scottb613 285 Posted September 4, 2017 Hi Folks, I've actually scoured YouTube looking for a tutorial on how to use these missiles in both AI and Player modes... Could use a bit of help... From an AI standpoint - I load helicopters equipped with these missiles and they seem very reluctant to use them - I watched 3CB Wildcats make successive passes over two tanks for more than 10 minutes (SAD,RED,COMBAT) and never fire a shot... These are Electro Optical and Laser Guided munitions - is there some key requirement missing for them to target these tanks ? I've used other flavors of attack helicopters as well - it's just 3CB makes a good example as the missiles are the only weapon carried... From a players perspective in the cockpit - again - what magical sequence do I need to follow to lock onto an armored asset ? I see a laser designator is included in the cycle weapons key - do I need to use that ? The missiles comes off the rail and just fly unguided into the ground... Finally - I noticed ACE has their own brand of AGM - what's different or special utilizing these ? Seems good tutorials are easy to find on just about any ArmA topic - but pickens are slim on this one... Regards,Scott Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottb613 285 Posted September 7, 2017 Hi Folks, I think I figured out part of my issue - the targets need to have engines RUNNING for a lock ??? That's a departure from RW as the Maverick can lock on visually instead of just from a heat signature... Still hashing this out... Any help appreciated... Regards, Scott Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oukej 2911 Posted September 7, 2017 9 hours ago, scottb613 said: I think I figured out part of my issue - the targets need to have engines RUNNING for a lock ??? That's a departure from RW as the Maverick can lock on visually instead of just from a heat signature... IRL there are also IR and IIR variants of Mavericks. Anyway, for more info you can checkhttps://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Sensors and 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ex3B 266 Posted September 7, 2017 Ok, so you're talking about Macer IIs and Scalpels then? Ever since the jets DLC and the sensor overhaul, I've found Macers to be nearly useless. Even with a target with its engine running, their lock range is something pathetic like 2 or 2.5km (I think just 2). I don't know how much that is reduced if the target isn't "warm enough" (heat signature shouldn't go away immediately when an engine turns off after running a while). Its so bad that I started editing pylon loadouts via the init field to carry scalpels instead of macers (at least for taking out light armor/AntiAir) so that I can at least lase them and lock from a longer range. 2km is not enough considering the speeds that the black wasp moves at. Its a big PITA to have to manually point a laser at targets (also this needs view distance to be set high enough to see them in the camera) until the camera/laser marker switches from "area" to "point" mode, and then make sure to fly so that the laser marker can keep working until the ordinance hits. Scalpels work for lighter vehicles, but against MBTs a LGB is basically needed. There aren't many good options for stand off ground attack, making the jets very vulnerable to the Tigris/Cheetah which will be able to engage with guided munitions at much longer ranges than any of the jets. It would be really nice to have radar guided missiles like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimstone_(missile) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Air-to-Ground_Missile Which can use laser or active radar guidance The in game scalpel is IR, laser, or SACLOS guided, but AGM IR seekers are way too short ranged in the current iteration. Macers seem to be exclusively IR guided. At the very least they could give us different missile variants. Real life Hellfires are laser or radar guided. For most of OFP/Arma's history, they never actually required gunners to sight and guided the guided missiles fired from helos (Ie, SACLOS guidance for TOWs, laser guidance for Hellfires) - having them home in without anyone in the gunner seat was quite unrealistic. Now I seem to need to simultaneously manage laser guidance and fly the plane ot make use of these missiles in jets. Macers.... without laser/saclos/radar/EO/a more realistic lock range, forget about them for now. Its unfortunate, because the real life Mavericks have an even more diverse set of guidance packages than the hellfire, yet the Macer II in Arma 3 just has a very very very short ranged IR seeker and no other guidance options. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oukej 2911 Posted September 7, 2017 There was an issue that depending on the user settings caused some of the missiles to have lower ranges than they should (if not capped by the view distance limit). It is fixed in the current patch. Macers should be able to lock standard sized targets @ 6km range. (Keep in mind that this can be limited by the object view distance. Only radar guided missiles can lock beyond that.) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottb613 285 Posted September 7, 2017 Hi Folks,Just a quick thank you - much to digest in those links - working my way through it...Regards,ScottSent from my iPad using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottb613 285 Posted September 8, 2017 IRL there are also IR and IIR variants of Mavericks. Anyway, for more info you can checkhttps://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Sensors and Hi Oukej,A wealth of information but on a quick perusal - I don't see a usage guide - stuff like how do I change the missile tracking mode from Visual to IR (if the weapon is capable) - how do I use my onboard laser to laze my own target - an actual demonstration of how to setup an attack run using these great new features with the various weapons - is there anything like that floating around ?Regards,ScottSent from my iPad using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ex3B 266 Posted September 9, 2017 "how do I change the missile tracking mode from Visual to IR " You don't, it will automatically use whatever seeking mode it can for a target lock. "how do I use my onboard laser to laze my own target" You switch to your targeting camera (I don't recall if I changed this from the default, but for me its numpad " / " ) Then you switch your weapon to your laser and turn it on (there should be a red Icon to show its on), You'll want to turn on the camera stabilization... again I forget if I changed the default, but for me its right ctrl + T . This will have the camera follow a point/area on the ground, it will display the text "area". If you move the camera to point right at a vehicle, it will switch from "area" to "point" mode, and it will lock on and keep pointing at the vehicle. As long as your laser is on, this means it is lasing your target. Note that banking too much or turning too far away from the target direction will cause the camera to no longer be able to point at the target.... but it won't forget where it is, so if you turn back towards the target again it will correctly designate the target again. Once you've got your targeting camera locked on a target and lasing, its just a matter of selecting (in normal cockpit/3rd person view) a weapon that can lock a laser target. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scottb613 285 Posted September 10, 2017 Hi...Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up...Let me see if I can put some of this new information to good use...Regards,ScottSent from my iPad using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ex3B 266 Posted September 15, 2017 On 9/7/2017 at 10:22 PM, oukej said: Anyway, for more info you can checkhttps://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Sensors Well, I'm not sure how the weapon sensors work with vehicle sensors. The Black Wasp can only identify ground targets by IR at 2km, which prevents locking at longer ranges obviously: http://armedassault.wikia.com/wiki/F/A-181_Black_Wasp_II The black wasp IR sensor is actually the worst of all the fixed wing combat aircraft according to the wiki. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
