THE SERPENTS HEAD F18C CAMPAIGN

Hi Scotch 75, glad you are enjoying it. Nopotential is right you can use some harms but they were not released at the time of writing the campaign so not intended to be used.

First point don't use flares they have no effect against radar SAM sites it must be chaff.

As I have set out in past responses on the user files site the best way I found is to jink them vertically. Come in low and fast. As the missiles are released climb steeply to just under cloud base. When they are about half way. Turn upside down and pull down to the ground aggressively. As you do this shed about 5 loads of chaff just as you start the decent. You should lose the missiles and your back down low. At this point the topography will hide you from further missiles from that Sam site. Use your ew warnings to help with timing.

Give it a go. Best of luck.

Many thanks for the advice guys. One glaring error I've made, as Glyn pointed out, is to use chaff instead of flare. For some reason I had in my mind that SA-8 locks on via radar (hence to rwr tones) to launch, then the guidance was the missile's IR seeker. "Know your enemy" lol...

Cheers!

Can you fly this campaign with a partner?

Not without editing the separate mission files. You could do this and add an additional aircraft for your buddy. Both your aircraft and the new one would have to be designated as client not player. Then the mission could be used in multiplayer. But. The new aircraft would be very much an observer in that the mission is only looking at the original aircraft for triggers etc.

So yes but with some work.

Hey Glyn,

I finally finished the campaign. Fantastic work mate, the voice work and background chat made it all very immersive, with a great story line.

I made my first successful Case III night trap to top it all off.

Cheers

Great campaign indeed. Vioce over is lovely.

However, I do not get the 10 degrees left and right command in the formation flying mission.

Is it a test of how good I can maintain formation or a command to get me in proper formation.

Haven't been able to pass that mission.

Absolutely a great campaign to fly. Voice-over is nice.

However, I do not get the 10 degrees left and right command in the formation flying mission. Is this to test how good I can maintain formation or a command to get me into proper formation.

I thought I was doing good formation when I pulled close to lead.

Have yet to pass that mission.

Any idea please?

Hey thanks man. Excellent work.

For the SA page thingy to work all the missions in the campaign need to be reconfigured?

Hi Eaglewings.

Yes it is a test of formation flying. you need to get into finger 4 left position as set out in the brief.

the degrees change of direction is the change of direction of the formation given by the leader.

For the SA page thingy to work all the missions in the campaign need to be reconfigured?

Hi Hekktor

Written before the SA. You don't need it to succeed. In what way do the missions need to be reconfigured ?

Hey Glyn,

 

I finally finished the campaign. Fantastic work mate, the voice work and background chat made it all very immersive, with a great story line.

 

I made my first successful Case III night trap to top it all off.

 

Cheers

Glad you enjoyed :)

Hi Eaglewings.

Yes it is a test of formation flying. you need to get into finger 4 left position as set out in the brief.

the degrees change of direction is the change of direction of the formation given by the leader.

I would approach the formation mission with this in mind.

Some observation:

After downloading updated campaign, on the mission to take out the SAMs, warrior 11 would not give call to attack the second on the list of SAM.

Previously after destroying the first SA-8, I get call to kill the second Sam close by.

Hey! Just wanted to chip in and just say I’m having a great time playing this campaign.

Flew the first 4 missions and they really are my cup of coffee :P Not uber complicated, clear and concise and, overall, FUN to play.

Keep up the good work!

Hi,

Great job man! Really enjoyed your campaign!!

A few ideas for the future:

1. Adding some carrier group tools in the air. An E2 aircraft for D/L and a tanker for recovery would be great (+you should set the TACAN channels according to Wags instructions for best performance).

2. Adding a mission where you need to drop a LGB on a target when you above the clouds. The JTAC will lase the target while you need to enter the TGT coordinates and drop the bomb in AUTO mode.

3. More bad weather missions. This missions are so much fun to fly.

4. More assets in the sky. Use the current missions and add layers... More Helicopters, strikes, etc.

Overall, I really enjoyed your missions, thanks!

Grate work! Great missions! I would give money for that. Excellent

Hey guys quick question because I think I'm missing something.

In the mission where I use JTAC to lase the Sam sites I can only destroy the first set and then I'm told I can "depart" then I try to talk to FINGER and they don't respond so I assume I can leave and the mission is complete. On my egress back to the carrier I'm told mission failed, BUT..... I can't talk to Finger so is this a bug or have I missed something?

Confused.

I had similar issues with that mission before the last open beta update. In my case I could only destroy the first of the SAM lased by warrior 11.

I would not get a re-attack call from warrior 11 for the second SAM warrior 11 is lasing.

I gave same mission a go just yesterday and was able to get all 4 SAMs destroyed and told a mission complete and no other objective available.

It is hard to put a finger on what is causing this mission failure, perhaps a trigger point that is not meant.

Did you go through all the JTAC communication for warrior11?

Thanks eaglewings,

I figured it out and for those that are new and don’t know, you need to manually switch the preset frequency on COM 2 which is the dial on the bottom RIGHT of the UFC (COM 1 is on the norm LEFT of the UFC and has already been preset in the mission).

If you don’t manually set COM 2 then no matter what you do Finger will not talk to you. I’m not a very patient person and didn’t read the briefing thoroughly so read it and internalize it and you should be fine.

P.S. I still got shot down but at least now I know what to do

:megalol:

Great to see you could get around that issue.

How did the call to engage some enemy artillery group with guns just before overlying Kutaisi on your way back to the Stennis go?

Those bad guys are difficult to destroy completely.

Always running out of guns in this engagement because they are on the hill side.

I landed in Kutaisi to re-arm and come back to finish them off but Crew guys in Kutaisi with not re-arm me.

I avoided them. One of the things I try to do is complete the mission. If I loiter for too long it increases my chances of getting shot down. I think the AA guns are just targets of opportunity.

HI Akula / Eaglewings

Just noted your comments regarding difficulty with the JTAC and SAMs

As set out in the brief notes you need to firstly set your radio 1 to channel 1. ( Its already set there). This will allow you to communicate with Warrior. Then when you need to speak to Finger you need to change your radio 1 to channel 2 to speak to them.

When communicating with JTAC once the first SAM in their view is destroyed they will say shift. They have shifted their laser to the new target. You then need to call in bound. then laser on. then spot then in. Once the first two SAMs are destroyed you will get a no further targets message and then after that Dark star will give you the details of finger the next JTAC and two Sam sites. it all works just tried it

Yes the ground attack with gun is difficult. The F18 does not seem that accurate compared to other aircraft.

Enjoy

HI Akula / Eaglewings

 

Just noted your comments regarding difficulty with the JTAC and SAMs

 

As set out in the brief notes you need to firstly set your radio 1 to channel 1. ( Its already set there). This will allow you to communicate with Warrior. Then when you need to speak to Finger you need to change your radio 1 to channel 2 to speak to them.

 

When communicating with JTAC once the first SAM in their view is destroyed they will say shift. They have shifted their laser to the new target. You then need to call in bound. then laser on. then spot then in. Once the first two SAMs are destroyed you will get a no further targets message and then after that Dark star will give you the details of finger the next JTAC and two Sam sites. it all works just tried it

 

Yes the ground attack with gun is difficult. The F18 does not seem that accurate compared to other aircraft.

 

Enjoy

It works following as you have just highlighted.

The times had issues was because I did not finish with the JTAC radio communication. I stop at laser on proceeded with firing my weapon.

But when I finished the JTAC communications, I was able to destroy all sams and got a mission complete message.

I appreciate the effort you put in here to help enjoy this campaign to the fullest.

Cheers

Thanks Glyn,

I figured out that it’s exactly like you said. I think that in the moment some pilots feel a sense of urgency as they approach the SAM’s strike range so, for me, it made me panic until I realized it works best when you:

Launch

Turn around to avoid the strike range

Wait for them to say “shift”

Turn into the next target

Let the mav find it

Launch again

NOTE* On egress JTAC will automatically laze the next target as soon as they call “shift”. You DO NOT have to literally be inbound. Just turn around, point the nose in the general direction of the next target, uncage and let the Mav find it.

Glyn,

If you’re open to editing the mission one more time, can I suggest removing the call “You can depart now”. It’s a little confusing and makes pilots think that the mission is a success and they can go home.