ab8f5307ff
Probed rather than assumed: hold each pad input and photograph the HUD ammo counters. RB = nose gun (NOSE BM 6000->5956 in 4 s, ~11 rounds/s, HEAT rises), Y = main mount (MAIN MPM 300->299), d-pad = tactical map overlay, and LB/X/B/A/LS/RS move neither counter. No target-cycle input exists. The green TARGET marker is already up with nothing pressed, so the game selects for us and a guided missile's lock is a time-on-target mechanic, not a button. That closes the lethality question: it is not target choice (escort weighting), not ballistics (now from the confirmed Shell records), and not the mapping — the steering loop simply never holds the nose on one contact long enough to lock. Aim dwell is the next lever. Also records two things the reimplementation needs: two weapons with separate ammo pools and HUD counters, and a HEAT bar that fills while the gun fires (cap and cool-down not yet measured).
2.6 KiB
In-flight control mapping — measured, not assumed
Status: ✅ for the weapon bindings (ammo counters move), 🟡 for the rest (HUD
observation only). Probes: tools/re-capture/fire_probe.sh (hold each input, photograph
the ammo counters) and lock_probe.sh (tap each, watch the reticle). Stage 02, in flight.
Evidence: captures/fire-probe-ammo-counters.png.
| input | effect | confidence |
|---|---|---|
RB |
Nose gun. NOSE BM 06000 → 05956 in a 4 s hold ≈ 11 rounds/s; HEAT bar rises |
✅ |
Y |
Main mount (missiles). MAIN MPM 00300 → 00299 per tap |
✅ |
RT / LT |
Throttle up / brake, a persistent setting (488 → 1510 → 174 u/s) | ✅ (earlier session) |
| d-pad | Tactical map overlay (grid with contact blips) — not target cycling | 🟡 |
LB, X, B, A, LS, RS |
No change to either ammo counter | ✅ (as "not a weapon") |
Targeting appears to be automatic, and that is the lethality problem
No input was found that cycles a target. The green TARGET marker is already present in
idle frames with nothing pressed, so the game selects for us — most likely whatever sits
nearest the reticle — and a guided missile's lock is then a time-on-target mechanic
rather than a button.
That fits the measurements end to end:
- the guns fire fine (11 rounds/s) but the kill counters read
0000after five gun-only runs → we shoot and miss; - guided missiles (
Missile_P, Power 200,GuidanceType5) got the first kills,WARPLANES 0002, but only 2 per 98 launches; - the pilot's own log shows aim error wandering between ~10° and ~40° for most of a pass.
So the remaining bottleneck is not the target choice (escort weighting), not the
ballistics (now taken from the confirmed Shell records), and not the input mapping
(measured above). It is that the steering loop never holds the nose on one contact long
enough to complete a lock. The next thing worth doing is making aim dwell — and the
cheapest oracle for whether a lock ever completes is the reticle itself, or finding the
lock timer in the player object with the same anchoring trick used for hull.
Notes for the reimplementation
- Two independent weapons with separate ammo pools and separate HUD counters:
NOSE BM(gun, 6000) andMAIN MPM(missiles, 300). - The gun has a HEAT bar that fills while firing — a sustained-fire limit the reimplementation needs; its cap and cool-down rate are not measured yet.
- The tactical map is a full-screen overlay bound to the d-pad and does not pause flight (the craft kept taking fire with it open).