How do I avoid getting killed?
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I appreciate all the help I’ve been getting as I learn this simulation. I have another issue. I keep getting killed by planes that slip by my as I fly my missions. My situational awareness is pretty bad I guess. I am scanning constantly with my radar. But often in the hustle I will not be aware of a threat sneaking up on me. Any suggestions?
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Join an online squad. Changes the game.
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My advice for survival in the air is:
1. Learn the enemy location as far away as you can, at least 30 miles. He should be locked by 25-30nm at the closest. If AWACs gives the threat call in BRAA (direction-distance, not using BE) before you have him locked then he is too close. Consider it a failure already and run away. Do not try to convert less than flawless SA into shooting within 10-20nm.
2. When you run away, run away like you mean it. Afterburner and ride a good Mach value (0.9 is common). Keep running away for longer than you feel you have to. It takes nearly a minute to turn around and prepare to shoot back, at 10 miles/minute speed the enemy will close much distance. If it means you take too long or run out of gas, accept it and try again next mission. Before you think about turning around confirm that AWACS is giving threat calls in BE format again (not BRAA).
3. Altitude is life in many ways. 20-36 kft provides a good energy bank, gives missile kinematic superiority, and speed (IAS is not TAS). Too high and the plane cannot turn fast enough to avoid trouble.
4. Never get closer than 10nm from any threatening enemy. AIM-120 is good to shoot at 18nm + or so and manage to turn away before the range is less than 10nm at the closest time. Closing to less distance without your desire is an emergency. Jettison all, kill, escape, survive.
Just after takeoff and climb it will feel peaceful and low stress. Don’t go to sleep! If everything is going wonderfully be concerned. Every second you are fighting or you are preparing for the next fight. There is no in flight movie.
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I appreciate all the help I’ve been getting as I learn this simulation. I have another issue. I keep getting killed by planes that slip by my as I fly my missions. My situational awareness is pretty bad I guess. I am scanning constantly with my radar. But often in the hustle I will not be aware of a threat sneaking up on me. Any suggestions?
Make sure the countermeasures program you have selected is dropping what you think it is.
I was constantly getting shot down by SAMs, then I noticed that when I was running the CMS program my Chaff count wasn’t going down. The program I had selected was flares only which obviously didn’t help against radar guided missiles.
Make sure you’re changing the radar antenna elevation too so that you scan high and low.
And keep an eye on your RWR for any threats.
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If you have AWACS, constantly keep in contact with them. Also have your wingman/element (if available) to clear your six.
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If you have AWACS, constantly keep in contact with them. ….
I wear out my keyboard with “Q-Q-1” and “Q-2”.
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I wear out my keyboard with “Q-Q-1” and “Q-2”.
Bind the callbacks to the shifted layer on your HOTAS.
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Use TWS (Track while Scanning) A-A Radar mode. So you can track and attack multiple targets. You can see what the enemy flight (“target” and it’s wingman) is doing. RWS (Range while Scanning) only for scanning or when you have to break thru jamming. Keep in mind that the antenna angle is really important for what you can detect. If the enemy is close and the altitude difference is high its very difficult with TWS and RWS to find him. Then you can ask AWACS, lokalise visually and use Dogfight mode with HMCS to lock, or run. Situation awareness is the key if you have not, run or go “all-in”.
Learn the capability of your threats:
Falcon BMS 4.32\Docs\Other Documentation\FALCON 4.0 Quick Threat Guide.pdfImplement preplaned threats in your mission preparation and draw lines where enemy territory beginns, so you do not run in the wrong direction ;).
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Deny wez to your enemy.
No wez, no shot, no dead.Course it’s up to you to know where that is, and where bad guy is, so you can put yourself where you wish to be.
That said, playing defense sucks… the best way to avoid being killed is to kill first.
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Bind the callbacks to the shifted layer on your HOTAS.
Yep. I have 2 calls programmed to HOTAS, Vector to threat and Declare
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I wear out my keyboard with “Q-Q-1” and “Q-2”.
I use Voice Attack Command…voice only…no keyboard.
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Since you are clearly in “learning mode”, simply go into settings and turn Invulnerable (or is it Invincible?) ON and select Padlock Enhanced too. Under normal circumstances, these are considered game “cheats” but are actually an excellent aid to climbing the learning curve very fast. Invul ON allows you to study how you are being attacked while it’s actually happening, which sensor would have allowed you to detect the bandit(s), etc. You can also freeze the sim (Shift-p) for more detailed study, tinker with avionics (or perhaps just admire the eye candy of weapons exploding off your plane!). Invul ON also saves yourself LOTS of time and trouble having to otherwise restart a mission, TE, or IA every time you get shot down or crash.
Once in the cockpit, enhanced padlock view is activated by key 4 (default) and automatically slews your view to the nearest bogey, bandit, friendly, or ground object that are about 8 miles (“within visual range”, WVR)) of your plane. The type of object your view will slew to depends mostly in the mode your jet is in (e.g., A2A for bandits, A2G for ground objects, NAV for wingmen, runways if you are near an airbase, etc.). Just press that 4 key anytime you want to do a visual check for anything that may be within you plane’s “bubble”. Repeated presses of the 4 key will cycle the padlock to other nearby objects. Toggle back to forward view with 3 or press and hold the “glance forward” key (should be the NumPad 3 key) if you want to see where your plane is heading without breaking the padlock on the existing object. Press and hold the glance forward key to stay in the forward view then simply release the glance forward key to return to the padlock view, press/hold, release, etc. For external views of many nearby objects, also try keys 6, 7, and 8.
While in settings, you might as well turn ON Unlimited Fuel and Unlimited Chaff/Flares too again, mostly to keep from having to restart missions over again while in learning mode. For enemy (and friendly) AI level, might as well just set AI to veteran or ace.
f1
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So here’s a thought…have you used ACMI to record your flights? The suggestions above are great but as some have pointing out and as you have experienced sometimes its difficult in the heat of battle to realize where the shot came from or if you really were outside the WEZ of your opponent. If you record the flight - or at least the part where it starts to get crazy - you can review it after to see just where you made your mistake. Was it a leaker from a previously engaged group? Did someone launch underneath you and sneak up behind?
I find all kinds of interesting things are going on around that I miss during the actual flight. And take the advice given above regarding the need to just turn and run. Too often people get pulled in to situations that are unwinnable…I know I suffered from the “hero” mentality when I first started flying. I just really want to get that kill…don’t worry, retreat and live to fight another day, you’ll get them next time.
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Yes, I’ve been doing that. I see them getting me after the fact but do not see them coming in the simulation. I spend about as much time reviewing what happened as i do in flight:D
