How to prevent AI SEAD from comitting suicide vs AAA?

[Bahger]

I have a flight of Tornados flying SEAD against two large Tunguska batteries. They do very well with their ALARMs but because there are still launchers alive once the Tornados have run out of missiles, they start rolling in on them with their guns, going low, flying right into their AAA envelope and getting killed. This is aggravating. I want the SEAD flight to RTB once it has expended its missiles, there's no point in it pressing the attack with guns. Using ROE "Evade Fire" or "Allow Abort Mission" does not appear to help (although I haven't used them both at the same time.) What can I do to prevent the AI SEAD flight from exhibiting this dumb behavior?

[Eddie]

Remove the gun ammunition.

[Bahger]

Remove the gun ammunition.

 

Ha! Really? OK, thanks, I appreciate it.

 

(A pity, though that you have to remove the ability to do something stupid to prevent the AI from trying it.)

[Eddie]

They'll still do their best to do something stupid, don't you worry.

[ENO]

Knowing those feisty brits they'll eject on the off chance the seat might hit the target... if not, it'll be pistol, followed by helmet, followed by fists... followed by a couple'a'pints.

[Bahger]

Bloody right, Eno.

[Bahger]

They'll still do their best to do something stupid, don't you worry.

 

Yup. Here's what they do:

 

- Hit the HQ radar units from a safe distance and altitude

- Fire ALARMS at the remaining launchers

 

So far, so good. Then:

 

- One SEAD jet dives directly towards the remaining SA-19 launchers, causing them to fire several volleys, which, of course, knock him out of the sky.

 

Gah...

 

I think the AI Tornado pilot is behaving as though he has ammo for his gun, although I removed it in an attempt to prevent this stupidity. Perhaps this is what SEAD flights do when they run out of missiles but there are still AD targets left. It's kamikaze behavior. Can anyone think of how I might get these aircraft to RTB or disengage when out of ALARMs, rather than attempt suicide passes with their guns?

[Eddie]

I've already submitted a few reports to ED in an effort to have this behaviour improved, although they are still in the to do list.

 

If they are still doing such stupid things even without gun ammo, I'll add it to my hit list. Much of the time the AI are even worse combat pilots than the newest of newbies. They are slowly getting better, but they still have a long way to go.

[Bahger]

OK, small confession: I forgot to remove the ammo from one of my Tornado SEAD flights. As you said, without it, their suicidal behavior is kept in check. Another thing I did was to task them to attack a specific group, which made them much more efficient but it bugs me that AI SEAD routines are insufficient to complete the task at hand and that you have to essentially simulate it by brute force, i.e. basically lead the AI to the target by its nose. I'd rather use the SEAD command, as this at least causes the aircraft to behave properly, i.e. to seek and decapitate the radar first.

 

With SA-19s, the AI calls out "triple A" not SAM, which is revealing; Tunguskas have colocated AAA but if the AI cannot recognise these units as missile launchers, no wonder they try to roll in with guns.

 

Thanks for monitoring the devs. As a loyal, and fairly advanced user of the sim since closed Beta, may I add two particularly egregious problems that ought to go on that list?

 

1. The AI callsign routine is comically broken. Mission makers might as well not assign callsigns -- not that they have a choice -- as they are now so out of kilter that the pilots (including the owner of the callsign) and the controllers always use the wrong ones. Always.

 

2. JTAC "Mark" and "Lase" is borked, producing false calls such as "Mark...No mark" and rampant "Terminate" calls when all procedures have been followed and the attack run is legit.

 

DCS have improved a great deal, but it's annoying to see that certain things, like both of the above, that worked perfectly in Beta are now completely broken in the "mature" product. JTAC is the heart and soul of this high-fidelity A-10C sim; Wags and his crew should not allow it to malfunction quite as badly as this.