captain_dalan

I fully agree with you!

Indeed, but it should make the tracks dropping as a result of too much closure (either way) less frequent. I don't have enough confirmed cases, but on one training run i did notice the radar would fail to build tracks until i switched it from nose to flanking.

Here is a little video i made for this topic. I did everything (well almost everything) wrong here, except execute the cranks. Even in the F-14A (which means no going past mach 1), without target size set to large, using the AIM-54C (inferior to mk60 A's) AND wasting my shot by firing too early, i still get inside visual range with the MiG-31, set to ACE, armed with 4 R-33's. I did this from the first try, in 2AM, with 2 glasses of rum inside me. On the 2nd try i shot the thing down from 48NM away. So..... yea...... practice your time tables and cranks mate....

1. When the target starts notching you, did you change the radar aspect from nose to flank? 2. TWS is not the expected radar mode for engaging small nimble targets. You are expected to engage them in PD or P-STT.

Sorry to be a bit snarky here, and this is not aimed at you, but according to this, should the Viper be dropped from competitions? To any mods out there, if you consider this response offensive, quarrelsome or against the rules of conduct and any way, please delete it.

AH, oki-doki, i was afraid it might be the aspect setting for the radar. Just a patch away or so it was always set to flanking and there was no way to tell Jester to change it

Stable or open beta?

No big surprise there, it seams to be using the old AIM-54 FM (or something very similar), which means mach 3+ at 10-15000ft. In other words, laws of physics are thrown out of the window.....

Glad to see you sorted it out!

You are of course right. Most of the cases where he tells us "he lost lock", it's not him that lost it, it's the radar. Then honestly, it sounds like it's your fault. You need to take proper anti notching/beaming maneuvers if you want to lock to persist. Especially against AI's that have "omniscient" SA. Work on your intercept geometries, plan and execute your pre and post fencing maneuvers and actions well. Once you've perfected those enough, you'll maintain locks more often then not. After disabling the auto-P-STT feature, my success ratio went from something like 20-25% to over 90%.

What @Skysurfer said. It takes some practice. Don't fly into the missile and make it fly to you.

You'll have to wait for the current OB version to reach stable then

Tow possible cases here: 1. The target is outside your radar cone. Consult the before mentioned manual for limitation in radar coverage. You have a fairly narrow cone in which you can detect targets. At 30 miles (from memory, but it was a long time ago, so i may be wrong) you have about 10000ft above and bellow you if your scan elevation is neutral (at the horizon). You need to position your antenna (through Jester) up or down do scan above or bellow these limits. Even so, some targets will always be outside your scan if there is enough delta in altitude between them; 2. Targets pop on your radar, but no TWS track file is built. The target is beaming or heading away when your radar is set to nose geometry (aspect). Or is closing/heading away too fast while your radar is in beam aspect. You may need to change the aspect to match. This is a fairly resent feature, that we didn't have to keep in mind before. Think if HPRF, MPRF and interleaved PRF in the F-15 (if you ever flew it), but you have to manage this through Jester. It's the BVR, radar options, just like the aspect and elevation options. Babysitting Jester is a must in more complex environments, and it's a skill that takes some practice.

I'm not sure you set it on a HAT. I have mine set on the POV analogue mini-stick on the TCS throttle. Press activates the menu. I think you may need an actual button click for the menu to pop up and stay open.

I was thinking about creating one myself! Jester - TID range settings with TWS guided missile in the air

Maybe the targets were hiding in the valleys and canyons? There's a lot of those on the Caucasus map, and as there is no mission to fly on the "airqauke" servers, people spend most of their time playing hide and seek at treetop levels. Also, maybe they were notching you all the time? Might want to play with the target aspect settings in such a case.

Ah awesome! And it explains why i could never pull it off. I fly the A almost exclusively and it struggles to go supersonic that high

Thanks guys, kudos to both of you! I guess i may need to revisit my key-bindings sometimes soon. I was about to map some utility stuff like SAS switches anyway, why not Jester commands as well Anyways, here is another item for the Jester refinement wish list! Though i can't seam to find the topic right now

I have pulled some 20NM shots too, usually above 20000ft and supersonic or transonic. 15-20000ft though, i usually stick to 15NM for my first shot (coming out of a crank) and 7-10NM for the following shot, of needed. Bellow 5000ft though (the way most DCS users fight on most open servers), yeah..... it makes little sense to launch them beyond 10NM. I've never managed to pull a 30NM kill though. Not even against an AWACS or a tanker. What parameters were you in when you managed to score that kill? And against what kind of targets? Fighters? Bombers? Hot? Super HOT?!

Question for the OP?

Shouldn't this be inverted? First alt hold (or whatever you wish to select), then AP engage? I always do it in this order. Direction hold, alt hold THEN AP engage.

Try posting you mission here, so people can troubleshoot it

Hey guys, as a front seater, i direct this question to either HB themselves or any experienced RIOs out there. I generally tell Jester to set the TID range well in advance of me making a shot, usually depending on conditions of the intercept, like altitude and closure. But a handful of times, including last night, i found myself when me and my wingman, sorted out the incoming contacts as bandits more then 80NM away and we "split" them among us, i got the left pair, he got the right par. As we were north of angels 35 at the time, i planned to launch by cattle somewhere between 50-60NM away. Which i did. And cranking slowly to the left and diving slightly i scored 2 kills by the time we were 30+ NM away. However my wingman wasn't so lucky and lost his bandits, his SA and his MFD's (he was in a Viper). As a result, i took on his pair as well, as he had to go defensive (the bandits that turned out to be Flankers, had engaged him). At that time my TID was set to 100NM, as i planned to go STT if i miss my TWS shots anyway. But now i was facing two bandits at high closure and only 30NM away. My 2nd Buffalo was still on the way, less then 10s TTI, when i cranked right, to face the Flankers. I wanted to make things easier on me, and "zoom in", so i went to Jester, BVR menu, and wanted to select TID range. However, the contextual menu didn't feature such an option. Only things like STT lock, radar silent and similar stuff. Finally my question: is it possible at all to change the TID range while there are missiles in flight? Does the F-14 has such a capability from the backseat? Or is it that just Jester can't yet do it? Thanks in advance and happy weekend!

I think why many people like to explore or see such claims simulated in the module is mostly because of the peculiarity and love for the plane and the legends around it (or as you dub them here, minutiae), rather then trying to exploit them in tactical situations. Like the people trying to hit mach 2.4+, or the people with the circuit breakers Many, but not all. I'm sure some would still to make regular practice out of niche circumstantial occurrences

Yeah, before the guys here told me of that option to disable Jester switching to P-STT on his own, 90% of my STT locks got trashed. Now it's the other way around. In fact, if you wanna go P-STT, it's probably best to fence-in like that.