Online co-op LOMAC hints.

[Lowe]

Formation flying:

Something that doesn't happen all that often, but when it does it looks kewl, keeps the flight in one piece meaning you've got more chance of working as a team and taking your mission objective out.

Get it right and it looks like this:



So, here's a few things to think about.

Biggest problem with getting in to formation is on take off - people tend to split up near straight away with some guys pulling near vertical climbs, others taking a more gentle approach. So, to help with this I tend to do the following - get everyone on the runway, staggered. Launch at the same time. Once you see the lead aircraft lift off, everyone else should do the same. Lead aircraft should inform the flight of their angle of attack, throttle position and target altitude/speed. Typically I'll go 10 degrees nose up, full throttle until I hit 2,000 ft / 300knts in the A10. If you all do this properly, the flight won't break up.

Next thing to remember is the "H" key. This key is the God send for formation flying. Due to the need to trim nearly all the aircraft constantly you find your formation tends to break up. Pressing H means your aircraft will automatically hold the altitude you are at when you hit the key. So, line yourself up with your buddy, hit the key and then all you have to do is decide on an airspeed and stick to it. Don't forget to take it off though when you get into combat else you'll be stuck unless you really heave on the stick.

Biggest help for everyone trying to stay together is the voice comms from the lead aircraft. If you're the lead, let everyone know your airspeed, altitude and heading. If you change any of the above, let the flight know it helps them avoid any unwelcome suprises.

[Skii]

Nice one Lowe

Here is a little something I wrote about missile avoidance. One of the most frustrating aspects of Lomac to a new player, is the apparent ability of enemy planes to blow you out of the sky from beyond visual range with annoying success.

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-------- Beaming, what it is, and how and when to do it --------


So, there you are pootling along in your F-15, when suddenly you hear the tell tale warning of a missile launch - what do you do ?!?

Your radar warning reciever will tell you the direction of the threat, this is crucial.

Well, first thing first - lets look at the basics - your radar is doppler radar, it determines the speed, direction and (as it gets closer) the identity of the enemy aircraft by the signal reflected off it. In order to filter out ground clutter from nasty enemy planes the radar will ignore stationary contacts, so the only contacts it displays are moving contacts, things that are not moving are filtered out.

So - that missile that is heading towards you is seeing a moving target - you.

Your first objective it to turn the jet side-on to the incoming missile, ie. putting it on your left or right wingtip, there is a clear reason for doing this, since you are no longer flying towards or away from the enemy jet, his radar is no longer seeing a moving target, so provided you are a sufficient distance away, you should no longer appear on his radar - this technique is called 'beaming' and you will see the AI do it often when you launch at them.

Beaming also puts you on a lateral flight path to your enemy, so by doing this you are getting out of the way of that incoming missile.

I find a good tactic is to climb on full-burner as I beam, the reason for this is simple. Most medium/short range air to air missiles only fly under rocket propellant for a small proportion of their flight, most of that long journey is pure kinetic energy - (like a bullet) - so that missile, after its initial 5 seconds of flight, is decelerating. If it has to climb to get you, it is even less effective.

I've had an R-27 missile fall short literally a few plane lengths behind me using this technique - the beaming had failed to decieve the missile's own radar, but the missile just didn't have the energy to reach me.

Climbing has also got me in a very advantageous position for a return shot - with a height advantage, my shot will be FAR more effective as my missile is travelling down to meet him like diving on a target, the missile has a clear energy advantage.


Hope that helps

Skii

[Skii]

Also -

here is some info I nicked from the Ubi Forums - the guy who wrote this is a goldmine of useful info, definatley worth a look.

"The most dangerous missiles are the short range IR missiles such as the R-73 and AIM-9 because there is no warning on the RWR and their motors burn for 0.8 to 1.2 seconds, then they become almost impossible to visually track and beam.

With BVR and WVR combat there is no sudden transition from one to the other, with sudden changes in basic tactics. The 'two' missile combat types are really just one, when integrated modern multispectral sensors can continuously maintain situational awareness--what does it matter if you can, or can't directly visually see your opponent in that case?

Visual contact only matters for the turn 'n burn knife fight with cannon, and if you end up in that unfortunate situation regularly then it means that you are not using your missiles and sensors effectively because you have not yet thought about how.

If I get shot at BVR by an R-77 (active) or R-27 SARH, I can decide to do 1 of 3 things:

1. Try to out run the missile.
2. Beam it and/or the illuminating aircraft (which ever is appropriate for the missile type fired)
3. Immediately engage the shooter.

Option 1 only works when you are already near the missile’s maximum range ... the shooter wants you on the defensive and can still chase you down if you run, and almost certainly will. He’ll try to keep you either running or beaming missiles (which was option 2) as he rapidly closes in—eventually lining you up for a close in IR kill (if one of his other missiles doesn’t get you first).

An important thing to realise is that the closer you get to your opponent during a missile duel, the progressively less likely you are to successfully dodge his/her next missile shot. Once you get too close (within IR range) you ARE going to DIE, if still on the defensive dodging missiles at that point.

The trick therefore is to NOT go fully defensive, but to FORCE your opponent on to the defensive, and actively keep him/her dodging missiles, and therefore unable to turn toward you and fire one at you. Doing that is his/her only chance, so be completely ruthless and relentless about it. To achieve this you necessarily have to engage the shooter, which is option 3. Just using options 1 or 2, or, 1 and then 2, is a bad tactical and longevity choice.

You need to find a means to make option three work very effectively.

So how can you go about engaging the opponent and also deal with the incoming missile? …Without also ending up at visual turn 'n burn cannon fight?

Try this; Enter a moderate rate climb on a heading toward the radar missile’s shooter whilst also continually maintaining you IAS air speed around 420 knots. This both conserves fuel and slows the closure rate, plus giving you potential energy, and sapping the incoming missile's kinetic energy.

There is no need to rush toward your opponent in long range BVR, slow things down and think about the situation as you climb. In this moderate climb you will still be able to use your radar to look down in TWS or STT mode, and lock up the shooter, so fire a single AIM-120 AMRAAM at the shooter and keep on climbing and illuminating the target within the gimbal limits of your radar. This will feed mid-course updates to the AMRAAM and thereby increase its accuracy when it finally does go active.

When the shooters first missile has gotten closer to you beam it and maintain this constant beam aspect while climbing at 420 knots and oscillating across the missiles path as described earlier--which means the AMRAAM can receive no more updates so forget about it, it's now fully autonomous.

When the AMRAAM does go active the shooter will be forced to go defensive, while you are just about through beaming his now low-energy high-altitude interception first shot.

Once done with it the advantage is yours; if he hasn’t fired a second missile at you before going defensive against your AMRAAM that is.

Dive as fast as possible toward the now defensive shooter and fire another AMRAAM as soon as you can (well before the first AMRAAM intercepts with him/her). The idea is to keep the shooter continuously defensive while you very rapidly close in to IR missile range so keep him tracked and locked, and fire another AMRAAM to keep him totally defensive.

Any of your missiles might hit the shooter. The first one might even do the trick, but the closer you get the more likely one of them will hit, so try to get into IR range as soon as you can and give the shooter no opportunities at all to turn back at you and fire a missile. Which means you have to time your AIM-120 launches with that aim in mind. Don't leave too much time between launches or else the opponent will quickly turn back at you.

If he/she gets a shot at you, then you’re in real trouble. You might dodge it by beaming it, but you are likely to either end up in a visual range cannon fight after it, or you will be hit by a second missile. You should keep two missiles flying at the shooter at all times and you dive in fast, to close up the distance and prevent an effective return missile shot.

Once you get to under 8km supersonic, and the shooter is still defensive, the chances are your next missile shot will finish him/her off, because the opposing aircraft has now lost speed, energy and altitude due to tight evasive manoeuvring and pilot situational awareness will be poor.

Your aircraft is now very fast and in a proportionally high energy state, fully committed. Your dive speed has increased the RMAX of your missiles and likewise improved their POK because they are DIVING with high energy at a confused and possibly panicking low-energy opponent. You are very likely to win at this point and therefore unlikely to end up in a visual cannon duel.

Furthermore, if none of your missiles were to hit home and you overshoot your opponent at high speed, then you also have the speed advantage to either immediately dive and bug-out at full burners or to climb hard and loop back around to dive in on your opponent again for another close quarters high energy IR shot. You are unlikely to miss the second time, if you can keep the other aircraft visual as you do this (make sure you do!). "

zzzspace | Townsville Australia | VAAF Mission: Have fun