Over 60 attempts Mission 1 (OLD DCS VERSION)

[JIGGAwest]

Over 60 attempts, yes, you read it correctly. I am a beginner pilot with about 150 hours of DCS and about 100 hours in Harrier.

Full Hotas Setup, exported MFD, and multiple screens 

 

I have been extremely frustrated with this campaign start. Still have not completed mission 1.

 

Pilot load for this mission 1 is extreme. I would be surprised if a beginner pilot would succeed with this mission.

The starting loadout may not be the best.

 

mistakes I've made and many times repeated.

- Forgot to contact Col. Suleman before bombing.

- Forgot to turn on the Lazer.

- Turning too tight on a target second pass

- Flown too far ahead toward the incoming bandits, taken out by SAM

- RUN OUT OF TIME

 

Difficulties:

- Perfect passes and perfect bomb drops on all targets

- Limited bombs and maximum target requirements

- Time limits are too limited

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by JIGGAwest

[Teeps]

It is doable, I did it in three attempts after getting hit by SAMs twice. Are you using your wingman? Also, remember you can review the task list using the F10 menu.

 

Edit: the rocket load is broken after Razbam removed the original rocket from the harrier, so if you want to use the rockets you need to change it in the mission planner. You can complete without the rockets though.

Edited January 31, 2021 by Teeps
More info

[Teeps]

One more thing: I've found that most campaigns require me to dig in a bit more to the aircraft - so I might think I'm ok at flying whatever the aircraft is, but but the campaigns usually force me to get better either at systems, feel or muscle memory. In this case I would say you need to be highly comfortable with switching between different designation methods, using the targeting pod and slaving between waypoints and target designations etc. 

[Mostow]

Good afternoon,

 

The campaign logic need to be reworked. Always limited by time  as one of the main missions criteria is not maintainable.  Mission 3 without wingman support is impracticable. In the night find one stupid APC and than I have realised that the ugly stupid CH-53 is not waiting until the infantry is destroyed. Have you ever try to detect a man from 6000 feet flying min 250 knots at cloudy night. In the reality this is work for the accompanying helis and not for jets. The mission is about to destroy laboratories and not to hunt hidden single soldiers at night. 

 

 

Dozens of attempts even to catch the time for mission tasks  is not what I'm praying for. So I have stopped with mission 3 iot not to waste my time reserved for combat sim flying. 

Yes, you have to know your aircrafts and his systems properly. It is a must. 

In real life planning, one objective is for package is standard. No need to fill missions with others side stories and tasks. Destroy there labs - one package, Destroy the APC and secure tje landing area - second package. Would be much playable. 

 

Many of players like reasonable reality.

If I will spent more than reasonable attempts to fulfil a mission a will not play it anymore. 

 

 

 

[JIGGAwest]

On 1/30/2021 at 10:16 PM, Teeps said:

It is doable, I did it in three attempts after getting hit by SAMs twice. Are you using your wingman? Also, remember you can review the task list using the F10 menu.

 

Edit: the rocket load is broken after Razbam removed the original rocket from the harrier, so if you want to use the rockets you need to change it in the mission planner. You can complete without the rockets though.

 

 

Teeps, you are a beast my friend!

 

I salute you for completing this mission!

 

I still can't wrap my head around killing infantry ground targets with 1 minute remaining with a machine gun scattered across a wide area. Were the mission designers expecting us to hover at the port and wait for the infantry to appear and do some rocket hunting?

On 1/31/2021 at 3:56 AM, Mostow said:

Good afternoon,

 

The campaign logic need to be reworked. Always limited by time  as one of the main missions criteria is not maintainable.  Mission 3 without wingman support is impracticable. In the night find one stupid APC and than I have realised that the ugly stupid CH-53 is not waiting until the infantry is destroyed. Have you ever try to detect a man from 6000 feet flying min 250 knots at cloudy night. In the reality this is work for the accompanying helis and not for jets. The mission is about to destroy laboratories and not to hunt hidden single soldiers at night. 

 

 

Dozens of attempts even to catch the time for mission tasks  is not what I'm praying for. So I have stopped with mission 3 iot not to waste my time reserved for combat sim flying. 

Yes, you have to know your aircrafts and his systems properly. It is a must. 

In real life planning, one objective is for package is standard. No need to fill missions with others side stories and tasks. Destroy there labs - one package, Destroy the APC and secure tje landing area - second package. Would be much playable. 

 

Many of players like reasonable reality.

If I will spent more than reasonable attempts to fulfil a mission a will not play it anymore. 

 

 

 

 

Looks like more of the same illogical mission design from the first mission. Thanks for sharing this. 

 

I may be abandoning any more attempts with this campaign.  

 

[Teeps]

That mission 3 is not as bad as that, once you know where the infantry are it makes perfect sense, but a bit more talk-on would be really helpful.  It's not possible to advance beyond that due to a last-minute bug though, so you may be better waiting for the next patch and using the time to perfect your skills  

[crispy12]

8 hours ago, JIGGAwest said:

I still can't wrap my head around killing infantry ground targets with 1 minute remaining with a machine gun scattered across a wide area. Were the mission designers expecting us to hover at the port and wait for the infantry to appear and do some rocket hunting?

 

It is fun if it wasn't bugged. The time limits are quite gracious for mission 1 but you need to know the aircraft well. Even then, the rocket pods being bugged was quite annoying as I only realised this quite a while later.

Tips:
When mission starts, immediately rearm and load APKWS rockets
Fly straight to the target WP1 immediately as soon as rearming is complete
FENCE IN - prepare your aircraft for A-G attack - when you are en route. 
Make sure you do all communications along the way
When 20nm out from target, start finding the 2 tanks and warehouses. Did should be fairly doable if you've studied the pictures in the briefing. I set mark points so that I can quickly circle aroud and drop my GBUs
Advise your wingman to help - send him to kill the air targets as well as the tanks in the sea port
He takes out the port APCs very quickly

This is the hardest - you have to do a CAS circle around the port at a low altitude, maybe 3-6000 feet in a relatively tight circle to spot the enemy infantry. Use the TGP as well as press the pause button to zoom in and see where the fire is from (quite obvious, there is only one main building left). You should be able to do this by seeing the tracers and gunfire out the window (hence low flight).

Turn in and fire a salvo of rockets using CCIP. It is quite fun if you've done it well. The tough part is waiting for the troops to physically take over the base - this is another few more minutes of waiting before mission success

I myself took about 6 attempts due do stupid rocket bugs and need to re-arm and missing the time limits

Edited February 2, 2021 by crispy12

[crispy12]

I failed once when i shot the wrong troops too! That was quite a miserable attempt.... It was an instant mission fail 

[JIGGAwest]

17 hours ago, crispy12 said:

It is fun if it wasn't bugged. The time limits are quite gracious for mission 1 but you need to know the aircraft well. Even then, the rocket pods being bugged was quite annoying as I only realised this quite a while later.

Tips:
When mission starts, immediately rearm and load APKWS rockets
Fly straight to the target WP1 immediately as soon as rearming is complete
FENCE IN - prepare your aircraft for A-G attack - when you are en route. 
Make sure you do all communications along the way
When 20nm out from target, start finding the 2 tanks and warehouses. Did should be fairly doable if you've studied the pictures in the briefing. I set mark points so that I can quickly circle aroud and drop my GBUs
Advise your wingman to help - send him to kill the air targets as well as the tanks in the sea port
He takes out the port APCs very quickly

This is the hardest - you have to do a CAS circle around the port at a low altitude, maybe 3-6000 feet in a relatively tight circle to spot the enemy infantry. Use the TGP as well as press the pause button to zoom in and see where the fire is from (quite obvious, there is only one main building left). You should be able to do this by seeing the tracers and gunfire out the window (hence low flight).

Turn in and fire a salvo of rockets using CCIP. It is quite fun if you've done it well. The tough part is waiting for the troops to physically take over the base - this is another few more minutes of waiting before mission success

I myself took about 6 attempts due do stupid rocket bugs and need to re-arm and missing the time limits

 

 

Can you set mark points on all the ground targets with the TPOD in a single pass? 

 

I'll have to try that.

 

I've been doing target, laze, drop, turn, aquire new target, repeat.

 

Having to trim the aircraft every turn and every bomb run is also heavy load while I'm trying to aquire a new target. Maybe this will save me some time and load. I've also got way out of trim using autopilot for too long without constant trimming.

 

[crispy12]

9 hours ago, JIGGAwest said:

 

Can you set mark points on all the ground targets with the TPOD in a single pass? 

 

I'll have to try that.

 

I've been doing target, laze, drop, turn, aquire new target, repeat.

 

Having to trim the aircraft every turn and every bomb run is also heavy load while I'm trying to aquire a new target. Maybe this will save me some time and load. I've also got way out of trim using autopilot for too long without constant trimming.

 

Yes of course, I mark all the targets before I reach the area then proceed to take them out.

 

As you realise, it's already difficult to fly with asymmetrical load let alone search for targets. I mark the targets them then toggle between Mark points with the TPOD slaved. 

Edited February 3, 2021 by crispy12

[navy66]

I know your feeling, i've had about 10 times and still havent had a chance to complete the mission. After a couple of tries to bomb the airfield by myself i realised its pretty mandatory to use your wingman to attack the tanks and you to laser bomb the 2 garages, becouse your wingman is equiped with mavericks and he can hunt tanks faster than you.

 

The problem i have with this mission is that very limited time you get after the helicopter touches down at the port. I failed the mission 7-8 times just in this part of the op. It is really frustrating at the point i didnt play it anymore. You dont have time for multiple passes , the whole thing is happening too fast , by the time you try to make a 2nd pass the mission's lost (heavy casulties). And you dont really know who is who down there. The heli touches down, some infantry spawns up, are those my guys are those my targets? Who the hell knows. I used rockets (edited them in the mission designer becouse the one equipped are no longer in the game) to make a pass at some 4-5 infantry dudes that seem to spawn near the water. But i cant see the other ones i have to bomb. in 1 min you dont have time to do much. Really frustrating.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by navy66

[JIGGAwest]

Thanks to the Update and a bit more DCS flight time.... I finished this in one try!!

 

The stock loadout worked great.

Wingman functions worked fine.

I even forgot to contact Col Sulemon on the ingress to waypoint 1. The mission didn't fail me and Col Sulemon was contacted automatically.

 

I was finished with about 5 minutes to spare.

 

 

[LordOrion]

I did mission one at 1st attempt using the standard loadout and I have just 17.5h on the Harrier ATM

Do dev changed something meanwhile?