Jester: most frustrating flight sim experience ever !

[jojo]

I'm trying to learn to deal with Jester, but so far he is increasing my work load which is the opposite of the purpose of a RIO.

I have to figure out why he wouldn't lock a STT lock tracked in TWS (with command "lock contact ahead", no mention of enemy or friendly).

I have to ask him to break lock after he lost it to be able to use VSL in dogfight.

 

I am struggling with Jester wheel menu too, but maybe because of my HOTAS or VR, I don't know.

Often the menu will close instead of performing the request. I have to repeat 2 or 3 times even if the command I want is highlighted.

 

If the Jester menu close while you are looking down, the default menu position is offset. This is a bad feature because my head has tilt limits IRL :(

 

These makes me fight the module instead of enemies...

 

Not that intuitive.

[mattag08]

People that complain about Jester are the ones that have just bought the module. Spend some time learning how he works and you'll find he's passable. A human RIO will always have some advantages, but Jester has perfect situational awareness and the ability to instantly do some tasks when asked, so he makes up for it a bit. The devs said from day 1 that this module is really meant to be played with a crew of two. Jester is just a temporary solution when you can't find a friend to play with.

[jojo]

People that complain about Jester are the ones that have just bought the module. Spend some time learning how he works and you'll find he's passable. A human RIO will always have some advantages, but Jester has perfect situational awareness and the ability to instantly do some tasks when asked, so he makes up for it a bit. The devs said from day 1 that this module is really meant to be played with a crew of two. Jester is just a temporary solution when you can't find a friend to play with.

 

I agree, but there is room for improvement with Jester or the menu usage. That menu offsetting from center makes me mad in VR.

[Sublimearrepentido]

Ive never had the pleasure of multicrewing the f14.

The one attempt didnt work. I make jester work fine. I die a lot but Im not the best. I do know Im absolutely the best as far as planes in the F14. Definitely my most lethal plane especially with phoenixes. And the jammer works well.

Some things. Set jester > defenses> fenced in(1)>auto(1) all you gotta do is jink and avoid chaff.

Also whenever possible jester>datalink>host>the awacs

For good SA closing in while in tws go to jester >stt(2)>pick my target> a list appears with the offset in azimuth and ranges.

After awhile you learn to not even look using him, hitting a ctrl+ #s really quick. It has not increased my workload at all. He definitely if anything helps.

Only 2 issues are that I cant hit IFF interrogate or ask him and the LGB issues. That is a problem. Air to air you just have to adapt.

[Sam]

Jester is a cool dude. Having him is what makes this module great. They did a great job providing that menue as well. BUT => the most misunderstood stuff is how the radar in the F-14 works and it's downsides.

 

That's probably the source of a lot frustration. I agree that there are a functionalities missing like IFF, P-STT locking, hooking, or prioritizing the correct TWS target, but apart from that he generally does a decent job.

[captain_dalan]

Hey mate, sorry for the late reply!

 

Best advice i can give right now, rely on lock target more then on lock enemy. True, this becomes less and less useful the more populated the engagement zone is, but then again, you most likely don't want to enter a blob of bandits with an STT on.....if at all.

 

As for me, i usually try to remember contact relative positions and ID's, so if by chance i lose track, i can STT exactly what i want. As mentioned above though, this usually works up to 3 contacts.

 

Hope it helps! Cheers!

[jojo]

Hey mate, sorry for the late reply!

 

Best advice i can give right now, rely on lock target more then on lock enemy. True, this becomes less and less useful the more populated the engagement zone is, but then again, you most likely don't want to enter a blob of bandits with an STT on.....if at all.

 

As for me, i usually try to remember contact relative positions and ID's, so if by chance i lose track, i can STT exactly what i want. As mentioned above though, this usually works up to 3 contacts.

 

Hope it helps! Cheers!

 

Thanks, yes that's what I'm doing for a few days now.:thumbup:

 

Still some weird things, like chaffs effect on TWS AUTO, but that's another story :music_whistling:

And the Jester wheel menu is really finicky to use in VR :(

[VampireNZ]

...

 

Instead of saying he is useless and complaining, give it a dozen flights and see if it gets better over time. It's just a completely different workflow to aircraft where you personally control the radar.

 

People that complain about Jester are the ones that have just bought the module. .

 

I am not sure where this reasoning is coming from that any issues with Jester are due to the user having only a 'few flights' or having just bought the module? I have many hours in the Tomcat, and Jester still behaves the same way as after the first few flights.

 

Also no one is is saying he is 'useless' or 'complaining' - they are bringing fairly serious gameplay-influencing deficiencies with a product to the developers attention. Personally I was saying that that a few issues with the Jester component of the aircraft is taking away from an otherwise incredibly good module in DCS.

 

Heatblur are well aware of this and don't need you jumping to their defence with patronising comments that assume everyone only has a few flights or are 'new' to the Tomcat. With 100+ hours I am well aware of the 'workflow' in the Tomcat. I am also aware of other pilots with more than a 'few flights' that have stopped flying the Tomcat due to Jester.

 

Jester is still being developed, and we can only hope he improves with age.

[NakedSquirrel]

I'm trying to learn to deal with Jester, but so far he is increasing my work load which is the opposite of the purpose of a RIO.

I have to figure out why he wouldn't lock a STT lock tracked in TWS (with command "lock contact ahead", no mention of enemy or friendly).

I have to ask him to break lock after he lost it to be able to use VSL in dogfight.

 

I am struggling with Jester wheel menu too, but maybe because of my HOTAS or VR, I don't know.

Often the menu will close instead of performing the request. I have to repeat 2 or 3 times even if the command I want is highlighted.

 

If the Jester menu close while you are looking down, the default menu position is offset. This is a bad feature because my head has tilt limits IRL :(

 

These makes me fight the module instead of enemies...

 

Not that intuitive.

 

Vaicom Pro helps a lot for using Jester in VR (and using Jester in general)

 

I haven't had as many issues with Jester, but I do a lot of micromanaging. I'll tell him altitude, vector and ranges to scan depending on where we are and where the threat is.

 

I do not know if the option is in the radial menu, but I have most luck telling Jester to 'lock bogie/target' ahead vs 'bandit' because Jester is slow to IFF enemy targets and mark them on the TID. He doesn't seem to recognize targets that are datalink labeled as enemy. He needs to IFF interrogate them himself and confirm.

 

This kind of makes sense. As the RIO you have to use the AWG-9 radar to STT targets, and the AWG-9 display does not show datalinked IFF, it's just raw radar. When I'm playing the RIO, I just spam STT lock targets until I find the datalink one. Usually I can guess which one will pick up the datalink enemy, but it can be a little tricky with multiple targets. Jester isn't quite that sophisticated. Basically you're telling Jester to look at the AWG-9 radar and pick the closest bandit he can see.

 

It would be nice if you could use the TID to lock a target, but the system isn't designed that way.

 

The other advice I'd give is to keep your distance from the combat area. The AWG-9 is a powerful radar, take advantage of it. Plus you'll lose SA the closer you get.

Edited May 17, 2020 by NakedSquirrel

[jojo]

Vaicom Pro helps a lot for using Jester in VR (and using Jester in general)

 

I haven't had as many issues with Jester, but I do a lot of micromanaging. I'll tell him altitude, vector and ranges to scan depending on where we are and where the threat is.

 

I do not know if the option is in the radial menu, but I have most luck telling Jester to 'lock bogie/target' ahead vs 'bandit' because Jester is slow to IFF enemy targets and mark them on the TID. He doesn't seem to recognize targets that are datalink labeled as enemy. He needs to IFF interrogate them himself and confirm.

 

This kind of makes sense. As the RIO you have to use the AWG-9 radar to STT targets, and the AWG-9 display does not show datalinked IFF, it's just raw radar. When I'm playing the RIO, I just spam STT lock targets until I find the datalink one. Usually I can guess which one will pick up the datalink enemy, but it can be a little tricky with multiple targets. Jester isn't quite that sophisticated. Basically you're telling Jester to look at the AWG-9 radar and pick the closest bandit he can see.

 

It would be nice if you could use the TID to lock a target, but the system isn't designed that way.

 

The other advice I'd give is to keep your distance from the combat area. The AWG-9 is a powerful radar, take advantage of it. Plus you'll lose SA the closer you get.

 

Thanks for you return.

To ease the workflow, I mapped some Jester keyboard shortcut on the HOTAS, like "lock contact", "break lock" "go RWS" or "go TWS".

Since the opening post, instead of "lock enemy" which was too complicated in dynamic environment I changed for "lock contact".

 

Fo other things I use the wheel. I would need to try Vaicom Pro, but I'm not native English speaker, I'm afraid to struggle with voice commands too. :joystick: