Update 1.70 Feedback

[pooroldspike 128]

In a sense we're all on the dev branch because we suggest stuff that needs fixing in threads like this one and hope the devs read it..:)

Personally I wish they'd get around to fixing longstanding issues that we've told them about in the past, like the "ghost trees" all over the maps (below) that have been unfixed for years.

[pooroldspike 128]

For example the new 1.70  Titan AA launcher lockon routine is a crock, I just did these sensational test screenshots to show what I mean, shall I start yet another new thread and put them in there or what, or perhaps you could move them there by the awesome powers invested in you as a Mod?

 

1- On paper the routine sounds fine; you simply point the launcher at the target and it automatically puts a broken outline diamond round it, accompanied by an exciting beeping sound-

 

 

2- And after a few seconds (IF you've panned the launcher around to keep the narrow sensor cone pointing at the moving target), the diamond becomes a solid unbroken diamond, and a small white dot appears in the centre to signify a solid lock, and the beeping stops to be replaced by an ominous silence which is our launch cue- 

 

 

3- BUT in the heat of combat things don't always go as smoothly as that for several reasons-

Firstly there might be a glaring white haze or clouds around (as below) which mask the solid lockon diamond and white dot, making you unsure whether you've got a solid lock.

Secondly, when the beeping stops and silence ensues, it's no guarantee that you've got a solid lock; it might simply mean you've allowed the target to slip slightly out of the narrow sensor cone.

Thirdly if there are battle sounds going on all around you, it's sometimes difficult to tell if the beeps have stopped.

Lastly, if the target is moving fast at high angular velocity (notably jets), it's almost impossible to pan around smoothly and quickly enough to keep it in the sensor cone, resulting in the beeping constantly stopping and starting as you struggle to hold it in the cone- 

 

Suggestions-

Widen the sensor cone to make it easier to hold the moving target inside it.

Replace the lock-on silence with a steady high-pitched whine as the launch cue. 

Reduce the time it takes for a lock to become solid so that we have a chance to launch at a jet before it vanishes over the horizon.

 

[pooroldspike 128]

Another other major thing with 1.70 is that the helicopter and Blackfish external camera view (3rd-person) is now rigidly fixed to point in the same direction that the nose is pointing, and it makes flying very difficult (people have also complained about it in other threads).

For example when flaring with nose high for landing, all we see is sky and we lose sight of the ground.

The old view was better because the camera always stayed pointing horizontal no matter what gyrations the aircraft was doing. 

[MrFies 20]

nope.... that would make the AA Launcher to OP

[Vasily.B 529]

15 minutes ago, MrFies said:

nope.... that would make the AA Launcher to OP

No, it will make them usable again.

I didnt seen the issue with ghost trees, but issue with brighter area around the player (related to terrain LOD) is very frustrating.:

Destroyed vegetation is no problem for AI vision :

Falling animation in wrong places:

AI ATGM launcher crews see through smoke :

Also wheels animation bugs is here:

Pitch black night, glowing objects and the tank physx.......

Its all most problematic issues i seen, fixing those would make game playable

[Ex3B 265]

I've also had some strange problems with laser guided scalpels refusing to lock a laser designated target (in a plane). They start locking, the diamond narrows around the target, and a solid diamond starts to flicker, but it doesn't achieve a steady lock.its very frustrating, but breaking off, stopping the "point" mode, coming from a different angle and redesignating the target often fixes it.

Even so, I can't figure out why it wouldn't lock earlier. - so far I've encountered this with the black wasp(init editing to give it scalpels), I'm unsure about other aircraft

[R0adki11 3945]

19 hours ago, Vasily.B said:

Its all most problematic issues i seen, fixing those would make game playable

The game is already playable, it has been since its release. I think your just picking faults as per usual. 

[teabagginpeople 398]

I do understand for your exact needs and because you have so much focused on these issues they are glaring. And not even dismissing them. But to say it is unplayable is somewhat hyperbole. Unplayable for you perhaps. But I'd guess a large number of all player mission types wouldn't see it as that unplayable. 

 

I have been on A few different servers since release and from what I witnessed aa has been doing its job. Creaming cas that is flying too low and slow basically careless.  I'v nailed a few wouldn't say with ease but I don't want to nail them with ease.

 

The titans AT I have seen alot of people and I mean alot missing shots unable to lock confusion really . I haven't had so much an issue personally using them.  I think that might be a lack of information on the changes to the locking, cold targets, counters working better depending how you look at it. Maybe there is a need for a better audio cue. 

 

Regarding the haze and targeting.  I did run into an issue with the wipeout and losing all site of the reticule when chasing a jet skyward against the "haze" for want of a better word. I had to guess my shots. I'm guessing this is the issue you have too with the launcher reticule. 

[pooroldspike 128]

10 hours ago, Ex3B said:

I've also had some strange problems with laser guided scalpels refusing to lock a laser designated target (in a plane). They start locking, the diamond narrows around the target, and a solid diamond starts to flicker, but it doesn't achieve a steady lock.its very frustrating, but breaking off, stopping the "point" mode, coming from a different angle and redesignating the target often fixes it.

Even so, I can't figure out why it wouldn't lock earlier. - so far I've encountered this with the black wasp(init editing to give it scalpels), I'm unsure about other aircraft

 

At a guess I'd say the intermittent loss of a solid lock is another "realism factor" they've decide to incorporate into the game because it happens in real life too as the targets radar/sensor profile changes as it manoeuvres around. As usual I suppose we'll just have to try to get used to these changes (sniffle)

PS- I play mostly on the KOTH servers where the skies used to always have at least a couple of Blackfish VTOLS buzzing around, but since the 1.70 introduction of  fiddly new Bfish control key combos coupled with the disastrous new rigid 3rd person camera view, they've become almost unflyable and the skies are now almost empty of them because nobody wants to spend oodles of hard-earned game-cash buying something they can't fly. The last Bfish I saw in KOTH was hung up on telephone wires, the poor slob who bought it learnt his lesson the hard way.

[R0adki11 3945]

8 minutes ago, pooroldspike said:

 

At a guess I'd say the intermittent loss of a solid lock is another "realism factor" they've decide to incorporate into the game because it happens in real life too as the targets radar/sensor profile changes as it manoeuvres around. As usual I suppose we'll just have to try to get used to these changes (sniffle).

I am glad that more realistic things are been brought into the game, having an missile launcher lock 100% was odd.

 

Quote

PS- I play mostly on the KOTH servers where the skies used to always have at least a couple of Blackfish VTOLS buzzing around, but since the 1.70 introduction of new Bfish control key combos coupled with the new rigid 3rd person camera view, they've become almost unflyable and the skies are now almost empty of them. Sa

That's a good thing also for KOTH, i play KOTH with members of my PvP group and found the Blackfish VTOLS would ruin game-play as they can dominate the skies.Though as i only play on 1st person servers, ive not seen the difference of the 3rd person camera . But anyway BIS have said that a hotfix to fix the 3rd person camera is due soon..

[Ex3B 265]

33 minutes ago, pooroldspike said:

 

At a guess I'd say the intermittent loss of a solid lock is another "realism factor" they've decide to incorporate into the game because it happens in real life too as the targets radar/sensor profile changes as it manoeuvres around. 

Except its not intermittent loss of a solid lock, it never achieves it. And its a stationary target.

For some reason, sometimes scalpels on a black wasp will refuse to complete the lock even, facing right at the lased target for several seconds.

The only thing to be done is to unlock it, turn off the laser, and start the process all over again.

I don't have the problem with LGBs, or genuine IR targets though

[pooroldspike 128]

18 hours ago, R0adki11 said:

I am glad that more realistic things are been brought into the game, having an missile launcher lock 100% was odd.

 

That's a good thing also for KOTH, i play KOTH with members of my PvP group and found the Blackfish VTOLS would ruin game-play as they can dominate the skies.Though as i only play on 1st person servers, ive not seen the difference of the 3rd person camera . But anyway BIS have said that a hotfix to fix the 3rd person camera is due soon..

Thanks that's good news, and yes the armed Blackfish is a tough hombre as it orbits the objective at high altitude hammering it like a Nam Hercules gunship. However it's only found in a couple of the dozen or so KOTH servers, so we can choose a server that doesn't have it. Anyway if more people packed Titan AA launchers we could soon bring it down with volleys of SAM fire, I rarely go into battle without an AA or AT launcher because I'd feel naked without one.

The un-armed Blackfish on the other hand is found in most KOTH servers and is very popular for fast troop transport and it climbs like a rocket, you haven't lived til you've done a HALO parachute jump, or jumped out on a highspeed low pass at 520 knots..:)

As regards the 1st-person vs 3rd-person debate, there was a thread about it somewhere a while back, personally I only play 3rd-person..:)

 

[Midnighters 152]

Honestly I think the lock on changes were for the better. 

[pooroldspike 128]

18 hours ago, Ex3B said:

Except its not intermittent loss of a solid lock, it never achieves it. And its a stationary target.

For some reason, sometimes scalpels on a black wasp will refuse to complete the lock even, facing right at the lased target for several seconds.

The only thing to be done is to unlock it, turn off the laser, and start the process all over again.

I don't have the problem with LGBs, or genuine IR targets though

Thanks, i'll run some Skalpel tests in the editor later.

[Midnighters 152]

1 minute ago, pooroldspike said:

Thanks, i'll run some Skalpel tests in the editor later.

Honestly though, I haven't seen any lock on problems at all. It's always solid as long as I keep the distance between the jet. 

[pooroldspike 128]

3 minutes ago, Midnighters said:

Honestly I think the lock on changes were for the better. 

What, the Titan AA or AT?

Personally I can just about live with the Titan AT at the moment even though the wide/narrow optics readout hasn't worked since update 1.68, but the Titan AA needs some improvement (see my starter post).

Or am I doing something wrong? If you know how to use it better, please let us know..:)

[Midnighters 152]

27 minutes ago, pooroldspike said:

What, the Titan AA or AT?

Personally I can just about live with the Titan AT at the moment even though the wide/narrow optics readout hasn't worked since update 1.68, but the Titan AA needs some improvement (see my starter post).

Or am I doing something wrong? If you know how to use it better, please let us know..:)

No no no, don't get me wrong on this one. I just think now that you have planes that aren't completely susceptible to lock on fire and can throw off the lock easily is a bit more realistic. As you may now need multiple posts to try and get a lock in attempt to get a hit on the plane. I myself, in no way know any more than your joe shmo when using the AT equipment in arma 3. But, I do know however, it's a lot better and more realistic than it was. Albeit there is some offsetting (bugs may I dare say?) that may not help with locking on to beginwith. 

[pooroldspike 128]

Another thing that muddies the issue is that some servers tweak various settings etc, so the way something works in the Editor might not be the way it works in the servers, I'd better hold off on skalpel tests.

BTW guys, can I just plug an idea of mine, namely shall we start a multiplayer server of our own?

I know zilch about how to do it, so if anybody's interested drop me a mail..:)

pooroldspike (at) aol (dotcom)

[Vasily.B 529]

But problem with AT launchers seeing you through smoke (smoke is not distracting lock) is very odd, and need some improvement.

[pooroldspike 128]

17 hours ago, Vasily.B said:

But problem with AT launchers seeing you through smoke (smoke is not distracting lock) is very odd, and need some improvement.

 

You can lock a Titan AT through smoke, but when you fire, the missile will dive into the ground just short of the target, making smoke a barrier that AT missiles can't penetrate.

Same thing happens if you fire without a lock, the missile will fly down the crosshairs which you're holding on the target, but it'll still dive into the ground before reaching the target.

[pooroldspike 128]

Aargh I spent 4 hours on a KOTH server today trying to get the hang of the new 1.70 Titan AA against jets, but it's almost impossible to shoot them down just like I said in my starter post.

The problem lies in trying to hold the fast-moving jet inside the very narrow sensor cone in order to get a solid lock.

As a result, jets are almost invulnerable because even if you're lucky enough to get a solid lock, they'll pop chaff/flares which usually decoy the missile away anyway!

So here's a recap of my suggested remedy package-

1- Widen the sensor cone to make it easier to hold the moving target inside it.

2- Replace the lock-on silence with a steady unmistakeable high-pitched whine as the launch cue. 

3- Reduce the time it takes for a lock to become solid so that we have a chance to launch at a jet before it vanishes over the horizon.

[Vasily.B 529]

I was writing about AI titans (ai using titans) - they can lock you through smoke, and rocket will hit you. Also there is no possibility of locking through smoke wall in real life. We are still talking about vehicle smoke launchers.

[Midnighters 152]

46 minutes ago, Vasily.B said:

I was writing about AI titans (ai using titans) - they can lock you through smoke, and rocket will hit you. Also there is no possibility of locking through smoke wall in real life. We are still talking about vehicle smoke launchers.

i've actually completely lost a target lock due to smoke in front of me. Is it just random? Or?

[sammael 366]

Spoiler

 

Simple smoke can`t jam Spike ATGM. But I think modern tanks have special smoke granades with metal dust and can jam missiles.

ANyway Arma 3 is game and I think smoke must broke  locking

[sammael 366]

13 hours ago, pooroldspike said:

As a result, jets are almost invulnerable because even if you're lucky enough to get a solid lock, they'll pop chaff/flares which usually decoy the missile away anyway!

yes and  yes. Super chaff/flares