F-14B : OPERATION CAGE THE BEAR

[kaba]

 

OPERATION : CAGE THE BEAR is a fictional campaign providing the experience of an elite F-14B Tomcat pilot tasked to repel a lethal aggressor force.

 

It is May 1992. The Berlin wall has fallen, the Soviet Union has broken down. In an attempt to regain control of the crucial Black Sea region, REDFOR invaders have crossed Georgian borders in an attempt to annex the ex-Soviet state.

 

Determined to prevent a return to the old days of Soviet power, NATO takes exceptional action. A US Carrier Strike Group transits the Bosphorus Straits and enters the Black Sea.

 

As the conflict escalates, F-14s of the Carrier Air Wing will lead the fight against REDFOR.

 

Defend the fleet and push back the aggressors!

 

KEY FEATURES

 

• 8 varied missions putting you in the cockpit of the F-14B Tomcat
  
• Approximately 6 hours of gameplay
  
• Hundreds of hand-crafted triggers and voiceovers
  
• Custom-made briefing and intel documents for each mission
  

 

Download from here: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3305079/

 

 

 

 

[REDEYE_CVW-66]

Good presentation.

 

Look forward try trying it out.

 

Anything stopping me from editing this into COOP missions? (Will it break triggers etc?)

[Oesau]

Well done on the missions - I’ve flown the first two and really enjoyed them (despite having to bail out due to running out of gas as I waited for the AI Tomcat to finish refueling and then the Viking finishing its refueling track - BTW Not having a go at you for that, just limited gas in that aircraft)

[kaba]

Good presentation.

 

Look forward try trying it out.

 

Anything stopping me from editing this into COOP missions? (Will it break triggers etc?)

 

 

Feel free to give it a try. Triggers are linked to the player craft (as opposed to player's group) so the wingman can't trigger anything as is. Not sure whether there are certain triggers that do not work in multiplayer - let me know how it goes.

[kaba]

Well done on the missions - I’ve flown the first two and really enjoyed them (despite having to bail out due to running out of gas as I waited for the AI Tomcat to finish refueling and then the Viking finishing its refueling track - BTW Not having a go at you for that, just limited gas in that aircraft)

 

 

Thanks!

 

Think fuel can be a little tight if you don't conserve throughout, watch the burners etc but when testing I've made it back to the carrier without needing to tank in each mission. Annoying that the AI took the last fuel though! There are more tankers airborne in later missions, should help.

[Oesau]

Thanks!

 

Think fuel can be a little tight if you don't conserve throughout, watch the burners etc but when testing I've made it back to the carrier without needing to tank in each mission. Annoying that the AI took the last fuel though! There are more tankers airborne in later missions, should help.

 

Agree about the fuel usage and when I re-flew it I didn’t need to tank (the first time I just went out at full buster to intercept at max range)

[kaba]

Agree about the fuel usage and when I re-flew it I didn’t need to tank (the first time I just went out at full buster to intercept at max range)

I've updated the campaign missions 1-3 with an additional tanker - hopefully this helps!

[Steel Jaw]

Excellent. ...thanks.

[Zarma]

Flew missions 1 and 2, no need for more fuel. Fun campaign !

[tsgucci]

Hi Guys!

 

I'm trying to complete mission 3. But as soon as I reach WP2 (Maykop) I experience terrible lagging, like 1 FPS.

Have anybody else experienced the same?

[WildBillKelsoe]

The campaign does not update air to air kills count of player.

[Wildwind]

Completed this campaign tonight, and this was the most fun I have had in DCS, hands-down.

 

The whole campaign is great, with a great variety of missions.   I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the strike missions every bit as much as the air-to-air missions.  The low-level strike mission in particular was a blast.  The Tomcat does a pretty good imitation of a Viggen, it turns out (though my wingman seemed to crash every time I ran this one.  I guess I was flying a little too low for the AI to keep up, or maybe cutting the corners to sharply).

 

The final mission in particular is especially epic.

 

Now it's time to go back and do it again, hopefully this time with no deaths or ejections (have I mentioned I am not especially good at carrier landings yet?)

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

11 hours ago, Wildwind said:

though my wingman seemed to crash every time

Mine survived: in fact I owed him thanks since the first time I ran that mission, I only caused 75% damage and my wingman finished it off

[Wildwind]

2 minutes ago, Elysian Angel said:

Mine survived: in fact I owed him thanks since the first time I ran that mission, I only caused 75% damage and my wingman finished it off

Yeah, I had to run it three times because I am not very practiced at Bombcat yet.  I'm pretty good at dive-bombing with slick bombs, but the low-level high-drag drops I don't quite have the hang of, and since my wingman hardly ever made it all the way to the target, it was up to me to take out the radar.

 

I ended up realizing that I didn't have to stay QUITE as low as I was, I could pop-up to about 500 feet AGL and make a shallow dive on the target, and when I did that I nailed it the first try.

 

At some point I need to learn how to use Computer Target mode; I suspect it would be better suited to that particular attack.

 

As for why my wingman never made it, well... I was flying really low.  Under the power lines at points.  But I don't think that was the problem; he always seemed to crash right after I made a turn.  He was in trail, and I suspect he was using pursuit logic rather than actually following my path, which would cause him to cut inside my line on the turns... and I was cutting some of those turns fairly closely.  I haven't gone back to watch the TacView of that mission yet and find out, though.  Maybe it will offer me some insight on how to help him get through alive.

[Raven (Elysian Angel)]

Wingman AI in DCS sure could use some improvement: the other day I was doing pattern work in the MiG-29 and my wingman stayed with me nicely until short final. After I landed I looked back, only to see a crater at the runway threshold with black some rising up  

[Wildwind]

44 minutes ago, Elysian Angel said:

Wingman AI in DCS sure could use some improvement: the other day I was doing pattern work in the MiG-29 and my wingman stayed with me nicely until short final. After I landed I looked back, only to see a crater at the runway threshold with black some rising up  

 

At the end of the last mission of this campaign, I was absolutely on vapor (had maybe 800 pounds of fuel remaining, not sure it was even that much.  I cut it really close) when I touched down on the runway at the divert airfield (which, interestingly enough, did not give me mission complete; I had to refuel and fly back to the carrier for that).  About two seconds after I touched down, I hear "Two, ejecting!" and then an F-14 just plummets out of the sky off to my right and craters in the grass 2-300 meters away.  I'd tried to order him to RTB, but it wouldn't let me talk to him even though I hadn't changed the channel on that radio.  Not sure what was up with that; may have been damage, since the navigation was acting up, though I don't remember getting hit at any point.  Guess he ran out of fuel, considering how close I was.  The debriefing log did show "engine shutdown" for him before "crash".

 

Have to say I felt like I really earned my mission complete on that one.  Six kills (two MiG-29 with Phoenix, two MiG-29 with Sidewinder, one MiG-23 with Sparrow, and one MiG-29 with guns that really didn't want to die.  I scored hits on him with guns five separate times before he finally burst into flames and ejected), plus having to nurse my aircraft back to the divert airfield with the navigation system half-working and almost no fuel.  And then fly it back to the carrier with the nav system STILL half-out because I didn't want to stop my engines for repairs and risk not being able to start them again for some reason when I hadn't gotten mission complete yet.  Somehow, I made it.

 

That guns kill was definitely my #1 DCS moment so far, though.  He made me earn it.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Wildwind

[Cornflex]

Awesome campaign! Thanks!

Will there be an update making use of the new weather presets that came with 2.7?

 

Regards

[kaba]

1 hour ago, Cornflex said:

Awesome campaign! Thanks!

Will there be an update making use of the new weather presets that came with 2.7?

 

Regards

Thanks! When I can spend the time I'll absolutely be using the new weather, it looks too good to pass up!

[kaba]

Just as an FYI for anyone following this, the campaign with 2.7 weather (and some bugfixes, thanks for reporting guys!) has been included in the recent openbeta updates. If it's not already on stable version, it should be soon!

[ZeroReady]

One of my favorite campaigns ever, thanks for all the work on it!