A-10A A-A Difficulties in FC3

[orbmis]

Hello,

I’m relatively new to DCS & FC3, and have come across a small learning issue. After playing around with the CAS Instant Mission, I was able to get comfortable with launching A-to-G attacks with the Mavericks. 
However, when I moved to practice some A-A attacks on the helps, I wasn’t able to get much done. After switching to AA mode, I just couldn’t weapon release any missiles. I tried to do a weapon change (D), but nothing came up with that. When I went to check the load out (LAlt+’), I also couldn’t bring up the Rearming screen to see what weapons were loaded. 

I’m guessing I may be missing something here, so any help would be appreciated.

thx,

orby

Edited July 22, 2024 by orbmis

[Ironhand]

Have you checked the manual?

Quote

A-10A EMPLOYMENT CHECK LISTS
Air-to-Air Weapons
The A-10A has limited capabilities to engage in air-to-air combat. If forces to do so, the AIM-9 short range missile and GAU-8A internal gun are available.
AIM-9 Sidewinder
A radar is not installed in the A-10A, as such, it must acquire its air targets visually. Target lock is done with the weapon bore sight mode that only uses the infrared seeker of the AIM-9.
Step 1
Identify the target visually.
Step 2
Select air-to-air mode by pressing [6] key. Maneuver the aircraft to place the target inside the AIM-9 seeker reticule on the HUD.
Step 3
Wait until the missile seeker achieves lock, represented by the high-pitched tone. Lock range depends on target IR-signature and can vary from .1 to 10 miles. When the target is framed by the reticule and the lock tone sounds, you have a valid seeker lock. Launch the weapon by pressing the weapons release button on your joystick or by pressing the [RAlt-Space] key on your keyboard.
MAINTAIN A STEADY AIM-9 MISSILE SEEKER LOCK BEFORE FIRING.
Internal Gun Application in Air-to-Air Mode
Step 1
Identify the target visually.
Step 2
Select air-to-air mode by pressing [6] key. The gun funnel and AIM-9 seeker reticule will be visible on the HUD.
Step 3
Maneuver your aircraft to place the target inside the funnel such that the target’s wingtips touch the funnel edges. Press the fire button on your joystick or [Space] key on your keyboard to fire.
Effective fire is generally below 800 meters. For better accuracy, try to maneuver in the same plane as your target. The gun funnel is most accurate when used from behind the target

 

[orbmis]

2 hours ago, Ironhand said:

Have you checked the manual?

 

Is it possible to view an aircraft's weapon loadout while in flight? I've read about doing it via ground crew comms, but continue to get no action when I try LAlt+'.  And I'd guess that opening the canopy isn't recommended. <grin>

thx,

orby

 

[TKhaos]

10 minutes ago, orbmis said:

Is it possible to view an aircraft's weapon loadout while in flight? I've read about doing it via ground crew comms, but continue to get no action when I try LAlt+'.  And I'd guess that opening the canopy isn't recommended. <grin>

thx,

orby

 

Need to be on the ground to open do the rearming loadout. Also engines need to be shutdown completely or it will go through the motions then tell you rearming failed. If you rearm with what you already had still save it as a loadout, there's a dropdown on the right side or you can do a new loadout and save that as well.

A-10's are mainly ground attack and close air support so you don't get many options when it comes to air to air as the missiles aren't that great as you only got the Aim-9's and they only have a 10nm range on them so got to get pretty close in. Your better off not trying to engage fighters in an A-10, better off taking helicopters down.

This video from Grim Reapers might be helpful
 

 

[orbmis]

On 7/22/2024 at 3:54 PM, TKhaos said:

Need to be on the ground to open do the rearming loadout. Also engines need to be shutdown completely or it will go through the motions then tell you rearming failed. If you rearm with what you already had still save it as a loadout, there's a dropdown on the right side or you can do a new loadout and save that as well.

A-10's are mainly ground attack and close air support so you don't get many options when it comes to air to air as the missiles aren't that great as you only got the Aim-9's and they only have a 10nm range on them so got to get pretty close in. Your better off not trying to engage fighters in an A-10, better off taking helicopters down.
 

 

Thanks for the reply. Certainly clears things up. I was flying the FC3 A-10A CAS mission, and was trying to find out how many & what type A2A, only for informational purposes. Surprised there wasn’t something in DCS to see the loadout situation in a view-only mode.

But sure am having fun with this. Hoping to get more comfortable with the 'A', then I can go on to the A-10C, followed by one of the fighters,

thx,

orby

Edited August 14, 2024 by orbmis

[TKhaos]

33 minutes ago, orbmis said:

 

Thanks for the reply. Certainly clears things up. I was flying the FC3 A-10A CAS mission, and was trying to find out how many & what type A2A, only for informational purposes. Surprised there was somethin in DCS to see the loadout situation in a view-only mode.

But sure am having fun with this. Hoping to get more comfortable with the 'A', then I can go on to the A-10C, followed by one of the fighters,

thx,

orby

I started off with the original A-10C when it first came out years ago, then more recently when I got the original Flaming Cliffs 3 I started using the A-10A every now and then but I upgraded to the A-10C II a few months back. They are all pretty similar to fly, sometimes I like slower stuff like the OV-10 Bronco but then today I was in the F/A-18C and Huey. If you look in your install directory for DCS and go to 'DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\A-10A\Doc' there's a pretty useful 104 page manual in there to flick through. When is comes to selecting missions though you might find these useful, I downloaded them from the ED User Files section.

This is the original post, Goldwolf has done reference files for all the aircraft to use as Kneeboards. They have included an excellent full reference guide as well which is full of information about different aircraft and vehicles, well worth downloading.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318384/

Edited July 22, 2024 by TKhaos

[Ironhand]

36 minutes ago, orbmis said:

...I was flying the FC3 A-10A CAS mission, and was trying to find out how many & what type A2A, only for informational purposes...

You have 2 AIM-9Ms an your wing. When you select A2A, you can hear the seeker tone and there's a new circle on the HUD. Put that circle over the target. Other than that, you have your gun. The loadout for that mission is listed in the briefing screen for the mission. The Aim-9Ms also show green (selected) on the weapons panel,when you select A2A.

[orbmis]

13 minutes ago, TKhaos said:

I started off with the original A-10C when it first came out years ago, then more recently when I got the original Flaming Cliffs 3 I started using the A-10A every now and then but I upgraded to the A-10C II a few months back. They are all pretty similar to fly, sometimes I like slower stuff like the OV-10 Bronco but then today I was in the F/A-18C and Huey. If you look in your install directory for DCS and go to 'DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\A-10A\Doc' there's a pretty useful 104 page manual in there to flick through. When is comes to selecting missions though you might find these useful, I downloaded them from the ED User Files section.

This is the original post, Goldwolf has done reference files for all the aircraft.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318384/
 

Thanks... That 2nd one is really nice!

I picked up the F/A-18C during the recent DCS Summer Sale, & hoping to get there some day.  Speaking of the Huey,, are the rudder pedals pretty much a requirement when trying to fly helo's? 

[orbmis]

8 minutes ago, Ironhand said:

You have 2 AIM-9Ms an your wing. When you select A2A, you can hear the seeker tone and there's a new circle on the HUD. Put that circle over the target. Other than that, you have your gun. The loadout for that mission is listed in the briefing screen for the mission. The Aim-9Ms also show green (selected) on the weapons panel,when you select A2A.

Just to be sure,, I didn't see anything re: loadout for the FC3 A-10A CAS Instant Action mission briefing? Am I missing something, or is it hidden somewhere?

Thanks for the help,, 

Much appreciated guys!

orby

[TKhaos]

1 hour ago, orbmis said:

Thanks... That 2nd one is really nice!

I picked up the F/A-18C during the recent DCS Summer Sale, & hoping to get there some day.  Speaking of the Huey,, are the rudder pedals pretty much a requirement when trying to fly helo's? 

The F/A-18C is nice to fly but being full fidelity you need to put in some effort to learn the buttons and switches and how to use the systems, I think the manual is about 768 pages but don't need all that. I generally do fast starts which takes a few minutes after you get used to the sequence. 

It all depends what controller you got and how good you are with it, the Huey is one of the harder ones to fly when it comes to landings and takes a bit of getting used to. My suggestion would be to download the UH-60L Blackhawk mod and start with that, it's easy to fly and hover and easy to land. One of the issues with the Huey is crashing on landings because of VRS (Vortex Ring State) after coming into a hover and descending too fast, you end up dropping out the sky as you lose all lift, probably explain that better but been up 20 hours

People will argue that you need pedals, I no longer have mine and didn't fancy yet another computer box taking up room with a new set of pedals. I've got a Thrustmaster T.16000M HOTAS and use the paddles on the throttle for rudder, get used to it in about an hour but I can control the helicopers and aircraft exactly like I could with my pedals after fine tuning my curve on the axis.

It is harder using a twist grip joystick but is flyable, just requires more effort as your twisting to give rudder control while trying to use it as  pitch and roll control at the same time, the biggest issue is after a while it can lead to painful wrist and stiffness as it's under constant stress.  

This is the link to the UH-60L Blackhawk, just make sure if you download you click on 'uh-60l 1.4.zip' and not the source code as it won't work.

https://github.com/Kinkkujuustovoileipa/uh-60l/releases

Edited July 23, 2024 by TKhaos

[Ironhand]

3 hours ago, orbmis said:

Just to be sure,, I didn't see anything re: loadout for the FC3 A-10A CAS Instant Action mission briefing? Am I missing something, or is it hidden somewhere?

Thanks for the help,, 

Much appreciated guys!

orby

Sorry. Missed that it was the Instant Action. There is no load out listed. The rest of what I said is valid—almost. I should have been more specific. When I said A2A, I should have added Boresight (the 6 key). That’s the only A2A mode available for the A-10.

[draconus]

17 hours ago, orbmis said:

Is it possible to view an aircraft's weapon loadout while in flight?

You can look at the wings from cockpit or - as a last resort - check F2 external view. In the proper missions you usually have full briefing or even kneeboard page.