Locking out bow cats

[Dragon1-1]

I noticed that it's explicitly advised not to place statics in a way that would block cats 1 and 2. However, it is not uncommon IRL for aircraft to be parked there, and for only 3 and 4 to be in use. Will that option come at some point?

[Dangerzone]

19 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

I noticed that it's explicitly advised not to place statics in a way that would block cats 1 and 2. However, it is not uncommon IRL for aircraft to be parked there, and for only 3 and 4 to be in use. Will that option come at some point?

I’d say unlikely.

Maybe if they developed the option for dynamic pathing where each spawn location could go to any cat (the next available one) it could be different, but they’ve opted with the fixed route.

So if they lock out now catapults, you’ll get situations where players or AI spawn in and then can’t be directed anywhere. Given that their budget for this feature has been exceeded by 4x as well, it seems what we already have is way more complicated than first envisaged. I’d say we’ve seen what’s intended. 

[Dragon1-1]

It doesn't need to be dynamic, they would just need to add alternate paths for those spots, that would be enabled if the bow cats are blocked, or rather, if the proper flag is set in the editor. Going with fixed routes doesn't mean you can't have multiple routes for multiple use cases, just add a "blocked bow mode" which would make the aircraft be directed to 3 and 4 instead. This is not an exotic use case either IRL or in the sim.

[Dangerzone]

True. Dynamic wasn't the best word to use. And don't get me wrong - I'd love to see this as well. I'd like to have 'alternative routes' for all the spawn points, and have it selected based on the next available cat as well.

Not only would this open up options for your request, but would also allow dual landing and launch operations at the same time (redirecting all spawns to cat1 and cat2 accordingly) during recovery operations. 

The main point I was making is that they're apparently so far over budget already that I doubt we're going to see major changes to functionality from what we've already got. I would be delighted to be wrong, but considering carrier ops is a small part of DCS compared to the overall gameplay (only affects 2 out of ??? modules, thus a much smaller % of players), plus the over budget expenses already, plus the current additional bugs that have been introduced... I'm just suggesting to maintain expectations accordingly. 

Edited December 8, 2024 by Dangerzone

[markturner1960]

Is there anywhere a picture or something that shows where on the deck you can and cannot place statics to avoid blocking issues? 
 

Also - I have seen the pictures of the fixed routes in the guide, how wide are the routes and happens if one is blocked? Does the jet being directed just stop (if it’s AI) ? Can you get around this if it’s a player jet by avoiding the obstacle, will the directors pick you up again?

[Jel]

I´m midly confused as the manual says, the routes will adapt if the planned path is blocked.

I expected this also be valid for blocked cats.

Or maybe i´m just misunderstanding something...

Anyways, it seems we have to edit our carrier decks now specifically not to block Cats. Pretty sad since those conigurations are just so damn nice to look at

[Dragon1-1]

11 hours ago, Dangerzone said:

The main point I was making is that they're apparently so far over budget already that I doubt we're going to see major changes to functionality from what we've already got.

This is not exactly a major functionality change, it should easily be possible to built on top of the existing system. As far as I understand, the hard part wasn't defining the paths, but getting the system to work in first place. Extra paths and a manual switcher should be quite simpler.

[pacoo2454]

7 hours ago, markturner1960 said:

Is there anywhere a picture or something that shows where on the deck you can and cannot place statics to avoid blocking issues?

The super carrier manual has pictures showing the safe zones for static object placement depending on how many planes you expect to launch or recover. They start on page 103.

https://forum.dcs.world/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=418684&key=e5838013700aceb9733f1cd2c129e0d0

[theIRIEone]

Given the new deck crew feels like an item produced just to "finally put a checkmark on a missing feature" that has been there for almost half a decade, i'd say "probably not"...

Hey, at least we can all get in a row to use CAT 1 exclusively from now, i guess... That is, when we're not stuck due to "awaiting ATC status".