Vehicles round pattern

[Pochi]

Hello all,

 

I am trying to set up a little mission just to practice targeting. I managed to add static target but now I would like to add flying targets and moving vehicles. I am wondering if its possible to have them flying "forever" like a round pattern over and over...I guess there will be an autonomie issue. How can I do that or something close to that?

 

Another question : For now i would like to have non threatening targets only. For that, do you confirm i need to choose only vehicles without weapons or can I use vehicles with weapons and have them not to use it?

 

Thanks,

 

Best regards,

 

Pierre

[Razor5-1]

I believe what you are looking for is the "Orbit" command. It's in the user's manual on pages 156, 157.

 

You can set the units as static objects. A tank will then just be like a building.

Hope this helps you.

[mjeh]

You can set the units as static objects. A tank will then just be like a building.

 

Indeed.

 

Another method you can use is to create a tank group, then through triggers (for example with the 'Mission start' handle) disable the AI of the group. This is for example useful if you want to simulate a surprise attack or for another reason want the option to enable the group again at some point.

[Megagoth1702]

BE CAREFUL WITH DISABLE AI though - it will only work if you give the game a few seconds after activating the group.

 

I once did following - group late activation.

 

My trigger was like this:

 

if X then:

-activate group

-group AI off

 

And it did not work, the AI was always on. So what I did next was:

 

-activate group

-flag X on

 

then

 

-time since flag X 2 seconds -> disable AI.

[Pochi]

thanks for your answer! I will try that maybe:) seems a bit complicated for me though...

 

Best regards,

 

Pierre

[mjeh]

BE CAREFUL WITH DISABLE AI though - it will only work if you give the game a few seconds after activating the group.

 

Aye, I just discovered this myself :) It works instantaneously with the Mission Start event hook, but after using an Activate Group trigger it apparently needs to initialize the group properly before you can start doing things to the group.

 

And Pierre, it's not as complicated as it sounds! I'll post an example for you in a sec

[mjeh]

First we set up a group of 3 russian tanks in the middle of the abandoned X-shaped airfield north of Batumi. We set them to spawn 1 day after mission start (see red circle) so we can activate them later with a trigger.

 

 

 

Now we set up three triggers. The first trigger to activate them after 60 seconds has passed, we call this one 'Spawn Tanks'. Note that we set Flag 1 to ON.

 

 

Second Trigger we call 'Disable Tank AI'. Here we check to see that 5 seconds has passed since Flag 1 was turned on, then we turn off the group AI. This is to give the game time to "set up" the units before we can turn off their AI. The tanks are now sitting ducks and will not move or shoot back.

 

 

Finally, the third trigger we call 'Re-Enable Tank AI'. Here we check to see if the player has killed one of the tanks, and then we turn the AI back on if this is true. The group is now active again and will shoot back.

 

 

___________

 

Now let's set up an aircraft that will fly round and round along its waypoints. We set up a friendly A-10C and give it 4 waypoints, plus a landing waypoint. At the last waypoint in the circuit, we go to Advanced (Waypoint Actions) and we select Perform Command -> Switch Waypoint to the first waypoint in the circuit. The plane will now fly this circuit until it runs low on fuel (as far as I know it will after that do return to base).

 

 

__________

 

Now we set up a group of vehicles that will drive around in a pattern and not shoot back. To achieve this we simply give it a lot of waypoints and on the first waypoint we go to Advanced (Waypoint Actions) -> Set Option -> ROE (Rules of Engagement) -> Weapons Hold. These vehicles will now not shoot, but still drive. Keep in mind that once you engage them they will probably break column and stop.

 

 

___________

 

Finally we add a player aircraft so we can have some fun!

 

I've included the mission file for you in the attachments, I hope this was helpful.

Example Mission.miz

[Megagoth1702]

Add "allow dispersion under fire" and set it to false so they keep driving and do NOT stop.

 

 

 

Too bad that "orbit" or "switch waypoint" is not available for ground vehicles, would do a good job at reducing waypoint amount, haha.