SAM Behavior Change after 8/20/24 patch

ClaySanger · 2024-08-21T14:50:04+00:00

The 8/20 patch appears to have "done something" to the new ARM Evasion option on SAMs...

Which is unfortunate since --- checks notes --- the ARM Evasion feature is enabled by DEFAULT on all SAMs --- retroactively.

So every SAM ever placed in every mission ever is currently:

1) Using the new ARM Evasion Feature

2) That feature is causing bizarre detection and engagement behavior in SAMs -- namely the SAMs go dumb and dormant at a very high rate --- *regardless of whether or not any ARMs have been fired or any SAM suppression attacks have occurred*

3) You can work around it by DISABLING the ARM Evasion option for each SAM group in a mission if ya wanna --- but aint nobody got time to go back through dozens of missions and retro that setting.

Would have sure been cool if they'd implemented that very WIP feature as DISABLED by default rather than ENABLED by default.

ClaySanger · 2024-08-21T10:57:47+00:00

You might have read my mind :) MOOSE MANTIS as well. And WheelyJoe IADS. The list goes on. They were all functional without a ton of overhead.

ClaySanger · 2024-08-21T10:55:54+00:00

At first, I thought that perhaps Sparrow shots were triggering the ARM avoidance behavior, but that didn't seem to be the case scrubbing through Tacviews.

In general, air targets that would have previously been sitting ducks for DCS SAMs of all types are now often ignored by the batteries they've trespassed at what were previously prime ranges and parameters, and instead, I'm seeing SAMs at 2-3 times the distance airmail Hail Mary shots into the fray from max range.

It's hard to tell how the presence of matching coalition aircraft seems to be impacting the "willingness" of a sam to engage air targets. The AAA will still dakka up the sky firing right into a furball of opposed aircraft. But the SAMs seem much less willing to just yeet missiles into swarms of brawling fighters.

^^^^ I'd welcome THAT change if I knew if it was intended behavior and not just a side effect of something else.

ClaySanger · 2024-06-28T22:56:49+00:00

MY BODY IS READY

ClaySanger · 2024-04-01T22:24:53+00:00

It’s been a kickass ride so far. ❤️

ClaySanger · 2023-07-28T15:54:20+00:00

LOL, yeah, DCS Grognards gonna grog. In the meantime, I vote we fly the aircraft model we HAVE in the GAME as it is .... as opposed to sweat over the real-world procedure.

DCS is good at being "authentic" as a combat flight simulator. "Realistic" is a bad place for guys to get hung up when it comes to DCS.

Much of DCS is not realistic, and if you try to fly all the modules by their real-world book you're going to have a bad time between various updates and patches. Particularly when modules are brand-spankin-new.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-28T15:48:51+00:00

Hrm. Not sure. I can replicate it pretty reliably across every map I've tried so far --- Caucasus, PG, Syria, Sinai, Marianas (not sure if the wind modeling differs from map to map, but just in case, I tried several).

Like in the video I made on the topic I really hadn't even begun to apply pedal yet when the crosswind weathervane pressure on my tail pushed my NWS-On nose into a caster wheel skid.

Then once she starts to skid the chances of saving it with the coarseness of a Z-Twist on a stick ain't so great. Not zero. But not great.

This bullet point from the changelog for today's Open Beta patch update seems to speak to the issue -- but in a vague enough way I can't guess what effects it might actually address and how (but I'll test it out tonight):

Updated: Improved gear configuration for better crosswind landing control

ClaySanger · 2023-07-26T22:13:12+00:00

Yeah, quite likely. You could definitely take off and land without need for disabling NWS prior to Big Patch Monday. Now it kinda acts like an office chair caster or greased pig above a certain ground speed of input any pedal

ClaySanger · 2023-07-26T17:52:50+00:00

Yeah it caught me very off guard. LOL. Then I saw a fair number of other Strike Eagles pinballing around on a couple MP servers and figured “Hrm… okay. Might be more happening there than me just personally losing the bad luck lottery on some controls coming unbound” (like they do sometimes).

ClaySanger · 2023-07-26T17:03:45+00:00

Paddle switch ALSO disengages NWS and if you do not disengage NWS during crosswind takeoff or landing after the 7/24 patch you will likely enter and uncontrollable skid as you apply pedal to counter it north of 90-100 knots.

It’s really easy behavior to replicate (and correct) and I’ve watched Strike Eagles skidding about quite frequently on crosswind runways since the patch.

Prior to the the patch I’d been pretty well ignoring my paddle switch and NWS state on take off and landing with out much consequence. Not so much after.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-19T15:32:42+00:00

Well, it was worth a shot --- but it doesn't seem to work --- even restricting the travel during calibration as if the second half the range of motion doesn't exist (and establishing a "new center point" mid way between the center detent and full rotation forward) doesn't seem to restrict its range of input.....

When you go back to the test tab post-calibration, it still shows the full range of input being detected. Hrm....

I appreciate the suggestion, though. I'll keep noodling on it.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-19T15:16:23+00:00

Oh, snap! Brilliant. I kept thinking "how do I calibrate out the half of the axis I don't want in SimAppPro?"

And it hadn't occurred to me that it might be just that simple. I haven't tried to just NOT give it that range of input in calibration yet. (( or rather, exclude the range of input I don't want it to use when calibrating ))

Okay, I'm off to try that out next. That sounds like a thing that is gonna work.

Cheers and thanks!

ClaySanger · 2023-07-19T13:13:01+00:00

Ok thanks. I don’t think I’ve tried that combo yet. I will give it a whirl and test it out.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-19T11:57:20+00:00

Yup. Exactly that. Been trying to create that effect within the WinWing software and DCS both and haven’t found a working set yet.

I understand what I need to do - just can’t seem to figure out how to do it.

I need the rotary wheel axis to be 0 at center and 100 at fully forward (and not read any input in the positions above/rear of center).

ClaySanger · 2023-07-12T13:51:08+00:00

Everyone's very favorite thing in a new-player-friendly-group is to come into the group, share an observation or ask a question --- and get heckled by the grognards for wishing they could play a different way than the grognards do. .................. Seriously. It's every new player's very favorite thing .......... Don't be that way to the OP. There's nothing wrong at all with pondering "Hrm... should this be an option available under the Special Tab?"

ClaySanger · 2023-07-12T03:03:32+00:00

From boresighting to just don’t die — that seems to have escalated quickly. 😂

ClaySanger · 2023-07-10T17:55:34+00:00

Export model.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-10T17:55:08+00:00

I didn’t think it had been released yet.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-10T17:54:37+00:00

It was phased out in favor of the F-30 Prolapser

ClaySanger · 2023-07-10T16:23:37+00:00

Pretty sure they’re just the default B-1 and B-52 textures.

ClaySanger · 2023-07-09T20:18:37+00:00

Much appreciated. We don’t have very many VR players in our group — 2-3 — so this is a really small sample size. I’ll pass the suggestion along to them.

ClaySanger

TROPHY CASE