How to get AI to attack ground targets on CAS missions?

[Sharkflab]

First of all let me say that I really love the Black Sea Resolve campaign. I'm about halfway in and every mission has been epic so far. The F-5E was the first DCS module I bought but put it to the side after a month or so because of the lack of content. This campaign revitalized my love for the F-5E and I hope more campaigns are created for it in the future.

 

Anyway, my problem is during the wild weasel and CAS missions. The AI wingmen don't seem to want to engage ground targets. I have tried using the command "engage/mission and rejoin" and it seems like the AI flies towards the target, but never drops ordnance. I recall I used the "cover me" command once during a wild weasel mission and the AI actually attacked ground targets, but it was a one-time occurrence as I tried repeating it for other missions to no avail. As I'm relatively new to DCS (been flying for about 4 months now), are there steps I am missing or doing wrong to get my wingmen to help me attack ground targets?

[SorelRo]

Thanks a lot for reaching out. "Cover me" is usually the best command, makes the AI wingman braver than usual. The AI is designed by ED with survivability in mind. so, in a FLAK or AA environment it tends to be shy. Not a whole lot we can do about how the wingman is acting in DCS. There will be some changes in the AI engine later on, but so far the AI in all of these missions are expandable and/or put there to tangle with the fighters and give you some briefing room. The more frustrating part is that the AI behavior has a randomness part about it. Sometimes they are brilliant and more often than not they are dumb and useless, but that's the card we've been dealt. 

 

Cheers, 

[sthompson]

Just flew Mission 5 and the wingman always replied "unable" or "negative" when I asked him to attack ground targets. I gather I should try "cover me." My work around was to land and rearm/refuel then go attack again myself. BTW, I got a "mission complete" message when flying near Krymsk on RTB but not yet on the ground. After I landed and shut down the plane I did the usual ESC Quit sequence, which brought up mission score window as usual. But the "End Mission" button wouldn't work. Nothing happened when I pushed it. Pretty frustrating.

[SorelRo]

18 minutes ago, sthompson said:

Just flew Mission 5 and the wingman always replied "unable" or "negative" when I asked him to attack ground targets. I gather I should try "cover me." My work around was to land and rearm/refuel then go attack again myself. BTW, I got a "mission complete" message when flying near Krymsk on RTB but not yet on the ground. After I landed and shut down the plane I did the usual ESC Quit sequence, which brought up mission score window as usual. But the "End Mission" button wouldn't work. Nothing happened when I pushed it. Pretty frustrating.

Between you and the F-4's you should be able to meet the mission requirements with your load-out. The AI wingman is totally dumb in this mission. I don't think they see very well early in the morning and he is terrified of SAM's, not a whole lot I can do about how they act unfortunately. As for the End Mission being stuck, any chance you can get a screen recording of that or try to replicate? I think that's something should be submitted as a bug to Eagle Dynamic. I'll test that mission and see if I can replicate it. What build you are running? 

[sthompson]

On 4/19/2021 at 11:31 PM, SorelRo said:

Between you and the F-4's you should be able to meet the mission requirements with your load-out. The AI wingman is totally dumb in this mission. I don't think they see very well early in the morning and he is terrified of SAM's, not a whole lot I can do about how they act unfortunately. As for the End Mission being stuck, any chance you can get a screen recording of that or try to replicate? I think that's something should be submitted as a bug to Eagle Dynamic. I'll test that mission and see if I can replicate it. What build you are running? 

There is a bug thread on the End Mission bug. See https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/192116-quotend-missionquot-button/. Someone has figured out the bug and posted a lua fix, but ED does not seem to have picked up on that.

[SorelRo]

17 minutes ago, sthompson said:

There is a bug thread on the End Mission bug. See https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/192116-quotend-missionquot-button/. Someone has figured out the bug and posted a lua fix, but ED does not seem to have picked up on that.

They did, I saw people talking about it in the testers group. I wasn't able to replicate it on my end unfortunately.

[Sharkflab]

The “end mission” bug just started happening to me too, right after the latest update. I wonder if they’re related. Pretty frustrating 

[SorelRo]

Keep reporting it to ED, that's DCS life unfortunately. I have a feeling this was an old bug that just got back again. I think something similar was reported before.  

[3Star]

I'm wondering if there's been a change in the snake-eye performance of late. I'm on #5, Wild Weasel. I find that if I drop level at 450kts/100AGL as recommended on one site, I explode. I'm doing better (well, in terms of survival, not accuracy) at 250AGL. (The link also provides a reticle depression figure for 400kts/100AGL, but that's a definite no).

 

I'd be willing to think it was just me, but when I give my wingman "cover me" and he actually does a  bomb run on the SAM site himself, he, too, tends to explode dramatically due to being too close to the bombs, indicating a larger problem?

[SorelRo]

I think they are tinkering with the bombs lately, A lot of people are complaining about not enough damage and not enough damage from the shockwave, The Wingman will not make it home on that mission no matter what, sorry, that's the way it has to be. I'll try to run a test with them and see. I think I always go faster than 450 kts on the snakeye run and I use around 100 depression and drop a line of 3 first then adjust for the second pass.  

[sthompson]

On 4/29/2021 at 7:12 PM, SorelRo said:

I think they are tinkering with the bombs lately, A lot of people are complaining about not enough damage and not enough damage from the shockwave, The Wingman will not make it home on that mission no matter what, sorry, that's the way it has to be. I'll try to run a test with them and see. I think I always go faster than 450 kts on the snakeye run and I use around 100 depression and drop a line of 3 first then adjust for the second pass.  

How do you manage to drop just three in ripple mode? For me all five come off before I can react. And what interval? I've found that if I use the smallest interval then I explode no matter how high I am. Tacview indicates that the bombs are exploding while still in the air. Or are you not using ripple mode? And do you really mean 100 mil depression? That's even more than recommended with dive bombing. I'm having trouble finding recommended parameters for the snakeyes.

[SorelRo]

Good old finger does the trick for me. I rather control my drop on that run. And yes, I use 100 mil depression on the retarded bombs at 500 kts and 300 ft. Unfortunately the bomb aerodynamics may not be accurately calculated, there are manuals on the web and you can try to adjust your mils by the book but the results are not all that great. I spent a good deal of time testing the ones in the manuals and the ones in the DCS manual but I wasn't able to come with some accurate results. But as many pilots used to say from that era before CCIP use the TLAR method. That Looks ABOUT Right.