MSN 04 Debrief (spoilers)

[Zeke]

Again, we watched as the flights before us took off. Once airborne we headed out to our PUSH WP and made it there on time and pushed as briefed. We listened as the B52 flight passed Irish and launched it's payload of cruise missiles. Flight after flight passed Irish and headed on in to their targets. We were just a small piece of a much larger picture.

 

Once at the Sweep WP I gave the order to turn on our radars and search for targets. On the way up we heard AWACS calling out groups of bandits so we knew the Russian Cap was at angels 21 and 19 so we made sure our radars were pointing that way.

 

Two groups popped up eventually, one north and close, the other south and a bit farther. I ordered 3 to go after the closer group (it appears that 4 does not stick with 3 unfortunately, so in the future I have to order them both).

 

I bugged both bandits in the south group and ordered 3-2 to attack them. 3-2 fired early and his missile didn't have a chance. I waited till I was within 10 miles and fired off a 120 at both targets, then cranked to the right watching to see if the missiles hit. Bang, Bang. Two dead Mig's.

 

Things were happening fast there were jets all over the place so we reset to the east and kept an eye on the RWR. We saw one 29 spike to our 6 so we came around and quickly got a lock. Fox 3! At about that same time we got a missile launch warning on the RWR so we bugged out back to the east after a few quick turns pumping chaff and flare. We heard a splash call over the radio, someone else nailed the Mig or his buddy.

 

The RWR was clear so we headed toward WP11 to start the CAP. While traveling west we picked up another target on the radar, locked him up and fired off another 120. Splash my 3rd!

 

Called up the flight to rejoin once more and headed back to WP 11. While on our way there we got the 'mission success' message over the radio. A quick check of our fuel showed 'joker' +1 so we headed back to Nellis.

 

I'm really happy with these missions and campaign so far, instead of other missions I've flown in campaigns were it seems sometimes you have to be a superman and do everything, here it feels much more like your part of a team and not the only means of success. Yea, I nailed 3 bandits but that's only because the AI doesn't fire it's missiles at the best ranges. After watching the Tacview, the guy I missed was shot down by another F15 from Ford 4. The last guy I shot down had just dodged another 120 when mine hit him.

 

Looking forward to Mission 5!

[Steve Davies]

Nice work, Zeke.

 

When I read you had pickled inside of 10 miles, it reminded me of what happened when I flew

mission 4 on Wednesday and used the same technique... I was not so lucky: got nailed by an R-27ET from the southern group - no RWR indication, of course, just here one minute, dead the next :mad::cry:

[Zeke]

Steve,

 

Used to happen to me all the freaking time. The guys in my VFS and I figured that firing a 120 beyond 10 miles was a little bit useless, as we noticed that the AI usually out maneuvered the missile. The IR missiles are a bitch but you can see them coming. That's also another good reason to have a human wingman, he can see that stuff for each other.

 

What I do is fire off my 120 inside 10 then immediately release flare, go idle and do a barrel roll low, then crank a bit one way or the other. This way I can keep my lock and still have visual on the target. Works pretty well.

 

The AI Russian AC fire their missiles at long range so they are pretty easy to maneuver against. We just always figure there's a heater coming even if we don't see one.

 

Thanks for the briefs, hope you're going to do more for DCS!!

[Steve Davies]

Zeke

 

Ah, I might have been flying mission 5, then - it was dark, so couldn't see a thing!

 

Yeah, like your TTP for the Slammer shot. I tend to shoot early to stiff arm the Gomers and put them on the defensive - it results in a lower Pk, but with the WAI in particular requiring some work, it seems to give them a better chance of pressing home the engagement.

 

Doing more campaigns is certainly a possibility, but they take a lot time and require lot of back and forth with Matt (even post-release, I've been working with Matt to update and improve the missions this week), so I guess we'll have to wait and see what the community's overall reaction to this one is like :).

[Zeke]

I'm going over the brief for MSN 05 today, I hope to have a run at it tonight. Set up a practice mission at night to practice landing at Nellis in the dark. Haven't done that before so I would hate to have that mess up a good mission.

 

I really hope you guys can work something out, this has been one of my best experiences in DCS. I don't know how to explain it better but the whole map comes to life with these missions and the briefs.

 

Also looking forward to reading some of your books, they're on my wish list on amazon.

[Revelation]

Yeah I have to agree with Zeke, these by far have been the best single-player experiences I have ever had in DCS.

 

Can't wait to see some multiplayer Red Flags like this....

[StandingCow]

Just finished MSN04... this was a bit trickier imo than mission 3.

 

I had 1 kill and 1 hit on the two migs, the flights behind me finished off the damaged mig. Ended up killing 1 of the 2nd flight of migs and again damaging the other. By this time I was out of slammers... that's when I saw the 3rd group... the F-18s and F-15E's did take care of them but they caused a bit of chaos... so not all ground units were killed.

 

Mission was a success... but I should have gotten in there with my heaters to help a bit more.

Edited January 24, 2016 by StandingCow

[REDEYE_CVW-66]

Enjoying this campaign very much. The missions are very well written and the most immersive so far. Great stuff:)

 

Hoping to see a COOP version of this later as Matt mentioned might happen. FLying this with a buddy or three would be a real treat.