ncc1701e Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I am playing with RQ-11B Raven drone both with BLUE and RED forces for a scenario. And, since I do not have the same results, I have done few tests to try to identify what is the best unit type to perform an observation mission. Here is an example of few things to spot: Scenario starting time is 02:30:00. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) BLUE forces: I have selected those units inside an US Infantry Battalion: Headquarters Team Operations Team Fire Support Team JTAC Team I always use the same mission (Area Target) on the same location. Results for the Operations Team: Drone starts observing at 02:22:25 One Tank spotted at 02:22:04 One Technical spotted at 02:21:06 One Infantry squad spotted at 02:19:44 Second Technical spotted at 02:18:06 Second Infantry squad spotted at 02:03:53 Nothing more spotted at 01:50:00 Three Infantry squad remain undetected. Edited March 1, 2020 by ncc1701e 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Results for the Fire Support Team: Drone starts observing at 02:23:04 One Technical spotted at 02:20:21 One Infantry squad spotted at 02:20:23 (almost at the same time) Second Technical spotted at 02:17:43 Second Infantry squad spotted at 02:13:56 One Tank spotted at 02:08:23 Third Infantry squad spotted at 02:03:06 Fourth Infantry squad spotted at 02:00:14 Nothing more spotted at 01:50:00 Only one Infantry squad remains undetected. Edited March 1, 2020 by ncc1701e 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 Results for the Battalion HQ: Drone starts observing at 02:22:56 One Infantry squad spotted at 02:20:40 One Technical spotted at 02:19:59 One Tank spotted at 02:19:40 Second Infantry squad spotted at 02:17:59 Second Technical spotted at 02:17:40 Third Infantry squad spotted at 02:12:34 Fourth Infantry squad spotted at 02:08:54 Fifth Infantry squad spotted at 02:05:59 Everything has been detected. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Results for the JTAC Team: Drone starts observing at 02:27:28 One Tank spotted at 02:24:46 One Technical spotted at 02:23:47 Second Technical spotted at 02:23:04 One Infantry squad spotted at 02:11:23 Second Infantry squad spotted at 02:06:15 Nothing more spotted at 01:50:00 Three Infantry squad remain undetected. Looks like the JTAC is good at detecting vehicles faster but not really good for infantry. Next, I will do the same tests with Syrian army and Uncons. Edited March 1, 2020 by ncc1701e 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liveload Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) I've noticed that the drone contacts are not shared by the HQ with anyone else, do you see that as well? The only unit benefiting from them seems to be the HQ itself from my testing. Also, contact reporting in general seems to be broken between many radio equipped units. I have to do more testing, but this plays right into the broken radios issue I ran into while doing my Syrian campaign. Edited March 2, 2020 by Liveload 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 When I was playtesting TOC which features a lot of woods, it was frustrating that the drones, even with Elite JTAC controllers, were very poor at spotting infantry in woods, and were unable to even spot a vehicle moving down a road that I knew was there (from many previous tests). One would think that with IR and other tech they could spot stuff much more easily. So, what were you conclusions re what type of controller was best for the drones? The Battalion HQ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domfluff Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 When I've run spotting tests with drones, the results have varied wildly between identical tests. Vehicles are reliably easier to spot than infantry, and moving vehicles are easier to spot than stationary ones, but that's all generalisations - I've had the same tests spot the stationary infantry long before the adjacent vehicles, and so forth. Based on that experience, I suspect that there's enough noise to obfuscate any differences between roles. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 My sense was that drones are not working "as advertised". But, maybe BF knows more about RL drone abilities than the PR we are given. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 19 hours ago, Liveload said: I've noticed that the drone contacts are not shared by the HQ with anyone else, do you see that as well? The only unit benefiting from them seems to be the HQ itself from my testing. Also, contact reporting in general seems to be broken between many radio equipped units. I have to do more testing, but this plays right into the broken radios issue I ran into while doing my Syrian campaign. I do not have the same experience with drone contacts sharing. Here is an example: I am launching an observation mission with the JTAC team. Two targets are identified The HQ is aware of those targets For testing, I have added a Mortar Platoon HQ, which is under an Headquarters company itself under the Battalion HQ. Everybody is aware of those two targets. Now, near the JTAC team, there are uncons without radio. They have no knowledge of the two targets. I am moving them near the JTAC team. After a peaceful exchange, uncons learn about the two targets. But, without radios, others are not aware. Sending them back, all the nearby units are now aware of the three contacts (one has been detected in the meantime). Thus, information sharing seems to work fine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liveload Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 (edited) 40 minutes ago, ncc1701e said: Thus, information sharing seems to work fine. Ahh it must just be the Syrians that don't share info then. Thanks. Edited March 2, 2020 by Liveload 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akd Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 10 hours ago, domfluff said: When I've run spotting tests with drones, the results have varied wildly between identical tests. Vehicles are reliably easier to spot than infantry, and moving vehicles are easier to spot than stationary ones, but that's all generalisations - I've had the same tests spot the stationary infantry long before the adjacent vehicles, and so forth. Based on that experience, I suspect that there's enough noise to obfuscate any differences between roles. This. You would need to generate a huge amount of data to determine if differences in spotting were due to the calling unit or just normal variation in the drone spotting. AFAIK, there is no underlying reason in the game that would generate a difference. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMHO Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) 23 hours ago, Erwin said: My sense was that drones are not working "as advertised" I haven't done proper testing but I have a feeling the drone spotting is random enough - just like ground units spotting. That means to infer even a generic conclusion one needs dozens of tests with identical setup. I'd say closer to a hundred at least. Edited March 3, 2020 by IMHO 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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