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#4038724 - 11/21/14 01:46 AM Gauntlet...  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,314
BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,314
KCLT


I'm starting to get back into the Ka-50 - in my opinion one of the most challenging and immersive platforms to fly in DCS World. With the Ka-50, the fighting part is only a fraction of the mission - the flying can be tough and the cat and mouse game only adds to the mission. Starting with "Gauntlet" as my first foray back into the Shark was a bit overly ambitious, but fun nonetheless. List of mods at the end of the AAR.

This mission is one of the ones included with the DCS World Ka-50 module. Our task is to fly from our FARP with a flight of four and "take" each of the waypoints on the flightplan.



Time to get to work. I haven't really flown the Shark in a couple years, so things took awhile to come back to me. I'll take reminders and hints as positive feedback!





Heading out for waypoint #1...



Just a short distance from our FARP I pull up into a hover to survey the scene ahead through the Shkval. A small column of enemy troop carriers is moving west toward our FARP. I figure I should probably utilize my wingmen as much as possible and I unleash #3 on the advancing column...









For some reason, #4 sits on the pad until I give him the rejoin command. For some reason, I thought #3 and #4 worked together as a flight, but I might be thinking of other sims...



My wingman and I are in the Werewolf scheme while #3 and #4 are in the grey livery...



Wingman #2 calls out bandits and I know I'm in way over my head on that and I let him loose on the threat - which turns out to be a pair of UH-60s...





He takes the first UH-60 while I fall in behind the second..fortunately I don't blunder into any enemy ground fire as I pursue. I'm just amazed I actually get the Shkval on him and track him...



My cannon chews up the ground around the helo before I start getting hits on him...







The ABRIS showing my circular pursuit of the UH-60...



Our little dance with the Blackhawks doesn't go unnoticed as the enemy column continues to advance and gets in firing range. I hear the tick, tick, tick of rounds hitting my fuselage as they open fire and my hydraulics get knocked out. I should have put #3 and #4 on the case while we were dealing with the Blackhawks by giving them the attack ground targets command...



With no hydraulics, control is a bit sketchy, and I can't get my landing gear down. I try the emergency extension system and it doesn't work either. I try to set her down as gently as possible on the belly and I'm able to call for a repair. Meanwhile, I order the rest of the flight to orbit overhead and await my return...







I notice that #4 has also taken some damage so I order him to RTB...



After my repair, I rearm and refuel...





We head back out to the first steerpoint again and once again we hold short and scan with our optics. I can see a field with trucks parked in it, but they aren't a threat, so I make note of them and keep scanning for armor targets...



I see a vehicle with some dismounted infantry that are holding MANPADs, so I give them over to my wingmen and also fire some Vikhrs of my own their way...









After another ten minutes of recon, my wingman reports BINGO fuel and I send him back to base...



I also head back to base to reload on Vikhrs and top of the fuel...





The ABRIS shows my back and forth track toward waypoint #1...



Slowly advancing on the waypoint we start taking fire again and it takes awhile to pin down the sources and I realize there are two fixed AA emplacements straddling our course line...





You can see the tracers arcing in front of us...





Yet another convoy rolls west toward waypoint #1, but it only has two armored troop transports mixed in among the trucks, so I target those and leave the trucks...



Finally, after an hour and a half of shuttling back and forth, we gain waypoint #1 and we're able to go to work on the support vehicles. I light up the trucks with my gun pods - always a fun thing to do...







When the gun pods go dry I start in with the 30mm gun - another awesome sound hearing that low and rhythmic ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk....





We start running low on ammo and I elect to go forward to the FARP to the east - a big mistake as we run right into a hornet's nest of reinforcements streaming west. Missiles arc up from the woods below as my wingman and I pop flares...



We retreat slightly toward an exploding bunker and put our Shkval toward the area we backed off from and see tanks advancing down the highway...





As we send missiles downrange the dread "Bandits" call comes over the radio. This time it's a much more deadly threat - a pair of Mi-24s...



My wingman becomes the focus of the Mi-24s and pays the price...



I dump my nose and accelerate beyond the IAS warning and push the engines into overtorque...



The Hinds seem content with downing my wingman and they don't pursue me back to the safety of my FARP to the west...



Back again, I'm down to myself now with #2 down and #3 and #4 sent back to the FARP for damage...



My fuselage shows I got tagged a bit by small weaponry as well...



The ABRIS shows me fleeing around the south of the hill around to the east then arcing back around to the west to evade the Hinds...



After rearming and refueling I head back to where I saw the units pouring down the highway and manage to locate a few more (but not the tanks). They surprise me though because they've moved so far and I'm uncomfortably close...



Too close in fact!





In my bid to escape I get a bit too aggressive on the controls at too high of a speed..and mesh the rotors and go plummeting into the ground..



This was a lot of action for re-learning the Ka-50, and having extra wingmen to manage just made it harder. I didn't even remember how to use the data link to accept incoming targets from wingmen recon until halfway through the mission. Total mission length - an astounding 3 hours with many instances of pausing and ALT-TABing out to do other things, and I barely made it past waypoint #1! These type of missions definitely could use a mid-mission save feature. More experienced and current Ka-50 pilots could probably breeze through this mission in no-time, but I had my plate full...

I hope we might see a resurgence of single player and multi-player Ka-50 missions as people rediscover this groundbreaking module in the DCS series..

thumbsup


My current install features:

* Ricardo's (and Devrim's) HD Black Cockpit v2.1 - HERE
* Diego's FARP Textures - HERE
* Devrim's English HUD mod - HERE
* Isegrim's Ka-50 Sound Mod - HERE
* Toby23's Colored Shkval Mod - HERE

That's my short list. All added with JSGME, although you have to be careful to change "aircrafts" to "aircraft" in some of the mods directory structure or they won't install properly...


BeachAV8R



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#4038798 - 11/21/14 06:46 AM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 7,365
Stratos Offline
Hotshot
Stratos  Offline
Hotshot

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 7,365
Amposta, Spain
Enjoyed the reading, and some of the pics are just amazing, like the one with the BMP missile on it. Well done mate!


-Sir in case of retreat, were we have to retreat??
-To the Graveyard!!

sandbagger.uk.com/stratos.html
#4038834 - 11/21/14 11:15 AM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 134
Comes Offline
Member
Comes  Offline
Member

Joined: May 2013
Posts: 134
Germany
In DCS you cannot tell your wingmen to rearm and refuel can you?
Would have made things easier for you with number 3 and 4.

#4038850 - 11/21/14 11:56 AM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,101
Chucky Offline
Veteran
Chucky  Offline
Veteran

Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,101
UK
Impressive AAR yep


EV's are the Devils matchbox.
#4038885 - 11/21/14 01:32 PM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: Comes]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,314
BeachAV8R Offline
Lifer
BeachAV8R  Offline
Lifer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 24,314
KCLT
Originally Posted By: Comes
In DCS you cannot tell your wingmen to rearm and refuel can you?
Would have made things easier for you with number 3 and 4.

You know, I sent #2 back when he went Bingo and he landed. After a bit, I asked him to rejoin and he started up and came back from the FARP, but I don't know if he refueled. When I sent #3 and #4 back due to damage, they landed, but after some time they disappeared from the FARP. In short - I don't know if when AI lands they get rearmed, refueled, and/or repaired..

Anyone know?

BeachAV8R



#4038904 - 11/21/14 02:27 PM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,742
HeinKill Offline
Senior Member
HeinKill  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,742
Cloud based
First pants, then shoes mate!

Great AAR.


[Linked Image]
#4045495 - 12/04/14 05:55 PM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 143
PishPosh Offline
Member
PishPosh  Offline
Member

Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 143
California
Awesome AAR and man those mods look great!

#4046101 - 12/05/14 06:36 PM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
enigma6584 Offline
Senior Member
enigma6584  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 4,429
Wisconsin, USA
Originally Posted By: BeachAV8R
Originally Posted By: Comes
In DCS you cannot tell your wingmen to rearm and refuel can you?
Would have made things easier for you with number 3 and 4.

You know, I sent #2 back when he went Bingo and he landed. After a bit, I asked him to rejoin and he started up and came back from the FARP, but I don't know if he refueled. When I sent #3 and #4 back due to damage, they landed, but after some time they disappeared from the FARP. In short - I don't know if when AI lands they get rearmed, refueled, and/or repaired..

Anyone know?

BeachAV8R


Absolutely superb AAR! In regards to your question I would hazard to guess they do not rearm, refuel or repair. I don't think I've ever tried it. The only thing I would again guess at is they might if you are on the pad with them doing just those things, maybe they will then mimic you in those processes. This question might be best asked on the ED forums.

#4049003 - 12/11/14 07:36 AM Re: Gauntlet... [Re: BeachAV8R]  
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 29
witchking Offline
Junior Member
witchking  Offline
Junior Member

Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 29
Its fantastic to see your AAR again Beach. Really missed your amazing DCS AARs. Looking forward to seeing you play around more with the FC3 PFM F-15, Su-27, Su-25 and T-toad missions as well.


aka "aquarius_varun"
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