Raisuli Posted October 30, 2020 Posted October 30, 2020 I watched the video Tim Davies did with Simon Pierson, and as a joking aside Tim described EXACTLY what I do with A2A refueling (and quite nicely gave me the clue needed to fix it), so I tried again. SO close. >< that close. But then the KC-135 started giving me that 'return precontact' silliness, and since I have to take hands off HOTAS, which is a contradiction (it's not hands on if you have to take hands off) to do the communications, is it? Kept getting 'return precontact', kept having to click and poke to give the ready precontact, kept getting return back...so I shot him down. That's okay, isn't it? The Chair Force doesn't mind losing tankers when Hornet drivers get annoyed with them, do they? How nice it be to get a key binding for 'ready precontact' like the 'call the ball' binding...
Harker Posted October 30, 2020 Posted October 30, 2020 Consider getting Voice Attack and VAICOM, that will allow you to handle all AI comms via speech recognition. I don't play offline without it. You can use the HOTAS radio switches and talk to the respective radio (1 or 2) and the AI will behave like normal. If you don't want to do that, keep in mind that you only need to reply "Ready pre-contact" for the tanker to deploy the basket. If it's already deployed, you can ignore any "Return pre-contact" and "Break away" messages and the basket will still work. The vCVW-17 is looking for Hornet and Tomcat pilots and RIOs. Join the vCVW-17 Discord. F/A-18C, F-15E, AV-8B, F-16C, JF-17, A-10C/CII, M-2000C, F-14, AH-64D, BS2, UH-1H, P-51D, Sptifire, FC3 - i9-13900K, 64GB @6400MHz RAM, 4090 Strix OC, Samsung 990 Pro
Raisuli Posted October 31, 2020 Author Posted October 31, 2020 Consider getting Voice Attack and VAICOM, that will allow you to handle all AI comms via speech recognition. I don't play offline without it. You can use the HOTAS radio switches and talk to the respective radio (1 or 2) and the AI will behave like normal. If you don't want to do that, keep in mind that you only need to reply "Ready pre-contact" for the tanker to deploy the basket. If it's already deployed, you can ignore any "Return pre-contact" and "Break away" messages and the basket will still work. I have voice attack and VIACOM, I've just never set them up. Ignoring the Air Force seems like a workable alternative, however. Thanks for the tip!
Harker Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 I have voice attack and VIACOM, I've just never set them up. Ignoring the Air Force seems like a workable alternative, however. Thanks for the tip!Ah, you're missing out! Take some time to set it up, it really elevates the experience. Good luck with the AAR! 1 The vCVW-17 is looking for Hornet and Tomcat pilots and RIOs. Join the vCVW-17 Discord. F/A-18C, F-15E, AV-8B, F-16C, JF-17, A-10C/CII, M-2000C, F-14, AH-64D, BS2, UH-1H, P-51D, Sptifire, FC3 - i9-13900K, 64GB @6400MHz RAM, 4090 Strix OC, Samsung 990 Pro
Ziptie Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 I watched the video Tim Davies did with Simon Pierson, and as a joking aside Tim described EXACTLY what I do with A2A refueling (and quite nicely gave me the clue needed to fix it), so I tried again. SO close. >< that close. But then the KC-135 started giving me that 'return precontact' silliness, and since I have to take hands off HOTAS, which is a contradiction (it's not hands on if you have to take hands off) to do the communications, is it? Kept getting 'return precontact', kept having to click and poke to give the ready precontact, kept getting return back...so I shot him down. That's okay, isn't it? The Chair Force doesn't mind losing tankers when Hornet drivers get annoyed with them, do they? How nice it be to get a key binding for 'ready precontact' like the 'call the ball' binding... To make the 'Ready Pre Contact' call, you don't have to be 'up in the tanker' - just in reasonably close formation with it. You do have to be in more of a trail formation, rather than an echelon formation though. Personally, I have COMM 1 and COMM 2 pull knobs bound to the MIC switch on my Thrustmaster Warthog - point there is, after making initial call to tanker for rejoin - once you get close, all I have to do is actuate COMM 1 knob and press F1 once to call ready pre contact. I use VR so I am blindfolded to my environment and it's not that tough, maybe you could try that and see if it helps you too. Cheers, Ziptie i7 6700 @4ghz, 32GB HyperX Fury ddr4-2133 ram, GTX980, Oculus Rift CV1, 2x1TB SSD drives (one solely for DCS OpenBeta standalone) Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS, Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs Airframes: A10C, A10CII, F/A-18C, F-14B, F-16C, UH=1H, FC3. Modules: Combined Arms, Supercarrier. Terrains: Persian Gulf, Nevada NTTR, Syria
Raisuli Posted October 31, 2020 Author Posted October 31, 2020 Ah, you're missing out! Take some time to set it up, it really elevates the experience. Good luck with the AAR! I hear ya, and you motivated me to get past the 'install Voice Attack and figure out how to get Viacom Pro working' point. I've got the one installed and my license activated (surprising given how long ago I bought it). Now I'm at the 'nothing works' phase. If I get this thing going finally I'll have to get the SC license. Ziptie, that's exactly what I was doing, but my ability to keep the oscillation down up close is minimal at best. Hand from throttle to fumbling around for the KB, which is not placed well, was enough. That and the WifeACK was firing on full auto, so I got a little frustrated. Didn't realize KC-135s have ejection seats... :thumbup: Then again, I was making the ball calls on my latest AFU landing and the LSO never got it. Odd. That binding usually works. At least with the carrier I've finally realized when people say "fly the ball" what they really mean is "fly the ball". That's making much better sense and my approaches are improving.
maxTRX Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 I hear ya, and you motivated me to get past the 'install Voice Attack and figure out how to get Viacom Pro working' point. I've got the one installed and my license activated (surprising given how long ago I bought it). Now I'm at the 'nothing works' phase. If I get this thing going finally I'll have to get the SC license. Ziptie, that's exactly what I was doing, but my ability to keep the oscillation down up close is minimal at best. Hand from throttle to fumbling around for the KB, which is not placed well, was enough. That and the WifeACK was firing on full auto, so I got a little frustrated. Didn't realize KC-135s have ejection seats... :thumbup: Then again, I was making the ball calls on my latest AFU landing and the LSO never got it. Odd. That binding usually works. At least with the carrier I've finally realized when people say "fly the ball" what they really mean is "fly the ball". That's making much better sense and my approaches are improving. In VR I get all the menu joggling early on. Once I'm rolling in from 'observation' to stabilized (pre-connect), just briefly my left hand leaves the throttles and my index finger (or any other finger:D) finds 'Esc' on KB and right next to it is F1. My eyes never drift from the tanker for a second. Yea, sooner or later I'm gonna have to install some voice control app.
Harker Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 I hear ya, and you motivated me to get past the 'install Voice Attack and figure out how to get Viacom Pro working' point. I've got the one installed and my license activated (surprising given how long ago I bought it). Now I'm at the 'nothing works' phase. If I get this thing going finally I'll have to get the SC license. Ziptie, that's exactly what I was doing, but my ability to keep the oscillation down up close is minimal at best. Hand from throttle to fumbling around for the KB, which is not placed well, was enough. That and the WifeACK was firing on full auto, so I got a little frustrated. Didn't realize KC-135s have ejection seats... :thumbup: Then again, I was making the ball calls on my latest AFU landing and the LSO never got it. Odd. That binding usually works. At least with the carrier I've finally realized when people say "fly the ball" what they really mean is "fly the ball". That's making much better sense and my approaches are improving. Check the VAICOM manual, they have instructions on how to set up VA and a troubleshooting section at the bottom, with the most common problems. The sub-forum here is good as well, if you have questions. As for dealing with oscillations, don't fight the basket or your jet. If it's not working, don't force it. Settle behind the basket and just push forward ever so slowly, until you hook and then fly formation with the tanker. Do extremely small corrections and remember to balance them out (if you correct to the left, remember to add a little bit of right soon after, so you don't end up drifting too much to the left, for example). Same goes for the throttle. Tiny movements, all the time. Too close? Throttle back a bit and then bring it forward a little. Etc And don't think about it too much, just put the thing in the thing and if you end up getting frustrated, let it go and come back to it later. The vCVW-17 is looking for Hornet and Tomcat pilots and RIOs. Join the vCVW-17 Discord. F/A-18C, F-15E, AV-8B, F-16C, JF-17, A-10C/CII, M-2000C, F-14, AH-64D, BS2, UH-1H, P-51D, Sptifire, FC3 - i9-13900K, 64GB @6400MHz RAM, 4090 Strix OC, Samsung 990 Pro
nicksmi Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 Can definitely recommend Voice Attack and Viacom, wouldn’t do without it now although it took me a while to set up, it can be a pain. Great advice from Harker, its all about small corrections, it takes time and practice to get there! Try flying in formation with the tanker first to get used to the control corrections, that helped me a lot :thumbup: 1
Tom Kazansky Posted October 31, 2020 Posted October 31, 2020 To make the 'Ready Pre Contact' call, you don't have to be 'up in the tanker' - just in reasonably close formation with it. You do have to be in more of a trail formation, rather than an echelon formation though. This! Once you got used to the position behind the tanker which is much larger than you might think, you will tell ready precontact just once.
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