Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => The Modern World => Topic started by: yooper on September 27, 2023, 11:24:29 AM
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So this is kind of a new concept, trying to merge the tabletop style of play into a narrative that drives flight missions for DCS pilots. In a nutshell, I'm trying to recruit some command types to participate in a South American WW3 Campaign. (Brant said it was cool) I'll be posting updates as the plot moves along as well.
(https://i.imgur.com/gaxevFV.png)
Bottom line up front: Some 40 players will fly a plot-heavy campaign in South America in 2010 as a combined Latin American Air Force Coalition. Weekly main mission scheduled at 2000hrs Universal Time on Saturdays. The time and place means that these air forces lack many modern airplanes, and are limited in their weapon selection, with some exceptions such as the Chilean vipers.
So wots all this then?
DCS World is a flight sim with modules, individually purchased planes that simulate various helicopters and fixed wing aircraft of mostly the modern era. The game includes non-flyable AI assets, and tons of ground units of all kinds. Game requires a lot of patience, as these airplanes are started manually with each system modeled, and the nerds that fly them click the buttons in the cockpit to achieve what they need to do. The sim is good enough to be used by real air forces for training for planes, such as the US Air National Guard for the A-10, and the French Air Force for the Mirage 2000. Our players will talk on the radio channels with air traffic control and air battle management, and they will use different channels to communicate with their wingmen. Each flight will have its own objectives as part of the package, and the flight leads will write up their plan before game day, and after the game, their after action report. Each days’ game will probably last about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. We’ll stream it both from the perspective of a pilot, and from the air battle manager station’s radar screen.
Does it sound complex? Oh yeah, it is! But it’s a lot of fun. We hope to attract the interest of non-plane players and are more than happy to explain terms and describe what we do. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, and we look forward to sharing nerdery in this thread or the Discord.
Discord Link : https://discord.gg/airgoons
Currently in need of :
Peruvian Air Force Chief
Chilean Air Force Chief
South American Combined Fleet Chief
Argentine Army Chief
So what do you actually do? It could be as basic as telling the Mission Coordinator that the carrier group moves north, or west, or as detailed as helping to plan missions and procure ordnance.
There is also a solid need for air traffic controllers, JTAC's and Air battle managers.
(https://i.imgur.com/oDocMAT.png)
Think of it like Command Modern Operations, but there's actual players in the aircraft.
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First mission is coming up on Saturday 2000 UTC. We've got 4 ABM's signed up and an air traffic controller. Weather looks challenging, but we'll see...
(https://i.imgur.com/LHiAtS4.png)
FLIGHT BRIEFING
ASCOT 1
C-130 x4
OVERALL TASK:
Drop Royal Navy SBS team and their floating pallet to the Atlantic.
Waypoint 1: the edge of seaboard. Hit this waypoint at 5000 feet of altitude. Inform Air Battle Management "OPEN BAR"
Waypoint 2: Approach this waypoint at 200 feet of altitude, traveling no more than 150kn, no later than 2 miles out. The passengers should exit precisely at the waypoint, and thus the drop should be initiated .2 miles away from the waypoint itself. Precision here is absolute key. If drop succesfull, call "IRISH GOODBYE". If unsuccesful, call "MOTHER IN LAW".
Waypoint 3: pass this waypoint heading 069 degrees, flying at 1500 feet. Initiate a gradual descent, runway treshold is at 10 miles, 069 heading, Runway 07, Santa Cruz Airport (IATA: RZA, ICAO: SAWU).
Waypoint 4: Runway treshold, 364ft MSL. Taxi to the end of the runway to the end concrete, w where trucks drive to you as you stop and will load you hot. Then turn around, and depart. This is a very narrow runway, so plan ahead stopping in intervals or you will not fit. You will not be able to pass each other. After departure, call "GUINEA PIG ROAST".
Waypoint 5: El Calafate. Mission Complete.
Total Flight Time: 1h10m
(https://i.imgur.com/dsOEYGV.png)
FLIGHT BRIEFING
Venom 1
F-16C b50
x2
2x AIM-9L, 4x AIM-120B per aircraft. Belly tank.
Do not jettison unless emergency.
Venom 1 will conduct escort, following the same waypoints as Ascot 1.
Same waypoint map, but all waypoints are at 20,000 feet.
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Panther 2
F-16A MLU
x2
WP0: Depart El Calafate
WP 1 and 2: Conduct BARCAP to protect the C-130s, establish a counter-CAP to the usual PLAAF CAP and posture. Orbit between WP 1 and WP 2 until the C-130s are "GUINEA PIG ROAST", then RTB.
WP3 3: El Calafate. Mission Complete.
6x AIM-9L per aircraft. Belly tank.
Do not jettison unless emergency.
(https://i.imgur.com/LExDUJp.png)
There is also a flight of F-5's and a pair of M2K's holding a southern pattern.
If anyone will be streaming on Twitch I'll drop a link here.
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That looks way too cool for me.
I really need to get into DCS.
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Prepare to spend money.
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Prepare to spend money.
At least my wife won't see weekly boxes from GMT Games on my front stoop.
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Just fair warning....................... :bigthumb:
DCS can suck the wallet dry as quickly as any board gaming jones.
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Just fair warning....................... :bigthumb:
DCS can suck the wallet dry as quickly as any board gaming jones.
Yup! Totally agree. We always have at least one airframe that is free though. For this one we'll have both the SU-25T and the exceptional A-4. Though you still need a joystick-throttle. This time around we're on the South Atlantic map, though we've done a lot on the Caucases (free) map.
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It is a credit to your team that you are considering the player costs to participate in the project.
Not sure it’s my cup of tea but I’ll be interested to follow your progress.
Good luck!
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First mission is done! This was supposed to be a prologue flight of one C-130 and a single flight of F-16's. It turned into this...
(https://i.imgur.com/iDXhS86.png)
Each flight had a different patrol area with Viper 1 flight directly escorting the C-130's. There was two direct benefits from this flight, first was we procured SU-25T's for AI CAS patrols and this "unlocks" an ARMA 3 mission we'll play in the future on the Falklands.
(https://i.imgur.com/9TfYqEq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/vN4d3XH.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/dsPf6FJ.png)
We also had 4 (!) new ABM's in training for this op, which is super cool and is a huge force multiplier. I'm very excited to get into the thick of it in the coming missions. Next one is 14 OCT, 2023.
https://www.airgoons.com/hype/TheLongAfternoonWar.html (https://www.airgoons.com/hype/TheLongAfternoonWar.html)
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Just fair warning....................... :bigthumb:
DCS can suck the wallet dry as quickly as any board gaming jones.
I have the DCS Steam Edition with the Su-25 plus a pretty basic Thrustmaster w/ throttle.
I also bought a few more airframes and campaigns that were cheap during a recent Steam sale. I currently have three monitors set up (although one is in portrait mode for reading rulebooks while I play VASSAL games).
What else do I need to play?
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What else do I need to play?
Head tracking is really nice, you can use OpenTrack with AITrack and a generic webcam. Beyond that get on the Open Beta as most folks use that. SRS (Simple Radio) is used for in game comms as it gets too chaotic to use just Discord. Other than that pop into the Discord and express interest, we'll get you rolling.
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(https://i.imgur.com/qSyJva7.png)
We've got two missions this weekend. The first is an ARMA 3 tie in with a spec ops team inserting on the Falkands followed by the first "big" op on Saturday afternoon.
OVERVIEW
The PLA Navy is using the Falklands as its primary hub of sealift operations to sustain combat in the South Atlantic. However, the small capacity of Port Arthur has bottlenecked the transfer of goods so ships are docked in temporary ports across the eastern coast.
The Choiseul Sound is currently holding transport ships belonging to the 6th Sustainment Task Group, who have deployed their own Marine Forces to garrison the isthmus surrounding Goose Green and Darwin.
This presents a unique opportunity. Since the Group is both far from other ground elements and from other naval elements, a commando team could sneak in and damage the vulnerable parked ships.
GAMEPLAN
Squadron X-RAY of the Royal Navy SBS will infiltrate the Goose Green area by boat and sabotage the transport ships stationed there.
Marines from the 1st Assault Group will also deploy to provide fire support as needed.
COMMON QUESTIONS
How will comms work? We're using Discord. In the future, if there's enough demand, maybe TFAR or ACRE...
ACE Medical? Not today! This will use ACE No Medical with the build-in Revive system.
The main mission is CAS/SEAD around Tierra del Fuego. We've also had some MSFS cargo and MPA runs done by the MSFS nerds. I'm looking forward to Saturday, should be interesting!
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you're doing an aerial SEAD mission?!
isn't that normally a ground-artillery and/or naval missile mission to clear out enemy air defenses before the aircraft go in?
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you're doing an aerial SEAD mission?!
isn't that normally a ground-artillery and/or naval missile mission to clear out enemy air defenses before the aircraft go in?
In this case the SU-25T is a superb SEAD platform with the Phantasmagoria pod and some decent ARM's. The F-16 also has the AGM-88 HARM, but we don't have any (yet). The 25T is free, so it gives folks something to do without spending $$$.
(https://i.imgur.com/hQq0Jxv.png)
The missions went off pretty well! The ARMA tie in was a lot of fun with a "GM" doing Zeus and calling in Chinese RRF.
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1162058850799718461/1162574445509083226/20231013191252_1.jpg?ex=653c6ed3&is=6529f9d3&hm=a770a11be5208f466f3df37ec1241325ff09b3055a535bc4d50be93dd457d203&=&width=1440&height=603)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1162058850799718461/1162572657435344896/image.png?ex=653c6d29&is=6529f829&hm=682cc369a2d119713a3a680437e5c41a6052d81c2d42221f48d12e3fc03aaa1b&=&width=1440&height=603)
The C-130's managed to get 32 containers of combat supplies to the front as well.
(https://i.imgur.com/29cKYWc.jpg)
The A-4's did some exceptional bombing on a PLAN LST group.
(https://i.imgur.com/CuC1iMr.jpg)
My flight destroyed the objective but I ate a manpad and did not make it back. My wingman did though, and he ate an IGLA too.
(https://wiki.weaponsrelease.com/chevereto_3.12.10/chevereto/images/2023/10/14/2023-10-14_19-37-35.jpg)
We've had some great AI generated propaganda too.
(https://i.imgur.com/9nvW2mf.png)
(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/924536680906645585/1162633535627210882/ag1_ne.png?ex=653ca5db&is=652a30db&hm=1ee0924862c70195d5c21393768123b21f0f80228de60a1e11413e63ed9cd3b4&=&width=666&height=659)
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Another weekend of ops! This time we had a Saturday flight op which went, for the most part, poorly. My flight of F-16's knocked out two naval targets but both were lost to SAM's. Our CAS were early and got jumped by MIG-21's which set up a cascade of difficulty. There was a really sweet Durandal run by Mirage F1's though.
(https://i.imgur.com/w0Ii2FO.jpg)
Then this morning we did an ARMA 3 mission where two squads captured a few radar sites near a mountainous glacier. This went better than the previous days op but we still suffered some casualties.
Finally is our big video explaining what the hell is going on. It's all great stuff and if you'd like to join us just give me a shout.