I suck at CAS (a rather long story about my blunders as a CAS pilot)

[Yuki Nagato]

So I decided to take on the Fixed Wing showcase on regular difficulty, as I wanted to decide if I enjoyed flying enough to justify buying the jets DLC(Its a pretty good deal right now)

This is my story. its long I know)

For starters, I failed the mission before I even got too the plane because I flipped over the ATV seeing how much I could throw it around at high speeds. Anyway after I flipped over my ATV I spent some time walking around and pondering if I would need an SMG on hand or not when Im about to fly A ♥♥♥♥ING A-10 WARTHOG! BECAUSE THAT WAS SOMETHING I ACTUALLY HAD TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT. (im new cut me some slack)
Anyway turns out the convoy got through our lines while I was wasting time so I had to restart.

This time I was quick and kept my focus on what needed to be done. So I got into my plane and headed off. I approached the convoy and proceeded to FLY MY PLANE INTO THE GROUND AT 400 KPH.

So I retried my approach, I slowed down and used cluster bombs... and missed all of them, however, because of my low speed and altitude I did manage to blow MYSELF up!

This time I decided to try to attack from behind so I took some time to fly around my targets, before getting shot down by a SAM.

I decided to attack the helicopter before the convoy this time around. I overshot it completely and ended up taking pass after pass trying to figure out why I couldnt lock onto it.(HINT because it was already designated as a target, I was supposed to just hit R to swap to the heli but instead I spammed T wondering why it didnt work... Or I think thats what happened.) eventually I accidentally flew into the water because I lost too much speed going in circles at low altitude.

My next attempt I managed to blow up the helicopter, but when I went to attack the convoy I went way too fast and flew right into the dirt.

This time I took out the heli in my first pass and took my time to get properly lined up for my pass on the convoy, however I missed all my rockets and when I turned around to use my 30MM I got shot down by a SAM.

THIS TIME, I took out the heli, and blew up all the trucks in one pass, and continued on to try and find the arty.
Now I'm not smart, and I never confirmed my target(bad mistake) so I dropped a whole bunch of bombs on the WAY POINT for the objective (even though it only indicated the general area of where my target might be, no I dont play alot of mil sims before you ask)

then I got a radio message saying that the guys from my airbase couldnt destroy the arty but they could mark it on GPS for me. They lied.
I spend ages(about 20 minutes) flying around looking at my map, on the radar, and on my GPS, never found it, eventually I spotted it with my eyes... and then got shot down again by a SAM.

This time I knew where it was(kind of), but I didnt take note to the terrain around it and had a hell of a time looking for it again. So after I spotted it again I went out and turned around for my pass, before realizing that when I turned around I had lost sight of the target and flew right over it, instead flying right into the trees.
(I failed a few times after that as well, all very similar)

Eventually I managed to destroy the arty, however my engine was damaged from a missile that blew up behind me. So with my engine barely hanging on I began my approach on the second artillery... THIS TIME IT SHOWED UP ON MY GPS, leading me to believe that the fact that the first arty was not showing up on GPS was a bug. However the game did not auto save after killing arty 1 so I knew I needed to do things right this time, I flew to the perfect spot to attack it from, flawless victory. Arty number 2 was destroyed and I was on my way back to the base and the game auto saved. BUT THEN IM TOLD OVER THE RADIO I NEED TO GO BOMB SOME ♥♥♥ HOLES HAVING A FIGHT IN AN ABANDONED BUILDING.

So here we go again, I assumed it wouldnt be too hard, just drop some cluster bombs and head back to base, but it turns out that Im still terrible at using cluster bombs. My first pass I blew myself up and missed all the bad guys.

So I restarted... and got shot down by a SAM.

Finally I had the perfect angle, felt like I had the right speed, and I went in for my bombing run, perfect shot, blew up the first group of enemies THEN FLEW RIGHT INTO THE GROUND BECAUSE I COULDNT PULL UP/
Turns out having a damaged engine was not helping my already lackluster ability to shoot crap from a plane. So I gave up and went to eat dinner, because eating a hamburger is easier than flyying a jet.

all in all the mission took me almost an hour and a half and I never complete it. I plan on attempting it again soon.

[Basil]

i suggest removing the game

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Basil:

i suggest removing the game

So I imagine that you executed your first CAS mission in ARMA perfectly without any prior experience in flight/millitary sims?

(Also im past the 2 hours in which you can get a refund so im pretty inclined to figure out how to make things go boom from the sky.)

[Feudal]

Originally posted by Yuki Nagato:

So I imagine that you executed your first CAS mission in ARMA perfectly without any prior experience in flight/millitary sims?

(Also im past the 2 hours in which you can get a refund so im pretty inclined to figure out how to make things go boom from the sky.)

When I first tried that mission many years ago I quickly realized that 1.5k view range wasn't going to cut it lol. So yeah, I also failed mostly due to that. I actually kamikazed the helicopter's corpse after getting lucky with a minigun strafe.

This post reminded me to play the CAS mission and I gave it try, I got the convoy and a few extra tanks first try but then proceeded to crash into the ground at least twice for every other objective after that. The first time I got a rocket shot into me and I actually landed on a dirt road. I really liked doing the bombing run with the laser designated SPG! I never knew that's how that works! Me and the boys would always try and get that working.

I also have a lot of experience in Warthunder and have been flying helicopters for many hours in ARMA so I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless. ARMA is a lot harder to fly than Warthunder, saying that from the "realistic" mode not arcade. Never did sims. Most of that difficulty comes from the assblastingly terrible controls.

Besides that yeah, flying will eventually come naturally. The biggest tip I can give is to get comfortable flying, and then when you see a target never remove your eyes from that target. 80% the battle is just lining up a shot and you won't be able to do that if you have no idea where it is. The other 20% is not slamming into the ground, to do that just don't fly at too steep an angle. You don't need to dive bomb. Usually 30 degrees down is max I do strafes. Any higher and I crash.

[Paradox1126]

i got into flying around my 300 hr mark of arma and i havent stopped yet.. i went from basic helicopters controls to CAS to advanced flight mechanics and i plan on getting back to CAS so i can tighten up my controls.. all in all i got way more into flying then i thought i would ever.

arma has driven me away from games.(last tripple a story games i purchased was red dead[hated it] and fallout 76[dont even have to say anything about that]. i started putting all my time into arma because it was my favorite game that i owned and i didnt feel i was giving it its due.

at the moment i have a hotas setup with track ir and 300 dollar rudder pedals that simply make me go left and right.. it was seriously the most ridiculous purchase of my life but!!!! we have to love our hobbies!!

i even got into DCS(seriously reccommend that game if you are serious about flying) which i ultimately put on hold until i learn all i want to about flying in arma and until i admittidly build a stupid unwarrented and unnecessary sim flight/racing pit!!!

best of luck to you!! i love this damn game and i get excited when i read posts like this!!!

happy flying

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Feudal Wulf:

Originally posted by Yuki Nagato:

So I imagine that you executed your first CAS mission in ARMA perfectly without any prior experience in flight/millitary sims?

(Also im past the 2 hours in which you can get a refund so im pretty inclined to figure out how to make things go boom from the sky.)

When I first tried that mission many years ago I quickly realized that 1.5k view range wasn't going to cut it lol. So yeah, I also failed mostly due to that. I actually kamikazed the helicopter's corpse after getting lucky with a minigun strafe.

This post reminded me to play the CAS mission and I gave it try, I got the convoy and a few extra tanks first try but then proceeded to crash into the ground at least twice for every other objective after that. The first time I got a rocket shot into me and I actually landed on a dirt road. I really liked doing the bombing run with the laser designated SPG! I never knew that's how that works! Me and the boys would always try and get that working.

I also have a lot of experience in Warthunder and have been flying helicopters for many hours in ARMA so I wouldn't say I'm completely clueless. ARMA is a lot harder to fly than Warthunder, saying that from the "realistic" mode not arcade. Never did sims. Most of that difficulty comes from the assblastingly terrible controls.

Besides that yeah, flying will eventually come naturally. The biggest tip I can give is to get comfortable flying, and then when you see a target never remove your eyes from that target. 80% the battle is just lining up a shot and you won't be able to do that if you have no idea where it is. The other 20% is not slamming into the ground, to do that just don't fly at too steep an angle. You don't need to dive bomb. Usually 30 degrees down is max I do strafes. Any higher and I crash.

Yeah i was flying with like a 9.2k render distance so that wasnt an issue. Even the lackluster 22-30 frames per second wasnt that bad. I almost rammed into the helicopter one of my runs. Barely missed it.
War Thunder is alright. Probably have hundreds of hours in that but I dont play much anymore. The grinding was too much after I reached rank 6 and the balance was horrible. Course I mostly played tank AB.

But ill take your advise on bombing runs. Yeah I was definitly dive bombing like it was a conventional plane. But Ill get that mssion eventually. Really cool think is I did a different mission (i think it was the showcase mission from the jets DLC where you just patrol an area, blow up 2 tanks and head back) and I managed to beat the mission with only 1 death. Then I even landed on the carrier my first try. I was kinda proud of that gotta say.

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Paradox1126:

i got into flying around my 300 hr mark of arma and i havent stopped yet.. i went from basic helicopters controls to CAS to advanced flight mechanics and i plan on getting back to CAS so i can tighten up my controls.. all in all i got way more into flying then i thought i would ever.

arma has driven me away from games.(last tripple a story games i purchased was red dead[hated it] and fallout 76[dont even have to say anything about that]. i started putting all my time into arma because it was my favorite game that i owned and i didnt feel i was giving it its due.

at the moment i have a hotas setup with track ir and 300 dollar rudder pedals that simply make me go left and right.. it was seriously the most ridiculous purchase of my life but!!!! we have to love our hobbies!!

i even got into DCS(seriously reccommend that game if you are serious about flying) which i ultimately put on hold until i learn all i want to about flying in arma and until i admittidly build a stupid unwarrented and unnecessary sim flight/racing pit!!!

best of luck to you!! i love this damn game and i get excited when i read posts like this!!!

happy flying

Hey thats cool. I tried DCS(dont have much time in it admittedly) I dunno i just couldnt get into it. Too many pricey DLCs and I dont have a joystick so I put it down, though I may reinstall it if I start enjoying flying in arma. I have been enjoying flying in ARMA though even if I failed horribly. As I said in the post above this one I managed to do a different CAS mission (much easier mission overall) and landed on the carrier my first try.

[Shenji]

tl,dr;
So you missed the hint about Ctrl+RMB. Try it before taking off. Then Ctrl+T.

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Shenji:

tl,dr;
So you missed the hint about Ctrl+RMB. Try it before taking off. Then Ctrl+T.

Ill be sure to test that tomorrow. Out of curiosity what does that do?

[Shenji]

Originally posted by Yuki Nagato:

Originally posted by Shenji:

tl,dr;
So you missed the hint about Ctrl+RMB. Try it before taking off. Then Ctrl+T.

Ill be sure to test that tomorrow. Out of curiosity what does that do?

Target camera. Press Ctrl+T to set it in AREA/POINT mode to get steady target tracking. If you're familiar with drone control then you'll get into it pretty easily.

ps- Maintain your airspeed above 280 kph when in A164, that will get you a pretty smooth leveled flight trajectory, so you can focus on searching ground targets.

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Shenji:

Originally posted by Yuki Nagato:

Ill be sure to test that tomorrow. Out of curiosity what does that do?

Target camera. Press Ctrl+T to set it in AREA/POINT mode to get steady target tracking. If you're familiar with drone control then you'll get into it pretty easily.

ps- Maintain your airspeed above 280 kph when in A164, that will get you a pretty smooth leveled flight trajectory, so you can focus on searching ground targets.

thanks i will remember that

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by User:

I would get the DLC. It will just take practice. looks like keeping it in the air was difficult for you. I would practice flying around by just plopping one down on a runway in the editor, figuring out the stall speed and getting comfortable with handling the aircraft without things shooting at you. If you really want to fly a fair amount you can get a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick for like $25-30. And it will become a lot more enjoyable.

And no wandering around and pondering when you are being scrambled to go give air support ;)

I actually did get the Jets DLC (the deal was too good. Im a sucker for steep discounts, I also got Tanks and Karts DLC)
Landing on a carrier was a great feeling/ (got too do some dogfighting too)
I've seen that flight stick, cost 60$ on amazon which is outrageous, but for 10$ more on I could buy the Thrustmaster T16000M with just the stick. Which I think I might do.

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by User:

Originally posted by Yuki Nagato:

I actually did get the Jets DLC (the deal was too good. Im a sucker for steep discounts, I also got Tanks and Karts DLC)
Landing on a carrier was a great feeling/ (got too do some dogfighting too)
I've seen that flight stick, cost 60$ on amazon which is outrageous, but for 10$ more on I could buy the Thrustmaster T16000M with just the stick. Which I think I might do.

Oh it looks like they don't make them anymore? Ya I see that, a used one for $60 is BS

So would you say the 16000M stick would probably be a safe bet? Or should I get a HOTAS4 with the throttle? Both look like good products. I cant justify getting the 16000 it with the throttle due to the price. But I feel like I can live without a throttle.(I dont have alot of space) what would you reccomend? Is there a different low price stick you would reccoemend or do you think i should get one of the 2 i mentioned above?

[Paradox1126]

just my two cents.. i have all the add ons to fly and i go down the rabbit hole.

it always sucks to buy cheap products however these toys are not easily justifiable. i spent 300 dollars on rudder pedals so i can turn the same way i was without them. one of the most ridiculous purchases of my gaming life.

anyway.. the thrustmaster 16 is by far the best bet here.

couple of reasons-

1- the stick has the same sensor that the thrustmaster warthog has. this means fine imputs and more control when you are flying and you dont have to break the bank to get a product that gives you good feedback.

2- i only started using my throttle because i had switched to Advanced flight model. you absolutely do not need pedals or a throttle to enjoy flying in arma.

3- i do believe that the 16000 has a twist function that allows you to emulate that of a rudder pedal. when flying fixed wing it doesnt mess with anything however when flying a chopper it may be counter intuitive based off the manuvers being performed.

if you feel like this is something that you can grow with i reccommend spending as much money as you are willing to enjoy your set up.

i always loved flying and racing but because of how lame it is with a controller i just never bothered. it wasn't until i got into elite dangerous that i thought to invest in a hotas. i started with an x52 which for the money was amazing however the moment i started playing with it i realized i loved it and wanted to go bigger... fast forward 2 years and i have a complete setup with my next project being a proper dedicated flying/racing sim rig..

most of these products last a very long time with proper care so its not as if buying 300 pedals are a waste unless of course you completely stop using them.

if you have any questions let me know.. sounds like you were where i was 2 years ago..

with all that in mind i found everything i bought to be completely worth the experience

[Dr.Shimapan]

gotta agree with the 16000M being ideal for arma and yes it does twist
you might want to consider putting labels on the big buttons to remember what they do

[Yuki Nagato]

Originally posted by Dr.Shimapan:

gotta agree with the 16000M being ideal for arma and yes it does twist
you might want to consider putting labels on the big buttons to remember what they do

Seems like everyone agrees on the 16000 though on further consideration ive devided against spending 80$ on something I don't know if ill get that much use out of, so i will most likely end up buying a thrustmaster T-Flight X (the PS3 version)($40) until I decide if I think this something Ill want to sink money into. (I mean most people dont buy a Gibson as your first guitar, or a Ferrari as your first car, same deal here)