Issue with Intercept

[ronmexico111]

Hi everybody. I'm playing the Flight Tutorial- AAW 1- Simple Air Intercept and I've run into an issue. I have an AAW patrol set up near the Syrian border with my two aircraft (F-16I Falcons) and I have them set to Investigate contacts within weapon range. The behavior I'm trying to go for here is that I want my aircraft to stay within their patrol zone until the enemy contact flies within range of my own aircraft's missiles and then have them automatically destroy the contact with their weapons and yet it seems that no matter what setting/settings I use they will not open fire until the contact crosses into the patrol zone. Now, I'm not sure if it's my error (I already know I can set up a prosecution zone but ideally that isn't what I'd like to do here). I'm honestly not sure if I've missed a doctrine setting in order to have my aircraft behave in the desired manner or if the Investigate contacts within weapon range setting isn't meant to work the way I think in the first place. Does it mean exactly what it says when it says to investigate contacts in that my aircraft will positively identify the contact and then proceed with it's assigned patrol and wait until additional orders are given on my part or is there an actual bug here? I have attached my save game to this as well.

[ronmexico111]

Playing the Basic Training Air Operations, 1983 scenario I have an air patrol set as well only this time Investigate contacts within weapon range is unchecked. The Tomcats fire on the enemy aircraft outside the patrol area the instant they are identified as hostile. However, in the other scenario in my earlier post when I want my F-16's to exhibit similar behavior and Investigate contacts within weapon range IS checked, they just wait patiently until the hostile aircraft flies into the patrol area before opening fire. Not sure what to make of this.

[ronmexico111]

An interesting thing. When I went back into my saved game in Israel with the F-16's and added an F-14 to the AAW patrol the Tomcat fired on the enemy drone the second it flew into the radar arc of the Tomcat. This was with the drone being outside the patrol area, with the same settings as before, but with Investigate contacts within weapon range unchecked. So a couple things are happening here. The button to investigate contacts within weapon range doesn't seem to be working, and for some reason the Tomcat will fire on the enemy aircraft outside of the patrol zone, while the F-16's wait until the drone has entered the patrol zone before engaging.

[doabliptnk]

Short Answer: Your F-16I must go to a lower altitude.

Long Answer: Your F-16I loadout contains only WVR missiles (Python-5). These missiles are optimized differently than the BVR missiles that I think the F-14 carried.
Tips: SHIFT + F1 will explain why your unit refuses to attack.

[ronmexico111]

Thank you doabliptnk for that, I didn't know the drone wasn't even in the launch envelope of the Pythons. They now fire automatically on the drone outside of the patrol zone which is what I was going for. However, it still seems that the Investigate contacts within weapon's range doesn't seem to be working properly (the automatic firing happens on the aircraft whether the button is checked or not).

[ronmexico111]

Playing the other Basic Training scenario some more (Basic Training Air Operations, 1983), the Investigate contacts within weapon's range button just doesn't seem to be working at all (doesn't matter if I have it checked or not). My aircraft will fire on the enemy MIG's but they won't fully engage until I check the other button to Investigate contacts outside the patrol area (that button works exactly like it's supposed to).

[doabliptnk]

First, "investigate contacts" means positively ID (neutral/hostile/...) the BOGEYs

Second, I think "Investigate contacts outside the patrol area" is only logical if you have both Patrol Area and Prosecution Area.
Let Zone 1 be the Patrol Area, Zone 2 be the Prosecution Area.
-"Investigate contacts outside the patrol area": Unit will patrol in Zone 1. If any BOGEYs is detected in Zone 2, the unit will go to Zone 2 to investigate.
-"Investigate contacts outside the patrol area" and "Investigate contacts within weapon's range": Do the same thing as above plus investigate any BOGEYs within weapon's range during the transit from Zone 1 to Zone 2 or from Airbase to Zone 1.
-"Investigate contacts within weapon's range": Investigate any BOGEYs within weapon's range during the transit from Airbase to Zone 1.

[ronmexico111]

First, "investigate contacts" means positively ID (neutral/hostile/...) the BOGEYs

Second, I think "Investigate contacts outside the patrol area" is only logical if you have both Patrol Area and Prosecution Area.
Let Zone 1 be the Patrol Area, Zone 2 be the Prosecution Area.
-"Investigate contacts outside the patrol area": Unit will patrol in Zone 1. If any BOGEYs is detected in Zone 2, the unit will go to Zone 2 to investigate.
-"Investigate contacts outside the patrol area" and "Investigate contacts within weapon's range": Do the same thing as above plus investigate any BOGEYs within weapon's range during the transit from Zone 1 to Zone 2 or from Airbase to Zone 1.
-"Investigate contacts within weapon's range": Investigate any BOGEYs within weapon's range during the transit from Airbase to Zone 1.

You would think that's how it works but in practice it's Investigate AND attack. The Investigate contacts outside of patrol area button in conjunction with patrol zones and prosecution zones work as advertised.

1. Have aircraft on patrol in their patrol zone which is inside a larger prosecution zone (have Investigate contacts outside of patrol area checked).

2. Unidentified aircraft flies into prosecution zone.

3. Friendly aircraft fly out of patrol zone into prosecution zone to identify the contact and if hostile they attack.

4. Friendly aircraft then return to patrol zone after destroying target and continue patrol, knitting, jaw-jacking, etc.

It's like having a dog on a leash and the dog knows to attack and then come back. Without the prosecution zone you can get the same behavior by checking Investigate contacts outside of patrol area when enemy aircraft are near and then un-checking the button after the engagement so they fly back to their patrol area. It's when Investigate contacts within weapon range is concerned that the confusion begins.

When Investigate contacts within weapon range is checked, an aircraft flying in a patrol zone (without an accompanying prosecution zone as in the above example) spots an unidentified contact entering the range of it's weapons. At that point it should then fly out as above to investigate and if the contact is hostile it would attack, then return. But the button, whether checked or not does not seem to be working at all. As for being in transit, an aircraft will fire on any contact that comes within range and in it's cone of fire according to ROE anyways, the investigate contact buttons are separate from that.

[ronmexico111]

I'm still wondering about the exact function of the Investigate contacts within weapon range button because checked or not it seems to do nothing at all. I have a theory about what it's supposed to do as I posted above but it doesn't do that at all so I'm not sure if it's a bug or not. I think only a developer could clarify this for me because I can't find anything about it.

[ronmexico111]

The Investigate contacts within weapon range button still doesn't seem to work at all.