[WIP] Jester and IFF

Why jester takes so much time to identify contacts in TWS?

Sometimes it never IFF and I killed friendlies because I thought they were enemies, they were aligned in the rwr with an enemy radar.

Seems like at around 20 miles jester either takes forever or just refuses to IFF. I've just had to keep my head down to monitor enemy altitude and change my own to keep jester scanning in the correct ranges since he can not look anywhere other than in the middle.

In doing so, I also have to keep a mental track on targets so that when they fall off of the awg-9 and re appear I know which ones are enemy. In a lot of cases, I can't be 100% sure if they are friendly or foe so I am forced to disengage temporarily.

IFF and radar altitude scan adjustments are the most frustrating things about jester for me at the moment. Against brainless spamraam players this thing still murders everything but to go up against a competent pilot in MP with jester is no easy task.

Remember, IFF identifies is target friendly, and to do so, target needs to reveal its location to everyone in the area by transmitting the code.

Why you are not allowed to shoot at the target that ain't confirmed as hostile by other sources, even if you get only "not friendly" by not receiving reply.

Seems like at around 20 miles jester either takes forever or just refuses to IFF. I've just had to keep my head down to monitor enemy altitude and change my own to keep jester scanning in the correct ranges since he can not look anywhere other than in the middle.

 

 

 

In doing so, I also have to keep a mental track on targets so that when they fall off of the awg-9 and re appear I know which ones are enemy. In a lot of cases, I can't be 100% sure if they are friendly or foe so I am forced to disengage temporarily.

 

 

 

IFF and radar altitude scan adjustments are the most frustrating things about jester for me at the moment. Against brainless spamraam players this thing still murders everything but to go up against a competent pilot in MP with jester is no easy task.

Most of the time I try STT when jester refuses to IFF, but still it takes about 7-10 seconds to identify, plus the STT is prone to break lock very often and you dont have so much time in close range.

Most of the time I try STT when jester refuses to IFF, but still it takes about 7-10 seconds to identify, plus the STT is prone to break lock very often and you dont have so much time in close range.

I rarely ever STT lock anything with an aim54. If I get within 10 miles of anything I just turn cold until I can re-engage. If it is a furball of death, I typically wait until it settles down to where I can get a good idea of whats going on and keep a mental track of who is who.

Datalink will provide info on whether a target is friendly. If you can't use that information, only engage at a range that will give jester plenty of time to IFF targets and start your mental track of who is who.

You might call me a coward, but I know that with the limitations of jester I am not a good enough pilot to engage things close range and win so most of the time I just turn cold and keep the enemy at BVR ranges.

Why jester takes so much time to identify contacts in TWS?

 

 

Sometimes it never IFF and I killed friendlies because I thought they were enemies, they were aligned in the rwr with an enemy radar.

I've never really piloted the Tomcat (neither in DCS nor IRL), but I have 100+ hours as a RIO in DCS and I can tell you that radar IFFing is pretty difficult in the Tomcat, because the IFF symbology will appear on the RIO's radar display (DDD) and not on the TID. The RIO will then have to find out which contact on the DDD is which contact on the TID. This is pretty easy if there is just a single contact or if the contacts are at a different bearing, but if there are multiple contacts at the same bearing this gets very difficult, because the DDD doesn't show range in most modes.

The IFF symbology you see on the TID (and the TID repeater display in the pilot pit) has to be manually assigned by the RIO, based on what he sees on the DDD.

I've never really piloted the Tomcat (neither in DCS nor IRL), but I have 100+ hours as a RIO in DCS and I can tell you that radar IFFing is pretty difficult in the Tomcat, because the IFF symbology will appear on the RIO's radar display (DDD) and not on the TID. The RIO will then have to find out which contact on the DDD is which contact on the TID. This is pretty easy if there is just a single contact or if the contacts are at a different bearing, but if there are multiple contacts at the same bearing this gets very difficult, because the DDD doesn't show range in most modes.

The IFF symbology you see on the TID (and the TID repeater display in the pilot pit) has to be manually assigned by the RIO, based on what he sees on the DDD.

Yes, agree I know how it works.

Still, jester could say the target ahead (the only one) is not friendly.

Or the one on the left/right is not friendly.

He refuses to id the target and if you don't have an awacs you can confuse the target with an enemy pretty easily with the untrusty rwr.

The only option is to STT and hope to see it visually on the VDI when its too close or keep waiting for that iff if ever comes. :mad:

Jester was calling out bandits as friends when I would STT lock them on the GAW server the other day. Happened 3 times. Really forced me to have to VID my targets.

The only option is to STT and hope to see it visually on the VDI when its too close or keep waiting for that iff if ever comes. :mad:

I don't know how Jester handles it, but if you STT a contact, then IFFing him is no problem at all for the RIO, as the locked contact will be the only contact on the DDD, hence confusion with other contacts is not a factor anymore.

I've never gotten a hot trigger light on a unknown TWS contact. Besides you need to know which friendlies are around you, especially those ahead of you. Communication is key. The lead A/C needs to direct the engagement.

Within 20nm I always turn on the TCS. Takes the ID guesswork out of the equation, regardless of what Jester is telling me. And I get instant aspect on the target.

Regardless of IFF, if you fire into a furball you are asking to hit friendlies. And if you do get into one, IFF isn't going to work fast enough anyway. We regularly have all friendlies flare to de-conflict in a multiple A/C merge.

Thank you for your observations, we will take a look into it.

Having an button/menu option to force Jester to IFF targets would be good and something quite natural.