GTFreeFlyer Posted February 6, 2020 Posted February 6, 2020 (edited) Hi all, I've created something over the past few months I think you'll all enjoy. Formation flight has been scripted and now when you're looking for a casual formation flight experience with other people online (or by yourself), you no longer have to worry about coordinating the effort. My script is packed full of voiceovers (more than 160 of them) which will get you from the runway and into the formation. I have game-ified this for you. You'll earn points and move up the ranks. Your score is saved when you are done, and retrieved when you come back for more. Don't worry if you don't see anyone else online. You'll have a lot of fun by yourself as well, chasing the Lead and moving between the formations as he calls them out to you. The formations and the voiceovers are all randomized, so the game play is never the same each time you come back. After playing around in public servers where people are not on voice comms with each other, I just knew there HAD TO BE A BETTER WAY to coordinate formation flying. I also see lots of people just looking for casual formation flying when they don't feel like blowing stuff up, so I've created this public server to compliment the other popular ones you see like Just Dog Fight, Aerobatics Online, etc. This will be a new place solely for you to practice your formation skills while being guided by the script, alone or with others. It's great to learn the handling characteristics of a new plane you're flying, and also just good for a "warm-up" before heading into a combat mission. The more people that are in the server, the more formations that are unlocked for random choosing (you can't do a diamond with 3 people). Game play took inspiration from the formations skydivers do during competition. Each time a formation is completed, they must quickly rearrange themselves into a new formation and repeat as many times as possible before...splat. Same sort of thing here in this mission. Once everyone is in their slot and holds it together for ten seconds, a new one is picked at random, you'll get some bonus points, and you must quickly hit your next slot. Not in your slot? You'll lose 1 point per second. In your slot? You'll earn points each second (more for tight formations, less for loose formations). The script has audio and visual cues which help you find your slot in addition to the briefing AND kneeboard pages included in the mission. Make sure to read the briefing. The Lead pilot is sort of protective of his airspace surrounding his formation and you must obtain clearance to enter the formation. It's easy, as long as you just look at the briefing. Again, just watch out for that Lead pilot as you never know what he'll say to you next! It's randomized every time a formation is completed. You must demonstrate proper fuel management and the ability to land in order to save your score. There are three save zones at different airports...again, in the briefing. There are two versions that are up now: Jets, and Warbirds. The two alternate back and forth approx. every other day. Your earned/accumulated score is common between the two versions. I'll also have a helo version coming soon, along with a video tutorial in case you can't figure out how to read the simple briefing. Oh, and don't even try to take weapons ;) Those are not for this server. Cheers to all! You'll find yourself better able to handle your aircraft after spending a little time in here. Search for Formation Flight Challenge in the multiplayer server list, click the little star icon on the left side and make it a favorite. It's running on the latest open beta. Please feel free to leave suggestions and feedback! Knowing that you guys are enjoying it is all the fuel I need to keep making it better. -GT- Edited March 9, 2020 by GTFreeFlyer My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Alpenwolf Posted February 6, 2020 Posted February 6, 2020 Excellent idea! Well done, my friend. Looking forward to testing it out :thumbup: HACA DYCA Discord Cold War 1947 - 1991 You can help me with keeping up the server via PayPal donations: hokumyounis@yahoo.com
CL30 Posted February 6, 2020 Posted February 6, 2020 Way to go, GT! Good to see you getting this released to the public! i5-9600k @ 5.0 GHz| Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master | 32 GB Trident G.Skill RAM @ 3200 MHz | Thermaltake Floe Riing 360 AIO | Samsung EVO 860 500 GB SSD | Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2 | SanDisk 1TB SSD | EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Ultra Gaming | EVGA G3 850W Gold PSU | Thermaltake View 71 TG Snow Edition | Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS | MFC Crosswind pedals | Oculus Rift-S [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 6, 2020 Author Posted February 6, 2020 Way to go, GT! Good to see you getting this released to the public! Thanks Tower :smilewink: My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
CL30 Posted February 6, 2020 Posted February 6, 2020 Thanks Tower :smilewink: :D i5-9600k @ 5.0 GHz| Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master | 32 GB Trident G.Skill RAM @ 3200 MHz | Thermaltake Floe Riing 360 AIO | Samsung EVO 860 500 GB SSD | Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2 | SanDisk 1TB SSD | EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Ultra Gaming | EVGA G3 850W Gold PSU | Thermaltake View 71 TG Snow Edition | Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS | MFC Crosswind pedals | Oculus Rift-S [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 8, 2020 Author Posted February 8, 2020 3 minutes of game play from last night... My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
CL30 Posted February 8, 2020 Posted February 8, 2020 Great video! Love the shots when it's all sped up, lol. i5-9600k @ 5.0 GHz| Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master | 32 GB Trident G.Skill RAM @ 3200 MHz | Thermaltake Floe Riing 360 AIO | Samsung EVO 860 500 GB SSD | Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2 | SanDisk 1TB SSD | EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Ultra Gaming | EVGA G3 850W Gold PSU | Thermaltake View 71 TG Snow Edition | Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS | MFC Crosswind pedals | Oculus Rift-S [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 11, 2020 Author Posted February 11, 2020 Minor update: Made it such that everyone in the formation will now hear the same voiceovers from the Lead pilot once a formation is completed, just in case they are on voice chat with each other and mention something about it. Prior to this, voiceovers were picked at random for each pilot in the formation. Now, they are still randomized but also synchronized among the pilots. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 15, 2020 Author Posted February 15, 2020 (edited) Server is not updating to the new 2.5.6 until bugs are resolved. Server is still online for those who have not yet updated. Edited February 15, 2020 by GTFreeFlyer My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 17, 2020 Author Posted February 17, 2020 Server has been updated to Open Beta 2.5.6 and is running again. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
kuschmu Posted February 17, 2020 Posted February 17, 2020 Oh Boy, this is sooo coool! Thanks a lot GT :)
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 18, 2020 Author Posted February 18, 2020 Oh Boy, this is sooo coool! Thanks a lot GT :) Thanks for the feedback :). Glad you enjoyed it. Come back for more and work yourself higher up the ranks :) My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 19, 2020 Author Posted February 19, 2020 New update: Now includes air starts for those that just want to get right into it. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
GTFreeFlyer Posted February 21, 2020 Author Posted February 21, 2020 Server will be down between Feb 23 and March 5 for various reasons. I apologize in advance, but the fun will return! My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
GTFreeFlyer Posted March 5, 2020 Author Posted March 5, 2020 Server is back up and running. Cheers. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Joghurt Posted March 6, 2020 Posted March 6, 2020 Can't see it :( What software version are you running on?
GTFreeFlyer Posted March 6, 2020 Author Posted March 6, 2020 Can't see it :( What software version are you running on? Connection was lost thru the night. Try again now. Latest OB. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Joghurt Posted March 6, 2020 Posted March 6, 2020 (edited) Works, thank you! :) There may be a bug: That 500 points penalty for entering the formation airspace unauthorized - are you sure they are really subtracted and not added instead? I got a penalty on the first try, did less than a dozen formations on my own afterwards and came out with 625 points. Is this possible? Edited March 6, 2020 by Joghurt
GTFreeFlyer Posted March 6, 2020 Author Posted March 6, 2020 Not a bug. You can’t go less than zero, so if you lost 500 on the first try (when you had zero), then you stay at zero. My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Bailey Posted March 7, 2020 Posted March 7, 2020 I had the chance to fly on the server for an hour or so. It was amazing! I’ll definitely be dropping by for more forms practice and I’ll be pointing people to the server too if they want to get better at forms too. Pretty sweet implementation. I’m looking forward to multi-ship formation flying! ~Bailey DCS VoiceAttack Profiles | My Mods and Utilities on ED User Files | DiCE: DCS Integrated Countermeasure Editor DCS Update Witching Utility | DCS-ExportScripts for Stream Deck Community Github Library | Kiowa Integrated Overlays
GTFreeFlyer Posted March 7, 2020 Author Posted March 7, 2020 I had the chance to fly on the server for an hour or so. It was amazing! I’ll definitely be dropping by for more forms practice and I’ll be pointing people to the server too if they want to get better at forms too. Pretty sweet implementation. I’m looking forward to multi-ship formation flying! ~Bailey Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback! The more people in the server, the more formations that will unlock. There are currently 10 of them (as seen on the kneeboard and in the briefing). My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Bailey Posted March 7, 2020 Posted March 7, 2020 I had another great session. This time with 1 other person. Can it be possible that overhead pics of the formations be put on the kneeboard? Also the list of saving airports and save locations on the airport. ~Bailey DCS VoiceAttack Profiles | My Mods and Utilities on ED User Files | DiCE: DCS Integrated Countermeasure Editor DCS Update Witching Utility | DCS-ExportScripts for Stream Deck Community Github Library | Kiowa Integrated Overlays
GTFreeFlyer Posted March 7, 2020 Author Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) FORMATION FLIGHT CHALLENGE server I had another great session. This time with 1 other person. Can it be possible that overhead pics of the formations be put on the kneeboard? Also the list of saving airports and save locations on the airport. ~Bailey The formations are already on the kneeboard. I’m not going to add the save locations to the kneeboard. There are only three spots which you’ll have memorized in no time. Alt+B is your friend. Also, if you are flying a plane which can navigate to waypoints, WP0, 1 and 2 are your save airfields. Edited March 7, 2020 by GTFreeFlyer My DCS Missions: Band of Buds series | The End of the T-55 Era | Normandy PvP | Host of the Formation Flight Challenge server Supercarrier Reference Kneeboards IRL: Private Pilot, UAS Test Pilot, Aircraft Designer, and... eh hem... DCS Enthusiast
Bailey Posted March 7, 2020 Posted March 7, 2020 The formations are already on the kneeboard. I’m not going to add the save locations to the kneeboard. There are only three spots which you’ll have memorized in no time. Alt+B is your friend. Also, if you are flying a plane which can navigate to waypoints, WP0, 1 and 2 are your save airfields. Odd. I flipped though the kneeboard in the JF-17 and didnt see the formations. I look again next time. ~Bailey DCS VoiceAttack Profiles | My Mods and Utilities on ED User Files | DiCE: DCS Integrated Countermeasure Editor DCS Update Witching Utility | DCS-ExportScripts for Stream Deck Community Github Library | Kiowa Integrated Overlays
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