Operation Clear Field - Caucasus PvE Playground

[Surrexen]

v120 is up.

 

Changelog v120

- AWACS, Texaco, Shell and drones are no longer immortal (still invisible to enemy)

- Script additions for AWACS, Texaco and Shell to respawn if they crash into the ground (respawn after 10 seconds).

[ReardonMetal]

- AI flights will start near Khasab airfield and will await a "Push" command via radio when you are ready for them to proceed with an attack

 

That's going to be a long push!

[Surrexen]

That's going to be a long push!

 

The idea here is that you can form up with them before proceeding to the sector more than anything else. This way if you are providing escort you can follow them the whole way. It is better than having the AI orbit inside red territory waiting for you to catch up to them or whatever.

[ReardonMetal]

The idea here is that you can form up with them before proceeding to the sector more than anything else. This way if you are providing escort you can follow them the whole way. It is better than having the AI orbit inside red territory waiting for you to catch up to them or whatever.

 

Ah, now I feel bad...you didn't get my joke.

 

This is your Caucasus mission...Khasab's 2500mi away in Persion Gulf.

 

Also, while I've got your attention, great mission(s), thanks for sharing!

[Surrexen]

Ah, now I feel bad...you didn't get my joke.

 

This is your Caucasus mission...Khasab's 2500mi away in Persion Gulf.

 

Also, while I've got your attention, great mission(s), thanks for sharing!

 

Oh lol right. In Clear Field they go from Kutaisi / Senaki etc.

 

Anyway, glad you like it :thumbup:

[Surrexen]

v121 is up

 

Changelog v121

- AAA guns added to Senaki / Kobuleti / Tbilisi / Kutaisi

- Blue coalition SAM's removed from the detection network as it isn't really necessary

- Carrier group reorganised so that the Oliver Hazzard Perry class frigates are at the back (this is because their lights at the back of the boat are brighter, so it should help with night flying lining up the back of the carrier ... in theory).

- Rescue Helo has been removed due to issues with Airboss scripts

- Recovery Tanker has been removed due to issues with Airboss scripts, and replaced with a regular spawned S-3B tanker on a circuit around the boat

- Carrier groups set to ROE return fire, which doesn't really do much unless someone gets straffed on the boat ... but it's the best that can be done

- Script adjustments

 

Note: Failing any major catastrophic issues, this is likely to be the last release of this mission.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Surrexen

[Xtan]

I've localized the mission for use on my server. It's very popular with everyone. Thank you very much for your excellent work! ：thumbup：

[Twwhitey]

Hey Surrexen- question for you. I’m about to start a fresh v121 single player run on Clear Field with persistence on...

 

My question is given the impressiveness & complexity of the A2A defense scripting is - is there an actual tangible advantage to knocking out the EW sites on the map? I.e. will there be a subsequent impact to enemy caps, or other air defenses, etc? Or are they just basically other targets?

 

I was going to focus early efforts on the SA-10s & SA-11s to open things a bit but I was wondering if knocking the EW sites out might take some of the heat off as well.

 

Just curious thanks!

[Surrexen]

Hey Surrexen- question for you. I’m about to start a fresh v121 single player run on Clear Field with persistence on...

 

My question is given the impressiveness & complexity of the A2A defense scripting is - is there an actual tangible advantage to knocking out the EW sites on the map? I.e. will there be a subsequent impact to enemy caps, or other air defenses, etc? Or are they just basically other targets?

 

I was going to focus early efforts on the SA-10s & SA-11s to open things a bit but I was wondering if knocking the EW sites out might take some of the heat off as well.

 

Just curious thanks!

 

It's a good question. This was something I was experimenting with in terms of adding extra things into the detection groups etc. But so far I haven't seen it make any significant difference. This is mainly due to the air dispatcher doing it's own thing. In this latest release I had even backed it off a little bit after I started to notice a performance difference when adding the new blue SAM sites into the detection network, so I removed all blue SAM's from the network. No difference there either.

 

From what I can work out the air dispatcher adds any squadron planes it spawns into the detection networks by itself. And since the AI is all knowing/all seeing ... it sort of negates the need for anything else to be in the network at all.

 

So meanwhile ... I wasn't even planning on doing an update again, but since now ED have stated that the airbaseID issues are internally fixed, it looks like I will be forced into having to update the missions once more after this has been done. Therefore I am considering taking the SAM sites out of the red detection network purely for performance saving reasons, and perhaps only leave the EWR and Ships as part of the network but I am not 100% sure what I will do yet.

 

When starting over it is always going to be best to start with eliminating SAM sites. In the future I want to re-write some things so that missions are semi-prioritised based on a category, or possibly prioritised by sector ... but haven't had time to even think about that properly yet. Let's just say that COVID-19 has entirely screwed up any semblance of a 'plan' for now.

[Twwhitey]

Ahhh interesting - ok that’s kinda what I expected but good to know so I figured I’d ask anyhow. I’m not sure how the AirbaseID issue manifests itself in game but as always kudos to you for all of your hard work on this... your efforts to maintain and improve are greatly appreciated!

[Whisper]

Surrexen, are you using Moose for your air dispatcher (the terminology you use make me think you use A2A_DISPATCHER for this :) ) ?

 

If so, yes, that Dispatcher add the spawned CAP/GCI groups to the detection network. This can manually be patched in moose.lua, though, if you want to fiddle with that.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Whisper

[Badass1982]

Thought this was interesting https://github.com/walder/Skynet-IADS

[Badass1982]

Is there a scripting related reason that me trying to change the Texaco and/or Shells altitudes and speeds doesn't work in Clear Field?

[Surrexen]

Is there a scripting related reason that me trying to change the Texaco and/or Shells altitudes and speeds doesn't work in Clear Field?

 

Maybe wait on this as I will be putting out an update for all missions fairly soon that contains an updated customised Moose file. I'm just getting very limited time to do anything right now with the current mayhem going on.

[Badass1982]

Sorry ignore my above post cos I figured out the way to do it, I was being an idiot and changing the speeds/altitudes on the way point settings and not the orbit settings.

 

Thanks

[Surrexen]

v122 is up

 

Changelog v122

- Moose updated to be compatible with ground starts for AI again

[Tejas]

Thanks, @Surrexen for this mission. As I was playing I wanted to increase the difficulty of AI Planes and want to add some other planes also Like F-14 and JF-17 on Red Side is that possible ?

can I update that in Mission editor, If possible can you share your scripts. I am very new to this DCS world mission editing

Edited March 27, 2020 by SQNLDR_DOMINO
Added some calrity

[Surrexen]

Thanks, @Surrexen for this mission. As I was playing I wanted to increase the difficulty of AI Planes and want to add some other planes also Like F-14 and JF-17 on Red Side is that possible ?

can I update that in Mission editor, If possible can you share your scripts. I am very new to this DCS world mission editing

 

Was not going to add the F-14B. Waiting on the F-14A for the Iranian side.

[Surrexen]

v123 is up

 

Changelog v123

- A new mechanic to avoid planes spawning on peoples heads in the operational area has been added. If a player aircraft is within 40nm of an airfield, that airfields CAP flight will spawn elsewhere until the area around that airfield is clear of player aircraft.

- The planes will spawn at the alternate airfields as follows:

 

1. Gudauta -> Maykop

2. Sochi -> Maykop

3. Nalchik -> Mozdok

4. Beslan -> Mozdok

5. Kuznetsov -> Gelendzhik

 

Feedback on the new mechanic would be appreciated as testing time has been limited to say the least.

 

Enjoy!

[NoJoy]

@Surrexen

 

Man, I can't tell how much I enjoy your outstanding and immersive missions.

 

Big thanks to your effort!!

 

I'd have a question or an idea or take it as whatever you like - do you think you could make some coding or triggers that'll make it possible to noticeable weaken the Opfor airpower? Like taking out Airfields would decrease the spawn numbers of enemy CAP - to finally gain complete airsuperiority?

 

Maybe thats too much or maybe it simply doesn't meet your idea of the mission set - then disregard.

 

Just an idea that came to me while driving my Hog at the Caucasus Theatre desperately disengaging from one furball to another. - Which was quite fun, though...

 

Obviously I have no clue of coding or triggerbased mission editing, otherwise I would give a try myself...

[FoxTrotAlpha691]

Greetings Surrexen, loving all of your missions as are the rest of my squadron. I have an issue with the Clear Field mission I am hoping you can help me with. With the AI support in the CAP options we are able to enable the F-16s but they do not spawn in. We receive the confirmation message that they are enabled but the fighters never appear on the map. If we choose the F-18s the same message appears but they do not spawn and if the F-14s are chosen there is no message and they do not spawn in either. We are using the latest version of each mission, is there something we are leaving out? The same support options work fine in Snow Fox and Black Spire missions.

[Surrexen]

Greetings Surrexen, loving all of your missions as are the rest of my squadron. I have an issue with the Clear Field mission I am hoping you can help me with. With the AI support in the CAP options we are able to enable the F-16s but they do not spawn in. We receive the confirmation message that they are enabled but the fighters never appear on the map. If we choose the F-18s the same message appears but they do not spawn and if the F-14s are chosen there is no message and they do not spawn in either. We are using the latest version of each mission, is there something we are leaving out? The same support options work fine in Snow Fox and Black Spire missions.

 

They don't spawn immediately. The Blue CAP flights can take up to 10 minutes to spawn.

[solidGad]

hello good sir.

 

quick question. if you destroy ships, are they removed from future plays, just like ground units? those two Russian ships off the coast like to fire SAM's at me so figured i'd take them out tonight, but for some reason i remember you saying that they won't stay dead.

 

Thanks!

[hlfritz]

the ships do indeed get removed from the mission (i.e. added to the list of units to remove when restarting the mission!) once destroyed.

 

our group took the same tack - we decided to take out the ships as a priority due to their propensity to send sams our way. ;) be aware, they are tough and can shoot down things (i.e. missiles) coming at them and units must be completely destroyed before they are on the "i am dead" list.

 

hope that helps (make sure you have the change to the missionscript file done per the instructions).

[solidGad]

thanks! good to know!

 

yup, mission is all setup. already pretty deep into it, but starting to push up the coast and the ships are becoming a nuisance. i only fly the F14 and have been practicing my SEAD technique using the decoys and then hitting the deck and using snake eyes on the target as they launch SAM's at the decoys. Haven't tried it on a ship yet, but I have heard it works. :)