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FC2-A-10: Campaign Mission 1 AAR


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Ok. I am going to take a stab at this. A couple of caveats first though: I am not as good a pilot as BeachAV8R, I ain't as humourous as Dart and I certainly am not as witty as either (at least when put together). [Note: I originally wrote this for posting on the http://simhq.com forums where both Dart and BeachAV8R are household names :-)]

 

A little history first.

 

I have my roots in Falcon 4 but I made extensive use of the freeze/pause feature to work all the knobs and switches (although technically the seeds were planted back in the XT EGA days with Microsoft Flight Simulator they did not blossom until 1998). This means that I am well intentioned but not exactly swift at the cockpit chore list and doing my laundry in the right order. I tend to get distracted by the flashy bits and let my ADHD run a little wild.

 

Falcon frustrated me a fair bit. I always felt the need to do the full startup sequence but the game would usually crash when I was on a successful mission or stay stable enough for me to die :-). I think that we have all been there. And that was the start to my unhealthy addiction to flight sims.

 

After a short break and a short time in Black Shark, where I was too afraid to strap into that baby and get my arse shot all to heck, I had a hankering for some fast mover action. The crew at DCS obliged by offering up a 'port' of Flaming Cliffs into the DCS engine. Couple that with BeachAV8R's excellent AAR's and I felt ok falling back off the wagon.

 

So here we are, flying my first Campaign since sometime in the middle of Falcon 4: Allied Force's release. It felt ... frustrating to work my flight gear over in an attempt to get everything mapped right ... but when the wheels were up and my A-10 was airborne in the navigation training mission I felt right at home.

 

Enough of the verbiage. Lets get on with the Mission and AAR!

 

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My first mission was a typical one that I had read about before. Up north of our airbase a group of enemy tanks were preparing to engage and prohibit the movement of our forces into that area. We were tasked with removing that threat

 

00101p.jpg

 

I kept the default loadout, wheels up and executed a 270 degree turn to target: being in the habit of giving my wingman time to get sorted and join up for the move north. Short enough into the mission to realize just how close this airfield is to the action we get our note from Pointer

 

00102p.jpg

 

I love this aspect of the sim - it immerses you right into the action! We get spiked by a search radar off to the North West so we will keep it low and stay out of any launch envelope it might have.

 

Moving further into the target area some poor bugger hiding in a bush next to the airfield has to draw attention to himself by popping smoke.

 

00103a.jpg

 

00104p.jpg

 

That makes the job much easier and at this low altitude anything to reduce my workload is a bonus! I line up on the first target, struggle to get my wingman to do anything and get of my first live shot of the action. I pop flares as I pull away from getting myself too close.

 

00105.jpg

 

I know that there are probably no SAMs with those tanks but I am not taking chances. I see the AAA fire reaching up at me. Feet wet off to the west of target I look to circle back for another pass.

 

00107.jpg

 

Rifle!

 

Pulling off to the South West, past some burning buildings and giving the people in the office towers/apartment complexes something to think about.

 

00108t.jpg

 

Circling around to the South East I pick up a spike on the RWR from a AAA gun. I put it on my left side and look for the tracer fire to give away it's position.

 

00109e.jpg

 

I get distracted and feel the need to quiet him down.

 

00110l.jpg

 

Back to the target at hand, I am out of MAV's and since the AAA gun on the field has been silenced (not the same one as the picture above) I decide to try a rocket pass. My old squadmates in JG52 in World War II Online would appreciate how well I outline the armour in rocket fire instead of hitting him! :-)

 

00111x.jpg

 

So, it falls to a pair of Mk82's: I think that they are 82's - the low drag gravity bombs. ... bah the number is not important! I think I am having a Dart moment ... Here's a pretty picture:

 

00112.jpg

 

Pulling off the target, not a direct hit but close enough to destroy him with the shock-wave.

 

00113v.jpg

 

Job complete I overfly the FLOT on my RTB. This is probably not a good idea as those self propelled howitzers are lobbing shells close enough to my flight path to have me wondering how detailed they might be modeled :-)

 

00114.jpg

 

Interesting enough, passing the same buildings on fire as a previous shot, you cna make out the train waiting to be unloaded carrying it's military hardware.Talk about deploying it right on the front lines!

 

00115.jpg

 

Crossing the warning lines at the end of runway 13 - a successful, relatively low stress mission.

 

00116.jpg

 

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All in all I am liking FC2 and the A-10. Being a mud mover has it's thrills and I am actually glad that I do not have to handle the switchology required for something like Falcon 4, or DCS: Black Shark. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to getting back in that saddle again soon, but as an 'entry level' into a complex and difficult sim this approach is a welcome introduction that I think beginners will appreciate (without getting overwhelmed).

 

I am looking forward to the dedicated A-10 module for DCS in the coming months (and years :-) ).

 

Fridge

 

PS: This is my first attempt at an AAR. If the images are messed up, incorrect or not to spec I will attempt to address them ASAP.

 

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Things which do you no good in aviation:

1) Altitude above you;

2) Runway behind you;

3) Fuel in the truck;

4) The airspeed you don't have.

Fridge

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Things which do you no good in aviation:

1) Altitude above you;

2) Runway behind you;

3) Fuel in the truck;

4) The airspeed you don't have.

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Job complete I overfly the FLOT on my RTB. This is probably not a good idea as those self propelled howitzers are lobbing shells close enough to my flight path to have me wondering how detailed they might be modeled :-)

 

IIRC, they are modeled with enough detail that your trepidation was warranted :D.

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Thanks guys! I will be starting Mission #5 on Friday and posting Missions #2 & #3 this evening. They are both in 'post production' and trying to make me look better :-)

 

Wags: I'll turn up that setting for the next mission (#5) and see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.

Fridge

----------

Things which do you no good in aviation:

1) Altitude above you;

2) Runway behind you;

3) Fuel in the truck;

4) The airspeed you don't have.

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