Learning F15

[Vosxod]

Hi all. So far I only flew rus planes (all of them) and now decided it's time to learn F15 :). I hope in eng part of forum we have experienced F15 pilots that would help me. Some questions for starters (after I went through LO F15 training tracks):

 

1) Why would I ever use Alt+Tab to unlock the target? As far as I see just pressing Tab second time does the job...

 

2) non-radar modes with AIM-9: Boresight and Scan Mode. In Scan mode the circle that I have to put my target into is MUCH bigger. Why would I ever use Boresight???

 

3) About TEWS: I tried quick combat against Su27 with P27ER and Mig with P77. I was watching TEWS to see what king of warning and info it gives me on SAR and AR missiles launch. All I got is some 1-sec extra tone in my headphones and that’s it! In both cases! I’m comparing it with rus planes – nothing like bereza! How can I tell if enemy launched SAR missile? How can I tell if its AR missile (S77)? How can I tell how close is missile? How can I tell if it’s not guiding anymore?

[GGTharos]

Hi all. So far I only flew rus planes (all of them) and now decided it's time to learn F15 :). I hope in eng part of forum we have experienced F15 pilots that would help me. Some questions for starters (after I went through LO F15 training tracks):

 

1) Why would I ever use Alt+Tab to unlock the target? As far as I see just pressing Tab second time does the job...

 

2) non-radar modes with AIM-9: Boresight and Scan Mode. In Scan mode the circle that I have to put my target into is MUCH bigger. Why would I ever use Boresight???

 

3) About TEWS: I tried quick combat against Su27 with P27ER and Mig with P77. I was watching TEWS to see what king of warning and info it gives me on SAR and AR missiles launch. All I got is some 1-sec extra tone in my headphones and that’s it! In both cases! I’m comparing it with rus planes – nothing like bereza! How can I tell if enemy launched SAR missile? How can I tell if its AR missile (S77)? How can I tell how close is missile? How can I tell if it’s not guiding anymore?

 

 

1. Try it in TWS ... ;)

 

2. It's a hold-over from when the AIM-9 was launched in exactly that way (and only that way). It has remained for emergency situations.

 

3. You get an alarm that indicates that a missile has been laucnhed. This alarm will repeat every few seconds. To know wether an AR or SAR missile has been launched, look at the RWR: For an AR missile you will see a diamond surrounding an 'M' for missile. That's the missile's radar going active ... for an SAR, the diamond will be around the launching aircraft only. You can't really tell how close the missile is ... you can tell that it's not guiding if all the lock tones on you drop (unless it's out of RWR limits)

[Vosxod]

1. Try it in TWS ... ;)

 

2. It's a hold-over from when the AIM-9 was launched in exactly that way (and only that way). It has remained for emergency situations.

 

3. You get an alarm that indicates that a missile has been laucnhed. This alarm will repeat every few seconds. To know wether an AR or SAR missile has been launched, look at the RWR: For an AR missile you will see a diamond surrounding an 'M' for missile. That's the missile's radar going active ... for an SAR, the diamond will be around the launching aircraft only. You can't really tell how close the missile is ... you can tell that it's not guiding if all the lock tones on you drop (unless it's out of RWR limits)

Thanks! To clarify:

 

1. I thought so :) Cause second tab there switches to single track mode right?

 

2. Which one is hold-over - Boresight? If so why is it first (default)... I'd make more powerful Scan Mode as first that is selected when 6 is pressed...

 

3. Yes I noticed now that this tone repeats every few seconds. The thing is its very unpractical interval - too long. In med-close range thngs happen too fast to rely on this tone with such interval (IMHO). You can tell how close AR missile is right? Cause its separate diamond on TEWS...

[Vosxod]

More questions:

 

4) what are PRIMARY most essential and effective modes that are used? I know it depends on situation but for typical combat there should be 2 or 3 modes (for example on rus it is of course - BVR, Vert Scan and Helmet :) ).

 

5) I can see that radar in F15 lives its own live and you can switch it on and off even in Nav mode... why is that?

 

6) What is Master Arm function (Alt+Space I believe) for? As far as I see I can do everything without masterarming ... ;)

[Kula66]

Another 15 driver ... can we get to double figures!!!

 

4 - TWS all the time .... Vert scan in close ...

5 - So nobody can pick you put on their RWR

6 - Never used it ...

[BuzzU]

I could be wrong, because i have lots to learn, but i think Masterarm is more for the A-10. I believe it's so you won't accidently use your armament until you need it. So, you would use it going into battle.

[GGTharos]

Thanks! To clarify:

 

1. I thought so :) Cause second tab there switches to single track mode right?

 

2. Which one is hold-over - Boresight? If so why is it first (default)... I'd make more powerful Scan Mode as first that is selected when 6 is pressed...

 

3. Yes I noticed now that this tone repeats every few seconds. The thing is its very unpractical interval - too long. In med-close range thngs happen too fast to rely on this tone with such interval (IMHO). You can tell how close AR missile is right? Cause its separate diamond on TEWS...

 

1. Correct. Ther eis a problem though, you cannot unlock the primary. This sucks!

 

2. The less powerful one is a hold-over. You would follow an enemy and kepe him in the circle until his wings touched the edges, and if you had tone you would fire. Keep in mind that sidewinders are best used in a turning fight withteh radar - center the steering dot and the missile will do minimal maneuvering, thus increasing Pk significantly.

 

3. I agree with you, it could be better ... and yes, -technically- you can tell how close teh ARH missile is, but I have never been able to practically exploit this in the F-15.

[DropZone]

I seem to remember reading that the Master Arm switch in LOMAC doesn't actually do anything (never tried it myself, so I might be mistaken). In real life, I think you have to switch it on before you can fire any weapons. Like BuzzU said, it's probably to stop the weapons being fired accidentally in situations where they shouldn't be (e.g. over civilian/friendly areas), kinda like the safety catch on a gun.

[GGTharos]

More questions:

 

4) what are PRIMARY most essential and effective modes that are used? I know it depends on situation but for typical combat there should be 2 or 3 modes (for example on rus it is of course - BVR, Vert Scan and Helmet :) ).

 

5) I can see that radar in F15 lives its own live and you can switch it on and off even in Nav mode... why is that?

 

6) What is Master Arm function (Alt+Space I believe) for? As far as I see I can do everything without masterarming ... ;)

 

4. RWS I usually use against jamming targets, or for quicker detection when I'm not staring at the radar and TWS is unnecessary. Otherwise I will use TWS, usually I will also reduce the scan azimuth in order to get faster updates.

For CAC, if there are no friendlies in front of you, Auto-guns is very useful as you can also launch missiles from that mode AND fire guns. It has the best acquisition probability, but you get no steering dot - but once you acquire a target with it, just go back to missiles, the lock will stay. If I have my nose on target, then I will use boresight, it just makes sense. If I am in a turning fight, I will use VS.

 

5. Radar operates independently of navigation systems (although all those systems share information between them). Technically the radar is not really ever 'off' ... it's in 'standby', ie. not transmitting. I consider the symbology of the radar while in standby to be a bug, because it looks like the radar is off. It should not be so.

 

6. It's just a feature you're unlikely to use in LOMAC. Usually master arm implies that you have authorization to fire, and you have crossed the 'fence' ... if you switch master arm on at any other time you are in trouble.

[Vosxod]

Prfecto! Thanks guys! I'll continue digging ... :)

[Vosxod]

7) How to switch to "Auto-guns" mode?

 

8) Is [5] key mode (Helmet on rus) used for anything? As far as I see it just same as [6]...

[GGTharos]

7) How to switch to "Auto-guns" mode?

 

8) Is [5] key mode (Helmet on rus) used for anything? As far as I see it just same as [6]...

 

 

7) c key (when the radar's on, going to guns will cause the radar to acquire a target within the HuD's FoV or a little greater) ... use c to switch out of guns. I liek to call it 'autoguns' but it's just the F-15's gun mode.

 

8) Nah, nothing special. You have helmet, we have TWS :)

[Vosxod]

Thanks GGTharos! Tell me when you get tired of me ... :) Yesterday I tried first time F-15 on line ... was killed once, then killed friendly then fired lots of flamers - nothing, zero kills :)

 

9) I discovered that when friendly is in active jam mode I see vertical series of little circles as opposite of squares for enemy. Wow! This is great advantage for F15! Rus do not have this... How is it possible? Is it real?

 

10) How to understand friendly/foe in TWS? What is this number above target mark?

 

11) _After_ I fire 120 is there counter somewhere that says when it will go active? I know there is one that says when "next 120 on the rail will go active"...

[S77th-GOYA]

9 - Not according to the devs.

 

10 - Look harder at the TWS contact. You can still see a faint rectangle or circle.

 

11 - Yes, there is a TTA counter on the HUD. I never use it, and with the game as it is now, it doesn't mean anything. 120's are active off the rail.

[GGTharos]

GOYA is pretty much right.

 

9) We hope this will be fixed. It's as easy to tell a firndly from enemy jmmer apart as it is to tell enemy from friendly apart on EOS, realistically ... pretty much for the same reasons (Actually, this isn't entirely true, but for now let's say the answer is no) ...

 

10) GOYA forgot: The number is the altitude, in thousands of feet.

 

11) Very useful, but mitigated somewhat by bugs. At short range it's not a big issue to keep an eye on this, at longer ranges it helps you defeat enemy missiles better and give yours a higher chance to hit.

[Vosxod]

9) Well you cannot tell friend/foe on EOS anymore in 1.1

 

11) Why would you use it on short range at all? On short range 120 goes avtive right away... I need it on long range to know when to stop guiding and brake away if under fire ...

[Vosxod]

12) Is there any way to switch all royal units in F-15 to metric? Its killing me really :)

 

13) Can I turn azimuth of radar like in rus? Or its just straight forward allways?

[Vosxod]

14) I need answer for this one VERY much please: how do I tell friend/foe in close combat(autolock) modes? I know it writes aircraft type on VSD. But, for instance, if it says Mig29 and its mixed setup where Migs are on both sides - how do I know this one is enemy Mig?

[S77th-GOYA]

12 - no

 

13 - no, straight only

 

14 - you can't, you can only tell what type of plane it is, not which team it belongs to. Type of plane is displayed: bottom, center of radar display.

[GGTharos]

13 - yes you can. Hit ctrl - and watche the azimuth slim down to 60deg and the targets update faster. At this point you can move the azimuth left and right.

 

14 - this will hopefully be addressed sometime...don't know if in patch of 1.2 ...

[firesoldier845]

As for IFF for F-15 is it true or not that there is a way to tell friend or foe manually in a real F-15? I could swear while reading one of my aviation books there is an IFF button on a real F-15 and also F-16 yoke. I could be wrong, and I'll check but I think in a real F-15 if you have a target locked you can send an IFF request to the locked target and it should respond as a friendly if it is. Would be nice if we had this feature in Lock-On.

[Vosxod]

Thanks for answers guys. Too bad no way to recognize friend/foe in autolock...

[Vosxod]

15) about AIM120: manual says that in STT in bottom right of HUD number next to 'M' says time to impact. Can I see anywhere time for 120 to became active? I need to know when I shoot when I can brake away ...

[GGTharos]

Look at the HUD: TYpically the first count-down is for TTA.

[Vosxod]

Look at the HUD: TYpically the first count-down is for TTA.

First countdown with 'M' ?