Mission advice for Newbs for the A-10

The way to tackle most missions is to realize that you can't go in guns blazing. It's suicidal because:

• your basic skills are not going to be developed enough and
• even with developed skills, experienced fliers would have a plan.

If the area is covered by SAMs(Strelas) and AAA, you have to plink away at the important threats. You have to know what the threats are about. You can do it by looking at the briefing and by recognizing the threats when you fly in.

From the Briefing

• Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to get the target area figured out. Fighter jets work on a large scale. The A-10 and SU-25T work on a very detailed level. You usually start at the GEOPHYSICS Map Mode. You can toggle on the altitudes by clicking on ALTITUDE MAP.
• When down at a workable scale, you can switch to SATELLITE view with the MAP MODE toggle.
• Measure distances between the various points along your path. Use the Right-Click on the map and move the mouse around. In the lower right corner, it tells you the heading and the distance.
• SAM threat circles are present and you have to remember where they lie on your path. It's here when you can start planning your ingress.
• Recognize the types of SAMs and whether they are RADAR SAMs or IR SAMS. From their threat circles you can see the margins of error.
• Look at weapons are available or that you are going to use. They have differnt ranges. The AGM-65D has twice the range of the AGM-65K

From your Instruments

When you arrive at your destination, know that the briefing is not going to be complete. You are going to have to rely on your RWR and your Maverick and looking at the scene ahead.

• Take stock of the threats and see how your plans need to change. Go slow and acknowledge the threats. Charging ahead is not a plan. Retreating when you have NO plan is a reasonable plan.
• The RWR(Radar Warning Receiver) tells you about any radar threats. It's simple and effective.
• Your Maverick TV monitor is going to be the major tool for pinpointing targets. Learn to spot the various enemies and how to move the TV monitor around.
• You need great control over your viewing options - Zooming in, scanning the area, effective use of the hat-switch to keep track and to search.

Approaching the target area

You first need to know the SAM and AAA threats - Your RWR is your best aid as well as keeping to your waypoints(by waypoints I mean keeping to your plan). And you are going to have to deal with these threats. That means flying in, nailing a SAM or 2 and then hurriedly REVERSING course and going back out again. This requires patience and recognizing that you have to re-organize yourself. Take a deep breath.

After you have cleared an area in which to operate, remind yourself of the danger areas and the cleared areas. If there are 4 SAMs around the target of interest, you have to analyze your approach. Taking out 2 SAMs on one side of the target, changes ingress and egress.

Hunting SAMs and AAA - the further away the better - especially with the Maverick AGM-65Ds which have the longer ranges than the MaverickAGM-65Ks. It is always a tense situation when closing in, but that's where the skill comes in. Can you get the Maverick locked onto the SAM soon enough? Once locked up, do not hesitate to release. And do not wait to see what happens - you'll be close enough that few SAMs will miss. You might want to practice hunting Shilka AAA with your cannon: you might need that extra missile for a SAM.

Evading SAMs - After launching, turn 90 degrees while popping flares and chaff(with Q) for a moment and the 90 degrees again while popping flares and chaff. You can also turn on your ECM(with E) while ingressing - that delays the SAM lock-on to give you a margin of error. Diving down to the deck and then popping up again is another effective way to evade SAMs. Practice the skills.

Another skill is enemy recognition - it's especially important if there's AAA in a convoy. Even if you have labels on, a convoy has labels that are all jumbled together. But most importantly you are not destroying the enemy AAA and other targets by looking through the HUD but by recognizing what's ON THE TV MONITOR. But you start with HUD view by placing the Target Designator(TD) close enough.

Viewing skills

• You have to learn how to move/slew that TD around. The 1st step is to re-map the SEMI-COLON, PERIOD, COMMA, SLASH to proper keys. They are just plain clumsy. You might re-map to joystick buttons. But much better is the 4 Cursor Keys. That gives you a natural feel for TD movement. Also remember that the AGM-65D has a zoom-in option (with the PLUS key next to Backspace)
• Learn to Zoom-in in the cockpit so that you can get a very good overview. Here's some relevent keys for zooming:
  Key Pad *(Asterisk)- Zoom IN view
  Key Pad /(Divide) - Zoom OUT view
  Key Pad 5 Centres the view
  Key Pad Enter - Resets the Zoom
  Key Pad 0 - Allows you to look down. You can tap on this for a temporary view change. Coolness.

To sum up:

• increase the basic skills with Mavericks - practice
• increase your viewing skills - practice
• have patience when plinking at a SAM and turning away
• be aware of the danger level as you ingress
• recognize that turning gives you a chance to re-organize and to be safe. Over time you'll be able to recognize when you can go further.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: You have a higher responsibility to survive than to win the mission. Once you realize this, your patience for the job will increase enough to let you acquire the skills. If you knock off a few SAMs and need to leave, then be satisfied with that.

Take a look at my Up-to-Speed Guides. They'll give you a deeper understanding of the controls. And better control of your plane.

Download the Training Mission - Training Convoy. It should give you a chance to practice your skillz. Unzip the .mis files into c:\xxx\Ubisoft\Eagle Dynamics\Lock On\Missions folder.

Look here for some MISSIONS and to - Sims Main Page