cannot reproduce SAM groups ignore in-range targets while reloading

[Gordy]

I have generally accepted that units will enter a reload cycle and just be out of action until they are fully reloaded... but today I observed an entire SA-11 battery ignoring an in-range target, because it seems to have assigned that target to one of its units, which started reloading.     That unit tracked but did not fire upon the target, and can be observed loading missiles.   Meanwhile the battery had other fully-loaded launchers available, but they didn't track or fire on the target.   The target continued to approach and received fire from an SA-19 and AAA as it got closer and continued to be tracked but not fired upon by the SA-11 group. 

It would be ideal if partially-loaded individual units would immediately stop reloading and engage in-range hostiles.  SA-15 Tors with a reload source were famously useless after one engagement because reloads took so long. 

If a unit is part of a group, that group should be smart enough to (1) reassign current targets to launchers that are not busy reloading, (2) stop reloading and engage with ammo they already have if no launchers are fully loaded, and (3) prefer to empty a partially-loaded launcher, to maximize available launchers when reloading is necessary.

Observed on "The Coop - Afghanistan 90s", running v2.9.7.59074

[Gordy]

I have a track file, but it seems to fail to load for me, with:

ERROR   Dispatcher (Main): Unexpected track event index track/net : idx = -31618807

Posting anyway, in case that's trivial to workaround for someone more knowledgeable than me.

20240815_reloading_SA11_not_engaging_a10.trk

[NineLine]

Yeah track doesnt seem to work here either.

I tried setting down an Sa-11 site from templates in the mission editor, and it seemed to function and reload, etc as expected. So maybe its something in the mission? Scripting or something else?

[Gordy]

I think it was a rare edge case, not something that happens frequently.   It might be easiest to reproduce with an SA-11 site with a smaller number of TELs - have a bandit get engaged but not empty the launcher, then stay close enough to be tracked but not fired upon,  stay there until the reload starts, and then ingress. 

So this specific case may not justify a lot of time and effort to reproduce ... but if reloads in general could get interrupted and release a vehicle that has a valid target to fire on, that would solve a lot of gripes about SAMs with ammo ignoring targets.