Jester AI needs some retaining...

I was running an operation today with my Tomcat and I had an F-4 on my nose, less than 40 miles and closing, and Jester wouldn't lock him up for a phoenix shot. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that when I have my nose pointed at an F-4 Phantom, and the only thing behind him is open sky, he should be a dead Phantom.

But in this case, every time I tried to tell Jester to lock the sucker, he kept going "unable", despite the fact that he was right freaking there, and I could've killed him. And before anyone goes "Just get a human RIO"... keep in mind very few people want to ride second-seat in a Tomcat, they want to be in the front seat, and nothing else.

So, with that, I do think that Jester could use some work, especially when it comes to targets that should be no-brainers. I get that trying to track something down in the weeds is borderline impossible, but something your nose is pointing at, that's above you, and has nothing behind it but sky... there shouldn't be a problem getting a lock unless it's a stealth.

Either that or I just need to learn how to motivate Jester to do his job.... the 9mm on my chest isn't getting that job done....

Some of the 'problems' people are having with Jester aren't problems with Jester- it's that they don't understand the AWG-9 system and how it is designed to work. I suspect many don't understand the difference between active and semi-active radar homing missiles.

You don't need to 'lock up' a target for a Phoenix shot. Have him put the radar in TWS mode with the proper scan range selected, and he'll designate the target hostile as necessary, and prioritize the target automatically. Select Phoenix, and when the hot trigger light comes on, you may fire when ready. As others have stated to my own edification, hold the trigger down for three seconds when firing, as this allows some sort of information transfer between radar and missile.

The Phoenix is NOT designed to be launched in STT like a Sparrow, with the target 'locked up.'

If you want to use the Phoenix close-in (inside of ten miles or so), put the missile in boresight mode, lock the target in PLM (not really necessary but I find it helps), align the boresight symbol with the target, and fire it. It will be active off the rail, and then behaves sort of like a 1000 lb AMRAAM. It's a friggin' beast in pitbull mode like this. Many times there is nothing left of the target after it hits.

If a target is datalinked you can be in a situation where you can see it on your TID repeater, but not have a TWS track. It's rare, but it can happen if there is a big difference in height between you and the target. The solution is to tell Jester where to scan - high or low - and he'll pick it up.

Yes but Jester needs to be pro-active instead of being told what to do. If a bandit is spiking me and Jester announces nails I'd expect him to reciprocate and get him on the scope. At the moment jester is just an abstraction layer to the radar controls in the rear cockpit and not a RIO. I find he's more of an over sensitive, audible RWR at best, but fails to deliver the 'R' in RIO.

Some of the 'problems' people are having with Jester aren't problems with Jester- it's that they don't understand the AWG-9 system and how it is designed to work. I suspect many don't understand the difference between active and semi-active radar homing missiles.

 

You don't need to 'lock up' a target for a Phoenix shot. Have him put the radar in TWS mode with the proper scan range selected, and he'll designate the target hostile as necessary, and prioritize the target automatically. Select Phoenix, and when the hot trigger light comes on, you may fire when ready. As others have stated to my own edification, hold the trigger down for three seconds when firing, as this allows some sort of information transfer between radar and missile.

 

The Phoenix is NOT designed to be launched in STT like a Sparrow, with the target 'locked up.'

 

If you want to use the Phoenix close-in (inside of ten miles or so), put the missile in boresight mode, lock the target in PLM (not really necessary but I find it helps), align the boresight symbol with the target, and fire it. It will be active off the rail, and then behaves sort of like a 1000 lb AMRAAM. It's a friggin' beast in pitbull mode like this. Many times there is nothing left of the target after it hits.

its much easier to say tws lock then type all that out.

whats wrong with using phoenix in stt?

you dont need to hold hte trigger down for 3 seconds, theres a 3 second delay between pressing trigger and missile going (unless you open the acm switch then is 1 second and no loft), they are not the same thing.

whats wrong with using phoenix in stt?

You can, but you don't need to. If you do use it in STT, you can only engage a single locked target at a time. The Phoenix / AWG-9 system was designed to engage up to 6 targets simultaneously at long range. In order to do that, you need to be in TWS mode.

Using it like a Sparrow is about the least efficient / effective way of using it.

I'm not telling anyone how to play the game, though. You do you! :thumbup:

You can, but you don't need to. If you do use it in STT, you can only engage a single locked target at a time. The Phoenix / AWG-9 system was designed to engage up to 6 targets simultaneously at long range. In order to do that, you need to be in TWS mode.

 

Using it like a Sparrow is about the least efficient / effective way of using it.

 

I'm not telling anyone how to play the game, though. You do you! :thumbup:

i rarely use stt for that very reason, it just seemed like you said you really shouldnt be able to do it

its much easier to say tws lock then type all that out.

It's also an oxymoron and makes it more difficult to understand what the poster is trying to say. Lock generally means to track one target to the exclusion of all others, like a trap locking around prey. If someone tells me they're locking a target, I will assume they mean STT. In TWS the radar tracks contacts, in the F-14 the RIO hooks tracks.