A couple of questions re. JTAC in Mission Editor

[Bahger]

Gents:

 

i. How do I influence the "Egress" direction as stated in the JTAC 9-line? I played a mission in which there was a nav point which seemed to do the trick, but I have been unable to reproduce this and in a mission I made, JTAC says "Egress north" when I want "south"...

 

ii. What does a mission designer have to do to get JTAC to offer a "sparkle" option, i.e. for illumination of the target via an IR pointer on the ground that can be seen from the air?

 

iii. Does the placement of a UAV always mean that the FAC does not need LOS to the target and if so, are there any rules for the placement of this object and/or the FAC?

 

As always, thanks!

[nomdeplume]

I think it's still too new/experimental for us to have any good answers to those questions, and even if we did, there's every chance it'll change in the next beta.

 

Here's my best guesses:

 

i. How do I influence the "Egress" direction as stated in the JTAC 9-line?

 

My guess is it's influenced by either friendly positions (requesting you to egress over them? or away from them?) and/or known air defense positions (requesting you egress away from them).

 

ii. What does a mission designer have to do to get JTAC to offer a "sparkle" option

No idea. I guess it'd need to be at night, and the JTAC unit needs to have an IR pointer? I've only ever seen them use smoke or laser. Has anyone seen the sparkle option to confirm it's implemented?

 

iii. Does the placement of a UAV always mean that the FAC does not need LOS to the target and if so, are there any rules for the placement of this object and/or the FAC?

No idea, I would expect the UAV would need LOS to the targets. There used to be "FAC - Attack Group" and "FAC - Engage Group" tasks, the difference being that "Attack Group" always knew where the enemy was, while "Engage" had to detect them before it could assign them. That seems to be changed now, though the New AI Task System PDF still mentions it so perhaps I'm just doing it wrong...

 

So my answers/guesses are pretty much useless, but maybe I've said something false and someone will jump in... :D

[Bahger]

The JTAC often references a player-placed nav point in the 9-line (like "Ford", etc., they are named after car brands) as either an IP or an egress ref. I just don't know how to place it so that I can influence the direction of egress. I've seen it done though.

 

As for "sparkle", there is footage (Matt Wagner's I think, no time to check right now) on Youtube; it's pretty impressive. I think (unless I'm imagining it) you even see the ground troops' laser sights in action (unless I'm getting A-10 mixed up with ArmA 2) but, either way, it's a great JTAC target guide to have for rockets, guns and dumb bombs.

[Bubb]

I think Sparkling will be used only at night and only when employing a direct nose-to-target weapon like the gun or rockets. I might be mistaken tho.

[OutOnTheOP]

I should hope it's only an option at night. I had several laser markers at my disposal as a Fire Support Officer, and none of them would provide a good sparkle in daytime- to include the GBD-3, which we called the "lightsaber", both because it looked like a lightsaber handle, and because it shot a green laser beam you could clearly see from at least 10km away at night.

 

Anyhow, sparkles are generally IR laser markers, and would only be visible through NODs. You CAN sparkle with a visible laser, but again, only at night. Yes, you CAN use it to mark for guided missiles or bombs. The pilot is merely using the sparkle as a point of reference to orient on; it does NOT provide guidance like a proper coded laser designator. However, since it only provides a reference point, the pilot will still have to slew the weapon onto the target visually.

 

What I'm really waiting for is friendly troops to mark THEMSELVES for aerial identification. VS-17 flourescent panels, chem lights, or "buzzsaws" at night would be awesome.

[Chris CDN]

re: Question iii.

 

I've been able to have a Predator sparkle for me in a simple mission I made. He will only do it at night though. I know this is of limited help, but there isn't a lot of gen on the subject just yet.

[nomdeplume]

On the subject of laser/IR pointers - you can currently see the laser designators from other aircraft (and probably JTAC) at night through the goggles, but this is apparently an error. AFAIK the correct implementation in the game will not have visible lasers; the IR pointer will be visible through the IR goggles.

 

For the TGP that means that currently, if you select LSR or BTH and designate something, you'll see the beam through your NVGs (and if AI aircraft are laser-equipped, you'll see theirs). It should be visible only with IR or BTH selected.

 

What I'm really waiting for is friendly troops to mark THEMSELVES for aerial identification. VS-17 fluorescent panels, chem lights, or "buzzsaws" at night would be awesome.

 

My guess is this won't happen, since friendly locations are already indicated with the green X symbols via the JTRS. Would be cool though!