quality of CAS

[Cambronne]

whether it's not in the manual or just I don't get it,I don't know.But I don't really understand what kind of difference in between light,medium and heavy airsupport(antitank) element.Or,in the same class of mission the difference between f15,f16,kiowa and apache.Does f16 carry more ammo than f15,or has apache better detection tools than the kiowa.....?

[Garm]

In addition to that, it would be useful in my opinion if the remaining rounds of different ammo types (rockets, bombs...) was shown, just the information we have for vehicles.

[c3k]

Yes. I've started a couple threads on improving the UI for both artillery and air assets.

To me, the simplest and most effective improvements would be an ammo bar for artillery, showing rounds remaining in a graphic nature. Showing how much of that ammo bar would be used for a given mission before committing to it would, of course, be much better.

As well, for air support, substituting the actual ordnance loadout for the descriptors of heavy, medium, or light would cut through the enigma which is air support.

Regards,

Ken

[Field Marshal Blücher]

To me, the simplest and most effective improvements would be an ammo bar for artillery, showing rounds remaining in a graphic nature. Showing how much of that ammo bar would be used for a given mission before committing to it would, of course, be much better.

This exists already. When selecting a fire mission, you can already look at the ammo levels. I'll take a screenshot if you can't find it, because for the life of me I can't figure out how to describe the location of the ammo counter.

[c3k]

Please do!

If you're talking about the row of red/green dots, well, the manual states those show the level of responsiveness of the asset, not ammo.

In my dream world, in which I wave a magic wand and it all happens, the artillery assets would have a horizontal bar, the magnitude of which would show the maximum ammo capacity.

E.g., |____________________________180| (all in black, or shadowbox)

Then, there would be a portion filled in with green relating to the actual available ammo:

|_________________120|_________180| (the section up to 120 in green, the rest in black or shadowbox)

This shows that the artillery asset currently has 120 rounds available.

Next, when you select an mission, say, medium/medium, the bar changes. The green gets reduced by a section of red. The red equates to the current mission. The green would be how much is left AFTER the mission.

|_____40|__________80|_________180| (green for the section up to 40, red from 40 to 80, black or shadowbox for the rest.)

This would mean that the asset could only ever have 180 rounds available. Currently, if your mission goes through, you'd use 80 rounds. That would leave 40 for the future.

Don't FO's and the FDC communicate about ammo levels?

Have any current artillery batteries run out of ammo when supporting the forward element of an attack? (From the US side, that is.)

Would they run out ammo after just two missions? A total of, say, 4 minutes of firing?

I'm not looking for CONTROL, just information.

Thanks,

Ken

[Field Marshal Blücher]

This picture shows the ammo display. Granted, it's not as precise as your ideal, but at least it tells you something.

[Meach]

I really am not sure what each ammo bar represents tho. I take it one has to be heavy and one medium and one light.

[Inkompetent]

I think it's the same order as for the infantry, so it'd go from Light, to Medium, to Heavy. In the case of the A-10 I'd guess it means 30mm cannon, 2.75" FFARs, and Mavericks.

[c3k]

No, no, no. That is OBVIOUSLY the Mk. 19 equipped A-10. They ripped out the miserable little GAU-8 30mm cannnon, as well as all but three of the hardpoints. They replaced them with three 40mm grenade launchers. See the ammo pictures?

FMB, you are correct, of course. However, I still have NO idea what they have or how many of them they have. Do you?

The bars give a little bit of idea in a relative sense: it seems one loadout has a LOT more than the other two. I would assume the middle bar is the medium. Which of the other one's is heavy? (I assume the far right is heavy since the GAU-8 has a lot of shots so it would make sense if it is the tallest bar.)

Ikompetent, why do you think 2.75" FFAR's and Mavericks?

Thanks,

Ken

[Inkompetent]

Well, because it's a quite 'standard' all-round gearing for on-call CAS. Of course it could carry high-drag 500lbs or 1000lbs bombs (can't recall the exact name of them atm) and many more things. I haven't ever seen a A-10 attack in CMSF and never ever touched the editor, so I wouldn't really know what setups are possible.

[SgtMuhammed]

I am playing around with aircraft and hope to have some sort of rough loadout ready in the next couple days, maybe sooner.

[c3k]

Inkompetent; thanks. The 2.75 FFAR's seems to me to be an Army Aviation load more than one the USAF would use.

SgtMuhammed; yeah, doing that work to figure out what is what with CAS and Arty can be done, but wouldn't it be great if BF.C included the information on the UI?

Thanks,

Ken

[SgtMuhammed]

Agreed. It is on the wishlist.

[Meach]

Scenario editors don't really know what the set ups are either. Therein lies the problem, methinks.

[Splinty]

I think a pair of 500 lb bombs would be more likely than rockets, but that's pure speculation on my part.

[SgtMuhammed]

From what I have done so far it seems that the teen jets carry mainly bombs while the A10s and Harriers sometimes carry missiles. The only rockets I have found are on Kiowas and Apaches.