Siddley

Real life has gotten in the way of Percy's adventures, but on finally returning to duty for his second mission he was shot down by triple A. No chutes I'm afraid ( maybe I should get around to mapping " Eject " to a key combination, that could help survivability ) I'm going to do some more practise before trying again. I need some better ways to deal with the triple A. Shooting it out toe to toe with them just isn't working in my favour. I'm also thinking about switching to a Sandy. Much easier to handle for the CAS mission when the cloudbase is low.

I do wonder who was right in the 50's and 60's - the designers and policy makers who said a bomber must have defensive armament or those who claimed high performance and ECM was enough protection. I don't wonder about getting my ass kicked by a formation of Beagles though, there is no doubt about that

Yeah, that's where I'm running into problems really, intercepts versus bombers. I'm OK against the fighters, I can usually get a guns kill ( although I'm still using way too much time and fuel doing so, I'm not used to the 104 yet ) But those 4 and 8 ships of Beagles.....what a name - 'Beagle' - like that stupid cartoon dog, Snoopy. But just like Snoopy the IL28 isn't funny. My current tactic is to use the map ( Hey, it's not cheating, it's GCI ) to get into a position where I can hit them head on with cannon fire and attempt to break the formation up, same as the WW2 Luftwaffe did against the US B-17's Then I Immelman and try to get the trailing IL28 with a missile and sic the AI on the rest of the pack. It works OK some of the time, but I'm still having to go to guns mostly.

Yep, it's a big improvement over standard.....I think I need to get my reversals in better phase with the target aircraft to make Champs technique work. It's difficult in the 104 because I'm not used to the very high roll rate, usually I drive a Thud or an F4.

I just flew an instant mission which turned out to be a 2V4 - me and a wingman versus four Fishbeds Looking at the log afterwards there were a total of 8 AIM-9B's and 8 Atolls fired, all of which missed We got the Fishbeds with guns in the end. I'm not using Champs technique properly yet though, I didn't time the enemy aircrafts reversals very well.

Devil - thanks, got the file Champ - I'll give that a try

Seeing as I have been using WO* for over 4 years you might think I would be familiar with the 9B by now, but I must have avoided it so far due to aircraft and time period choice. Now I have the brilliant NATO fighters mod installed I'm flying the F104G in the 1968 campaign and it is equipped with the 9B. Not the most reliable missile in the world, is it ? How can I get the most out of the 9B ? I don't think I've had one guide yet, but it's difficult to tell.... On a similar note, is there a mod for the IR missile growl ? it's way too quiet and I'd like to turn it up if possible

Ok, I thought I would have a try ( at LT James suggestion, thanks mate ) My pilot is Pilot Officer Percy " Pranger" Prune, usually based at RAF Prangmere, who has been seconded to the USAF The campaign is Steel Tiger and Percy is flying an F-4C First mission. I think this is the first time I have taken off in WOV. Usually I hop into the cockpit, turn and burn, blow stuff up, kill Commies and call it a day with the ESC key. To me that is the core strength of WOV. I didn't realise that the aircraft defaulted to having the wheel brakes on, which made for an interesting takeoff. Eventually me and Percy got the thing into the air though. I was lead of a four ship, callsign Austin 1. The target was VC troops so I loaded flechette rockets ( awesome, ever seen a flechette ? it's just about the evilest thing ever - I must get some of that ammo for my Saiga-12 shotgun ) and a gun pod. Because I have never considered fuel useage in WOV I went with the loading screens default of two wing tanks. The rest of my flight got their default loadout. I hate the autopilot in WOV so flew to the target manually at about 10K altitude and 350 knots. just seemed like nice round numbers. The weather isn't bad, just some scattered cloud. On arriving I can see that Buick flight are working over an area to the east of me and getting badly knocked around by medium AAA. I think one went down. Anyway I do my favourite ground attack profile on the VC squad I was sent to kill and there isn't anything coming back up except green tracer from small arms. They are toast so I send the wingman after the next bunch and unleash the rest of the flight on targets of opportunity. I do a couple more runs and then Red Crown tells me that the mission is a success, I've still got the gun pod but the only other targets are located where Buick were getting the crap kicked out of them so I decide that discretion is the better part of valour. Home, for tea and biscuits Landing was OK. 3 AG kills for me, one for my flight.

Roger that , I already found out :)

Guess what ? my install was messed up ( I'm usually OK at installing mods, but this WAS my fault ) Now I have VC troops, friendlies marked with smoke and a big grin on my face. It really is a massive step forward. I like moving mud best of all and now I can actually eyeball targets without needing to use the targeting box all the time. It's so much more realistic. Huge thanks to all concerned

Cheers Malibu - I tried removing the tanks earlier and that resulted in CAS missions with no targets. I think I'll just enjoy the new aspects of the sim for a while and get my CAS missions via a campaign.

Thanks for the explanation Migbuster, exactly what I needed to know. What I would like to do then is have the game generate CAS missions between infantry, M113's and the Soviet amphibious light tank that the NVA sometimes used ( PTR ? BTR ? ) - assuming it's in the game.... That would be realistic-ish for 90% of the period I think. I don't have a clue how to do this though :) I'm not going to ask you to walk me through it, but could you suggest some tutorials that would help ?

First post, be nice to me :D After mentioning on another forum how much I loved WOV but wished it was a little more realistic a friend pointed me to the expansion pack. I installed it a few hours ago and to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. It is jaw droppingly awesome. WOV is now a different sim ( and I loved it before ) Finally the low level speed of the Thud is obvious with those trees whizzing past. Flying over the mountains with maybe 2000ft of space between the jungle floor and the cloudbase, and the mist rising upwards.....just incredible. I can't thank the people responsible for this mod enough. I don't even seem to be getting a frame rate hit either, and my system isn't exactly high end. I've got a question about the CAS missions though. The only targets I seem to get are tanks ( same as before ) - is this something hard coded into the sim and cannot be modded ?