Sabre-TLA

As the others indicated start with BFM, then ACM and eventually we will have a formal Red Flag campaign to complete the series (and you will need the BFM and ACM experiences to be successful).

The video is still legit as the mission hasn't changed. Is the behavior the same in the practice mission as well as the qualification mission? Remove any MODs including VIACOM as they impact the way the JTACs operate. Please indicate which version of DCS you are using and include a .trk file so we can investigate further. Others have recently completed the campaign so we need to understand why it's different on your system. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback and a great write up Reflected! Much appreciated. When we first started thinking about a campaign for the F-5E we obviously thought of a Red Flag event as the aircraft is an iconic reference for those missions. As we developed the Red Flag campaign we realized it would be too difficult for most players without some BFM and ACM experience first. The Aggressors are the best of the best after all! This led us to creating the BFM and ACM campaigns as pre-cursors to our Red Flag campaign. Initially we didn't like the repetitive nature of the missions either but the more we played it the more we realized it set a common baseline when flying against the different aircraft and gave it some consistency as you would expect being "tested" against different aircraft types. If you try the F-15C or FA-18C BFM campaigns you will see the obvious advantages those later developed aircraft have over the F-5E. The AI is always a challenge and ED is working to improve them but they all follow some standard game engine decisions which you can change by changing your merge approach. We just learned about adding multiple campaigns to the same package so we will be putting the practice missions in their own campaign with a Skip Mission capability as you suggested. Given this we could also add an Easy version as some have suggested. Our initial thinking was we wanted the player to go up against the best the game engine could provide. WRT to the life at Nellis, initially we had lots of traffic and other moving objects around Nellis but the fps hit was just too great for most players so we had to tone it down alot. The current 2.5.6 fps issues with pathfinding have made us reduce it even further. Hopefully when ED gets that issue sorted we can add more life back to the ramp at Nellis. Additionally we would also like to have a trigger that could detect hits and leave the aircraft immune but the current game engine only provides a damaged or dead perspective and we felt that a kill shouldn't be counted if you only nicked a wing for example as the bandit was still in the fight. If ED can provide a trigger that would allow for a % unit damaged measure while immortal that would allow us to better replicate the actual events. We will continue to update our campaigns as improvements and new ideas allow and appreciate all feedback to help make our campaigns more challenging and enjoyable.

Here is a video of how the mission should play out. If it's not acting as it should try a DCS Repair and or uninstall and reinstall the campaign.

That's great! DCS does some weird things sometimes and it might even be Windows getting in the way when updating files. Who knows for sure. Please continue to report any issues, problems or ideas for improvement. Feedback is much appreciated!

That explains why it's stuck on TAC19. No idea why it didn't update but if you use an editor like NOTEPAD ++ then you can change the 48 record to stage 11 and mission to "A-10C - TAC20.miz" and then it should open to the next mission (TAC20). Email us at mapleflagmissions@gmail.com if you need help editing your logbook.lua file.

That's a win for the that mission since you are over 75. So it should progress to the next mission. In your logbook in the games section locate the campaign# associated with the campaign. In the example below the campaign# is 12. Within that section what does the highest numbered reference indicate? In this example the 2nd mission is stage 2 and there are no results as it hasn't been played yet. For example: ["games"] = { [12] = { ["created"] = "Thu May 7 10:49:14 2020", ["player"] = "New Pilot", ["campaign"] = "./Mods/campaigns/A-10C TTQ/A-10C - Tactical Training Qualification.cmp", ["status"] = "Active", ["history"] = { [1] = { ["datetime"] = "Thu May 7 10:50:50 2020", ["agKills"] = 0, ["result"] = 100, ["aaKills"] = 0, ["deathsCount"] = 0, ["stage"] = 1, ["mission"] = "A-10C - TTQ Arrival.miz", }, -- end of [1] [2] = { ["stage"] = 2, ["mission"] = "A-10C - TAC11.miz", }, -- end of [2] }, -- end of ["history"] }, -- end of [12] If you want to play TAC20 then the stage should be set to 11 and the mission title should say "A-10C - TAC20.miz" Please show what your logbook is showing for the highest numbered section. That should help explain why it's not moving to the next mission.

The campaign advances to the next mission when the mission score is > 50. It may be possible to end the mission before the score has had a chance to update. After your next successful mission before selecting END MISSION ensure the score is >50 which it should be if you get a Qual or Qual Minus rating. If you fail and get an UNQUAL rating then it will stay at 50 and you will have to repeat the mission.

Try dropping flares over the targets for use with the H's. They might give enough illumination to overcome the poor MFCD lighting. The other alternative is to replace the H's with IR Mav's (D's or equivalent) before takeoff. The mission scoring doesn't care specifically about the weapons used just that all the targets get destroyed by whatever means necessary (including gun runs).

When you are lasing with the IR Pointer you should hear your pilot say "1, Ray Target". You can check by using your NVGs and you should see the green line extending from the TGP to the target area. If the AC-130 can see the IR pointer then he should respond with: "COLT 1-1, ENFIELD 2-1, TALLY TARGETS!" and then a short time later: "ENFIELD 2-1, ENGAGING GROUND TARGETS!" Once the targets are destroyed you should hear: "COLT 1-1, ENFIELD 2-1. TARGET DESTROYED!" Try holding the laser pointer button for a few seconds more until you hear the "1, Ray Target" message. That should get the rest of it going as expected.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes we do have some planned. Please check our blog for updates.

Have you tried changing between BHOT and WHOT and/or using the contrast buttons to try and improve the image?

Already reported. There is a known issue in 2.5.6 with AI vehicle path finding. If ED doesn't fix it in the next patch then we will rework the mission to work around it.

Glad we got the problem sorted! :thumbup:

Not sure if this is your issue too but I recall another user had an issue with the JTACs not responding - turned out it was some voice command software that was causing the problem. Here is the thread for reference.

Please post a trk file and we can take a look. If I recall the JTACs are on the 2nd radio (1st is for the airfield, UHF is for the flights and the 2nd is for the JTACs). Depending on how your controls are mapped make sure you are transmitting on the correct radio as well as frequency. Turning on Easy Comms would show if you connect as the ones you cannot talk to are greyed out. Having a trk would allow us to see what is happening. You could also try a DCS Repair. Let us know if you get it sorted. We will reply if we can reproduce it.

Was this on the latest OpenBeta (or which version as many folks have rolled back to 2.5.5)? I seem to recall a thread where Easy Comms wasn't working with the JTACs. Are you trying with Easy Comms enabled or disabled? Easy Comms is a game menu item not something we can set in the mission. We will retest and see if we can reproduce it.

Your logbook.lua located in your saved games folder MissionEditor folder is the one that determines your current campaign progress. Not to worry if you lose it as you can manually update the file and set it to whatever mission you want. You can email us at mapleflagmissions@gmail.com if you need some help getting it sorted. As for the AI wingman colliding with you, that happens on occasion. The AI is still a wip but if you hold your position steady he shouldn't deliberately collide with you. We do have a trigger to make him break away so if you can hold it steady until then that would help. Since we wanted to have him fly in close position he is not a traditional wingman that you can give direct orders too. Let us know if the collisions continue and we can look at adding a command to allow you to control him better.

That sounds like one of our missions. Moderator please move this thread to https://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=496 ED is aware of path finding issues for ground units but we will retest and see if we can fix it.

Check the in game kneeboard pages as there is a checklist available there. It should be visible in VR.

@Reflected and @Baltic, thanks guys. Appreciate the support. All mission makers struggle with the AI at times as it is a work in progress so it's like trying to hit a moving target. The feedback from users is always appreciated as it helps us find the issues so we can try and make things better. Every update can be a blessing or a curse but we are hoping for more blessings than curses. Stay safe everyone.

We have some updates to the campaign so we will retest and see if we can balance the play better. Have you tried using the cover me order or any of the pincer left or right commands? I agree the AI is a work in progress but just wondering if they behaved the same way under other conditions. We will report again once we retest it as well.

Very good on the bombing run - that's the intent. For Mission 15 the first target is a radar site south of the road. If you follow the road west to wear it bends north then start searching around there you should find it. It's protected by a AAA unit so you could try a low pass and spot the tracers but that is a risky move. The second target is harder to spot and it is west of some power lines and NE of the town and south of the road. You could try flying at a higher altitude and use BHOT (Black Hot) or WHOT (White Hot) modes on the TGP to see if they will stand out from the ground clutter. Using that for both targets might help you locate them. Once located place a mark point then you can line up for your attack run. Let us know how it turns out.

@Emmy - Yes the Hard Deck is 100' AGL. I suspect the OP was talking about the first mission against the 3 F-5Es as the mission against the F-4Es is only a 2 ship. BlackJack should call out if someone breaks the hard deck and then you will get the terminate call. If you want to avoid that keep the fight in the horizontal and at a higher altitude. The current AI tends to boom and zoom and can break the hard deck when diving down at you. You can also read our hints and tips post to help with the dogfights. If you try and get on their tails in full ab you will quickly run out of fuel. The best approach are deflection shots when they streak by you. Please let us know if you have further questions or any issues by posting to the forum or emailing us at mapleflagmissions@gmail.com. Thanks.

Use the ON SHOT event trigger which fires on any ordnance launch. If you know the player is the only one shooting first then it's easy. If not then you could add some additional conditions to see if the player was the one who was shooting depending on the plane module used.