San Patricio Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 I've been messing around with the new embarking/disembarking features in the ME, but I can't seem to get AI helicopters to embark infantry. I've spawned an AI-controlled Mi-8 and some infantry at an airfield and used the advanced waypoint features to give embark orders to both the infantry and the copter (along with corresponding disembark orders at a later waypoint). The infantry, however, just mill around and the Mi-8 goes through start up and taxis to takeoff, politely waiting for the infantry to move clear of the runway but never stopping to pick them up. I've tried binding the infantry to the specific AI transport and that doesn't work either. I'm relatively new to the ME so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong (maybe the takeoff from ramp order is overriding the embark order) or if this is just still WIP and doesn't function with AI. Thanks!
Flagrum Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 I've been messing around with the new embarking/disembarking features in the ME, but I can't seem to get AI helicopters to embark infantry. I've spawned an AI-controlled Mi-8 and some infantry at an airfield and used the advanced waypoint features to give embark orders to both the infantry and the copter (along with corresponding disembark orders at a later waypoint). The infantry, however, just mill around and the Mi-8 goes through start up and taxis to takeoff, politely waiting for the infantry to move clear of the runway but never stopping to pick them up. I've tried binding the infantry to the specific AI transport and that doesn't work either. I'm relatively new to the ME so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong (maybe the takeoff from ramp order is overriding the embark order) or if this is just still WIP and doesn't function with AI. Thanks! This feature has still some rough edges ... What worked for me: when setting the embarking task for the helo, you must select "distribution" and select the infantry group. I think, the logic behind that is, a player helo decides which group to pick up via the F7 Descent menu. The AI helo now must also choose which group to pick up - otherwise he would be helpless if there were 100 troops waiting for a lift ... :o) But I found also something odd. The helo picks up the grunts and flies them straight to their disembarkment waypoint - although I specified several helo waypoints in between. And after unloading his self-moving cargo, he took off and went all the way back and began flying his original route ...
San Patricio Posted April 30, 2014 Author Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks. Messing with the distribution fixed the problem and I got the troops to embark successfully. I ran into the same apparent bug that you did, however, following the drop off. After landing and disembarking its troops at a FARP, the Mi-8 ignored its flight plan, returned to base, and then proceeded to start its flight plan from scratch only without landing at the FARP this time. Also, the troops I landed refused to follow their next order, which was to advance into the nearby town. Instead, they just chilled at the FARP for the rest of the mission. Probably all WIP stuff, but if anybody knows any hacks to get around this problem that would be great.
Flagrum Posted May 1, 2014 Posted May 1, 2014 Thanks. Messing with the distribution fixed the problem and I got the troops to embark successfully. I ran into the same apparent bug that you did, however, following the drop off. After landing and disembarking its troops at a FARP, the Mi-8 ignored its flight plan, returned to base, and then proceeded to start its flight plan from scratch only without landing at the FARP this time. Also, the troops I landed refused to follow their next order, which was to advance into the nearby town. Instead, they just chilled at the FARP for the rest of the mission. Probably all WIP stuff, but if anybody knows any hacks to get around this problem that would be great. After thinking about this for a while ... I think, that the helo does not follow his flight plan to the landing zone, but instead flies directly to it ... and after dropping off the men it just starts his route ... this is not a bug. When thinking in mission editor terms, this is perfectly fine and working as expected. One just needs to wrap his head around it at first ... For the transport, the "Embarking"-task is like any other task. For example, "Landing" or "Attack Unit". Tasks are executed when reaching the respective waypoint and when they are finished, the aircraft continues to the next waypoint. Our helo now had the Embarking task very early in it's route. It executed it and then just continued it's route. So, this is not a bug. But I think, it is a design flaw ...? The "Embarking" task should only, well, handle the embarking of troops, but NOT the flying to the landing zone and NOT the disembarking. Instead flying to the landing zone should be the responsibility of the mission designer and the way he places the waypoints of the transport. And then we would only need an additional "Disembark" task to drop off the troops.
San Patricio Posted May 1, 2014 Author Posted May 1, 2014 After thinking about this for a while ... I think, that the helo does not follow his flight plan to the landing zone, but instead flies directly to it ... and after dropping off the men it just starts his route ... this is not a bug. When thinking in mission editor terms, this is perfectly fine and working as expected. One just needs to wrap his head around it at first ... For the transport, the "Embarking"-task is like any other task. For example, "Landing" or "Attack Unit". Tasks are executed when reaching the respective waypoint and when they are finished, the aircraft continues to the next waypoint. Our helo now had the Embarking task very early in it's route. It executed it and then just continued it's route. So, this is not a bug. But I think, it is a design flaw ...? The "Embarking" task should only, well, handle the embarking of troops, but NOT the flying to the landing zone and NOT the disembarking. Instead flying to the landing zone should be the responsibility of the mission designer and the way he places the waypoints of the transport. And then we would only need an additional "Disembark" task to drop off the troops. Ah! When you put it like that it makes perfect sense, at least in the context of the ME's logic. Hopefully they will implement the change you suggest above in future iterations. For now, I'll tinker with possible work-arounds but if the logic works as you lay it out above we may be stuck.
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