Tough Game

[PizzaTheHutt]

After about a month of reading and going thru the training missions over and over, I finally felt comfortable to try out a campaign. Feeling like I should jump right into it I put it all on ace skill level. I decided to lead the second half of a 4-ship package on a DEAD as that’s about all there was on this first day.

I took off from Osan and started towards my target an SA-5 battalion. I decided to bring a couple of HARM’s with me to do the job. I get to the FLOT and all Hell breaks loose. 2 MiG21’s are headed straight at me. Me and my AI wingman fairly handily defeated them with our Aim120’s. However I never paid attention to how close I was getting to the SA5 site which had now decided to start firing on me. Dumping my tanks and ordnance and just about all of my countermeasures I was able to get out of range, only to start getting painted by Mig 23’s. I was able to down 2 of the mig 23’s while my wingman somehow managed to take down a Mig 29 I never even noticed. The dogfight left me low again in enemy territory where I began taking ground fire from triple A. The triple a managed to get in some hits before I was able to bug out. Avionics faults, no screens and no radio I had to try to make it back to Osan. I dialed the tacan at Osan in and hoped that it would work. It did as the needle sprang to life and pointed me home.

My crippled bird found Osan and thankfully I got 3 green as I put the gear handle down. Landing at Osan I felt relieved to make it back. On the debrief screen I get 3 kills and my wingman 2. The lead half of the package fared far worse both getting themselves killed. I get an average rating and chastised in the debrief about how future flights will have a harder time because of my failure. Tough game. However it was the most fun and rewarding failure I’ve had in any sim ever.

Well, time to get back at it. Just thought you guys might enjoy reading about my rookie performance and how I almost got myself killed. Probably a lot of luck was involved in the not getting killed part. I also wanted to express my thanks to the BMS devs and of course the original game designers that made this possible. I just wish I would have started playing this awesomeness sooner.

[lightswitch94]

Excellent read! Nicely done getting back home and landing without incident. This sim really gets your blood pumping.

[eurybaric]

A really helpful thing I’ve found is to record (ACMI) those flights. You watch them later and see how those '23s, '29s, etc were able to get inside you and then you’ll have a better idea what to watch out for, increasing your overall SA. It’s crazy when you replay those and realize the things you’ve missed even on a successful flight!

Great read, cheers!

[-Vandal-]

What a great introduction to campaign flying. Hell you could make a movie of that one.

[Red Dog]

Welcome to BMS and well done

[hoover]

Welcome to BMS CAMPAIGNS (fixed that for RD :D)

Great read, keep it up!

On the first day it’s usually a good idea to try dragging the bogeys into your own IADS south of the FLOT if you still have time and enough spacing for the turn-around.

As krause noted in his “Get your **** online” post: Your top prio should be to bring the airframe back in one piece. Everything else is a bonus. Live to fight another day

All the best, Uwe

[Guest]

@PizzaTheHutt:

Just thought you guys might enjoy reading about my rookie performance and how I almost got myself killed. Probably a lot of luck was involved in the not getting killed part.

After all of that and you made it home and landed the jet without using the "any landing you can walk away from…. " excuse?? That, my good sir, is nowhere near rookie! Good job!

[Stubbies2003]

Yeah this story just reinforces why I spend a good deal of day 1 of a new campaign doing BARCAPs just clearing out the mass of aircraft from the north. If I take on a DEAD/SEAD I make sure it isn’t part of a package because you will learn fairly quickly that the AI isn’t without it’s limitations and I don’t care for AI messing up my mission success as that affects the overall campaign. Also on those DEAD/SEAD on day 1 taking missions that lead you to Pyongyang are just a little crazy and I avoid those as well at the start.

As Hoover pointed out keeping yourself around the FLOT allows you to drag the enemy to your own SAM/AAA systems to give those dirty northerners something more to think about/react to than just you.

All of this is good practice at getting and maintaining Situational Awareness which can easily change the outcome of your flight.

[Quasi_Stellar]

@ Pizza… and 10+ years from now you will still be that mentally exhausted and wired up just about each time you fly this sim… Greatest Ever!!

[PizzaTheHutt]

Thanks for the suggestions and the words of encouragement, gents. It’s nice to come here to the forums and get ideas from vets on what to do next time. It seems when you are new you are so involved with just operating the jet you are literally just flying by the seat of your pants not really thinking anything out. Dragging the northerners back to my side never even occurred to me to think about doing. Also I was so busy with flying/not getting killed I never turned on the ACMI. I guess creating my own package and not going on one of these suicidal dead missions on the first day would have helped as well. The more I think I know about this sim the more I find out I don’t know.

I’m really glad I decided to give this a try as the control and general setup seemed daunting at first. Which, by the way, was completely worth it now. I found it easier to just start up my dcs a10 as my tm warthog was plug and play. My recent disappointment with the pace of dcs improvements (well in things I think are critical IMHO) led me to this. In dcs, now just using the tgp is like playing a game of “Where’s Waldo?”. There certainly is not anything comparable to the dynamic campaign in BMS falcon in dcs. I don’t want to rant to much about it as anything anyone does to improve the choices we have in flight simming I certainly do appreciate.

The fact is, like I said before, I had more fun in that first campaign mission than I’ve had in a long time. I’m really glad to be here now.

[Zaltys]

Not bad at all for noob. I flew my first mission in THE WAR after 6 months in the sim, without landing. After 12 years of flying it’s still hard and exciting. Very often I get my **s handed to me only to learn something new.

[spooky]

With your skills going up, you will learn to stay out of a dogfight over the DMZ or over enemy territory. I you get painted, turn around head towards friendlies and only engage if real necessary.

I think it is far more better to turn around, get some altitude, so that you maximize your advantage, drag them into a friendly SAM engagement zone, or drag them into a friendly CAP area.

If by turning around and getting higher you burn gas, hit the tanker and try to attack the SAM from another direction.

But all of this, needs some in deep planning and studying of who is where and at what time. Use your PPT’s to mark friendly CAP’s …SAM’s or Tanker … so that you improve your SA.

There is also nothing wrong with shooting at MIG’s just to make them run and give you the time or miles missing to get your AGM-88’s in range of the SA-5.

Just some ideas … haven’t flown BMS fr almost 2 years now, so i might very well talk BS lol

[drtbkj]

PtH, don’t be too concerned about how the UI “grades you” . How that happens is an arcane science that has been discussed here frequently. For, example, do a BARCAP, get 12 kills , and get a mission failure for missing a waypoint.
The point is, that’s a great mission and you should be very happy with it.

[PizzaTheHutt]

@spooky:

Use your PPT’s to mark friendly CAP’s …SAM’s or Tanker

Didn’t even think about that. I was only marking enemy threats and the FLOT.

@drtbkj:

PtH, don’t be too concerned about how the UI “grades you” . How that happens is an arcane science that has been discussed here frequently.

Does it affect your overall campaign progress? OR, does your campaign only suffer if you don’t fly missions? How much do you have an effect on the overall way things are going on your side?

This sim impresses me more and more. I know the AI doesn’t have “feelings”, but I think they do by the way they reacted to me today. Today I finished a BarCap. Near the end of my station time I spotted a flight of 3 Mig29’s on my FCR. They were just inside enemy territory so I decided to make a short incursion and see if I could take one out. I got close enough where I thought they would be within Rtr and locked one up. At this point I started taking Flak as well. I fired the aim120 and waited for it to pitbull. It did, and I immediately made a split-S and lit the afterburner. After going supersonic I quickly returned to my side of the fence. I didn’t know until later but my missile found its mark. This is where it felt like to me the AI had feelings because those other 2 mig 29s pursued me deep into my own territory like they were seeking revenge for their lost comrade. A friendly flight engaged them. I don’t know what happened after that because I was out of missiles and decided to continue to Osan. Now I don’t know if the AI is just stupid and pursues everyone like that into certain death. Or, they just sometimes do quirky stuff like that. Either way, it felt real at the time.

[DeadMeat]

I started with the original and I am still learning/lucky. I understand.

[Guest]

@PizzaTheHutt:

It seems when you are new you are so involved with just operating the jet you are literally just flying by the seat of your pants not really thinking anything out. Dragging the northerners back to my side never even occurred to me to think about doing.

Just like driving a car… at first you are thinking “clutch, gear change, ease of the clutch, gas…” As you gain experience, you stop thinking about those and you just **DO the actions. Just as that frees up your brain to have SA in your driving environment, this will also free up your brain to have SA in your flight environment.

@PizzaTheHutt:

Also I was so busy with flying/not getting killed I never turned on the ACMI.

TacView and SyncNix. You can thank me later.

@PizzaTheHutt:

I’m really glad I decided to give this a try as the control and general setup seemed daunting at first. Which, by the way, was completely worth it now. I found it easier to just start up my dcs a10 as my tm warthog was plug and play.

The setup part is called the Falcon Dance. Everyone has their own version of it and everyone has to do it one way or another. Got a new PC and installing BMS? Dancing time. New BMS version and a clean install is recommended? Get out the dancing shoes! While DCS is a great sim in it’s own right, as you have noticed, it lacks the “unknown” factor that a DC gives you so. That “unknown” gets you to keep your head in a swivel, gets you to query every radar contact, and gets you on your toes as you approach the FLOT and you don’t relax until you’re out of Indian territory again.

@PizzaTheHutt:

Does it affect your overall campaign progress? OR, does your campaign only suffer if you don’t fly missions? How much do you have an effect on the overall way things are going on your side?

I wouldn’t worry about that very much. Unless you’re one of those that likes playing the “ground game” and just flies every X amount of in-game hours to keep the game engine happy, you’ll have many, many more flights to affect the campaign.

@PizzaTheHutt:

This sim impresses me more and more. I know the AI doesn’t have “feelings”, but I think they do by the way they reacted to me today.
……
This is where it felt like to me the AI had feelings because those other 2 mig 29s pursued me deep into my own territory like they were seeking revenge for their lost comrade.

The AI has agents in the field and they most likely have a copy of your logbook and know exactly who you are. They have “feelings” and they have motivations… the guy you just took out? Well it was supposed to be his last flight as he was retiring on the weekend. The other two with him were his closest buddies… and there were actually 4 MiGs. Two of them went after you, one stayed to aid with the search-and-rescue. When he told your pursuers that he didn’t see a chute, I guess that just got your pursuers to see red and that’s why they chased you well past the FLOT.
:)**

[PizzaTheHutt]

@-Ice:

The AI has agents in the field and they most likely have a copy of your logbook and know exactly who you are. They have “feelings” and they have motivations… the guy you just took out? Well it was supposed to be his last flight as he was retiring on the weekend. The other two with him were his closest buddies… and there were actually 4 MiGs. Two of them went after you, one stayed to aid with the search-and-rescue. When he told your pursuers that he didn’t see a chute, I guess that just got your pursuers to see red and that’s why they chased you well past the FLOT.

I’d believe you if I didn’t know any better. That’s the way they reacted anyway. Nice story though. Lol.

[Guest]

Why let reality get in the way of immersion and a good story??

[Stevie]

…I know that in the Mac version of FAF, if you gun down a guy on a parachute the sim will make a point of spanking you HARD for the next few sessions…until it “gets over it”.

[pikachu]

PizzaTheHutt,
Please keep the stories coming!
Awesome read! It is exactly how I feel everytime I go on a mission. Everything is planned until all hell breaks loose.
Pika