Am I just rubbish?

[John C Flett]

Or are some missions really hard?

 

To clarify, I have about 70 hours on my flight log so I'm not a complete amateur but I'm also aware that that is a long way from a veteran, though I have of course played many other sims over the years.

 

It does seem to me though, that some missions require super-human effort or exploits to stand any chance.

 

I've been mainly playing the A10-A at the moment and beat the campaign. I felt some of the missions were pretty tough due to poorly placed waypoints but in general the objectives were fair. Usually taking out 3-6 armoured vehicles. The nature of the game meant that sometimes even with my wingman ( for all the use he was ) and six Mavericks I might still have to rearm but overall they seemed fair.

 

In other practice arenas if I get ten kills in a mission I tend to reckon I've done pretty well, depending on the nature of the targets.

 

However Gory Gori for example seems to require me to take out about a half dozen BMPs, a dozen MBTs plus another half dozen air defence units. I have a wingman and there is another allied flight but in my experience they tend to make a token effort then clear out before the main battle even begins.

 

Likewise, A visit to the Port, aside from being buggy ( the SEAD flight in the briefing and triggers doesn't actually exist ) again requires me to take out some twenty vehicles with little AI support.

 

Now, I can easily refuel and rearm which gives me a huge edge but I can't help feeling thats a bit unrealistic.

 

So, I ask you veterans, are some of these missions really tough or do you find that, with enough practice you can start taking down all the OPFOR can throw at you?

[Stuge]

I don't think you should reflect your skill against how well you do in some single player missions.

 

They can feel almost impossible for many reasons, the bugs are many too.

 

Perhaps an easier approach:

 

Ask yourself what are you capable of doing in an A-10C? Are you proficient with at least all the guided weapons and your gun? Even the ones that need tuning or skill to function well? (CBU-97, CBU-105, gun) How much damage are you able to do with a full load? Do you manually select a load for every hardpoint or do you just select one of the presets (which wastes valuable munitions). You should consider this and see if there are ways to improve the amount of damage done.

 

Ask yourself are you aware of the performance of most important air defense units? (SA-15 Tor, SA-19 Tunguska, Strela-10, Strela-1, Shilka. How high can you fly over these safely? If not, how do you engage them?(with Mavericks of course, double for the SA-15 because it can shoot the mavs down!!) How to detect them, what do they look like? Use your knowledge of your own weapons' performance. Also BMPs, and main battle tanks pose a real threat if you get close enough like on a strafing run.

 

Ask yourself are you proficient with locating targets with TGP, marking them for further attack, sending to teammates (applies online).

 

After all this knowledge and skill is in place, all you need is data on where the enemy is located, and what it its unit composition. After this it becomes a juicy explosion fest on the ground. All you need to do is stay outside the sam engagement zones while killing everything with your stand-off weapons.

 

Mopping up with your gun is a good idea once you are absolutely sure there are no IR sams in the area and you're out of other munitions. Although if you're really scared of little damage (like a princess :), you can leave the gun runs for those who have bigger cojones :P

Note that Shilkas and some BMPs are REAL threats for a gun running A10, so evasive action is needed and strafing is risky, requires special skill to strafe these targets that fire back powerful rounds. Shilkas give themselves away on RWR. As do some main battle tanks with their laser systems.

 

If munitions run out, refuel/rearm is perfectly fine. Even if it might be a test of patience :)

Edited July 2, 2014 by Stuge

[GGTharos]

Stuge is right - some of those missions may be asking you to do a bit too much, or going into an AA environment where not even a B-2 could fly through. Take it with a grain of salt. You can complete them, but it takes huge amounts of planning and patience.

[John C Flett]

Thanks guys. You seem to share my thoughts on some missions.

 

Stuge, I do feel that many missions have poor weapon choices and I will usually change my loadout. Likewise I've found that many missions seem to have very poor placing of waypoints; IP placed over enemy positions and usually too close to settle the aircraft and target weapons effectively.

 

I don't mind making these changes. Falcon 4 was similar for giving you missions plans that seemed doomed to failure. I just feel that in an open campaign you are given the permission, in pre-set scenarios it does feel a little like cheating.

 

I'm glad to say I'm pretty happy with my weapons and systems. I don't much care for CBUs and CCRP mode but that is an issue of style. I know how they work and can use them when I have to. The gun I love, though many environments don't make it a practical choice but I've kind of learned how close I need to be to damage certain targets and when I need to turn off others.

 

I'm still not happy with my SAM evasion in the A10. It was much easier in the F15 which had much more energy, but I'm getting there.

 

Lastly, I'm not above doing a bit of editing where I think it's required. In the "Visit to the Port" mission I mentioned above, I was quite happy to add the SEAD flight that seemed to be missing and to amend the triggers for the second CAS flight so they actually stayed in the area and made multiple attacks.

 

I'm loving DCS and well aware I've barely scratched the surface of the game but with a title so large, deep and complex it's good to get other peoples perspectives and what I've seen here you are a community with much to offer so thanks again for you input.

[Stuge]

I don't much care for CBUs and CCRP mode but that is an issue of style.

 

I know style is everything... but you do know that CBU-97/105 is perhaps the most powerful anti-vehicle weapon of the A-10C, right?

 

I'm still not happy with my SAM evasion in the A10. It was much easier in the F15 which had much more energy, but I'm getting there.

 

A10 is not too great when it comes to missile evasion. It's best to try avoid getting launched at in the first place...

[John C Flett]

I know style is everything... but you do know that CBU-97/105 is perhaps the most powerful anti-vehicle weapon of the A-10C, right?

 

Perhaps, but I tend to find that for CCIP I have to get too close to return fire and for CCRP from altitude its not accurate enough for moving targets. Essentially, I find that it's too inflexible a weapon. Though if you have hints for better employing it, please, I'd be happy to learn.

[GGTharos]

You'll know how long it takes the time to drop from a given altitude. If you don't, drop those CBUs at 5000' intervals and record the time.

 

When you see moving targets, note how far they move in that amount of time - use any available measurement capabilities such as your TGP cross. Once you know the distance travelled, just aim ahead that much plus the time it will take you to get to the drop point - which you know because you know how to do that pilot math, right? 60kt = 1nm/min :)

 

Perhaps, but I tend to find that for CCIP I have to get too close to return fire and for CCRP from altitude its not accurate enough for moving targets. Essentially, I find that it's too inflexible a weapon. Though if you have hints for better employing it, please, I'd be happy to learn.

[Stuge]

Perhaps, but I tend to find that for CCIP I have to get too close to return fire and for CCRP from altitude its not accurate enough for moving targets. Essentially, I find that it's too inflexible a weapon. Though if you have hints for better employing it, please, I'd be happy to learn.

 

1) Set height of function (HOF) to 700ft, this means the submunitions don't hang around parachuting for too long, but attack quickly. This minimizes drifting with the wind too. You have to do this through INV. 700ft may be a too small setting for mountainous terrain though, causing it to open too late and thus submunitions hit the ground before the parachutes open.

 

2) For moving targets.. in case of a long convoy just aim for where the first one is :) But if it's just a few vehicles on the move, try manually leading the targets by the distance you think they will travel while the bomb falls. Also remember that CBU-105 homes on your last SPI before drop, not your TGP target.

 

The submunitions find targets in quite a large area. Strong winds make CCRP of CBU-97 from, say, 15000ft, less accurate obviously, but I find it works great in most cases.

[Foss]

OP is Playing A10A as mentioned in first post, no TGP or CBU Inv Pages there.

[Sceptre]

This reminds me of that Flanker mission in LOMAC where it puts your and your wingman against 8 F-16 block 52s, and expects you to kill them all and still have enough ammo to kill a bunch of A-10s, while avoiding a patriot SAM site. I thought this was normal for the flanker for a while and that I was a terrible fighter pilot. Don't expect to be able to kill waves of Russians in your A-10A, remember it is an old plane and not designed to fly through heavy hostile AA environments and near enemy fighters.

 

Best way to test your skill realistically in FC3 is probably multiplayer or user made missions. Some of the more recent official campaigns approved for the sim by ED (Huey and Mi-8) are really good, and don't expect you to do a bunch of stuff that real pilots wouldn't do.

[John C Flett]

You'll know how long it takes the time to drop from a given altitude. If you don't, drop those CBUs at 5000' intervals and record the time.

 

So practice. Always good advice. I will probably do a few runs when I get home tonight and examine the results.

 

Some of the more recent official campaigns approved for the sim by ED (Huey and Mi-8) are really good, and don't expect you to do a bunch of stuff that real pilots wouldn't do.

 

I loved the Huey campaign. Really well done and varied and of course the Huey is so much fun to fly. I've not played the Mi-8 yet but it will probably be the next aircraft I try.

 

Thanks again for all the input.

[Stuge]

Oh you were talking about the A model?

 

Oops :D

[John C Flett]

Oh you were talking about the A model?

 

Oops :D

 

No harm done and still good advice for when I graduate to the C model.

 

It's funny actually, that some of the problems I've had come from the simplicity of the FC3 model. It's fun but I kept trying to do things like marking steerpoints or turning off auto-sequencing.

 

Anyway, I'm home from work, I'm going to do myself some dinner and then I'm going to set up a few cluster bomb training missions. In particular, I want to experiment with combinations; see if I can use a maverick to stop a convoy, force them to circle the wagons and then bomb them while they're all nice and bunched up.

 

Hopefully I'll have a nice collection of burning vehicles before bed.

 

Hopefully I won't be one of them!

[Stuge]

If there's strong winds, CBU-97 will have problems with default settings (that's all you got in the A-10A) Be mindful of the winds, and see how they affect the drift of the teeny weeny parachute thingies.