MP Mission "Sky Cap"

New 8-player co-op mission. This is the first of a 5-misison MP "campaign" I am working on, so worked a bit more on the back story. We've been testing this on the 1st VFW servers for a month so hopefully it runs well. Ordinance management and teamwork are critical. Home plate is not far from the A.O., so I suggest that if it's a must, send flight elements back to re-arm or hit the tanker but make sure at least one element stays on patrol at all times.

http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/140449/

*** updated to include two KA-50 slots, callsigns Colt 1 & Colt 2 ***

V1.1 - tweaked Chinook flights and LZ logic. Smaller file size.

BATTLE FOR DARIAL GORGE

MISSION 001 "SKY CAP"

10-APR, 0800 HRS

Welcome to Georgia.

Background

---------------------------------

Two weeks ago, Ossetian separatist forces, backed by elements of the Russian 19th Motor Rifle Division, poured into the Argavi River valley region of Georgia south of Vladikavaz. The separatists are attempting to gain a foothold west of the area fiercely fought over during the South Ossetia War of 2008. From this area, they would be within striking distance of Tbilisi.

The Georgians have asked for our help and the 25th VFS is here as part of a multinational coalition of air and ground forces to assist in pushing the separatists back through the gorge.

The Darial Gorge, and the Georgian Military Road that navigates it (the road being built by the Russians in 1799), comprises one of few roadway crossings along a mountainous 350-mile stretch of the Russian-Georgian border. As such, the strategic importance of the gorge has been the subject of many battles, dating all the way back to 150 B.C. Ruins of ancient fortresses are still visible along the banks of the Terek River.

For now, the Russian 19th Motor Rifle Div. is holding at and controlling the Darial Gorge crossing while using only long-range artillery to support the separatists as they move as far south as Pasanauri. The Russians don't want to push across the border and commit any more than they have to - only enough to support the separatists' advance. They would like to keep us out of the fight as much is possible.

Meanwhile, coalition forces intend to support Georgia in repelling the advance and pushing the separatists north without bringing the full force of the Russian 58th Army (reminiscent of 2008 ) into play. Thus, it's a bit of a chess match at the moment.

ROEs are strict - engagement of separatists forces is fully authorized, but Russian forces are to be engaged only if directly fired upon. Check mission maps for known areas of Russian forces - these are to be avoided. In addition, Russian airspace is strictly off-limits.

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The weather and visibility has been horrendous the last two weeks, allowing the separatists to push south with near impunity from coalition air assets and effective artillery.

To make matters worse, all we have to work with is what we can fly in on transports. With US naval forces unable to resupply via Black Sea routes due to political hurdles, it's a logistical nightmare. As such, our ground forces, particularly heavy armor, is limited for now. The Georgians have given us access to fuel reserves, but it's not enough. Most of our jet fuel will need to be flown by KC-135s from the 121st out of Incirlik, Turkey until we can get it in over-ground. Thus, take off's with only 50% fuel will be standard SOP until it's sorted, with air refuel required first task on all missions. All coalition air forces will be operating out of Tbilisi and Vaziani at this time.

Elements of the US Army 4th Infantry Division have set up a forward operating base (FOB) just outside the town of Zhinvali, 50 km north of Tbilisi. From FOB Zhinvali, they've pushed north far enough to establish a group of observation posts (OPs) from which to find and engage the separatists forces. 'OP Denali', the furthest north, sits less than 40 km from the entrenched Russian 19th Motor Rifle Div. and within range of their artillery. As such, tensions are high.

With the poor visibility and rugged terrain we're dealing with, the A-10s of the 25th are uniquely qualified to work closely with our ground forces to help search, engage, and destroy the separatists. Overcast conditions still prevail, but visibility is good enough over the AO to get to work. Good luck.

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Today's mission should get you oriented with the AO (Area of Operations), one way or another. The US 4th Infantry is digging in but the OPs have been under constant sniper, mortar, and artillery fire from the Separatists since we've gotten here. Most of their heavy armor and self-propelled artillery is still en route, with the C-17s only able to carry in a single M1A2 Abrams in at a time.

However, we've got a handful of M109 Paladins ready to rock and it's time to get them in place.

Today's primary mission: Assist the 3rd Battalion 16th Field Artillery Regiment in establishing firebase "Sky Cap" on the next ridge south of OP Matterhorn. The ground units will be inserted via 2 groups of 2x CH-47 Chinooks, callsigns Pontiac 6-1 and 8-1. The Chinooks will land at two LZs, LZ "Alta" and LZ "Snowbird" (see mission map). Your flight plan includes waypoints Alpha and Bravo at anticipated areas of separatist activity. Clear out these approach valleys and the LZs so Pontiac can get in and out safely.

From Sky Cap, Separatist forces dug in in the towns of Kazbegi and Garbani will be in range of the big M109s. In addition, we'll be able to counter the Russian batteries camping out near the border at Darial Gorge.

Once that task is completed, stay on-station flying between the FOB and OPs to maintain a presence in the valley and provide on-call CAS, if required. Air-refuel and re-arm at Lochini is authorized, as needed. You will be relieved by Boar flight at 1030 hours.

Tusk flight is supplemental to Pig flight and will provide additional support if needed.

PIG FLIGHT TASKS:

1) T/O from Tblisi-Lochini 0600 hrs

2) AR at Texaco

3) Clear valleys at Alpha & Bravo

4) Clear LZs Alta & Snowbird

5) Maintain on-station above FOB Zhinvali until relieved by Boar flight at approximately 1030 hours.

TUSK FLIGHT TASKS:

1) Support Pig flight as necessary (may receive alternate taskings)

Pig 4x A-10C

Tusk 4x A-10C

Texaco KC-135, 152. VHF, TCN 10X

Overlord (AWACS) E3-A

Pontiac 6-1 2x CH-47D

Pontiac 8-1 2x CH-47D

Boar 2x A-10C

A-10 Loadouts:

PIG:

2x AGM-65G

4x CBU-87

7x M-156 WP Rockets

ALQ-131, AN/AAQ-28

TUSK:

4x AGM-65D

2x CBU-87

14x M-151 Rockets

7x M-156 WP Rockets

ALQ-131, AN/AAQ-28

Package Comms on 124.0

---------------------------------

THREATS:

Mobile AAA (ZU-23 and ZSU-23-4)

IFVs (BMP-2, BTR-80, BRDM)

MANPADs

Stay south of areas marked on map as no-fly to avoid engagement with Russian forces near Darial Pass.

WEATHER:

Overcast, base 11,000', ceiling 16,000'

This looks awesome.

Yes, quite to my taste. :)

Is there a chance to involve some Ka-50 (blue coalition)?

Yes, quite to my taste. :)

 

Is there a chance to involve some Ka-50 (blue coalition)?

Great idea. This would be a great mission for the KA-50 supporting either Pig or Tusk, if we just suspend reality a bit given that they are Russian. The helos would have plenty of time to ingress from Tbilisi while the A-10s refuel, or could add a FARP at FOB Zhinvali to put them right there by the action. Will have to test something out on our servers and then will post (though anyone could add the KA-50s to the ramp at Lochini quite easily). Thanks!

Ok, had to fix a few things in the mission brief, so just uploaded a new .miz which includes two KA-50s on the Lochini ramp. Didn't write them into the brief/story, but at least gives folks the option to fly it rotor-style :thumbup:

Ok, had to fix a few things in the mission brief, so just uploaded a new .miz which includes two KA-50s on the Lochini ramp. Didn't write them into the brief/story, but at least gives folks the option to fly it rotor-style :thumbup:

Great. Thanks for that! :thumbup:

 

...if we just suspend reality a bit given that they are Russian

 

Doesnt matter. When the Shark wears US skins i've already forgotten that.

And also for story telling its easy: Some USAF ground crew guys who "played" DCS Ka50 had begun to rebuild some choppers in their garage.... ;)

AN/AAQ-28 vs -128 ?

AN/AAQ-28 vs -128 ?

Oops, typo...thx.

Deephouse, you might need to examine the troop drop-off logic for the Chinooks. Either that, or we screwed something up. We flew this yesterday, and the first drop-off went off without a hitch. The second drop-off at the more northern LZ didn't work out, however. The Chinooks reached the waypoint and then proceeded to go into a hover. I don't believe they were under fire, we had killed everything and I checked carefully before the Chinooks arrived. However, for some reason, one of the Chinooks crashed. I glanced away when he was "hit" or whatever happened to him, and when I looked back, he was falling sideways into the terrain for a short distance. Boom. Maybe he clipped his rotors on a mountainside? Anyway, the other three hovered around about 150 meters above the terrain for a few minutes and then RTBed. Any idea what went wrong? I can watch the track if need be this evening and try to let you know if I can spot the problem.

Speed - Yeah, in testing I saw the Chinooks do more weird stuff than I could type in an hour. I think part of it may be related to flying in a four-ship...they are constantly bobbing/weaving to avoid hitting each other, and I even had to move their landing to Soganlug because when returning they would 1) take about an hour land after multiple approaches/aborts, and 2) half of them would eventually crash on landing anyway. Some of the worst AI I've seen in this sim, although admitting entertaining to watch sometimes. That being said, it took hours of testing just to get the "drop off" at Sky Cap anywhere close to marginally consistent. You can run the mission 10 times and despite always having the same WP set for them to hover, the "hover point" could be anywhere within half a mile. I might make the LZ trigger zone bigger to avoid what happened to you - for whatever reason sounds like they got stuck in the terrain and didn't make it to the LZ. In testing, usually the worst thing that happened is the simulated "drop" off troops wasn't quite under the Chinooks as they did their hover/hold. Thanks for the heads up.

I had this problem with a Heli insertion mission I wrote recently. In testing 2 choppers are fine any more and they fly much slower and bob on an elastic band as you said. My solution was to just make them individual flights of four using copy and paste (so waypoints plus details mach exactly) then move each heli back from each other at airborne start location. Alternatively trigger their starts on pad 15 seconds apart with matching WPs. That works also.

I also send in 2 Apaches with the Chinooks as they would rarely go into a hot zone unescorted. You can always explode them as if they've been hit by a SAM or something leaving just the Hogs to provide cover.

Thanks, Druid. No reason why I can't do that in this mission - will work it up as separate 2 ships. I originally did have Apache escorts but yeah, ran into the issue of them killing everything and leaving nothing for us to do.

Speed - Yeah, in testing I saw the Chinooks do more weird stuff than I could type in an hour. I think part of it may be related to flying in a four-ship...they are constantly bobbing/weaving to avoid hitting each other, and I even had to move their landing to Soganlug because when returning they would 1) take about an hour land after multiple approaches/aborts, and 2) half of them would eventually crash on landing anyway. Some of the worst AI I've seen in this sim, although admitting entertaining to watch sometimes. That being said, it took hours of testing just to get the "drop off" at Sky Cap anywhere close to marginally consistent. You can run the mission 10 times and despite always having the same WP set for them to hover, the "hover point" could be anywhere within half a mile. I might make the LZ trigger zone bigger to avoid what happened to you - for whatever reason sounds like they got stuck in the terrain and didn't make it to the LZ. In testing, usually the worst thing that happened is the simulated "drop" off troops wasn't quite under the Chinooks as they did their hover/hold. Thanks for the heads up.

I've done a bit of experimenting with zero-altitude, zero-speed helicopter orbit points, and found that they seem to be influenced by terrain profile, nearby houses, etc. They seem to wors best in flat terrain, away from buildings... the hover points you're using here are near the worst-case scenarios.

You could also just use a simple script when the Chinooks hit the waypoint to set a flag. Last week, after Grimes asked me about it, I did an experiment (i.e., I simply tried to use the function) and I found out that patch 1.1.1.0 had restored the trigger.setUserFlag function to the mission scripting environment. So, at the LZ waypoint, for the first waypoint action, have the Chinooks do "COMMAND"->"RUN SCRIPT" with the script being:

trigger.setUserFlag(X, true)

Where "X" is the flag number you want to set.

So now, when the Chinook AI thinks it has reached the waypoint, a flag will be set. You could trigger the ground troops to drop off like 40 seconds after this flag. This way, the Chinooks will always drop off the troops, no matter where the whacky AI decides to hover. Having the ground troops appear a good distance away from the point over which the helos are hovering is preferable, I would think, to not having the ground troops appear at all.

Hey deephouse,

One always has to be careful about giving advice where none is asked for but... it seems to me that you might benefit from better compression methods. While the mission is not unacceptably large, you could reduce it to almost 1/3 of its current size. I was able to reduce it from 4.3MB to 1.6MB following these steps:

1) Extracted mission with 7-zip.

2) Used AVS Audio Converter and converted all .ogg sound files from .ogg to MS GSM 6.10 22050Hz sample rate .wav files (this reduced composite sound file size from 2.1MB to 1.0MB).

3) Used Notepad++ on the "mission" file, replaced all instances of the text ".ogg" to ".wav".

4) Opened the JPEG image in Paint.net, saved back over itself as a .jpeg but at 70% quality rather than 100% quality. This reduced its size from 2.3 MB to 0.5MB with no noticeable loss in image quality

5) Recompressed with 7zip, opened and saved the mission again in the ME just to verify it was still functional, and checked file size before and after saving in ME. No change.

The .miz was reduced from 4.3MB to 1.6MB with no loss in sound or image quality. I didn't test fly it though. It's uploaded below.

EDIT: I have now removed the more compressed version of the mission to avoid confusion with the official version.

Speed, advice definitely appreciated. Actually, will go back and use some of these tips on a few missions that are applicable to both posts (both hover and compression issues). I know it takes hours to test/experiment to figure some of these issues out so appreciate anyone offering what's worked for them.

Updated version 1.1 being uploaded (have to wait until ED verifies files before it'll be available for download). Modified the Chinook flight and LZ logic (thanks Speed!) - tested and works more consistently, and got the file size down to 2.3MB.

Not quite as small as you got it, Speed, but didn't want to spend $40 to buy AVS to compress the ogg's. Can't find a free converter that will convert to the .wav GSM 6.1 and allow adjustment of the sample rate.

Huh? WAV smaller than ogg? I know WavPack but that's lossless. There is lossy wav? I didnt even know that!

Speed, elaborate please! I beg ya.

I usually ALWAYS use ogg because of it's great compression. Why use gsm? I dont even know what it is, lol. :D

Huh? WAV smaller than ogg? I know WavPack but that's lossless. There is lossy wav? I didnt even know that!

Speed, elaborate please! I beg ya.

 

I usually ALWAYS use ogg because of it's great compression. Why use gsm? I dont even know what it is, lol. :D

Bump-

WOW, the mission looks interesting.. Thanks a lot for share it!..

Mega - Finally got a converter that will do the wav GSM 6.1...really does condense the file sizes (audio about 1/3rd the size of .ogg). A little loss in quality but actually sounds more realistic given it's a radio call. Will be uploading new versions of my missions with the smaller file sizes when I get a chance.

elchacal - hope you enjoy.

Me and two friends playing this mission, with TARs.

Good mission, my suggestion for future versions:

Raise cloud base.

played today. one of us died and the other was out of ammo before the helis reached the lz. needless to say they were shot down and all crashed and burned. but after a min or so, a message came on that stated "boots are on the ground".

im sure they were.... just empty boots....lol

Tried this mission today.

I had some comms problems:

Texaco KC-135, 152. VHF, TCN 10X ----> 152 VHF seems to give a nasty tone. can't contact Texaco

Tried this mission today.

I had some comms problems:

Texaco KC-135, 152. VHF, TCN 10X ----> 152 VHF seems to give a nasty tone. can't contact Texaco

other than that, any other problems that could make our time wasted flying this mission?

Never released the other missions from this campaign ?