Brown Floyd

One of my DCS dreams is for them to someday release a combined module which includes both the Fishbed-D from the '60s and the modern MiG-21 that the Indian Air Force is flying now. Make it a true study sim, showing us the evolution over 60 years of flying. If Mag 3 or somebody did this, they'd easily sell several dozen copies, so it's a no-brainer from a business perspective...:smilewink:

My local group has spent the last couple weeks preparing for an 1980s-era event, with Mirages and Hornets providing the CAP support and, holy hell, you would not believe the bitching and moaning from guys who are being forced to use Fox 1 missiles. People are so used to either flying into a Red Baron-style furball or lobbing AMRAAMs from 40 miles away that they can't wrap their heads around staying head down in the cockpit and maneuvering into the best envelope for a Sparrow shot. It's a bit disheartening to see because there's a sweet spot right around 1986-1988 where many of the frontline aircraft on both Red and Blue now have modules in DCS; just looking at airframes and ignoring specific models and blocks, I think only the Su-25T, Ka-50, Su-33, and JF-17 were introduced after 1988. As for me, while there's so many different missions and aircraft on this server that it's always interesting and fun, there is nothing as satisfying as getting an R-3R kill. (Since I suck, that happens about once every month for me...) And that's something that basically doesn't happen on any other multiplayer server out there.

I'll admit that I only use the HUD display for IFR approaches (and if we're being honest, I usually use autopilot, too), but the ADI has needles for the course deviation and glideslope. So using just instruments is at least theoretically possible; I suppose I should add that to my DCS World To-Do List.

The upgraded engine is for Block 3.

No argument there from me! I don't think the Ka-50 or the Su-25T should be on the server, at least not with Vikhrs. Additionally, the AV-8B in DCS is an early 2000s version. The biggest problem* with the Harrier is the HUD-integrated RWR: it far surpasses anything else on the server and can hunt down MiGs just from their radars. And since it's "hardwired" into the plane, you can't disable the functionality like with the weapons. But it is what it is... *Well, aside from the unrealistic effectiveness of the Sidearm, but that's a Razbam/ED problem that will never change.

I'd just like to mention that the BK90 was introduced in 1992...

A few weeks ago, we did have one mission of Prince of Persia where we as Red had taken five of the airfields and were desperately trying to capture the final one as the sun was setting. We were unsuccessful, but it was still a great experience. However, that was definitely the exception; all other PoP endgames have been quiet as people leave when it gets dark. One possibility is to have one of the newer style missions start an hour or so before sunrise. It would add a new wrinkle to the "Helicopter Land Rush" part of the mission if they had to do it in darkness, but then the sun would come up and the rest of the mission would be just like normal.

Prince of Persia is not working correctly now. When a side captures a base there's no global message and no friendly units spawn at the base; it is marked correctly as Red/Blue on the F10 map, however. Additionally, the Fujairah aircraft are not available even after capturing the base.

I had my first chance to test out the Chapparal-to-Avenger swap last night while flying a Frogfoot in The Desert Has Eyes, and it was definitely a step up in difficulty. I started out by trying low-level, long-range attacks with the laser-guided rockets and kept getting brutalized by the Avengers. But then I switched to CCRP bombing from high altitude (>3000m AGL) and had much better success—which is, of course, famously the Soviet reaction when they faced Stinger missiles in the Afghanistan war. It's always nice when you can recreate real-world tactics in DCS! Of course, the high-altitude bombing was only possible because the F-5s were occupied elsewhere, so maybe we'll see some interesting coordinated, escorted strikes come out of this change in the future. Elsewhere during the mission, it seemed like some of the MiGs were having success with high-speed rocket and Grom runs on the Avengers; I'll have to try that tactic next.

It takes a while to get up there, but shredding B-17s with the Anton is so satisfying.

Blue Flag's system is pretty elegant: you essentially lose a life every time you take off and then regain it back if you land at a FARP or airfield. So the server doesn't have to figure out all the edge cases like when you get disconnected or ditch in a field, plus you're not penalized for dying before you take off (e.g., for a spawning collision or the enemy strafing you on the taxiway). The disadvantage is that I don't think they've made their mission script public...

What does "PBR Overhaul" mean?

In tonight's The Desert Has Eyes, I ejected from my Frogfoot near Blue EWR-2 and then was able to record a couple of Red strikes from the ground level. I don't usually post videos, but I thought these were from an interesting perspective that you guys might enjoy. SOMAN with a low-level Frogfoot run LF_Pokri shooting a Grom

Hi, Alpenwolf. Seems that the SRS server is down; nobody can connect on either Blue or Red.

Last night's Search & Destroy was a blast. I kept falling prey to the "Hmm, maybe just one more sortie" syndrome and then before I knew it was past 4 a.m. Time flies when you're having fun... Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I rather like how Sail Ahoy has evolved into strikes on the enemy AWACS and runways. It has a different feel now, like the old mission Chaos, and it can be fun trying to figure out how to crack the Blue defenses around Kutaisi after they've done a few bombing runs up the valley behind Batumi. It's a nice change-of-pace and has a unique character now on the server. The issue with that mission is that the main bases, AWACS stations, and Red ships are so close together that you're always going to have battles right overhead in a tight area. I'm always loathe to ask Alpenwolf for new missions but if we want to focus on the anti-surface ship aspect, he should make a scenario where the ships are off-shore much farther with better warship escorts and an explicit victory condition trigger like his new missions. ("The mission ends with a Blue Victory if all the ships are sunk" or something) Last thing: in defense of the "Air Quake" crowd, while I certainly don't condone it, I do understand it. There are very few other servers (approximately zero, in fact) where someone can fly a MiG-21, -19, or F-5 in a competitive (i.e., not getting blasted from 20 miles away) PvP server. So we're always going to get guys who just jump in, go to bullseye, and start fighting. Best we can do is to encourage them to come up on SRS, maybe ask them in chat to at least anchor overhead places we need them, and then hopefully they come around. Seeing the automated messages that "We have captured the enemy's Main Water Station!" also helps them get motivated. Bottom line: at least they're flying MiG-21s and F-5s instead of Hornets and Su-33s.

You're probably using a different version of DCS than everyone else. Most likely, you are running an older stable build instead of the current stable build (which a few MP servers run) or, more importantly, the current Open Beta version (which is what at least 95% of the MP servers are running).

Any chance we can get a couple of C-101CC added to Five Points Unleashed, maybe at Krymsk? :pilotfly: It's real hit-and-miss with people coming up on SRS, on both sides. Sometimes you'll be alone, other times there will 10 or more, plus others on the helicopter circuits. Just keep trying, maybe put a short note in the text chat requesting people come up on 124Mhz.

For what it's worth, I've been watching your Youtube videos of the training missions the last couple days, and they're already extremely helpful. Looking forward to trying out the missions!

It'll be fun to see what Alpenwolf does with the Mirage F1, as it fought against both the MiG-21 (Angola civil war) and the F-5 (Iran-Iraq war). But we're probably at least 3 years away from it being released, as Aviodev is still focusing on the C-101.

I think it would be interesting to someday try taking the weapons restrictions back even further, to the previous generation of weapons, around 1965. Then for air-to-air Red would only have the R-3S/K-13 and the RS-2US/K-5 (the first generation, rear-aspect anti-bomber SARH missile) and Blue would only have the GAR-8/AIM-9B and RB-24. For air-to-ground, only unguided weapons would be available: iron bombs, rockets, and cannons. (Maybe leave the Grom and the RB-05 in for anti-ship missions.) For simplicity's sake, we would just ignore the fact that most of our aircraft makes and models weren't flying in 1965 (but we already do that) and that many of the ground units and surface-to-air units are from later eras. But the point would be to get some experience with the types of dogfighting and ground strikes that the pilots in that era had to deal with. Edit: The RS-2US/K-5 is a beam rider, not SARH, missile.

I bought the new Supercarrier module on Steam (full price) today and when I fired DCS World up to check on it, I found that the Su-33 was installed and playable. Went back and checked my order and, sure enough, the Su-33 DLC was included on my order for free. I don't see anything advertised about it on the Steam page or on the standalone page. I already own the Su-27 module, so maybe that something to do with it. Or maybe there's something lingering in the system from a previous bundle or something. Just thought you guys would want to know.

I'll leave to the experts to dive into the details, but the FM has definitely changed with the new patch. No more fly-by-wire.

For the "real" sling loading that is used to activate the MiG-29, the Mi-8 user's manual is actually really well-written and helpful on how to do it. It's a bit disconcerting for a non-Russian-speaking person at first, but I can kinda figure out what my flight engineer is saying after a bit of practice. I usually just land next to the crate and hook it up while on the ground, though... For the simulated sling loading, it helps me a lot if I inch right up to the edge of the helipad before requesting the crate. I also sometimes request more than one crate during the start-up process so that the next ones are ready for me when I get back. For both real and simulated, it's a tremendous help to activate the heading/yaw autopilot. This keeps me pointed directly towards the crate (or away from it, if I pass over it) so I then just have to work the cyclic fore-and-aft and the collective up-and-down; the autopilot removes one of the variables.

A bit off-topic, but that LanceR video reminded me how great it would be to have a nice, smooth take-off run in the MiG-21. Like you're actually rolling a solid 10-ton chunk of metal down the runway instead of something that feels like a dune buggy that will bounce off into a wheatfield if you hit a pothole the wrong way.

I dropped some infantry in the middle of Agara from an Mi-8. I don't know but maybe those troops prevent the event trigger from activating. But I think it might just be the starting tanks around the towns that need to be destroyed.