Me vs. M163 and it's 20mm Vulcan cannon...

[BigVette]

I'm flying the convoy mission where you have to locate the convoy and destroy it before it reaches the coast; it's a military convoy with HUMVEE SAM up front and M163 in the rear. Well, the AAA is kicking my butt - he can usually find me before I can find him, and if I want to stop, hover, and get into a urinating contest with him well, he's one every time.

 

So I try and pop up on another attempt from a nearby hill, and I still can't get him locked up in enough time, even with my cannon, before he turns his radar guided 20mm vulcan cannon on me and shreds my beautiful coaxial rotary winged aircraft; I sure have gotten good at ejecting though.

 

So help me out here, and I'm coming from AH-64 sims like the multiple versions of Gunshhip over the years, but there appears to be a lack of an auto-lock feature and thereby the only way I can get my "bad-guys" to focus their eyes on the target 2 clicks off my nose firing 20mm shells at me is to try and slew my optical system onto it?

 

How else does one approach this sort of mission, where you're flying low and fast looking for the column only to come on it and need to squelch the AAA/SAM muy pronto but to no avail? When I send my wingman a few clicks off my nose to "reece" how is he finding all of these targets so well, eyeballs only?

 

I've spent like 13 hours flight time just getting comfortable flying the Ka-50 and learning how to use it's auto-hover and such, but wow now that I'm trying to incorporate the "gunship" portion of the Ka-50 into the equation, I'm running out of eyeballs, appendages, and digits! :joystick:

 

Any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated.

[GGTharos]

Have you tried the helmet mounted sight to speed things up?

 

Lastly, why are you entering his WEZ? Get some range! This dueling with AA on a twitch stuff is for rambo movies.

[Sharkster64]

My first suggestion to you is to try not to get so close before engaging. If you stick to the limits of your vikhrs, you will find that some of the sams and aaa will not engage you. I find that with the Vulcans, they usually don't engage me till I'm about 4-5 miles away. Use the scan feature on your schval to locate the enemy and fly slow so that you can stop in time to engage them at the limits. Another thing that you can do to spot enemies while flying to a waypoint, is turn on the autopilot and zoom your view right in and scan the countryside ahead. Some might consider this cheating, but I don't, simply because of the fact that the resolution we are given on the screen, can't compare to the vision we have in real life. You will be surprised at what you can see in the distance with your view zoomed in. Anyways give these a try. :thumbup:

[BigVette]

The only reason I was within his range was when I popped up on him while looking for him within the hills and buildings; I agree, I don't try to enter into his range if I can spot him.

 

The scan feature sounds like something I need to brush up on; just got the printed manual from Wags so that's a lot easier now.

 

Thanks for the gouge, that's what I'm looking for.

[Frederf]

To be honest the scan feature is only something I use in a hover to check a target area or while enroute to possibly spot an ambush ahead. It just sweeps the Shkval back and forth like a sentry so you don't have to do it manually.

 

The wingman should be able to be commanded to engage "Ground Targets" or "Air Defenses" which should be just fine if the wingman has discovered these targets for himself. I'm guessing that if the AAA is shooting at you then you are plenty close for the wingman to know about them. There is also an "attack my attacker" command but maybe that only works for aircraft attackers. All of these commands don't require you to point out any specific target for the wingman to attack.

 

As for the mission... perhaps low and fast is not the answer? I don't know how narrow a search area you have but perhaps parallel to the suspected road at ~3km is pretty safe. Being up high usually means you see a bit further and it allows you to dive for speed while giving out flares.

 

I would try to think of a detection phase and an attack phase. Once you find the convoy run the heck away and attack from a more prepared stance. Trying to blend into attack from detection can mean you're not in the best search posture or attack posture since it's a compromise. I know how difficult it can be to look for a target in DCS without becoming one though so good luck!

[BigVette]

Have any of you all tried this mission? There are three convoys and granted I evidently can't fly and fight in the Ka-50 very well, but damn I'm evidently not terribly effective; I get my ass handed to me every time.

 

Often times their hiding in between trees and buildings, and I'm lucky if I even see them, even after they hit my aircraft; I mean it's not even a contest.

[Waldo_II]

If you know the road they'll be on and the approximate time, it should be no problem. Set yourself up in front of the convoy about 5-8km out, and hit the front vehicle as soon as it is within range (you can hit past the range if you change a switch from auto to manual, I cannot recall the name. It is below the Skhval screen). After that, lock up the AA HHMWV and hit it, then the M163, and finish off the rest with whatever you've got. Do not be afraid to engage from the maximum Vikhr distance, or to be high up. I guarantee that you can hit them at longer distances than they can hit you.

[EtherealN]

Yeah, first time I tried it I was surprised by them, had my wingman shot down while he was on recce and had all my sensors destroyed causing cannon to be my only weapon - and that without ranging information. After doing a proper bug-out with the overspeed alarm flaring I managed to position myself well enough to execute strafing runs that took out two of the convoys but I didn't manage the third.

 

Basically, if you are surprised by triple-A, do not fight them then and there. Make a mental note of where the threat was while you get the hell out of there - and to that end always keep a safe escape route in mind even if you haven't spotted anything hostile yet. (Though in that first time my assumed safe route ran me straight through other threats, though I managed to jink my way past them.)

 

Only when you have established safety should you consider engaging the threats - in a calm and calculated manner.

 

If you are drawn into a twitch-fight, you have already conceded the initiative to your enemy and you will probably die. 90% of winning a fight is to be the one who decides when, where and how the fight will take place. If you lose that priviliged position you get out and try to re-establish initiative for yourself. Convoys with triple-A and stingers are slow and short-ranged enough that you do have opportunity for multiple tries at getting it right.

[BigVette]

The tactic that I have found to work the best for me is to go out over the water and establish a hover just outside of Koubaletti and let the three convoy's come to me. Besides the convoy's there are also random AAA emplacements that can sneak up on you, and even hovering over the coast still puts me too close to SAM range.

 

When trying to get these convoys, the SAM's are up front and the AAA is in the back; at least with a SAM I usually get some notice and have a decent shot of dodging it, but with the radar-guided AAA usually the first sign I get that they are there is tracer's grazing my cockpit.

 

I've tried the opposite and going up into the mountains and working my way down, but those convoys are not easy to find and again, the AAA is in the rear.