Operation Pontus: general information

[sirrah]

Sorry if asked before (it probably has), but what should I do when I failed to take a screenshot at the end of the mission and with that, don't have an activation code for the next mission?

 

 

 

I think I accidentally pressed the Pause/Break key instead of the PrintScreen key  (in my defense, I'm a VR user, so I couldn't see my keyboard)

[petritis]

22 hours ago, sirrah said:

Sorry if asked before (it probably has), but what should I do when I failed to take a screenshot at the end of the mission and with that, don't have an activation code for the next mission?

 

 

 

I think I accidentally pressed the Pause/Break key instead of the PrintScreen key  (in my defense, I'm a VR user, so I couldn't see my keyboard)

 

Hey, sirrah!  Sorry for the late response. Could you please provide us the last code that you notted. I mean the one you used in your last mission. 

 

Petritis. 

 

 

 

[sirrah]

12 hours ago, petritis said:

 

Hey, sirrah!  Sorry for the late response. Could you please provide us the last code that you notted. I mean the one you used in your last mission. 

 

Petritis. 

 

 

 

 

Hi @petritis,

 

The code I used in my last mission was:

 

INDIA-ECHO-BRAVO-ALPHA-HOTEL-MIKE

 

[gregzagk]

On 5/27/2021 at 8:28 AM, sirrah said:

 

Hi @petritis,

 

The code I used in my last mission was:

 

INDIA-ECHO-BRAVO-ALPHA-HOTEL-MIKE

 

Hey,

 

Please try using: 

JULIETT - ECHO - GOLF - ALPHA -  CHARLIE - LIMA

 

Thanks,

Greg

[VDV]

what is the jtac freq? in description of mission is written that it is 305mhz but i have tried it a hundred of times and nothing happens....

[petritis]

23 hours ago, VDV said:

what is the jtac freq? in description of mission is written that it is 305mhz but i have tried it a hundred of times and nothing happens....

 

 

 

[Vic64]

Hello,

I missed the moment to write down the code at the end of my mission. Would it be possible to get it from a good soul on this forum? The mission I successfully flew had the following progress code: BHEECE.

I apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your support and the great work. I really enjoy the immersion provided by the campaign.

[josemilio001]

UNABLE TO PERFORM MISSIONS. ONLY FIRST ANS 2ND DONE.

cas FISRT MISSION (3rd) DOESNOT COMPLETE. ALWAYS OBJETIVES ARE AWACS "CLEAN". 

UNABLE TO COMUNICATE WITH WINGMAN, HE FOLLOWS ME. iT'S ALL HE DOES. I´VE LANDED TWICE IN CARRIER, BUT MISSION STILL INCOMPLETED.

WHERE CAN I FIND INFO TO PERFORM MISSIONS?. DO YOU HAVE A MANUAL?

tHANKS

Edited March 7, 2022 by josemilio001

[JGS]

Having just completed Operation Pontus after 27 sorties, I thought I'd leave some thoughts for those thinking about purchasing it as well as some feedback to the developer.

I came to Operation Pontus after flying the included Hornet campaign, Serpent's Head 1 and 2, Raven One and Rise of the Persian Lion.

First let me preface this by saying that the developer is to be commended for implementing a non-linear campaign within the contraints of the DCS Mission Editor.

As the reader will know, this campaign differs from the others by allowing you to plan your own sorties. Here is the typical process.
Before boarding your aircraft, you select loadouts and waypoints for you and your wingman, as well as loadouts for the 4 supporting AI flights in the Mission Planner. Top tip: move waypoint 2 over the bullseye so you can set it as an A/A waypoint in the HSI. Add a waypoint to the strike target, as well as a few spare waypoints that you can reprogram during the mission. Roles for each flight will have been suggested in the previous mission debrief. Note that the map at this stage of the process does not reflect the actual battle space in terms of enemy positions. The departure time is known from the briefing page, but the weather is not.

Once you enter the mission you will discover the weather conditions - hopefully your selected loadout will be suitable. I found that the weather was cloudy or raining a lot of the time. Maybe that is realistc for the region, but can limit your ordinance options.
At this point, assign the roles to the AI flights using the F10 menu, start your aircraft, enter and submit the mission code (F10 menu), listen to the briefing, taxi to the catapult, launch and head to waypoint 1.

On the way to waypoint 1, set COMM 2 to channel 2, set your kneeboard onto the AWACS authentication matrix, FENCE in, set any RTB options for your AI flights (F10 menu). Typically I set any CAP flights to return to base after expending all A-A missiles. Top tip: At this point I would pause the sim bring up the F10 map which now includes the enemy positions, decide on some targets to attack and note down their coordinates. (I didn't figure this out until several missions into the campaign.) Program the coordinates into the HSI using the spare waypoints you added earlier (or enter more waypoints manually).

Authenticate with AWACs at waypoint 1. Check Picture. Prosecute the targets, return to base. On the way back you might like to order the AI flights to return also. Land, listen to the debrief and take some screen shots - including the optional strike target in the F10 map.

Observations and Feedback.
The weather was very cloudy a lot of the time. The battlespace includes a lot of IR SAMs and MANPADs. As a result going below the clouds is often suicidal. On the other hand, staying above the clouds makes laser designation difficult. So unfortunately I opted for GPS guided munitions a lot, dropping from 20000 ft with impunity. My usual loadout was two 1000 lb JDAMs, two IR Maverics, one AIM-120C, two AIM-9X, centreline tank and an ATFLIR. With this I would hit the optional strike target with one of the bombs and use the other ordinace on SAMs, AAA or tanks depending on whether I was doing SEAD or CAS. JSOW-A's were sometimes used instead of the Mavericks. Some AAA sites seemed to be buried in dense forest making them impossible to spot in the TPOD.
For the AI SEAD flights I would usually load them up with Mavericks and maybe some JSOW's. HARMS didn't really become useful until the last third of the campaign when some SA-6 sites showed up. For CAS I would give them 500 lb JDAMs and Mavericks.

Because of the weather, get used to doing a lot of CASE-III landings. I didn't bother waiting until the stated approach time in most cases, instead making an approach when it was clear to do so. The carrier group is always in the same location.

Your wingman is basically useless unless you are up against enemy jets because I could not get him to attack ground targets. Perhaps this is because the CAP task is always set in the Mission Editor. Moreover, you will become annoyed with him calling out contacts every few seconds! Best to load him up with AIM-120's.

Strike targets were bridges in the first half of the campaign and then seemed to switch to warehouses. On one mission I was tasked with attacking a convoy which was a nice change.

Something that confused me initially was the campaign score. It would be very high during the mission but then sometimes after landing morale would drop to 1 percent and the XO would say that you had some bad results. Then I noticed that this happened after successfully liberating one of the towns and it was just the score resetting for the next town.

The radio chatter gets a bit repetitive after a while. It can suddenly go silent for most of the mission and then light up again after landing - at the same time you are trying to listen to the debrief.

It took me 27 sorties to complete the campaign. Unfortunately the XO talked over the victory speech with another debrief. You then have to enter the remaining few missions which automatically quit after a few seconds to get to mission 30 which registers the campaign as won.

Final thoughts.
So how does this campaign compare to the others? In my opinion, I find the linear/scripted campaigns more interesting and exciting. In Operation Pontus the missions quickly become routine - maybe this reflects the life of a pilot to some extent. Perhaps there is more replay value though. For example, I didn't try the JTAC, and maybe I could be a bit braver with my ordinance choices next time. I just don't like being hit by an IR SAM after all the effort you go to simply get up in the air. In real life you might have a wingman that sits back from the target area to help spot those things. Or perhaps I should learn to use my flares more often! The campaign might benefit from limiting the number of weapons (types and quantity) you have available, but maybe that's not possible in the current setup.

 

[Vic64]

Hello,

I am about to start my 7th mission. In the mission planner, I see that only my plane and my wingman's are available. The other packages (trimmer, pickles...) are not present. Went back to a previously accomplished mission: same observation. Any solution to get them back?

Kind regards

[petritis]

On 4/22/2022 at 11:27 PM, Vic64 said:

Hello,

I am about to start my 7th mission. In the mission planner, I see that only my plane and my wingman's are available. The other packages (trimmer, pickles...) are not present. Went back to a previously accomplished mission: same observation. Any solution to get them back?

Kind regards

Since you are in the intercept mission, the only available aircrafts are yours and your wingman's. Once you are in cockpit you will receive info regarding what to do.

 

[Vic64]

Hello everyone,

I am about to finish the campaign, almost there.

I am wonddering how to switch between radio codes (Bruce, etc).

Thanks for your help,

Vic

[petritis]

On 8/23/2022 at 11:21 PM, Vic64 said:

Hello everyone,

I am about to finish the campaign, almost there.

I am wonddering how to switch between radio codes (Bruce, etc).

Thanks for your help,

Vic

Hey Vic

 

Once you get the instruction to go Bruce etc, you need to open the Radio Freq Plan on your kneeboard and switch to the correct frequencies. 

Ex. The standard tanker freq is 264.00 while on Bruce is 267.00. 

 

Hope that helps. 

Kind regards Petritis. 

 

[Vic64]

Thank you Petritis. I just finished the campaign. If I understand well, this is about typing in the freq. There is no command to switch between Bruce and the other radio sets, right?

Also, I got the final written "win" speech at the end of my 29th mission. However, when I go out of it, I see on the campaign status that it is not set to WIN yet. shall I make the 30th also? I remember being given target coords for a person to kill in parallel to the "win" speech.

[Vic64]

On 8/26/2022 at 9:05 PM, Vic64 said:

Thank you Petritis. I just finished the campaign. If I understand well, this is about typing in the freq. There is no command to switch between Bruce and the other radio sets, right?

Also, I got the final written "win" speech at the end of my 29th mission. However, when I go out of it, I see on the campaign status that it is not set to WIN yet. shall I make the 30th also? I remember being given target coords for a person to kill in parallel to the "win" speech.

Ok, found the answer myself! Just entered the follow up mission. Found a message in the mission planner telling me to launch the mission. Launched it a couple times and got the message below, in the screen capture.

Congrats and thanks to the developpers and contributors to this campaign. I enjoyd it very much!

[petritis]

13 hours ago, Vic64 said:

Ok, found the answer myself! Just entered the follow up mission. Found a message in the mission planner telling me to launch the mission. Launched it a couple times and got the message below, in the screen capture.

Congrats and thanks to the developpers and contributors to this campaign. I enjoyd it very much!

Cograts !!! We are really glad, you liked the campaign !!!