The Hun in Battle: a video

[ceo1944]

For all you Hun fans out there...

I put together a video of a Rolling Thunder mission which you might be interested in: https://youtu.be/Qrw0dX7sjxA

This showcases the F-100D doing what it was made to do. Get there fast, wreak havoc, and get back home. A typical Rolling Thunder mission from Da Nang airbase striking the Quang Khe naval base.

Featured add-ons used are the Milviz F-100D, VRS Tacpack, FSX@War Southeast Asia Pack (now in Beta) and FSCaptain RED (now in Alpha about to go beta) which provides the mission structure and AAA ground fire opposition.

Some time ago I posted a video (the T-28 in Laos) showcasing what we're now calling FSCaptain RED, and promised updates.

Well, we're in the second phase of alpha testing and things are going pretty well. We hope to transition to a public Beta by the end of this month. I'll keep y'all updated here.

Enjoy!
Dutch

[xpelekis]

Another 3min video of an FSC RED assignment in Laos.
Video demonstrates triple A with tracers, hits taken and
resulting damages, as also one of the many Lima Sites & Airstrips of
Vietnam FSX@War theater (LS20A) :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUSc4IgGfqY

If you need more info, you may keep reading :

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Having the luck to be a tester of FSCaptain RED, - and you can
certainly take for granted that I'm biased, for several reasons... -
I'd like to drop few more lines about this program and the potential that
is opening to v-pilots :

1. FSC RED manages to bring the vastly unexplored
potential of FSX/P3D Mission System, in Free Flight ! (!!....) Scripted
events & actions, only available in FSX/P3D Missions until today, are
triggered in Free Flight mode, while you fly one of the maaany FSC RED
"assignments" (term used for no confusion with FSX/P3D Missions/Scenarios System).

2. FSC RED brings with it the needed scripts for ground/surface Combat Artificial Intelligence : You have all kind of simobjects capable of shooting at you and capable
of downing you from the sky... All sort of weapons are realistically simulated, from
ground rifle fire & 0.50 calibers up to Flak, AAA with tracers and manpad infrared homing missiles (always talking about Free Flight here).

3. You start a career as an assigned pilot to some organization (say... Air America in Laos)
and through your sorties and how well you perform in each one, you are granded points that advance your career...

4. FSC RED Assignments are tailored to airport & plane/helicopter in use :

- You want the combat pilot way with Tacpack ? You can (see videos - FSC RED doesn't need Tacpack or anything...)
- You want to deliver or pick up cargo with C-47 Skytrain ? You can
- You want medevac with the Huey ? You can
- You want to airdrop food at a site under fire (or not) ? You can
- You want firefighting ? You can
- Is there something you want & not included ? You can make it ...

5. Last : Regarding the Vietnam Era, FSC RED takes into account the upcoming FSX@War Vietnam - Laos theater for assignments to fly in this theater.
In my opinion - being a tester in both - this combination will result in many happy
hours of v-flying, with sense of purpose & motivation, either in SP or MP...

[ceo1944]

In my opinion - being a tester in both - this combination will result in many happy
hours of v-flying, with sense of purpose & motivation, either in SP or MP...

A sense of purpose and motivation is one of the main design goals. Not only in that all your sorties are recorded and scored to build a career, but also missions can be combined into campaigns which allow the actions of the pilot to affect the course of the campaign.

To use an SEA example, I am working now on an assignment named Broken Arrow - allied unit in danger of being overrun. The pilot(s) ability to put ordinance on target in close proximity to friendies will determine the outcome. Very challenging - but a very real thing.

Dutch

[xpelekis]

Dutch, tell you this for discussion's shake in a flight sim forum,

Some minutes ago, I completed a training session about VOR usage with my
USNVA "insructor" seated and instructing from the back pit of the Texan -6
in JoinFS shared cockpit online MP.
Your 'Nam assignments use VOR as the navigation method. I'll use that in action now...

What FSX/P3D really lack as simulators, is the easy access of user to all sort of
aviation scenarios simulation, leaving user to his imagination or fantasy for that...

Free Flight is great when I'm flying my paraglider in real life, but I expect much more
than this from a flight simulator when I'm seatted in my room in front of a screen.
I expect challenge, a flying task with some meaning, a goal to achieve during the flight,
and a sense of accomplishmet if I perform well or even fail while I'm trying, for keeping
my interest alive in this simulator...
The "sweet emptiness & nothingness" of FSX/P3D Free Flight mode,
is just unbarable to me and I guess to many other goal oriented v-flyers.

Even P3D, that "officialy" by LM is an "aviation scenarios training simulator",
fails big to this goal... Yes, it has a powerfull tool called SimDirector (that FSX lacks) and a
huge potential for doing so via scripted scenarios of the P3D Mission System, but in practise,
how easy it is for the average user to acces this potential ?... Or how many P3D users out of 100,
use in practise this tool and this potential ?... Answer is 0. In the best case
a 2-3% of users, dew to the complexity, effort and time needed to make a scripted
scenario or FSX Mission.

I sincerely believe that FS RED has the potential to fill this big "empty space" in simulation in
FSX/P3D and "restore" their position to where they belong, ie
the flight simulation, that consists of two parts : a. The study/training on how to function & fly
a plane (which is the only in practise available part in FSX/P3D), and b. the simulation of aviation scenarios, like :

- Dropping paratroopers with C-46 behind enemy lines, under fire...
- Evacuate with Huey a place before being overrun...
- Firefight with CL-215 or 415 over my homeland...
- Recon with an RF-4E some area...
and so on.

How can this be ? FSC RED, apart of the ready missions (assignments), comes with a simple "assignments scripting language" (asl)
for anyone to make a mission, in just 4
lines of text in a text editor (for a basic mission)... The manual of this language to learn, is 2-3 pages.
While the manual of FSX/P3D Missions SDK is over 100 pages in reality and scripting
language is not an easy one to understand.

Personally, I consider this addon the most critical & important addon above any other... Without weather & environment
enhancments I can "live", but without a flight task to accomplish I can't. I'll just change simulator.

Said too much & talk is cheap. Your videos tell the most of the story (but not all!).
When beta will be out, people will have the chance to estimate first hand the difference
of flying in Free Flight and in FSC RED.

Chris, out. :untroubled:

[Ripcord]

I am now very curious about FS Captain RED and how it works, and how you use it with VRS TacPack. Any links where I can get more information?

[ceo1944]

I am now very curious about FS Captain RED and how it works, and how you use it with VRS TacPack. Any links where I can get more information?

Now that the specs are getting set solidly in place for version 1 it is time to get details out on the web site. We'll be working to get that up this week.

It works by providing a program that enables a scripting language that defines the goals of a mission, and can optionally create and set into action any number of simobjects to be targets either static or in programmed routes. The simobjects have a built in AI that allows them to react to a combat environment without the script writer have to program all those actions in detail. Units will engage enemy air and ground targets including the user aircraft with a very realistic set of weapons sort of like Tacpack in reverse. Enemy units will try and can damage or destroy the user.

Tacpack itself comes into play to give the user aircraft the ability to engage and destroy the target objects and any other enemy opposition. But Tacpack isn't required - CS weapon is also supported, and will work. And it's not necessary to shoot at all. There are many possible missions such supply airdrops or deliveries or medevacs that can be done. The system is also aware of and cooperates with FSX@war to provide missions in those theaters - and it automatically without any configuration by the user weaponizes appropriate FSX@War simobjects to shoot at the user.

The system is open and players can include their own missions and even configure new weapons systems.

There's even more but that's a basic overview. FSCaptain RED has been in development for over a year and is built on the already established platform of the FSCaptain ATP simulation system.

it will initially be available in two forms. RED which is simpler and less expensive and contains only the assignments ( I.e. Missions) system and GOLD which contains both ATP and missions together.

hope that helps,
Dutch

[Ripcord]

Dutch,

Thanks for the detailed reply. It definitely looks interesting and I will be following your progress.

What implications are there for those that like to fly Navy? Will this allow placement of ships, as would a garden variety FSX mission? I am fully aware of .tps files for those that have VRS TP, and the CCP by the FSX@War team. Does this provide any functionality for actually getting on deck?

I really like the thought of being able to set up a localized scenario, where one operates from a navy ship, flies over the beach, lands/drops/recovers/extracts/whatever, and return back to the ship -- particularly with some small arms fire, AAA, etc, something to make it interesting.

Mark

[ceo1944]

Dutch,

Thanks for the detailed reply. It definitely looks interesting and I will be following your progress.

What implications are there for those that like to fly Navy? Will this allow placement of ships, as would a garden variety FSX mission? I am fully aware of .tps files for those that have VRS TP, and the CCP by the FSX@War team. Does this provide any functionality for actually getting on deck?

I really like the thought of being able to set up a localized scenario, where one operates from a navy ship, flies over the beach, lands/drops/recovers/extracts/whatever, and return back to the ship -- particularly with some small arms fire, AAA, etc, something to make it interesting.

Mark

Thanks for the question Mark. We explicitly support carrier operations such that assignments can be defined for carrier operating in a defined geographic region. The scenario you mentioned would be quite easy to set up. Ships can be placed and scripted like any other simobjects.

Dutch

[Ripcord]

Dutch, thanks again for your response. Maybe when you have a mind to make another video, I'd really like to see how you start your flight and get your aircraft on deck of your ship. I am quite intrigued, as you might have guessed.

[ceo1944]

Dutch, thanks again for your response. Maybe when you have a mind to make another video, I'd really like to see how you start your flight and get your aircraft on deck of your ship. I am quite intrigued, as you might have guessed.

Probably the next video will be from a carrier. Right now I'm working on coding rather than videos though.

Starting a flight from a carrier is currently no different that starting any other RED flight. There's no mechanism to "get you on the carrier"; that's up to you, but once you are there, you can start your mission normally. For myself I spawn a carrier using the VRS AI menu while in slew mode at about 200 feet then drop myself down on it and exit slew mode. If I want to get onto an existing carrier I slew over it and do the same thing. Seems to work fine for me so far.

Dutch

[motus]

Hi ceo1944,

I post you a PM to see if I can help you to create mission tool using CCP (or not).

Thank you for this fantastic tool.