Mission 2 Shipping Lanes

[Hamood]

So on Black Sea Resolve Mission 2 (Shipping Lanes) do you have to shoot down all the bombers AND escorts? So far I've successfully run the fight twice and each time one MiG-21 runs away and by the time the rest of the enemy are downed there's no way to chase them down. The mission counts as a failure and doesn't advance the campaign. If the trigger to count as a success is downing them all that doesn't seem right. The mission is to defend the ships so downing the bombers should be the goal right?

Also I'd like to say I'm really enjoying the campaign so far. Mission 1 was fun avoiding all the SAMs and the dogfight over the black sea is super fun.

[SorelRo]

I think there's another post here about this. The ships must survive. You are probably intercepting the bombers after they engage the ships. The Mig's are no factor for the mission score. 

[Hamood]

On 3/13/2021 at 11:43 AM, SorelRo said:

I think there's another post here about this. The ships must survive. You are probably intercepting the bombers after they engage the ships. The Mig's are no factor for the mission score. 

So none of the ships can be hit at all? I just ran it again and one of the lead su-24s launched one of their ASMs right as I sidewindered it. That was the only thing launched at the ships and I'm sure it hit so is that it?

[SorelRo]

No, the 3 Cargo ship groups have to be alive, The SU-24's have to be dead, you have to be landed and under 5 KTS at the airport. 

[sthompson]

Mission 2 is, shall we say, interesting, with the new clouds. I've tried it once and never did see any of the enemy aircraft due to visibility issues.

[SorelRo]

13 hours ago, sthompson said:

Mission 2 is, shall we say, interesting, with the new clouds. I've tried it once and never did see any of the enemy aircraft due to visibility issues.

I see them fine, they are skimming over the second cloud layer, can't see the contrails against the cloud tough, but they are visible on radar too. Just tested it now. The weird part about the weather system is that contrails are more visible in between the cloud layers. There's also F10 and skip if it's too much. 

[sthompson]

When I played last night the second cloud layer topped out around 26,500 ft. They were definitely below that. And I'm impressed you found the bandits on radar. I was searching for them, but I've never had much luck with the F-5 radar.  It sometimes seems blind even to planes I'm spotting visually right on my nose.

[HavelockDane]

I’ve flown the mission twice now - managed to land safely in the storm, with fumes in the gas tank, both times, but yes spotting the bombers before they attack is challenging!

 

Never give up though, I’ll try for a third time this afternoon :)

[SorelRo]

The problem that I have with the volumetric cloud presets is that if I want any kind of precipitation in these missions it makes it very hard to spot anything in the air, and also on the ground, I'll try to tinker more with it, but I would like to have some challenging weather and not just the fluffy clouds that look good in pictures. 

[Qiou87]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:49 PM, sthompson said:

When I played last night the second cloud layer topped out around 26,500 ft. They were definitely below that. And I'm impressed you found the bandits on radar. I was searching for them, but I've never had much luck with the F-5 radar.  It sometimes seems blind even to planes I'm spotting visually right on my nose.

 

Played it last night a bit differently that instructed : heading 180 at Mach 0.9 because of the drop tanks (gotta drop them when you hit the bandits, so they might as well be empty), I saw them head on based on AWACS calls (my own radar seems blind, like yours). The 21s split and headed for me so I knew what the bombers were, I went straight for them at full burner dropping the tanks (around Mach 1.2-1.3). I dropped flares as the 21s past me, asked my wingmen to attack them. Since I was so fast the 21s couldn't catch me. I caught the bombers, 2 IRs and 2 guns kills and mission was a success. The enemy planes were just over the cloud layer for me, and in VR they were OK to spot (black dots on white clouds). I also kept the AWACS calls to maintain some SA.

[StarLiner]

Is it expected for the mission (Mission 2) to have very stormy weather? A video of this mission I found online had extremely clear weather, was this added to the mission after 2.7?

[SorelRo]

yes, there are two missions 2 and 3 the mission 2 is on stormy weather, the mission 3 happens 4 hours later and the weather clears. 

[Japo32]

I skip this mission, because once I found the airport (it was hard, because visibility and giving vectors to base, it did give to ADF instead!! (didn't know DCS gives vectors to outer adf instead the base!!), once landed and checkout in tacview that none of the ships was hit and all were safe, the mission was a draw, because I think I didn't park in the right spot where I started. I followed my wingman and he went to a shelter so I parked near him. But it seems that the Mission complete label don't appear if you are not near the starting spot as shown in this video?

It appeared before landing that all was fine and I could RTB. So if the problem is not to land in a perfect place, I just skip it because if that is the reason to make me repeat a mission, I find it nonsense.

In any case, I wasn't in with the mission. I have to protect a convoy that I don't see anymoment because the clouds. Awacs AI tell me there is an inbound enemy hot, at 30 miles while I was going to 230º, so I have to turn to them to engage. Then the radio msg of mission recorded says that there is a group of mig21 and bombers, and I should intercept them while I was already fighting with them. Don't know what happens because I don't see anything, but it seems all is quiet, so I return to base. I cannot use the ADF becasue the Mhz issue so I have to find it with the vectors to the ADF outer beacon (lol. Almost burn all the fuel circlying the same spot saying myself... "where is the fu.... airbase if the atc says is around here??? until I saw the text label "vector to outADF" (incredible. Not mission fault. Just DCS way to make things strange...) Then the radio says that all enemy planes are out and I can RTB .... haha.... so after all that "lost in between clouds" with a radar that is useles mostly the time to find anything, the mission has to be repeated because I was not parked in the right spot. Grab my beer... "skip" LoL. 

Anyway.. hope just grab my sense of humor.  

Edited March 1, 2022 by Japo32

[SorelRo]

Make sure you come to a complete stop once landed. That's one of the criteria. Also, you have to shoot some planes to pass to the next mission. You have AWACS use it and use it often and use it wisely. You can spot the contrails up to the merge, the Russians coming for the ships are easy to take on if you fly correctly. It's not easy, but it's not impossible. a flight of 4 F-5's can deal with 4 bombers and 4 Mig-21 low on fuel. 

...also, if you think that the visibility is low..... well, things will get worse, TACAN will be available later as the war is progressing. 

[pabletesoy]

Hello,

Most of the time when I try to use the radio, it doesn't works... is it only my problem?

[SorelRo]

The only radio that should matter is the AWACS and your flight and they are all on the same frequency. what is happening in your case? 

[pabletesoy]

On the air, the communications menu does not appears most of the time. I have to try it again and again and again and then, for some unknown reason, the menu opens. It is purely random.

I am using the UHF Radio microphone button (call radio menu). When I press it in the command menu it shows that it runs, but during the game it usually doesn't work.

I have the radio in MAN or BOTH, and in MANUAL or PRESET, any setting gives me the same problem. It is tuned to 253.000.

 

Sorry for my english!

[pabletesoy]

Well, I finally finished mission #2 after many attempts. I got lost many times going back until I learned how useful it is to ask the AWACS for the Vector to bullseye and the Vector to home plate.
I still have problems to activate the radio, and I'm still wondering why the airport gives me some data to return that don't match with the data the AWCAS gives me when I ask for the Vector to Home plate. Is it possible that the airport doesn't give me its exact address but a place from where to face the runway or something similar?

Thanks!

[SorelRo]

Do you know what you are getting? What values you get from the AWACS and what do you get from the airport? And yes, I believe the airport vectors you for the approach to the active runway. AWACS will vector you to the airport. 

[pabletesoy]

I don't remember, but when I have used the data I get from Krymsk I end up in a place where there is no airport, and with the fog it is impossible to locate.
Following the AWACS I arrived directly.

Let's go for the third mission!

[d0ppler]

This mission seems impossible to beat atm. I can't reach the Su-25s before they kill the 3 ships. Even with full burner @ 28K ft straight towards them.

[sthompson]

16 minutes ago, d0ppler said:

This mission seems impossible to beat atm. I can't reach the Su-25s before they kill the 3 ships. Even with full burner @ 28K ft straight towards them.

Don't fly straight towards them. Fly an intercept course instead. You need to steer to where they are going, not to where they are. One way to do this is to try to keep their bearing constant. Make repeated Bogy Dope calls to the AWACS to get bearings to the bogeys. If the bearing is drifting right you need to change your course to the right. Or steer more to the left if the bearing is drifting left.

[d0ppler]

I skipped it. It's too little info/radio comms to help guide the player. Like when the ships are shot at, what about a mayday message on the comms, telling the player that it's too late?

It's poorly designed IMO to be considered payware.