Hello all,
Ok, I am trying to learn this sim. I don’t play as much as I should but I really want to get into this sim. I love the A-10. I have weapon deployment down pretty good but I am doing instant action on hard. My question is how do you do it. If I don’t use mavericks on the gun emplacements they tear me up. I need the mavericks for later. Anyways any strategy on this would be appreciated.
Thanks

If you don't fly like an action movie it's not too bad. Instant action is an extreme case of ordnance efficiency.

Anything soft should be hit with the gun. Trucks don't need KE to kill so 2-3 (or even more) nm of range is very possible. Zu-23-2 (or 4) open fire range seems to be about 2.0nm. When squaring off against any zues shooting should happen beyond their range and a break off immediately upon any muzzle flashes. One can react to a Shilka muzzle flash and always turn before their rounds arrive.

Second, the air defenses are not the targets, don't waste ammo on them if you don't have to. Third always use the AI wingie's weapons before your own on easier targets. Give them all the advantages, ingress direction, target type, weapon type, broadcast SPI.

As above - avoid the guns - take out targets at standoff range or use altitude if possible.

You can take a few smaller caliber hits - but radar guided Shilka will take you out with a few thunks!

This is all good advice. And like he said - standoff is your friend, even with the gun. Never fly over the target and never fly straight for long (they don't in the real world). Definitely get to know the wingman commands (the most important are the ORBIT HERE and REJOIN) and use him to your advantage. Keep him out of trouble by micromanaging him and remember, if you have him rejoin or send him somewhere, he usually isn't smart enough to avoid fire between point A and B, so you have to be very careful about where you direct him. Though some aren't a fan of having to do this, I actually find it to be a fun part of managing resources in the sim..

PS - I can't remember - in the instant action scenarios, is there a BLUE airbase to refuel/rearm at or are they all neutral?

BeachAV8R

The only wingman command I use is ENGAGE AIR DEFENCES

I love my A-10C, too.

The Hog takes a lot of patience. It takes a while to get where you need to be, and is quite sluggish when loaded with weps and fuel. The RWR and F10 View are your best friends. Use the tools that the mission designer allows, especially when learning how to fight.

The biggest threats are the SAMS, stay away from the SA-10 and -11s, for now. Stay away from the SA-6s and -15's ... but these will be easier to kill with experience.

Until you get better, stay above 16,000' with any kind of a load that bogs you down. If you are going after a TOR SA-15 or a Tunguska S6 then you better have some altitude above 18K so you can line up for the Mav shot w/o dropping below 16K into AAA & IR range.


You should be able to 'feel' your Hog get responsive after some of the weps are dropped and some fuel is used. Maybe try a smaller loadout if you are not making progress in a mission -- less fuel and weps.

There is a technique to evade SAMS -- by burning out their energy through turns, but you need to be at a good distance for that to be effective -- when the missile is ballistic and has only limited energy left. For instance, you can avoid the SA-6 missiles in BeachAV8R's Grad EX if you fly into and past their envelope and let them fire at you until their supply is exhausted.

My Nuke Plant mission on the Hollo Pointe server has A-10C Air Starts that you can use to ingress to enemy waypoints without getting too close before they start to light up the RWR -- I'm heading in there next on the Hollo Pointe server to try and complete that one after three days.

Gun runs -- come in at about 6-7,000' at about 4 miles. Use PAC to lock the piper onto the target from ~3-4 miles and give the target a good burst as soon as the gun reticle starts to unwind. Egress out from the area left or right, but do not continue over the target area and its other defenders.


If the instant action missions need Mavs for later, then bypass the AAA. Go high, take out the SAMs with the MAVs, and come back for the AAA with the cannon.


Hope this helps,,,

WC

Most missions on Hollo Pointe are A-10C centric. Be mindful of the RWR and F-10 View to avoid the threats.

I survey the target area from a safe distance for a while from varying angles and try to detect and ID all the enemy contacts in the area, then I prioritize threats by their effective range. Radar SAMs, then IR SAMs, then radar AAA (i.e. ZSU-23-4), then dumb AAA, then everything else. I attack them in that order starting with Mavericks, then GBUs. Then I go to work on the lesser threats using remaining GBUs on MBTs, CBUs on light armour & soft skinned, and I save my 30mm for the softest targets and attack them last.

Some people say it's wasteful to use a maverick on manpads, but I disagree. I'll always kill manpads with a maverick if possible.

Thank you everyone, I have put to use a lot of what you guys have said and I am surviving. Now I need to learn 9 line and I think I can start doing missions instead of instant action.