Back to the jet. Last night I planned to work through some ground weapons. But I spent most of the evening crafting a Combat Training TE. I'm putting in AWACS and JSTARS, plenty of movers on the ground, some SAM threats and so on. This way I have a combat environment to practice in but more customizable than instant action and with all the various supports to work with and DTC options etc.

In AF Interdiction was my favorite role. I liked it because it was like a free hunt for ground attack. With no assigned target, you could easily score a good rating without worrying about hitting the correct group of targets. But I don't see that as a role option in BMS. Is there an equivalent role?

I did manage to check out in HARMs. This weapons system is quite different from what it was in AF. More modes, or perhaps I just didn't know of them before. Just enough to get by like I said. But I can at least designate targets and attack in HAD mode now. Also worked on some CCIP and CCRP CBU drops. Next I want to get checked out with Mavs and LGBs and I'll be ready to start a campaign.

in AF campaigns, during the morning on day one the mission I fragged most often for my self was what I used to call pre-emptive protection missions. The idea is that early on I want to accomplish a couple things. One is get a good missions rating because that affects blue performance as a whole. The second is to start to attrit both red air and air defenses. So I would frag some two-ships with AMRAAMs and HARMs and take off to attack targets of opportunity along the FLOT. So at this stage, asssuming I do the same, I'm ready to go.

I do believe they've improved on the HARMs... but then again I wasn't an expert on the HARMs before so can't really tell what they've fixed. They have now implemented SPI so Mavs should be easier to use; it was a pain to get it working or hitting the correct target before and I would just rather bring a CBU.

I found deploying the HARMs simple once I worked it out, but I was only hitting around 50% despite firing from well inside the WEZ, and the radar did not shut off, but the misses were all against radars that weren't actively tracking or launching. In AF a radar that was emmitting was enough. It probably still is, but there must be more to it.

Any regular campaigners here? I'm curious to know if anyone has some feedback about the campaign, specifically comparisons to AF, Like SAM behavior and lethality. Red aircraft behavior and lethality. Differences in mission planning or campaign strategies. Significant OoB changes. And other things that can be compared but are different and it would be helpful to know.

They still have interdiction missions. They have been re-named to AI (Air Interdiction).

Thanks, I saw that in the list but didn't know what it was.

Well, I couldn't wait and fired up a campaign long before training was complete. Playing the default KTO Tiger Spirit. So cool to be doing this again. There was a thread years ago and I was going on about the single greatest feature of any sim, be it flight models, graphics, or whatever. I claimed it was the F4 campaign.

Jumped in and set my PAKS and sliders like I used to for day one. Got to the campaign map and realized I set them up perfectly... for Rolling Fire. Duh. Forgot I guess where the frontline was in Tiger Spirit. Tankers were well protected anyway

Got that squared away and before long I was back in the groove, creating packages, altering loadouts, and so on and so on. Flying Block 50s for the 14th FS out of the sweet digs at Kimpo, I fragged myself a two-ship BARCAP, zeroed out the time on station and loaded the jets with 4 slammers and two HARMs each. Took off and headed for the front. I flew early, just a couple minutes after un-pausing in order to try and get a good rating for the pilot rating affecting Blue performance.'

So that meant there wasn't much up yet. Both the wingman and I got our HARMs off and destroyed a couple Fan Songs, a Low Blow and one other radar. The wingman was the Colonel and he managed to shoot down three aircraft once the skies became active. I fired off three of my slammers for one hit. The two misses were because the targets were destroyed while the missiles were in flight. There was a friendly Patriot battery close by and I think he was lighting 'em up. The one hit was on a Su-30 but it didn't knock him down.

Flew home and landed with 700 pounds.

Flew a second identical mission 4 hours later, though this time loaded gas bags. Between the wingie and I we shot down 6 aircraft and knocked out a couple more radars. So a good start. It's the easiest campaign though. But the first few hours are critical for any campaign and it's always good to get off to a good start.

A couple things I've noticed. I already miss the RTB command in the strategic map. AF had it, but BMS does not. While in the strat map I often notice flights with no target, wrong ordnance, or heading for trouble. The RTB command saved countless airframes and facilitated quicker turn around. I also noticed that I couldn't add time on station time for airborne ELINT missions. Maybe it was an isolated case and it is possible. Too small a sample to make a conclusion.

This theater has an interesting planeset. Red has everything like the vanilla and 2010 campaigns from AF were combined. Everything from MiG-17s right on through Su-27s. It's hard to describe how great it is to be doing this again after all this time. I'm at work now, but thinking about flying F4. Got work to do near Sinanju

Good moves DBond, you clearly are well accustomed to the Falcon ways.
700 pounds is nice - keeps you alert until touchdown haha
Not sure I ever confronted Su33's in TigerS - intense.
(atleast for me being a mud mover primarily)

I never touch the PAKS, maybe I should start doing that.

Looking forward to your next AAR.

I've never been much for campaigns as I always felt out of my depth. I did "complete" at least 2 campaigns in AF, but I really just started them up and flew. I would change my ordnance or waypoints, but not much else. Certainly didn't frag any "custom" flights!

700lbs fuel? Wow, that's scary! I did manage to connect to the tanker with that much fuel; it was white-knuckle for sure! I usually land with around 1,000+lbs fuel though. This is one thing I like about the Viper... fuel management is an ESSENTIAL skill

The campaigns are certainly playable that way. But I re-do all of the PAKS, and keep making adjustments through the campaign. I want to avoid suicide missions and wasted missions. Suicides are fragged by the ATO to places deep behind the lines. Early on, at least for the first 24 hours, it's prohibitively dangerous to be sending planes to places like Pyongyang or Belgrade. Wasted missions are because the PAKS are 'on' well behind your own lines. For example I don't want any HAVCAP being flown near Pusan while playing Tiger Spirit.

Rolling Fire is a good example because there is more or less a straight front line bisecting the Korean peninsula. At the start of a Rolling Fire campaign I will have the PAKS on full on both sides of the FLOT, but off everywhere else. Once I feel that Red air and ADA is sufficiently weakened, I can start making adjustments so that the ATO will start sending deeper strikes. In addition, all priority and mission silders are adjusted. Early on day one I don't want to hit infrastructure, naval targets, army camps etc. I just want to hit Red ground, Red air, Red air defenses and some airfields. And like the PAKS, once progress is sufficient, these sliders can be adjusted to start hitting Nuclear facilities and patrol boats.

Bridges are a special case, and I make it a point to never target them. I could discuss the campaign endlessly lol.




Haha, I'm only about 10 hours in and I've fragged out dozens of missions. All of the missions I fly will be custom. But I just love this sort of stuff. The campaign is perfectly playable and winnable regardless of which way you do it.

Other campaign observations... Can't user-frag F/A-18s or AH-64s (assuming they are in?). ATO isn't fragging any SEAD or DEAD despite the sliders, and I've only seen one airbase strike. Could be many reasons for that, just what I've noticed.

To be fair, I haven't either. Yet anyway. These are Su-30s. The Reds have alot of J-11/Su-27 and Su-30s. This camapign is Veteran challenge rating so the Reds have a healthy numerical advantage at the start. My third sortie was a straight BARCAP, no AtG ordnance carried. Loaded up my jet with 6 slammers and the same for the wingman but swapped two for 9x's. We flew out to the 'quiet' sector in the center, halfway between Pyongyang and Wonsan. Managed to stir up a hornet's nest, and sadly my wingman didn't return. MIA. Called for rescue chopper but was denied.

A fairly furious 10 minutes

I always get a fuzzy feeling when I see that "Excellent" rating
Keep rocking DBond, you'll pop a beer in Pyongyang in 3 falcon-days haha

By the end of my campaigns, the ATO was only fragging CAP fights but with my side winning most of the war, there really was nothing to do but fly around then RTB. Would be cool if you'd do a campaign AAR, complete with PAK setting and ATO flight fragging. I'd sure be learning new stuff!

If you think it would be useful I can certainly do that.

Looking forward to it

I love reading this stuff, Keep it up DBond!

Thanks. I'm happy others find it interesting. Perhaps we've awakened the SimHQ F4 forum again. I won't stop playing anytime soon. And I'll put together something like Ice suggested. Any suggestions about what you'd like it to cover are welcome.

A few more observations... BMS looks great at night. The night cockpits are sweet. Taking off at night over Seoul looks fantastic.

I only have about 12 hours of campaign time in, but here's the general feeling I have. BMS has given us the best jet in the history of Falcon. The systems and procedures are the most advanced yet. But the campaign does not have the same level of control as the AF ones do. It's still amazing, but there are features that I miss. The RTB command as mentioned earlier. The small map that would flash the location of each report on the strat map. For example you might see "ROK air defenses fired on DRPK aircraft west of Gung-ho". Where, where the hell is Gung-ho? That little mini-map showed you. The line graph that showed the rise and fall of various things like air power and supply. There are bar graphs under the Intel section that show the current ratios, but no 'history' showing spikes and drops like the lines did.

No adjustments to AI flights can be made after it has taken off. No RTB, adding station time or changing waypoints like you could do in AF. Perhaps it isn't fair to compare, and BMS is a fantastic mod. But I find myself missing some of the campaign refinement offered by AF, which I see as praise for AF, not a knock on BMS.

Might not be there yet (comparing AF v BMS camp.), but it is closer now then it has ever been. Controlling troop movements was a pipe dream in 4.32, now a reality in 4.33.x.

In actuality, BMS uses the code from F4. Nothing to do w/ AF at all. Two separate builds I believe.

I still love the freedom allowed in AF campaigns, but can't take myself back to AF, because the Flight Model, Clickable 3D pit, avionics, weapons employment, etc. in BMS just can't be beat.

I agree, well said. Just a few observations on what I note is different, and what I'd like to see in BMS campaigns if it were possible. But I do agree with you, and I have no plans to go back.

I've not been having any luck directing the ground troops.

To take control of ground troops, just pick one of the Icons on the map and right click, select status and un-check the Set by HQ box. Now you can click on that battalion and see their route. Mouse over the steerpoint (circle) at the end of the route, left click and hold while dragging the steerpoint to the location you want the troops to travel to and capture. Repeat as necessary and do this for as many Battalions you feel comfortable controlling. You can also hand control back to HQ by going back to status and checking the Set by HQ button.

That would be it right there, I'm sure. Thanks. This campaign would be over by now if I'd sorted that earlier. It's vet Tiger Spirit and Blue is on their second Major Offensive (afternoon of the second day). But we have yet to take the objectives obviously.

Earlier in the thread I had commented about the ATO in BMS and how it wasn't targeting the priorities I had assigned. That stayed true for the first 8 hours or so, but by the first evening OCA strikes and DEAD missions were being fragged, The ATO makes good use of the stealth assets, sending them to appropriate targets only at night.

The F/A-18s I mentioned are actually G models and are sent on SEAD/DEAD missions, I think as jammers since they carry no ordnance. They take alot of losses. They are not user-frag-able. I see no AH-64s in this campaign. There are alot of SA-10s! In AF there were a few, and you knew right where they were at the start. But in BMS KTO Tiger Spirit I am seeing them all over the place. On one mission there were three! lined up side by side in my RWR. I've taken it upon myself to be the squadron's dedicated Flap Lid inspector and I've taken out several, but twice they have shot me down with my HARM inbound. In each case retribution was swift, but it's not as satisfying hanging in a 'chute.

I don't think I have seen a single SA-6. Which is just as well since they have my number. A-10s are still like vacuum cleaners in the 2D. Send them on an interdiction along a heavy traffic roadway and they will mop 'em up by the bushel. Hmm, that's a poor mixed metaphor.

Defensive air is strange. The ATO frags BARCAPS to three points. One at Wonsan, one at Pyongyang and one in the center of the front. But the Pyongyang point gets very little for whatever reason, and it's the most contested spot and where Red sends most of their missions. So I have to keep a steady flow of BARCAPs to the area. As long as you frag them well in advance it's no trouble, if a bit monotonous.

That's wrong, the graphs do exist in the Intel section. Don't know how I missed it, clear as crystal. And RTB for airborne flights is in BMS. Right click on the flight, choose add package then abort. Very handy indeed!

Two noob questions, it might depend on keyfiles, but how do I get a timing carat to display on the heads-up display speed tape? How do I get radar altimeter to display?