Campaign mission 3 - hints needed

[rge75]

I'm pretty new to the Gazelle, so forgive me if it's maybe a stupid question I read through Chuck's guide and I watched some tutorial videos on youtube, but I'm still a newbye (have many hours on the Huey though). I'm unsure about mission 3 and failed twice so far. I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to do. So let me explain what I did so far:

 

 

When I'm at waypoint 3 (observation point), I'm looking for the enemy tanks. They're too far away to attack which means I leave my observation point and fly closer to WP4. Once close enough, I fire my 4 rockets. Here, I'm not sure about the camera mode selector. I use Pil (Pilote/Manned) to move the camera. But I never understood the Ass (Asservi/locked) mode. Shouldn't it follow the target if I use this? Or in other words, how do I attack moving targets. Do I really have to manually move the camera to stay on the moving target while the rocket is in the air?

 

 

And is it needed to use the lasing button first? Or is this just to see how far away the target is?

 

 

Anyway, once I fired my 4 rockets, I use the radio and tell the Appache to RTB for rearming.

 

 

Once there, things get messed up and if I understood the commands correctly, I have to fall back to the "base" from mission 1?

 

 

They call about the danger of the enemy aircraft - and I noticed that twice when I was shot down ;-) One question about the radar (DRAX 33 Radar Warning Receiver) - am I an easier target when I have the radar turned on? Should it be turned off while flying back?

 

 

How do I avoid being detected? Low flight at all costs?

 

 

So hopefully some of the more experienced pilots can lead me to the right path for this mission.

[Lobinjaevel]

I'm not really experienced, but I'm doing the campaign now also.

 

I believe you have to manually track moving targets, I am atleast and it's working pretty good.

 

No need for lasing other than range.

 

I flew low close to the coast, I saw the Hinds but they were further inlands so I never got in any real danger.

 

Hope it helps a little!

[noisy_lightning]

The laser is for range finding only. I always use it as I wasted loads of missiles early on because I was over 6km away.

 

The targeting is manual track, it won't auto track a moving target. If I am not wrong Pil keeps the location in view regardless of the heading/position of the aircraft. Ass/lock will lock the turret to the heading relative to the aircraft. So if the turret is pointing to the aircrafts 12 o'clock it will remain pointed to the 12 rather than keep track of the target in Pil mode.

 

I also followed the coast and stuck very low. I found some targets at a town part way back and engaged them but I don't think you have to, I could have bypassed them.

 

The radar warning receiver only receives, no transmission, so leave it on.

[rge75]

Thank you both for the helpful reply. I'll give it a try again tomorrow.

[dimitriov]

Zig zag and run. Mission was designed for this, stay low, avoid shilkas.

 

When I read the comments about the difficulty of this 3rd mission and then I remember that I initially wanted to increase the threats :D

[rge75]

How to avoid them though? I need to head north, but there is a Shilka. It doesn't seem like I can really avoid him. I'd probably have to head East forever to fly around him. Or will they be taken out after a while?

[dimitriov]

They won't be taken out, a Shilka has a fire range of about 2.5 km. When I made this mission and tested it, I simply went through the land, following a straight line about 10 km from the coast, following such path you should at a moment get near from Ochamchira which is on your way to Paris. When I met a shilka, I avoided it, and checked if it fired. I remember I met half a dozen of them (as planned), but never got shot down by them. I tested the mission using several pathes, including the most dangerous ones, still I didn't get killed so I considered it was a relatively easy mission... Until I read the comments about it on the forums :D

 

That's why I never understood why you all get killed 5 times on this mission honestly :D

 

you get locked by a shilka, don't panic, check the direction of the lock, 23mm are relatively low velocity shells, flying low and modifying course and altitude smoothly, you can avoid them without any problem. Simply make a circle around it. If the thing locks you, it means it's ready to fire (for the shilka), if you only detect it but it doesn't lock you, then you're safe. Like this you can estimate the safety range between you and it.

 

For the helicopters threat, well, no miracles, you see them and avoid them, you don't see them but still avoid them, or you don't see them and don't avoid them...

 

btw : never use F10 map view on the campaign mission, as long as I used many editors tricks, you will see many strange things like 5 meatboys circling on several parts of the map, invincible drones above shilkas to make them fire... It will simply ruin your immersion ;)

 

Nicolas

Edited May 18, 2017 by dimitriov

[rge75]

I was only shot 3 times so far, so I still have 2 attempts ;-)

 

 

I just noticed that I mixed up something. I didn't meant "Shilka" in my previous post but the helicopters. So far, I haven't been taken down by the Shilka, but 3 times by the helicopters. The RWR showed the thread, so I turned by 180° and managed to avoid the shots. But I still had to fly north...and I did not see a way to bypass the helicopter. In the end, he brought me down. But I'll give it another try tomorrow.

[dimitriov]

When helicopters are announced in your sector, wait a bit about 3-5 min after the guy tells you they are here at radio mirage-2000 will shoot them down (theoritically). Anyway, if you're locked by something, never do a 180°, always a 90, if an helicopter is guiding a missile on you, it's making him a gift to show him your ass ;)

 

Nicolas

Edited May 19, 2017 by dimitriov

[rge75]

Thank you, I just finished it in my 4th attempt. I'm not sure if the helicopters were shot down or not. I was slightly concerned when the M2 disappeared from the radar - so I thought the Mirage might have been shot down. Anyway, I stayed low and flew quick. As soon as an A showed up on the RWR, I turned almost 180° (it showed up from the East, side, so doing more than 90° was ok and still showed him my side, but the other one). and took an alternate route. In the last part, I had an A East and West of me and I simply flew at high speed through there. I noticed some shots at me but they didn't hit me. So I'm up to mission 4 now ;-)