Campaign Documentation and Tips

[Bunyap]

Thanks very much for checking this campaign out and thanks for all the great feedback so far.

 

 

Current Status:

 

All missions received a revamp to take advantage of new features in the DCS 2.5 open beta. The environment should be more 'alive' now with smoke visible at battle sites and other locations it was reported by aircrew, enhanced 88mm flak effects, and more visible tracers. The missions will continue to be updated as more features become available.

 

 

 

Documentation:

 

Just as a reminder, pdf documents with expanded briefings are available at /Mods/campaigns/Spitfire IX Epsom/Doc in your DCS: World installation folder. These include much more information on tactics and the ground battle that did not translate well to the in-game screen. Be sure to use these versions if you are preparing for your missions in detail.

 

 

 

 

Kneeboards:

 

Navigation can be extremely challenging without all our modern gadgets so each mission has 3-12 kneeboard pages built in. These can be accessed by using keyboard RShft-K and scrolling to the different pages using the [ and ] key.

 

 

 

 

Gameplay Tips:

 

A campaign introduction is also available with background information on the campaign and battle itself. It is available below as an attachment to this post if you would like to check it out. We tried to anticipate any questions you might have about the player's role and what you are intended to accomplish as well as provide as many tips as possible that occurred to us during testing. I will include those below and feel free to add your own.

 

- Fuel management is critical and the entire route does not have to be flown at low level and at high speed. In fact, these will be very short missions if you do because you will quickly burn through your fuel. Engine RPM settings of 1800-2400 and boost settings of no more than +2 were the norm when out of combat and will allow you to stay in the air much longer.

 

- The rest of the squadron is going to run out of fuel first and this is perfectly normal. Any speed, altitude, or course change you make along the way is amplified for the aircraft trying to stay in formation. Higher throttle and RPM settings are required in order to stay in position so it is important to keep this in mind while making course changes. Fly smoothly like any good flight lead and your squadron will be able to stay airborne much longer.

 

- Your job is to navigate and make decisions. Your squadron’s job is to look out for targets and keep you informed. Be sure to set your radio up to receive their transmissions. Details are included in each briefing but be sure either button A, C, or D is selected on your radio panel.

 

- Wingmen will sometimes reply with calls like ‘two, negative’ or ‘three, unable’ in response to your radio command to attack. Do not let that frustrate you. This is always one of two things: they either do not see a valid target or they do not have the proper weapons for that target type you are telling them to attack. The weather is terrible on some missions and this has the appropriate effect on the AI’s ability to spot targets. Always wait until they give the radio call ‘contact target’ or ‘tally bandits’ before giving the command.

 

- Be specific when giving radio commands to your squadron and avoid the generic ‘Engage Ground Targets’ command if possible. Your flight will prioritize air defense targets and will not last long. You will want to use radio command ‘Engage Utility Vehicles’ in most cases.

 

- Avoid more than one attack on the same target. It was common for German flak positions not to fire and give away their position until nearby units were attacked. Many targets you will encounter can be expected to behave in this way.

 

- Spitfires and Mustangs will not engage armor with guns so avoid the ‘Engage Armor’ call. You can bet that other vehicle targets are around so send your squadron after those instead.

 

- Use the ‘Engage Air Defenses’ command sparingly. Flak positions are everywhere and your squadron’s best chance of survival comes from avoiding defended locations.

 

- Be careful when using the ‘cover me’ command. Your wingman will engage anything he sees as a threat to you including air defenses on the ground.

 

- Listen closely to what your flight is reporting. For example, ‘Contact target, 2 o’clock for three.’ means ‘I see a vehicle or other suitable soft target, in front of me and to the right, three miles away’. This is your cue to start looking for the target yourself. Assuming your flight is flying in formation when the call is made, it should be a simple matter to scan the proper area and locate the target they have in sight.

 

- Follow your wingman if you cannot spot the target yourself. Give the radio command to engage the target and fly in a position to provide support, watching for flak, and calling off the attack if needed. Once your squadron begins to attack, you can easily roll in on the right location.

 

- There are many, many targets behind the front lines and it is very easy for your squadron to go after one you did not intend them to. When in doubt, give the command to ‘rejoin formation’. Better to reform and try again than to lose everybody on an attack you did not intend to happen.

 

- Do not rush into air engagements. Use the sun or clouds to mask your approach and try to maneuver behind the enemy. The real WWII tactics described in the mission briefings work. It takes practice to get the timing right but you and your squadron can easily down several aircraft before they know you are there.

 

- Don’t forget about the other squadrons. You can always turn and run for one of the standing patrols if you find yourself outnumbered.

 

- Orders to the second section of four aircraft are given by selecting F10 (Other) from the communications menu then selecting the appropriate command. The command 'attack primary target' will ensure the second section attacks the planned target on mission 2 and 12.

 

Applicable next patch:

 

- Mission 2 and 12 task your squadron with destroying a specific target on the ground. The keyboard command LWin-R may be used to ensure the lead section attacks the planned target. The lead section will fly directly to the target and attack immediately when the command is given so only give the command when in position at the desired approach heading. The aircraft will not rejoin automatically so give the command to rejoin formation when the attack is complete through either the normal communications menu or keyboard LWin-Y.

 

 

 

Please feel free to add your own tips below!

Campaign Introduction.pdf

Edited February 2, 2018 by Bunyap

[Bunyap]

Just as an FYI to anyone choosing to fly this campaign with more of an emphasis on air to air, there is a SNAFU with Enfield 2, the player's second section of four aircraft, that can cause them to be unresponsive to enemy aircraft early in the mission. That was just fixed internally so they will be much more responsive to the 'engage bandits' command after the first update is released. (included with latest update)

 

In the meantime, they should continue to do a pretty good job of strafing vehicles on the ground. Just like with your wingman, make sure they have been given a chance to detect the enemy before giving the command to engage. Generally, if your wingman calls 'contact target', notifying you that they have detected a valid target on the ground, you can assume the members of the second section have seen them too. Listening out for those radio calls and only giving the command to attack after they have the enemy in sight will ensure they all attack in a quick, predictable manner.

Edited August 30, 2017 by Bunyap

[Rudel_chw]

Thanks a lot ... love this kind of detail and documentation. I havent yet purchased the campaign because I want to first learn to fly the Spit better than I do now :)

[JallieFR]

don't wait for ...

 

As you can have better immersion with these capaign missions.

and

You will be available soon to play each mission with the REPAET bouton ( update to come )

[Rooster_167]

I was really excited to get into this campaign but even at the lowest game settings I am in the single digit frames... not playable by a long shot. I have a strong sys, including 16 gig ram, gtx 1060, i7-3820 @3.60GHz, running on win 10.

I must be missing something right? Anyone else with this problem? I'm sure its something either stupid or really expensive to fix... any suggestions?

Edited August 6, 2017 by Rooster_167

[NineLine]

I was really excited to get into this campaign but even at the lowest game settings I am in the single digit frames... not playable by a long shot. I have a strong sys, including 16 gig ram, gtx 1060, i7-3820 @3.60GHz, running on win 10.

I must be missing something right? Anyone else with this problem? I'm sure its something either stupid or really expensive to fix... any suggestions?

 

Normandy is still early access, so some optimizing may still be needed, bit your 1060 is going to be on the low-end.

[Rooster_167]

Normandy is still early access, so some optimizing may still be needed, bit your 1060 is going to be on the low-end.

Thanks for the response... I'm a little surprised that the 1060 would be low end, just upgraded from a 660Ti. I hope the optimizing goes well, that upgrade has me tapped.

[David OC]

Thanks for the response... I'm a little surprised that the 1060 would be low end, just upgraded from a 660Ti. I hope the optimizing goes well, that upgrade has me tapped.

 

I needed to tweak my settings for this campaign, you can see my settings here Rooster. You will need to lower some settings in DCS for your system to play this campaign because of the many AI. The main settings to try are boxed in red, you may need to lower other settings based on your system. These settings will change as ED makes updates too.

 

You will also need to lower the setting in the NVIDIA control panel, try 8x anisotropic, 4 x antialiasing, multisampling instead of 2 x supersample etc. I also hope you are only trying to play this at 1080P.

 

If you need more help finding a good balance for the campaign, start a new thread in this section or in the PC Hardware and Related Software section.

 

16 gig ram, gtx 1060, i7-3820 @3.60GHz, running on win 10

Edited August 7, 2017 by David OC

[NineLine]

Thanks for the response... I'm a little surprised that the 1060 would be low end, just upgraded from a 660Ti. I hope the optimizing goes well, that upgrade has me tapped.

 

Any of the nVidia XX60 series are the lower end cards... the XX70 and XX80s are gonna be where you want to go.

 

As an example, my kid had a 960 in his puter, he swapped it out for my old 780 GTX and it was much better for him

[Bunyap]

Custom maps are included on the kneeboard to allow both realistic visual navigation and Direction Finding service from your airfield but a person does not always want to 'work'. These are supposed to be fun after all. Here is one more way to easily find your way around by placing 'marks' on the kneeboard at your current map location.

 

 

 

 

Now, it isn't realistic to have your position automatically update on the map but then it is not realistic to be the only person in the squadron with any idea where you are either. You could think of this as radioing your section leaders for a consensus. I think that sounds very realistic as long as some self discipline is used and it is not overused.

 

Keep in mind this only works on the map pages that are automatically generated and not on the custom pages with all the info specific to the missions.

[dogsbody59]

Are there anymore spitfire campaigns planned?

[Bunyap]

Yeah absolutely, but I don't want to get anybody's hopes up with announcements and not be able to deliver.

 

The good news is that the new static templates feature makes it easy to transfer elements from one mission to another. That really cuts down on the time it takes to set everything up and add details.

[dogsbody59]

That's great thanks