Today's mission is to hit some German armored vehicles with my glorious Su-25.
Heading down the runway. I generally rotate around 300 kph.
Wheels up. I'm carrying 2 laser guided missiles inboard, cluster bombs of some time next, and rockets outboard.
The prey: Leopard IIs...
Marder IFVs...
M113s (not pictured) and self propelled artillery, all guarded by a Gepard. Don't think that they're that helpless, though. As of FC2, everyone and his sister will be filling the sky with lead.
Inbound to target. They're near the coast in front of the city about halfway down the lake.
Switched to
AG mode. Need to look at the armamemt panel to make sure I have the missiles selected.
I'll be lining up on the Gepard, since it's the biggest threat. Notice that it's radar has already locked onto me.
I have his attention...
The laser's turned on. The pipper's gone bold and the left green light is on to indicate such. The light on the right is the "permission" light, meaning I am in range and am allowed to launch. (this can be overridden)
Missile away...
This weapon does have short legs. I'm straying into range while lasing the tank.
Pretty short rocket burn. It's already coasting to the target. Yes, those are folding fins. They actually pop out as they leave the tube.
Boom! The main threat is down.
I can tell the Gepard went down, due to the threat receiver suddenly going quiet. Time to break to avoid the golden BB. The handling sucks now that my plane is seriously out of trim from carrying an asymmetric load after firing. The left laser light is blinking right now, meaning that the targeting laser has overheated and needs a little time to cool down.
The Marders are taking their shot. The 113s and the Leopards are also tracking me.
I approach from the opposite side of town this time and let loose the other missile on a Marder.
Scratch one Marder.
Back over the water. My next move probably wasn't smart. I select the cluster dispensers instead of the rockets. Notice the tracers trying to track me...
Lining up on the platoon of Leopards this time.
The little doors open and out they come. Time to sprinkle the goodness. The encyclopedia only listed a generic entry for the pod, and there were two different loads for these. I have no idea what these will do.
Hmmm. Looks like some kind of incendiary device or napalm. I guess I need to brush up on my Russian acronyms. Notice how I'm much too low when I let loose with these. While playing, I thought someone hosed me over pretty good, but it turns out to be self-inflicted. Elevators, airlerons and flaps get shredded
Notice that the bomblets did nothing more than
de-louse the skin of the tanks. Note to self, do not necessarily select the weapon variant with the most impressive acronym in the name.
I'm seriously on fire now, with a smoke trail leading all the way back to the scene. Parts of my plane impacted the ground behind me. I also have a fuel leak. I'll be lucky if I don't explode trying to get back to base.
The elevators are working for gak. I'm steadily losing altitude.
My warning panel is lit up like Comrade Lenin's Christmas tree. I don't recall ever seeing a guide anywhere for what each one is.
I'm going in. Too late do I try to eject, and I go in with her. I tried throwing my flaps down to gain some lift. I didn't even think of dumping all my stores, which may have helped.
