Hell yeah.
Got to learn how to collimate to fire the rockets!
Oh, and the radios…
oh… and the navigation systems…
oh… and… and… and…
(I need to see if I can delegate the Miniguns to the Co-Pilot and and I can get to control the rockets)
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If you give the co-pilot ROE orders he can take control of the minigun. Rember that you can also switch to that seat and control the minigun yourself that way.
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However, if ypu give the co pilot the guns, he switches the weapon selector away from rockets. So no, you don’t get to fire them while he’s spraying minigun fire all over creation.
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Ach, that was my fear. Ok, thanks!
Bind the ROE cycle for your gunners and copilot to a switch, that is what I do. rocket runs to knock down dangerous stuff and then circle strafe to kill the soft stuff.
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Yup! Smart idea.
Even better I will program a Voice Attack macro.
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In this training mission we took a look at the AI Pilot feature of the Kiowa module. I have to admit, I haven’t much used AI pilot/gunner features much in DCS World. The F-14, while super cool and fun, is among my least flown modules.
In exploring the Kiowa module though - the AI pilot does an amazing job of taking a load off of the player and allowing them to focus on some heads-down things. You can go as basic or as complex as you like with the AI Pilot - from directing him to hover, to assigning him headings, to setting up orbits and turning towards whatever the Mast Mounted Sight is pointing at.
Most of these things are accomplished via key assignments. Of course, you could also map each desired function to a HOTAS - but in doing a little digging around, I found the amazing utility by Bailey that gives you a pop-up AI pilot control in the cockpit. You can use it in VR…drag it wherever you like…and the functionality is fantastic. Want to go up a few hundred feet? Hover your mouse control over the altitude box and roll the scroll wheel up and hit the left mouse button. Up you go. Takeoff, hover, land, use the scroll wheel to pick a heading. It is amazing.
In VR, I found that once you leave the KIO-WA menu, your mouse cursor turns into the normal interact cross that you use to hit buttons in your cockpit. When you then return to the menu…it does not turn into the round “choose” or whatever cursor. To get around that, I used an external program RS Mapper to assign the pop-up command (CTRL+SHIFT+F9) to a HOTAS button on my throttle. A double click on that hides then reveals the KIO-WA menu and makes it clickable.
The menu is extremely user friendly…and I can tell I’m going to rely heavily on it. It is a quick download, goes into your SCRIPTS mod folder or something (follow the instructions). Now…it does now ALWAYS load for any aircraft…so you might want to drop it out of the SCRIPT folder when you are flying something other than the Kiowa (or I guess you could just hide it).
Bailey’s KIO-WA AI Command Overlay: HERE
RS Mapper: HERE
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We wrap up Kiowa training with a night mission where the instructor points out the various lighting options in the OH-58D. There are tons of rheostats, toggles, and settings for flying at night with and without night vision goggles.
It is pretty spooky flying around using the night vision and Optical Display Assembly (ODA)…coupled with the FLIR setting on the Mast Mounted Sight, the OH-58D is a fairly potent night attack helicopter…but it sure is risky flying around in the dark at low level!
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That completes the OH-58D training curriculum. I had to take a couple weeks off for Real Life™ flying…and it quickly becomes apparently how flying these modules is a perishable skill. After just a couple weeks away from the module…I felt lost on my initial jump into the helicopter last night. I can’t wait to get back up to speed and try my first missions with it. The Kiowa has definitely been one of the most interesting modules I’ve “learned” (I don’t know what I’m doing still)…and the low-level, sneak around and find stuff aspect of it is very appealing.
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Nice work @BeachAV8R! I don’t know how to feel about all these great machines that are available to us to experience through DCS that are now mostly rendered irrelevant by today’s battlefield. What was “Modern Air Combat” when most of us started this hobby is now a historic study sim.
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True. But flying simulated WWI and II airplanes is still fun…
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Loads of fun! This is just a Flanker/DCS wish I’ve had since the SimHQ days: Pick an era. Then make maps, planes, ships, vehicles, troops and GAME MECHANICS all in support of that era.
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Not to stray too far from the Kiowa, but a little while back there was a discussion of its viability on the battlefield and with that, drone swarms from hell. Two comments. Regardless of how poorly it suited Iraq, one scouting mission on the Cold War Germany map, where the ability to find and target at your enemy without exposing yourself, the MMS becomes a necessity, especially when it feels at times the AI can see through hills.
Here is the other. A respected arms analyst, Justin Bronk, shares his opinion on the MiG-29 and more on point, has doubts that drones win wars. Very much worth a listen, no matter which camp you reside. I’m undecided.
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Just to pare this right back.
Yes it is. I agree with him 100% especially his closing argument that air power and air superiority is still very much the dominant force multiplier, something that is missing from the war in Ukraine, especially when someone says ‘this is the future of war’.
His assessments of the ‘big picture’ are second to none. But one thing he didn’t mention, and why I think that cheap disposable, lethal drones are a game changer… especially the way they are being used in the Ukraine is that they are, as much as anything else, a psychological weapon.
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Necessity is the mother of invention is the phrase isn’t it? Amazing how efficient we have become at killing one another. I often wonder if this is a phase…or just who we are.
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