Combined Forces!

This $19.99 add-on will allow A-10C, Black Shark 2, and Flaming Cliffs 3 owner to act as ground force commanders as the mission is running. Users can direct ground units, set fire missions for artillery/multiple rocket launchers, and take the role of a Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC). As the JTAC, players will have night vision goggles, IR pointer, laser designator, and Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR). Several other new items are still being considered. Combined Arms will work in both single player and multiplayer missions.

Yes, thats EDs military project. We have had JTAC (and Battlefield Commander)in the earlier A-10C beta`s, but it was removed because of possible military contract violations.

So that Combined Arms add-on is meant for the commercial, public version (for all DCS products and FC3).

This is awesome. Thanks for the heads up. Now the possibility for human AWACS control and airbase control so you can schedule human and AI flights and we are good to go for our own Multiplayer dynamic campaigns.

That is awesome! x2

This is awesome. Thanks for the heads up. Now the possibility for human AWACS control and airbase control so you can schedule human and AI flights and we are good to go for our own Multiplayer dynamic campaigns.

Is there an option for a player to see what the AWACS sees announced? I don't recall this in the old beta. Did I miss it cause it would make a great option instead of using external software!

Is there an option for a player to see what the AWACS sees announced? I don't recall this in the old beta. Did I miss it cause it would make a great option instead of using external software!

Wasn`t that only wishful thinking? Also to control airbases and to schedule human and AI flights?

I´m eager to hear what we will get with that addon.:)

With TFC/ED Newsletter mechanism (which I'm happy about it), this add-on has the following features:

- act as ground force commanders as the mission is running,

- direct ground units,

- set fire missions for artillery and multiple rocket launchers,

- take the role of a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC).

As the JTAC, players will have:

- night vision goggles,

- IR pointer,

- laser designator,

- Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR).

Several other new items are still being considered. Combined Arms will work in both single player and multiplayer missions.

I wish there were some good ED SDK, so that we (developers team) could make our own payware add-on!

Is there an option for a player to see what the AWACS sees announced? I don't recall this in the old beta. Did I miss it cause it would make a great option instead of using external software!

About the AWACS was wishfull thinking.. A man can dream. right :)

I wish there were some good ED SDK, so that we (developers team) could make our own payware add-on!

Why payware? I preferably have it just like Arma where the whole community can create things. Some good quality. Some shitty quality. But its free and creative.

Awesome!

Nice find! I wonder the soldiers exchanging gun fire were AI or human players.

Oh yeah and, for me, this is so much better than DC.

Something HUGE I saw missing on that video:

There appears to be no method for the artillery commander to enter firing coordinates. It's all mouseclicks on a map. This means the artillery commander must guestimate where the fire needs to go. The coordinates only appear AFTER the artillery commander clicks on the map, and even then, it's in lat-long. Artillery does not use lat-long (with the possible exception of ATACMS, but I never worked with ATACMS, so I couldn't really say).

There needs to be a text field where the artillery commander can enter MGRS grid coordinates; that way human pilots and JTAC/ FOs can make voice comms calls to the "artillery fire coordination center" (IE, the human artillery commander running Combined Arms), who then tasks assets to fire at THAT grid.

Also, it would be nice to see provisions made for adjusting artillery fire. This means the artillery commander would need to be able to designate an Observer-Target (OT) direction and issue adjustment commands (left, right, add, drop, up, and down) to the artillery fire, with "left, right" etc in perspective to that OT line. Additionally, the human artillery commander in Combined Arms should be able to designate how many guns of the battery fire, how many volleys they fire, and what munitions they fire.

A battery should be capable of running up to three seperate targets simultaneously (two, absolute minimum); this allows for certain specific type of fire missions such as Coordinated Illumination (where one gun fires illumination rounds to illuminate the target area, while the remaining guns fire HE/ ICM/ Smoke) or SEAD missions (where one gun might be used to fire a smoke mark for a CAS target, while the other guns fire HE/ICM to suppress known or likely air defense positions)

If the artillery pieces are going to be directable by human players, it would be nice to have all the munitions available to them modelled. Currently only the HE rounds appear modelled for artillery in DCS. Most US wartime fire missions should be DPICM (high intensity conflict, not things like Iraq or Afghanistan); as DPICM is much more effective, and can kill IFVs and tanks. It should be relatively easy to model in game as simply a downsized CBU87. Smoke rounds are critical, as a mark if nothing else. If the human JTAC in Combined Operations is capable of using the laser designator to mark targets, they should also be capable of using it to provide terminal guidance to aerial munitions- and for Copperhead Cannon Launched Guided Projectiles (CLGP) as well. CLGP should additionally be fairly easy to model, using the algorythms for Hellfire (similar munition shape, size, and warhead yield); the terminal phase should be a similar dive angle as well.

Only by implementing these things it possible to accurately simulate controlling an artillery fire mission

.... I won't even try to ask for Laser Adjust fire mission capability (though it would be nice!)

We may well have these things you wanted. That video was uploaded in June 2010. Combined arms will be coming probably (just my guess) around June 2012. There's going to be a lot of changes.

Well.... here's hoping. I used to be a FSO, and I'd love nothing more than to get to ride an M1131 Stryker FSV (my old ride) out to the OP (yes, the origin of my handle) and get knee deep in calling (through TARS to a human FDC commander) in a coordinated illum DPICM SEAD mission in conjunction with terminal laser guidance for LGBs.

Badass wouldn't begin to describe how I would feel about that!

Makes me long for the old days :D

Well.... here's hoping. I used to be a FSO, and I'd love nothing more than to get to ride an M1131 Stryker FSV (my old ride) out to the OP (yes, the origin of my handle) and get knee deep in calling (through TARS to a human FDC commander) in a coordinated illum DPICM SEAD mission in conjunction with terminal laser guidance for LGBs.

 

Badass wouldn't begin to describe how I would feel about that!

 

Makes me long for the old days :D

That sounds awesome. I can't wait just to call in mortars and M109's and blast the enemy to hell. This will give a whole new meaning to missions like FOB vetka to have the important people being real.

Yeah... it's fun how hectic it can get for the FSOs when things get hairy; the FSV mounts four seperate radio nets plus a FBCB2 or BFT, plus the internal intercom- it'd be fun just to work on the art of listening to so many nets simultaneously. I know, it sounds impossible, but somehow it can actually be done. I used to put different nets output through different sides of my headset; that helped IMMENSELY. I wonder if I can figure out how to do that on my computer? For that matter, I wonder if I can remember how to do it on a vehicle comms J-box? Much less remember how to hook an iPod up to play through the intercom...

....y'know.... not that I actually ever DID that :music_whistling:

Also, I must be getting rusty; I had to check wikipedia to verify that M1131 was the correct designation- I used to have two MCVs and my own FSV in my ad hoc platoon. One was the M1129, the other was the M1131... but I couldn't remember which was which! Heck, I still might not know, the wikipedia article might have been mislabeled; the article on the FSV was wrong in a LOT of details (claims the FSV is based on the ICV, it's actually based on the RV, the photo is of FSV increment A with the old G/VLLD designator instead of the proper increment B FS3 sensor...)

*edit* oh, and the top speed of the Stryker is WAY above 62 mph, even with slat on. Though it gets a bit breezy up top ^_^

With your experience, you should get a slot to beta test Combined Arms. What you said sounded difficult but fun, and I hope they model it. :D

Yeah, I dunno about that; it's been a few years since I did any of that stuff, and honestly, I don't know that I'd be able to find enough free time to do the task justice

Hmm... I guess I was one of the few that played with this feature back in A-10C beta. If we can get people to act as battle commander(s), it really frees up mission designers.

Something HUGE I saw missing on that video:

 

There appears to be no method for the artillery commander to enter firing coordinates. It's all mouseclicks on a map. This means the artillery commander must guestimate where the fire needs to go. The coordinates only appear AFTER the artillery commander clicks on the map, and even then, it's in lat-long. Artillery does not use lat-long (with the possible exception of ATACMS, but I never worked with ATACMS, so I couldn't really say).

 

There needs to be a text field where the artillery commander can enter MGRS grid coordinates; that way human pilots and JTAC/ FOs can make voice comms calls to the "artillery fire coordination center" (IE, the human artillery commander running Combined Arms), who then tasks assets to fire at THAT grid.

 

Also, it would be nice to see provisions made for adjusting artillery fire. This means the artillery commander would need to be able to designate an Observer-Target (OT) direction and issue adjustment commands (left, right, add, drop, up, and down) to the artillery fire, with "left, right" etc in perspective to that OT line. Additionally, the human artillery commander in Combined Arms should be able to designate how many guns of the battery fire, how many volleys they fire, and what munitions they fire.

 

A battery should be capable of running up to three seperate targets simultaneously (two, absolute minimum); this allows for certain specific type of fire missions such as Coordinated Illumination (where one gun fires illumination rounds to illuminate the target area, while the remaining guns fire HE/ ICM/ Smoke) or SEAD missions (where one gun might be used to fire a smoke mark for a CAS target, while the other guns fire HE/ICM to suppress known or likely air defense positions)

 

If the artillery pieces are going to be directable by human players, it would be nice to have all the munitions available to them modelled. Currently only the HE rounds appear modelled for artillery in DCS. Most US wartime fire missions should be DPICM (high intensity conflict, not things like Iraq or Afghanistan); as DPICM is much more effective, and can kill IFVs and tanks. It should be relatively easy to model in game as simply a downsized CBU87. Smoke rounds are critical, as a mark if nothing else. If the human JTAC in Combined Operations is capable of using the laser designator to mark targets, they should also be capable of using it to provide terminal guidance to aerial munitions- and for Copperhead Cannon Launched Guided Projectiles (CLGP) as well. CLGP should additionally be fairly easy to model, using the algorythms for Hellfire (similar munition shape, size, and warhead yield); the terminal phase should be a similar dive angle as well.

 

Only by implementing these things it possible to accurately simulate controlling an artillery fire mission

 

.... I won't even try to ask for Laser Adjust fire mission capability (though it would be nice!)

I just wanted to quote you again, because I like your thinking on this. +1 to most everything you said. However you're not quite right- you CAN manually enter coordinates for your artillery fire missions rather than click on the map, as least, you could back in A-10C beta when we had combined arms ("battle commander"). However, the coordinates were all in lat/long (DMS rather than the DM the A-10C CDU uses!), so we had to convert from MGRS to lat long alot of the times. And if the pilot actually gave a coordinate in lat long DM, as you get from the CDU, then I would have to convert it to lat long DMS.

I will be providing a mod that will be able to quickly convert coordinates between bra, bullseye, MGRS, and LL that will work in multiplayer. Basically, you will enter a chat message of something like (I haven't decided on the syntax yet, but it will be programmed to be fairly flexible about how you enter it- capitalization, and spacing won't matter, the format of the coordinate will be flexible, some words and full spelling may be optional- it's all yet to be decided exactly) "-conv ll 38T KM 66752 88740" and you will get a chat message returned to you of the coordinates converted. That should help out the situation somewhat.

What we used to do in A-10C beta when we were doing custom arty fire missions was that the pilot would call in the arty mission in MGRS. The arty commander would convert to lat long, then type in the coordinates. Once the arty hit, the pilot could call in adjustments such as 100 meters north or 400 meters east. The arty commander would make the necessary adjustments to the original MGRS coordinates, re-convert, and type in the new LL coordinates.

One issue was that this would sometimes start the arty all over again with a new fire mission, meaning, you'd have to wait two minutes after the new coordinates were plugged in till the arty started firing again.

One thing that has never been fixed is the artillery undershoot problem. Artillery will often undershoot by hundreds of meters their fire point if the target and/or the arty gun is significant above 1000 meters ASL. I never figured out an exact mathematical formula to predict exactly how much undershoot there would be, but I did find a loose relation. Hopefully ED fixes this.

The cartography shown on DCS A-10C TAD should appear in mission editor and in some tactical display. At ground level it will be need for navigation, higher scale topographic maps: 1:100.000, 1:50.000 and 1:25.000.

Also, some form structure to input the mission data and the capability to print or export to *.ps or *.pdf, is also a must have.

The Mission Data Card of WarriorX is an example.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=61044&

Would be nice too have a wee update on how this is coming on tho. :huh:

Believe me, Combined Arms is coming!

http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=65241

DCS World is the best strategy, and DCS: P-51D Mustang is not the worst! :)

Shall we stay digital?

Digital Combat Simulator needs F/A-18E (with Carrier Operations), F-22, F-35, etc.

Believe me, Combined Arms is coming!

 

I was inclined to believe ED in the first place.:D

Believe me, Combined Arms is coming!

http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=65241

Yeah, have seen that to in the Mig21 announcement.:thumbup: