Cruise missile standoff targeting

[frpg81]

Hello,

 

This is my first post here at combatace. (I swear I already tried finding a similar question in the forums)

 

I was wondering on how is targeting done in SF2. When you want to shoot a cruise missile at someone, you have to get very up-close and personal, press "e" for next ground target and then send you 60-150nm ranged Harpoon - or whatever you chose to kill people with - on the way to its target, therefore in range of SA-N-3s and other nastier stuff if you modded your game enough. Then I had this idea...

 

Would it be possible to create a moving, indestructible, invisible (non textured) object, which is coded so as to being able to be "seen" (visual sighting range) from, say, 200nm, which could then be set static in an airfield, suspect truck parking, sailing along in the center of an enemy task force, sitting atop the deck of a Kiev etc, so then you could target a cruise missile from afar just like it's supposed to be done in RL?

 

Thank you!

Edited December 17, 2012 by frpg81

[FastCargo]

Not sure what you're looking for...unless something has changed, you've always been able to target the primary target as long as you were within detection range of your weapon.

 

FC

[frpg81]

Let's consider the AGM-84C Harpoon vs a Kiev-class CVHG.

 

Its inboard radar detection range capability is 12nm. What you are saying is, I'll only be able to lock it on to something in SF2 12nm or less in this case, which puts me right in the middle of the SAM envelope and defeats the whole purpose of standoff weapons, which should be fired from 100nm away or so. In RL, the pilot fires the missile so it will head to the general direction of the target and then, upon reaching a predetermined distance, it will switch on its onboard radar, find its target and attempt to hit it, right? What I suggest is a way to "see" the target - enabling the use of visual targeting command - from hundreds of miles away, so you can fire a missile from a standoff distance, like it's supposed to be done in RL. The maximum distance I could target anything was from 55nm away using the "Easy" visual targeting setting in options. I hope I could convey the idea successfully this time.

[RogerSmith]

The range of a Harpoon is about 60 NM. If you want to lock onto a target that is very far away, just use F7 to cycle through ground object views and use Target Closest to Center of View to select it.

Edited December 17, 2012 by RogerSmith

[SayethWhaaaa]

Yeah, if you're going to target objects that way, you're limited to the range of your aircraft's ground radar. If you do as Roger says, you can cycle through ground targets that may not necessarily be within your aircraft's detection range, using F7. If you're just targeting the primary target in a strike mission, then 'e' will bring that target up straight away. I know I've launched Tomahawk cruise missiles from more than 500kms away and nailed the target, it definitely can be done.

 

That said, you can't use these methods against shipping anyways since the target ships in anti-ship missions don't spawn until you reach the final way point at the target zone. As for SF2: NA, I don't know. I assume that, in the anti-ship role, the 2 battle groups are already spawned into the map once you appear on the runway. I don't have it yet, so I can't confirm it. If you play any terrains where there are static ship targets (such as the Wings Over Timor mod, for example), you can find them and target them, although you won't be able to cycle through them using F7, you'll have to do it manually. ie, Ctrl F12 and zoom around in First person mode until you find them.

 

Clear as mud?

[frpg81]

Gents, thank you for you patient replies. I had SF2:NA in mind while asking these questions. Yes, both battle groups are already spawned upon mission beginning, at least most of the time. Roger's suggestion is practical enough, although I was looking for a more realistic method. Well, we'll just have to wait until AG radar targeting is fully implemented!

[fallenphoenix1986]

Learn somethin every day, it never occured to me to cycle through the oject view and target what I saw. Thanks

 

Craig

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

I just want to confirm-- does ground radar range actually have any effect on being able to select a target? I was under the impression that it solely depended on the ground object's MaxVisibleDistance. If we could visual-target among blobs showing up on ground radar display, at least that would be something.

 

In the mean time, I use the mash-F7 trick a lot, but it feels kind of dirty. The other thing that works well is hitting R when another flight (often the EW birds) call out "sam launch," since that allows you to select whatever's shooting at them, usually a member of the enemy battle group, even if they're extremely far away.

[Snailman]

yea this radar targeting thing is most annoying to me. Actually ground radar displays ground objects, especially ships can be found easily... it would have been so big work to make them selectable like air threats? pff ... I also feel dirty to use tricks, for me even red boxes are irritating but otherwise I have no chance to find anything with my graphics an visibility settings.