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Our DCS Server: (This one was massive, over 100GB download and unpack, took several hours!)

SESSION 1 REPORT Despite the Red forces putting up consistent waves of defending aircraft, the blue air force managed to stem the tide which assisted the ground offence to make some ground. Gaziantep which started out under Red control was re-captured and despite an attempt by Red forces to take it back (they managed to get a convoy very close to the airfield perimeter and were able to take out some of the NASAMS) it remains in Blue control. The ground team have worked hard and have managed to get one of the NASMA launchers operational again. The Alpha FOB is back under Blue control after being briefly taken by a Red patrol. The red held towns of Abu Talhah and Harim were targeted by helicopter and air strikes and have taken losses to their defenses but still need further attention before we can send in troops to capture them. The key Red airfield of Aleppo suffered many hits but still remains fully operational and must be considered a key target for the next attack if Blue forces are to progress into Red territory. Hatay remains the key front line airfield with flights of F4, F14, F16 and F18 being ferried there to be available for the next mission (see below) SCORES Fruitbat was the first pilot to hit 1000 points but was sadly killed on that "one last attack" so suffered a 10 point penalty....... MISSION TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE All players seemed to be reporting good frames (unlike previous attempts to run the mission ) so it looks like my changes have been a good step forward. I have loaded the mission up on my machine this morning in order to grab the screen shots and it loaded with no problems so looking good for the next session. Feedback regarding AI spawns was that it could be spaced a bit more so I will update the enemy spawn delay from between the current 5 to 8 minutes out to 5 to 15 minutes. Many thanks to all those attended and I hope you enjoyed the experience. Friar

PHASE 1 - SESSION 2 Red air resistance continue to be a constant threat, although not as intense as in the first engagement, however, they still managed to claim a number a victories. Blue air force certainly gave as good as they got, if not actually winning more duels and enabling the ground war to continue. Aleppo was again the main target and its defensive units taking multiple hits. It still remains operational however. Ground was made to the South East of Hatay with the town of Abu Talhah being captured by units of the 82nd deployed by Ch-47. Despite being taken there are still some Red resistance units in the area who will no doubt stage an attempt to recapture it at the next opportunity so some thought should be given to protecting the Blue ground units that are occupying. Alpha FOB became fully operational again for rearm and refuel following the arrival of a supply convoy. Harim has again taken significant damage and may well also be ready for an assault. Advise strongly that further recon takes place before committing boots on the ground. SCORES LOGISTICS Hatay was again supplied with ferried aircraft and the stocks are as follows During the course of the mission stocks of Hellfire type "K" missiles were nearly depleted and a re-supply mission was required. Stocks were flown in my Ch-47 from Incirlik. MISSION TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE No major issues were report and the session seemed to run smoothly. From the scores we can see that @DD_Fenrir has flown under different pilot IDs and his score has been split over the two sessions so far. It is therefore recommended pilots join the campaign with the same name to ensure your scores are maintained correctly. SUMMARY I hope you all enjoyed this session and I look forward to next week when we might finally get our hands on Aleppo. Friar

I have just added two new versions of the Caucasus map to our server. I have taken the current v3 (built by Fen) and made them a winter version and also removed the WWII asset pack for those who do not have it YET.... As of Sunday morning 16th Feb I have put the no WWII asset pack version up.

Hey chaps, I have just loaded up the mission as if we were going to run week 2. I am pleased to report that the mission loaded, took a while but it loaded all ok. Alpha FOB is still showing blue as it Abu Talhur, the JTAC is showing as being located there as well (I moved him to the FOB right at the end of the mission). and... The planes that were ferried from Incirlik to Hatay are showing as in stock. I also kicked off the enemy AI and planes started spawning in So... Based on this quick test, I am prepared to say that I think we are now in business to run the Campaign as I had hoped, at last! Many thanks once again for all your trust and patience to get this working.

Ramrod 564 DCS event will be hosted on Sunday 23rd of February; briefing at 2000 GMT. Mossies and Mustangs available. @BluBear @fruitbat @Friar @PapaBear @wingflyr @Zukker @Squawk @DD_Sheriff @FoolTrottel @delta7 @Perfesser @T_O_A_D

Ok chaps, I am hoping I have resolved the AI spawn, so,....... I am going to have one last go tomorrow (Thursday) with the mission. (starting from fresh). The score module has been updated so I am afraid you will loose any score that is not banked if you are killed. I will save at the end of the night and then re-load it before the next session to see if it works, rather than save during the first session and then perhaps waster your time if it does not load. Fingers crossed. Hope to see you all in the next session. Friar

Our DCS Server:

@BluBear @fruitbat @wingflyr @Zukker @DD_Sheriff @Perfesser Provisional Order of Battle For Event 23/02/2025 If you do not see your name listed and wish to participate, please let me know as soon as possible and with what your preferred airframe would be. We have the following slots available: Mosquito bomber - Pilot x6, Navigator x18 Mosquito Photo Recce (unarmed) - Pilot x1, Navigator x1 Mustang MkIV - Pilot x10

Bravo Col! Great session, really enjoyed it thank you. Even if I did make a meal of it at the start. 😁 Really appreciate your expertise and persistence with this, and kudos to Kev and others who have offered additional assistance and testing. Working together for a common goal across many different platforms really offers that extra dimension. Aleppo gonna get it next week.

Below is the area I propose for "Phase 1" of the Campaign

I think I can handle a Mossie on this one. If not a 51 for sure.

I have more replies to a post that does not exist than I get for my real ones!

Back to Iraq,

I'm game to try

@BluBear @fruitbat @Friar @Perfesser @wingflyr @DD_Sheriff @Zukker Don't forget chaps, Event briefing will be in the dedicated "DCS Event: RAMROD 564" Discord channel server, NOT the Dangerdogz discord. If you're not already a member, here's an invite: https://discord.gg/Gysg8qbR

Following some more testing (thanks to @fruitbat for the assistance) we encountered a performance issue after saving the mission a couple of times. I reported this to cfrag (creator of DML) and he kindly investigated. He unearthed a contributing issue from ED in the way the server performs when loading the mission and has made changes to one of his key scripts to accommodate this. He also commented on the fact that I may have been too keen with the number of units I had in the map. Turns out I had made arrangements for just over 1200! Not all were on the map at the start but they were in the "library" so to speak ready to be used. To correct this I have decided (and perhaps a decision I should have made at the start) to break the campaign map into phases. Probably 3, may be 2. I will delete all the units that will be required in phase 2 from the phase 1 section, in Phase 2 all the units in Phase 1 will be removed etc. This should help considerably with our performance, together with the changes to the scripts. When we move from phase 1 to phase 2, I will test copying the score files over so I am hoping you will be able to keep a running total for the whole campaign. I am hoping to have Phase 1 ready for Monday so we can make a start in doing some of the ground work ready for Thursday. Apologies for yet another fresh start but I am sure you all appreciate the learning curve this has been but I hope (again) we are there this time (yes, I know I have said this before ) Hopefully Real Life V1.0 will be treating you all a bit better this week, only myself and Fruitbat on Monday and Thursday last week (turns out this was a good thing!) Cheers Friar

Mossie for me please.

Mosquito please, naturally.

Gentlemen Despite our best efforts the enemy has succeeded in withdrawing significant amounts of men and material to the mainland. Our next task is to soften up the coastal batteries in preparation for a troop landing in Southern Italy The primary task is to eliminate the control and command HQ in a fortress and to eliminate the coastal guns guarding the entrance to the port of Boughrara The A20s will bomb , the spitfires will escort. Expect heavy air cover Mission is scheduled for 16th Feb 2100 uk time

@FoolTrottel I did think of something sort of similar, I thought about a menu option for selection the current mission number, that would then be perhaps used against a flag so that number sequence AI would be used, early days on the thought process that one. @Everyone 1. Would it matter if AI flights were air started? Might be easier for me replicate the flights? 2. Do you want constant enemy AI in the air or should we be able to eliminate the air threat each mission?

So, this is where I am at with the Campaign. It really is funny how the mind works. I have been asking questions of Cfrag (coder of DML) just recently about generated units being killed and then not re-spawned when the next mission is loaded using the rolling persistence saved data. My sole focus was making sure that any ground units we take out that are protecting towns and airfields would not come back when the next mission is loaded. Mind Blown this morning, out of no where came the realisation that I believe that this will apply to AI flights as well so if we take out the flights that are put up against us in one mission they will not reappear in the next nor for the rest of the campaign. At the moment I have a pulse that is set for every 5-10 minutes which goes to a randomizer that picks an airfield from one of six available. That airfield then picks a flight from maybe 5 or 6 flights. I am now faced with having to come up with a solution that will provide enough air interest to keep the air to air jockeys happy over what could be a 6-10 session campaign. I get there is the argument that a side needs to gain air superiority before a ground war can commence but for game-play I need stuff in the air each mission. Gulp! I now need to think up a way of being to provide continuous air activity so will have to pause the Campaign until I get a spark of inspiration. Happy to listen to any ideas / suggestions BTW.

No time wasted Colin, it's all enjoyable, don't apologise! Appreciate all that you're trying to do, to pull together something more than the ordinary. I wish I had the time and knowledge to help. If you can't get it quite how you want it right now, are there further levels of complexity you can roll back on?

Sorry, I will not be joining this one.