So, I bought this game back in 2010 and couldn't play due to my computer being unable to handle the graphics. I just recently bought a new computer and can finally run the game. I've been playing the training missions and have been able to hover, takeoff, land, and engage those stationary targets with the labels turned on.

I thought I was ready to tackle the campaign. I completed the FAM Flight and then jumped into mission #2. I flew into the valley and took over the escort of the convoy. I flew ahead of them and started looking into the tree lines and around the buildings trying to find anyone. I see nothing. I fly back towards the convoy and they report they see something ahead. Tracers start flying. I see nobody, just tracers. I try to turn to where the tracers are originating from but I'm too close. I extend so I can turn around and engage, but I get shot in the back.

So my basic question for you guys is how do you fly an escort? How fast do you fly? How far ahead of the convoy do you fly? Where do you scan? How hard is it to spot infantry?

I need some help or I'm going to destroy all of our KA-50's

Blacksmith

That's very much an 'it depends' sort of question.

In the situation you're describing, close escort may well work. In other cases, you might be far ahead or to the flanks.

But let's talk about your current problem ... first of all, where did you extend to? I fyou 'extended' ahead of your own guys, that's a tactical mistake. Extend in a known safe direction, and then set up your attack.

To your implied question of finding the guys in the trees: You can't. Wait for the tracers to start flying, mark that spot as a target in your nav system, then get to where you need to be to start an attack run and hose the place down with rockets.

Mop up with guns and other things as required.

The entire 'thing' about air to ground combat (and air to air of course) is your attack setup. Work on setting up first - try not to do things out of desperation, because then you mess up. It's like this: You hurry, you do it all wrong, and you mess up, and there's a dead heli and dead column.

If you do things as needed (ie. fly to your initial attack position) your guys will take some hits, but they'll pull through. So try not to fight desperately, it only hurts you. Make everything planned out and very deliberate.

And don't forget to think about what it is you'll do -after- your attack run, and that depends on the type of attack you're using. Are you doing in for a strafing run? Then you need to turn away and go somewhere and set up for another attack - all stuff you need to think about ahead of time (if you can't plan everything out in detail, which indeed may be impossible in a fluid situation, then you at least need to think about how you'll do things depending on the situation you run into).

I was flying ahead of the escort and decided to turn back to them. On my way back the fight broke out, so the enemy was between me and the convoy. I was trying to engage the area where the tracers were at but I was almost on top of the enemy by then, so I extended towards the convoy.

During the escort I was flying at 180 knots or so, and was probably well ahead of the convoy. Should you fly slower, perhaps around the speed of the convoy? I would assume flying slower would allow me to maneuver easier into position for engagement.

Blacksmith

Definitely slower, but not that slow. As I remember doing it I just flew ahead of the convoy most of the time but still slowish, with my wingie doing lots of recce as well. Punched through with just the convoy point man dead IIRC...

Black Smith, in that mission, IIRC, the enemy spontaneously spawns once the convoy hits a trigger, so even though you flew over the area in advance, like a good escort, there were no bad guys there yet to detect. Your technique probably would have worked fine in real life, but in that particular mission you don't want to stray very far of your convoy at all - in fact, remain a few hundred meters behind the lead vehicle.

In general, I like to hop forward to a point of cover, scan as far forward as I can, for both enemies and hiding spots. Then hop, hop, hop forward. Like GrayGhost suggested, having an attack plan and an egress plan laid out for potential enemy encounters will put you in good position...at least for enemies that don't spontaneously spawn behind you.

Your mistake, in that case, was overflying your target. Never overfly the target if you can help it, and decide this early (not oh, I wanna get mah pipper on it, pipper pipper gedding the pipper - oh crap I'm too close!)
All attacks must be deliberate and all actions thought out ahead of time, so decide that you will NOT overfly the target ahead of time, and give yourself a min range to break away at (say 1km or 800m, anything closer is too close I'd say, and that's for infantry. For other things, 2km is probably as close as you should get).



180kph, not knots. 180kph is about 100kts (the conversion factor is 1.85 or 1.82 IIRC). Your speed was fine. Most optimal speed for endurance and power is 130kph IAS. Speed makes you a harder target, and it is your main advantage. Forget maneuvering to attack - attacks must be planned, not sudden reactions (sometimes those will work, but they're last resort). At all times during your escort see where they are, know where they are, and look at the terrain around them - pick a spot or two where you'd like to attack your own convoy from, since that makes things 'easy' for you to plan if the convoy is attacked from close range. Keep updating your initial attack point as the convoy moves.

Combat it's about twitch reflexes and suddenly turning to and pwning the target. It doesn't work that way (most of the time). You are controlling a complex machine and you have to things in the right order or you will make things hard/impossible for yourself.

Plan first, react (if you must, of course - it is better to be proactive, but you can't be in this mission) according to plan second.

LOL! Same here - I flew too slowly and got set up late for my planned overwatch of the town.

I'm jacking around trying to get into a nice hover and the tracers start flying. I can't get my shkval up and targeting so I flick off the auto-hover and barrel in over the town. Rockets at the ready, pipper over the town, FIRE! Hmm, again FIRE! nothing! I'm passed the town and trying to turn back, finally making a really slow 180 and the mission fails.

Post mortem: too slow, never turned on master arm (really!?), forgot to engage my #2.

Round two: Hustle up get in position and prepare everything. Master arm, ON! Rockets ready. Can't see anyone in the town, hovering over hill 109 (or whatever height it is). firefight breaks out; okay I'm ready. /,F2,F1,F3 = great, a little help from the wingman. I quickly give up on the hover - can't see a thing on my shkval - go full on and burn through both rocket pods on two passes. It was spray and pray, all the way! I just released everything on the tracers. Sergei is dead, but the convoy punches through. Mission Success. It wasn't graceful or precise but we got there.

Post mortem: Sergei got clipped. My mind actually went blank for a second when the shooting started. Yes, a game actually put me into a senseless state of "oh #%&*$#, what do I do now!". Amazing. My wingman fired,...not one freaking shot! WTF dude? Oh, my bad, "bandits"(F3) are A2A targets. Must..use...F2...for...enemies.

Summary: I can fly this thing, use the AP modes and land it pretty well. Add combat to that gumbo and it gets a little to spicy for my skill set at this point.

It sure is a lot of fun though.

^^^^

Combat is procedure ... like I said before, a lot of people think it's about twitch and reflexes, but it really isn't. If you have to suddenly react to something, you've already been caught off guard, so ... procedure - follow the process for whatever it is that you need to do.

Good job

Thanks for all the advice guys. On my fourth try I finally completed the mission. However, I can only chalk that up to knowing before hand what was going to happen. I set up over (but still behind) a hill and provided kind of an overwatch on the city. When the fight broke out I was able to find and engage the infantry. I had also read the AAR's written by BeachAv8r, so even before I played it the first time I knew what would happen.

After that success I tried to do mission #3. I did not read any of the AAR's before hand. So I carefully read all of the information provided before the flight and planned my ingress accordingly. I took off from the FARP and navigated down the river as planned. I then proceeded over the mountains trying to stay as low as possible due to the overcast conditions. However, I lost visual contact with the ground. I knew that I should be over the highest point and descended and regained visual on the ground. I turned back down the valley and slowed down. I could see tracer fire in the distance and started to try to pick out the bunkers. I had no idea what they looked like so I started launching AGTM's at whatever could look like a bunker. I eventually got one and was able to find the rest. I was then told to provide support for the advance and started to push forward when I saw tracer fire coming right at me. This was my proudest moment as a combat pilot so far. When I first saw the tracers, my reaction was to find the target and take it out. Then in a moment of brilliance I said, "Get the F out of here." So I turned and ran. When I was at a safe distance I turned back to engage. By then it said mission success. Perhaps I'm getting better....I'll find out tomorrow with mission #4.

Blacksmith

In Mission #2, if you're lucky you can spot a few of the infantry in a tree line well before the convoy get there. The rest, I think, spawn from some of the nearby buildings.

Sounds like a good job in Mission #3.

I find I prefer to follow "the art of fighting without fighting". If I'm aware of an enemy's position, I will not get within firing range. I always try to hit things from where they can't hit me. If there's incoming fire, actions vary according to level of threat. The most extreme experience being when I was trying to take over a FARP. I had taken out a Strela, a couple of zeus' and several BTRs and RPG BTR's (those things are nasty). I scanned the area and scanned again, before attempting to land. Before I know it, I see tracers and hear them hitting. I spot a BTR i'd missed. I gain speed quickly, raise my gears, switch to rockets, and use the HMS (about 2 seconds for all that) The pipper drifted over the APC, and I fired. I thought "DAMN!" as I realised that I'd left the salvo length on short from when I was using the Vikhrs. To my astonishment, I scored a direct hit.

That was not good. That was luck.