Target Designator Boxes/Diamonds When in Manual Control?

[TinManNFO]

I may be missing something here, but when you have an aircraft with various weapons, like regular gravity bombs, and a gimbal camera, is there a way to make it show the TD boxes (diamonds) marking enemy units when you switch from the camera to either the flight control mode or one of the weapon modes? (I.e. when I'm trying to do a weapon drop manually, it shows the diamonds when you are in keyboard "2" for the gimbal camera, but if I switch to "1" or any of the weapon slots I can't see them any more.)

Generally, any sim of a modern fighter aircraft I have messed with shows sensor data being passed to the HUD for at least the current launch and steering target, so I'm not sure why that couldn't happen here. Ideally, I imagine it would be preferable if targets were also passed from all platforms to each other's HUDs on the data link that is theoretically connecting them to the carrier so that you can see them in real time on the displays...

[KWAiRT]

Just set them all to manual and switch to the weapon system. You will be able to fly it and fire at the same time.

[Bauxite]

^ This.
Target tags only usually show up when a weapon is in manual and selected.

[TinManNFO]

Thanks all, however I should probably be clearer about the issue and probably should have waited until I was in less of a rush to write up the post.

1) In this scenario I just tried out to check out, I'm using a Manta with a gimbal camera in the nose and carrying 4x medium bombs (and a flare dispenser that isn't relevant to the question).
2) When I select the camera using keyboard "2" and go to manual (in my case using Xbox controller "X" button) I can designate targets and see the diamonds and labels fine.
3) My intent is to do some air interdiction prior to landing my vehicles by striking some enemy seals and walruses with the medium bombs, trying to carefully aim each bomb one at a time to minimize waste of munitions.
4) I switch to manual control by hitting keyboard "1" and Xbox controller "X." It switches to forward view and manual control, but there are no diamonds (or x's for friendlies) to be seen.
5) I next switch to the first bomb by pressing keyboard "3" in this case and again switch to manual control with Xbox controller "X." The Continuously-Computed Impact Point (CCIP) pipper appears correctly, and I am again in manual control.
6) There are, however, still no target diamonds to be seen. I turn inbound to the targets' approximate location based on the island's terrain and have to wait until the vehicles enter rendering distance. At this point I can visually spot them by their headlights and then perform some last minute maneuvers to line up the CCIP pipper on the first intended target (two vehicles right next to each other) and release.

What I would like, and what I'm used to having from other simulations/games, is that the diamonds I can see using the gimbal camera would also appear when I'm in vehicle control mode or a weapon mode (regardless of the weapon type). In that case, I would be able to perform a long run in on the target, lining up the CCIP with the target diamond early with relatively minimal subsequent maneuvering, which would increase bombing accuracy, all else being equal, since larger corrections up close to the target means a higher chance of being outside of desired release parameters and therefore not being close enough to kill the target. This also should make it much easier to try to drop bombs accurately from outside of AAA gun range.

Note that I have seen target diamonds when using IR missiles, but I can't build them yet and don't want to waste them and therefore have barely used them. Again, the idea is that I'd like the diamonds to transfer from the gimbal camera to the other views in the aircraft to facilitate aiming of all weapons, whether guided or unguided.

Is there something in the above numbered steps I need to do additionally or differently in the current state of the game to see the diamonds or target tags when I am in manual control with a weapon selected?

[MixedupJim]

The target diamonds only seem to show up when using guided missiles.

Bombs, torpedos etc the diamonds don't show up.

The best workaround I've found is to point the gimbal camera at the target and set it to "tracking" then at least you can switch to it to get an idea where the target is.

[TinManNFO]

Originally posted by MixedupJim:

The target diamonds only seem to show up when using guided missiles.

Bombs, torpedos etc the diamonds don't show up.

The best workaround I've found is to point the gimbal camera at the target and set it to "tracking" then at least you can switch to it to get an idea where the target is.

Thanks for confirming. I was going to do the report issue/request feature thing in the game menu, but, fortunately, it looks like someone reported this already as issue #839, and it looks like the devs say it will be "fixed in an upcoming version."

[Bambi]

You must tag enemies with a gimbal camera first for some reason.

[Suntio]

Sorry, didn't read all the comments through, so sorry if someone already answered.

The thing is, if you arm your weapons (you're flying with for example IR missile on manual), you will see the rectangles on ground, but only if you've tagged the enemies, and ONLY if you have eyes on the sky (the albatross for example flying around the island). Your helicopter can't really see anything, and it can't tag anything!

This is the important stuff. You can tag the enemy with albatross for example, but if you don't have it watching them (flying around the island), those rectangles will disappear, and they will only appear when you're very close to the enemy! Usually they appear when you're in their shooting range! So eyes on the sky is a must especially during the day!

If you take a look at the screen in the carrier bridge, you will see that some enemies may be round (those are the ones you can see), and some enemies are small "triangles" (those who you can't see!). Those smaller red triangles on bridge screen means that you've tagged them already and that they're alive, but you, or for example your helicopter in air are not seeing them.

That's why, keep the eyes on the sky (the albatross with kimbal), flying around the island when you're still clearing the area because then all those rectangles will be visible. As long as it is there, you will see everything.

I usually have wide circle around the isle but that's just me being lazy. You can also make it fly smaller circle, but then put the height about 1400 meters so enemies won't shoot at it!

[TinManNFO]

Copy all; things are fine with IR missiles but haven't been working with gravity bombs, which makes it much harder to see the ground targets when you're trying to make the drop.