Need Input from Pilots...

[Strag]

Specifically, I'm looking for input from jet pilots regarding ArmA's air-to-air combat. I'd like to make a mission geared toward pilots, where most of the action takes place in the air rather than on the ground. I'm imagining one side sending jets to destroy a bridge or a building, and the other side sending jets to intercept. Is this practical in ArmA? Can there be enjoyable air-to-air battles with the current jets and game mechanics? If so, what, as pilots, what would you like to see in ArmA missions focused on air combat?

Some ground forces would probably be inevitable, such as a SpecOps team sent to lase the target, and/or an anti-aircraft team assigned to protect the target.

[BHack]

We've had problems getting the laser designator to work in the new patch. It doesn't want to show as a selectable target for the pilot. That may or may not have something to do with the pilot and the laser(er) needing to be in the same squad.

Air to air engagements do work. It's a bit rudimentary at the moment because there is no warning letting you know someone has a lock on you. The air to air missles do lock and chase though.

I'm not sure how effective the AI is in a dogfight situation though. When I played I was just messing around in the editor and I don't think I ever even got shot at.

[Strag]

Originally Posted by BHack

We've had problems getting the laser designator to work in the new patch. It doesn't want to show as a selectable target for the pilot. That may or may not have something to do with the pilot and the laser(er) needing to be in the same squad.

Air to air engagements do work. It's a bit rudimentary at the moment because there is no warning letting you know someone has a lock on you. The air to air missles do lock and chase though.

Hmmm, things still sound a bit rough.

Originally Posted by BHack

I'm not sure how effective the AI is in a dogfight situation though. When I played I was just messing around in the editor and I don't think I ever even got shot at.

I was thinking of doing a humans vs. humans mission with this one. One team would have a target and plan an approach. The other team would patrol and intercept.

[BHack]

Originally Posted by Strag

Hmmm, things still sound a bit rough.



I was thinking of doing a humans vs. humans mission with this one. One team would have a target and plan an approach. The other team would patrol and intercept.

It would definitely work with human vs human... it would just come down to how spotted who first though... which I guess is realistic.

I also noticed that the missles don't seem to track particularly well, which leaves room for evasion.

[Strag]

Originally Posted by BHack

It would definitely work with human vs human... it would just come down to how spotted who first though... which I guess is realistic.

Well, for the interceptors, I could use a series of triggers to give an indication of where the enemy jets are. This would at least give a general idea of where to look, instead of just visually scanning the entire sky for little black specks. The effect could be made to simulate a series of coastal ground tracking stations relaying enemy positions to the pilots.

"This is Station November. Tracking multiple enemy bogeys at Hh35, heading 282, altitude 500 feet. Over."

I should be able to use the Z component of getPos to obtain a unit's altitude, but I'm not sure how to obtain heading. I imagine a function exists, though.


Would a sort of "radar net" like this be helpful to the interceptors?

[BHack]

Originally Posted by Strag

Well, for the interceptors, I could use a series of triggers to give an indication of where the enemy jets are. This would at least give a general idea of where to look, instead of just visually scanning the entire sky for little black specks. The effect could be made to simulate a series of coastal ground tracking stations relaying enemy positions to the pilots.

"This is Station November. Tracking multiple enemy bogeys at Hh35, heading 282, altitude 500 feet. Over."

I should be able to use the Z component of getPos to obtain a unit's altitude, but I'm not sure how to obtain heading. I imagine a function exists, though.


Would a sort of "radar net" like this be helpful to the interceptors?

When I said "spot" I didn't mean visually. Whoever sees who first on the radar, then turns their plane to get a lock. Like I said, the missles aren't perfect, nor did they seem to kill in one shot when I was messing with them. I'd like to test it with a human player though.

[Strag]

Originally Posted by BHack

When I said "spot" I didn't mean visually. Whoever sees who first on the radar, then turns their plane to get a lock.

What kind of range do those in-plane radars have? Maybe a trigger-based "radar net" could give general positions, and then the in-plane radars could give more precise locations when in range.

Originally Posted by BHack

Like I said, the missles aren't perfect, nor did they seem to kill in one shot when I was messing with them. I'd like to test it with a human player though.

Maybe we can get on the server and mess around with this tonight. I really need to get a better feel for the jets if I'm going to attempt a mission featuring air-to-air combat.

[kevb0]

Yeah. Radar's In ArmA would make it too easy. The first person to lock on would pretty much win.

What you could do, is just remove all the Air to Air missles on both planes. It may not be completely realistic, but it would at least make it harder for people to shoot down each other.

As far as I know, there's no way to remove a unit's radar without editing it's config.

It does sound like a nice mission. 3 or 4 SLA planes against 3 or 4 American planes. Being an infantryman would be awesome, to watch planes duke it out.

Originally Posted by Bhack

We've had problems getting the laser designator to work in the new patch. It doesn't want to show as a selectable target for the pilot. That may or may not have something to do with the pilot and the laser(er) needing to be in the same squad.

It's worked in the past. Only the harriers LGB's can lock onto the Designator's marker, so that's probably what's causing the problem.

[boudreux]

I think that without air-to-air missles, it would be either impossible, or too time-consuming to dogfight. I tried dogfighting with AI planes today, and with the approach speeds, and lack of quick banking, it's hard enough to get a hit with the gatling, let alone enough hits to kill something.

[Strag]

Good discussion. I'll have to think about how to do this.

FYI, either direction or getDir will return a unit's heading, so the "radar net" idea would certainly be possible to do.