What to expect from the ME in DCSW re. flyable a/c

[Bahger]

I'm installing DCS World for the first time and integrating the A-10C module. I'm also about to integrate the FC3 Beta (having re-purchased and reinstalled LOMAC just to get it to work).

 

I have a lot of experience in this sim family's mission editor. I do not know what the limits of the new modular system are, though, or its impact on mission design, so I may need to calibrate my expectations. In this regard, could someone please confirm or deny the following:

 

With A-10C and the FC3 Beta installed within DCS World, if I go into the ME and make a scenario involving both the Hog (the C, not the LOMAC/FC A variant) and the F-15C from FC3, will that mission be flyable by the player (assuming he has all the necessary modules) in either aircraft, with the aircraft not selected flown by AI? This would be great, if true. I'd like to make scenarios containing CAS missions for the A-10C and CAP for the F-15C, with the player able to choose which role he wants to fly.

 

Ultimately, I anticipate playing with DCS Combined Arms in the hope that the player might then acquire a third option which could be the ability to push a ground assault forward and take an objective while the AI flies the A-10C CAS mission, or to work as FAC for that CAS mission.

 

Are these assumptions realistic, fantastical or WIP?

[Grimes]

Client aircraft are and will always be client driven. So if you put in 20 client aircraft you still need 20 players to play in order to use up all of the slots. It works exactly the same for all of the flyable aircraft so it doesn't matter if its Ka-50s, A-10C, or whatever.

 

If you are making a mission with multiple roles that absolutely need to be filled in order for the mission to be completed you have to set up triggers to see if a player has spawned in. There are a couple of different ways you can set it up, but for the most part you have two options. 1. Check if players by role are in the mission and spawn AI. 2. AI are already spawned but are set to orbit/hold at a location and allow the AI to continue their mission if a player aircraft isn't spawned.

[Bahger]

Thanks, Grimes.

 

How about SP mission making? Is it possible to make an SP mission, as described above, and to give the player -- or the mission designer, when testing it -- the option to choose whether to fly an F-15C or an A-10C? I'm assuming that, because the "client" system" does not apply to SP mission design, this would work as long as the player has all the right modules and the mission designer has designated these flights as "Player". I still can't figure out the all-important question of what happens to the other flight once the player makes his choice; it's obviously important that the AI can fly the mission for a flyable a/c or a/c group, if the player selects an alternative. In other words, it's been a while and I can't remember whether SP mission design in this sim allows more than one aircraft/flight to be designated as "Player".

 

An alternative would of course be to copy the finished mission, rename it and simply change the "Player" flyable a/c from the Hog to the Eagle and then redesignate the other flight as AI-controlled. This alone, for me would justify the purchase of LOMAC/FC3 for use within DCS World. I think it would be really interesting to be able to fly two completely separate but interlocking missions within one scenario, in SP or MP. But in MP, as you say, the "Client" setup makes triggers necessary to get the AI to step in when client a/c are not flown by players.

Edited January 4, 2013 by Bahger

[Darkwolf]

You can set multiple platforms flyable in ME, then when you launch mission, game ask you which one you want to fly. However, as far as i know, you can't change afterward without launching the mission again.

[Grimes]

Actually single player now accepts client slots. You will be prompted by a list of aircraft once the mission starts if there are more than 1 client aircraft in the mission of any type for either team. You simply select the slot, hit "ok" and you will spawn into the aircraft.

 

I still can't figure out the all-important question of what happens to the other flight once the player makes his choice

 

Like I said before, client aircraft will not spawn in without a player. You will need to add AI flights fulfilling the desired role and spawn them in after the player chooses his aircraft. Its pretty easy to setup.

 

Once>Time More 5 && Unit is dead(CAS Player)> Spawn CAS AI flight

Once>Time more 5 && Unit is Dead(CAP Player)> Spawn CAP AI flight

 

Client aircraft are always "dead" unless it is spawned in. So whatever role you don't select for your mission it will automatically spawn in the replacement AI flight at the start.

 

You can set multiple platforms flyable in ME, then when you launch mission, game ask you which one you want to fly. However, as far as i know, you can't change afterward without launching the mission again.

 

Hit escape, choose briefing. On briefing screen hit "back." It takes you back to the selection screen.

Edited January 4, 2013 by Grimes

[Bahger]

Hmm, ok, so that bit of trigger scripting -- pretty simple, as you say -- is, as I understand it, unavoidable if you want the player to be able to choose between two client flights and you want the flight mission not chosen to function under AI. The only alternative (SP only) is to avoid the "Client" designation entirely and make two versions of the same mission but with "player" flight adjusted. The former option is obviously more elegant.