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F15 E Strike Eagle and the South Atlantic map


Zeno~SPARTA~
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The E suffix for the Eagle is not an electric version, it is the long awaited 2 seater Strike version. I am really excited about this plane. I like the F15 C but it is strictly limited to Air to Air engagements, I prefer multi role planes. Razbam, the developers of the F15 E, are not renowned for timely product delivery but the Strike Eagle is looking like it is closer than previously thought!

 

 

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Maybe the south Atlantic map is worth buying. It does come with some assets including RN ships, HMS Invincible amongst them.

 

 

I like the mountainous terrain, it offers a lot of possibilities for terrain masking, for low level approaches.

 

Separately Razbam is working on the following:

 

IA-58 Pucara 
Mirage III (or) IAI Dagger (either one, not both)
Dassault Super Etendard
Sea Harrier FRS.1

 

With Razbam these could be years away. There are pretty good mods for the following planes.

 

Pucara

A4 Skyhawk (excellent mod up there with a lot of payware planes)

Dassault Super Etendard with the Exocet

HMS Hermes

 

We already have the US version of the Harrier, and the Mirage 2000. I am not sure about buying the Sea Harrier, it will be more analog but with a radar, same for the Mirage 3 and there is no way I would buy the Dagger (the Israeli copy of the Mirage from stolen plans).

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  • 2 weeks later...

The South Atlantic map has been released, and I have bought it. Its a 35gb download so I may be able to have a go on it tomorrow. Everyone will get the assets whether you buy it or not, but they have not been released yet.

 

 

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  • Zeno~SPARTA~ changed the title to F15 E Strike Eagle and the South Atlantic map

I have had a little play with the map in the mission editor. Its a little bit disappointing so I cannot recommend it for now. The map is vast and covers the southern tip of south America, comprising of Argentina and Chile, and of course the Falkland Islands. I wasn't going to buy this map, but changed my mind when I saw the terrain on the west coast of the mainland. It has many fjords and of course the Andes mountain range (the longest IN THE WORLD, channelling my inner Clarkson). However when I bought it I found there are only 4 airports/bases in this part of south america, this makes it harder to defend the flords from my imaginary attacks.

 

Then I tried to recreate the San Carlos bay attack, since its about 400 nautical miles to the Falklands I could not recreate the  Argentinian attack starting from land (too long to get there), I decided that the Veinticinco de Mayo carrier was used for the air assaults using the A4 Skyhawk mod. Ironically the Veinticinco de Mayo carrier was originally named HMS Venerable, then became HNLMS Karel Doorman before the Argentinians acquired her in 1968, she was scrapped in 1990. Of course there is no mod for this carrier so I am using the Forrestal or Stennis. In my tests I launched 16 A4s from the carrier to attack the RN at San Carlos at low level. In Defence of San Carlos I added Rapier SAM systems and a squadron (12) of AV8Bs. This did not work!

 

1 the Skyhawks detected the Rapiers and climbed to 20,000 feet.

2 without the old RN destroyers I am using WW2 ships with no missile capability. If I use more modern ships all the Skyhawks would be shot down by SM2s

3 At 20,000 feet the Rapiers would not engage.

4 I had the Harriers orbiting the RN Ships at 20,000 feet armed with 4 AIM 9 Sidewinders each, but they would not engage the Skyhawks (AV8Bs cannot be assigned to CAP).

5 After the Skyhawks expended their 96 mk82s on the ships, sinking several they turned on the AV8Bs and shot down all of them. Out of the 16 Skyhawks 5 made it back, the rest ran out of fuel going back to the carrier.

 

All of this is wrong, the Skyhawks flew at low level when attacking the ships, the Sea Harriers avoided flying high because they were outmatched at altitude by the Argentinian Mirage IIIs. Mirage IIIs could not stay on station long as they were not equipped for air to air refuelling, the A4s were. Some Dassault Super Etendards were used to launch the Exocet missile.

 

So I cannot create imaginary sorties into the Chilean Fjords and I cannot recreate the Falklands conflict yet. I will still amuse myself with this map but unless you are interested in this era save your pennies until its more developed.

 

image.jpeg

 

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DCS Open Beta has been updated amongst other things the South Atlantic Map Asset Pack has been added. Unlike the WW2 Asset Pack my understanding is that this asset pack will be added to the free to play base game, but I need to check this.

 

This is for Cent

 

 

image.jpeg

DCS: South Atlantic

  • Added South atlantic assets:
    • Naval:
      • Castle class patrol vessel
      • Harbour tug
      • HMS Invincible aircraft carrier
      • HMS Achilles frigate
      • HHS Andromeda frigate
      • HMS Ariadne frigate
      • Almirante Lynch frigate
      • Almirante Condell frigate
      • ARA Santa Fe Submarine
    • Vehicles:
      • LARC V
      • TACR2A
    • Placeable:
      • Tower crane
      • Small lighthouse
      • Wind turbine (Offshore and Land based)
      • KAT345L Excavator
  • Known Asset pack issues:
    • No RWR missile launch warning from HMS Invincible
    • HARM missile and HTS can not detect Leander class or Invincible
    • Missing textures on Sea Dart missile, and booster detach animation missing
    • AI AV-8B can have problems landing on HMS Invincible with weapons loaded
    • SeaCat and SeaDart launchers have no rotation limits
    • Leander class frigates are missing sounds
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This is a bit disappointing, however I was a bit confused about pricing. Usually there is a pre release period where a 30% discount is offered, but on release it goes to full price. With this Razbam did not offer a pre release, but did offer a 20% initial discount. Now that discount is gone and its at full price.

 

I am not unhappy to have bought it but would not recommend it. However the problem with the Harriers not engaging air targets has been fixed. in my San Carlos bay scenario, some of the problems have been addressed. I changed the weather to heavy overcast with a cloud base at 7000 feet, technically the A4s should fly below the clouds to be able to see the target. I am using the Illustious carrier mod, which has a ski jump. Razbams Invincible does not. The illustrious engages the A4s at range and now they are flying lower the Rapiers are engaging as well. Harriers also engaged the A4s but 2 were shot down.

 

I will recreate this scenario on the Marianas map or the Caucusus map using Crimea as a surrogate for the Falklands. That way people will be able to play the Argentinians and try to rewrite history or the brits defending the task force. Only the A4 mod and the Illustrious mod will be required.

 

My concern is Razbam is not big, most of us are waiting on the F15E, but they are also working on the Pucara, Mirage III, Super Etendard, Sea Harrier and the Veintecinco de Mayo Carrier as well as filling out this map. My hope is that they focus on the F15E, but even though I like their products they come across as a bit haphazard in their approach to finishing products. On the other hand they do work to constantly improve their stuff even years after release.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 month later...

No pre purchase on steam. 0nly early access (apparently Steam does not allow games without release dates to be added to the store). It will be released on early access eventually but will be 20% off instead of 30%. I would rather stay with Steam because Steam is more convenient for me. Razbam/ED have really screwed the pooch on this, moving the release date from 3 Feb to 15 Feb, then 17 Feb, on which date they released at a price of $25 for a few hours, only to announce it wont be on Steam until early access. 

 

 

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