jimiC

datalink is transmitted and recvd on the same vhf/UHF frequencies the KA50's radios use. VHFs require by their very nature, line of sight. You techinically shouldnt be able to communicate via radio with a wingman that is on the other side of a range of hills to you. Theyre also only effective out to about 250nm give or take between aircraft when line of sight is unhindered. Although i havent tried it and it may not be modelled, one option (and this may not even be the case in the russian military in RL yet anyway), is that an AWACS or JSTARS type aircraft, operating at altitudes over the battlefield, or just behind the lines would in theory provide retransmit for frequencies being used amongst units down low or even on the ground.

good stuff. ill post the server details for you on the aef forum.

i played armed assault quite regularly with some of the guys yep. this is probably better suited to the aef forum but seeing as you've made the statement, ill profer the response... not sure what you are correcting me on? i said quasi member for a reason. im fully aware i havent jumped through the various hoops set up for membership of the group. TCM contact has been limited to the initial email about VI (which i did do). No follow up has been recvd since august (which is fine, just letting you know) i did join AEF based on involvement with an MMO. that group effectively died off completely within about 2 weeks however due to the game failing. I even posted about it asking what was going on and got no response :) .. As a result there is/was/has been no real reason to actually be on aef vent since about september. Still happy to play with u guys in DCS but im not playing Armed assault at all anymore either and IL2 for some odd reason i cant get to work..ive probably slipped through the cracks mainly because potbs failed so horribly and the aef group on there fell apart.

im a quasi member of AEF (via a failed MMO that no one plays anymore) I've posted on the site about DCS but didnt receive much interest in MP. ANZAC ( a WWIIOL squad) has a number of aussies playing BS. We're using a server name standard as 'ANZAC' No. 1AVN regt. Any time u see that its gonna be me or another ANZAC hosting. All are welcome. Pm on the forums for passwords etc. We have a TS server we're using too. Also got 2-3 people from the aussie steel beasts community around too (SCLH) . All told i'd say theres at least 10 aussies that i know of playing BS and willing to play MP.

the key phrase there being tightly scripted none of it is based on the ground ai's own ability to conduct tactical movement and engagement. The current ME can create *some* of this type of stuff but the problem is that it is an inordinate amount of work for the mission creator to script it. making it easier for the creator maens the missions become far more in depth and complete than they can be currently

had a quick play mate, looks good can u elaborate on how u've made the ground units behaviour realistic. You say they will move to BPs hull down and pull back once under fire, what rules and triggers did you use to do this type of thing. edit: ah ok i just had a look at some of the blue units in the editor. So correct me if wrong or i missed any steps but to simulate a unit holding at various positions youve put in wps with speed 1kmh and made the wp a distance that equates the required EET in position. The eet in position is synchronised (manually by comparing red v blue units eets at various points) so that its movements mimic what a ground unit would do (BPs engage then relocate etc.) to produce a sort of tightly scripted ground choreography of movements. so the behaviour isnt ai related in any manner rather just written by you using timings and speeds and distances on wps. Gotta say thats some neat thinking with the slow Waypoint legs to hold units, good thinking out of the box there.

an orbat/COC structure that you setup at the start of the mission building process would solve this problem ( assign names as standard WP or NATO callsign structures on nets etc)

hmm 150km might be a bit of an exaggeration. they're set to move at 45kmh. Considering they are onroad this is a fairly acceptable movement speed for a unit advancing 'to contact' If i had the ability to set 'under fire' triggers and multiple waypoint strings i would add in behaviour to simulate doctrinal reactions to contacts but alass at the moment thats not possible. i also chose 45kmh because its at about that speed that ive found targetting becomes more of a challenge than just lock shoot and kill. their speed means you do have to consider your relative angle and your range when deciding on your battleposition and the resultant chances of ATGM and Cannon hits on target.

oh i hope they ahve thought of them. it was more just putting it out there in case theres one or a few they just didnt think of and they say 'oh tahts a good idea; lets include that.'

hey mate all u have to do is, a) either host ur own server and play it alone b) open my mission in the editor and change one of the ka50s to 'player' rather than 'client' and it *should* work fine in SP

I guess to bring this back on topic... my consolidated list of inclusions into the editor, things that imo are simply required to make it really robust and help users generate quality missions are: -multiple and branching waypoint strings from one unit or group -ability to make waypoint activation rules and corresponding actions ( stop, scan, formation, wait, engage etc) -triggers to include red/blue and [x] units of red/blue rules (such that its not required to go through list all the possible permutations and computations of units in zones for eg) - random variables (say x y z) where their value is set on mission start to a number between 0 and 100 (this creates an easy to use % chance probability ruleset that can be applied to all units or events at the same time.) - % group casualtie rules - group /unit under fire rule - mission end rules and actions - use defined zone shapes. (easy as making them either elipitcal or square with user defined LxW values ) bonus inclusions : - Inbuilt Tactical graphics tools for creating briefings and overlays - inbuilt orbat and chain of command tools for easy and organised naming and labelling of units

Notes: MP coop up to 8 but probably a bit easy with that many. best with 4 imo. All flightplans are stored in the abris and are required to be loaded from memory. (3 of them. 1 for phase 1, and 2 for phase 2, choose the one relevent to the outcome of the screen and recon task) Ideally should be played with tags off as acquiring the enemy's axis of advance is part of the mission. The route they choose (north road or sth road) is 50/50 random. Excerpts from A coy CMDR orders 487th Ind. Helo Regt, to 1 and 2 platoons, A COY. (you) Situation: Friendly: Russian forces have been occupying key installations within Georgia for over a month. Our main ground forces are located on the turkish border in expectation of NATO invasion from that area. Light rear area sec. forces occupy the remaining areas. 1 and 2 PLN, A COY 487th Ind. Helo Regt (you) Is based at Laituri Airfield and has been conducting operations in support of ground forces on rear area security for the last 3 weeks. Enemy: NATOs main force was beleived to be arranged along the turkish border to the south, comprising upwards of 7 divisional strength units organised into Brigade combat teams. That was until this morning when a Carrier task group previously unaccounted for arrived to the west of Georgia and deployed a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU, beleived to be the 2nd MEU) by airmobile and amphibous lodgement on the docks and suburbs of Poti. The enemy has established his beachead around poti complete with Air Defence, Arty and roughly a Bde Combat team strength ground force. They are likely to be supported by Marine ATTKHelo (AH1s) providing CAS and screening tasks forward of any ground forces. It is assessed that the enemy will attempt to drive inland from his beach-head with the 2nd MEU along one of 2 Movement corridors (marked) in an advance to contact with any opposing friendly defences. They will likely follow a standard doctrinal advance to contact based on a 1/3 strength advance guard with screening forces and a main 2/3 main body following to engage targets the advance guard cant deal with. Mission: 1 and 2 PLN A COY 487th Regt are to Delay the 2nd MEU within AO bear until Not before time 11:00 in order to allow ground CMDR freedom of movement into Main Defence positions (MDPs ) and to provide advance warning of approximately 2 hours notice of MDP engagement.. Execution: 1+2 PLN will acheive mission through 2 phases. Phase 1: Armed Recon vicinity Phase Line Vodka in order to destroy enemy screen elements of Pln strength and ascertain the enemies main effort along Movement corridor 1 or 2. Plns will identify the marine advance guard (coy +). Scheme of manouevre phase1: Plns will depart Senaki and move to observation positions arrayed along the phase line with particular focus on the roads west of waypoints 2 and 3. On observing enemy screen and confirmation of advance guard units , Plns will engage the screening force and then withdraw. Phase 1 endstate will be reached when the enemy screen(s) are destroyed and the enemy advance gaurd is identified. Phase 2 : Destruction of enemy advance guard within either engagement area Cossack or Patriot based on enemy main effort, affecting the delay of the marine main body and their advance on our proposed MDPs Scheme of manouevre phase2: Plns will move securely to the nominated engagement area Cossack (COSAK) or Patriot (PTROT) and position to conduct attack by fires on the enemy advance guard. Phase 2 endstate will be reached when the enemy advance guard has been destroyed in EA Cossack or Patriot and Pln has succesfuly disengaged. The ground force MDPs will remain unengaged and continue digging in to prepare for a decisive engagement on the marine main body following the advance guard. Admin and Log: Standard weapons loadouts are in place. It is recommended to request ground crew reduce fuel to 50% for manouevrability Command and Sig; Flight plans: FPLS are stored in the ABRIS for each phase of the mission . SCRN for phase 1 and EA-S and EA-N for the 2 possible engagement areas in phase 2. Engagement areas, screen phase line and AO bounds are marked tactical graphics on the ABRIS. SELF IDS DLINK: 11 and 21 : set SELF ID COM 1 12 and 22: set SELF ID WINGMN 2 13 and 23: SELF ID WNGMN 3 14 and 24 SELF ID WNGMN 4 Freqs: All DLINk and VHF coomms to continue on unicom 127.5 and 127.6 for 2 plns Datalink. A D(el)ay at the beach.miz

siinji afaik the autopilot is only based on the INU. however your HSI will align with the ABRIS points

well my assumption is that the ai is scripted enough already to be able to make each other aware of what the other ai units can see to a degree that would be limited by a) LOS for VHF on the ground b) distance c) skill of the unit. d) radio datalink and sensor equipment available to said unit.

AFAIK it will work on its own accord. You just set it up in the air and its ai will utilise its sensors to ID targets and communicate that info to any other freindly units. You may need to setup a target (i havent tried awacs yet so just speculating) from the beghin and end loop waypoints to allow it to search for enemy though.

thats good news. the template feature has a lot of potential i agree although it needs to be able to template routes and static objects too (think thats the plan already mentioned anyway isnt it?)

its doable, ive made my missions randomised also, but it requires things like group activations which can cause CPU chunder etc and once the group is activated it has only one route to follow. Theres an easier way it just needs to be implemented. Best example i can think of for triggers and mission end conditions is steel beasts pro pe.

u can still rtb ur shot up chopper with mission end triggers :) mission end if { target x destroyed, player is in zone y.}; (hypothetical mission end statement)

its lacking some pretty important elements unless theyre hidden and i cant find them (entirely possible) - waypoint triggers. ie: one group can go multiple ways based on an event/rule/flag/random variable, group % casualties etc. - mission end triggers (mission ends and goes to bebrief if x happens) - more tactical commands on the waypoint interface. (recon, hold, patrol, assault, reverse) - ability to put clients into groups thats just off the top of my head

is this is mp or sp? might be handy to say so in the thread title.

Ok so i know it hasnt been out long but im starting to see the mission editor as inherently weak. Certainly weaker than similar 'sim' software products such as steel beasts pro pe and armed assault. The triggers available, the actions and rules are all limited and the ability to 'script' actions of AI is suffering as a result. 2 of the biggest limitations: No way to create MP phased campaigns, and linked to this b) end missions with 'mission end' triggers and hence no defined ends to MP missions and debreifs Mission end triggers (which can also be used for other event triggers ) include things like: total points scored (user defined) overall casualties reached (as a % of force size), time limits. Side based blue/red zone triggers (currently its only unit/group) also - Theres no ability to use triggers to allow a single group to choose one of multiple waypoint strings (only option i can see to replicate this is to make multiple groups of the same composition that pretend to be the same group doing one of many possible things) This is an important one because of the cpu load of spawning groups constantly . Questions: Is the editor going to see more attention to its design in the near future? Is there any ability to script missions like in armed assault. are any of the above doable with scripting? correct of if any of these things are available im just not seeing them

what he said, but to elaborate, if you have changed keyboard commands then you need to save that as one profile (click on the KB column and save profile as) and if you have keymapped commands to JS buttons u need to save that as another profile. (clik on Js column and save as)

i instaleld both . it deactivated my russian one when i activated my english one and then when i went to boot up the russian one asked for my key again. at that point i uninstalled the russian version to save my activations.

Notes: This is to all intents and purposes a beta. i will make a v2 with suggestions (so please post feedback) As the title says, its MP for up to 4 players. I havent played it with 4 people yet but with only 2 it is very hard (imo). Given theres no way to mission end a MP game yet through triggers and victory conditions, ill elaborate on what one can consider success or failure here. Basic Success would be succesful landing and deployment of your mech units on the Airfield by the IL76 (meaning the airfield has to be captured for it to land) and subsequent defence of the airfield from counterattack. Degrees of success would include : survival of the MI8s, survival of you (no dieing!) survival of the IL76 and survival of the RU Mech force defending the airfield. mission briefing: Excerpts from the orders from Cmdr, air mobile assault force 1. Situation: Russian air mobile forces are poised for a bold action against georgian key sites in an effort to topple the government. The 104th guards airborne is the primary unit involved with attachments from the air force and attack helo squadrons. En: Georgian defence forces are comprised of basic mech infantry forces comprising BMP2s and assorted small arms, mobile AA arty (shilka) and asssorted mobile and static SAM units both radar and IR. Mission: Air mobile assault force 1 will conduct a deliberate attack on the airfield at Senaki to be complete NLT 0630 local in order to allow 104th guards airborne to secure key installations throughout georgia and overthrow the government. Execution: Air Mobile assault force 1 willl conduct a deliberate attack in 2 phases. Phase 1: Through the use of direct fires from KA50 and mi24 combat Helos and su25 CAS strikes, followed by an infantry insertion of 2 platoons by mi8 after enemy armour and AA assets have been destroyed. KA50s will occupy battle positions prior to the main force and arrival of the initial fixed wing SEAD strike and engage targets on identification. Mi24s will provide close support and escort for the MI8s approximately 2-5mins in front of them to prepare the landing zones. MI8s will then drop the infantry forces in to secure the airfield. Phase 1 endstate: Airfield in Russian hands and secure for IL76 landing operations and Atk Helo Replens. Phase 2 : reinforcement of the airfield by IL76 providing limited armour capability in order to hold the airfield against any cuonterattack, in addition to continued security and screening by the Ka50s. Mechanised forces will occupy battle positions around the airfield and conduct a static defence. KA50s will conduct forward screening and and attacks by fires on any enemy counterattacks identified. Admin log: No change Command and Sig: No change. A bold plan.miz

actually the russian army is undergoing a restructure that mirrors the modularisation of most developed western armies as we speak. Focussing on combat teams, task forces etc and the combined arms effects acheived in this approach. I know what you're saying wrt to the centralised command so commonly associated with eastern bloc doctrine but i suspect thats less the case now than it used to be. Fact remains that combat attack Helos are there to do things like call in strikes, provide recon and affect fast paced shaping of the battlefield so the pilots would (i expect) have all authority required within the parameters of their mission to do these things.