Help with campaign
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You can turn off “AWACS uses BE calls” to never use BE calls. They will switch to use BRAA calls when you’re close (20nm?) though automatically in either case. With practice you will get better at locating BE though.
Yes, STT is required for a friendly to say “hey bud, you’re pointing your gun at me.” I wonder if bugging and yelling raygun would work. That’s not exactly how raygun is supposed to work but that’s how you’d challenge someone without a RWR directly. Raygun should include identifying positional information which BMS leaves off.
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AWACS will vector you if asked to the closest bogie and it may not be a threat or the most lethal threat or actually a threat like a SU-25 that can shoot you down but AWACS does not consider it a threat. Your radar scope in TWS will show you a lot more info than RWS including friendlies that are between you and bogies; lock them up and wait for buddyspike, and you should never launch into a furball. Look at the bogie views to see what you got going on. You must fly like the SU27’s are engaging you if you are engaging them too. Check RWR. For training purposes turn on labels and you can learn a lot. The Su-27’s carry the AA12 which is very effective and your primary threat from air to air fighters. If I launch a 120C at 32k I can get first kill often and even if I break lock before pitbull the missile now in maddog will lock onto the first aircraft that enters its radar about 7 miles out. And they definitely react when locked up and when you turn your radar on.
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Should I possibly consider learning how to do something like SEAD or DEAD to start off with then transition into other stuff once I get more comfortable?
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Ya i thought it was really impressive that the AI was able to properly react to being tracked in TWS by weaving around. I assume this is because they are aware they could have a missile inbound at any point. Either that or the AI was just flying wierd. If anything I like it better than the AI in DCS where they fly head on into AMRAMS. They seem pretty clever, I also remember someone saying that they will set up ambushes behind mountains and stuff which is awesome.
Yes, this is definitely an immersion element I’ve not found anywhere else. I was recently on a mission, looked over my shoulder , then was about to go “fangs out”. I just happened to order my wingie to check my six, and the next thing I know I heard was “break high”. Yikes.
Padlock can also be a useful function.
I don’t know if my viewpoint is typical or not, but I actually prefer DEAD over A/a. -
It helps to know the weapons in the area and how to stay out of their ranges. With each mission type that you practice you will learn more about the weapons capabilities. It helps a lot to record ACMI tapes and review them after the mission too. There is a lot of stuff going on that you cant see and you need to imagine in your head. Watching the tapes helps develop that mental picture.
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Well, I’m just learning the game myself, but I like to take a TGP for AA engagements. I just put it on tv mode and zoom all the way in to 4x. Then when I soft lock someone, I can see what they are flying. Faster than waiting for awacs to confirm.
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oh thats an interesting idea Billy I might just try that.
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Jay15, try using instant action starting at lowest level and working your way up in the air to air combat. It will allow you to become familiar with controls and become very challenging as you do higher levels, but I found it prepared me a lot for doing a campaign. You’’ get shot down a lot, but you will start to see how to react etc.
As mentioned before, it the setup section after starting BMS, untick the option that uses bullseye. That means all calls or direction information in a campaign (like asking for vectors to target etc) now will be the actual direction (eg you’re on a heading of 275 and here a call for bandits at 25 miles at 90 degrees at 22000, you will know they are directly behind you 25 miles out).
As for identifying contacts, again as mentioned before, just move the cursors over the radar blip (you don’t have to have lock btw) and query Chalis to declare. They will respond with hostile, bogey (unidentified) or friendly. For better situational awareness when on a mission constantly use the 2 queries to Chalis to (1) give you the picture as well as (2) vector to target. They will respond that either there is nothing or a call as to the closet bandit. Don’t rely on that alone, constantly scan the radar and cursor over and have declare on any returns you see. If you get calls that there are bandits at a certain heading, pay attention to distance AND height info so that you find them by setting the proper radar range AND move the radar scan altitude so they appear on your screen and then you can lock them up or move on or whatever.
Enjoy!
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I changed some of the settings around and I think I’m getting more and more used to the bullseye.
I’ve been jumping between this and DCS to try and keep things fresh but I think that putting some extra time into the Su-27 has helped my BVR game a bit as I flew another BARCAP mission and encountered some su-27’s and survived the bvr fight (still managed to get shot down though).
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Guys I need some help please,
Whenever I enter enemy territory , they shoot me down using missiles (ground to air) and since most missions require me to fly on 25,000 feet at 275 Knots. Its hard to manuevr, what can I do in this situation please ?
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…I am simply struggling to actually complete a mission. Even if it is a simple BARCAP I goof it up. It seems that I either get shot down, stray too far from the mission area, or wind up BVR killing a friendly (doesnt the F-16 have IFF?). I think my biggest problem is that I am too eager to get kills and wind up chasing enemies all over the map staring at my left mfd…with the F-16 i can see a guy 120nm away and start chasing him down.
For a BARCAP mission it’s hugely important firstly to stay at your station (that is the area your’re supposed to defend, usually it’s two ‘triangle’ steerpoints that you’ll be doing racetrack patterns between) and try to fullfill your patrol time (usually 30 minutes or so). Also do not chase bogies around the map, it’s a big ‘no-no’ in BARCAPs!
I also think the problem stems from me not being all that attuned with the tactics involved for BVR.
Why not set up a training exercise with you and some opponents and train before you take on a campaign?
Basically you’d like to be high in BVR so as to get a good launch opportunity.
Also avoid getting in a situation where you have to do a lot at the same time, you’ll surely degrade you SA with that! And getting into a fight with 4+ MiGs is good for training purposes but won’t do you much good in campaigns most of the time… so avoid it as well!
Getting the AWACS to call out contacts with the bearing and range is done via changing the “AWACS uses bullseye calls” option in ‘Settings’ from within BMS.…as I was chasing another one down a got killed by something (there was no audible launch warning that I noticed and i sort of just exploded so i dont know what killed me. probably an IR).
Try to stay above 10 000ft as much as you can, ideally above 15 000ft, bellow that you’re easy target for Man Portable Air Defenses. Also keep a look around you when over enemy territory 'cuz the MiG-21s and the MiG-23s have gotten very sneaky
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Guys I need some help please,
Whenever I enter enemy territory , they shoot me down using missiles (ground to air) and since most missions require me to fly on 25,000 feet at 275 Knots. Its hard to manuevr, what can I do in this situation please ?
Change the assigned altitude and speed of the waypoints. 275 knots is a bit low for the F16 ot fly at. Are you getting any indications on your RWR when you’re in th air? There are a lot of systems designed to shoot down jets, so you have to know roughly what you’re flying into and defend accordingly…
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How do I change the mission setting I.e. Speed and attitude ?
Also what is the best option when entering an area full of ground to air missiles , yes I can see them in my RWR
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How do I change the mission setting I.e. Speed and attitude ?
Also what is the best option when entering an area full of ground to air missiles , yes I can see them in my RWR
You change them in the UI prior to take off. Check the BMS manual for details.
As best option, change waypoints to avoid especially difficult SAM threats (SA 10 for example) so you avoid threat circles or minimize time within them. If forced to enter a threat area in order to perform your mission, make sure you follow the SEAD flight in package which would hopefully deal with them before you get there, or if there isn’t one, make sure you have jammer on and a EWS program set up that will help minimize any launches against you. You may want to, depending on the status of your campaign, take on SEAD flights to help destroy those threats early on . Typically in the beginning of any campaign, SEAD and DEAD missions are usually numerous, just for that reason. Once the radars are destroyed, life becomes much easier in accomplishing AI and OCA missions. Good luck.
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The SA10 is the most lethal SAM threat and the threat circle will not show on your planning map but will show in your RWR. Whatever mission you task or join you can fly as fast as you want and at any altitude. The AI is not always dumb especially when you are outnumbered 20 to 1. They will try and shoot you down. Adjust your loadouts carrying your best missiles. If I fly very aggressive I win far more often. Once night time comes hit the enemy airbases with stealth aircraft starting with the airbases fighters are based then kill everybody; the masses red horde without aircover is JSOW fodder and easy to decimate. I often send my wingman home to avoid losing an airframe.
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Your RWR is the key here. It will show the various radar types SA10 (10), Mig 29 (29), triple a (aaa) or search radars (s) among others. I set the rwr to PRIORITY mode (using insert keyboard command) which according to the manual declutters the RWR prioritizing threats which the closer they are to you in the RWR the more of a threat they are and within engagement range. When a missile goes autonomus or “pitbull” an M symbol will appear in the RWR and that usually provides you a few seconds or so before your ass is grass. You can actually see most SAM’s launch at you too. Great fun. Read up on RWR.
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Understand Your pain my friend … Been getting killed regularly so I’m no Ace but the AI are …. Reading the new Manual … Shhh don’t tell anyone … My plan is to reduce the AI from Veteran level to maybe cadet then see How I go … If I am an ace then move their level up till we seem matched ok then I believe I can get some tactics in place and improve …
When you open your campaign page and you see Cadet and a blue clickable / Underlined text then click on it and adjust the AI level down so you have all the realistic setting s for your aircraft but they wont kill you with 6 Mig 29’s Which happened to me today … Just can’t win in that situation … Not Yet anyway with an AI wingman.Hope this helps … I’m looking forward to now learning and improving so I can kill em on Veteran etc in the future … All the best. Hope this helps/
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I think I read this in the manual, Stay on station the time alotted, 30 minutes at the action steerpoint ( can be edited in the flight plan before take off if you want less time)
and not to go beyond 30 miles of the steerpoint to achive sucess of mission. What I do I watch targets on the scope and if come within 30 miles soft lock and ask awacs for ID If Bogey I prepare to engage. most alway Success
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Or ask awacs picture or nearest threat. Also if you Winchester you can be relieved early with no mission failed.
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Or ask awacs picture or nearest threat. Also if you Winchester you can be relieved early with no mission failed.
AWACS picture means the AWACS will give you the position of the nearest enemy group of aircrafts. Nearest threats means it will give you the identification, if available, and the position of the nearest air threat. Some aircrafts aren’t considered as threats, but still are.
If you don’t know what shot you down, you have to consider it may be a MANPAD SAM (launcher on shoulder) if you’re low or a SA-10 (you won’t hear anything, only see a 10 on your RWR). SA-10 quickly become a priority in a campaign. When you are locked by one, go away or rather around, and try to locate it more precisely, to prepare a mission against it later. If your BARCAP takes place in an area where you are locked by a 10, you’d better fail the mission and come back, rather than fail and eject.
Winchester = nothing left but your gun ammunitions.