Pocket Sized Posted April 29, 2016 Posted April 29, 2016 I have a moderate amount of experience flying the F-15 and a tiny bit in a free-for-all dogfight. But pretty soon I'm gonna try again on the 104th (first time I went in with a Mig-21... let's not talk about that). I have all the necessary flight controls bound to my X55, but what about weapons? What is most important for me to have at my fingertips? So far I have guns, weapon release, and countermeasures in comfortable places. I have 3 hats and ~5 buttons available. Also, loadouts. Really all I need to know is how the various missiles track and what situations they're good for. Finally, general newbie tips are always appreciated. DCS modules are built up to a spec, not down to a schedule. In order to utilize a system to your advantage, you must know how it works.
Bushmanni Posted April 29, 2016 Posted April 29, 2016 Radar controls are important. First of all ACM modes, ie. boresight and vertical scan, then lock and unlock button, TDC control, scanzone up/down, wide/narrow scanzone, TWS/RWS select, PRF select, BVR mode select, radar on/off, longitudinal/FLOOD mode. You need to adjust radar scanzone elevation angle and TDC all the time and it's also important to be able to manipulate them quickly when needed so it's preferable to have them (and the lock and unlock buttons) in the HOTAS over the other stuff. AIM-120C is the best BVR missile with longest range. AIM-120B has shorter max range but also shorter min range so it's better in a dogfight but then again you are better off with the C version as you should try to kill the bandit before you get into dogfight. AIM-7M is semi-active missile that need STT lock on target for guidance while AIM-120 is active which uses its own radar to home on target. AIM-7M has the shortest range of the three but it will only home on the target that's locked versus AMRAAM that can switch targets two targets get lined up together. If you fire AMRAAM into a dogfight there's good chance it will hit the friendly plane instead. AIM-7M will not change targets and will always hit the bandit (or the target you have locked) in this situation. AIM-9M is an all-aspect heat seeking missile while AIM-9P is a rear-aspect heat seeker with less range than the M model. M model also has smokeless motor so it's much harder to see the launch. You can fire both missiles without radar lock by pointing the big circle in the HUD to the enemy and the missile should lock target indicated by higher pitched tone. If you have target locked in a radar the missile will track it with it's seeker and when the missile seeker locks on to target you hear the higher pitched tone. With radar lock you can fire the AIM-9M significantly off axis as long as the target isn't too close. You can also fire AMRAAM without radar lock by firing it in the direction of the enemy you see visually. The missile will go active immediately after launch and target the first contact it finds. This is not wise to do if there's friendlies in front of you. AMRAAM radar activates at 6nm range and this is indicated in HUD by the T counter reaching zero and changing into M counter which indicates time to impact. These counters are somewhat optimistic ie. the impact can happen more than five seconds after the M counter reaches zero but T counter will always be true. When AMRAAM goes active you don't need to keep the target locked anymore. AMRAAM is best used with TWS mode. In this mode the target doesn't get launch warning untill the missile goes active and you can fire multiple missiles at multiple targets at the same time. You do this by first locking multiple targets and then firing equally many missiles. the radar will switch primary target after each launch so each missile goes to separate targets. When multiple missiles are in the air the T counter shows time for the last missile to go active. Don't expect to get kills from long range as any player who knows what he's doing will try to not let you get into firing parameters where you can hit him. Your main tactic for staying alive is also doing just that. This implies a very good knowledge of missile range in different situations and techniques used to defeat missiles either kinematically or by spoofing the seeker. You should find more about these by searching the forum. I'm not going to repeat them here as it's a long story. Firing from longer range is still beneficial if it forces the bandit defensive (maneuvering the nose away from you so he can't fire at you) so you can get in a better firing position while the bandit is busy with your missile. Besides good engagement technique you need good situational awareness (SA) that comes from effective and efficient use of radar, RWR, Mk1 eyeballs and radio comms with other friendlies. Besides knowing what all the radar buttons do you also need to understand the weaknesses of radar, RWR and Mk1 eyeballs to know what you can't see or know so you can take measures to eliminate those blindspots. At the same time you should strive to use those weaknesses yourself to gain surprise on the enemy. DCS Finland: Suomalainen DCS yhteisö -- Finnish DCS community -------------------------------------------------- SF Squadron
Pocket Sized Posted April 29, 2016 Author Posted April 29, 2016 Snip. Holy mother of... I can't thank you enough for such an in depth response! Thank you! DCS modules are built up to a spec, not down to a schedule. In order to utilize a system to your advantage, you must know how it works.
Winston60 Posted April 29, 2016 Posted April 29, 2016 You may also want to have a handy button for "change weapon" as you may need to quickly change from the AIM-120's to AIM-7's to AIM-9's and vice-versa. Happy hunting! 2
TAW_Blaze Posted May 3, 2016 Posted May 3, 2016 TDC, radar elavation and TWS / radar on/off should be at the most comfy spots, these are the things that you use all day. Being able to cycle radar modes is also important, i.e. bore, vertical, normal BVR, and you can have a nav to reset everything. TWS target reset is also a handy thing, and ofc having CMs not on your keyboard can help a bit. I'm gonna quote myself from another thread to link a few sources that are worth to read: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=124439 http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=120790 http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=132872 http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=100117 If you want more you can always go to search > advanced search > search by title and then try BVR or some other terms that you're curious about. Oh and by the way don't be shy on TS, if you want to know something ask away!
Pocket Sized Posted May 4, 2016 Author Posted May 4, 2016 TDC, radar elavation and TWS / radar on/off should be at the most comfy spots, these are the things that you use all day. Being able to cycle radar modes is also important, i.e. bore, vertical, normal BVR, and you can have a nav to reset everything. TWS target reset is also a handy thing, and ofc having CMs not on your keyboard can help a bit. I'm gonna quote myself from another thread to link a few sources that are worth to read: I have the radar set up on my HOTAS and I love it! There's something so satisfying about being able to configure it after takeoff without taking my hands off the controls. I still need to assign the HUD modes and, of course, stop panicking as soon as I see a rectangle appear less than 100 nm away :lol: Random question: Is there a way to make my Eject button automatically repeat 3 times? I have it on the beefiest button I have but still fear it might get broken. DCS modules are built up to a spec, not down to a schedule. In order to utilize a system to your advantage, you must know how it works.
probad Posted May 5, 2016 Posted May 5, 2016 your hotas should have config software that'll let you script or record a macro which you then assign to the button.
Pocket Sized Posted May 20, 2016 Author Posted May 20, 2016 I don't quite understand how the HUD modes work. If I press 6 I can use my radar normally. But as soon as I switch to a missile I lose my radar screen (and any lock I managed to aquire!) Goes blank and my HUD shows the flood/IR sensor footprint. In other words, what's the usual flow you go though to fire an AMRAM, SARH, or IR missile? I get how each one works but don't know how to actually fire them effectively. DCS modules are built up to a spec, not down to a schedule. In order to utilize a system to your advantage, you must know how it works.
winchesterdelta1 Posted May 20, 2016 Posted May 20, 2016 First setup your NAV so you don't have to go there anymore untill you go home to switch to ILS. Than press 2 for BVR mode and stay there most of the time. If you keep switching radar modes you keep losing lock. Unless you go from TWS to STT or you switch from any radar mode to vertical scan if you point it to any enemy within 10 miles. Go in close, and when you think you are too close, go in closer.
Bushmanni Posted May 20, 2016 Posted May 20, 2016 Longitudinal aiming mode (number 6) is meant to be used with your radar off. You can achieve the same result by just shutting off your radar when you have missile selected. The only thing you need this mode is for firing AIM-7 in FLOOD mode. FLOOD mode is a backup mode where a special antenna fires about 10 degree wide radar beam directly forward and the missile guides on the reflected energy if there's a target close enough inside the beam. Radar starts emitting the moment you select FLOOD mode (FLOOD text in the HUD and radar scope) and all targets within 10NM in your HUD will get lock warning in RWR. As radar simulation is somewhat simplified FLOOD mode serves no purpose over just locking the target and then firing at it. In order to fire a radar missile you need to lock the target in RWS or TWS mode or one of the auto acquisition modes (vertical scan, boresight, autoguns). Locking target from RWS mode, BS or VS gives you STT (single target track) lock. STT lock works for all the missiles. If you lock a target in TWS mode you can only fire AIM-120 and AIM-9 at that target. AIM-9 can also be locked onto the target by pointing the missile seeker circle at the target. You can use radar also in navigation mode but you can't select weapons. When you change to BVR mode you will lose lock if you had a target locked. Select your nav point in NAV mode and then switch to BVR mode and start scanning for bandits. When you find one or more of them select TWS to get better picture of how high the bandits are and where they are flying. You can also lock targets one by one in TWS to get more info about them. You can use TWS continuously but you need to remember to move the scan area also sideways regularly to keep from getting surprised. When you are close to firing range, lock the target in TWS mode or STT if you use AIM-7 and fire when needed. If you are in dogfight or find an enemy visually the best way to lock target is to use BS or VS mode. You can also use guns mode to automatically search a bigger area than in BS or VS and automatically lock a target and then switch to missiles. If you manage to get a jump on bandit and don't want to spook him needlessly you should use AIM-9 without radar. DCS Finland: Suomalainen DCS yhteisö -- Finnish DCS community -------------------------------------------------- SF Squadron
dallas48 Posted May 25, 2016 Posted May 25, 2016 I have a moderate amount of experience flying the F-15 and a tiny bit in a free-for-all dogfight. But pretty soon I'm gonna try again on the 104th (first time I went in with a Mig-21... let's not talk about that). I have all the necessary flight controls bound to my X55, but what about weapons? What is most important for me to have at my fingertips? So far I have guns, weapon release, and countermeasures in comfortable places. I have 3 hats and ~5 buttons available. Also, loadouts. Really all I need to know is how the various missiles track and what situations they're good for. Finally, general newbie tips are always appreciated. Here is a good guide to set-up your stick and switches [ame] [/ame]
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