Practice formation simple mission

[flyinfriend]

HI,

 

I setup a mission with L-39. It just has my plane and one other L-39. I created 3 waypoints while the AI plane was selected in the ME. When we both take off from the runway together he shoots ahead at a speed my plane can't keep up with and then proceeds to fly in tight circles and never follows waypoints.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

Tom

[Yurgon]

What am I doing wrong?

 

For starters, giving the vaguest possible description. :music_whistling:

 

How about you share your training mission and we take it from there?

 

On a more general note, AI aircraft use a simplified flight model, so it wouldn't be uncommon for them to fly maneuvers that player aircraft can't follow. But there are lots of things one could do wrong, like setting speeds too high or too low, or forcing unrealistic climb/descent rates, thus making the AI perform ridiculous maneuvers. Without knowing exactly what you ordered them to do, it's next to impossible to give more specific advice, other than saying that the AI does have its flaws and mission creators need to figure out ways to work around them.

[Shahdoh]

Also be aware, the speed setting in the ME is the A/C true speed, not indicated, so you may be setting it to fast. If you want formation practice, I would suggest using one of the tankers. They usually turn a lot less aggressively then any other a/c and will be easier to follow through turns. There are the aerobatic turns which give you more control, but they are an even bigger hassle to set up well.

[flyinfriend]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was able to get it to work by creating each aircraft mine and the ai as different groups. I set his speed to 300kph at each waypoint. I assigned three waypoints to his group and none to mine. I started in the air and let him take off from runway. For some reason setting both of us to start from the runway my plane would disappear when the mission started and I could only see the f10 map, I wasn't placed in my plane, and my plane wasn't even on the map.

 

The simple flight model explains his extreme acceleration and deceleration. One other thing I noticed is that I set a constant altitude for him and when he flew over terrain he was climbing (like a bat out of hell) and diving all over the place. I guess the ai was trying to keep a constant altitude above ground so I would have to take into account the ground altitude at each waypoint to smooth out his climbs and descents.

 

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

 

Tom

[Shahdoh]

As far as the AI going up and down in alt, depends on how the waypoint alt is set, If its sea level, they should be relatively steady, UNLESS it is an alt that puts them to close to ground level which is around 500-750 ft AGL. Then they will pop up and down pretty aggressively trying to avoid the ground and then trying to get back to the designated altitude.

[Yurgon]

For some reason setting both of us to start from the runway my plane would disappear when the mission started and I could only see the f10 map, I wasn't placed in my plane, and my plane wasn't even on the map.

 

I think it's currently not possible to place several aircraft on the runway at the same time, or at least not without using some tricks. You could set both to "Start from Ramp Hot", select the appropriate spots for both and then taxi right behind him. Of course the air start is a valid way to do it as well. ;)

[flyinfriend]

Thanks again guys, appreciate the help.

 

Tom