Kyridious

I only tend to work with WWII assets. Haven't tried helos, but I've seen it on both the p51 & fw190.

*nod* Have you seen a list of "known limitations" floating around?

2.0 - Normandy

Good Morning, I believe I have encountered another problem with AI routing. I can't make aircraft perform lead turns between waypoints when dynamically assigning a route. Lead turns between waypoints is the default behavior for "Turning Point" waypoints added within the mission editor. To review, there are two types of (navigation) waypoint actions: Turning Point - AC performs lead turn toward the next waypoint. (Note: AC is not guaranteed to fly over the waypoint) Fly Over Point - AC flies directly over waypoint before initiating the turn to the next waypoint. To test this, create a simple static mission in the ME: - Add single AC - Create 4 waypoints (ideally with 2x 90 degree turns) - Confirm waypoints are of type "Turning Point" - Run the mission and observe that the AC makes lead turns (instead of flying directly over the waypoints) (I added smoke at each Waypoint for clarity) Next, modify the mission above: - Tick late activation Using LUA (Moose): - Spawn AC - Get original route - Re-task route to the AC ie: spawnGroup = SPAWN:New( "RedPlane1" ):InitLimit( 50,50 ) myGroup = spawnGroup:Spawn() -- Delay execution to allow controller to be created by sim myRoute = myGroup:GetTaskRoute() myGroup = myGroup:Route(myRoute) The spawned plane is assigned an identical route to that of the template. However, the AC no longer makes lead turns. Instead, it treats all the wayspoints as Fly Over Points. Am I missing something? I fear DCS does some offline computations to schedule lead turns, something that is not done at run time...

Hi Guys, I'm seeing inconsistent initial behavior when spawning aircraft. To construct the simplest case: 1] Add an FW190 AI aircraft group and tick the late activation box 2] Add a second waypoint, set the speed at both waypoints to 500 kph. 3] Execute the follow lua at mission start to spawn the aircraft (I'm using MOOSE) local spawnGroup = SPAWN:New( "BluePlane" ):InitLimit( 50,50 ) local g = spawnGroup:Spawn() In some executions, the speed of the AC immediately begins to drop. In others, it stays pinned at 500kph (~450IAS). I've set up a loop to repeatedly spawn AC and print velocity after a short duration. Even within the same mission, half the spawns are nominal, half show the drop. What gives? Note: If the execution starts with a slow down, i find it impossible to recover. The AC will continue to slow down even if a new mission task is set (via RouteToVec3(), etc).

+1 I'd be satisfied with a static asset - something to use as a target / objective.

Appreciate the reply! I'll compromise with LST targets for now. Thanks!

Good Morning, I'm trying to task an FW190 loaded with an SC500 bomb to attack a naval unit. If the target is an armed speedboat, several types of tasks achieve the desired effect: attack unit, attack group, engage in zone, even a default CAS task does the trick. However, if I change the target to any other naval asset (i.e. USS Samuel Chase - attack transport) the tasks are ignored. What's so special about an armed speedboat? I would like to avoid specifying impact coordinates (standard bombing task) because the target will be moving. I have the option to fake all of this, but I'd prefer to have it happen organically. Cheers

I hoped to test this before replying, but life's been busy and I won't get to it before the weekend. Something to try... Instead of removing wrecks, it may be possible to destroy() the unit/group before the wreck is generated in the first place. Try using event listeners to detect crash & onHit events. Depending on circumstances, destroy() the unit immediately before the sim even gets a chance to blow it up. Manually trigger an explosion at the crash point for visuals. There are many reasons why this might fail, but I'm mildly optimistic.

Here's the workaround I'm using: My current project has ship objectives that I want to sink with a single SC-500 bomb. Normally, it takes 3-4 bombs to sink an attack transport. I attach event handlers to the ships that I want to be killable with a single bomb strike. When the unit generates a "hit" event, I check both unit's health and weapon type. If the values are consistent with a direct bomb hit, I trigger a powerful explosion directly on top of the unit's position. this kills the unit

I do not, but I'd be happy to help develop a script if nobody chimes in.

At risk of speaking out of turn, slot blocking involves functions that must be executed on the server. MOOSE sits in the mission scripting layer and doesn't have access to those functions. You'd use MOOSE to handle the logic for flipping flags which are exposed to the server script. The scripts I use are derived from Ciribob's work. Have you gotten his stuff to work in a pristine missions?

Thanks - Easy solutions are the best!

I just started a thread specifically for naval vessels. I've tried an approach similar to this that works for AC/Land units, but not for naval. Have you had any luck tasking ships?

Hi Folks, Does anyone have a code example for setting the route / waypoints for naval units using LUA? I need to spawn a ship and make it travel to a dynamic destination. Normal methods for AIR/LAND units don't seem to be working for me. I generally use MOOSE, but am willing to entertain alternatives. Cheers!

I've postponed escort mission development for the reasons above. However, I do have a technique for formation carpet bombing. Its heavy on lua but extremely reliable. Using MOOSE, I programmatically spawn the bomber box in formation using a single bomber template. This forces each bomber on the exact same heading. Each bomber is its own group and has its own set of orders. In the ME, I only need to set the target zone and specify a range to target. All aim points and spawn points are computed relative to target zone. I don't mess with the formation/follow functions. Paired with the No Reaction to Threat Option, bombs are dropped 100% of the time even in the presence of engaged enemy fighters. An impressive scene! But this is a compromise solution... The box can't maneuver, turn, or fight back. I just wish the AI Fighters would more intelligently attack the box (Right now, they match speeds and slowly creep up on the box's 6). I can't think of a compelling co-op escort mission without more realistic AI interceptors using high speed attacks. I'm happy to provide source, but its a mess at the moment. Note, I haven't tested the other solutions here - they may be superior.

I'm working on a "mobile flak" script that could be attached to a bomber unit. The idea is to spawn small randomized explosions in the vicinity of attacking enemy aircraft. You won't see tracer fire, but the end result might be plausible enough to use in a Co-Op AI mission. So, we could have bombers which fly in formation, don't evade enemy, fight back (sort of), and drop ordinance.

We don't even need a maneuvering bomber box to make a compelling mission. I'd be satisfied with a formation that flies in a straight line, fires MGs defensively at enemy fighters (without maneuvering), and drops ordinance on command. I don't think we have the tools to do this yet. (Please correct me if I'm wrong!) Did any of the trailers show B17s fighting back with MGs?

I had some success last night, but not enough to post a mission yet. I'm a little concerned about how the box will stand up to an attack. It looks like the formation is defined relative to a lead plane. What happens when that lead plane is damaged/destroyed? Does the formation dissolve or does it keep on trucking? The limited success I've had requires you to put a single bomber in each group. Each bomber group gets a unique wwII formation task. The "GROUP" field in the wwII formation command is set to the group of the lead plane. The other bomber positions in the combat box are determined by the Wing, Group, Box fields. To make the smallest box of 4 bombers, set Wing & Group to "leader." Then set the Box field for each bomber to leader, left, right, back. The bombers will snap to the correct coordinates in the mission editor. I admit, I've only had an hour to play in the editor so the categories might not be accurate, but this should help you on your way. I'll update with a more concise description in the future.

Not an expert, but I recommend using something like Tacview to analyze your flights. It should tell you if you're consistently over / under estimating lead. Fly an entire session using a consistent approach and review.

Hi Folks, I'm building a WWII mission and would like to add a target (vehicle or building) that is susceptible to HVAR but not guns (MG). Has anyone compiled a list of target types and what type of ordinance is required to damage / destroy? Cheers, Andrew

Amazing! I'll check it out as soon as I can - Thanks for your time & effort!

Not there yet, but the following code allows a normal (late activation = false) group to follow a spawned leader: local Plane1 = SPAWN:New( "Plane1" ) local Plane1_spawn = Plane1:Spawn() local Plane1_group = Group.getByName(Plane1_spawn:GetName()) local FollowDCSTask = { id = 'Follow', params = { groupId = Plane1_group:getID(), pos = POINT_VEC3:New( -100, 0, 100 ):GetVec3(), lastWptIndexFlag = false, } } Group.getByName('Plane2'):getController():setTask(FollowDCSTask)

Awesome, looking forward to it!

Good Morning, I am trying to task one air unit to follow another using the default DCS "Follow" task behavior. This is trivial to accomplish in the mission editor without scripting. Simply select the A/C, add a "Follow" Task, select the target group from the drop down menu and provide the desired offset vector. My problem is applying this to spawned units, or any unit with Late Activation. Below is loosely what I want to do: Mission Editor: Plane1 and Plane2 groups exist in mission and are set to late activation Lua executed in response to an event: --Create Spawn Groups spawnPlane1 = SPAWN:NEW("Plane1") spawnPlane2 = SPAWN:NEW("Plane2") --Spawn Groups into world groupPlane1 = spawnPlane1:Spawn() groupPlane2 = spawnPlane2:Spawn() --Create Task for plane2 (follow groupPlane1 at Vec3 offset) (Note: I think I need to be using controllers here) --i.e. cntrlPlane1 = groupPlane1.getController(groupPlane1) followTask = groupPlane2:TaskFollow( groupPlane1, Vec3 ) --Activate Task (Either PushTask/SetTask?) groupPlane2:pushTask(followTask) The furthest I've gotten is that old orders defined in the ME (I.e. an orbit task) get cleared. However, I see no indication that the new follow task is being applied. Any Thoughts?