Bahger Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 In "Defend Camp Yankee" my second element gets out ahead of me when I do cold starts, yet when I "cheated" using RWin + Home for the automated start, the flight departed behind me, as it's supposed to. It's not like I'm very slow with ramp starts, I'm reasonably proficient. This leads me to another, related, question: In the ME, how much time should a mission designer allow for the player to do a ramp start and get into the air so as not to screw up timings and miss all the action? I know you can use triggers to spawn AI mission elements too, such as when the player is airborne, but it's surely more realistic to set takeoff times for allied flights, or at least it will be when the AI circle forever over the airfield after takeoff bug is fixed, that is. Any advice?
GGTharos Posted March 9, 2011 Posted March 9, 2011 In general, give your players 10 min for ramp + taxi. 15min if you want to make certain they'll make their departure time. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Reminder: SAM = Speed Bump :D I used to play flight sims like you, but then I took a slammer to the knee - Yoda
Weta43 Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Or for AI set a small zone around the player that triggers the AI as the player starts to Roll. For flights etc. If you set the AI to spawn close to the runway (Which slot they'll use is visible/selectable in the ME), they'll be not far behind the player by the time they get round to asking for clearance onto the runway... Cheers.
Bahger Posted March 10, 2011 Author Posted March 10, 2011 Great intel, gents, many thanks. Weta43 your suggestion is a good example of how I might use a "Group Out of/Unit Out of Zone X" condition.
nomdeplume Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 A lot of ED's missions have a trigger to detect when the player leaves their airfield which then starts the events of the mission. This is just a trigger zone around the airfield and a "unit outside of zone" trigger. A similar approach is to have a trigger zone around the target area and start things off when the player enters that zone. It all depends on how the mission is structured and what experience you're trying to create. Sometimes it can be good to have the mission proceed of its own accord even if the player just sits there, and that lets the player have very different experiences depending on how long they choose to sit on the ramp for. The AI radio messages can add a lot of ambience - e.g. have a battle for air superiority going on while the player starts up, and the player might choose to stay put until they know their side has control of the skies.
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