Coming back to FC2.0 F-15 campaign and I am consistently crap!

[coolts]

Well, I have been away playing Napoleon: Total War for a month or so after completing the FC2.0 A-10 campaign and enjoying it immensely.

Returning, I ploughed into the F-15 campaign and after setting up my Cougar controls, bumbled through the first two missions.

 

Then had my arse handed to me on a plate!

 

It’s a whole new world and a much more vicious one than I remembered from my FC1.12 / F-15 campaign, (or maybe I was better then?).

I have fought through to mission 4 now (bomber & escort intercept), and am having big problems.

 

I am really enjoying it though and so far, the problems are my own making, primarily because;

 

·

I am charging in ahea

d of my wingmen and the bandits are gang-launching on me

·

I can’t get to ECM burn-through and identify individual targets for my wingmen intercept orders fast enough. (I may just tell them to “engage my target” based on a HOJ lock).

·

My “notching” skills need some work

·

Beaming the missile only works if you can see it and identify which smoke trail is the one with your name on it.

I won’t put the labels on though!:thumbup:

I have read the excellent AAR’s and find them really helpful. Like mini-tutorials for us sky bumblers.

 

Thanks BeachAv8r, Ven & dwpenny for keeping us entertained!

[EvilBivol-1]

Don't feel bad - the F-15 campaign is not easy. You are in an outnumbered scenario with lots of targets and not many friendlies to lend a hand. As I did for Ven, my first and simplest suggestion when having trouble is to consider using the new Mission Planner to load up more AIM-120Cs. By default, you are usually loaded with 2 AIM-120Cs and 4 AIM-120Bs. This is a kind of built-in difficulty setting and allows the player to adjust, but in reality the -120C would be the standad missile anyway. Given that you are usually quite outnumbered, I think it's a fair adjustment to make and should help get through the missions.

 

Regarding tactics, in that particular mission try to make sure you are engaging the Flankers first. Try to ID them through the ECM. Also, the bandits will generally launch their first shots at maximum range and these will be SARH, so you should be able to trash their first volley easily enough in the notch. If you are not quite sure how this works, I would definitely suggest flying a dedicated 1v1 vs an AI Flanker and studying how the missile guidance works out when you notch - in particular how long you need to notch for before the missile is trashed and cannot reaquire reliably. The hard part is setting up for the fight in a way that leaves you with enough live wingmen by the time you put your nose back on.

Edited May 4, 2010 by EvilBivol-1

[coolts]

Thanks for the advice. My big failing is not using AWCACS to estimate range for a HOJ shot. I may be able to put 2 or 3 bandits on the defensive if I can get a few good shots off.

 

Also on this mission you are told to engage at 33k. That makes it harder to notch as you are so high up after a shot. Diving with afterburners like a flaming meteor to get below the enemy after a shot makes detecting oncoming missiles that much harder.

 

Tonight I will come in lower, (25k-ish), try to fire 2-3 long range HOJ, shots, tell my wingmen to engage then beam and head for terra firma to try and break their SARH lock. Hopefully I can then get some separation, turn and re-engage with the odds evened a little!

 

I wil try your mission planner suggestion at the weekend. I plan to get my hands dirty in that dept anyway.

 

[As a side note, in the FC manual there is a summary of Russian missiles with ranges, etc. Is there a NATO equivalent? Obviously such numbers are to be taken in context; as altitude, bearing, target manouvers and speed will all alter the mix, but for instance, in a head on launch at 30k, if AWACS says bandits are <30nm, is it worth a HOJ shot? I am a missile scrooge!]

Edited May 5, 2010 by coolts

[EtherealN]

Remember that being high also increases the range of your own missiles - especially HOJs.

 

30nm HOJ shots might be worth it if your sole purpose is to get them defensive early enough to break their support of their own missiles. Hard to make this useful when engaging a full 4-ship flight tho.

[coolts]

I see what you mean, and after doing a bit of digging i see why there are no hard and fast range stats for missiles. There are too many variables.

 

I will try 30nm HOJ shot but think that may be right on the edge of ECM burn through anyways with the Flanker CAP. The fact that they are coming headon reduces your reaction times massively. (That and my tendency to panic when the RWR goes off!)

[EvilBivol-1]

I would say feel free to adjust the flight plan as needed for combat. If you find that lower altitudes work better for your tactics, that's within your power as flight lead. Most missions are not going to force you to fly the flight plan exactly other than to try and make sure you arrived in your assigned area.

[Ven]

Of the 10 missions, I was only able to complete 5 missions on first try. And two of them were mission 1 and 2 which had no combat. What's important is to save the track when you fail and analyze it. See how they're reacting to your actions and also see if your wingmen are doing what they're supposed to. As I said in my AAR, enemy AI's usually come after me especially when I charge in ahead of my wingmen. And rely on my wingmen to do the killing.

[Datajack]

I'm on mission 6 of the campaign and Ven is right about the AI. I will usually charge ahead and get fired on multiple times from long range. At this point I send in my wingmen in while I notch and I'm sure the missiles have gone ballistic. Then I re-engage. Usually by the time I'm in range, my wingmen have already taken out most (if not all of my targets). Keep in mind there's a also a pretty significant delay between the time you issue an order to your wingmen and the time they actually carry it out. So make sure you give them ample time before you react after issuing a command. This tactic works very well, although I must say it does take away from the overall fun factor, as its nice to be able to actually shoot something down every once in a while instead of letting my wingmen have all the fun, but in the end you will get the all important mission complete message. :)

[Ven]

Yea, I do agree somewhat about reduced fun factor from not killing them all yourself but as EvilBivol said, you are outnumbered in most of the missions in this campaign. For 1 or 2 missions I think I got no kills but in others I had 1 to 4 kills using this strategy which is not bad. Plus, I don't think it's realistic to score 4 kills against Flankers all by yourself.

 

Another advice I might add is to change loadout. Mission gives you by default mix of 120B's and 120C's but I switch them to 6-120C's and 2-9M. Same loadout for all my wingmen too. And don't try to conserve missiles. Launch extra missiles whenever you're in doubt.

 

Edit: Looks like EvilBivol already suggested this LOL. Note to self... read.

Edited May 6, 2010 by Ven

[Datajack]

Totally agree with you Ven. Getting 4 SU-27 kills is not realistic at all, but man it's fun! Fun doesn't always equal realistic though I get that. And by no means am I saying I'm not having fun. I'm having a great time. I'm enjoying FC2 and I'm looking forward to flying the remaining campaigns, and hopefully many user made campaigns will start popping up. Thanks to the ED team for not only keeping combat flight sims alive, but for going above and beyond with their final products. Ka-50 set a new bar that I don't think any other company will ever be able to match considering the complexity, time and cost of building a flight simulator of this caliber. Can't wait for DCS-(fill in the blank). I will own and play them all. :)

[coolts]

Creamed again! Once the Flankers fire their R27's at me, I manage to get a missile off and order my wingmen to engage. I then beam to get an eye for approaching missiles with my RWR going off. I spam Chaff and flares then WHAM. Dead. Every time.

 

I did the FC1.12b F-15 campaign with labels on if I remember. Now I know why.

 

I will try viewing my track to see where i am going wrong and post it here to give you guys a laugh! This technique use to work before (with labels on mutter mutter.....)

[EvilBivol-1]

coolts, in this case, I would again suggest you leave the campaign for a bit and try flying some 1v1, then 2v2. Once you are achieving good results there, I think the campaign will be both more interesting and enjoyable. Not much fun to fly the same campaign mission again and again.

[coolts]

Yeah, I think you are right. It is starting to feel a little "manic miner" after the 10th epic fail!

 

 

I wish you could save games like in FC1.12b as I never had any issues with that.

 

I will report once i have been back to F-15 school!

Edited May 7, 2010 by coolts

[GumidekCZ]

Hi

is there a notching video or track or Tacview saved flight?

[coolts]

I installed TacView. That is a seriously cool utility for a gods eye view. Enemy panes spew far more chaff then me. I am conditioned to flying A-10 with only small countermeasure stores. In the F-15 I have loads, so, now I throw it like confetti at a wedding when notching. It also seems like my notching wasnt at 90 degrees half of the time therefore less than effective.

 

Also, as Ven & others have suggested, using missiles tactically to keep an enemy defensive even with low pK seems to help.

 

Flying 1v2 & 1v2 with good success rates. Fulcrums can defeat half of my missiles though fired at long or medium range. Dont want to let them get any closer!

 

 

 

Learning.....