Tungsten

just keep it as is, adding an overly complex script is just encouraging Murphey's Law and also adding to the workload of dev team in implementing and maintaining the server, and besides, that lase is really only an issue if you forget it exists

So far i have used 4 of the 5 available Attack heli's in the rotation (Pawnee, Armed Orca, Armed Hellcat and the Kajiman) For the main part, they all have the same issues, you NEED the infantry to clear out the AA and another pilot to stay in the AA jet, which is kinda a good thing, but when cooperation breaks down, it is useless The Pawnee performs as you would expect of a Pawnee, very good at strafes, very nimble but very much reliant on the infantry taking out any armored vehicles, more so then others The Armed Hellcat is the better of the Pawnee and Orca, Performs strafes really well, can transport a decent amount of people, has Flares and RWR as well as a Copilot who can use the FLIR, Downsides are it cant engage vehicles that are not a MRAP or Marid as any Auto cannon will chew it up. The Armed Orca needs a Loadout Change, the sky-fires are good, but the 20mm gun pod is very situational alone, due to its low ammo count and how hard it is to aim due to lack of tracers, although it can engage enemy air much easier with it. The Kajiman is still the Top dog of the Attack Helicopters, Primarily due to the 30mm Cannon, it allows it to engage light armor with APDS rounds, as well as infantry with HE, and Skyfires for various targets with the added ability to transport troops Will Add Blackfoot feedback when i try

Finally got a go at the Blackfoot, Its similar in its Performance to the Skyfire Kajiman, its much better at Overhead Support with the 20mm and DARs then the Pawnee, Hellcat and Orca, while also having 2 ATGMs for AT work or SEAD. Only Problem with it is that it would be better to give fire-control of the DARs to the pilot rather then the Gunner. I think we will probably need another test, one with only the Orca, Hellcat and Orca in rotation and another with only the Blackfoot and Kajiman, maybe even a Armed Blackfish

Its worth a try, if not mirroring the pylons for either 20mm gunpods or rocket pods

I think the Blackfoot and Kajiman need some love give the Blackfoot this kind of skin And the Kajiman (for keks)

I think switching from Attack Jets to Gunships would be a good change for the server, they are more interactive with the infantry and do need to be protected from AA threats a lot more. hopefully we can get a rotation for the Blackfoot, Kajiman and Blackfish Gunship

you can use the idap drones if you are the one setting them up, you just hack them after you set them up and there yours to use

i agree with the Wipeout loadout, but the other suggestions honestly do not make sense or will just make things worse. The Blackfoot for example is not a sentry as you call it, its a Light attack/Recon Heli in its stock loadout, DAGRs are not supposed to be anti armor, rather they are for precision strikes with a laser designator or TV guided, destruction of soft skin, light armor such as MRAPs and IFVs and anti infantry, and the ASRAAMs are for enemy helicopters, and self defense against fixed wing threats engaging you, not for going after them. The Kajiman is stupidly strong for a reason, it is an Assault Helicopter Gunship, it exists to transport troops in, and support them from ALL ground targets, destroying Armor and Infantry, that is what its designed for, while giving it 76 Skyfires would be hilarious fun, it would basically replace the Blackfoot's role for close air support due to better armor, a 30mm gun and troop transporting ability, the problem that currently exists with the Wipeout Vs Neo The idea of the Orca is to Drop troops in hot zones and support them as they enter and leave the area against infantry targets and MRAPS, and yet again, it would overlap with the Hellcat and Pawnee's roles of light ground attack and strafing as well as removing its ability to do that The Neophron's loadout is fine as it is, it has a total of 80 rockets, 40 HE and 40 AP to make up for its Cannons spread, reducing that would cause the Wipeout to still have the advantage no matter what you do to it as long as it has 1000 30mm HEAT rounds vs 500 30mm HEAT and 40 Tratnyrs, that's why i put forward the Neophron's current loadout when the Jets DLC came out, to balance that out as well as put emphasis on its multi role design to the Wipeout's Ground attack focus. And the problem with modifying the Xian is that it runs the risk of adversely affecting the Xian we currently have on rotation with the Infantry Blackfish

The idea of the Kajimans loadout is to deal with AA threats and heavy armor from long range then move in to provide overhead support once the AA threats are neutralized, hence the skyfires, then once the area is cleared pick up the troops and go. The idea behind a Kajiman with 4 Skyfire lolpods would be long term overhead support with the ability to strike soft armor and empacements

Skyfire Kajiman useless? do i need to prove you wrong lmao. The thing is, there are more things to call in to support infantry then just CAS, i mean look at FSG its basically indirect fire support but when CAS is up its made redundant due to faster response times and the low downtime, which is ironic cus its supposed to be the other way around. add in the fact there limited to 82mm Mortars, which is the lightest artillery available and Static AA/AT. I honestly dont mind a nerf to the Wipeout due to its power and ease of use, the Neophron does not really need a nerf cus the Neophron is harder to use, and is more rocket pod focused anyways and we dont speak about the Buzzard CAS for a reason.

until you realize that most of the time, that its when iron-side rocks up that all the armor dies, and all the EI Squads vanish, its only when you have a good UAV op, JTAC and CAS pilot that the enemy armor dies from CAS

not so much as load on the server, as it is encouraging Murphy's Law

i think mines should be limited to Explosive Specialists and also if you set them up, you clean them up

try using a AI gunner for long periods and you notice what i mean, the AI wont engage any targets that are slightly obscured, it takes them a second more to register threats even if they are right in front of you, they don't prioritize targets, they don't switch to more effective weaponry for the job, they don't inform you of dangers or other information like ammo count, MANPADS or bad positioning, all AI gunners are good for engaging targets that are in wide open areas with no cover, using them in a high cover area and they become a liability

Honestly, using AI as gunners over players loses its novelty after a while, players are just straight up better as gunners and the interaction between pilot and gunner make it quite interesting as well, and most of the more experienced pilots know this and try to pass the reasons why onto those that don't, usually with success. The Armed Black fish is not trash, but rather requires traits that are rare on this server, it required outside help to ensure its operational safety, like an AA jet and ground forces to eliminate ground based AA, add in the facts that it can act as an AWACS and a multi eyed manned UAV, i think it would be a good fit with some shuffling around. The idea for a command squad is not to direct everything, because the infantry is going to do what it wants regardless, but rather to regulate tasking requests or inform the relivent parties of threats to them and keep track of the threat, EG AA threats to pilots, getting logistics to areas ahead of time in addition to standard FSG duties. Most of these parties, like Ironside, FSG and Pilots already watch for and respond to calls already, so this is just taking advantage of that, especially with the recent changes to Air and Fire Support ROE, which has turned the long rooted habits upside down. The main problems with FSG currently is their lack of Mobility, the long set up time of the Mortars and Static AT/AA, especially for the further put AOs and the lack of interest in there support and in the role in general, add in the fact its only 2 people cus UAV does its own thing anyway

I would not mind seeing the Ground Attack Jets swapped out for something more interactive with the Infantry, like an Attack Heli or an Armed Blackfish which can also do other roles other then just destroying things I would really like to see the Fire Support Group brought more into prominence, either by expanding there current capabilities or giving them more jobs to fulfill, like acting as a Command squad or Logistics Group operating out of the FOB or near the AO, supporting infantry in the AO with Emplaced weapons or directing support Assets

So when i was playing recently, i started to get the feeling that people are mistaking UAV op for CAS rather then surveillance and only using the bombs when there are no other options. I am noticing that people would rather use the Greyhawks or Sentinels over the Falcon or Darters, Stompers overlooked quite a bit as well

Gonna be cleaning this up and Updating it to make it easier to read now that i can edit older posts

After much planning (and distractions) i have finally come up with a a few solid plans for a Fire Support Team rework. In its current form the FSG and artillery is both completely inferior to CAS in both effectiveness and the amount of time it takes to pack up and preposition after each AO. Overall Aim of rework: Making the Scorcher and Mortars a relevant fire support option for when CAS is not available or not right for the job by making the artillery more accurate and with a faster response time Adding a new way of playing for people who prefer more active support roles while helping people who play fight in the AOs The Removal of the immobile and ineffective Artillery at the main base opening up more space in the Sling load/Rewards area for VTOL s That said, the aim is to make the Fire Support Team an ALTERNATIVE, not a replacement for CAS Option 1: Artillery battery at Base: Removed to free up space Option 2: Downgrade to Man portable Fire Support: Removed to free up Space Option 3: FOB based Fire Support: This option will kill 3 birds with one stone, More space in the Sling area, Faster and more effective Fire support and giving FOBs more usefulness. When a Ammo and Box HEMMT are sent to the FOB in addition to respawning vehicles, either a immobilized Howitzer, or mortar (or both) will become available for use at the FOB. Because of the nature of FOBs and the occasional enemy attack on them, this will also give some risk to FSG outside of the "oh damn, Enemy CAS bombed the truck", but unfortunately this requires additional coding that could potentially break. FOB based Fire Support will allow for faster and more effective fire support and giving FOBs more usefulness. Rather then just having the artillery spawn with the FOB, the FOB needs to be Activated and Supplied before you can use the Artillery. The idea is that when both an Ammo and Box HEMMT are sent to the FOB in addition to respawning vehicles, an immobilized Howitzer will become available for use at the FOB. Because of the nature of FOBs and the occasional enemy attack on them, this will also give some risk to FSG outside of enemy CAS but also makes logistics necessary to an extent rather then purely optional. Ideally the Scorcher will have access to these shells: HE for Standard Anti Personal and Anti Structure Smoke to help players in trouble Guided for less selective or intricate Anti armor work Laser Guided for Precise Anti Personnel and Anti Armor work I would like Cluster HE to be available, as it allows for Anti Personnel Area Denial, but there will be some debate needed as to the inclusion of these shells but i do recognize the potential problems that could arise with this ammo type, but i also believe they can also be useful Cluster AT mines and Cluster AP Mines on the other hand are completely off the table, too much can go wrong with these and i personally don't see them working on I&A anyway. In addition i would like the howitzer to be able to be resupplied, but not in the conventional way due to sheer power it would get, Rather by utilizing the FOB Supplying script or a similar script that when a Ammo HEMMT is brought to the FOB in addition to supplying ammo to the FOB supply box it gives the Artillery ammo as well. There are several reasons for this, the main one being that the amount of ammo used can vary depending on the Terrain in the AO eg: I know from personal experience that providing CAS in places like the Nidasos woodlands and heavy urban areas like Kavala can take a large amount of time to set up a run and that sometimes the infantry need the fire support faster then you can respond to and set up that run But at the same time, flat open places like the research facility are usually all CAS, and you might barely use any offensive ammo but lots of smoke shells Option 4: My Personal Favorite, Self Propelled Fire Support: By far my preferred option, but also the problem causing child, Doing a rework similar to Ironside, giving FSG its own spawn and Asset area, Adding more slots, and with a respawning Ammo HEMMT and Scorcher (Cheeta SPAAG or MLRS are possible but debatable) that can be operated and moved like usual, this can AND WILL cause issues when people don't want to follow the rules, but will also provide the MOST EFFECTIVE fire support when done right, possibly better then CAS in most situations, the details with the Scorcher will need to be looked into, but preferably it will have access to HE, Smoke and Laser Guided. Cluster and Self Guided will need to be discussed but would greatly boost the effectiveness, but Cluster AT and AP mines are MOST DEFINITELY up to the discretion of Admins as these WILL BE PROBLEMATIC IF CAUTION IS NOT TAKEN. Option 5: Command, Firesupport and Logistics Group or just C-FSG The idea for this is to Expand the FSG role to help assist other support roles via the use of the Data link as well as providing Direct and Indirect Fire Support with emplaced weapons, in addition to the Logistics that are already intimately tied to FSG. The idea comes from the fact that a few of the potential Data link capable vehicles fall under the FSG umbrella E.G UAVs and SPAAGs and the intimate relationship between FSG and Logistics. This can put FSG into a more complimentary role to Air support, rather then an alternative, so C-FSG still has an influential role even if its not providing indirect fire support. Noticeable differences in the role would be integrating UAV with FSG rather then as a go between for CAS and FSG, and giving FSG the chance to do something when there is very little calls for support. And it also allows for Flexibility to the FSG roll itself by making certain changes: Allowing for FSG to use Self Propelled Assets like a Cheetah can create an AA defense for Units in Transit Via ground transport or by providing RWR information to Air Assets. Or By putting more of an emphasis on Command and Emplaced Support, C-FSG can effectively set up in a good location near the AO and assist ground troops by creating safe zones that can be used as LZs and keep them relatively safe while also directing and assisting Air and Ground Assets Did some playing around in the editor, the only vehicles that can utilize the Data link effectively that are available at base constantly are the Ghosthawks, Huron, Mohawk, Hellcat, Orca, Black fish, Darters, Falcons, Greyhawk's and Sentinels and the Jets. Some of the reward vehicles are capable of it, even exceeding the easily available ones in terms of usefulness and Sensory range: The Cheetah has long range Air Radar,while the Kajiman and Blackfoot have IR, RWR and Active Radar available to them. That said, while it does say in the Editor that any vehicle can send, receive and show there locations on the data-link, only the above listed can actually access the MFD window that shows the Data Link information. Additionally: The Transport Helos are limited to visual and RWR sensors The Cheeta radar is a full 360 degree radius that detects up to 9km. The Black-fish (all types) radar is about forward facing with 270 degree view that detects up to 7km , with an additional 45 degree directional IR sensor controlled by the copilot that detects up to 4km. The Blackfoot radar is in a 180 degree frontal cone that detects up to 5km, and a directional IR sensor that detects up to 3km. The Kajiman has a radar that detects up to 5km in a 110 degree frontal cone and a directional IR sensor that detects up to 4km

there was a test run for one, but it caused a lot of problems, usually along the lines of destroying the helo

Unfortunately, i dont think you can lock people out of certain UAV types by role, its either all or none from what i know, so unless im wrong the only way to really cut down on the juggling is to only have 1 UCAV, and in all honesty, landing rearming and taking off again in a single UCAV, especially the sentinel is rather quick, the Greyhawks only issue is that it needs to climb back up to 2000m afterwards which takes half of altis from ground level.

im not against them dropping bombs, it helps with AA threats and heavy armor, but having UAV op spot infantry positions and notify the infantry about it does cut down on the time it takes to mop up the AOs, a task that is very much suited to Falcons and Darters rather then UCAVs. But from my point of view, people are too busy juggling the UCAVs that they cant really use the other UAV types. Even with the best of us, the UCAVs seem to take up more of our attention then anything else because you have to get them in a holding pattern, swap between them to spot, lase and bomb, then send them off to rearm, and then land them and make sure they rearm and take off again without causing issues. That is leaving less time to operate the falcon and darters, which i find to be very handy for spotting infantry or monitoring objects of interest, they even have more stable and accurate lasing, Stompers are rather hands off after the commands are given, yet i see them always at base

what you need to realize about the Black wasp as CAS or as a Multirole is that your sacrificing quite a lot of things when compared to a Wipeout or Neo: Survivability: the Wipeout be crippled and it can still fly, and both the Neo and Wipeout can take more damage from Triple A compared to the AA jets (double the flares means nothing if you have a AA missile come at you from in-front of you, which is very likely to happen when doing CAS) Flexibility: all the Wasp has for CAS is Macers or GBUs and nothing else, meaning you cant effectively and efficiently take out lighter targets like IFVs or MRAPs, your 20mm HE is better suited for dogfights and its a waste to use bombs or Heavy ATGMs like Macers on light armor, loading Bombs or Macers also reduces your AA loadout quite noticably, where as the Wipeout and Neo have 30mm cannons firing HEAT shells, Rockets , ASRAAMs and Bombs, which basically lets you engage just about anything the infantry will encounter Reliability: The Wipeout may be slow, but that is not a bad thing, because it has a much lower stall speed and can land on around 100m of clear ground (you can touch down just after the christmas trees and be at full stop by the time you get to the taxiway into the CAS spawn if you do it right) Effectiveness: Your basicly asking one person to do 2 vastly different jobs at the same time which increases the response times, reducing overall loiter times because of less available ammo for each job, increasing the downtime due to more frequent rearming and you also cant do clever tag team tactics that the CAS and AA jet can do together, like bait and kill. With that said, CAS really is only useful until Ironside arrives in the AO, once the tanks roll in your job is done, same with the AA jet, unless there is a Zeus mission, your job ends when the tower gets blown and the enemy jets are down

I know there is already a similar thread, but i want this to go in a different direction So as the Jets DLC gets closer, we have seen whats being added a lot clearer, a F/A 181 Black Wasp II, To - 201, and A-149 Gryphon, which look like they are based of the F/A 18 Black Wasp Prototype , SU-35 and SAAB Gryphon respectively, and while they are marketed as Air Superiority, if their anything like the Jets they are based on, they will have Multi role Capabilities which is also what BI are saying, if this was a normal addition, would not change much, but since Dynamic load outs where announced As you can see in the quote, this could also extend past jets to UCAVs and Helicopters, while this can expand each of these assets roles, they all have access to ATGMs, the main problem child for I&A, which means, this DLC comes as a double edged sword to the server, it can greatly expand the roles of JTAC, UAV, and Jet and Gunship CAS but also grow to be a problem. My main Concern is with the respawning AA Jet and the UAVs, depending on how the load outs are changed, troublemakers are going to no doubt going to exploit this, especially if the ATGMs stay as IR Seeking