Cold War 1947 - 1991

With LotATC on its way for all the mission, I thought I would start on a little project to provide a little orientation map for each mission for future LotATC controllers.

Here is the first one. Very simple but provides the controller with an idea of what is going on so he can set up his scope.

Anyone else who wants to produce these things, please feel free. I feel no special attachment to doing this.

Fight island v002.pdf

3 hours ago, Alpenwolf said:

- Setting AAA's skills to good or high, but not excellent any more. At excellent they're literally sharpshooters when they shouldn't be in real life, I guess.
 

 

You got that right. That has been a frustration!

Really nice having an NDB at the FARP now. Good move, thanks.

Some of the custom-made FARPs are laid out in a way that you can use to do short rolling takeoffs, from memory. I don't think all of them are though. The one on Swedish Delivery (from memory it's that mission, anyway) is relatively claustrophobic and can be a little daunting if you're heavily loaded and not confident with hovering. It's also not really suited to rolling landings as it's fully enclosed while most other missions' FARPs have open spaces you can taxi through after landing nearby.

The other thing I sometimes use to get out of tight FARPs is lifting in a direction where I have a little clearance in front of me, so I can stay just above the ground and use ground effect to keep me from smashing the belly while I build some speed up. You can pull the wheels in and climb out once you've got a little forward motion going, and it's still an option when the actual FARP itself is too physically constrained or too uneven to do a rolling takeoff.

Server restarted on Last Man Standing. Cheers to Dawger for the heads-up.

14 hours ago, Alpenwolf said:

Take the mission Open Range as an example. Red operates from Mineralnye Vody Airbase and the TA's are about 100 km west of it, if not more. Would you rather start at an airbase far away or a FARP, but way closer to the action? Same thing with The Desert Has Eyes. All airbases are way too far from the TA's.

You know what, while writing this I had an idea of placing the single helipads around a road to which the helicopters could taxi and take off from there if they choose to. I'll do it in the mission The Desert Has Eyes when it's its turn for updating and see if I can do that in other missions too.

Lots of things to do, folks. Bear with me, please. In time though... Real life is also demanding

It never happened prior to installing LotATC or very very rarely to be honest.

The roadbase solution would be great. If we could rearm on the street, near to a pad, it would also minimise the risk of spawn accidents.

No stress from my side, I wait as long as it needs. Thx for considering my proposal.

9 hours ago, rossmum said:

Some of the custom-made FARPs are laid out in a way that you can use to do short rolling takeoffs, from memory. I don't think all of them are though. The one on Swedish Delivery (from memory it's that mission, anyway) is relatively claustrophobic and can be a little daunting if you're heavily loaded and not confident with hovering. It's also not really suited to rolling landings as it's fully enclosed while most other missions' FARPs have open spaces you can taxi through after landing nearby.

The other thing I sometimes use to get out of tight FARPs is lifting in a direction where I have a little clearance in front of me, so I can stay just above the ground and use ground effect to keep me from smashing the belly while I build some speed up. You can pull the wheels in and climb out once you've got a little forward motion going, and it's still an option when the actual FARP itself is too physically constrained or too uneven to do a rolling takeoff.

 

Getting the bird up isnt my problem, bringing her back down on the pad is where I struggle.

27 minutes ago, MMI_Grim said:

The roadbase solution would be great. If we could rearm on the street, near to a pad, it would also minimise the risk of spawn accidents.

No stress from my side, I wait as long as it needs. Thx for considering my proposal.

Getting the bird up isnt my problem, bringing her back down on the pad is where I struggle.

 

Road bases have been included in the missions for years. They're mainly for airplanes and quite often L-39's or AJS37's/C-101's to spawn there right away, but also for other airplanes to use. FARP's are quite often close enough to action, hence the absence of a forward base for rearming and refueling.
I know that Red helicopters are way faster and carry more (cough... AH-1, please... cough...), but that's why you see Blue FARP's in some missions closer to the TA's by roughly 25-33% than Red ones.

On a side note, and I don't like to boast or anything (that's why I didn't write this in my other responses to you), but since you brought it up again, I really never needed a rolling takeoff or landing in the Mi-24. I know she's tougher to land than the Mi-8 or the Ka-50, but with a bit of practice you'll figure out a way to do it. In my case, I hit a quick Mi-24 PG mission and started landing on rooftops. I did that for 1-2 hours until I got the hang of it. In time I've gotten better. It's still tough to land nonetheless. It's the MiG-21 among the helis

Also, check out what rossmum said and I know quite a few Mi-24 players who do the same. You can roll out on the terrain next to your helipad.
I'll do what I said I'll do and try to move some FARP's next to roads where they could have it easier. Bear with me, please. The to-do list is a bit long.

again.. of course you can.. but as I tried to explain earlier.. an unlucky few (to some point also me) get hit by state-bugs.. which for them has the option to make a landing take 4-6 times longer to establish a perfect hover in trim state, then never be allowed to go beyond -1,5 on the VSI...
..or risk random events like a perfect soft landing.. just to blow up nonetheless, or shut down the engine and the tail breaks off (no damage state) and just weird things.

This is bugrelated, all of it reported, some of it even acknowleded, at some point in time it will not be an issue. And those who are not affected by this have an entirely different experience (things working as intended).


But for those affected even a supercontrolled crab can mean doom.
For those even rolling on terrain is not an option - because it will result in the same events.

That is why a rolling landing on a suitable surface within the services radii can just help to bring return touchdowns back into combat landing time for now.

Server News:

LotATC is currently disabled. The rotation from one mission to another or from a map to another seems to cause the server to crash or pause. LotATC is causing the problem and the owner of LotATC has no clue what's causing it, but he's working on it.

Just out of interest.. would it not again - and not solely because of the LotATC issue - be feasible to virtualize the node (if something like VMS is available) and reset the entire server via script for a map mission change?

This would ease maintenance a lot and normally results in a performance gain from the 20 years I had experiences singled and clustered arrays, down to the point where I virtualized even single boxes not standing around in a datacenter but at random infrastructure points.
Also the cycling tended to be insanely quick.
This would not only make LotATC available independently from a proprietary solution being found but also reset all connections, clear all caches and generally increase performance threshold for every mission, especially when the map is changed. 
Most of all since any exception catcher triggered in a prior mission would be reset just by the services being completely restarted.

Server News:

A quick reminder about the changes for the MiG-15's radio in case some didn't catch that:

SRS and The MiG-15 Comms' Issue:

Poor MiG-15 pilots have always been working alone on their radio frequency while being unable to contact any other pilots due to differences in the radio systems. I could enable the radio expansion for all to operate freely and I did that once, but that caused a bit of chaos and players ended up operating of different frequencies. Therefore, the radio expansion will only be enabled for MiG-15 players only. However, that requires the players themselves to do the following:

- Go to Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\Services\DCS-SRS\Scripts path.
- Find the DCS-SimpleRadioStandalone.lua file and save a backup somewhere.
- Copy and paste the file below to your Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Mods\Services\DCS-SRS\Scripts path.
- Do NOT change the filename.

You should now have a Virtual Radio (Expansion Radio) available in SRS when flying the MiG-15. This radio can be tuned to all frequencies between 116.000 and 399.975 in the VHF and UHF Band.

Here's the file you'd need for that purpose:
DCS-SimpleRadioStandalone.lua

* Note that every time ED releases an update for DCS, the file is overwritten and you'll have to repeat the procedure of copying and pasting the file again.

Server News:

The missions When The Mountains Cry and Open Range have been updated and here's the change log that will apply to all missions in the upcoming weeks:

- Added more NDB's and TACAN's wherever is needed.
- Added more frequencies to the briefings to help with better comms and better navigation.
- Added marks (orange circles) on the F10 map to highlight specific TA's, bases, etc.
- Mi-24P: Removed the info boxes for the pilot's AI menu -> Petrovich. You should only see the cursor now.
- A-10's can carry up to 2 x AIM-9P5's to counter the Su-25's 2 x R-60M's.
- Crates for Mi-8's/UH-1's are limited in numbers. Note that 1 infantry squad counts as 1 crate.
- MANPAD's are always part of the infantry squad and not a single crate on their own.
- Setting Shilkas'/Vulcans' skills' level to high, sometimes good, in all missions.
- Setting AAA emplacements' and APCs' skills' level to good.
- IR SAM's and MANPAD's remain set to excellent. The only exception is in the mission Into The Desert due to the rainy weather, where MANPAD's can't see good enough -> Skill: Good.

The goal was to make all aerial units hidden on the F10 map, so that GCI is done solely through the LotATC tool. Unfortunately, and with so many missions and maps involved, LotATC seems to cause problems to the server upon rotating from one mission to another. Once that's figured out, Combined Arms will no longer be used for GCI any more. It's way too powerful and sees too much to say the least in terms of GCI. Other than that, the Combined Arms module will still be involved in the missions to mix things up for strikers and helicopters.

Server News:

Operation Two Towns has been updated. Here's the change log that will also apply to all missions.

In addition to the main change log, here are a few more changes:
- Added 1 road base for each side: L-39's and C-101's.
- Added more tanks at the towns (more tanks to destroy to complete the objective).
- Briefing corrected. Frequencies added.
- The 2 x helipads for Mi-24's were moved closer to a nearby road for those who want to perform a rolling takeoff/landing.

Thank you

Without naming and shaming, I would like to ask if someone is allowed to switch sides simply to get Intel. I witnessed some rather suspicious sideswitching and wonder of someone can link me the rules, or let me know if that should be reported 

1 hour ago, TheLongShanks said:

Without naming and shaming, I would like to ask if someone is allowed to switch sides simply to get Intel. I witnessed some rather suspicious sideswitching and wonder of someone can link me the rules, or let me know if that should be reported 

It is strictly prohibited. In the first post of this thread.

1 hour ago, TheLongShanks said:

Without naming and shaming, I would like to ask if someone is allowed to switch sides simply to get Intel. I witnessed some rather suspicious sideswitching and wonder of someone can link me the rules, or let me know if that should be reported 

Check out the main post of this thread and there you find a set of rules for the server. One of them is the following: "Using the enemy's GCI slot to find out what he's doing is strictly prohibited!". Hard to catch them doing so and hard to prove it. If rossmum is on the server or I myself and we happen to notice such behaviour, the player will be warned and/or kicked out of the server with a warning message clarifying the issue.

You'll always have people exploiting and usurping things. The way of life, mate. If you notice such behaviour and can provide some evidence for it then, please, share that with us. However, the probably more ideal way to deal with such issues is firstly to ask them kindly to stop doing so. You kind of of give them a fair chance before any kicking or banning takes place, and we'd hate to do the latter.

Thank you.

I am surprised I missed that in the first post. Since I didn't record it, I can't prove it. So I'll leave it as is for now. Thanks for the fast replies

I have a question.

Would it might be possible to remove the big heading boxes of the Petrovic menu?

They are quite ugly and not very immersive imho. It seems there is a server setting for that.

If the people like the boxes, forget what I requested.

2 hours ago, MMI_Grim said:

I have a question.

Would it might be possible to remove the big heading boxes of the Petrovic menu?

They are quite ugly and not very immersive imho. It seems there is a server setting for that.

If the people like the boxes, forget what I requested.

I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue for anyone And I personally never acknowledge the given information in the 3 boxes. I'm just used to working with my systems as it is in all the modules I fly. Which is why I never enabled the F10 map as a tool for navigation or external views to check out some landmarks in an easier way or look for something, etc.

If others would like to see it removed I wouldn't mind doing that. We'll see.

vor einer Stunde schrieb Alpenwolf:

I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue for anyone

It is not, it is just completely superfluous information and IMMENSELY clogs up visibility - the simple crosshair without anything else is just so much more simple and QoL (caveat: it seems you lose the "status" coloring... but honestly... everyone flying on your server has the spatial awareness to either know the status automatically or quickly glance at the top right corner.

vor einer Stunde schrieb Alpenwolf:

Which is why I never enabled the F10 map as a tool for navigation or external views to check out some landmarks in an easier way or look for something, etc.

Actually - in case this has to been typed in a while - we should all constantly say "AND THANK YOU FOR THAT" exactly because of that. This product is called "Digital Combat SIMULATOR" - not "Fortnite Pew Pew" - and despite the product provider throwing nothing but obstacles into the way of server-runners, this server, your server allows the full visceral experience. And the loop includes the "workload" of looking out the window, using TACAN, RSBN, ARC, encourage teamwork, SRS usage... and not just ripple-spamming 65 trillion in munitions to get 3 airkills (2 of them friendly) and then RTB for an insta-respawn.

So, again - THANK YOU!!!

Btw... a question:
Any plans how to test/what to do with the upcoming integrated proprietary radio solutions by Eagle (it just took them 15 years to decide and 2 years to make).
While I would very much like to watch Ciribob shake his head at a frequency of about 26k per second (for good reasons and with the most outright of rights) - it is what it is, for better or worse.
It could bring more players on in-mission global coms... but from my... irrelevant and outside point of view a decision to use only single system would need to be taken.

9 minutes ago, rogorogo said:

It is not, it is just completely superfluous information and IMMENSELY clogs up visibility - the simple crosshair without anything else is just so much more simple and QoL (caveat: it seems you lose the "status" coloring... but honestly... everyone flying on your server has the spatial awareness to either know the status automatically or quickly glance at the top right corner.

Actually - in case this has to been typed in a while - we should all constantly say "AND THANK YOU FOR THAT" exactly because of that. This product is called "Digital Combat SIMULATOR" - not "Fortnite Pew Pew" - and despite the product provider throwing nothing but obstacles into the way of server-runners, this server, your server allows the full visceral experience. And the loop includes the "workload" of looking out the window, using TACAN, RSBN, ARC, encourage teamwork, SRS usage... and not just ripple-spamming 65 trillion in munitions to get 3 airkills (2 of them friendly) and then RTB for an insta-respawn.

So, again - THANK YOU!!!

Btw... a question:
Any plans how to test/what to do with the upcoming integrated proprietary radio solutions by Eagle (it just took them 15 years to decide and 2 years to make).
While I would very much like to watch Ciribob shake his head at a frequency of about 26k per second (for good reasons and with the most outright of rights) - it is what it is, for better or worse.
It could bring more players on in-mission global coms... but from my... irrelevant and outside point of view a decision to use only single system would need to be taken.

 

From what I've been hearing it's going to be something like SRS or maybe SRS iteslt with slight changes that ED is going to implement in DCS. If that comms tool behaves in a similar way as SRS does, then I'd happily enable it (supposing there's an option of disabling it). And let's be honest, the less apps we have the better. We're all better off not using so many external software.
Same thing with CTLD and all the scripts mission designers use to work around some obstacles or missing features. ED has been adding more and more features to the Mission Editor and now it's SRS or something similar to it. I've learned to be patient with ED. After all, they follow their own roadmap and you can't expect any different form them or any other company. You can only wish or report things to them and leave it up to them. Isn't that the same relationship a server owner or host has with those who fly on his server?

On a side note, kudos to Ciribob for developing such a tool years ago to give us the chance of using the radios onboard to make DCS even more of a simulator. What a guy! Bless him!

well.. from the document they have made public... it basically IS SRS with a lobby added (akin to the faction rooms or global lobby that SRS has too).
It dynamically switches to Radio (overlay) and in-cockpit radio functionality (ff modules) once in the cockpit, while immersion and fidelity-wise the (faction) lobbies could be seen as the "briefing rooms" when... well.. being ded (and the clone vats gestate your latest digital Gestaltwesen).

And the less external software, the less scripts, the more native functionality - the better!
For an ABUNDANCE of reasons - most of which would go wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy over everyone's beautifull scalp.

And yes.. bless him.. and THANK YOU to him as well (and he has not been treated fairly.. but.. different story).

And if we all take our vitamins and consider cryogenics we might see a teamscreen that does not show everyone's aiframe and a role select screen that does not show everyone's homeplate and aiframe all the time for everyone.
And an "x" on markers that closes them, not delete them, and actual tactical markers.
That is surely on their roadmap - next to world peace. 
Both have the same existence probability.

4-1-2042, earliest...
 

5 hours ago, Alpenwolf said:

I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue for anyone And I personally never acknowledge the given information in the 3 boxes. I'm just used to working with my systems as it is in all the modules I fly.

Me too, thats why I would like to have them removed. Thats just dead space in my field of view.

12 hours ago, Alpenwolf said:

I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue for anyone And I personally never acknowledge the given information in the 3 boxes. I'm just used to working with my systems as it is in all the modules I fly. Which is why I never enabled the F10 map as a tool for navigation or external views to check out some landmarks in an easier way or look for something, etc.

If others would like to see it removed I wouldn't mind doing that. We'll see.

Yes please. It's pointless info.