gbnavy61

Haha, nice read. Reminds me of my SH-60 ride. I did a couple days with HSL-42 in Jacksonville for "summer cruise" and got to do the Jax river tour. The pilot was cool and let me do most of the flying, although the autopilot was helping a lot, I'm sure. Got a lovely tour of the place from 500 ft flying over the tops of the bridges and I was thinking "this helo stuff is kinda cool." There were three of us guests on the flight and as I was the last to go up front I was in the left seat for the RTB. Pilot says we're now low enough on gas to practice some autorotations. I was like, don't know wtf that means, but okay let's do it! Next thing I know, my stomach is in the back of my throat and we're falling out of the sky. And now I fly fixed-wing and I'm perfectly happy about it.

Heck, you might be able to take them out just using the sub itself. Anything that is stationary is a predictable target. Just start lobbing TLAMs from your submarine and it'll be shut down quickly. Just need more TLAMs.

Really cool read.

Been through Holloman a time or two. I was surprised when I looked up and saw one of those babies flying around. A real airplane! That brought a smile to my face.

Interesting thoughts. The cruise missile threat is real, and present. However, even if you manage to overwhelm a carrier with that firepower (if you're lucky, you might sink it, most likely you will damage it to the point it has to withdraw), you've now shot your wad and what do you have left for the next aircraft carrier that pulls up off your coast in a few weeks? I think it's about time we also took a hard look at airborne ASW. Submarines are still the number one threat to carriers and surface ships of any kind. During the latter half of WWII and for a while after, ASW aircraft dominated submarines. Now, aircraft are lucky to even find a sub they have a general location for. Surely, there must be some new or developing technology that could swing the advantage back towards airborne ASW? If that happens, then I think carriers are back to being top-dog for a while longer. Otherwise, I think submerging, drone aircraft carriers are the way to go.

When I copy/pasted my SF2:NA folders to make the Korea folders, I just grabbed everything and deleted the non-period aircraft. I didn't even think about the ground objects. Thanks for the info, Wrench.

Ah, good to know. Not up on my ground order of battle.

So, I have my Korea only install with the campaign. Awesome, and I love all the jets and props we get with it. I've been trying to do DiD, but haven't made it more than a couple missions in each outing. Why? Very(?) accurate 23mm AAA. I started off flying Corsairs off the Oriskany - FLY NAVY! First outing, I made it three missions before literally getting blown out of the sky. I was coming in for a strafing run on the target - I forget what we were bombing, we blew up the fish cannery on the previous mission - and I thought I had enough offset to get set up for my shot and not present the gun with a nice steady target to track. But, the SOB got me anyway. He must've hit the fuel tank or something because one second I was squeezing the trigger, then next I was watching Corsair parts sail toward the earth. Second try, I joined the Air Force for a jaunt with a P-51 squadron. First mission, I overshot on the bomb drop and the wingie was worthless, so I came around for a strafing run on the supply train. I got some hits, but the target will still intact. As I pulled out of the dive, I tried rolling a little as well to make tracking my aircraft more difficult, but I got hit on the way out by the 23mm gun covering the rail yard. The engine died, and I glided as far as I could out to sea. Alas, I ended up in the harbor and I was picked up by the North Koreans a short time later. Manchurian Candidate time, end of campaign two. Third try, back to the F4U, back to the Oriskany. First mission this time, shot up during a strafing run by the 23mm in the target area. Glided as far south as I could but to no avail. POW again. It seems like the 23mm guns are too dangerous. Granted I have been violating the One Pass, Haul Ass rule, but the fire from those guns seems much more accurate than anything else. The smaller and larger caliber guns don't bother me that much. I almost never get hit by the KS-19. In fact, I don't think I've been hit by that more than once - ever. The smaller MGs you can usually shrug off if you don't take too many hits or catch it in a bad spot. I'm not looking for a cakewalk - where's the fun in that? - but damn, those 23mm crews are sharp. Anyone else experience this?

Yeah, this one is pretty lousy on XBOX, too. I was taken in at first, it was something different for me to do. But after the first playthrough, I'm not invested in the story anymore. Then, as Caesar said - it's all DFM. You can't kill the bad guys you need to kill without using it. Going back to AC6 - still cheesy, but at least I feel like I have the freedom to do what I want with the jet in order to win the mission.

Any ETA on the downloads returning? I actually only have about "two weeks" to make use of them. Thanks for the hard work, gents.

A little OT, but what sorts of helo assets are used for AEW missions, and any idea what the future platform would be (assuming the RN goes to conventional catapult/arresting gear carriers)? Is there something in the works, or would the RN be looking outside - E-2D maybe? Also, if the RN goes with big carriers, are they looking to make them nukes? That would seem the smart choice, though perhaps not the affordable one. It'd probably be more money at the front, but maybe less in the long run. Conventionally powered carriers would have to make port more often and/or have the logistical support for replenishment at sea, whereas nukes could avoid some of that necessity. Again, I think the question is, what is the RN's strategy? What to they want to be able to do with naval air power?

Hell, just pay for the JP-5 and I'll fly one - Anytime, Baby!

I didn't realize the RN was considering anything but the B model. What's the latest with their carrier plans? Sounds like they're going toward a big-deck supercarrier type. I'd have thought that they could get more bang for their buck with multiple helo/jumpjet carriers rather than a couple big-deck jobs. Interesting to see how this all works out and what the RN's strategy/posture will be for the future.

One snag I ran into with this in single is the weapons available are still only for the first aircraft you choose. For example, I was going to fly an A-6, and wanted to give myself a little F-4B escort. But since the A-6 can't carry Sidewinders or Sparrows (not without an .ini edit), I couldn't select them for the F-4Bs either. There seemed little point in taking along a couple fighters that had no missiles or guns to shoot. Fuel tanks also won't show up for anything but the starting jet - of course I don't think the AI has limited fuel, so it's more cosmetic.