First do you guys move the sliders to your liking for targets and tasking when starting a new campaign or do you check the set by HQ?
Second, How do you guys go about the campaign? Do you fly then immediately jump in another jet and fly again or do you fly your mission and then advance the time to simulate your crew rest?
Any time I tinker with the target and priority settings I usually botch it. I still tweak it, but I usually end up only varying slightly from HQ’s settings, unless I see a massive unbalance in the Orders of Battle.
As for execution, I like to fly missions from takeoff to landing, so I won’t jump into a mission that’s already going. If I can’t find a mission that I want to do (all HAVCAP and BARCAP? ugh), then I’ll cancel a package (or two) to create some available aircraft and pilots and make my own. I love SEAD/DEAD missions, but a coordinated OCA attack on an airfield is also a fun challenge.
Mission selected, I do the recon, update the payloads, and even update/remove/add waypoints as necessary. I jot a bunch of notes down, then exit out to use the most excellent Weapons Delivery Planner to plan my attack and create my updated DTC.
Once the mission’s over, I repeat the above. I don’t take into account simulated crew rest time, but I may create some for myself by saving the campaign to fly later in the week!
Is that weapons planner an external app or is it internal? Just curious as to what needs to be done to get it to work. Do I have to leave the sim(altTab) to use it?
It is external and since Alt-tab always kills Falcon for me, I save, exit, do WDP, then restart Falcon.
This is very much a PITA, but WDP is worth it.
The new WDP manual is a little thin, but should get you started: Weapondeliveryplanner WDP
Cool. I downloaded it but i havent used it yet. I just did my first 4.33 campaign mission. It was a DEAD aginst a SA-2 site. My package was clean up after the other package deployed HARMS. I had 8 SDBs. I used the internally recon to program 8 separate targets to my DTC as extra waypoints. I switched to each waypoint and pickled a SDB. Results of the mission, HARM package got shot down via MIG 23s, I launched all 8 SDBs 3 of which hit…So the 3 that hit, hit the right spot so it was a success. 11 ground kills off of three hits.
But I am concerned with the 5 misses.
I like to move mud mostly…so at first I select a squadron that has Air to Ground as it’s specialty. I let the HQ set the priorities and take a look at the missions that come up on the frag. I generally like OCA or SEAD type missions. If there is nothing on the frag that appeals to me…or the mission type is there but the target is way up north, then I make my own.
I will select a mission from the frag that doesn’t seem to be a important part of a package, and delete it from the ATO…freeing up those planes from my squadron. I will pick a target a little closer to home that has a high priority and “add a package” by right clicking on the target. Select your squadron and how many planes, take off time etc. and there you have it. Occasionally for fun I will untick the set by HQ box…clear the whole frag…and add packages and watch them play out when I take a flight up. This let’s my inner strategy geek come through a bit.