Bahger

I think that when I do that, it moves me up to the next WP (i.e. 8 , so I have found the best MO to be entering the data first, i.e. in the bottom data field, name the newly-created mission steerpoint and then hit the ? button. Am I off-kilter here?

So how do I adjust for this?

Neat trick: LEFT WIN + NUMPAD 1 is a snap view that enables you to see all radio dials unencumbered by the position of the throttle. Take your finger off the WIN key but hold the NUMPAD 1 down while you enter all desired freqs. Also, I can confirm Snoopy's assertion: Ever since early Beta and up to and including 1.2.3, Emergency Light Panel, Oxygen and Fuel guage test functions operate on battery and inverter power alone.

I'm rusty after a long layoff but this left me scratching my head: In "Smerch Hunt" JTAC gives target coordinates in UTC format, LN followed by six numbers. I'm pretty sure I inputted this data correctly in the CDU: FLT/MARK/MSN rotary to FLT CDU mode to WP In CDU select UTC where default is Lat/Long Enter data in bottom data entry field Enter name for target Switch to MSN (i.e. "Mission") option in the rotary Cycle steerpoints in HUD to recently-added Mission waypoint Slave TGP to it ...But there was nothing there. It's quite possible that I missed a step. I remember a couple of "quirks", such as the need to add a zero to L/L coordinates in certain circumstances and, with UTC coordinates, there's something about zones needing to be switched, which I don't think I ever understood fully. I want to make a mission in which the player is given UTC or L/L coordinates to input/prosecute but I need to clear up whatever confusion appears to be assailing me before I do so. Can someone advise? Many thanks.

I don't see anything in the #3 post to indicate that certain missions in this version of the campaign cannot be completed by the DCS A-10C player without CA.

I was wondering if there was any difference between the two versions of the campaign, apart from the implementation of Combined Arms, that is. I've already noticed that the CA campaign has ramp starts and a familiarization mission. Is there anything else worth noting?

Yeah, that first time, I was so astonished and thrilled after a zillion failures that of course I lost control and dropped the boom. Fine throttle control is the biggest challenge for me. Alering stick settings has given me sufficient mastery of x and y stick inputs. Deploying a little speedbrake might help with the throttle but for the time being I'm avoiding it, as I'm just getting used to the tiny, incremental throttle inputs required to go from 207 to 208kts..when 207 isn't fast enough, 208 is right and 209 will get you tangled up in the tanker.

Thanks for uploading this. I intend to use it as part of my effort to master AAR if it half-kills me.

Just grabbed my first contact. Didn't last long but it's progress.

Yes, I'm determined to get this down but, like you, I cannot get the very last moments of pre-contact right. I think I've slowed to the lowest possible closing speed, then I sit and watch hopelessly as the boom, instead of being guided into the port by the boom op, just wanders past my canopy. Obviously the tolerance for speed matching, trimmed attitude, position and closure rate are VERY narrow and, for the moment, beyond my ability to master.

Wow, that's pretty impressive. I've never seen anyone charge for user-made content before but there's no reason why you shouldn't as a lot of hard work has obviously gone into this. I will purchase it by Monday at the latest, thank you for the information.

It's state-of-the-art, by far the deepest simulation of any combat aircraft available. I would say 85% of r/l cockpit functionality is modelled and that's not just clickable buttons and turnable knobs but all digital sub-systems. It's graduate-level flight simming compared to the FC3 aircraft and you are more likely to be overwhelmed than disappointed! We'll get the above level of detail in a fast-mover when DCS unveils its next study-sim aircraft.

You might be my salvation here, WBK. Throttle control has always been my problem with AAR, I'm basically sound with trim and joystick inputs. From what you're saying, I take it that a very small airbrake up setting might give me finer control of target speed via throttle input. The challenge for me is going to be fine control of throttle. In fact, I have often wondered if i should use keyboard throttle input just to achieve that.

Thanks for the helpful responses, gentlemen. WildBill, your detailed response was very helpful and inspiring. I watched your tutorial vid very carefully. I tried AAR to day for the first time in a year. The bad news is that I'm still sh*t. The good news is that I know why: I'm very good at mastering all the systems and switchology, but with little experience in squadron and formation flying my fine control/positional skills relative to another aircraft are weak. I need to anticipate better and then not over-react. Before reading your post, WBK, I made the following adjustments to my CH Fighter Stick settings in-game: DZ = 0 Saturation X = 100 Saturation Y = 75 Curve = 50 I will change my curve for X and Y to 25 per your advice. Any advice about throttle curve/saturation settings? Your point about switching to GS is very well taken. I used Speed's AAR training .miz, which has the tanker at 16,000ft and 270kts in the ME. The default indicated airspeed in the mission appears to be 210. If I set GS in the Hog, should I assume that my target airspeed will be 270 when I'm on the boom? I admired your patience and precision in handling those multiple contact/disconnects. I'm going to practice for an hour a day, if possible, as I'm determined to get this down.

I almost quit DCS A-10C over my abject failure to learn A2A refueling. No matter how steady I made my approach to the tanker, or how patient I was, I could never seem to fly within what seemed to be the very narrow limits of tolerance required to get the boom to attach and to keep it there long enough to take fuel. I'm going to try again. I hope it "takes" this time. I wonder if anyone can recommend the following: - Best settings for throttle and joystick curvature/dead zones, etc., in the sim's Options/Controls/Axes menu. I have a CH HOTAS. I really like it but I'm not at all sure that I've found a way to achieve the very fine control of both throttle input and x/y joystick axes necessary at my current settings. - Best tutorial available on YouTube - Best practice mission for download - Best walkthrough I want to make missions requiring tanking -- or offering it as an option -- but I feel I cannot do this before I've learned it myself. All assistance is much appreciated.

Just tested both links to the DCS upload/download database. They are both fully functional. Must have been a temporary issue with that site. Please let me know if you experience any more difficulty and I will upload to another source.

Thanks Crescendo, appreciate the encouragement. Let us know how this one plays for you.

Thanks, Scarecrow! The Bear was always a favorite of mine. Really appreciate the great feedback, IADC. The mission is a bit of a turkey shoot when a competent player selects DODGE flight; as I wrote, that is intentional, it's an "entry-level" version of a CAS sortie with LGB support. SPRINGFIELD is much more of a challenge, in SP and MP, as DODGE will not spawn and too high, or early, an ingress may well get you lit up by the enemy CAP. A lot of mid-level players are not quick enough with their switchology to be able to maintain SA while playing chicken with the SA-9s; they wander into the envelope while fiddling with their TGPs and get hit. I appreciate your suggestions. My assumption has always been that after their incursion fails, the Russians would be much more likely to lick their wounds and prepare their statements rather than escalate a conflict which they have already lost. That's why, once the helo has been successfully blown up by ROADKILL, the only remaining challenge for Blue is a safe egress. No reason why playing DODGE would incapacitate any triggers, why?

Thanks, IADC. I've been making missions since early Beta but took a long break until recently.

Here is my new mission, "Broken Wing". "Broken Wing" Singleplayer mission "Broken Wing" Multiplayer mission Two hours ago, a "black" SpecOps UH-60 ("BROKEN WING") crashed near the Russian border. A USMC combat engineer team, "ROADKILL", is en route to recover the helo but intel sources now indicate that the Russians are preparing to mount a raid across the border to steal the bird's classified avionics. ROADKILL has been re-tasked to push to the crash site at maximum speed and to use explosives to destroy the Blackhawk before the Russians get to it. Your task is to protect ROADKILL and to respond to the Russian incursion with decisive force. i. Briefing and mission design intent The briefing for "Broken Wing" is attached to this post as a Word doc. There are two types of sim-pilot in DCSW A-10C; those who RTFB and those who do not. I make missions for people who RTFB. "Broken Wing" is not a free-for-all mission with regenerating targets and recycling client aircraft, but a "single-shot" CAS/CAP sortie with carefully calibrated cooperative assets and threats. The objective for all Air in this mission is straightforward but execution involves making informed decisions about mission timing and threat status. The basis for these decisions is supplied in the briefing and via automated and custom voice comms in flight and will influence tactical choices such as ingress altitude and whether to hold or to push. For this reason, I urge you to RTFB. ii. Client flights I am as guilty as any hard-core A-10C mission designer of cold-start elitism. Some people feel that runway, hot-pit ramp, or air-starts are "arcade". However, this mission is strictly an "alert" scenario, so the player must scramble to get himself and his aircraft in the game. In "Broken Wing" you can select the F-15C CAP flight ("UZI") (runway or hot ramp start, Flaming Cliffs 3 module required), the low-level A-10C CAS flight ("SPRINGFIELD") (runway or hot ramp start) or a supporting high-level A-10C CAS/Strike flight ("DODGE") (air start @ 16,000ft). iii. Difficulty scaling All roles not selected by the player will spawn as AI flights. The AI flies these roles very competently, often more so than a human player. DODGE is the only flight that will not deploy as an AI flight if it is not selected by the player. This was deliberate: by choosing DODGE, the player is essentially spawning in an additional pair of A-10Cs and is therefore recommended to relatively inexperienced players. The truly mission-critical roles are SPRINGFIELD and UZI and these present the greatest level of challenge to the player. CAS flight SPRINGFIELD will have its hands full spotting, sorting and prosecuting two moving target groups in dense terrain. Failure to do so quickly and effectively enough will result in an engagement that will severely attrit the Blue ground force, thereby penalizing the player flying CAS. iv. Voice comms There are extensive custom voice comms in the mission, intended not only to heighten realism and immersion but to enhance all pilots' tactical situational awareness. Listen out for custom voice comms from the AWACS ("OVERLORD") regarding counter-air ops and the USMC combat engineer group ("ROADKILL") regarding its own position, engagement status and rate of progress towards its objective. v. Singleplayer vs. Multiplayer Multiplayer is the more challenging version of this mission for various reasons. Because all client flights hot-start on the ramp in MP (client flights start on the runway in SP), the additional taxiing into position in MP requires the player to make up time. More significantly, in SP, an AI wingman can be over-effective in certain ground-attack roles such as the spotting and killing of air defenses. It is a more impressive demonstration of skill when two human pilots spot, sort and prosecute their targets, as it requires a significant level of communication and cooperation. vi. Required skills This is an intermediate-level mission, although I've seen some pretty high-level players mess it up spectacularly. Effective Maverick deployment from outside SA-9 range is highly advisable, as is CBU delivery (for SPRINGFIELD) and LGB delivery (for DODGE). Players will need to prepare munitions and fence-in efficiently on ingress. Above all, players will need to know how to access and cycle through mission steerpoints via the "Mission" setting in the navigation rotary whose default setting is "FLTPLN". Critical mission steerpoints are provided to all pilots and outlined in the briefing text and illustrations. vii. Known issues - Please ignore initial, automated radio calls from the CAP of "engaging" enemy fighters. The Blue Cap will be more than 50 nm out when it makes this call, and barely airborne. - Similarly, ignore any early RTB call from the CAP. They will stay on task and will not desert you. - The mission requires the player to overwatch ROADKILL's withdrawal over BLUEBRIDGE. Unfortunately, if ROADKILL has left burning vehicles on the bridge, the group will occasionally abandon its fragged route before it makes it back across. The trigger for the final mission success message is fired by ROADKILL's presence in this zone. I have extended the zone to cover the area the group covers before the anomaly occurs. Be patient and wait for the convoy to retrace its steps to BLUEBRIDGE. However, if you do not receive a final message informing you of your success in the mission -- or otherwise -- this will be why. Broken Wing_Briefing.rar

Yet it doesn't say enough.

I'm wondering if someone may be available this morning (2/14, I'm in PST) or tomorrow morning, to help me test a new MP mission. It's a short mission, maybe 40 minutes max, and pretty close to completion, I just want to confirm balance and playability with two humans flying the main CAS mission in A-10s. It's a hot start from the ramp, fairly standard CAS, but good communication/teamwork between the pilots is advantageous so I'm appealing here for anyone who might be able to hook up with me on a TS server. The .miz has client slots for two Hog CAS flights plus one F-15C CAP flight for those with the FC3 module but I am primarily interested in testing the Hog flight that is the most indispensable to the mission. I do not have the time for squadron flying any more so I do not have an instant source for MP partners. I will check back here as I receive email notification of replies to this post. Thanks!

Fair enough, makes total sense.

Hmm, how can it be where that map chart ends when, if you zoom out, you can see the rest of it? This glitch occurs elsewhere, too, and can make SPI hooking in the TAD a little more finicky.

I think this video glitch when the TAD is fully zoomed in has been around for a while but can anyone comment re. whether it has been acknowledged? Is there a workaround, such as higher cockpit res?