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The following is a random Flaming Cliffs 3 AAR taken from the BETA FC3 module and BETA FC3 F-15C campaign. As would be expected from a beta product, the screens represent unfinished work, works in progress, and the images from this report may or may not reflect the eventual finished product. With that said – the gameplay in FC3 kicks ass!
I’ve decided not to post missions in any particular order since I want the campaign to be fresh for those that eventually decide to play it. I’ll also only be posting a couple missions from the entire series so as not to ruin any surprises or give away too much of the plot. Integration of FC aircraft into the DCS World is really nice since we previously had no fast jets for those that want to lord over the battlefield with their fangs out. One caveat – I’m the worst (worst) air-to-air tactician ever in the history of simulated combat, so my expectation is that everyone else would have done it better, faster, with the right weapon, and with more accurate tactics. It’s OK – my ego can take the bruising .
Once again – the following are taken from a BETA! (also note the beta I used was 3 weeks old, many items have already been improved such as fixing the overlapping weapons MFD symbols and contrails, etc...):
I’ll skip the front story and present you the mission planning map for this sortie. Other missions led up to this one, which would further round out the story, but in the interest of not giving away too much just pretend like you know what is going on.
There is more to the brief such as a list of other available assets, meteo report, etc… In some missions you’ll have direct control over pushing other mission assets, so it will be up to you to determine the proper time to do so. Do you pick a gap in the enemy defenses? Do you wipe the map clean? Do you abort and live to fight another day?
After takeoff I take my F-15C on the flight planned route. I leave my radar off and we scoot along a valley floor hoping to remain undetected as we cross into Russian airspace. Not only do we have to concern ourselves with FEBA area anti-aircraft, we also have the HAVCAP, other fighter sweeps, and theater wide missile defenses to worry about.
The atmospheric effects, soft shadowing, and HDR all combine to make flying FC airplanes more beautiful than ever before. Hard to show in screens..but in motion these aircraft look great in DCS World.
As we approach the enemy AWACS I see no sign that they are on to us. I’m choosing not to use labels, but I do have the map icons on which gives me a bit of an unfair advantage. I believe you can turn those map icons off to further simulate the fog of war. I select full burner to build up some speed and then haul back on the stick to pop through the low overcast. I simultaneously turn on my air-to-air radar and start scanning for the primary target.
I think I picked the wrong load-out or maybe the wrong order of missile firing. Here I have AIM-120Bs selected but perhaps the –C would have been more effective (?). I try to separate out the HAVCAP flight accompanying the A-50 and have pretty good success at that. I fire early, probably too early because I fear getting a missile from the smarter AI down my throat.
I lock and launch on the escorts, then launch a follow up series. I’m surprised at how fast we are closing and things are happening so fast I’m just about on top of them. I see some smudges through the HUD where I get hits on the CAP flight but so far I’ve not sent a missile toward the A-50. You can see an exploding CAP toward the upper right…
I instinctively select my short range Sidewinders as the A-50 starts to fill my HUD and I send a pair toward him. I think only one of them hit him and I celebrate my apparent victory!
The AWACS is rocked by the explosion and his right inboard engine separates from his fuselage. That’s a kill..!!
One of the Su-27s going down…
With my trap sprung I quickly go from hunter to hunted. A pair of MiG-29s stationed further north turns toward me and I can see their contrails arcing around behind me. I still have four AMRAAMs slung under my belly, but I know when I’m outmatched. I’m pretty slow on the radar controls still, so I dump the nose to build up speed and start a turn toward friendly territory.
My RWR shows the MiG-29s coming down on my left quarter as I select a heading for home base. Now is a good time to mention that the new F-15C cockpit is simply awesome looking. Even as a non-air-to-air guy I gotta admit it is sweet.
What a minute! WTF!!? The A-50 staggers along smoking for a bit, then levels out. He is shredded up with an engine missing, but the single Sidewinder wasn’t enough to do the job. Damn! I should have launched a couple of those AMRAAMs in Mad Dog mode to give more punch to my attack.
It is too late to reengage him with the entire Russian CAP fleet bearing down and I resign myself to mission failure as I beat it to the south at low altitude. I secretly hope to drag the MiG-29s to their demise over friendly territory.
I glance down at my fuel gauges and despite being in burner for a good bit of time the extra fuel tanks have given me more play time in burner.
The -29s are hungry, but as I move south they don’t take the bait and they end up breaking off their pursuit.
I eavesdrop on the A-50 hoping that some sort of cascading failure system will cause him to lose his hydraulics or something and I’ll get the kill. It isn’t meant to be though and he staggers his way back to his home base at Mozdok. Damn…
It is then that I start hatching the typical “BeachAV8R Plan B”. I press on toward home base, land, and taxi to the ramp to refuel and rearm. Again – worth mentioning that the rather sterile takeoff and landing feel of the FC3 planes has been made more dynamic feeling - a nice improvement.
I ask for fuel and listen to the whine of the fueler pumping gas into the plane as my fuel gauge winds upwards. I also ask for new armament and after a few minutes some new missiles are hung on my wings.
I taxi out for departure to pursue my mission goal wishing that I could step from my F-15C and into one of the A-10Cs that are in the area. This has now turned into a mission more appropriate to a Hog with SEAD support.
The A-50 sits on the ramp at Mozdok. Mocking me.
I select my afterburners and rocket up into the blue sky above the overcast and point my way north.
My plan is..well..I don’t really have a plan. How do you attack an A-50 parked on a ramp with an F-15C?
Fortunately the skies remain fairly clear as I press northward. Other flights are further north and some are returning to base.
So that ended my “revised plan”. Best bet is to kill the A-50 on the first engagement with the appropriate missiles and be more proficient and confident to engage the CAPs.
In my mind I envision flying this mission (or a MP specific mission) with a wider human presence. It would be very cool to have an eye in the sky human AWACS controller directing other guys in F-15Cs while below the A-10Cs, Ka-50s, and xxxxxx, and xxxxxx attack ground forces. We are getting really close to an integrated battlefield with pretty darn high fidelity aircraft and weapons modeling guys. FC3 is another step closer to that.
Chris “BeachAV8R” Frishmuth
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