Making a ground IR SAM go into "RED" state of alarm after X seconds since it sees an enemy before engaging it.

[85th_Maverick]

Hi,

        I'm trying to make the manpads and other IR SAMs fire at aircraft with a bit of delay which is a realistic thing. In reality, most of the times a manpad wouldn't know when an enemy aircraft approaches and also from where, so after spotting an aircraft, the manpad requires a time to activate the missile's seeker and cool it enough to have a good quality lock on the target before firing. All of these would make sense to make the manpad and any other IR SAM system have a basic delay before engaging targets of opportunity or targets that aren't initially aware of being close to.

Thanks!

[85th_Maverick]

So I just wanna know if is there any script that I can run on a unit to make it engage an enemy target only after X amount of seconds of getting inside the launch range.

Thanks!

[Yoda967]

According to this, there's a 6 second acquisition time built in to all the MANPADS in game, and a 2.5 second acquisition time built in to vehicle-mounted IR SAMs.

That said, what you want to do can be done without scripting.

Place your MANPADS or IR SAM. At its waypoint 0, under ADVANCED WAYPOINT ACTIONS, set ROE to WEAPON HOLD. Then, give it two triggered actions: the first sets ROE to WEAPON FREE and the second sets ROE to WEAPON HOLD.

Create a trigger zone to serve as your detection/engagement zone.

Add a SWITCHED CONDITION trigger. Set the condition to "PART OF COALITION IN ZONE" and select the coalition your MANPADS will shoot at and trigger zone you built in the previous step. Set the trigger's action to FLAG ON ("READY TO SHOOT")

Add a second SWITCHED CONDITION trigger. Set the condition to TIME SINCE FLAG ("READY TO SHOOT",X) <----X=seconds of delay you want to add to the unit's built-in delay

Then, for the second SWITCHED CONDITION trigger, add a PUSH AI TASK action and select the "set ROE to WEAPON FREE" task you made in the MANPADS/SAM unit's triggered actions tab. 

Finally, add a third SWITCHED CONDITION trigger, set its condition to FLAG IS FALSE ("READY TO SHOOT") and its action to PUSH AI TASK (ROE set to WEAPON HOLD).

Now, when an aircraft flies through the trigger zone, it sets the READY TO SHOOT flag. X seconds after that, the MANPADS unit will switch to WEAPON FREE and able to shoot 6 seconds later. When the aircraft flies out of the trigger zone, the READY TO SHOOT flag will be set to off, which meets the condition for the third SWITCHED CONDITION, returning the MANPADS unit to WEAPON HOLD.

You'll have to play around with the size, shape, and placement of the trigger zone to make this do what you want. Bear in mind that an aircraft flying at 480 knots ground speed is moving at more than 800 feet per second.

Edited January 10, 2023 by Yoda967