Cargo Escort

MISSION SUMMARY

Multiplayer co-op mission written for DCS World 1.5.

Player or AI aircraft will escort C-130 cargo transports from Sochi-Adler to Novorossiysk airbase. Player helicopter transports will move dropped cargo from runway to assigned drop zones to achieve primary mission goal of resupplying airbase. Secondary mission goal is for player CAS flights to keep enemy reinforcements from reaching Novorossiysk while the resupply mission is under way.

Narrated mission briefing video included in mission download zip file.

Mission file download link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/upload/iblock/30d/Cargo_Escort_V2.zip

Higher resolution video briefing on YouTube:

3rd PARTY CREDITS

This mission makes use of the Complete Transport and Logistics Deployment (CTLD) script file by Ciribob.

This mission also makes use of Mission Scripting Tools (MIST) by Speed.

AVAILABLE PLAYER AIRCRAFT

2X Su-25T (CAS)

4X A-10C (CAS)

2X A-10A (CAS)

4X F-15C (Escort)

2X UH-1H (Transport)

2X Ka-50 (Transport)

Ideal player makeup of mission:

2 to 4 escort aircraft

2 to 6 CAS aircraft

2 transport helicopters

All player aircraft on hot start. CAS flights start in air.

If no escort pilots in mission, AI escorts will spawn.

If no CAS pilots in mission, no enemy convoys will spawn.

A single helicopter transport could move all cargo if only one is flying in mission.

MISSION BACKGROUND

Ever since Impor won its independence from Norland, the latter has had its sights set on regaining direct access to the Cerenerian Sea for both economic and military reasons. Impor, knowing that Norland has indirect access, and still bitter over past dominance by Norland, has been completely resistant to allowing overland access to a sea port. Norland realizes that its only option is to invade and retake all of Impor.

The circumstances that allowed Impor to be successful in its bid for independence were the strong moral support and backing of the United Nations and, perhaps more importantly, the implied military support of NATO should it become necessary to maintain its independence. That implied support is about to be tested.

At a time when Norland thought the rest of the world was preoccupied with terrorism and faltering economies, it decided to strike. They were sure a war-weary inward-looking world wouldn't come to the rescue of small, meaningless, Impor.

With almost lightning speed, Norland overwhelmed and occupied Impor. However, by the time they reached the coastline, their forces were stretched thin and reinforcements were slow to arrive. Thanks to strong leadership within NATO, it determined that it would not allow such an act of aggression to go unanswered. While Impor is not tactically important to NATO, it is of strategic value in terms of demonstrating resolve leading to deterrence of future acts of aggression by any nation. While the forces of Norland were still in a weakened state and waiting on reinforcements, NATO saw an opportunity to take and occupy the southwestern tip of Impor, which quite conveniently holds the air base of Novorossiysk.

Currently, NATO has a tenuous hold of Novorossiysk and the peninsula on which it's located. NATO’s own reinforcements are on their way. The immediate need is to land three C-130 Hercules cargo planes carrying essential supplies for our forces occupying the base. The first Herc is already inbound with an escort flight and should land in about 12 minutes. This Herc carries two Hawk anti-air batteries. The crates, four for each battery, will be dropped on the runway using the parachute extraction process. The Herc will do its touch-and-go drop and immediately leave the area. While this first Herc is inbound, cargo choppers will launch from a NATO flotilla located about 10 miles off the coast and make their way to the air base. Once there, they will load the crates and move them to the Hawk sites for unpacking. These sites will be marked with green smoke. The helis will be doing double-duty, though. After the Hawk batteries are successfully unpacked and operational, the helis will be tasked with patrolling the air base perimeter for any Norland troops that might still be in the immediate area. The helis will be called on again, though, to move more cargo.

Two other Hercs are launching from Sochi-Adler. They will be escorted by at least two F-15 fighters. The successful arrival of these Hercs at Novorossiysk air base is absolutely essential. The country of Freedonia has been staunchly neutral throughout this entire affair, and the flight path of this supply group is well off of their coast. The best estimate of our intelligence team is that Norland will not encroach on their air space either. If this holds, it should be clear flying up the coast.

While we strengthen our hold on Novorossiysk air base, Norland reinforcements will have to be held at bay by CAS flights, made up of Su-25Ts, A-10Cs and/or A-10As. CAP flights will be on station to provide cover from airborne threats. When the Hawk batteries go operational, they will provide additional protection.

When the next two Hercs arrive, one will make another touch-and-go cargo extraction while the other orbits. Four crates of essential supplies will be dropped and must be moved quickly by the helis to clear the runway for the next Herc, which will drop another four crates. All eight crates must be transported successfully to a holding area at the north end of the runway and marked by orange smoke. (Unpacking these crates is not necessary, but do not unpack these crates until all are in the orange zone for scoring purposes.)

With the departure of the Hercs from the area, the F-15 escorts will remain on station over Novorossiysk and take on a CAP role.

Since the beginning of this conflict, NATO has been in heated negotiations with Freedonia to allow access to Gelendzhik air base for refueling and rearming. These negotiations have a renewed urgency with the launch of this initiative. You will be informed of any change in status.

The primary mission goal is to resupply Novorossiysk airbase, which means all three C-130 cargo aircraft must land and off-load their cargo. All of this cargo must be moved to the proper zones as noted above. Secondary goals are to keep enemy reinforcements at bay and protect all NATO flights operating in the area from enemy fighters. Even if the primary mission goals are not achieved, the mission can go on to attain the highest level of success possible. As in the real world, success is seldom black or white, win or lose. It is often a matter of degree.

Nice briefing video and mission information. Thanks for sharing.

Nice briefing video and mission information. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it a great deal. I hope you and others will enjoy the mission.

Paul

Thanks for making the mission and sharing.

Great overview and excellent mission briefing :thumbup:

The 355th is going to run this on the 31st of this month. We usually have about 10-12 guys in all platforms and look forward to trying this one out.

@wingnut--Thank you for your comments. I hope your group will enjoy the mission and I'll look forward to any feedback.

Thanks again,

Paul

The 355th flew this mission tonight. We had 15 guys, 4 F-15s, 5 A10s, 3 Su25t, 2 UH-1 and 1 Ka-50. The concept and story line were great and the mission went off with out a hitch.

I think we overwhelmed the mission based on our numbers. I think for 2-8 people it would have been more challenging but for amount of players we had it was a little light on OPFOR. We all had a great time still and it took us about 1 hour 30 to complete.

On behalf of our squad, thanks for your work and sharing it with the community. :thumbup:

On behalf of our squad, thanks for your work and sharing it with the community. :thumbup:

It's my pleasure. I'm glad to hear that you and your group enjoyed the mission and I truly appreciate the feedback.

Sincerely,

Paul

If Heli didn't transport all cargo of Cargo1(C130 No.1) to drop zone in a certain time,Cargo2(C130 No.2) will RTB to Sochi?

If Heli didn't transport all cargo of Cargo1(C130 No.1) to drop zone in a certain time,Cargo2(C130 No.2) will RTB to Sochi?

If there are still crates on the runway when Cargo 2 or Cargo 3 attempt to land, they will abort their landing. However, I don't believe they will automatically RTB to Sochi. I believe they will come around and attempt another landing. Also, if there is any flying activity close the base, the cargo aircraft will also abort their approach. That's why the helis get a warning to land when a cargo flight is on approach. In this scenario, I do know that the cargo planes will attempt many approaches until the airfield is clear. They might seem to RTB, but they eventually come back around. If it takes too long, though, and they get close to Sochi, they might finally RTB.

I'll have to test the aborted landing due to the runway being fouled with crates. The plane might assume the runway is permanently fouled and RTB to Sochi. Not sure.

Paul

If there are still crates on the runway when Cargo 2 or Cargo 3 attempt to land, they will abort their landing. However, I don't believe they will automatically RTB to Sochi. I believe they will come around and attempt another landing. Also, if there is any flying activity close the base, the cargo aircraft will also abort their approach. That's why the helis get a warning to land when a cargo flight is on approach. In this scenario, I do know that the cargo planes will attempt many approaches until the airfield is clear. They might seem to RTB, but they eventually come back around. If it takes too long, though, and they get close to Sochi, they might finally RTB.

 

I'll have to test the aborted landing due to the runway being fouled with crates. The plane might assume the runway is permanently fouled and RTB to Sochi. Not sure.

 

Paul

No.the second group of C130 didn't even attempt to land.Cargo2 RTB from the place they oribit.I don't know what's wrong.

I have recorded a tacview file if you'd like to see.

Thanks for your excellent work for this mission,I and my friends have a lot of fun from it.And we will have another try tomorrow and maybe record a video to edit.

The Second group of C130 is orbiting.

Cargo2 is going to RTB

Cargo2 is RTB.

I have recorded a tacview file if you'd like to see.

Yes, please post the TacView file, I'd like to see what's not working. Even CAS flights working enemy convoys that get close to the airfield will cause the cargo flights to abort approaches. We had to ask the CAS fliers to stay clear of the field for a bit until the incoming cargo flight could make its drop. The inbound announcement currently only goes to the helis since I know they will be flying around the base, but I think I'll need to have those announcements go to the whole coalition so they can clear the airspace around the base. Still, I was surprised how many attempts the cargo flights would make waiting for the airspace to clear.

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the mission even with some issues. I hope to make improvements as I get feedback.

Thanks,

Paul

Yes, please post the TacView file, I'd like to see what's not working.

Thanks,

Paul

Here the file is.I recorded the .trk file with time accelerate (may be 4x to 5x I'm not sure)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0sZxfmBqv9yY3NkZEo1c3BYcEk/view?usp=sharing

@tifafan

Thanks for posting the TacView file. I was able to see exactly what's happening. Cargo 2 actually does not enter an orbit. It will go straight in to Novorossiysk as long as the runway is clear. I think I did this to put on a little pressure to get those crates moved. In your mission it appears that not all 8 crates had been moved when Cargo 2 reached its waypoint no. 2. Since it could not land at Novorossiysk with a fouled runway it went RTB.

I modified the mission and put Cargo 2 into an orbit until those 8 crates have been moved to zones 1 and 2, the HAWK SAM sites. Once that happens, it will make its approach to Novorossiysk. Cargo 3 will remain in orbit until Cargo 2 leaves the theater, which happens almost immediately after it drops its cargo. There will only be 4 crates, so move them quick!

Here is a link to download the modified mission. I don't want to make this a release version as I have not yet tested it myself. If you do use this version, please let me know how it goes.

Download: Cargo Escort Test Mission

Thanks,

Paul

@tifafan

I modified the mission and put Cargo 2 into an orbit until those 8 crates have been moved to zones 1 and 2, the HAWK SAM sites. Once that happens, it will make its approach to Novorossiysk. Cargo 3 will remain in orbit until Cargo 2 leaves the theater, which happens almost immediately after it drops its cargo. There will only be 4 crates, so move them quick!

 

Here is a link to download the modified mission. I don't want to make this a release version as I have not yet tested it myself. If you do use this version, please let me know how it goes.

 

Download: Cargo Escort Test Mission

 

Thanks,

Paul

Thanks for modifying the mission,the reason we didn't move crates in time is that those Hueys was confused by CTLD menu and wasted too much time.

I think time is quite enough for Heli to transport.

I've just tested the realeased verision in singerplayer using Huey.

It works perfectly,like I said,time is quite enough.

Even for one Huey whose pilot is not good at hover.

Yep, the CTLD menu does take a little getting used to, but once you know the steps it starts to go pretty quickly. I was thinking about this a bit more and I'm not entirely sure why Cargo 2 went RTB so quickly. When Cargo 3 is released from orbit it will make its approach to Novorossiysk even though the crates from Cargo 2 are still on the runway. There must be some underlying behavior at the DCS level that I don't quite understand. Putting Cargo 2 into orbit might be a good fail safe to avoid this situation.

Let me know of any other issues that might come up.

Thanks,

Paul

This time mission works perfect.

But we didn't complete it because of server crash :( (we almost finished it)

We have 2 F-15,3 A-10C,1 KA50 and 2 Huey.

I think my friends all like this mission.

This is the best joint opearation mission I have ever played.

@tifafan -- Thank you very much for the feedback and kind words. I'm glad to hear it went well and that you and your group liked the mission.

Sincerely,

Paul

Nice mission but i think you can hide ennemy on F10 view and add audio trigger saying "ennemy convoys approching at <location>".

Nice mission but i think you can hide ennemy on F10 view and add audio trigger saying "ennemy convoys approching at <location>".

@beynesairforce -- Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate it very much. I'll have look at implementing these things.

Paul

Updated for DCS World 1.5.3

I have updated the mission file with the latest version of CTLD.lua. There is a bug in DCS World 1.5.3 that broke simulated sling loading that was addressed with a temporary fix in CTLD. For now, the crates will appear to be UAZ vehicles.

The original download link has the updated mission file.

If you have any issues with the mission, please let me know.

Thanks,

Paul

Hey there Mr. Marsh...

Has this been tested with our latest iteration of patches? Thinking of running it again this evening. :)

Hey there Mr. Marsh...

Has this been tested with our latest iteration of patches? Thinking of running it again this evening. :)

Sorry that I wasn't able to respond earlier. I haven't run the mission since the most recent update, but a previous update did break something in CTLD.lua with regard to sling loading. The temporary fix within CTLD causes the crates to appear as vehicles. If you have not run the mission, make sure to downlaod the latest version that I posted. It has this fix. Once the root cause bug has been addressed, I'll post an updated version.

Thanks,

Paul

No worries!

We gave it a whirl and did experience some issues.

When we started the mission, we immediately received a "92.something% complete" message.

Our CAS flight (3xA-10C) reported that they only encountered one group of 5 vehicles during the approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes we ran the mission.

At one point later on, we received a message stating we were "88.something% complete..." oh no backwards progress! :lol:

Our CAP tasking worked without issue, though one flight did go after the strikers instead of the cargo aircraft. Fortunately, we were able to intercept them before they caused too much trouble.

CTLD appeared to be working without issue as well. Still using UAZ fix (I am also not sure if the issues with the script have been resolved at this point) but our helos were able to successfully pick up and deploy crates, and Cargo2 landed without issue and spawned his crates. We quit before Cargo3 made its way to the airfield but I expect this also would have been fine.

Not sure how your target groups for the CAS flights spawn in but perhaps something in one of our latest updates has caused an issue there?

Anyway, just thought I'd share our experiences; thanks again for all your work on this one.

Sorry to hear that you had problems with the mission. It does sound like there is an issue with spawning. With 3 A-10s, there should have been many more enemy convoys. I'll have a look.

My scoring scheme is not ideal. Due to scaling, I don't know how many goals there will be initially. If an A-10 were to come into the mission late, and after some goals have already been achieved, new goals will spawn for that particular A-10 and will make the percent complete % reverse for a time. I have it set up such that each time any goal is achieved, the % complete gets displayed.

Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for flying the mission.

Paul

We did have one late arrival in an A-10, so that may have indeed been responsible for the backwards progress. :)