Some quick screen grabs from my mission with @paulrix yesterday. Unfortunately, the S-CAM only captures me and my surroundings…I’m not sure if there is a setting that travels around to allies and enemies…I’ll have to mess around. But to fill in the gap…just imagine @paulrix blasting around in an F-35-ish looking aircraft with enemy aircraft plunging from the skies all around him. Thankfully…because my forte in air-to-air is rapidly disassembling my aircraft by running my steed into enemy missiles. Uh…taking one (or three) for the team…yeah…right…
Quick product plug - VTOL VR is on sale now (30% off ~ $21US) - if you have a VR headset…go buy it. It is insanely fun and such an amazing VR experience…and is one of the best combat flight sims…or any flight sim…ever.
So Paul and I were flying Mission 1 of the Battle of Taiwan user created campaign:
The briefing is very good. Basically we will be pushing into the south end of the island and supporting advancing tanks along a valley road to Kachsiung. The targets and enemy disposition are really nice…lending to a lot of work but in an approachable way. Paul was flying the awesome F-45A and I was mostly hauling A2G stores because…well…the aforementioned terribleness at all things A2A…
Going through the short pre-flight routine. It is very quick and with practice you can be airborne in 60 seconds or so:
Battery
APU
MFDs (NAV left / radar or TGP right) RWR on / fuel page on / HUD on / HMCS on
Engine 1 / 2 on
APU off
Flaps 1
Wing unfold
Launch bar extend
Wheel brake off
Taxi to the catapult, hook up, CATO trim switch engage
Engage burner
Hands on left and right canopy rail handholds - and off you go!
The fun and I’d say most immersive feature of VTOL VR is that all of the above happen with your hands and fingers moving all over the cockpit. It feels VERY much like being in a real airplane. I love me some DCS…but the speed and positive feedback that VTOL VR gives just sort of sets the scene.
The first few sorties are spent degrading the enemy radar networks…killing long-range SAM sites and radars. That doesn’t mean you are home free as there are shorter range radar guided AA sites, IR MANPADS, IR and radar vehicles, etc…
Meanwhile Paul was clearing the area of A2A threats and then he switched to the A2G role. From what I barely remember about the F-45A and the helmet mounted cueing system…it is sort of a theater battlespace studio (put that in your brochure!). He can see where my sensors are pointing, what missiles are tracking me, where all the threats are. He is almost like a mini AWACS with teeth. It is a very cool airplane and I’d love to do a deep-dive on it sometime.
Coming back to the carrier to rearm and refuel…and repair damage…
The mission has several phases…protect an advancing convoy from an ambush…then clear out the path ahead to the city and airfield. All unfolds really naturally and not with undue pressure. The A2A threat is just balanced enough.
Here I am marking a factory with my targeting pod (TGP) and sending the GPS coordinates to a GPS target list on the left MFD. Once I’ve built my list from afar using my TGP, I can make a single pass with standoff weapons. Just hold the trigger down and the weapons release in sequence on each target in the list. Again, it is the button pushing while flying and evading that really make this sim shine.
TGP pointing at a tank depot in the center of the city. It was interesting because you had to find angles to release weapons so that they wouldn’t impact skyscrapers surrounding the targets.
I was carrying a combo load of 8 JDAMs and 9 GBU-39 small diameter bombs. I would populate a target list with between 2 and 6 targets when possible…
The physicality of flying VTOL VR is really awesome. The 1:1 head movement has you turning in your chair and craning your neck. 2D and TrackIR is awesome…don’t get me wrong…but something about 1:1 VR really hits right for me. After a couple of hours…you do come away a bit worn out…in a good way…
My F/A-26B bomb truck… GBU-38s, GBU-39s, HARMs, Mavericks, AMRAAMs…
Getting ready to launch again…
Did you feel something??
Awesome time was had. I think that mission took us about 1+40 roughly. Nice to actually complete one for once. There are slots for helicopters and I think the new EF-24G… Looking forward to the next mission!
Well…your carrier landings are probably better than my dogfighting skills…so that’s fair…!
