Operation CRIMSON DAWN (MP mission, 6x A-10C, 2x UH-1)

Please find below a link to the MP mission I have been working for quite some time and which I think is ready for public release. It was designed for A-10C only, but I have also added 2 Huey slots and if you like the mission, I am also planning to add 2 slots for Su-25T SEAD flight (which would replace the Tornado AI flight, sorry Yurgon!) and perhaps some tasks for Ka-50.

You will find the full background story in the Briefing File containing the general information and conflict background, as well as the specific tasking for various flights (FRAGO). DOWNLOAD

Before you go up and start destroying things, a few IMPORTANT remarks (please DO read these, if you don’t you will miss some of the parts of this mission):

I was inspired to build this mission while playing the excellent "Operation Bactria" by Habu23. There are 8 main tasks which can be assigned to you, and in each sortie Overlord will give you 3 out of those once you get to IP Ford. Another one will be given when you finish or abort the previous task and return to IP Ford.

After completing 3 tasks Overlord will ask you if you want to RTB or if you want to stay in the air and hunt in one of two predefined kill-boxes (also randomly assigned). There are 2 additional tasks that can be randomly triggered during the mission (with around 10% chance).

This mission heavily uses F10 radio menu in order to give players more flexibility. It should be used by Flight Lead to communicate with other assets - usually when such an option becomes available, you will be informed by a special message. Once you press F10 and choose the option you want, the AI flight you are contacting will respond, therefore I strongly suggest that you actually TALK to the AI (this gives a lot of immersion).

There is a separate ATC built in that utilises F10 (as currently AI ATC in MP just makes things worse). Flight lead should simply use F10 to ask for startup, taxi and takeoff, and upon return for approach and landing.

In the beginning of the mission make sure to call SEAD at the WP2 and push to IP Ford only after “Jaeger” finishes its job. Otherwise you risk overlapping radio messages.

Some flights use “radio transmission” and in order to hear / contact them you have to be one a correct frequency. In the original version of the mission all flights was set up like this for greater realism, but unfortunately a bug with radio transmissions made it impossible to use this option for MP. Those that still use normal radio are marked with an asterisk (*) in the briefing.

This mission is best flown with 4 A-10Cs, though 6 will also have a lot of things to do.

UH-1s don’t have any specific tasks at the moment, but can be used for CSAR in case one of the players have to eject or to provide CAS as directed by Hawg flight. I am planning to add some additional tasks for Hueys and I am looking forward to your suggestions and comments.

The mission is very complex. It has been tested many times, but due to high number of possible configurations, some bugs do exist. Do not hesitate to post them here, but please use spoilers for that!

UPDATE: version 1.03 - additional fixes to CSAR mission (thanks Aries!) and fix to ATC calling player who joins later to taxi to apron. I've also added two Hawgs with engines hot in case someone gets stuck while exiting shelter or has to re-enter the pit for any reason. Also support for Home Fries' Hueys skin pack added (to be downloaded here)

DOWNLOAD MISSION (version 1.03)

Above you can find the trailer of the campaign (if it doesn't work, click

Many thanks to Jack Flash for huge amount of work on Overlord voiceovers, and to his wife for voiceovers for Uzi in one of the tasks.

Big thanks to Yurgon for VOs for Jaeger flight and to Blooze for some of the VOs and for applying filters to every single VO you will hear in the mission.

Also, many thanks to all others who recorded their voices for this mission: Darkfire, 6./ZG76_Bryan, Inrideo, Dutchy93, Ghostdog (UnitedOperations.net), Deephack, Belgeode and Caitlin Buckley (caitlinva.wordpress.com). If I omitted anyone - I apologize and please do let me know

Finally, big thanks to the 319th Fighter Wing "Avenging Angels". I've learnt a lot from flying with these guys and they also considerably helped in testing and development.

Downloaded!

Looking forward to running this, BD!

Looks great, BD!

FYI, I released a pack of UH-1 skins for the HMLA-167 Warriors (the Marine squadron you use in the mission). Feel free to use it!

Looks great, BD!

 

FYI, I released a pack of UH-1 skins for the HMLA-167 Warriors (the Marine squadron you use in the mission). Feel free to use it!

Sweet! Will grab them and use for the closest update. Thanks!

*edit: included in the file version 1.01, I will release it after initial comments and some more changes. Thanks again, rep inbound!

Thanks Baltic! How playable is this with 2-3 hogs?

Top quality stuff as usual BD! Just ran two tasking as a four ship with some guys from my squadron and had a blast! Looking forward to exploring the rest of the mission!

Redterror, the tasking I flew should be no problem for a 3-ship. For a 2-ship, I'd recommend a couple extra mavericks before heading out but you should be okay!

Thanks Baltic! How playable is this with 2-3 hogs?

As feefifofum says, additional mavs would be helpful when flying with 2 hogs only. Besides you don't have to finish all 3 tasks, if you get something you think is impossible for you with remaining ordnance, you can always tell Overlord that and return to IP Ford to get another one (after the third OL will send you back to base or assign a kill box).

Feefifofum, thanks, glad you liked it. Out of curiosity, did your FL talked to the AI before using F10 (played it out)? I wonder how you guys are using it.

We commed ATC for departure and called in Jaeger on both taskings, everything appeared to work without issue! First chatter shortly after takeoff, we called them in, Jaeger reported engaging and killing the targets, and then when they were back on station. After the second engagement they called winchester and rtb'd.

Sweet :) I might post a video with few exchanges with Overlord from our last flight to get everyone an idea how I think it could look like ;) of course everyone is free to play as they like, but I am aware that talking to AI might be something hmm.. New :)

I am also planning to add 2 slots for Su-25T SEAD flight (which would replace the Tornado AI flight, sorry Yurgon!)

Nooooooooo, there goes my voice acting career... Well, maybe it's for the best anyway. :D

Kidding aside, player controlled SEAD would be totally awesome, go for it! :thumbup:

I haven't flown the release version yet, but judging from our test flights, this is probably going to be an MP favorite mission for many players. :)

Yurgon.....you can always fall back on the male model thing. I mean, who looks better in a Speedo than you? I say that with a virtually unblemished record of heterosexuality.

Sorry, Baltic, misunderstood you. We commed with Overlord leading up to the tasking as well; I don't remember exactly what was said, and I wasn't running the radio menus for our flight, but everything flowed very nicely.

Yurgon.....you can always fall back on the male model thing. I mean, who looks better in a Speedo than you? I say that with a virtually unblemished record of heterosexuality.

Since (AFAICT) all we've ever seen of each other was the blip in TS, I'm curious how you knew I was indeed 100% fashion brochure material. It's my voice, right? My

Sorry, Baltic, misunderstood you. We commed with Overlord leading up to the tasking as well; I don't remember exactly what was said, and I wasn't running the radio menus for our flight, but everything flowed very nicely.

I figured you had it right, but I think that this way of using F10 is probably not very intuitive, so I want to add a short example, just for everyone to be on the same page :) glad all worked well & please let me know if you encounter any problems.

BTW, how good is F-15 in hunting down helicopters? Is the radar capable of finding them? If it can do that, then that bird could easily get into the mission too!

Since (AFAICT) all we've ever seen of each other was the blip in TS, I'm curious how you knew I was indeed 100% fashion brochure material. It's my voice, right? My

(yeah, okay, I'm not in that video. It's just too great not to share it occasionally regardless of topic). :D

Yurgon, I think Jack is referring to your picture on the tail of your Tornado. You haven't seen that?

Yurgon.....[...] I mean, who looks better in a Speedo than you?

Argh.... How can I get rid of this picture in my head?!?

Yurgon, pls promise that you won't show up dressed as said on our next event! :megalol:

The F-15's RADAR can find helos if you know where to look for them. They're definitely very tough to pick up against ground clutter but if you get low you can usually see them for around 10 miles or so against an open sky, if you're in a narrow beam with your PRF set properly for the target's aspect.

Another useful function for incorporating A-A is the SEARCH THEN ENGAGE GTOUP waypoint action. If you delete the default CAP task from hostile fighters and replace it with SEARCH THEN ENGAGE GROUP you can set things up so hostile fighters won't come after A-G strikers unless provoked; you can also use this to set target priorities. I.E., take out all fighters first, then engage A-G strikers if the escort screwed the pooch.

It should also be noted that that works both ways; there are a couple of missions in my campaign where one or two planes are specifically targeting the plane you're escorting, and if you don't keep it together they'll slip right by and ruin someone's day.

As feefifofum says, additional mavs would be helpful when flying with 2 hogs only. Besides you don't have to finish all 3 tasks, if you get something you think is impossible for you with remaining ordnance, you can always tell Overlord that and return to IP Ford to get another one (after the third OL will send you back to base or assign a kill box).

 

Feefifofum, thanks, glad you liked it. Out of curiosity, did your FL talked to the AI before using F10 (played it out)? I wonder how you guys are using it.

Yes Baltic,

I used both commands, returning to IP and RTB. Worked perfectly! SEAD Flight was called in twice before they RTB'd and that also worked great! Good show old chap!

Yurgon, I think Jack is referring to your picture on the tail of your Tornado. You haven't seen that?

Haha, nope, I haven't. Need to check it next time I fly the mission. ;)

@RightStuff: Rest assured that's not gonna happen - I don't hate you guys that much. :D

UPDATE

Version 1.02 uploaded, with fix for bug in CSAR mission and support for Home Fries' skin pack for Hueys (check the initial post).

UPDATE

Version 1.03 is up, additional fixes to CSAR mission (thanks Aries!) and fix to ATC calling player who joins later to taxi to apron. I've also added two Hawgs with engines hot in case someone gets stuck while exiting shelter or has to re-enter the pit for any reason.

Next update after DCS 1.5 is out, after checking the compatibility. Enjoy!

Hi Friends mix Crimson_Dawn by Baltic Dragon is ON

Server Game VBS : 82.25.210.98/No password needed

Informations : HERE

Thanks, Nero, please leave the feedback on how things went!

Also, as an update - I am waiting for ED to squash some of the bugs that came with 1.5 and I would like to try if the original concept of Crimson Dawn would be possible to implement. Originally all flights used "Radio Transmission" trigger, which meant much more realism - you could only hear them if you were tuned in to correct frequency. This was bugged under 1.2.16 in MP mode and some clients never heard any radio comms.

I won't be able to test if that has changed in in the coming week or two, as I am expecting my second daughter to be born literally any minute now. However, if I could find a few volunteers who could check if the 1.2.16 bug with radio transmission still exists in 1.5 please let me know - I will explain all the details and would appreciate help with testing.

Cheers,

BD

Hey guys, anyone played OP CD under 1.5 yet? Was everything working fine?

... I am expecting my second daughter to be born literally any minute now.

Congrats, BD! Don't try to script too much on those sleepless nights. :eek: