a to a combat

[Downey Jr.]

ok I got no issues with ground crap...for the most part I evade crap... but air to air granted Ive only been doing it tonight starting on that altitude mission in deployment (which thanks to you guys I got over the mountain ;)

 

whats the weapon of choice for other enemy helis? gun or do the vikhr actually get guided to a to a? I press a to a mode and forward hemisphere (no idea what that is though) on before engaging.

 

my shkval movement is too slow trying to lock into a heli...would you use rockets too?

 

I definitely got a missile up the tailpipe from one of them so I figure I could use missiles too

 

any tips?

[EtherealN]

I typically end up using cannon against other helicopters. Good enough range and with HE ammo causes very quick death. That said, Vikhrs can indeed engage air threats - when you select A2A mode the fusing of the Vikhr is changed, and if you select "forward hemisphere" (actually head-on-aspect makes it easier to get) further tweaks the fuse for use on a target that is heading towards you. Basically makes sure the fragmentation charge on the Vikhr is set off with the correct timing.

 

Using Vikhrs against air targets is difficult and requires a good bit of practice, and I find that targets flying perpendicular to your course at speed are almost no point trying to hit with that weapon. Do note that as soon as you lock up and range a target their LWR will start blaring and not only let them know they're under attack but also from which direction. Basically - only tell them where you are if you are sure you'll cause their death within a couple seconds anyway. ;)

 

EDIT

One further note - enemy helicopters that use designator-laser weapons (like the Apache) have an advantage over you and your Vikhrs, since that type of targeting allows for more maneuver both on the launching platform and the target, since the missile will just keep looking for that laser dot. Vikhrs however are "beamriders", meaning that they have to stay within a laser grid emitted by your targeting systems. Quick maneuvers, especially on your part but also perpendicular movement in the target can cause your Vikhr to end up "outside" the grid, effectively losing guidance and becoming an unguided rocket.

Edited March 17, 2010 by EtherealN

[Downey Jr.]

ah good to know! on both the vikhr use and cannon...I need to read up on in-depth cannon use...now with a lil more practice I'll hopefully fire on them before they get me and the rest of my flight ;)

[EtherealN]

The biggest thing there is to just make sure they have no way to know where you are. Most of the time A2A engagements with the Ka-50 will have a self-defence characteristic for you, since your job (IRL) is pretty much never air interdiction anyhow. So your best defence is to be hidden, the rest is self-defence for when that fails.

[Grimes]

Note that hiding from AI is much harder than hiding from Human players.

[Boberro]

AI knows everything.... they have godlike eye.

[Frederf]

My weapon of choice for A2A is a Mig29 providing CAP. Failing that I use a Vikhr (which are way more reliable in DCS than in real life) and backing that up the 24A2 cannon. Now that I have Win7 and my FPS is better I might use cannon more.

 

Shkval should be plenty quick. Take it out of 23x to 7x zoom and be aware that it speeds up the longer you hold it. Also the HMS is good for quick points. Make sure to fly with it dimmed and ready. Shouldn't be a problem with Shkval speed, low FPS and getting the bleedin' track to take is another issue.

[slug88]

AI knows everything.... they have godlike eye.

 

Not true. The detection model for AI aircraft is pretty advanced in DCS. Ambush an enemy helicopter from his 6 o'clock and you can fly behind him all day, he won't know you're there until you start shooting. I've gunned down many Hinds this way.

[26-J39]

AI detection of the enemy (you), can vary upon the way there setup in ME.. If they are just flying a pattern you can pretty much fly formation with them, if they are tasked with searching helo targets its a different story.

Also: when attacking helo from a distance, lase em up, wait till they turn into you, then pump 2 x viks into them...(usually 8-6Km dist) they will have no chance.. They usually dont break off (which they should when u lase them) but works A1 for me whether Apache or Hind. :P

[Bushmanni]

I shoot Vikhrs at helicopters often without lock because I have trouble lockin airborne targets. For some reason the KA-50 computer won't allow locking when I track the target with Shkval. To get the lock, I have to first stop slewing which is annoying. I don't know if it's a design feature or technical limitation though. So I just shoot the missiles and keep tracking manually. If the target isn't far far away I can get a shot off a lot faster than if trying to lock it first.

 

I have tuned my axis settings for CH Pro Throttle ministick pretty well and using analog control for Shkval slewing makes engaging with missiles lot faster. This is espcecially true for airborne targets. I would recommend having a well set up analog control for Shkval. It has made my virtual pilot life a lot easier.

 

I usually shoot two missiles to assure destruction. I rarely get direct hit even with a lock at an airborne target. This seems a bit odd to me actually because if AI gets a hit on me it's almost always a direct hit. I think I'm doing something wrong? But anyway, two missiles will make enough damage to bring down any bird even with non-direct hits.

 

It depends a lot of the situation at which range I change to gun. I think about 2km is a max range for shooting helis with gun. If I can get a good Vikhr shot at that range I will rather take that and end the fight quickly than try to fiddle with the gun. But I think at about 1km it's definitely time to change to gun. If the target isn't particularly dangerous, I would start to set up the gun shot a bit earlier before getting at gun range to be ready when in range instead taking the missile shot. When very close, I aim the gun with helmet sight, keeping "uncage Shkval (O)" button depressed continuously. Dimming HUD and helmet sight reticle helps seeing where your shells are going and adjusting aim. At longer ranges, I make a rough aim with helmet sight and fine adjustment with ministick.

 

If I know my targets will be closer than 1-2km, I'll turn the laser off. I have had occasions at very close range shoot outs with gun that it has refused to fire. Problem has been, that in haste I have missed the target when lasing and have lased sky or ground some 10km away and then weapons computer has been thinking I'm out of range. Or I have had some 4km reading in it left from shooting missiles and weapons computer adjusts hold-off accordingly and all my shells fly over the target.

 

A2A mode enables promixity fuse for Vikhrs. Head-on mode is probably for fixed-wing targets flying straight at you. At least for helis, plain A2A mode has worked perfectly for me.

[Frederf]

Instead of turning the laser off you can switch the WCS to manual which doesn't have the "out of range" interrupt that WCS auto has.

 

Good on you for being able to hit anything without a tracking-lock. I can't imagine hitting anything cannon or Vikhr without it.

[norm]

If i have to use gun, and am not in a position to lock, I just hit back space and then slect cannon.

[sweinhart3]

Ive taken out heli before using boresight mode but its not always easy. Ive been having problems with Apaches. Several times now I have locked up and launched vhiker at them and it misses but I dont make it passed that cause everytime they launch at me it has never missed no matter how I try evasion. Manpads and such are much easier to avoid.

[Bushmanni]

I have tried the manual mode and the problem with that is the "shooting with incorrect range" problem. For example, if I lase the target, miss and get a wrong reading, I would have to lase again or turn laser off to correct the situation but most likely I wouldn't notice it and tried to shoot with incorrect range. WCS would try to lead the target based on wrong data and cause me to miss. Missing the target when lasing is really easy to do when aiming with helmet sight.

 

Hellfire can be avoided with some speed and a well timed change in flight direction. Hellfire isn't a very maneuverable missile, but it can lead a moving target really well. If you change your flightpath about a 1-2s before impact, hellfire won't have time to correct it's aim and it will miss. The best maneuver has been a momentary dive. When you dive, the missile corrects it's aim to under you and when you climb again, it has to bring its nose back up. This will bleed its energy and usually makes it miss you because it doesn't have time to correct it's aim before going past you. Without labels the incoming Hellfires range is impossible to know so you just have to make dives and climbs about 1-2s apart and hope for the best. This dodge maneuver doesn't work when closer than 4-5 km because the Hellfire has still a lot of speed at that point and it will change direction too quickly for you to evade it.

 

When head to head with a pair of Apaches, this is what I have found to work best. First I will search and lock the lead Apache with Shkval. When the lead Apache launches Hellfire at 9km I will dodge it and then launch my pair of Vikhrs after evading the Hellfire. My Vikhrs have a range of about 8.5km on incoming Apaches that leaves me just a bit short. So I have to evade the first missile and then launch. I could launch at 8.5km but the Hellfire would be still in the air headed at me and dodging might break the lock at Apache and I would lose my Vikhrs. After my launch the Apache will launch another Hellfire but this time I won't bother dodging because Vikhr should get the Apache first. In case I miss I start dodging again to evade another missile. Then I will again shoot a pair of Vikhrs and do what before. When the leader gets blow out from the sky the Hellfire loses its guidance so dodging in that case is unnecessary. Then I will quickly slew Shkval to other Apache and while it makes its useless "dodge" maneuver I shoot two more Vikhrs with manual tracking. This time I'm so close that manual tracking is precise enough. If I happen to get really close into guns range, I switch off the laser and start aiming the gun with helmet sight and pump shells in their direction in a cloud that's hard to avoid. Apache is a very dangerous threat and I won't hesitate to use a lot of ordnance to bring it down ASAP.

[norm]

Sorry to go of on a bit of a tangent, but why can't I fire multiple pares of Vikers? After the first two are away, they launch singly.

[EtherealN]

You should be able to do that, afaik, though I've also sometimes found myself not getting doubles when I expected to - though I always blamed my trigger finger.

[sweinhart3]

Ive noticed this too. Not sure but it seems like if there is an uneven amount of vhikers on both sides, it will only launch one until there is an even amount. Maybe some kind of safety measure?

[slug88]

It's not that. You can only launch two Vikhrs when the laser cool-down timer has reached 0. You can see the cool down timer on the HUD next to the reticle.

[Frederf]

Aye, certainly there are reasons why you would get a single instead of dual launch. The full cooldown might be it but there's also the fact that keeping the reticule lined up for the duration of both shots can be pretty tough.

[EtherealN]

And some pure human "touches" as well - I have a tendency to release the weapon release button involuntarily as soon as I hear the sound of a launch. :P