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The FAC (Forward Air Controller) is a spotter who directs your fire
onto enemy targets. The FAC will talk you in, put smoke on the target
and may illuminate the target for laser guided munitions. This tutorial
will get you started placing and activating a FAC in the mission builder.
Load the Mission Builder and place a HUMAN CONTROLLED F/A-18E. This
will be your aircraft. Place your aircraft about 40 nm from the
place you want your FAC and targets to be. Add a waypoint to show
you the way to the target area. Now lets set up the FAC:
I: Ground based FAC
Step 1: If you are planning on engaging pre-existing targets (targets
present in the mission builder template) make sure you have your
FENCE set so that the FAC is in enemy territory. Otherwise, be sure
to designate any ground or moving targets as ENEMY
Step 2: Place a FRIENDLY structure in the target area. This can
be almost anything. For now, lets use a WAREHOUSE COMPLEX, SMALL.
Step 3: Click on the FAC icon (binoculars) and click the WAREHOUSE
object. You will get a dialog box for naming your FAC. After selecting
a name, I like KNUCKLEHEAD, you will see a black and red flag attached to the object, indicating that this is where the FAC is stationed. NOTE: The FAC
ICON DESIGNATES THE FAC HIMSELF NOT THE TARGETS THAT THE FAC WILL
SPOT. IN THIS REGARD, FAC WORKS DIFFERENTLY THAN THE JSTARS ICON
WHICH MUST BE PLACED OVER EACH TARGET YOU WANT THE JSTARS TO 'SEE'.
Step 4: If you haven't already, place enemy targets in the area.
For this tutorial place the following:
Moving Vehicle: 4xFuelTRUCK Set to Enemy
Moving Vehicle: 1x T-72 MBT (RED RUSSIAN) Set to Enemy
Ground Target: Red Russian Bivouac (Small) Set to Enemy
Though not necessary, it is useful to desginate some or all the targets as GOALS.
Step 5: Create an EVENT to 'wake up' the FAC. This may be aTIME EVENT, AREA
EVENT, USER FLAG, WAYPOINT ACTION, or any other Mission
Builder event type. We'll go over an example of each of these.
When you (the PLAYER) triggers the event the FAC will be triggered.
You won't hear anything from him until you go to the COMMS MENU
(SHIFT-TAB) and choose FORWARD AIR CONTROLLER--->CHECK IN. This
item will be unavailable (WHITED OUT) until you are within ~20 nm.
A: TIME EVENT
The TIME event triggers an ACTION when the time is reached. The
time is in units of MINUTES FROM MISSION START. This is NOT a TIME OF DAY.
Click on EVENTS, then ADD, and choose TIME. Name the event FAC TIME.
Set the TIME to 2 and select FAC from the dropdown menu of ACTIONS.
This will wake up the FAC 2 minutes after mission start. Hit OK to save the event.
Refer to FAC TUTORIAL-TIME.cmf to see this arrangement. A message is
also programmed to let you know when the area event has been triggered.
B: AREA EVENT
Click on EVENTS, then ADD, and Choose AREA EVENT. Draw the Blue
Area Event box across your flight path about halfway to the target.
Name the AREA EVENT: FAC START. Set the area event to PLAYER ENTERS,
ONE TIME. Under ACTIONS, scroll down the drop down menu and select
FAC. You needn't enter any conditions for this. Hit OK to save.
Refer to FAC TUTORIAL-AREA.cmf to see this arrangement. A message is
also programmed to let you know when the area event has been triggered.
C: USER FLAG
You could use either of the above events to set a USER FLAG instead
of directly set the FAC action. The USER FLAG would in turn trigger
the FAC action. Set up the TIME EVENT as above, but call it UF1
Set. Instead of selecting the FAC ACTION, select SET USER FLAG 1 = TRUE.
Hit OK to save.
Now create ANOTHER TIME EVENT. Call it FAC START. Click the USER
FLAG to make the FLAG a starting action rather than the TIME. Select
FLAG 1. Now, under action, select FAC as in the TIME EVENT in A:
Save the event. You now have a User Flag to trigger the FAC.
There are many reasons (beyond the scope of this tutorial) why you
might want to use the 2 step process with a USER FLAG than the one
step processes which do the same thing. Note that there are MANY methods of setting USER FLAGS making this a very versatile technique.
Refer to FAC TUTORIAL-FLAG.cmf to see this arrangement. A message
is also programmed to let you know when the area event has been triggered.
D: Waypoint Action
The Waypoint Action of FAC is a little different. Rather than wake up the FAC, it is used to specify that the aircraft with that waypoint assumes FAC duties for a given distance. This is covered in section II below.
If you want to specify a FAC wakeup from a waypoint, you must use the 2 step method we used above and have a USER FLAG set at the waypoint which then triggers a FAC action.
Try this yourself!
Flying each of these missions should have exactly the same result,
triggering the FAC availability at the time/area specified.
II. Aerial FAC
You can have an Airborne FAC as well. Prior to the 1.01f patch, I think that the S-3B and F-14 were the ONLY aircraft that could fulfill this role. They both have a loadout called FAC.
Post-patch, any aircraft can fulfill the FAC role with an appropriate waypoint action.
JayP has reported some tips for most effective use of a FAC:
The FAC seems to use the same targeting logic as AI aircraft on CAS. Ground objects will always be selected as
targets first. If you want moving vehicles as targets it's best to use an airborne FAC. Place the waypoint with the FAC action close to where the enemy tanks are and specify a small effective radius, e.g. 3-5 miles.
A similar approach to using the CAS command for AI aircraft improves their effectiveness, too.
To use an airborne FAC, place an S-3B (or other aircraft) in the mission with FAC Loadout (if available, i.e. S-3B and F-14). If the aircraft is already in the target area, you can give it an INITIAL ACTION of FAC and specify the distance it is to look for targets. If the S-3B is coming in from somewhere else, set the Waypoint Action to FAC and complete the dialog box with the distance in which targets are spotted.
That's it for now! Happy Mission Building!
You can download this article and the sample missions here.
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