Remind me of this thread if I ever challenge you to a gun fight, @BeachAV8R…! 
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Too bad they never made a ZSA ZSA model that could slap cops.
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I dipped my toe into the Kursant Campaign, but my heart wasn’t in it. Perhaps to be revisited at a later time - the tasks are pretty tight and I just didn’t want to spend that much time in the L-39.
BUT…
Having been through the ED provided training missions on the L-39 - I figured I could continue my Ukraine Pilot Training by doing some missions that could sort of dovetail in with the spirit of the overall theme of these reports. Though somewhat based in current events, this is a fictionalized story that is perhaps grasping at some straws…but whatever…
With training complete I thought it would be an interesting “TDY” to head to Georgia to help out with their struggles against Russia in that region. I found a campaign by Warriorbear09 that I wanted to give a whirl: Georgian Pre-Civil War. Obviously…this would have pre-dated the most recent forays into Ukraine…but for the purposes of our training, we will imagine it happens after our initial training.
I have to admit to not really fully understanding the action in Georgia over the past couple of decades, so I dove into Wikipedia to try to get a grasp on it. Like many conflicts over all of history, the root causes are often complex, nuanced, and evolve over time and reflection. Whatever the case, in this mini-campaign we will be flying for the Georgian government as private contractors fighting against South Ossetia (backed by Russia) insurgents. Described as mostly being missions against soft targets…it seems within the limitations of the L-39.
Our first mission is a familiarization flight. I always enjoy these type of missions…describing the terrain, setting the scene, learning the area of operations. Nearly every campaign should start with this kind of foundation. The mission will take us west out of Tbilisi toward the hot areas generally staying on the south side of the Kura River.
Just fuel tanks on this first mission…
The instructions in the first mission are pretty good and a few messages along the way outline some of the areas to be familiar with…
I have a mod request. Someone needs to build a “ForeFlite” like kneeboard. The F10 map is a bit of a cheat…but it would not be beyond the realm that many of these smaller air forces would use an iPad with ForeFlite and the moving map and basic tools to keep positional awareness.
Picking up the Kura River westbound…
These recon/fam flight missions can be interesting and tense because you don’t always know what the mission designer planned. Is a MANPAD lurking in the forest over there? Will a truck mounted ZSU ruin the peace and calm of the day?
A bit of foreshadowing about the rest of the mini-campaign perhaps…
Maybe there is a mod that puts your own-ship on the kneeboard map?
After an uneventful flight…back to Tbilisi for the landing. I availed myself of radar vectors instead of using RSBN…
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There’s that ‘mark position’ keybind you can use for the kneeboard (if you’re not aware of it already). Makes a little “>” showing where you are and where you’re pointed. I use it a bunch, particularly in the WWII campaigns when I invariably drop out of formation and flop around in a stall trying to climb to altitude.
It’s a bit of cheat I suppose but I am 100% okay with it!
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That is a new one to me. Thanks!
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I also found this…but I’m not sure how I’d get it working in VR…probably seven different steps…
https://movingmap.bergison.com/
Actually…someone posted on the DCS Forums:
“I’m using it in VR along with OVR Toolkit, and it’s very cool to have a moving map in the Huey”
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You know, using that in conjunction with OpenKneeboard with their window function would let you incorporate it into VR pretty easily. I’m gonna try that!
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For moving map I try and use the 2D NS430 - problem being it doesn’t work that often, especially not in OB.
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@BeachAV8R , I remember your F16 AAR for F4 when Fish Bone Productions was a thing, so I’ll just save time now…Don’t forget keybinding for nose wheel steering.
Glad your back and hope every week is a bit better than the last.
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It’s honestly crazy how long ago that was…and feels like it was a blink of an eye…
So many new simmers wouldn’t know that joke…what a classic…
I’m definitely not back…just…trying to find my way. I too hope things continue to improve. I suspect it will be up and down. Thanks.
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For our next mission in the mini-campaign…we will be flying our first combat mission.
Out of Tbilisi up to help support some combat operations to the northwest near the split in the river that we followed on the orientation mission…
Looks like we have some rocket pods and we are looking for some 122mm MLRS launchers that are firing toward Tbilisi…
Thankfully I have a kneeboard checklist that helps me find all the switches to get the weapons armed…
Unfortunately, for some reason I don’t think I hit the trigger zone for this mission to start it off since I wasn’t getting any guidance from the rear-seater as was described in the mission brief. I’m not sure why exactly it went wrong…but I just rolled with it and found the targets using the red dot cheat. I’ve found in VR it is a struggle to find ground targets and without a FAC talking me in I concede to using the labels once in awhile. I don’t know if stuff is supposed to show on the F-10 map or not…I’d probably rather not have that stuff there unless it has been ID’d by a friendly flight or asset.
Pinprick labels…
Rockets away…
Hits on one of the vehicles…the other is still operational…
Coming back around for another run and I see some tracers whiz by…so something is shooting at me…
Looks like a truck mounted AA gun taking some shots at us…
The truck mounted AA distracts me enough that my second run misses…and the second launcher starts firing its rockets…
Get him on the next pass…
Not sure what the MLRS was shooting at…
All rockets expended. There were still some infantry I couldn’t get…because I forgot I had a gun mounted under the belly. I guess I am a rookie…
Looking forward to the next sortie… I have to say I do enjoy low-intensity missions. I’m definitely a more deliberate and slow paced simmer I suppose. I guess that was always why I was attracted to helicopter sims…99% of the fun is getting there.
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I had “ALL” selected on my F10 map options…I assume “FOG OF WAR” will only show me units that have been positively ID’d by allies? And is there some fuzziness to their position and does it decay over time?
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Well I can tell you I’ve read through them all 4 times - the last time was just a couple of months ago. They are good entertainment reading as well as useful info.
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I think the fog of war setting shows enemy units when they are spotted by allies. There’s no fuzziness to it, it just shows them exactly where they are right now, though they may disappear from the map when they are out of detection range
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Does that come with the campaign?
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No…it was this kneeboard that I downloaded from the DCS User Files section (inspired by @Chuck_Owl) :
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Yes, I’ve been playing a TTI mission with my group on our ded server and many things will appear/disappear on the F10 map depending on when last reported by either ground/sea/air AI or one of our platforms.
Just last night I saw a T-72B by its lonesome in southern Syria, take off to go get it and then it disappeared. When I got to the area, though, it hadn’t been destroyed. It was there with another T-72 and a truck but the contact had aged out.
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Good to know…thanks! I’ve checked “FOG OF WAR” in my options and it looks like that is reflected in the next mission I flew. Of course, the campaign designer also put a “spotter” unit near the enemy…so I pretty much had eyes on anyway on the F10 map.
Next mission in the campaign is a bombing mission. This one had me nervous because my training in the L-39 included a bombing mission and I did not do very good at it…
Apologies for the poor screenshots for this mission - somehow I didn’t get a full screen mirror of my VR headset for this mission…
Headed out with four FAB-something bombs under the wings…
Kind of a gloomy day with high overcast…but I do enjoy DCS World and how the lighting has improved over the years…flying in and out of the cloud shadows is really…umm…atmospheric (see what I did there?)…
Our target is pretty big and a spotter has marked it so it isn’t difficult to find…
Making sure all my switches are set correctly. I wanted to release singles per side with each press of the pickle button. It seemed to work correctly…
I’m going to go ahead and say this was my best ever non-CCIP/CCRP bomb release ever. I was figuring I might have to return to base and rearm to pass this mission, but to my great surprise I think three of my four bombs hit the complex dead on. And I didn’t even release from a super low altitude…I just plain got lucky with this bomb run…
With the warehouse destroyed…that kicks off the Georgian offensive and artillery opens up and Georgian units start rolling into the contested area…
Quick mission with good results…
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Mission four in the mini-campaign has us going out on a general patrol. I believe this mission is randomized in some fashion so I flew it twice and indeed the various tasking were different.
Nice, bright morning…with rockets and gun pods for the patrol…
These missions are of such short duration that fuel isn’t really a consideration, so consider dropping down to 60% fuel or so to give better maneuverability…
As we taxi out we get a message that a roadblock up in the contested zone is under attack…
Figuring out all the switch positions…we will use rockets first…guns second…
Lots of friendly forces on the move in the zone…
This mission would be pretty hard without labels… Trying to find targets in VR can be tough (I haven’t mapped a zoom control…I guess I should…)
Rolling in…
I’ve read some complaints about the baked in reflections on the L-39 glass. Yes…they can be vision obscuring and don’t react exactly to positional light necessarily…in that the reflections aren’t dynamic. But the effect is good enough to let you know you are looking through beat up plexi or acrylic or whatever. I don’t think it is terrible…
I try to count my rockets…firing them in pairs…
After beating back one squad another takes up the attack from another direction…
I struggle with how to get the belly mounted gun to work. I never do…eventually finding out I was missing the switch on the left side under the canopy rail…
Next up are some trucks coming down the road toward some friendlies…
You may also get a mortar attack on a compound…and an attack by a small boat along the river… All good targets for the L-39. I took hits on one run and it knocked out my inverter and I lost my HSI or gyro or whatever…
Fun stuff and perfect level of intensity for the L-39…as far as I know I haven’t had a MANPAD launched at me yet…
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