bonesvf103

I think also it is modeled in DCS that you have to consider the aspect of the laser spot. For example, if your laser i lasing on the rear side of a vehicle, and your buddy is approaching from the front side of the vehicle, his TPOD won't see the spot because the spot is on the other side of the vehicle. Then there is of course smoke and clouds and trees etc that will disrupt or weaken the intensity of the laser or just plain block it. Now I wish we had the opposite--the LANTRIN being able to find a buddy's laser. But can't have everything I guess. v6, boNes

Did you use the version of VAICOM Pro that is on the github server? Because if you just happened to have the older release say in a zip file or a backup drive and re-installed that, I think I can see it installing the pre-community version--maybe even the Hollywood version before the LANTIRN updates. v6, boNes

I do too, but yes what you describe is true behavior in the sim and I have had to adapt to it begrudgingly. It's not too bad once you get used to it but for newcomers it is frustrating especially if you don't know about it. v6, boNes

I was afraid of that. Kinda pointless to carry those CBUs then... Thanks. v6, boNes

Several times I have dropped CBU-99s right on the forehead of say a URAL, and watched in external weapons view as the bomblets exploded in the immediate area around the URAL and never on it, and the URAL escapes unharmed. Is there a logic that says that since URALs are not armored that HEAT won't work on it? It doesn't make sense to me that the bomblets dropped on it don't destroy or even damage it. It shouldn't matter if it's armored or not. A soldier doesn't have tank armor but I'm sure a HEAT bomblet going off near him would kill him. v6, boNes

I also hunch forward and just rely on the sight picture and I plug every time. v6, boNes

I admit that WAS the expectation I had for WHOT and BHOT. Too bad that the video doesn't change accordingly but now that I know what it does, that's helpful, thanks. v6, boNes

Despite my testing in the above, I too prefer to use the Mav-F without a TPOD. Less to have to fool around with in the heat of battle. I just wish the WHOT and BHOT actually worked. All this time all I've seen that do is change the color of your crosshairs which is useless. v6, boNes

I've never had that problem with Jester taking that long to scan a piece of sky. My voice command is pretty fast, takes less than a second, and he executes in way less than 6-7 seconds. Even if that didn't work out, the 10 seconds of engagement time is pretty negligent on a whole when the targets are farther out than say 30 miles. Closer than that, I am relying on Jester but I'm also maintaining SA with the AWACS so i don't need to wait on Jester's IFF or finding them per se as I have AWACS info to go by. Without an AWACS, I go in the direction of the nails/spike and put the picture together to figure out where the bandit might be and find him on radar then. Less than 15 miles away, I'm taking the radar completely with PAL then PLM/VSL. Where I do need more work is in more efficiently deploying the DDD which is from what I understand, the game changer between everyone else's radar and mine. v6, boNes

I had been testing this extensively a while back and the only time I got the IR Mavericks to work with the TPOD 95% of the time was to realize that when you lock the moving target with the TPOD and uncage the Maverick, the Maverick will look at the target initially, but not actually lock onto it. To have it keep the track, you have to every so often redesignate the target to "update" the target. The only time the Maverick will track the target on its own is if you undesignate the TPOD and quickly TDC over to the Maverick while it is uncaged and slew the seeker over to the target. It makes sense in a way since the TPOD is merely telling the Maverick where to look and that's it. And the Maverick will look but since it's not "actively" being used, it just keeps looking where the TPOD told it to look at that particular moment. It's kind of dumb until you let it be the "SOI" then it smartens up. But you still have to be 1) quick at handing off to the Maverick and "fine tuning" it and 2) cognizant that it still needs a good enough heat signature/contract and its seeker can be affected by things like ambient temperature, LOS angle and so on--it was meant really for ships that are against an ocean background anyhow. I've come to getting more comfortable doing that quick action and getting kills almost all the time, but it takes alot of practice to get the rhythm right. The only thing I don't like about them now is how BHOT and WHOT have always been useless. I only notice it changes the color of you crosshairs but does nothing with the target imagery or targeting ability. Here is a video showing the TPOD used with the Maverick without TDC depressing: And here is one where TDC is depressed periodically to "update" the Maverick: v6, boNes

A little off topic but while shading is mentioned, I noticed with the new patch that my terrain details always seem to be as if a cloud is covering the sun, or it's overcast. It makes it hard to see things like an airfield 7 miles away. What settings should I play with? Gamma? Should I change them in DCS? v6, boNes

Hey Mark! I think you and I talked about this over the weekend in that it appears Jester's calls are all queued, like a laundry list of events that he has to go down and say in order. So that call that the bandit is at your 7:00 even though you now see him in front of you in the HUD is very delayed and annoying. I generally don't trust anything he says unless we're straight and level and there is not much else going on outside in our airspace. v6, boNes

Ah ,yes, I forgot that the OP was talking about online. Latency does effect things too. I have been using Voice Attack with VAICOM Pro for a couple of years now and since I have I have never gone back to the Jester wheel if I could help it. Things you say like punching a frequency, I just tell him what freq I want and I see him changing it in my radio freq display on the right panel within a second or 2. If I see a datalink target 30 miles away at around angels 30 I justt tell Jester "Scan sector angles 30 for 30" and he sets the radar properly and I see the contact on the TID. I can even put a map marker on the F10 map and tell him "Map marker 1 to fixed point" and he will immediately start entering the coordinate into the INS. Then when he is done I tell him "Navigate fixed point" and he changes the steering for me without me having to go in back to do it. Where he really shines for me (or she since I modded him to JEstHer haha), is with the LANTIRN. As I mentioned above, that is great but if I were to eyeball a target area, designate it, and then tell him to look for SAMs or what have you, he finds a valid target way quicker than I can. And after we hit it, he automatically starts looking for another target in the area and locks it right away if there is one. So I have a love hate relationship with Jester, but it's mostly love. Either way, Jester is the most advanced crewmember around, more than in any other sim (Oh, that's right,they don't have any in any other sim), and I think certainly more than George or Ivan or us having to jump in the back so much. v6, boNes

I've been flying with Jester since he was born, notht in SP and MP. Jester is fine with me but the only problem I have with him is all his responses are queued. So if alot is going on, he has to go down the laundry list of triggered responses, so that means that bandit that was at your 10:00 is now on your six and he only NOW calling 10:00. I've come to learn to not trust any of his clock code calls unless I am straight and level, and even then, only where this is not much air activity. On the other hand he is dead accurate with the LANTIRN. There have been times when he lost the LANTIRN track as the bomb was falling, but he corrected right away and got the track back and killed the target. I haven't had him lock any friendlies before. But when he did, did you see what HAFU symbol he had? Was it unknown? Maybe even friendly? I wouldn't fire unless I knew for sure it was hostile, or that it was declared by AWACS. Sometimes he hooks them maybe even locks them, but then realizes they are friendly and he changes HAFU on them and kills the lock. He also never STT locks them unless I tell him to, which is fine and helps me make sure it's not a friendly. So are you sure he's not just hooking the target? Just because he hooks it doesn't mean it should be fired on, he may be checking it out. My only problem with his targeting abilities is when he has hooked a target but leaves the LatLong info up instead of the target info up. I don't need to know what his coordinates are, I need to know his altitude, range, etc! I also don't know if he is actively popping chaff. I read that if he sees the missile he will, but a human would be popping anyway just in case, such as if there was a spike. My only indication he is popping chaff is if I happen to hear them dispense but if there is alot going on, I may never hear it. I can't say it is necessarily Jester when Phoenix locks are lost just before pitbull. It may be him, but more often the enemy aircraft can spoof it (notch it, terrain mask it, etc), or it may be the missile itself which is notoriously buggy on and off. I would say if you want to be sure, but AIM-54Cs on so that at least if the lock is broken, they will go pitbull on their own and give you a better chance of a hit. Maybe Jester can't see targets in front of you because there are many other targets in the area? He is programmed to optimize the scan volume to get as many targets in the scan as possible. If one of these happens to be say below the optimal scan of the radar that has 90% of the other targets in it, then he won't "see" the on right in front. Of course that is why it is better to fly with a human RIO or for you to jump in back real quick. But that's more an AI limitation of a logical program than anything else. I'd say, if you know the bandit is less than 15 miles away, you shouldn't have Jester do the targetting. You have PAL mode which is goof to 15 nm and when closer say 5 nm or less, you have PLM and VSL Hi/Lo. So try to use those when they are right in front of you. v6, boNes

I spoke with a former RIO and he said that in that configuration they did have PTID in the back and that the LANTIRN was 100% capable. v6, boNes

Yes #2 is important. Also when you see tutorials when they are breaking 90 degrees, that usually should only be happening if doing a SHB which is not too normal practice and really only reserved for the person who thinks he has the skills to show off (and is the one breaking the deck so as to not be a danger to anyone else). Otherwise don't be afraid to go even as far as 4 nm upwind before performing the break if you need to (BTW, 4 nm is the max you can be in the pattern before you must depart and re-enter). v6, boNes

Don't sweat things too much because even if you are on the numbers all the time there is always that random factor that will change things or have your otherwise perfect approach become not so perfect. Ideally, especially in cyclic ops, you should be about 1.1-1.3 nm from from the boat on downwind. Your turn to the 90 should occur right when you see the paint on the round down. When you make the turn, depending on how far close you are from the boat when you did it will determine how much bank you need. At the max of 1.3 nm? Turn 27 deg AOB and a little later. Closer like 1.0 nm? Turn harder at 30 AOB and turn sooner. EIther way you shouldn't be anywhere outside the 27-30 AOB ideally. But if you find you need to be--then do some of that pilot sierra and do what you have to within safe parameters to get yourself there. I agree that it's hard to see the markings on the boat compared to real life. What I end up doing to help myself out is remember what BRC is and turn to very closely PARALLEL the boat at BRC. As in, if I was to keep flying straight, the boat would be just off to the side underneath my canopy rail. Having the ship's wake under my armpit helps a little but I don't rely too much on that. When I notice the localizer of the ICLS start to move left, then I gently bank to compensate and get on centerline. Just dip the wing and straighten out over and over as needed. Holding a bank makes you lose life and will screw up your glide path. But most important, practice! You get more and more comfortable with it and know what to do but like I said there may always be something that comes up that changes things but you will know how to compensate. Not even the most seasoned naval aviators get a three wire every single time. v6, boNes

What is the keybind/command for that hook? I looked at the new list but couldn't find anything. v6, boNes

Is it that the new modular server is required for Sinai to function? Also, is there is an automatic method to update to the new server, or does the whole thing need to be reinstalled? v6, boNes

Is it that the new modular server is required for Sinai to function? Also, is there is an automatic method to update to the new server, or does the whole thing need to be reinstalled? v6, boNes

Same. Any solutions? v6, boNes

You mean SHIFT-K? If so, you have to page left twice ("[" key) from the default kneeboard page to see your trap. I don't think there is a way to record them like you were asking. v6, boNes

I'd like to be able to hook targets from the front. It bugs me that Jester hooks one I'm not interested in, or he has TWS on but sometimes doesn't hook anything while we're closing. I need target data, not my lat/long position! v6, boNes

Understood, when I posted that it was out of surprise because since it was working I had no idea there was even an issue, plus I thought it worth mentioning so that HB knew it wasn't everyone (which I let them know in that other thread). Meant no disrespect. v6, boNes

I only found out about this bug today from reading yesterday's beta update post. I will say that I run MT and have not ever had this TCS experience, even before yesterday's patch, or the others, to the extent that I wasn't even aware there was a bug reported. I fly SP, MP, and Campaign and have not had any issues. I fly the Steam version. So I guess I fall into HB's boat where I can't reproduce it. v6, boNes