Mr_Tayto

My only previous experience in game development was over 20 years ago, and it was in historical research and direction; I worked on the very first iteration of the Red Orchestra mod. I have no skills in actual modding beyond installing mods into this game (which is difficult enough for me!

Survived long enough to get a paintjob...

Count me in. Vietnam feels to me like the last generation of aircraft that were really seat-of-the-pants; they had the performance but had analogue dials everywhere, simple radar, rubbish missiles, dumb bombs, dive bombing, SAMs being new and AAA still ruling the battlespace up to 30000ft... The last generation before FBW, glass cockpits and BVR engagements. I love reading and learning about all aspects of the Vietnam war anyway, but the air war is particularly interesting to me. You couldn't have a story like Leo Thorsness', or Robin Olds Gunfighters nowadays.

I guess this is why the MiG-17 was always tucked up in bed at sundown! Second mission as a carrierborne F-4 pilot and boy, are those AIM-9Ds an upgrade! Forgot to say... I trapped her first time, in the dark too Those boats really need landing lights

Early war Phantoms, pre- and post-repaint. My first mission (shot 1) was an escort of BUFFs striking a target in Pack 2. Nothing happened except me getting a few nice close-up shots of them.

Love me Thuds

Right enough, thanks. I have finally downloaded it tonight; can it be used in the campaigns? Do I have to select from the list at Campaign start?

Thanks, but I realise this - I cannot find it, however.

Hi all, I came across this post in the Knowledge Base which I think might come in useful for me. I'm looking to increase the gunsight depression for rockets on the F-105, and this seems to be the answer (short of a clickable cockpit). I can see from the F-105D.ini, that it points to a file called F-105D_cockpit.ini, but I can't find that file anywhere. Being relatively new to the game, I'm looking for some advice. I HAVE had a look in the KB, but it's fair to say I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. I also find the search function of this forum simply doesn't work for me - again, probably because I don't know how to use it properly. TIA

Thanks for this (and you @OlWilly). The extractor readme talks about finding the install directory path; I assume this is not the Mod Folder? Or is it?

I'll have a dig around, thanks.

I downloaded ODS during the week, I've been so excited to play it with Desert Storm being the first "TV war" I lived through while I was at school. I've been desperate to fly a Buccaneer in a sim my whole life, too. Firstly, what a step-up from SF2:V; not in terms of the aircraft necessarily (after all the Bucc is a contemporary of my favoured Thud), but in terms of the battlespace and enemy defences. While I got used to the cockpit of the Bucc fairly quickly, the lack of a radar display was strange - is this important and if so, how can I view it? Also, while I wasn't expecting a CCIP, am I to assume that (dumb) bombing is conducted the same way? I've had zero experience of LGBs in this game so far. My first mission in the Bucc was to bomb a barracks with a mix of laser-guided and dumb bombs - in pitch black. I didn't have a clue about the LGB employment and missed. How should I be setting up a run for LGBs? I had the objective targeted as normal, so I could order the wingman, but it didn't seem to matter. Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks, mate!

Hi, just installed the mod and looking forward to flying, I just had a hopefully easy question: Is the control scheme different for this game compared to others in the SF2 family? Can I use my SF2:V controls.ini to overwrite the created one in the mod folder? Thanks!

Turns out I'm still rubbish In anything that's not a 105 doing Hi-lo-lo-hi profiles like my F-4C (1 mission with mk82s) and A-4C (2 with mk82s), I'm really struggling. I need to hit the range in those aircraft I think.

In two years of playing this game, on and off, I've focused totally on mud moving, all within the Vietnam War campaigns. I'm not very good (as my constant requests for help in other threads prove!) but it's fair to say I've watched Devin Horner play more full missions than I've played myself. I generally change aircraft, to learn a new one, upon a campaign ending; up to now this has always been due to KIA/POW, and always shot down attacking well defended targets. At the start of this week I decided I'd play my first ever F-4 campaign, Rolling Thunder, 43rd TFS. My first mission was a very long overflight of Thailand and Laos to rendezvous with some B-52s plastering a target in RP1. Red Crown called out contacts but they were, as to be expected, far to the north and didn't bother us. A nice milk run which allowed me to learn flight parameters and cockpit dials for myself. Mission 2 was going to be a strike mission in RP6A, but upon loading in, my HOTAS wasn't recognised. A further attempt (and a restart) and still it didn't work. Luckily I had recently backed up my mod folder so copied over my previous controls.ini and tried again. Briefing this time was for another escort, this time a flight of Thuds from a western Thai base. Shame, I thought, I'm a mud mover at heart, and I was looking forward to bombing a bridge. Anyway, I suited up and headed for the flight line, and this time everything worked. The mission was to RP2, and my flight of 4 F-4 in standard A2A configuration made the rendezvous bang on time after a very long flight from the southern coast. At the IP we started to extend on the bombers (as a Thud driver at heart I was disappointed they were so high and slow), but while I was deciding whether or not to circle back to them the scope started to get busy; a flight of Scooters from Yankee was inbound to the target area, but there was a definite separation with a gaggle left of the nose at 30 miles. With switchology complete for a Sparrow shot, I waited until the IN RANGE light came on and bagged my first Fresco (it worked off the rail!) As our flights merged I realised we were facing two flights, seven bogeys left. My flight was instructed to engage and we got into it. The furball was glorious, and boy, did I put into practice what I'd learned from watching Devin. I chose a Fresco, and went in close, following him as best I could with this pig of a "dogfighter". These bad guys were good, and after two pretty perfect trail shots - and lots of high yo-yos and throttle control - with heaters were defeated with high G turns, I realised I'd have to try something else. My wingman was instructed to pin him and I extended about 5 miles, before setting up another Sparrow for kill number two. Red Crown reported mission complete as my wingman bagged his second shortly after, and I gathered the boys for the long trip home. I called Red Crown one final time for a picture of the battle space, expecting to hear that the remaining MiGs were heading north with their tails between their legs, only to hear that at least one was close. I looked at the maps and saw one turning with a straggler A4, and broke off to engage him, while telling the flight to mop up. I picked kill number three out of the clutter, and sent him home by truck. The A-4 departed back to Yankee and one of my guys got our 6th of the morning. These are my first air-to-air kills in the game, and I was (and am) totally buzzing with the adrenaline. The F-4 is not an easy plane to fly at 6kft, 325 knots, in a turn with a MiG-17 while AA explodes all around, but I managed to come out on top. Wish I had a gun - at one point I could read one of their tail numbers!

Thanks both, really good advice for mission execution. I wonder if there's a way to edit the mission success/failure parameters so that SEAD works the same way as "Escort", where success is defined by how many strike aircraft survive to attack the target and egress? This way, just the presence of the Iron Hand flight would be helping to achieve missions success, and it wouldn't be purely based on destruction of enemy units, which is unclear. In every example I've seen on video, there has never been a "Mission Accomplished", even where the strike flight has destroyed its target and the IH flight has egressed safely. You would of course have to have mid-late war Wild Weasel with completely different goals, as those flights were about destroying suspected SAM sites regardless of friendly air activity in the vicinity.

Occasionally I get a mission "description" of the type in the title. Not even a description like "air defence suppression" or indication of the area - of course there is a flight plan with an IP and target waypoint. It's not a big deal, I think I understand that these are Weasel/Iron Hand missions, and approach them as such. The main issue is that the game doesn't give you any idea of how to complete these missions, unlike strike and escort, which are self-explanatory; destroy such-and-such target, protect this flight from interception. It's just as well I am extensively read on Vietnam war aircraft, missions and tactics, or I might not have the first clue, but it's still confusing at times and I want to be good at these missions (and of course, safe to RTB). So, a first question: When do "Primary targets" show themselves in these missions, and what's the best way to find them? I understand the theory behind Shrike/Standard ARM employment, but struggle to know when is best to shoot. Even with maximum settings, I find draw-in for ground targets, especially at medium level and above, means I often don't see targets on the ground unless they're big and obvious like buildings. Radar vans, launchers and individual AA guns are difficult to pick out without using the visual targeting HUD markers. Add to this early Rolling Thunder aircraft don't have a RHAW scope, often only audio warnings. To my second question: How do you combat SAM tracking radars (especially without knowing range and, in early months, bearing)? Does firing toward launched SAMs help, as the radar would be close? Thirdly, I guess I'm just looking for tips. I dread these missions when they appear, not because they're dangerous (although they are), but because they're less "directed" than strike missions, which have an obvious pass/fail point. Can anyone share best practice for 'Nam-era Weaselling? Thanks in advance!

I love it Would make a great nuke bombing target for early 90's Moscow

Yeah, agreed. And generally I have good results with CCIP equipped platforms like the A-6 (I should, I've been practicing since the 90's with Microprose sims!) The issue I have is with my own behaviour with the aircraft in high threat environments, not the mechanics of the bombing itself. I guess I'm also trying to be good with TLAR aircraft. Dive/toss/level bombing without a bombing computer is more art than science in SF2, and it's all I have in the 105, but I can do it. Again, it's about how I approach targets (both psychologically and in physical terms) in SEAD environments, regardless of the method of bombing.

So, also in the mud-moving context... is speed life? I mentioned liking the hi-lo-lo-hi mission profile of strike missions in the Thud because I think its speed affords a certain security at low level, and I've read that drivers (at least, WW drivers) preferred to stay above 400KIAS striking targets. In the A-6 I was undone by trying to turn and burn between 1-3kft and always catching a stray 57mm round, desperate to just hit my targets and leave at 300ft! Maybe I should just be doing long racetracks and maintaining speed? Obviously SA-2s muddy these waters, but I'm yet to be hit by one I guess.

I looked back over Devin Horner's "The 100" and watch the first three videos again. Ep.3 covers three missions (3-6) and as it turns out, mission four is indeed an Iron Hand. Unfortunately, it's a truncated mission as at this stage he was talking about squeezing 3-4 missions into one ~1hr video, so we don't get to see the "result"; he doesn't get a "Mission complete" from Red Crown, for example. However, I did get to see how how does it, and that will help. The problem he (and I) had seems to be a lack of ordnance to compete the mission. Enough CBUs and rockets to account for 4-5 AAA sites, but when you're dry, you're dry - and you don't want to push your luck.

I have watched every Devin video related to Vietnam (and about half his VNAF videos), and I swear his luck with not pulling Iron Hand is better than mine! Unless he edited his campaign data .ini! I'll trawl through them again in case I missed some. Unfortunately his F-105 campaign seems to be on hold at the minute, which is a shame because I love those videos.

Hi all, I don't know if this counts as resurrecting a dead thread (it being eight and a half years old and all), but I'm looking for some specific advice in dealing with Iron Hand missions in Vietnam. Specifically, Rolling Thunder as I've never had a pilot survive more than 5 missions, and it's almost always down to an Iron Hand mission. At this point I'm pretty comfortable doing Thud and Intruder strike missions, and have a good hit rate with and without CCIP using pop-up profiles. Iron hand seems like anathema to me, being used to unloading and GingTFO; I have to loiter in some pretty awful flak environments, ususally low and slow having hit my first target, and I usually get bagged by a 57mm I can't evade. I usually suffer losses to the flight, too. So I'm looking for advice, maybe even a successful mission video, to give me some tips for surviving. ARM employment, dumb bombing, ground fire evasion, flight orders, all that stuff. Thanks in advance.