Takeoff area

[steelrfan85]

I am trying to have a few 18’s in the six pack take off from ramp and they all go to cat 1. Every plane I choose wants to go to cat 1. I wanted a E2, 3 hornets and 2 tomcats but they all go to cat 1. I wanted the E2 to leave el 2 then go to cat 2 and then the 3 hornets in the six pack go to cat 3 and tomcats from el 4 to cat 4. Is that even a possibility? I initially had cat one lined up with hornets parked but everything wanted to take off from cat 1 so I’m stumped. Can somebody help me.

[fagulha]

Maybe this help.

 

Best regards.

[steelrfan85]

I can’t control where I place them though. That’s the problem. They just go wherever.

[fagulha]

I use statics to crowd the deck and spawn AI in different locations. It´s trial/error.

[Yoda967]

Fonzie's guide is really helpful for mapping out your launch sequence.

 

The order in which you add aircraft to the mission matters. Building a single-player mission from scratch, add each aircraft, section (pair of aircraft), or division (group of four) in parking spot order. Select "UNCONTROLLED" for each aircraft or group.

 

The SC manual recommends placing the E2 and the S3 on spots 5, 6, 7, or 8, which are EL2 and EL3. So, when building your mission, you add the four aircraft in the six pack FIRST, then place your E2.

 

This is where you'll run into your first placement conflict. You want your E2 to launch first, so it can't be parked on EL2 (spot 5), where it's blocked in behind the jets in the six pack. You have to force it to spot 7, where it can get out before anything else moves.

 

There are two ways to make that happen: You can use statics like Fonzie suggests, putting them in both parking spots on EL2 (I haven't tried that myself), or you can add ONE "UNCONTROLLED" F-14 or TWO "UNCONTROLLED" Hornets/Hawkeyes/Vikings in spots 5 and 6 BEFORE adding your E-2. That will place the E-2 on EL3/spot 7. Then, when you start the E-2, it will go to CAT 3.

 

The SC won't let you put two F-14s on an elevator, so you won't be able to put your two F-14s on EL4, I'm afraid. You can put them aft of the island, though, in spots 9, 14, and 16.

 

One other important thing: The aircraft you select as your player aircraft will get bumped down the parking spot order. For example, you have Hornets in spots 1 - 4 (the six pack), Vikings in spots 5 and 6, the E-2 in spot 7, and you set the Hornet in spot 3 as the player aircraft. The module will bump it to spot 7 and move everything from the Hornet in spot 4 up on spot in the placement order, or it'll bump the player jet down to spot 6 and put your wingman in spot 7.

 

The work around for this is to make every aircraft that's parked in a higher-numbered spot than your player aircraft is set to "LATE ACTIVATION". Use triggers to spawn each of them at 1 second after mission start. (I set up the triggers in the same order that I added the aircraft, but I'm not sure if that's required.)

 

Finally, manage the launch sequence by using triggers to start each aircraft or section in launch order. It'll take some trial and error to work out the order of these triggers. The main thing you want to avoid is having two airplanes moving to the same catapult at the same time.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Yoda967

[Laud]

Wow.. I really hope they're going to add something more straightforward to organize the deck ops. Would be great if we could place them on numbered spots just like on an airfield and then maybe add a # in TO-sequence to them.

 

I really hate to spend hours in the editor with trial and error for something that basic.

[Yoda967]

Concur. I'd love to see something like that. As it stands now, you can't change which aircraft goes to which parking spot without either making it UNCONTROLLED or by starting over with a new mission. It's a HUGE pain.

 

Rumor has it that this is still EA, though. I imagine this'll get fixed.

[rayrayblues]

For what it's worth, I have used FunkyFranky's RAT (Random Air Traffic) script and it works pretty well. Moose handles the parking

and launch issues. All four cats are used automatically.

https://forums.eagle.ru/forum/englis...om-air-traffic

 

This also includes a search and rescue (SAR) helo script.

https://forums.eagle.ru/forum/englis...+helo+funkyfra

 

In this video, I launch 4 Hornets, 4 Tomcats, 1 E2-D and a SAR helo in 10 minutes.

The planes will fly around randomly and then return later, land on the carrier, respawn and take off again.

Now this is only for "window dressing" to populate the ship. They cannot be used to attack anything.

 

 

GL&HF

Ray