Spartan1-1

Update... Taking a closer look at the aircraft (I love this sim). It is not the hardpoint that adjusts the elevation of the vikhrs. It is the Vikhr mounting arm. Rockets are boresight only.

Ok... While engaging tgts with ATGM's, when your want to uncage the shkval and slew to a new tgt you can do it several ways. Normally what I do (zoom the shkval out if the tgt is in a totally different area) uncage (default O I believe) and than slew the optics to the next tgt, than lock it up as usual. Another technique is to utilize the Helmet Mounted Sight (HMS). H by default, than press and hold O while looking at your next target. This works great with Track IR. Lastly you can press and hold your lock/tgt designate button and slew to the next target. As far as the unguided missle (rockets I assume) issue. The easy answer: From what I have seen so far there is no way to adjust elevation of the pods. I usually employ rockets in a foward flight profile. A slight diving attack works well. Unlike the Apache the Ka-50 doesnt appear to have adjustable rocket elevation, making it a difficult shot from a hover. Throwing a question out there... The outer hardpoints do adjust elevation with the Vikhrs. Is it possible to do the same with rockets on the outer pylons? I will experiment tonight and post any results.

I dont know either. Ive never saw a picture of a Ka-50 with a "disco light". Good question.

Looks like Kh-25. If you go into your mission editor you can adjust your loadout. There are many more payloads available there vice your default and farp re-arm menu.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=35571&highlight=checklist Check this one out.

There are several great checklists out there for download. My suggestion, what I did, is watch the training mission. Pause after every segment of the procedure and jot it down on a peace of paper. Also to record where the switch is in the cockpit I had to draw a simple picture of the panels and number them. For instance the first step was: Turn on BATT 1 and BATT 2 // 3 The // 3, on my little diagram was the forward section of the right side panel. After awhile it becomes second nature if you continue to manually cold start. Than you just remember: Batt Power, System On, Nav and Tgt Sys On, Fuel Sys and APU On, etc. etc. I hope this makes some sense. Also search the forums for a link to the superb checklists that are out there.

The first symptom of a great sim. Keep it up guys. Hope to see you in a server.

Same here, takes some getting used to. Every reset of the trigger requires re-activating the cannon mode. But I agree I like this setup.

Yes there is a way to design missions with illum. Im not much of a mission maker yet though, but there is a way. The Ka-50 has limited night capability. Turn down the brightness and adjust the contrast of the shkval while looking at it with NVG's. The system will not lock onto a target, it must be held on the target manually, but you can hit targets with ATGM's. Unguided munitions work just as well. -What I would like to see implemented in the game is loadable illumination flares and white phosphurous rockets (to mark targets). In multiplayer you can have one bird illuminate and mark targets, and his wingmates knock them off.

Happy New Years ED and all the Hard Cores out there.

Ive waited so long to buy pedals. There's really no need for them with twist joysticks right? And than I started flying real aircraft. Rudder pedals are king.

So... the moving company came to pack my house up. Moving cross country. I had to decide what was going to stay with me and the family for the trip (driving). Normally would have said pack everything. They wouldn't take the wife or the dog b/c they aren't authorized to move "life". I couldn't part with the PC though. So the desk, PC, X52, Pedals, etc. are staying with me. They'll find room in the truck. My wife would like to say... thanks ED. She now will share her seat, for the 4 day ordeal, with my rig.

RWR's are not just for weasels. They improve the crews SA dramatically. I dont know if the cost is truly an issue, they appear to be relatively simple devices... not that far off from my cobra laser/radar anti-speed trap device in my truck. I know they work well in a low level environment. Seen them in action in desert a mountain environments. But I do agree that they are not mission essential. The big threat is medium caliber guns, and IR mapads. For the manpads there are "heat bloom" sensors that can detect a missle launch within close proximity. That would be nice to have on a Ka.

Your right about the gyroscopic precession. This is a great question. With coaxial rotors, i assume it would be an equal loss of life on both "wings". Would it act as a conventional stall. That is if the blades dont kiss each other.

Ok, im pushing this thread to the front today. Hopefully we'll get some answer. ED, I respectfully ask... What the sales are looking like for DCS BS? Worldwide? USA? Russia? Curious about the sim market. I, we, understand that it is private information for you company. Anything you can tell us would be great. -Loyal Customer

No auto turn. Yea, you stated it correctly saying it is an acrobatic maneuver. Getting into it is a b-tch. I make entry with a forward moment. You need a steep nose down angle, 70 deg (crica), and alot of rudder input and counter cyclic input. Like the "cobra" its cool but has limited combat application IMO

They work well for seeing your wingmen. Thats about all I noticed from them. Turn them off and possibly saw another 1 FPS (?). It was a negligible performance increase. Ill probably turn them back on.

The Dev notes videos were a true asset to me when learning the systems. Seeing it done is more conducive to remembering than reading steps off of a pdf.

If said named pilot already has some high performance rotary wing training... maybe.

From personal experience. Ive been in several helos in combat. Their RWR's were spot on. Everything that radiated, and anything that painted the bird. On top of "heat bloom" detectors and auto countermeasures. Not saying these extra toys make or break the helo, but theyre nice to have. That being said I think one of the good things about the Ka-50 are its lack of "digital battlefield" equipment. In my prior post I was trying to say that the A/C designed for the European Front are still getting shot down in the Afghani / Georgian front. I think in some ways a helo w/ a gun, and a pilot look w/ his own eyes can be more effective than a millimeter wave radar.

Oh, im not arguing the single seat. I agree. I just see alot of negatives from the avionics / weapons systems side. My point is, and I might be wrong, alot of the issues w/ the Ka-50 stem from a lack of cutting edge systems (i.e. RWR, Radar, fire-and-forget systems). US helos were lacking many of these features as well in the 80's but were added on later. B/C of the small number of Ka-50's produced there is probobly minimal upgrading going on. Unlike US birds that are constantly getting overhauled as well as new blocs and so on.

Im going to go out on a limb and say this is probably the greatest ever. That way it saves me alot of keystrokes. :worthy:

In any helo your going to have some rudder input. Flying real aircraft as well. Some of the more powerful civilian piston single engines will wear your legs out. Trim should help. Also, if your not using your waypoints it may be helpful to turn off your autopilot heading channel. I was making this mistake for a while and flying around fighting the autopilots yaw moment constantly. Its good to keep it on while on course, but if your deviating turn it off.

here-here

I agree, and disagree, with all of you to some extent. A couple points need to be noted. Probobly most important is the state of Russia's military funding. In the 80's most of the Ka-50's systems were state of the art. Apache didnt have millimeter wave radar or fire-and-forget hellfires. (ohh and by the way the Cobra just switched to hellfires from the venerable TOW). The F-16 series was basic compared to today. Most likely the lack of standard upgrades to the Ka-50 was/is due to the major cuts in Russian military spending, which from what I can tell is very minimal. I dont think it was intentional but I think the Ka-50 is better suited to todays threat than the major European ground battle. Ka-50 mission description is stated as Close Support. This compared to the Mi-28s mission of Attack/Close Support. I think there is a similarity to the Apache (Attack), and Cobra (Close Support). Difference in mentality and tactics if it isnt just academic. End state... the threats of the world today faced by both Russia and the US are not massive Armor engagements. Carrying 16 fire-and-forget hellfires capable of simultaniously attacking 16 tanks at once does little to help us today. From what I can tell, both the Ka-50 and Ah-1W/Z are well suited to get in close and mix it up. More of a knife fighter. The brilliance and simplicity of a design are just as important as technology and performance. Just my opinion.