Buddy tanking AI and player controlled

[roobarbjapan]

Hello all,

I have been following development for a long time now and can’t wait to see this in game. I would love to see:

-AI air to air buddy tanker/refueling

-Player controlled air to air buddy tanking/refueling 

 

Player controlled would open up so many possibilities for multiplayer. Acting as the trick or treat tanker, helping guys struggling back from a long mission etc. It was mentioned this will be coming later to the C-130 module so I really hope that knowledge is past on to you guys too. 

Keep at it!

[AG-51_Razor]

AH Men!!   Being able to pass gas to my squaddies would be epic, whether it's from a KC-130, an A-6 Intruder or an A-7 Corsair. It's just one more bit of reality we will be able to simmulate in the world of DCS!

[AdrianL]

The upcoming C-130J module will eventually include the KC version, which will allow for player to player aerial refueling

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/news/newsletters/57e3e700d97003277a5ebeb23db803d6/

Edited January 11, 2023 by AdrianL

[Stackup]

I believe FlyingIron has said they want to add the capability, but since that's a core mechanic ED will have to be involved.  With the KC-130 coming I doubt it will be a problem.  I remember seeing a YouTube video from years ago that showed the test implementation of player controlled buddy refueling in the A-4 mod.  The A-4 devs decided not to continue with that and I think they could only pass gas to other A-4's but it could be done.  Probably just needs some stuff from ED to allow all modules to get gas from a player aircraft but with the A-6 and A-7 both being able to buddy-tank I assume we will see the feature eventually.  Depends which comes first, the KC or the A-7 and whether or not ED is using the KC as a testbed before giving buddy tanking (D-704 pod for the A-6 and A-7 I believe) the green light.  I think the S-3B uses the same D-704 refueling pod so we should be getting a decent model for that with the rework ED has done for that plane.

[Northstar98]

+1

But this is functionality ED needs to add - right now DCS doesn't support buddy stores (or multi-type refuelling for that matter) - that's why we have a separate tanker S-3B, despite it just being the regular S-3B with a buddy store (possibly the same D-704 the A-7E should use).

[Silver_Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Northstar98 said:

+1

But this is functionality ED needs to add - right now DCS doesn't support buddy stores (or multi-type refuelling for that matter) - that's why we have a separate tanker S-3B, despite it just being the regular S-3B with a buddy store (possibly the same D-704 the A-7E should use).

On fact, has none necesary a S-3B "Tanker" If ED implement the buddy store pod as selectable on the mission editor as the real S-3B.

[Northstar98]

4 hours ago, Silver_Dragon said:

On fact, has none necesary a S-3B "Tanker" If ED implement the buddy store pod as selectable on the mission editor as the real S-3B.

Yeah, that's the main thing - I don't like having redundant assets if there's a better solution - I don't really want to have multiple duplicates that can only do tanking, especially given that we've got at least a couple of modules with this capability (namely the A-6E and A-7E).

Edited January 12, 2023 by Northstar98

[Stackup]

2 hours ago, Northstar98 said:

Yeah, that's the main thing - I don't like having redundant assets if there's a better solution - I don't really want to have multiple duplicates that can only do tanking.

It would be nice if they've thought ahead and merged the two already in the rework of the S-3 model but that remains to be seen as we have next to no information about the timeline or features of the reworks besides the better models.  Based on the 2023 and Beyond video, I hope they are able to get the new S-3 out soon as it finally looks on par with the rest of the game.