Initial Preview of the new Fire Cube mission here:
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If we get in to playing Fire Cube I potentially have a role that may suit your non-flying state and be very helpful to the mission if we have a reasonable player count. We noted that a bird flying around searching can turn up targets pretty quickly - but all players canāt hoard in ordinance so while we can mark targets on F10 - you kinda have to remember what is what and what would be suited to attack it.
So we could use a strike-controller of sorts. Basically it would work like this:
- If we get @Franze & @AndyE dual-seating a F-14, they will change from FAC(A) to recon.
- Discovered targets will be relayed to you, with a brief description of target type and density plus coordinates.
- You maintain a list of targets and prioritize things like air defense units.
- You convert rough coordinates to other formats as needed by different jetsā systems.
- As jets come on station they contact you with their payload and you get them going straight to target saving time and fuel.
- Savings mean jets can potentially bring more weapons and less gas, and cycle quicker.
- Another jet can act as a FAC(A) if needed to assist others in getting on to target while the F-14 keeps doing recon.
Just an idea! Fire Cube being as much of a challenge as it seems to be thus far would likely be a Sunday affair so that Friday night and Saturday can be more open & inclusive missions while Sunday could be for those that want to take on the additional challenge.
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Not sure if Iāll be able to pull that off in anything resembling a millitiary or even efficient manner. But playing Red Crown sounds like a fun evening/night! Iām game!
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Sounds like good fun. If I can find the time Iāll make sure to hop on. Iāll probably fly the Viper or Huey
Just donāt give me an A-10C II. I have had complains in the past that I am too efficient at cleaning up the map in that thing 
HMCS plus APKWS is one hell of a combination.
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I think the appropriate punishment would be A-10CII as FAC(A). You can have two AIM-9Ms, Jammer, TGP and WP rockets only. 
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Haha 
Well, count me in (provided I have the time). Itās basically what I do most of the time in the Squadron when I am flying the A-10C xD
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WWII may be back on the table with the more recent updates. So far myself and @Franze noticed the following:
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AI used to ditch frequently, which in MP and even sometimes SP lead to slideshow frame rates as the AI touched down. This has been mostly fixed it seems, as they are highly averse to ditching now and prefer to bail out - but when they do ditch they often clip trees and die so this may be moot rather than resolved.
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AI arenāt as UFO like with power, previously to engage AI with a Spitfire or Mustang we had to run full-bore and open up the cooling systems manually to avoid overheating. This was because the automatic modes failed to sufficiently open and cool. Now however, the AI isnāt UFO like so we can throttle down and automatic cooling works wonderfully! Pondering if that was fixed along with the P-47ās heating woes a while back.
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AI bomberās guns arenāt laser snipers but still very deadly.
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AI have a bit of trouble engaging bombers.
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We have yet to test wake turbulence on the server, our WWII missions have it disabled (only WWII) as previously it not only caused frame rate issues but was so violent being within guns range often led to being thrown about like a rag-doll. SP tests seem to show a vast improvement (the Anton bomber intercept instant action on Caucasus with B-17s was unplayable before, now OK).
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Improved spotting LODās mean there is less need for dot labels (Franze forced grey dot labels as the only label option to force visual ID of aircraft).
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Pilot death (slumped forward in seat) doesnāt appear to sync across the net - plane goes down but that visually the pilot is still alive.
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AI can still tank damage but are partially reactive to damage.
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Looking forward to this event!
Itās been a while since I flew with most of you, I am just recovering from an intense burst of Elite addiction.
Last weekend I flew some of my favorites: the Mi-8, the new A-4 (itās amazing now!), and I was busy with the Red Flag campaign in the Mirage 2000.
Any more concrete plans for the weekend? I am available between UTC 0900 and ~2100, of course not all the time, but I would love to save a time slot for a big mission and/or a helo mission.
If there is going to be a big organized (Fire Cube?) mission, I would love to be able to fly one of my favourites: Mi-8, SA342 or M-2000C.
I assume we wonāt be flying with the A-4 mod to keep the event accessible?
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Not yet - I expect to be at my desk as much as I can without falling asleep!
One reason I have not set anything concrete yet is I think weāre in better shape if we pick the scenarios to fit the crowd at present - especially in regards to maps (ie, I donāt want to plan on Syria and have a third of those there unable to partake).
FireCube Iām forecasting for Sunday!
Rough plan is:
Friday night - pick up game style, quick action stuff as us North Americans would be on after dinner & work.
Saturday - main day, common scenarios, hopefully the most participants!
Sunday - tougher scenarios for those that wish to go to the next level, like FireCube. Perhaps some WWII in here as well since that isnāt incredibly popular for DCS overall.
Time flies - weāre almost there already?!
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Thanks, that sounds great! Looking forward to meeting you all!
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Iāll probably be on Sunday afternoon/evening Central European Time 
Edit: Regarding wake turbulence with WWII aircraft: I strongly advise against it. The Thunderbolt, Anton and Dora can deal with it although it feels way overdone but it can actually rip the wings off the spitfire so itās best to disable it for WW II.
Also: if youāre interested in WWII flying I highly recommend the Storm of War server. Lotās of fun escorting bombers, attacking ground targets etc.
Weāve disabled wake turbulence by forcing it off in the mission files for WWII because it was impossible to work with and a massive framerate killer with AI.
We might be able to adjust that now as we have noticed a big improvement - but that isnāt tested & ready.
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I havenāt noticed severe frame drops on the current patch even with large B-17 formations but flying through wake turbulence of a Bf109 or FW 190 like it can happen in a dogfight while pulling 3-4G can rip the Spitfires wings off clean. Took me a while to figure out what was going on during testing. This with the current patch.
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Ah, good data - thanks!
It hasnāt been huge on our to-do list with the lower WWII adoption.
We were concerned that major patches either pre-2.7 or if 2.7 dropped today weād have tons of issues with modern content and potential bugs that could ruin part of the event - so far, just campaign updates which while a bit disappointing typically - means that we should be OK, which is good news.
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BigNewy just announced on Discord - Stable branch updated to yesterdayās Campaign Hotfix.
If you are a stable branch player, so can update and be equal the the Open Beta - leave no man behind! 
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Iām working tonight. But I will be on tommorow. Once Iāve figured out how to programme my new throttle!!
Any chance of someone streaming tonight?
oh, its this weekend?! lol, almost missed it 
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Perhaps it you ought to stop letting time fly and take to the controls yourself! 
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thats too old fashioned, people nowadays mostly prefer HDG - set, A/T - set
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I can confirm that I will be joining Sunday afternoon from around 16:30CET until 19:00CET(ish).
I am willing to fly any of the following aircraft: A-10C (II), F-16C, F/A-18C, UH-1H, F-14A/B (if someone wants to be my RIO), MiG-21Bis, F-86, any of the warbirds, L-39, Yak-52