Bug- AIM-54 issue - PSTT launches dumb and seeker going active

[Banzaiib]

Yes, i, the OP, was mistaken about the PSTT not being active off the rail. However, the missile should guide before 10 NM. It should track like an AIM-9 looking at a giant afterburner. What you can clearly see in the tacview is that the missile, fired at 18 miles, does not track, it just flies in a straight line until 10 NM, then starts to track.  What i hear HB saying is that the missile cannot guide before 10 miles because of the limits of the DCS engine / code. I don't quite understand this response. IF HB can make the missile guide properly at 100 miles for a TWS or PDSTT launch, then why can't they figure it out for PSTT? Just work with the code you have been given to make the missile behave as expected? AKA, fix the bug. Or don't... I just won't fire PSTT beyond 10 miles...

Edited May 5, 2021 by Banzaiib

[Naquaii]

1 minute ago, Banzaiib said:

Yes, i, the OP, was mistaken about the PSTT not being active off the rail. However, the missile should guide before 10 NM. It should track like an AIM-9 looking at a giant afterburner. What you can clearly see in the tacview is that the missile, fired at 18 miles, does not track, it just flies in a straight line until 10 NM, then starts to track.  What i hear HB saying is that the missile cannot guide before 10 miles because of the limits of the DCS engine / code. I don't quite understand this response. IF HB can make the missile guide properly at 100 miles for a TWS or PDSTT launch, then why can't they figure it out for PSTT? Just work with the code you have been given to make the missile behave as expected? AKA, fix the bug.

 

No, it doesn't work like that. Both IRL and in DCS. Firstly, IRL the missile might still be launched outside of a range where it can find a target, in that case it will go straight until it finds a target and then track. The seeker might find the target further out and it might not find it until further in. It all depends on target RCS, 18NM is a long way a way for a missile seeker, even IRL.

 

In DCS it also does not work like that. We use the missile seeker modes available to us and in TWS or PD-STT we guide the missile from the F-14 directly as those are modes supported by the AWG-9. When launching the missile active of the rail we literally tell the missile what direction to go and that it should be an active shot. We cannot control at what range the seeker will find a target on it's own. That part of the code is not available to us, we can not make our own missile guidance code, we only input missile parameters into EDs functions and missile seeker range is not one of those.

[Banzaiib]

Thank you for the responses! I have learned much, re-learned some stuff too.

I have no desire to know any more about how the DCS sausage is made, only that the missile performs as expected, and when they don't, that there's a reason. Too much of anything can be bad

Edited May 5, 2021 by Banzaiib