new mission: dynamic CSAR and Air Mobility mission for SP and MP

[wolle]

I attached a new mission that can be played as SP or MP. In this mission, several Hueys are on standby, and will be called upon to rescue downed pilot and/or airlift troops to reinforce infantry units. Much of the mission is scripted dynamically, so that it plays differently each time played. It uses extensive lua scripting and uses a modular format, simplifying integration into other MP missions.

 

I would appreciate comments and bug reports.

CSARandAM.miz

[Midnight]

Congrats on this script wolle, works flawlessly and I,m sure it will change how DCS is played online from now on. Well done mate!

 

Thanks for all the help as well, I can truly recommend this scrip for all online servers.

[norcal bear]

Wolle,

 

First of all, I want to thank you for posting this mission. I flew it in the SP role tonight and have some feedback/questions that hopefully you can address:

 

1. My initial task was to reinforce an infantry group at 490 on the ADF. I loaded reinforcements, dialed in the frequency, and located the group and successfully reinforced them (red smoke was popped at their location too). While en route, 3 allied pilots were shot down and I noted their individual ADF frequencie.

2. I flew to the first downed pilot and did not see any red smoke at the location. I was able to eventually land in a clearing using the strong tone on the ADF radio and I received the message from the pilot and he loaded up fine.

3. I flew to another downed pilot and red smoke was popped and he was visible in a clearing and he too was picked up without incident. Both pilots were returned to Kolki and the message appeared that they were unloaded. I repaired and requested which units needed reinforcements.

4. I was directed again to 490 on the ADF to Infantry Group # 3 for reinforcement deployment. I loaded up the resources and dialed in 490 on the ADF.

5. While en route, I noted I was heading to the same group that made the initial request for reinforcements. I thought perhaps they had taken some casualties and needed more men. I followed the needle on the ADF, received the tone on the ADF, and landed. Unfortunately, I was not directed to Infantry Group # 3. Group # 3 was on a different part of the map. I'm assuming perhaps a new ADF frequency was not updated for the second group that requested reinforcements?

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed flying the mission for about an hour. I am curious though, and I don't expect any spoilers. Does the mission end when the ground forces meet certain objectives? I noticed the enemy aircraft were all shot down and the allied planes were flying a CAP. Or, do more enemy aircraft spawn in? I am looking forward to flying this mission in a multiplayer environment.

 

Thanks again.

[norcal bear]

Just a quick update, I was looking at my screenshots and there was a message originally broadcasted that Infantry Group # 3 was located at ADF 510. I didn't see that at first. But when I requested an updated list of who needed reinforcements, I was give an ADF of 490.

[geloxo]

Great idea wolle. We will try it toninght

[wolle]

Wolle,

 

First of all, I want to thank you for posting this mission. I flew it in the SP role tonight and have some feedback/questions that hopefully you can address:

 

1. My initial task was to reinforce an infantry group at 490 on the ADF. I loaded reinforcements, dialed in the frequency, and located the group and successfully reinforced them (red smoke was popped at their location too). While en route, 3 allied pilots were shot down and I noted their individual ADF frequencie.

2. I flew to the first downed pilot and did not see any red smoke at the location. I was able to eventually land in a clearing using the strong tone on the ADF radio and I received the message from the pilot and he loaded up fine.

3. I flew to another downed pilot and red smoke was popped and he was visible in a clearing and he too was picked up without incident. Both pilots were returned to Kolki and the message appeared that they were unloaded. I repaired and requested which units needed reinforcements.

4. I was directed again to 490 on the ADF to Infantry Group # 3 for reinforcement deployment. I loaded up the resources and dialed in 490 on the ADF.

5. While en route, I noted I was heading to the same group that made the initial request for reinforcements. I thought perhaps they had taken some casualties and needed more men. I followed the needle on the ADF, received the tone on the ADF, and landed. Unfortunately, I was not directed to Infantry Group # 3. Group # 3 was on a different part of the map. I'm assuming perhaps a new ADF frequency was not updated for the second group that requested reinforcements?

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed flying the mission for about an hour. I am curious though, and I don't expect any spoilers. Does the mission end when the ground forces meet certain objectives? I noticed the enemy aircraft were all shot down and the allied planes were flying a CAP. Or, do more enemy aircraft spawn in? I am looking forward to flying this mission in a multiplayer environment.

 

Thanks again.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for your feedback. I am at work now, but I think I already figured out where I messed up in assigning the ADF frequencies. Will be fixed in the next version.

 

At the moment the mission will just run out of things for you to do, but there is no "ceremony" at the end of the mission, just silence. Maybe I'll have an idea to make a better ending. B.t.w. Midnight and I have been trying to award "official" score points (i.e. those that will be shown at mission debriefing) for things like picking up and dropping off troops, but there doesn't seem to be a way of doing that. Do you (or anyone else) know of a method?

[Derk]

Wolle, i love what you are doing here. Your scripts are all we need for a dynamic enviroment to fly in. Thank you!

 

Do you plan on expanding this concept further? I was thinking about doing supply runs to ground groups and/or farps when their ammo/fuel supplies run low. Doing ass and trash so to speak. Is this possible too?

[jakare]

Nice work Wolle, Thank you for those missions.

 

I have a question : Is there possible to add clients in your " CSAR and Air Mobility mission".

Will scripts reconize these new aircrafts directely or do we need to make some addition to the scripts ?

[wolle]

Nice work Wolle, Thank you for those missions.

 

I have a question : Is there possible to add clients in your " CSAR and Air Mobility mission".

Will scripts reconize these new aircrafts directely or do we need to make some addition to the scripts ?

 

You should be able to add as many clients as you want. The only place you need to update is in the trigger list, under "initializing global variables" (or something like that), add the new clients to the table aircraftList

[wolle]

Wolle, i love what you are doing here. Your scripts are all we need for a dynamic enviroment to fly in. Thank you!

 

Do you plan on expanding this concept further? I was thinking about doing supply runs to ground groups and/or farps when their ammo/fuel supplies run low. Doing ass and trash so to speak. Is this possible too?

 

Hi Derk,

 

I'll definitely will look into that...

[norcal bear]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your feedback. I am at work now, but I think I already figured out where I messed up in assigning the ADF frequencies. Will be fixed in the next version.

 

At the moment the mission will just run out of things for you to do, but there is no "ceremony" at the end of the mission, just silence. Maybe I'll have an idea to make a better ending. B.t.w. Midnight and I have been trying to award "official" score points (i.e. those that will be shown at mission debriefing) for things like picking up and dropping off troops, but there doesn't seem to be a way of doing that. Do you (or anyone else) know of a method?

 

Great, thanks for the information. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a method that allows users to be assigned points for successful pick ups and drop-offs.

[tintifaxl]

Flew this mission today and had a blast. Getting shot down by a Mig-23 was totally unexpected by me.

[jakare]

You should be able to add as many clients as you want. The only place you need to update is in the trigger list, under "initializing global variables" (or something like that), add the new clients to the table aircraftList

 

Thanks Wolle, I have found the trigger "Define Global variables" and added new clients in the table of the script :

clientAircraft = {'Springfield','Uzi','Colt','Dodge','Ford','Chevy'}

infantryGroups = {{'US Infantry Group #1','Russian Infantry Group #1'},{'US Infantry Group #2','Russian Infantry Group #2'},{'US Infantry Group #3','Russian Infantry Group #3'}}

airfieldList = {'Senaki-Kolkhi','FARP Dallas','FARP London'}

staticSound = 'Static.ogg'

warningSound = 'StaticWarning.ogg'

beaconSound = 'VHF_WarningTone.wav'

 

local i

local outText = ''

local pos3

 

trigger.action.outSoundForCoalition(coalition.side.BLUE,staticSound)

for i=1,#airfieldList do -- create ADF beacons at airfields

pos3 = mist.DBs.zonesByName[airfieldList].point

-- pos3.y = land.getHeight(pos3)

trigger.action.radioTransmission(beaconSound, pos3, 0, true, 410000+i*10000, 1000)

outText = outText .. 'ADF beacon for ' .. airfieldList .. ' is set to ' .. 410+i*10 .. ' kHz\n'

 

trigger.action.outTextForCoalition(coalition.side.BLUE,outText,30)

end

 

not tried yet !

[nemises]

brilliant!...just what the doctor ordered

[Derk]

I would avoid using multiple callsigns when possible.

I have little experience with the mission editor, but from an operational viewpoint the hueys assigned to these operations will typically have the same callsign. I think you can assign multiple groups to the same callsign so you'd have ie: Dodge 1-1 through 1-4 but also 2-1 through 2-4, etc.

 

This way you can free up different callsigns for different mission types. (I can and do imagine this concept involving FC3 and A-10C in the future along with the slick variants of the huey).

Missions like CAP, Intercept, CAS, etc. could be dynamically scripted much like the current set through the use of group_in_zone and the like, right?

 

Or am i just dreaming now?

[daribouca]

This is a snippet from one of my script that you could use to retrieve all the Hueys in a mission:

 

function get_hueys(arg, time)
   for k, v in pairs(mist.DBs.humansByName) do
       local this_unit = Unit.getByName(k)
       if this_unit ~= nil then
           if this_unit:getTypeName() == "UH-1H" then
               do whatever you want
           end
       end
   end 
   return time + 5
end

 

It's written off the top of my head, and quite naive syntax-wise, but you get the idea.

 

You could also fairly easily iterate over the list of pre-added units (pre-added meaning added in the ME) using some other mist database.

 

For iteration over dynamically added units, at the moment I use a custom table holding the units' names, have not found a more efficient method yet.

Edited June 14, 2013 by daribouca
forgot to edit function name

[LiveBait]

Great work! Thanks for this. :thumbup:

Missions like this are exactly what we need for the Huey.

 

 

Bloody lazy fighter jocks. They both could have walked back to their bunks from here.....

[Nate--IRL--]

Great mission.

 

Nate

[Vlerkies]

Nice, man, thanks for the effort in putting this together.

 

:thumbup:

[wolle]

updated CSAR and AM mission

 

Hi guys,

 

I attached an updated CSAR and AM mission. Would appreciate comments and bug reports (I have not yet gotten to include your comments about call signs, and auto-retrieval of Huey clients, yet, just saw them now). Once the code is reasonably bug free, I will post it on the appropriate sites.

 

change-log

 

-bug fixed: previously requesting to take grunts on board at airfields applied this request to all Huey clients that were at any airfield, now it applies only to the requester.

 

-bug fixed: ADF frequencies were listed incorrectly when requesting a list of infantry troops.

 

-the infantry skirmishes are now fully dynamic, they occur at randomly chosen locations, and the troops attack and retreat at appropriate times.

 

-after you have reinforced the infantry teams, the left over and the newly arrived forces will attack again together. Should they win this attack and eliminate the enemy, they will request you to pick them up and give them a ride back home.

 

-soldiers you pick up will now run towards your chopper.

 

-The F10 menu has been expanded.

 

Known shortcomings (any advice on how to overcome these would be appreciated)

 

- the pilots down are actually stand-in 'Soldiers M4'. Would be nicer if the code could follow the actual parachute and radio its location, then the player could rescue the actual pilot.

 

- the weight of the soldiers you take on board is not taken into account (this is possible at the moment only for an SP player, but not for a client aircraft, AFAIK)

CSARandAMjune15GunsOnly.miz

[Nate--IRL--]

By far the best Huey mission available. Keep up the good work.

 

Nate

[JetlinerX]

So I am hearing a lot about this "ADF Radio" stuff in the mission. Is that something that will be required knowledge to use this mission? Or just the pros doing things that are way beyond my skill level? x)

[Vlerkies]

So I am hearing a lot about this "ADF Radio" stuff in the mission. Is that something that will be required knowledge to use this mission? Or just the pros doing things that are way beyond my skill level? x)

 

In order to find where you need to go it is necessary.

 

Its really easy though, check this short and sweet instructional video out.

 

[JetlinerX]

Yeah, I hoped right into the mission, and was able to figure it out right away. Really straight forward. x)

 

AWESOME mission, really enjoying it. Any plans to add more tasking?

[wolle]

 

AWESOME mission, really enjoying it. Any plans to add more tasking?

 

Yes, will be expanded over time...