Recovery tanker feature question

[markturner1960]

Hi, I just tried adding this new feature to my SC template. I set one WP after takeoff at a height of 6000 ft and then set a command to follow the SC. 

When I returned to the carrier, the tanker had landed! What parameters do I need to set to make it stay airborne? How long will will an S3 tanker "follow" the tanker for and if it need to refuel, does it land automatically and take off again? 

 

Thanks

Edited November 21, 2022 by markturner1960

[Minsky]

1 hour ago, markturner1960 said:

Hi, I just tried adding this toi my SC template. I set one WP after takeoff at a height of 6000 ft and then set a command to follow the SC. 

When I returned to the carrier, the tanker had landed! What parameters do I need to set to make it stay airborne? How long will will an S3 tanker "follow" the tanker for and if it need to refuel, does it land automatically and take off again? 

Apparently, the LandReFuAr waypoint doesn't work for aircraft carriers.

You can set up a recovery tanker pretty easy using Moose. Here's a simple demo mission:

Moose_Recovery_Tanker.miz

P.S. S3B has enough gas to stay on station for 4+ hours. Unless your mission is longer than that, I'd suggest time-accelerating it to see what's happening to the tanker.

[markturner1960]

Thanks, I am exposing my ignorance here, just installed the mission and am none the wiser! The tanker has only its spawn waypoint and the advanced actions associated with that dont mention any script etc? I also cant see any triggers. 

I am afraid I dont really know about script operation ( I understand the concept but not the implementation) Is the Moose script something that I would need to edit and or write? I found the script .lua in the folder within the mission when I unzipped the .miz file, but it was huge and I could not see from my brief inspection how it worked....

Thanks for replying, but sorry I am not able to understand the help offered! 

[Zyll]

You shouldn't need to use Moose anymore for this tasking.

Zyll @ TAW

[Minsky]

5 minutes ago, Zyll said:

You shouldn't need to use Moose anymore for this tasking.

 

The problem is how to keep the tanker on station forever. Which is apparently not possible without scripting. So I cut to the chase and suggested to use Moose.

[Zyll]

Ahh I didn't understand the issue, my apologies.

Maybe you could have the recovery tanker spawn later in your mission, so it doesn't run out of fuel too early and RTB.

Zyll @ TAW

[markturner1960]

Actually, both answers very helpful, thanks - i should have clarified in the OP, I had only left the boat for 20 minutes, so it was not a question of the S3 running out of loiter time or fuel, 4 hours is way more than I would need for any mission I make. So Zylls linke dvideo will probably show what I did wrong, however, I am still keen to understand the workings of the script......

 

Thanks guys. 

[markturner1960]

Final question.....is there a better skin / model available for this unit? 

[Minsky]

54 minutes ago, markturner1960 said:

Actually, both answers very helpful, thanks - i should have clarified in the OP, I had only left the boat for 20 minutes, so it was not a question of the S3 running out of loiter time or fuel, 4 hours is way more than I would need for any mission I make. So Zylls linke dvideo will probably show what I did wrong, however, I am still keen to understand the workings of the script......

Let me elaborate on my answer  

If the tanker lands within 20 minutes, then there's something wrong with the basic setup, and Zyll's video should help solving that.

Once that's solved, the tanker should be able to stay on station for ~4 hours.

After that, the tanker must land, refuel and resume its mission. But as far as I know, the "LandReFuAr" waypoint responsible for that only works with land bases, and not with naval units.

Theoretically, you can do some clever tricks with triggers and scripts, by spawning a new tanker once the dry one lands. But since this approach already involves scripting, I suggested to use Moose, as it takes over the whole routine of creating and managing the tanker.

 

TL;DR Once you watch Zyll's video and solve whatever is wrong with the initial setup, you'll likely won't need the rest of this post.

 

Now for the scripting. It could be very confusing, indeed! But it becomes really simple once you understand how the scripts work in DCS.

In my mission there are two units:

* A carrier group named "HST",
* And a dummy S-3B Tanker placed anywhere on the map and named "Arco".

Then there are two triggers:

* The first one simply loads the main Moose library.
* The second one executes the script that talks to Moose and turns that dummy S-3B into the actual tanker attached to our carrier.

As evident from their names, both triggers run on the mission start:

The script itself:

ArcoHST=RECOVERYTANKER:New(UNIT:FindByName("HST"), "Arco") -- this finds our dummy S-3B named 'Arco', and attaches it to our carrier group named 'HST'
ArcoHST:SetCallsign(2) -- number of the desired callsign from the dropdown menu in the Mission Editor, #2 is Arco
ArcoHST:SetTACAN(43, "ARC") -- tanker's tacan
ArcoHST:SetRadio(343) -- tanker's radio frequency
ArcoHST:SetTakeoffAir() -- the tanker will be spawned in air
ArcoHST:Start() -- actually spawns the tanker

There are additional arguments and commands described in the manual.

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, markturner1960 said:

Final question.....is there a better skin / model available for this unit? 

They're currently working on the new model:

As for the skins, I'm using this pack:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3307156/

Edited November 21, 2022 by Minsky

[markturner1960]

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to explain that, I will look into the scripts operation! Where do I get the Moose script and where is it placed etc ? And which manual do you mean, thanks! 

[fagulha]

19 minutes ago, markturner1960 said:

Thank you very much for taking the time and effort to explain that, I will look into the scripts operation! Where do I get the Moose script and where is it placed etc ? And which manual do you mean, thanks! 

"There are additional arguments and commands described in the manual."

Click on the link Misky posted in that line.

[Minsky]

28 minutes ago, markturner1960 said:

Where do I get the Moose script and where is it placed etc ? And which manual do you mean, thanks! 

Script file can be placed anywhere. Once you include it in your mission via triggers (see my original "demo" file), it will be packed into the mission file.

• Moose repository - scroll down a bit and download the "Moose.lua" file from the "Assets" section *
• Moose home page with starters guide
• Moose classes - recovery tanker is just a tiny fraction of what the Moose can do.

* Alternatively, you can download and unpack "Moose_Include-X.X.XX.zip". There will be a folder named "Moose_Include_Static" with two files inside. One is the same "Moose.lua" that you can download from the repository directly. Another named "Moose_.lua" (note the underscore) is the same script, but minified, so it's much smaller in size.

[markturner1960]