Uncontrolled AI aircraft won't engage

[Sandman24]

Hi, not sure if this is a bug or if I'm doing something wrong. But in the attached mission I placed an uncontrolled AI aircraft (Fw190) that has a delayed start after 30 seconds. It then takes off with a CAP mission towards an approaching B17. However, it completely ignores the incoming aircraft and refuses to engage.

If I deselect 'uncontrolled' and let the aircraft start without delay, it will intercept the B17 though. Is there a way to make uncontrolled (i.e., delayed start) aircraft engage? Thanks for looking into this.

main.miz

[ex81]

Sorry, I don`t know, but have an idea you should try. Give the plane a waypoint where you place the order to attack the enemie. Use Advanced Waypoint Action to force it to attack.

BTW. This is only an idea. Don`t blame me for misbehavior.

[Sandman24]

Thanks for the suggestion! I think I fixed it and you certainly put me on the right track. So here's what happened:

• On waypoint #1, the first airborne waypoint after the start, there used to be a 'CAP -a -ref' action which the mission editor put there by default. This, apparently, got ignored in case the airplane starts as 'uncontrolled'.
• I then replaced this action by a 'Search then engage group', pointing to the B17 group, as you suggested. This worked, except I wanted the task to be a proper CAP, not a designated attack on a specific target.
• Next I replaced the 'Search then engage group' again by a 'CAP' action. So same as it was, except without the '-a -ref'. And now it worked! It properly engages the B17 even though I didn't tell it to specifically attack that target.

What I think is that the '-a -ref' addition means that it's a repitition of the original CAP task it got at mission start, except this got ignored. By telling it to 'CAP' without this addition, it counts as a new command.

So in summary, for anyone running into this problem in future: if you want a CAP group to have a delayed start using 'uncontrolled', make sure to remove the 'CAP -a -ref' at the first waypoint and replace it by 'CAP'.

Thanks again for looking into it!

Edited November 20, 2024 by Sandman24