Super Carrier - F/A-18Cs are stucking in the catapults

[Ithronwise]

Hi there,

I am not sure whether this is a Super Carrier or an F/A-18C bug. Following settings:
E-2D on CAT 1, 2x F/A-18Cs on CAT 2 and CAT 3. The Hawkeye is launching but the both Hornets are stucking in the catapults and the deck crews are just standing around. Nothing happens no matter how long I wait.

The Hawkeye and the Hornets are set as "Takeoff from runway" in the Mission Editor. If I set the Hornets to "Takeoff from ramp hot" they are moving to the catapluts and launching as aspected but the frequence is very slow.

Last time I have flown the mission where I faced with this bug was with DCS version 2.7.18. It was a complex setting with a Hawkeye and two Hornets in the catapults, 2 further Hornets were waiting, me in a cold and dark hornet on the ramp and a lot of static units on deck, but it worked perfectly with a beautiful and realistic launch sequence of all planes. Now with 2.8.1 the both Hornets in the catapults are stucking and only the Hawkeye and one of the waiting Hornets are launching (both from CAT 1).

 

What I did to examine this bug:

1. I built and tested a new mission only with a Super Carrier, 1 Hawkeye and 2 Hornets, all set to "Takeoff from runway" (mission is attached, also a track file) -> no success

2. I removed all mods, even they in the Saved Games\DCS\Mods folder -> no success

3. I did a cleanup and a slow and deep repair -> no success

Best regards,
Ithronwise

TEST Carrier Launch Sequence Bug Marianas.mizSupercarrier Cat Launch Bug.trk

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Ithronwise

[Ithronwise]

I did some more tests and there is definitively something wrong with the launch sequence.
Following tests I did (on Cat 1 was in every case a E-2D but it doesn't matter which aircraft type it is):

=====
Test 1
=====
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2 & 3: 2-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched > Cat 2 & 3 stucked

=====
Test 2
=====
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2 & 3: 2-ship F-14A
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 launched -> Cat 3 launched

========
Test 3 to 7
========
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2 & 3: 2-ship F/A-18C (AI), F/A-18A, A-4E-C (mod), S-3B, T-45C (mod)
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 & 3 stucked

=====
Test 8
=====
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2 & 3: 2-ship F-14B
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 launched -> Cat 3 launched

=====
Test 9
=====
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2: 1-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 launched

=========
Test 10 to 12
=========
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2: 1-ship A-4E-C (mod), T-45C (mod), F/A-18A
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 launched

======
Test 13
======
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2: 1-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Cat: 1-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 3 launched -> Cat 2 launched

 

Conclusions:
1. All 2-ship formations which were linked to Cat 2 & Cat 3 are stucked except F-14A/B. The F-14A/B are launching as intended with sequence Cat 2 -> Cat 3.

2. two 1-ship of aircrafts linked to Cat 2 & Cat 3 are launching with sequence Cat 3 -> Cat 2 (which was the normal sequence before DCS 2.8)

That means there is a problem with the launch sequence as soon there is a 2-ship formation set to "Takeoff from runway" and linked to Cat 2 and Cat 3. If I set them to "Takeoff from ramp hot" they are moving to Cat 2 and 3 and will be launched as intended.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Ithronwise

[Ithronwise]

Another observation to localize the cause of this issue. If I change the cat number of the second plane of a 2-ship flight from Cat 3 to Cat 4 in the Mission Editor, all planes are launching in sequence Cat 1 -> Cat 2 -> Cat 4, but only if Cat 3 is free. If I add another plane to Cat 3 they all are stucking except the plane on Cat 1. So, the problem is connected to Cat 3 somehow.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Ithronwise

[Ithronwise]

I did a last test. I allocated the planes to the catapults as followed:

========
Variation 1
========
Cat 1: E-2D
Cat 2: Wingman (aircraft 2) of the 2-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Cat 3: Flightleader (aircraft 1) of the 2-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Launch sequence: Cat 3 launched -> Cat 1 launched -> Cat 2 launched

 

========
Variation 2
========
Cat 1: Flightleader (aircraft 1) of the 2-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Cat 2: Wingman (aircraft 2) of the 2-ship F/A-18C Lot 20
Cat 3: E-2D
Launch sequence: Cat 1 launched -> Cat 3 launched -> Cat 2 launched

 

Seems there is a problem with the launch priorities. If the Flightleader of a flight is allocated to Cat 2 and the Wingman to Cat 3, then the launch sequence is messed up because Cat 2 should be launched AFTER Cat 3 but the Flightleader should be launched BEFORE the Wingman.

[Ithronwise]

Any reaction of the officials here in the forum would be nice ("Cannot reproduce", "Reported", "Investigating", "What the hell are you talking about?!" something like that).

Because if you create a flight in the Mission Editor on the carrier and set it as "Takeoff from runway" it is always allocated by default to Cat 2 (Flightleader) and Cat 3 (Wingman) if Cat 1 already is blocked by another aircraft. That causes a launch priority conflict (Cat 3 BEFORE Cat 2 but Flightleader BEFORE Wingman) and the flight is stucked. Of course you can change it manually but normally it shouldn't be necessary.
So for me it is a bug because launching a flight isn't a question of the catapult sequence but a question of the flight priority. In RL if you need to launch a QRA flight to intercept a possible or real threat it is absolutely irrelevant which catapults are chosen by the Airboss for the launch, Flight lead takes off first, Wingman second. The F-14 is the only module that launches the flightleader first no matter on which catapult he is linked.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Ithronwise