Getting to the Bottom of Flight Commads
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| Combat Management 1 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Attack My Target | | | | T |
| 2 | Buddy Spike | | | | I |
| 3 | Raygun | | | | T |
| 4 | Weapons Free | | | | S |
| 5 | Weapons Hold | | | | S |
| 6 | Check Your Six | | | | D |
| 7 | Clear My Six | | | | D |
| 8 | Attack Targets | | | | T |
| 9 | Go Shooter | | X | X | T |
| 0 | Go Cover | | X | X | T ||
| Combat Management 2 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Rejoin | | | | D |
| 2 | Run Single-Side Offset | | | | T |
| 3 | Pince | | | | T |
| 4 | Posthole | | | | T |
| 5 | Chainsaw | | | | T |
| 6 | Split Wing | | X | X | ? |
| 7 | Glue Wing | | X | X | ? |
| 8 | Drop Stores | | S | S | A |
| 9 | Datalink Ground Target | | S | S | R |
| | | | | | || Combat Management 3 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Offensive Engagement | X | | X | S |
| 2 | Conservative Engagement | X | | X | S |
| 3 | Defensive Engagement | X | | X | S |
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| Combat Management 4 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Beam Deploy | X | | X | |
| 2 | Beam Beam | X | | X | |
| 3 | Wall | X | | X | |
| 4 | Grinder | X | | X | |
| 5 | Wide Azimuth | X | | X | |
| 6 | Short Azimuth | X | | X | |
| 7 | Wide LT | X | | X | |
| 8 | Short LT | X | | X | |
| 9 | Defensive | X | | X | |
| | | | | | || Mission Management |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Resume Mission | | | | W |
| 2 | Return to Base | | | | D |
| 3 | Radar to Standby | | | | S |
| 4 | Activate Radar | | | | S |
| 5 | Say Position | | | | R |
| 6 | Say Damage | | | | R |
| 7 | Say Status | | | | R |
| 8 | Say Fuel | | | | R |
| 9 | Say Weapons | | | | R |
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| Identification Management |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Turn Smoke On | | | | S |
| 2 | Turn Smoke Off | | | | S |
| 3 | Turn ECM On | | | | S |
| 4 | Turn ECM Off | | | | S |
| 5 | Fence Out | | | | S |
| 6 | Fence In | | | | S |
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| | | | | | || Formation Management 1 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Close Up | | | | F |
| 2 | Switch Side | | | | F |
| 3 | Break Right | | | | D |
| 4 | Break Left | | | | D |
| 5 | Go Higher | | | | F |
| 6 | Go Lower | | | | F |
| 7 | Flex | | | | D |
| 8 | Take the Lead | | | | D |
| 9 | Kickout | | | | F |
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| Formation Management 2 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Go Wedge | | | | F |
| 2 | Go Trail | | | | F |
| 3 | Go Ladder | | | | F |
| 4 | Go Stack | | | | F |
| 5 | Go Fluid | | | | F |
| 6 | Go Spread | | | | F |
| 7 | Go Arrowhead | | | | F |
| 8 | Go Box | X | X | | F |
| 9 | Go Res Cell | X | X | | F |
| | | | | | || Formation Management 3 |
| # | Title | W | E | R | C |
| 1 | Go Vic | X | X | | F |
| 2 | Go Line Astern | X | X | | F |
| 3 | Go Fluid Four | X | X | | F |
| 4 | Go Echelon Left | X | X | | F |
| 5 | Go Echelon Right | X | X | | F |
| 6 | Go Diamond | X | X | | F |
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Having flown Falcon for some time I finally got fed up with not knowing what many flight (Wingman, Element, Flight) commands do or exactly how they work. I don’t think I’m alone on this. As a first step I’ve written all the commands I could discover. I attempted to be complete but I’m not sure if the generic 4-ship context was enough to find them all. For example in F4AF there is an OCA Strike page which is only present on OCA Strike missions. If there exist such context-sensitive commands or command pages please let me know.
The above tables are applicable to all three flight command trees with “X” indicating not available for that combination of command and group or “S” for available but not at that exact number position (only occurs on one page). “T” indicates that action requires a valid current target and will be grayed out otherwise. Other letter codes are my early attempts to categorize the commands by their general effects and mechanics.
Below are notes about how various less obvious commands appear to function by testing and any tips or hazards related to use.
COMBAT MANAGEMENT 1
- Attack My Target Applicable to air or ground targets the recipient(s) of the command immediately are released from formation to conduct attacks on the singular target specified. It is not clear if the element group (#3, #4) attack as individuals or coordinate between themselves. It appears that giving this command to the flight is identical in behavior to issuing this command both to the wingman group and element group. Formation flight is resumed after attack.
- Buddy Spike Informative call of locked radar by friendly. Usually AI are aware of target ID but but apparently can make mistakes at low skill levels.
- Raygun Requests a report from each recipient if the current target produces a buddy spike. Unknown if a hard lock is required (simple test).
- Weapons Free / Weapons Hold Applies a persistent state to recipients to allow self-directed targeting. All flight members default to the WH state and will request WF if within engagement parameters. WF is not required for flight members to fire at close hostile airborne threats. Explicitly directed tasks allow firing regardless of WH/WF state.
- Check Your Six / Clear My Six Directive to turn and search own or sender’s six o’clock position for threats and engage if discovered. Search and engage volume is not limited to the rear sector. Directive authorizes any turning or shooting required. Recipients automatically rejoin previous formation if clear or when threats are eliminated.
- Attack Targets Applicable to air (tested) or ground (untested), directs a sort based on target numerical order and directs an attack (see Attack My Target). Sort starts at the “lead” target and matches lowest numbered recipient to second lowest numbered target. It is assumed that own lead (sender) will sort enemy lead. If attackers outnumber targets target assignments start over from beginning of list (e.g. 3-ship vs 2-ship; lead targets #1, two targets #2, three targets #1). If targets outnumber attackers only targets equal to the number of attackers will be assigned (e.g. 2-ship vs 4-ship; lead targets #1, two targets #2, #3 & #4 are not targeted). Formation flight is resumed at completion of attack.
- Go Shooter / Go Cover
- Available only in the Wingman menu (affects Two if flying Lead, Four if flying as Three), Shooter/Cover is a status made with respect to a particular target. For example, if own flight is a 2-ship without missiles and “Go Shooter” is issued Two will continue flying formation with respect to lead until reaching engagement parameters (roughly 2.5nm) at which time Two will break formation and commence attack. Presumably Two breaks off and commences attack much sooner with longer range weaponry available. “Go Cover” command is similar but does not engage automatically. It is unknown if Two in “Cover” state will automatically engage under certain conditions. Testing is required for behavior in AG context.
COMBAT MANAGEMENT 2
- Rejoin A directive to cease current task and return to formation. Flight members in defensive or RTB states may not comply.
- Run Single-Side Offset In the AA context the recipient attempts to fly a stern conversion at the designated target. If the element is issued the command it appears one of the element members attempts the stern conversion and the other intercepts in the front quarter. This is an attack command and affected flight members will fire when within weapon parameters. A successful wingman stern conversion and engagement was accomplished against an unsophisticated opponent using AIM-9Ps with radar off. Depending on the sophistication of the target and weapons on the directed flight member the engagement is not likely to be recognizable as a stern conversion. If the target turns during the maneuver the flight member can get confused. The command is supposed to function in the AG context as well but requires testing.
- Pince The command presumably is designed to attack the threat from the sides either in a BVR or WVR fashion. This command is an attack command and automatically authorizes firing. More testing is required.
- Posthole Similar to Pince when issued to Two, Two descends rapidly and approaches from low altitude. Due to the dive angle, speed from dive, and altitude at pull out at certain altitudes the flight member will impact the ground during the maneuver. The impact appears to be avoided if commenced between approximately 7,000’ and 13,000’ AGL.
- Chainsaw Tested only with AIM-120, the directed flight member seems to launch, support to pitbull, and rejoin formation successfully provided target is destroyed or no AIM-120s remain. Coordination when issued to multiple flight members and limits of behavior not yet tested.
- Split Wing / Glue Wing A wingman (typically #4) will prioritize formation reference to flight lead in “glue wing” state and element lead in “split wing” state. Element lead (#3) is likely the only flight member to use this.
- Drop Stores Recipients drop stores consistent with performing an emergency jettison. Does notdisrupt any present status or action.
- Datalink Ground Target If able recipients will transmit current AG FCR cursor position over datalink.
COMBAT MANAGEMENT 3
- Offensive Engagement Appears to produce a ground or target based engagement track perpetually flexing beyond shooting range to target. Further testing is needed.
- Conservative Engagement See above
- Defensive Engagement See above
COMBAT MANAGEMENT 4
- Beam Deploy In standard test case WF element with guns or guns+AIM-9P engaged by Four crossing formation 6-7nm prior to merge.
- Beam Beam In test Four breaks away immediately at engagement start and flies beam to Three at 10-15nm and does not engage.
- Wall In test Four immediately adopts 3nm spread or echelon formation on nose side of target. Three flies intercept until approx 3nm and element maneuvers for shot.
- Grinder Test shows element turning away from approaching threat until approx 15nm for a beam turn with Four 4nm in depth. Receding threat is approach by snaking maneuver. Reversal of target again shows away turns 15-20nm. No AIM-9Ps are fired.
- Wide Azimuth Apparent BVR tactic cranking in opposing directions. Test showed 3/4 beginning in 1nm spread at launch increasing to 9nm by impact (40s TOF, AIM-7F). In another test (AIM-9P) 3/4 flew offset from targets (same side) and fired at the angular limits of weapon release briefly cranking before reversing into targets.
- Short Azimuth Similar to above but crossing crank with reversal turns to minimize displacement from attack axis. In AIM-9P equipped test 3/4 engaged close abreast with little to no offset in azimuth prior to merge.
- Wide LT In AIM-9P test 3/4 pursued an offset intercept until 7nm when Four broke toward the threat side of the formation in a fighting wing position 2nm aft of Three. “LT” likely means “Lead-Trail” as 3/4 adopted longitudinal spacing at the merge.
- Short LT Tests were sporadic. In one test Three conducted a delay turn in the vertical at 7nm to merge allowing Four to lead followed by Three. It is uncertain if this was a deliberate attempt to create longitudinal separation or not. In other tests the target turned away and no attempt was made by 3/4 to adopt longitudinal spacing.
- Defensive In AIM-9P test element maneuvers defensively and quickly returns to formation once clear at 18nm slant to target.
MISSION MANAGEMENT
- Resume Mission
- Return to Base Selected flight members cease offensive tasks and fly direct to destination airbase per flight plan and land.
- Radar to Standby Flight member(s) cease FCR emission. (default state)
- Activate Radar Flight members(s) resume FCR emission.
- Say Position Flight member(s) state current position relative to lead in clock direction and altitude or BRA depending on range.
- Say Damage Flight member(s) list damaged ownship systems.
- Say Status Flight member(s) report current engagement status (offensive, defensive, clear)
- Say Fuel Flight member(s) report ownship fuel remaining in thousands of pounds (rounding down so 2000-2999 is reported “two thousand”)
- Say Weapons FMs list AG weapons, AA weapons other than cannon, and report fuel quantity as above.
IDENTIFICATION MANAGEMENT
FORMATION MANAGEMENT 1
- Close Up Reduces formation spacing by factors of 2. At close range vertical separation may be altered. 4000+100, 2000+100, 1000+100, 500+100, 250+100, 125-10
- Switch Side Changes FM’s formation side.
- Break Left FM conducts a gentle turn to see threats and resumes formation.
- Break Right
- Go Higher Adjusts vertical component in formation by +1,000’.
- Go Lower Adjusts vertical component in formation by -1,000’.
FORMATION MANAGEMENT 2
FORMATION MANAGEMENT 3Please contribute everything you know or even suspect about various commands, especially the ones related to maneuvering or engagement geometry. When able specify conditions where behavior is reproducible. I’ve been making .acmi (TacView) files that demonstrate the command behavior when it works.
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Pince.
4-ship, me and 3 AI. Update 7, Korea.
Had SU-27’s on FCR and had one locked. Gave the ‘Pince’ Command to the 2nd Element (E –-> Pince). 3 and 4 broke formation toward the target and created a small (~5 mile?) bracket. Fired AIM-120’s at long(ish) range and rejoined formation.
(FWIW, my intent was for 1&2 to form one side of the bracket and 3&4 form the other … didn’t work that way.)
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Great initiative, thanks.
FWIW, the best command for AI Wingies remains “return to base” IMHO.
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I’m surprised that 3/4 rejoined unless they actually killed the targets (they rarely do since they fire so far away). I have found that if you give element a command they accomplish it like they were a two-ship. So if you try to get element to pincer they will pincer between the two of them and not with respect to 1/2. If you tell the whole flight to pincer you end up with 2 2-ship pincers happening simultaneously which is more or less pincer by section.
I also have had little success with pince at generating any meaningful baseline spread. Because detection range to max 120 range is so short it’s hard to develop the formation before it’s shooting time. I should play around with keeping the element in deep trail. I also want to experiment with AIM-9M and pince to see what happens with shorter range missiles.
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I think this will come in very handy once it is fully complete, thanks
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Exciting insight into CM4 category commands. Behavior seems appropriately context sensitive to weapon employed. When equipped with guns or AIM-9P most CM4 commands affect engagement-to-merge behavior. Behavior was most clear when element was flown into target with WF state enabled and no specific attack directive given. BVR tests must be repeated with new methodology of not directly ordering an attack. Description may need to be split among weapon setups such as rear aspect, all aspect, and BVR.
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I’ve read the link above, which was the best so far, but was wondering if anyone has updated it?
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Noticed yesterday by being the n°3 of the flight (my flight leader was an AI):
Glue wing => my wingman (the n°4) will stick to the last formation commanded by the AI lead. If the flight is in spread formation, my wingman (n°4) will join his place into the flight whatever my actual poistion (even if I am behind at xx Nm)
Split wing => my wingman (the n°4) comes in formation in my wing, regardless of what AI lead has commanded.
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To be confiremd.
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More testing for AI behavior in AG context.
Equipped with BDU-33x12 AI ordered to engage respected lead’s SMS settings for ripple quantity and impact spacing but not single/pair, opting to always release in pairs. If the player (lead) had ripple single for example the AI would release twice as many. If AI was lead then AI bombed in single pairs (2 bombs) for the Target 7 at the KOTAR complex. More testing is required to find where player SMS values are evaluated (IP, release, command, etc.). AI deployed the BDU-33 from 16,000’ true altitude level.
Attempted using split/glue wing as #3 without positive result. Did not attempt in an AA threat situation. In all cases in AG KOTOR situation #4 flew with respect to #1 when #3 (player) was near to the correct formation position but followed #3 when #3 was not near formation position.
Using “Resume Mission” on Element with egress steer selected caused Element to return to previous formation from a target-specific track. Did not test if formation tweaks (spacing, altitude delta) were preserved on this rejoin.
Single side offset or pincer did not prove to be directly useful as an attack command in AG. Commanded AI flew circular patterns unable to release weapons. Status reply “bracketing.” Oddly, giving a “break left” command snapped him out of the bracketing status and proceeded to engage the target after confirming his six was clear.
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Anyone had any issues with not being able to cycle between different sub menus? I can get the first one, but not subsequent ones. When I press the button again, the menu just goes away…
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Anyone had any issues with not being able to cycle between different sub menus? I can get the first one, but not subsequent ones. When I press the button again, the menu just goes away…
Faulty key file…
To make it work as expected you have to make sure, these code lines are in the key file:RadioAWACSCommand -1 0 0x10 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: AWACS Menu" RadioWingCommand -1 0 0x11 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: Wingman Menu" RadioElementCommand -1 0 0x12 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: Element Menu" RadioFlightCommand -1 0 0x13 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: Flight Menu" RadioTowerCommand -1 0 0x14 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: ATC Menu" RadioTankerCommand -1 0 0x15 0 0 0 -0 "RADIO: Tanker Menu" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x10 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-send message AWACS" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x10 0 0x10 1 -2 "Radio-next menu AWACS" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x10 0 0x10 0 -2 "Radio-next menu AWACS" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x10 1 0x10 1 -2 "Radio-previous menu AWACS" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x10 1 0x10 0 -2 "Radio-previous menu AWACS" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x11 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-send message Wingman" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x11 0 0x11 1 -2 "Radio-next menu Wingman" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x11 0 0x11 0 -2 "Radio-next menu Wingman" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x11 1 0x11 1 -2 "Radio-previous menu Wingman" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x11 1 0x11 0 -2 "Radio-previous menu Wingman" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x12 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-send message Element" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x12 0 0x12 1 -2 "Radio-next menu Element" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x12 0 0x12 0 -2 "Radio-next menu Element" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x12 1 0x12 1 -2 "Radio-previous menu Element" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x12 1 0x12 0 -2 "Radio-previous menu Element" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x13 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-send message Flight" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x13 0 0x13 1 -2 "Radio-next menu Flight" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x13 0 0x13 0 -2 "Radio-next menu Flight" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x13 1 0x13 1 -2 "Radio-previous menu Flight" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x13 1 0x13 0 -2 "Radio-previous menu Flight" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x14 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-send message ATC" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x14 0 0x14 1 -2 "Radio-Next Menu ATC" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x14 0 0x14 0 -2 "Radio-Next Menu ATC" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x14 1 0x14 1 -2 "Radio-Previous Menu ATC" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x14 1 0x14 0 -2 "Radio-Previous Menu ATC" RadioMessageSend -1 0 0x15 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 -2 "Radio-Send Message Tanker" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x15 0 0x15 1 -2 "Radio-Next Menu Tanker" OTWRadioMenuStep -1 0 0x15 0 0x15 0 -2 "Radio-Next Menu Tanker" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x15 1 0x15 1 -2 "Radio-Previous Menu Tanker" OTWRadioMenuStepBack -1 0 0x15 1 0x15 0 -2 "Radio-Previous Menu Tanker" RadioMenuOne -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu One" RadioMenuTwo -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Two" RadioMenuThree -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Three" RadioMenuFour -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Four" RadioMenuFive -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Five" RadioMenuSix -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Six" RadioMenuSeven -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Seven" RadioMenuEight -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Eight" RadioMenuNine -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Nine" OTWRadioMenuClear -1 0 0XFFFFFFFF 0 0 0 1 "RADIO: Menu Clear"
Edit:
Assuming you are using the original comms assignments… -
LEGEND!
That hasn’t worked for years and I never worked it out. Thank-you!!!
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Very useful information, Thanks!
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Very nicely done thank you for posting this. I’m sure most people already know this but it’s for the people who don’t. SHOUT is a voice activated program that is used to give voice commands to AI in-game. It needs to learn your voice for a bit and will ask you to repeat some sentences after about 5-6 learnings it would work about 95% of the time correctly for myself. With Track IR and a HOTAS combo and SHOUT you will truly never leave your hands off the Joy and Throttle thats how i play I only needed the keyboard for giving flight commands and the mouse only to change frequencies for UHF or VHF.
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I’m also curious about certain AWACS Commands, such as what is the difference between picture, vector to target and vector to threat, and also what check-in does.
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Picture just tells you if there are any hostiles in the area, that are or not threatening u.
Nearest threat is obvious a-a threat probably coming for u.The rest I answered in the other thread.
sent from my Xperia Z3 compact via TapaTalk
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I was under the impression it’s even simpler : “picture” gives you the position of the nearest enemy flight (whatever the type of aircraft it’s made of), and “nearest threat” gives you the position of the nearest enemy fighter flight (whether or not the fighters care about your own flight or not).
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I was under the impression it’s even simpler : “picture” gives you the position of the nearest enemy flight (whatever the type of aircraft it’s made of), and “nearest threat” gives you the position of the nearest enemy fighter flight (whether or not the fighters care about your own flight or not).
This has been my experience.
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We 3 say the same exact thing with just different words.
sent from my Xperia Z3 compact via TapaTalk