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Helicopter Attack Runs


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Don't know if this is just a problem with the AH-1W, but here it goes:

In a mission where I had two Syrian tanks close to one another, I gave an Area Target command to an AH-1W with the mission type set to Heavy. The target area was just large enough to cover both enemy tanks. Imagine my surprise when the pilot makes individual attack runs on both tanks with...his 20mm cannon. :rolleyes:

Must enemy tanks be thus targeted individually with the Point Target command if I want a helo to use an ATGM against them? That would be pretty counterproductive if that's the case, especially if there are multiple tanks that need to be taken out.

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This is a common and popular issue: The need for more info regarding loadouts.

If your gameplan relies on the destruction of one or two tanks it seems a waste of time to wait the 7-12 minutes for the support to arrive only to find out they will be throwing rocks instead of tank killers. Particularly vexing when there is a 1 hour or less time limit.

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There is already a way to see the loadout of a given aircraft, the ammo screen centre right of the console. But without a tooltip giving more information you can only make sense of it if you already have some idea of what it's carrying.

Which isn't all that helpful, really.

I hope that with CM:N BFC tooltip EVERYTHING.

good point and good point.

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I wouldn't mind a feature where you click on the air asset in the panel, and a little popup window in the corner of the screen list the aircraft loadout.

Absolutely. If I'd known the Cobras were carrying only cannon rounds I would never have bothered with calling up the support request.

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Maybe an idiot proof feature that gives you information on what type of attack is currently allowed would be helpful, so it gives you a request unavailable message if you select medium and it's not available.

Otherwise maybe have a more detailed info popup that shows the ordinance the aircraft is carrying and have a small 'L,M,H' next to each weapon or a colour to show Light, medium, heavy.

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  • 3 weeks later...

By random chance I was looking through some of my documents from my tour of duty in Iraq (04-05) and came across this tidbit of information from a handout published by the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division:

AIRCRAFT CHECK-IN

Definition. Information given to the ground commander by an AH-64 attack team or OH58D via radio when entering that commander's AOR.

Aircraft will send the following:

1. AIRCRAFT LOCATION/CALL SIGN

2. NUMBER AND TYPE OF AIRCRAFT

3. TYPE OF AMMUNITION ON BOARD

4. STATION TIME

Obviously the pertinent point here is line 3, as it shows that having detailed ammo info in the interface for attacking aircraft is in fact realistic.

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By random chance I was looking through some of my documents from my tour of duty in Iraq (04-05) and came across this tidbit of information from a handout published by the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division:

Obviously the pertinent point here is line 3, as it shows that having detailed ammo info in the interface for attacking aircraft is in fact realistic.

Procedure is the same for Brit aircraft and JTACs as well. Currently this is handled by the spoken dialogue which right now is generic. I wonder if it would be possible to create specific dialogue for each type of loadout and handle it that way.

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  • 2 months later...

Just a friendly little bump for this. ;) It would be nice to have, at a minimum, some sort of tooltip on the ammo loadout screen for aircraft to know what type of ordnance they are carrying. The current interface presentation is wholly inadequate, IMO.

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Something that just occurred to me: The air support UI pertaining to aircraft loadout could be much more helpful with just a little adjustment.

Some of us know that the AH-1W (at least in CMSF) has only two possible loadouts: ATGMs or rockets. But the ammo counters for the respective loadouts look identical. And the Air Support Panel makes no distinction between an AH-1W armed for an anti-armor sortie (i.e., with ATGMs) and one armed for anti-personnel work (with rockets).

A wise scenario designer will indicate in the scenario briefing what sort of loadout the allotted air assets have. But what about a scenario designed by someone who, say, forgot to indicate in the briefing the loadouts of the air assets?

A suggestion, using the AH-1W as an example: Redo the Air Support Panel so that it reads: "AH-1W / Anti-Armor" or "AH-1W / Ground Support (or some similar terminology)". This sort of one-or-the-other distinguishing may not work for every aircraft, but it's better than the status quo, and simpler to implement (AFAIK) then adding tooltips for each ammo bar for each aircraft. Knowing at a glance whether (for example) the F/A-18s on call are loaded up with Mavericks or with JDAMs would definitely be helpful.

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