VapoR

I think the current beta build of 1.2.7 is probably the most bug free out of any version I can remember. I would jump on it.

I can kill M-1s like I'm playing candy crush with S-13s. Probably not realistic but possible within the constraints of the sim.

With guns it will be VERY difficult, in fact I don't usually bother. You have to hit them from the top rear to have a chance at a kill and must be very close. Which rockets are you using? The S-13s and S-25s are your best choices. Bombs are good too, try the FAB 250 and 500 and also the RBK 250 and 500 cluster bombs. For missiles the S-25Ls pack serious punch but have very short range. The Kh-25ml has the longest range.

Su-25 huh? Check out the 314th, we are a North American based squadron that flys the Russian stuff. We are pretty laid back and not super mega extreme realism guys, we just aim to have a good time and learn with each other. We have our own teamspeak and server. Info below in my sig.

Not gonna happen for 1.2.7 I would guess. Would be very good to add though. I would go even further and say that we could use several different voices with different accents and everything. And Russian accented English.... and more stuff that the AI can say.... So much that could be improved. In fact, I would rather ED focus on these things and let the third parties have whatever tools they need to keep building aircraft.

Several updates (now at v0.82, will be up as soon as Vedexent checks his email :)) --Set SEAD flight AI to excellent to hopefully get better performance --Reduced the blue SEAD flights down to 1 aircraft each to match red side --Set long range SAM AI to excellent. This is meant to provide a protective umbrella over friendly territory. Client SEAD flights should focus on defenses along the FLOT. --Changed the naming format for ALL client slots. Hopefully the important info won't get cut off anymore --Added fighter sweep AI flights that spawn with the flight lead for each client SEAD slot (same as how it works for the packages for CAS slots) --Numerous small cleanups in several areas Future plans: Ka-50 slots Trigger-driven fighter scramble when enemy aircraft pass too deep into friendly territory

Maybe this behavior is due to the fact that I have the AI set to random. I think I will change the SEAD flights to Excellent to have them be more effective. The fighter escorts I will leave on random. Also I'm going to set all the long range SAMs to excellent. They are there to protect the airbases and provide a safe haven for everyone. The client SEAD flights should only focus on the medium and short range stuff along the FLOT.

So far it's working sort of ok. The AI is really holding this sim back, I don't understand how anyone would ever fly this sim in SP. SEAD flights are pretty worthless. They just dump their weapons when fired on then try to run in with guns. It's very hard to get the package timing to work correctly, they don't try to fly with you at all. This is exaggerated if they are from a different but nearby airfield. I need to find a different way to name the flights. On the aircraft selection screen the width for the name is very small. By contrast the payload is WAY too wide. Devs are you listening? :)

DCS Mig-21BIS

I've been working on a new mission for our server and have gotten it mostly ready to go. Pretty much the bulk of the functionality that I'm going for is in the mission. Here's what it's all about: This is a large MP red vs. blue mission with most of the flyables present. Currently none of the helos are represented, but I will be adding the Ka-50 and probably the Mi-8 in the near future. The UH-1 is just too far out of the era to be included. Features a very long FLOT that stretches from the coast at Tuapse and almost to Mt. Elbrus. One of the things I'm trying to achieve with this mission is to have a very full war with lots of activity. In the past I just had random AI going around doing various tasks but they were all still very disconnected feeling. My approach to overcome this is to have AI packages spawn whenever certain clients are present, basically this populates the server based on who is online. For each CAS flight the lead slot will spawn an escort package containing fighters and SEAD. Hopefully this will mitigate some of the "me vs. the world" feeling that DCS has always had. As soon as the master server is back up we will have the new mission up on the 314th server. Please come and give it a try! Mission: P254 Push

Yeah but you still have to set an advanced waypoint action to start and the set a trigger to get it to work. WAY too complicated..... I'll take a brunette.

I haven't really had any stability or FPS issues in my missions, even with lots of AI. I do try to avoid triggers as much as possible but sometimes you can't do the simplest of tasks without them. One of the ones that annoy me the most is having to use a trigger to have AI visible before start. This would be SO much easier if it was a checkbox "Visible Before Start".

How is this different from the AFM aircraft we have already?

If anyone is interested this was my final solution: Created a Once-No Event trigger Set the Condition to Unit's Speed more than 2 m/s, this prevents people that click through several slots before deciding on one to unnecessarily spawn escorts. For actions I put a group activation for both an escort flight as well as a SEAD flight along with a message to the client with information about the package. Set up this way the client can take time to select their load out and everything without having to worry about the timing. What I'm trying to accomplish is create a large MP mission with lots of activity. If I would have gone the standard route of having random flights across the map the player would still feel disconnected and have a me vs. the world feel (typical problem for DCS IMHO). The escort and SEAD package only spawn for the flight lead, the wingman slot does not initiate the spawn. Wingman slot gets the package message though so hopefully this will encourage coordination there once this mission is online. Look for this mission soon on the 314th server... Thanks again to everyone for your help, you guys are awesome!

Incredible work! Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I definitely don't want the escorts to vanish if the player dies as they might be engaged with a human opponent at that moment. I think the radio F10 option will work excellently for my mission. I have to admit I'm very intimidated by scripting so anything I can accomplish with triggers would be awesome. I'll give that a shot and if I run into trouble I will yell for help. Thanks guys!

I'm trying to accomplish something in the ME and nothing I've tried has worked. I figured one of you brilliant mission designers could help me! What I'm trying to do is spawn a fighter escort (2-ship) every time that a MP client spawns. I've created all the necessary flights and their flight plans and tasks. These are some things I tried: --Trigger Once and Continuous on player taking control. --Trigger No Event and Unit Alive. --Trigger zone placed at spawn location, then both of the above. Nothing seems to work. Is there a different way to do this?

I don't understand how ED is making money. The last new product they put out was way back when with the P-51. I realize there has been smaller rereleases like FC3 and the individual Su-25 and A-10A modules. Everything seems to be hinging on the success of EDGE. Stuff like a dedicated server, dynamic campaign, and new maps are all in the waiting for this. Also seems the 3rd parties are watching and waiting before they go all in.

I tried searching but mostly found old stuff from FC2 and older days. What is the process for making an AI plane flyable nowadays? I want to make the Su-25TM flyable, hopefully at least being able to use some of the Su-25T weapons. Will carrier ops work somehow? I realize this won't be realistic but should enable some fun carrier based scenarios. Thanks for your help!

That's a great idea! Would take some work getting it set up and organized but would be incredible for the long haul.

Looks awesome! Would be cool to copy this over to the server browser as well...

This will be very cool if you can pull this off! It sucks that we have to fly against uber-AI or exclude them from mission design in the sake of playability.

This reaction time discussion regarding MANPADS is excellent, I hope it leads to some adjustments to the actual sim. What about other IR threats though, such as Avengers and Chaparrals? I have no idea how sighting works IRL with these since they don't have radars. Are they having to scan the area manually with and IR sensor of some sort?

That Hawk is beautiful! The Su-25 would look great in that skin. I really like that airshow variant of the CF-18. And the very least one would be a good look on an Su-25..

Something like this Su-25SM paint job with Canadian roundels would look cool: