I noticed that different TV missiles lock differently, is there actually any stats sheet or explanations how do TV missiles lock in war thunder? (except the Square and locked Square)
I believe they try to attempt a contrast lock, so they can lock from further away on desert or snow maps. If they can’t get a contrast lock, they get an area track in the ground
It seems apart from base seeker stats (either a base “6” or “12” km lock range), only other thing affecting lock range is target size. Actual contrast doesn’t seem to be modelled, at least I haven’t noticed a difference. When flares were still a thing in night battles, a brightly lit position could still not be locked, despite being able to see quite clearly (through the seeker itself). I suppose additionally time of day (night), clouds and other obscurants reduce lock range by straight up preventing a lock.
I tried coming up with a formula for TV tracking ranges, based on one old changelog note (for AGM-65A and 65B) and corresponding real life source. I never verified it, but the tracking range may be equal to target height/ tan(1 mil), where 1 mil = ~0.056° = ~ 0.00098 radians for AGM-65A based TV sights (like most if not all TV bombs) and 0.5 mil for AGM-65B based TV sights (most if not all A2G TV missiles), meaning the latter have twice the tracking range.
Some precalculated values, though never verified:
Spoiler
It may actually not be 1 mil exactly, for 65A, I will need to look up the manual again what the exact value was for that. Target size may or may not be only based on target height, but rather on some average size value or other size dimension (like width or length).
I noticed, at least in test flight, that TV lock ranges have slightly reduced since the last major update. So maybe some size calculations have been redone or something or just some test flight inconsistencies, as I haven’t tried them since the update in random battles.
EDIT: for ground targets, it may depend on the target’s “DetectionHeight”, for instance for the M1A2 Abrams this is 2.375, which gives tracking range of ~4.8km for an AGM-65B based sight, at least since the update this is about the range I also got in test flight.
does ESS works against TV AGM?
Has loads of data mined stats for every weapon type.