Spring 2021 DCS Fly-In

[Wes]

DCS Fly-In: March 6th Weekend

Attention all Mudspikers: Hollo Pointe & Hollo Pointe North shall be hosting a Fly-In weekend for the weekend of March 6th, 2021! As is typical, flying will likely start on the Friday afternoon/evening by North American time zones and continue through until Sunday evening. This is open to all of Mudspike as well as your friends & family and any of the internet public who happen across this post!

Below is a date & time which should display in your local time zone - times are approximated and may shift by a few hours in either direction.
2021-03-05T22:00:00Z → 2021-03-08T04:00:00Z

Terrains, Missions & Aircraft

We have a fairly wide assortment of missions on the various maps including a good array of different aircraft. This will likely be primarily based on the more modern aircraft with secondary roles available for some of the older aircraft such as the F-5E and MiG-21. At present we cannot field WWII scenarios due to a couple bugs with the AI that result in severe performance issues for all players - this may change if the problems are solved in upcoming patches.

With the relatively recent release of DCS: Syria, we know it may not be fully adopted yet and while our recent mission development has been stuck on this map (because it’s great!) we don’t want to create a large exclusion by using it. On a similar track, we have had an upswing in interest in helicopters and I know those of you involved with Fight Club have as well. So below I will be adding a couple poles to see where the interest and ownership sits before we commit to certain scenarios.

As well I have a general question relating to a new type of mission we’re working on to see if the crowd is generally interested. With traditional missions, a sudden influx of players can lead to them running out of tasks rapidly. We have a new (Syria map) scenario in the works designed heavily around teamwork such as buddy lasing and airborne forward air controllers [the FAC(A) role, for those who research these things]. Operations in this scenario will be more guided rather than the open free-form of a normal public gathering. So the poll options will be “Curated” (a guided mission with recommended targets and payloads for your selected aircraft) and “Free-Form” (hop in and DIY).

Do you own the DCS: Syria map?

• Yes
• No

Do you have interest in flying a mission designed for helicopters specifically?

• Yes
• No

Which scenario type do you prefer?

• Curated
• Free-Form

With just over a month to go until the Fly-In, now would be a great time for those who enjoy the modern jets to catch up on Wag’s videos, read through Chuck’s guides and maybe partake with GOTHQ: A-10C Warthog - we’d be happy to put any and all of those skills you’ve learned and will learn, to the test.

Server Information:

Hollo Pointe - US/Colorado
Hollo Pointe North - CA/Ontario

Voice comms will take place on the Mudspike discord channel. You can get connection info for it with the Megaphone icon in the navigation header bar here on the forums next to the search magnifying glass icon. While SRS is available on Hollo Pointe North, we won’t jump in to that without full adoption of all participants. Please make sure to configure PTT mode in Discord to keep the virtual airwaves tidy.

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Please leave any questions and feedback you may have below and I will be happy to respond & discuss anything of concern!

[Wes]

Going to follow on with some additional map ownership questions as we have asked this previously but it’s a new year and things change!

Modern maps:

Do you own the Nevada Map?

• Yes
• No

Do you own the Persian Gulf Map?

• Yes
• No

WWII Maps:

Do you own the Normandy map?

• Yes
• No

Do you own the Channel map?

• Yes
• No

[Victork2]

I’ll be there. Added to calender and permissions granted by management…

[schurem]

I’ll be there as well. Look forward to do some more structured flying. I’d love to be guided in by living FAC-A, laying down a stick of doom on some unbelievers.

[Victork2]

I’m pumped to use Track IR again. Flew the Harrier this morning and utterly annihilated a convoy of trucks with it. Plus nailed a refuel and a landing.
This is the way till I can afford a G2 and a pc upgrade

Looking forward to putting it all to use during the fly in. I love moving serious mud with you guys.

[Wes]

@schurem

I’d love to be guided in by living FAC-A

Much of the mission is based on some reading I did on Operation Iraqi Freedom (@AndyE mentioned he was reading these and I asked for the info so I could buy and read the series):

https://www.amazon.ca/Marine-Hornet-Operation-Freedom-Aircraft-ebook/dp/B01DPPWFEK?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_dp

https://www.amazon.ca/Hornet-Operation-Freedom-Combat-Aircraft-ebook/dp/B01DPPPYK2?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_dp

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01DPPPYO8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o05?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have since started in to the books from the series relating to the Harrier (ODS/OEF/OIF) and I will also have to get in to the ones regarding the F-14’s due to the relationship with the Hornet in OIF.

If we have the mission ready (@Franze has it in the works) and a crowd ready to run it - then you can expect to have quite the workout in your aircraft knowledge.

Some of the design concepts include:

• Heavily restricted F10 view - you’ll be relying on aircraft navigation systems, your eyes & your sensors to navigate and search for targets.
• A front line area for close-air-support (CAS) aircraft [Harrier & Warthog] to work with combined arms players as JTAC.
• A vast rear area for strike aircraft to hunt down the enemy - Battlefield Air Interdiction (BAI) sorties.
• Longer flights - lighter payloads will be a big benefit, and make sure you have the gas on station to use the weapons you bring.
• The above two points will make the use of a FAC(A) such as F/A-18C loaded with only a pod, fuel and defensive missiles OR a F-14 (with human RIO) in a similar config OR a Warthog very helpful as they can also perform the Strike Coordination And Reconnaissance (SCAR) role. This means you ideally don’t have to burn up your gas hunting and go home without finding a target.

There will be more to this as well but it’s something I’m looking forward to trying as it will allow us to have more players without needing so many units the server stops syncing properly or a massively defended “citadel” design where everyone gets shot down repeatedly because the barrier to entry is high.

Anyways - this is just one potential mission we can hopefully run. The collections of @Franze and @WreckingCrew have quite a variety including the perennial favorite Erl Sis from WC, and the competitive Jumeriah Keyhole - where we split in to two teams and fight to score points flying through a hotel, if the other team doesn’t get their say in first!

WC also has a new Syria map scenario in the works, which I’ll get some more details on soon.

We’ll try to tailor to the crowd to a degree to maximize participation since this is also very much a social event that we think would be a helpful break from the social isolation that COVID has brought on.

[BeachAV8R]

Looking forward to joining in…I’m on the night shift Friday-Tuesday…so I’ll be hopping on at the gaps in my schedule!

[miRage]

About time!

Good idea to have another Fly-In. Looking forward to a more coop-oriented gameplay.

[Wes]

Just an FYI - with the sale on if anyone has been on the fence about buying Syria due to potential performance concerns, now is a good time to trial it since there is a free period running!

[Victork2]

That was my plan as well

[komemiute]

crying in disconnected with no PC

[schurem]

fills inert G2 headset with salty, salty tears

[tempusmurphy]

I assume that the windows re-install didnt work then …

[schurem]

nope. nothing did.

[Wes]

You need a backup TrackIR like @Victork2!

[Victork2]

The one I have was kindly donated by @schurem lol…

[Wes]

Some dramatic irony there.

[Victork2]

[schurem]

Just got an update from HP.nl, they expect to send one in the week of the 9th. But I have combined arms, so will be the JTAC’s drunken Dutch replacement

[Victork2]

Huey Door gunner? Gazelle targeting and navigation officer?
Loads to do in 2d