bojangles_25

Hooking an AI wingman also works, yes

How complete will the Apache be on launch day? I've been discouraged from buying other modules (like the Viper) because they seem to be incomplete and functionality is bled out over the months and years following their release. The Viper is still £60 on steam and features are still being released. Is it early access or isn't it? In the continued absence of a dynamic campaign, will the Apache come with a single player campaign that won't be rendered unplayable by updates (like the Huey campaign)?

I have not tried this. However, they might actually use the laser to some degree. As mentioned, with wingman1.trk the wingman screws up his own laser designation by masking the laser.

In trying to replicate this I actually noticed another problem with the AI (described by wingman1.trk). I put together a mission with myself and 1 wingman, flying towards the often used abandoned airfield at WP1. There is an artillery piece at each end of the runway. The wingman has 2*AGM-65L and the TGP. I am unarmed but have the TGP. I disarm my own laser to be absolutely certain that only the wingman could possibly be doing the designating. The wingman's 'skill' in the editor is 'Veteran'. wingman1.trk In this track, I ask the wingman specifically to "engage armour at my SPI with maverick". He sets about it and engages one target at a time, breaking off after each maverick launch. However, he turns so far that the laser becomes masked, and both missiles fall short into the Black Sea. wingman2.trk In this track, I ask the wingman to "engage targets of opportunity" (as in my original post). He quickly fires both Mavericks and we can see that they are both in the air and individually tracking the two targets, which would not be possible given there is only one designator illuminating the target (the wingman's TGP) wingman1.trk wingman2.trk

I can see now how this would be possible, but what you'd see is that all the airborne rockets fly towards the first target, then when that's destroyed and the TGP is slewed, they all then fly towards the second target etc, etc. What I will try to demonstrate in a mission/track is that I believe the weapons launched by the wingman individually fly directly to their intended targets, which wouldn't be possible using only the TGP. It is probably best demonstrated with Mavericks.

That's an interesting point. However, I don't think that the AI was doing this at least with the Mavericks as they were clearly flying as if each of them was being guided individually. I'll try to put together a mission/track that demonstrates what I believe to be wrong.

Sorry for lack of info, I should have elaborated No they aren't. I was flying the "Smerch Hunt" mission. By default the wingman is armed with 2 laser mavs and 7 APKWS rockets. I told the wingman to "engage any targets of opportunity", and he engaged 2 separate targets at once with laser guided weapons. This was after all targets provided by JTAC were destroyed (by me) so I'm confident that nothing was being lased by anybody else.

It seems that the AI wingman can have multiple laser guided weapons in the air at once, all heading towards different targets. I've seen it happen with both the APKWS and the AGM-65L

Wow, what an incredible answer Frederf, thanks.. This is astounding to me.. I didn't think the sim would have this level of detail. But then of course that raises the issue of: "if you're updating where magnetic north is, but you can't update runway numbers, then there will eventually be problems". Maybe that's something beyond the sim's capabilities. It sounds like what you're saying is, Beslan is on the brink between 09 and 10, and indeed the real airfield has been changed for reasons like that which you describe. Thanks

Is there a problem with Beslan's runway/ILS system? The ATC calls it runway 10, the number on the runway is 10, the mission editor says the ILS localizer is 094. In real life the runway is 09. The plane's heading tape on the HUD has it at somewhere between 080 and 090, and the ILS seems to agree roughly with the mission editor. Is this a known problem with some of the Caucasus runways/ILS? Or am I missing something about runways/ILS? Edit: I read that runways might need to be renumbered due to changes in the Earth's magnetic field, and on Google earth you can see that Beslan has been renumbered from 10/26 to 09/27. However, surely the simulator is not modelling this movement in magnetic north, right?

I wasn't sure at first so I used FreeTrack with a webcam and a small torch taped to the peak of a baseball cap. Within minutes I knew that head tracking was a game changer and have never looked back since buying TrackIR 5 Pro :joystick: Actually "never looked back" is a poor choice of words.. I look back quite comfortably in the sim now!

+1 from me also.. When I bought DCS A-10C in early 2012 I didn't think we'd get an upgrade like this 8 years later and that ED would still be making improvements. Thanks ED. You continue to make incredibly cool stuff and I love it

I'll throw in an observation on this too.. If %userprofile%\Saved Games is redirected to a network share, the game seems unable to read or write files to it. I tend not to complain about this as it seems like nobody cares, and no devs seem to actually try to fix it

Question for the devs: Is there any reason why we can't change the masking profile on the TGP? Given the level of fidelity of the sim this seems like a strange omission. Can they share details of the active masking profile that's used in DCS? There is nothing about it in the manual and little to be found online.

Ah yes, sorry. I hadn't realised this. From stations 4/8 they do drop in pairs