[LATER IN EARLY ACCESS] Viper roadmap - No AG radar?

[jetkid]

Hi everyone.

Below is the list of developments identified as priorities in the coming months for the viper.

 

• Complete the Litening targeting pod
  
• AGM-65D/G/H/K/L Maverick
  
• Flight model and FLCS tuning
  
• HARM Targeting System (HTS)
  
• AGM-88C HARM POS and HAS modes
  
• Complete Air-to-Air Radar: DTT SAM mode, bullseye, intercept steering cue, ACM Slew,
  
• Velocity Search with Range,
  
• Landing and takeoff handling tuning
  
• Integration of the JHMCS with the HARM Targeting System (HTS), Link 16, AG Mode, and
  
• AIFF
  
• Sniper XR Targeting Pod
  

 

It seems strange to me that the AG radar is not among the first items to be developed.

 

I think that in the survey that has just ended (for which, however, I have not yet been able to see the results anywhere) it emerged among the very first points to be fixed.

 

Anyone have any information?

 

Thx.

[Danny_P]

"New features for DCS: F-16C Viper include but are not limited to;"

[Astronaut]

Just like the Hornet, I think new features/systems/weapons will trickle in as they are developed. And honestly everything on their list is more of a priority than A-G radar. That's not to say it won't come, but other systems and weapons are needed more at this time IMO.

 

We need harms and the HTS in the viper, and that should be properly 1

[Hyundae]

Will the mentioned roadmap be completed within this year?

[stormrider]

Will the mentioned roadmap be completed within this year?

 

Given 2020 worst year and ED's historical commitment to the F-16, it's very unlikely. They already have a plateful of excuses to delay it even more.

Edited August 16, 2020 by stormridersp

[Weasel]

They hired two new devs for the viper so it's realistic to expect more updates in the next few months (as NL already explained the TGP update was a big amount of work)

[QuiGon]

Will the mentioned roadmap be completed within this year?

No, it will be completed in 2021. A2G radar will come, don't worry.

[SCPanda]

ED just realeased a news today about the Hornet A-G radar and they said this new addition will help build the Viper A-G radar later. So yes, we will get the radar eventually. But when? Well... this is ED we are talking about, so try to be patient.

 

I doubt A-G radar will come in 2020 given the COVID situation and ED's priorities

[Linx]

Will the mentioned roadmap be completed within this year?

 

 

Given that they've missed the AGM-65 Maverick release by 5 months and counting, we can safely assume that it is going to be a looong time before the listed features are released.

[Airhunter]

What use would it bring to have an A2G radar in a APG-68 Viper? Like, seriously?

[QuiGon]

What use would it bring to have an A2G radar in a APG-68 Viper? Like, seriously?

Well, there's DBS!

[deadpool]

What use would it bring to have an A2G radar in a APG-68 Viper? Like, seriously?

 

The use for a strike would be that you can find moving ground targets quicker.

 

The use for us all would be that the plane is supposed to be realistic, and it's a real feature of the radar

[Glide]

I assume the Litening pod is going to provide a lot of missing function. Has anyone tried flying with it?

 

 

 

I'm still brushing up my skills, but I sense a balance issue on takeoff especially with the pod loaded. I've been trying a few configs lately, clean and heavy. Seems to me it pulls hard to starboard.

[gavagai]

If most voters were like me then a2g radar was not their priority. The published roadmap matches how I voted almost to a t.

[Airhunter]

The use for a strike would be that you can find moving ground targets quicker.

 

The use for us all would be that the plane is supposed to be realistic, and it's a real feature of the radar

 

Yet you cant sustain 9G's or have a CATIII restriction? With the complete lack of standoff or precision munitions apart from LGB's, what's the point? DCS and realistic are polar opposites.

[ebabil]

They can't deliver even maverick which many planes have been using for a long time in dcs. Something is not right with this module. Somehow they can't focus

[CarbonFox]

So the APG-68(V5) has DBS but lacks SAR which the V9 received. Is DBS the only feature the A/G radar has over the APG-73?

[BarTzi]

So the APG-68(V5) has DBS but lacks SAR which the V9 received. Is DBS the only feature the A/G radar has over the APG-73?

 

Has over? Isn't DBS like EXP1/2?

[QuiGon]

DCS and realistic are polar opposites.

I wonder what War Thunder (or even Ace Combat) and realistic are then? :huh:

[falcon_120]

Has over? Isn't DBS like EXP1/2?

Yes

 

Enviado desde mi ELE-L29 mediante Tapatalk

[stormrider]

I wonder what War Thunder (or even Ace Combat) and realistic are then? :huh:

 

I'm sorry being the one telling you this, but Santa Claus doesn't exist.

 

If you don't believe me, do yourself a favor and have a look at the files in your DCS installation. You should start with the \Scripts folder.

Soon you'll figure out that outsite the ultra realistic cockpits, start-up procedures and inert training bombs, everything about DCS World is ultra simplified, generic and very far from realistic; missiles and radars in particular.:smilewink:

Edited August 16, 2020 by stormridersp

[Fri13]

I'm sorry being the one telling you this, but Santa Claus doesn't exist.

 

https://santaclausvillage.info/

[Fri13]

They can't deliver even maverick which many planes have been using for a long time in dcs. Something is not right with this module. Somehow they can't focus

 

A-G requires A feature, the A requires B functions, the B functions requires E, F and D capabilities..... No one has developed the F and D capabilities and only half of the B functions.

 

How they would come up with the A-G radar if half of the team is required to design, develop and program a missing parts?

 

I sometimes sense a competition between F-16 and F/A-18 users, a slight tension that which one "gets first" new toys.

I do understand the feeling of "I want it now" and such a unpleasant let downs when "it didn't come", but one just needs to realize that it is just a game, you invest time and money for it for not just one experience but for years to come. And it is always up to each and everyone themselves to decide do they buy a Early Access module in its development phase and accept its downsides, or do they simply put the money aside and wait that it gets released as feature complete out of Early Access and then buy it with all features as wanted.

 

Everyone should already know that Early Access period takes years, and it is open beta for everyone to participate but no one can speed up development without helping by searching bugs etc.

[QuiGon]

I'm sorry being the one telling you this, but Santa Claus doesn't exist.

 

If you don't believe me, do yourself a favor and have a look at the files in your DCS installation. You should start with the \Scripts folder.

Soon you'll figure out that outsite the ultra realistic cockpits, start-up procedures and inert training bombs, everything about DCS World is ultra simplified, generic and very far from realistic; missiles and radars in particular.:smilewink:

I'm very much aware of that, thanks. That's the difference between reality and realistic simulation. DCS isn't the former, but for consumer software, it's darn near close to the latter. Compared to what else there is on the market, DCS is hyper realistic. Is it real? No, of course not, it's still software that provides us an approximation to the real deal.

Edited August 16, 2020 by QuiGon

[statrekmike]

What use would it bring to have an A2G radar in a APG-68 Viper? Like, seriously?

 

 

In current real-life combat operations? Not a ton. While I know that some in the combat aircraft enthusiast scene have said that it is useless because of the targeting pod, it isn't quite that simple. The big reason why ground radar (at least in a target acquisition context) isn't as useful today is because we have other assets like JSTARS and different kinds of datalink all contributing information to a picture given to the pilot. When you have a JSTARS tracking ground targets, a datalink telling you that info, and people vectoring you to the right target, ground radar isn't as useful as a targeting pod since you already roughly know where to point that pod.

 

In contrast, DCS players are going to be in a different situation. DCS doesn't have JSTARS and it doesn't currently have anything beyond SADL and the Black shark's system for ground target datalink information (and neither of those systems can talk to link 16 currently). For all intents and purposes, a DCS F-16 player is getting something like a Desert Storm experience where the lack of JSTARS and comprehensive ground target datalink made the use of individual ground radar systems necessary in some cases to find enemy positions and vehicles.

 

If you want a good practical example of what I am talking about, try this experiment if you can. Set up a mission (or better yet, have a friend do it) where you have a choice to either spawn in a F-16 or a JF-17. Place some enemy vehicles in big open desert area on the Persian Gulf map and set them to follow a long, wide, erratic path. It doesn't need to be complex, just a handful of moving vehicles in a group and your aircraft.

 

First, hop in the F-16 and try to find them at a altitude of about 20,000 feet. You will have a targeting pod so you can try to use that to help you but you can't use the F10 map and you won't have any JTAC or AFAC guiding you in. You have to find it yourself with only what the plane currently has in terms of sensor options. You will probably eventually find the vehicles but it will take a while and will probably not be a fast enough process to do in a more serious mission context.

 

Now hop in the JF-17. Since the JF-17 not only has ground radar but also a working GMT (ground moving target) mode, you will have a vastly different experience. All you have to do is set the radar to GMT, watch the display for blips, and lock them up when you see them. From here, you can slave your targeting pod to that sensor point of interest and quickly engage them without a lot of wasted time or fuss.

 

One could make the argument that ground radar is not as useful as a JTAC/AFAC or even some sort of scripted setup by the mission designer to deliver target locations to the player but a working ground radar gives you a level of versatility that you simply don't have otherwise.

 

To be blunt. Anyone who argues that the ground radar isn't useful in DCS is doing so without considering the limitations we have in DCS versus the real world. If we had JSTARS and more agile JTAC/AFAC AI assets, it would be different but we don't. Without those things, ground radar suddenly becomes as useful as it was in Desert Storm.