Raven Morpheus Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 (edited) Hello The other night (possibly last week now) I tried the 1st mission of the Georgian Oil War campaign. And I was very very unsuccessful. I managed to take down 1 MBT with a Vkhrs before getting shot down by another MBT on 1 of several tries of the 1st mission and the rest of the time I just spent fruitlessly trying to spot and engage the AAA that seemed to be located in small settlements around the AO, and consequently getting shot down. Either the AAA is very very well camouflaged, hidden behind buildings so I can't see them at all (I use the labels so I know roughly where targets are because spotting on a 19" 1080p TV isn't all that easy for me), or I've tweaked my graphics.lua too much and they just don't appear in the Shkval screen because I'm too far away!?! So, 2 questions - 1. Assuming I can survive how do I know that I've completed a mission? (Kind of applies to all missions really, not just in the campaign) 2. Any tips for surviving the campaign missions? Edited September 16, 2014 by Raven Morpheus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yurgon Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 1. Assuming I can survive how do I know that I've completed a mission? (Kind of applies to all missions really, not just in the campaign) Really depends on the mission. On some missions, there's a final trigger like "Land at home plate" that depends on some other items having been done ("Destroy enemy unit 1", "Fly through zone 2") and once it fires, you get a MISSION SUCCESS message. In other missions, every single task adds to the mission score and once you're above a certain threshold, you get a MISSION SUCCESS message. In yet another type of missions, there is absolutely no such message, like in real life. In these cases, success or failure will usually be determined by overall score. As far as I remember, the GOW campaign is of the latter type, with an added problem: Your mission success depends on your side's overall mission success, which is a bit randomized. It's quite possible that you kill a dozen MBTs and lose a mission, then the next flight you crash on take-off and it's a win. Generally, though, your actions should have the most weight towards overall mission success. 2. Any tips for surviving the campaign missions? Don't get shot, and don't crash. :smartass: My experience was that whenever I rushed things, I got shot. I really needed to take my time, scout the AO from different spots, try to get a clear picture, make good use of wingmen, recce and datalink and then carefully attack targets by priority, taking out high-threat SAMs including MANPADS with my own Vikhrs before sending the wingmen after lower threat targets like MBTs, C&C and so on. I think most of my GOW missions took between 60 and 150 minutes. Oh, and I'm terrible at A2A engagements, so when my wingmen call out enemy helos, I run and try to lure then into range of my side's air defenses. Well, that, and a bit of luck. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desuetude Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 If the "Results" number in the score window (default keybind: ') is higher than 50 I think that mission will be counted as a success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Morpheus Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) Really depends on the mission. On some missions, there's a final trigger like "Land at home plate" that depends on some other items having been done ("Destroy enemy unit 1", "Fly through zone 2") and once it fires, you get a MISSION SUCCESS message. In other missions, every single task adds to the mission score and once you're above a certain threshold, you get a MISSION SUCCESS message. In yet another type of missions, there is absolutely no such message, like in real life. In these cases, success or failure will usually be determined by overall score. As far as I remember, the GOW campaign is of the latter type, with an added problem: Your mission success depends on your side's overall mission success, which is a bit randomized. It's quite possible that you kill a dozen MBTs and lose a mission, then the next flight you crash on take-off and it's a win. Generally, though, your actions should have the most weight towards overall mission success. Ah, I see. If you get a "mission success" message then that's obvious. But I didn't want to fly around aimlessly (assuming I even survive) wondering if I'd completed a mission, or not. If in the GOW campaign it's a case of "do what you can, the war carries on regardless" then that's good to know, I can just get shot down and carry on, or take out a couple of MBT's and RTB (again, if I survive that long). Don't get shot, and don't crash. :smartass: Hmm, yeah. Thing is with the AAA the other day, don't know if they were MANPADS or SAM emplacements (sorry can't recall the correct term for a SAM on a fixed mount/vehicle), I couldn't even see them (I only knew roughly where they were due to having the labels on), and there seemed to be no way of getting into the AO* without getting into range of SAMs, and I seemed to be well within range of the cannons on the MBT's even though they weren't all that big on my Shkval screen. :( *The AO seems to be set up like this - you take off from the FARP, turning right to what I think is north (it would be east from your starting point if you're already pointing north when you start the missiom), then you go over or around some hills on your left(ish) and then in front of you (again north I think) is a handful of settlements with AAA in them somewhere, and round to the left (presumably west) in a valley is another load of AAA on the right hand (presumably northern) ridgeline with RedFor and BluFor going at it in the valley floor. Edited September 17, 2014 by Raven Morpheus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nooch Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 When attacking ground targets with laser guided missiles, be sure to reduce your speed to a minimum so that you have enough time to guide your missile to the target without getting inside the engagement zone of ennemy air defences. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yurgon Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 Thing is with the AAA the other day, don't know if they were MANPADS or SAM emplacements (sorry can't recall the correct term for a SAM on a fixed mount/vehicle), I couldn't even see them (I only knew roughly where they were due to having the labels on), and there seemed to be no way of getting into the AO* without getting into range of SAMs, and I seemed to be well within range of the cannons on the MBT's even though they weren't all that big on my Shkval screen. :( IIRC the Vikhrs have an engagement range of 7 to 8 km in auto mode. With manual targeting, you can engage targets further away and, depending on wind, target speed and some other factors, it's possible to hit targets 10 to 11 km away. What's an MBT's engagement range with the main cannon in DCS? Let's say 5 km, probably more like 4 or 3 km. In any case, if they can shoot you with their main cannon, you're way too close. That's what I meant by scouting the area and trying to figure out a way to engage targets without getting myself into their engagement range. That takes a lot of time, but if done correctly, it should allow me to mop them up quite well. The tiny Shkval display doesn't help, that's for sure. If you can, set up a dual monitor system with Shkval on the second screen. It's much easier to spot targets that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Morpheus Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) The tiny Shkval display doesn't help, that's for sure. If you can, set up a dual monitor system with Shkval on the second screen. It's much easier to spot targets that way. Yep done that. One of the first things I did in DCS World was to setup stuff like that on a 2nd monitor, well once I'd played BS1 and realised I can't see a lot on ABRIS or the Shkval screens if I don't have them on a 2nd monitor. I couldn't find a way to engage from further away on that map though. If I went to the fairly open flat area to the right of the valley mouth I was in range of the SAMs from the settlements to the north (and the labels for the MBT's didn't display so I didn't know where to look), although there seems to be some friendlies in or just beyond that area. If I followed the waypoints set out on ABRIS from the ingress point to the 2nd area as instructed I end up crossing deep into the valley area, right over the AAA on the northern ridgeline. You can imagine how that ends up... The best place I could find, but still saw me in range of the MBT's, was between two of the hills I mentioned, that are to the left as you're flying north coming up to the AO and form the left side of the valley, so the southern side I guess. It was from there which I managed to take down one MBT, before I got shot down... Wish I had a jpeg of that map it'd make it easier to show you what I mean with regards to where things are. I'll have another go of that particular mission over the weekend but I'm stumped on it and as it's the first I don't think I'll do at all well in the Ka-50 campaigns. Edited September 18, 2014 by Raven Morpheus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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