jmarso

And a big one: Shapeable trigger zones, using up to a dozen vertices

Others may have posted these as well... 1. The ability to hover a helo instead of having it orbit. If this ability already exists, I've missed it. 2. Ability of a player to query AI wingmen concerning their fuel states. Since the player's radio reports a wingman's 'low state' to marshal on a carrier recovery, we know the game is tracking wingmen fuel states. As a player I'd like to ask directly and make the decision to send a wingman to the tanker or not before contacting marshal. 3. Ability to have a unit report its fuel state over comms or a message in the ME. (As a response to a scripted query.)

Accidental double posting of this thread. Mods please delete this one.

Okay, found part of the problem. When I tell Jester to set 'link host Stennis', he isn't putting the right frequency into the datalink. According to my kneeboard card, the DL freq was supposed to be 321.2. When I jumped in the back seat to check it, it came up on alternate starts of the mission as 312.0 or 30x.0 By manually inputting the frequency, the VOICE light came on in both cockpits and the ACLS worked as advertised after that. Would this have something to do with me changing frequency presets in the two comm radios in the ME, or is something else in play here? I thought that telling where Jester to set the link host would automatically result in the right frequency being set to use ICLS/ACLS. Is that not correct? On a side note, and this isn't really a Heatblur specific question but I'll ask it here anyway, when you place a carrier into the ME, how is the link frequency determined? Is it set by the game and always the same, or does it vary, or can it be set manually? Anyone know the answer to that one?

I'm currently revamping an old mission which involved a night Case III recovery. ACLS used to work great. Now, I can't even get the Voice light to activate. I don't start these things assuming the game or module is borked, but rather that I have done something wrong. However, I've been through the guides and procedures so many times, tried again so many times, and made sure my switchology is correct that I'm at a loss so... 1st question: Is ACLS actually working normally as of Jan 18 2024? (Latest version of DCS Beta) 2nd question: Am I missing something glaring here? Carrier is set up to activate TCN 74X and ICLS 5 at mission start. Call for Jester to set link mode tactical Call for Jester to set link host Stennis (Carrier in use) TCN is set to 74X, T/R, Pwr on, ICLS is set to CH 5, power on. HUD mode is set to Landing, HUD AWL and VDI AWL modes set to ACL. Steering command set AWL/PCD. Autopilot switches set ACL and On. AP REF light comes on as advertised. A/C fully configured, on speed (AOA), autothrottles on, and at 6 miles . . . nothing. I never get the voice light, I never get the landing check light. Needles locked at center, but the comms indicate 'ACLS lockon.' So... any ideas? I was wondering if maybe there is something I missed in carrier or aircraft setup in the ME, or am I missing something vital from the above laundry list?

I'm currently revamping an old mission which involved a night Case III recovery. ACLS used to work great. Now, I can't even get the Voice light to activate. I don't start these things assuming the game or module is borked, but rather that I have done something wrong. However, I've been through the guides and procedures so many times, tried again so many times, and made sure my switchology is correct that I'm at a loss so... 1st question: Is ACLS actually working normally as of Jan 18 2024? (Latest version of DCS Beta) 2nd question: Am I missing something glaring here? Carrier is set up to activate TCN 74X and ICLS 5 at mission start. Call for Jester to set link mode tactical Call for Jester to set link host Stennis (Carrier in use) TCN is set to 74X, T/R, Pwr on, ICLS is set to CH 5, power on. HUD mode is set to Landing, HUD AWL and VDI AWL modes set to ACL. Steering command set AWL/PCD. Autopilot switches set ACL and On. AP REF light comes on as advertised. A/C fully configured, on speed (AOA), autothrottles on, and at 6 miles . . . nothing. I never get the voice light, I never get the landing check light. Needles are crossed at the center. but the comms indicate 'ACLS lockon.' So... any ideas? I was wondering if maybe there is something I missed in carrier or aircraft setup in the ME, or am I missing something vital from the above laundry list?

Sorry if this has been asked and answered elsewhere. 1. Does this work in DCS? 2. If yes, what are the settings? So far I can use my Quest3 just fine, but the hand tracking doesn't seem to be there no matter what I try.

Seconded. This would be awesome.

My map wishes: 1. Vietnam. Me love you looooong time! 2. Iceland and the North Atlantic over to the West Coast of Norway, to include Andoya and Vestfjord. Lots of naval war to be fought Clancy style in the GIUK gap. Would also complement the upcoming Kola map. 3. For WWII, North Africa!

That would rock.

Finished it today and really enjoyed it, although not as much as Fear the Bones and Speed and Angels. If I had to rank them, it's be S&A 1, FTB 2, and Z5 as #3. Not a slam, as all three are really good. I did find a couple of things frustrating about Zone 5. Since the AI wingmen are totally scripted and show up as different groups, you can't do anything with them as a section or division lead. They are going to do their own thing, and you either conform or not. It would be nice when the player is lead to be able to actually control them via the flight menu in terms of formations, actions, etc. Most of them time I just did my own thing in the engagements, trusted them to bag a kill or two, or at least keep the bandits occupied until I could shoot them. In the exposure mission, mention was made in the brief of the bandits' radar having a poor look-down capability. I tried to exploit that, going at them on the deck, but I had to do it alone. It worked in the end and we bagged them both pretty quick, but it would have been better with a cooperating wingman. in a 2 or 4 vs UNK, anytime I wanted to maneuver for something like a pincer or what not, I was YOYO. In the end, it mostly felt like I was 1 VS the world and my flight wingmen were there to be missile sponges. I know they were making kills at some points, but it was a free for all, ultimately against the DCS AI. Nothing to be done about that part, I know. In the big furballs I would simply edge to the outside of the bandit cloud, take the one farthest to either end, extend that direction for a bit at the speed of heat and then turn back in to re-engage. Usually by that time the rest of the fight had devolved to utter chaos. Any time I could use F10 to turn a section loose on the bandits, I just did it and hoped for the best. I know something like this is hard as hell to make work with the ME. For me it would be impossible. Great job all around to the Reflected team for what they accomplished here. I really enjoyed 'debriefing' these events in TACVIEW after the fact. The entertainment-to-buck ratio here was WELL worth it. Kudos! Oh, and I gunned the guy on event 10. Not quite as artistically as Hoser Satrapa's famous pic, and I put 8 G's on the jet, but at least I got 'im!

Not sure if it is considered 'cheating' or not, but after getting my azz handed to me in the first SAM dodging mission, in the next one when I was division lead I simply arced the whole flight low and to the north. We got mud spiked a couple times but never even launched on. Rinse and repeat on the egress, and the SAMs were a non-issue that time around. The easiest SAM to avoid is the one not fired at you. Even giving up the altitude going into the intercept, we still won the engagement with one loss. (I stripped the second section and sent them north, and we went hot into the merge after sending in the AIM-54C to stir up the hornet's nest)

Yeah, Speed and Angels makes a huge difference in that you don't feel like a complete noob at Nellis. I even tried Button 11 on startup and there was the ATIS, just like in the first campaign. Little stuff like that makes you smile.

Just started the campaign and had an excellent first event against Gator. I've been playing a LOT lately, and the Speed and Angels campaign really trains you up good for this one. I was never not offensive after the merge in either engagement. I use TACVIEW to look at events after the fact, and it is a great tool. Paco and Chig would have been proud of my two-circle opener in the second fight- in the sat view it looks damn near perfect, like on the white board. Got into a roller after that, took a few late (missed) snapshots, and eventually Gator flew himself into the dirt. What I'm not looking forward to is having to study all those Course Rules procedures for the events when I'm lead. Lotsa stuff. Hats off to Bio and Reflected. Looking forward to the rest of the course!

Oh my God, that campaign was tits! Right from the very first mission, when the tanker explained "We have the hard stuff!" I knew I was home in the 80's. Loved all the callbacks to the movies and such. The banter between the pilots was classic- the accent on one of those guys (Ghost?) had me thinking of Caparzo in SPR. Got a kick out of the last mission- it took me a few tries to get clear without getting wasted. As it was, the plane looked like swiss cheese by the time I got her back to the Boat. And the cut scene before that- Oh no you didn't! I had some genuine outrage. Oh my God, you killed Kenny! You bastards! At first I didn't like the 80's era video game sound effects and mission completion messages, but they did grow on my after a while. Jeez, what a fun mission set! GREAT JOB! Onward to Zone 5 for some serious dogfighting instruction from Bio!

Just curious what recommendations people have for free (or even paid) text-to-speech sites that can be used to generate custom radio calls, etc. I'm talking about just the initial voice files, here. I usually use Audacity for turning it into 'radio' sounding speech and then converting it to .ogg that the game can use. Not everyone has a stable of ready voice actors on call for that stuff In the past I have used the free version of Speechify and may end up running back to it, but I'd like to hear the opinions of other modders who have had luck using other sites. Any recommendations?

I look forward to that eventually. We also need a good Vietnam map!

Heh. No HUD, no big deal. Flew back to the boat, couldn't get ACLS to work, flew a really nice approach then lost the bubble at the end and had a ramp strike attempting to wave off in close. Game over, man. Game over! (But Mission Accomplished! )

Finished this today and wanted to say Bravo Zulu on an excellent DCS experience- maybe the best one yet. To say this made me a better DCS Tomcat pilot would be a massive understatement. Great work. Onwards and upwards to Fear the Bones and Zone 5!!

I've been using VAICOM for a long time and it's a mixed bag of pros and cons. Giving voice commands to Jester and wingmen in the heat of battle is a huge plus. On further reflection, though, you don't really need it for this campaign. Chig acts like a sentient RIO in the back, handling the systems and switchology better during these scripted events than Jester can in an unscripted free-for-all. Something to consider on future playthroughs.

Tip for those who don't like to tank: Wait to start until about 7 minutes after the hour, then fire up and launch. When you get to the rendezvous there will only be a few minutes until the push- just enough time to join up and not waste a lot of gas. Did this and trapped aboard with about 7k worth of fuel remaining. Only tapped the burners during the TALD launches. Like others, I found pumping the gamma up to 2.9 helped, and I also used the map function to track where my flight was in the dark, which helped a lot.

Never thought it might be a double assignment. Next time I select heaters I'll check those little missile windows and see what's what. Good tip.

Gives you an appreciation for those WWII guys, eh?

Finally beat it on try #4. I still have that glitch where sometimes when I fire, both my sidewinders go instead of just one. Happened to me here, so I had to chase that Flanker all over creation until I could finally gun him. Had to skip tanking because I would have run myself dry trying to do it, abandoned Paco at the tanker, and found USS Boat by the grace of the Almighty himself. Trapped with about 2k of gas. Whew! When I went back and watched it all in TACVIEW, I could see what a sandbagger Paco is. Could have used some help, there, lead!

This is not working. Did the slow repair, and read in another thread that you have to be within 1400 ft of Paco. I've been a lot closer than that. Does breaking the 1400 ft alone trip the flag, or is something else necessary? Any altitude restriction on when it happens? EDIT: Finally got it to work. Nothing different EXCEPT I waited to start until after the boat turn and I used SHIFT-U to launch instead of a spoken 'salute' command using VAICOM. Don't know if that made the difference, but something tripped right. Enjoyed a Jolly Rancher, scored my 4th kill, and then DIED in flames.