First MP Experience

[Skall]

Last night I took my first real attempt at playing MP. Joined the 104th server which I saw had a good number of players at 20+. Game was horribly imbalanced in blue's favor so I joined red and hopped into a hog. Spent a bit of time on the mission briefing to figure out where to head out and what kind of loadout to take with me. For ground attack AC, there were 5 locations that had ground units engaged in combat. We were to defend our guys while taking out the other guys. During the startup process a broadcast message was sent out: locations 1 and 2 have been taken out so head to location 3. Pretty straight forward.

 

Put up my bullseye bearing and range on the HUD, calculated and keyed in winds and temps in the LASTE screen, programmed my 3 go-to countermeasure programs, and set my loadout (AGM-D*1, AGM-H*1, TPG, ECM, AIM-9M*2, WP*7, Mk-82*6, MK5*14). General flight path is Sochi to Maykop. Some big mountains in the way so I don't want to go too heavy. Maykop is an allied airport so I can pick up more munitions and fuel there. Briefing says to take off and land on the left side of the runway so I did just that.

 

As I leave the airport, I start getting a bit nervous. Not used to seeing so much activity on the RWR. Not to mention I always play blue offline so I'm not familiar with the RWR symbology for NATO units. Labels are off as well. Something else I'm not terribly used to.

 

Two F-15's show up on the RWR to my 10 o' clock. I remember in the plane selection screen there was only one red player in an F-15. Best case scenario it was one ally and one enemy. I look to my 10 high and see two contrails far off in the distance. They are close to each other and streaking across the sky in the same general direction. They are together. These are not friendly F-15s. To leave trails they must be flying in the 26-38 thousand feet range. I've flown a bit offline on the F-15 and recall how difficult it can be to pick up low flying targets on the radar.

 

Low and slow is the warthog way.

 

I stay 200-300 feet above the ground as I navigate the mountains to Maykop. Thankfully my load isn't so heavy that I can't negotiate some nasty peaks and vallies.

 

I reach the first waypoint and, even though this location has long been lost to the enemy, I decide to scout out the area to get an idea of the type of opposition to expect on the ground. Didn't find much other than a few loosely scattered vehicles. These look like friendly vehicles but I don't see any green Xs on my TAD. If this location has already been lost then the remaining units must belong to the enemy. I single out a target and do a pop-up attack with guns. One burst, one kill. Egress to the south east. I check the score list. -20 points. Crap! That tank was ours. Sigh. Looks like the threshold for success or failure is not 100% elimination of units in the target areas. With no labels, no TAD indication and both sides fielding NATO and Russian units, how can I tell friend from foe? I'll need guidance from more experienced pilots.

 

I set up a low, tight orbit on autopilot and launch teamspeak. There are 8-10 people on the blue side. In red there is only one person and he's in the Air to Air channel. Joining the Air to Ground channel would do me no good. It would amount to two pilots in their respective channels listening to nothing. I join Air to Air and we introduce ourselves. Then I spend the next 20 minutes figuring out why the push to talk button wont work in game but works fine when the teamspeak client has the focus. Turns out I need to run teamspeak as Admin in order for it to work properly.

 

Back in the game, the third location was lost while I was struggling with teamspeak. The fourth location needs defending. Updated my steerpoint and went straight to this new location. I station myself 15 miles out from the center of the target area and start scanning for targets. I see nothing. Other than civilian vehicles on the road and a few buildings, there's nothing there. No mechanized forces. I sweep the area again with my TGP, making sure that the TGP diamond on the TAD is placed on the areas surrounding the waypoint. Do a few gain/level adjustments and switch between white hot and black hot. Again, nothing. Then I hear a loud bang. My MFCDs go black, my HUD disappears and my wings start to break off. The huge fire in the back spells out the obvious. Didn't get any RWR indication so it was probably an IR missile. Eject.

 

I take a look at the player list again. Tons of F-15s on the blue side. Trying to do CAS at this time is pointless. Plus, time is running out. Have maybe another 30-40 minutes before I have to hit the sack. Need to work the next day. I hop into an F-15. Much quicker to just get up and fly plus I'd have an ally to fly with instead of just chat. I go for 2 AIM-9s, 6 120Cs and fuel tanks. My ally had stopped for fuel and rearming at the same airport so we take off together and climb to just below contrails. After a few minutes of scanning out the area, I get a spike on my RWR at 1 o clock. I slew my radar in that direction and pick up an unknown aircraft. The radar displays it as a bar and we are the only F-15s in the air on red so it must be an enemy. We drop tanks and start to pick up speed. We have the altitude advantage by about 5000 feet so we feel good about getting into launch params. A few miles past Rmax, I fire a spoiler and crank. Enemy plane continues to point straight towards me. Good, I think. Please fly straight into my missile. A few moments later I turn back into my opponent and fire another 120, this time at about 12 miles out, and crank again. Seconds later, my ally radios in splash one. His missile gets the kill. We are feeling pretty good about our mutual support.

 

The next skirmish, however, exposes our inexperience. We trade missiles against another pair of unknown planes but no one gets a kill. My ally bugs out in some unknown direction while I dive and weave towards a friendly SAM site, hoping our opponents take the bait. Not sure if the SAM sites took anyone out but my opponents vanished from the RWR. Probably just turned tail. My ally and I are unable to locate each other and rejoin. Need to figure out how to make bullseye calls in the Eagle. The warthog makes it easy: put up bullseye on the HUD for self-calls and use the CDU offset functionality to make a waypoint on someone else's call.

 

A few minutes more of wandering the area alone and the night had come to an end. It was already well past the time to go to sleep. I head for Maykop and try to land. While I was low and slow on approach I get taken out. Never saw anything on my RWR. Oh well.

 

Results of the evening: 2 deaths, 1 fratricide and 0 kills. Guess I got an assist. Ha!

 

Eager to try again tonight. Could use some tips on how to locate and sort enemy from allied ground targets as well as how to make bullseye calls from the Eagle.

 

I think I'll continue with this MP business. Though I'm satisfied with the practice I've gotten offline and can now start to hone in on some specifics.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Skall

[104th_Maverick]

Nice Tigercat lol!

 

Glad to see you made the leap Skall... MP can be quite scary coming up from SP, its a lot more intense and takes a lot more skill to stay alive!

 

Keep at it... practice makes perfect, dont get too frustrated early if your not shooting everything down, this will take some time ;)

 

Here is a really helpful video from the 104th to help you with your Bullseye calls!

 

I'll leave it up to the others to give you some hints and tips etc... I'm busy eating my dinner :D

 

 

 

 

P.S Team Balance is for XBOX and Playstation, as a result it should not be expect in our server ;)

Edited July 14, 2014 by [Maverick]

[Skall]

Thanks for the videos. I'll check them out when I get home (still at work). I think I like the prospect of a coop MP game.

 

If balance is not expected, how does the force with lesser numbers cope? Is there extra AI assistance or something?

[104th_Maverick]

If balance is not expected, how does the force with lesser numbers cope? Is there extra AI assistance or something?

 

No, just means there is more targets for the guys that are outnumbered! :D

 

Air Combat is not supposed to be fair... its just nice when it is :)

[Skall]

;2117512']No, just means there is more targets for the guys that are outnumbered! :D

 

Air Combat is not supposed to be fair... its just nice when it is :)

 

I hear where you are coming from. No doubt its my gamer mentality at work. I guess I'll need a bit more exposure to MP so I can see both sides of the "teams are not balanced" equation.

 

I was expecting a slaughter-fest but I didn't encounter as many opponents as I thought I would. It is fairly difficult to actually find stuff to shoot at. Especially if you are new to the map.

 

In retrospect, I realize the waypoints for the hog were areas to defend, not areas to assault. I was expecting ground units in contact with the enemy. Maybe I had to search other areas for enemy targets. Never really saw any attack tasking.

[Skall]

;2117498']Nice Tigercat lol!

 

Glad to see you made the leap Skall... MP can be quite scary coming up from SP, its a lot more intense and takes a lot more skill to stay alive!

 

Keep at it... practice makes perfect, dont get too frustrated early if your not shooting everything down, this will take some time ;)

 

Here is a really helpful video from the 104th to help you with your Bullseye calls!

 

I'll leave it up to the others to give you some hints and tips etc... I'm busy eating my dinner :D

 

 

 

 

P.S Team Balance is for XBOX and Playstation, as a result it should not be expect in our server ;)

 

Thanks for the video. So as long as the mission has bullseye coincide with the first waypoint, this method should work. I guess maybe that's why the fast mission generator always co-locates the two.

 

That answers that.

[Stuge]

I hear where you are coming from. No doubt its my gamer mentality at work. I guess I'll need a bit more exposure to MP so I can see both sides of the "teams are not balanced" equation.

 

I was expecting a slaughter-fest but I didn't encounter as many opponents as I thought I would. It is fairly difficult to actually find stuff to shoot at. Especially if you are new to the map.

 

In retrospect, I realize the waypoints for the hog were areas to defend, not areas to assault. I was expecting ground units in contact with the enemy. Maybe I had to search other areas for enemy targets. Never really saw any attack tasking.

 

Umm I'm surprised no one pointed this out before, but for strike aircraft, attack areas are marked with waypoints. Read the briefing more carefully. Only one area is active at a time. Once the units are destroyed at A, units at B spawn and so on. That's why you didn't find anything. There are no ground units battling each other on 104th missions in general. Blue targets and red targets are located in different places.

 

There are cases though where there are friendly units very close to a target area, in this case a friendly fire incident is possible even if you somewhat know what you're doing :D

 

About balance.. there is no possibility for autobalance, and people may want to fly together, this can lead to even heavy imbalance of course. For me is no problem, i like a target rich environment too :D

 

See u online...

[Skall]

Umm I'm surprised no one pointed this out before, but for strike aircraft, attack areas are marked with waypoints. Read the briefing more carefully. Only one area is active at a time. Once the units are destroyed at A, units at B spawn and so on. That's why you didn't find anything. There are no ground units battling each other on 104th missions in general. Blue targets and red targets are located in different places.

 

There are cases though where there are friendly units very close to a target area, in this case a friendly fire incident is possible even if you somewhat know what you're doing :D

 

About balance.. there is no possibility for autobalance, and people may want to fly together, this can lead to even heavy imbalance of course. For me is no problem, i like a target rich environment too :D

 

See u online...

 

I'll keep that in mind next time I try the 104th server. I read the briefing and knew the waypoints marked the primary conflict areas for my side. I was just worried about killing our own units after my incident in the first waypoint. Started making me doubt if I interpreted the briefing properly and incorrectly second-guessed myself after that.

 

Not looking for autobalance but I went back to the 104th last night and it was the same deal: 15+ on blue vs 2-4 guys on red. I'll admit my enthusiasm for MP has started to wane in the course of a day. Other than my brief time with the other F-15 pilot, my experience has been largely the same as playing single player. Except it's taking me twice as long to get to the hot spots and most things are already dead once I arrive.

 

After mucking about the 104th for the second night in a row and realizing I was just going to be by myself, I moved over to the 77th. Kinda liked what they were doing. Their mission was tailored to be lopsided from the start so the guys on red were few but were on battlefield commander roles. It was more of a coop scenario than a head to head with red CAP and SEAD AI flights periodically spawning. We, in turn, had to have a few people on CAP protecting our attack planes while taking out the AI CAP and attack planes. Got to fly a bit on the Hog and a bit on the Eagle.

 

Didn't get to contribute much since the first round finished shortly after I joined and then I got DCed 20 minutes after the second game started but I'm looking forward to trying it again tonight.

 

Definitely need to adopt a different mindset to playing MP. I'm not looking for instant action or gratification (don't really play online FPSs and the like) but it is taking me a loooong time to do anything. A lot of that is my fault, though. I'm still not terribly familiar with the location of the different cities and airports so I find myself stumbling about to gather my bearings when everyone else is saying "oh yeah, the tank column is north west of Gaudata". By the time I've located Gaudata on the map and determined where to start scanning for the tank column, the more experienced players are already running in guns blazing.

[Stuge]

If you want to analyze server balance, count the amount of fighters on each side. Strikers don't matter from the perspective of air combat.

 

You shouldn't think too competitively about the outcomes of team vs team online servers. Most missions last many hours. The balance shifts many times, and most players don't even have time to sit through the whole thing.

 

So it's more about practice, learning, teamwork, enjoyment and interesting situations, than it is hardcore competition. Even if the game itself is 100% hardcore :D

 

And nowadays there's usually at least someone on ts, so you shouldn't be completely alone!

[GGTharos]

If you want to analyze server balance, count the amount of fighters on each side. Strikers don't matter from the perspective of air combat.

 

Yes they do, but not in the way most servers set up their missions ... which leads me to ...

 

So it's more about practice, learning, teamwork, enjoyment and interesting situations, than it is hardcore competition. Even if the game itself is 100% hardcore :D

What teamwork? Strikers don't usually need help from fighters because their attack zones are out of the way. Both fighter and striker pilots on the various servers wouldn't know how to help each other out if their virtual lives depended on it. Most of the time 'the day' is won through the sheer mass of lonewolf individuals congregating into one area, getting in each other's way, spamming their weapons at the same targets without a moment's thought at efficiency, and then running home to get some more sticks :)

[Skall]

Yes they do, but not in the way most servers set up their missions ... which leads me to ...

 

What teamwork? Strikers don't usually need help from fighters because their attack zones are out of the way. Both fighter and striker pilots on the various servers wouldn't know how to help each other out if their virtual lives depended on it. Most of the time 'the day' is won through the sheer mass of lonewolf individuals congregating into one area, getting in each other's way, spamming their weapons at the same targets without a moment's thought at efficiency, and then running home to get some more sticks :)

 

That's kinda the vibe I'm getting in my short exposure to MP. I noticed most fighters just go out hunting for other fighters cuz its cool and kinda neglect the whole ground war. Meanwhile strikers are off in some corner shooting things because reasons. Unfortunately I've been largely by myself even in servers with 20+ people so I have yet to experience the cluttering of strikers in a location.

 

I feel like the missions I've played in MP so far lack focus so everyone is all over the place. Add in the fact that the missions try to be balanced with similar A2A and A2G objectives and you end up with a really thin force spread out over a big area.

 

Maybe missions should be more like Blue has to do X, Red has to stop them. Depending on the outcome of that then Red has to do Y and Blue has to stop them, etc. Not each side with 7 objectives for strikers and several other objectives for fighters that have nothing to do with the strikers.

 

I might toy with the idea of making my own MP missions even if they are not super fancy pants.

 

Do campaigns work in MP?

[ApoNOOB]

When flying online and choosing which team to join, don't even think about looking at the numbers ingame. Look at which side is in TS3 and go with them, **** those lonewolves. They deserve to die! =) If the enemy is determinend to kill A2G you need dedicated cap and communicate with them. As you noted for the A10C that is really easy with the ANCHR selection behind the stick.

 

You don't really want to have mk82's with you on missions with SAM/AAA cover, chose laser/gps guided bombs instead. Also note that a triple station (mav, rockets or bombs) will slow you down greatly (drag).

Edited July 15, 2014 by ApoNOOB

[GGTharos]

Those missions are designed to accomodate everyone.

 

If you want something more realistic that forces more cooperation, you're looking at flying in a private settings with people that do this sort of thing.

[104th_Maverick]

Maybe missions should be more like ......

 

 

There are a lot of things we would like to do as mission designers however providing a platform to the public is much more difficult than you imagine.

 

Anyone can make a mission they think is 'focused' and 'realistic' ... the problem is getting that mission to work in a public environment with people from all over the world, this is much more difficult than it sounds.

 

Have a read of this post I did a while ago, it will give you some idea of the challenges you will face bringing missions to the public.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2102399&postcount=87

[Skall]

;2118211']There are a lot of things we would like to do as mission designers however providing a platform to the public is much more difficult than you imagine.

 

Anyone can make a mission they think is 'focused' and 'realistic' ... the problem is getting that mission to work in a public environment with people from all over the world, this is much more difficult than it sounds.

 

Have a read of this post I did a while ago, it will give you some idea of the challenges you will face bringing missions to the public.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2102399&postcount=87

 

Thanks, I will read this over. I didn't mean for my post to come across as derogatory. I appreciate the fact that the 104th (or anyone else for that matter) is willing to create and host custom content and TS servers. And again, I think a lot of the blame lies with me and my lack of familiarity with the content. I guess I should maybe focus on playing slightly simpler/smaller scale missions and work my way up.

 

I talked a bit with the 77th guys last night while on their mission. They sounded like they were having a lot of fun but they were completely into their mission (which is good) so I kind of sat by the sidelines a bit. That's when I decided to switch to the Eagle since they were short on CAP. That way I could contribute a bit more (not that it happened since I got DCed and it was time to get ready to go to work again). But I had all the intentions of tying up the loose ends.

 

I'm not great (or even good) in any particular AC but I will happily fly the A-10, F-15, Ka-50 or P-51 if that is what is needed at the time.

[dooom]

Don't let GG scare you off ... Try different servers for different experiences. The 51st and 104th are typically the most populated but that does not equate to a better MP experience. Always get on ts regardless of the server as a starting point. Folks are often as keen as you to try working together. That said , try the hollo pointe or 159th servers as I have generally found them very coop based in terms of mission design or gameplay.

 

That's kinda the vibe I'm getting in my short exposure to MP. I noticed most fighters just go out hunting for other fighters cuz its cool and kinda neglect the whole ground war. Meanwhile strikers are off in some corner shooting things because reasons. Unfortunately I've been largely by myself even in servers with 20+ people so I have yet to experience the cluttering of strikers in a location.

 

I feel like the missions I've played in MP so far lack focus so everyone is all over the place. Add in the fact that the missions try to be balanced with similar A2A and A2G objectives and you end up with a really thin force spread out over a big area.

 

Maybe missions should be more like Blue has to do X, Red has to stop them. Depending on the outcome of that then Red has to do Y and Blue has to stop them, etc. Not each side with 7 objectives for strikers and several other objectives for fighters that have nothing to do with the strikers.

 

I might toy with the idea of making my own MP missions even if they are not super fancy pants.

 

Do campaigns work in MP?

[Frostie]

Hi Skall, the missions on 104th are suited for guys that want to ground pound in a multiplayer environment whilst co-operating on TS. The red and blue ground units are usually separate from the A2A action this helps new guys acclimatise to mp without being shot down at every ingress.

 

Missions tailored for PvP using a joint A2A/A2G single frontline though very fun and rewarding are extremely difficult for striker pilots and not a good choice for the everyday casual pilot on a 24/7 server.

[Skall]

;2118211']...

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2102399&postcount=87

 

Just read this over. Definitely helps put things in perspective from a public server's point of view. Experience actually designing missions trumps the ramblings of a newbie like me. But I'm also not looking for realism, just a more focused experience I guess. Not asking anyone to undertake that, however. If I want a mission tailored to me then I better damn well put it together myself.

 

Obviously these public missions see their own level of success as the 104th and 77th servers are usually the busiest public servers when I'm able to play (evening EST). Might try joining the blue side even if it's the most populous by a long shot. See the other side of the fence.

 

Just a few questions on your other thread if you don't mind. You stated that A2G is the first to start getting filled out in most public missions. Is it mostly A-10s and Ka-50s (since they are the originals), just A-10s or does that include Su-25/T and A-10As as well? Is there a way, script-wise, to tell how many clients are playing on each side (yes or no is fine, don't need the code) and what planes they are flying at any given time? Have you had much success with A2A only missions or has high AC variety been the most successful? Have you found Russia vs. NATO to get a good amount of players on both sides or do you prefer to balance out the countries so either side can essentially fly whatever they want?

[Exorcet]

Just read this over. Definitely helps put things in perspective from a public server's point of view. Experience actually designing missions trumps the ramblings of a newbie like me. But I'm also not looking for realism, just a more focused experience I guess. Not asking anyone to undertake that, however. If I want a mission tailored to me then I better damn well put it together myself.

The bold is true, however you're not completely alone in your ideas. As you can see in the thread Maverick posted, I too would prefer to see a different type of mission in the general MP scene. The challenges in doing so are real and there's no reason to doubt experienced and successful servers like the 104th, but I'm still willing to try my own way.

 

My biggest issue, after making the mission, is a lack of server to put any missions on. Still if a mission exists, there's a chance someone will see it and like it. I'd encourage you to get into MP mission making if you think you can provide new content. I'm doing the same myself and I think it will be worthwhile whether or not my missions actually end up going anywhere.

[Skall]

The bold is true, however you're not completely alone in your ideas. As you can see in the thread Maverick posted, I too would prefer to see a different type of mission in the general MP scene. The challenges in doing so are real and there's no reason to doubt experienced and successful servers like the 104th, but I'm still willing to try my own way.

 

My biggest issue, after making the mission, is a lack of server to put any missions on. Still if a mission exists, there's a chance someone will see it and like it. I'd encourage you to get into MP mission making if you think you can provide new content. I'm doing the same myself and I think it will be worthwhile whether or not my missions actually end up going anywhere.

 

I'll take a stab at it. Programming is what I do for a living so it shouldn't be too hard for me to pick up LUA. But first I'll see how far I can push the editor. I've seen a few library names thrown around. Mist I think it was. I'll check those out as well.

[carrollhead]

Guys - that whole other thread was all about trying to exactly what you are talking about.

 

I agree with Maverick and all the others that the servers aimed at large player numbers need to run missions the way they do. However, I believe strongly that there are a large number of DCS players who want to do more co-operative type missions. The problem is that to make something like that work you need to make it a lot more formal than simply "join and fly".

 

You need to do briefings, and you need people to play their role. It sounds simple, but it isn't. That doesn't mean that I think it's impossible - more like it needs a lot of work to organise.

 

That probably goes with a lot of failure on the way. I'm willing to try - and I have a server if you have something you want to try and put up.

 

I look at things like "Op Joint warrior" and it shows that people are willing to do this stuff. (With all of the usual caveats involving timezones etc).

 

The big popular servers fill a really important role in DCS multiplayer, one which it dearly needs - I would like to offer an alternative and I would really like to see some of the guys from the 104th/51st etc. come along and take part from time to time. Variety is the spice of life and all that :).

 

If you want to get involved in trying to make this happen, then lets talk about it. It might not work, and it almost certainly will be a hard road to make it happen. It should be possible to have a bit of fun along the way though, surely?

[Blooze]

THIS MISSION would be an example of an expansive coop mission that I think would attract those that want to fly with a purpose, using comms and actually doing things towards the goal of achieving a successful finish. What would be needed is someone that would be available to monitor the progress and refresh the mission as needed. As an example, if people knew in advance that the mission would refresh every 3 hours, they could see from the MP server list exactly when that would be and plan accordingly. If the mission had been running for 2 hours they may choose to wait for the next start time. Maybe there's an slmod function that would re-start the mission automatically. An announcement could me made here in the forum along with an attached briefing in PDF format that people could read in advance. This would be one way to offer an alternative to what has been available on the 24/7 open servers. Edited July 16, 2014 by Blooze

[Exorcet]

Guys - that whole other thread was all about trying to exactly what you are talking about.

 

I agree with Maverick and all the others that the servers aimed at large player numbers need to run missions the way they do. However, I believe strongly that there are a large number of DCS players who want to do more co-operative type missions. The problem is that to make something like that work you need to make it a lot more formal than simply "join and fly".

 

Many things are a spectrum. I think this is true of mission design. There is not rigid simulation mission and arcade mission, but a lot in between. If you want the most realistic mission possible, then join and fly is very hard to make work. I'm not aiming for such a mission at all. I don't fly DCS with a predictable schedule so I've never really bothered with squad flying or anything. I'm not aiming to recreate something like that on an open server. Instead I'd like to try creating a more realistic scenario that works in an open server.

 

You need to do briefings, and you need people to play their role. It sounds simple, but it isn't. That doesn't mean that I think it's impossible - more like it needs a lot of work to organise.

My attempt in FC2 was the most time intensive mission I've ever made. On the topic of briefings, I feel that even existing missions that are meant to be simple and accessible can fall short in this area. The mere lack of any images or hint of who has what territory can make even simple missions confusing. I'd consider a deep briefing important for any large scale mission really.

 

Getting random players to take their role is a challenge, but if you build the mission a certain way, it may impact what they do. If you place the air to air stuff next to the air to ground stuff, it makes it less of a big deal to go from one area to the other. You wouldn't need to directly motivate people to cover air to ground since that would be their only real choice to do air to air anyway.

 

I've always liked the idea of "waiting room" missions that let the player count fill up and then switches over to a more complex mission. If I ran a server I'd definitely like to try something like that. I'm pretty sure I'm repeating myself from the other thread at this point, but hey these sound like good ideas to me.

 

That probably goes with a lot of failure on the way. I'm willing to try - and I have a server if you have something you want to try and put up.

If I ever do get my MP missions to a releasable state I'll be glad to have someone use them or try to do so. The plan right now is to just dump them in user files and hope someone finds them. I can't make any promises now, it will be a long while before I'm done probably.

 

 

The big popular servers fill a really important role in DCS multiplayer, one which it dearly needs

This is very true. The problem is not those servers or how they run, but how hard it is to find alternatives. While Maverick noted before that players gravitate to big server populations, I personally got into the 104th and 51st because they had the best briefings/mission descriptions. I'm not really willing to go into a server with only a few lines of texts and no other explanation as to what I'd be getting into.

 

 

If you want to get involved in trying to make this happen, then lets talk about it. It might not work, and it almost certainly will be a hard road to make it happen. It should be possible to have a bit of fun along the way though, surely?

This project sounds like a worthwhile one to me. I'd gladly be involved if I end up being helpful, though I do worry about my schedule a bit. We've got plenty of good mission designers anyway, and at least some of them know how to use MIST.

[Skall]

Didn't get online last night. Decided to uninstall and reinstall all of DCS and my modules trying to troubleshoot some issues. Some went away, others remained. But I'll scoot on over to the appropriate forum for that.

 

After installing everything I started piecing together the beginnings of my own mission. Will still continue to go online though to see what people gravitates towards and what I would enjoy to play. I'm personally not looking for uber-realism (though I'd be fine with that as well). More like getting a sense of at least being with other people. Never thought multiplayer could be so lonely :P

[Fakum]

Your not alone! Ive been flying the A10-C since its release, like you, I dont have a lot of time to dedicate to it. I spend most of my time practicing weapons deployments etc. Im no where near proficient, I would call it familiar. Sometimes there are things I haven't done in months and figure I would go di it to brush up and find myself ineffective because I forgot to do one silly thing.

 

I started popping in both these servers as well within the last 2 weeks, went on TS and chatted a bit, found myself in 2nd grade with a crowd of college students,, I went silent but hung around. I dont even know what some of the technical chatter meant. I picked of a few targets that were apparently premarked and took them out, then I would up killing a friendly by mistake and got the auto boot. That really shook my confidence! I heard one guy say" Why are people having problems finding targets? They are shown on the map?" Well as far as i know, everything I have seen layed out on the map wee on my side,,, and even if there might have been some enemies shown,, why would they be shown at all? I can see team mates broadcasting location to show up on your TAD,, but on the map itself? Anyway,, I am very lost in MP right now,, afraid to jump on the server and getting booted off because I targeted a friendly, my bad of course, but unintentional due to ignorance,,, I will tred in there lightly,, good luck to you as well.