Hey everyone,

So I finally started playing this game, and my first plane is the A10. I have done all the training missions for the A10 and completed quite a few missions so far.

The problem however is dodging missiles. For example, in some missions I am only given one long range air to ground missile, which I use against a ground AA missile vehicle. The problem however is that there are still some other ground targets left which launch missiles and i have to attack these either with bombs or the cannon.

I find it impossible to get close to these missile launching targets, and to dodge a missile.... so maybe someone can give me a few pointers here for the A10??

Also, I notice that sometimes I hear a constant beep when the missile is launched, whereas sometimes there is no beep noise that would indicate an incoming missile , so I just end up getting shot down. Can someone explain this please?

Last question, what is the difference between a chaff and a flare?? i notice that my wingman is throwing away flares or chaffs?? constantly as soon as the enemy ground unit has a lock, even though there is no missile launch..

I really hope someone can clear up some of these things for me.. thank you in advance

I can give a try..

First of all you should take a good look trough the manual, it should clear up a good deal for you.

As for dodging missiles, there are several ways to do this. Keep looking for them, and do a split-s (180deg. turn downwards) while chaffing or flaring. That is the safest way. When you have several SAM launchers against you; you should have at least one AGM-65D for each of them. If you run out, simply RTB (return to base) and rearm. The A-10 is not really a SEAD platform, and should not be used as one. That said, it can clear out sort-range SAMs with AGMs.

The beeps you get is when a radar is tracking you, locking you and launching missiles at you. See the manuals A-10 RWR section. When a heat-seeking missile is tracking you, however, there is no warning. You simply have to keep looking around for them.

CHAFF are for countering RADAR-seeking missiles.
FLARES are for countering HEAT(IR-)seeking missiles.

Your AI-wingman isn't very smart, he starts flaring as soon as a radar starts tracking him.

Hope this helps.

Finally; welcome to the lockon community, hope to see you online sometime.

Also check out theese links:
Flankertraining.com: fantastic video tutorials, of immense value to beginners and veterans alike!

Also there is a really good article on all aspects of air-to-ground combat that Brit radar dude keeps linking, maybe he can link it here again.

unless the missle threat is one of your objectives, or is directly protecting one of your objectives (i.e., in the same convoy), you should not be engaging them. avoiding is always better. if you absolutely must kill a SAM or AA platform and you are out of missles, high-altitude bombing is your safest bet. if you have the balls, you might try squaring off with a SHORT RANGE launcher just long enough to kill it with cannon or rocket, and pull a hard enough manever while punching flare to dodge the missle it WILL have shot at you.

I'd rather say going low and cannoning it it easier, but meh, none of this should be troubling a lockon beginner.. Do it by the book, sonex, and you'll end up just fine.

AD-Klaus has likely hit the nail on the head with his answers.

You can fly above the short range threats. Stick to 12-15K feet above the threat and they can't reach you. Just be aware that your bomb will take around 50 seconds to reach the ground when dropped from a height of 15,000ft so be patient

Make sure you read the briefing and "stay on mission". A trap that new folks sometimes fall into is to try and take out every target they see. Lockon isn't Dungeons and Dragons - "Kill all the monsters and steal their treasure ".
Rather you should sneak past as many threats (SAM's and AAA) that you can. Only engage those that you absolutely have to in order to get to the target(s) that you are tasked to destroy.

Is ya problem in any particular mission you are flying? One of the stock missions that comes with Lockon? Most of us have flown those a time or two and may have a few specific tips......

Hey yea just reading through all your replies.

I am actually playing the A10 mission called SAM HUNT. You are quite right, I watched some of the tutorials on flankertraining and he mentions that A10 should not engage anti air missile targets.

Maybe someone can make a demo of themselves playing the above mission :??

The fact that I can fly at 16,000 meters / feet whichever one, does seem like a reasonable solution, but where is the fun in that lol. I actually wanna go down there, struggle and pass the mission. By flying at 16,000 feet you can pretty much pass any mission without any trouble (unless there are planes around to intercept you).

In the flanker training video with A10 dodging missiles, the guy is dodging all the missiles with ease, and when i repeat what he does, i end up getting shot .... so I am just trying to figure out how da hell he is dodging 4 missiles in a row ...

: o

Sonex, it takes practice and lots of stick time to learn how to do this stuff. You can do SEAD in the A-10, it's a lot harder then the 25T, but it can be done. I like fighting down low where the danger is also.

A10 lacks the anti radiation missiles which the russian planes can carry.
no HARM for the A10 only AGM which requires visual contact.

yea ok, i think ill just move on to some fighter jets , i have tried about 20 times to dodge a missile in this plane and its just not working

last minute maneuver with lots of chaff and flares
but with speed of a fighter jet its easier

Many of the missile avoidance principles are the same or similar between A10's and fighters. One of the basic ideas is to make sure that the missile is burning up as much of it's own energy for as much of it's flight as possible. In short- try to keep it tracking your wingtip. This means it is turning & thus more quickly decelerating for the duration of the flight. Since you lack tremendous level flight speed- you might try getting to the angle, then diving downward to pick up some speed, bringing the missile down towards the ground as well.

The effectiveness of hard jinking at the last minute will vary. If you are well within the missiles' envelope you'll probably have to. It still might not work. Next time you won't get so close to the vehicle will ya?

If you're more towards the edge, but you cannot fly outside the danger zone in time- you might try to get it tracking down low, then several seconds before it's going to hit- pulling up and inside kind of hard. The idea is that -at this late stage- the missile will have expended too much energy to pull that type of high G maneuver. (Essentially a reverse Immelman.) You should also be expelling flares or chaff like CRAZY. If successful- remember that your maneuver has you flying towards the danger again. You need to unload (return to level flight), and quickly take up a course out of the danger area and set up another attack run.

quote:

Originally posted by sonex1985:
yea ok, i think ill just move on to some fighter jets , i have tried about 20 times to dodge a missile in this plane and its just not working

Dont despair, keep trying and practicing. It took me several months before I dodged my first missile. I just could not handle any jet in Lockon well enough or understand the idea behind missile dodging well enough.

Something that helped me were IronHands training videos:-
Strela Hunt and also Outmanuevring SAM's, link below,

http://flankertraining.com/ironhand/supad.htm

There was another movie that helped me in my early days but Ive no idea where it was hosted. It was a short movie showing an air to air missile chasing a jet. As the jet moved around changing direction and height, you could clearly see the missile constantly changing heading and thus bleeding off speed and energy. It eventually simply fell out of the sky much earlier than if it had been travelling in a straight line. That helped me understand what I should try to achieve by my evasive moves.

the manual also has a great section on evasive tactics.