Mission Editor

[Kaktus]

So, 

 

not sure where to put this in which topic and part of forum but here i go anyways;

 

I would like an overhaul of mission editor to make it more intuitive and logical, some improvements that come to mind is especially important which is FUEL CONSUMPTION of planes,..

 

imagine putting a plane at 20k feet going at 380 knots, so this is zero waypoint, then waypoint 1, then waypoint 2, etc.. but lets say now you want to change your altitude and speed for waypoint 3-5(imagine just holding SHIFT and clicking waypoint 3,4 and 5) window opens and you specify joint waypoint instructions, so all of them will be at 15k feet at 300 knots.

 

Now imagine, FUEL consumption graphically on those waypoints, you start with full fuel and 3 tanks, ok, you fly waypoint 1, 2, 3 and in middle of waypoint 3 and 4 the line goes from WHITE to YELLOW (indicating you spent your fuel tanks and now burning internal fuel) and then at waypoint 5 somewhere line goes RED-bingo fuel. you get the jist of it now.

 

Second thing i would improve is connecting flights, like graphically, you have lets say one flight of 4 planes-strike group lets say-going for ground attack of some building, then you click and add a flight of 4 SEAD team, and you see on mission editor first flight and then Violet color line connecting this SEAD to flight 1 -leader lets say, and then you add CAP-fighter escort group of 4 planes that is subordinate to both of them. 

 

Obviously you need AI improvements as in today AI set up this just means big fat nothing unless you script every yaw and pitch movement of every aircraft. Idea is we need some sort of HQ command structure and AI logic that makes sense, flight leader, support units, air cover, ROE-where if enemy too powerful you can easily turn around and mission fails but you preserve the planes-something happening normally btw.

 

Anyway after couple of more FF planes i hope ED goes to the core and core of the game should be Mission Editor aka Combine Arms, HQ add on or something.

 

ideas and suggestions appreciated.

 

 

 

[Exorcet]

This seems to come up pretty often, while I myself think the ME is very good as it is. Not perfect, absolutely not, but pretty easy and intuitive.

1 hour ago, Kaktus said:

imagine putting a plane at 20k feet going at 380 knots, so this is zero waypoint, then waypoint 1, then waypoint 2, etc.. but lets say now you want to change your altitude and speed for waypoint 3-5(imagine just holding SHIFT and clicking waypoint 3,4 and 5) window opens and you specify joint waypoint instructions, so all of them will be at 15k feet at 300 knots.

 

My solution for this is variables. You'd assign a variable like "Cruise Altitude = 30,000 ft" then in the waypoints, you set altitude not to a number, but to Cruise Altitude. Then there would be a variable table where you could see all variables, sort them by type, and by what units are using them. You'd not only be able to change multiple waypoints in a group at once, but literally every waypoint in the mission at the same time with very little work. And these variables could even be saved across missions, example a variable "F-15 cruise speed" could be made and set to be automatically entered whenever a F-15 waypoint is created.

Years ago ED made it so that planes have default speeds for waypoints and it's still terrible. Create waypoints, later decide to change the aircraft (or use the aircraft route as a template for other aircraft and copy paste), and now all your waypoints have their speeds changed, most likely to a useless value. It was requested I believe by people I believe, but it doesn't appear to have been planned out and as a result is less than worthless as it just creates problems for no benefits, at least for me.

 

1 hour ago, Kaktus said:

Now imagine, FUEL consumption graphically on those waypoints, you start with full fuel and 3 tanks, ok, you fly waypoint 1, 2, 3 and in middle of waypoint 3 and 4 the line goes from WHITE to YELLOW (indicating you spent your fuel tanks and now burning internal fuel) and then at waypoint 5 somewhere line goes RED-bingo fuel. you get the jist of it now.

 

Could be useful, but it also may need to account for things like refueling, combat, reserve fuel, random waypoints, payload (are weapons dropped or not?), etc.

 

1 hour ago, Kaktus said:

Second thing i would improve is connecting flights, like graphically, you have lets say one flight of 4 planes-strike group lets say-going for ground attack of some building, then you click and add a flight of 4 SEAD team, and you see on mission editor first flight and then Violet color line connecting this SEAD to flight 1 -leader lets say, and then you add CAP-fighter escort group of 4 planes that is subordinate to both of them. 

 

Obviously you need AI improvements as in today AI set up this just means big fat nothing unless you script every yaw and pitch movement of every aircraft. Idea is we need some sort of HQ command structure and AI logic that makes sense, flight leader, support units, air cover, ROE-where if enemy too powerful you can easily turn around and mission fails but you preserve the planes-something happening normally btw.

 

In other words, packages. Yes it would be a good feature. Technically it doesn't really require AI changes as it could be built around follow.

 

 

[Kaktus]

Well obviously fuel consumption would work only as planning goes, so as you plan you can actually see will this thing from from A to Z or will it crashland..

 

Anyhow i would like mission editor to be more adaptable and i suspect the dynamic campaign and mission saves tht are hopefully coming slowly but not too slow will give big improvements on this case as well

[draconus]

On 1/28/2024 at 12:14 AM, Kaktus said:

not sure where to put this in which topic and part of forum

and

https://forum.dcs.world/forum/1027-dcs-wish-list/