Care and feeding of AI wingmen

[Siddley 9]

Is there any way to prevent the ill-disciplined suicidal AI lunatics from wandering off all over Vietnam and conducting their own private war ?

Apart from issuing the 'return to formation' command every 2.5 seconds that is....

 

Do they use ECM ? if they don't then I'll load them up with more ordnance if a pod is taking up a station which could be used for bombs or rockets

 

Is there a way to shut them up a little on the radio ? or make their radio calls more useful ?

Cries of " SAM Launch ! SAM Launch ! " are useless without any further information, it just means that somewhere in North Vietnam an SA-2 became airborne, which is pretty much situation normal. Tell me something I don't already know

[+EricJ 4,199]

The only mission I fly with wingmen are CAS missions so while this post is useless it shows how much I really use wingmen in SF2... which obviously not much. However during CAS flights I have good success with them if not sometimes they take forever to take a shot any nugget could make. And they usually hit because I give them accurate weapons to begin with.

[Siddley 9]

I find them OK on CAS missions too - I think it's because there usually aren't too many enemy air defence assets around to provide a distraction for them.

 

I've got a feeling that any time they are illuminated by a fire control radar then they are programmed to react aggressively in self defence.

 

I always arm them with default Thirdwire ordnance and they do OK with it, assuming I can stop them going 20 nautical miles off course to have a one sided strafing duel with a flak trap " I'm taking damage, I'm taking damage ! " - well you got yourself into it buddy, so you can get yourself out of it

[+EricJ 4,199]

I find them OK on CAS missions too - I think it's because there usually aren't too many enemy air defence assets around to provide a distraction for them.

 

I've got a feeling that any time they are illuminated by a fire control radar then they are programmed to react aggressively in self defence.

 

I always arm them with default Thirdwire ordnance and they do OK with it, assuming I can stop them going 20 nautical miles off course to have a one sided strafing duel with a flak trap " I'm taking damage, I'm taking damage ! " - well you got yourself into it buddy, so you can get yourself out of it

 

I see SEAD flights get in the same way exactly on the last issue...

 

Then again I hate waiting on them which is something to be expected when forming up but they could move a bit faster.... Ahh! Lt. James Cater can help you with the care and feeding of your wingman as he seems to have a good system down. Though you'll find him in the SF1 section

[Guest Pfunk]

I think what's going to have to happen is our terrain makers are going to have to restrict the location of air defences to major target areas (no more air defense sites just sitting out in the middle of nothing. We're going to have to work around the AI.

 

Now, you can surround a target with whatever you want, but we can't just go sticking SAM sites wherever we want.

 

pfunk

[Wrench 9,792]

Care and Feeding of the Wingmen 101:

 

Beer, Burgers and Babes?? Just a thought!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[Gr.Viper 131]

To make rejoin order a bit more efficient first tell them to break.

[Vampyre 24]

I tend to use the AI as circumstances unfold. If I have an eight ship the second flight will be dedicated escorts with ARM's and AAM's with no gun ammo. For CAS and Strike missions with a four ship or more (and depending on type of aircraft we are flying) I will outfit the second section with a mix of AGM's, a maximum of two Mk-81 dumb bombs, ECM pods, AAM's, and no gun ammo. For my number two, it really depends on the target type we are hitting. For runways any iron bombs will do as long as you keep him on your wing long enough to line him up lengthwise before telling him to hit it. Point targets like factories and hot dog stands I prefer to hit myself as I am usually a lot more accurate than the AI, unless we have AGM's, and will send them to hit the nearest defenses. For CAS my wingie gets gun ammo, AGM's if available, and two Mk-81 dumb bombs. When the other flight and my #3 and #4 are winchester I send them back to base. The trick is in their loadouts and keeping them on a short leash.

[Wrench 9,792]

Why would you cripple the other flights by removing their gun ammo?? They might need it to protect YOU!!

 

Point targets like factories and hot dog stands I prefer to hit myself

 

They're not always hotdog stands ... they could be BBQ Rib joints, 'Borscht Bowls' or Kwik-E-Marts!!

 

 

anybody want a Squishie???

 

wrench

kevin stein

Edited February 20, 2011 by Wrench

[+EricJ 4,199]

Why would you cripple the other flights by removing their gun ammo?? They might need it to protect YOU!!

 

 

 

They're not always hotdog stands ... they could be BBQ Rib joints, 'Borscht Bowls' or Kwik-E-Marts!!

 

 

anybody want a Squishie???

 

wrench

kevin stein

 

The reason you don't give them gun ammo is that they tend to want to do gun runs in say Afghanistan or ANW. Plus they keep on engaging targets that you tell them not to but they do anyways. So when they're completely winchester save for any self-defense missiles they start to want to link up with you.

[+Piecemeal 450]

What pisses me off at the moment is looking around to other flights during campaign missions when I hear 'he's firing!' and seeing flights of friendly aircraft chugging along in ignorance while MiGs are positioned less than a quarter of a mile behind pumping shells into them at an alarming rate. Reaction? What reaction! Even as their flight's being decimated by cannon fire and Atolls the rest all still fly straight as an arrow

As I watch these massacres I can almost hear the MiG pilots singing 'Eight Imperialist pilots ahead; Eight Imperialist pilots' to the tune of '99 bottles of beer on the wall'.

When the situation's reversed; you're approaching an enemy flight of any kind from behind, and as soon as you're under five miles from them they scatter like flies. Now THAT'S the kind of behaviour you should be getting from friendly flights under threat. Proper evasive action.

 

I think there are some really annoying bugs out there with the comms set up and with friendly AI, a lot of which have been around since day one of SFP1. This is something that should be tackled by TK post haste.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Piecemeal

[+daddyairplanes 10,118]

to properly care for them you must first understand them

 

(yea i uploaded this before but this thread needed some music!)

Edited February 21, 2011 by daddyairplanes

[Vampyre 24]

Nice Wrench. That Kwik-E-Mart needs 2000lbs of laser guided lovin I think.

 

EricJ is correct. The lack of gun ammo keeps my wingmen from getting themselves killed by trying to straife ZSU-23's 50 miles from the primary target. It's great to accomplish the mission and even greater when everyone makes it back alive.

Edited February 23, 2011 by Vampyre

[+EricJ 4,199]

Nice Wrench. That Kwik-E-Mart needs 2000lbs of laser guided lovin I think.

 

EricJ is correct. The lack of gun ammo keeps my wingmen from getting themselves killed by trying to straife ZSU-23's 50 miles from the primary target. It's great to accomplish the mission and even greater when everyone makes it back alive.

 

2000lb? Nah you can drop a GBU-12 or -38 and save the landscape

[+Dave 2,322]

If you are on a strike, send YOUR wingman after air defense's while you work over the target. Load other flights for A2A and let them go after anything flying around and trying to kill you. Its a lot of wingman management but it works well. This is how I have been doing this for years. It really overcomes your wingmen problems and very effective.

 

 

 

[Talez 0]

I guess the main reason that they overreact on anti-air installations is their incapability of flying low. In fact, this helps sometimes because all the AI tend to stay above at least 500 feet. So, flying almost ground level helps to avoid Soviet interceptors. But, our wingmen can't fly low as well. Thus, it seems, they would rather engage the anti-air threat than avoiding it.

 

TK also mentioned that AIs utilize ECMs, if needed. Also, ECMs aren't 100% insurance either.

 

I just don't care about them unless they are quite close.

 

Anyway, we have an ultimate built-in cheat on this problem: Alt+N

[+daddyairplanes 10,118]

2000lb? Nah you can drop a GBU-12 or -38 and save the landscape

 

 

you mean American airpower will no longer be providing 2000lb fishponds to those in the world who piss us off?

[+EricJ 4,199]

Oh we've done that on my side a few times in the "badlands" on a few occasions (though never had the opportunity to see one go off) but I'm more selective

[Vampyre 24]

you mean American airpower will no longer be providing 2000lb fishponds to those in the world who piss us off?

 

Some people just dont deserve the larger fish that a 2000lb fishpond will support. Perhaps EricJ is right, maybe a 500lb fishpond is in order in those cases. Of course, a 500lb bomb might not kill the M-113 in the parking lot as well as my original planned attack.

[+EricJ 4,199]

But it'd probably flip it... but then again the M113 isn't a well armored vehicle to begin with