Wingman bombing settings
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Hey BMSers,
Just got into to Falcon again (after taking about 7 years off), and discovered BMS. It’s added a lot of depth to an already great game. I’ve been trying to get into the details of bombing runs (airbases in particular), and wanted to put together some notes and questions I had about it.Note: I’ve mainly been using BLU 107s. I know that this is now considered “unrealistic”, and that people now use GBUs to create big holes in the runway, but dropping 6 Durandals in your wake sure is fun!
Most of my questions are about controlling your wingmen during a bombing run. Through some trial and (lots of) error, this is the best strategy I’ve come up with.
I started with just loading everyone up with Durandals to go take out some runways. We close in on the target and everyone seems eager to drop some bombs. I tell them to go weapons free and what do they do? They turn around and line up again for attack runs. I thought we were lined up together guys… When they come back, they just start blowing up random stuff. A hanger, fuel stations, some other buildings. We were tasked to take out the runways guys. That’s why we have Durandals. One guy actually took out a section of a runway, but I think he was really aiming for the taxiway…
Ok, so let’s try with some pre-planned targets. I recon the base and set some target steerpoints. In flight, I manually tell my element to go after one runway while my wingman and I take out the other runway. This time, they do drop the bombs in a line, but the element drops 2 sets of 6 bombs on one tiny section of the runway. My wingman does marginally better. Not what I was going for guys. And to think, you outrank me… To prove a point, I decided to land on the undamaged section. They take that as a cue to RTB. And to think I thought we were in this together…
So, here’s where my questions come in. From what I’ve read and gathered, the AI is not very smart. I would be fine with that if I had a bit more control over how they deployed weapons. Is there any way to adjust their spacing interval? Their ripple count? If I had to designate every section of the airfield and tell them to “attack my target”, I would be ok with that, but even when I load them up with 12 Durandals, it looks like they drop all 12 in pairs. Is there any way to tell them to “drop 6 here” and “drop 6 there”?
Predicted answers: “Nope. The AI is dumb. Fly with real people.”: That would be great, except I’m a husband and a dad. The most common command I issue is “pause”.
“You shouldn’t use Durandals”: I know. But they’re fun. Work with me on this one.
“Welcome to the forums”: Thanks!
“You can change your ripple settings using the SMS”: Yes. I know that. Read what I asked. I’m talking about my wingmen. -
How about this:
Designate 1 section of runway for your wingman, another section for the 2nd element (or just #3 in a 3-ship) and you hit the 2nd runway, …. or the last half if it’s a 1-runway field?
Also, I ALWAYS load AI with wing tanks. They have ‘aggressive bingo behavior disorder’ and will bolt for home with loads of fuel remaining. For you, this means that they’ll make one BLU-107 pass (1 pass, 6 bombs in pairs, on 1 runway section), which will help a little with flight cohesion. Give them the ‘Attack My Target’ command a good ways out and let 'em loose.
Lastly, a few things to consider … AI are dumb, you should fly with humans; You shouldn’t use durandal, BUT they ARE fun; Welcome to BMS, Have you changed your ripple settings in the SMS?
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LOL, love the last part of your answer The only reason I loaded 12 on was because I was practicing with a TE I built. The opposing airfield was only about 50nm away. Normally I run 6 with tanks. Too bad the Block 52s don’t have the conformal fuel tanks that real ones do. On second thought, I’m glad they don’t. Those things are ugly.
Edit: Ok, I was wrong, I just found the Block 52+ with the CFT.
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You are too close. AI need space to turn and change altitude. Default flight plan IP-to-target distance is 1/2 or 1/3 what is necessary. Prior to tasking the AI try to get to the appropriate altitude for that weapon (16kft, 20kft, or 1kft), roughly aligned (they can have big turning radius), and properly distant (15-20nm is best).
Weapons Free means “go nuts.” Their prioritization logic will depend on what the assigned mission target is, weapons, recon priority list, etc. It’s better to order Attack My Target which orders the specific target (every single flight member commanded assigned to that single target) under your cursor with a defacto weapons free after that initial run or use Attack My Targets which assigns in a sort-type way to assign different flight members different target. Before or after assignment you can ask for “DL Ground Target” which will show the location of the target the AI is thinking of killing.
Managing a 4-ship is a full time job. Since you don’t have direct control over #3/#4’s targets exactly it’s best to tell them to run in “attack my targets” (notice that’s targets not target) and then use your specific control over #2 and #1 to pick up the leftover priority targets. Dropping near simultaneously across the entire 4-ship will often cause targets to be double-hit or someone to have a dry run because they have to change targets very close in after someone else killed theirs. I try to keep the elements out of phase so one is having weapon impacts while the other one is at it’s flyout turnaround range. #3/#4 seem to be good at sorting targets between themselves if they are given the option (WF/AMTs) and not forced to a single DMPI (AMT).
AI drop dumb bombs (JDAMs included) always in pairs. They match your ripple setting on SMS. E.g. if you are setup to drop 2 SINGLE they will drop 2 PAIR. They might respect your interval SMS setting. I’m not 100% sure.
Coming across the runway and dropping a dense stick of bombs is correct technique. AI is smarter than most humans in this regard. The lazy “CCIP sprinkle” that humans do traveling down the length of the runway is wrong technique.
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I’m assuming you mean “Attack Targets” (number 8 in the element page), correct? I wonder how that compares to “Weapons Free”, as it sounds like they’re just supposed to attack collateral targets. I played a bit with the datalink, but it seems to only show data points when I’m not zoomed into the target. They don’t show up in EXP, DBS1, or DBS2 modes.
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Weapons Free is “self-directed” targeting, the same things they would pick if they were all alone without any commands. AMTs for air-to-air for example will tell #2 to attack enemy #2, #3 to attack enemy #3, and so on. I’m not 100% sure what AMTs does in the AG context but it’s something like this where the targets get spread around and it’s not the same result as WF. I’m still compiling data for an “AI leadership manual.” A necessary test would be to try WF vs AMTS for static and battalion targets and take careful notes of exactly what happens.
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AI drop dumb bombs (JDAMs included) always in pairs. They match your ripple setting on SMS. E.g. if you are setup to drop 2 SINGLE they will drop 2 PAIR. They might respect your interval SMS setting. I’m not 100% sure.
I have observed the exact opposite using a TE with LGBs. When my drop settings are pair / ripple 1, the AI wingie drops only a single bomb (maybe due to laser guidance?) when attacking the large South target on the range.
Cheers, Uwe
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I have observed the exact opposite using a TE with LGBs. When my drop settings are pair / ripple 1, the AI wingie drops only a single bomb (maybe due to laser guidance?) when attacking the large South target on the range.
Cheers, Uwe
I played around with some settings drop settings, and as far as I could tell, I saw the same behavior as Frederf saw, at least with Durandals. I haven’t messed with other bomb types or spacing, but I have a TE set up which will make testing this somewhat easy.
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I have observed the exact opposite using a TE with LGBs. When my drop settings are pair / ripple 1, the AI wingie drops only a single bomb (maybe due to laser guidance?) when attacking the large South target on the range.
Cheers, Uwe
Dumb bombs are dropped in pairs with ripple setting matching the player.
LGBs and other PGMs are dropped as singles.
JDAMs count as dumb bombs to the AI for the purposes of release quantity.
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When attacking runways, I always arm my wingman and element with JDAMs, and then make them wingman attack the middle of run way, and element to attack the end of run way, and I attack the other end. when the airbase has 2 strips, I get durandals to attack one strip, and then make wingman and element attack the other strip. seems to work well.
Always remember to get in Trail formation with a couple of kickout commands about 30~40nm before you get to the target. Otherwise wingman and element will take their time bombing the runways (when I say they take time they take their TIIIIIIMEEEE….very slow).
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I loved what was in very old FF. In case of many bombs AI outside of your flight released all bombs in a single pass. In your flight AI followed your settings. I hope BMS4.33 will get similar settings.