Formation flying practice

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:03 pm

I have followed the website's advice and have created a mission in which an f-16a overflies my field and I catch up with it and practice formation flying. The problem I have is I set the AI aircraft's speed at each waypoint to 350...yet it cruises at only around 200 or so. What am I missing?

Also, can you tell I'm new to lomac, i can't seem to lock onto any aircraft, much less use the padlock option. I assume these problems are related. I turn on my radar, select AA mode, and can't seem to lock onto anything or select a target. Am I missing something?

Post by **Lawndart** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:30 pm

Make sure you have more than one waypoint in between the first and last waypoints (takeoff and landing waypoints). Basically, the A/I plane needs to have the speed set to 350 between not just one turningpoint, but at least two in succession to keep that speed. Otherwise, it will start reducing as soon as it hits that point

To padlock, you need to be in any air-to-air mode first and then get close enough before you hit the padlock key. Once padlocked, you can change your A-A mode to whatever, but in order to get the padlock on an air target you need be in A-A mode first.

LawnDart

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:50 am

Does the fact that the f-16 is in the same coalition as me change my ability to padlock it?

Regarding the speed issue, all my turning points (I have like 5) are set at 350...so I'm not sure that is the problem.

Post by **Lawndart** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:53 am

Make sure the legs between each waypoint are really long! Oh, and you need to create two different fighter groups, one for your self and one for the plane you want to fly formation with. This way you both have totally separate waypoints (although you don't need to use yours).

The padlock should work fine regardless of coalition, but make sure you have padlock enabled/allowed in the options (setup) menu before you go flying!

Hope this helps...

LawnDart

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:51 am

well...i figured out padlock. But the mission editor still befuddles me. The AI f-16 cruises at 5500ft, though I set it to 2000 at all the waypoints. It maintains the speed 200ish when I have all the waypoints set at 350.

Its a lot to ask, but would it be possible to send this mission to you so you can see what I mean? This is driving me insane.

Post by **Lawndart** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 4:13 am

Well, I'm glad you figured out the padlock issue. Could you pls let me know what it was?

And I'm happy to let you know I've probably solved the mission problem for you. You need to go into your options/setup and change the box that reads "metric units" to "imperial units". What you've been entering in the mission editor has more than likely been 350 km/h and 2000 m. Double check that you are using imperial units!

LawnDart

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:02 pm

well, I don't have time to fly before school today, but i checked the units, and you were right about that. I assume that was the issue. You are amazing!

The padlock problem was just that I wasn't getting my radar cursor on the f-16 completely I think...because it works now.

I'm loving this new Hotas Cougar I got!!!!!!! What a gorgeous piece of art it is. It even solved a nagging calibration problem I've had with my ch pedals.

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:04 pm

By the way, i just noticed I am now a 1st lieutenant...what brought about the promotion?

Post by **Lawndart** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:33 pm

The "rank" on the forum is based on how many posts you have. It follows the U.S. Air Force rank system...

You shouldn't even have to lock up a target to padlock another plane, just be in A-A mode. The radar has nothing to do with it, just needs to be on during the padlocking, but not painting anything. Then once, you've padlocked you can change mode again. It's just so that the game knows to padlock air targets or ground targets or not at all I guess...

LawnDart

lieutfunaki · Post by **lieutfunaki** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:49 pm

Well, my replies in a few threads seem to have disappeared... but here it is again.

The padlock problem was twofold. First I had to enable padlock in the options. Second, the padlock key, keypad del, is effected by the num lock key. To activate it num lock has to be off, to deactivate it and pick another view, num lock has to be on. Not sure how I'll map this on the cougar, but having done some minor mapping already, I'm game to try it out.

Jarhead · Post by **Jarhead** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 10:16 pm

Hi lieutfunaki the forums had a problem earlier today but we got the problem sorted. I use a cougar as well and just have the deactivate padlock button set to numlock and for me it doesn't matter if its on or off when i want to padlock someone. You can always just map the padlock key commands directly to your joystick or switch them to different keys.