Jester Boresight Aspect Options Question

[Rolds]

If I understand the manual correctly, especially this part about the boresight aspect knob that the WSO has, it has two functions, first to being to set the speed gates for boresight radar, and second to select which information is to be displayed on the display readout at the top of the radar display when a target is locked. Jester does not seem to be able to change this knob to other positions except when boresight mode is selected, but there doesn't appear to be anything stopping him from doing so, and I would like it if he could so I can select what information will be displayed about the locked target. I'm not posting this in bugs yet as I am still going through the F4E, can anyone tell me if I am missing something here?

EDIT - after I typed this out I realized I could just hop back into the WSO seat and try this, and sure enough you can switch this knob at any time. I think this is a bug, Jester should be able to change the boresight aspect knob using the interface and direct commands (there are buttons that do this that are helpful to bind) at any time.

Edited October 27, 2024 by Rolds

[Zabuzard]

If I understand the manual correctly, especially this part about the boresight aspect knob that the WSO has, it has two functions, first to being to set the speed gates for boresight radar, and second to select which information is to be displayed on the display readout at the top of the radar display when a target is locked. Jester does not seem to be able to change this knob to other positions except when boresight mode is selected, but there doesn't appear to be anything stopping him from doing so, and I would like it if he could so I can select what information will be displayed about the locked target. I'm not posting this in bugs yet as I am still going through the F4E, can anyone tell me if I am missing something here?
EDIT - after I typed this out I realized I could just hop back into the WSO seat and try this, and sure enough you can switch this knob at any time. I think this is a bug, Jester should be able to change the boresight aspect knob using the interface and direct commands (there are buttons that do this that are helpful to bind) at any time.

Jester does operate the knob, also outside of Boresight. So if you start messing with it, you will confuse Jester and he will also eventually set it back to another setting.

The correct procedure for a WSO, outside of Boresight modes, is to always put the knob into a setting that allows to read Vc, the single most important value. Based on Vc, you can easily deduct target altitude, aspect and of course the closure rate itself is given as well. Heading and distance is shown on the screen by the placement abd movement of the return already.

Jester assumes the knob to be in Vc, if you force-move it, he will incorrectly interpret the number on the display and mess up.

Aside from Boresight no-lock shots, the only time when the knob should be moved is shortly after obtaining a lock to validate lock quality. Jester cycles the knob through all settings after locking in order to do that (he doesn't really validate much yet though). Then, back to Vc.

That said, we are planning to add some form of "where is the bandit" command where Jester would give you a BRA callout or similar again.

[Rolds]

So all I am looking for here is a way to change the display on the radar so that in the pilot seat I can see information other than closure velocity. The reasons don't really matter but potential use cases include figuring out if the locked target is above or below my nose or correlating my lock with a radar controller in an intercept to confirm I have the right target in a complex environment. If I switch to the WSO seat I can move the knob and get this information to display, but if I ask Jester to do that he replies "unable". This appears to be an unnecessary limitation if not an outright bug.

Is there any other way currently to change the displayed information on the radar screen from the front seat? If not, could you please allow jester to move the target aspect knob in situations other than boresight mode?

[Zabuzard]

So all I am looking for here is a way to change the display on the radar so that in the pilot seat I can see information other than closure velocity. The reasons don't really matter but potential use cases include figuring out if the locked target is above or below my nose or correlating my lock with a radar controller in an intercept to confirm I have the right target in a complex environment. If I switch to the WSO seat I can move the knob and get this information to display, but if I ask Jester to do that he replies "unable". This appears to be an unnecessary limitation if not an outright bug.
Is there any other way currently to change the displayed information on the radar screen from the front seat? If not, could you please allow jester to move the target aspect knob in situations other than boresight mode?

Essentially, you are trying to play WSO here, despite being the pilot.

We believe a better, and more realistic crew interaction would be something like "hey Jester, where is the target?", "uhm, 20° right, 25nm, 17k ft". So that is what we will do instead. Also because this flow integrates very well into other aspects, such as losing the target during a dogfight or when needing assistance to find a ground target etc.

To your specific use case, you can deduct that from the screen via the antenna indicator on the right plus the range. All crew, pilots and WSOs were able to guesstimate target altitude within a second by just looking at these two parameters and hence never desired to flip the knob around to sacrifice Vc.
Jester moving the knob around outside of lock validation or no-lock shots wouldnt be proper behavior.

And allowing the pilot to mess around with it in any way would mean significant extra work to let Jester understand that he currently can't do his job anymore because he is missing Vc, which is integral to his workflow. Its less work to do the "Wheres the target?" feature than that.

Hope that clarifies things, cheers.

[Rolds]

Then why do the other DSCG display options exist? I don't care for this answer at all, I am not interested in being constrained into how you think the F4 would be used. Having a verbal command for the WSO to change the aspect mode already exists in boresight mode (obviously), so why is it so difficult to believe this communication/coordination would never occur between pilot and WSO in other situations? And your reluctance to allow this type of interaction and proposed solution omits the heading information from the DSCG. Your response is surprising and seems illogical to me, I am only asking for the ability to ask the WSO to flip a knob that I can already do when the radar is in boresight mode, that is all.

[Zabuzard]

Your query may sound trivial to you, but it is a lot of work actually. If you just flip the knob manually, Jester will do mistakes and mess up your locks and similar, as he actively interprets the number displayed as Vc. If you change the knob, he takes the other number and thinks thats the Vc and then messes up everything. Vc is a mandatory component to his logic and if you would tell him to flip the knob around, that would mean he has to pause all his radar logic until you are done with that stuff.

9 hours ago, Rolds said:

I don't care for this answer at all, I am not interested in being constrained into how you think the F4 would be used.

Well, not sure what to respond to that. I guess you need to wait for Jester customization then, so the Community can give you Pilot<->Wso interactions/options that we think are unrealistic.

 

9 hours ago, Rolds said:

omits the heading information from the DSCG

The "where is the target" feature would include that as well. It is essentially a request to the WSO to move the knob around briefly in order to give you all info he has on the target. And it would be context sensitive, doing different stuff in other situations (dogfight, A2G, ...), so that the interaction can be reused and people dont have to bind a million things but remain being able to control entire Jester with just 2 binds if desired.

Edited October 28, 2024 by Zabuzard

[McVittees]

@zabuzard: kudos to you for your patients.

Edited October 31, 2024 by McVittees