PoorOldSpike

Personally I'd say yes, because it means every time we hear on the TV news about trouble in the Gulf hotspot we can sit back munching our popcorn with smug grins on our faces thinking "Bin there dun that". I mean, we've explored the whole area in the sim and therefore know every nook and cranny like the back of our hand, so "The Persian Gulf" is not just an abstract name to us, WE'VE BEEN THERE in the sim..:music_whistling:

I bought the Persian Gulf map on Steam for a kool £40 (48 US dollars) the other day (June 8th 2020, but if you guys are saying I could have somehow got it free, I shall go sulk and pout like crazy (sniffle)

Hi guys, I bought the Persian Gulf map the other day and just wonder why the various stock cargo ships dotted around the Hormuz straits are static? Shouldn't they be moving somewhere? If I edit a ship into the straits it moves fine, but why don't the stocks move? Below: a static stock-

It's not a big deal but whenever I start my computer to play any game or sim (including DCS), I find that my Nvidia contrast/brightness/gamma settings have all gone back to my computer's default Win 10 graphics settings, and I have to re-set them again with Nvidia. How can I make the Nvidia settings stay permanent?

Speaking of ground radar, I've used it in other sims but there's so much ground clutter that it's hard to see what's what. However it's sometimes useful to spot ships on the open sea. But anyway I suppose ground radar is almost redundant nowadays because there's usually an AWACs high above illuminating everything and sending target coordinates to the bombers?

I don't know whether flaps play a big part in this thread, I'm still only a relative newcomer to the sim but I think there's an "auto-flap" option where the flaps set themselves according to speed etc, and I still haven't figured out whether to leave them on auto or lower/raise them manually for the best flight experience. Does the real-life Hornet have auto-flaps?

Hit the A/G button to see if that makes the weapons display. Also click the leftmost button on the top row of the left MFD to see if that displays them.

I find rudder essential in Hornet to "nudge" the aircraft from time to time when lining up your weapons or lining up for landing. PS- I think I read somewhere that the rudder movement sensitivity of fast combat jets is automatically damped down at high speeds to stop the pilot accidentally tearing off the rudder like this guy did when over-correcting in wake turbulence-

Okay how about this idea if we were the defender- install a few thousand radars so that no matter how many radars the enemy's HARM-type missiles knock out, there'll probably still be enough radars left to send up the SAMs..:)

It'd be easy, the radar could be around a hundred yards from the SAM site, feeding data to the site down a cable. Then when the HARM homes in on the radar and zaps it, the site will be outside the blast radius and not be touched..:)

Another thing- surely HARMs would be easy to defeat by any enemy with a bit of commonsense? For example they could position their radars some distance away from the target (eg a SAM site etc) so that the HARM knocks out the radar and not the site? (They could erect a spare radar within a couple of minutes) PS- mobile SAM launchers are surely sitting ducks because their radars are mounted on the vehicle, don't the enemy realise that?

Haha, "Eat this Manolito"

Thanks, and like other guys have mentioned, ships possibly have more than one fire-control radar. PS- I think I've just realised why HARMs climb high after launch, it's possibly because after their rocket fuel burns out they need all that height to coast onwards to the target and dive on it. It could also explain why some HARMs don't climb as high as others, as it might depend on what range they're launched at and their computerised brains work out what height is needed to be able to coast to the target. (Incidentally their coasting speed is over 500 kts.) Question- do ships pop chaff and flares in the sim? I haven't seen any do it. Perhaps incoming small missiles like HARMs and Mavericks don't show up on their radar and therefore don't trigger chaff/flares/Gatlings?

Thanks..:) ----------------------------------------------------------- Below:- More HARM tests. PIC 1- this mobile SAM launcher is the target PIC 2- I hold my fire to let it fire at my Hornet just to check it's working- PIC 4- I launch a HARM, here it is about to hit- PIC- 5- it hits and the spike vanishes from the HUD- PIC 6- I overfly it to eyeball it, it looks to be in one piece but even though I stooge around for a while at different ranges and heights, its spike doesn't come back and it doesn't launch any more SAMS so I presume it's dead as a dodo hehe..:) SUMMARY- the test proves radar-emitting ground-based units are easy to kill outright, unlike ship-based radars.

I just ran some more tests to check out the HARMs flight profile- PIC 1- The enemy ship is about 15 miles ahead but not emitting so the HUD is blank and the HARM is x'd out. (Incidentally there are two HARM firing modes, SP (Self Protect), and TOO (Target of Opportunity) I'm not sure what the difference is but I'm firing everything in SP mode) PIC 2- the ship begins emitting, I get a beep and its spike appears in the HUD, and the X is removed- PIC 3- I launch a volley of HARMs from the Hornet flying at 2500 ft, note how they climb way up high, (red circle is the ship) PIC 4- This one has climbed to over 14000 ft before levelling out. (however they don't all follow the exact same profile, some climb higher, some lower)- PIC 5- Showtime, they begin their death dive at around 6 miles from the ship- PIC 6- They hit, but despite the fireball, the ship is barely scratched- PIC 7- More hits follow (I launched about 30 HARMs and the damage cumulation creeps up). Not all fireballed, some just created an almighty splash in the sea, I don't know if they missed or what- PIC 8- Drat! The ship still launches a SAM, proving its radar is still working fine. I shall go pout and sulk for a while then run some tests against ground targets. SUMMARY- The HARM flight profile is weird, perhaps its trying to climb above the ships radar and CIWS, I don't know. PS- I've been meaning to ask, but can real-world ships shoot down HARMS and Mavericks, or are the missiles too small to be spotted by the ships CIWS radars? As regards larger Harpoons, I think they CAN be spotted and shot down can't they?

Okay I just ran this test to find out exactly what damage HARMs do to ships, and it confirms what some of you guys were saying, namely that they do very little damage to the ship and apparently no damage at all to its radar- PIC 1- I fired a total of 20 (repeat 20) HARM's in repeated salvos (unlimited ammo setting of course), here goes the first salvo, they zoom up in the last mile or two, then swoop down dramatically on their victim like birds of prey- PIC 2- they begin slamming into the ship but each hit adds just a few percent damage- PIC 3- another salvo begins adding more damage and the ship catches fire (black smoke)- PIC 4- 20 shots, 20 hits but even though the ship is on fire, its radar is still working and I get a series of high-pitched warning beeps as he begins launching SAMs so I pop chaff and flares and start twisting and turning in the hope I can outrun them- PIC 5- Nope, people are on the pitch, they think it's all over! It is now! I evade a few but my luck eventually runs out, insert "sheepish grin" emoticon here (sniffle)- SUMMARY- 20 HARM hits on the ship damaged it slightly, but never put its radar out of action. By comparison, from experience I know that Mavericks inflict far more damage on the Rezky per hit, and often put its radar out of action too, so the Mav is my favourite anti-ship weapon even though its range is only around 7 miles compared to the HARMs 80 miles. In fairness to the HARM, perhaps it's better at nobbling ground-based radars than ship radars, so i'll run more tests tomorrow to try to find out.

Just thought I'd toss these screenshots into the playpen, they're from a small mission I made in the mission creator today inside 5 minutes, I've never used HARMs before so I wanted to see how easy/hard they are to use, and the answer is unbelievably easy..:) I loaded 2 onto the Hornet- And hit the A/G key then the MFD key (yellow circle). An enemy radar emitter is is in the green circle.. And there's our boy in the red circle, A Rezky frigate just over 10 miles away.(HARM's have up to 80 mile max range) So I just point the Hornet's nose at the ship and fire two HARMs in quick succession, no locking or any designating of any kind was needed. Here the first one hits and this second one hits an instant later.. But- gulp- the Rezky launches two SAMs at me moments later, what cheek, so obviously my HARM's didnt put his radar out of commission.. Ouch that hurt, his first SAM toasts me and a second is also on the way up (sniffle), and before you ask, yes I know I should have stayed out of his SAM range but I wanted to test whether I'd put his radar out of action.. SUMMARY- The mission creator is a great way to learn about everything in the game. There are various HARM targetting modes etc but I deliberately kept it simple this time.

With the Mav 'F' (IR) the basic sequence I use is- Select A/G Click twice on top left button on the left MFD to bring up the IR screen Fly the plane to place the HUD triangle roughly on the target Look at the IR screen and fly the plane to put the crosshairs on the target and hit 'lock'. Fire. Like I said that's just the simplest easiest basic way, there are other ways too with or without pod or slewing etc.

I use manual aiming most of the time because it's much more fun (we don't need no steenkin pipper); the gun is boresighted to that small cross (arrowed), so the cross is what I use to lay the gun on target. However (and this is where the fun comes in), you have to use all your awesome skill and experience to allow for gravity drop by aiming slightly above the target at med/long ranges as in these stunning screenshots. (It works for air targets too, it's fun using the gun like a chainsaw to scythe off wings)-

The Mav 'F' (infra-red version) realistically won't uncage if it can't get a solid lock when we hit the lock (uncage) button, usually because the target is too small or the range is too great. For example we can usually lock up ships out to the F's max range of around 7 miles because they're big crisp targets. However, if a small ground target can't be locked, one trick I use it to try to lock something near it and fire at that, and hope the blast radius will take out the nearby target.

In the real world it's normal for locks to keep breaking as the target twists and turns, presenting different profiles to your radar, so I presume that's what's happening in this sim too, just as in most other good sims on the market..:)

Tip for noobs- create a mission in the editor and set the wind direction and speed (say 25kts from the north), and set the carrier speed 25kts into the teeth of it. That'll give a wind speed of 50kts over the deck and landings will usually be a piece of cake. Later as you gain experience begin reducing the speed of the carrier and wind to make it harder..:) PS- another thing, never try to flare, just fly straight into the wires. I once read somewhere that a squadron C.O. told his men- "I'll court-martial any man who tries to flare!"

In some other sims and wargames and the real world, target blips sometimes vanish because they're jamming your ass. Also, locks can come and go if the target aspect keeps changing like a tantalising cheeky stripper.

What are you trying to lock onto, a plane or ship or what? And with what weapon? PS- In some other flight sims and wargames a target blip sometimes turns red to indicate that its got its jammers on to stop you locking it up.

Thanks i'll try again to wake up the SA-10 operators, meanwhile mobile self-contained launchers like the SA-8 "Osa" (below) are fully awake and unleashes its 6 missiles in quick succession to toast me-