Introduction
“Hey everyone!”
Well. I guess it’s time for the Mudspike 4th Annual DCS Fall Fly-In!
TL;DR
Official dates 1-2 December 2018 - Saturday and Sunday. Post below this one will be a Wiki for Server info. Contest Details in this post. Screenshots/AARs should be posted in this thread as well;
Item 1: Servers
In the reply directly below this post, we will create a wiki post to allow us to share server information. Remember, these servers are put up by volunteers so be respectful and have fun!
We were hoping that a new Stable build would appear this week but that, alas, is not to be. Instead, at the consensus of a few of the server admins here, will be sticking with the Open Beta, given all its warts, smells and odd sounds it still provides the most features.
We recommend that you take a look at @SkateZilla’s DCS Launcher App (here) which will allow you to easily switch between Open Beta and Stable releases.
The Mudspike Teamspeak server is available to use. Please find the info: here.
Item 2: Contest! With prizes that will amaze and astound you!
Two of our awesome community members (@near_blind and @klarsnow) have offered Heatblur F-14 Tomcat keys! And you, our lucky community members, have a change to win one of those two keys!
To choose who will get a key we will have a fight to the death … [wait, I am hearing from the Mudspike Common Sense Committee that we can not do that. I locked our lawyers away but I forgot about that blessed committee.]
Okay! Change of plans!
We will have a screenshot/AAR contest! Post a response to this thread as you (hopefully) partake of the weekend community gathering, with either screenshots and/or After Action Reports of your experience. Votes will be tabulated based on the number of likes that your post receives. That magic number will then be considered, carefully and thoughtfully, and discarded because this isn’t a popularity contest. Instead, we will catalog all of the users who post screenshots and AARs and randomly select two of those members to receive a F-14 Tomcat key. If you already have a key and don’t want another, please mention that in your post (to opt out and leave the keys to others). We will contact the winners some time next week.
Item 3: Go and Have Fun! But, also, Rules of the Road
(from the Announcement Post)
In order to ensure fun play for everyone, there are some ground rules and/or guidelines listed below. In general, if a player is disrupting everyone else’s good time, they will be kicked and/or banned. We have never had to kick or ban anyone at a Mudspike event, and we’d really like to keep that trend going.
- Shoot to Kill, Play to Have Fun. It’s not just a motto, it’s…ok, well, actually it is just a motto, but it’s a pretty good one. Play hard, but play nice and be fair;
- No team-killing. Most (if not all) missions can be assumed to be CO-OP focused or CO-OP friendly with no adversary client positions unless specified in the title/briefing. If you feel the need to go fangs out, coordinate with players ahead of time and set up a PvP mission but at the very least, you are required to have the permission of everyone involved and to move off to an unoccupied area of the map;
- No killing of the Tanker. We all know that Air-to-Air tanking is a pain but please don’t take that out on the tanker, even if it is ‘an accident’ or ‘they made fun of your mother’;
- No obscene language, TS3 or text. Not all folks enjoy obscene language, even if meant in good humor. Other folks may have friends/family reading the chat messages over their shoulder or listening in on external speakers and may hear what you intended as a closed room comment;
- PLEASE use push-to-talk. Mouth-breathers and keyboard clacking can be very distracting for others (Fridge edit – I am one of those. I tend to mutter a lot when I think no one is listening);
- Read the chat bar. Respect those who might not be on TS3. Remember to send text messages for important comms in addition to broadcasting over TS3 as not everyone may not be on TS3 or in the same channel. Be sure to know which key is used to access chat for the DCS modules you will be flying;
- Runway/Carrier Operations. The standard rules used in previous fly-ins:
- There is an active runway in use as decided by the in-game ATC (who will at least make some effort to send you in the right direction). If there is doubt (or ATC is being quiet because someone else is taxiing), feel free to follow them to the active runway;
- Make an effort to announce on Teamspeak, or in chat, when you are about to take the runway or are on final and then announce when you are clear (landed and off the runway or are wheels up). Clear the runway/deck as fast as possible and then announce it (ie: “Skippy5 is clear of the active runway!”);
- With a carrier spot, initially select a spectators position and make sure that you are not spawning in on top of anyone (the deck is ‘clear’) and check in on Teakspeak/chat. When you do spawn in, if you are not taking off with the initial load of weapons/fuel, fold your wings and immediately taxi to a position that does not occupy the launch/landing portions of the deck (there are such spaces beside or behind the superstructure/tower);
- Catapults on the bow of the ship are to be considered active while ones on the waist are only to be used if there is no-one in the pattern. If you look around and see any dots in the sky around the carrier, assume that they are in the pattern and move to the bow catapults;
- Access to the active runway is by priority order (pilots at the top of the following list have the highest priority – if there is anyone at the airfield or carrier if they are performing an action above you in the list, they have priority):
- Emergency (damage or low fuel);
- Landing;
- Taking off:
- Taxiing to/from parking;