Sitting Ducks: close player slot when stand-in is destroyed [stopGap companion]

[cfrag]

Version 1.0.0 - 20230526

The stopGap script allows us to fill an empty airfield with static representations for your player planes. That way your airfields look so much better when you design a mission with many player slots.

For multiplayer missions, this allows for new interesting strategic options: what if a player slot stand-in is destroyed, and that slot then becomes blocked? 

This would allow players to selectively attack planes on the ground on the other faction's airfield

• Hate the enemy's Blacksharks? Take them out before they can take off!
• Love your air superiority? Defend your airspace against similar enemy activity. See that bomb truck coming in? Intercept now or lose your Eagles!

sittingDucks is the script that answers that question. It's tiny, requires SSB on the server, and works as an add-on to stopGap. And it's multiplayer only. 

HOW TO USE 

1. - copy the script below into a DOSCRIP action at MISSION START. Make sure to do that after the stopGap script

REQUIREMENTS

• multiplayer only (i.e. for single-player you must run your mission as multiplayer)
• requires SSB be installed on the server (and only server)
• requires that SSB is configured as follows: SSB.kickReset = false 

Script: please see below

Spoiler

sittingDucks = {}
sittingDucks.verbose = false 
sittingDucks.version = "1.0.0"
sittingDucks.ssbDisabled = 100 -- must match the setting of SSB, usually 100
sittingDucks.resupplyTime = -1 -- seconds until "reinforcements" reopen the slot, set to -1 to turn off, 3600 is one hour

--
-- Destroying a client stand-in on an airfield will block that 
-- Slot for players. Multiplayer only 
-- WARNING: ENTIRE GROUP will be blocked when one aircraft is destroyed 
--
-- MULTIPLAYER-ONLY. REQUIRES (on the server):
--  1) SSB running on the server AND 
--  2) set SSB.kickReset = false 
--

function sittingDucks:onEvent(event)
    if not event then return end 
    if not event.id then return end 
    if not event.initiator then return end 

    -- home in on the kill event 
    if event.id == 8 then -- dead event 
        local theUnit = event.initiator
        local deadName = theUnit:getName()
        if not deadName then return end 
        -- look at stopGap's collection of stand-ins
        for gName, staticGroup in pairs (stopGap.standInGroups) do 
            for uName, aStatic in pairs(staticGroup) do 
                if uName == deadName then -- yup, a stand-in. block     entire group
                    local blockState = sittingDucks.ssbDisabled
                    trigger.action.setUserFlag(gName, blockState)
                    -- tell cfxSSBClient as well - if it's loaded
                    if cfxSSBClient and cfxSSBClient.slotState then 
                        cfxSSBClient.slotState[gName] = blockState
                    end
                    if sittingDucks.verbose then 
                        trigger.action.outText("SittingDuck: in group <" .. gName .. "> unit <" .. uName .. "> was destroyed on the ground, group blocked.", 30)
                    end
                    if sittingDucks.resupplyTime > 0 then 
                        timer.scheduleFunction(sittingDucks.resupply, gName, timer.getTime() + sittingDucks.resupplyTime)
                    end
                    return 
                end
            end 
        end
    end
    
end

-- re-supply: enable slots after some time
function sittingDucks.resupply(args)
    local gName = args
    trigger.action.setUserFlag(gName, 0)
    if cfxSSBClient and cfxSSBClient.slotState then 
        cfxSSBClient.slotState[gName] = 0
    end
    if stopGap.standInGroups[gName] then -- should not happen, just in case
        stopGap.removeStaticGapGroupNamed(gName)  
    end 
    if sittingDucks.verbose then 
        trigger.action.outText("SittingDuck: group <" .. gName .. "> re-supplied, slots reopened.", 30)
    end
end

-- make sure stopGap is available
if stopGap and stopGap.start then 
    trigger.action.setUserFlag("SSB",100)
    world.addEventHandler(sittingDucks)
    trigger.action.outText("Sitting Ducks v" .. sittingDucks.version .. " running, SSB enabled", 30)
else 
    trigger.action.outText("Sitting Ducks requires stopGap to run", 30)
end

 

Demo
Please see below

 

Acknowledgements
My thanks to @Panthir for submitting this request
 

Note
A slightly more capable version of sittingDucks is part of DML 

 

Cheers,

-ch

 

 

sitting ducks in a barrel.miz