Mission 3 - CAP

[speed-of-heat]

Spoiler

How on earth are you meant to find the drone!  the only way i could do it was with labels, i couldn't get it to show up on radar at all ?

Spoiler

On splashing the bandits, we RTB, but the C-17's had not left, from my read of the mission log, he seemed to crash and die (though the aircraft and his flight were still either on the runway or queued up)  there was no voice comms on approach i landed on 24R ... 

sorry !

Track file dragon cap 03.trk

[Gilligan]

I found him visually, based on a brief radar return and the given AWACS position & heading I kind of guessed at where I thought he might be and searched along that bearing line. I started closer to the island and moved farther out as I searched and eventually spotted it.

 

 

The C17's not taking off is most likely a bug. I did not have an issue with that.

[SorelRo]

Aren't drones fun that way? If it would've been easy it wouldn't have been there. But we rely so much on how good the radar is to find a plane, but when the target has a smaller signature it gets challenging. You do get some brief returns on the radar, you just have to be careful with it and use the MK1 eyeball standard issue. 

New update, new AI fun. I swear one day, I'll make a POV script and 30 seconds if you are not looking there I'm disabling all the NPC groups and be done with it.    

[speed-of-heat]

10 minutes ago, SorelRo said:

Aren't drones fun that way? If it would've been easy it wouldn't have been there. But we rely so much on how good the radar is to find a plane, but when the target has a smaller signature it gets challenging. You do get some brief returns on the radar, you just have to be careful with it and use the MK1 eyeball standard issue. 

New update, new AI fun. I swear one day, I'll make a POV script and 30 seconds if you are not looking there I'm disabling all the NPC groups and be done with it.    

Your definition of fun might need a little work

[SorelRo]

38 minutes ago, speed-of-heat said:

Your definition of fun might need a little work

Funny enough, you are not the first one that told me this, however, looking at what's happening out there in the world, I had to add some drone warfare there. Also, i make campaigns for DCS, I'm sure that I don't fit in the definition or "normal" or "sane"

[connos]

On 12/11/2024 at 11:03 PM, speed-of-heat said:

Your definition of fun might need a little work

If you fly in the direction of what awacs is reporting your wingman will spot it and report. Then its very easy to locate it. Just make sure you are in the correct frequency.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2024 by connos

[speed-of-heat]

i was on the correct frequency and the wing man did call out .. couldn't spot it at all ... 

[gonvise]

Frustrated here, I've been here twice now and I don't see it, the first location that the awacs gives me is supposed to be in reference to the bullseye, which I have previously entered its coordinates and assigned correctly, I head towards there but there is no way, I don't see it. No wingman call out. The frequency that I have is the one required in the mission itself, saying Uniform push 2, so I put preset 2 in COM1. ???

[speed-of-heat]

COM1 is UHF ergo U Uniform 

[Gilligan]

On 12/13/2024 at 11:05 AM, gonvise said:

Frustrated here, I've been here twice now and I don't see it, the first location that the awacs gives me is supposed to be in reference to the bullseye, which I have previously entered its coordinates and assigned correctly, I head towards there but there is no way, I don't see it. No wingman call out. The frequency that I have is the one required in the mission itself, saying Uniform push 2, so I put preset 2 in COM1. ???

Heres a tac view file of the drone's position and flight path. Spawn is about 24,000 MSL with a slight descent. I intercepted it around 22,000 MSL. Bearing from Rota is approx 205 (25-30 Miles), or 350 from Anderson. it's flying a heading of approx 180. 

 

Good Luck.

Tacview-20241101-234218-DCS-F-16M3.zip.acmi

[gonvise]

12 hours ago, Gilligan said:

Heres a tac view file of the drone's position and flight path. Spawn is about 24,000 MSL with a slight descent. I intercepted it around 22,000 MSL. Bearing from Rota is approx 205 (25-30 Miles), or 350 from Anderson. it's flying a heading of approx 180. 

 

Good Luck.

Tacview-20241101-234218-DCS-F-16M3.zip.acmi 14.1 MB · 0 downloads

Thanks, but can you confirm me if the callout of 315 is respect bullseye?

[speed-of-heat]

yes

[Gilligan]

Supplemental:

 

If you press List -> 0 -> 8 -> 0 (List -> MSC -> BULLS -> SEL) on the ICP it will enable bullseye information on the FCR and HSD on the bottom left of the screen that corresponds to the cursor location on that screen. 

 

As in, once enabled, you can search on the FCR or HSD screen for a location relative to the bullseye. If you lock a contact it will give you the location of that contact relative to bullseye. 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Gilligan

[gonvise]

Yes, thanks, I know how to use the bullseye, but I couldn't find the drone following the direction, on the third try I found it; I was also expecting, as you say, a callout from my wingman's own mission, but now I see that what you were referring to is a callout from the DCS itself, not scripted... Anyway, I shot down the drone, I followed my CAP, I started receiving callouts, at one point code JANE, we shot down several 33, when I didn't see any left I continued with the CAP indefinitely, there were no more messages, when I got tired I tried to land at the origin, 250 points but 50 as a result, mission not passed.

[Sunbather]

I am a beginner and this is my first campaign but I think finding the drone is super frustrating as well. I've watched Connor's playthrough of this specific situation multiple times, I've tried the mission myself multiple times, and when I find the drone it seems to be pure luck. Even my three wingmen need about 20 minutes (sped up) to find the drone when I give them the mission order. (I think when you issue that order they go back to the CAP area and just stumble upon the drone as soon as it comes into their area.)

Possible solutions:

1. I would assume the AWACS is able to not only spot such a big drone for a few seconds but also keep the track? So maybe it is possible to at least have the contact permanently on the HSD aka Datalink16? That would make tracking the target a lot easier.

2. Since I understand that you want to make this a bit more difficult, maybe you can have the drone hover around a specific zone and let the AWACS give you specific intel (bearing 315, hovering) --- that way the player still needs to find it with their eyeballs but doesn't have to navigate around the map blindly.

[gonvise]

37 minutes ago, Sunbather said:

I am a beginner and this is my first campaign but I think finding the drone is super frustrating as well. I've watched Connor's playthrough of this specific situation multiple times, I've tried the mission myself multiple times, and when I find the drone it seems to be pure luck. Even my three wingmen need about 20 minutes (sped up) to find the drone when I give them the mission order. (I think when you issue that order they go back to the CAP area and just stumble upon the drone as soon as it comes into their area.)

Possible solutions:

1. I would assume the AWACS is able to not only spot such a big drone for a few seconds but also keep the track? So maybe it is possible to at least have the contact permanently on the HSD aka Datalink16? That would make tracking the target a lot easier.

2. Since I understand that you want to make this a bit more difficult, maybe you can have the drone hover around a specific zone and let the AWACS give you specific intel (bearing 315, hovering) --- that way the player still needs to find it with their eyeballs but doesn't have to navigate around the map blindly.

Don't worry, I've played almost all the F16 and F18 campaigns and it took me three tries; it's obviously not well designed, but I'm sure they'll fix it and your ideas are very good. However, in general, it must be hell for campaign developers when each ED update causes some bug in their missions, although in this case, I simply think it's too difficult, especially for the third one.

[Sunbather]

vor 22 Stunden schrieb gonvise:

Don't worry, I've played almost all the F16 and F18 campaigns and it took me three tries; it's obviously not well designed, but I'm sure they'll fix it and your ideas are very good. However, in general, it must be hell for campaign developers when each ED update causes some bug in their missions, although in this case, I simply think it's too difficult, especially for the third one.

That's a relief, as was finding this thread. I really though I'm a complete idiot with the F-16C. With my confidence reassured, I will tackle this mission again very soon.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Sunbather