing as a daft question :) all objectives listed using the F10 menu (F10-F6 for ground and F10-F7 for air) are enemy objectives for you to attack. The white bars tell you the current health of the objectives, the more white bars, the more live targets left at that objective. Stationary objectives are marked with 3 coloured smoke markers (red for redfor, blue for blufor) in a triangle around the object to aid detection, however the convoys and sea objectives must be detected on your own. You can defend your objectives, but they aren't marked on the F10 menu so you have to find them using the F10 map, usually not hard - look for the clusters of ground units. Any other questions don't hesitate to ask, I'm often in the teamspeak as well under 'Cosmicdoubloon (Chris)' so hit me up any time I'm on and I'll happily walk you through any aspect of open conflict :)

thanks for the update mirknir! I will be testing out the new beefed up Tuapse objective later today and will report back the results! Also speaking of ships, are the Moscow cruisers that protect the refuelling tankers immortal or not? NASA, Dust and I discovered that the SU25T's KH-58 missiles OUTRANGE the Moscow at altitude and was curious whether a dedicated team of SU25Ts could destroy the cruiser (provided the missiles make it though their crazy OP CIWS systems!)

I'm by no means a CA expert and don't own the module but from what I've learned from scouring the forums is: • Ground Commanders control all types of friendly ground forces. • JTACs provide unique features to designate ground targets for close air support. (coloured smoke, programmable visible and IR lasers etc) • Game Masters see and control all units from both sides. • Observers can view all of the action, but not direct any units. so for OC purposes I think game masters are not a good idea because they can see every unit both ground and air on both teams, which would be too easy to abuse and/or possibly break stuff. Similarly the observer slot could be used for 'ghosting' and act as live, super accurate AWACs for his friends in TS/Skype/whatever. That being said your idea of restricting the slots to trusted people/on request would probably help mitigate the ghosting and other abuse. Now the flipside, in my opinion JTAC could be extremely useful for OC. Several of the objectives (the spec ops incursions are notorious for this :P) become very difficult to complete because one infantry unit or small truck gets hidden in a forest or next to/inside a building and becomes quite tricky to spot. A JTAC would be able to help find these sneaky breeky units using their night vision, thermal optics and binoculars and designate them with lasers/smoke to help the flyboys out. On top of that they can generally be useful for attacking objectives by designating high priority targets like SAMS/AAA so that attackers can kill the right targets first. The cameras on the A10A/SU25T aren't very high definition and picking out the Gepard from an APC can be tricky at range so they'd be a massive bonus :thumbup: Ground commanders are kind of a tricky one IMO. I think it could be really cool for the deep assault convoy's path to be changed by a player to help protect it and maybe cause some combined arms missions if the DAC can get close enough to an opposite objective like the artillery base, A10s roll in and nail the enemy MBTs with mavericks and the tanks roll in to clear up the arty/AAA. Or similarly having the convoy take a certain route where it can be escorted by mistral gazelles and other choppers could be neat. That being said, I think ground commanders can control/move certain ships and so that would need to be restricted if moving ships are as hellish in MP as you say they are! The Tuapse objective could also be cleared out by the ground forces artillery, though I don't know if the M109s can kill the little corvettes. could be interesting that one... Just my 2 cents, as I do more research I will provide more info :) fairly certain some of the regulars own CA so their input would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Mirk just noticed something and not sure if its a bug or something. The east Krashnodar airfield is listed as a redfor airfield, but is within the blufor protection zone. I tried to land a very low on fuel Mig-29 there but the skynet flak nailed me. Is that meant to be red?

I was thinking about the Tuapse objective and you kinda touched on it, but maybe it would be an interesting experiment to swap one of the 'Molynia' gunboat (corvette? my ship terminology is no bueno) for one of the low end frigates for each team (I think they're called Rezky or something) and maybe remove the land based sam? The frigate's have an OSA system which is the same as the land sam and CIWS so isn't a horrifically OP defence, but at the same time are pretty tough nuts to crack which would require either co-ordination to take out, or someone pumping an large amount of ordinance into it due to its ability to intercept some missiles fired at it. Or maybe if its a little OP for the Tuapse objective, then maybe put one at each of the coastal SAM base objectives. That way its extra ship targets (always unique and exciting!) but only adds 2 AI to the map. Another objective idea I discussed with some of the TS guys (can't remember who, sorry chaps! chime in if it was you) would be a sub-hunting objective. Obviously a little out to sea and could operate similarly to the convoy objectives in that the subs move through the map and aren't marked on it. The player can request the last known co-ordinates but have to locate the little buggers themselves. I've tried spotting them in SP missions and, especially if the weather is a bit gloomy, those dark subs can be pretty elusive! they also have no defensive weapons so their only defensive options is being sneeky breeky! Maybe could work as a coastal/ocean based helicopter objective? It could help coax some helo players out of the FARP spawns and down to the coastal airfield ones, which would in turn encourage them at head to tuapse/other coastal objectives. Kinda thinking out loud here so if I've come out a little muddled or you want to expand/rip apart my ideas I'm more than willing to discuss! OC is still my go-to multiplayer server and, I don't think anyone's mentioned it so I will, the player increase from 25 to 29 has had a noticeable impact on the battle, the conflict zone is always more populated and its very rare to enter the conflict zone to get the '2 allied players, 1 enemy player' or similarly low numbers. Keep up the good work! :thumbup:

That AWACS has given me multiple heart attacks with the 'Merged', especially in ground pounders. If I'm flying an A10/SU25 and get the 'Merged' message the process is always the same: 'Colt 1-1, Overlord - Merged' ohcrap - operation 'save my ass' commence -dive down to in the mountains -engage A-A mode -start darting like crazy, scanning the skies -put a panicky message into the chat/teamspeak for help 'Overlord, Colt 1-1 request bogey dope' 'Colt 1-1, Overlord target bearing 231 for 1 at 3000' HolymotherofChristthebanditisrightontopofmeRIPmewhere'sthegoddamnCAP -look up in the direction AWACS stated -its the enemy TU22 EVERY DAMN TIME :doh:

ahh the mythical R73, easily the most feared missile in air to air combat. You better hope you spot the launch and can flare the thing off, because there's no out-manoeuvring that beast! As I'm sure dustoff will tell you, there's not many things as frightening as entering a knife fight with a mig-29 with 4 or 6 of the bad boys. The combination of ridiculously high off bore shots and the helmet mounted sight always mean one thing: it gets messy quick ;)

I think its the REDFOR infantry incursion, looks like the first incursion judging by the night time and location!

Hi Mirk, had a crack on OC with the Dust and NASA today and the issue with the ground units seems to be fixed with the latest update! :thumbup: Really enjoying the dynamic weather, had a couple of sorties now where I've taken off in calm conditions, done my mission, and returned to a different airfield to rearm and refuel to find myself landing in wind and rain! It's making for a fantastic flying experience :) I was going through some of the various bits of footage I've shot on OC and wanted to share a particular little moment with you all: NASA and I found ourselves engaging the convoy with only rockets, a couple of HOT3s, and a tonne of explosive packs. We decided to give the IED method of convoy attack a try and this is the result... Just so you know the cargo/passenger slots still get a lot of love and are one of the defining features of this server! :)

Well, we had a special VIP on the server today and it went about as well as we would expect :music_whistling: massive fighter formation went straight to the conflict zone to deal with the AI menace!! went really well until.... turns out not even the mighty ralfidude can escape Mirk's Banhammer :lol:

Bonus picture, Cravgar learning the true meaning of the DCS slogan: 'Just trim it out' :lol:

Screenies as promised! The combination of the Bartek texture pack and night-time section of the map makes for some pretty scenes! here's a couple of shots of us on server reset taking off for an attack run in the dark :D

piggybacking off what bert said the AI CAP seems much more reserved now which is good. I can now takeoff on a server restart in a SU25T and head straight to the convoy and attack it without being bounced by the AI (unless I stray too close to the blufor farp, which is understandable!), the AI feel much more like a defensive asset instead of an offensive one.

Really excited for this module, thanks for the update :) Quick question, I've read somewhere (probably wikipedia...) that the AIM-54 was able to intercept low flying cruise and high flying anti-ship missiles, will the in-game AIM-54 be capable of doing this too? The sheer panic of detecting a TU-22 slipping through your CAP and firing its Kh-22 missiles at your carrier, and then desperately trying to lock and fire your phoenixes at its missiles would be exhilarating!

They are indeed, and very deadly to low flying fighters ;) AND multicrew is out for the gazelle on the server :D

Hi Mirk, glad to hear you're doing well, congrats on the new job!! :D Gonna have a minor gripe here, about the AI CAP (again I know..) The AI CAP is overzealous when it comes to helos, they seem to be going after us when there are other fighters about. We had a 5 gazelle party today and all of us were shot down by the AI F16s in about 10 minutes. Fairly certain we lost 2 in the first pass alone! I've attached the F10 map of where we were when we got engaged initially, as well as my final moments in a video to show them coming for us. You can see from the screenie that 2 of us were already down when I took the screenshot, and in the video I've gone quite a bit west with both F16s still harrassing me after taking my 4 wingmen down. some reason its not showing the image... just right click and click 'open in new tab' Would it be possible to set the AI CAP so that it doesn't engage helos? they strafe us on the ground if we land to try and avoid them too... I'm not sure what the workaround would be other than disabling their ability to attack helicopters. Other than that, still having fun! Especially when Dustoff challenges me to the duel zone... but that's another story ;) [ame] [/ame]

Okay Mirk, I'll work my way through that list best I can! Short Range - good for a no BVR mission: Aim-9M/P/P5 (X is not on player aircraft, CATM-9 is training dud) - F15, A10A/C, F5E Gar-8 - F86 Sabre and F5E Matra Magic II - M2000 R-13M/M1 - Mig21 R-55 - Mig21 R-60/M - Mig21 (60), Mig-29A/G/S and SU25/SU25T (60m) R-73 - SU27/SU33, SU25T RS-2US Mig-21 Mid/Long range - Not good for no BVR mission: AIM-120B/C - F15 AIM-7 - F15 Matra 530 - M2000 R27R/ER/T/ET - Mig-29A/G/S, SU27, SU33 R3R/R3S - Mig-21 (not sure if these are classed as BVR...) R77 - Mig-29S AI aircraft only - should be blocked by the new verification system for players AIM-54C - Long Range AIM-9X - Short Range MICA IR/RF - Mid Range R24R/T - Mid Range R33 - Long Range R-40R/T - Mid/Long Range R-550 Magic II - Short range (different from the Matra Magic II, the Matra one is for the player M2000) Super 530D - Mid Range (different from the Matra 530, the Matra one is for the player M2000) Hope this helps! :)

The 'no bvr' thing could make for a fun event maybe as an occasional treat. The furball in the middle of the map would be fantastic! Maybe do something like over the weekend, one server reset on the friday, saturday, and sunday will be a no bvr one (at different times to cater for timezones etc)

Absolutely loving the new mission Mirknir! The weather is awesome, the objectives are awesome, and ships are just (you guessed it!) awesome! :thumbup: Just a couple of things I noticed which I thought I would feedback on (It's long, grab a drink and get comfy! :book: ) The MiG-29 slots are currently at Anapa which is the farthest airport from the conflict zone for BLUFOR. MiGs can't do A-A refuelling and have tiny fuel tanks so by the time you reach the conflict zone with a combat loadout and a centreline tank, the external is empty and you have a very small loiter time which evaporates to nothing as soon as you get engaged and RTB becomes extremely tricky, even to the nearby coastal airfields. Could the 29s be moved to an airfield closer to the conflict zone? Maybe to Krymsk? AI aircraft (both CAP and bombers) activate their ECM as soon as you lock them, then deactivate it about 15-20 seconds later. I think this is default AI behaviour so just wanted to bring it up. The AI CAP seem to be a bit far from the conflict zone to provide help when on the back foot (compared to the Kashuri mission), without player escort the ground pounders are very vulnerable even when far from the bullseye. When attacked the convoys don't continue their route, and sit still for about 10+ minutes off-road. I noticed that the AI CAP would sometimes start attacking ground objectives, the F16s started strafing and destroying static target Mi8s at the listening post objective. (something positive!!) My fps seems to be much better on this map compared to the Kashuri map. Maybe because of all the ocean being rendered instead of terrain, but I noticed huge performance increases. My overall opinion of the new mission is: --Weather - Fantastic, so few servers combine rain/snow and low cloud to produce amazing flying conditions. FLIR and illumination bombs started to prove their worth! Would like to see some dawn/dusk conditions sometimes so the first/last hour of the mission are dark (but not quite night time) 9/10 -- Objectives - A great blend of familiar and new, ships add a whole new twist to tackling objectives 9.5/10 -- Aircraft placement at airfields - A tricky one because of limited airfield slots etc, but other than my MiG-29 gripe (more a personal thing than a bug/issue!) the aircraft feel well distributed across the different airfields. Maybe also have a single FARP hidden in the hills somewhere near(ish) the objectives so that helos can re-arm and refuel without going all the way back to the large FOB complex, kinda like the single FARP that's near Kashuri on the original map? 8.5/10 Overall, I absolutely love the new mission!!! :thumbup: 9/10 TLDR, Mirknir is the mission making Guru!

Don't worry Jabo, I've been pestering Mirknir for the L variant since its release! In the changelog above he confirms its on its way this weekend hopefully :)

Excellent stuff Mirknir! Regarding the new 'Battle for Tuapse' scenario, how's that going to interact with the current scenario? Will the server alternate between the two on resets? Or do one for a week, then the other? Or are you still unsure?

I agree with IAS2424, it would also serve as a good practice area for A-A self defence for the ground pounders, for when you're inevitably jumped by an enemy fighter in the conflict zone. Many a Khasuri Base attack has been foiled by the untimely arrival of a M2000 or similar and being able to practice fending off these pesky fighters in the A10/SU25 would be awesome :) Sad to hear about the issues adding more helicopter slots from the ground! In the meantime would it be possible for you to add some SA342L slots at Kutasi? That way us Gazelle pilots can still take it out for a spin and fly into the conflict zone.

Hi Mirk, loving the new winter weather on the server :) With the release of the SA342L variant of the Gazelle will we see a couple of slots added for it in the near future? I'm looking forward to being an armed scout finding and designating targets for a flight of combat Hueys (looking at you Dustoff!). Also small request, could you change the colour scheme of some of the gazelles to the UK livery? We actually operated them unlike the US and it would be great fun to fly around in the British camouflage :)

Hi Mirk, noticed this bug on the server a couple of times now but only just thought to screenshot it. After using an aircraft with no chaff (normally the Gazelle), switching to the SU33 causes this strange value in the chaff option. I'm also unable to dispense the flares I do have loaded when glitched like this. I can fix it by jumping to a different spot and then going into the original one. I've not noticed the issue anywhere except the Open Conflict server but It's pretty easy to replicate on the server. Is this an issue being caused from the server? or maybe a general bug?