TempestII

A few Eagle F.1 shots from my ongoing Campaign:

Pete Maddock Diary 06 Apr 1980: The last two missions came thick & fast - Ivan is obviously testing us. But so far I'd like to think we've handled what they've sent! 111 Sqn has certainly given the Soviets a bloody nose: 22 enemy aircraft shot down for only one of our own. I'm now sitting pretty on 13 air to air kills which has earned me a few bevvies in the squadron bar. I'm not the only Ace though, Dougie Cross has shot down 7! The CAP which took place yesterday evening again involved Yak-28s & Tu-16s but this time Ivan sent in his Tu-128s. The Yak-28s weren't difficult to take out but I went Winchester engaging the Badgers. I did manage a guns kill but it was then Red Crown gave us a heads-up about four Fiddlers - they were bearing straight for us & almost immediately they began rippling missiles off at our flight. While the rest of my flight kept on the remaining bombers, I dropped my tanks, switched on my ECM and punched into reheat to close the distance. I may have been out of missiles but I fancied my chances in a turning fight. My RWR lit up & I toggled my radar to get a lock - they were now within 10 miles just below the cloudbase. As we merged I concentrated on avoiding a mid-air; I knew that after the merge I'd have the advantage due to the Eagle's agility. The 9G turn I pulled to come around wasn't fun but it put me exactly where I wanted to be. The Tu-128 pulled up above the clouds but I easily matched him as I closed in for a guns kill. The Russian didn't make it easy however - even though a couple of my 20mm shells hit, he kept flying. As I prepared for a re-attack, I heard a call of "Fox 2" & about the same time my RWR chirped once again. Before I start an evasive maneuver to clear my six, the 128 was blown apart by Sqn Ldr Duke's AIM-9L. I quickly punched back into reheat & pulled another high G turn to get a visual on the 128 that had locked onto me. It took a few seconds but I got on his 6 & closed the gap as he tried to climb - this time my Vulcan worked as advertised: I had no time to congratulate myself as my RWR was already going off again. I once again turned as tight as I could but as I started to black-out I heard the "Missile-Launch!" call out shortly followed by "Fox 2" & my RWR went crazy. I dropped chaff & started to reverse my turn hoping to shake off the missile while silently cursing - but within a few seconds I heard one of my colleagues exclaim "Splash one!" followed by my RWR going silent. I'm not sure I've ever been so relieved! By now 3 of the Fiddlers were down. the last one was taken out by another member of the flight shortly after. It turned out a couple of Tu-16s had slipped past us but by that point I was low on cannon rounds & my fuel wasn't great either as I'd been using reheat a lot during the knife fight. It was certainly time for us to go home. One of my wingmen (they vowed not to tell me which one even in the bar after) nominated me for the DFC which was a welcome surprise. After the sheer excitement mixed with the terror of my first furball I was just glad to get home with all the flight still intact. The Intercept we carried out earlier today wasn't quite as exciting - we engaged Soviet Badgers at angels 20 & made short work of them. None of them escaped this time. Red Crown then vectored us onto a flight of Yak-28s on a recce mission. We hit them from behind & only one of them got away. Once again I was now Winchester so we turned north for the journey back to Lossie. It quickly became apparent that Ivan hadn't finished with us though - we began getting hits on our RWRs. We turned in that direction & fired back up our radars. Sure enough, a pair of Fiddlers were inbound over the North Sea & we within missile range. Ideally I'd have preferred to make a break for home but as my flight still had weapons left we turned to engage. At about 10 miles out both sides fired - I had to pull hard & deploy chaff once again as a Soviet missile came my way. I successfully evaded the attack & shortly after my wingman destroyed the 128. As I turned to line up on the final Fiddler, another member of my flight erased him. (J2 aren't sure whether the ambush by the Soviet fighters was a deliberate set-up or whether we were simply a target of opportunity. It could well be that their commanders see our squadron as the biggest aerial threat.) Now we really could Foxtrot Oscar back home & we were all in high spirits until we heard an encounter between a Nimrod & Yak-38 fighters. It turned out the Soviet Fleet had been found heading south. The Nimrod successfully reported their position & made a run for the coast with a pair of Yak-38s in tail. Unfortunately the Harriers that had been protecting it had turned back due to low fuel. The heat-seekers fired at the Nimrod all missed & you heard the crew's relief over the radio. However their joy was short lived when a 38 unloaded several cannon shells into them. My biggest regret was not having a couple of missiles left - I'd have gone full burner to interdict and be damned with the consequences. The missions keep coming, the UK air defence squadrons haven't seen intensity like this since the summer of 1940. So far 111 Sqn is doing superbly but the Soviet forces have landed on the Faeroe islands & their fleet is now well into the North Sea. There's already talk of using the Eagles in the naval strike role which seems crazy. It shows how much we've sent to Germany. I've heard rumors that the MOD have somehow acquired Exocet missiles off the French that were originally due for South America. The techies have been playing around with hardpoints whenever we're back on the ASP so maybe this rumor is actually true. On the bright side, I've been promoted to Flying Officer & I'm now up to 25 Kills which is the most any pilot in the RAF has achieved since the Second World War.

Have you updated your graphics card software recently? Some updates seem to be reducing SF2 performance rather than improving it. If so you'd probably be better off using the older driver if possible.

Yeah point blank range IRMs are always a concern. I think was kills my DiD pilots most is Naval Strike missions (fly too high and a SAM squats you out of the sky, fly too low and too evasive & hit the sea) and tail gunners. After shooting down a couple of Badgers with missiles earlier I went in for a guns pass but messed up my approach. At that point I figured I'd leave them be as they were secondary targets & I've been killed far too many times before by tail guns.

Thanks! How'd I miss that? I didn't see that his Skyflash didn't hit, I just saw the Kill & assumed he'd crashed into a mountain (we were engaging low level in the Scottish highlands). But now I'm not so sure then. I'm not an expert on the SF game engine so it could have been a proxy detonation like you've suggested. What a mystery haha.

Pete Maddock Diary 05 Apr 1980: Today saw the opening shots of "Operation Stamford Bridge" as it's been called. Ivan sent a couple of Yak-28 & Tu-16s our way strangely without any fighter escort. Maybe they're probing our defences? Anyway, 111 Sqn got off to a bittersweet start - I was tasked in 2 ship Intercept to take town an incoming flight of Yak-28s. The result was 5 enemy aircraft (4 by myself) destroyed for the loss of one of our own. We're not sure what happened to Flt Lt Gleed. His Skyflash took out a Yak but then the next thing I was his aircraft hit a mountain. Until the investigation is complete then we don't know whether it's pilot error or system failure. There was no chute. R.I.P Gleed - he seemed like a decent bloke. I'm happy I got those 4 aircraft but the victory has certainly been soured.

I'm going to give DiD another go but on the intriguing Op Stamford Bridge campaign. I'll be modding the excellent Eagle F.1 in rather than the usual Phantoms & Lightnings. I feel far more comfortable in the F-15 & I might actually survive the campaign this way. Settings are as follows... Pete Maddock Diary 21 Mar 1980: I'm certain that when WW3 broke out last summer that no-one expected it to still be going now. Europe is a mess with both NATO & Soviet forces bogged down achieving very little... other than killing each other in higher numbers than either side can afford. The first few weeks of the war were hell; the Soviets mostly caught us off guard & thrust deep into Western Germany. Somehow (still no-one is quite sure how) NATO forces successfully set up a defensive line at the Wesser which stopped Ivan in his tracks. We've launched counter attacks but none have got as far as we'd like. Most of the territory the Soviets have seized is still under their control. Currently the war looks like a modern version of the Great War. The most surprising thing though is that neither side has resorted to nuclear weapons. There's been a few close calls but so far the war has been strictly conventional. It seems like a long time ago that I failed the pilot exam by a few percent & started air traffic controller training instead. That lasted a couple of months before the war broke out & losses of pilots became serve enough me to re-volunteer. After 6 months of abridged training out here in the USA at the new Joint NATO Pilot School then we're being sent into action. The brief we had last week said the US Navy are planning to re-take Iceland in the coming months - that should allow NATO to reinforce with fresh forces who have been training here in the States like me. In other words, it may be enough to swing the pendulum in our favour. However, it appears Ivan isn't going to roll over. The J2/J3 Brief this morning implies the Soviets are planning to throw in all their reserves to take Europe out of the war before the reinforcements arrive, similar to what the Germans tried in the Great War. All the Int seems to suggest the Reds plan to attack Italy & Spain using their bases in South-East Europe but most J2s believe this is nothing more than a "maskirovka" to throw us off the real plan. The real plan, they said, will come from the North via Scandinavian route - if the Soviets can't take Western-Europe before the NATO reinforces then they'll take the next best option: neutralisation of the destination of those convoys - Home. Pete Maddock Diary 24 Mar 1980: It's official - we're being sent to Scotland. Ivan will attempt to knock the UK out of the war. Most of the RAF's strength is in Germany & losses have been heavy there. The UK Air Defence squadrons have been depleted & over the last year it's become apparent the Phantoms we use are barely superior to the Soviet aircraft. We've heard there's a Tornado ADV in the works but I get the feeling that'll arrive far too late to help. I just hope Ivan's forces have been weakened after a year of heavy fighting too. Pete Maddock Diary 26 Mar 1980: Thank goodness for the Special Relationship. The PM has used her close relationship with the US President to secure a squadron of F-15A Eagles for the RAF. The USAF has already started issuing F-15Cs to its squadrons but I'll happily take an Alpha model! We've heard about the kill ratios the Eagle has established over Germany with the latest generation of Sidewinder & Sparrow. Some people say we'd have been overrun without it. We've got about a week of Eagle specific training here in the States & then it's back home with our new toys. The Squadron I'm to join is the reformed 111 Sqn which'll be based at Lossiemouth so we're as close to the war as possible. Pete Maddock Diary 02 Apr 1980: Scotland - the weather is just as awful as I remember as a kid. Still, Lossiemouth is a certainly more comfortable than what's left of the bases in Germany (although that may change if the Soviets get their way). The next few days are brief intensive - it's looking likely Ivan will hit us before this week is over so we've got veteran pilots & Int chaps talking tactics with us. The Squadron is mostly made up of guys like me - young & newly trained just out of the Joint School. There are a few experienced pilots as section leaders while the OC started his flying career back in the 60s. There's definitely some apprehension around the base along with a quiet determination. I just hope we pull together when the proverbial hits the fan.

"Stores"

I'm not used to everything one "Hard" so suddenly finding myself in a squadron of A-4s was a bit of a surprise... & then a few other CF-18 in SF2:

Hello, I'm hoping to upgrade to a gaming mini PC soon so I can have more power than a laptop but have some portability. The link to PC Specialist should work; I'll post the individual components here too though. https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-1150-gaming-mini-pc/ AeroCool DS Cube Black Edition Window Mini-ITX Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB CacheIntel® MAXIMUS VI IMPACT: Mini-ITX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, WIFI 8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)500GB 1TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE) 16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69) Corsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£39) ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79) It all comes to £1205. Can anyone see anything that won't cut it? Is that i5 Processor fine or is it worth upgrading to i7 4790? Cheers in advance.

Ok, thanks for your advice.

Ooops. I few bombers may have got through... It's lucky they're all bad shots!

Just managed to do a mission in my A-10 campaign. I'm flying with the 92nd T.F.S (Skulls). Against the odds, Mark Swain survived the mission & received the Silver Star. http://forum.combata...image&img=11653 http://forum.combata...image&img=11655 http://forum.combata...image&img=11654 The first was a C.A.S mission which seemed fairly standard until our F-15 escorts bugged out when there was still a couple of MIG-23s left, which then attempted to engage my flight. I don't think I've ever managed to turn an A-10 so quickly. It's hardly an F- series dog-fighter but the AIM-9s worked well enough. Score 2 MIGs! Very happy with that mission, just got to hope others are ok to.

http://forum.combata...image&img=11647 Whats the best way to do it? Usually this happens when my A-10 gets hit but 23mm shells but occasionally missiles do the same. I tend to use Ctrl + I to switch off my engines but the fire starts when I turn them back on. & being without engine power is obviously impractical unless your very close to friendly territory. The A-10 has armored fuel tanks which are also self-healing & fire-suppressive which help a bit but do these or the engines (also fire-suppressive according to the INI) catch fire? Or both?

Yeah I've managed it a times before with various aircraft but mainly that's because my fuels dry. But unfortunately the A-10 doesn't glide all that well when you've been hit at 250ft A.G.L

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah I was guessing that this would be the case. Its just a shame you can't toggle engines individually especially with the A-10. Looks like punching out is the only viable option seeing as this mostly happens on missions pretty far away from the border.

I should be able to start a new DiD campaign soon. I had one going as an F-15 pilot but he died so soon, I didn't even bother to post about it. Stupid mid-air collision with another F-15...:suicide2: Next one will be an A-10A in NF4+. Haven't tried a pure A2G sqn yet so I'll see how it goes.