Mission 1 - Spring Tension Kneeboard information

[ColinM9991]

There is virtually no information available in the kneeboard. Dialog hints disappear forever (not a campaign issue but a frustrating issue with DCS) and the trigger areas are very small. Rather than having to navigate to the Briefing (which also has not a lot of information) it would be good if the kneeboard had a flight plan and some basic information pertaining to the mission.

 

I have had 2 attempts at this mission now, landing in 4 places in total and have yet to complete it because for some reason I am missing something.

Edited July 11, 2021 by ColinM9991

[Flappie]

When I was playing this campaign, I used to write down distances and headings seen in the briefing page on a piece of paper.

 

So, if I understand correctly, you want the headings and distances to be displayed on these kneeboard pages, right? Or do you ask for more info?

 

 

 

[TOViper]

I recently started to fly mission 1 of this campaign, and after several tries it is still not possible to complete it.
Can someone please elaborate what exactly has to be done in this mission and where and how?
Also, an audiofile indicates to fly 075 and then turn left at the outpost? What outpost? If the next one is meant, heading 113 would be right, not left.
Radio is also not working, not even one farp is answering my calls on the respective frequency.
Next, how should I land at Balaani farp? There is no helipad there, and the terrain is everything else from flat and the troops are not visible due to trees all around.
For what is Leningori needed? Do I have to land there or not?

 

Edited January 30, 2022 by TOViper

[Flappie]

Hi @TOViper.

The mission has two objectives.

First, you need to land at the Tskhinvali FARP (WP 1) to give the documents.

Then you take off again and head to the south of Satihari (WP2). You should hear an audio message ("Stay frosty out here, we're flying along the border. The most important thing is not to cross it or we're definitely going to run into problems."). If instead of hearing this message, you get shot, you're too far south.

You then head to 110 for a long time until you reach the Outpost (WP3). For such long distance, you need to use your DISS-15 device, otherwise you might get lost.

Near WP3 (south of Leningori), you should hear an audio message ("Approaching the outpost! Land by the farmstead next to it...").

[TOViper]

Hey Flappie!
Thanks for the hints! I'll give it one more try, I think I mixed up two bases for any reason (maybe I just was too upset caused by the IMHO bad mission design) *LOL*
Are the other missions as bad as well or will it get better?

 

[Flappie]

It gets better, especially since you'll get to know each outposts (they don't change too often).

I had trouble finding this WP3 when I first started this campaign. You really have to note down the headings and kms from the briefing pictures, then use the DISS-15 to stay on route. And use your kneeboard and look for mountains to evaluate your position. Good luck!

[v81]

I gotta chip in here... this campaign is a hot mess.

I have managed to get through to about mission 15 or so, but so many things broken along the way.

The grid system used needs more explanation, there are bearings and other numbers on some kneeboards, but i have no idea what the numbers mean.
It's one number on top of another number, this is never explained and I've not seen it in charts before.

If it wasn't for the garmin and using F2 a lot i wouldn't have made it this far.

On of the biggest issues when flying with other helos is the pathing AI takes.
It makes me wonder if this was never updated for the updated of the Caucuses map.

I'll make a separate post regarding the worst case of this.

Simply put though, this mission needs more documentation, an average player with an average aptitude should be able to perform the missions from the charts alone, and without the optional garmin.

Also, the garmin desired track and track don't agree, and i read somewhere the bearing is wrong too.
The track and desired track is supposed to be magnetic, to not stray from the track one needs to fly 6 degrees to the left of it at all times.
It's clear one of the figures is wrong.

Suggestions...
1) More documentation... whats with the crazy numbering of the grids, the numbers are non sequential, what's with that?
2)  It would be good to make use of the doppler nav system.
3) More landmarks and / or audio prompts especially for the far away outposts.
4) Re-visit pathing on the new Caucases map. AI when encountering a hill drop from 230kMh to 50kMh almost instantly causing me to overshoot them despite pulling up as best i can.
5) Find out what is with the lack of engine power, i appreciate high altitude can be an issue, but at least 2 missions so far have required me to roll off the pad and 'fall' down the side of the FARP to get airborne. Don't get me wrong, i appreciate accurate simulation of difficulty, but if a helo cannot take off with levers set to full and / or FreeTurbineRPM govenor wound to max and dust protection off then they aren't fit to fly. Some difficulty to make you think is good. making it impossible to perform a sensible takeoff is not.

Regarding the last it almost feels as if the engines were de-tuned in the mission to simulate high alt ops, and then separately in another update high altitude engine parameters were adjusted as part of an overall update to the helo, then both combined makes it near impossible.

[Flappie]

2 hours ago, v81 said:

The grid system used needs more explanation, there are bearings and other numbers on some kneeboards, but i have no idea what the numbers mean. It's one number on top of another number, this is never explained and I've not seen it in charts before.

Here's an explanation:

2 hours ago, v81 said:

Also, the garmin desired track and track don't agree, and i read somewhere the bearing is wrong too. The track and desired track is supposed to be magnetic, to not stray from the track one needs to fly 6 degrees to the left of it at all times.

It's clear one of the figures is wrong.

Please read this thread:

 

2 hours ago, v81 said:

2)  It would be good to make use of the doppler nav system.

This campagin was made before the introduction fo the NS430. You're supposed to use the DISS-15 doppler nav system to reach your destination. I did and it worked.

I agree with you about the lack of directions when you're lost. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not (after all, if nav would have been made easier by copillot indications, I would still not know how to use the DISS-15).

[v81]

Thanks for the reply @Flappie

The number of number makes sense now, just hadn't seen it before.
Appreciate that being cleared up.

 

Re the Garmin, another thread confirms this is a bug, i have no issues applying compensation for the doppler and getting where i need to go.

The Garmin shows Desired Track and Actual track both denoted in degrees magnetic.
So if one flys the Garmin on an Actual track that matches the desired track everything should line up, but instead one drifts off course.
Bug for the Garmin here...

 

Re the mission being designed for the Doppler nav system, if i recall correctly some of the middle and later missions don't have the info to enter into the doppler, or as i mentioned earlier it's provided via audio and fiddly to enter in flight.

I think this campaign has prompted me to begin taking specific notes next time i start a campaign.

[Flappie]

3 minutes ago, v81 said:

if i recall correctly some of the middle and later missions don't have the info to enter into the doppler, or as i mentioned earlier it's provided via audio and fiddly to enter in flight.

You can use the Active Pause ("LShift - LWin - Pause") to enter digits into the DISS-15.

You can also use the recently added "Message History" feature to read previous radio messages (hit Escape then click "Message History").

I'll bump the NS430 bug report.

[JohnW71]

4 hours ago, v81 said:

Regarding the last it almost feels as if the engines were de-tuned in the mission to simulate high alt ops, and then separately in another update high altitude engine parameters were adjusted as part of an overall update to the helo, then both combined makes it near impossible.

The engines have been dropped to 90% in the mission files, so yes some takeoffs are very challenging/rolling down hills to get airborne etc. You could change this setting in the ME if you want. There are lot of problems in the campaign, it's really showing its age now, but I doubt these old campaigns will ever get properly overhauled now, after all this time. Occasional bug fixes at best, more than that is just probably too costly for ED. Anyway I have 2 missions left to go, and then it's getting deleted, never again....  It's also great to see how good modern campaigns are in comparison, people really are making some great stuff these days.

[v81]

@Flappie Just moved on to mission 'Haymaker'

The kneeboard distances don't make sense there.

To waypoint 1 is showing 8 over 3 - 090degrees.
8 kilometers should be 5 NM or similar

To waypoint 2 kneeboard is showing 34 over 10 - 103 degrees.
again, 34km should be about 16 NM

I think this is why i was never able to make sense of these numbers.. some of them must be wrong.

[Flappie]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll take a look.