Noob guide for mission editor? / how to loop a predator/ewacs!

[BelgarionNL]

I can't seem to find out how I can make the EWACS fly an X amount of waypoints then Loop back to the first waypoint untill it runs out of fuel and then land for refueling and take of again to the same set of waypoints!

 

 

I have no idea if these AI craft run out of fuel but anyhow its for a training mission with JTAC and EWACS.

 

 

I don't really want to place like 20+ waypoints in the mission editor

[nomdeplume]

Aircraft can and will run out of fuel.

 

You cannot make an AI aircraft land and take off again. Only players can do that.

 

There is a "switch waypoint" in the advanced waypoints properties. So, if you want the loop to begin at waypoint 2 for example, set up the additional waypoints and then add a "switch to waypoint" command at the end of the loop. Once the aircraft reaches that waypoint, it will then head to the waypoint you told it to switch to.

 

You can use conditions to prevent the "switch to waypoint" command from being executed after a certain amount of time or some other event occurs (in combination with user flags and triggers).

 

There's also an "orbit" task which will have the aircraft fly either a circling pattern at its current waypoint, or a racetrack pattern between the waypoint you put the orbit task on and its next waypoint. This can easily be set to last for a certain duration, so it's nice to use for those cases. If you need the aircraft to fly a more complicated pattern then 'switch waypoint' is the mechanism to use.

 

There is a "refuel" task which you can make an AI perform in order to refuel from a tanker (in-flight refueling), however it's only available for aircraft actually capable of in-flight refueling.

 

The AWACS aircraft have enough fuel to stay airborne for several hours though, so you should be okay for most missions. If you really need to, you could add a second AWACS flight to take off at an hour or two into the mission in order to relieve the previous one.

[BelgarionNL]

its stupid that you can't make them land, refuel, take off again!

[MemphisBelle]

its stupid that you can't make them land, refuel, take off again!

 

The reason is that there are no options for in the Editor. If a waypoint would provide the advanced options to refuel/rearm and take off again, then it might be possible. But since it isn´t...no chance.