jmarso

I'm not sure about the cold start version- are you at WP1 pretty much on time for the push time? I usually push from WP1 at the push time, but a little slower initially to let the SEAD package get out in front and do their thing. Usually the SAM site goes down for good just a minute or two before I hit the target. I don't loiter; two or three passes over the field (usually two bombs runs and a strafe) and then I'm off and bugging out. The MiGs aren't yet close enough to jump me; I egress low until the coast then climb for the transit back once I'm feet wet. Usually the CAP fighters trolling the coast catch those Foxbats chasing me at when I'm already well out over the water. Haven't had a fuel problem yet, and I'm not sure why the SEAD package doesn't seem to clear the way for you. As long as I give them the lead time to get there in front of me, I don't have to worry about the SAM site at the target.

Don't know. I don't shoot 'em into the sun. :D

People are giving out good range gouge; here are just a couple minor things to consider: 1. Don't shoot a sidewinder if your target is into the sun. The sun is like the best countermeasure flare ever. If the target is running into the sun and there's enough range between you, shoot him with a sparrow, or hold fire on the sidewinder until he turns clear of the sun and you still have a good growl on him. 2. If you are aiming down at a low target with a lot of background clutter, consider using a sidewinder instead of a sparrow. The missile gets a little range boost going hi-low, and you mitigate the risk of the sparrow not tracking against ground clutter or your radar losing STT and wasting the missile. 3. If you are head to head and closing at high speed, don't squeeze off a sparrow if the missile can't track and hit the target before you hit the merge and you lose lock, or the target is so close/fast that a good jink on his part is going to break your radar lock. That one takes a bit of experience to work out- most folks learn this one the hard way once or twice. 4. Finally, in the immortal words of Viper: "You can select Zone-5, extend, and escape." Scenario: you're out of sidewinders but you've got a sparrow left, and you're in knife-fighting range of either a much more nimble target, or you don't have the gas to get into a lengthy, turning gunfight. You've got two big, beautiful engines and a lot of acceleration. Maneuver so the bogey is going to take some time to turn and shoot you in the ass, light the fires, unload the jet (zero-gee push on the stick) if you have the altitude to do it, and put some distance between you. He's probably going to turn and chase, especially if he has any missiles left. If you can get a few miles between you quickly and get turned back around, you can lock him quick with the vsl-mode and shoot 'em right in the lips with that last sparrow. (Sometimes a good place to use a vertical move, sometimes not, depending on starting altitude, available terrain, and the opponent) This is a GREAT move if your opponent is down to guns. If he's still got missiles, it's a gamble and a judgment call.* *You can also use a maneuver like this if you aren't engaged, but in the middle of a merged, 'many vs many' furball and you feel like you're losing SA. Extend, push out of the bogey cloud, then turn back and pick one out of the herd without having to worry who's behind you. This works well as a 'game' maneuver with semi-worthless AI wingmen and less than savvy AI opponents. 5. Firing a missile to force an opponent onto the defensive as you close the range will work if the numbers are equal. If you are on the wrong end of a 'few VS many' scenario, you're just wasting shots you are going to really wish you hadn't in a few short minutes. 6. If your missiles are semi-active (sparrow) VS active (Phoenix or AMRAAM) and you are facing an opponent who can potentially carry active missiles, don't try to use a sparrow at long range to force him defensive. Once he fires his, he can maneuver at will while you have to stay nose-on for your sparrow to track- you can already see how that one ends. I'm not a fan of the 'spook him' missile shot anyway (personal preference), but if you want to go that route, use an active weapon like a Phoenix. Hell, with a Phoenix you actually stand a fair chance of getting him. Happy hunting!

I bought a Rift-S pretty much for DCS and it works great. The one thing I don't care for is the resolution; I'll probably wait a year or so and see what Gen 2 really comes up with. The Reverb is getting mixed reviews due to cord issues, but apparently has really good res. Bottom line: I can recommend the S without reservation, but it's my only experience so far with VR.

The Jester concept in this module is pretty groundbreaking, and you guys have done a great job with it so far. The problem is that the task of being a RIO is so complex and dynamic that it's got to be hard to program an AI to do it! It darn near needs human cognition and adaptability- this is the curse making a module out of a two-crew aircraft!

Airliners don't cruise at true transonic speeds. Most are no faster than about .82 or so in cruise, and the fastest commercial planes (Citation X and one of the Gulfstreams) cruise at .92 or so. Once you get close to Mach, (faster than about .94 or so), the drag rise kills your fuel efficiency and range. The 727 was one of the fastest big airliners and it used to cruise at .89.

Just finished the campaign. Really enjoyed it! Great job! Hope to see more from you in the future.

Yeah, the chaff thing used to bother me until today. I took a hard break/dive towards the terrain to juke a missile, and in the background I could hear the little 'thumps' as Jester faithfully pumped out the chaff. Guess he wanted to live, too! :p Shortly after that, I got tone on a MiG-23 on the parking ramp with an AIM-9 and cut loose, just to see what would happen. Worked like a champ! That's one I didn't have to smoke in the air!

If you're in the transonic regime, aren't you outside the normal speed 'envelope' for the autopilot? (I'm not trying to be sarcastic- I don't actually know the hard limit myself. But it seems like you would be.)

For the above mission pack, is anyone having any problems with the Lavan Alpha Strike? I recently realized the way it's set up, the player might get drawn off a trigger point and the remainder of the strike package would then never spawn. I'll probably revise this one a bit the next time I need to do a revision for something else. (The arrival of the carrier module, deck crew animations, and so on...)

Finish the current modules. Stuff like F/A-18 with no ground radar, and Jester unable to use the Lantirn, and the updates seem to break modules and mods and so on makes me commonly reconsider why I dove into this sim in the first place. Don't get me wrong, love it. But it is very much an unfinished product. Remember the heady days of Yuri Gagarin and Sputnik when games weren't released until they were DONE?

100% SP

Good options would be: A 'Med' map including the eastern Med- Israel, Syria, Egypt, Libya, with maybe portions of Italy and the Adtriatic involved. Such a map has dual utility. Not only does it represent a major Cold War hot spot, modern troubles in Syria, the Arab-Israeli wars, and Libya, once the geography part is done, you have a foundation to do a dual version of the map- one for WWII, and one for the Cold War --> Present era. Such a map would be good for both land and naval based warfare scenarios, as well. North Cape region- basically the same region used in Janes F/A-18. Good for naval scenarios, and also good for some land-based stuff, particularly a Russian/Soviet conflict striking into Norway. I wouldn't mind seeing the Janes campaign remade for DCS, particularly with the Tomcat and Hornet modules available. That map would potentially be a good home for Viggen fans, as well. GIUK gap. Iceland, the Faeroes, Scotland, and the western coast of Norway. (Vestfjord and such). Great naval / cold war map. Probably limited utilities for land-based warfare. Western European map, centered on Germany, including the Baltics. Good for some modern scenarios, and the classic European WWIII (Fulda Gap) scenario map. Limited utility for naval warfare.

+1

Voice attack has changed the whole nature of the game for me, particularly in VR.

I don't use DLC anymore; it doesn't seem to work the way it used to. Just activating it causes as huge downward pitch movement, almost like full lift spoilers.

The Two-week War Mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1ppuoodzq8z1z8p/The+Two-week+War.7z (Will also be available on DCS World after moderator review) The Two-week War README -by JMarso This is a pack of 14 single player missions for the F-14B Tomcat, set in the Persian Gulf in February of 2005, depicting a fictional conflict with Iran. Given the available units in DCS, the makeup of the various naval groups and the air wing are also entirely fictional, with no correlation to ships and squadrons actively deployed to the Gulf during that real-life timeframe. The missions commence as the CSG is preparing to transit the Strait of Hormuz and begin a regular deployment. The first five missions are relatively uneventful, and useful as training scenarios. Starting around Mission 6 is where the shooting really begins. The player will experience A/A and A/G combat, along with day and night CV operations, along with a couple of opportunities to relish the scenery on the PG map. The action starts off light, then builds in intensity. The final mission is a large-scale battle that may tax your system, depending on specs. All missions are noob friendly. You almost always start on the catapult; in a few missions you start hot on the ramp / deck and must taxi into position to go. No cold starts in this mission pack. NOTE: Originally, these missions were built with the Alerax LSO mod incorporated into them. Given the fact that LSO functionality is starting to show up in the latest updates, the LSO mod was removed. In the briefings, there are certain frequencies designated for Marshall and LSO. These can be ignored now. Right now, the mission pack requires the U.S. Navy Deck Equipment mod. Later, when the animated deck crews are implemented, this mod will be revised. In a similar vein, all A/G missions were built using ‘dumb’ weapons due to LANTIRN capability for Jester not existing yet. If you play with the LANTIRN mod, you can conceivably change loadouts in the mission planner and fly some of these missions a little differently than they are designed. In the future, when full LANTIRN capability is available via Jester, at least a couple of the missions will undergo revision. A few of the missions contain custom voice files. (I’m a mediocre voice actor at best) Most extraneous communications happen via message. The last mission (14 The Big Event) had some crashing issues in initial testing; I pretty much narrowed this down to trying to pack too much ancillary stuff into the mission to make it epic. I’ve pared it down for stability, but you will see units listed in the brief that don’t show up on the F10 map during play. They are still there in spirit! ???? Installation Module Requirements: DCS Open Beta F-14 Tomcat module by Heatblur Persian Gulf Map Required Mods: U.S. Navy Deck Equipment https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3301580/ Naval MOD collection https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3304473/ Civ Boats V1 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302670/?sphrase_id=18393017 Recommended Mods: F-14 VF-41 Black Aces 1991 V2 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3304338/ VF-86 Sidewinders Line Bird https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300821/?sphrase_id=18393294 Tacitcal Call Sign Mod Version 1.0 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302236/?sphrase_id=18393301 Recommended mods will make squadrons, liveries, and callsigns match the mission designs and briefs. The missions will still function without them, but portions of the briefs will no longer make sense. Install: Download and install the required mods, and the recommended mods if desired. Unzip “The Two-week War” mod folder to your designated OvGME mod folder, and then activate it. The missions should show up in DCS in your F-14 Single Missions folder. To manually install the missions in the F-14 mission folder, use the following filepath: DCS World OpenBeta/Mods/aircraft/F14/missions/single Alternatively, you can drop the individual mission files into your Saved Games mission folder and play them from there. If you want to alter the missions using the ME, the .miz files should be placed in your Saved Games mission folder. Un-Installation Either de-activate the mod in OvGME, or follow the filepath you used to manually install the missions and delete them from that folder. Permissions This mod is distributed as freeware. Nobody is permitted to use this content for purposes of obtaining money or any other form of compensation. Anyone wishing to modify these files, use them for a campaign, convert them to MP use, or to use them as part of another freeware mod release is free to do so- credit where due is always appreciated! Disclaimers As with all mods, install and use at your own risk. Mission List / Summary 01 Deployed to the Gulf: Fly a CAP mission designed to help the CSG staff map Iranian air defenses in the Gulf of Oman. 02 Liberty Call at Al Minhad: Lead a division of Tomcats to Al Minhad for a ‘show the flag’ liaison visit with the UAE. 03 Bombcat Demo: Fly a low-level bombing mission through the UAE mountains and desert to demonstrate the Tomcat’s abilities as a striker to UAE military observers. 04 Dubai by Moonlight: Return to the strike group on a night hop. The good news is that you get a look at Dubai at night. The bad news is that you’re trapping in the dark. 05 Chosin SAG Transits the Strait: Fly a CAP mission covering the transit of another U.S. naval group. 06 Early Morning Buzzkill: An unexpected provocation results in a surprise ready alert launch and an international incident. 07 Maritime Rescue Operations: Fly CAP over a rescue operation after the Iranians conduct an unprovoked attack on an Allied freighter in the Gulf. 08 Lavan Retaliatory Strike: Take part in an Alpha Strike on Lavan Island in response to previous Iranian aggression. 09 Lavan Follow-up Strike: Conduct a runway cratering dawn strike on the airfield at Lavan Island 10 Abu Musa Naval Interdiction: Participate in an ASUW air-surface action against Iranian naval units and cargo vessels attempting to move forces to Abu Musa Island. 11 SAR Operations: Fly a combined AAW/ASUW SUCAP over a SAR mission to rescue an aviator downed in Gulf waters. 12 Kill the Kilo: What? The Tomcat can’t do ASW? Nonsense. Bomb a damaged Iranian submarine surfaced at Tunb Kochak. 13 Night Ready Launch: Foil a rare Iranian attempt to conduct a night sneak-attack on the battle group. 14 The Big Event: Participate in a major battle over the Strait of Hormuz as the 5th Fleet forces an Expeditionary Strike Group through the contested choke point. For mission hints/tips, see the associated file included in the zip package.

Well, I think I solved the issue. Went back into the ME and removed several units (the second time I've shed 'stuff' in this mission) and slightly altered the tasking of some of the other units. Played it again. This time it hit a couple momentary freezes, but recovered without crashing completely. Was able to complete the mission. Ultimately, I think I was burdening the game (and/or my system) too much with too many units and too much pew-pew going on all at the same time. The big tell for me was that it was only happening in this one mission. I'm going to shed a few more units just to stabilize it further, and call it a wrap.

Maybe it was the right wing for me too; I couldn't say for certain and I haven't gone back and tried it again. :p

Running into a crash issue with one SP mission only. Flying in VR, and then half the FOV goes black, but sound continues and the game is frozen. Get the little rotating hourglass in the corner like it's trying to do something, but never gets there. I usually get through most of the mission before this happens, although not always. Usually it occurs towards the end, when I'm RTB. However, there is AI combat still taking place at other places on the map. I tried to unzip the log for the session but it says 'incomplete archive' and shows as corrupted. Again, this is an issue I'm having in ONE mission, and it's both busy and very resource intensive. I went back through the groups and made sure nobody was armed with cluster bombs; not sure if that bug has been fixed or not yet, but decided it wouldn't hurt to remove them. I guess my burning question is, in a mission with numerous groups dogfighting and conducting SEAD against SAM and Silkworm sites, are there any known airframe /weapon issues that would cause a crash like this? Anything I may not have heard about that someone else has? Units include F-15C, F-15E, F-14B, F-16, AV-8B, F/A-18C lot 20, MiG21, MiG29, F-5E, F-4E, and various tankers and AWACS. Player flies the Tomcat. PG map.

Yeah, I've got one mission built where damn near the first thing that happens when I'm sitting on the Cat is one of my escort ships sending a harpoon downrange at enemy naval units I've got that happen to be in range. I didn't program a thing- just placed the two units in range and didn't put a 'weapons hold' ROE on the CSG.

If you design a mission with a 'primary' target in mind, say a docked ship or some such, what will be the mechanism for Jester to 'know' that's the primary target and use the LANTIRN on it? Maybe the ST target waypoint?

This has been a persistent bug for me- to the point where I hand-fly night landings instead of using this system. Just for grins, tried it on a nice, day/VMC scenario just to see what would happen. Sure enough, system works like a champ UNTIL you are cross the ramp, then suddenly the left wing dips hard and the aircraft prangs. No, I'm not touching anything. Anyone else been experiencing this?

Hot fix for the night 'radar lock' issue works like a champ!

My guess is that they're going down to a few hundred feet because they detect the ESM from the SAM site and are trying to get below the threat horizon. I've noticed that if I put a CAP station in within a SAM site's radar range (Not the actual missile envelope), the AI goes bonkers and dives for the deck as well.