Seeking help with SEAD logic

[Bahger]

I have a promising mission but it has somewhat glitchy SEAD AI. You do not have to fly the mission but can watch the entire SEAD operation from the F10 screen, speeded up, in less than 4 minutes, so I'm hoping someone will take a look and maybe peek under the hood of my SEAD plotting to let me know what might be wrong.

 

Here's the deal:

 

I have a Tornado SEAD flight tasked to destroy a BUK group that is more distant than 2 TUNGUSKAs along its flightpath, so I have used a Search in Zone command, with no SEAD tasking, to get it to ignore the SA-19s and go straight for the SA-11. So far, so good, it kills the BUK from 30k ft with ALARMs. I now want the Tornadoes to orbit over the battlefield and hit the Tunguskas, so I have made it Orbit, added a SEAD order and commanded it to use radar as by now the player's flight should be waking up the SA-19s. At this point the Tornadoes go stupid, busting through the Tunguskas' engagement ceiling at 20k, going defensive and jettisoning their remaining ALARMS before getting shot out of the sky by the Tunguskas. Sometimes one Tornado will get a shot off, killing one SA-19, but it is bugging me that a dedicated SEAD 2-ship is making such heavy weather of a pair of SA-19s, after it killed the BUK so efficiently. It is possible that some aspect of my programming of the Tornadoes' advanced commands and options along the route is off-kilter. If I can't fix this I'll have to RTB the Tornadoes after they hit the Buk.

 

This is going to be one of my better SP sorties if I can just get the AI SEAD to behave credibly, so could someone take a look? As I say, you do not have to fly it, just watch the AI do its thing and take a look at the commands. Thanks!

Dawn Patrol 06.miz

[nomdeplume]

Have you adjusted the 'reaction to threat' option for the SEAD flight? The default setting is 'evasive vertical maneuver' which tends to result in the aircraft hitting the deck at the first sign of something on their RWR, which is often unhelpful behaviour, especially for SEAD flights. If you set it to 'evade fire' you might get better behaviour.

 

Apologies if you've already done that, at work and can't run the mission...

[Haukka81]

I have a promising mission but it has somewhat glitchy SEAD AI. You do not have to fly the mission but can watch the entire SEAD operation from the F10 screen, speeded up, in less than 4 minutes, so I'm hoping someone will take a look and maybe peek under the hood of my SEAD plotting to let me know what might be wrong.

 

Here's the deal:

 

I have a Tornado SEAD flight tasked to destroy a BUK group that is more distant than 2 TUNGUSKAs along its flightpath, so I have used a Search in Zone command, with no SEAD tasking, to get it to ignore the SA-19s and go straight for the SA-11. So far, so good, it kills the BUK from 30k ft with ALARMs. I now want the Tornadoes to orbit over the battlefield and hit the Tunguskas, so I have made it Orbit, added a SEAD order and commanded it to use radar as by now the player's flight should be waking up the SA-19s. At this point the Tornadoes go stupid, busting through the Tunguskas' engagement ceiling at 20k, going defensive and jettisoning their remaining ALARMS before getting shot out of the sky by the Tunguskas. Sometimes one Tornado will get a shot off, killing one SA-19, but it is bugging me that a dedicated SEAD 2-ship is making such heavy weather of a pair of SA-19s, after it killed the BUK so efficiently. It is possible that some aspect of my programming of the Tornadoes' advanced commands and options along the route is off-kilter. If I can't fix this I'll have to RTB the Tornadoes after they hit the Buk.

 

This is going to be one of my better SP sorties if I can just get the AI SEAD to behave credibly, so could someone take a look? As I say, you do not have to fly it, just watch the AI do its thing and take a look at the commands. Thanks!

 

 

It's old AI broblem, stupid ai throws their weapons away way too easily. IT's bug, but they just deny it. Use search and you see what i mean...:music_whistling:

[Speed]

I turned all their engagements into "search then engage unit". I always find it best if you tell the AI EXACTLY what you want them to do. In my test, they took all the SAMs out, but they did get fired at by the Tunguskas. Maybe their missiles can't detect the Tunguska's search radar (IRL I'm sure they can).

 

Good to see you back, Bahger.

Dawn Patrol 07.miz

[Bahger]

Thanks, Speed. I got very distracted by RL this summer and even mothballed my PC for a short while. I hadn't run A-10 since 1.0.0.8 so needed to shake a few cobwebs in both the sim and the ME.

 

I fixed the .miz. Lots of trial-and-error and a certain amount of jury-rigging in the ME but it works. I changed the hierarchy of the Advanced WP commands at the IP, inserting a SEAD enroute command below the "Search in Zone" command and gave the latter a "Stop" order after the Buk launcher unit is killed (Flag 1) otherwise they go for the SA-11 radar and command units instead of looking for more active threats. Now Tornado Flight Lead hits the Buk while #2 rolls in on one of the SA-19s almost directly below him with another ALARM. The GR4s then join up again and go after the remaining SA-19. #2 still gets too low and provokes a launch but the "Evade Fire" order (thanks, as ever, NDP) enables him to shake it off while #1 takes out the Tunguska.

 

This is fun to watch (amended .miz attached) but will be even more fun to fly, as the player is only made aware of the SA-19s lying in his flight path when airborne at about Angels 10, about 25nm out. He is told the SA-19s are located at his next two briefed WPs and has to make a quick decision whether to evade (laterally, vertical isn't an option this close-in) or divert from pursuing his priority targets to engage the SAMs with Mavericks, always a little tricky, especially with a full weapon/fuel load. If he evades, the SA-19s will be an inhibiting factor in the prosecution of those priority targets. I always place WPs at nav altitudes so if he goes offensive on the SA-19s the player has to use TAD MARK in a hurry to fix them on the ground. It adds to the pressure and presents a tricky tactical choice with limited time to make the decision. Now that the SEAD is working properly, the player will eventually feel vindicated if he chooses to evade the SA-19s but the Tornadoes will hit the LR SAMs first, leaving the player exposed to the threat for long enough to have to make the call.

 

I'm really looking forward to publishing this .miz. Thanks for your help, as always. Too see the new-improved SEAD behavior, check out the attachment.

Dawn Patrol 10.miz