New to game with a few questions

End1e551 · October 24, 2011

Hello everyone! This is my first post here, the site looks great!

I've played flight sims a long time ago, back in the '80's and took some time off to work. When I came back to game I noticed the level of detail and difficulty was incredible. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the genre, and I chose SF2 as my begining platform.

As for the questions, I have a couple. I hope I can get some help with the following:

1) What is the best way to avoid AA with the A-10? I follow my flight path, and successfully drop my bombs on target. On the way back to base I'm getting shot down by AA fire. I've tried jinking / speed changes but to no use. Am I just unlucky?

2) The ECM in SF2 is useful for spoofing Radar Guided Missiles, or for making it harder for enemies to get a lock on?

3) Is there any difference in the many .exe's that come with the game, or will running any of them open up all of the campaigns / planes?

Thanks so much for the help, and I look forward to using this site and the knowledge of the community within to get back into ace form!

:bye:

irati · October 24, 2011

Hello everyone! This is my first post here, the site looks great!

I've played flight sims a long time ago, back in the '80's and took some time off to work. When I came back to game I noticed the level of detail and difficulty was incredible. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the genre, and I chose SF2 as my begining platform.

As for the questions, I have a couple. I hope I can get some help with the following:

1) What is the best way to avoid AA with the A-10? I follow my flight path, and successfully drop my bombs on target. On the way back to base I'm getting shot down by AA fire. I've tried jinking / speed changes but to no use. Am I just unlucky?

2) The ECM in SF2 is useful for spoofing Radar Guided Missiles, or for making it harder for enemies to get a lock on?

3) Is there any difference in the many .exe's that come with the game, or will running any of them open up all of the campaigns / planes?

Thanks so much for the help, and I look forward to using this site and the knowledge of the community within to get back into ace form!

1) I've played Wings over Europe and Wings over Vietnam and the best way to aviod AA encounters is to fly low. In some user made Terrains like Afghanistan you can use the canyons as cover which is impossible in the stock terrains.

2) I don't know about SF2 but in the Wings over Europe the ECM prevents the sams to lock on you until a certain range, but if you fly low you won't have to worry too much about radar guided sams but IR is another story.

3) I'm not sure about the .exe's but i think you can switch any campaign or aircraft on any of the SF2 games as long as you have all the necessary files.

Gr.Viper · October 24, 2011

Flying A-10 stay low. Not tree-top low but that's a good altitude to start.

Each exe in SF2 uses it's own save/options/mods folder, but they'll give you an identical choice of stock planes, terrains and campaigns.

MAKO69 · October 24, 2011

Change your altitude and heading every 15 to 20 seconds, once in the A.O. every 5 seconds while not on a bomb/straffing run, and yes the lower the better: however; you are more likely to get hit by AAA heavy MG fire than the flak or SAM threat. So its a lesser of 2 evils when you stay low. No Flak and SAMs but more bullits.

End1e551 · October 24, 2011

Thanks for the prompt replies!

I was maintaining an altitude of 1600 feet, going about 280 knots on the first attempt. During the second attempt I was maxing my speed out and jinking as well, but I was fatally hit all the same.

What would be a good height? As far as NOE goes, should I be lower, maybe around 200 - 300 feet? I'm guessing speed is life here as well, so I'll keep the speed up on future attempts.

Also, the flight plan has a set altitude and speed in SF2. How closely should this flight plan be followed?

Edited October 24, 2011 by End1e551

Panama Red · October 24, 2011

When I am flying out of the Red River Delta in the SF2V Expanded mod, I only fly about 100 feet above the deck and 95% of the time no SAMs or flack hits.

In case you did not know it, the North Vietnam Red River Delta was the mort intense SAM / Flak environment in history (and the SF2V Expansion mod proves it too).

Slartibartfast · October 24, 2011

Stay low and that means under 100ft for the A-10... as you don't have the speed to run you need to get down into the trees... if your above tree height your too high also look at your flightplan before departure and make sure you are avoiding Cities Airfields etc as sometimes the route in sends you over these areas... oh and have a word with the lady luck...

End1e551 · October 24, 2011

Great tips, thanks again guys. I'll stay as low as possible and try again... as soon as I finish up my F-15 campaign that I've been playing in the meantime.

End1e551 · October 25, 2011

Wow... still getting my behind handed to me. Tried flying low to the target, and I got totalled by AA fire again. Next try, I'm sent on a CAS... with no fighter support! :yikes: What am I supposed to do in that situation, fly back to base? I called for backup, but was denied anything as all assets were in use. Only when I was engaged by fighters was I given support, but by then the enemy had scrambled about 12 planes. Me and my wing were destroyed in a most brutal fashion.

Can anyone help me, give me some sort of walkthrough from take off to landing? What am I doing wrong with this A-10?!

I think I'll just call the A-10 a pile of junk death trap and go back to my F-15 if this keeps up... :blink:

Gr.Viper · October 26, 2011

Could you elaborate "AA fire"? You get a log at the mission debrief screen which will list what exactly shot you down.

Centurion-1 · October 26, 2011

The campaign is sometimes horribly difficult. At least with multi-role aircraft i always use the roster screen to add more planes to my flight and have one flight be equipped for A-A to cover me while I attack ground targets. The A-10 is however not really equipped to do this, and In the Euro camps I fly they do seem to get shot down. A lot of the "fighter mafia" criticism about the A-10s speed deficit seem to apply to a fictional WW3 conflict a lot better than in the actual conflicts it has served. If you have "lima" sidewinders you can always tried to get first blood on the fighters by going for a head on shot, something the R-60 and R-13 missiles wont be able to do (most of the time).

End1e551 · October 26, 2011

Could you elaborate "AA fire"? You get a log at the mission debrief screen which will list what exactly shot you down.

I think it shows "AAA" followed by some sort of name with a "Z" in it. I can't remember the exact name, sorry. I can see tracers firing when it shoots, not puffs of smoke like flack.

The campaign is sometimes horribly difficult. At least with multi-role aircraft i always use the roster screen to add more planes to my flight and have one flight be equipped for A-A to cover me while I attack ground targets. The A-10 is however not really equipped to do this, and In the Euro camps I fly they do seem to get shot down. A lot of the "fighter mafia" criticism about the A-10s speed deficit seem to apply to a fictional WW3 conflict a lot better than in the actual conflicts it has served. If you have "lima" sidewinders you can always tried to get first blood on the fighters by going for a head on shot, something the R-60 and R-13 missiles wont be able to do (most of the time).

So I can add additional A-10's to the mission, or can I add other types of planes? What load up would you take to equip them for AA cover?

Also, is there a way I can fly the A-10 in another conflict or campaign? I can only seem to select it in the "Red Lightening" campaign. Historical campaigns would be preferable.

Gr.Viper · October 26, 2011

Okay... it's not fighters who's killing you. To avoid AAA the best bet is to keep low, turn on the ECM and look at the RWR screen. The guns that'll give you the most trouble are marked with <Z>. You want them somewhere to your sides not dead in front or in the back. Also, pause and look at the map. It'll show you enemy ground units.

Then, since you're flying Red Lightning you also get killed by SA-8. There's next to no cure for that. Dodging, ECM and dumping chaff improves your chances but generally if there's SA-8 in the area (they like covering tanks) you can't come close anything until it's dead or wasted its 4 missiles.

Solution - take 6 Mavericks. Always. Cycle through ground targets and knock out automatic AAA guns and SA-8 before you do anything else. If you're set up for a 2-plane flight, take another two guys at the roster screen, give them Mavericks and tell them to engage ground approaching the target area. Just be aware that SA-8's missiles are much faster than yours.

malibu43 · October 26, 2011

Do you have any mods installed? Probably not but it's worth checking.

What I'm going to suggest is different from what others have said - you need to be higher in something as slow as the A-10.. 1600 feet is in the engagement envelopes for both AAA and SAMs. I would get up around 4-5K where you'll be safer from the small caliber stuff that's getting you. If you get engaged by SAMs, use that altitude to gain speed and avoid the SAMs. Then climb back up and continue your egress. When you get to the target area use mavericks and CBUs to clear the area of AAA. Then you should be able to mop up your targets.

Gr.Viper · October 26, 2011

I would get up around 4-5K where you'll be safer from the small caliber stuff that's getting you.

Isn't that where Floggers with 2 AA-7 each like to hang out?

malibu43 · October 26, 2011

Could be. But if he's getting hit by AAA 100% of time, gotta try something, right?

I've had lots of success in the SF2 A-10 using that strategy. Reduces the "golden BB" effect.

End1e551 · October 26, 2011

Great, thank you all so much for the help! I'm willing to try anything at this point, so I'll giver 'er a go at increased altitudes and see what happens.

I don't have any mods installed, is there any that are recommended as mandatory?