Operation First Strike

Superb Mission! I really enjoed it !!

Wow, this mission looks unbelievable. It's definitely gonna be nice with TARS running. Each of the three flights will be able to communicate via a shared AM station, and then intraflight comms will be with the UHF and emergency with FM. Really appreciate all the time and effort put into this mission, I'm gonna fly it with the boys today.

Updated to run in release version of DCS Warthog.

Changes:

* Client frequencies.

* Tanker now starts in pattern over your base because he didnt take off anymore. Also prevents the potential crashes into the mountain / ground.

* Added some clouds because they look cool now in the dark :)

EDIT: Forgot to attach, its really there now :)

very good stuff geskes... me and deadmeat tried it and got swatted out of the sky LOL

the canyon flying is awesome BTW.

With the exception of Separatist Aggression, this is by far my new favorite mission!!!

....flown this mission online (10 minutes ago):pilotfly: - AWESOME!!!:thumbup::thumbup: Great JOB!!!!:thumbup::thumbup:

So, after not being able to create an MP server last night (never would show on list... never had this problem before), my buddy and I jumped into the 75th's server that they had up. It was on Operation First Strike, a mission I hadn't played yet...

After I got through the briefing, I was pretty interested as I saw 3 different flights had to work together to take out numerous different targets. We decided to take the Tusk flight, mostly because nobody else had up to that point.

We fired up, did a nice tandem formation take off and flight through the first eight or nine waypoints (which other players kept commenting on, LOL), then both of us proceeded to get wiped out by a manpad in the valley. Ok, no big deal, shit happens. We were low (~250-500 AGL) in the valley and actually got shot down on from a guy on top of a ridge in one case. So we say eff this, let's just cruise up the coast and make a hard right to our IP.

We climb up to 15k and roll inbound towards the IP. The SA-6 has been lighting me up for a good 2 minutes, but I figure I'm still outside his engagement envelope as he hasn't launched on me yet. I look over my left wing, admiring the ocean and what not and ask my wingman "Hey, is that a lake down there or the smoke trail off a missile?" Not seeing a launch in either of our RWRs, we both figure it's the glare off of a lake. Then, all of a sudden, the lake disappears. At this exact moment I think to myself, well, if it was a missile I'll kno... Wham! Smoked. Eff me.

Shortly there after my wingman obliterates himself trying to evade another SA-6 missle. Does the SA-6 missile not show up as a launch on the RWR? Was it too far outside my RWR range for it to pick it up?

So we say screw it, let's try Dodge flight and smoke the SA-6, since nobody else seems willing... (the Dodge flight assclowns were just rolling in and taking out all the soft targets, completely ignoring their objectives.) We fire up, cruise through the valley, get to the ridge just before the SA-6 and WHAM! Another manpad from a ridge top. Again, super low level NoE flying, and again, crushed by a manpad.

My question is this... what are the appropriate tactics/maneuvers in this situation? We're screaming through a valley just off the deck... if we go high to avoid the manpads, we get annihilated by the SA-6. We go low through the valleys to avoid the SA-6 (as the flight plan dictates), we get smoked by the manpads. There isn't a ton of maneuvering to be done in the valley... some of those walls are pretty close.

I'm kind of at a loss here... any ideas?

To add to imac12 (I'm the wingman he's referencing), can anyone shed light on the MANPAD threat?

What are effective tactics to avoid detection and engagement by MANPADs when flying NOE?

Seems like flying along at between <500R wasn't working on First Strike and all countermeasures failed (not surprising due to optical / laser beam-riding MANPADs).

Acquiring / spotting MANPADs while flying NOE seems close to impossible due to increased workload of navigation / terrain avoidance : advantage MANPAD.

Only hope is to fly as low as possible to reduce time in LOS of MANPAD operator.

Has anyone else flown First Strike and actually flown the flight-planned routes for Dodge flight or Tusk flight? I'm curious how you have fared against the MANPADs and what you've done to avoid / evade.

Also, let's say you see a MANPAD launch at about 1.5 - 2 miles at your 1 o'clock position and you're at 330 IAS and 1200R, what's your evasive maneuver and probability of survival?

Thanks! Seems like MANPAD is show stopper for all NOE. Tell me I'm wrong?

So, after not being able to create an MP server last night (never would show on list... never had this problem before), my buddy and I jumped into the 75th's server that they had up. It was on Operation First Strike, a mission I hadn't played yet...

 

After I got through the briefing, I was pretty interested as I saw 3 different flights had to work together to take out numerous different targets. We decided to take the Tusk flight, mostly because nobody else had up to that point.

 

We fired up, did a nice tandem formation take off and flight through the first eight or nine waypoints (which other players kept commenting on, LOL), then both of us proceeded to get wiped out by a manpad in the valley. Ok, no big deal, shit happens. We were low (~250-500 AGL) in the valley and actually got shot down on from a guy on top of a ridge in one case. So we say eff this, let's just cruise up the coast and make a hard right to our IP.

 

We climb up to 15k and roll inbound towards the IP. The SA-6 has been lighting me up for a good 2 minutes, but I figure I'm still outside his engagement envelope as he hasn't launched on me yet. I look over my left wing, admiring the ocean and what not and ask my wingman "Hey, is that a lake down there or the smoke trail off a missile?" Not seeing a launch in either of our RWRs, we both figure it's the glare off of a lake. Then, all of a sudden, the lake disappears. At this exact moment I think to myself, well, if it was a missile I'll kno... Wham! Smoked. Eff me.

 

Shortly there after my wingman obliterates himself trying to evade another SA-6 missle. Does the SA-6 missile not show up as a launch on the RWR? Was it too far outside my RWR range for it to pick it up?

 

So we say screw it, let's try Dodge flight and smoke the SA-6, since nobody else seems willing... (the Dodge flight assclowns were just rolling in and taking out all the soft targets, completely ignoring their objectives.) We fire up, cruise through the valley, get to the ridge just before the SA-6 and WHAM! Another manpad from a ridge top. Again, super low level NoE flying, and again, crushed by a manpad.

 

My question is this... what are the appropriate tactics/maneuvers in this situation? We're screaming through a valley just off the deck... if we go high to avoid the manpads, we get annihilated by the SA-6. We go low through the valleys to avoid the SA-6 (as the flight plan dictates), we get smoked by the manpads. There isn't a ton of maneuvering to be done in the valley... some of those walls are pretty close.

 

I'm kind of at a loss here... any ideas?

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=71890

RWR is broken in multiplayer. Let's hope for a fix.

The time I did play this, I was in the distraction flight, trying to distract the SA-6. I watched the other flight come in, pop up LOS, fire a maverick or two at the SA-6, and kill it. I don't remember them reporting many MANPADs in the valleys. There WERE quite a number of MANPADs at the target though.

Personally though, in the missions I make, I just try to avoid pitting the A-10 up against anything worse than a 2S6. Occasionally, I do put in some of the deadlier and longer range SAMs, but I make it so that if you follow the preflight briefing/in-flight briefing instructions, you will not get shot down.

However, unrealistic as it may be, pitting A-10s against SA-6/SA-10/SA-11 can still be fun if done right, and if the rest of the mission is fairly well done, it doesn't hurt the realism that badly.

But with the RWR broken for many SAMs in MP at the moment... mission makers need to be careful how they put SA-6/10/11s in their MP missions.

Geskes. This is really incredible. I've been working on building my first mission in A-10 ... been tinkering away with it for about 1-2 weeks and I've been having a couple of problems with lag spikes that appear to be caused from trigger points activating. I was going to post it on the Mission threads to see if anyone else can duplicate the error and/or give me explanations as to what is wrong ... but my jaw dropped when I saw your mission.

You and I have darn near the exact same mission. Same starting point, same target airfield, same route through the river valley, and same air defense that initially covers the area (SA-6). Almost the same name even. I mean this is downright spooky. :surprise:

I'll post my current mission just for giggles so you can see it.

The biggest problem is:

When the first A-10 flys for the first time into the vicinity of the SA-6 it causes a flag to activate ... very little logic kicks in at that point, yet I get a good 4-7 seconds of total game freeze when it happens. I would expect maybe a minor hiccup ... but nothing THAT bad.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know this bug are driving me nuts.

EDIT: Removed the 2nd bug question as I found out it is a known bug that is slated to be fixed.

First Strike ver 1_51.miz

Re-flew the mission as Dodge flight (tasked with taking out the SA-6) and had much better success.

Flew at lower altitude. Instead of around 500R, I was down under 200R, close to 100R. The workload en-route was high maneuvering through the canyons, but there were *no* MANPAD launches at all. Definitely was fired on by AAA, but no hits!

This is an exhilarating mission for sure! I was able to pop-up and slew my TGP onto the SA-6 radar, drop down for cover, slew MAV to TGP SPI, pop back up, get lock on MAV and fire.

Problem was I got complacent after taking out the SA-6 and also was not familiarized with the various RWR threat symbols.

• The EWR (diamond "S") confused me until I looked it up later in the forums.
  
• The "S6" also confused me (Tunguska).
  
• The "6" had been downed by my MAV, woot!
  

I think being low in the canyons, which mandates heavy maneuvering was enough to keep me out of the acquisition envelope / transverse capability of any MANPADs, which was good to see. FINALLY!

I will say crossing ridges in the A-10 takes special consideration when loaded (heavy) as the performance may not be there to clear the top of the ridge! (boom!).

Anyhow, great mission!

Mumbo jumbo...

Never mind the decoy that his wingman flew for him through the canyon, drawing all that AAA fire =)