Bahger

My big question too... Any confirmation? Or, failing that, a strong hint?

It's a terrific mission, and tremendously replayable because of the variability of target assignments. I've been running it solo (in a closed LAN server) as well as online with WarriorX, to practice coordinate data entry via the CDU. Now that I've got that down, my only remaining problem is...I have trouble finding the smaller targets like the artillery and the MLRS, even though my data entry for the mission point is acccurate and I'm competent with the TGP (including use of black and white hot modes). Can anyone recommend a method of scanning that might give me a better chance of finding these targets? How far off should I expect the coordinates to be? EDIT: On playing it again, I noticed that some of the targets briefed in-flight appear not to spawn in until the US convoy moves out and the ground engagements begin. For example, the arty I couldn't find earlier was now perfectly visible after I triggered the allied convoy before reaching the first WP. Still couldn't find the MLRS but destroyed the 3 of the first briefed artillery units with Mavericks and a tighter grouping of 4 at another location with a CBU-97, very satisfying. Please correct me if I'm wrong about the spawning. And let me say again, it is a terrific, target-rich, replayable mission.

Now that is really good to know, as my TAD cursor has been much too twitchy and inputting lower numbers down to 0.25 hasn't helped. Thank you. (Mavericks work the other way, it seems...)

Jeff, may I offer a little constructive criticism? I played the mission. It's enjoyable and the essential premise is a good one. I have the following reservations: - I don't think it's realistic to put A-10s up against Tungustas without SEAD cover, especially when you are recommending a bombing ceiling of 9000ft. Playing hide-and-seek with SA-19s is fun, but it's not tactically believable given the kind of resources that the U.S. military goes to war with. - In converting the mission to SP, you should include an AI wingman for the player. - The briefing lacks essential information re. callsigns and frequencies. - The battlefield is somewhat under-populated, given the number and density of the targets. I would expect another flight of attackers, an AFAC flight, maybe even artillery support. I realise, though, that it's a hasty conversion of an MP sortie. Missions simulating modern air-to-ground combat should feel like a cooperative effort in which the player is one cog in a larger fighting machine, not one Hog pilot against the world. Will probably play it again later this weekend. Maybe the experience of the mission in MP is different; it's certainly target-rich and quick to get into the action. My main reservation concerns the Hog vs SA-19 scenario.

You have to enter a numerical value from the UFC. So, go STAT/PAGE 2, scroll to Stick or Throttle slew entry fields, enter the numerical value you want into the scratchpad at the bottom of your HUD and then hit the key to input it into the STAT page. FWIW, I use 2 for Mavericks, default 5 is much too twitchy.

blackheart, may I reinstate my sincere praise for your writing and thanks for your service. Obviously I was misled and my first impression of your post was the correct one.

Desert Storm only had the A-10A so fighting it with the C would be a bit of a "what if" scenario.

Speed, this is really valuable information, very well laid out, thank you for taking the trouble. Between you and Grimes, we have a couple of real ME gurus here; med-level mission designers like me really appreciate you sharing the wisdom. Programming logic is a tough mental slog for me but needs to be learned in order to build missions with replayability through randomised functions.

Ha, it's funny how powerfully deceiving the lack of quotation marks can be. Thanks for the correction!

No, they did not. They pulled it after the first Beta update and announced it, and their reasons for doing so, immediately and with full disclosure. That was about five months before the release. I'd happily buy your copy from you and give it to an appreciative friend just to spare us all the misplaced moral indignation.

"Fair"?? Participants in the public Betas have no right whatsoever to demand or expect certain features be included in the sim. I'm looking forward to the Nevada map too, but if ED wants to include any item in the product, or not, that's their perogative, and if I want to buy the product, or not, that's mine. There is nothing remotely "unfair" about ED's decision not to put the Nevada map in the first release.

Will check it out, jeffyd, thanks.

I've had my fair share of "growing pains" but feel amply compensated by being included in the public Beta. I don't feel entitled to anything more than the sim itself, which is reward enough.

Yes, I have often considered this but assumed that, whatever my civ traf setting -- which is high, I love using my TGP from 15,000 ft to see a bus escape my GBU-12 blast zone by 10ft -- the mission user's own setting would invalidate mine.

Well, I'm using Insurgent forces rather than Russian as the Red enemy in the mission I'm making and as I've now determined (at least, I think I have) that there are no EWR assets or networked radar-guided SAM systems listed in the ME as Insurgent objects -- very realistic, believable and true, I reckon -- I'm going to limit the SAM threat in my mission to individual truck-mounted SA-9s, which are nasty enough under 18,000 ft (and often fatal to the AI). And, of course, MANPADs, but I wanted a plausible radar threat to light up the player's RWR. Also, it struck me that Hogs would never be front-and-center of any effort to degrade integrated, modern SAM systems anyway, nor would they be exposed to such defenses without other assets being dedicated to the SEAD/DEAD mission. From everything I've read, about A-10 ops over Kosovo for example, Hogs are not let off the leash to attack ground targets without F-16/Tornado SEAD cover where there is any significant SAM threat. (I'd be interested to know what 2nd-world OPFOR IADs look like, either in Kosovo, or Libya, for example.) I'm very keen for my missions to be operationally realistic and for NATO/US forces to fight like they do IRL, which is to leverage their technology in a disciplined manner. I cannot imagine A-10s being deployed without SEAD support against anything more formidable than SA-9s but am very willing to be corrected by more knowledgeable members of this community...

Good to know. How can you disengage from ground crew without them calling "What are you doing...??"

If you are using "realistic" radios, I don't think you can't call anyone until the radios can be powered up after batt switch, inverter and APU. So that's not really an option.

These are really interesting real-life recollections, blackheart, thank you for sharing. You were a private? You write better than a Colonel I know. Thanks for the book recommendation, I will order it from Amazon.

Got it, thanks.

There is probably a simple answer to this question but I'm a bit stumped. I'm making a night mission with a ramp start. I get put in a hardened shelter at Vaziani and when the mission starts, I can't see a thing inside the cockpit and cannot possibly fumble my way through the startup. Surely there must be a way to do this? Is there a keyboard command for sufficient cockpit illumination to get me started, even before battery on? Is this what "prepare Mission" is for? I have never understood that function. Can anyone enLIGHTen me? Thanks.

Got it, Grimes, thanks for your patience. Your way of doing this works beautifully, the message generation really seems random. Thanks! I made the changes you mentioned in your last para above -- I was in too much of a hurry and left those conditions out by mistake -- and have updated the file in case it is of interest to anyone else as a quick demo of how to trigger random conditions.

HA, I think I got it! Could I ask you to take a look at this very simple .miz? It contains nothing but the player's aircraft, a trigger zone and the list of triggers, conditions and actions syntax you kindly supplied, applied in the Triggers menu. I was struggling with the first trigger but I think I got it. Would appreciate verification. Thanks, Grimes. You are the resident expert with this stuff and this will add a whole extra layer to my mission design.

Will do!

Don't worry too much about the radio message, between the briefing, Enfield's call-outs and the radio messages, you know everything you need to know. No radio is mission-critical, it's all SA really. Also, you don't need to call JTAC until you receive the message from Alamo telling you the UAV is tasked on the artillery; you still have plenty of time to call, get the 9-line, make all the necessary responses and get lined up. If you know what you're doing you have enough time/distance not to have to orbit.

Thanks, guys. With your response, Grimes, I think I hit the mother-lode as, having played your missions, I know you are a guru of ME randomised conditions. This stuff does not come easily to me but I'm going to fiddle about with it before I hit you with too many pesky follow-up questions. Just to clarify though: - How many separate left-column entries in the 3-column ME trigger menu does your suggestion involve? I can't tell if it's 2 or 3. - Does your sample above call for 1 of 3 radio messages to play, or 2, i.e. "A" and "B"? If you don't mind, I might send you a screen shot of the entries I make for this, as it might save me HOURS of futzing about. Thank you.