Frogfoot basics for this Thursday
Ok guys, since I'll be an A10 with the n00bs the rest of you will be flying Su25s. Now this will probably be the first time many of you will have flown it so I'll try to give you a brief overview of it so when you get the cockpit it won't be such a shock!
Incase you're not sure, the Frogfoot is the Russian equivlent of the A10. It's not quite as capable as the A10 in the sense that it's not as manuverable, though it's a fair bit quicker. It can take similar amounts of punishment and can deal a fair amount out as well. However its biggest weakness is very, very small fuel tanks.
When you get in the cockpit for the first time the biggest thing you'll notice is the lack of a HUD. It's there, since it provides an aiming reticule, though there's no flight information like altitude, waypoint, speed etc. All of this is on the analogue dials which you'll see dotted about. They're the same as the Su27/33 so you'll recognise most of them. Note that the weapon selector is also a panel rather than being on the HUD. Look down to the bottom left of the cockpit next to the panel which shows if the flaps are down, brakes extended etc and you'll see a diagram of the plane, looking head on at it. You'll see lights for the weapons. If it's lit up yellow, ordanace is on the wings. If there's a green light underneath then the weapon is armed and selected.
The Frogfoot carries a fair amount of ordnance and it's hugely varied. You'll probably want to take along some unguided rockets and bombs, but also take a couple of guided missiles. Unlike the Maverick, this guided missiles are HUGE so you can only carry a couple.. well you can carry 4, though you'll be without ECM then. The guided missiles come in a few flavours though concentrate on taking the ML or MP varients. ML's guide using laser designation (similar to a Hellfire on an Apache) whereas the MP are passive radar homing. Use of the missiles is fairly similar.
ML's - think of these as Mavericks. Press "o" to turn on the laser designator. a reticule will appear in the HUD. Use the usual keys to move the reticule over the target. Lock it up - fire. Keep the target lased until missile strike.
MP's - Even easier. Fly towards the AAA/Sam site that's lighting you up on the RWR. Select MPs, press I, then press tab. The reticule will jump to the target location. Fire and forget. :)
Bombs - same as the Su27/33
Cannon - again, the same
Rockets - same. Anything labeled as "S" in the payload screen is an unguided rocket - example, S25, S13 etc.
ECM - same as ever, press E. You need a pod which carries the ECM gear on the plane. To see if it's turned on/off look to your right. There's a big green bulb which indicates its status.
Navigation is pretty simple. Look down to the compass in nav (1) mode. You'll see a direction arrow on the compass. Turn till it points north, the range indicator will count down. Use the F10 key to help you as well. :)
Go familiarise yourself with it, it's a shock to the system!
