Mr_Tayto

Brilliant, thanks! Is this how the radar should look? It doesn't seem to pick out targets (or at least I don;t see them on the scope)

Just one question (now I finally got round to installing) - is this how the radar screen should look? It doesn't seem to work "like a radar", I see no targets on the scan, and it's the same for terrain following. I'm sure I've done something wrong!

This is an old thread, so just take the above as "sharing info" as opposed to continuing to cry for help I am comfortable with bombing both strategic and tactical targets using the above methods and, most importantly, knowing the aircraft (especially the F-4 hardwings). The one thing The Range can't do is prepare you for Hanoi, sadly, because that's where you'll come unstuck if you're new to it. Even with "just" optically and radar-guided AAA, and 1st generation SAMs, it's the deadliest environment I've ever flown in in 30 years of playing combat flight sims. I think part of that might be the "squashed" nature of the map, it's so easy to dodge a SAM and find yourself in a flak box over an active airbase.

Beautiful A-6s Which model, please? I have the ROTI ones and for some reason every model is KA-6 with 5 tanks, with the bombs clipped through them every time! (and the cockpit is a bit buggy)

Oh yes I'm aware, and trust me I have researched this method now to the nth degree to try to maximise effectiveness in SF2, up to an including editing .ini files to adjust the mil settings for A2G mode ; it doesn't work, it's still TLAR bombing whatever you do. I did find a couple of bombing charts for shallow (27deg) and high angle (50deg), the last one by Devin Horner. I find for larger, strategic targets, the 50deg method is fine early war but drops off massively a few months in as SA-2 starts to be quite numerous unless you use Hi-Lo-Hi profiles (i.e. ingress at treetop before climbing above 12k ft to initiate the dive). For smaller targets I find the 27deg works really well as if you get the (stock mil setting) pipper on target at release height, but it leaves you very vulnerable in low-permissive environments like RP5 and 6 because your roll in is 10kft. Imagine doing this 5-8 times, once per target, and how many SAMs get fired at you (let alone AAA) - without an RWR! Sometimes the game feels like an art installation, teaching you about the folly of war and the loss you the flower of American youth. From 1968 onwards (imo) in the F-105D, every flight feels like a suicide mission you're lucky to survive, in the unlikely event you do. EDIT: Almost forgot to share the bombing charts!

That's a pretty neat Idea!

Huh, I've never done that yet. Changed weapons in loadout screen and the odd waypoint position, but otherwise just follow the defaults

That looks simple enough; can you select a loadout? Or does it auto-select based on mission type (which seems to make sense). I see there's a "Fast FAC"/FAC loadout already there, I've never had one of those missions.

Ah... It wouldn't work then, because you'd have: Wing outboard x2 (1) Wing inboard x2 (2) Wing inboard heater rails x4 (3) Centreline x1 (4) Sparrow aft x2 (5) Sparrow forward x2/ECM/Pave Spike (6) Otherwise I'd need to delete a station completely

The Triple Nickel test out new tech on the "indestructible" Dragon's Jaw bridge

Coming back to this, on the file you shared the below SparrowStations have the same station group ID: [SparrowStation1] SystemType=WEAPON_STATION StationID=6 StationGroupID=5 StationType=SEMI_RECESSED AttachmentPosition=-0.501,5.07,-0.84 AttachmentAngles=2.0,0.0,2.0 MissileRollAngle=45.0 EjectVelocity=0.0,0.0,-2.0 LoadLimit=231.5 AllowedWeaponClass=SAHM,LP AttachmentType=NATO,USAF MinExtentPosition= MaxExtentPosition= [SparrowStation2] SystemType=WEAPON_STATION StationID=7 StationGroupID=5 StationType=SEMI_RECESSED AttachmentPosition=0.501,5.07,-0.84 AttachmentAngles=-2.0,0.0,-2.0 MissileRollAngle=45.0 EjectVelocity=0.0,0.0,-2.0 LoadLimit=231.5 AllowedWeaponClass=SAHM,EP AttachmentType=NATO,USAF MinExtentPosition= MaxExtentPosition= for which I assume "groupID" to mean the loadout selector, i.e. both having ID=5 means I can only select them together? I.e. "SAHM" (AIM-7) x2, EP (on station 2) meaning ECM pod (with no mirror on station 1), LP (station 2) meaning Laser pod (with no mirror on Station 1)? So I assume I assign one of these station with a different "StationID" to activate the drop down in loadout screen? incidentally, your F4D_69 has exactly the same station IDs at my (stock) F4D_67.

In that case, I believe I was in a stock WOV E

I've gone back to Rolling Thunder and the (now) F-4D '67, for the moment. I'm trying to build a realistic pilot career starting there and moving through the VN campaigns to Europe. I've also started a 1950s USAF campaign run, starting with the '56 Europe campaign and a different pilot. I didn't realise there were three Es. Does the merged install include the gold expansion?

@daddyairplanes The forum won't let me "like" any more posts, so I replied in text. Before today it had been several weeks since I'd been on here so I had a lot of screenshots to "like".

Reached my reaction limit, so thanks!

Greece? What map, that scenery looks fantastic!

Bridge-busting with mk.84s, and POL strikes with mk.82s. The first picture confuses me. I'm flying with the 555th TFS at Udorn RTAFB in Rolling Thunder, and some time in 1966 we received an upgrade to F-4D (first pic), but without the TID under the nose? Then in '67 (just a few missions later), the F-4D with the vector RHAW with the TID returned. I couldn't find any reference to a model with a deleted TID except the later Navy models or the RAF export models. What am I missing?

I was on vacation and forgot to check back, so thanks for all the input everyone. Also @RustyKurnass for the edited .ini; can you point me to where the edited sparrow well is in the .ini? I'm still slowly learning this stuff.

It also makes USAF aircraft death traps in the Vietnam campaigns (especially the 105D, which I guess is "realism"!), going back to the original point of the thread.

After the last hour of poring over config files and analysing the figures this is the last thing I wanted to hear

So, after looking through the _data.cfg files for the available ECM pods for 1970, it seems they have a frequency range, usually between 2.000 and 8.000 (but sometimes 1.000 and 16.000) and a strength value (30-75). Can I take this to mean they defeat or degrade threats within their frequency range and strength, regardless of source (Fire Can, Fan Song)? For the later models (with start dates 1970+) the freq. range increases, I assume because radars and SAMs are more varied and operate a more discrete frequencies. Having looked at the Fan Song C (the main threat requiring ECM in RT and LBI/II), the tracking strength is much higher at 80 than, say, the QRC-160's (a common RT-era pod) jamming strengh at 30, which I guess is to simulate burn-through potential of the radar but also weakening of tracking, which induces misses (along with manoeuvring). A final twist in the tale is a value in the .cfg for the ECM pod called "InterfereRWR=TRUE or FALSE". This is TRUE on the QRC-160 but FALSE on the ALQ-101A, which came later in theatre and after the APR-25 was rolled out, suggesting that the QRC-160 is fine on pre-67 aircraft, but problematic later one when you will have been upgraded to Vector RHAW.

I meant under the RHAW, not one of those like in your pics and the other thread discussion (informative by the way, thanks ) I think I saw chaff bombs in the loadout, but not chaff pods like you describe. Do the different ECM pods in game specialise for different threats, like in real life? Or are they cosmetic? If I add any of them will I have some kind of all defeating ECM?

So there was a thread covering a couple of points, from last year: So I will accept I need to juggle loadout to use ECM and chaff. I still have the question if it's possible to use the Pave Spike and ECM pod at the same time?

Yeah, I found a source (an ancient forum with F-4 pilots and ground crew talking to each other about this stuff) before I went to bed and discovered that the ALE40 was post-war, but that Navy aircraft were using the ALE18 after the 1967 refits that included vector RHAW, ECM etc. @EricJ's hypothesis about external vs. internal makes sense too. Somewhat of a shock to the system though, and I'd still like some guidance on how to do RP4+ missions in aircraft which don't have basic countermeasures against the hundreds of SAMs that launch at you from feet dry to feet wet