The following is a random Flaming Cliffs 3 AAR taken from the BETA FC3 module and BETA FC3 F-15C campaign. As would be expected from a beta product, the screens represent unfinished work, works in progress, and the images from this report may or may not reflect the eventual finished product. With that said – the gameplay in FC3 kicks ass!I’ve decided not to post missions in any particular order since I want the campaign to be fresh for those that eventually decide to play it. I’ll also only be posting a couple missions from the entire series so as not to ruin any surprises or give away too much of the plot. Integration of FC aircraft into the DCS World is really nice since we previously had no fast jets for those that want to lord over the battlefield with their fangs out. One caveat – I’m the worst (worst) air-to-air tactician ever in the history of simulated combat, so my expectation is that everyone else would have done it better, faster, with the right weapon, and with more accurate tactics. It’s OK – my ego can take the bruising <wink>.Once again – the following are taken from a
BETA! (also note the beta I used was 3 weeks old, many items have already been improved such as fixing the overlapping weapons MFD symbols and contrails, etc...):
For this mission our flight was tasked with providing a TARCAP for a pair of SEAD (actually DEAD) F-16s that are to destroy enemy anti-air assets just across the border. Our rules of engagement basically allow us to defend against enemies threatening the SEAD flight but we can’t go chasing the enemy all the way up to into Russian territory (lest we get an S-300 smackdown)…
This is a lower resolution briefing map. The in-game briefing map is larger (apologies for that)…
Our game starts in the revetment and we quickly get the engines spooled up and taxi to the active runway…
As we takeoff and rocket westbound the F-16 DEAD flights start checking on. They orbit to the south awaiting our order to push toward their targets.
As we head west I cheat and look at the game map and assess the movement of enemy forces. I’m surprised that things actually look pretty docile and decide that sooner is better than later and go ahead and order the DEAD flight to push. Nothing is flying aggressively or quickly toward the south, so I bank on them being able to dash in and out for their attack.
I’m the worst with air-to-air situational awareness and I made the mistake of breezing through the debrief, so I’m not really sure what happened..but we may have wandered a bit too far north, or (more likely) I was so busy watching the DEAD flight and taking screens that I didn’t realize we got bounced. My wingman reports being engaged defensive and he pops his fuel tanks off and goes evasive…
Meanwhile the DEAD flight has locked on to the SAM site and fires their HARMs…Magnum!!
While I orbit watching and waiting I release the second set of hounds and they press in as well…
Boom boom..! Out go the lights. I have to admit, I’m jealous of the ground pounders…
Fat, dumb, and happy, I continue to orbit and watch the action unfold. I have NO IDEA what hit me. Maybe it was a SAM, but I swear I didn’t hear a RWR threat..so I’m wondering if a MiG-29 didn’t get a IRST launch on me or something… Regardless, I take a thunderous hit and my world turns upside down..
My left engine has taken a beating and I go ahead and reduce the throttle on the left side and eventually shut it down…
With plenty of power available on my right engine, I limp back toward my base. After a few minutes of searching, I finally find the fuel tank jettison key combo and drop those to help out my situation..
Meanwhile, my wingman does a little sanitizing and manages to down a Su-27. I don’t know if the Flanker has any passive launch capability – maybe he hit me with something…
I feel bad about leaving the DEAD flights in the middle of their push, but there isn’t much I can do. I’m using lots of rudder and trying to keep my speed up to get back to base before any cascading failures bring me down. I’m pleasantly surprised to see the MISSION SUCCESS box flash up while I’m on short final. Perhaps being a missile magnet was enough to allow the DEAD flight some breathing room! (An interesting tactic for sure…)
A nice touchdown with an injured bird…
I taxi to the ramp and the ground crew does respond to a solicitation to repair me, but I’m done for now…
So the mission is technically a success, even though I never launched a single mission. Great little air-to-air battle with a lot happening over the front lines.
BeachAV8R
* Tonight I tried to calibrate my monitor using the Windows 7 utility and I think I screwed up my settings. If these appear too dark it is because I think my photo editing software gamma is screwed up now. Sorry about that.
Great, Makes me want to fly jets.
