Zephyr Net

CAG, about that smoke length problem. Have you tried changing the "Frequency" setting? I can't do much in the TK right now and can only fly FA for a mission or two before getting the "Cant set video mode 2" ( or 4 sometimes ) error requiring a puter re-boot to get back in FA again.

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Have not tried changing that... What should I run it up to?

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Zephyr thank you very much for the data... Can you tell me its source?

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Kap you are a smart man! lol...

This works perfectly, I was able to extend the length of the smoke trail to match the actual boost time length of the SA-6...

I will do this for all the SAMs I am developing...

Lov it!

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Found this on that awesome aussie site...

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IIRC my sources for that were a combination of Designation-systems.net, Wikipedia, Deagel.com, just to get some general numbers. There are also warhead weights listed for some missiles here:

http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/text/missiles/sam.html

(part of http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/)

Thanks Zephyr... I can definately use the data!

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Was able to successfully build the rotating radar dish antenna for the Long Track radar vehicle for SA-6 launch sites...

Shoudl be able to use the same work to create a large rotating antenna for the Tall King radar and all other mechanical radars...

Here are some screen shots showing the antenna roatation...

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Made a short fraps vid showing the antenna rotation...

I uploaded it in WMV format...

http://imagery.vnfawing.com/screenshots ... -Track.wmv

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Longbow has some great RADAR vehicles but no-one has seem to be able to break the code to get at that stuff.

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I had to upload that video to my site in WMV format. For some reason it kept failing on youtube...

BTW the reason the antenna is brown is because its still in the original FA colors, I will add a new skin for it later...

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I have a delimma with SAMs in FAF that have backup optical systems...

Right now, SAMs that have optical backup systems in real life (SA-2, SA-3,SA-6, SA-8, plus lot more) have the capacity to use an optical sight to backup the system if the radar is jammed or destroyed, but if I give the SAMs an optical SAM capability they use it immediately and you get no missile launch warning and your evasion is based on whether you even see the missile coming in at your or not, which the white smoke and white snow background make very difficult...

The problem is that the optical sight used, say on the SA-6, has the same range as the radar, that being 18 miles...

I have tried making the missiles shorter in range, to compensate, giving the pilot the choice to stay outside a smaller optical range, but this is hardly realeastic...

Also when I load the SA-6 optical missile on the individual launchers in the site, instead of on the site launcher (which in a SAM Site in FAF is on the radar) then you get bombarded with multiple optical missiles (up to 4 at a time for a 4 launcher site like the SA-6) and it makes it damn near impossible to avoid the missiles. But I use these optical missiles on the individual launchers to make their launcher turret rotate to keep you targetted, thus mimicing the way all launchers would track you even if only 1 fired at you...

Thus my delimma! I have some options, like creating a SITE based optical tracker that limits the number of optical missiles that a site can launch at you at at single time, but that has issues as well, since in real life the optical launcher guidance sights are mounted on each individual launcher vehicle.

Also if I make the missiles less accurate that could be more realeastic, but it wont solve the multiple missile launch problem...

So I need opinions...

What do you guys suggest?

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Ok at this time o night I'm not completely sure of what you are saying BUT no optical system has a true range of anything like 18 miles. The optical system is only a back-up to that RADAR and the launcher still uses radio command guidance which may still of course have an 18 mile range but no way of acquiring a target at that range to lock onto with an optical system.
For those of you who don't quite know what I'm talking about I'll try and give a quick/simplified explanation of these guidance systems.
In a typical engagement with these RADAR command guidance missiles the launch RADAR locks onto the target, does it's calculations and launches the missile. The RADAR then tracks both the target AND the missile and uses a radio signal to steer the missile to the target. SOME early system had no further guidance and thier range was limited to how far it could accurately guide the missile and still have the missile be within lethal distance of the target when the proximity fuse went off.
Later more sophisticated systems used a RADAR or IR sensor in the nose to make the very final corrections to hit the target.
Even more sophisticated systems at extremely long ranges uses the missiles own on-board RADAR to let the launch RADAR make the final target selection. The missile could in effect be launched blind into an area of suspected targets and then have the launcher choose a target once it got into range. More typically a long range RADAR would detect a formation of aircraft and the launcher would fire on that formation then use the missiles radar to pick out the target at the last minute.

Now, the optical back-up. With the launch RADAR jammed or damaged, an optical/IR system can find a target, and lock onto it. The missile is launched and now both the target and the missile are tracked by the optical system instead of the RADAR and the normal radio command guidance once again steers the missile to the target. Only the "imaging" system ( RADAR or optical ) changes, the rest of the system still works pretty much the same way for both.

CAG you already know all this and I think you know the Sovs tend to launch in volleys anyway, so you might be seeing a problem where there isn't one or I'm just too tired to comprehend lol.

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Kap,

Yes your explanation has some merit, but you were right it was to late at night for you! LOL!

Seriously though, an F-16 was shotdown with an optically guided SA-6 at 16 miles from the launcher in Desert Storm. The backup tracking system on the SA-6 is indeed capable of long ranged interceptions, but it needs a search radar (often off site) to give it target coordinate cuing so the optical sight can be locked on...

My problem is, how do I represent this capability without the site using the optical guidance as the primary launch type and how would you recommend I limit the number of missiles launched? Should I simply build an optical guidance unit with multiple hard points with optical missiles, for the SAM site like I did for the radar missles? That would limit the site to firing 1 or 2 missles at a time during an optically guided engagement. But that doesnt solve the engagement range issue or the fact the site would use optical guided missiles as its primary weapon, which isnt realeastic. Should I make these missles less accurate as they have to rely on the skill of the user of the optical sight?

If I do build a single optical site guidance unit for the SAM SITE, I would have to position it differently so it wouldnt be taken out by HARM impact on the site radar, giving the site a second chance at engagement of the incoming bandits...

This isnt realeastic though, since the optical site is on the actual launchers on the SA-6, but when I add optical missiles to the launchers they simply launch volleys of 4 missiles (Russian tactics call for 2 missile volleys, not 4 missile volleys) and bombard you with so many missiles with no warning that its damn near impossible to survive them all unless you have labels turned on so you can out maneuver them...

So my problem is two fold. I thing that if I buidl the site optical guidance unit, and make the missiles a secondary weapon, with less range, and make them less accurate I might solve all issues I am facing.

What is your opinion on that?

Or I could simply limit the number of launchers that carry the optical missiles, so that the site only launches 2 optical missiles at any one time. That would mean I would have to build multiple launch vehicles, some with optical missiels, some without...

What is your opinion on that?

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I still honestly don't believe you can get an optical lock from 16 miles, IR maybe, but not true optical.
My TK isn't working just right, I think I need to rebuild the cashe or something but then I will lose the other modded files in it.
What about the "Secondary weapon" checkbox on the vehicles hardpoint?

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