finding enemy

[sgtmelin]

I have learned the A10a, so I have no trubel to use the weapons and so on. Campaing mission i have the label on, no trubel finding the enemy, but when I play online the label are allmost allways off. How do i find the enemy? I have been shoot down couple of times just becourse i fly right over the enemy. I had know clue they was there.

[S1lentJo]

Well...there is a key combo for switching labels on and of. Look it up in the options and try it. If it dosen't work then use your TGP and scan manualy or let it scan automaticly while you're flying through the area. If you can see your ground targets visually, then your too close. So don't try that. You can climb up to 8000-20000 meters and still spot and engage enemys. Correct me if i'm wrong but the maverick range is up to 25000 meters i think. Or maybe there's a difference between the A-10a and the A-10c. But i don't know about that^^

[fearlessfrog]

Many servers prevent labels from being turned on (and other helpers like other unit views etc), as they want to make it the same for all players.

It is hard to find enemy units, but then it's hard in real-life too, and the sim is trying to be like real-life in this respect. What they would do in 'real life' (more or less):

- Use intel, if you are attacking somewhere you would have a situation awareness of what to expect and where. Study the mission description, make notes, draw on a print-out of the map, basically prepare before you go in.

- Follow a mission profile, in that if you expect (or don't know even) there to be manpads fly at 15,000 feet, but if you expect there to be SAM sites (and get pinged on your RWR) then plan an ingress that allows you to terrain mask and the like.

- The Litening II AT targeting pod (TGP) should be scanning where you expect the enemy to be, using white-hot and IR as required. It's your best way to look, once you know which way to point it.

- Fly in pairs, use your wingman to do things like high-lo bait, in that your wingman in MP can help you enormously like they do in real-life.

- Be cautious. Labels give a huge advantage and can lead to complacency. Get used to 'clearing areas' and assuming unknown areas are hostile until you know differently. Have a mental picture of where the 'front' is and always be thinking ingress/egress if things go wrong.

It is hard, but then it ain't meant to be easy either

[Firaga]

Learn to use JTAC, read bullseye calls and keep an eye on the TAD if your wingmen share SPIs of new targets. Read the briefing before each mission and learn the area carefully. Use roads, rivers, cities and such as landmarks. Usually the given waypoints also contain valuable location information about the enemy or priority targets. Most A-10C players have a problem of keeping their eyes too much on the TGP while the enemy could be seen firing at the ground troops if they just looked out of the window. In real life the pilots don't have labels on either. It's a simulation afterall. You will get comfortable with it eventually by practicing.

[realist123]

Everybodies advice above me is better than mine but

You can also move an X around the cockpit with your mouse and if you right click on the landscape and a target is in your view it will tell you.

I haven't played the game in awhile, but I think that is the right key instructions. If someone else wants to elaborate on that.

I'm just giving another thing you can do. Personally I'm glad you received some better, more detailed advice.

[Chameleon_Silk]

^ that is a crutch and can often be restricted just as labels are so i wouldn't get used to relying on that.

[sgtmelin]

I have seen on youtube that A10c have better stuff to find enemy, A10a that one I fly, its very hard. But thanks for all good advice, I must admit I may have been a little lazy to read the whole brefing on multiplay.

[Chameleon_Silk]

in my missions, I give breifing and have the map set to map only and use bullseye calls, if you think its hard to find targets on other servers you ain't seen nothing yet :P

having said that once you understand how to find targets its pretty easy.. theres always gonna be something unseen and you will make mistakes but thats part of the learning experience and learning the threat envelope of the different systems.

I fly SU-25 grach a lot btw, that doesn't even have a hud let alone TV cam with infared :)

zoom in and scan the ground with your eyeballs... use some rules of thumb don't fly low over cities or forested areas (stay high alititude [4500k meters or 15k feet] till your in a position where you know the enemy is not) know the terrain around the AO and the FEBA, etc, you can derive a lot of awareness from the F10 map without having anything on it.

[Stone_313]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von fearlessfrog:

Many servers prevent labels from being turned on (and other helpers like other unit views etc), as they want to make it the same for all players.

It is hard to find enemy units, but then it's hard in real-life too, and the sim is trying to be like real-life in this respect. What they would do in 'real life' (more or less):

Apperantly spotting stuff from 15k feet is not as difficult in real life. Sure it still requires some 'getting used to' but might actually be easier than from the PC screen..

http://www.simhq.com/air-combat/air-combat-interviews/warthog-pilot-interview.html

The whole article is worth the read but especially the answer to "What issues do you have going from the simulator to the real plane? What are the differences or challenges there?"

[fearlessfrog]

That's a good point, in that reality has a much higher resolution and color depth than DCS

[Stone_313]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von fearlessfrog:

That's a good point, in that reality has a much higher resolution and color depth than DCS

Would be fun to try in real life how "easy" it actually is to spot things with un-trained eyes. :P

I saw this(http://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit/comments/1vsof3/fellows_i_have_a_confession_or_how_to_quit_using/) in reddit while back and if i understood right, it customizes your labels so they are just a dot and only show if you are within X range to jets/missiles/whatnot. Might be worth the shot to get used to finding things around the map.

[sgtmelin]

nice to see that im not alone =) I will buy the A10 C , And that extra camera looks very great. By the way, it said that the grafic is better with the A10 C, will it update all grafics or just the plane it self. it should be nice if the ground was better. more easy to see stuff.

[Chameleon_Silk]

the camera isn't why finding targets is easier though, looking through a magnifying glass will only make you oblvious to the targets that you may see if you didn't have your head down, the thing that makes the A-10C easier to find targets is the CDU, where you can input target coords and the TGP will then be able to point at a specific area (near the targets) but if you don't have specific coords or don't know how to work the CDU.. its actually harder to spot targets as you learn to cope with the avionics layer. I usually blast A-10C pilots because they are to busy looking in the TGP to see the war around them, and then complain when JTAC isn't there to give them exact location of targets. Pre-planning is a lot bigger peice of the puzzle then you realize, if your not looking at briefing and gathering information in your mind from that your starting the battle in a losing position.