Load outs for wingmen

[paulca]

So I have spent quite a bit of time testing out my wingman and... he goes from being completely useless to astonishly good to completely useless seemingly at random.

 

If you set him up well at good altitude and distance he will run in on Mavericks and fire 6 for 6 targets and 6 kills.

 

However if you try and get him to drop a JDAM or a CBU105.... well, I gave up after 5 minutes of watching him orbit the target, brake, accelerate, continue orbiting the target.

 

Again however, when I ordered the same wing man to just attack "ground targets", he flew 5nm away and dropped all 4 CBUs into a group of anti-air taking out about 20 of them LOL Wish I had got a fraps video of them.

 

Of course them he went back to useless again.

 

In the last mission "Storm before the calm - Enemy within" the first time I told him to attack, he responded with 2, affirm, 2 ejecting. Which completely screwed me up as I didn't have enough weapons to complete the mission and had to refuel and rearm!

 

Does anyone have tips on what works and what doesn't work and how to use the buggy little fellas effectively?

 

Cheers.

[Andryl]

Well, I had almost your same experience...

It seems wingman is 100% effective when using Maverics, but with the other weapons his utility is random like.

The problem is that if you ask him to generally attack ground targets he is effective, but you don't have control on which target will be attacked, but if you address him on a specific one, you will face the most variable reactions.

And almost all the times I ask him to attack using a specific weapons (for example to save mavs for later attacks) he will eject...:(

 

I think wingman AI has to be deeply improved.

[paulca]

Agreed, Though I would use the word "fixed" rather than improved. If they did what you told them to effectively they would be brilliant.

 

The "Eject" thing has only happened to me once, usually they go...

 

"2, affirm"

"2, rejoin"

"2, RTB"

 

Which is better in that they stay alive and can be told to rejoin. The "Eject" response is kinda rubbish though.

 

"Engage targets of opportunity", as you say, works most of the time. They seem to pick by priority within a 10nm radius or at least all the targets they have tallied. They will start with Anti-air. So if there are SAMs about they will usually, stupidly, run in on them, even if they only have dumb bombs available and especially if there are other anti-air threats for him to get shot by.

[Yurgon]

Mostly the same here.

 

Most of the time wingmen actually work okay for me, I guess I learned what works and what doesn't. When ordered to attack, they must not be too far from the target or they'll simply ignore the order. Line of sight also helps. They're good with Mavs, but they also mostly do an okay job with guided bombs. Unguided weapons, including the gun, are a no-go, though, because they love to get themselves deep within range of anyone with a gun when they run in. Their only use in that case is that they act as a bullet magnet, allowing me to spot the attacker or go in with guns myself. ;)

 

I also try to micromanage them, like "Two, engage armor, with guided bombs, from the west" whenever I think the attack should come from a certain direction, in order to keep them out of the way of known air defenses.

 

But all in all I've lowered my expectations in a way that every successful attack by any of my wingman is a welcome surprise, so when I say they work okay for me, that means like half the time. The other half I still haven't figured out what the hell they do or how to get them to attack my target (and without committing suicide). :D