I'm going to go ahead and say it WC... I think there's too much air defense in Thunder of Kojori

I just hopped in and was shot at right out of the air start (par for the course) but was then shot down 2 mins later by MANPADs near the Patriot site (The first three hits only took out one engine... the other two finished the job )

But then I cold started from Senaki and went all the way to Williams Field (the message was up). I had enough time to shout "Wuh?!" at my RWR before a Buk shot me down... I think I'll be crying myself to sleep tonight...

You could add a few AI SEAD flights to clear a corridor.

I'm in agreement with this 1 million percent.

As much as I love a challenge there really is a functional limit to the number of missile threats our aircraft can deal with. We can all put the missile on the beam and drop to certain altitude to help bleed off missile energy but by the time you're done stepping out of one missile envelope you walk right into another. After you've finished evading 3 or 4 missiles you are bug mashing at 1000 feet (getting shot at by all manner of weaponry and manpads)and IF you survive it takes you 20 minutes to get back up where you started.

In a fast mover if you find yourself encroaching a SAM envelope you can push the throttles to the stops and bug out... and end up in safe territory with enough altitude or at least enough energy to be ready for the next problem. When WE walk into someone's envelope it takes us 5 minutes to get enough speed, altitude and / or distance to get to safety. In the meantime everyone wants to get their crack at us and WE still have a job to do.

AND to add to all this, where in many cases you may have some safety up high (20k+) we also have the occasional MiG29 show up on the dance floor (which I will add was actually a lot of fun to see!). The MiG's keep everyone honest so guys can't just assume they'll be able to climb up to 23k and loiter around all day sniping with mavs.

If you think about it there is a SEAD flight running in advance of the Bones- which area high speed and low observable aircraft anyway... You'd think there would be SEAD cover for a bunch of wagons protecting an airfield (in proximity to two other airfields.)

Just thoughts. I still enjoy the mission but getting clubbed out of the air like a baby seal repeatedly was getting frustrating.

I borked my install of the stand alone A-10 - no sound. I will do a re-install tomorrow and joing in the punishment. I am going to take up skydiving with as many ejections that I have made!

OK, I will change it for 1 million dollars.

OTOH, I can move those pesky BUKs over to the end of The Highway.


Guys,
I do appreciate the feedback. I do agree that there is too much ADA with the BUK that reinforces Williams Field long after the B-1Bs have left. And I will pull back the Air Start A-10Cs that spawn next to Kutaisi - I'll put them closer to the primary FARP.

Last Saturday late when I was on raven's account and watched XRay and Eno head to Williams Field I was wondering when that BUK was going to show up and hoping it wouldn't ruin your guy's ingress. Well, the reinforcing BUK is at 40 minutes after the B-1Bs and I can imagine the SURPRISE to XRay.


I pulled the book back out of the car - Thunder Of Erebus - (Eno, I'll send it another day ) and I will reread the part where the air defense brigadier orders the reinforcing BUK into operation. I'll pull in its spawn time so it is in the B-1B engagement scene. After my edits it won't be around to bother A-10Cs.

A new version should be up by Friday evening US time.

WC

Man, if you guys converted to DCS World w/ Combined Arms slots, you'd get a very enthusiastic new player in me joining in. :p

I think that's a great start WC- thanks for taking the feedback. I'm getting back on the horse to get another version of the game downloaded while I'm away on my smaller computer so that I can work on learning the mission builder. Though I'm not sure I could come close to the missions that crew has even creating, I think it might help me better understand what is possible vs what isn't possible.

What I am extremely interested in is how the AI works in regards to the air defense. For example in this case can they be triggered to go silent when SEAD aircraft appear and if so can they be silent for a particular window of time before gradually coming back to life?

In my research I know there is a random generator as well- which I do like and would like to learn more about as well. I'll record my findings over In my late night thread as that's generally where I'll be able to sit back, as a total noob, and Compile something of a mission building for an idiot (me) diary. We are all full of good ideas and if there's a way that I can figure out how to make it as easy as possible for people to contribute functional ideas- and maybe even implement them (with permission of course)... We might stumble on to something.

I also have to get down to the root cause of some of our servman issues. Unfortunately I think most of them are game side instabilities and how the game reports information to servman. All a work in progress!

It won't take long lion. In crew I'm convinced we have one of the most creative and openminded mission builders out there. once CA is released in full it's only a matter of time before the missions start coming out. Come in, meet some of the regulars and enjoy!

We will be transitioning to world / a10 soonest (this weekend) and then I think we will all be waiting for the integration of CA.

I dont think there is much in the way of transition is there? All the missions I have created in DCS A-10C worked fine in world. As for CA all I would think need to be done is go back into each mission and assign roles. Of course this is just my view I have been known to be wrong!

I suspect there will be some challenges in achieving balance between the variety of assets already available or coming due soon. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

To add to it I'm wondering if cooperatively designed missions could be beneficial so that one guy isn't responsible for knowing the particulars of all assets. That way each person could focus their attention on what they're familiar with.

For example we are all aware of the fact that crew doesn't fly the BS. As a result some of the Farps are located in areas that may not be ideal. If the mission goals were described and the stage set, then one could develop the BS parameters and the other could focus on the a10. That way all aspects of the mission are balanced. This would be the same as with mig21s, ground forces... SAMs. Whatever.

My only concern would be keeping things moving forward- as I'm sure we all work for a living or have other commitments. Hmmmm