S3 Refueler question

[dr_hippo]

Hi,

I was flying a self made mission with the F18.

When the fuel was almost empty I flew to a S3 refueler. In the mission editor I added a tacan to the refueler and let him orbit between wp2 and wp 3. When I contacted the refueler he gave me the standard message and in my communication menu "ready to pre-contact was available'. When I arrived at the refuler ther was another F18 ( IA ) flying behind the refueler. Nevertheless he was not refueling yet and when I flew behind the s3 tanker and pressed "ready topre- contact "he gave me the message that he was busy with the other AI F18. So I waited until the AI F18 was finished.When he was finished the S3 tanker re-trackted the refuel basket and I was unable to refuel with that S3 tanker. So my question, How many plains can a S3 tanker refuel, how is that modeled in DCS. And how can I know if flying to a tanker that he is to busy???

 

Thanx

 

 

[Darcaem]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, but this very same situation happened to me on my custom made mission. After the tanker's basket was fully off I cancel my refuel mission through radio and initiated the sequence from scratch.

After the initial radio message the tanker extended the basket again and I was able to refuel normally

Enviado desde mi POCOPHONE F1 mediante Tapatalk

[silverdevil]

from what i can read, the S3 does not carry much gas. it is possible that it ran out before the second hornet got there. maybe that is modeled.

[rob10]

1 hour ago, silverdevil said:

from what i can read, the S3 does not carry much gas. it is possible that it ran out before the second hornet got there. maybe that is modeled.

That is definitely modeled, and annoyingly, the only indication is that they start ignoring you (all tankers are like that).  Should have some sort of radio call back to let you know they can't help you.  And yes, the S3 can be drained by one low fuel F-18 AI tanking off it (I'm pretty sure it was only one, but might have been another AI that I didn't see got some too.  I do know from MP that it isn't a lot of planes to drain it even if you're just topping up).

Edited February 14, 2023 by rob10

[dr_hippo]

Hmmm,

Nice answers! Does that mean If i do not want to make use of the big thankers ( C130, KC 135, etc  ) that I have to add a S3 tanker for every allied plain in a mission??

Thanx

Dr Hippo

[draconus]

On 2/15/2023 at 11:23 AM, dr_hippo said:

Does that mean If i do not want to make use of the big thankers ( C130, KC 135, etc  ) that I have to add a S3 tanker for every allied plain in a mission??

Depends on how many (if at all) of them will need refueling (and how much) for their mission tasks.