F-14A Dynamic Campaign: Battle Group Delta

[MagicSlave]

Thank you

 

Hello, I guess this is as good a time as any to stop my long time lurking... I want to thank MBot for this and the other amazing dynamic campaign, these are the best fun I've had in F-14 so far.

Played both single player and CO-OP with my friend as my RIO.

 

Only tweak I had to make to get the pilot-RIO CO-OP working properly, was to open the mission in mission editor and change the player aircraft spawn time to one second before the mission start time. Without this tweak, for some reason, the AI flights did not get proper callsigns and weren't able to be communicated with by radio (tankers, AWACS) and also it seemed that the enemy flights did not spawn correctly.

 

Again, thanks a lot for these campaigns to MBot, one can tell that insane amount of work must have been put in. Playing this campaign inspired me to put together a small wallpaper the other night:

 

Edit: should probably mention that the images / screenshots are not my own but put together from different sources (Reddit, Navy photos, google image search...)

Edited February 1, 2020 by MagicSlave

[MBot]

Thank you, I am glad you are able to enjoy flying it. Awesome wallpaper!

 

 

I am aware that multiplayer has various issues, that is why I have removed Integrated coop support from DCE a while ago. People can still try and mess around with it manually, but there are no guarantees. DCE was first and foremost designed to work in singleplayer.

[ZeroReady]

Ok so this seems really cool and I was excited try it. Everything worked really well and i appreciate all the hard work that went into making this, but the first mission is a 400 mile round trip escort. I almost made it all the way home but I ran out of gas and lost all my wingmen in the 3 minutes of terror of the actual fight. Is this how it's going to be? I love flying and everything, but that was a lot of straight and level over open ocean, just to run out of gas before I could make it to base because the tanker is orbiting over the carrier instead of closer to the action.

[Jester986]

mbot,

how do i edit that first mission bat? I double click it and it tries to run and fail. I dont have any "open with" option.

 

when I run it this is what i get

 

'"D:\DCS World\bin\luae.exe"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

 

C:\Users\Fred\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\tech\DCE\Missions\Campaigns\F-14A Battle Group Delta>

[MBot]

Try to have a text editor already open and then use it to open the file.

[MBot]

Ok so this seems really cool and I was excited try it. Everything worked really well and i appreciate all the hard work that went into making this, but the first mission is a 400 mile round trip escort. I almost made it all the way home but I ran out of gas and lost all my wingmen in the 3 minutes of terror of the actual fight. Is this how it's going to be? I love flying and everything, but that was a lot of straight and level over open ocean, just to run out of gas before I could make it to base because the tanker is orbiting over the carrier instead of closer to the action.

 

While distances will vary depending on carrier and target location, mission lenght will generally be long-ish. The battle group will maintain a safe distance from enemy territory as you would realistically expect it.

 

Fuel management is an important tactical aspect of this campaign and should always be kept in mind. Fortunately the Tomcat can comfortably cruise 500 NM per hour at medium altitude on just 6000 lbs of fuel, which can be further reduced by going higher.

 

The carrier has only 4 dedicated tankers (ignoring buddy tanking by regular A-6E), which are used as recovery tankers as highest priority.

[Jester986]

Try to have a text editor already open and then use it to open the file.

 

Thanks, I'll try that

[EnDSchultz]

Love the campaign... too bad your wingmen are too happy with the afterburners. First mission out, my whole flight called bingo fuel after one engagement. I immediately sent them back but all three still ran out of fuel and crashed before making the carrier. Fortunately there's no requirement to actually land back at the carrier so the best solution seems to be simply ending the mission once you've shot down the bad guys and the strike package has made its run.

[REDEYE_CVW-66]

Are there ground attacks modelled in this campaign, or is it A2A exclusive?

[MBot]

In line with the Tomcat's role during this time frame, this is air-air only.

[REDEYE_CVW-66]

Rog!

[overalien]

2.5.6 Compatibility Issues

 

unfortunately the campaign seems to be broken after 2.5.6 release by ED. scripting compatibility? my AI behaves strangely, AGM-88s fired by the Hornet SEAD Units seem not to track SAM radar and just fly past the targets at ridiculous altitudes and i get windows dialog boxes with script errors saying "unit does not exist". on mission end DCS hangs and there is no debrief or next mission cmd box.

[MBot]

Let's just wait until 2.5.6 stabilises and then look what needs to be done.

[EnDSchultz]

unfortunately the campaign seems to be broken after 2.5.6 release by ED. scripting compatibility? my AI behaves strangely, AGM-88s fired by the Hornet SEAD Units seem not to track SAM radar and just fly past the targets at ridiculous altitudes and i get windows dialog boxes with script errors saying "unit does not exist". on mission end DCS hangs and there is no debrief or next mission cmd box.

 

Issue with SEAD is present in the 2.5.5 build just prior as well. That's the one I'm running presently until they can get the ground crew nonsense fixed.

[tn_prvteye]

The SEAD issue is likely the "ARM Defence Script". It lets Radars turn off so an ARM can't track them anymore. Although I thought the HARM would be immune to this. Doesn't it have the ability to "remember" where the target was? Maybe I'm thinking of the ALARM.

[MBot]

The SEAD issue is likely the "ARM Defence Script". It lets Radars turn off so an ARM can't track them anymore. Although I thought the HARM would be immune to this. Doesn't it have the ability to "remember" where the target was? Maybe I'm thinking of the ALARM.

 

I think this is a general misconception about HARM. Its small seeker doesn't have the precision to pinpoint the position of en emitter many miles away (when it is shut off). This generally requires dedicates ELINT platform that track an emitter over time from different angles. Neither is the INS of HARM good enough to guide the weapon to a direct hit (otherwise all A-G missiles/bombs since the 1980s would have been INS guided). I am sure the INS is good enough to guide the weapon towards a known silent emitter (PB mode) but unless the emitter turns on while the weapon is in flight, it won't hit.

 

This is also supported by the combat performance of HARM during Operation Allied Force, where over 700 launched AGM-88 scored just a few hits. Anti-radar missies were able to temporary suppress the SAM threat but were unable to inflict decisive attrition.

[Sublimearrepentido]

@Mbot - I dont know what Im doing wrong. I got your mig21 campaign to work 2x in the past then never again. I got another campaign to work for a joyous couple days and it stopped.

I dont know what Im doing but considering I seem to mess up basic mods or mission installs I think its mt lack of experience.

Can u or some pls help me figure this out? Id be more than happy to play the campaign as single missions old school style. I love the idea of how this works. Im gonna post a smaller similar post on your other thread. Basically I get an error whenthe mission ends and it doesnt save antything.

For example I just started battlegroup delta to try it. It loads. I quit and I ge5

"

Mission script erri[string"c:users/J/appdata/local/temp/dcsV~?mis00007628.lua"]179:attempt t9nindrz localn"?'loggile' (a nil value)

Stack tracevac[c]: ?

[string

"C:/users/j/appdata/local/temp/DCS~MIS00007628.LUA"]:179: IN FUNCTION 'ON EVENT'

[string "scripts/world/eventhandlers.lua"]:13:in

Function <[string "scripts/world/eventhandlers.lua"]:11>

(In regular whitenwindows error box. Ill add the Vs are actually notnVs butba weird V symbol ive never seen before. Pls help guys!!

 

PS yes I have tried r3installs. Yes I update the lua files after game updates. I followed the instructions. Perhaps detailed instructions and some help Id be eternally grateful

[Sublimearrepentido]

Tried changing to release didnt work

[Love_Beam]

I need better installation instructions.... these are horrible and Ive been through it at least 5 times and it never works. Are there any videos out there on how to set this up?

[Sublimearrepentido]

This dude miguel21 got it working for me. Its amazing. goto missions and campaigns section of forum and then goto dce campaigns and ask for his help

[rhoady]

Just wondering since the Forrestal is out now, is there going to be an update to this campaign?

[MBot]

For the last two years I am working on major updates to the Dynamic Campaign Engine, as well as a big Tomcat campaign that will make full use of them. As always, things are often hampered by issues and bugs with the DCS AI, which is essentual for any dynamic campaign to work well. But there have been some important bug fixes to DCS for me over the past few months. Others are still outstanding and may or may not ever get fixed.

Once the new campaign is finished and working I may revist Battle Group Delta and update it to the new standard. But it probably makes sense that this will include the AI A-6E.

[rhoady]

Oh sweet! Okay I figured there were probably more campaigns coming out. These things are definitely the best in DCS in my opinion, you guys are doing great! I’m excited to see the new ones