Hello SimHQers,

Hope you're all having a nice day. I was hoping somebody might be able to give me a little help. I've been enjoying getting into BS2, and recently ran into trouble when flying a quick night mission. I've checked around online, especially on here and on the Eagle Dynamics forums, and in the flight manual, but I can't seem to work out how to successfully target ground units using the shkval and vikhr missiles at night. I was under the impression that I could use the shkval and slew keys to manually guide a vikhr to a ground target. I have the K-041 targeting power on, as well as having armed the laser at the laser standby switch. If I then set the weapon control switch to manual and launch a vikhr, should the missile not ride the beam (although the target is not being auto-tracked by the shkval) to the stationary ground unit where the beam terminates? The effect I manage to achieve is that my vikhrs appear to plummet significantly short of the target.

I refer to http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=57550

'You have to manually lead the Vikhrs to the target by decreasing the size of the target-box as much as possible
and keeping them manually on the target until impact'.

Well, I'm going to stick at it. To reiterate, it's only during night missions that I'm having this problem. Thanks in advance for your time, and thanks for the great advice I've found in these forums.

It sounds like your doing everyting right. On manual, guide them on in, and they fall short? Sounds like they lost the beam. Are you at a hover or flying about? The vikhr requires the laser to always be in contact with the rear of the missle. It really in a beam rider in so far as it needs to stay in the beam. Try hovering with proper trim (ie. not drifting about). If its still an issue theres always the under utilized kh25 and rockets.

The targeting system does not work, nor was it designed to, in the dark. The Shkval is TV based and needs to see in order to lock up. Sometimes I manage to keep the reticle on the target and continuously adjust it while the missile rides the laser in, but that doesn't always work.

If a night mission is designed for Vikhr missiles, then the designer should task some sort of plane to drop flares over the target area (one of the early BS missions had this) - flares will provide enough light.

Another thing I noticed is that in areas where multiple targets are parked relatively close to each other, the explosions and fuel/ammo cook-off fires of the first sometimes provides enough illumination for Shkval lock-up of the next target. So sometimes you can start a fire with guns or rockets in order to follow up with missiles. Whether or not this is a viable real-world combat tactic is not known to me.

EDIT: ignore the parts that assume you don't know how the schkval works. Sorry Yameyo, I didn't read your post thoroughly enough!

Thank you very much for the replies, guys. I'll give your suggestions a try, see how I get on.

Ta.

What letterboy1 said and I might add. IMHO, because of the night limitations of the Schval and Vikrs, tend to use rockets and gun pods for night operations...and of course my trusty 30mm.

Dont forget the illumination rockets. Pitch nose up between 20 and 30 at 6km or so, wait for the flares =). Wait go uber attack chopper pilot and use bombs....good luck.