FC2:A-10: Campaign Mission 3 AAR - Part II

Part I

Back on mission the top portion of this shot shows me eyeballing the river I 'flagged' with waypoint #4 (top 2/3 of the shot) and turning to follow it to target.

I spent the entire special effects budget on this shot. After passing the hills (under my wingtip in the previous picture I have followed the river to the bridge and it's turn to the west. Red square shows the field of view for the top left insert, green for the bottom left one. It is hard to see but in the top left insert I have moved my 'pipper' (the dashed circle from the CCIP/CCRP bombing mode) over the target area and ground stabilized it, shown in the bottom left insert and highlighted by the small black box).

In retrospect I should have put that black box on the main shot as well.

This should illustrate how proper planning allowed my to find the targets on the first pass without too much difficulty. I will say that I did use the pause mode and the zoom in to visually lock the pipper on the targets. Again, hats off the to real pilots that can do this for real, even with binoculars it is a tough task that has to be done fast!

After ground stabilizing, I ordered my wingman to 'attack air defenses' in the hope that he would do this based on the target area I had defined with the lock.

Rifle!

Pulling off target to the E (away from the front-line forces that I had noted in the planning section. Inset are the targets of both of my first attempt Mav's. Not that I can not remember if I specifically targeted these outlying vehicles in the hopes of reducing AAA chances or if I just couldn't discern the intended targets or the nice line of them in the Mav view on replay!

While circling back for another run, my wingman has headed straight north, overflying the target area and continuing. I am going to assume that he has gone AWOL and is after an air defense asset on the other side of those hills to the north. Either way at this point I issues a 'rejoin' command to get his arse back into this fight instead of find another one! Red box = him, Green box where I want him.

In the mean time, F-18 #2 has decided to land at the forward airfield that we captured between mission #2 and this one. The field that was the target of our attentions during mission #1 and #2 is off to the south.

In this shot I am trying to 'unlock' and get my pipper back. I tried cycling through the CCIP/CCRP modes and even through different weapons. I had the 'unlock' command assigned to my HOTAS but it was ineffective. After this mission I learned that hitting 'lock' again would unlock it. I am trying to pick a specific target for my wingman

My last two AGM-65's find the right targets.

I circle back for another pass, wingman in tow. This time I order my wingman to 'complete mission and rejoin'. He must be eager because he wastes no time.

That is his first shot. With him directly behind me, his Mav actually flies under me before zooming up. I am 2 feet from being the unintended target! It scared the crap outta me :-)

I pull high right, attracting the attention of a SA-11 site off to the north. I am guessing that this is the site he was after when I order the earlier attack on air defenses. Maneuvering and flares/chaff, or possibly because the launcher lost line of sight with me behind the hills.

My wingman's shots are relatively effective hitting multiple targets in the target area, including a number of AAA guns (which is what I hoped he would do with the first order).

The only problem? He turns left instead of right (his own fault I guess). The same SA-11 that opened on me moments ago turns it's attention on him.

Not a problem, in an of itself except that he is about to fly over a smaller SAM similar to the one that KO'd the F-18 earlier.

The approach of the first SAM (SA-9 I think).

The first one has hit and is followed by a second.

In the first panel (left) the two trails are actually from the same SAM - which has a second stage that it ignites. Middle panel is just before the impact and the last panel is the hit (of SAM #2).

Above, SAM #3 reaches up to touch someone - him.

And, finally, SAM #4 finishes him off.

A testimonial to either his luck of the ruggedness of the A-10 (or maybe the SAM is an air-burst only weapon?), he is able to punch out.

Given how fast this all happened (less that a minute or two) he may have been trying to punch out after SAM #2 hit. After SAM #1 he had dumped his ordinance.

At this point I am out of AGM-65's and I am unsure about the AAA threat over the target area. I RTB, reload and return to the target.

I finish off both Artillery pieces and spot a trio of trucks - which the Avenger takes easy care of.

I decide to RTB north of the foothills and keep my eyes open for targets of opportunity. Sure enough one comes along

Here is where the 'in mission' planning comes along. I am not sure if he has not shot at me yet because I surprised him or if he is busily turning weapons to bear. I pull hard left away from him and decide to circle around behind a hill that will allow me to approach him with my weapons aligned to be effective.

I am in the red box and I pull around the hill to the left (red line) coming out the other side along the green line and directly toward the target. Inset pictures show the Avenger cannon run (top right) and overflying the target (bottom left). Turns out this was the guy who downed #2.

I get shot at by a T-72 and use my last MAV on him. I figured that since I had seen the SA-9 so late and he had not fired at me that he must have been out of ammo and was not worth the -65.

A long mission!

<RTB screen shot removed due to a forumn limit to 20>

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And a long AAR. Sorry for the number of shots and the length of the post. Let me know if it is too much. I am aiming for less that 25 shots in a post :-)

In case anyone is wondering: the mission was about an hour long, replay (for screen shots, etc) was about 1.5 hours, 3 hours in post production (cropping, merging, etc) and another 2 hours writing one up. Whew!

Fridge

PS: Sorry for the split - total post was over 17500 characters and there is a 15000 limit!

_________________________

Things which do you no good in aviation:

1) Altitude above you;

2) Runway behind you;

3) Fuel in the truck;

4) The airspeed you don't have.

Very nice, do you have a track of this?

Super cool read! Hopefully you take the time to keep this continuing.

Interesting though, your A-10 mission 3 is completely different than mine. Does this campaign have a branching mission structure like Black Shark?

A good read thanks. Keep em coming.

Nate

Brillant and passionate. Loved it.

I'm still trying to find that damn pieces of artillery :doh:

Yep that was nicely done

Cheers

looks like you have an issue with the graphics setting? I see some ground texturs blurry up close and some sharp? also you have the trees or visability ring set to low?

whats your computer specs?

I Did it ! I Did it ! (Still with labels though).

Thanks again for your tips.