[A-10C][SP] Warthog Proficiency

[Gliptal]

 

 

 

BRIEFING

Welcome pilot!

 

This 2 hours long mission will test your ability in the basic employement of the A-10C. Fly this sortie whenever you feel the need to keep your training level in the Warthog current, whether due to prolonged grounding or a temporary transfer to other aircrafts.

 

During the mission a series of messages will direct you to your objectives. To succesfully complete the sortie all actions must be performed in the specified order.

 

\\ INTENT \\

 

To provide a structured sortie that tests the following basic skillsets of the A-10C Thunderbolt II:

 

- startup

- shutdown

- takeoff

- landing

- navigation

- overhead breaks

- AAR

- TGP use

- AFAC duty

- RWR symbology

- IR threats

- cannon AG

- cannon AA

- rockets

- mavericks

- unguided bombs

- guided bombs

- JDAMs

- sidewinders

 

\\ ENVIRONMENT \\

 

- Medium threat: a single SA-18 Igla defends the AG RANGE; SA-15 Tors and ZSU-23-4 Shilkas defend the AFAC target area.

- Ideal weather conditions: mild winds, few clouds. METAR: GE0007 010600Z 07001MPS 060V080 9999 R07P9999N FEW035 13/10 Q0760 NOSIG=

 

\\ ASSETS \\

 

- ARCO (KC-135, tanker): 129.00 MHz, 73X

- DARKSTAR (E-3A, AWACS): 126.00 MHz

- PONTIAC (F-16C, SEAD): 130.00 MHz

- DODGE (F-117A, strike): 130.00 MHz

- UZI (MQ-9, recon): 32.00 MHz

 

\\ NOTES \\

 

- The AFAC portion of the sortie will require the usage of the F10 communication submenu. Carefully analyze the briefing images and the threats in the area, you only have a single SEAD run available.

 

- Be sure to tune your radios to the correct frequencies, especially during the AFAC portion of the sortie. UZI will provide with BDA all throughout the mission on his frequency.

 

- Rejoining with the tanker will not be trivial, use the TACAN to plot an intercept course. It will be flying a racetrack at the ideal A-10C refueling speed of 220knots, making the rejoin potentially time consuming.

 

- There are no restrictions on the specific weapons used in the AG range, although suggestions will be made. Restrictions on what order the targets have to be destroyed are in place though.

 

- Attacking head on the MANPAD restricts his range to about 2 nm.

 

- The rotary wing target in the AA range will purposedly be hard to identify. Consider flying lower than it and looking for its silhoutte against the sky.

 

- Stop at the dearming station after landing to have your countermeasures and any remaining weaponry disarmed.

 

\\ v1.2.2 \\

 

 

 

TASKS

- To ensure a succesfull strike on a static target, by acting as the AFAC and coordinating PONTIAC and DODGE flights.

 

- To succesfully perform an air to air refuel.

 

- To destroy all the ground range targets in the required order, using a combination of the laoded weaponry and the cannon.

 

- To destroy all the air to air range targets, using a combination of the laoded weaponry and the cannon.

 

- To succesfully RTB, perform an overhed break, and park the aircraft.

 

 

 

KNEEBOARD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCREENSHOTS

 

 

 

 



 



 



 



 



 



 

 

 

This mission was initially supposed to be a personal training range, the intention being to fly it every once in a while to keep up my practice with the A-10C, as I am currently learning the M-2000C. I eventually ended up adding enough components that it is now viable for publishing. Any kind of feedback is appreciated. I hope you have fun with the mission, at least as much as I had in creating it!

 

Thank you baltic_dragon and Yurgon for providing the voices for Dodge 1-1 and Pontiac 1-1 respectively.

 

 

CHANGELOG

v1.2.3

 

- Reworded parts of the briefing and ingame messages for more clear instructions.

 

v1.2.2

 

- Reverted the starting time to 6:45 following the fixing of the night lighting bug.

- Changed the tanker's TACAN channel to a realistic value.

- Made the AFAC text trigger slightly sooner.

- Corrected a rare possible bug with the dearming station.

- Made the target Phantom slightly slower.

- Made the target MI-8 hold at 1000 feet instead of 500 feet.

- Slightly modified some radio messages timings to avoid overlapping.

 

v1.2.1

 

- Changed starting time to 0900Z.

- Changed mission title in the briefing for consistency.

- Converted audio files from .wav to .ogg format for a smaller .miz file size.

- Added briefing images about AFAC threats, targets positioning in the AG range, and loadout.

- Added METAR string to the briefing.

- Lowered wind speed at ground level.

- Added a radio squelch sound effect every time a new instruction text block appears during the mission.

- Added VOs for UZI giving BDA feedback throughout the sortie. Briefing and UZI flight plan updated accordingly.

- Changed some of the VO timings, now the other assets answer immediately. Temporarily silenced the AI to avoid VO overlap.

- Lowered the AA RANGE waypoint's altitude to 5000 feet.

- Changed AWACS frequency to 126.00 AM. Briefing updated accordingly.

- Added a dearming station after landing. Briefing updated accordingly.

- Added loadouts to the parked aircrafts.

- Fixed a possible bug in the AFAC portion of the sortie.

- Added a previously missing (rare) possible result.

- Slightly change positioning and units of the friendly HAWK SAM.

- Changed some of the popup text regarding the AFAC, AG RANGE, and RTB portions of the sortie.

- Fixed a possible bug with the AA range triggering too soon.

- Fixed a possible sequence of events locking UZI in place in the AFAC area.

- Staggered UZI's egress from the AFAC area to avoid VO overlaps.

- Fixed towers being reported as dead only after crumbling.

- Added notes on the MANPAD head on range in the briefing.

 

v1.1.0

 

- Added several briefing pages.

- Made the required decisions for the AFAC's portion of the flight more clear in the briefing.

- Ensured the objectives meet the 3-3 standards.

- Added a sparse cloud cover, with very mild winds. Updated briefing accordingly.

- Added static planes and vehicles to the homebase for atmosphere purposes.

- Switched the "Insurgents" faction for the "USAF Aggressors" faction. Subsequently changed most vehicle types to better suited ones.

- Changed countermeasures loadout amounts.

- SAMs changed to radar-guided SA-8 Osas. The player must now stay outside the WEZ or else accept the risk of being engaged. Updated briefing, messages, flight plan, and triggers accordingly.

- Changed the AG RANGE waypoint's altitude, placing the player more on the fringe of the MANPAD's WEZ.

- Made the rotary wing engagement slightly easier.

- Highlighted the need to follow the waypoints when RTBing.

- Player must now park on the same spot as the starting one. Updated ingame text accordingly.

Warthog Proficiency 1.2.2.miz

Warthog Proficiency 1.2.3.miz

Edited February 11, 2017 by Gliptal

[Milli]

Thank you Gliptal. Much appreciated.

[Yurgon]

Thanks for the mission!

 

When I tested it last week, it was already great fun to fly. I think it covers a pretty wide range of weapons and tasks and is an excellent training mission for new and experienced pilots alike.

 

Well done! :thumbup:

[mj3437]

"This 2 hours long mission"

Another excellent reason for a save game feature.

MJ

[EntropySG]

Awesome, will definitely check out your mission! Thanks for sharing

[Mick F]

Thank you! Look forward to trying it out.

[EntropySG]

Nicely done, worked great for me. Im not 100% sure I got the first task correctly, I used the available F10 radio commands and the AI planes took care of the rest

[Gliptal]

Nicely done, worked great for me. Im not 100% sure I got the first task correctly, I used the available F10 radio commands and the AI planes took care of the rest

Yes, you did that correclty then. You are just supposed to be acting as an AFAC, directing the other flights to their targets. You do have to send the SEAD flights to the right set of targets though.

[bolek]

I had problem with the first task. What does the "correct target" mean? Both locations had similar targets. I could not figure out which one was correct, so I picked one at random and the mission proceeded, but I am sure there is something more to it?

[Gliptal]

I had problem with the first task. What does the "correct target" mean? Both locations had similar targets. I could not figure out which one was correct, so I picked one at random and the mission proceeded, but I am sure there is something more to it?

It's mentioned that the strike aircraft will be coming at a medium altitude. That puts it above AAAs, but not SAMs. ID the targets and send the SEAD flight against the ones that are a threat to the F117.

 

Basically destroy the SAMs. I intentionally left it a bit vague to add some decision making and uncertainty into the mission. In any case, the F117 should still complete the strike, since it barely enters the SAMs WEZs, although it will suffer damage (it never got destroyed in my tests). At any rate, if this does happen a message will pop up informing the player; if on the other hand all you see is a strike successfull message, you made the right choice.

[bolek]

Oh, I see. I guess I was just lucky :-)

 

Thanks

[baltic_dragon]

I will try it out once I get back home on Friday!

[Gliptal]

v1.1.0 released.

 

- Added several briefing pages.

- Made the required decisions for the AFAC's portion of the flight more clear in the briefing.

- Ensured the objectives meet the 3-3 standards.

- Added a sparse cloud cover, with very mild winds. Updated briefing accordingly.

- Added static planes and vehicles to the homebase for atmosphere purposes.

- Switched the "Insurgents" faction for the "USAF Aggressors" faction. Subsequently changed most vehicle types to better suited ones.

- Changed countermeasures loadout amounts.

- SAMs changed to radar-guided SA-8 Osas. The player must now stay outside the WEZ or else accept the risk of being engaged. Updated briefing, messages, flight plan, and triggers accordingly.

- Changed the AG RANGE waypoint's altitude, placing the player more on the fringe of the MANPAD's WEZ.

- Made the rotary wing engagement slightly easier.

- Highlighted the need to follow the waypoints when RTBing.

- Player must now park on the same spot as the starting one. Updated ingame text accordingly.

[Zarma]

Testing now on my stream, in openbeta :

 

http://www.twitch.tv/zarma4074

[Zarma]

OK got a few problem in the openbeta 1.5.4 :

 

- I was sure the 618721 was on the Osa 8 and asked the SEAD fly to go for option 1, but was wrong. Was to quick in my decision.

 

- Couldn't kill the last infantry that looked like a manpad and was standing. Dropped a mk82 and a agm65 on his face, nothing. Checked Tacview, says SA18 and all the infantry was dead but no message to go on.

 

- I then went to AA area as I had no message. Finished the mission but failed because targets were remaining.

 

Should retry it.

 

Exporting the video to my youtube : https://www.youtube.com/user/Zarma4074

 

 

Tacview : https://www.dropbox.com/s/osxzkjy3854m23j/Tacview-20160626-110033-DCS.txt.acmi?dl=0

 

Nice work for this mission.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Zarma

[Gliptal]

I did not test it in open beta, I'll hopefully do it today. Let me check your links to see what went wrong.

 

Glad you found it interesting enough to play it on stream!

 

EDIT: The TacView is from a different mission! :D I watched the video and didn't see anything wrong from your part. You received no message because all the infantry must be killed for the mission to continue. It looks like a 1.5.4 bug, I'll test it and report back.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Gliptal

[Zarma]

Link corrected.

 

OK. Also had a problem with the CDU that I couldn't set on Mark for a while. Had to use waypoints instead of markpoints for the GBU38 run. Worked again later in the mission. Don't know why.

 

You also notice the sun bug causing the screen to darken before sunrise when looking east. This has nothing to do with your mission.

Edited June 26, 2016 by Zarma

[Gliptal]

Ok, resaved the mission under 1.5.4 and I'm experienced the same problem. Ialso found one minor possible unrelated bug, but it's a very rare occurence. I'll push 1.1.1 with that fixed and some briefing additions as soon as we get a stable release. There were some changes in the editor under 1.5.4, that may explain the problems Zarma.

 

With that said, for now only 1.5.3 is supported. Latest OB also has a bunch of problems with lighting (among other things), which makes the mission much darker than it should.

[Zarma]

Thanks for the quick answer. Keep the good work.

[Gliptal]

Bug regarding the MANPAD reported, they're working on it internally: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2825121#post2825121

 

I'll provide a MANPAD free version for 1.5.4 only as soon as I get home later this afternoon.

[Zarma]

Let's wait for friday and the release version.

[Gliptal]

1.2.0 for 1.5.4 is ready with a bunch of changes and additions, but I really don't like how it flies with the current open beta lighting bugs. I'll wait for the release version to be updated before publishing it, hoping ED solves the issues.

[Gliptal]

Given how even with the stable release of 1.5.4 the night lighting bug isn't fixed, I'll release 1.2.1 with the starting time in the morning rather than just before dawn. It'll make for a less atmospheric flight, and the F-117 presence won't make much sense, but it's better than flying without flood lights and dealing with a blind AI.

 

At any rate, I really like how the mission flies with these new additions, so let me know what you think! I made a couple of last minutes changes I did not have the time to test, so let me know if the mission still flies fine.

 

- Changed starting time to 0900Z.

- Changed mission title in the briefing for consistency.

- Converted audio files from .wav to .ogg format for a smaller .miz file size.

- Added briefing images about AFAC threats, targets positioning in the AG range, and loadout.

- Added METAR string to the briefing.

- Lowered wind speed at ground level.

- Added a radio squelch sound effect every time a new instruction text block appears during the mission.

- Added VOs for UZI giving BDA feedback throughout the sortie. Briefing and UZI flight plan updated accordingly.

- Changed some of the VO timings, now the other assets answer immediately. Temporarily silenced the AI to avoid VO overlap.

- Lowered the AA RANGE waypoint's altitude to 5000 feet.

- Changed AWACS frequency to 126.00 AM. Briefing updated accordingly.

- Added a dearming station after landing. Briefing updated accordingly.

- Added loadouts to the parked aircrafts.

- Fixed a possible bug in the AFAC portion of the sortie.

- Added a previously missing (rare) possible result.

- Slightly change positioning and units of the friendly HAWK SAM.

- Changed some of the popup text regarding the AFAC, AG RANGE, and RTB portions of the sortie.

- Fixed a possible bug with the AA range triggering too soon.

- Fixed a possible sequence of events locking UZI in place in the AFAC area.

- Staggered UZI's egress from the AFAC area to avoid VO overlaps.

- Fixed towers being reported as dead only after crumbling.

- Added notes on the MANPAD head on range in the briefing.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Gliptal

[Gliptal]

v1.2.2

 

- Reverted the starting time to 6:45 following the fixing of the night lighting bug.

- Changed the tanker's TACAN channel to a realistic value.

- Made the AFAC text trigger slightly sooner.

- Corrected a rare possible bug with the dearming station.

- Made the target Phantom slightly slower.

- Made the target MI-8 hold at 1000 feet instead of 500 feet.

- Slightly modified some radio messages timings to avoid overlapping.

[Razor18]

Hi Giptal,

 

nice mission! Any specific sequence of TGT destruction requested at the A/G range? Wasn't any in the pop up message, maybe some guidance would be nice, or saying it's pilot discretion, so nothing to wait for. Just my 2 cents, not a big deal tough... THX anyway!