DD_Friar

ok, so yes thinking about it I just set the spawner with the attribute of "paused" to true at the advanced base and dropping troops off in the local dropZone bangs the "activate" flag. Yep, that would work for me. I would still need to remove them? as the dropZone can not overlap the spawn zone (as I found out earlier!) EDIT: sorry did not see the post above before I posted.

@cfrag Something I have been meaning to ask whilst thinking about heloTroops, its too late for my current campaign but would be useful going forward if you found time for some development in the future. The excellent module allows me to move troops to a new location and once deployed they will set off and find the nearest enemy base and attack it and either stay there or move on to the next one. What I would like to be able to do is to pick up troops from a base and move them forward, ready for another hop perhaps in the next mission. I was half way through typing out my scenario request when I realised that what I was describing would not work for the second hop, so my idea is as follows, I take troops from a base, suppose they have orders to captureAndHold (does not matter really). I transport them to a forward location and drop them off in a "dropZone". After a few seconds they are removed, but that action then turns on the spawner for the next time, so that spawner is not active until troops have been brought to it? What do you think? Salute Friar

@CidTheViking HeloTroops enbale you to spec a group of troops (for example I have a section which is 6 times M4 soldier or a platoon which is x24) but the make up of what is legal to be transported is down to you. I have in fact also made a humvee a "legal" troop for "loading" into the Ch47. (although to be fair there is nothing stopping you putting on a Huey as well but I use the common sense approach with my squad) Once it is deployed it can then be driven by a player with CA. Using groundTroops and commander as well you can assign the transported troops orders. For example you can give them a "captureAndHold" order. With this the deployed troops will head towards the nearest enemy ownedZone. They will attack it and once secured will stay there. The beauty of heloTroops is that, unlike the default DCS option for troop movement, you can go back in and pick them up from wherever they are, no specific waypoints needed. There is also a cargo management module where you can off load a "crate" which can trigger a flag, once fired that flag can spawn a fuel tanker for example or an ammo truck for re-arm and re-fuel.

Now we have the excellent updated Afgan map, when as a keen mission builder, am I going to be able to add troops that look like they belong in the environment please? null

@mech79 They can only take 1 load at a time, so if you limit the numbers available then I believe that is the only way. For example in one of my missions I have a spawned group called "platoon" (troops x 24) and a spawned group called "section" (troops x 6). Players can use either the CH-47 or the Huey. I also have a single JTAC unit which people tend to use the Gazelle for but they could use either of the other helicopters if they wanted. If you only place the "section" group within range of the Huey only then they could not take the platoon. That is about all you can do I am afraid. In my example if the Huey was to land near the Platoon loading point, there is nothing stopping him loading up 24 soldiers. My squad know this and act responsibly when it comes to what they put into their helicopters. Could your guys not do the same or is it for a public server?

@ChuckIV Check out page 338 and beyond of the full DML user guide... null

@rmakowsky "A picture speaks a thousand words" I have just knocked up this little demo for you, hope it gives you some ideas. Here is a video of the mission so you can see what it does first. Ambush Demo.miz

@rmakowsky Hi, glad you are finding DML so useful. I have done something similar before, here is what you do; Create a clone zone template that contains the soldiers you want to appear when the convoy is attacked. It can be placed anywhere on the map. they do not appear when the mission is run. Create a clone zone that references the template as its source and link the clone zone to the convoy vehicle. This will make it move with the convoy. Create a unit Zone flag that fires a trigger when the convoy enters. Use this flag/trigger to bang the "clone?" If you know the direction of the attack on the convoy you can also set the heading for the troops so that when they appear they are facing the attack. If they are in range they will then fire back. Hope this helps, if you need anything else please do not hesitate to post back. Friar.

Wow ! thanks for the quick update!

@cfrag I updated my campaign mission today to 2.43 and have just tried running it on our server and received the following error! null

@Recluse ref your AI helo issue. What about having it land outside the zone and once landed deploy troops (using the DCS standard method) that then make their way into the zone to fight what ever is left to capture it?

@cfrag Many thanks for the continual updates. I am just about to launch my campaign for the 4th time (and hopefully the last as I now believe I have, with your help of course, sorted out all my issues with persistence) this evening so the fixes in this release are well timed. Salute Friar

@cfrag OK, although I was in a tank on my own, it was taken from a group of 4 and was not the first tank in that group. Explanation understood and accepted. I will make all of my player drivable tank units single group members.

@cfrag Module "Observation" Module: ownedZones Comment: I have just discovered that a player driven ground unit e.g. a tank does not capture an owned zone, however a group of AI soldiers walking in the same zone will. I have the capture parameter set to 1 as well.

@cfrag Since I have multiple clones all running off of goMissionStart, do I only need to have it specified once as a flag to save? or does it need to be on each cloner? What about if I have a clone with onStart set to true (without goMissionStart), is that ok? I do not need the triggerMethod check or flag save? If those units are killed then they will not be recloned at the next start?

@cfrag That makes complete sense to me now and I understand your explanation. I put the goMissionStart in so that we could let the mission load and get people ready before the action started. I will implement your suggestion of saving the flag and set cloneTriggerMethod =1 Many thanks for taking the time to review this.

@cfrag Persistence Bug? Module: cloneZone Sir, forgive me if I am incorrect but I understood that the cloner was compatible with persistence? In my mission I am finding this is not the case. Units that were generated via clone and killed are coming back when the mission is re-loaded for the next session. When I reload the mission scores are correct from the previous mission (as a quick test I am using a player driven tank to kill some trucks so can confirm the CA scoring works as required) so I assume the data is being saved and reloaded ok? nullPlease may I ask if you had a couple of minutes spare to check my mission out. There are no mods and I have made it easy to test, I think you do have Combined Arms? (see below) I changed my ground units logic over from the convoy module to clones so this is common to all my units. many thanks in advance Syria Campaign V7.miz

@Recluse I am using an invisible farp with an ownedZone overlayed in my campaign.

@mech79 - also they can remain drivable when you deploy them thanks to @cfrags efforts. I use the soldier with the stinger as a JTAC. We take him from a base (usually with a Gazelle) and drop him off near where he needs to be. A player with Combined Arms can then "drive" him into a better position where they can then do the lazing or leave the unit and AI will take over and start putting up targets. I also have made the Humvee with TOE a legal "troop" and put it in the Chinook. That too can be deployed and then driven into position.

@Recluse if you use the cloner rather than spawner you will not be able to give your troops any orders so that they can attack other red zones.

@cfrag and @Recluse I have just sent recluse a mission that now works with the helotroops module as I too have the Blackhawk mod.

@mech79 If you use the "rndFlag" module you can specify a number of clone locations but only have a couple activated e.g. 2 from 4 possible locations With the clone you can also use a template for your troops If you need more help on this let me know and I will knock up a simple mission that demonstrates this. Be aware that troop movement through built up areas can be a problem however.

Ok, thanks. I used it for the auto intelligence reports, I will go through and remove them from the campaign. Before I do this (and re-start the campaign), if I just removed the convoy zones and module script and changed the units to late activation using the standard DCS triggers, do you think that this would screw with the already saved file? regards Friar

@cfrag After posting that my mission test was a success I have a question which may change that. ref the "Convoy" module. Does it comply to persistence? its just that when I started my second session, convoys that were killed in the first mission started up again? I have also looked through the code and could find not any mention of persistence?

I had not realised that! Every day a school day! Thanks for the heads up.