Wingman: affirm, rejoin, rtb

[paulca]

So I have been reading through a few of the wingman issues threads trying to work out if my own issue has been reported, but it's very unclear.

 

Is there a list somewhere of open AI wingmen bugs?

 

1. My first issue is this sequence which happens far too often.

 

Me: 2, Attack armor at my SPI with (anything really) from the South.

WM: 2, affirm

WM: 2, rejoin

WM: 2, RTB

 

Following this he appears to rejoin and he will still accept new commands. Sometimes repeating the same call sequence and he will operate normally.

 

2. My second issue is the "False acknowledgement".

 

Me: 2, Attack armor at my SPI with (anything really) from the South.

WM: 2, affirm

... minutes pass....

Wingman is still flying behind me in formation. Doesn't bother to do what he was asked to. Sometimes repeating the same call sequence works.

 

It seems that something somewhere is causing the AI to abort the task very early on, after he has 'affirmed' the request. He either panics and goes to "rejoin" and immediately "RTB" but settles on rejoining or he just silently rejoins.

 

I don't think the issue is my procedures and radio setup as repeating the same command often works to get the wingman to actually run in.

 

3. My third issue is the never ending attack wheel dance thing they do occasionally. They orbit the target, slam the brakes on start to turn in on the target but turn back out and go to full throttle and orbit round some more. You can watch them do this for ages, I typically recall them again.

 

IMHO none of these would be 'that' annoying if there was an indication of what was happening.

 

* Proper feedback from the AI when he can't do something or when he aborts an attack.

"2's off target, lost visual"

"2's off target, no more mavs"

"2's off target, it's too hot", when he spots AAA he isn't ready for

... or when he refuses a task ...

"2, negative, no tally"

"2, negative, no ammo"

"2, negative, too hot"

 

* Requestable feedback

[2, give me a sitrep]

"2, running in on armor at your SPI with mavs"

"2, in trail"

"2, rejoining 3nm out"

"2, RTB'ing"

 

It's also annoying that he doesn't respond when you tell him to rejoin when he already is rejoined. There is little way to know he is even there if you can't see him unless you order him to change formation or attack something.

 

There are other anomalies that I can live with, like shooting a MANPAD with a maverick, fine, but firing another maverick at the comms guy stood beside him... really? "I think you got him!"

[Nooch]

I agree there is big potential improvements to be made on the COMs side of things... I guess it will eventually come (with ATC improvements also) but not before they have properly merged the 1.5 and 2.0 versions.

[baltic_dragon]

Yeah, AI needs some tweaks, good post. +1.

[bmezz]

Ever since the latest update my wingman is not responding to orders in the A10C. Also the giant grey box around the cockpit instruments is not helping. Mostly the new update is pretty good, especially for Oculus

[The Legman]

Make sure you talk to him on UHF.

[Lalbatros]

Hi there, I'd like to give this thread some attention, I'm having the exact same issue as the OP. Any hint on how to solve this?

[eaglecash867]

Been having this issue since the beginning. Having such an unreliable AI sure does make it difficult to complete any mission where working with AI is essential to that mission's success.

[Yurgon]

Any hint on how to solve this?

 

Not really. I believe ED need to rework the entire AI, and there have been no hints as to when that might happen, at least not that I'm aware of.

 

In the meantime, it usually helps to be close to the target area before issuing an attack command to the wingman; something like 5 NM works a lot better than 10+ NM. Overflying the target beforehand could also help.

 

The more general commands "Two, engage air defenses" or "ground units" and so on (without specifying the location or the weapon) also tend to work better than the more specific ones, but it's not uncommon for the wingman to engage that single Igla guy 20 NM away behind a ridge line that the AI spotted in the rear view mirror, rather than attacking the whole bunch of Shilkas that the player is struggling with right at that particular moment... :music_whistling:

[AstonMartinDBS]

Same issue here.

 

 

Example:

 

- UHF-Frequency = correct

- TAD = "SPI ON"

- marked target as SPI (TMS forward long)

- UHF/MAIN/WINGMAN/ENGAGE WITH.../STANDARD

- Wingman responds: "affirm", "rejoin", "rtb" but stays in formation

 

 

Tried several targets, several formations, several commands to attack (ENGAGE/ENGAGE WITH...).

 

 

I watched that tutorial

I followed that instructions/hints and my wingman followed my orders in a self-built test mission, but he didn't in the A-10C-Mission "Hideout". It makes no sense to try to solo a mission while the wingman is doin' nothing...

 

 

Any ideas or hints?

[Rotor57]

Try waiting till your wing-man calls out the threats, then he should engage provided he has suitable weapons.

[AstonMartinDBS]

Try waiting till your wing-man calls out the threats, then he should engage provided he has suitable weapons.

Is there any command to force the wingman to do this or do I have just to wait until he calls out the threats unrequested?

Edited March 14, 2019 by AstonMartinDBS

[Yurgon]

Is there any command to force the wingman to do this or do I have just to wait until he calls out the threats unrequested?

 

The latter.

 

You can try to guide them as close to the targets as possible, but it's a fair bit unpredictable anyway.

 

Sometimes they won't attack, or call out, targets that are obviously right in frigging front of them. Other times they're like "SAM, 7 o'clock, for 18". It's hit and miss, really (pun intended :)).

[AstonMartinDBS]

Try waiting till your wing-man calls out the threats, then he should engage provided he has suitable weapons.

No way. Wingman doesn't work in mission "Hideout". He started calling out targets, I've marked one of the targets at WP 6 as SPI, shared the SPI (DMS left long) and, at a range of ~8 miles and an altitude of ~8.000 ft I ordered him to attack with MAV. Answer: "roger" and after a few seconds "rejoin".

Next try was to let him anchor at WP 5, then I gave the command to attack (any ground target) and he answered again "affirm" & "rejoin".

 

In the following attempts i tried several commands (several specific and not a specific weapon, several types of ground targets and any taget), but nothing worked to force him to attack.

 

In other missions and in the campaign "Georgian Hammer" my wingman works properly. That's just frustrating...

Edited March 28, 2019 by AstonMartinDBS

[DayGlow]

Just did the hideout mission as well. Designate any target in the target area, get the affirm and rejoin. Told him to attack tragets of opportunity, and he flew off into Russia to get shot down.

[baltic_dragon]

I found that “attack target at my SPI” almost never works. But the general “engage ground targets” etc works somewhat more often. Still, it is a big problem.

[AstonMartinDBS]

No way. Wingman doesn't work in mission "Hideout". He started calling out targets, I've marked one of the targets at WP 6 as SPI, shared the SPI (DMS left long) and, at a range of ~8 miles and an altitude of ~8.000 ft I ordered him to attack with MAV. Answer: "roger" and after a few seconds "rejoin".

I've re-tried the mission today, but the wingman-bug is still there. Maybe the bug only occurs in the german language version (I've attached the original mission-file for testing purposes).

 

 

It would be great, if someone could share the original (english language) version of this mission here. The mission path for the steam version = {steam games folder}Games\steamapps\common\DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Missions\Single

Edited January 10, 2020 by AstonMartinDBS

[AstonMartinDBS]

It would be great, if someone could share the original (english language) version of this mission here. The mission path for the steam version = {steam games folder}Games\steamapps\common\DCSWorld\Mods\aircraft\A-10C\Missions\Single

My request is obsolete - I've got an well working english language version of the mission "Hideout".

Hideout.miz

Edited March 4, 2020 by AstonMartinDBS

[dorianR666]

On 6/1/2019 at 8:47 AM, baltic_dragon said:

I found that “attack target at my SPI” almost never works. But the general “engage ground targets” etc works somewhat more often. Still, it is a big problem.

A-10C wingman is still broken

 

Put SPI on target (via TGP), SPI broadcast on, tell wingman to attack targets at SPI - "affirm", 3 seconds pause, "rejoin".

ED, for gods sake, fix this please.

[dorianR666]

How do I make the wingman follow orders? This time he even seemed to turn on target.

 

 

 

I have alse been receiving "RTB" when I tell him to rejoin sometimes, though he does rejoin, so thats just a radio response bug.

Edited March 9, 2021 by dorianR666

[Nealius]

On 3/10/2021 at 6:22 AM, dorianR666 said:

A-10C wingman is still broken

 

Put SPI on target (via TGP), SPI broadcast on, tell wingman to attack targets at SPI - "affirm", 3 seconds pause, "rejoin".

ED, for gods sake, fix this please.

 

How do you direct wingman to attack your SPI? No such "attack my target/SPI" item appears in my wingman or flight comms menu options. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Nealius

[AstonMartinDBS]

7 hours ago, Nealius said:

How do you direct wingman to attack your SPI? No such "attack my target/SPI" item appears in my wingman or flight comms menu options. 

Here's a short tutorial, just follow the instructions in this video:

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by AstonMartinDBS