Please remove unnessesary tasks in the ME

[kotor633]

Hi,

Please remove the types of tasks from airplanes/helicopters that they do not support. For example, for the F-15E the tasks SEAD, refulling, transport. Or with the Mi-24P the reconnaissance task. Or with the F-14 the tasks of refueling, transport, AWACS. And so forth.

[upyr1]

The only reason I could see behind the current system is so you can select the role then the aircraft. So I would like the option of locking or unlocking the aircraft or mission.

 

[Exorcet]

Strongly disagree here, and in fact I've requested the opposite:

 

Perhaps the answer is a rework of the task system, although backwards compatibility may limit options there.

[SkateZilla]

Tasks aren't set by the mission editor, they are set in the aircraft's config files.

 

[upyr1]

20 hours ago, Exorcet said:

Strongly disagree here, and in fact I've requested the opposite:

 

Perhaps the answer is a rework of the task system, although backwards compatibility may limit options there.

After reading the post I think both requests can be be easily merged. For example let's say we have a Phantom II flying an attack mission. The drop down task is ground attack, then you might have the flight bomb a rail yard at way point 2 and have a fighter sweep start st way point 3 or as a secondary task for the mission.  Likewise might have flak supressiin as an option in the advanced way point action menu 

[Northstar98]

I agree that aircraft incapable of performing a certain mission (such as the F-15E and refueling, though for transport - that could be used for ferry flights though that's probably something for a persistent, dynamic campaign) should probably have that task removed, but the Hind should definitely be able to perform reconnaissance (even if it has no dedicated reconnaissance sensors).

 

But personally though, a revamp of the task system (and the AI that goes with it) is probably what's needed most in this regard. Especially when it comes to the kind of actions available for certain tasks, though apart from maybe a couple of examples (like anti-ship strike/TASMO and refueling), it would probably be better if every action was available to every task, as right now the rigidity can lead to some undesireable behaviour (such as the Apaches either able to engage map objects such as buildings or ground units such as AAA but not both in the same task).

To name a couple of examples (obviously far from comprehensive):

• It would be better if we either had multiple CAP tasks or for the CAP action to include an option to support the multiple types of CAP, such as BARCAP and HAVCAP and to have that influence (at least, the default) AI behaviour.
• CAS is currently used as the de facto air strike or air interdiction task against ground units (i.e those placed in the mission editor), regardless of proximity (or even presence) of friendly forces (which is what makes it CAS in the first place) and ground attack when it's againt a fixed point on the ground. It would probably be better if ground attack was renamed to strike, with the search then engage and bombing tasks available; CAS can then be used as an actual CAS task, with the integration of friendly forces in close proximity built in.
• We're missing a few tasks - while these would probably be identical from an actions perspective, they would be more useful for influencing default AI behaviour (where applicable) and for generating ATOs as part of a dynamic campaign. I mentioned the types of CAP, but a couple of obvious ones missing are Air Interdiction (AI) and OCA Strike (which can replace the runway attack task, with provisions to strike other aviation related facilities, such as parked aircraft, hangars, revetments, fuel and ammunition depots, GCI facilities and systems etc).

There's also a few much more minor things. For instance: pinpoint strike is exactly the same as ground attack, just with the available weapons restrcited to guided munitions - the current CAS and ground attack tasks already support all munitions so unless it's a real-life task, it's completely redundant. A more pedantic one is that AWACS should probably be renamed to AEW&C, which makes much more sense than AWACS as a name for a task.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Northstar98