Are we flying low today?

[felixx75]

Why does Jester actually ask me if we are flying particularly low? So what's the deeper meaning behind it? Is there an advantage to saying "no" if you don't fly low? If there are no advantages, you always say "yes" and the whole question is obsolete...

[Jayhawk1971]

From what I've gathered, this sets Jester's tolerance threshold for bailing out on you. The lower you set your altitude, the less likely it will be for Jester to eject himself from the aircraft. He seems to think flying low = imminent crash.

[felixx75]

2 hours ago, Jayhawk1971 said:

From what I've gathered, this sets Jester's tolerance threshold for bailing out on you. The lower you set your altitude, the less likely it will be for Jester to eject himself from the aircraft. He seems to think flying low = imminent crash.

That's what I thought. But if it doesn't bring any advantages, you always set the lowest height and the question itself becomes worthless.

[Jayhawk1971]

vor 16 Minuten schrieb felixx75:

That's what I thought. But if it doesn't bring any advantages, you always set the lowest height and the question itself becomes worthless.

 

Edited May 27, 2024 by Jayhawk1971

[=475FG= Dawger]

We need an option for Jester to climb out of the aircraft when the chocks are removed.

[Gunfreak]

From watching some of the preview videos it says this feature isn't working yet.

[Nealius]

12 hours ago, Jayhawk1971 said:

The lower you set your altitude, the less likely it will be for Jester to eject himself from the aircraft.

He shouldn't be ejecting himself period. Not sure why we need an option for this when the lowest possible tolerance should be the default; i.e. not ejecting unless commanded to by the pilot. If we want real WSO ejection decision then we should set it via crew contract, with off being a selection.

Edited May 28, 2024 by Nealius

[skywalker22]

That question from Jester seems completely irrelevant to me, I could say unnecessary. Would be better that we as a pilot would tell him what type of mission we are about to fly, if there is something specific about it, else we would not tell him anything.

[Dogsbd]

After a hundred or so takeoffs in the F-4 this question is becoming real annoying.

[Raisuli]

55 minutes ago, Dogsbd said:

After a hundred or so takeoffs in the F-4 this question is becoming real annoying.

I just ignore it.  He goes away eventually.

[=475FG= Dawger]

2 hours ago, Raisuli said:

I just ignore it.  He goes away eventually.

My taxi time is exceptionally short. He usually asks me this stupid question around 80 knots during takeoff and gets subsequently very far behind his other callouts. Jester is, by far, the very worst aspect of a very nice module. 
 

I consider his programming to be a complete whiff. For some reason, it was decided to make him an incompetent, excitable, untrained fool. He doesn’t do very basic WSO  tasks. Airspeed callouts in a fight, looking for new bandits, etc. 

He does pointless things like ask the low altitude question. 

And sometimes his pointless bull<profanity> interferes with something he should be doing. 
 

For example, if you takeoff on a runway that Jester thinks isn’t one, he launches into “ hey man, you’re way too fast. The CO is going to bust our balls for that.” instead of his takeoff airspeed callouts. The result is he does eventually do his takeoff callouts but they are anywhere from 50 to 100 knots too late. 

[Raisuli]

27 minutes ago, =475FG= Dawger said:

My taxi time is exceptionally short. He usually asks me this stupid question around 80 knots during takeoff and gets subsequently very far behind his other callouts. Jester is, by far, the very worst aspect of a very nice module. 
 

I consider his programming to be a complete whiff. For some reason, it was decided to make him an incompetent, excitable, untrained fool. He doesn’t do very basic WSO  tasks. Airspeed callouts in a fight, looking for new bandits, etc. 

He does pointless things like ask the low altitude question. 

And sometimes his pointless bull<profanity> interferes with something he should be doing. 
 

For example, if you takeoff on a runway that Jester thinks isn’t one, he launches into “ hey man, you’re way too fast. The CO is going to bust our balls for that.” instead of his takeoff airspeed callouts. The result is he does eventually do his takeoff callouts but they are anywhere from 50 to 100 knots too late. 

Really?  I think he's a huge improvement over the F-14, but maybe that's because I never flew that one very much.  I'm completely stunned at how much I like the F-4; sort of a DCS version of a steam gauge Cessna with a real bad attitude, an afterburner (or two), and a butt load of bombs.  Jester has his moments, but on the whole with the context button and all the shortcuts I can generally get what I need out of the back seat without too much trouble.

It's also important to remember he's EA, much like the rest of the aircraft.  Kind of like a JO fresh out of flight school; give HB some time to get him dialed in and add the functionality he lacks.

"The 'hey, you're way too fast' on runways is more about map designers than Jester.  He's pure software and they depend on zones being set right, which sometimes they aren't.  Honestly that kind of stuff is just noise and I ignore it like all the other noise in life.  I already know my airspeed; there's a gauge for that.  Jester's callouts are a convenience.

Right now I'm collecting hours in the F-4 to get used to it and practicing delivery.  Level turns, wrap my head around the relationship between vertical velocity and throttle inputs, getting used to the trim, wrapping up my 'operations manual' so when I start flying something else I won't forget how to fly this, trying to land.  One landing might get compared to Meg Ryan, the other induces snark, which tells me I'm inconsistent.  If you ignore the words and pay attention to the point he helps dial in those landings, and again the altitude callouts, while convenient, aren't required.  I also have an altimeter.

Jester will never be a human WSO with whom you've flown enough to get a working relationship going, and in MP I can totally see where a two-human crew will be a lot more effective than one person with software in back, but on the whole if you can ignore the warts it's not too bad for a bit of software that's a whole lot more complex than you might imagine.

 

[=475FG= Dawger]

49 minutes ago, Raisuli said:

Really?  I think he's a huge improvement over the F-14, but maybe that's because I never flew that one very much.  I'm completely stunned at how much I like the F-4; sort of a DCS version of a steam gauge Cessna with a real bad attitude, an afterburner (or two), and a butt load of bombs.  Jester has his moments, but on the whole with the context button and all the shortcuts I can generally get what I need out of the back seat without too much trouble.

It's also important to remember he's EA, much like the rest of the aircraft.  Kind of like a JO fresh out of flight school; give HB some time to get him dialed in and add the functionality he lacks.

"The 'hey, you're way too fast' on runways is more about map designers than Jester.  He's pure software and they depend on zones being set right, which sometimes they aren't.  Honestly that kind of stuff is just noise and I ignore it like all the other noise in life.  I already know my airspeed; there's a gauge for that.  Jester's callouts are a convenience.

Right now I'm collecting hours in the F-4 to get used to it and practicing delivery.  Level turns, wrap my head around the relationship between vertical velocity and throttle inputs, getting used to the trim, wrapping up my 'operations manual' so when I start flying something else I won't forget how to fly this, trying to land.  One landing might get compared to Meg Ryan, the other induces snark, which tells me I'm inconsistent.  If you ignore the words and pay attention to the point he helps dial in those landings, and again the altitude callouts, while convenient, aren't required.  I also have an altimeter.

Jester will never be a human WSO with whom you've flown enough to get a working relationship going, and in MP I can totally see where a two-human crew will be a lot more effective than one person with software in back, but on the whole if you can ignore the warts it's not too bad for a bit of software that's a whole lot more complex than you might imagine.

 

Nope. 
 

Example:  If your WSO thinks you are taking off on a taxiway, his job as aircrew isn’t to provide snark. He should either be calling the abort or doing his job and making his takeoff callouts. 
 

Airspeed. In a fight. Critical. Jester’s job is to help the pilot keep his eyes on the bandit and look for new bandits. He does neither.

Yes there is an airspeed indicator but looking down at it is taking your eyes off the bandit. That is an automatic Jester failure.
 

The rate fight at 500 plus knots is big, certainly big enough that losing the bandit in the half second it takes to collect the airspeed info will happen.
 

There isn’t even a provision to ask him for airspeed. So HB completely ignored the SME’s on this one.(They had SME’s, correct?) One has to wonder why. 
 

I don’t need landing advice. Wasted programming effort. And doesn’t even get that right. If you grease one on at the far end, 50 knots fast, his programming has him complimenting your skill as you go smoking off the far end into the weeds. Try it. It’s pretty funny to hear him praising your landing  while you are flipping inverted and skidding on the canopy bow. 

[Zabuzard]

Thank you for the feedback. The mentioned points are known to us and being worked on already.
As pointed out, the aircraft and especially Jester is EA and these things will all be added over time.
Development takes time, the Tomcat wasnt able to provide similiar features at launch either.
Cheers

[aaronwhite]

3 hours ago, =475FG= Dawger said:

Nope. 
 

Example:  If your WSO thinks you are taking off on a taxiway, his job as aircrew isn’t to provide snark. He should either be calling the abort or doing his job and making his takeoff callouts. 
 

Airspeed. In a fight. Critical. Jester’s job is to help the pilot keep his eyes on the bandit and look for new bandits. He does neither.

Yes there is an airspeed indicator but looking down at it is taking your eyes off the bandit. That is an automatic Jester failure.
 

The rate fight at 500 plus knots is big, certainly big enough that losing the bandit in the half second it takes to collect the airspeed info will happen.
 

There isn’t even a provision to ask him for airspeed. So HB completely ignored the SME’s on this one.(They had SME’s, correct?) One has to wonder why. 
 

I don’t need landing advice. Wasted programming effort. And doesn’t even get that right. If you grease one on at the far end, 50 knots fast, his programming has him complimenting your skill as you go smoking off the far end into the weeds. Try it. It’s pretty funny to hear him praising your landing  while you are flipping inverted and skidding on the canopy bow. 

I'm sure a lot of that will come. Jester keeps you aware of the airspeed in the F-14, which is really handy, especially if you're getting slow while looking outside. 

[Nealius]

4 hours ago, Raisuli said:

Really?  I think he's a huge improvement over the F-14

The menu is an improvement, as is the context button. However he's way too chatty with no concept of brevity or efficiency, nor a sense of timing for things like the fuel check, which interferes with mission critical tasks.

Edited July 4, 2024 by Nealius

[=475FG= Dawger]

2 hours ago, Zabuzard said:

Thank you for the feedback. The mentioned points are known to us and being worked on already.
As pointed out, the aircraft and especially Jester is EA and these things will all be added over time.
Development takes time, the Tomcat wasnt able to provide similiar features at launch either.
Cheers
 

The missing features wouldn’t be so glaring if it weren’t for the silliness that is there and I haven’t seen any indication that it’s going to be removed. The best we can hope for is some future editing capabilities. 

[MBot]

Yes please remove the low flying question, or make it an option to disable it. I don't understand what purpose it serves and it gets super annoying.

The other interesting thing with the fuel check is that it happens frequently on final or even during the flare. At first I thought it is just a coincidence. But it happens so frequently (while the chances should be so small) that it seems to be a systemic issue that trigger it.

Edited July 5, 2024 by MBot

[Zabuzard]

8 minutes ago, MBot said:

The other interesting thing with the fuel check is that it happens frequently on final or even during the flare. At first I thought it is just a coincidence. But it happens so frequently (while the chances should be so small) that it seems to be a systemic issue that trigger it.

That has been fixed for the upcoming patch already. It is a coincidence though, you probably tend to land when you are about to reach bingo fuel.

Edited July 5, 2024 by Zabuzard

[Bosun]

23 hours ago, =475FG= Dawger said:

The missing features wouldn’t be so glaring if it weren’t for the silliness that is there and I haven’t seen any indication that it’s going to be removed. The best we can hope for is some future editing capabilities. 

Pretty sure Jester is already editable.   

Also - any of the callouts that you find offensive can simply be deleted from the voice file folder, if nothing else. 

[r4y30n]

Thank you for the feedback. The mentioned points are known to us and being worked on already.
As pointed out, the aircraft and especially Jester is EA and these things will all be added over time.
Development takes time, the Tomcat wasnt able to provide similiar features at launch either.
Cheers

I figured as much. Thanks for the effort, it’s much appreciated. As an SP-only player I wouldn’t have bought the F-4 or F-14 if it weren’t for Jester and, though he has his faults, I’ve enjoyed both immensely in a way I didn’t think would be possible for a 2-seater in a sim.

[Migparts]

On 7/4/2024 at 5:30 PM, Raisuli said:

I just ignore it.  He goes away eventually.

Yes, I just let him ask and don’t answer. 

[=475FG= Dawger]

On 7/5/2024 at 4:47 AM, Zabuzard said:

That has been fixed for the upcoming patch already. It is a coincidence though, you probably tend to land when you are about to reach bingo fuel.

 

He has some weird ideas about bingo.

I have him asking about fuel in the middle of a direct bombing pop up with 7000 lbs on board 42 miles from Homeplate. 

I know I am beating this dead horse, but, again, his job is to be useful during the task at hand. While I am managing the multiple variables of a pop up attack, he is doing nothing useful and sometimes decides to ask irrelevant questions.

He does provide occasional completely unintentional humor. Earlier today, after getting a heater up the pipe during ACM practice with my group mates, the clown goes into panic mode for a few sentences, ejects and after his seat is well clear of the aircraft, tells me the bandit is at our 6.

I could not help but laugh.

In a related request, I would love the ability to pin the back seat in the mission editor when Jester is present. We do a lot of PvP BFM and ACM practice. While I can tell guys to avoid ejecting, Jester still ejects and our training area gets cluttered with ejected WSO's that cannot be cleaned up with Unit.destroy. In DCS, ejected crew are visible from huge distances.

Unless someone knows a script that will clean up ejected pilot and WSO's from client aircraft?

[Zabuzard]

He has some weird ideas about bingo.
I have him asking about fuel in the middle of a direct bombing pop up with 7000 lbs on board 42 miles from Homeplate. 
I know I am beating this dead horse, but, again, his job is to be useful during the task at hand. While I am managing the multiple variables of a pop up attack, he is doing nothing useful and sometimes decides to ask irrelevant questions.
He does provide occasional completely unintentional humor. Earlier today, after getting a heater up the pipe during ACM practice with my group mates, the clown goes into panic mode for a few sentences, ejects and after his seat is well clear of the aircraft, tells me the bandit is at our 6.
I could not help but laugh.
In a related request, I would love the ability to pin the back seat in the mission editor when Jester is present. We do a lot of PvP BFM and ACM practice. While I can tell guys to avoid ejecting, Jester still ejects and our training area gets cluttered with ejected WSO's that cannot be cleaned up with Unit.destroy. In DCS, ejected crew are visible from huge distances.
Unless someone knows a script that will clean up ejected pilot and WSO's from client aircraft?

Most of the things you are mentioning are bugs that have been fixed for the upcoming patch already, for example ejection. He is supposed to only eject milliseconds before impact. When he ejects in another situation, it is simply a bug.

Regarding the fuel, he can't see the fuel totalizer, so he guesstimates the state based on time and how you fly and then asks the question occasionally. Especially during combat when having a dogfight with afterburner, this was something a real WSO would have done very often and the pilot would then have aborted the fight if fuel was low.
Jester asking the question in a moment where it's not applicable is a bug. Report it and we fix it, that's the nature of development.

That said thanks for the feedback, it is on our list and some of the items have been fixed already or are currently being worked on

[Q3ark]

3 hours ago, =475FG= Dawger said:

I know I am beating this dead horse

The horse has been beaten so much it’s just red paste at this point