A feel like an idiot...

[agathorn]

I've gone through all the training missions. I've learned to takeoff, fly, and land the aircraft, and use most all of its weapon systems.

 

Yet whenever I fly a "real" mission I am totally lost. Unlike the training missions, there is no convenient waypoint that identifies targets. Instead I hear things being called out, which I guess is supposed to help me find them, but I can't.

 

I end up just flying around forever doing nothing.

 

How the heck do I locate and acquire my targets? Any videos that show the process?

 

Thanks!

[WildBillKelsoe]

I've gone through all the training missions. I've learned to takeoff, fly, and land the aircraft, and use most all of its weapon systems.

 

Yet whenever I fly a "real" mission I am totally lost. Unlike the training missions, there is no convenient waypoint that identifies targets. Instead I hear things being called out, which I guess is supposed to help me find them, but I can't.

 

I end up just flying around forever doing nothing.

 

How the heck do I locate and acquire my targets? Any videos that show the process?

 

Thanks!

 

I'm in the process of a guide for this, stay tuned!

[agathorn]

I'm in the process of a guide for this, stay tuned!

 

Awesome! Thanks.

[slug88]

You can set your own waypoints in the Mission Planner. Use that in conjunction with the briefing to plan your strike.

 

You can also check in with available JTACs, who will guide you to the targets they see. Note that these won't necessarily be your mission targets.

[MadTommy]

There are three areas of the CDU you need to learn:

 

OFFSET (OSET) - Allows input of 'Bulls' call. Bearing & distance.

WAYPOINT (WP) - Allow creation of waypoints from various input formats. (From JTAC & FAC)

FLIGHT PLAN (FPM) - Allows waypoints to be stored as a flight plan.

 

Look these up in the manual & or search for youtube vids showing their usage.. there are several.

 

Here is one example:

Edited September 21, 2012 by MadTommy

[Tailgate]

If there is JTAC available, in most cases they will mark the target on your TAD once you go through the contact procedures. Of course there are some JTAC missions that are voice only (no data uplink) or no JTAC available at all. So learning how to input target coords is important in this case. The briefings and map should also give you a general idea where the targets are located.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Tailgate

[Evil.Bonsai]

try this: most missions have an IP. Fly towards this waypoint. Once you get close, set the 'autopilot' to ALT, bank away from then waypoint following the IP waypoint, and activate the 'autopilot'

 

You are now near the action but still at a safe distance. You are in a stable orbit. NOW it's time to go to work.

 

With HUD as SOI, change your current waypoint from IP to the next (this should, usually, be the target area.

 

Set TGP as SOI, hit "C" (slave to strpt). Now your tgp is LOOKING at target area. Now move the tgp and search for targets. You can mark them if you like or just find one, attack, fly back to a safe area and set up another orbit then attack again.

 

It took me a while to get this pattern down, as I was just reading and watching youtube videos.

 

Watch "Dragon's JTAC training" on youtube. Very good video.

[masterblaster]

As others have said, youtube. There are several videos that will help with just about anything you can think of. Just search for DCS A-10C training or tutorial. I've been flying the sim for about 3 weeks now and I've been able to learn the more in depth stuff the in-sim training doesn't cover by watching videos.

 

I made a mission with some trucks and tanks as targets to practice what I watched. No SAM/AAA threats so I can buzz around in orbit to practice stuff with no fear of getting shot down. No JTAC to help but I obviously know where I put my targets, but it still helped using the TGP to pinpoint them and set markpoints, etc.

[zacklaws]

Well I'm getting totally frustrated with it all now, it seems there is a big difference between the training missions and the single missions. I have practised over and over again, and on my own created ranges with different weapons and have no problem and mastered them.

 

But soon as I try the single mission, Czar, every thing goes pearshaped, locating the target becomes so unpredictable, even the calls of the location of the tgt can be so far out its unreal when I set them up as an offset and no where near the action. The bulls eye call as an offset at times just points to a snow covered mountain top, no where near where the action is????????????????

 

Then when I locate the target with the TGP, try and slave a maverick to that point, there is nothing there, go back to the TGP and its pointing in a different direction so I then have to try finding the tgt again from scratch?????????? yet it works perfect in the training missions and I'm doing nothing different.

 

Then when I get the TGP to point at a waypoint, mark etc, soon as I start searching around that area for a target, the TGP instantly jumps a good distance away from that point for no reason at all, once again it works flawlessly in the training missions and once again I'm doing nothing different.

 

Unless that mission has bugs in it. But after tonight, trying to fathom out what was wrong and just getting frustrated all the time, I doubt I will bother buying that "Warthog" joystick and save myself some money as I'm beggining to think this game is just bugged a bit too much.

[Direwolf]

I would recommend you join one of the several virtual squadrons around the net. You´ll learn a lot with other guys (like I did). It´s much more easier and faster when you have a "teacher" telling you what to do, where to look, which procedures to take, etc. And you really go deeper in the sim, with the help of some experienced guys, because there are a lot of stuff you don´t learn in the manual.

[Yurgon]

Well I'm getting totally frustrated with it all now, it seems there is a big difference between the training missions and the single missions.

 

Of course there's a big difference. Just as in real life, the situation will unfold when the aircraft is already enroute. That's what missions will try to simulate. In one mission, you may have to perform a strike against a fixed target like a bridge, and obviously there should be a waypoint. In another mission you may have to perform close air support to troops in contact and you'll depend 100% on the JTAC to find your targets. There's simply no way to set exact target-waypoints prior to take-off in such a scenario. I'm guessing your problems have to do with the latter.

 

But soon as I try the single mission, Czar, every thing goes pearshaped, locating the target becomes so unpredictable, ...

 

Did you by any chance mean "CSAR"? I'll go ahead and assume that's the mission you're talking about. It was actually the first single mission I ever flew (after countless hours in various training missions). I studied the briefing and the mission planner for at least 20 minutes, wrote down all the callsigns and frequencies and so on. When I entered the target area, I got fixated on killing AAA (not even my job) and then got shot down by a SAM. The mission lasted like 15 minutes or so and was a complete failure. Besides, I was simply overwhelmed by all the tasks that had to be performed and by all the information I had to process in a very short time.

 

When I flew the mission again, it lasted almost two hours and was a success. I stuck to the tasking, destroyed the units threatening the downed pilot and escorted his heli until I got the all clear from him.

 

IMO the mission is brillantly designed, the tasking is very precise, and I learned a huge lot while flying it (especially from the failure!).

 

My point is, you're flying a complex sim of a complex aircraft in a complex environment. Don't expect things to always go according to plan.

 

Concerning the various problems you encountered, can you upload a track? Ideally, make it as short as possible. Can you reproduce the problems in one of the instant action missions? I can't guarantee that someone will figure out the source of the problem, but it helps a lot more to have a track than you arguing that something must be bugged because you did nothing wrong.

[zacklaws]

I don't keep tracks, but when I get time I'll refly it again and record it. The whole problem seems to be why does the TGP act so different and jump about of its own accord unpredictably. In training missions along with my own range mission and in the Smerch mission it works flawlessly and remains on target, but in Csar, it has a mind of its own. I'll have to try some of the others to see if the same happens or it might just be unique to Csar

Edited September 23, 2012 by zacklaws

[badger66]

I've gone through all the training missions. I've learned to takeoff, fly, and land the aircraft, and use most all of its weapon systems.

 

Yet whenever I fly a "real" mission I am totally lost. Unlike the training missions, there is no convenient waypoint that identifies targets. Instead I hear things being called out, which I guess is supposed to help me find them, but I can't.

 

I end up just flying around forever doing nothing.

 

How the heck do I locate and acquire my targets? Any videos that show the process?

 

Thanks!

 

Get your ass online ..... multiplayer , and use teamspeak 3 ..... plenty of helpful people out there .

[zacklaws]

Of course there's a big difference. Just as in real life, the situation will unfold when the aircraft is already enroute. That's what missions will try to simulate. In one mission, you may have to perform a strike against a fixed target like a bridge, and obviously there should be a waypoint. In another mission you may have to perform close air support to troops in contact and you'll depend 100% on the JTAC to find your targets. There's simply no way to set exact target-waypoints prior to take-off in such a scenario. I'm guessing your problems have to do with the latter.

 

I'm actually not reffering to what happens in a mission with the AI etc, I'm actually reffering to how differently the TGP for example is reacting.

[ZoomBoy27]

With TGP and Waypoints - If the TGP targeting is done by Waypoint, some waypoints are in the air.

[Meatwod]

The waypoint directly after IP is the target location waypoint. It is usually named Target or TGT or something similar. The actual mission target will be identified in the mission briefing, i.e. Tank column on the road moving south.

 

Here's the tricky part. You have no know what the target looks like to spot it with the TGP or even better the mark one eyeball. Use zoom to your advantage. If the target is moving it will only be at the target Waypoint at the Time On Tartget (TOT) for a short period, so review the map and determine which direction the tanks will be heading.

 

Stationery target like artillery should be much easier to spot and visually ID since the will be firing large barrel cannons into the air. Be sure to use the available SEAD options to get rid of any SAM threats. I always task my AI wingman to attack my SPI with Maviericks to remove any Air Defence Targets before leaving the IP.

 

Once the primary mission is complete you can contact JTAC to spend to rest of your ordanance on other CAS targets or use the mark one eyeball to find your own. Be careful not fire on friendlies. Tanks all look the same from 10,000 ft.

[GGTharos]

It's rather unlikely that your experience is the result of bugs. Either something is wrong with your set-up, or you're doing something wrong, or both.

 

To really understand what the systems are doing, you need more than just the training missions; they'll get you up to speed fast enough, but there's a reason why there's an aircraft manual included with the software. You're operating some rather complex systems with a lot of built-in automation, and if you don't understand why it does things, then you'll run into pretty much what you're describing.

 

Unless that mission has bugs in it. But after tonight, trying to fathom out what was wrong and just getting frustrated all the time, I doubt I will bother buying that "Warthog" joystick and save myself some money as I'm beggining to think this game is just bugged a bit too much.

[Pyroflash]

I'm actually not reffering to what happens in a mission with the AI etc, I'm actually reffering to how differently the TGP for example is reacting.

 

Honestly it sounds like you are trying to slave sensors to SPI. This is accomplished by holding down the China Hat Forward button "V" by default. The problem you are having is most likely tied into you not having your TGP set as SPI when you are doing this. Make sure your intended acquisition sensor (TGP, MAV, HUD) is set as SPI by first setting it as SOI and then holding down the TMS Switch Forward or "L-Ctrl + Up".

 

Really the best course of action if you are experiencing continued issues and misunderstandings is to consult the manual for a good couple of hours. If you have a phone or tablet that you can save it to, this may come in handy in case you need to consult them during a mission.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Pyroflash

[pyromaniac4002]

Well I'm getting totally frustrated with it all now, it seems there is a big difference between the training missions and the single missions. I have practised over and over again, and on my own created ranges with different weapons and have no problem and mastered them.

 

But soon as I try the single mission, Czar, every thing goes pearshaped, locating the target becomes so unpredictable, even the calls of the location of the tgt can be so far out its unreal when I set them up as an offset and no where near the action. The bulls eye call as an offset at times just points to a snow covered mountain top, no where near where the action is????????????????

 

Then when I locate the target with the TGP, try and slave a maverick to that point, there is nothing there, go back to the TGP and its pointing in a different direction so I then have to try finding the tgt again from scratch?????????? yet it works perfect in the training missions and I'm doing nothing different.

 

Then when I get the TGP to point at a waypoint, mark etc, soon as I start searching around that area for a target, the TGP instantly jumps a good distance away from that point for no reason at all, once again it works flawlessly in the training missions and once again I'm doing nothing different.

 

Unless that mission has bugs in it. But after tonight, trying to fathom out what was wrong and just getting frustrated all the time, I doubt I will bother buying that "Warthog" joystick and save myself some money as I'm beggining to think this game is just bugged a bit too much.

 

There's about a hundred ways you could be doing things wrong, none of what you're describing is because of bugs. It sounds like when you try to slave MAV to TGP like you may not have the TGP as SOI and they both are slaving to whatever steerpoint you have selected. I'm pretty sure you're talking about the CSAR mission, so I'll give you some tips from what I typically do on that one.

 

When you fly over the pilot for the first time he'll pop a green flare, so I'll fly in from relatively high altitude and point my nose in the general area and wait to see the flare. Once I see it, I have my TGP ready and I line it up as best as I can with the diamond mark it will display on the HUD, then you can pull up and do whatever fine tuning you need to find the pilot on the actual TGP screen. Make sure TGP is SOI and set a mark point, and then I would go ahead and make it an actual waypoint on the CDU page. That way if it screws up for whatever reason you've got something to fall back on. So once you've got a bead on the pilot, this mission is basically about blowing up a couple different groups that try to attack him coming from the river that you flew in over. You'll have to use the TGP to look around in that direction, and there's not really any shortcut for that so you do need to be a little patient. The pilot does say some approximate range to the incoming enemies, but at least in my experience it's not very helpful. Also, don't forget to send in your SEAD and CAP support, and once you feel like the anti-air threats are dealt with you tell Sandy 11 to ingress to pick up the pilot. If you manage to keep the pilot and the helicopters alive, you win.

 

This is one of the more difficult/involved single missions I think, so if you're finding it extremely frustrating, it's probably not surprising. Off the top of my head, you might find In the Weeds easier (you basically just have to stay below a certain altitude while you do your business). Surrounded! is also pretty good. I can't think of anything that's particularly easy off the top of my head, but there are easier missions out there. Good luck and don't give it up! The sweat and tears pay off big time when you're terrorizing an armored column with your GAU-8 and CBU-97s.

[agathorn]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I wish the interactive training covered more ground, because its so good, but I accept there is a lot of learning to do on my own.

 

I think I have a better feel for the systems involved in my original post now, and hope to put them to some more practice soon. I'm spending time with circuit training right now.

 

Thanks again!

[zacklaws]

It sounds like when you try to slave MAV to TGP like you may not have the TGP as SOI and they both are slaving to whatever steerpoint you have selected.

 

 

Honestly it sounds like you are trying to slave sensors to SPI. This is accomplished by holding down the China Hat Forward button "V" by default. The problem you are having is most likely tied into you not having your TGP set as SPI when you are doing this. Make sure your intended acquisition sensor (TGP, MAV, HUD) is set as SPI by first setting it as SOI and then holding down the TMS Switch Forward or "L-Ctrl + Up".

 

Both the above answers sum up what is happening, except the TGP is the SOI before I switch to maverick, but when I slave the maverick, I am finding the TGP has moved to the selected steerpoint. And everything that Pyroflash mentions I am doing, which works flawlessly in training missions and a couple of the other single missions I have now tried, so for it to be working there it should be working in Csar.

 

This morning I had a little time, and to confirm my keybindings etc had not changed by accident, I tried a quick mission on the range and everything worked perfect. TGP remaining on target and MAV slaving to that point

 

I then opened Csar up, and concentrated only on engaging the 3 BTR's moving along the road with Mav's and not bothered about the outcome of the mission as I wanted to see if I could spot was really happening. I located the Tgt with the TGP, which was also the SOI, I then made it the SPI and it was tracking the lead veh perfectly, I also set up the TGP on the left MFDC so I could see what was happening, switched to MAV, TGP still tracking the tgt, and when I do China hat forward, I see that the TGP moves to the steerpoint and don't have the foggiest where the Mav ends up pointing except it bears no resembelance to what the TGP is looking at. It seems that the TGP may at some point stop being the SOI for some unknown reason.

 

Is there a possibility that there's something in the cockpit when the mission was created that needs altering when you enter the mission, a switch or something that I am failing to see and change it too an other settings.

 

Now I have seen what is happening, I will work on it and try and spot what is causing it to go wrong.

Edited September 24, 2012 by zacklaws

[159th_Viper]

Now I have seen what is happening, I will work on it and try and spot what is causing it to go wrong.

 

All you need to do is post a track and we'll be able to tell you what's happening. It's not going wrong, it's in all probability just a SOI/SPI issue/misunderstanding.

[zacklaws]

Just opened Csar up and just concentrated on engaging the 3 BTR 60's with Mav's leaving the village with not attempting to complete the mission to to just demonstrate what is happening.

 

I made 3 passes, I would have kept trying but when I tried to get a track to post it crashed just after 2 passes and lost everything so I did not want to risk loosing everything again on my second attempt ,

 

On the first, did my usual procedures that normally work, but TGP slaves to selected steerpoint when I attempted to slave Mav to TGP which was tracking the TGT.

 

Second pass, altered the procedure by making the TGP the SOI on the Left MFDU with MAV on the right MFDU as an experiment which I doubted would work but that had the same results.

 

The third pass was the same as the first, once again TGP slaving to steerpoint so I tried to aquire the tgt with the MAV manually but time was running out to locate the tgt before I had to break off and end the mission.

 

I'd keep trying to get it right, but at bedtime I usually find I end up with a too active mind to sleep if I have been on any simulations

CSAR.trk

Edited September 24, 2012 by zacklaws

[Chippy]

I doubt I will bother buying that "Warthog" joystick and save myself some money as I'm beggining to think this game is just bugged a bit too much.

 

Well, I watched the track and know what your problem is. You are not marking the BTR-80's as your SPI, therefore the Maverick will just slave to the selected steerpoint rather than the position of the TGP. I'm not sure what the default button to mark a SPI is, but do the tutorial and find out what the SPI button is, and have another go at that mission. That is probably the cause of your problems. Hope this helps.

 

(Not to be a dick, but it is very lame that you blamed the game for your own mistake.)

[Pyroflash]

Got it, what you are doing is in fact, the wrong procedure for slewing sensors to your current SPI. What you are doing is pressing China Hat Aft Long, which resets the TGP to follow your current SPI, or if it is your current SPI, it resets it to your steerpoint.

 

What you need to be doing is holding down China Hat Forward Long "V" in order to slave all sensors to SPI. If the TGP is not your SPI, you need to make sure that happens with they key command "LCTRL + Up arrow" (hold it down for several seconds). This needs to be done before you can expect your sensors to follow the TGP.

 

I hope that brought to light the issue at hand.

 

Cheers,

Pyro

 

Edit: It looks like in one or more runs, your TGP was not even set SPI. This absolutely needs to be done if you expect the results you are looking for.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Pyroflash