Impassable escort missions

[SandMartin]

I started North Atlantic campaign on the F-14.

So, there are some missions in which I have to defend friendly  A7s/A6s flights from enemy MiGs.

But the fact is that if these planes are shot down by  ships SAM, then I will also lose. That is, I cannot influence it in any way
Is this the norm for this game?

Edited February 24, 2021 by SandMartin

[RustyKurnass]

Yes

[Longbow1337]

Yes, I just skip the escort missions.

[+Cliff7600]

11 hours ago, SandMartin said:

But the fact is that if these planes are shot down by  ships SAM, then I will also lose. That is, I cannot influence it in any way

The F-14 has a 20 mm cannon 

Just for the challenge, of course...

[Viggen]

Completely normal. Either try to skip them or just take the L.

[+yakarov79]

I am not flying campaigns but this is a common problem with a single mission too. 

When making a mission in the editor I never ever assign flight with Escort...I rather put the Fighter Sweep type. Escorts usually will become trigger happy on ground objects, neglecting any air threats at all. 

As for the campaign..next time, before starting a new one, go to notepad and change mission chance on Escort to 0. This will solve the problem. 

[JosefK]

9 hours ago, yakarov79 said:

I am not flying campaigns but this is a common problem with a single mission too. 

When making a mission in the editor I never ever assign flight with Escort...I rather put the Fighter Sweep type. Escorts usually will become trigger happy on ground objects, neglecting any air threats at all. 

Can confirm, it's annoying. 

Any SF3 needs a whole new AI model.

[macelena]

I beefed up the US side to help with it, but even with two CAGs it gets to the point that Phantoms have to drop Walleyes because the Corsairs are depleted. 

[+yakarov79]

My favorite ESCORT mission is. Two A-10 or something similiar. 

When making some single missions I often assign 'my'  ESCORT to two A-10 (or something similar) armed with 'FAC' loadout - smoke markers, Mav, etc. And then ...Warthog will fly escort, will pop up some smokes on some AA defenses. Occasionally shot Mavericks. This is quite useful when flying SEAD, as that unusual 'ESCORT FAC' will mark targets for you...(helpful when flying without 'easy hud' markers on the screen like me) and also eliminate additional AA in the area. 

While my real ESCORT is fighter flight with a SWEEP mission assigned.  

 

Also quite fun is to fly SEAD with assigned ESCORT to Prowlers armed with HARMs. Or fly as Prowler - ESCORT with HARMs for SEAD Weasels.  Also, one of my favorite missions to fly.

[+Stratos]

16 hours ago, yakarov79 said:

My favorite ESCORT mission is. Two A-10 or something similiar. 

When making some single missions I often assign 'my'  ESCORT to two A-10 (or something similar) armed with 'FAC' loadout - smoke markers, Mav, etc. And then ...Warthog will fly escort, will pop up some smokes on some AA defenses. Occasionally shot Mavericks. This is quite useful when flying SEAD, as that unusual 'ESCORT FAC' will mark targets for you...(helpful when flying without 'easy hud' markers on the screen like me) and also eliminate additional AA in the area. 

While my real ESCORT is fighter flight with a SWEEP mission assigned.  

 

Also quite fun is to fly SEAD with assigned ESCORT to Prowlers armed with HARMs. Or fly as Prowler - ESCORT with HARMs for SEAD Weasels.  Also, one of my favorite missions to fly.

Pretty interesting!

[+allenjb42]

On 28/02/2021 at 4:24 PM, yakarov79 said:

Or fly as Prowler - ESCORT with HARMs for SEAD Weasels.

Agreed. A lot of fun. This is me in the Prowler with the F-4G 'escort' flight as we head for home after hitting the air defences to cover an A-6 strike on an Iraqi air base.

[+Stratos]

On 28/2/2021 at 5:24 PM, yakarov79 said:

My favorite ESCORT mission is. Two A-10 or something similiar. 

When making some single missions I often assign 'my'  ESCORT to two A-10 (or something similar) armed with 'FAC' loadout - smoke markers, Mav, etc. And then ...Warthog will fly escort, will pop up some smokes on some AA defenses. Occasionally shot Mavericks. This is quite useful when flying SEAD, as that unusual 'ESCORT FAC' will mark targets for you...(helpful when flying without 'easy hud' markers on the screen like me) and also eliminate additional AA in the area. 

While my real ESCORT is fighter flight with a SWEEP mission assigned.  

 

Also quite fun is to fly SEAD with assigned ESCORT to Prowlers armed with HARMs. Or fly as Prowler - ESCORT with HARMs for SEAD Weasels.  Also, one of my favorite missions to fly.

You're talking about the mission editor, right? Can you please elaborate a bit more how you do that? Is always interesting to get more options for the mission editor.

[+yakarov79]

I simply added ESCORT to Prowler roles..Then occasionally it will be assigned to escort via mission editor. But still, in mission editor, you are building your mission from scratch. 

ESCORT_JAMMER is for AI..so the logical conclusion is if you want to fly something productive in Prowler is ESCORT...but highly recommended to assign another real fighter escort or SWEEP task. 

[+Stratos]

3 hours ago, yakarov79 said:

I simply added ESCORT to Prowler roles..Then occasionally it will be assigned to escort via mission editor. But still, in mission editor, you are building your mission from scratch. 

ESCORT_JAMMER is for AI..so the logical conclusion is if you want to fly something productive in Prowler is ESCORT...but highly recommended to assign another real fighter escort or SWEEP task. 

What I don't get it, is how a ESCORT tasked A-10 or Prowler will attack ground units. I mean those guys will fly a A-A mission only and will simply ignore the ground units.

[+Menrva]

2 hours ago, Stratos said:

What I don't get it, is how a ESCORT tasked A-10 or Prowler will attack ground units. I mean those guys will fly a A-A mission only and will simply ignore the ground units.

You're wrong. The Escort mission type simply spawns an escort flight, it does not force air combat. The stock game assigns that mission to fighter jets and also spawns enemy aircraft for what becomes pretty much a dogfighting mission, but if you assign the Escort mission type to ground attack aircraft, those will use their weaponry appropriately against ground threats. We already implemented this in the recently released ODS mod. Prowlers use their weapons against SAMs, while Ravens can only employ their ECMs against enemy aircraft and ground threats. The only issue is that the Escort mission type always spawns enemy aircraft, so if you're in a Prowler you'd better use your ECM and avoid being engaged by air threats.*

*without counting the rather usual stock game bug where the Strike flight does not engage ground targets and instead flies in a straight line, making the Escort mission impossible to complete; no fix for that without a source code.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Menrva

[+Stratos]

I cannot replicate it. Thanks anyway, apreciatted.

[+Menrva]

2 hours ago, Stratos said:

I cannot replicate it. Thanks anyway, apreciatted.

Not sure what you are trying to do, you must assign the Escort mission type to jammer aircraft such as the Prowler or the Raven. We haven't tried with attacker aircraft such as the A-10A, it would be pointless and not realistic. The fact the AI use the Prowler to engage SAM radar sites during Escort is a bonus, their main role is to use ECM as cover for the Strike flight.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Menrva

[+yakarov79]

OA-10 

...........

PrimaryRoles=FAC
SecondaryRoles=ARMED_RECON,RECON,CAS,ESCORT

..........

 

Mission Editor

This is an AI flight - Player flight was A-7 on Strike.

in area...

already expanded Mavs, now marking targets with red smoke...(only if I am not lazy to edit stations - it could drop bombs first...anyway...)

 

 

As for Prowler. If you assign ESCORT_JAMMER and loadout with at least one HARM it will lock on something and launch. This works for AI flights. You can do this for Sparkvark or Compass Call also - although they are unarmed.

But if the player wants to have an 'escort jammer' experience (you can not fly escort_jammer by default) Prowler must have

SecondaryRoles=ESCORT

And simply click fly.. stick to your 'escorted element' and enjoy jammin, and if you have HARM  just launch one or two... No quantum coding needed.  Once the target is destroyed and you survive you will have mission success.

Do not forget to add real fighter cover in form of escort or preferably - sweep.

If you make the mission correctly with all elements needed to perform the task (sead/strike/cover-sweep etc...)  I guarantee a lot of excitement in unarmed aircraft in a combat environment...Anyway fighters are boring.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by yakarov79

[+Stratos]

Got it now, thanks a  lot!

[+Stratos]

Always discovering new things, like that the wind affect the smoke of the chimneys...

 

[+Wrench]

um, since Day1, 2003 Jordi!!! 

next time your near an airbase, watch the windsocks, too (or any flags)

[+Stratos]

13 hours ago, Wrench said:

um, since Day1, 2003 Jordi!!! 

next time your near an airbase, watch the windsocks, too (or any flags)

Curious thing is that wind doesn't seem to affect the planes...

[+guuruu]

1 minute ago, Stratos said:

Curious thing is that wind doesn't seem to affect the planes...

Nah, it affects, but jets speed and aerodynamic forces are much bigger so you can't feel it.

[+Stratos]

4 hours ago, guuruu said:

Nah, it affects, but jets speed and aerodynamic forces are much bigger so you can't feel it.

Never experienced crosswind landings or bombs affected by winds.

[+Wrench]

the winds are all CGI, so they're not "really real"  

actually, they're supposed to effect bombs, missiles and the aircraft, but I too have never seen it. it maybe as guuruu said.