First (AAW training) mission accomplished: Impressions

[$trummer]

This falls short of a formal AAR; I'll post there when I really know what I'm doing. Meanwhile, these are my initial thoughts and queries about the game and the mission:

- I scored 900, with moderate losses. I managed to run successful BARCAP flights, SEAD strike/patrol flights and ground strikes. My tactics essentially worked in that I threw most of the F-14s into two BARCAP patrol areas immediately and they won the air battle via superior numbers (and superior radars, turned on for this mission, attack uncertain targets enabled). I also used large numbers of a/c in the SEAD missions to overwhelm the defenses and I tasked the remaining F-14s as escorts.

- RTB essentially worked BUT: SEAD a/c assigned to a patrol mission against mobile enemy radars loitered for far too long, playing peekaboo with the targets as they enabled and disabled emissions. is there any way to order these a/c to RTB while they are engaging a target?

- I did not send jammers in. This made my SEAD flights far too vulnerable. This is a doctrine rather than a game question but for next time I'm wondering how long after the initial A2A battle is it "safe" to send in the EA-6 and E2C flights. I'll need to determine their standoff range in order to place a patrol area and I think it's probably a good idea to give them an escort.

- The strike mission ingresses (I plotted three strike missions) were a bit ragged. The escorts did not seem to maintain good formation with the strikers and the third strike group seemed very delayed in launching. I imagine this was because I tested the OPTEMPO at NAS Fallon to its limit by programming three fairly large missions, with escorts, simultaneously.

- I gave the striker flights (4x a/c each) too many individual targets. I does not appear you can assign an area to bomb in strike missions (I may be mistaken) so I just added individual targets to the target window. Although a lot of the targets were destroyed, I wonder if it would be more efficient to learn what the correct ratio might be of target quantity to aircraft numbers/ordinance carried. Next time I'll use LGBs on individual high-priority targets.

That's about it. Game performance was fine although scrolling and zooming can be very notchy and slow and I'm wondering if you can move the map about with the mouse or whether it's only possible with the direction keys.

[Primarchx]

Nice!

Here's the 'more or less surefire' way to get an aircraft to knock it off and come home...

1) Make sure Refuel/UNREP is off (so they don't go refuel if a tanker is around)
2) Remove from any mission
3) Hit the 'U' key to UNASSIGN the unit from a current activity (ENGAGED OFFENSIVE, etc)
4) Tell them to RTB

[Primarchx]

ORIGINAL: $trummer

- I did not send jammers in. This made my SEAD flights far too vulnerable. This is a doctrine rather than a game question but for next time I'm wondering how long after the initial A2A battle is it "safe" to send in the EA-6 and E2C flights. I'll need to determine their standoff range in order to place a patrol area and I think it's probably a good idea to give them an escort.

* E-2 can be set up with a SUPPORT mission outside the hostile SAM envelope (manually keep it at low altitude until it clears the SAM threat area for safety). Then put a pair of Tomcats on an Air-to-Air Patrol in a box around the E-2 with decent protective range - don't let them leave the patrol area, though, so they only attack enemy a/c that enter the box.

* It's typically best to have your OECM aircraft come in on a similar bearing and relatively close (I usually put them a bit behind) your SEAD or other strike aircraft. Offensive jamming is more effective along the axis between the emitter and jamming source.

* You can have fighters escort the SEAD a/c in the same mission if necessary. I typically run a forward fighter sweep (trying not to get inside SAM envelopes if possible) before following up with a strike but the situation will dictate tactics.

[Primarchx]

ORIGINAL: $trummer

- The strike mission ingresses (I plotted three strike missions) were a bit ragged. The escorts did not seem to maintain good formation with the strikers and the third strike group seemed very delayed in launching. I imagine this was because I tested the OPTEMPO at NAS Fallon to its limit by programming three fairly large missions, with escorts, simultaneously.

* You can see a delay in aircraft launching if certain elements of the group are held up from taxiing to the runway by previous activity. Don't count on getting a/c airborne in the blink of an eye in Command. Typically it's a few minutes to taxi then a couple of minutes to launch. More activity means that the taxiways are in use and aircraft then have to wait for them to clear.

[$trummer]

Thank you.  If you get a minute, can you explain the difference between the two types of jamming a/c and their missions?  Many thanks.
 
I'm wondering if mission launch times can be set in the ME so that coordination is possible between separate missions (i.e. SEAD and OECM).  Or would it make sense to have the OECM escort SEAD (i.e. designated as escorts in the same mission)?

[NefariousKoel]

ORIGINAL: Primarchx

ORIGINAL: $trummer

- The strike mission ingresses (I plotted three strike missions) were a bit ragged. The escorts did not seem to maintain good formation with the strikers and the third strike group seemed very delayed in launching. I imagine this was because I tested the OPTEMPO at NAS Fallon to its limit by programming three fairly large missions, with escorts, simultaneously.

* You can see a delay in aircraft launching if certain elements of the group are held up from taxiing to the runway by previous activity. Don't count on getting a/c airborne in the blink of an eye in Command. Typically it's a few minutes to taxi then a couple of minutes to launch. More activity means that the taxiways are in use and aircraft then have to wait for them to clear.

Is there any way to get a Mission Group's aircraft to loiter over the airfield until they're all airborne and ready to go? Mine went in piecemeal and I don't recall seeing such an option on the Mission Editor page.

I suppose the more involved way of doing it would be to first launch all the aircraft in manual mode so that they're already loitering, and then put them into the mission. It's a bit more work, though.

[Primarchx]

There are two types of ECM (that I know of) currently in the game - Offensive ECM (OECM) and Defensive ECM (DECM).

OECM is typically found on many warships and some specialized aircraft. It acts to degrade enemy radar performance in it's area of regard. This will typically result in enemy radars having reduced range and fading datum (ie contact is acquired and lost frequently). As I mentioned (and I'm not exactly an ECM expert) the effect seems most pronounced in the area along the axis between the jamming platform and the effected radar.

Jamming does not seem to effect radars not 'pointing' toward the jamming platform. This means that a fighter aircraft with a narrow radar cone is only really jammed when it's pointing toward a jamming source.

Units effected by jamming will have a JAMMED notation by their map icon. OECM units with OECM on will have a JAM notation by the map icon.

Using OECM is a player decision. It is an active system that can be detected by ESM assets and its' use can result in investigation by enemy interceptors. So don't start the 'music' unless you're ready for attention.

DECM is typically found on aircraft and are organic systems or small jamming pods meant to defeat radar-guided SAM attacks. They activate immediately when the aircraft is attacked and have a chance of outright defeating a SAM attack (depending on the capability of the SAM and DECM). DECM does not appear to be an 'active' system in that it's picked up by ESM and doesn't need to be turned on in the Sensors dialog.

[Primarchx]

NK - you have a point. I have actually used MULTIPLE missions at times in this way.

Here's how...

1) Create Support Mission based on a single RP called FORM UP. Assign a/c I'll be using in another mission to this mission.
2) Wait for all the aircraft in FORM UP to arrive at the RP. Then take those a/c out of FORM UP and put them into the mission I want them in. Now they're all together (more or less), airborne and ready to rock.

ORIGINAL: NefariousKoel

ORIGINAL: Primarchx

ORIGINAL: $trummer

- The strike mission ingresses (I plotted three strike missions) were a bit ragged. The escorts did not seem to maintain good formation with the strikers and the third strike group seemed very delayed in launching. I imagine this was because I tested the OPTEMPO at NAS Fallon to its limit by programming three fairly large missions, with escorts, simultaneously.

* You can see a delay in aircraft launching if certain elements of the group are held up from taxiing to the runway by previous activity. Don't count on getting a/c airborne in the blink of an eye in Command. Typically it's a few minutes to taxi then a couple of minutes to launch. More activity means that the taxiways are in use and aircraft then have to wait for them to clear.

Is there any way to get a Mission Group's aircraft to loiter over the airfield until they're all airborne and ready to go? Mine went in piecemeal and I don't recall seeing such an option on the Mission Editor page.

I suppose the more involved way of doing it would be to first launch all the aircraft in manual mode so that they're already loitering, and then put them into the mission. It's a bit more work, though.

[GBS]

[
Is there any way to get a Mission Group's aircraft to loiter over the airfield until they're all airborne and ready to go? Mine went in piecemeal and I don't recall seeing such an option on the Mission Editor page.

I suppose the more involved way of doing it would be to first launch all the aircraft in manual mode so that they're already loitering, and then put them into the mission. It's a bit more work, though.
[/quote]

Good question. I haven't seen it in the mission editor either which doesn't mean its not there.
I guess you could give the whole group orders to fly to a reference point where they would loiter. Once all there I think you can create a mission to some other designated zone but I'm not sure. Hope someone answers.
Oh I see it answered already.

[Tomcat84]

If you assign the aircraft to the mission, check that all their statuses go to readying for launch etc, then go back in the mission editor and set the mission to inactive, they will all launch and loiter. Then when they're all up set it to active again. Should work!

[Primarchx]

Hey, that's pretty good, too! Sort of the 'flick the light switch' method!

ORIGINAL: Tomcat84

If you assign the aircraft to the mission, check that all their statuses go to readying for launch etc, then go back in the mission editor and set the mission to inactive, they will all launch and loiter. Then when they're all up set it to active again. Should work!

[LuckyJim1010]

Didnt you have to do this in Harpoon as well ?
I seem to recall forming up big air attacks from multiple bases in a sort of pre-IP IP

[jmscho]

Just tried this scenario. Score 1400 but lost all my SEAD, 1 F14 and 1 AEW. Ignoring my SEAD mismanagement I think the biggest problem is how close the blue airfield is to the targets. I'd like to move it about 100 miles further away.

[Primarchx]

But then it wouldn't be INSTANT ACTION! [:D]

I actually like this as it means the player will want to revisit it as they progress in skill. There will be a time in the not-too-distant future where you will come back to this and wax it without loss.

ORIGINAL: jmscho

Just tried this scenario. Score 1400 but lost all my SEAD, 1 F14 and 1 AEW. Ignoring my SEAD mismanagement I think the biggest problem is how close the blue airfield is to the targets. I'd like to move it about 100 miles further away.

[ComDev]

Just one quick comment on standoff jammers...

EA-6Bs have pretty powerful jamming gear so if you place them ca 50nm from the target radars the noise has pretty good effect. Esp older junk like in this scenario. When the jammer transmitts right down the radar's main beam the radar's internal temperature skyrockets and most contacts drown in the noise (yes, the Command radar/ECM model even simulates radar temperatures!). Your EA-6B will also affect the target radar's temperature through the sidelobes (which are also simulated), but the effect diminishes as the antenna turns sideways. Please note that some antennas can be jammed at 180 deg (facing the oposite direction) but the effect will not be all that great.