Change task in-flight?

[COMThing]

Is there a way to have a group of say; F-16s perform a CAP on the way to a ground target then switch to CAS. Or if that isn't possible have a group search for targets in the air and on the ground?

 

What I would like to do is have 2 groups of fighters; the first group would attack ground targets and then change to an air to air task to cover the second group which would take over the ground attack. Group 2 would cover group 1 to start with.

[Speed]

Hmm... I'm reasonably sure that this could be done through scripting, but are you sure the AI can't do it? If a group of fighters is given a CAS task, can they not also engage air targets? I KNOW you could do this in BS/FC2, as I had F-16s that would engage SAM sites and aircraft.

 

Anyway, in 1109, this kind of activity is supported through scripting, but you have to figure out how the task format should look. For example, here is an artillery fire at point:

 

task1 = { id = 'FireAtPoint', params = { y = targetpoint.z, x = targetpoint.x, zoneRadius = 50 + zoneradius } }
Unit.getByName('arty1_1'):getController():setTask(task1)

where "targetpoint" is a table containing x, y, and z coordinates (in runtime format), "zoneradius" is a number greater than -50, and "arty1_1" is the name of one of the units in the group that you want to fire at point.

 

Similar code could be used to force an aircraft or group of aircraft to engage something.

You would run this code on a unit's triggered action, preferably a unit set aside and distant from the battle, and dedicated to nothing other than Lua scripts.

 

Keep at it in the mission editor first though before resorting to scripts. There should be a way to do this. The first thing you should try is CAS and "engage within" (if that's the name) triggered actions/waypoint actions.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Speed

[nomdeplume]

The built-in tasks don't allow you to assign targets outside of the group's main tasking. So you can't assign a CAS flight air targets (except for helos). Aircraft with non-CAP/sweep missions will only attack other aircraft if they are attacked first. So for example if you give some F16s a CAS tasking and some MiG-29s approach them, they'll ignore the enemy aircraft until the Migs attack the F16s. I think they respond when they're locked up on radar, but that pretty much always means the aggressor gets the first shot.

 

This makes it not very useful for CAP type activity, since it guarantees they'll start out any combat action on the back foot.

 

Similarly if you set a group's task to Ground Attack, you don't get any options in the ME to have them engage particular ground groups or units or within a zone. So you can't e.g. have some F-15Es come in and do a bombing run at a particular point (using the 'bombing' task), then circle around and intelligently engage any survivors (using an 'engage within zone' task, for example).

[WildFire]

Leave the group task set as "nothing" then you should be able to set enroute or start task functions in the advanced waypoint actions. I dont know if you could do multiple ones though. I dont think Ive tried screwing with AI in a while. Honestly with all the problems that arise trying to get AI to do exactly what you want your better off creating a new group.

 

Remember when it comes to computer generated actions/functions, the old kiss theory works best. Dont give the AI very much room to do weird stuff, you give the AI an inch and they wont take a mile but they may end up somewhere in pakistan... Anyone that has tried to build missions utilizing a whole lot of AI stuff knows that building one advanced mission can be more difficult or time consuming than a whole simple campaign. Hence why no one is building them...

 

Good luck.