Relayer

2025, and not much changed yet. AI is still much as I remember it from Flanker. In some ways, more broken. In regards to this, you took one tiny part of what I was talking about (assigning pre-planned ground targets) and said yep, you can do that in the ME. It ignores the vast majority of other items I had brought up, and is honestly a poor solution in any case, because the ME is omniscient. If I go into the ME to fix things, I also get to see everything that the OPFOR is doing as well. The 'recon' window in BMS does this better, I would say. And I do maintain that the AI is more or less, functionally useless and significantly detracts from what ED describes as its core experience - PvE. As a user, not a mission creator, I shouldn't have to spend hours diving into the weeds and defining every single thing about how the AI should react in order to not have a maddening experience. They should act like trained pilots and I should be able to direct them as such. We have great modules, but very little ability to use them in anything like a believable combat setting.

I've definitely noticed this a few times, along with occasionally random uncommanded roll 'kicks'. I was unsure whether it was a bug, or whether it was 'authentic jank'.

Reproduced on my system. Even making 'attack unit' tasks etc does not do very much.

Strange to see no reply to this. Absolutely reproduced on my end. Any comments or updates?

Tried exactly this, with it set to 0.5, and finding it much, much better. Still need to trim a lot - but I can actually get the amount I need, rather than constantly overcorrecting.

I don't see anyone asking for it to be "dumbed down".

Unfortunately, without FFB, how we interact with the trim system is always going to be different to how it was in the actual cockpit, since we simply don't have stick forces. My understanding is that, IRL, the general procedure is to move the stick to where you want it, and them trim to relieve the stick forces. Since we can't do that without FFB, trimming is inherently different. Firstly, trim is additive - if I hold the stick slightly aft, and apply aft trim - instead of the trim relieving the force I'm applying with my arm, it is added in addition to the force I'm applying. Which means I need to release pressure on the stick concurrently with the trim, without being able to feel anything, and then see if the nose is still moving, and apply further stick deflection +/- trim until the nose is where I want it. I've generally found the pitch trim to be very twitchy, and with it bound to a hat switch on my X-56, I can either have 'too much' or 'not enough' trim for any given circumstance, meaning I still need to apply constant stick pressure. Which, yes, I get it, the Phantom was a very hands-on aircraft and hands-free flying is not going to be a thing. But a bit more granularity in trimming would make it less of a chore. My general point is that striving for perfect realism is all well and good - but since we are interacting with the simulation with very imperfect tools, some concessions to absolute realism in the aim of achieving relative realism are probably worthwhile.

I mean that's not really a solution is it? That is, at best, an excessively complex, kludged together semi-workaround that doesn't come close to what we should have in 2024. I can't say I particularly want to have to go through and 'think for' every AI flight in a Liberation mission for example (which could be upwards of 20 AI flights) and even then still have janky stuff happening. Falcon 4.0 / BMS has done this much better for 20+ years, and while there it isn't perfect, I can at least get the AI to attack the stuff I want it to attack, sort targets and employ on something like a timeline, not do spectacularly dumb <profanity>, and employ some reasonably 'realistic' BVR tactics.

>1 year later, zero replies, zero acknowledgement from ED, still same useless AI. There's threads going back til at least 2016 and most likely before about this. Cool.

I am aware there are some restrictions on what can be loaded onto the wing pylons with AAMs present (eg GBU-28). However, there are other stores which, as far as I know, should be able to be loaded with AAMs present on the outriggers. Currently, you can load a Mk-82/84 onto that station with AAMs fine, but if you load a GBU-10/12 onto the same station, it will remove the AAMs. Given that the current DCS forum banner image shows an F-15E with a GBU-31 on the wing pylon and at least one AIM-120 on the outrigger, can someone provide some clarity as to whether this is the correct behaviour?

When the Base point 'B' is selected as the active steerpoint, I am unable to select any other steerpoint thereafter. Eg inputting steerpoint 1 results in no selection being made.

It doesn't have a FLCS system similar to the Viper or Hornet though. It has a Control Augmentation System which is superimposed onto the hydro-mechanical flight control system. It's more like the SAS in the F-14, than anything in the Viper or Hornet which are fully FBW.

Here you go:

This has no relevance to the F-15E, since it carries neither the HTS nor AGM-88 - but the actual advice you've given, to offset, is correct.

AIM what? AIM-9? AIM-7? AIM-120?

IMO, possibly the single biggest issue with SP DCS play is the lack of ability to really lead a section / division - or to be led by the AI. AI currently are good for little more than getting shot down - something that when the dynamic campaign comes out (and even currently in Liberation etc) is a liability. I don't quite know what sort of interface this should be, but I think Heatblur's Jester wheel might be one possibly good option. Or vastly expanded voice control options - or both. Some sort of way to organise flight contracts would be awesome, so as to define by default who will sort high/low etc - something that the current AI is totally unable to do. As I see it, the AI needs to be able to do the following (but not limited to): General comms & admin - Ops checks etc. I shouldn't hear "2, bingo - 2, ejecting" in quick succession unless I have really screwed something up. I should be hearing calls for joker, winchester etc. Formations - including shackle, proper rejoins, turns (eg tac turns, in place 180s), cross turns etc. Both as an immediate and an 'on my mark'. I should be able to say "Tac right, go!" and have it happen. If you want to be really fancy, add in the ability for non verbal signals - rudder waggle, wing flash etc. A/A - Conduct a BVR engagement on-timeline, and at least by a preset contract. I (as the leader) shouldn't have to individually assign targets, I should simply hear "2, sorted low" and know that it's taken care of. Should be able to execute tactics such as chainsaw / grinder etc. Execute ACM with some degree of competency. A/G - Attack pre-set, pre-agreed targets - eg in attacking a factory, 1 will target building X, 2 will target building Y. Attack a designated target-of-opportunity seen by the player (eg 2, attack the SA-8 at grid XX12345678), with some degree of granularity (eg weapon choice, attack heading, almost like a 9-line). Should be able to create / share markpoints and datalinked targets to and from player. I have no expectations that these things would be a quick, easy, snap of the fingers solution to come up with, but we really, really need the ability to work with the AI in a much more functional manner than we currently do. At the moment, DCS does an amazing job of being a cockpit simulator. It simulates these aircraft in fabulous detail. But it does a very poor job of being a combat simulator. This, in my view, would dramatically overhaul the combat simulation and make DCS far more enjoyable to play.

Some 'what-if' RAF skins I've been working on. Nothnulling fancy, just meant to be vaguely plausible. Colours vaguely based on Typhoon scheme. If anyone has any particular squadron they'd love to see, or other suggestions, I'm listening. No II(AC) Sqn No 25 Sqn No 3(F) Sqn No 12(B) Sqn No IX(B) Sqn

I feel like the single biggest issue I run into with DCS is that while it's an incredible aircraft simulator, it does a pretty poor job of then allowing you to use those aircraft in a plausible context, and in a lot of cases this comes down to the very limited ability to control the AI on the fly - currently they're good for being shot down and that's about it. Now, I appreciate that you can do a lot with the ME, however I also believe that I shouldn't have to spend ages tinkering in the ME to get the AI to do things in a non boneheaded manner. We should have an AI that is capable of making intelligent decisions and applying actual tactics. For a couple of brief examples: inability to get AI wingmen to target specific threats. I know with the A-10 I can say 'hey, attack stuff at my SPI' (which seems inop in any case) but I have no ability to do that in...say, an F/A-18, or F-16. We have tons of data integrated into L16 and seemingly no ability to leverage that into meaningful options for AI control. I want to be able to say 'hey, see that SA-8 I'm looking at? engage that target specifically'. Or 'hey, look at this point of interest and tell me what you see'. The same applies to A2A - the player and AI wingman should have the ability to sort targets in such a way that we can engage a pair of targets and know we're not engaging the same aircraft etc. I want the dynamic campaign as much as the next person, but before that we need an AI wingman who actually knows how to be a figher pilot. At the moment we have an amazing simulator for complicated aircraft, but very little scope to really use them.

Seconded, this would be an incredibly useful option for SP players.

So I'm not sure whether this is simply me being ham-fisted, but since the update, the nose seems super jumpy. A pretty minor pitch input will see me swinging from -2000fpm to +2000fpm. Is this just an issue of having a relatively short throw stick? I swear it didn't used to be quite so skittish. Certainly I used to be able to sit in a 360 orbit with the VSI pegged at 0 and now I'm all over the place making a right dog's dinner of it. One 'click' of trim seems to be too much in one direction, then too much in the other. I feel like I'm water-skiing behind the jet, as I'm spending so much time just trying to get the jet at the right altitude.

Having an issue with Zeus commands in all TTI missions. I seem to be unable to spawn units via map markers. To ensure I am typing it correctly, I will literally copy/paste from the briefing "-create red_ar_aav7", but on clicking the X, the map marker simply disappears without the unit being spawned. Interestingly, I can spawn JTACS, destroy using the -destroy jtac, the -destroy command also works. I have tried different units, with the unit names copied from the spawnable units list. Very occasionally one will spawn, but there seems to be no particular rhyme or reason to one deciding to spawn. EDIT - Issue resolved, problem was including quotes in the map marker text

I'm having a look at the zeus script to try and figure out how to add things to it - specifically, I want to be able to spawn buildings and/or target circles via the zeus interface, as it would increase the scope of what you can practice within the mission. Dumb bombs aren't much use right now against vehicles, but spawning a target building and some air defences (separately) would be perfect for practicing strike missions. Would you either be able to include this in a future version, or give me some information on how to modify the zeus_markers.lua to accomplish this?

...Is there a point to this?

I'm loving this mission so far! I have a few questions / issues that would be great if I could get an answer to. I primarily fly the Mi-8, and the frequencies you've given for ADF aren't compatible with the ARK-9 or ARK-UD radios in the Hip. Would there be a way you could get LZs to emit frequencies which are compatible with the Mi-8? The ARK-9 can work with 150-1290 KHz, and the ARK-UD can work with 6 preset VHF channels and a single UHF/AM channel (243.00). Also, I've done a couple of troop transport missions where the LZ has been hot enough that I've had to fly around for a little bit until I could land, by which time the smoke has stopped. Is there a way to get the LZ to pop smoke again on command? It would also be great if players could terminate their current task. In my last play-through, the aforemetioned smoke issue meant I couldn't find the LZ to land at it, and after half an hour of landing in various spots within a km or two of the rough area, I gave up and RTB'ed, but couldn't end the task.

Have Ugra sorted out the terrain kneeboard folder yet?