LastRifleRound

I see what you're saying here, but in application, something is wrong. That amount of firepower should level a column of trucks. I think a simple radial damage model would suffice here, no need to model fragments. They must have come up with some sort of workaround, as they are introducing blast/frag rockets in the patch.

Ground moving target just allows a linear lead calculation. If the target isn't moving, no lead will be calculated. I do the same as Viper, I tend to always engage with GMT enabled.

True, but Cachya also has trouble with aspect, camera positioning, etc. if they are chagned you must change all the settings. Probably not a big issue for most people, but I use a laptop for Black Shark, so it's a big deal for me.

I will say if you're thinking about getting Cachya know that it requires a significant investment of time compared to TrackIR to get it working right, but it DOES work. I still plan on getting TrackIR, as with certain light conditions or times of day it is very difficult to get cachya to track efficiently. I will say that I was quite functional without it with my X52 because i had the mini-mouse, and could map many of the functions to my buttons instead of mouse clicking them. SO......I think a good HOTAS is #1. After that, yeah head tracking is pretty sweet

I should think a barrage of 32 of the suckers landing in and around a road formation of trucks should be enough to knock out 1 or 2 of them HEAT or blast frag. However, I will say that you should employ rockets between 1-2km. Ideally 1.5-1.9 seems to be the "sweet spot". I tried my single mission again and employed rockets in this range to much better effect (Knocked out 4 of the trucks with one barrage). So basically, ignore the advice that says employ between 2-3km, you won't hit anything at that range. I forgot they were introducing blast frag rockets in the patch. If they are as devastating as a 105mm shell that is going to be ALOT of fun :)

My favorite in Lock On is flying the standard model Su-25 (not the T). It's really wild operating with no HUD, and the weaponeering is alot of fun in it as the symbology and employment are a lot different than anything I've tried before. There's also a campaign mission that has you landing in thick fog with a low cloud deck, instruments only with no HUD. It took me 3 tries, but when I put that bird down it was one of my most satisfying sim experiences. Not for the faint of heart.

I've had this problem as well, and found it has to do with a number of factors: 1.) Terrain-If your target is in hilly terrain, the vikhr's spiral could cause it to impact the ground short of your target as you saw 2.) Range-2.5km is point-blank as far as vikhr shots are concerned. The spiral is quite pronounced at this range. Try your shots from 4km and out and you'll see better results. This seems to be the most major factor for me on whether or not I score hits. 3.) Static objects, as mentioned earlier, take many more missiles. This may be an issue, or perhaps it simulates a dug-in target. Either way, it takes many more hits to knock out "static" type objects. 4.) Are your targets moving? Make sure you have ground moving target enabled if this is the case to allow lead angle calculations.

That's just the thing, the S8's AREN'T good against infantry. They're not good against anything. Anything less than a direct hit will not destroy whatever it is you're aiming at. This makes them quite a poor choice to use against infantry. 30mm HE is far superior, even vs. large groups in cover.

points well taken here, but to #4, note that it is not that i don't understand how to manever the aircraft, it is just that the control input required to actually receive airframe response is DIFFERENT depending on whether or not you have FD active or the trim button held down. In other words, the stick position required to hold a certain bank angle is not the same when you have the trim button held down, as the AP is actively maneuvering against your input. This took me a LONG time to understand, as it is not immediately apparent, and isn't explained any where, hence the title of this thread. I have since overcome this issues by holding trim down, which, according to the manual and the sticky on "trimiming" in this very forum are considered to be bad ideas. FOr me, I was simply informing new pilots that the method of holding trim, making sure your helo is ABSOLUTELY stable on the exact attitude you desire, then releasing trim, is the only sensible way i've been able to fly.

I know it's been said before on here, but are HE rockets in real life as weak as they are in Black Shark? I've actually gotten really good at strafing and holding the pipper where i want it. I set up a training mission with 5 Ural 375s on road formation, lined up nice and tight, took 4 pods of S80's, selected all hardpoints, lined up perfectly, had the pipper motionles in the middle of the formation, set salvo to the highest setting, and let rip with a barrage I was sure would decimate the column, leaving 1 or 2 survivors. I had them locked in the shkval, and watched as.....1 exploded. 1. I launch another salvo, and watch the rockets explode in and around all the targets, the smoke clears and....nothing. Not one. I was about 2.5 km out, and know i hit the area. I flew the campaign mission "Escort" in the "Deployment" campaign. *SPOILER* When the column is ambushed, i am told to target the foliage. I whip around, aim at the foliage and unleash well-aimed bursts evenly throughout the foliage. I knock a troop or 2 out with the cannon, and the BTR's in the column handle everyone else. I look at the debrief and.....the rockets didn't kill anyone. Now, i'm not too sure what the purpose of rockets are. I've been told they're like a "Shotgun" and that the ideal range to launch is between 3-2km out and i should be on egress after that, but i've got to tell you this just isn't effective and is a big waste of ammo. Why take rockets? The cannon outranges them, is more accurate, and actually seems to have higher splash damage with the HE rounds than the rockets do. Surely this is a bug or unintended design consequence of some sort? Finally, does the Russian army have MPSM-type rockets? Those would be neat to see in action

He likely has the trim button held down there. It's hard to work with the autopilot when it actively adds input contrary to your own. Just try to perform a hammerhead turn with the trim button not held down. You will sidelip a klick before the thing actually begins to yaw.

Man does anybody remember DI's sim "Tornado?" And then Ef-2000.....man those were some fond memories.... To get back on topic though.....I think 2 seat operations could get a bit sketchy, great for MP play, but not sure how you'd fare with AI without "dumbing it down" or frustrating the pilot. In fact, my favorite part of simming is weaponeering. I don't WANT the AI being the CPG, because I enjoy those tasks. However, watching how the AI fles in BS, i don't think I'd have much choice....

Really? I mean to each their own, but w/turbulence on, performing a pop up manuever 20 ft. from a hill slope i like not worrying about drifting forward into the side of a mountain. Then again, I don't have TrackIR, so it's a lot of work for me to scan my surroundings. Try it at night with the soda straw goggles on and 0 depth perception and it's even more invaluable. But point taken about it being better to hover on your own, definitely an essential skill you want to learn before you get the "crutches" on so to speak :thumbup:

Ooooo now you got me interested! What do you mean by losing the curve? Do you mean as close to linear as possible?

MMMmmmmmmm..... LOAL......:music_whistling:

Have you seen the producer's note series on the shkval? That should help you getting started with targeting when combined with the one on weapons employment parts 1 + 2. They can be found on ED's home page.

Make sure you don't have high aspect (AA push button, not the toggle switch for the prox fuse) activated for all but head on shots, it throws the algorithm off for high deflection shots (Ground moving target should be activated for lead calculation, even though it isn't a ground target, at least in my experience). It is true what neimses says, though. It is pretty hard to hit a maneuvering air threat with a vikhr. Most people enjoy the most success with the trusty ol' 30mm for air targets.

:megalol: It's called the mission editor dude. The black shark skin you see at the loading screen is in there if you must be literal. There's a werewolf one, too. The question is, what does it look like if you call it the "Hokum A"?

Do it as you have said. Trim trim trim got me in trouble, as I lacked the proper understanding of how the helo works. Once you understand the fact that the control inputs you trim in may not necessarily match the attitude the autopilot is simulataneously trying to hold, you realize that understanding when these two factors match is more critical than ever. Failure to do this leads to an unstable helo incapable of precise flight maneuvers such as engaging with unguided weaponry and evasive manuevers at low altitudes and rough terrain

I gotta tell ya, the #1 and biggest plus of all for me is: VERSION 1.0 WORKS. I mean, really, when was the last time you could say that about anything on the PC with this much complexity? Sure, there's a bug or two (flickering), a few things missing (no INU drift as planned) but i would say 95% of the planned features are right there, and actually work at good frame rates. Amazing. I give it an extra point just for that. I bought it and actually got to PLAY IT without doing any sort of dance. :joystick:

Decided I'd resurrect this thread, as even after reading this, i'm having trouble completing this mission. There is a Hawk SAM in the town that I have a hard time taking out. I have no trouble ducking behind cover when missiles are inbound, but i can never seem to be able to be above the hill long enough to fire off a vikhr without getting nailed with a SAM. Anyone know the best way to knock out this SAM? The SHORAD are no sweat with my range advantage, but that Hawk is nasty

This thread is dedicated to simmers just recent to the DCS sim (mostly folks who waited for the DVD version such as myself). I know there have been many threads dedicated to the autopilot already, but there are some things I learned from flying that I feel would be useful to new pilots and hopefully help them realize why they cannot fly with precision. First, let's start with a scenario: You are flying along, trimmed well for level flight at about 130 km/h, and spot something to the left. You need to make a turn to that heading quickly. You pitch up, trim again and adjust collective to bleed off speed, no problem there. When speed is around 60 km/h or so you level off, trim again, then begin a nice, stable, turn toward the heading. You trim these settings. Looks good. As you approach the desired heading, you apply right rudder and bank to stabilize the bird on the new heading, then hit trim again. You lock your target at about 2.8 km, call up rockets and prepare to engage. However, you notice that your side slipping. Slightly, but enough to prevent you from engaging. You try to fight the pipper down to the target, then re-trim when it's in the neighborhood, but when the AP goes to hold the settings, the bird lurches slightly off aimpoint. You fight to put it there again, no joy. Distance is now 2.3 km. You know you're supposed to have engaged already, but the helo is becoming less and less responsive to your inputs. You are side slipping everywhere, and no matter how precisely you lay the pipper on target, when you trim then center the controls, the AP errors the manual told you about prevent you from keeping the target in your sights. Distance is now 1.9 km, and corrections now cause you to be extremely off target. You decide to hold the trimmer button down, as you realize that fighting the autopilot is forcing you into oversteer situations, and even if you manage those, the accumulated errors will never allow you to hold pipper on target. When you hold the trimmer down, the bird banks at an odd angle, begins yawing and side slipping, as well as pitches in a manner you weren't expecting. What happened? I thought I was supposed to trim after every input? Well, here is your problem: Trim, trim, and trim again is only good advice if you actually know which control inputs match with the attitude you are at, when they are stabilized there, and when it is done every 30 sec. or so to allow AP errors not accumulate. Even then, if you are skilled enough to know the flight envelope to this degree, you probably don't need to read this thread. The reason this is the case is that the trimmer button, when AP channels are active, does 2 things: 1.) It zeroes your control input (you probably know this) causing whatever control inputs you had to become constant and 2.) It commands the autopilot to hold the bank, heading, and pitch you were at when you release the trimmer. Why is this a problem? Because if 1 and 2 don't match the bird will not do what you want it to. Case in point using the example above, if you trimmed in the initial yaw, the yaw required to fight the autopilot onto the new heading (where you began arresting your yaw on the target heading) is in EXCESS of what you would ordinarily need by a factor of 20%. Therefore, when you trim in this new input, the helo tries to hold your excess right rudder while simultaneously holding the heading you were at. The only way it can do this is by sideslipping. Adjunct: the same applies to bank. So when you try to arrest the bank, you are using more than actually needed for the flight profile you're trying to acheive. The amount of erroneous inputs you are banging into the FCS increases exponentially. Holding the trimmer is a solution to this. There are many who don't do this, but I don't know how from what I've witnessed. There is a sticky in this forum that tells you not to do this, and the manual repeats it, as well as the book that comes with the DVD version, so it is likely drilled into your head that holding the trimmer down is a bad idea, and since you are a simmer, you want to do it "right." Know that "right" is whatever it takes to fly with precision, so ignore these 2 items and experiment. However, when the trimmer button is released, you will still notice a "jump" as the AP attempts to hold the new settings. This is because, like I said, 1 must match 2, and it probably doesn't for you. How do you fix that? Well, I'm still trying. I would imagine flying in FD mode will help you understand the helicopter's true flight envelope, which will help you to understand when your control input truly matches your flight profile. Once this is understood, you can begin turn off FD and fly the Shark the "right" way. That is the course I'm taking. I apologize for the length of this thread, but this facet of the sim was and still is the most frustrating for me (but also enjoyable, much respect to the guys who actually fly these things), and I feel any input regarding how to truly understand how to fly a helo would be more useful to noobs than just "trim, trim, trim" Anybody who has flown Longbow 2 etc. is used to having flight maneuvers explained in exacting detail, and may feel a little lost in the 'shark as a result of this not being there. Info such as, what speed should rudder be used up until to execute tight turns? What is the proper way to execute a high speed turn? What are the steps needed to stabilize a heli in level flight at a nose down attitude sufficient to attack with rockets or gunpods? I hope this has helped you realize you are not alone if you are having these problems. Yes, the autopilot will be patched, but if I understand the patch correctly, the above problem will still exist, as it is not engaging turns that is difficult, it is arresting them with stability with 0 bank/sideslip AND 0 yaw.

looks like they slapped the optics from a Havoc on that bottom pick of the Ka-50 there. Makes sense

Now that I look at it, it appears to be a different type of launcher, yet it carries the same amount of rockets. Not sure what the point of that is.

I see in the mission editor there are 2 varieties, but I only know of smoke rockets and HE rockets. What is the 3rd type? Nothing in the manual on this.